Italy, in modern times, has been the strong hold of brigandage. because the conditions neces sary for the existence of brigandage have pre vailed there in the most developed form. During four hundred years the country served as a toy for European nations. and was repeatedly. torn up and patched together to suit the designs of European diplomacy. In Southern Italy espe eially, the people were reduced to misery. de prived of all semblance of wise and stable gov ernment, and subjected to foreign masters. Naples was a flourishing country in theSixteenth Century when Spain took possession of it. Span ish tyranny and maladministration crippled the country's resources, stifled its political life, and drove its bold and active spirits to the mountains, The period of the French Revolution was the golden age of brigandage. when Italy supplied the world with its most daring criminals, and oper atic composers with picturesque subjects for their librettos. Then rose Fra Diavolo (q.v.), bandit and monk, hanged in 1806 by the French, against whom he maintained the cause of the Bourbons; Peter of Calabria (e.1S10), who pro claimed himself 'Emperor of the mountains, King of the forests, Protector of the highways': the priest. Cirro Annochiariso. who said to the Father who came to give him absolution before his execution for numerous bloody crimes, "No tomfoolery. We are both in the business"; Marco Seiovo: Crocco; and many others. The Bourbon uprising in 1860 filled Southern Italy with armed bands of partisans, who degenerated into banditti. and were stamped out only after hard campaigning. The peninsula of Italy is at present almost cleansed of the pest: but in Sicily it rages as violently as ever. The Sicilian outlaws hold the country in subjugation, and live in open alliance with the peasantry and the officials. In Sicily, too, the evil of secret socie ties is prominent, the Mafia finding its home there. The Matia dates back to the time of the Norman invaders, when the enslaved people were ruled by the foreign barons, who neither granted them justice nor afforded them protection. A state of things which made possible a murderous uprising like the Sicilian Vespers (q.v.) brought about the formation of secret societies among the peasants. organized for their mutual pro tection. Knowing what justice they were likely to obtain in the lord's court. they pledged them selves never to appeal to the authorities, but to leave all causes to be decided by the society. Continued misgovernment confirmed the peasant in his views, and to the present day he regards all authority and the machinery of government with distrust. and looks upon the Mafia as a national institution, and upon the brigands as victims of oppression. The fact that the society
has lost its original character, and that the brigands are mere criminals, does not prevent the Sicilian from holding secret obedience to the one, and paying tribute to the other.
Other nations have had, and still have, their bandits. The Kabyles of the Atlas Mountains, the Kurds of Armenia, and the Hill-men of Afghanistan and India are subjects of contem porary interest. Russia, in the Seventeenth Cen tury. brought forth a great brigand—Stenko Razin, a Cossack, who ravaged the valleys of the Don and the Volga and the shores of the Caspian. In 1670 he headed an insurrection of the serfs in Southeastern Russia, took the towns of Astra khan, Saratov. and Samara, and devastated the country around Nizhni-Novgo•od and Tambov. He was defeated in 1671, captured, and executed.
The type of brigandage combining patriotism with plunder as practiced in the Balkan States received a remarkable illustration in the last part of 1901 and the spring of 1902. On Sep tember 3. 1901, as Miss Ellen M. Stone, a mis sionary at Bansko, in Macedonia. was traveling through the mountains. accompanied by a native woman and an escort of seven men, the party was attacked by brigands. and Miss Stone and her companion, Madame Tsilka, were carried oil, while the others were sent on 10 Samokov to tell of the capture. and to state that a ransom of 8110.000 was demanded for the release of the W0111011. it became evident that the party which had eaptured Stone were no mere brigands, but were acting as the agents of the Alacedonian Committee, whose object is to free their country from the Turkish rule, and who resorted to this means to secure the funds neces sary for ea rrying on their agitation. Efforts to run brigands prayed fruitless, and filially the United States Government was forced to treat with them through its sentatives in Turkey. On February 6 a ransom of $72.000 was paid, and on February 23 Miss Stone and her companion were set at liberty near Strumitza, not far from the place where they had been captured. The good character of the brigands was attested by the released women, who declared that they had been treated with all kindness and consideration consistent with the relation of captors and prisoners.
Of the United States and of its road-agents and train-robbers, little need be said. Though fast dying out. the race still exists in the 'West. The memory of the most famous of American brig ands. Jesse -Tames, is still fresh in the minds of men. Consult Nieotri, Mafia e brigantaggio in Sicilia (Rome, 1900).