The Sun.
London, England, 1862-12-30 00:00:00

AN EXECUTION IN MALTA.

MALTA, DEC. 24.
As in most Roman Catholic countries, there exists in
Malta a confraternity styled "La Congregazione dei Rosa-
rianti," who in the case of a criminal having to undergo
the punishment of death take a very prominent part in
everything connected with the sentence. For several days
prev.ous to an xecution the members of this society,
arrayed in a white dress from their head to their heels,
with two small holes for the eyes, visit the different towns
and villages collecting funds, which are handed over to the
priests to say masses for the soul of the criminal, and for
his release from purgatory. About 40 hours before an exe-
cution the condemned is placed in a chapel expressly built
for the purpose, with two Capuchin triests, who never
quit him till the execution is over ; and the latter shows
extraordinary zeal in bringing criminals to repentance, and
pref aring them for their future state. To the credit of the
Roman Catholic clergy, no p, rson, it is said, has been exe-
cuted without having previously confessed. Previous to the
criminal quitting the chapel the hangman declares that he
has no bad feeling towards him, and that he merely obeys
orders. He then kisses him. On the road to the gallows
the Capuchin priests hold tablets on each side of the pri-
soner's face. On these tablets are images of our Saviour.
Criminals are hung upon a gallows, and the hangman
jumps on the shoulders of the criminal till he is dead. Six
convicts drag the car, and it is understood they gene-
rally get six months remitted from their sentence for so
doing.

From the time the criminal leaves the chapel the confra-
ternity in a manner take charge of him. They form a
procession in front, with a cross lighted on each side, and
it is their especial duty to see the ceremony carried out
with decorum, to render it solemn and impressive, so that
it may have a beneficial effect on the spectators ; and in
this they succeed, for the crowd at an execution in Malta
is serious and reflecting, and impressed with a religious feel-
ing of sorrow.

During the execution the confraternity pray in a devout
posture. The body hangs two hours, after which the senior
member of the confraternity claims as his especial right the
privilege of untieing the rope from the corpse. The mem-
bers receive the body, and carry it to the place of inter-
ment, where it is buried in a sack. All this is done by the
confraternity themselves, without any other assistance, and
thcugh the duties are so disagreeable, it is considered a
very high honour even by the highest classes to belong to
the order.

The hangman's bituation is anything but coveted. He
receives about £4O per annum, and a trifling gratuity for
every execution.

In July last a maid servant, Catarina Bary, was found
murdered, and the house, which was next door to the
officers' quarters, robbed. Ihe police have shown great
judgment and sagacity in discovering the murderers and
burglars, and last week Giuseppe Attord, coachman, and
Giuseppe Chetcute, fruit seller, were tried and condemned,
principally on the evidence of a confederate who turned
Queen's evidence. The police feretted out some 80 wit •
nesses in support of the charge, the jury unanimously found
them guilty, and on the morning of the 22d, at 8 a.m., the
sentence was carried into execution, and the two prisoners
were hanged from one gallows at the same time. They
entered the chapel on Saturday at 3 p.m., from which hour
they may be said to have been dead to the world. The
honour, for such it is considered, of untieing them from the
gallows fell to the lot of two of the confraternity, one of
whom is said to be Count Prezioso. The members had been
actively collecting funds for some days previous, and re-
' turned to town shortly after twelve o'clock of the day of
the execution, after their arduous, unpleasant, and fatiguing
duty,

The execution has cast quite a gloom over the town.
The crowd felt it deeply. The prisoners acknowledg
their guilt, said they had been the victims of gambling,
and persuaded their countrymen to avoid gambling.

A RECEPTACLE FOR CONTICTS.—The latest sug-
gestion is to prepare the Falkland Islands as a re-
ceptacle for our convicts. They are 7,000 miles away, but
the voyage is easy and healthy. Peat abounds though
wood is wholly absent. Directly westward is the promis-
ing eastern coast of Tierra del Fuego (with good harbours),
in which guanacoes attain their largest size, where wood
is plentiful, and where mineral treasures are likely to be
found. There a settlement might be formed to receive
such convicted persons as are now sent into overcrowded
countries, as the only resource, however objectionable.
Westward of the large eastern island of Tierra del Fuego
there is an abundance of valuable minerals easy of access,
and, while the climate is not enervating, or tending to en-
courage idleness, it is not too severe, like Labrador.

EXTRAORDINARY MARRIAGE ADVENTURE.--ThE
Liverpool press yesterday gave publicity to one of
the strangest lave adventures which have been recorded by
the newspapers for some time. It appears that a man
whose name it is unnecessary to mention, but who has for
some time past resided in Manchester, gained the affections
of a woman whose name does not appear, and proposed
matrimony to her. The man was worth a considerable sum
of money, and suggested to the object of his affections that
after marriage they should enter into business. The
woman of course readily fell in with his views, and kept a
sharp look-out for some eligible business in which to en-
gage. One offered in Liverpool, and thither our hero be-
took himself with his lady, in order that they might buy
a " soft goods business" which was advertised. Matters
having gone so far, the pair deemed that the sanctity of
their loves rendered the marriage ceremony a mere conven-
tional form, and accordingly occupied a sleeping apartment
in Bulton-street. Each night the man placed his pocket-
book, containing £5OO in notes, under the mattress of his
bed, his companion the while watching him with much in-
terest. On Friday he went with the woman to procure a
marriage license, and was about to open his pooket-book to
take out a note to pay for the document, when his future
wife prevented him, and paid the amount herself. It was
arranged that they should be married on Monday, and on
Saturday they returned to Manchester and went to their
respective homes. It appears he had not examined his
notes since Friday, and when opening his pocket book in
the evening he found that £440 had been abstracted and
flimsy paper substituted to make up the bulk. He at once
proceeded to the Manchester police-station, and having
procured the services of a detective officer, the woman was
taken into custody and conveyed to Liverpool. Upon
their arrival there, he proposed that if the officer would
give up his prisoner he would /wilco her his wife. The
detective at once consented, and the woman having been
set free, the pair proceedei to the Old Chinch, where
they were married, and satisfactorily settled the monetary
difficulty.
SYDNEY, LADY MonGAN.—With the manuscript
of " The Novice" she made the journey from Dublin
to London alone ; no pleasant enterprise in 1805, when the
Conway and the Menai Straits were yet unbridged, and the
road by Penmaenmawr was as wild and difficultas in Dr.
Johnson's days. When the coach drove into the " Swan
with Two Necks" in Lad-lane, she had not a notion where
to go or what to do next, and sat down upon her small
trunk in the yard, to wait until the bustle or arrival should
have a little subsided. Overcome with fatigue and anxiety
she fell fast asleep. Such was the first appearance in Lon-
don of Sydney, Lady Morgan ; and artists are not likely to
forget a circumstance so picturesque,—,dthetiouni.