392 



ITUKBIDE. 



JAPAN. 



territory of the Italian king in such a way as 

 to encourage and promote free institutions, 

 commerce, agriculture, and education, which 

 occupied the Italian parliament for some time, 

 progressed favorably. The prime minister 

 counselled patience and forbearance in relation 

 to Rome, and curbed the fiery spirits, who 

 proposed forcible measures ; he also advocated 

 delay and patience in regard to Austria, be- 

 lieving that her Hungarian troubles would 

 enure to the benefit of Italy, and that Venetia 

 might be gained without a war. 



The follawing statement shows the debt of 

 the new kingdom in 1861, and the different 

 sources from which it has been accumulated ; 

 the new kingdom, of course, assumes the debts 

 of its constituent States. 



Debt of the Kingdom of Sardinia previous 



to 1848 $27,000,000 



Debt of the Kingdom of Sardinia created 



between 1848 and 1860 204,994,119 



Duchy of Parma 2,111,643 



Added under the administration of Farini . . 1,000,000 



Duchy of Modena 2,211,236 



Added under the administration of Farini. . 1,000,000 



Duchy of Tuscany 30,416,000 



Added during the administration of Ricasoli. 11,384,000 

 States of the Church annexed to Sardinia. . 3,315,424 



Administration of Marquis Pepoli 2,600,000 



Kingdom of the Two Sicilies 110,000,000 



Loan contracted by the New Kingdom.... 140,000,000 



Total debt $536,032,422 



Diplomatic relations were renewed between 

 France and Italy in June, but accompanied by 

 declarations on the part of the former power, 

 of non-responsibility for, and non-approval of, 

 certain measures of the latter. The position of 

 the country at the close of the year in relation 

 to the two great questions, the probable posses- 

 sion of Kome as its capital, and the future an- 

 nexation of Venetia, was not entirely satis- 

 factory. 



The people of the late Neapolitan kingdom, 

 so long oppressed, and kept in ignorance and 

 degradation, by the grinding tyranny of the 

 Bourbon kings, seem hardly fitted to appreciate 

 the liberty they have gained ; and disorders 

 have been rife there through the year, fer- 

 mented in part, doubtless, by the emissaries 

 of Francis II., whose residence at Rome gives 

 him ample opportunities for such intrigues, but 

 partly also resulting from the license indulged 

 in by a people unaccustomed to liberty. The 

 suspense to which the nation has been subject- 

 ed by the delay in the solution of the great 

 questions so vital to its national unity and com- 

 pleteness, have exerted an unfavorable effect 



upon it. Rome is its natural capital, and no 

 jealousies would be raised against its selection, 

 but that Naples, and Turin, Milan, Florence, and 

 Genoa, are rival cities, and the residence of the 

 court at either, excites the envy of the others. 

 The condition of Venetia under the oppressive 

 rule of Austria, excites the sympathy of the 

 adjacent States for her, and their indignation 

 against her oppressor; and that calmness and 

 peace essential to a nation's prosperity can only 

 be attained when the dreams of her great 

 statesmen are realized, and the whole of Italy 

 owns but the sway of a single ruler, and is 

 united under a free and liberal Government, 

 with its capital on the banks of the Tiber. 



ITURBIDE, MADAME HUATE DE, ex -Empress 

 of Mexico, and widow of the first and only em- 

 peror of Mexico of European descent, Augustin 

 de Iturbide, died in Philadelphia, March 21, 

 1861, at the age of about 70 years. Since the 

 execution of her husband by the Mexican Gov- 

 ernment in 1824, she had resided with her fam- 

 ily in Philadelphia, and was endeared to a con- 

 siderable circle of friends by her amiable and 

 excellent qualities. One or two of her sons 

 have resided in Mexico of late years, and have 

 held "places under the Mexican Government, 

 from which she received a pension. Augustin 

 de Iturbide, one of the best men whom Mexico 

 has nurtured, was the leader of that country in 

 throwing off the Spanish yoke, and a grateful 

 people pressed upon him the imperial crown. He 

 refused their importunities, till, by a vote of YT 

 to 15, the Congress forced it upon him, and on 

 the 18th of May, 1822, he was crowned Emper- 

 or of Mexico, with the title of Augustin I. The 

 machinations of Santa Anna, the evil genius of 

 Mexico, soon detached the people from him, 

 and, on the 20th of March, 1823, after a tur- 

 bulent reign of less than a year, he abdicat- 

 ed, and permission was granted him to leave 

 the country, with a pension of $25,000 per an- 

 num. He went to Italy, but returned the suc- 

 ceeding year to Mexico, where, meantime, 

 without his knowledge, he had been proscribed 

 as a traitor. Gen. Garza, then Governor of 

 Tamaulipas, under the guise of friendship, be- 

 trayed him to the Congress of that State, by 

 whom he was immediately arrested and, with- 

 out trial, sentenced to death, and executed on 

 the 19th of July, 1824, within a week from 

 the time of his landing, and before an appeal 

 could be made to the General Government of 

 Mexico. He died like the hero and brave man 

 that he was, and in his death Mexico lost one 

 of her best and purest patriots. 



JAPAN, an empire of Eastern Asia, called 

 by the natives Niphon or Nipon, from the name 

 of its largest island. The whole empire is in- 

 sular, and comprises the islands of the great 

 Archipelago, separated from the coast of China 



by the Sea of Japan. The number of islands is 

 said to be about 1,000. The largest are : Ni- 

 phon. 900 miles long, with an average breadth 

 of 100 miles, and having an area of nearly 

 100,000 square miles ; Kiusiu, having an area 



