is concerned, to transfer the cause to the bar of the privileged
tribunal. The jurisdiction of the exceptional tribunal is exercised in
the provinces by the vicar-general of the bishop; and in Rome the suits
are laid before the private auditors of the cardinal-vicar, and of the
bishop _in partibus_, his assistant. The auditors pronounce judgment in
the name of the cardinal or the bishop, who signs it without any
examination on his part. The suits which concern the public finances are
decided by the exceptional tribunal, and a tribunal called the "_Plena
Camera_" (full chamber); and any private person who might chance to gain
his cause is condemned, as an invariable maxim, to pay the costs.
Exceptional tribunals are to be found in very many parochial places,
especially in those parishes near Rome where the judges are named by,
and are removable at the will of, the baron. It can easily be imagined
what sort of a chance any one may have who should have a suit with the
baron. Besides all these, we must not omit the _Reverend Apostolical
Chamber_, always on the brink of bankruptcy, which has been in the habit
of exacting contributions, that they may sell to speculators the
revenues of succeeding years. Thus private families, invested with
iniquitous privileges, extort money from the unfortunate labourers, by
royal authority and the help of the bailiff.

There is another tribunal which should be styled _monstrous_, rather
than by the milder term of exceptional; this is the "_Fabbrica di S.
Petro_" (house of St Peter.) To this was granted, by the caprice of the
Pope, the right to claim from the immediate or distant heirs of any
testator, _even at remote epochs_, the sum of unpaid legacies for pious
purposes. The Cardinal Arch-Priest and the Commons, who represent the
pretended creditor, are judges between themselves and the presumed
debtor. They search the archives; they open and they close testamentary
documents not ever published; they arbitrarily burden the estates of the
citizens with mortgages or charges; and they commence their proceedings
where other tribunals leave off,--that is, by an execution and seizure,
under the pretence of securing the credits not yet determined upon. To
the commissaries of this strange tribunal in the provinces is awarded
the fifth of the sum claimed. Whosoever desires to settle the question
by a compromise is not permitted to attempt it, unless he shall first
have satisfied this fifth, and pai