garret to cellar, and an American family, who
chanced to be there, with great difficulty escaped
with their lives, at the cost of passing the night
hidden in a sort of closet. Every atom of
property belonging to them was carried off or
destroyed. This family escaped from the doomed
city, to Florence, and their narrative was one of
the earliest certainties we had of the details of
the sack. The ladies of this family were got
out of the city blindfolded, to save their eyes
from the horrible sights that must otherwise
have met them as they passed through the
streets. Yet one of them, a person in advanced
years, had suffered so severely from the shock
her nervous system had undergone, that it was
many days before she recovered her usual state
of mind. Throughout the city there were
wounded men bayoneted a second time, many
inoffensive and unarmed persons were slain, several
old men, numbers of women; so that many more
lives were lost in the sack than in the contest.

On other most frightful violences and hidden
crimes we will be silent; for it is better to bury
them in oblivion, lest the publication of them
be an additional infliction on the victims.

These scenes continued without intermission
for many hours; frightened crowds, as the night
fell, begging mercy from the tired executioners,
while it is testified that officers were heard to
urge them to their work witli the cry, "Kill!
kill!" At length the slaughtering ceased, the
soldiers retired to the barracks provided for them,
and the city imagined that its punishment was over.
But more murders and fresh robberies were
committed the following day. The Papal troops
slept upon their excesses, and arose refreshed to
recommence them. And, when these were done,
the city, placed under military rule, was
ordered to illuminate in sign of rejoicing and
gratitude; and it was intimated by the
commander-in-chief to the citizens, that if the
illuminations were not abundant, he could not answer
for what might happen from the indignation of
his troops!

IV.

IT is to be hoped—and indeed can hardly
well be doubted—that the consequences of the
deeds done at Perugia on the 20th and 21st of
June by the court of Rome, will be larger and
wider spreading than could be indicated in the
pages of this journal. The consequences, which
have to be told for the completing of this little
narrative, are only those more immediate results
which have filled Europe with astonishment and
indignation even more profound than that caused
by the news of the atrocity itself, and which
have, not unbeneficially, served to bring home
with undeniable force of evidence the full
responsibility of the deed to its real authors.

It was, of course, expected that the Pontifical
government would hasten to cast from it the
odium and the infamy attaching to so horrible a
tragedy. Many who still believed in the benevolence
and mild virtues of the benignant Pio
Nono felt compassion for the agony of grief
and shame which would wring his paternal
heart when he should learn the horrors done in
his name and by his agents. Even those who
knew better than this—those who were
instructed in the real spirit of the Apostolic
government, and were skilled in sacerdotal
nature—even those fully anticipated that, as
usual in such cases, the blame would be laid on
"orders exceeded," "ungovernable troops,"
"much to be regretted indiscretion of the
military authorities," and so forth—the stereotyped
phraseology of governments whose agents
have faithfully executed atrocities of which they
have not dared to face the infamy. But, tidings
came that Rome not only avouched the deed,
but approved and glorified it, and hastened to
heap signal marks of its gratitude and approbation
on the executors of it.

The official paper of the government
announced to the world that "the Holy Father,
in order to manifest to Colonel Schmid (the
commander of the expedition) his very high
satisfaction, has deigned to promote him to the
rank of General of Brigade, and has commanded
that due praise should be given to the troops
who have taken part in this act (in questo
fatto), and who have so distinguished
themselves." The general accordingly issues an
order of the day, in which he says, "Let all
praise, then, be given to these brave soldiers, and
may they be to us all, a noble and generous
example!" A gratuity of six thousand crowns
was furthermore distributed to these ruffians by
their priestly paymasters, in addition to double
pay and all the plunder of the city; and every
man is to receive a medal bearing the effigy of
the good Pio Nono in commemoration of his
prowess.

Of course priestly defenders of the Pope and
his counsellors have not been wanting on this as
on every other occasion. The gist of what they
say, is, that a sovereign must put down rebellion
at any cost. Without adverting to the
nature of the infamous rule which makes such
rebellion a duty and a necessity, it may be
answered that, if the position of a sovereign
prince can, under any circumstances, force him
to act as Rome has acted at Perugia, then, that
circumstance alone is an abundantly sufficient
reason why "CHRIST'S VICAR ON EARTH" should
not hold such a blasphemous position.

PLINY MADE EASY.

THE Biblical proverb tells us that "in the
multitude of counsel there is safety." If this
be so, the Romans who lived in the first
century of the Christian era, and studied the
Natural History of Caius Plinius Secundus,
ought never to have known a day's illness.

Pliny put no trust in the occult prescriptions
of those whom he terms "the magicians,"
who worked by spells and charms,
in contradistinction to the learned physicians,
Celsus, Heraclides, Cleophantus, Philistion, and
others, who killed or cured, as at the present
day—secundum artem. Nevertheless, like the
traditional showman, Pliny allows his readers to
take their choice of his collection, contenting