The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-02-05
SAN MARKING, OLDEST REPUBL1C, IS NOW
 THREATENED BY GERMAN '

f,= . Another nation may be plunged i'm to the vortex of the European war, .accOrding to a recent ; cable from Rome, which asserts that the govern ment of San Marine has deded the Kaiser and has refused to receive his erpment is said to have filed a pro- test accusing the San Marine govern ment of giving aid and encourage ment to the enemies of Germany through the improper use of the San Marine wireless station. The threat that a German commission would be sent to San Marine to Inquire into the matter met with a naughty refusal from the San Marine ofacials, who. declined to receive such a commis- sion
 San Marine, it may be stated, is both the oldest and the smallest of the worlds repuhfics.s Entirely sur rounded by Italian territory, it has maintained it's independence with but one brief break, for a thousand years. Perched on the high rocks of the Ernilian Apennino, overlooking the Adriatic, with which it Is connected by a railroad to ; Rimini. it's ancient Actresses are almost iTnpregnable
 San Marine will mobilize it's stand. ing army of a hundred men today, mot sbecauae of the German menace, but because the troops take a f1roIlai-s
 
 Marines national holiday the fifth of February. It was on that date in 1740 that the ancient republic was restored. after it had for a time been .subjugated by a neighboring reigning house The intercession of Rome brought about the restoration. so San Mar1no's holiday is Of the nature Of a, religious festival
 If San Marine should decide to hur1i its army of hundred men against Germany. it would not be the first time in history that the tiny nation had defIed a great power. The old est document preserved by the repub-. lie is a declaration of war made in the eighth century against Charle- fnagne's Holy Roman Empire. Charlemagne did not take the decla- ration Very seriously; in fact, his biogr pher declares that he died without ever having heard of San Marine or its declaration of hostili-# ties.
 As no army could reach San Mar ino without passing through Italian territory, the little republic would be compa aratively safe in Joining in the war Small as it is, San Marine would be difficult to subjugate, as it's thirty three square miles of. territory is in a mountainous region. It com ,prises the flat top of Mount Titano, a spur of the Apennines, and is about twenty miles from the ,Adriatic. The country has an altitude of 2,65O feet above the level Of the sea below
 Small as it is. San Marine is rich in Historic associations, and it's quaint and medieval atmosphere gives a novel sensation to the few tourists who penetrate into the oldest of re- publics.l The Ma1attestas, the Borgias and many other celebrated chara racters of Italian history figure in the annals of San Marine, and it was here, too, that Gartbaldi found safe refuge after the fall of the Roman republic in 1s49
 .g. San Marine gains its name from Marinus, the Roman stone mason who fled from the prosecutions of Diocletian's en1issaries in Rirnini. With a few other Christians, he found sanctuary on Mount Tftano, and there laid the foundation sof the settlement which in future centuries adopted d 5republican form of government. Ar ter the restoration San Marino re- mained undfsturbed by its powerful neighbors, and even Napoleon re- spected its independence.