The machinery did not always work quickly, it is true, especially after the accused was arrested and locked up. Trials often dragged on for months, so that when the culprit was at last sentenced to a term of prison, it appeared that he had already served more than the time to which he was condemned. This abuse, however, led to a vigorous reform by a series of stringent decrees, the time of inquiry was limited, for ordinary cases, to three days, and for graver matters to a month, and ruinous fines were imposed on Councillors and Inquisitors who were not present at every sitting of the Court.
It was towards the close of the sixteenth century that the Inquisitors, being then elected for the term of a year, were given much greater power than theretofore. Though they were still closely associated with the Ten, they now had a sort of official independence, including the right to a method of procedure of their own, with secret archives quite separate from those of the Ten. The year 1596 is generally given as the date at which the separate tribunal was definitely created, with permanent instructions to watch over the public safety, and to detect all plots and conspiracies that might threaten the ‘ancient laws and government of Venice.’
It cannot be said that the procedure of the Ten, or of the Inquisitors, was arbitrary, and the supreme Venetian tribunals have not deserved all the obloquy that has been heaped upon them; but at a time when the most inhuman methods were used to obtain evidence, they certainly did not give an example of gentleness.
Signor Fulin, to whose recent researches all students of Venetian history are much indebted, says, with perfect truthfulness, that torture was by no means used with moderation. He cites a document signed by the Ten and the Inquisitors, dated the twenty-fifth of April 1445:—
‘We have received a humble petition from Luigi Cristoforo Spiaciario, sentenced to two years’ imprisonment and ten years of exile for unnatural crimes. The said convict has passed two years in prison according to his sentence, and five years more in the corridors of the prisons, because his feet having been burnt and his arms dislocated by torture, he could not leave Venice. The said convict petitions that, out of regard for so much suffering, he may be pardoned the last five years of his condemnation.’
The same writer also tells us that in spite of the precautions which were supposed to be taken, torture often ended in death; and in the archives of the Ten there are instances of horrible mutilations besides public decapitations, secret stranglings, and hangings and poisonings; there are also some cases of death inflicted by drowning, though these were less frequent than has been supposed; and lastly, the quiet waters of the canals have more than once reflected the blaze of faggots burning round the stake.
Romanin’s industry has left us an exact list of the official drownings that took place between 1551 and 1604, a period of fifty-three years. As it is not long, I append it in full. The list is made out from the register of deaths which is preserved in the church of Saint Mark’s.
| In | 1551 | there were secretly drowned | 2 | persons | |
| 1554 | “ | “ | 2 | “ | |
| 1555 | “ | “ | 2 | “ | |
| 1556 | “ | “ | 3 | “ | |
| 1557 | “ | “ | 4 | “ | |
| 1558 | “ | “ | 1 | “ | |
| 1559 | “ | “ | 8 | “ | |
| 1560 | “ | “ | 7 | “ | |
| 1569 | “ | “ | 6 | “ | |
| 1571 | “ | “ | 4 | “ | |
| 1573 | “ | “ | 7 | “ | |
| From | 1574 to 1584 | “ | “ | 12 | “ |
| 1584 to 1594 | “ | “ | 55 | “ | |
| 1594 to 1600 | “ | “ | 50 | “ | |
| 1600 to 1604 | “ | “ | 40 | “ | |
| Total number of drowned | 203 | during 53 years | |||
The last person who suffered death by drowning was a glass-blower of Murano in the eighteenth century.