The Government of Italy is hampered in its dealings with
brigands by the difficulty of obtaining a verdict to be followed by a capital sentence, and the Government of Spain by the uncertainty of legal proceedings. The Judges frequently acquit brigands with money, and when they do not such men purchase the means of escape. River°, ,the able Minister of the Interior under the Republic, resorted therefore to the- plan adopted in the American back-woods, and had all brigands taken red-handed shot, and now the present Government has found itself compelled to follow his example. A brigand when captured is understood to be intending escape, and to prevent escape is shot. Brigands do not like this, and are tempted to give up their bade. It is stated that the people highly approve this summary justice, the worst effect of which is that it secures a longer toleration for- the slowest Courts of justice in the world. They are superseded when they are unendurable, and therefore are never reformed.
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