The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1849-05-15 00:00:00

THE INQUISITION AT ROME

The following letter (dated Rome, March 31,) from
Father Mahoney, the author of the celebrated " Prout
Papers," will, though presented to our readers at a later
period than it might have been, be read with considerable
interest

" I visited this morning the works going on in the sub-
terranean vaults of the holy office, and was not a little
horrified at what T saw with my own eyes, and held in
my own hands. Though I have been familiar with every-
thing in and about Rome fora quarter of a century, I

contess l never had any curiosity to visit the Inquisition,
taking it for granted that everything was carried on there
fairly and honestly, as I was led to believe by people
worthy in other respects of implicit trust. Besides, the
place itself is out of the beaten track of all strangers, and
in a sort of cul de sac behind St. Peter's, where it natu-
rally retired to perform its blushing operations. and ' do
good by stealth.' I was struck with the outward appear-
ance of civilisation and comfort displayed by the build-
ing, which owes its erection to Pius V., author of the last
creed ; but on entering, the real character of the concern
was no longer dissimulated. A range of strongly-barred
prisons formed the ground-floor of a quadrangular court,
and these dark and damp receptacles I found were only
the preliminary stage of probation, intended for new

as yet. uninitiated into the Eleusinian mysteries
of the establishment. Entering a passage to the left, you
arrive at a smaller court-yard, where a triple row of small
barred dungeons rises from the soil upwards, somewhat
after the outward look of a three-decker, accommoda-
ting' about 60 prisoners. These barred cages must have
been often fully manned, for there is a supplementary

_ _
row constructed at the back of the quadrangle on the
ground-floor, which faces a large garden. All those cel-
lular contrivances have strong iron rings let into the
masonry, and in some there is a large stone firmly im-
bedded in the ceatre with a similar massive ring. Nu-
merous inscriptions dated centuries back are dimly legible
on the admission of light, the general tenor being asser-
tion of innocence : 'lddio ci liberi di lingua calumnia-
trice," Io domenico Gazzoli vissi qui anni 18,' Calum-
niatorev mendaces exterminabuntur.' I read another :_ii
somewhat longer, the drift of which is, ' The caprice or i'll
EARLS.—Abereleen, Auckland, Bessborough, Bruce, Bur-
wickedness of man can't exclude me from thy Church, lington, Carlisle, Cowper, Clarendon, Craven, Camperdown,
0 Christ, my only hope.' The officer in charge led me Cork, Clanvvilliam, Charlemont, Chichester, Cornwallis, Derby,
down to where the men were digging in the vaults below ; Devon, Denbigh, De Grey, Ducie, Essex, Effingham, Erroll,
they had cleared a downward flight of steps, which was Ellesmere, Fitzwilliam, Fortescue, Fitzhardinge, Fingal], Grey,
Granville,no.son keaninmsblroercro,Glasg w Gosford,no,
Lovelace,
Leicester,Home,
pemebraeort,t;adnor
choked up with old rubbish, and had come to a series of
Liverpool, Glasgow,
dungeons under the vaults deeper still, and which imme- Miao, Aleath. Mori on, Morley, Oxford:
diately brought to my mind the prisons of the Doge Roseberry, Ripon, Suffolk, Scarborough, Spencer, Sll.Germans,
under the canal of the Bridge of Sighs at Venice, only Sefton, Strafford, Thanet, Uxbridge, Wicklow, Waldegrave,
that here there was a surpassing horror. I saw imbedded Yarborough, Zetland.
VlSCOUNTS.—Bolingbroke, Canning, Clifden, Falkland, Har-
in old masonry, unsymmetrically arranged, five skeletons
in various recesses, and the clearance had only just begun; dingo,i Dlr. rud
71 rlie'yMeTearcreonnelyMeitsTrunr%nPoLsuonnZ SAdynroeil:
the period of their insertion in this spot must have been Beaumont, Belhaven, Canino, Carew, Carrington, Churchill,
more than a century and a half ago. From another vault Crewe, Cowley, Cloncurry, Cottenham, Colborne, Campbell,
full of skulls and scattered human remains there was a Cremorne, Dacre, Dorchester, Dinorben, Denman, De Manley,
shaft about four feet square, ascending perpendicularly De Freyne, Dunfermline, Dunalley, Dormer, Erskine, Elphin-
to the first floor of the building, and ending in a passage s.teorll;fl,
il:idendisliporz,deFnoleifaTeerntelg, Godolphin,icennin
4Holland, Ho. vt
oandn
cif the hall of the chancery, where a trap-door lay between a
Langdale. Leigh. Lovat, Monson, Montford, Milford, Mostyn,
the tribunal and the way into a suite of rooms destined Monteagfe, Poltimore, Portman, Rivers, Rossmore, Sudeley,
for one of the officials. The object of this shaft could Stanley of Alderley, Stuart de Decies, Suffield, Saye and Sole,
admit of but one surmise. The ground of the vault was Stafford, Stourton, Talbot de Mlalahide, Vaux, Vernon, Wartl,
l 12a_rncliffe, Woilek9use, lyrotti,sley, Wenlock.
made up of decayed animal matter, a lump of which held
W
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HOUSE OF LORDS, WEDNESDAY, MAY 9.
The following list includes not only those present, but
pairs and proxies :

CONTENTS.
DUKES.-Argyll, Bedford, Devonshire, Grafton, Hamilton,
Leeds, Leinster, Norfolk, Roxburghe, :!.onierset, St. Alban's,
Sutherland, Wellington
MARQuists.—Abercorn, Anglesey. Breadalbane, Bristol,
Clanricarde, Co»yngham, Donegal, Headfort, Lansdowne,
Normanby, Northampton, Ormonde, Sligo, Westmeath, West-

1-31,stn, tow., ogi .r—il
atna,
,n tgebruerrygul),ol lit: ,
nYno,r k .
..,...nail., as I tound by
d Manchester, Nor-
personal examination as it was shovelled up from below. with, Oxford, Peterborough, Ripen, St. David's, St. Asaph,
Why or wherefore, with a large space of vacant ground Salisbury, Tuam, Worcester.
lying outside the structure, this charnel-house should be
NON-.CONTZNTS.
contrived under the dwelling, passes my ken. But that DritEs.—Atholl, Beaufort, Buct}ingbam, Cleveland, is not not all : there are two large subterranean lime-kilns, chaster, Marlborough, Montrose, Newcastle, Northumberland,
if I may so call them, shaped like a beehive in masonry, Richmond, Rutland.
filled with layers of calcined bones, forming the substra- MARQUISES.—Ailesbury, Ailsa, Dbwnshire, Drogheda, Ely,
Wine r, Hertford, Huntly, Londonderm Salisbury, Waterford,
tum of two other chambers on the g round floor, in the Wi Itester.
immediate vicinity of the very trivsterinn. ahnfi• .t.,..,,, C

-- • `••• 5 wub snatc aoove I EMlLBAbingdon, Abergavenny, Airlie, Aylesford, Bandon,
mentioned. I know not what interest you may attach to Balcarres, Bathurst, Beauchamp, Beverley, Buckinghamshire,
what looks like a chapter from Mrs. Radcliff, but had I I Brownlow, Chesterfield, Cardigan, Carriarvon: endc.igan,Catli-
not ti.e evidence of my own senses I wnuld L.,„- cart. czamm,

ever nave ....,.., ...coon, k-awoor, unariev ille, Dartmouth, Digby, Desart,
Delawarr, Darnley, Eldon, Enniskillm Erne, Ellenborough,
dreamt of such appearances in a prison of the holy office ;. EgtnontEglintoun, Falmouth, Ferrers, Glengall, Guildford,
being thoroughly sick of the nonsense that has for years Hardwick, Harewood, Harrowby, Huntingdon, Jersey, Kin-
been put forth on that topic by partisan pens. But here noul, Lauderdale, Lonsdale, Limerick Longford, Leven, Lucan,
the thing will become serious, for to-morrow the whole Mansfield,. Malmesbury, Manvers, Mountcashel, Maccle,field,
population of Rome is publicly invited by the authorities Mayo, Munster, Nelson, Onslow, Vrfcrd, Orkney, Pomfret,
Lonu !dew%
to come and see with their own eyes one of the results of !,chl.la4aisiihoßaenfiCT;erßsodsetnr,adttporlzys,ißannsoly Ro ,
Shannon, 'Selkirk,
entrusting power to clerical hands. Libels on the clergy seafleid, ,Daibot, iPankerville, Verulam, Winchilsea, Warwick,
have been manifold during the last four months, and Wilton:
have done their work among. the mn.scapa 1:14-, ~,,,,,.. 4-1, :,

eresford, Canterbury Combermere, Done-
Midleton, May-