The Sun.
London, England, 1867-01-04 00:00:00

A Mysterious Affair in Venice.

A letter from Venice tells of a mysterious affair
which lately happened in that city. The details are
guaranteed. One night last September, the Aus-
trians being still in the town, but thinking of little
else than making preparations for their departure, a
boat with two men in it entered the little canal
which runs between the Palace of the Doges and the
criminal prisons. When the boat had got as far as
the Riva de Censori the speed was slackened, and
at a signal the boatmen took the right side of the
sombre canal, and fastened their craft to some steps
leading to a doorway. This was hardly the sort of
place one would come to for a gallant adventure. The
silence of the spot was only broken by the heavy, re-
gular tread of an Austrian sentinel pacing up and
down the pavement of theCananica bridge. To explain
why the boat with its two men were in the position
described, it is necessary to state that the last years
of the Austrian domination were marked at Venice
and in its provinces by several painful events. There
was a mysterious underground kind of struggle con-
tinually going on between the Austrian police and
the secret committee formed in furtherance of the
emancipation of Venice. The 12 labours of Her-
' cules were nothing compared to the work accom-
plished by the committee on one side and the police
on the other, and the result was many a dark epi-
sode. Amongst the most celebrated political trials
were that of the Countess Cornello, and the Lonigo
Calvi, the Contarini Bentivoglio, the Errera, Fusi-
nato, and Toneli trials. Being generally carried
on with closed doors, they necessitated an enor-
mous quantity of writing—every one knows how
the Austrians delight in that exercise—which com-
prised the most extraordinary information on politi-
cal life in Venice. For some of the prisoners the
examination lasted six, seven, or even eight months.
Even the military tribunals, under Marshal Bene-
dek, which were the most just, had to do with them.
These papers contained matter of the greatest
interest, such as the opinions of judges given in
secret council, the reports of informers, the notes
of agents, and the letters of the Director-General
of Police. All these papers, forming a consider-
able mass of manuscripts, to which must be added
those connected with the terrible affairs judged
in Mantua since 1854, composed the " political
trials" in the archives of the Secret Tribunal, at
the low door of which was moored one night a
boat with two men in it. The carrying off of these
delicate archives was the object of this nocturnal
visit, and the leading motive was this. Those
interested in not letting the papers leave Italy, had
heard that for two nights the police had been trans-
porting papers to the military ovens, and having
them burned. Of course it could not be known if
the police were going to burn the " political trials,"
or to send them secretly to Vienna. The corn-
miVee, for certain reasons easily understood, were
quite as desirous of getting hold of these docu-
ments as other
persons were of seeing them
destruyed,and determined to try and effect their cap-
ture. The task was a dangerous one, as there was a
sentry so close; however, before the barque reached
its destination, one of the committee was already in
the building, and had made sure of being able to get
into the room where the coveted archives were kept.
The least noise in the canal, which, with its tribunal
on one side and its criminal prisons on the other,
was looked upon as sacred, would have caused sus-
picion, and immediately alarmed the quarter. To
effect the robbery proposed some time was neces-
sary, as it was not a question of carrying off a few
indiscreet epistles, but whole bundles of papers.
Strange to say, the adventurous members were in no
way disturbed, and at three a.m. effected their re-
treat, carry ing with them their booty. It is not
difficult to imagine the auger of the president of the
tribunal on the following day. What a misfortune
to happen to a president, whose functions were
just expiring. Search was everywhere made in hot
haste, and all the civil and military authorities did
their best to find out the daring plunderers, who
amused themselves by spreading the report that the
theft had been committed by the secret emissaries
of the Government. When the Austrians left
Venice the mystery was cleared up, and nothing
showed the value of the papers more than the bribes
that were offered to the committee for the destruc-
tion of certain leaves. An inventory was taken of
the papers, and notice was sent to Florence, and
within the last week the papers thus mysteriously
carried off from Austrian keeping have been for:
warded to the capital of Italy.