The southern press., 1851-08-30

EuHM 0e ii Fardin has Writt4n W Hts k"Po',
la Ps<Sse OF Paris, an aocountVf the a'ticsl
devpotsns at Rome, which sho~s thAt the ~,
rants n4der the nose ot The rope are ~ cfus'
and dsviish, as King Ferdinand OF Naples we
shalt make few extracts from La f'vssse OF
the 81 instant:
THE MODE or TRIAL.
Justice ia distributed at Rome with closed
doors. aud upon bare Information. I'he accused
Is, indeed, permitted the choice OF cour ei 10
defend him---only, if the advocate be mol To The
taste Of his judges, he must either select Hn-
other, or accept any nominee OF the president OF
the court for substitute Inc connsef -
served with the indictment; but neither he nor
the prisoner 10 confronted with hts accuserS, OF
| with the impeachng Witnesses whose identity
relr aims secret to the @defence." Under these
dark forms of trial, it may we'll be under
stood how difficult it becomes TO establish in
nocence and, on the other hand, how personal
enmity or a private grudge may wreak revenge
on the victim of anonymous dennnclations
Yet. Notwithstanding the authority to condemn
at pleasure any object OF their spite, these
petty inquisit0rs dare not brave the public hor-
ror Of human sacrifices they seldom pronounce
the extreme sentence But il their victims es-
cape the headman's axe or the auto da 70 IN the
public square, they are not spared the moral and
physical tortures OF the gaos and OF the dun
geons, in which power of darkness, on the
pretext of necessary delay in framing the in
dictment, claims the right Of indefinite deten-
ton, and 30 deals out, drop by drop, the linger-
ing anguish of "A cruel death and all this
savagery is afuIfilled,' according TO the jargon
or fanatics, . for The greater glory Of God, and
Of his church"
THE PLACES OF CONFINEMENT.
The Roman jails have one common room for
the herd of prisoners, or such have not the
wherewith to pay for the privilege of one Of the
detached cells in which each prisoner is granted
a couch of straw, or sqnaid mattress, instead
of the inmates of the segreAa piana, as the com
mon room is called A hideous sty of infection,
misery, desoIation, where human beings are
heaped together like unclean beasts in loathsome
filth aud if from some poor wretch despair ex-
torts too sharp cry, a hundred weight OF iron
ia attached to his feet but not before he has re-
ceived a more or less severe scourgsng on the
shoulders or the loins with sticks or rods This
latter punishment, as huniliating as it is savage,
is called the capaleto and in the good old tines
was inflicted publicly on men and 'comen naked.
The squeamish decency of the present governors
Of Ro ne no longer daring to make public show
of this revolving cruelty, they make amends to
|
ses of the gaols. No other mitigation of the
suiferngs of captives can these successors of the
Apostles devise, than to restore the ignominious
atrocities which the republic had found time to
suppress, in abolishing by the same decree CAPT
tai punishment Not content with restoring,
they aggravate before the republican regime,
the weight of iron attached to the prisoners,
ancles was only fifty pounds; it is no " increased
to ninety-six. No language can give just con.
ception of this heart-rending spec acle OF all the
tortures of humanity driven to despair, humill-
ated, degraded debased by the most ignoble
usage in this ward or rather in this cavern, reek
ing with deadly mephitic exhalations
Passing from the segreld piand to the detached
cells, you find two prison,rs shut in each. These
cells are about fl. IL in. in length, IT. 7 in.
in BREADTH and #. 10 in in height. The al
lowance of air is barely sufficient for the mans
life, where too are buried alive devoured by
fever and by ths vermin that tester where the
iron has lacerated and torn. t.sH
1t is thus that a government Of priests sob
tain the scaffold's aim by means more cruel than
the scaffold, and without the outcry which the
scaffold would create" As to the wards des
tined for prisoners "at large" or those who are
confined by night only, and who in the daytime
have the privilege Of walking in the inner court
these rooms designed to hold ten prisoner each
are made to hold twenty. Think of the agonies
to be endueed by these unhappy men, pent up
during the suffocating heats of Roman summer,
in den to which light and air can only pierce
through one solitary crevice placed at height
of nearly seven feet from the ground. The on
ly relief to be obtained in this pestential furn
ace is by their mounting upon each others shoul-
ders in turn to gup a faiat and momentary
breath of stificd air.
The allowance of food to each prisoner is six
teen ounces of bread daily, two ounces and a
half of meat, weighed raw, and three ounces of
boullon: the meat and the bouillon are replaced
on fast days by vegetables boiled in salt and
water Only once month can they receive a
visit from relatives OF friends and then they
must speak with them through double grating
and in the presence of two gaolers. Within
the last few days six prisoners have literally died
of starvation in their cells. Two attempted sui.
eide, and have been put in irons for the attempt
to undergo further condemnation. Two others
raving mad, have been carried to the hospital OF
La Longara.
Grardin then gives the names, and describes
the offences of large number of these prisoners
but we have only room for one or two Of them,
TO show
HOW REPUBLICANS ARE MADE AND PUNISHED.
| DrOeati, Sabatlnl, quart, Drum, Catehaccl are
the five young men who were arrested on the
3Oth of April, 1850, with several of their com
panions in an artists studio, on charge of hav-
ing manufactured the Bengal lights" which
were let Off at Rome on the anniversary of the
republic Although, in the course of domi-
ciliarv visit which was made in their presence,
and lasted three hours, not a vestige of proof
was discovered in support of the charge, they
ware chained and plunppd into prison The
Judges, accompanied by sbirr and carabiniers,
paid second visit to the studio, which had been
lef open oil nigM; and in that second perquisi
ton, in the absence of the accused, was found
the powder, fusecs and matches they had sought
in vain for on the previous day.
1t was on these materials for conviction,
which constituted simple misdemeanor and
not a crime, and which, by common report, had
been introduced into the studio during the night,
that these young men were sentenced to the gal
| leys for twenty years. This sentence, it should
be added, is not founded, even ostensbly, upon
| any criminal act it refers neither to Bengal