Page:Julian Niemcewicz - Notes of my Captivity in Russia.djvu/194

166 night, to be brought before the court. These nightly visits recalled always to me the mysteries and horrors of the Holy Inquisition. The length and activity of these proceedings proved that they attached great importance to them, and that the case of the prisoners must have been very intricate. At length, on the 14th of September, Makarow came again to examine one of the prisoners. During the examination, he raised his voice, which shewed us that he was very angry; and after an hour's altercation, I saw two soldiers dragging one of those unfortunate prisoners to the casemates, where heart-rending cries were soon heard, and I could not doubt that they were extorting answers under the rack or bastinado. The yellings of this unhappy man were very painful to my feelings. Voltaire, however, and other philosophes-courtiers, have elevated the immortal Catherine to the skies for having, as they say, abolished the torture!

After my enlargement, I learnt from Russian officers themselves, that one of those prisoners