Page:Julian Niemcewicz - Notes of my Captivity in Russia.djvu/215

Rh things from their point of view, prove the least necessity for it. Supposing Poland, torn in tatters, and that these, stitched to three different empires, and guarded by numerous armies, did not appear to them sufficiently sheltered from our intrigues, state reasons might bid them apprehend us, and shut us up in a fortress to prevent us from escaping; but what reason, what necessity had they for isolating and tormenting us, each separately, for depriving us even of the consolation of suffering together? Could seven prisoners, disarmed, crippled, weakened by sufferings and sorrows, and surrounded with guards, be dangerous in their prison? Could they conspire against the Gracious Sovereign, or excite disturbances in either her old or new dominions? Would the safety of the Empress and her loyal subjects be compromised if a prisoner had the liberty of breathing fresh air, and seeing the daylight for a quarter of an hour? I ask a thousand pardons of the immortal Catherine's eulogists, but in the little cruelties which she exercised over us, I see nothing