Demoine courier., 1855-09-20
DESTRUCTION OF THE INQUISITlON
OF MADRID. rg

H# #
Col. Lemanouski, formerly an officer
uuter Napoleon, now a minister Of The
Lutheran Church, gives the following
vivid sketch Of a scene. Of which he
was an eyewitness:
In the year 1909. being al Madrid. my
attention was directed TO a Roman Cath
ollie Ineuisi,ion in the neighsorhood OF
that cisy. Napoleon had previously IS
sued a decree tor the suppression Of this
institution wherever his victorious troops
should extend their arms. | reminded
Marshal Soult, then Governor of Mad
rid, of this decree, who directed ne to
proceed TO i,sexecutinn on,his Ear. famed
establishment. With my regiment, he
Oh OF the Polish lancers, he gave me
two others, n Of which. The ll7.h,
was usder the command Of Col. De
Lie. who is now, like myself, a minister
OF The Gospel.
With these troops l proceeded to The
lnquisiiion. which wac about five miles
from the city. II was surrounded by a
wall of great strength, and defended BY
about four hundred soldiers. When we
arrived a, the walls. | addressed one OF
the scn,inels, and Summoned The holy
fathers to surrender TO the imperia. army
and opeis The gates of The Inquisi,ion =
The s%enliucl, who was standing on the
wall, appeared to enter into conversation
for a lew m with some one within
at the close Of which he presented his
muskei and shot one Of my men. This
was a sigma. for attack, and | ordered my
troops 10 fire upon those who appeared
on the wal.
Ii was soon obvious that il was an
un quail warfare. Our troops were in
The open plain, and exposed 10 a destruc
tive fire. We hadano cannon, nor could
we scale the walls. aud the gates sue
cessfully resisted all attempts at forcing
them. saw ital it was necessary io
change the mode Of attack, and directed
trees TO be Gu, down ant trimmed and
brought on the ground. to be used d.
bai.ering rams. Presently the walls be
gan TO rremble, and. under The well. Iii.
rec,ed anu persevering applicationsof the
ram, a breach was made, aud the impe
rial troops rushed into The Inquisition.
Here we met with an incident which
nothing bu. Jesui.ical eifron,ery is equal
TO. The ln1uisi,or General, followed
by he father confessors in their priest.
ly robes. all came on. of their rooms
as we were making our way into the int.
rior Of the lnquisiiion, and with long
faces and their arms crossed over then
breasts, as though they had been deaf lo
all the noise Of the attack and has jus
learned what was going on, addressed
themselves in the language Of rebuke Ia
their own soldiers, saying. "Why dc
you fight our friends, the French!"
Their intention, apparently, vas &c
make US think that this defence was
wholly unauthorized by them, hoping
they should thus have n better oppor,u
My in the confusion aud plumber of the
lnquisition to escape. Their ariitice was
TOO shallow. caused them to be placed
under guard. and all the soldiers Of ,he
lnquisiiion to be secured az prisoners;
We then proceeded ,hrCugh room after
room-founu affairs and crucifixes, and
wax candles in abundance-lhe proper.
tons Of the architecture were perfect
The ceiling and floors were secured and
highly polished--taere was everything
TO please The eye and crafty a cultivated
taste; bui where were those horrid in
strumen,s Of torture Of which we had
been iold, and where those dungeons ia
which human beings were said to be bu.
ried alive! We searched in vain. The
holy fathers assured US ,ha, they had been
belied-that zee had seen all; and | was
prepared TO believe it.
But Col. De Lille was not 60 ready to
give up the search. At This instance.
water was brought in and poured over
the marble floor, the slabs Of which
were large and beautifully polished
Presently an opening was discovered,
and as all hands were 1t work for further
discovery, a soldier with the butt Of his
musket struck spring, when the marble
slab flew up. Then the faces Of the In
quisilors grew pale, and, as Belshazzar,
4 = Us - ~
wheu The hand writing appeared on The
wall, SO did these men Of Belial shake
and quake in every bons, joint, and sin
ew. We saw a staircase. / stepped to
a table and took q of the candles, -four
feet in length, which was burning, ,ha,
might explore what was before us; as
was doing this, ! was arrested by one o.
,he ,nqu:sitors, who laid his hanG gently
on my arm, and with a very demure and
holy look, said. .My son. you mus. no
take that with your p~rofane and bloody
hand; it is holy" well WELL"
said, II want something thai is holy, tc
see il il will no, shed light on ihiqui.yi
| will bear the responsibility"
took the candle aud proceededdowr
The staircase, when we entered asIargt
room, called he Hall Of Judgment. "a
The GENRE Of II was a large block. ard53
chain fastened 20 it. Onthis they liz
been accustomed TO place the accused
chained 10 his seat. On one side Of thu
roam was an elevated seat. called III,
Throne Of Judgement. This The inquis
isor general occupied. and on either sic.
were seats less elevated. for the holy
I rk.- 49, $500. . - -