Chapter V: Front Matter (5)

_Religion._--The great majority of Italians--97.12%--are Roman Catholics. Besides the ordinary Latin rite, several others are recognized. The Armenians of Venice maintain their traditional characteristics. The Albanians of the southern provinces still employ the Greek rite and the Greek language in their public worship, and their priests, like those of the Greek Church, are allowed to marry. Certain peculiarities introduced by St Ambrose distinguish the ritual of Milan from that of the general church. Up to 1871 the island of Sicily was, according to the bull of Urban II., ecclesiastically dependent on the king, and exempt from the canonical power of the pope.

Though the territorial authority of the papal see was practically abolished in 1870, the fact that Rome is the seat of the administrative centre of the vast organization of the church is not without significance to the nation. In the same city in which the administrative functions of the body politic are centralized there still exists the court of the spiritual potentate which in 1879 consisted of 1821 persons. Protestants number some 65,000, of whom half are Italian and half foreign. Of the former 22,500 are Waldensians. The number of Jews was returned as 36,000, but is certainly higher. There are, besides, in Italy some 2500 members of the Greek Orthodox Church. There were in 1901 20,707 parishes in Italy, 68,444 secular clergy and 48,043 regulars (monks, lay brothers and nuns). The size of parishes varies from province to province, Sicily having larger parishes in virtue of the old Sicilian church laws, and Naples, and some parts of central Italy, having the smallest. The Italian parishes had in 1901 a total gross revenue, including assignments from the public worship endowment fund, of £1,280,000 or an average of £63 per parish; 51% of this gross sum consists of revenue from glebe lands.

The kingdom is divided into 264 sees and ten abbeys, or prelatures
_nullius dioceseos_. The dioceses are as follows:--

A. 6 suburbicarian sees--Ostia and Velletri, Porto and Sta Rufina,
Albano, Frascati, Palestrina, Sabina--all held by cardinal bishops.

B. 74 sees immediately subject to the Holy See, of which 12 are
archiepiscopal and 61 episcopal.

C. 37 ecclesiastical provinces, each under a metropolitan, composed of
148 suffragan dioceses. Their position is indicated in the following
table:--

_Metropolitans._ _Suffragans._

Acerenza-Matera Anglona-Tursi, Tricarico, Venosa.

Bari Conversano, Ruvo-Bitonto.

Benevento S. Agata de' Goti, Alife, Ariano, Ascoli
Satriano Cerignola, Avellino, Bojano,
Bovino, Larino, Lucera, S. Severo, Telese
(Cerreto), Termoli.

Bologna Faenza, Imola.

Brindisi and Ostuni No suffragan.

Cagliari Galtelli-Nuoro, Iglesias, Ogliastra.

Capua Caiazzo, Calvi-Teano, Caserta,
Isernia-Venafro, Sessa.

Chieti and Vasto No suffragan.

Conza and Campagna S. Angelo de' Lombardi-Bisaccia, Lacedonia,
Muro Lucano.

Fermo Macerata-Tolentino, Montalto, Ripatransone,
S. Severino.

Florence Borgo S. Sepolcro, Colle di Val d'Elsa,
Fiesole, S. Miniato, Modigliana,
Pistoia-Prato.

Genoa Albenga, Bobbio, Chiavari, Savona-Noli,
Tortona, Ventimiglia.

Lanciano and Ortona No suffragan.

Manfredonia and Viesti No suffragan.

Messina Lipari, Nicosia, Patti.

Milan Bergamo, Brescia, Como, Crema, Cremona, Lodi,
Mantua, Pavia.

Modena Carpi, Guastalla, Massa-Carrara, Reggio.

Monreale Caltanisetta, Girgenti.

Naples Acerra, Ischia, Nola, Pozzuoli.

Oristano Ales-Terralba.

Otranto Gallipoli, Lecce, Ugento.

Palermo Cefalù, Mazzara, Trapani.

Pisa Leghorn, Pescia, Pontremoli, Volterra.

Ravenna Bertinoro, Cervia, Cesena, Comacchio, Forlì,
Rimini, Sarsina.

Reggio Calabria Bova, Cassano, Catanzaro, Cotrone, Gerace,
Nicastro, Oppido, Nicotera-Tropea,
Squillace.

Salerno Acerno, Capaccio-Vallo, Diano, Marsico-Nuovo
and Potenza, Nocera dei Pagani, Nusco,
Policastro.

Sassari Alghero, Ampurias and Tempio, Bisarhio, Bosa.

S. Severino Cariati.

Siena Chiusi-Pienza, Grosseto, Massa Marittima,
Sovana-Pitigliano.

Syracuse Caltagirone, Noto, Piazza-Armerina.

Sorrento Castellammare.

Taranto Castellaneta, Oria.

Trani-Nazareth-
Barletta, Bisceglie Andria.

Turin Acqui, Alba, Aosta, Asti, Cuneo, Fossano,
Ivrea, Mondovi, Pinerolo, Saluzzo, Susa.

Urbino S. Angelo in Vado-Urbania, Cagli-Pergola,
Fossombrone, Montefeltro, Pesaro,
Sinigaglia.

Venice (patriarch) Adria, Belluno-Feltre, Ceneda (Vittorio),
Chioggia, Concordia-Portogruaro, Padua,
Treviso, Verona, Vicenza.

Vercelli Alessandria della Paglia, Biella, Casale,
Monferrato, Novara, Vigevano.

Twelve archbishops and sixty-one bishops are independent of all
metropolitan supervision, and hold directly of the Holy See. The
archbishops are those of Amalfi, Aquila, Camerino and Treia, Catania,
Cosenza, Ferrara, Gaeta, Lucca, Perugia, Rossano, Spoleto, and Udine,
and the bishops those of Acireale, Acquapendente, Alatri, Amelia,
Anagni, Ancona-Umana, Aquino-Sora-Pontecorvo, Arezzo, Ascoli, Assisi,
Aversa, Bagnorea, Borgo San Donnino, Cava-Sarno, Città di Castello,
Città della Pieve, Cività Castellana-Orte-Gallese, Corneto-Civita
Vecchia, Cortona, Fabriano-Matelica, Fano, Ferentino, Foggia, Foligno,
Gravina-Montepeloso, Gubbio, Jesi, Luni-Sarzana and Bragnato, S.
Marco-Bisignano, Marsi (Pescina), Melfi-Rapolla, Mileto,
Molfetta-Terlizzi-Giovennazzo, Monopoli, Montalcino, Montefiascone,
Montepulciano, Nardo, Narni, Nocera in Umbria, Norcia, Orvieto,
Osimo-Cingoli, Parma, Penne-Atri, Piacenza, Poggio Mirteto,
Recanati-Loreto, Rieti, Segni, Sutri-Nepi, Teramo, Terni,
Terracina-Piperno-Sezze, Tivoli, Todi, Trivento, Troia, Valva-Sulmona,
Veroli, Viterbo-Toscanella. Excluding the diocese of Rome and
suburbicarian sees, each see has an average area of 430 sq. m. and a
population of 121,285 souls. The largest sees exist in Venetia and
Lombardy, and the smallest in the provinces of Naples, Leghorn, Forlì,
Ancona, Pesaro, Urbino, Caserta, Avellino and Ascoli. The Italian sees
(exclusive of Rome and of the suburbicarian sees) have a total annual
revenue of £206,000 equal to an average of £800 per see. The richest
is that of Girgenti, with £6304, and the poorest that of Porto
Maurizio, with only £246. In each diocese is a seminary or diocesan
school.

Religious Foundations.

In 1855 an act was passed in the Sardinian states for the
disestablishment of all houses of the religious orders not engaged in
preaching, teaching or the care of the sick, of all chapters of
collegiate churches not having a cure of souls or existing in towns of
less than 20,000 inhabitants, and of all private benefices for which
no service was paid by the holders. The property and money thus
obtained were used to form an ecclesiastical fund (_Cassa
Ecclesiastica_) distinct from the finances of the state. This act
resulted in the suppression of 274 monasteries with 3733 friars, of 61
nunneries with 1756 nuns and of 2722 chapters and benefices. In 1860
and 1861 the royal commissioners (even before the constitution of the
new kingdom of Italy had been formally declared) issued decrees by
which there were abolished--(1) in Umbria, 197 monasteries and 102
convents with 1809 male and 2393 female associates, and 836 chapters
or benefices; (2) in the Marches, 292 monasteries and 127 convents
with 2950 male and 2728 female associates; (3) in the Neapolitan
provinces, 747 monasteries and 275 convents with 8787 male and 7493
female associates. There were thus disestablished in seven or eight
years 2075 houses of the regular clergy occupied by 31,649 persons;
and the confiscated property yielded a revenue of £398,298. And at the
same time there had been suppressed 11,889 chapters and benefices of
the secular clergy, which yielded an annual income of £199,149. The
value of the capital thus potentially freed was estimated at
£12,000,000; though hitherto the ecclesiastical possessions in
Lombardy, Emilia, Tuscany and Sicily had been untouched. As yet the
Cassa Ecclesiastica had no right to dispose of the property thus
entrusted to it; but in 1862 an act was passed by which it transferred
all its real property to the national domain, and was credited with a
corresponding amount by the exchequer. The property could now be
disposed of like the other property of the domain; and except in
Sicily, where the system of emphyteusis was adopted, the church lands
began to be sold by auction. To encourage the poorer classes of the
people to become landholders, it was decided that the lots offered for
sale should be small, and that the purchaser should be allowed to pay
by five or ten yearly instalments. By a new act in 1866 the process of
secularization was extended to the whole kingdom. All the members of
the suppressed communities received full exercise of all the ordinary
political and civil rights of laymen; and annuities were granted to
all those who had taken permanent religious vows prior to the 18th of
January 1864. To priests and choristers, for example, of the
proprietary or endowed orders were assigned £24 per annum if they were
upwards of sixty years of age, £16 if upwards of 40, and £14, 8s. if
younger. The Cassa Ecclesiastica was abolished, and in its stead was
instituted a _Fondo pel Culto_, or public worship fund. From the
general confiscation were exempted the buildings actually used for
public worship, as episcopal residences or seminaries, &c., or which
had been appropriated to the use of schools, poorhouses, hospitals,
&c.; as well as the buildings, appurtenances, and movable property of
the abbeys of Monte Casino, Della Cava dei Tirreni, San Martino della
Scala, Monreale, Certosa near Pavia, and other establishments of the
same kind of importance as architectural or historical monuments. An
annuity equal to the ascertained revenue of the suppressed
institutions was placed to the credit of the fund in the government 5%
consols. A fourth of this sum was to be handed to the communes to be
employed on works of beneficence or education as soon as a surplus was
obtained from that part of the annuity assigned for the payment of
monastic pensions; and in Sicily, 209 communes entered on their
privileges as soon as the patrimony was liquidated. Another act in
1867 decreed the suppression of certain foundations which had escaped
the action of previous measures, put an extraordinary tax of 30% on
the whole of the patrimony of the church, and granted the government
the right of issuing 5% bonds sufficient to bring into the treasury
£16,000,000, which were to be accepted at their nominal value as
purchase money for the alienated property. The public worship
endowment fund has relieved the state exchequer of the cost of public
worship; has gradually furnished to the poorer parish priests an
addition to their stipends, raising them to £32 per annum, with the
prospect of further raising them to £40; and has contributed to the
outlay incurred by the communes for religious purposes. The monastic
buildings required for public purposes have been made over to the
communal and provincial authorities, while the same authorities have
been entrusted with the administration of the ecclesiastical revenues
previously set apart for charity and education, and objects of art and
historical interest have been consigned to public libraries and
museums. By these laws the reception of novices was forbidden in the
existing conventual establishments the extinction of which had been
decreed, and all new foundations were forbidden, except those engaged
in instruction and the care of the sick. But the laws have not been
rigorously enforced of late years; and the ecclesiastical possessions
seized by the state were thrown on the market simultaneously, and so
realized very low prices, being often bought up by wealthy religious
institutions. The large number of these institutions was increased
when these bodies were expelled from France.

On the 30th of June 1903 the patrimony of the endowment fund amounted
to £17,339,040, of which only £264,289 were represented by buildings
still occupied by monks or nuns. The rest was made up of capital and
interest. The liabilities of the fund (capitalized) amounted to
£10,668,105, of which monastic pensions represented a rapidly
diminishing sum of £2,564,930. The chief items of annual expenditure
drawn from the fund are the supplementary stipends to priests and the
pensions to members of suppressed religious houses. The number of
persons in receipt of monastic pensions on the 30th of June 1899 was
13,255; but while this item of expenditure will disappear by the
deaths of those entitled to pensions, the supplementary stipends and
contributions are gradually increasing. The following table shows the
course of the two main categories of the fund from 1876 to
1902-1903:--

+----------------------------+----------+----------+----------+----------+
| | 1876. |1885-1886.|1898-1899.|1902-1903.|
+----------------------------+----------+----------+----------+----------+
| Monastic pensions, | | | | |
| liquidation of religious | | | | |
| property and provision of| | | | |
| shelter for nuns | £749,172 | £491,339 | £220,479 | £165,144 |
| Supplementary stipends to | | | | |
| bishops and parochial | | | | |
| clergy, assignments to | | | | |
| Sardinian clergy and | | | | |
| expenditure for education| | | | |
| and charitable purposes | 142,912 | 128,521 | 210,020 | 347,940 |
+----------------------------+----------+----------+----------+----------+

_Roman Charitable and Religious Fund._--The law of the 19th of June
1873 contained special provisions, in conformity with the character of
Rome as the seat of the papacy, and with the situation created by the
Law of Guarantees. According to the census of 1871 there were in the
city and province of Rome 474 monastic establishments (311 for monks,
163 for nuns), occupied by 4326 monks and 3825 nuns, and possessing a
gross revenue of 4,780,891 lire. Of these, 126 monasteries and 90
convents were situated in the city, 51 monasteries and 22 convents in
the "suburbicariates." The law of 1873 created a special charitable
and religious fund of the city, while it left untouched 23 monasteries
and 49 convents which had either the character of private institutions
or were supported by foreign funds. New parishes were created, old
parishes were improved, the property of the suppressed religious
corporations was assigned to charitable and educational institutions
and to hospitals, while property having no special application was
used to form a charitable and religious fund. On the 30th of June 1903
the balance-sheet of this fund showed a credit amounting to £1,796,120
and a debit of £460,819. Expenditure for the year 1902-1903 was
£889,858 and revenue £818,674.

_Constitution and Government._--The Vatican palace itself (with St Peter's), the Lateran palace, and the papal villa at Castel Gandolfo have secured to them the privilege of extraterritoriality by the law of 1871. The small republic of San Marino is the only other enclave in Italian territory. Italy is a constitutional monarchy, in which the executive power belongs exclusively to the sovereign, while the legislative power is shared by him with the parliament. He holds supreme command by land and sea, appoints ministers and officials, promulgates the laws, coins money, bestows honours, has the right of pardoning, and summons and dissolves the parliament. Treaties with foreign powers, however, must have the consent of parliament. The sovereign is irresponsible, the ministers, the signature of one of whom is required to give validity to royal decrees, being responsible. Parliament consists of two chambers, the senate and the Chamber of Deputies, which are nominally on an equal footing, though practically the elective chamber is the more important. The senate consists of princes of the blood who have attained their majority, and of an unlimited number of senators above forty years of age, who are qualified under any one of twenty-one specified categories--by having either held high office, or attained celebrity in science, literature, &c. In 1908 there were 318 senators exclusive of five members of the royal family. Nomination is by the king for life. Besides its legislative functions, the senate is the highest court of justice in the case of political offences or the impeachment of ministers. The deputies to the lower house are 508 in number, i.e. one to every 64,893 of the population, and all the constituencies are single-member constituencies. The party system is not really strong. The suffrage is extended to all citizens over twenty-one years of age who can read and write and have either attained a certain standard of elementary education or are qualified by paying a rent which varies from £6 in communes of 2500 inhabitants to £16 in communes of 150,000 inhabitants, or, if peasant farmers, 16s. of rent; or by being sharers in the profits of farms on which not less than £3, 4s. of direct (including provincial) taxation is paid; or by paying not less than £16 in direct (including provincial) taxation. Others, e.g. members of the professional classes, are qualified to vote by their position. The number of electors (2,541,327) at the general election in 1904 was 29% of the male population over twenty-one years of age, and 7.6% of the total population--exclusive of those temporarily disfranchised on account of military service; and of these 62.7% voted. No candidate can be returned unless he obtains more than half the votes given and more than one-sixth of the total number on the register; otherwise a second ballot must be held. Nor can he be returned under the age of thirty, and he must be qualified as an elector. All salaried government officials (except ministers, under-secretaries of state and other high functionaries, and officers in the army or navy), and ecclesiastics, are disqualified for election. Senators and deputies receive no salary but have free passes on railways throughout Italy and on certain lines of steamers. Parliaments are quinquennial, but the king may dissolve the Chamber of Deputies at any time, being bound, however, to convoke a new chamber within four months. The executive must call parliament together annually. Each of the chambers has the right of introducing new bills, as has also the government; but all money bills must originate in the Chamber of Deputies. The consent of both chambers and the assent of the king is necessary to their being passed. Ministers may attend the debates of either house but can only vote in that of which they are members. The sittings of both houses are public, and an absolute majority of the members must be present to make a sitting valid. The ministers are eleven in number and have salaries of about £1000 each; the presidency of the council of ministers (created in 1889) may be held by itself or (as is usual) in conjunction with any other portfolio. The ministries are: interior (under whom are the prefects of the several provinces), foreign affairs, treasury (separated from finance in 1889), finance, public works, justice and ecclesiastical affairs, war, marine, public instruction, commerce, industry and agriculture, posts and telegraphs (separated from public works in 1889). Each minister is aided by an under-secretary of state at a salary of £500. There is a council of state with advisory functions, which can also decide certain questions of administration, especially applications from local authorities and conflicts between ministries, and a court of accounts, which has the right of examining all details of state expenditure. In every country the bureaucracy is abused, with more or less reason, for unprogressiveness, timidity and "red-tape," and Italy is no exception to the rule. The officials are not well paid, and are certainly numerous; while the manifold checks and counterchecks have by no means always been sufficient to prevent dishonesty.

_Titles of Honour._--The former existence of so many separate
sovereignties and "fountains of honour" gave rise to a great many
hereditary titles of nobility. Besides many hundreds of princes,
dukes, marquesses, counts, barons and viscounts, there are a large
number of persons of "patrician" rank, persons with a right to the
designation _nobile_ or _signori_, and certain hereditary knights or
cavalieri. In the "Golden Book of the Capitol" (_Libro d'Oro del
Campidoglio_) are inscribed 321 patrician families, and of these 28
have the title of prince and 8 that of duke, while the others are
marquesses, counts or simply patricians. For the Italian orders of
knighthood see KNIGHTHOOD AND CHIVALRY: _Orders of Knighthood_. The
king's uncle is duke of Aosta, his son is prince of Piedmont and his
cousin is duke of Genoa.

_Justice._--The judiciary system of Italy is mainly framed on the
French model. Italy has courts of cassation at Rome, Naples, Palermo,
Turin, Florence, 20 appeal court districts, 162 tribunal districts and
1535 _mandamenti_, each with its own magistracy (_pretura_). In 13 of
the principal towns there are also _pretori_ who have exclusively
penal jurisdiction. For minor civil cases involving sums up to 100
lire (£4), _giudici conciliatori_ have also jurisdiction, while they
may act as arbitrators up to any amount by request. The Roman court of
cassation is the highest, and in both penal and civil matters has a
right to decide questions of law and disputes between the lower
judicial authorities, and is the only one which has jurisdiction in
penal cases, while sharing with the others the right to revise civil
cases.

The _pretori_ have penal jurisdiction concerning all misdemeanours
(_contravvenzioni_) or offences (_delitti_) punishable by imprisonment
not exceeding three months or by fine not exceeding 1000 lire (£40).
The penal tribunals have jurisdiction in cases involving imprisonment
up to ten years, or a fine exceeding £40, while the assize courts,
with a jury, deal with offences involving imprisonment for life or
over ten years, and have exclusive jurisdiction (except that the
senate is on occasion a high court of justice) over all political
offences. Appeal may be made from the sentences of the _pretori_ to
the tribunals, and from the tribunals to the courts of appeal; from
the assize courts there is no appeal except on a point of form, which
appeal goes to the court of cassation at Rome. This court has the
supreme power in all questions of legality of a sentence, jurisdiction
or competency.

The penal code was unified and reformed in 1890. A reform of late
years is the _condanna condizionale_, equivalent to the English "being
bound over to appear for judgment if called upon," applied in 94,489
cases in 1907. In civil matters there is appeal from the _giudice
conciliatore_ to the _pretore_ (who has jurisdiction up to a sum of
1500 lire = £60) from the _pretore_ to the civil tribunal, from the
civil tribunal to the court of appeal, and from the court of appeal to
the court of cassation.

The judges of all kinds are very poorly paid. Even the first president
of the Rome court of cassation only receives £600 a year.

The statistics of civil proceedings vary considerably from province to
province. Lombardy, with 25 lawsuits per 1000 inhabitants, holds the
lowest place; Emilia comes next with 31 per 1000; Tuscany has 39;
Venetia, 42; Calabria, 144; Rome, 146; Apulia, 153; and Sardinia, 360
per 1000. The high average in Sardinia is chiefly due to cases within
the competence of the conciliation offices. The number of penal
proceedings, especially those within the competence of praetors, has
also increased, chiefly on account of the frequency of minor
contraventions of the law referred to in the section _Crime_. The
ratio of criminal proceedings to population is, as a rule, much higher
in the south than in the north.

A royal decree, dated February 1891, established three classes of
prisons: judiciary prisons, for persons awaiting examination or
persons sentenced to arrest, detention or seclusion for less than six
months; penitentiaries of various kinds (_ergastoli_, _case di
reclusione_, _detenzione_ or _custodia_), for criminals condemned to
long terms of imprisonment; and reformatories, for criminals under age
and vagabonds. Capital punishment was abolished in 1877, penal
servitude for life being substituted. This generally involves solitary
confinement of the most rigorous nature, and, as little is done to
occupy the mind, the criminal not infrequently becomes insane. Certain
types of dangerous individuals are relegated after serving a sentence
in the ordinary convict prisons, and by administrative, not by
judicial process, to special penal colonies known as _domicilii
coatti_ or "forced residences." These establishments are, however,
unsatisfactory, being mostly situated on small islands, where it is
often difficult to find work for the _coatti_, who are free by day,
being only confined at night. They receive a small and hardly
sufficient, allowance for food of 50 _centesimi_ a day, which they are
at liberty to supplement by work if they can find it or care to do it.

Notwithstanding the construction of new prisons and the transformation
of old ones, the number of cells for solitary confinement is still
insufficient for a complete application of the penal system
established by the code of 1890, and the moral effect of the
association of the prisoners is not good, though the system of
solitary confinement as practised in Italy is little better. The total
number of prisoners, including minors and inhabitants of enforced
residences, which from 76,066 (2.84 per 1000 inhabitants) on the 31st
of December 1871 rose to a maximum of 80,792 on the 31st of December
1879 (2.87 per 1000), decreased to a minimum of 60,621 in 1896 (1.94
per 1000), and on the 31st of December 1898 rose again to 75,470
(2.38 per 1000), of whom 7038, less than one-tenth, were women. The
lowness of the figures regarding women is to be noticed throughout. On
the 31st of December 1903 it had decreased to 65,819, of which 6044
were women. Of these, 31,219 were in lockups, 25,145 in penal
establishments, 1837 minors in government, and 4547 in private
reformatories, and 3071 (males) were inmates of forced residences.

_Crime._--Statistics of offences, including _contravvenzioni_ or
breaches of by-laws and regulations, exhibit a considerable increase
per 100,000 inhabitants since 1887, and only a slight diminution on
the figures of 1897. The figure was 1783.45 per 100,000 in 1887,
2164.46 in 1892, 2546.49 in 1897, 2497.90 in 1902. The increase is
partly covered by _contravvenzioni_, but almost every class of penal
offence shows a rise except homicide, and even in that the diminution
is slow, 5418 in 1880, 3966 in 1887, 4408 in 1892, 4005 in 1897, 3202
in 1902; and Italy remains, owing to the frequent use of the knife,
the European country in which it is most frequent. Libels, insults,
&c., resistance to public authority, offences against good customs,
thefts and frauds, have increased; assaults are nearly stationary.
There is also an increase in juvenile delinquency. From 1890 to 1900
the actual number rose by one-third (from 30,108 to 43,684), the
proportion to the rest of those sentenced from one-fifth to
one-fourth; while in 1905 the actual number rose to 67,944, being a
considerable proportionate rise also. In Naples, the Camorra and in
Sicily, the Mafia are secret societies whose power of resistance to
authority is still not inconsiderable.

Procedure, both civil and criminal, is somewhat slow, and the
preliminary proceedings before the _juge d'instruction_ occupy much
time; and recent murder trials, by the large number of witnesses
called (including experts) and the lengthy speeches of counsel, have
been dragged out to an unconscionable length. In this, as in the
intervention of the presiding judge, the French system has been
adopted; and it is said (e.g. by Nathan, _Vent' anni di vita
italiana_, p. 241) that the efforts of the _juge d'instruction_ are,
as a rule, in fact, though not in law, largely directed to prove that
the accused is guilty. In 1902 of 884,612 persons accused of penal
offences, 13.12% were acquitted during the period of the
_instruction_, 30.31 by the courts, 46.32 condemned and the rest
acquitted in some other way. This shows that charges, often involving
preliminary imprisonment, are brought against an excessive proportion
of persons who either are not or cannot be proved to be guilty. The
courts of appeal and cassation, too, often have more than they can do;
in the year 1907 the court of cassation at Rome decided 948 appeals on
points of law in civil cases, while no fewer than 460 remained to be
decided.

As in most civilized countries, the number of suicides in Italy has
increased from year to year.

The Italian suicide rate of 63.6 per 1,000,000 is, however, lower than
those of Denmark, Switzerland, Germany and France, while it
approximates to that of England. The Italian rate is highest in the
more enlightened and industrial north, and lowest in the south. Emilia
gives a maximum rate of 10.48 per 100,000, while that of Liguria and
Lazio is little lower. The minimum of 1.27 is found in the Basilicata,
though Calabria gives only 2.13. About 20% of the total are women, and
there is an increase of nearly 3% since 1882 in the proportion of
suicides under twenty years of age.

_Army._--The Italian army grew out of the old Piedmontese army with which in the main the unification of Italy was brought about. This unification meant for the army the absorption of contingents from all parts of Italy and presenting serious differences in physical and moral aptitudes, political opinions and education. Moreover the strategic geography of the country required the greater part of the army to be stationed permanently within reach of the north-eastern and north-western frontiers. These conditions made a territorial system of recruiting or organization, as understood in Germany, practically impossible. To secure fairly uniform efficiency in the various corps, and also as a means of unifying Italy, Piedmontese, Umbrians and Neapolitans are mixed in the same corps and sleep in the same barrack room. But on leaving the colours the men disperse to their homes, and thus a regiment has, on mobilization, to draw largely on the nearest reservists, irrespective of the corps to which they belong. The remedy for this condition of affairs is sought in a most elaborate and artificial system of transferring officers and men from one unit to another at stated intervals in peace-time, but this is no more than a palliative, and there are other difficulties of almost equal importance to be surmounted. Thus in Italy the universal service system, though probably the best organization both for the army and the nation, works with a maximum of friction. "Army Reform," therefore, has been very much in the forefront of late years owing to the estrangement of Austria (which power can mobilize much more rapidly), but financial difficulties have hitherto stood in the way of any radical and far-reaching reforms, and even the proposals of the Commission of 1907, referred to below, have only been partially accepted.

The law of 1875 therefore still regulates the principles of military
service in Italy, though an important modification was made in
1907-1908. By this law, every man liable and accepted for service
served for eight or nine years on the _Active Army_ and its _Reserve_
(of which three to five were spent with the colours), four or five in
the _Mobile Militia_, and the rest of the service period of nineteen
years in the _Territorial Militia_. Under present regulations the term
of liability is divided into nine years in the _Active Army and
Reserve_ (three or two years with the colours) four in the _Mobile
Militia_ and six in the _Territorial Militia_. But these figures do
not represent the actual service of every able-bodied Italian. Like
almost all "Universal Service" countries, Italy only drafts a small
proportion of the available recruits into the army.

The following table shows the operation of the law of 1875, with the
figures of 1871 for comparison:--

+----------------------+---------------------+---------------------+
| | 30th Sept. | 30th June. |
| +----------+----------+----------+----------+
| | 1871. | 1881. | 1891. | 1901. |
+----------------------+----------+----------+----------+----------+
| Officers* | 14,070 | 22,482 | 36,739 | 36,718 |
| Men | 521,969 |1,833,554 |2,821,367 |3,330,202 |
| Acting Army & Reserve| 536,039 | 731,149 | 843,160 | 734,401 |
| Mobile Militia | .. | 294,714 | 445,315 | 320,170 |
| Territorial Militia | .. | 823,970 |1,553,784 |2,275,631 |
+----------------------+----------+----------+----------+----------+

* Including officers on special service or in the reserve.

Thus, on the 30th of September 1871 the various categories of the army
included only 2% of the population, but on the 30th of June 1898 they
included 10%. But in 1901 the strength of the active army and reserve
shows a marked diminution, which became accentuated in the year
following. The table below indicates that up to 1907 the army, though
always below its nominal strength, never absorbed more than a quarter
of the available contingent.

+--------------------------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+
| | 1902. | 1903. | 1904. | 1906. |
+--------------------------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+
| Liable |441,171 |453,640 |469,860 |475,737 |
+--------------------------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+
| Physically unfit | 91,176 | 98,065 |119,070 |122,559 |
| Struck off | 12,270 | 13,189 | 13,130 | 18,222 |
| Failed to appear | 33,634 | 34,711 | 39,219 | 40,226 |
| Put back for re-examination |108,835 |108,618 |107,173 |122,205 |
+--------------------------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+
| Assigned to Territorial Militia| | | | |
| and excused peace service | 92,952 | 96,916 | 94,136 | 87,032 |
+--------------------------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+
| Assigned to active army |102,204 |102,141 | 97,132 | 87,493 |
| Joined active army | 88,666 | 86,448 | 81,581 | 66,836 |
+--------------------------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+

The serious condition of recruiting was quickly noticed, and the
tabulation of each year's results was followed by a new draft law, but
no solution was achieved until a special commission assembled. The
inquiries made by this body revealed an unsatisfactory condition in
the national defences, traceable in the main to financial exigencies,
and as regards recruiting a new law was brought into force in
1907-1908.

One specially difficult point concerned the effectives of the
peace-strength army. Hitherto the actual time of training had been
less than the nominal. The recruits due to join in November were not
incorporated till the following March, and thus in the winter months
Italy was defenceless. The army is always maintained at a low peace
effective (about one-quarter of war establishment) and even this was
reduced, by the absence of the recruits, until there were often only
15 rank and file with a company, whose war strength is about 230. Even
in the summer and autumn a large proportion of the army consisted of
men with but a few months' service--a highly dangerous state of things
considering the peculiar mobilization conditions of the country.
Further--and this case no legislation can cover--the contingent, and
(what is more serious) the reserves, are being steadily weakened by
emigration. The increase in the numbers rejected as unfit is accounted
for by the fact that if only a small proportion of the contingent can
be taken for service, the medical standard of acceptance is high.

The new recruiting scheme of 1907 re-established three categories of
recruits,[4] the 2nd category corresponding practically to the German
_Ersatz-Reserve_. The men classed in it have to train for six months,
and they are called up in the late summer to bridge the gap above
mentioned. The new terms of service for the other categories have been
already stated. In consequence, in 1908, of 490,000 liable, some
110,000 actually joined for full training and 24,000 of the new 2nd
category for short training, which contrasts very forcibly with the
feeble embodiments of 1906 and 1907. These changes threw a
considerable strain on the finances, but the imminence of the danger
caused their acceptance.

The peace strength under the new scheme is nominally 300,000, but actually (average throughout the year) about 240,000. The army is organized in 12 army corps (each of 2 divisions), 6 of which are quartered on the plain of Lombardy and Venetia and on the frontiers, and 2 more in northern Central Italy. Their headquarters are: I. Turin, II. Alessandria, III. Milan, IV. Genoa, V. Verona, VI. Bologna, VII. Ancona, VIII. Florence, IX. Rome, X. Naples, XI. Bari, XII. Palermo, Sardinian division Cagliari. In addition there are 22 "Alpini" battalions and 15 mountain batteries stationed on the Alpine frontiers.

The war strength was estimated in 1901 as, _Active Army_ (incl. Reserve) 750,000, _Mobile Militia_ 320,000, _Territorial Militia_ 2,300,000 (more than half of the last-named untrained). These figures are, with a fractional increase in the Regular Army, applicable to-day. When the 1907 scheme takes full effect, however, the Active Army and the Mobile Militia will each be augmented by about one-third. In 1915 the field army should, including officers and permanent _cadres_, be about 1,012,000 strong. The Mobile Militia will not, however, at that date have felt the effects of the scheme, and the Territorial Militia (setting the drain of emigration against the increased population) will probably remain at about the same figure as in 1901.

The army consists of 96 three-battalion regiments of infantry of the
line and 12 of _bersaglieri_ (riflemen), each of the latter having a
cyclist company (Bersaglieri cyclist battalions are being (1909)
provisionally formed); 26 regiments of cavalry, of which 10 are
lancers, each of 6 squadrons; 24 regiments of artillery, each of 8
batteries;[5] 1 regiment of horse artillery of 6 batteries; 1 of
mountain artillery of 12 batteries, and 3 independent mountain
batteries. The armament of the infantry is the Männlicher-Carcano
magazine rifle of 1891. The field and horse artillery was in 1909 in
process of rearmament with a Krupp quick-firer. The garrison artillery
consists of 3 coast and 3 fortress regiments, with a total of 72
companies. There are 4 regiments (11 battalions) of engineers. The
_carabinieri_ or gendarmerie, some 26,500 in number, are part of the
standing army; they are recruited from selected volunteers from the
army. In 1902 the special corps in Eritrea numbered about 4700 of all
ranks, including nearly 4000 natives.

Ordinary and extraordinary military expenditure for the financial year
1898-1899 amounted to nearly £10,000,000, an increase of £4,000,000 as
compared with 1871. The Italian Chamber decided that from the 1st of
July 1901 until the 30th of June 1907 Italian military expenditure
proper should not exceed the maximum of £9,560,000 per annum fixed by
the Army Bill of May 1897, and that military pensions should not
exceed £1,440,000. Italian military expenditure was thus until 1907
£11,000,000 per annum. In 1908 the ordinary and extraordinary
expenditure was £10,000,000. The demands of the Commission were only
partly complied with, but a large special grant was voted amounting to
at least £1,000,000 per annum for the next seven years. The amount
spent is slight compared with the military expenditure of other
countries.

The Alpine frontier is fortified strongly, although the condition of
the works was in many cases considered unsatisfactory by the 1907
Commission. The fortresses in the basin of the Po chiefly belong to
the era of divided Italy and are now out of date; the chief coast
fortresses are Vado, Genoa, Spezia, Monte Argentaro, Gaeta, Straits of
Messina, Taranto, Maddalena. Rome is protected by a circle of forts
from a _coup de main_ from the sea, the coast, only 12 m. off, being
flat and deserted.

_Navy._--For purposes of naval organization the Italian coast is divided into three maritime departments, with headquarters at Spezia, Naples and Venice; and into two _comandi militari_, with headquarters at Taranto and at the island of Maddalena. The _personnel_ of the navy consists of the following corps: (1) General staff; (2) naval engineers, chiefly employed in building and repairing war vessels; (3) sanitary corps; (4) commissariat corps, for supplies and account-keeping; (5) crews.

The _matériel_ of the Italian navy has been completely transformed, especially in virtue of the bill of the 31st of March 1875. Old types of vessels have been sold or demolished, and replaced by newer types.

In March 1907 the Italian navy contained, excluding ships of no
fighting value:--

+---------------------+----------+-----------+----------+
| |Effective.|Completing.|Projected.|
+---------------------+----------+-----------+----------+
| Modern battleships | 4 | 4 | 3 |
| Old battleships | 10 | .. | .. |
| Armoured cruisers | 6 | 2 | .. |
| Protected cruisers | 14 | .. | .. |
| Torpedo gunboats | 13 | .. | .. |
| Destroyers | 13 | 4 | 10 |
| Modern torpedo boats| 34 | .. | 15 |
| Submarines | 1 | 4 | 2 |
+---------------------+----------+-----------+----------+

The four modern ships--the "Vittorio Emanuele" class, laid down in
1897--have a tonnage of 12,625, two 12-in. and twelve 8-in. guns, an
I.H.P. of 19,000, and a designed speed of 22 knots, being intended to
avoid any battleship and to carry enough guns to destroy any cruiser.

The _personnel_ on active service consisted of 1799 officers and
25,000 men, the former being doubled and the latter trebled since
1882.

Naval expenditure has enormously increased since 1871, the total for
1871 having been about £900,000, and the total for 1905-1906 over
£5,100,000. Violent fluctuations have, however, taken place from year
to year, according to the state of Italian finances. To permit the
steady execution of a normal programme of shipbuilding, the Italian
Chamber, in May 1901, adopted a resolution limiting naval expenditure,
inclusive of naval pensions and of premiums on mercantile
shipbuilding, to the sum of £4,840,000 for the following six years,
i.e. from 1st July 1901 until 30th June 1907. This sum consists of
£4,240,000 of naval expenditure proper, £220,000 for naval pensions
and £380,000 for premiums upon mercantile shipbuilding. During the
financial year ending on the 30th of June 1901 these figures were
slightly exceeded.

_Finance._--The volume of the Italian budget has considerably increased as regards both income and expenditure. The income of £60,741,418 in 1881 rose in 1899-1900 to £69,917,126; while the expenditure increased from £58,705,929 in 1881 to £69,708,706 in 1899-1900, an increase of £9,175,708 in income and £11,002,777 in expenditure, while there has been a still further increase since, the figures for 1905-1906 showing (excluding items which figure on both sides of the account) an increase of £8,766,995 in income and £5,434,560 in expenditure over 1899-1900. These figures include not only the categories of "income and expenditure" proper, but also those known as "movement of capital," "railway constructions" and "_partite di giro_" which do not constitute real income and expenditure.[6] Considering only income and expenditure proper, the approximate totals are:--

+---------------+------------+------------+------------+
|Financial Year.| Revenue. |Expenditure.|Surpluses or|
| | | | Deficits. |
+---------------+------------+------------+------------+
| 1882 |£52,064,800 |£51,904,800 |£+ 160,000 |
| 1885-1886 | 56,364,000 | 57,304,400 | - 940,000 |
| 1890-1891 | 61,600,000 | 64,601,600 | -3,001,600 |
| 1895-1896 | 65,344,000 | 67,962,800 | -2,618,800 |
| 1898-1899 | 66,352,800 | 65,046,400 | +1,306,400 |
| 1899-1900 | 66,860,800 | 65,323,600 | +1,537,200 |
| 1900-1901 | 68,829,200 | 66,094,400 | +2,734,800 |
| 1905-1906 | 77,684,100 | 75,143,300 | +2,540,900 |
+---------------+------------+------------+------------+

The financial year 1862 closed with a deficit of more than
£16,000,000, which increased in 1866 to £28,840,000 on account of the
preparations for the war against Austria. Excepting the increases of
deficit in 1868 and 1870, the annual deficits tended thenceforward to
decrease, until in 1875 equilibrium between expenditure and revenue
was attained, and was maintained until 1881. Advantage was taken of
the equilibrium to abolish certain imposts, amongst them the grist
tax, which prior to its gradual repeal produced more than £3,200,000
a year. From 1885-1886 onwards, outlay on public works, military and
colonial expenditure, and especially the commercial and financial
crises, contributed to produce annual deficits; but owing to drastic
reforms introduced in 1894-1895 and to careful management the year
1898-1899 marked a return of surpluses (nearly £1,306,400).

The revenue in the Italian financial year 1905-1906 (July 1, 1905 to
June 30, 1906) was £102,486,108, and the expenditure £99,945,253, or,
subtracting the _partite di giro_, £99,684,121 and £97,143,266,
leaving a surplus of £2,540,855.[7] The surplus was made up by
contributions from every branch of the effective revenue, except the
"contributions and repayments from local authorities." The railways
showed an increase of £351,685; registration transfer and succession,
£295,560; direct taxation, £42,136 (mainly from income tax, which more
than made up for the remission of the house tax in the districts of
Calabria visited by the earthquake of 1906); customs and excise,
£1,036,742; government monopolies, £291,027; posts, £41,310;
telegraphs, £23,364; telephones, £65,771. Of the surplus £1,000,000
was allocated to the improvement of posts, telegraphs and telephones;
£1,000,000 to public works (£720,000 for harbour improvement and
£280,000 for internal navigation); £200,000 to the navy (£132,000 for
a second dry dock at Taranto and £68,000 for coal purchase); and
£200,000 as a nucleus of a fund for the purchase of valuable works of
art which are in danger of exportation.

Taxation.

The state therefore draws its principal revenues from the imposts, the
taxes and the monopolies. According to the Italian tributary system,
"imposts," properly so called are those upon land, buildings and
personal estate. The impost upon land is based upon the cadastral
survey independently of the vicissitudes of harvests. In 1869 the main
quota to the impost was increased by one-tenth, in addition to the
extra two-tenths previously imposed in 1866. Subsequently, it was
decided to repeal these additional tenths, the first being abolished
in 1886 and the rest in 1887. On account of the inequalities still
existing in the cadastral survey, in spite of the law of 1886 (see
_Agriculture_, above), great differences are found in the land tax
assessments in various parts of Italy. Land is not so heavily burdened
by the government quota as by the additional centimes imposed by the
provincial and communal authorities. On an average Italian landowners
pay nearly 25% of their revenues from land in government and local
land tax. The buildings impost has been assessed since 1866 upon the
basis of 12.50% of "taxable revenue." Taxable revenue corresponds to
two-thirds of actual income from factories and to three-fourths of
actual income from houses; it is ascertained by the agents of the
financial administration. In 1869, however, a third additional tenth
was added to the previously existing additional two-tenths, and,
unlike the tenths of the land tax, they have not been abolished. At
present the main quota with the additional three-tenths amounts to
16.25% of taxable income. The imposts on incomes from personal estate
(_ricchezza mobile_) were introduced in 1866; it applies to incomes
derived from investments, industry or personal enterprise, but not to
landed revenues. It is proportional, and is collected by deduction
from salaries and pensions paid to servants of the state, where it is
assessed on three-eighths of the income, and from interest on
consolidated stock, where it is assessed on the whole amount; and by
register in the cases of private individuals, who pay on three-fourths
of their income, professional men, capitalists or manufacturers, who
pay on one-half or nine-twentieths of their income. From 1871 to 1894
it was assessed at 13.20% of taxable income, this quota being formed
of 12% main quota and 1.20% as an additional tenth. In 1894 the quota,
including the additional tenth, was raised to the uniform level of
20%. One-tenth of the tax is paid to the communes as compensation for
revenues made over to the state.

Taxes proper are divided into (a) taxes on business transactions and
(b) taxes on articles of consumption. The former apply principally to
successions, stamps, registrations, mortgages, &c.; the latter to
distilleries, breweries, explosives, native sugar and matches, though
the customs revenue and octrois upon articles of general consumption,
such as corn, wine, spirits, meat, flour, petroleum, butter, tea,
coffee and sugar, may be considered as belonging to this class. The
monopolies are those of salt, tobacco and the lottery.

Since 1880, while income from the salt and lotto monopolies has
remained almost stationary, and that from land tax and octroi has
diminished, revenue derived from all other sources has notably
increased, especially that from the income tax on personal estate, and
the customs, the yield from which has been nearly doubled.

It will be seen that the revenue is swollen by a large number of taxes
which can only be justified by necessity; the reduction and, still
more, the readjustment of taxation (which now largely falls on
articles of primary necessity) is urgently needed. The government in
presenting the estimates for 1907-1908 proposed to set aside a sum of
nearly £800,000 every year for this express purpose. It must be
remembered that the sums realized by the octroi go in the main to the
various communes. It is only in Rome and Naples that the octroi is
collected directly by the government, which pays over a certain
proportion to the respective communes.

The external taxation is not only strongly protectionist, but is
applied to goods which cannot be made in Italy; hardly anything comes
in duty free, even such articles as second-hand furniture paying duty,
unless within six months of the date at which the importer has
declared domicile in Italy. The application, too, is somewhat
rigorous, e.g. the tax on electric light is applied to foreign ships
generating their own electricity while lying in Italian ports.

The annual consumption per inhabitant of certain kinds of food and
drink has considerably increased, e.g. grain from 270 lb. per head in
1884-1885 to 321 lb. in 1901-1902 (maize remains almost stationary at
158 lb.); wine from 73 to 125 litres per head; oil from 12 to 13 lb.
per head (sugar is almost stationary at 7¼ lb. per head, and coffee at
about 1 lb.); salt from 14 to 16 lb. per head. Tobacco slightly
diminished in weight at a little over 1 lb. per head, while the gross
receipts are considerably increased--by over 2¼ millions sterling
since 1884-1885--showing that the quality consumed is much better. The
annual expenditure on tobacco was 5s. per inhabitant in 1902-1903, and
is increasing.

The annual surpluses are largely accounted for by the heavy taxation
on almost everything imported into the country,[8] and by the
monopolies on tobacco and on salt; and are as a rule spent, and well
spent, in other ways. Thus, that of 1907-1908 was devoted mainly to
raising the salaries of government officials and university
professors; even then the maximum for both (in the former class, for
an under-secretary of state) was only £500 per annum. The case is
frequent, too, in which a project is sanctioned by law, but is then
not carried into execution, or only partly so, owing to the lack of
funds. Additional stamp duties and taxes were imposed in 1909 to meet
the expenditure necessitated by the disastrous earthquake at the end
of 1908.

The way in which the taxes press on the poor may be shown by the
number of small proprietors sold up owing to inability to pay the land
and other taxes. In 1882 the number of landed proprietors was 14.52%
of the population, in 1902 only 12.66, with an actual diminution of
some 30,000. Had the percentage of 1882 been kept up there would have
been in 1902 600,000 more proprietors than there were. Between 1884
and 1902 no fewer than 220,616 sales were effected for failure to pay
taxes, while, from 1886 to 1902, 79,208 expropriations were effected
for other debts not due to the state. In 1884 there were 20,422 sales,
of which 35.28% were for debts of 4s. or less, and 51.95 for debts
between 4s. and £2; in 1902 there were 4857 sales, but only 11.01% for
debts under 4s. (the treasury having given up proceeding in cases
where the property is a tiny piece of ground, sometimes hardly capable
of cultivation), and 55.69% for debts between 4s. and £2. The
expropriations deal as a rule with properties of higher value; of
these there were 3217 in 1886, 5993 in 1892 (a period of agricultural
depression), 3910 in 1902. About 22% of them are for debts under £40,
about 49% from £40 to £200, about 26% from £200 to £2000.

Expenditure.

Of the expenditure a large amount is absorbed by interest on debt.
Debt has continually increased with the development of the state. The
sum paid in interest on debt amounted to £17,640,000 in 1871,
£19,440,000 in 1881, £25,600,000 in 1891-1892 and £27,560,000 in
1899-1900; but had been reduced to £23,100,409 by the 30th of June
1906. The public debt at that date was composed as follows:--

Part I.--_Funded Debt._

Grand Livre-- Amount.

Consolidated 5% £316,141,802
" 3% 6,404,335
" 4½% net 28,872,511
" 4% " 7,875,592
" 3½% " 37,689,880
------------
Total £396,984,120
Debts to be transferred to the Grand Livre. 60,868
Perpetual annuity to the Holy See 2,580,000
Perpetual debts (Modena, Sicily, Naples) 2,591,807

Total £402,216,795