As to Settembrine, the
political prisoner named, he was incarcerated in a small room with eight
other prisoners, one of whom boasted that he had murdered, at various
times, thirty-five persons. Several of his victims had been his prison
companions, and "the murders of this Ergastolo" had exceeded fifty in a
single year. It was true that at the massacre at Procida the sick had
not been slain in the prisons, yet prisoners who hid under beds were
dragged forth and shot in cold blood by the soldiery after order had
been restored. The work of slaughter had been twice renewed, and two
officers received promotion or honors for that abominable enormity.
Mr. Gladstone found in the reply of the Government of Naples no reason
to retract his damaging statements in reference to Neapolitan
inhumanity, on the other hand he discovered grounds for emphasizing his
accusations. And as to his statement regarding the number of the
sufferers from Neapolitan injustice and cruelty, he defended at length
his statement as to the enormous number of the prisoners.
It was clear to all candid minds that all the replies had failed to
prove him wrong in any of his substantial changes, which retained their
full force. "The arrow has shot deep into the mark," observed Mr.
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