ITALY.

(REGNO D'ITALIA.)

Reigning King.

Umberto I., born March 14, 1844, the eldest son of King Vittorio Emanuele II. of Italy and of Archduchess Adelaide of Austria. Succeeded to the throne on the death of his father, January 9, 1878. Married, April 22, 1868, to Queen Margarita, born November 20, 1851, the only daughter of the late Prince Ferdinando of Piedmont, Duke of Genoa.

Son of the King.

Vittorio Emanuele, Prince of Naples, born November 11, 1869.

Sisters and Brother of the King.

I. Princess Clotilde, born March 2, 1843; married, January 30, 1859, to Prince Napoleon Jérôme Bonaparte, born Sept. 9, 1822; offspring of the union are Napoleon Jérôme, born July 18, 1862, Louis Jérôme, born July 16, 1864, and Marie, born Dec. 20, 1866.

II. Prince Amadeo, Duke of Aosta, born May 30, 1845; elected King of Spain by the Cortes Constituyentes Nov. 16, 1870; abdicated the crown February 11, 1873; married, May 30, 1867, to Maria, daughter of Prince Carlo Emanuele del Pozzo della Cisterna, born August 9, 1847; widower, Nov. 7, 1876. Offspring of the union are three sons:-1. Prince Emanuele, born Jan. 13, 1869. 2. Prince Vittorio, born Nov. 24, 1870. 3. Prince Ludovico, born Jan. 31, 1873.

III. Princess Pia, born Oct. 16, 1847; married, Oct. 6, 1862, to King Luis I. of Portugal. (See page 344.)

Aunt of the King.

Princess Elisabetta, born Feb. 4, 1830, the daughter of King Johann of Saxony; married, April 22, 1850, to Prince Ferdinando of Piedmont, Duke of Genoa; widow, Feb. 10, 1855; re-married,

in 1856, to the Marquis of Rapallo. Offspring of the first union are:-1. Princess Margarita, born Nov. 20, 1851; married, April 22, 1868, to King Umberto I. 2. Prince Tommaso, Duke of Genoa, born Feb. 6, 1854.

The origin of the reigning house is not historically established; but most genealogists trace it to a German Count Berthold, who, in the eleventh century, established himself on the western slope of the Alps, between Mont Blanc and Lake Leman. In 1111 his descendants were enrolled among the Counts of the Holy Roman Empire. Count Amadeus, in 1383, founded a law of primogeniture which greatly strengthened the family, leading to the immediate acquisition of the territory of Nice. In 1416 the Counts of Savoy adopted the title of Duke; in 1418 they acquired the principality of Piedmont; and in 1713 they obtained the island of Sicily, with the title of King. Sicily had to be exchanged, in 1720, for the isle of Sardinia, to which henceforth the royal dignity remained attached. Genoa and the surrounding territory were added to the Sardinian Crown at the peace of 1815. The direct male line of the House of Savoy died out with King Carlo Felix, in 1831, and the existing Salic law prohibiting the accession of females, the crown fell to Prince Carlo Alberto, of the House of Savoy-Carignano, a branch founded by Tommaso Francesco, born in 1596, younger son of Duke Carlo Emanuele I. of Savoy. King Carlo Alberto, the first of the house of Savoy-Carignano, abdicated the throne, March 23, 1849, in favour of his son, the late king Vittorio Emanuele II. By the Treaty of Villafranca, July 11, 1859, and the Peace of Zürich, Nov. 10, 1859, King Vittorio Emanuele II. obtained western Lombardy, part of the Papal States, and the Duchies of Parma and Modena, while the remaining districts of Lombardy with Venetia were added to his dominions by the Peace of Prague, of Aug. 23, 1866. Finally, the Papal States, having been taken possession of by an Italian army, after the retreat of the French garrison, were annexed to the kingdom by royal decree of Oct. 9, 1870.

The 'Dotazione della Corona,' or civil list of the King, has been settled at 16,250,000 lire, or 650,000l. The brother of the King, Prince Amadeo, Duke of Aosta, has an 'Appannaggio,' or State allowance, of 300,000 lire, or 12,000l.; and his cousin Prince Tommaso, Duke of Genoa, an allowance of 200,000 lire, or 8,000l. To these sums are added 100,000 lire, or 4,000l., as เ Spese di rappresentanza.' Extraordinary expenses of the Court, such as the journeys of the sovereign into the different provinces of Italy, are paid out of the public exchequer, the same as the cost of building and repairing the royal residences. The large private domains of the reigning family were given up to the State in 1848.

Constitution and Government.

The present constitution of Italy is an expansion of the 'Statuto fondamentale del Regno,' granted on March 4, 1848, by King Charles Albert to his Sardinian subjects. According to this charter, the executive power of the State belongs exclusively to the sovereign, and is exercised by him through responsible ministers; while the legislative authority rests conjointly in the King and Parliament, the latter consisting of two Chambers-an upper one, the Senato, and a lower one, called the 'Camera de' Deputati.' The Senate is composed of the princes of the royal house who are of age, and of an unlimited number of members, above forty years old, who are nominated by the King for life; a condition of the nomination being that the person should either fill a high office, or have acquired fame in science, literature, or any other pursuit tending to the benefit of the nation, or, finally, should pay taxes to the annual amount of 3,000 lire, or 1207. The number of senators, in the session of 1880, was 270. The deputies of the lower House are elected, by ballot, by all citizens who are twenty-five years of age, and pay taxes to the amount of 40 lire, or 11. 12s. For this purpose the whole of the population is divided into electoral colleges, or districts. No deputy can be returned to Parliament unless at least one-third of the inscribed electors appear at the poll. At the last general election, in

1880, there were 571,939 electors on the lists, and the number that voted was 329,933. A deputy must be thirty years old, and have the requisites demanded by the electoral law, among them a slight property qualification. Incapable of being elected are all salaried government officials below a certain rank, as well as all persons ordained for the priesthood and filling clerical charges, or receiving pay from the state. Officers in the army and navy, ministers, under-secretaries of state, and various other classes of functionaries high in office, may be elected, but their number must never be above one-fifth that of the total number of members of the chamber of deputies. Neither senators nor deputies receive any salary or other indemnity.

The duration of Parliaments is five years; but the King has the power to dissolve the lower House at any time, being bound only to order new elections, and convoke a new meeting within four months. It is incumbent upon the executive to call the Parliament together annually. Each of the Chambers has the right of introducing new bills, the same as the Government; but all money bills must originate in the House of Deputies. The ministers have the right to attend the debates of both the upper and the lower House; but they have no vote unless they are members. The sittings

of both Chambers are public; and no sitting is valid unless an absolute majority of the members are present. The Camera de' Deputati, in the session of 1881, numbered 508 members, being the prescribed rate of one deputy to 40,000 souls. There were 528,932 electors inscribed on the rolls at the last general election.

The executive power is exercised, under the King, by a ministry divided into the following nine departments:

1. The Presidency of the Council and the Ministry of the Interior.-Agostino Depretis, born at Stradella, Pavia, 1825; Governor of Brescia, 1859-60; Pro-dictator of Sicily, 1860-61; Minister of Public Works, 1862-63; Minister of Finance and President of the Council of Ministers, 1876-77; Minister of Foreign Affairs, 1878-79. Appointed Minister of the Interior, November 25, 1879, and President of the Council of Ministers, May 29, 1881. 2. The Ministry of Finance.-Agostino Magliani, born at Laurino, Naples, in 1824; Minister of Finance, 1876-77 and 1878-79. Reappointed Minister of Finance, November 25, 1879.

3. The Ministry of Justice and of Ecclesiastical Affairs.— Giacomo Zanardelli. Appointed Minister of Justice and Ecclesiastical Affairs, May 29, 1881.

4. The Ministry of War.-General Eduardo Ferrero. Appointed Minister of War, May 29, 1881.

5. The Ministry of Marine.-Vice-Admiral Acton, formerly Chief Secretary in the Ministry of Marine. Appointed Minister of Marine, November 25, 1879.

6. The Ministry of Commerce and Agriculture.-Carlo Miceli, appointed Minister, November 25, 1879.

7. The Ministry of Public Instruction.-Giambattista Baccelli, appointed Minister of Public Instruction, May 29, 1881.

8. The Ministry of Public Works.- Antonio Baccarini, appointed Minister, December 19, 1878.

In each of the 69 provinces into which the kingdom of Italy is divided, the executive power of the Government is intrusted to a prefect appointed by the ministry.

Church of Rome.

The 'Statuto fondamentale del Regno' enacts, in its first article, that the Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman religion is the sole religion of the State.' By the terms of the royal decree of Oct. 9, 1870, which declared that 'Rome and the Roman Provinces shall constitute an integral part of the Kingdom of Italy,' the Pope, or Pontiff, was constituted supreme head of the Church, preserving his former dignities as a reigning prince, and all other prerogatives of absolute and independent sovereignty. Officially the Pope bears

the title: 'Bishop of Rome and Vicar of Jesus Christ, Successor of St. Peter Prince of the Apostles, Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church.' Supreme-Pontiff.-Leo XIII., born at Carpineto, March 2, 1810, the son of Luigi Pecci; educated at the college of Jesuits, Viterbo; appointed one of the chaplains of Pope Gregorio XVI., 1837; created bishop of Damieta, 1843; Papal Nuncio to Belgium, 1843-46; Archbishop of Perugia 1846; created cardinal, December 19, 1853. Elected Supreme Pontiff, as successor of Pio IX., February 21, 1878.

The Pontiff was originally elected by the priests and people of the diocese of Rome; but subsequently by the cardinals. In the eleventh century, Nicola II. conferred on the cardinals the right of directing the election, and, in accordance with his statutes, the cardinals, who had figured as a body since the eighth century, were bound to demand of the Roman people and the Roman clergy the ratification of their choice. To legalise the election, it was indispensable that the same name should obtain two-thirds at least of the votes of the Conclave, together with the suffrages of the people and the clergy of Rome. This mode of proceeding, however, was found to give rise to dissensions, and the consequence was that both the clergy and the people were excluded from all participation in the election. This reform took place in 1227, on the accession of Gregorio IX. The election of a Pontiff is by scrutiny or ballot. Each cardinal writes his own name with that of the candidate he proposes on a ticket. These tickets are deposited in the consecrated chalice which stands on the altar of the chapel where they sit; and each one approaching and leaving the altar kneels and repeats a prayer. After a pause the tickets are taken from the sacred cup by officers named ad hoc from their own body; the tickets are compared with the number of cardinals present, and when it is found that any one of them has two-thirds of the votes in his favour he is declared elected. If no one can show the requisite number of votes another proceeding is gone through. This proceeding is the election by access-so called because any cardinal has the right to accede to the vote of another by altering his ticket according to a prescribed form. The moment the election is declared the tickets are burnt. The present Pontiff, Leo XIII., was elected by unanimity. He is the 258th Pope. The rise of the Pontificate of Rome, as a temporal power, dates from the year 755, when Pepin, king of the Franks, granted to Pope Stefano III. the exarchate of Ravenna, to which Charlemagne added the provinces of Perugia and Spoleto. Kaiser Heinrich III., in 1053, increased these possessions of the head of the Church by the city of Benevento, with the surrounding territory; and not long after, in 1102, the Marchioness Matilda of Tuscany bequeathed to the Holy See the provinces known as the 'Patrimony of St. Peter.' In 1297, Forli and