e world, the Pope himself included, shuddered
at the sight.

It would cost his Holiness very little trouble to snatch the knife
from the hands of his subjects. We don't ask him to begin over again
the education of his people, which would take time, or even to
increase the attractions of civil justice, so as to substitute
litigants for assassins. All we require of him is, that he should
allow criminal justice to dispose of some few of the worst characters
who throng to these evil haunts. But this very natural remedy would be
utterly repugnant to his notions. The tavern assassin is seldom a foe
to the Government.

Not that the Pope absolutely refuses to let assassins be pursued; that
would be opposed to the practice of all civilized countries. But he
takes care that they shall always get a good start of their pursuers.
If they reach the banks of a river the pursuit ceases, lest they
should jump into the water and be drowned without confession and
absolution. If they seize hold of the skirts of a Capuchin Friar--they
are saved. If they get into a church, a convent, or a hospital--saved
again. If they do but set foot upon an ecclesiastical domain, or upon
a clerical property (of which there is to the amount of L20,000,000 in
the country), justice stands still, and lets them move on. A word from
the Pope would reform this abuse of the right of asylum, which is a
standing insult to civilization. On the contrary, he carefully
preserves it, in order to show that the privileges of the Church are
above the interests of humanity. This is both consistent and legal.

Should the police get hold of a murderer by accident, and quite
unintentionally, he is brought up for trial. Witnesses of the crime
are sought, but never found. A citizen would consider himself
dishonoured if he were to give up his comrade to the natural enemy of
the nation. The murdered man himself, if he could be brought to life,
would swear he had seen nothing of the affair. The Government is not
strong enough to force the witnesses to say what they know, or to
protect them against the consequences of their depositions. This is
why the most flagrant crime can never be proved in the courts of
justice.

Supposing even that a murderer lets himself be taken, that witnesses
give evidence against him, and that the crime be proved, even then the
tribunal hesitates to pronounce the sentence of death.

The shedding of blood--legally--saddens a people; the Government has