THE AUSTRIAN DOMINATION IN ITALY. 405 



gard to causes directly affecting the government. In these cases the 

 judge having the fear of losing his place before his eyes, generally 

 tries to reconcile his judgment with his interest. If he sees that the 

 government is flagrantly wrong, he declares the case to belong to the 

 administration, and out of his jurisdiction. By this means a scru- 

 pulous judge shifts the responsibility off his own shoulders, others 

 sacrifice their private fortunes in the hope of receiving compensation 

 from the government which they oblige. 



In the 25th section of the civil code we find, " as the guilty person 

 alone makes himself liable to punishment, on him alone can it fall." 

 Yet his apostolic majesty confiscates the property of those subjects 

 who leave his dominions without a proper passport, and thus reduces 

 their families to beggary. 



In the 424th section of the Austrian penal code we meet with this 

 admirable maxim, "excessive rigour is offensive to justice ;" but this is 

 neutralized by the words which follow, " when a prisoner has been 

 condemned, his punishment during the period of expiration may be 

 increased by privation of food, and the application of the bastinade." 

 Farther on we find this definition of career e durissimo, the penalty to 

 which the unfortunate Pellico was condemned for the offence of en- 

 tertaining liberal opinions. 



" The condemned/' says this merciful enactment, " shall be con- 

 fined in a cell separated from all communication, with only sufficient 

 light and space to prolong his existence. He shall be constantly loaded 

 with heavy irons attached to his hands and feet, and always secured 

 (except during the intervals of labour) by a chain fastened to an iron 

 ring encircling his body. His only food shall be bread and water, 

 with something warm every other day, but never flesh meat. His 

 bed shall be formed of a naked board ; and he shall not be allowed 

 to see any body whatsoever, or to communicate with any person 

 under whatsoever pretence." 



The code proclaims that " the innocent should never suffer " but 

 the melancholy fate of Professor Romagnosi, is a singular instance of 

 its operation. In 1821, this venerable man, then in his seventieth 

 year, was torn from his bed by the police, and dragged before the 

 tribunal at Venice, charged with some political offence. His faithful 

 servant implored the favour of being confined with his master, in 

 order to bandage his legs, which were then in a diseased state : need 

 we say that it was refused him. After an eight months' imprisonment, 

 the professor was declared " innocent" by the government tribunals. 

 He asked to be reconducted to Milan ; but he was told he might go 

 thither at his own expense. No sooner was he freed from the snares 

 of the political inquisition, than he found he was deprived of the right 

 of keeping a school, which formed his only means of support from 

 the period when his imperial majesty deprived him of his professor's 

 chair in the university of Pavia. Lord Guilford, the founder of the 

 university of Corfu, having learned the merit and misfortunes of 

 Romagnosi, offered him a lav/ professorship in that city, with a salary 

 of 9,200 francs ; but the government refused him a passport, and his 

 age and infirmities rendered flight impossible. So much for the pro- 

 tection of the innocent ! 



