troops will immediately withdraw beyond the frontiers previously established.

The government of his majesty the King of Italy assumes a portion of the debt appertaining to the territories ceded by the present treaty, and which is fixed at 35,000,000 of florins, Austrian convention currency, payable in eleven successive instalments within twenty months, in the manner and form established in the next additional article.

The Monte Lombardo-Venetian, with its assets of 3,500,000 florins, and its liabilities of 60,000,000 florins, passes entirely into the hands of the government of his majesty the King of Italy. The government of the King of Italy succeeds to the rights and engagements resulting from the contracts regularly entered into by the Austrian administration in the interest of the ceded territory.

The Austrian Government is bound to reimburse all the sums paid into the Austrian treasury as deposits of caution money by Lombardo-Venetian subjects, communes, public establishments, and religious corporations.

The Italian government will be bound in like manner with respect to sums paid by Austrian subjects and corporations into the Monte Lombardo-Venetian. The government of his majesty the King of Italy recognizes and confirms the railway concessions granted by the Austrian government in the ceded territory in all their stipulations and their periods of duration. From the day upon which the ratifications of the present treaty are exchanged, the Italian government assumes all the rights and charges of the Austrian government in respect of the above-mentioned concessions on the railway lines in the ceded territory. Until new and ulterior arrangements are made, the total receipts of the two railway systems north and south of the Alps are admitted for the lines situated in the ceded territory, as the estimate of gross revenue upon which is based the estimate for the kilometric guaranty of thirty miles.

A special convention between the contracting par. ties, with participation of the railway company interested, without reservation as to time, and leaving full liberty to all parties, will regulate the mode of separating the two railway systems north and south of the Alps.

Lombardo-Venetian subjects domiciled upon the ceded territory will enjoy, during one year, after previous declaration before the competent authority, full and entire liberty to export their movable property free of duty, and to withdraw with their families to the states of his Imperial Royal Apostolic Majesty, in which case they will preserve their Austrian citizenship. They will be at liberty to retain their landed property upon Lombardo-Venetian terri

tory.

The same right will belong to natives of Venetia living in the other provinces of the Austrian empire. Those who avail themselves of these stipulations shall in no way be molested in their persons or their property situated in the respective states. on account of their option.

The above period of one year is extended to two years in the case of subjects, natives of the ceded territory, who at the time of the ratification of the present treaty may live out of the territory of the Austrian monarchy. Natives of the ceded territory who are in the Austrian army will immediately be discharged from service and sent to their homes.

It is understood that those among them who declare their wish to remain in the imperial service will not on that account be molested either in their persons or property. The same guaranties are assured to the civil functionaries, natives of the ceded territery, who shall have manifested their intention of continuing in the offices which they hold in the Austrian service. The regular civil and military pensions chargeable upon the Lombardo-Venetian treasuries remain payable to those entitled to them, and eventually to their

widows and children, and will be paid in future by the Italian government.

The archives containing titles to property, the administrative and judicial documents concerning the ceded territory, and the objects of art appertaining to the same existing among the archives of the Austrian empire, will be handed over to the commissioners of his majesty the King of Italy as soon as possible.

All the treaties and conventions previously concluded between his majesty the King of Italy and his majesty the Emperor of Austria will be confirmed in all that is not annulled by the present treaty. Nevertheless, the two contracting parties engage themselves to submit those treaties and conventions in the course of the year to a general revision, in order to introduce in the same by common accord those modifications which may be considered beneficial in the interest of the two countries. Naviga tion upon the Lake of Garda is free, subject to the particular regulations of the ports and the littoral police.

A convention to regulate the necessary measures for preventing and repressing contraband trade will be concluded between Austria and Italy within a year from the date upon which the ratifications of the present treaty are exchanged. Meanwhile, the convention concluded on the 22d of November, 1851, between Sardinia and Austria, will remain in force.

The Italian government raises the sequestration upon all the private property of the Italian ex-princes, without prejudice, however, to the rights of the state, and the right of the third portion over the property in question. In order to contribute in the best manner possible to the restoration of peace, his majesty the King of Italy and his majesty the Emperor of Austria declare and promise, both in their respective territories and in the restituted or ceded countries, that no person compromised during the late events in the Perfinsula, to whatever class or condition belonging, shall be prosecuted, molested, or disturbed, either personally or in their property, on account of their conduct or their political opinions.

In accordance with the above treaty, a popular vote took place in Venetia in October on the question of annexation to Italy. The result showed a remarkable unanimity, 641,758 votes being cast in favor of, and only sixty-nine against annexation. On November 4th the king, surrounded by the princes, the ministers, the dignitaries of the state, and the president of the Chamber of Deputies, received the Venetian deputation, which communicated to his majesty the result of the plebiscitum. After the ceremony the national guard, the troops, and the various corporate bodies defiled before his majesty amid loud cheers from the assembled multitude. General Menabrea delivered a speech to the king on placing in his majesty's hands the iron crown of Lombardy, Upon receiving the result of the plebiscitum from the Venetian deputation, King Victor Emmanuel said: "This day is the proudest of my life. Eighteen years ago my father proclaimed from this city the war of independence, and to-day you bring to me the manifestations of the popular will in the Venetian provinces, which, united with Italy, declare my father's wish to be accomplished. You confirm by this solemn act what Venetia did up to 1848, and has maintained up to the present day with admirable constancy and abnegation. I therefore pay a grateful tribute to those generous patriots who

upheld their faith in the destinies of the country by every kind of sacrifice, and by their blood. To-day foreign domination ceases forever. Italy is constituted if not accomplished. Italians must now defend and make her great. The iron crown is also restored to Italy, but to that crown I prefer the one, which is dearer to me, made by the love of my people."

Ón November 5th a royal decree was issued, declaring that the provinces of Venetia shall henceforth form an integral part of the kingdom of Italy. The government also appointed sixteen senators for Venetia, and ordered the election of deputies.

On December 15th the Italian Parliament was opened by the king, who delivered the following address from the throne:

SIGNORS SENATORS, SIGNORS DEPUTIES: Our country is henceforth free from all foreign domination. It is with profound joy that I declare this to the representatives of 25,000,000 Italians. The nation had faith in me, and I in them. This great event, by crowning our common efforts, gives a fresh impulse to the work of civilization, and renders more stable the political equilibrium of Europe. By her promp titude in military organization, and by the rapid union of her people, Italy has acquired the credit which was necessary to enable her to attain independence by herself; and with the aid of efficacious alliances, Italy has found encouragement and support in this laborious work in the sympathy of civilized governments and peoples, and has been further sustained and strengthened by the courageous perseverance of the Venetian provinces in the common enterprise of national emancipation. The treaty of peace with the empire of Austria, which will be laid before you, will be followed by negotiations which will facilitate exchanges of prisoners between the two states. The French Government, faithful to the obligations which it contracted by the September convention, has withdrawn its troops from Rome. On its side, the Italian Government, observant of its engagements, has respected, and will respect, the Pontifical territory. Our good understanding with the French emperor, to whom we are bound by friendship and gratitude, the moderation of the Romans, the wisdom of the Pontiff, and the religious sentiment and right feeling of the Italian people, will aid us to distinguish and conciliate the Catholic interests; and national aspirations, which are interwoven and contending with each other at Rome, attach to the religion of our ancestors, which is also that of the great majority of Italians. I nevertheless respect the principle of liberty, which breathes through our institutions, and which, broadly and sincerely applied, will remove the causes of the old differences between Church and State. This disposition on our part, by reassuring Catholic conscience, will accomplish, I hope, the wishes which I form, that the Sovereign Pontiff may remain independent at Rome. Italy is secure now that, besides the valor of her sons, which through all the changes of fortune has never belied itself either by land or sea, nor in the ranks of the army or the volunteers, she possesses, as the ramparts of her independence, the very bulwarks which served to oppress her. Italy can therefore, and now ought, to turn her efforts to increasing her prosperity. As Italians have shown admirable concord in the affirmation of their independence, so now let all devote themselves with intelligence, ardor, and indomitable constancy to the development of the economic resources of the peninsula. Several bills will be laid before you with this object. In the midst of the labors of peace, favored by a secure future, we shall not neglect, following the lessons of experience, to perfect our military or

ganization, in order that with the least possible outlay Italy may not be destitute of the forces necessary to maintain her in the place which belongs to her among great nations. The measures recently taken relative to the administration of the kingdom, and those which will be proposed to you, above all respecting the collection of the taxes and the accountability of the state, will contribute to ameliorate the management of public affairs. My government has provided in advance for the expenditure for the year about to open, and for extraordinary payments of every kind. They will ask of you the continuation in 1867 of the financial measures voted for 1866. The legislative bodies will also maturely discuss the bills which will be laid before them to ameliorate the assessment of the taxes, and to equalize them among the different provinces of the kingdom. If, as I am fully confident, the people of Italy will not fail in that activity which created the wealth and power of our ancestors, it will not be long before the public exchequer will reach its definitive equilibrium, Italy is now rendered to herself. Her responsibility is equal to the power she has acquired, and the full liberty she enjoys in the use of her strength. The great things we have done in a short space of time increase our obligation not to fail in our task, which is to know how to govern ourselves with the vigor required by the social condition of the kingdom and the liberality demanded by our institutions. Liberty in our political institutions, authority in the government, activity in the citizens, and the empire of law upon all and over all, will carry Italy to the height of her destiny, and fulfil what the world expects from her.

One of the main questions to be solved by Parliament was the relation of the state to the church.

The government was determined to propose a solution of all the pending difficulties by a complete separation between the church and state. Before the meeting of Parliament on October 22d, the prime minister, Ricasoli, addressed a circular to the prefects, permitting the return of all the bishops to their sees, excluding those residing in Rome. This circular was followed by another, dated November 15th, and likewise addressed to the prefects, in which he said: "The government believes it expedient to withdraw from this moment any reservation made in the first measure, by ordering that all the other bishops still absent from their sees, either from Rome or elsewhere, whatever may be their residence, shall be authorized to return to their respective dioceses. In communicating to your excellency the present resolution of the government, serving as the complement of the measure explained in the circular of the 22d October, the minister refers to the instructions already given in the circular, and it is onfident that the local authorities will accurately second all its intentions."

The views of the prime minister, concerning the relations between church and state, were stil! more fully developed in a letter to the exiled bishops living in Rome.

The bishops, who were exiled from their sees by decree of the Italian Government, and subsequently took up their residence at Rome, addressed a letter to Baron Ricasoli, after the issue of his circular of October 22d. The bishops were under the impression that the permission to return, announced in the ministerial circular,