On Wednesday things had gone from bad to worse at
Prague, and a state of siege was proclaimed. The conditions of a state of siege are so strangely mediaeval that we must recount them as they are given by the Vienna correspondent of the Times in Thursday's issue :—" The Court of first instance acts as a Court of summary procedure with military protection. The executioner, with his assistants, must be within the precincts of the Court. All persons arrested in flagrante delieto and all whose guilt appears evident must be brought before the summary Court, the proceedings of which must, as far as possible, be carried through without interruption. If the four Judges composing the Court unanimously recog- nise the guilt of the accused, sentence of death must be passed, and executed within two or, at most, three hours. Appeal is inadmissible. Only after one or more executions have given the necessary example can the tribunal admit extenuating circumstances in minor cases and inflict penal servitude from five to twenty years." The correspondent puts a. grim and final touch to this picture by adding: "The
Vienna executioner has already left for Prague." Apparently his arrival had a very sobering effect. According to the latest news in the Times, the "various hangmen" have no other occupation than to "confer on the situation."
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