CHAPTER XXXI.

_SIBERIAN POLITICAL PRISONERS._

The Za-Baikal, a natural prison.--“Decembrists” of 1825.--Misapprehensions respecting political prisoners.--The “Story of Elizabeth.”--Vindictive foreign writers.--Palpable misstatements.--Misleading information.--Dostoyeffsky’s “Buried Alive.”--Rosen’s “Russian Conspirators.”--Present condition of political prisoners.--Testimony of Poles.--Treatment of an attempted regicide.--The number of “politicals” exaggerated.--Calculations concerning them.--Their mode of transport.--Paucity of statistics accounted for 377