546 



ITAI,Y. 



on a large scale. The province of Benevento, 

 in particular, became the headquarters of the 

 gangs of Chiavone and Caruso. Tliis time the 

 French troops in the Papal States interfered in 

 favor of the Italian Government, and many of 

 the brigands were seized at Rome, Civita 

 Vecchia and other places of the Papal States, 

 and either imprisoned or handed over to the 

 Italian Government. On July 10th, the prefect 

 of Genoa, Gualterio, seized five insurgent chiefs 

 on board the French vessel Aunis ; but this act 

 the Italian Government soon disavowed as a 

 violation of a convention concluded between 

 the two countries in 1862, and the five pris- 

 oners were conducted to France. Subsequently, 

 however (September 10th), upon a demand 

 made by Italy for their extradition, the brig- 

 ands were surrendered by France. 



The report of the committee of the Chamber 

 of Deputies on Neapolitan brigandage, charged 

 the Papal Government with giving the greatest 

 possible support to the brigands. It said : 



The provinces of Frosinone and of Velletri are those 

 where, for the most part, the brigand bands are form- 

 ed ; none of the peasants in these two provinces form 

 part of them they consist of foreign adventurers, or 

 of bad characters, and men in the lowest state of mis- 

 ery, who have come from the Neapolitan provinces. 

 The brigands of Tristany's band are generally dressed 

 in a species of military uniform ; and those who play 

 the part of officers wear the distinctive badges of their 

 different ranks. The Papal police have no eyes to see 

 these preparations for war, and allow them to be car- 

 ried out tranquilly, without offering the least opposi- 

 tion. At the end. of the summer season of the year 

 1861, the band headed by Chiavone, which, so fre- 

 quently defeated, had been just as frequently renewed 

 and reunited, acquired considerable proportion. It set 

 out in eight companies of 50 men each, and desig- 

 nated its chiefs by names taken from military ranks ; 

 among its members, especially amongst its self-styled 

 leaders, were Spanish, French, Swiss, and Irish ad- 

 venturers, and the Belgian Trazeignies. This band, 

 encamped with impunity near the frontier of Sora, be- 

 tween Santa Francesca and Casamari ; it had even its 

 outposts and its videttes, nor did it ever meet with any 

 hindrance until the day when, after having resolved, 

 on the llth November, 1861, to cross the frontier, it 

 received from our troops a merited chastisement in the 

 combats of Isoletta and of St. Giovanni Incarico. As' 

 often as the brigands cross the frontier they are met 

 by our troops and defeated ; but then they" have al- 

 ways been at full liberty to recover and reorganize 

 themselves by recrossinginto the Roman territory. At 

 the Cumpo di Fiori, and at the Piazza Montanora, in 

 Rome, there are persons who notoriously give a bounty 

 to all the recruits they can find for the brigand bands. 

 They choose and find their recruits among the peas- 

 ants of the Abruzzo Aquilano, who have fled from the 

 fear of conscription, or for crimes. The Papal Gov- 

 ernment assists them with arms and money, and, in 

 order not to be discovered, it employs every species of 

 artifice. On one occasion, for example, it supplied 

 several hundreds of military greatcoats, and in order 

 to carry out its purpose, the Minister of War adver- 

 tised a sale, by public auction, of these greatcoats. A 

 French priest made his appearance at the auction as 

 the mock purchaser. No sooner had he got them than 

 he consigned them punctually to the brigands for whom 

 they were destined. The Bourbon committees of Alatri, 

 Frosinone, Ceccano, Velletria, and Pratica are un- 

 ceasingly engaged in the work of helping the brigands. 

 In the Bourbon committee of Frosinone there are, of 

 persons connected with the Papal Government, a judge, 

 a chancellor of the episcopal court, two canons, and 



the curate. In that of Ceccano, there is a person in 

 Cardinal Antonelli's own household ; in that of Alutri, 

 there are several canons ; in that of Pratica, there is 

 the archpriest, who sometimes accompanies the brig- 

 ands on their raids. At the abbey of the order of the 

 Passionists, in Ceccano, there resides a Papal gen- 

 darme, in active service, and two gensdarmes living on 

 their pensions, who act as the regular guides to the 

 robbers. Nor does Tristany take the least trouble to 

 mask their designs. He openly assumes the title of 

 " Field-Marshal commanding the royal troops of the 

 Two Sicilies." 



According to the report, the war against 

 brigandage from May 1st, 1861, to the end of 

 March, 1863, caused the loss of 21 officers and 

 286 soldiers of the Italian army, " a painful sacri- 

 fice," as the report observes, " when the char- 

 acter of the victims is compared with that of 

 the murderers. As to the brigands, the number 

 of killed, arrested, and voluntarily surrendered, 

 exceed 7,000. The report, after admitting the 

 necessity of a special and provisional law, di- 

 vides it into two parts, one preventive and 

 the other repressive, and declares against the 

 purely arbitrary system hitherto followed by 

 the military executions. The report calls for 

 the creation of tribunals, to apply to the brig- 

 ands taken in arms the enactments of the mil- 

 itary code in time of war, such jurisdiction to 

 cease with the brigandage itself. 



On September 8th, the brigand chiefs Crocco, 

 Ninco Nanco, Carusa, and Fortora presented 

 themselves at Kionero to the commandant 

 of the Italian troops, requesting a safe con- 

 duct for 250 other brigands who had promised 

 to give in their submission to the Government. 

 The chiefs left Kionero for Lagopesole with 

 cries of "Viva Victor Emmanuel," and dis- 

 playing the national flag. 



On December 22d, the Chamber of Deputies 

 adopted a motion by 159 against 51 votes, to 

 the effect that the law upon the suppression of 

 brigandage should be postponed to the end of 

 February, 1864. 



On the following day the " Official Gazette" 

 of Turin published a decree pronouncing 

 postponement of the law to the time indie 

 by the Chamber of Deputies. 



The efforts of the Italian Government to brii _ 

 about a reconciliation with the Court of Rome 

 were unsuccessful. In order to avoid as much 

 as possible any conflicts with the church, a cir- 

 cular, of March 25th, recognized the right of 

 clergymen to omit the name of the sovereign; 

 from public prayers, provided they did not sub- 

 stitute for it those of the former rulers. Tho 

 Government also declared itself against amotion 

 made in the Chamber of Deputies by a liberal 

 priest, Father Passaglia, to require all priests to 

 take an ^oath of loyalty to the king and tho 

 constitution. In opposition to this motion, tho 

 Government advocated liberty of conscience, 

 and the principle of a free church in a freo 

 state, and the Chambers concurred in the view J 

 of the Government. 



On November 13th, the Committee of tho 

 Chamber of Deputies appointed to examine th-3 

 treaty of commerce and navigation with France, 



