THE AUSTRIAN DOMINATION IN ITALY. 407 



a course of examination, " If your answer," said Salvotti, " could 

 injure you, I would not press you, but since it will not affect your 

 position in any way, and as it is necessary that the emperor should 

 see that I have interrogated you on this point, I must entreat of you 

 to reply." The prisoner, fearing that his refusal to reply might be 

 strained into contumacy, answered with noble candour, " A man 

 of honour has but one reply to such a question, and I will leave you 

 to judge what is mine." Salvotti rose with an air of triumph, crying 

 out, " This is sufficient, you may now be condemned." He was 

 consigned to the dungeons of Spielberg, where he languished eight 

 years. 



The desire of repressing and controlling the thoughts, as well as 

 the actions of its subjects, has given rise to the most wide-spread and 

 persevering system of espionage on the part of the Austrian govern- 

 ment that ever signalized the annals of despotism. The spies of the 

 police are every where in the church, in the street, the tavern, the 

 workshop, the ball-room, and the dining-hall. All letters are opened 

 and inspected. It has been estimated that the espionage of Milan 

 alone costs 174,000 francs. 



Our space will not permit us to give a more detailed account of the 

 working of the system in the other branches of the administration. 

 Perhaps we may return to it on another occasion for the farther edi- 

 fication of Count Pozzo. At present we shall sum up as briefly as 

 we can, what seem to us the principal evils of which the Italians 

 have to complain. 



1st. A defective and vitiated system of administering justice. 



2d. Restraints upon personal liberty, by the rigid operation of the 

 passport system and an all-powerful police. 



3d. Restraints upon industry and commerce, by an arbitrary and ill- 

 digested system of taxation. 



4th. Restraints upon the progress of the arts and sciences, and the 

 perfection of the human intellect, by an oppressive censorship of the 

 press, and the systematic persecution of men of letters and learning.* 



5th. Misery and ignorance resulting from these combined causes. 



We do not find Count Pozzo addressing his logic to disprove any 

 of those grievances. The refusal of an advocate to the accused in 

 criminal cases, he justifies by the example of France and England ; 

 and the lenity of the censorship of the press, he proves by some ex- 

 tracts from his own works,which were allowed to pass without cen- 

 sure. This every one will exclaim is a most lame and impotent con- 

 clusion. If by the law of England a prisoner is refused the aid of 

 an advocate, he is fortified and protected by bulwarks of which the 

 Austrian law knows nothing. And though the count's diatribes 

 were allowed to pass for a moment, yet in the end the author did not 

 escape unscathed. The count concludes with some direct advice, as 

 well to the Austrian government as to its Italian subjects, at which 

 we are less disposed to cavil. He exhorts the former not to tire in 



* In 1821 the emperor told the professors of Lubima that he wanted faithful 

 and religious subjects, and not learned men.Alfieri's " Tyrant" was prohibited 

 bv the censor. 



