I know it; I admit the hardship of your case; but still, my Bill, self-preservation is the first law of nature.

You must be hung.
But, while hanging you, I admit that you are more sinned against than sinning.

There is another, Bill, another, who will surely take account of this in some way, though it is not for me to tell you how.
Yes, I hang Bill Sykes with soft regret; but with what a savage joy, with what exultation of heart, with what alacrity of eager soul, with what aptitude of mind to the deed, would I hang my friend, Undy Scott, the member of Parliament for the Tillietudlem burghs, if I could but get at his throat for such a purpose! Hang him! aye, as high as Haman! In this there would be no regret, no vacillation of purpose, no doubt as to the propriety of the sacrifice, no feeling that I was so treating him, not for his own desert, but for my advantage.
We hang men, I believe, with this object only, that we should deter others from crime; but in hanging Bill we shall hardly deter his brother.

Bill Sykes must look to crime for his bread, seeing that he has been so educated, seeing that we have not yet taught him another trade.
But if I could hang Undy Scott, I think I should deter some others.

The figure of Undy swinging from a gibbet at the broad end of Lombard Street would have an effect.