The Peril of the Republic of the United States of America - Percy T. Magan

was lodged against one man or against one hundred
men in a single document, and execution was
frequently done upon the one man or upon the
hundred men within forty-eight hours after the
information had been lodged. The proceedings of
the council were also ex parte, and an information
was almost invariably followed by a death-warrant.
Sometimes the sentences were in advance of the
docket. Upon one occasion a man’s case was called
for trial, but before the investigation had
commenced, it was discovered that he had already
been executed. Moreover, upon examination, it was
found that he had committed no crime. “No matter
for that,” said Vargas, gaily, “if he has died
innocently, it will be all the better for him when he
takes his trial in the other world.”
However, according to the rules which defined
and constituted guilt, it was almost impossible for a
man to be innocent before such a court. People
were daily executed upon the most frivolous
pretexts. “Thus Peter de Witt, of Amsterdam, was
beheaded because at one of the tumults in that city
he had persuaded a rioter not to shoot a magistrate.
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