ABSTRACT
Had Radishchev lived in Soviet times, he would have been sent on in a cattle-truck, to die conveniently on the way. But in Catherine’s more civilized reign, some slight kindness was occasionally shown to political prisoners, especially when they enjoyed the protection of one of the most influential statesmen in the Russian Empire. Radishchev was allowed to stay under guard at his parents’ house in Moscow for three weeks, until he was more or less restored to health. He had time to find out something about the spot where he was sentenced to spend the next ten years. Situated on the River Ilim, latitude 56.30 N, longitude 104.25 E, Ilimsk, according to reference books of the time, was a settlement of 107 houses, surrounded by a high wooden stockade with fortified turrets, and distant 5,894 versts, or little less than 4,000 miles from Moscow. ‘The neighbouring country round the township consists of rocky hills and forests.
