commerce, and to the conclusion of commercial treaties as far as they regard articles relating to the finances. In the month of September preceding the expiration of each session the Minister of Finance transmits to the president the budget of ordinary expenses, and in the month of September of each year that of the extraordinary expenses, and both accompanied by his remarks. The president, by means of the Commission on Accounts, prepares the revision so as to examine it at its next sitting. When under other circumstances the opinion of the Consulta is demanded, the Minister of Finance and the other ministers transmit their reports to the president. When they refer to important matters the president appoints a reporter, or transmits them to a commission of three or five councillors, who prepare the discussion and make the report to the Assembly.

Ecclesiastical Administration.

The Sovereign-Pontiff is the absolute and irresponsible ruler of the Roman Catholic Church. His judgments are held to be infallible, and there is no appeal against his decrees. The Pontiff may seek advice from the College of Cardinals, consisting, when complete of six cardinal bishops, fifty cardinal-priests, and fourteen cardinaldeacons; but numbering, at the 1st of July, 1864, only forty-four cardinal-priests, and ten cardinal-deacons. Nearly all the members of the College of Cardinals are Italians by birth; the exceptions being-Cardinal Sterks, Archbishop of Malines; Cardinal de Bonald, Archbishop of Lyons; Cardinal Prince Schwarzenberg, Archbishop of Prague; Cardinal Mathieu, Archbishop of Besançon; Cardinal Gousset, Archbishop of Rheims; Cardinal Von Geissel, Archbishop of Cologne; Cardinal Donnet, Archbishop of Bordeaux; Cardinal Szcitowsky, Archbishop of Gran, and Primate of Hungary; Cardinal Rauscher, Archbishop of Vienna; Cardinal Alameda y Brea, Archbishop of Toledo; Cardinal Rodriguez, Patriarch of Lisbon; Cardinal De la Puente, Archbishop of Burgos; and Cardinal Wiseman, ‘Archbishop of Westminster-one native of the Netherlands, three natives of Germany, one of Hungary, four of France, three of Spain, and one of Portugal.

The cardinals are Princes of the Church. In the early ages the cardinals were the principal priests of the churches in Rome or deacons of districts. In the eleventh century they numbered but twenty-eight; and it was in modern times that the number was raised to seventy. When assembled the cardinals form the Sacred College, compose the Council of the Pope, preside at special and general congregations, and govern the Church so long as the Pontifical throne is vacant. They received the distinction of the red hat under Innocent III., during the Council of Lyons, in 1245; and the

purple from Boniface VIII., in 1294. The great Catholic Powers propose a certain number of prelates to be named by the Pope, and these are known as Cardinals of the Crown.

Subject to the Sovereign-Pontiff are five patriarchates of the Oriental Ritus with patriarchal jurisdiction-three in Antiochia for the Melchites, Maronites, and Syrians; one in Babylon for the Chaldeans; one in Cilicia for the Armenians. There are, further, seven patriarchates of the Latin Ritus-Constantinople, Alexandria, Antiochia, Jerusalem, Venice, West India, and Lisbon. There are 176 archbishoprics; of the 131 belonging to the Latin rite, twelve are dependent directly from the Roman Patriarchate; 119 of these sees are endowed with church-provinces. There are 694 bishoprics640 of Latin, fifty-four of the Oriental ritus. At the 1st of July, 1864, there were filled 646 bishoprics, with residence. Besides these, there are 234 titular bishoprics, i.e. in partibus infidelium; so that the total of the prelates forming the Roman hierarchy amounts to 980. The apostolical vicariates, the delegations, and prefectures in all the parts of the world stand under the Congregatio de Propagandâ fide at Rome. The number of vicariates is one hundred, of delegations five, of prefectures twenty, ten of which were first founded by the present Pope Pius IX., who has also raised nine archbishoprics to metropolitan churches, and has created four new archbishoprics and thirty-five bishoprics, chiefly in England, Holland, and America. In Europe the Propaganda has the administration of the vicariate of the Oscanian Duchies, through the Nuntius at Munich-of North Germany and Denmark, through the Bishop of Osnabrück; it further administers Saxony, with Misnia and Lusatia, Luxemburg, RomanGraubunten, Tessin, Scotland (in which there are three vicariates), Sweden, Herzegovina, Wallachia, Bosnia, Constantinople, Sofia, Greece, Gibraltar. The rest, thirty in number, are spread over the whole of Asia, Africa, America, and Australasia. The oldest of living cardinals is the Cardinal-Priest Antonio Tosti, the Finance Minister of the late Pontiff Gregory XVI., who was born October 4, 1776; the youngest member of the College is the Cardinal-Deacon Ferreti, born March 9, 1817. The sum-total of the ages of the present fifty-eight cardinals amounts to 3,803 years, giving to each an average age of sixty-five years.

Revenue, Army, and Population.

No official account of the revenue and expenditure of the Papal Government is given to the public. According to the statement of Italian papers, the revenue, in the year 1864, amounted to 4,500,000 scudi, and the expenditure to 10,000,000 scudi. Not included in the revenue were 'Peter's pence,' to the amount of 1,500,000 scudi.

Ꮓ

From another account* it appears that in the budget for 1865 the total revenue was estimated at 6,353,993 scudi, and the expenditure at 11,947,270, leaving a deficit of 5,593,277 scudi. The large annual deficits were covered partly by voluntary gifts of Roman Catholics in all parts of the world, and partly by loans. The last loan thus issued, sanctioned by the Pontiff, August 6, 1865, was to the amount of 10,000,000 scudi. The sum total of the Pontifical Debt is unknown.

The army of the Sovereign-Pontiff is entirely formed by enlistment, taking place in foreign countries as well as within the Papal States. The troops numbered, at the beginning of 1864, very nearly 10,000 men, composed as follows:

The Papal army, in 1859, consisted of 15,239 men, with 1,200 horses, and was raised, in 1860, to 25,000 men. The battle of Castelfidardo dispersed this army, which has since been partly reorganised. There are three fortresses within the Papal States-Civita Vecchia, Porto d'Anzio, and the Castell Sant' Angelo, within the walls of Rome.

The territory of the Sovereign-Pontiff, previous to 1859, embraced an area of 17,218 English square miles, with 3,124,668 inhabitants; but has since been reduced to 4,891 English square miles, with 692,106 inhabitants. Of the former twenty 'legations' and 'delegations' into which the territory was divided, only five remain, namely, Rome and the Comarca, with 326,509 inhabitants; Viterbo, with 128,324; Civita Vecchia, with 20,701; Velletri, with 62,013; and Frosinone, with 154,559 inhabitants. The city of Rome had a population of 180,359 in 1858; of 182,585 in 1859; of 184,049 in 1860; and of 194,587 inhabitants in 1861.

*Times, Feb. 27, 1865.

The last census of Rome for the year 1863 gives a population of 201,161 souls, an increase of 6,574 on that of 1861. Rome is divided into 54 párishes, the inhabitants of which are specified as follows, no notice being taken of the fluctuating population of foreigners. The city contains 34 cardinals, 36 bishops, 1,457 priests and clerks, 367 seminarists, 2,569 monks, 2,031 nuns, 660 male collegians, 1,674 female inmates of schools, 947 male inmates of charitable institutions, 1,180 female do., 40,827 families, 92,024 men, 87,819 women, 30,235 married men, 28,201 married women, 4,301 widowers, 9,447 widows, 59,015 bachelors, 50,171 spinsters, 5,175 soldiers, 387 prisoners; heterodox population, 311; and 4,490 Jews. According to this statement, the ecclesiastical population consists of 1,894 individuals of the secular clergy or priests, 2,569 of the regular clergy or monks, and 2,031 nuns-making, in all, 6,494. There are in Rome 6 seminaries, 19 colleges, 16 charitable institutions, 15 conservatories, 43 schools directed by nuns, and 56 religious orders-of which that of the Jesuits reckons most members, viz. 344, and that of the Armenians the fewest, viz. 1. The nuns belong to many classifications, and have been of late rapidly increasing.

The order of the Jesuits, which has its head-quarters at Rome, has been rapidly increasing within the last few years. The number of the members of the order, at the end of the year 1863, was 7,529, or 118 more than in 1862. They are distributed among 19 establishments, of which five are in Italy, five in Germany and Belgium, three in France, two in Spain, and four in England and America. The Italian Jesuits number 1,617, the Austrian 362, the Belgian 576, the Dutch 236, the German 584, the French 2,266, the Spanish 868, the English 270, the Irish 139, and the American 350; the rest belonging to other nations. At Rome there are 344 Jesuits, and in the foreign missions 1,362, of whom 560 are French, 296 Spanish, and 260 Italians, the remainder being natives of other countries.

Trade.

The international trade of the Papal States is extremely small, although facilitated by the excellent port of Civita Vecchia. The commercial intercourse with the United Kingdom is shown in the subjoined table, which gives the value of the imports from the Papal States into the United Kingdom, and the exports of British and Irish produce and manufactures to the Papal States in each of the four years 1860-63.

Italian papers state that, during the year 1862, there were exported from Rome old paintings to the value of 9,596 scudi; modern paintings to the value of 119,537 scudi, or about 25,000l.; ancient sculpture to the value of 532 scudi; and modern sculpture to the value of 188,325 scudi.

Money, Weights, and Measures.

The money, weights, and measures of Italy, with the British equivalents, are :—

MONEY.

The Lira, average rate of exchange 25 = 17. sterling.

Statistica Amministrativa del Regno d'Italia. Riveduta ed ampliata per cura del Ministero dell' interno. 4. Torino, 1865.

Annuario Generale dell' Industria e Commercio del Regno d'Italia per l'Anno 1865. 8. Torino, 1865.

Annuario del Ministero delle Finanze del Regno d'Italia. 4. Torino, 1865. Annuario Ufficiale della Marina Italiana. 4. Torino, 1865.

La Navigazione Italiano e il Commercio Estero. 8. Torino, 1865.

Reports by Mr. West, H. M.'s Secretary of Legation, on the Trade, Commerce, Railways, Finance, and Public Credit of Italy, dated Jan. 1, and Jan. 15, 1863; in Reports of H. M.'s Secretaries of Embassy,' &c. No. VI. London, 1863.

Report by Mr. West, H. M.'s Secretary of Legation, on the Government, Trade, and Industry of Italy, dated Jan. 1, 1864; in Reports of H. M.'s Secretaries of Embassy,' &c. No. VII. London, 1864.

Report by Mr. West, H. M.'s Secretary of Legation, on the Population, Taxation, Industry, and Agriculture of Italy; dated July 5, 1863; in 'Reports of H. M.'s Secretaries of Embassy,' &c. No. VIII. London, 1865.

Report by Mr. Consul Goodwin on the Trade of Sicily for the year 1864; in Commercial Reports received at the Foreign Office.' London, 1865.