Escapes from Cayenne

26 A fourth rope tied my neck most closely on the top of the mast, and was fastened at the top ring.

I was strangled, I was suffocated, I could not take my breath, and m y stomach was so furiously oppressed that I could not help doing what I cannot say.

I had to be in such a position for two hours, twice a day, for fifteen days ! I could not bear such horrid sufferings, and I was there but a short time when I saw the walls turning over and I fainted.

When the two hours were ended they untied me, but I was like a corpse, and they were obliged to bear me into my cell.

One of the soldiers was born in Paris, m y native place, and had been my neighbor; he pitied me. They sent him to prison for one month.

A n d do you know what I had done to be thus condemned to the pillory? M y crime was this : 1 had laughed most heartily when the Governor of R o y a l Island had sent soldiers and po­ licemen to Devil's Island, on purpose to seize what they tho't to be a boat full of prisoners escaped from Cayenne. When the policemen arrived at Devil's Island, they saw very distinctly that the supposed boat was a large tree carried off by the cur­ rent, and the supposed prisoners were the branches of that tree.

One afternoon, while I was on the pillory, the guardian dared to endeavor to induce me (he had superior orders for that) to submit to- the Emperor, his master. " I f y o u consent." said he, " y o u will be liberated both from prison and pillory—you will be a free man."

So did the Devil to Jesus. " G o to , " said I, r o u g h l y : " go to , and your master too ; I never was tried ; I never have seen a judge ; consequently, no one has a right to keep me in prison." " Tormentor," quietly replied the keeper, " tie Paon a little tighter."

About forty o f m y yoke-fellows have been put on the pillory.

A m o n g them all, only one, ( M . Tassilier, who was in Salem three weeks ago, and who is in N e w Y o r k n o w , ) only one could bear that atrocious martyology without fainting ; on the contrary, he defied his persecutors the whole time he was there.

Shame, shame forever to those who, in a civilized age, order such ignominious things ! Shame to those who, being leaders o f a civilized nation, are shameless enough to permit such bar­ barous treatment!

Shame to Louis Napoleon Buonaparte, who, having been himself a political prisoner twice in his life, forgets the sins of his youth, and accepts the responsibility o f such shameful tortures ! Y o u have a bad memory, M . Louis Napoleon Buonaparte, but mine is good. I remember that, in 1 8 5 1 , I wrote you these words :