A76 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1812. 



among themselves every month a 

 president, who is called a Doge, 

 the same as at Venice, and appoint 

 one of their number (who has the 

 appellation of Count) to travel 

 occasionally through the country 

 and administer justice in their 

 tribunals. 



The universal harmony and 

 good understanding which prevail 

 among the natives, render civil 

 courts of justice almost unneces- 

 sary, as most disputes and private 

 grievances are settled by arbitra- 

 tion, but the senate form a high 

 court of judicature, to whom an 

 appeal is Hnal in all cases. 



Felonious crimes are scarcely 

 known amongst them ; though 

 about two years ago a Venetian, 

 who came to settle in Ragusa, 

 committed a murder, for which he 

 was hanged the same afternoon ; 

 but as they have no public execu- 

 tioner in the whole country, he 

 was taken to a Turkish market in 

 the neighbourhood, and a gratuity 

 of about five guineas was given to 

 a Turk to perform the execution. 



The only revenue of the govern- 

 ment arises from custom-house 

 duties on shipping and merchan- 

 dize, out of which they pay the 

 clergy the greatest part of their 

 salaries, maintain free-schools all 

 over the nation, and provide phy- 

 sicians to attend the sick and ad- 

 minister medicines without any 

 charge to their patients. 



The established religion is the 

 Roman Catholic, and the church 

 is governed by an archbishop, who 

 is chosen by the nobles and con- 

 firmed by the Pope. 



Divine service is read in Latin 

 in all the churches, and the people 

 are allowed the free use of the 



Bible, the inquisition being altoge- 

 ther unheard of. 



The people |)ay but a very small 

 contribution to the clergy, they 

 being (as before observed) prin- 

 cipally maintained by government. 

 Their schools are all free and 

 maintained at the expense of the 

 state ; in them are taught reading, 

 writing, mathematics, &c. with 

 the Latin and Italian languages ; 

 but the language spoken all over 

 the country is Sclavonian (or what 

 the captain calls Hilderic.) 



The government select some of 

 the most promising youths from 

 among the commonalty, and send 

 thera to the Universities of Sienna, 

 Naples, Florence, Bologna, &c. 

 to study physic, after which they 

 are employed at the sole expense 

 of the nation, to attend the sick 

 and administer medicines all over 

 their dominions. 



The Raguseans appear to be ex- 

 emplary in their moral deport- 

 ment, as well as remarkable for 

 peace and friendship : drunken- 

 ness isaccounted scandalous among 

 them, and not often seen ; prosti- 

 tutes are much discountenancedj 

 and games of hazard are forbidden 

 by the government, though they 

 allow the people in some instances 

 to play for trifles. 



They have notwithstanding se- 

 veral prisons in which delinquents 

 are occasionally confined, and 

 some who have notoriously ofiFend- 

 ed (especially with the tongue in 

 cursing, swearing, and abusive 

 language) are exposed in the pub- 

 lic streets in a contrivance some- 

 thing like the pillory. 



There is an hospital for the sick, 

 which was used formerly as a poor- 

 house in the town of Ragusa, but 



about 



