Sharp County record., 1880-03-04
San MarinOs

the capital, where we were, having
about 900 of them. They are governed
by a 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, as might be in
ferred from the fact that they them
selves filled 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 were
mobiles, and if you were to address one
otherwise than as "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 HUI
man control from above or below, elects
two executive officers, who are called
Captains-Regent; it designates all ex-
ecutive committees, imposes taxes-in
fact, conducts the Government. When
l asked if the people had no elective
franchise of any sort, the Count B
said, "No, none;" but they may re-
spectfully address the Captains-Regent
by petition. If 1 had known him better
l should probably have taken the liberty
of saying to the Prince that the privi
leges of the people of San Marino re-
minded me of those which the Minister
Calonne proposed to yield to the Assem-
bly, of Notables near the close of the
last century, and which were cunningly
caricatured by the picture of minis
terial orator addressing a flock Of tur-
keys as follows:
"Gentlemen. have called you to-
gether to ask you with what sauce you
would prefer to be eaten"
"But do we not wish to be eaten, was
the ungracious reply of the honorable
birds of freedom in congress assembled.
"You dodge the question: was the
retort of the imperturbable minister.
The government of this So-called Re-
public, therefore, is simply close cor
poration vested with indeterminable
power to fill all vacancies occasioned
by death or otherwise. Their Council
is even less popular in its composition
than a hereditary Legislature, because
no third power like that of a sovereign,
to which the people have access, has
any thing 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 and OctO-
ber-and may not be elected for two
consecutive terms. They may be, how
ever, and frequently are, reelected after
an interval of three years. Some of
them have thus been rechosen four or
five times, Count B told me he
had himself been Captain-Regent three
times. 1t must be remembered, how
ever, that San Marlno is small Repub-
lie. The Regents receive no pay
another evidence that San Marino is not
a Republic, 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
manifold elements of disorder that have
been so fatal to so many dynasties and
dismembered 50 many larger and more
populous territories in Europe. The
military defense, then, of the Republic
of San Marino is committed to regular
army of thirty men, who are supposed
to be always ready to respond 10 the
calls of honor or of patriotism. A po-
lice, consisting of five or six persons,
protects the property of the territory
and gives peaceful slumbers to its hoL-
est burghers. In emergencies the mi
litia of the country may be called in a;d
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-
peal are decided by the court of cassa-
ton or review, in the neighboring cities
OF Bologna, Padua, Turin, or wherever
that tribunal may chance to be sitting
atthe time. The currency in use among
them, also, is that of the Italian Gov
ernment. They had once some sous
coined, the equivalent in value of our
cent-my host at the inn gave me two
or three of them, but they were not
coined in the Republic. Their number
was very restricted and they are rarely
to be met with except in the collections
of numismatists. 1t is certainly one of
the eccentricities which distinguish San
Marino from all other countries that it
puts its litigation out as some families
put out their washing and trades exclu-
sively with the currency of foreign
States. The country which buys and
sells with currency over which it has
no control and submits its differences to
foreign tribunals for adjustment, gives
pretty heavy bonds to keep the peace