The evening times., 1900-04-18

! social facts of Sicily in our time without
! reference 10 the past. Centuries Of tur-
| bulence and misgovernment produced q
1 condition of affairs In which every man.
| hand was against every other mans, ant
in which, the idea Of just and impartial law
! becoming weak, the inevitable alternative
! Of the rude justice OF revenge became
widespread. In our day, with the possible
| exception Of some OF the outlying district.
| of European Russia, Sicily is the poorest
| part Of Europe. The wages earned in her
! sulphur mines and the horrible condition
| OF the people employed therein have been
| so completely exposed that it is not neces-
! sary TO dwell thereon. Suffice il to say
| that with the two factors of wIetched pow
| erty and a long historical training in
crime superadded TO quick blooded vio-
| lent people, We may understand the grow th
| and power in Sicily of that murderous So
| ciety, the Mafa, which the Italian Gov
ernment is now attacking in earnest al
| Messina.
Private Revenge a Mainspring.
The Malta is to all intents and pur-
| poses a murderous organization which
sticks at nothing TO secure it's ends. But
formally, and on one side. II is kind Of
mutual benefit society. Its members are
bound TO protect and benefit one another
under given conditions or pay the dread
penalty for failure or neglect. 1t may
seem unfair TO liken il 10 that great Sc
cret political society of the Carbonari, and
yet there is a certain common spirit ami
mating the two bodies, and that is the We
hement, revengeful, yet subtle and
stealthy spirit of southern Italy. When
Louis Napoleon had broken the oath of
the Carbonari TO liberate Italy as soon as
he had OF was believed to have the power
TO do so Orsini prepared his terrible re-
Venge. 1t may, Of course be said that Or
sinis ultimate object Of a free Italy was
noble one, while the object OF the Malta
is probably as criminal as the method But
IL is of the method We are speaking as it
is mainly with the method that the Ital-
ian Government is dealing; and therefore,
We say that in both cases the dark tor
tuous. reyengeful spirit of the mixed pop
ulations of southern Italy is manifest. AS
plain matter of fact, the objects of the
Malta are not always criminal. member
OF the society has been injured il is nee
essary to aid and protect him. and to pun
lsh those who have wrought the injury.
Now these are quite legitimate objects.
what is not legitimate is the fact that
private persons take the revenge for wrong
into their own hands. In the name OF one
victim they create several. They attack
in the dark lane or the lonely suburb;
they plunge the knife into the side Of the
unarmed man; without warning they strike
home, and generally with fatal accuracy
Here, then, is the outcome of the historic
past-the contempt for law born OF gerer-
atiOns of lawlessness, the violent anarchy
child of centuries OF organized oppi piession
and misgoyernment The idea Of impartial
impersonal law, of justice as between men,
is we'll nigh inconceivahle to such a people
and the society for private revenge is the
inevitable outcome. This notion of private
revenge is aided by the awful poverty Of
Sicily. No one who knows anything OF the
conditions of labor in Sicily will wonder
that the anarchical instincts of human ma
ture rebel against them, for there is
point of serYile degradation and grinding
toll when the red blood coursing through
mans veins will make of him an Ishmael
among his fellows, his hand against every
man. II this is true even of men in the
frozen North with their cool heads and
heavy spirits, how much more true is it of
hot bloCded races that live in the sun and
who are glad enough of an excuse TO escape |
from mine or workshop and hire them |
selves out to an association which will re- |
yenge their own wrongs in the persons of !
their oppressors. This revenge the Malta !
can accomplish. BY its mutual confedera-
cy. its Eanylinked chain Of human con- |
nection, its secrecy tthe violation of which /
is punished by DEATH. it can strike home
with unerring aim; and this is just what
the poverty stricken victim of misfortune /
calls for.
An Offspring of PaganISm
1t must be remembered that South Italy |
is still virtually pagan. Under the vest
ments of Christian Saints the old pagan /
deities still reign, and consequently the /
Christian virtues of patience, forgiveness, /
brotherhood have but little real power
among South Italians There is kindliness,
no doubt, but 1t is the heather quality, not
the renewed Christian feeling toward |
others. Think of men as they were when |
rraian was ruling if you would enter into
the spirit which creates and sustains the
Malta; but also think of the absence of
hat sentiment Of security which animated
the Roman provincial in the days of the
empire.
The members of the magisterial and DO
ice force may almost be said to take their
ives in their hands when dealing seriously
with the Malta. 1t is also not difficult to
conceive of the very guardians of order
lrawn into the comradeship of guilt. But
he Italian Government owes it to Italy 10
purge the land of secret conspiracy to
,rime. If the Municipal Government of
Rome has done so much to change the
morale of the capital, We must believe that
he Government of Italy cannot fail In
lealing with criminal conspiracy. If the
zeal of the confessional stands in the way
he Government will have to consider
where the liberty OF the Church must be
from license II local official
sm is recaleitrant. the Government must
lee to it that its designs are not balked by
corrupt bureaucracy. But above all
hings while graphing with actual crime.
he Government must not fail to deal with
me of the chief causes of the kind of
rhine that prevails in Italy-grinding pow
rty. The past cannot be blotted out. the
lirect causes of crime which that past has
contributed to the character OF Southern
tally cannot be rooted up: they can only
'ield to the slow pressure of time and of
he melting out to all of even handed JUS
Spectator.