THE POLISH FOURTH. 627 



General Umenske, a directing committee,, composed of seven mem- 

 bers, was established in the Polish capital. Unfortunately, in closing 

 the masonic lodges, the police was put upon the traces of the national 

 freemasonry, and, by that means, on that of the new patriotic associa- 

 tion. At the same time, an old officer (Karski), who had gone to 

 Paris in order to establish a correspondence with the foreign lodges, 

 was arrested on his return : his papers, seized on the frontier, impli- 

 cated several individuals, and Lukasenski was not forgotten in the 

 list, But, already, some months before, he had incurred the hatred 

 of the Grand Duke by the following circumstance. A superior officer 

 was brought before a court-martial, of which Lukasenski was a mem- 

 ber ; the Grand Duke, as he was always in the habit of doing, sent 

 the sentence already drawn up to the court, in order that the members 

 might attach their signatures to it, as a mere formality. " I will not 

 sign," said Lukasenski " for, as a judge, I have the right of judging 

 the case ; and if I am not so, my signature is useless." His firmness 

 awakened the scruples of his colleagues, and the order of the Grand 

 Duke was disregarded ; but scarcely had he returned to his quarters 

 than Lukasenski was arrested. Placed upon half- pay, he was exiled 

 to Krasrystaw, under the surveillance of Prince Adam, of Wurtem- 

 berg. 



Some other indiscreet revelations soon aggravated the position of 

 the chiefs of the plot. Colonel Szneyder, who had been initiated by 

 Captain Schrobecki, made use of it to gain Lukasenski's confidence, 

 and to obtain from him a secret mission to Kolisz ; but arrested, at 

 at the same time, upon a charge of bigamy, Szneyder, on condition of 

 being pardoned, promised to make some important discoveries. It 

 has since been suspected that both Szneyder and Skrobecki were 

 in the pay of the police. However it may be, the Grand Duke, put 

 upon the traces of the plot, immediately arrested the individuals com- 

 promised. 



Placed in solitary confinement, Lukasenski and his companions in 

 misfortune remained upwards of two years in the famous state prison 

 at Warsaw of the Carmelites. It had just been established in the 

 convent of that name, and which depended on the will of the Grand 

 Duke, who administered it through his aide-de-camp, General Kol- 

 zokoff. All that the gaolers of the Inquisition and the Bastile have 

 invented in vigilance and severity, formed the rules of this prison, 

 with the exception of torture, to which hunger was substituted. The 

 prisoners, confined in cells eight feet square, were deprived of light 

 and air ; their families, on no pretext whatever, were allowed to com- 

 municate with them, and they were rarely or ever allowed the use of 

 writing materials. An extraordinary commission, under the influence, 

 took cognizance of the case of the accused. The examination alone of 

 Lukasenski would fill volumes. 



Being unable to deny the existence of the national freemasonry, he 

 assumed upon himself all the responsibility; but he denied its exist- 

 ence after the imperial ukase had forbidden the pure freemasonry. 

 In spite, therefore, of this defence, he was delivered over, with five of 

 his companions, to a military commission presided by the minister of 

 war, Haeke, and in which the famous General Blumer commenced 



