Italy and the Italians (Volume 2) online

Naples — Population — Military Establi^iment — Navy.

Naples, July lltli.

My communications have no claim to the cha-
racter of a methodically arranged and scientifically
progressive whole. I may, therefore, venture to
treat to-day, for the sake of variety, of a different
subject — of the country itself, its nature and popu-
lation.*

The kingdom of Naples on this side of the Strait
contains 24,971 Italian square miles, and is divided

* See Del Re's excellent description of the country.



NATURE OF THE COUNTRY. 231

into provinces, districts, circles, and communes.
The greatest part of the country is mountainous
and hilly ; but there are plains, the most extensive
of which, in Capitanata, comprehends nearly one-
sixth of the kingdom.

The highest mountains, the Gran Sasso, of
9577 Paris feet, and the Majella of 8684 feet, are
covered with perpetual snow. The coasts are 1144
Italian miles in length. Ebb and flood are not
alike in all months ; being lowest in August (1 foot,
7 inches), highest in December (2 feet, 2 inches).
Storms do perhaps more damage to the coasts than
the tides. There is no space for large rivers ; but
there is a greater discharge of water westward
than eastward. Since the hills have been stripped
of their wood, the quantity of water has decreased.

The largest of all the lakes is that of Fucino or
Celano : it is 44 Italian miles in circumference, and
has a superficies of about 100 square miles. The
rain that falls annually on the east side amounts to
25 inches, and that on the west side to 39 inches,
which is of essential consequence to agriculture,
the nature of crops, and the cultivation of timber.
Under the latitude of SS*' (a little to the south of
Reggio and Palermo) the sun rises on the 21st of
June, at 4 hours 37 minutes ; on the 1st of January,
at 7 hours 15 minutes; and sets, on the 21st of
June, at 7 hours 23 minutes, and on the 1st of
January at 4 hours 45 minutes.



232 POPULATION.

Of the whole surface of the kingdom about
14,100 square miles are in tillage and orchard,' and
an Italian square mile contains 101 2-j moggios.

Moggios.
Of that cultivated surface there belong

to the crown about 37.000

To public institutions, churches, and

cx)nvents 258,000*

To the communes 1,317,000

To pri vate persons 1,11 7.000

Another calculation by Rotondo gives the follow-
ing results: — >T.';:g-.ov

Superficial extent 25,275,000

Towns, villages, waters, roads 5,275,000

Cultivated land 25,000,000

Of which in wood 2,831 ,000

Uncultivated 2,880,00L>

Since the separation of the kingdom from Spain,
the population (which previously to that event was
oraduallv declininij) has been steadily increasing.

It amounted on this side of the Strait,

In the year 1781 to 4,709,000

1793 „ 4.828,00J

1832 „ 5,818,0(X)

1835 „ 5,946,000



* 111 ti!l cases, I choose from anions^ the anuiiut*, which
vary extremely, such as after careful iuvestigatiou appear to
uie to be most authentic, or at auv rate least doubtful.



MILITARY ESTABLISHMENT. 233

From the statistical accounts of the kingdom of
Naples recently published, I extract the following :
In the year 1838, there were born 13,228, of whom
6850 were boys, and 6378 girls. There died 12,993,
6962 of the male, and 6031 of the female sex. The
population of the city amounted on the 1st of Jan-
uary 1839 to 336,537 persons. The number of
suicides was 22, of whom 12 were foreigners ;
9408 strangers arrived, and 8407 departed.

During the rule of Joseph and Joachim, the
Neapolitan military institutions corresponded in all
essentials with those of France, and these have been
since retained in many principal points, but
changed again and again in many particulars. I
cannot enter by any means into these particulars, and
least of all when they are connected with the tech-
nical department of the military science ; the follow-
ing on the other hand are of more general in-
terest.

By virtue of a law of the 21st of June, 1833, the
military establishment comprehends 6 generals, 14
marshals, and 30 brigadiers.

The infantry consists of two regiments of grena-
dier guards, one regiment of Jager guards, 12 regi-
ments of the line, 4 Swiss regiments, and 6 batta-
lions of Jagers. There are 7 regiments of cavalry
in peace, and 8 in war.

To every regiment of infantry belong in war



234 MILITARY ESTABLISHMENT.

3 chaplains, 4 surgeons, 12 musicians, 1 tailor,
1 shoemaker, &c. The gendarmerie is constituted
in a similar manner, and destined for purposes that
are well known. According to another statement,
the whole army contains in peace about 30,000,
and in war 60,000 men.

The principles of recruiting and enlistment have
not always been the same. Accordinoj to a law of
1818, voluntary enlistment was combined with com-
pulsory service. Those liable to the latter were
divided into five classes, from the age of 21 to 25.
On this side the strait three persons were to be
levied out of every 2,000 souls, and one on the
other side. The following were exempt from the
conscription : civil officers who received a weekly
salary of more than 15 dollars per month, married
men, under 21 years of age, only sons, widowers
with children, graduates, {laureati) who practised
their profession, such as have obtained prizes
{premiati) from academies and universities, mem-
bers of ecclesiastical seminaries. Not more than
one son must be taken out of any family. The
levy takes place annually by lot, and substitutes
are, under circumstances, accepted.

The laws of 1821 and 1823 add : the period of
service for the infantry is 6, for the cavalry 8 years.
From the completion of the 18th to the completion
of the 25th year, every one is liable to the conscription.
The minister of the interior determines the number



MILITARY ESTABLISHMENT. 235

of recruits required from each province in proportion
to its population, and the intendant fixes that to be
furnished by the districts. The new law of 1834
fixes the time of service at five years in the army,
and five years in the reserve. Gendarmes, artil-
lerymen, and volunteers, serve eight years, without
reserve. In Naples the number of recruits levied
is according to the population. There are seven
classes, from 18 years and a day to 24 years and a
day. The recruit must measure at least five feet.
Several other exemptions have been added to those
already specified, for instance, any person who is
absolutely necessary to the maintenance of a family.
The only brother of an ecclesiastic or a monk is
treated in almost all respects as an only son. The
law enumerates no fewer than 145 different dis-
eases, which exempt from military service.

In the year 1818, a provincial militia, or land-
wehr, was instituted. It was to comprise about
the one hundredth part of the population, to at-
tend specially to the preservation of public order
and security, and in extraordinary cases to assist
the regular army. From the 21st to the 35th year
those belonging to this force were placed in the
moveable companies, from the 36th to the 50th in
the immoveable. Persons belonging to the follow-
ing classes were more particularly bound to enter
into the militia : proprietors of land, who pay at
least 5 dollars land-tax, civil officers who receive a



236 NAVAL ESTABLISHMENT.

salary of at least 50 dollars, shopkeepers, trades-
men, and in general persons of unblemished cha-
racter. As this institution had not answered the
expectations in the year 1820, it was suppressed in
1821, and has not since been restored. On the
other hand, there is both in the towns and in the
country a sort of safety-watch, which not unfre-
quently supports the gendarmerie, or is supported
by the latter. The soldiers have at different times
been usefully employed in public works, for in-
stance, in paving the streets.

The royal navy consists of two ships of the line,
four frigates, two cutters, and a number of smaller
vessels, carrying together 496 guns. There are
public institutions for the education of the officers.



LETTER CV.

Naples — Schouls — Universities — Law relative toTiiealres
— Borhoui Snciet}" — Diit}' nn Imported Bonks — Inadequacy
of Italian Universities.

Naples, July 13th.
I shall to-day give you some particulars con-
cerning the laws relative to the schools, universi-
ties, &c., and in so doing I shall separate the time
of Joseph and Joachim from the subsequent period.
Those two kings issued (after the French fashion)
abundance of ordinances on these subjects, partly
from real concern for their interest, partly out of



SCHOOLS. 237

ostentation, and for the sake of effect ; but, un-
luckily, very few of the provisions decreed by them
were carried into execution, chiefly owing to the
want of money.

According to a law of 1806, every place, the
population of which exceeded 3,000 inhabitants,
was to pay a schoolmaster and a schoolmistress out
of the funds of the commune, to impart instruction
in the christian religion, and the first rudiments of
learning. It must not be taken for granted, as I
have observed, that the object of this law was ful-
filled, but rather that an existing want of schools
caused it to be issued. In Naples, the law of 1808
directed 11 girls' schools to be estabUshed at the
expence of the city. In places of the third class,
(law of 1810) the parish priests may likewise be
schoolmasters. The commune finds room, and
pays SIX dollars per month, and the scholar one
carlin monthly. The decurions may release not
more than one fifth of the scholars from this pay-
ment. Parents and guardians are enjoined to send
their children to school, into which all who have at-
tained their fifth year must be admitted.

Above the schools there were to be, after the
French fashion, gymnasiums, lyceums, and uni-
versities. By virtue of the first law of 1806, the
university of Naples was to have five faculties,
with thirty-three professorships, six for law, one for
divinity, one for philosophical morality and re-



238 UNIVERSITIES.

llgion, seven for medicine, &c. It abolished the
lectures on the law of nations, (afterwards re-esta-
blished) civil and ecclesiastical institutions, rudi-
ments of theology, {teologia primaria). Thomas of
Aquino, history of the councils, Roman literature,
(Greek was previously out of the question) and
general history. For all the philosophical sciences,
properly so called, but one professor was granted,
for history none ; on the other hand, a professor
for worms and microscopic animalculae is specified.
The salary of the professors was to be from 200 to
400 dollars per annum. They were required to
hold three lectures a week, of at least an hour and
a half each. In the first half hour the professor
was to dictate, in the second to explain, and in the
third to examine. The council, or senate, for the
conduct of all university matters, was to consist of
the royal prefect, six other royal civil officers, six
professors, a presiding member, and a secretary.

These inadequate appointments and regulations
were completed in the years 1811 and 1812. The
faculty of the mathematical sciences was to have
9 professors, medicine 7, divinity 4, for doctrine,
archaeology, ecclesiastical history, and exegesis.
The faculty of law was to have seven professors ;
lor the law of nature and nations, civil law, penal
law, commercial law, law- practice, Roman law, sta-
tistics, and economy. The literary-philosophical
faculty numbered ten professorships : for Italian



UNIVERSITIES.

eloquence, Latin language and eloquence, Greek
and Roman literature, Hebrew language, Arabic
language, criticism and diplomacy, morality, chro-
nology, ideology.

The university has a rector, and each faculty a
dean, whom the king appoints from among three
persons proposed to him for two years. The pro-
fessors wear a particular dress and a medal ; they
have the entree to court. They must not teach at
one and the same time in a university and a gymna-
sium. A professor receives at first 115 lire (francs)
per month ; at the end of five years 150 lire, and
of fifteen years 200 lire, which is the highest salary.
Out of the fees paid for degrees, he may receive an-
nually as much as 410 lire, and the dean twice that
sum. The salary and the other receipts of the
rector may amount to 4,400 lire. It was made ob-
ligatory on many persons to take the academical
degrees. The students were to bring with them a
whole series of papers and testimonials, and to com-
mence their studies in the philosophical faculty.
Every two months they were to obtain from the
professors certificates that they had attended the
lectures.

In every province there was to be at least one
gymnasium (in Naples two,) with an income of
6000 dollars, and teachers for Latin, Greek, Ita-
lian, mathematics, logic, ethics and metaphysics,
natural philosophy, geography, and chronology.



J^40 ROYAL SOCIETY OF SCIENCES.

Of history no mention is made ; on the other hand,
teachers of writing, drawing, fencing, dancing, and
French, are specified. Such were the directions
given on patient paper.

The superintendence of the theological semina-
ries was left in the hands of the bishops ; but the
intendants were to be present at the public exami-
nations, and no pupil was to be admitted till he
had completed his 18th year.

The Royal Society of Sciences consisted, agree-
ably to a law of 1808, of three academies, for his-
tory and belles lettres with 20 members, for the
exact sciences with 24, for the fine arts with 10.
The first time the king appointed the members,
subsequently they were to be elected by majority of
votes. The president, likewise elected, was changed
every six months. The members wore a light blue
embroidered uniform. — In 1811, Joachim decreed
that the Society should consist of two academies,
the first for the sciences, the second for philology
and fine arts. Each division might have 30 ordi-
nai-y, 30 honorary, and 60 corresponding members.

For schools for the arts and trades and polytech-
nic schools, ordinances were at least drawn up.
The libraries, pictures, statues, and other collec-
tions of the suppressed convents, were to be pre-
served and given up to the schools or other public
institutions — an injunction which has frequently
been evaded. A special commission was charged



THEATRES. 241

to attend to the preservation and arrangement of
the archives. A law of 1807 directs that no book
shall be printed or imported without the permission
of the minister of the police ; neither shall any be
used as a groundwork in public instruction, without
the permission of the minister of the interior ; or
in seminaries and churches without the permission
of the minister for religion.

In the year 1811 was issued a circumstantial law
relative to theatres, essentially to this effect. A
company of actors purposing to perform dramas or
operas must first prove to the chief intendant that
it has obtained the author's permission to do so.
Every actor, singer, or dancer, receives from the
chief intendant a patent, or appointment, in vvhich
it is specified whether he is qualified for theatres of
the first and second class. These testimonials must
moreover express his rank, that is to say, whether
he is a first, second, or third rate actor, dancer, &c,,
or a mere figurant, and the like. These patents
are countersigned by the police, and confer the
right of performing in the provincial theatres also.
Without the approbation of the intendant appointed
by the king, no play can be performed, neither can
a passport to go abroad be granted to any actor,
singer, or dancer. Every manager of a theatre
must state what resources he has at his command.
If he becomes bankrupt, he cannot obtain a new
licence without giving security. Without such

VOL, II. M



242 SCHOOL REGULATIONS.

licence no itinerant company can perforno or impro-
vise. In Naples, the chief intendant and certain
persons appointed for the purpose adjust all disputes
between managers and actors ; in the provinces the
intendant decides. Every company shall give an-
nually two representations for the benefit of the
poor. — 1 find that the theatre of San Carlo now
receives a yearly allowance of 57,000, and the
Florentino of 6000 dollars, but know not whether
any further advantages may accrue to them from
pubhc institutions or from the court.

The re-action in the general opinion, which pre-
vailed after the restoration of the old sovereignty,
manifested itself also in the schools in regard to the
choice of subjects and books of instruction, as well
as in directions relative to prayers, beads, attending
mass, and the like. In the smaller places, the cler-
gyman is allowed to give instruction for a moderate
compensation — an arrangement which one cannot
but approve. This proviso, however, sounds rather
strange : No salary can be assigned for a school-
mistress for the girls, in those communes where
tliere is none that can read, write, and give instruc-
tion. It was no doubt the knowledge of thi.s and
other circumstances of the kind that gave occasion
to a well-informed man to assert in the Annals of
Statistics (xxiv. 315,) that in Lombardy ten times
as much is done for the elementary instruction of
the people as in the Neapolitan dominions. To



SALARIES OF PROFESSORS. ^43

this, too, it is owing that in Naples there are so
many who earn a livelihood by writing letters for
others, and even for well-dressed persons who can-
not write themselves. Galanti, in his Description
of Naples (p, 211,) asserts that "out of about
100,000 inhabitants from 10 to 18 years of age,
only four or five thousand were receiving instruc-
tion ; while the proportion in the provinces was
still more unfavourable,"

Neither was enough done for the university.
The salaries of the professors were fixed at from
360 to 460 dollars; with all the subsidiary sources
of income, none exceeded 660 dollars. In 1819
the number of the professors of law was limited to
four : two for Roman law^ one for the civil code,
and one for the four other codes, the law of nature,
the law of nations, and political economy. The
students are not admitted to any academical degree
unless they produce testimonials that they have
attended the churches. They pay no fees.

The Borboni Society superseded the Royal So-
ciety of Sciences. It consists of three divisions —
1st, the Academy for Herculaneum and Archaeology,
with 20 members ; 2nd, the Academy of Sciences,
with 30 ; and 3rd, the Fine Arts, with 10 ordinary
members. At elections, at least two-thirds of the
members must be present, and at least half of the
votes and one more must be favourable. For every
attendance at the meetings, and every paper acknow-

M 2



244 DUTY ON IMPORTED BOOKS.

ledged to possess merit, a medal of the value of six
dollars is awarded.

Complaints are made, (and as it appears, justly,)
not only of the severity of the temporal and spiri-
tual censorship, but also of the duty on books. Of
every native illustrated work five copies must be
delivered, of every other eight copies. Books im-
ported from abroad formerly paid an ad valorem
duty of only two per cent ; now every octavo volume
imported pays 3 carlines, every quarto 6, and every
foho 9 carlines — an enormously high duty, while
in Prussia, about 4 carlines only (half a dollar) are
paid for a whole hundred-weight of imported books.
Nay, I have been credibly informed that a copy of
the Allgemeine Zeitung^ every expence and charge
for which has been paid as far as Terracina, never-
theless costs 600 florins per year in Messina.

Many reasons have been assigned in justification
of these heavy duties, but all equally absurd. They
are imposed, it is alleged, to encourage the home
book-trade; but the impolicy of such extravagant
protecting duties has been long proved, and the
importation of books from abroad, mostly printed
in foreign languages, cannot have any effect on
Neapolitan printing or not printing. Government
wishes, we are further told, to prevent the people
from laying out money on bad books — an absurd
precaution, and a silly guardianship. It wishes to
prevent the introduction of bad and immoral books ;



LECTURES ON UNIVERSITIES. 245

as if there were not likewise good and moral books,
or the degree of goodness and excellence could be
ascertained by the size, &c. In point of fact, a
general hatred of science and literary cultivation,
which conceals itself behind pretexts of all sorts,
lies at the bottom of this system ; for the most arbi-
trary absolutism might devise other and more suit-
able means for separating the good from the bad,
and excluding the latter. None has any longer the
courage to defend these imposts ; none has the
courage and the firmness to abolish them.

A law of 182J2 relative to excavations deserves
mention. These researches must not be made
without permission, neither must the articles found
be sold or repaired. A particular commission de-
cides on the value of the objects, and whether they
shall be purchased or not.

The annual lectures at the universities commence
on the 5th of November, and end on the 30th of
June. No lectures are delivered on certain saints'
days and birthdays, in the festival weeks, and on
Thursdays throughout the years.

I shall not repeat the observations so often
made on the Italian universities. History and
public law are wholly wanting, philosophy, pro-
perly so called, in a great measure, and the theolo-
gical faculty is scarcely deserving of that name.
The material sides of science are universally placed
conspicuously in the fore-ground, and the intel-



246 UNIVERSITIES.

lectual thrust into the back-ground. What is de-
ficient in theology at the university, the episcopal
seminaries are intended to supply, and wherever
want of historical knowledge and sagacity manifests
itself, the police has endeavoured to direct or to
drive all stray sheep into the track that it would
have them pursue. As this, however, may sound
rather too derogatory and unfavourable, I shall
quote a passage from the temperate Bianchini's
History of the Finances (IIT. 814.) He says:
" The instruction of the lower classes is extremely
trifling, (pochissima) and the other classes rather
gain instruction for themselves than derive it from
the public institutions. It is calculated that, in se-
veral of the provinces, scarcely one in 150 or 160
persons goes to school to learn to read and write."

With this is connected the remarkable circum-
stance that even the sciences of the faculties are
studied more out of than in the university, and
taught partly by university professors, partly by
other persons. Those professors, I was assured by
a well-informed man, are obliged to seek these aids
to keep themselves from starving ; and a student
added that those lectures at the university, for
which a scudo per month is paid, are much better
attended than such as are gratuitous. On account
of the great number of holidays, too, the progress
made there is but slow ; whereas a student gains
lime by means of private lectures, and can obtain



UNIVERSITIES. 247

the academical degrees without having ever been
at the university, if he but proves at the examina-
tion that he possesses the requisite knowledge and
punctually pays the fees.

Thus the imperfection of the principal university
causes recourse to be had to the bad substitute of
many petty universities, by which completeness of
the plan of instruction and comprehensiveness and
solidity of study must assuredly suffer.

Loud and general are the complaints of the levity
and partiality with which professorships at the uni-
versity are conferred frequently on the most igno-
rant persons, to the exclusion of truly clever and
qualified men. Under such circumstances, it must
be regarded as an essential benefit that it is accu-
rately determined by a law, obtained with some dif-
ficulty by Mazzetti, Archbishop of Seleucia, what
publicly acknowledged merits a professor must
possess, or to what oral or written examination each
candidate must submit. The defects of this mode
of proceeding might easily be demonstrated ; but it
is a point gained, inasmuch as secret intrigues and
interested patronage are done away with, because
questions, answers, examination, and decision, are
public, nay, circulated everywhere by means of
the press.



248 AGRICULTURE.



LETTER CVI.

Naples — Agriculture — Corn-Trade — Forests.

Naples, July 14th.

Allow me to lay before you to-day some desul-
tory observations on agriculture and the management