al manuscript copies of which are to be found in the
public libraries of Paris--says, "The inquisitors may proceed against any
person whomsoever, no rank giving the right of exemption from their
jurisdiction. They may pronounce any sentence, even that of death; only
their final sentences must be passed unanimously. They shall have complete
charge of the prisons and _the leads_ (Fig. 333). They may draw at sight
from the treasury of the Council of Ten, without having to give any
account of the use made of the funds placed in their hands.

"The proceedings of the tribunal shall always be secret; its members shall
wear no distinctive badge. No open arrests shall be made. The chief of the
bailiffs (_sbirri_) shall avoid making domiciliary arrests, but he shall
try to seize the culprit unawares, away from his home, and so securely get
him under _the leads_ of the Palace of the Doges. When the tribunal shall
deem the death of any person necessary, the execution shall never be
public; the condemned shall be drowned at night in the Orfano Canal.

"The tribunal shall authorise the generals commanding in Cyprus or in
Candia, in the event of its being for the welfare of the Republic, to
cause any patrician or other influential person in either of those
Venetian provinces to disappear, or to be assassinated secretly, if such a
measure should conscientiously appear to them indispensable; but they
shall be answerable before God for it.

[Illustration: Fig. 334.--Member of the Brotherhood of Death, whose duty
it was to accompany those sentenced to death.--From Cesare Vecellio.]

"If any workman shall practise in a foreign land any art or craft to the
detriment of the Republic, he shall be ordered to return to his country;
and should he not obey, all his nearest relatives shall be imprisoned, in
order that his affection for them may bring him to obedience. Should he
still persist in his disobedience, secret measures shall be taken to put
him to death, wherever he may be.

"If a Venetian noble reveal to the tribunal propositions which have been
made to him by some foreign ambassador, the agent, excepting it should be
the ambassador himself, shall be immediately carried off and drowned.

"If a patrician having committed any misdeed shall take refuge under the
protection of a foreign ambassador, he shall be put to death forthwith.

"If any noble in full senate take upon himself to question the authority
of the Council of Ten, and per