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Finally, I am able to say that our international relations are satisfactory.

On the 17th of November of last year, I gave notice of my election to divers govern ments having agents accredited to this republic. Almost all have already responded to this notification. On this occasion I would emphasize as a happy augury for the continuance of our good relations with the Government of the Republic of France, the recog nition which the President of such republic made, hardly three weeks after my election to the first magistracy of the state, and before even the notification of my promotion had reached him.

The list of foreign consuls appointed in Hayti and that of Haytian consuls named in foreign ports, still enlarging itself, permits the hope of increase in our national com

merce.

I have had the honor to receive through the distinguished kindness and exalted friendship of the chiefs of the republics of Liberia and Venezuela, the orders of "African redemption" and the " Bust of Bolivia," which exist in those two countries.

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Especially in recording here a solemn and intelligent testimony of my profound recognition of Presidents Gardner and Guzman Blanco for the grand distinction of which I have been the object on their part and that of their country in whose name they have acted, I believe it my duty to add that I have only accepted such decorations as marks of esteem and good relations shown to the republic in my person.

Such, gentlemen, is a succinct exposition of the situation of our foreign relations. The chief of each department will give you, if you judge it necessary, all the information and present to you all the documents which you deem useful to inform you com pletely as to the lesser details, to facilitate your legitimate control in the adoption of measures which you think ought to be taken in order to advance these branches of the public service.

For my part I give you the patriotic assurance that nothing shall be neglected to extend more and more the good relations of the republic with the civilized countries of the one and the other hemisphere; for I am convinced that from constant contact of our fellow-citizens with our grand leaders upon the route of progress and civilization will result surely the solutions of the difficult problem, but not insoluble, proposed since our political emancipation, in relation to the existence of Hayti as a free and independent people, bringing to the family of nations its part, feeble as it may be, of all that which contributes to the glory and to the wants of mankind.

No. 851.]

ITALY.

No. 411.

Mr. Wurts to Mr. Evarts.

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES,

Rome, October 4, 1879. (Received October 22.) SIR: As a corollary to my dispatch No. 850, on the subject of Mormon emigration into the United States, I beg to inclose to you herewith a copy of a report relating thereto from Mr. Bayley, consul at Palermo, so far as regards his consular district. I have received communications on the same subject from most of our consuls in this country, but as they all merely disclaim any knowledge of the existence, now or in the past, of Mormonism, I deem it unnecessary to transmit copies of their reports to the Department of State.

I have, &c.,

GEORGE W. WURTS.

[Inclosure in No. 851.]

Mr. Bayley to Mr. Wurts.

UNITED STATES CONSULATE,
Palermo, September 26, 1879.

SIR: In response to your esteemed favor of the 30th ultimo, and in accordance with the requirements of the Department of State communicated to me in a circular letter

of the same date, I have the honor to submit this report on the subject of Mormon emigration from this consular district to the United States.

Inquiries at the several cities in my jurisdiction elicit but little information of a positive character regarding the present status of this spurious system of religion. The cities of Girgenti, Lecata, Marsala, and Trapani, if I can rely upon the information I have obtained from the most available sources, are and have been, at least for a number of years, absolutely free from all influence tending to propagate this faith, and to encourage emigration to Mormon territory in the United States.

Within the last five years a few Mormons of Sicilian extraction have visited Palermo with the ostensible purpose of looking after their pecuniary interests, and although they seem to have displayed during their sojourn here great activity in representing the advantages that must neccessarily accrue to all those who espouse their creed and emigrate to Utah, it appears that their efforts to obtain converts were unavailing, and that they left Palermo alone for Salt Lake City, their adopted home. However, there is no evidence to warrant the conclusion that these men were authorized agents, sent hither to inculcate the doctrines of their religion, to encourage emigration, or to develop the interests of Mormonism in any way whatever. Indeed, I am inclined to the belief that they were not vested with authority to encourage emigration from Sicily to Utah, because they refused absolutely to give pecuniary aid to all those who showed a disposition to accompany them.

The geographical position and barbarous dialect of Sicily, the lack of sympathies and affinity of its population with people of another creed, and the influence of the priesthood, would seem to interpose an almost insuperable barrier to this system of religion in Sicily.

On the other hand, it is by no means certain that Mormonism would be benefited by such recruits, inasmuch as any civil community, having a proper regard for its prosperity, rather than encourage would inaugurate measures to discourage the introduction of an element so ignorant, superstitious, and barren of those attributes of character generally found in well-to-do and law-abiding citizens.

I am, &c.,

No. 412.

S. P. BAYLEY,

United States Consul.

No. 865.]

Mr. Marsh to Mr. Evarts.

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES,

Rome, January 26, 1880. (Received February 20.) SIR: The usual ceremonial receptions and festivities of the New Year at Rome have taken place without any noteworthy incident, except the absence of the Queen, who was spared the fatigues of the season by a prolonged stay at Bordighera on the Riviera, but returned to the capital early in January in, as is hoped, permanently improved health.

The two legislative chambers have resumed their parliamentary labors after a short vacation, the Senate having commenced its debates before the reassembling of the Deputies, and closed them with a vote whereby action on the ministerial project for the abolition of the grist-tax was postponed by a majority of forty-two. Upon the announcement of this ministerial defeat, Parliament was prorogued. It is now said that it will be dissolved and a new election ordered, and it is also reported that the ministry has advised His Majesty to nominate thirty or forty new senators, with the view of securing a majority for the ministry when Parliament is again convened.

The year 1879 was remarkable for the general failure of all the crops, for the appearance of the phylloxera in Italian vineyards, for destructive inundations and volcanic eruptions, and for an autumn and (thus far) winter of almost unexampled rigor, naturally attended with extreme destitution and suffering among the laboring classes throughout the kingdom. It was thought by many that this latter circumstance would have weight with the Senate in inducing it to assent to the aboli

tion of the grist-tax, a measure which promised some, though inadequate, relief to the peasantry, but it does not appear to have had any influence on the vote of the upper house, although there is some reason to believe that if the Chamber of Deputies persists in pressing the abolition of the tax, the Senate will at last yield the point and concur with the deputies.

There has been, I am sorry to add, a great increase in the number of crimes of violence, which, however, is not to be ascribed to the physical misery and want of the people-for, as a general rule, it is not the suffering poor in Italy who plunder and assassinate-but in a great degree to a vicious system of criminal law, which is fast destroying the moral sense of the nation, by virtually making passion an excuse for every violence, even those committed after long premeditation, and has already gone far to extinguish in the people the feeling of righteous indignation against crime, however atrocious. The motive of homicide is generally revenge or jealousy; of robbery, not want, but to obtain the means of gratifying some criminal passion. The influence of the octroi and the government monopolies is highly demoralizing, but of the causes of the increase of crime special to the year the most pernicious I believe to be the general amnesty proclaimed by advice of the ministry on the accession of King Humbert, which extended not merely to political offenses. abuses of the press, and other transgressions of a less grave character, but which turned loose upon society a large number of the most depraved and dangerous inmates of the prisons. Some, indeed, of these criminals were rearrested for new offenses in the course of a few months, but very many of them are still at liberty, and not only swelling the number of criminals at large, but adding new recruits to the enemies of society by the corrupting influence of example. This deplorable state of things is especially noticeable in the provinces formerly belonging to the Bourbons and to the States of the Church.

In spite of these unfavorable circumstances it is not to be denied that the general condition of many branches of industry, of the publie finances, and of public morals, has, on the whole, very considably improved in Italy since the dynasty of Savoy has occupied the throne. This improvement, however, I believe, is not to be mainly ascribed to the wisdom of the special legislation of Parliament, but is due to the general influence of the liberal character of the fundamental law, which, by permitting and encouraging the individual initiative of the citizen and protecting him against illegal oppression and exaction by favored classes. has conferred on Italy a fair measure of the advantages of a govern ment founded on the principles of freedom and equality. I have, &c.,

No. 413.

GEORGE P. MARSH.

No. 867.]

Mr. Marsh to Mr. Evarts.

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES,

Rome, February 17, 1880. (Received March 8.)

SIR: The Roman journals of this morning announced the nomination of twenty-six new senators by His Majesty, a number barely equal to that of the vacancies which have occurred in the Senate since the last Parlia

ment, and insufficient, even supposing them all to vote with the administration, to overthrow the anti-ministerial majority at the close of the last session.

The session was opened this morning with a speech from the throne, several copies of which and a translation are herein inclosed. The King, it will be perceived, is outspoken in his support of the policy recommended by the ministry at the last session, and it is probable that the influence of the Crown and the firm attitude of the ministry and of the Chambers will secure the adoption of that policy, though perhaps in a somewhat modified form.

The ministers of war and of the marine as well as of the public works will ask large appropriations for new military and naval constructions, and for the extension of the railway system of this kingdom. How such expenses are to be met without the imposition of new burdens as intolerable as those which the ministry propose to remove from the already overtaxed capital and industry of the people, is not apparent, but the spirit of militarism, which the Napoleonic dynasty has left as its dying curse to the European continent, may induce Parliament to vote appropriations which the nation cannot meet.

Hitherto money has been voted without stint and almost without opposition to the army and the navy, and it is hardly an exaggeration to say that, practically, Italy has been treated as existing for its soldiery and its fleet, not they for their country. And yet that portion of the army which is occasionally employed as an aid to the police is found unable to protect a single square mile of the island of Sicily, which hardly measures in area as much as the single State of New Hampshire, from daily robberies, murders, and ransoms.

Italy has no enemies, present or prospective, unless provoked by her own imprudence, without her own border. But she proposes the creation of a fleet-one of which, the Duilio, is just completed at the cost of more than four million dollars, and three others of like colossal dimensions are in course of construction-of iron-clad ships of war more formidable in their means of both offense and defense than anything elsewhere attempted in naval architecture and equipment. Not to be behindhand with their nautical brethren, the land army has lately been strengthened, or incumbered, as the case may prove, with a gun weighing upwards of a hundred tons, which has been cast at the government works at Turin, and is, for the present, mounted on a sea-coast battery at La Spezia.

It is certainly a gratifying proof of national energy and skill that Italy should be able to execute, chiefly within her own territory and with her own means, such stupendous undertakings, but the misdirection of her powers implied in such achievements accompanied with such shortcomings is, nevertheless, greatly to be deplored.

I have, &c.,

GEORGE P. MARSH.

[Inclosure in No. 867.-Translation.]

The King's speech on the opening of the Parliament, February 17, 1880.

SENATORS AND DEPUTIES: I may, to-day, after the arduous experience of these two years, repeat the words which I addressed to you in a day of affliction, when in the unanimity of the national sentiment I found grounds of confidence and of hope.

In presence of the grave questions agitated in the last session, which touched so deeply so large a proportion of our citizens, they proved themselves able calmly to

await the result of the parliamentary discussion and the blessings hoped from our institutions.

The two promises which the founder of the kingdom left as his final legacy to resuscitated Italy, the reform of the tributary system for the relief of the poorer classes and the extension of the right of suffrage, form a sacred obligation to his venerated memory and to the just expectations of our people.

If the wise resolution not to disturb the balance between revenue and expenditure has created difficulties and delays, a safe experience will avail, I am confident, to hasten the completion of a task initiated with the reduction of the burden most grierous to the classes smitten by fortune, but ennobled by labor.

To give efficient support to every civil reform and to strengthen its authority, it is needful to provide for the reorganization of the electoral body.

Persuaded that my rule is founded on the love of the people, I desire that its representation derive new strength from a greater concurrence of opinions and of interests. Instruction, more widely diffused by virtue of laws voted by you, now allows you to call with confidence to the exercise of the highest right of the citizen all who present the necessary guarantees of legally established capacity.

My government, then, will propose to you two bills for the gradual suppression of the tax on grist and for electoral reform.

These are the most urgent and fundamental measures that I have to recommend to you. They will be supplemented and completed by certain other measures:

The revision of the communal and provincial law in some important points indicated by a general agreement in public opinion;

A reconstruction of the administrative and judicial arrangements whose complicity has been so often a source of complaint;

To provide for the impartial and well-co-ordinated execution of the railway constructions ordained by a law which does honor to the past session, rules designed to facilitate the traffic, to stimulate the industry, and to fortify the harmony of local interests; and

To continue the already well-advanced revision of our penal legislation and to initiate the amendment of the code of commerce, which has become urgent from the novel and daily changes in economical condition.

Such are the labors to which my government will invite you, in full confidence that your discussions will proceed with diligence and efficiency.

In the past session Parliament gave a noble example of charity, which the inclemency of the seasons had rendered necessary, by availing itself of it in the form of an encouragement to industry. My government will now lay before you several bills providing for the execution of productive works, with the view of giving a vigorous impulse to the national enterprise.

Grave reasons compel us to include among these certain works indispensable to the salubrity and embellishment of Rome, which affected the unity and grandeur of the older Italy, and ought not to be the proper home of the new Italy, furnished with naught but the memories of her past fortunes.

I need not recommend to your patriotism the complete organization of the army and navy, the guardians of our national honor and our national safety. I have had proof in late years of your solicitude for this very important object. The friendly relations which we cultivate with all states and which are reciprocated by all, confirms us in the persuasion that the impartiality and loyalty of governments are the nearest means of maintaining concord among nations; the maintenance of peace is the earnest wish and the highest interest of Italy. The scrupulous observance of the Treaty of Berlin is her natural policy, and it is easy for her to fulfill the promise made to the world that, once restored to unity, she would prove an element of concord and of progress.

SENATORS AND DEPUTIES: If the late session was long and laborious, I hope that equal diligence and even greater fruitfulness will mark that which I now inaugurate, reaffirming my faith in the destiny of the country, in the wisdom of Parliament, in the loyalty and affection of the people who, directed in the paths of liberty by my magnanimous grandfather and recalled by my great sire to the dignity of a nation, know that it will always find me devoted to the traditions of my family and in the soundness of our institutions.

No. 874.]

No. 414.

Mr. Marsh to Mr. Evarts.

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, Rome, March 22, 1880. (Received April 8.)

SIR: The last week was signalized by one of the ablest and most important debates which has ever taken place in the Italian Parliament.

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