The south-western. [volume] (Shreveport, La.) 1852-1870, 1859-06-29

rid of Austria The Italians are not so I'M
patient the wonder is that they have borne
the infection of repression terror, suffering
loss and dishonor SO long; but since Engllshmen
/ have forgotten how the misery has come home
to individuals, we give'a few passages OF the
old story. We have lately received those Nea-
politan exiles who could exemplify in their own
persons the treatment that they had experienced
under a government which daily violates the
constitutional law Of its own eXlstence-a gov
eminent against which our own had made
vain demonstration - professedy to carry out
the policy of 1856. At the other extremity
of Italy the endurance of the natives was OF
an equally practical kind. Engllshmen can
have little idea of the annoyance which polsonS
the life of an Italian-say in Lombardy; but
very few facts may possibly exempllty the
condition of the people The police OF Milan
NAV be said. to consist of an Austrian soldlery
"a police armed with the sabre, holding the
authority of a conquerng race, and exaspera-
ted BY inevitable alienation. The Austnans,
as the reader will presently understand have
rendered themselves so intolerabfe that Italians
cannot associate with them; and II you enter
the pit Of theatre you will see the trst few
seats taken by Austrians, while the Italians,
who are driven to the back, leave one seat en-
! tirely vacant between themselves and the aliens.
4 IF an English officer in the Austrian service
discovers relatives of his own amongst the
| Italians in Milan, he forbears to notice them,
| lest they should become suspected and be driven
from Italian society We pursue the narrative
in the language of an esteemed correspondent
who knows the country well, and travelled 1t in
recent years
In recent paper on occupation IN Italy, 1t
/ is observed: 1T England upholds such sys-
TEN it is only from ignorance Of its enormltIes"
In order to aid in enghtening this ignorance,
may | ask you to insert the following extracts
from the Austrian Penal Code, established in
the Lombardo Venetian province in l5l5,wlth
which few of your readers are likely to be ac-
quainted, together with certain facts winch may
serve to modify the admiration occasionally
expressed for the "paternal'' rule OF Austria.
could have added many more from my per-
sonal knowledge during prolonged residence
in different parts Of Italy in 1853 81 SO, but
have preferred offering such as can be au-
thenticated by evidence which the most violent
enemies of Italian independence cannot call in
question: the Official Gazette of Milan.
To begin with the Penal Code. What do
Englshmen say to this? /. The proceedings
are to be given in writing; the prisoner can
claim no defender, nor can he demand that the
charges brought against him should be COM
municated to him. Article 337.
Corporal chastisement forms a fundamental
part Of the code High and low, rich and
poor, man and woman, are subjected to this
degrading treatment-as degrading to the full
in the eyes of an Italian as in those of an
Englishman True, mot more than fifty blows
are to be administered at one time" In the
case of youths under eighteen, and younger
women, rods are to be substituted for tie stick.
Article 90.
When the sentence has been pronounced, the
punishment may be augmented by the addition
of fasting and the baslinado. Article 1921.
Imprsonmentis of three ptions-duro,
piu duro, durssmo The latter is thus des-
scribed in the penal code, article IA. 1.-The
prisoner is to be confined in a dungeon, shut
out from all external communication, with just
air and light sufficient to sustain existence.
He is to be loaded with letters hand and foot,
day and night, and to be fastened by chain
to an iron ring riNeted round his waist-except
during the hours of work. His food is TO be
bread and water, soup once In two days, no
meat. His bed is to be formed of bare
pIanks, and he is forbidden to speak to any one
even his jailors." 1t was to this treatment that
the ilustIious patriots confined in the Spelberg
were subjected; it is beneath similar treatment
that some of the best and noblest italians are
now writing. The penal code, section 377,
commands ''that in everything relating to. the
State, the wife shall denounce the husband, the
husband the wife, the child the father, the father
the child on pain Of punishment as accompli-
ces" Almost all political ofenses are sill
brought before what is called the ''Trbunalo
SJadario" Sections 500 sol of the penal code. }
This tribunal is composed of military officers,
Germans, Croats and Bohemans, who scarcely
understand word of Italian, and who, from
habit, education and national prejudice detest
and scorn the Italian people. They speak
German to each other; the witnesses are ques-
toned in German, of which, if Italians, they,
in their turn, seldom comprehend syllable,
while if otherwise. they are sure to give their
testimony against the prisoner Thus says
Gioyin the learned author of austria in
Italy," the accused having no one to defend
him, may be condemned almost without
knowing his crime, and learn it only when
he is informed ''that in half an hour the rope
will be around his neck"
The slightest demonstration of popular feel
ing is visited by the most summary and brutal
punishment. Thus, in 1849, on the birth day
of the Emperor, certain Kisses having been
issuing from the midst Of the crowd in one of
the most frequented streets in Milan, in front
of the Cafe d Mazza, of which the object APP
parenty was the Austrian flag hoised in the
balcony Of a well-known courtesan, "aII the
passers by were seized, dragged before a mill
tary tribunal, and condemned to different de-
grees of corporal punishment, according to
the degree of their offence says the Gazette
Oficiale Of Milan, Oath August, 1919
Among the accused were men of high stand
ing and irreproachable character, merchants,
barrsters, students, many of whom probably
were ignorant of the whole affair, and two
young girls, also perfectly respectable. The
latter were condemned to forty strokes each
The sentence was executed instantly after
beng pronounced on the public place before
the castle, in the presence of troop Of Aus
trian officers, who laughed with contemptuous
cynicism at the indecent exposure and the cries
of the victims. So far the tale. Now for the
episode The military commandment of Milan
sent the municipality a bill for 80 forms
kreuzers, E2 19s. Sd. for the expense of ice