character of the evidence was, or what was the relative credibility of
the witnesses, whose very names I know not, or how far their assertions
were borne out or contradicted by circumstantial proof, are all matters
on which (though the whole character of the crime depends on them) I can
form no opinion whatever.

The trial occupied but one day, and yet the above sentence, it appears,
was not communicated to the prisoner till the 15th of October, 1858, that
is, over five months afterwards. When the official announcement of the
sentence was made, the prisoner declared his intention of appealing
against its justice. By the Papal law, every person condemned for a
criminal offence, by the lay tribunals, has the right of appealing to the
Supreme Pontifical Court. It is, therefore, needless to say, that in all
cases where sentence of death is passed, an appeal is made on any ground,
however trivial, as the condemned culprit cannot lose by this step, and
may gain. The practical and obvious objection to this unqualified power
of appeal, is that the supreme ecclesiastical court is the real judge,
not the nominal lay court, which does little more than register the fact,
that the crime is proved _prima facie_.

On the 15th of February, 1859, after a delay of four months more from the
time of appeal, the court of the supreme tribunal of the Consulta Sacra,
assembled at the Monte Citorio in Rome, to try the appeal. The court was
composed of six "most illustrious and reverend Judges," all "Monsignori"
and all dignitaries of the Church, assisted by a public prosecutor and
counsel for the defence, attached to the Papal exchequer. The course of
proceedings appears to be much the same as in the inferior courts, except
that no witnesses, save the prisoner, were examined orally, and the whole
evidence was taken from written depositions. At last, after "invoking
the most sacred name of God," the court pronounce their sentence. This