Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1880-02-19
San MarlnO.

) the capital, where we were, having
+. about 900 of them. They are governed
by Council of Sixty, which is close
i corporation, nominally composed Of
twenty princes, twenty of the middle
J class and twenty of the peasant class
but in point of fact, as / afterward
learned-and, indeed, as might be in
y terred 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 were
mobiles, and if you were to address one
otherwise than as " nobilissimo," YOU
had better not have addressed him at
all. gathered that the real distinc-
ton 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
human control from above or below,
elects two executive officers, who are
called Captains-R Regent; it designates
all executives committees, imposes
taxes-in fact, conducts the Govern
ment. When l 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 I should probably have
taken the liberty of saying to the Prince
that the privileges of the people of San
MerinO reminded me of those which
the Minister Calonne proposed to yield
to the Assembly of Notables near the
close of the last century, and which
were cunningly caricatured by the pict-
ure of ministerial orator addressing
flock of turkeys as follows:
Gentlemen, l 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 honor
able birds of freedom in congress as
sembled.
"You dodge the question:" was the
retort of the imperturbable minister.
The government of this so-called Re-
public, therefore, is simply a close cor
poration, vested wiGa indeterminable
power to fill all vacancies occasioned
by death or otherwise. Their Council
is even less popular in its composition
than hereditary legislature, because
no third power, like that of sover-
eign, to which the people have access,
has anything to do with filling the va
cancies that occasionally occur in it's
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
October-and may not be reelected for
two consecutive terms. They may be,
however, and frequently are, reelected
after an interval of three years. Some
1f them have thus been rechosen four
1r five times. Count B told me he
lad himself been Captain Regent three
lines. 1t must be remembered, how
3Ver, that San Marino is a small Re-
public. The Regents receive no pay
mother evidence that San Marino is
lot Republic, after cisatlantic ideas,
vt any rate.
My readers are doubtless already i'm
'atient to know something of the army,
which for 1900 years has defed the
nanifOld elements of disorder thathave
cen so fatal to so many dynasties and
ismembered so many larger and more
opulOus territories in Europe. The
Military defense, then, of the Re-
ublic of San Marino is committed to a
egular army of thirty men, who are
opposed to be always ready to respond
} the calls of honor or Of patriotism.
police, consisting of five or six per-
'ns, protects the property of the ter
tory and gives peaceful slumbers to
honest burghers. In emergencies
le militia Of the country may be called
aid Of its tnconquered regular le-
ons. They have two Judges, who
e, however, required by law to
taken from without the terri
ry, and are changed every three
'ars. But all cases of appeal are
'cided by the court of cessation or re-
ew, in the neighboring cities of Bo-
gna, Padua, Turin, or wherever that
.bunal may chance to be sitting at the
ne. The currency in use among
em, also, is that of the Italian Gov.
nment. They had once some sous
ined, the equivalent in value of our
nt-my host at the inn gave me two
three of them, but they were not
ined in the Republic. Their number
IS very restricted and they are rarely
be met with except in the collections
1t is certainly one of
} eccentricities which distinguish San
Irino from all other countries that il
is its litigation out as some families
out their washing and trades ex-
siVely with the currency of foreign
ties. The country which buys and
Is with currency over which it has
control and submits its differences
foreign tribunals for adjustment
es pretty heavy bonds to keep the
lce with its neighbors, whatever be
title it gives to its form of govern
Mt.
he expenses of their Government
not seem large to an American.
sy never exceed $4,000 francs-sav
DOO-army, navy, post-ofice, educa-
|, prisons, police, diplomatic serv-
representation, all included. This
anue is raised out of the profits real
by the Government from the pur-
Sc of some 100000 pounds of tobac-
n the Leaf, which it manufactures to
a a a,,s.TI 4, H.. -.