Page:John Adams - A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America Vol. I. (1787).djvu/104

power, and all the barriers we have deſcribed have been erected for this purpoſe: but all would be inſufficient to reſtrain their paſſions, without the lions mouths and the ſtate inquiſitors; theſe were engrafted on the council of ten. This terrible tribunal, is ſovereign in all crimes againſt the ſtate; it conſiſts of ten choſen yearly by the grand council; the ſix of the ſeigniory aſſiſt, and the doges preſide when they pleaſe. Three chiefs, appointed monthly by lot, to open all letters, ſeize the accuſed, take examinations, and proſecute the priſoner; who is cloſely confined, allowed no council, and finally acquitted or condemned to death, in public or private, by the plurality of voices. This was the original tribunal, but it was not found ſufficient, and the ſtate inquiſitors were erected in the beginning of the ſixteenth century. This tribunal conſiſts only of three perſons, all taken from the council of ten, who have authority to decide, without appeal, on the life of every citizen, the doge himſelf not excepted. They employ what ſpies they pleaſe; if they are unanimous, they may order a priſoner to be ſtrangled in gaol, or drowned in the canal, hanged in the night, or by day, as they pleaſe; if they are divided, the cauſe muſt go before the council of ten, but even here, if the guilt is doubtful, the rule is to execute the priſoner in the night. The three may command acceſs to the houſe of every individual in the ſtate, and have even keys to every apartment in the ducal palace, may enter his bed-chamber, break his cabinet, and ſearch his papers. By this tribunal, have doge, nobility, and people, been kept in awe, and reſtrained from violating the laws, and to this is to be aſcribed the long duration of this ariſtocracy.

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