of days, and, after a
military examination (though of what nature is a matter of dispute) found
guilty of treason against the state. The priest was sentenced to death
and shot at once; the other two prisoners were dismissed with a reproof.
Subsequently orders were issued for their re-arrest. One of them,
Latini, had made his escape meanwhile; the other, De Angelis, being less
fortunate, was arrested again and executed.

Now, how far these persons were really guilty or not of the offence for
which they suffered, I of course have no means of knowing. Common sense
tells one that a nation, fighting for dear life against foes abroad and
traitors within, is obliged to deal out very rough and summary justice,
and can hardly be expected to waste much time in deliberation. At any
rate, when the Papal authority was restored, the Pope, on the demand of
the French, declared a general amnesty for all political offences. This
promise, however, of an amnesty, like many other promises of Pius the
Ninth, was made with a mental reservation. The Pope pardoned all
political offenders, but then the Pope alone was the judge of what
constituted a political offence.

In accordance with this system the execution of Santurri and De Angelis
was decided not to have been a political offence, but a case of private
vengeance, and "the indignation of the public was so strong," that
Government could not refuse the imperative call for justice. Within a
few weeks, therefore, of the Papal restoration, seven inhabitants of
Giulianello were arrested on the charge of being concerned in the murders
of Santurri and De Angelis.

On the 4th of April, 1851, the Supreme Court of the Sacra Consulta met to
try the prisoners--nearly two years after the date of their arrest. The
court, as usual, was composed of six high dignitaries of the Church, and
throughout the mode of procedure differed in nothing that I can learn
from what I have described in the former trials, except that there is no
allusion to any preliminary trial before the ordinary lay courts. Whether
this omission is accidental, or whether, as in other instances during the
Papal "Vendetta" after '49, the ordinary forms of justice were dispensed
with, I cannot say. Garibaldi, De Pasqualis, and David, "self-styled"
General, Colonel, and auditor respectively of the Roman army, were
summoned to appear and answer to the charge against them, or else to
allow judgment to go by default. The prisoners