" In conversation nothing was more common
than the remark, "I shall do so and so, provided things hold out; but
then there is no telling what will come next."
On the minds of some there lie deep dejection and discouragement.
Some, surrounded by their growing families, though they abhor the
tyranny of the government, acquiesce wearily, and even dread change
lest something worse should arise.
We know not in America how many atrocities and cruelties that attended
the _coup d'etat_ have been buried in the grave which intombed
the liberty of the press. I have talked with eye witnesses of those
scenes, men who have been in the prisons, and heard the work of
butchery going on in the prison yards in the night. While we have been
here, a gentleman to whom I had been introduced was arrested, taken
from bed by the police, and carried off, without knowing of what he
was accused. His friends were denied access to him, and on making
application to the authorities, the invariable reply was, "Be very
quiet about it. If you make a commotion his doom is sealed." When his
wife was begging permission for a short interview, the jailer, wearied
with her importunities, at last exclaimed unguardedly, "Madam, there
are two hundred here in the same position; what would you have me do?"
[Footnote: That man has remained in prison to this day.
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