The Somerset reporter., 1895-06-06
JUSTICE N MONACO.

l wish had leisure to speak at length
Of this astonishing state, smaller than a
French village, but where one finds an
absolute sovereign, bishops, an army of
Jcsaits and divinity students more nu
merous than that OF the prince an ar
tillery the ordnance Of which is almost
ritled, an etiquette more elaborate than
that Of the late Louis XIV principles of
government more despOtic than those OF
William Of Prussia, and, III addition to
all this, a magnificent federation for the
vices Of humanity,
On the other hand, let us salute this
virtuous peacefully disposed king, who,
fearing neither inyasions nor revolu-
tions, rules TRANQUILITY over his happy
little people i'll the midst Of court cere-
monial, in which is preserved intact the
tradition of four reverences, 26 hand
kissings and all the forms observed i'll a
bygone era in the presence of great rul-
ers.
This monarch, above everything, is
neither bloodthirsty nor revengeful,
and when he banishes--for he does ban
ish-the sentence is carried out with in
finite tact.
Is it necessary to produce proofs of
this?
A pigheaded gambler, after a day of
bad luck, insulted the sovereign He
was expelled from the country by royal
decree
For a month he roamed around the
forbidden paradise fearing the flaming
sword of the archangel i'll the shape Of a
gendarme' 9 saber Finally he one day
plucked up courage, crossed the from
tier, gained in 30 seconds the heart Of
the country and entered the Casino. But
suddenly an official stopped him
''Were you not baniShed, monsieur?'
Certainly l was, but | am going
back by the next train "
"Oh, in that case it is all right. You
can enter, monsieur.
And every week he returned, and ON
each occasion the same official put to
him the same question: which he an
swered in the same fashion.
But II few years ago a serious and en-
tirely novel case arose in the principal
ity.
A murder had been committed.
A man, native of Monaco, not one
of the transient strangers of whom one
meets lcgions, but a marl1cd man. III
moment Of passion had killed his wife.
He had killed her without reason,
without any e1tenuating circumstances.
This opinion was unanimous through
out the whole principality.
The supreme court met to judge this
exceptional case, for never before had
murder been committed. and the wretch
was condemned to death.
The outraged sovereign signed the
death warrant.
1t only remained to execute the Grim
inal But here difficulty presented it
self The country possessed neither eX
ecutioner nor guillotine.
What WAS to be done? On the advice
of the foreign minister, the prince en-
tered into negotiations with the French
government to obtain the loan Of a re-
mover Of heads and his apparatus.
Long deliberations i'll the ministerial
office at Paris. Finally they replied aud
forwarded IA minute of expenses for
moving the guillotine and for the serv-
ices Of the expert The total was lG, 900
francs.
His majesty Of Monaco thought that
the affair was going to cost him pretty
4 1tr,
worth so much money, Sixteen thousand
francs for the neck of a rascal The
devil
He then preferred the same request to
the Italian government. A king, q
brother in royalty, would doubtless not
prove such hard bargainer as a republic.
The Italian government sent minute
of expenses which amounted TO Il, 900
francs
Twelve Thousand francs! Why, it
would be necessary to impose new
tax a tax of 2 francs head on the in
habtants. That would be enough to
stir up unknown troubles in the state.
He contemplated decapitating the
ruffian by an ordinary soldier But the
SeueIdl, Oh DelHS CONSULTED, was dOuDu-
ful whether any of his men had had
sufficient sword practice to acquit them
selves satisfactorily Of task demand
ing great experience III handling the
weapon.
So the prince again convened the su.
preme court and submitted to them this
embarrassing position OF affairs.
The court sat long time without
discovering any practical solution. At
Last the president suggested committing
the death sentence into one of imprison-
ment for life, and the suggestion was
adopted
But they had no prison 1t was neces
sary to improvise one, A jailer was also
commissioned who took charge of the