, 1880-03-15
The Republic of San Marino.

Inc repuOllC proper STRETCHES over
territory seventeen miles long and
about half that width, and has popu-
lation, all told, of about 5000 people,
the capital, where we were, having
about 900 of them. They are governed
by Council of Sixty, which is a close
corporation, nominally composed of
twenty princes, twenty of the middle
class, and twenty of the peasant class:
but in point of fact. as l afterward
learned-and, indeed, rs might be in-
ferred from the fact that they them
selves filed all vacancies, and the peo-
pie had no more to do with the choice
of the members of their Council than
of our members of Congress-all were
mobiles, and if you were to address one
otherwise than nobilissimo," you had
better not have addressed him at all. l
gathered that the real distinction was
that twenty were taken from the landed
gentry, twenty from the town gentry,
and twenty promiscuously from any
part of the territory.
This Council, independent of all hu-
man control from above or below, elects
two executive officers, who are called
Captains Regent; it designates all ex-
ecutive committees, imposes taxes-ln
fact, conducts the government.
When I asked if the people had no
elective franchise of any sort, the Count
B said, "No, none;;" but they may
respectfully address the Captain Regent
by petition.
If had known him better, should
probably have taken the liberty of say
ing to the prince that the privileges Of
the people of San Marino reminded me
of those which the Minister Calonne
proposed to yield to the Assembly of
Eotables near the close of the last CEN
tury, and which were cunningly carica-
tured by the picture of ministerial
orator addressing flock of turkeys as
follows:
Gentlemen, 1 have called you to-
gether to ask you with what sauce you
would prefer to be eaten"
But We do not wish to be eaten"
was the ungracious reply of the hon
orable birds of freedom in Congress as
sembled.
"You dodge the question" was the
retort Of the lmperturbable minister.
The government of this so-called re-
public, therefore, is simply a close cor
poration, vested with indsterminable
power to fill all vacancies occasioned by
death or otherwise. Their Council is
even less popular in its composition
tLan hereditary legislature, because
no third power, like that of sovereign,
to which tho people have access, has
anything to do with filling the vacan-
cies that occasionally occur in its
ranks.
Two Executives, or Captains Regent,
one for the town and one for the rural
districts, are chosen by the Council
every six months-in April aud in Oc
tober-and may not be reelected for
two consecutive terms. They may be,
however, and frequently are, reelected
after An interval Of three years. Some
of them have been rechosen four or Ave
times. Count B. told me he had
himself been Captain Regent three
times. 1t must be remembered, how
ever, that San Marino is small repub-
lie.
The Regents receive no pay-another
evidence that San Marino is not q re-
public, after cisatlantic ideas, at any
rate.
My readers are doubtless already i'm
patient to know something of the army,
which for 1900 years has defied the
been fatal to SO many dynasties, and
dismembered so many larger and more
populous territories in Europe. The
military defense, then, of the Republic
of San Marino is committed to regu-
lar army of thirty men. who are sup
posed to be always ready to respond to
the calls of honor or Of patriotism.
A police, consisting of five or six per-
sons, protects the property of the terri
tory, and gives peaceful slumbers to its
honest burghers. In emergencies the
militia of the country may be called in
aid of its unconquered regular legions.
They have two judges, who are, how
ever, required by law to be taken from
without the territory, and are changed
every three years. But all cases of ap
ton, or review, in the neighbcring cities
of Bologna, Padua, Turin, or wherever
that tribunal may chance to be sitting
at the time.
The currency in use among them,
also, is that of the Italian government.
They once had some sous coined, the
equivalent in value of our cent-my
host at tho inn gave me two or three of
them; but they were not coined in the
republic. Their number was very re-
stricted, and they are rarely to be met
with except in the collections of numis-
matists.
1t is certainly one of the eccentrici-
ties which distinguish San Marino from
all other countries that it puts its litiga
ton out, AS some families put out their
washing, and trades exclusively with
the currency of foreign states. Tho
country which buys and sells with 3