410 



ITALY. 



The navy, on January 1, 1870, consisted of: 

 22 iron-clad steamers, carrying 201 guns ; 29 

 screw-steamers, with 370 guns ; and 32 side- 

 wheel steamers, with 113 guns. Of sailing- 

 vessels there were : 1 frigate of the second 

 class, carrying 26 guns ; 4 corvettes of the 

 first, second, and third classes, with 52 guns ; 

 2 brigantines, with 20 guns, and 1 transport 

 with 6 guns. The marine officers were: 1 

 admiral; 5 vice-admirals; 12 rear-admirals; 

 36 captains of vessels-of-the-line ; 28 captains 

 of frigates of the first class, and 38 of the sec- 

 ond class ; 80. lieutenants of the first class, 145 

 of the second class, and 140 sub-lieutenants. 

 Of sailors and machinists there were 11,193; 

 artisans, 660. The marines consisted of two 

 regiments of infantry, having 234 officers and 

 5,688 men. 



The special commerce of the kingdom in 

 1868 (official) was : 



The transit commerce, during the year 1868, 

 was valued at $15,732,000. The merchant ma- 

 rine on December 31, 1868, including Venetia, 

 consisted of 17,946 vessels, of an aggregate 

 tonnage of 882,829 ; among which were 101 

 steamers, having an aggregate tonnage of 

 23,442. 



The receipts of the various railroads through- 

 out the kingdom amounted, in 1868, to $15,- 

 591,345 ; those of the telegraph-lines to 

 $865,077.* 



The principal political and historical event, 

 in 1870, was the annexation of the Papal States 

 and the consequent abolition of the temporal 

 power of the Pope. Owing to the outbreak of 

 war between Germany and France, the latter 

 power concluded to withdraw her army of 

 occupation from Rome, and the Duke de Gra- 

 mont sent a dispatch to that effect to the 

 French minister, on July 26th, with instruc- 

 tions to read its contents to Cardinal Antonelli. 

 The necessary arrangements having been ter- 

 minated between France and Italy, the evacua- 

 tion of Rome was immediately begun, and 

 completed on August llth. On August 4th 



* For particular information concerning the railroads 

 and telegraph-lines of Italy, see article EUROPE. 



the Italian Government issued a proclamation, 

 renewing the stipulations, which are inserted 

 below, of the September convention, by which 

 it had bound itself to abstain from all attacks 

 upon the Papal States, and to defend them 

 against any invasion. This declaration of the 

 Government caused an excitement among the 

 republicans of Italy. A vast crowd assem- 

 bled at Florence in the Piazza del Palazzo 

 Vecchio, shouting for the republic, and trying 

 to force an entrance into the tower of the 

 palace to hoist the republican flag. The cry 

 for the annexation of Rome becoming bois- 

 terous, negotiations were attempted with the 

 Papal Government on the subject of the trans- 

 fer of the Italian capital to Rome. It was 

 assumed that nothing else could avert a revolu- 

 tion, which might imperil both the Pope and 

 the King. As the Pope rejected all overtures, 

 the King of Italy, with the assent of the pro- 

 visional government of France, ordered an 

 army of observation of 60,000 men, under com- 

 mand of General Cadorna, toward the frontier 

 of the Papal States. A last effort to obtain a 

 peaceful surrender of the city was made by 

 Count Ponza di San Martino, who was author- 

 ized by King Victor Emmanuel to offer the fol- 

 lowing propositions to the Pope : The sov- 

 ereignty of the Pope and his unrestricted juris- 

 diction within the limits of the city of Rome to 

 be upheld and guaranteed by the Italian Gov- 

 ernment, and his civil list to be paid out of the 

 state treasury. All nations and their repre- 

 sentatives to have free access to the Pope ; all 

 church establishments in Rome to be neutral- 

 ized; the ambassadors of the foreign powers 

 near the Papal See to enjoy full immunity; the 

 cardinals to retain their revenue and immu- 

 nity ; the salary of all military and civil func- 

 tionaries to be paid as before; and the bishops 

 and clergy throughout the kingdom of Italy 

 to have the full and absolutely free exercise 

 of their ecclesiastical functions. 



These propositions were accompanied by the 

 following autograph letter of King Victor Em- 

 manuel, dated Florence, September 8, 1870: 



MOST HOLT FATHER : With the affection of a son, 

 with the faith of a Catholic, with the loyalty of a king, 

 with the sentiment of an Italian, I address myseli 

 again, as I have done formerly ; to the heart of your 

 Holiness. A storm full of penis threatens Europe. 

 Favored by the war which desolates the centre of the 

 continent, the party of the cosmopolitan revolution 

 increases in courage and audacity, and is prepar- 

 ing to strike, especially in Italy and in the provinces 

 by your Holiness, the last blows at the monarchy 

 and the papacy. I know, most Holy Father, that 

 the greatness of your soul -would not fall below the 

 greatness of events, but for me, a Catholic king and 

 an Italian king, and as such guardian and surety by 

 the dispensation of Divine Providence and by the will 

 of the nation of the destinies of all Italians, I feel the 

 duty of taking, in the face of Europe and of Catholi- 

 city, the responsibility of maintaining order on the 

 peninsula, and the security of the Holy See. No-w, 

 most Holy Father, the state of mind of the popula- 

 tions governed by your Holiness, and the presence 

 among them of foreign troops coming from different 

 places with different intentions, are a source of agita- 

 tion and of peril evident to all. Chance or the ef- 



