gands, was persuaded to lay down his arms and to retire to Ischia, one of the most beautiful islands on the face of the earth, on condition that he and his followers were maintained there at the expense of the Government. Such a close to such a career had the natural effect of attracting many adventurers into it, and at the time that Francis II. retreated to Gaeta the brigands were all-powerful. There were two courses open to his successor-conciliation or hostility. The first would have been most disastrous for the nation, would have riveted for generations to come the disgraceful yoke under which the Bourbons had allowed the fairest provinces of Italy to pass. It is to the credit of Victor Emmanuel that he did not entertain such an idea. At the same time it is to be regretted that more prudence was not shown in carrying out the opposite policy. The brigands who had joined Garibaldi, and who subsequently offered their services to the King of Italy, were repulsed; and one of the brothers La Gala, who had requested to be employed in putting down brigandage, thereupon betook himself to his old career, in which he obtained a terrible notoriety by the atrociousness of his cruelties. At the same time that the Government thus showed itself rigidly severe towards the brigands, it rendered itself very unpopular among the people. The Neapolitans had worshipped Garibaldi; and when he retired to Caprera, and his place was taken by a military governor, and when the old Neapolitan laws and usages were altered, when new and heavy taxes were imposed, and unseemly haste was made to deprive Naplesby far the most populous city in Italy, and the third city on the continent for size-of its position, the estrangement between the people and their new sovereign became very great. As Count Maffei-himself a representative of the Government-confesses, in almost every branch of the administration the authorities altered the names, even when they did not alter the existing state of things; whilst, on the contrary, the secret of governing a new country in such a manner as to obtain the confidence of all classes, is to change the old system without altering the names. In effecting these changes, too, instead of making them gradually, and in such a manner as not to arouse the jealousy of the people, they were determined on and executed at once.' This course was the more unfortunate, inasmuch as the invincibility of the brigands depends upon the sympathy and assistance of the people. It is because these have been given and are still given that brigandage still flourishes. There was another circumstance which told against Victor Emmanuel. He had been excommunicated, and, as such, was considered an outcast

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by the Neapolitan clergy, the most superstitious in Europe. Francis, on the other hand, had always shown himself a most obedient son of the Church, and a warm supporter of the priesthood. The brigands were no less devoted, and thus both religious and political causes helped to strengthen the hands of the brigands, and to make them powerful for evil.

Francis II. was not long in taking advantage of these circumstances. From his palace in Rome, with the connivance of the French authorities, and with the open assistance of the Papal, he organised an army of banditti, commissioned to ravage and destroy-to outrage the women and murder the men amongst his late subjects, whom he hoped by such means to regain. Scarcely had Francis fled from his capital than brigandage broke out. The brigands descended from the mountains, and did so much mischief that the Government appointed General Pinelli, a stern soldier, to take vigorous measures for repressing them. He at once issued a proclamation, declaring that all brigands captured with arms in their possession would be shot. This announcement excited some severe criticisms in England among the supporters of the Bourbons, and they declared that such a measure against men fighting in behalf of their legitimate sovereign was not to be tolerated. These advocates little knew the character of their clients. These loyal soldiers, as they were deemed, were guilty of all kinds of atrocities, and were led by Chiavone, a man who had been drummed out of the Neapolitan army, and whose cruelty was equalled only by his cowardice. But the strong remonstrances of English pseudo-philanthropists led to the recall of Pinelli. A few weeks later the evil became more aggravated than before. The appointment of General Cialdini as Lieutenant-Governor of Naples had a favourable effect. The General was popular, and in proportion to his popularity the brigands lost ground with the people. For a time nearly suppressed, brigandage broke out with greater violence than ever in the spring of 1862, and it became doubtful if Victor Emmanuel would be able to maintain his authority. General La Marmora tried the hazardous experiment of ordering a conscription to put down the brigands. It was perfectly successful. Thirty-six thousand troops were raised without difficulty, and the National Guard was mobilised. A committee was appointed in 1863 to inquire into the condition of Southern Italy, with especial reference to brigandage, and it was deemed necessary to pass a bill placing the country under martial law for a limited time, and giving power to the troops to shoot persons found fighting against the Government, and even the manutengoli, the peasants who supplied the brigands

with food. This bill has since been renewed, and, armed with the powers conferred by it, General Pallavicini has been most successful in mitigating the evil which even at the present time is not wholly suppressed. The construction of new roads, which has been carried on with great spirit, has helped to render the career of the brigand far more dangerous than before. There is still, however, one great difficulty which the Government has to encounter. Partly from fear, but chiefly by reason of that traditional admiration of the brigand which has always prevailed in Southern Italy, the inhabitants too often aid the banditti by supplying them with food, and, what is quite as valuable, with information. In this way it becomes almost impossible for the troops to come up with the bandits. Mr. Moens has described how close are the relations between the brigands and the peasantry, and how, through them, the brigands obtain accurate knowledge of the position and strength of their foes, at the same time that the troops are utterly ignorant of the numbers and whereabouts of their antagonists. Probably Mr. Moens is right when he says that the only way to put down the forcible abduction of travellers, which is now the mode in which the brigands chiefly distinguish themselves, is to levy upon the district in which the capture is made the ransom which the captive has to pay.

Brigandage, at the present time, seems to have well-nigh lost its political and religious character, and to be carried on merely for purposes of gain. There is hope, therefore, that it may be confined within narrower limits than it attained two or three years ago. When it shall become the practice of only the needy or the vicious, and bear the same relation to society in Italy that burglary does to society in England, there will be no reason why it should not yield to such preventive and repressive measures as increased education and a more efficient police. But, whatever be the future of brigandage, its past will render it one of the most memorable incidents in the history of the establishment of the Italian kingdom, to which, indeed, it was a more formidable obstacle than the covert opposition of Napoleon, or the open hostility of the Bourbons. In truth, brigandage was one mode in which that opposition and that hostility were manifested. If it had not been for the direct support of Francis II., and the connivance of Napoleon, this terrible social pest could not have inflicted half the misery which is attributable to it. How terrible it was we shall best apprehend by following the careers of some of the most notable of the brigand leaders, and by learning what sort of men they were whom a king commissioned and a Pope blessed.

Caruso was one of the most energetic and most ferocious of

the

the brigand chiefs. His first exploit in the Capitanata-one of the districts which suffered most from the brigand ravageswas characterised by the ferocity for which he soon became distinguished. His band having received some supplies from a peasant, Caruso said that on his return he should require further assistance, and in the meantime he would give the peasant a remembrancer that was not likely to pass unheeded. With these words the bandit seized the hand of the unfortunate man, laid it on a table, and with a single blow severed it from the arm. Another peasant, suspected of being on good. terms with the authorities and the troops, had both his arms and legs cut off, and was then thrown into a caldron of boiling water. On one occasion, hearing that a certain mason had acted as guide to the troops, Caruso seized about a dozen of the mason's companions and slew them with his own hand. At a place called Castelvetere he found twenty-seven persons at work in the fields. His band overpowered the poor labourers, bound the men to the trees, outraged their wives and daughters before their eyes, then barbarously mutilated the poor women, and ultimately put both men and women to death. During the month of September, 1863, he put to death two hundred persons with his own hands. Hardened as his followers were, even they were sometimes horrified at his ferocity. One day, finding himself and his band hard pressed by the military, and while fleeing before them, he met a poor charcoal-burner, and, going up to him, asked him in a familiar tone to allow him to light his cigar at the pipe the carbonaro was smoking. The latter complied; and Caruso, while with one hand he returned the pipe to its owner, with the other shot the poor man in the face. His followers remonstrated at what they considered wanton and useless cruelty, but Caruso replied that the troops would be sure to stop when they saw his victim in the death struggle, and this brief halt would be of service to the brigands. Caruso met his end under the following circumstances. He had attacked a farmhouse, and, with his usual love of slaughter for its own sake, had put to death all the harmless and unresisting inmates save one girl of rare beauty, whom he reserved to be his mistress. He had her carried away to a miserable straw hut and kept in confinement, and at last, growing reckless, he determined to pay her a visit, although he was closely pursued. He went to her, and his arrival was immediately made known to the National Guard, who quickly came up and captured him. He was sentenced to death, and suffered execution with the courage which he had always displayed, but in which many other of the brigand chiefs were shamefully deficient. The brothers La Gala obtained

obtained an evil pre-eminence through the trial which they underwent after being taken from the French steamer Aunis by the Italian authorities. There was evidence of the fact that one of the brothers had cut off and eaten the ear of a captive for whom sufficient ransom was not forthcoming, and had jestingly remarked that priests' ears were good. The same wretches invited a young man named Francesco de Cesare to pay them a visit, and professed great friendship for him. On his arrival, and immediately after they had embraced him, one of them said, 'You must die, Francesco.' The victim, taking these words as a joke, laughed. Giona la Gala, however, called for a rope, bound his legs, and, while Francesco was still laughing, the bandit, drawing a dagger, pierced him with many blows; after which Cipriano la Gala shot him with a double-barrelled gun, and the rest of the brigands followed his example. Francesco's head was then cut off, and, with a pipe in its mouth, was placed in the sill of a window. His limbs were severed from his body and hanged on the neighbouring trees, with a placard on each, bearing the words, So are spies treated! This is the fate which awaits traitors!' The remainder of the body, cut into morsels, was afterwards roasted over a large fire and eaten by the cannibal supporters of the Bourbons. One of the brigands tried to make the uncle of the murdered man, who was a captive and a spectator of these atrocities, partake of the horrid banquet; and when he besought them, for the love of God, to spare him, they told him that they would eat him to-morrow. When these wretches were condemned to death they displayed abject fear.

Nearly as great monsters as these were Crocco, NincoNanco, and others, of whom there is not room to speak. There were, however, a few exceptions to this rule of ferocity. Two or three brigand chiefs were worthy the name of soldiers, for they fought as men instead of as demons, and in a cause which they believed to be just. One of these was a Belgian, of high family, and a relative of Mgr. de Mérode, at that time Minister of War to the Pope. His career was short. Soon after he had placed himself at the head of an armed band in Southern Italy, and while in the very act of firing, with his own hand, a house which had been broken into, he was seized by the royal troops. When told that he was to be shot immediately, in accordance with the severe law which had been passed ordering the summary execution of brigands taken with arms in their hands, he was incredulous. Even when he was turned with his face to the wall, the posture of disgrace always appointed for brigands, he still refused to believe in