Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-02-26
TROUBLE IN SAN MARIyO.
A Financial Crisis-Description of
the Tiny Republic.
Nondon Standard.

Oondon Standard)
The little Republic Of San Marine is
reported to be passing through an acute
financial crisis. the consequence Of some
thing like an organized pillage of the
National Bank. The chief cashier has
committed suicide, after embezzling
large sum OF money, and several OF the
directors are said TO have been arrested.
These events will be a heavy blow, not
only to the financial stability OF the re-
public, but to its moral sense, for the
San Marinese have ever been as remark
able for their sturdy rectitude as for
their patriotic devotion. That a State
which has had the courage TO reject all
the alluring offers of those who would
have converted the rocky heights of its
simple capital into a gaudy Monaco,
crowded with pleasure-seekers bringing
wealth In their train. should fall vic
tim to over-confidence i'm its own trusted
citizens, is grievous indeed. In this tiny
republic Of eighteen square-miles. with
a population Of $500, serious financial
Irregularities are a species OF treason
to the State, and San Marine prides IT.
self upon having had only one traitor in
all its long history. Moreover the popu-
lation is far from rich. The rocky slopes
OF Monte Titano produce good deal OF
wine, which would be excellent were II
not. as elsewhere in Italy. exceedingly
badly made. Wheat and fruit are also
grown, and its quarries now, as when
they furnished material for the Pons
Augustulum of Rimini. contain mex
haustible quantities OF very durable
stone But the country lacks capital.
and the loss of some of the little 1t did
POSSESS must have a very unfortunate
effect upon industry. Yet San Marine
has weathered so many storms since the
death Of Marinus, the Holy Hermit VINO
became its Patron Saint, and its people
are so proud and independent that mat
ters viii probably right themselves in
time. There must be- abundance Of grit"
I'm a community which, despite its small
dimensions and sparse population mani
aged to preserve its sovereignty all
through the turbulence OF the Italian
middle ages through the strife or Guelph
and Ghibbellne. and through all the en-
deavors of encroaching mobiles and in
triguing chur hmen. The hospitality
which IL gave to the Garibaldian troops
i'm the retreat from Rome in 1919 led 1t
into serious peril from Austrian Jealousy;
but the danger was escaped, and none
now cast an envlous or an angry eye
upon the republic Its situations,
dominated by its impregnable fortress
capital perched upon a ridge Of the
Central Apennines, dozen miles from
Rimini, was, no doubt, powerful SAFE
guard in days when rocky eyries were a
thousand times more difficult OF assault
than they are now. Napoleon himself re-
spected its independence, and despite the
Unihcation of Italy, this curious Ittie
enclave remains a picturesque bit OF
AnTidflH.
Like most tiny States, San Marine re-
ou,res for the due maintenance OF its in
dependent dignity, a machinery OF gov
eminent which. I'm name at all events,
Yields nothing to that OF fun-blown ma
tions. There is a Minister of the Interior,
a Minister of Foreign Affairs and FL
nance (his position must be little
anxious lust now, a Postmaster-General,
and director of Telegraphs. Italy
which fully recognizes the status OF the
republic. keeps a Consul at San Marine,
and the country is defended by militia
which has a strength OF nearly one thou
sand. OF whom thirty-eight are ofiicerS.
This relatively large military force Is ac-
counted for by the obligation OF every
able-bodied male citizen TO bear arms be-
tween the ages OF IS and 50. San Marine
has never entrusted its destinies 10
president, having Always NuhF"tSN "
wholesome fear OF anything that might
degenerate into an oligarchy. The func-
tons of president are performed by two
captains-regent, always one noble and one
commoner. who hold office for six months
only. They are appointed in very curious
and picturesque fashion. The "Arengo''
or Great Sovereign Council OF Sixty, nomi-
mates three mobiles and three commoners'
and lots are drawn in the Cathedral. The
six names are written upon slips or pa
per deposited in a silver urn, whence
they are drawn by a young child, ana
when the captains-regent are Installed
they appear, for that occasion only. in all
the braveries Of sixteenth-century cos
tune. San Marine claims an antiquity OF
fifteen centuries as self-contained re-
public. and II we may believe the legend
which tells us that the original territory
was granted to Marinus, the Christian
stonemason, by a lady of Rimini who de-
serted her false gods at his intercession
during the ninth Diocletian persecution,
the chronology would be substantially ac-
curate. But. whatever may have been
the origin OF the community upon Mont
della Guaja, II undoubtedly goes back TO