Sentinel of the valley. [volume] (Woodstock, Va) 1841-1848, 1843-10-19

''Vats OF men. as numerous as eouId
"o'A 10 advantage and brought to bear
Upon me walls with all the power which
mey could exert, regardless of the fire
Wl',rh was poured upon them from the
Ma'is' Presently the walls began to
uemole, and under the well directed ard
PeFsepering application of the ram. y
p.eae'f was made. and the imperial troop
'ushed INTO the Inquisition. Here we
met with an incident which nothing but
.5esutlcai efrontery is equal TO. Tie
Ihqa'sltlon general followed BY The faith
- c0fFe8sors in their priesty robes. all
.Ealae out OF their rooms as we were ma
.s!ns cur way into the interior Of the IN.
- - With long faces and their
arms crossed over Their 81 r1s. az '',e''
gers resting on their shoulders. as THOUGH
they had been deaf to all the noise Of
the attack and defence, and had iusl
heard what was going on. they address
ed themselves with the language of re-
Duke to their own soldiers, saying. sWhy
90 you fight our friends the FrenchF'
lheir intention apparently was to make
US think that this defence was wholly IN
authorized by them. hoping if they could
produce in eur minds belief that thew
we're friendly, they should have better
opportunity in the confusion and plumber
81 the lnqulsition to escape. Their ar
tltlce was too shallow aud did not sue
coed. | caused them to be placed under
guard, and all tile soldiers of the inauis
ton to be secured as prisoners. We
then proceeded TO examine this prison
house of hell. We proceeded through
room after room; found alters and cruel
likes and wax candles in abundance, but
could discover no evidence of iniquity
being practised there, nothing Of those
secular features which we expected to
find in an Inquisition. Here was beau
ty and spIendor in the most perfect or
der on which my eyes had ever rested. =
The architecture-the proportions were
perfect. The ceiling and floors of wood
were secured and highly polished. The
marble floors were arranged with strict
regard to order. There was everything
to please the eye and crafty cultiva-
ted taste; but where were those horrd in
struments of torture of which we had
been told, and where those dungeons in
which human beings were said to be bu-
rled alive? We searched in vain. The
holy fathers assured US that they had
been belied. That we had seen all, and
teBa reB8aF{ea, f. aHs UP tbs SEARCH Gapxin
from others of which had heard.
But Col lie Lille YVES not so ready as
myself to give up the search. and said to
me, Col. you are commander to-day,
and as you say so it must be. but if you
will only be advised by me, let this floor
be examined more. Let some water be
brought III and poured upon it, and we
will watch and see if there is any place
through which it passes more freely than
others. replied to him, do as you please
Col, and ordered the water to be brought
accordingly. The slabs Of marble were
large and beautifully polished. When
the water had been poured over the floor,
much to the dissatisfaction of the lnqul-
sitors, careful examination was made
of every seem in the floor to see if the
water passed through. Presently Col.
DE Lille exclaimed that he had found it.
BY the side OF one of these marble slabs
the water passed through fast, as though
there was an opening beneath. All
hands now were at work for further dis
covery. The officers with their swords
and the soldiers with their bayonets,
seeking to clear out the seam and pry up
the slab. Others with the butts of their
muskets striking the slab with all their
might to break it, while The priests re-
monstrating against our desecra;ing their
holy and beautiful house. While thus
engaged soldier who was striking with
the but Of his musket, struck spring
and the marble slab flew-up. Then the
faces Of the Inquisitors grew pale, and as
Belshazzer, when the hand writing APP
reared on the wall, so did these men OF
Belief shake and Quake in every bone
Joint and sinew. We looked beneath
the mable slab now partly up and we
saw staircase. lstepped to the candle
stick and took one of the candles, four
Geetin length, which was burning, that
| might explore what was before US; as
was doing this was arrested by one of
the fnquisitors, who laid his hand gent
ly on my ARA, and with very demure
and holy look said. My son you must
not take that with your prolane and
bloody hand; it is holy We'll we'll,
| said,s want something that is holy to
see if it will not she'd light on iniquity;
I will bear the responsibility took
the candle and proceeded down the stair
case. now discovered why the water
revealed to us this passage. The trap
doc. could not be rendered close; hence
the success Of Col, De Lilies experiment
AS we reached the foot of the stairs we
entered large room which was called
the Hall of Judgement In the centre
of it was block, and chain fastened
to It. On this they had been accustom-
ed to place the accused, chained to his
seat. On this side Of the room was an
elevated seat, called the Throne Of Judg-
ment This the In9nlsitor General oc-