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 648 TV. Miller need be, the sword of France to the repubHc, which declined armed assistance, but gratefully acknowledged the offer of the Emperor. After the creation of the Italian kingdom, he was the first to recog- nize the continued independence of San Marino. With Italy the republic concluded a commercial treaty in 1862, which has since been renewed every ten years. The Italian Government has a consul there, and the Republic has representatives in several Italian towns, as well as in Paris. In 1864, separate money of San Marino was minted, which has currency in Italy. It is almost all copper, but one of the rare silver pieces is in the collection of King Vittorio Emanuele III. Stamps have become a favorite source of revenue among the Republicans, as they are eagerly bought up by collectors, and the usual devices of changing jthe colors and surcharging the stamps have been adopted to increase the number of issues. From 1877, when the first stamps came out, till the present time, there have been about seventy postal issues in all, and the last plan was to publish separate stamps for internal use in San Marino's minia- ture territory ! Another means of raising money, the sale of titles, has proved profitable since the creation of an equestrian order in 1859. Dukedoms, baronies and the like are cheap at San Marino, and it is sufficient to present a statue to the state, or even in some cases to write a book about it, in order to become a noble personage. A more dubious source of gain, a gaming-table, was declined in 1 868, despite the offers of a company, and San Marino has no newspapers, no railway, and very light taxes. Its good relations with Italy, largely due to the exertions of Cibrario, a satellite of Cavour, have continued with the single excep- tion of a difficult crisis, which arose in 1874, owing to the old griev- ance, the abuse of the right of asylum. For three months a cordon surrounded San Marino, but at last it was removed. It was on this occasion that the Italian consulate was founded there. Since that date the chief events have been the inauguration of the new and splendid Government Palace in 1S94, when the poet Carducci at- tended and eulogized the " perpetual liberty " of the state ; the financial crisis of 1898, caused by an organized pillage of the Na- tional Bank by the cashier ; and the extradition treaty between Great Britain and San Marino in 1899.' This was the first instance of official relations between the two countries ; the British consul- general at Florence was appointed to represent Queen Victoria at San Marino, and in October 1900 a special mission, of which Mr. LeOueux, the novelist, formed part, visited the Republic for the final and formal completion of the treaty. ' Times, April iS, 1900.