ITALY. 



449 



lire more than the extraordinary receipts, con- 

 vert this surplus into a deficit of 36,9" 

 lire, the total receipts of the Government from 

 all sources being 1,890.685,391 lire and the to- 

 tal expenditures 1,927,669,714 lire. The ordi- 

 nary expenditures of the Ministry of Finance 

 are "fixed at 188,693,997 lire; of 'the Ministry 

 of Grace. Justice, and Worship, 33,775,891 

 lire ; of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 7,790,- 

 710 lire ; of the Ministry of Public Instruction, 

 40,116,414 lire ; of the Ministry of the Interior, 

 61, 736,320 lire; of the Ministry of Public Works, 

 82.433,635 lire; of the Ministry of War, 247,- 

 479,368 lire; of the Ministry of Marine. 94,- 

 366,494 lire ; of the Ministry of Agriculture, 

 13,665,256 lire. Of the extraordinary expendi- 

 tures 222, 168, 759 lire are allocated to the Min- 

 istry of Public Works. 62.750,000 lire to the 

 Ministry of War, 28,646.500 lire to the Ministry 

 of Marine, and small sums to each of the other 

 ministries. The interest on the consolidated 

 debt, most of which bears 5-per-cent. interest, 

 was 448,748,332 lire for the year ending June 

 30, 1888; the perpetual rente due to the Holy 

 See, 3,225,000 lire; the interest on special 

 loans, 22,178,495 lire; the interest on various 

 other debts assumed by the state, 73,898,473 

 lire ; and the interest on the floating debt, 

 14,553,635 lire, making the total interest charge 

 of the debt 562,603.935 lire, besides 906,926 

 lire paid for extinction of debts. 



The Army. The war strength of the Italian 

 army on June 1, 1888, was, according to the 

 official statement, 2,595,637 men. The num- 

 ber of officers and men under arms was 253,- 

 000. The entire war effective was composed 

 as follows : 



Total 253.000 626,090 : 385,593 1,330,954 



The >avy. The Italian fleet of war on Jan. 



1, 1888, consisted of 175 steam-vessels of all 



descriptions, of 188,551 tons displacement. 



armed with 369 cannon. The 12 iron-clads of 



VOL. xxvm. 29 A 



the first class comprise some of the most pow- 

 erful vessels afloat. Of tho>e grout iron-clads 7 

 were ready for service in the summer of 1888. 

 The battle- ships of the second class number 

 13, of which 3 are armor-clad ; and of the third 

 c'ass there are 16, none of them armored. 

 The rest of the navy consists of 21 transports, 

 3 school-ships, 23 vessels for po>t service, 6 

 paddle-wheel gun-boats, 1 torpedo dispatch- 

 boat, 15 sea-going torpedo-boats, 36 torpedo- 

 boats of the tirst class, 21 of the second 

 and 8 torpedo-vessels. There were under con- 

 struction 6 iron-clad battleships of the first 

 class, of a total displacement of 73,456 tons, 3 

 unarmored cruisers of the second class, 7 of 

 the third class, 1 torpedo dispatch-boat, 32 

 sea-going torpedo-boats, 2 torpedo-boats for 

 coast defense, 1 transport, and 1 propeller. 

 Among the vessels lately acquired, the " Do- 

 gali," first christened " Angelo Emo," is a 

 fast protected cruisr, carries six 4-ton guns, 

 and the ''America" is a converted merchant 

 steamer. The value of the 102 vessels and 108 

 torpedo-boats comprising the Italian navy is 

 360,000,000 lire. The naval manoeuvres of 

 1888 proved that Italy could arm a consider- 

 able part of her fleet without having recourse 

 to extraordinary means for recruiting officers 

 and sailors. The "Re Umberto," "Sicilia," 

 and "Sardegna," have been built in the na- 

 tional dockyards and are being fitted mainly 

 with domestic material. These sister vessels 

 are equal in size to the "Italia" and "Le- 

 panto," previously the largest war-ships in ex- 

 istence, find will carry four 104-ton Armstrong 

 breech-loading guns each. The " Re Umberto," 

 launched in October, 1888, is a twin-screw, 

 steel, barbette ship of 13,298 tons displacement. 

 Without side-armor, she is protected by a 

 curved steel deck extending below the water- 

 line, while her bottom is enveloped by a double 

 layer of water-tight compartments, which have 

 been proved by experiment to be a sufficient 

 protection against torpedoes charged with 75 

 pounds of gun-cotton. The two barbettes are 

 plated with inclined 19-inch compound armor. 

 The compound triple-expansion engines are 

 designed to be of 19,500 indicated horse-power 

 and capable of propelling the ship at & maxi- 

 mum speed of 18 knots. The projectiles weigh 

 2,000 pounds each, and in weight of shot and 

 energy of discharge she greatly excels any bat- 

 tle ship in the French, British, or other navies. 

 In addition to her ram and heavy guns she 

 will be armed with twelve 6-inch guns, six 

 3-inch guns, ten machine and quick-firing guns, 

 and torpedo tubes. She will be ready for com- 

 mission in 1892. The "Fiera Mosca." a new 

 cruiser, was launched at Leghorn on August 

 30. The Gruson turret lias been adopted for 

 sea-coast batteries at Spezia, after experiments 

 that proved that the hardness of the chilled 

 cast-iron at the surface, the toughness of the 

 mixture of which it is made, and the angles 

 presented by its mushroom-like shape, are suf- 

 ficient to resist the heaviest projectiles. The 



