It is a prelate who has charge of these prisons. I have described the higher machinery which the Pope employs,--the tribunals,--judges,--the secret process,--the tyrannous Gregorian Code; let me next bring into view the inferior machinery of the Pontifical Government. The Roman _sbirri_ have an European reputation. One must be no ordinary villain,--he must be, in short, a perfected and finished scoundrel,--to merit a place in this honourable corps. The _sbirri_ are chiefly from the kingdom of Naples. They dress in plain clothes, go in twos and threes, are easily distinguished, and are permitted to carry larger walking-sticks than the Romans, whom the French commandant has forbidden to come abroad with any but the merest twig. Some of these spies wear spurs, the better to deceive and to succeed in their fiendish work. No disguise, however, can conceal the _sbirro_. His look, so unmistakeably villanous, proclaims the spy. These fellows will not be defeated in their purposes. They carry, it is said, _articles of conviction_, that is, political papers, on their person, which they use, in lack of other material, to compass the ruin of their victim. They can stop any one they please on the street, compel him to produce his papers, and, when they choose not to be satisfied with them, march him off to prison. When they visit a house where they have resolved to make a seizure, they search it; and if they do not find what may criminate the man, they drop the papers they have brought with them, and swear that they found them in the house. What can solemn protestations do against armed ruffians, backed by hireling judges, who, like Impaccianti and Belli, have been taken from the bagnio and the galleys, thrust into orders, and elevated to the bench, to do the work of their patrons?[7] Such must show that they deserve promotion. The people loathe and dread the _sbirri_, knowing that whatever they do in their official capacity is done well, and speedily followed up by those in authority.