Morning journal and courier., 1893-03-16
BrisandaPe fin Italy.

ltloman Letter m NeW Aork OoServer.l
 Bdgsudsge in Sicily Las lately occupied the minds sud the pens of certain cores pondents of foreign journals. The subjsct is delicate one for the Italians, who, since the establishment uf the present govern ment, have used every means in their pow CT to repress brigandage. It is true that some cssss have occurred, such as the i'm prisonment of Baron SpltalierI, but they insist that Italy Is rot the only country where robberies Rnd murders take place Exaggerated sud multiplied as the facts have been, they are TO worse than similar things in the heart of London, or the er- teTnal boulsvsrds of Paris, or In the fire quented parts oi Switzerland. They should be treated with deliesey, considering that correspondents are all euests of the coun- try they oriticisa 90 severely. The Italians express their irritation thus: "Nineiy times out of hundred we praise the Egg lish, but they rarely mention Italy except for politics and even then with ostentstious superiority. When they prrise Italy it Is the Italy of Dante, of Raphael, of BounA- rotti, the sunny land, but the modern Italy Is only the land of the idle. of mendi- esuts and brigan6s. Our defects snd mis- fortunes are displayed and commented up- on without mercy. We should love Eng land more if her press were more just and would acknowledge the progress made of late years. Our position as a Medilerran- can power Is only recognised when 1t might be useful to them; we gre said to be on the verge of bankruptcy, and Italy is repIs- sented ss meet of brigsnds and Asssssins. Sisnors Louisa de Ia Rama (0uids), who fr,hun hey 1nnrr rE1fla-,ra k.- us better, has written from Florence let ter, SO exaggerated and sensational that even th5 Roman correspondent of the Times thinks 1t necessary 10 modify it." Another correspondent ssys: "Brigsndage Is at the gates of Rome. I know some Roman princes who pay sl 900 e year to the brigsnds h order not to be molested while at their villas" But urpreiudioed persons living here believe there gre no more outrsges fB Italy on the whole than in other countrieg. The want of good roads iu Sicily Is the chief cause of brigand- age there. Large tracts of land are occu- pied by forests or crossed only by nArrow paths where the brigands live, hiding in grottoes and preventing communication from one town to another. The poorer class in Sicily who cultivate the ground in the large feudsl possessions, or extract sulphur from the mines, live miserably and are tempted to crime. The Maha still exists there, though greatly diminished through the energetic action of the govern ment in making railroads and good country roads. Brigsndsgo as it was in the times when the popes hsd the temporal power has disappeared. None could testify to this bsttsr than Cardinal Theo- doli, who died recently in Rome. When governor of FrosinoDs in 1868, he was sur- prised and captured one dsy while walking in the woods annexed to the convent of Trisulti, which he had selected for a sum- mer residence. "Tske care what you do," he said to his csptors, 'tfor am the gov ernor of Frosinone." They gave him no answer but e blow on the mouth, and car ried him away to the top of the mountain, from whence he was not released until his relatives had paid heavy tum.
 Two years ago, twenty-tvo years after this uncomfortable experience, Cardinal Theodoli visited again the lovely region of Trisulh, and protected by Italian cara binieri, spsnt his summer tranquilly, more secure than when he was governor of Frosinone.