The New York Herald Newspaper, March 27, 1875, Page 3

~CUMPAGNA — ROSANA The Artists’ Paradise, but the Farmers’ Inferno. WHAT IT WAS AND IS Early and Modern Projects for Its Improvement. WILL GARIBALDI SUCCEED ? DESCRIPTION OF THE DISTRICT WHICH’ GARI- BALDI PROPOSES TO RESTORE TO AGRICUL | TURE, ROME, March 5, 1875. A very paradise is the Roman Campagna, accord ing to the description by artists, A very hell upon earth; & dreary, uninteresting, unheaithy waste, according to the views of the agriculturist, is the Jand of which we are going to speak. To this artist's paradise and agricultarist’s hell the atten- | ton of the world is for the moment directed, be- | cause its improvement, by means of draining and irrigation, is one of the plans which Garibaldi has recently submitted to the world. The Campagna, as generally understood, extends on all sides around Rome, including portions of ancient La. tum and Etruria, apd measures some half a mil- lion of acres, Some of the portions further re. | moved from Rome and along the skirts of the moun- tains are pretty well cultivated; there are towns | and villages, and the entire Campagua has a popu- | Jation of 250,000 souls, But the portion to which We shall call attention 1s the district immediasely surrounding Rome, about 250,000 acres in extent, from the mountains along the course of the Tiber } to the sea, which 18 virtually uninhabited, if we except the immediate vicinity of Rome. This. dreary portion of tke Campagna is more pyoperly | designated the Agro Romano—‘agro” being a Latinisw signifying the district immediately sur- | rounding a city, Of the 250,000 acres of the Agro Romans perhaps 10,600 are covered with vine. yarcs, villas, &c. The rest !s pasturage and flelds, The whole extent, however, is unhealthy anda, so to say, depopulated. Moritz Jokad, the Hungarian novelist, describes in a remarkable manner in one ‘Of his shorter stories tne conf swamp with the surrounding cuitu how the swamp dragon stretched out arm aiter arm and finally succeeded in becoming master ot vie extire district, Which had been desolated by war, wud man was no longer there to assist culture in pre- | venting its encroaches, THE LEGEND OF THE DRAGON, , In German mythological language the pestileuce breeding swamps are yery fittingly described as Gragons, 1 have been trequently interested in reading, while in Germany, long and somewhat sensational ancient accounts of the ravages com. mitted by a certain dragon which once dwelt ina Jong low valley near Lake Starnberg, in Bavaria; how ‘he pestilential breath from his nostris poisoned the air for miles around, and how atiast | the horrid monster was finally overcome by sume youthiul Bavarian Steg/ried or St. George. in | Munich We can see the site of a well wherein the legends tell us once lay a great pestilential-vreathed | brotherhood in Rome whose mission tt is to seek | monster of adragon who caused a plague if the city whereby thousands of lives were losi, until finally, again, the monster was conquered bya valiant young fellow—a cooper’s journeyman we are made to believe—and then tle ravages of tie disease abated. These apparently ridiculous old legends contain, however, the trutn, The former legendary dragon of the valicy was simply an immense Jatter monster in the we!l was impure water that the peopie were in the habit of drinking, imbibing with it, of course, tue germs of pestilential disease. If the Roman Campana had been sin ated auywhere in Germany we shouid have had scores of mediwval legends about monsters ana dragons lurking in its valleys and morasses and breathing out pestilence upon mankind as a pun- ishment sent fromGod. But the Campagna has no legends of the sort, so far as I am awore, and Im place of the medixval German monster we have simpiy the vast PESTILENCE BREEDING SWAMPS, thai poison the air for mi around, and we have no Siegiried or St. George as yet to grapple with | them, ualess Garibaldi shai! add one more legend- ary attribute to his fame, POETICAL AND PRACTICAL DESCRIPTIONS CAMPAGNA, Permit me to give you some descriptions of the Campagna, first seen through the glow o! an a Uat’s glass and then as reflected in the mind oF THE very practical and common seuse Italian write! Artists, we know, cam see beuuty where other people sce nothing at al. I once remember walking with two taleuted young American artists in Munica, who suddenly stopped | still and fell into ecstases at aray Of sunlight failing upon the yellow wall ofa dilapidated pig Sty. The effect of the light and shade w. to them indescribably beautiful, but I, @ matrex-of- | fact, everyday sort of @ being, could xot for the life of me see more than a very ordinary pixpen. ‘Artisis are apt to exaggerate and to lead us astray by their descriptions, and they have ex- aggerated the beauty and solemnity and grandeur | of the Campagna, taken in its entirety. True, it is in spring time exceedingly beautiful, as are the prairias, because it is covered with fresh grass and myriads of beautiful flowers, and the tra- grance of the roses buries the effluvia of t! swamps, This is AN ARTIST'S DESCRIPTION OF THE CAMPAGNA. “We look over the Campagna, a still, solitary flela of ruins and of graves, close belore ihe gates of the Eternal City. Aud yetascene so deeply moving, 20 grand, sv solemn, with here and there beautiful remains of antique structures; then picturesque reed huts, pyramidicaily built in whe Jorm of old grave tumuli, and as staffage the shep- herd in bis woolly sheepskin, with his long stat upon his shoulders; the herdsinan, with pointed hat and leathern gaiters, seated on his switt steed, with his lan ing over nis saddle, the Matlock slug over his back; then the blue moun- tains around, and the wonderful play of coler that spreads over the volcanic, undulating ground; the goid-brown hae of the moory steppe, covered witn bushand grass, here aud there a dark pine, @ cypress or ab Olive tree; destroyed villas of the Imperial era, ruined monuments of the dead solitary medieval casties, quiet landhouses, Sliver gray cattle, with great curving horns, the thick white coated watch dogs, herds of sheep, and goais.”’ The other extreme Is taken by Writers of a pecullar religious disposition, wno exclaim, ‘see, is not Campagna a fitting frame for the picture o/ | and e Vatican: Rome is beautifully situaped, neve eless, not Wathstanding the fact of the Pope residing therein. A FROSAIG DESCRIPTION OF AMPAGNA, But what is the true picture o; the Agro Romano? It is nota paradise; itis not exactiy ahell; bar Atisa purgawory, a temporary punisoment, as it Were, tor the sins of man, Human uegiigence, even human warfare against nature, have made ‘Aihe Campagna te desert that it now 13. The Agro Romano was not always a vast desert, it was made suci by the Romans under the tmperialera | and by the varbarians who conquered ancient Home, woo destroyed the aqucducis aud the for- ests on the Monntains; and their successors have nly continued in slower and equally fatat man- ner the sing committed centuries ago. The Agro Romano, with the exception of the district Ammediately surrounding Rome, 18 unhealthy and aimost entirely depopniated. In the vine- yards there are dwellings for the peasants, who reside there in winter, but from Jane to November are compelled by the miasma to retire to the city; Uie other part has neither peasant dwellings Nor peasints, and when cultivated it is aone by @n invasion of laborers from adjacent provinces, Who Work there a few mont irom October to June, living in caves ar iy Lente, aug then xetire | maguigoen’ villa 0} Hadrian Was in the neighbor, b Of @ pestilential | Stagnant | Swamp, Where the pestilence was bred, and the | NEW YORK again to the mountains. In July but few persons | hood of Tivoli, and both of these places are at | of the Campagna. He had exact measnrements | Wara 29,4511, Temain ip this part of the Campagna proper, ana of these few two out of five ure sure to be down withiever, Not 2,000 persons remain in the entire cultivable district; even the churches are closed, and the priests seek refuge in Rome. But asinal! portion of the land is cultivated, the rest is giver over to the pasturage of the long horned caitle, which live in a state of semi-wildness, Where culfivation 18 carried on, the peasants use a plough cating from the t.me of King Numa, with | whien they manage to scratch the ground a iittie; Jac the yoke-oxen must seek their own provender on the parched steppes, or in summer are fed with rations of | bread, The cattle eat up all the young trees, and what they leave the peasant takes | Picasure in destroying —a privilege included in ms contract. This contract is given only for a peftod of nine years, and the peasant has no inducement to preserve the woods that still remain. Poultry is as good as unknown, because there are no women to uttend to them during the y car. THE ESTATES OF THE AGRO ROMANO. The part of the Campagna of which we are speaking 13 at the present divided as follow: There are 8 es'ates having an area from 3,000 to 7,400 hectares, 7 from 2,009 to 3,000, 33 from 1,000 to 2,000, 74 from, 500 to 1,000, 68 from 300 to 500, 122 trom 100 to 300 and 48 of lesser dimensions, More than 4 fourth of the entire Agro Romano ts thus divided into estates of over 2,000 hectares; about | One-half is occupied hy estates measuring from | 500 to 2,000 hectares; the other fourth 18 in the possession of smaller proprietors, As regards the division of the land in 1870, 60,930 hectares were | subject to the law of mortmain and 63,690 to the | law of entati; therefore, 124,620 hectares of undis- posable property, while the whole area of free property amounted to 79,751 hectares, in the pos- | Session of 204 proprietors, (The jaws of mortmain and eniall exist no longer in Italy.) The large estates of the rich and nople proprietors are generally given over to @ class of persons called “mercanti di Campagna” (merchant farmers), who cultivate a portion of their farms with | grain and snbdlet the pasturage to other | persons, There are some 360 estates comprised Jn the Agro Romano, which are rented to no more than a hundred of these “mercanui di Campagna,’" | some of them renting two or three or more es- | tates, Only one or two estates are worked by their proprietors, The Itaiian nobles, land owners, | have little or no interest for agricultural matters; they are satisfied to receive their rents irom the | “mercanti,” and both care little or nothing for the | Improvement of the land, each endeavoring to se- | cure a8 much profit as possible and im the shortest possible ume, | THE METHOD OF WORKING THE GREAT ESTA is very curious. A kind of recruiting sergeant, provided with funds for hand money, is de: tohed | a@ year before to engage laborers. He collects | about him a little army, of which he remains the | “caporale’? during its termgpf service. He divides | the army into two portions—ihe first consisting of the abie-bodied men, for the harder work, the la | ter of older men, women and children, , The latter | division brings with it a convoy of mules or asses | loaded with cooking utensils, implements, and other necessaries, The army is fed by the farmers | or the “mercanti? with bad rations, and lives in | the tufa caves or in badiy constructed nuts, sleep- | ing, however, in summer inthe open air. In the course of a single season these little armies are sadly decimated by fever; Many peopic die and are bured in the dreary wastes; others returo home fever-stricken and hasten to send other la+ borer’s to Mil up their piaces, since they have made acontract to work the whele season, and if they | do not iultiitt they receive no pay. There isa up the sick and even thedead onthe Agro Ro- | Imano, to take the former to hospital in Rome ana to bury the dead where they tall, For some years | past the municipality of the city or Rome has ap. pointed six Roman physicians to reside at various points of the Campagna, in order that they may | render medical assistance to the suffering. Is not this a melancholy picture? But it approaches pretty nearly the truth, THR SOW, OF THE CAMPAGNA, | This the peopie—thus the land! A vast stretch | of Jand without human habitation, with the exception of anctent structures and some palaces, where the proprietor mav spend a week ortwointhe spring. The Agro Romano may be | divided into three ports. First, the valley of tne | Tiber, down to the Isola Sacra, In some parts | three or four kilometers broad, in some parts nar- rower. Here we see neither houses nor trees; the wide plain is given up to pasturage, dotted here and there with fields of grain, cultivated, now- ever, in 4 Most Miserable Manuer. Second, a broad stretch of land along the sea, reaching trom Civita Veechia to the Pontine marshes, desert- hke, with sand hills; here and there, as in the valley of the Tiber, felds and pasturage, dots of stunted forest growth and lakes of stagnant water, Third, the so-called highlands, but which | are really nothing but small nills, connected py pretty, fruitful valleys, but-all devastated during | tke rainy season by torrents which carry away | the greater portion of the sotl to the ved of the Tiber. The cattle and the peasants and the “mercauti? have destroyed nearly all the forest growths on the hillsides; the | cultivable portions are sown with grain, the res: is given over to the herds, The farmers give themselves no troubie to procare egress for the rain water, which forms ponds and lakes and swamps in the valleys, and gras; acre after acre of land with every year, In spring even the most barren portions of the Agro Romano smile in the beauty of flowers, and of tne green grass and foliage, but toward the middle ef June the grain 1s ail harvested, vie grass is parched up, the lakes have become swamps, and the swamps are covered with slime and emit their poisonous exhalations. The cattle are watered In tanks supplied from tre running brooks, but after passing the tanks no further provision is made to carry off the water, | | which celuges the land, and is lett again to form | the inevitable swamps. Oniy on a few estates can exceptions be made to this picture. One or two proprietors have threshing machines tn oper- | ation and bave built stalls for their cattic, and plough the land ina civilized manner, but tne | estates so managed are only small oases in the . midst of the great melancnoly desert. | THE REASON OF THE DECAY. | And this desert—was it always a desert, a breeding ground Of pestilence, a hideous frame of ruin and cesolation and decay around the Eternal City’ Historians differ in opinion on this point, dul the conclusion at which most of them arrive is that the Campagna, though Dever a place cele- brated for its salubrity, Was at one time thickly populated, provided with forests, and the pesti- lential places were few and far between, Many nistoriaus say that neither in the da Republic nor of tho Empire was the Campagna subject to malaria, and that this developed asier the conquests of the Barbarians, Tnis view ap- pears to be adopted by Mr. Marsh in his new edition of “man and Nature,’ which le has kindly sent to me, for he says:—“The unhealthi- | hess of the Roman Campagna is ascribed by many mnedimvai as well as later writers to the escape of water from down by enemies in the siege of Rote.” [t is easy, however, to Mnd proof in the ancient writers that the Roman Campagna was never very healthy. Whereon to found his clty, and says:—“Locum in pestilenti regione salubrem, colles enim sunt, qui cum perfantur ipsi, valivus.” The words “IN PESTILENTI 1@NR? | geem to prove that the neighborhood of Rome | Tacteus | | Was at that time insaiuprious, Where Speaks of the soldiers who came with Viteliius from Germany, he adds that -‘careiess of sanitary regard they fixed their tents in the unhealthy air of the Vatican, and the consequence of which was | great mortality.” Besides, tie ancient Romanus | erected numeroas altars to Goddess Febris, and | they certainly would not bave done this witheut | some good reason. Strabo speaks of the parts of the | | Campagna near the sca as not being healthy. Bat then we have juss as many authorities to tell us | thas the Agro Romano was a very healthy places THE VILLA OF PLINY | the younger was built not far from Ostia and the 8 of the | the ancient aqueducts, which had | fallen out of repair irom neglect or been broken | Cicero (de Rep. I, cap. 6) praises | Romaius for the good selection he made of a site | tum et afferunt umbran | present uninhabitable. Ostia once had a prosper- ous population, where now a bnodred people live or rather die Slowly of intermittent fever. Cmsar tock imto consideration the practicability of rectifying the course of the ‘Tiber, 60 as to prevent the continually recurring imunda- tions, The Port of Ciaudius is at present aswamp. Until the destruction of the many cities that once flourished on the Campagna, the populations of Which were gathered to increase the city of Rome, we must accept the hypothesis that the Agro Romano was well cultivated, and that swamps were not allowed to develop as they bave done in later years; that the forests existed on the mountains and the sacred groves everywhere on the vast plain, and that only small portions of the country of which we are speaking were unhealthy, THE DECLINE OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE, With the decliue oftze Roman Empire came the neglect of cuiture on the Campagna, and the un- healthiness of the country became immensely greater than before, Ly Petrus Damianus speaks truly, Wheo he writes to Pope Nicholas IL, m the eleventh century, the condition of Rome was then very deplorable, Roma verax hominum, domat arduscolla virorum, Roma ferax fepriam, necis ost uberrima frugum, Romanw tevres stabilt suns jure fideles, Quem semel invadunt Vix @ Vivente recedunt. And since then the condition of the Agro Romano and tie entire Campagna has not im proved, but has become more and more deplora+ ble, keeping pace with the political declive of the couptry. So we came to the conclusion, with the majority of historians, that THE CAUSE OF THE MALARIA is to be looked for in the presence of the swamps. ‘rhe swamps are caused by the overfowing of the ‘Tiber on the oue part, the inundations of the mountain torrents on the other, both of which phenomena must be attributed primarily to the destruction of the forests on the mountain dectivi- tes, Other swamps have been formed, like those of Ostia, and all along the coast, by the the reced- ing of the sea, produced by the annual deposits of the Tiber, The ancient dwellers of the Campagna paid great attention to the swampy places and provided ditches to enable the stag- nant waters to pass off. The successors of these ancient cultivators did nothing of the sort; they folded thew arms and saw in calm the swamps increasing in size year by year, and thus do likewise the occupiers of the soil at the present time. Garibaldi’s plan to remedy the deplorable condition of the Agro Romano is avery good thing i its way, but it | does not go back fac enough. The torrents will descend and devastate the plains so jong as the mountains are not planted with forests, and the stagaant swamps will remain so long as the gov- ernment does not take the shatter in nand and drain them, like the Dutch do their little, under- sea-level land, hke us Prince Torlonia did with Lake Puceir Once drained, witn government inspectors to keep guard afterward, there cannot be much dimculty im creating a healthy region where now lurk pestilence and death. In another letter f will speak Of the projects that have been entertained in former times jor improving the condition of the Campagna. SKETCH OF EARLY AND MODERN PROJECTS FOR ITS IMPROVEMENT—THE PONTIFFS AND THE CAMPAGNA—PLANS OF SCIENTIFIC MEN—SIGNOR PARELTA-—GENERAL GARTBALDI, Rome, March 8, 1875, In a previous letter I have attempted to give you some idea of the present condition of the Ro- mab Campagna, or more properly spekingof the Agro Romano, aud of the causes which produced | the deplorabie state of things we now see. In this letter Lwiil give a brief account of some of | the more important plans and projects enter- tained by the various governments to bring about an improvement of the condition of the land and peopie, and to remove the malaria from the neighbornood of Rome. Nearly every writer of note in {taly has written at one time or another something about the improvement of the Cam- pagua. Pamphlets and projects about the subject can be connted by the hun. dred, but actual experiments very few. And the fact is that betore 1870, when the laws of ; Mortmain and of entatl prevailed over two-thirds Of the estates of the Campagna, It was absolutely impossible for any government to procee work of improvement without first conils the land, because in every case neither the nopies nor the clergy, although they mignt very much have desired to see ce condition of the Campagna ‘mproved, did not care to spend any money them- selves for this end, and the government did not see its way clear in spending millions to beneflt a few landed proprietors. The earlier ecclestastical property of the Campagna now being actually under the contro: of the government, which created a commission for its sale ant administra tion, and the great ates of tue nobles being no | longer subject to the w of entatl, there are no obs! s in the way of the government appro- | Priation and improvement, bs THE ROMAN PONTIFPS AND THE AGRO ROMANO. The Sterility of the Campagna has at various | Times occupied the atte:ftion of the Roman pon- ifs, Who took certain measures to improve the condition of the laud ana people, generaily, how- ever, with little or no permanent beneflt. Their Projects were carried out chiefly withont appar- entiy looking into the causes of the conditions they sought to ameliorate, Pope Zacharia caused three village colonies ¢o be founded in the Cam. pagha, and lis exauiple Was Joliowead by Adrian J., but wich no success, and these wero the only attempts made at colonization during tiie Middie Ages. In consequence of the increasing sterility of the Campagna, Rome, however, was frequently visited by great scarcity of food, aud the popes | badno other way of meeting these calamities than by erecting immense sturerooms for grain in Rome, These depots wore catled dell’ abundata. | The anthorities purchased the corn of the Cam- pagna and then sold it again to the bakers and | consumers at a fixed price, sometimes be- low the aeiual cost, Sixtus IV. adopted auring the great famine of 1477, besides the | above, also @ more radical! measure, permitting every persoa to sow wheat wherever ne chose in the Campagna and other provinces under the | dominion of the Church, payiug Lo the proprietor of the land a nominal sam fixed by the State. This Measure was taken in order to induce th proprietors to cultivate thetr lands with grain in- stead of leaving them for the pasturage of cattie. The proprietors alone secured great bene from the ordinance, compelling tue sowers to sell their | crops te them ana reselling the grain to Rome at @ great increase of price. i ARBITRARY MEASUT Jallus Il, (1503-12) caused very string: laws to be issued, threatening with severe punishment «| the proprietors whe sould attempt to tiluder toe peasants from bringing their grain to Rome. Leo , X. made one of the many attempts to drain the Pontine marshes, and some sticcess rewarded his efforts. Clement VII. (15 3) euforced the regu. lations issued by Ju I. and Clement VIL, {and fixed ine tribute of grain which the cultivator snonid pay to the proprietor. He limited the exient of pasturage aud ordered that Roman citizens alone should be employed in the culture of the Campagna. But since the Romans had no desire to devote themselves to agriculture, the ordinance proved a failure. Six- tug V. (1583-88) apportioned from his treasury a sum of 200,000 scudi (Mollars) to enable the poor peasants of the Campagna to purchase seed corn. The historian Sigismond states that the condi- tion of Rome ana the Campagna was never more deplorable than about this time. The peopie were oppressed with taxes aud monopoiles, fam- lence of 1590 and 1591 carried away 60,000 persons | from the city of Rome alone. Many casties and | fourishing villages of Umbria were ab that time depopulated; the country was infested with brig- ands, bands of whom were composed of the scape- | grace members of high famiites, These maraud- ers were even held in great esteem by the peopie of the Campagna, who considered them in the lght of \iberators rather than as outlaws. Sixtas V., Indeed, succeeded in freeing the State of the pdanditti, but under bis successors they appeared im greater farce than before. PIUS VI. AND NAPOLRON, Plas VI. attempted mugh ror whe improvement ines Were of constant occurrence and the pesti+ © HERALD, SATURDAY, MARCH 27, 1875—WITH SUPPLEMEN taken of the estates and compelled the proprie- tors to cultivate a certain portion every year with grain. He was considering a project for colontz- ing the northern part of the Agro Komano, by transporting thither 1,900 families, or 9,500 head, ata first cost of some $2,000, but political cir- cumstances prevented him carrying out the plan, He had commenced the dratning of the Pontine Marshes and had forbidden the further destruc- ton of the forests, when the French invasion put @ stop to his efforts in these directions, The Frencn Republic had no time to oceupy itself with agriculture, aud the laws promuigated by it se- questering ecclesiastical property were never car- ried into etfect, Pius Vil, aid much for the im- provement of Roman agriculture. A motu pro- | prio of 1802 gave tne very minutest directions | to proprietors in regard to the cultiva- vion of the soil; @ tax of eight paoli was put upon uncultivated lauds, and a premium of sixteen awarded to those who cuiti- vated them. He commanded the planting of trees of all kinds, and had in view the draining of the swamps at @ future day. The brief govern- ment of Napoleon did not negiect the problem of the Agro Komano, but had the idea of carrying out the tdeas of Pius VII. on even a larger scale, Napoleon first put on the budget of the Ministry of the Interior a charge of half a milion of francs, allotsing the burden of another half million to the city of Rome, intending tnat these sums should be used for rendering the Tiber navigabie from Perugia to the sea, for draining the Campagna and promoting the cultivation of cotton on a territory extending six leagues dround the city of Rome.’ He ordered all the proprietors of the Agro Romano to plant trees along the roadside and to construct cottages for thetr laborers. He appointed a com- mittee of experienced men to solve THE FOLLOWING PROBLEMS: First—Why the surrounding districts of Rome had been tert uncultivated? Second—Why is the Campagna unhealthy ? Third—What megus shonid be adopted to bring about a good state of cultivauon aud to remove the unheaithiness ? Fourth—How much territory is subject to the Mnundations of the Tiber ? th—How much is covered with marshes ? ieth— What 18 the present state of the Pontine enth—What works are necessary—what works have been startea to drain them? What aystem has been adopted? Whatis necessary to oorghth—In the progress of draining what kind ol cultivation wouid be best? What products will best thrive on the new soul? Ninth—What is the present state of agriculture on the Roman Campayna? &c., &e. THE LABORS OF PIUS 1x, A good begining; but Napoleon's career was too short to enable him to do anything tor Rome. His ideas appear to have been excelled, however. Pius Vil, having returned, imaugurated new re- forms relative to agriculture, which, however, were repudiated by Leo NIL Neither Pius VIN. nor Gregory XVI. had time or opporiwunity to give much attention to the condition of the Campagna, Pius 1X., however, immediately paid considerabie attention to the subject, He established an insti- tution for the teaching of agricuiture, and in con- Dection therewith some model farms, but the revo- lution of 1848 put an end to the plans, In 1854 he appointed a commission to study the question of colonizing the Agro Romano. but the political events that sorapidly followed in Itaiy entirely prevented any further attention being paid to the subject, It may be said, however, with truth, that the laws existing under the pontiff sovereigns, especially those of mortmaim and entail, wore the great hindrances to the labors of the various gov- ernments. SCIENTIFIC AND NON-SCIENTIFIC PROPOSALS, This is a record of what the governments of the Roman territory have gone. Now we will glance for @ moment atsome of the principal projects that have been seriously entertained during the last decades, Since persons of nearly every class have written about the improvement of the Agro Romano, the number of pamphlets on the subject is legion, The plans of the Abbé Nicolai, who lived in the eighteenth century, are generally con- sidered to have been the soundest of those en- tertained in the past century. He urged tue dratning or filling up of the marshes, the smaller ones by permitting the mountain torrents to de- posit their sands in them; the larger ones by the process of pumping, waere outlet canals were not possibie, He suggested the building of embank- ments along the seashore to prevent tne refor- Mation of salt water marsies, a3 soon ag the Others should be removed. He proposed the planting of trees on the roadsides, the building of houses in vilages for laborers at some distance from unhealthy neighborhoods. He proposed to populate these villages by bringing out on the Campagna the vagabonds and idle population of Rome and keeping them under strict surveillaace until properly settled, But this idea proved a | great delusion, The great trouble was that no benefits were offered to these people, they could not hope to become smali jarmers even, because the greater part of the land was Ip the possession of the Church or the nobles, and in neither case could it be sold, (This is now different; both the law of mortmain and of entail were abolished In the Roman territory in 1870.) PROPOSALS TO COLONIZE, Sigismondis suggested the building of centres of ; @ beautiiul frame for the setting of the Eternal The cost of the recovery of lana , Would be fourteen francs per uectare. The marsh | Of Maccarese would require a machine of 180 horse power, 500 tons of coal yearly, and fourteen cays | to its first exhaustion, A sum of 855,641f, would | be necessary to cover the first expenses, then an annual expenditure of 50,581f., and twelve francs Would cover the cost of each hectare of land thus won, The smaller marshes, swamps, stagnant pools, &c., could be aried in the sume way, Prince Torlouia has already shown the government what can be done tn this direction. In a future letter L Will describe is great labor of draining Lake Fu- cine, THE CULTURE OF THE CAMPaGNa, Signor Pareta then proposes the kind of culture to which the Campagna is best adapted, In the vailey of the Tiber, where the soti ts deep and fruitful, agriculture ona large scale. The land could be kept free from stagnant waters, at pres- ent left by mundations, by the formation of dikes. ‘The sandy lands on the seashore were best planted With forest. The portions more inland are just as well adapted for cereals as the vailey of the Tiber itself, The drainage would not be a very diMicalt matter, since the water is not deep, and could be removed by levelling the surface of the land. For the hillsides, which are now furrowed and laid bare of soil by the torrents, he proposes tne plant- ing of Iruit trees, or even the culture of tue vine, wich thrives amazingly around Frascau, where our friend Mr, Strutt has a pieasant summer homestead. Bi Mr. Strutt received at the Vicnna Exposition medals for his red and white wines, aud bis were the only medals received by any wine grower of the Campagna. But Signor Pareta does not ex- pect to change the character of the Campagna tn & single day, aS Witla & Magician’s wand. The endden transformation of the eutire region woulo Involve, he thinks, @ Cost of 100,000,000 francs, or 600 francs per acre, and then it would be years before the trees became productive, whereas by a steady, progressive unprovement Nature herself Would come to the assistance of man, andin fif- teen or twenty years the entire Campagna would be a blooming, prosperous stretch of country, and City. He condemns the project of attempting to remedy the condition or the Campagna by colon- ization. It would be, he says, dicging a grave for the colonists to send them out there at present, It would ve premature to tell you what Garibaldi intends to do with the Campagaoa just now. His plans are not completed. He has at present only drawn the line on his big map for an irrigating canal irom Tivoll to the sea, as shown on the plan already sent you; but this project alone will not sulice to the “benification” of the Agro Romano. The report of the scientific men engaged with Garibaldi te study tne subject Is expected shortly, and when it appears 1 will at once forward it to | you. Uniortunately the General commences witn | his great national work too late in life. Born in | July, 1807, he is now sixty-eight; but we trust he has tweity years more of Ilfe, in order that he | may see his great plans accomplisucd—the Agro | Romano a blooming paradise. the Tiber a well conauctcd river, bearing on its bosom the wealth of nations to the Italian capital, and Fiumicino and Port Trajan filled with the shipping ol the world. JOHN MITCHEL. ie Heh eh THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR—WILL THE sUN- DAY PARADE TAKE PLACR?-—INDIGNATION AMONG IRISHMEN, The all-avsorbing topic of discussion among Irisnmen and their sympathizers just aow 1s the Tecent aetion of the Board of Police Commussion- ers with reverence to the proposed parade on Sunday afternoonin honor of the memory of the late Jonn Mitchel. In every quarter of the city a feeling of strong condemnation of the interfer- ence of the police appears to pervade the Celtic heart, and many of the admirers of the deceased express a determination to carry out the pro- gramme at all hazards. The Commissioners, on the other hand, shelter themseives behind the clause of the law under Which (bey claim to act, and evince a like deter- mination, equally as steadiast, to eniorce it to the strict letter. * On Thursday afternoon a delegation of promi- nent Irish citizens wiited upop Snperintendent Waliing, ana gave notice, im accordance witn | law, of the route of the procession on Sunday, viz. Assembling en masee at the Battery, and pro- eceding in a body up Broadway to iweuty-third street, and thence up Fourth avenue to the Hippodrome, where Charles U’Conor would de- liver a funeral oration, but were informed by the Superiutendent, atter cousultation with the Com- missioners, that the law probibited such parade on Sunday, but that they might have it on any | other day of the week. The existence of such a law seemed to be a sur- | prise to the delegation, and after a stort ume they | withdrew. Thus the matter rested until yesterday morning | when the following named yentleimen—General | ‘Thomas Bourke, Counsellor Reynotus, Jolin Barry, Captain O'Brien, P. Walsh and O'Donovan Rossa— | consvituting the Mitchel parade delegation, watted | upon the Police Commissioners at Headquarters | colonization im various parts of the Campagna, where the people snould dwell and make war, us | it were, on the surrounding district, conquering | and adding acre by acre to their territory. Here, | again, the proprietors stood in the way. | | Cacherano di Lricherasio proposed to cut several channels for the ‘Suber through | the Campagna for purposes of irrigation and = draiaing, Coppi bad a wild sort of ascheme oO! repopuiating the Campagua wita orphan children and the tdle masses. He woud | build villages for them even in the midst of mala- | rious districts, and then place at least one thou- sand persons in each, believing that their num- | bers would in some mysterious Manner neutralize | the effects of the miasmas. L’Accoramvboni pro- posed the purchase of the Campagna by a com- pany, Whicu should relet the Jand to smail | farmers, All seemed to agree that the aid of the government was necessary to mprove the conat- | tion of the Campagna. Before 1870 the laws of mortmain and entail prevented anything being | | undertaken, These two abnormalities removed, the way 15 certainly much easier to set about | now than ten years ago. In fact, the government | could buy up the estates, improve them, parcel | tiem out and clear a handsome profit by tue ope- ration, A company could do the same thing-- | that is, if the government gave it fuil power to | buy and appropriate Wherever deiuanded by the | pubile weal, { | | | A MODERN PLAN, to add here the plun of Signor Parcta, He urges, as the first | ought | published very recently. | thing to be done, the draining of the swamps and | | stagnant lakes, which, he calculates, would cost a sum of 4,000,000/. for the entire Campagna, not in- cluding, however, wie Pontine marshes, whose | induence, it 1s supposed, does nat stretch as far as Rome. In October, 187), the Italian goverament | appointed a commission tor the purpose of stuay- | ing the best means for improving the sanitary condition of the Campagna, ‘fo this commission belonged Signor Pareta, to whose very interesting account of the Agro Romano | am greatly indebted for the information embodied in the present , letter. The conclusions arrived at vy this commission were embodied in a project of law, tm which it was demanded that the State, with the co-operation of the province and the municipality of Rome, should take in hand the draining of the swamps of the Campagna. The two latter suould bear half of theexpense, the government another part and the landed pro- prietors another, Up to the present time the gov- ernment has taken no steps in the matter, The report of Signor Pareta is, however, very interest- | ing and appears very practical. THB OSTLAN SWAMP, Signor Pareta rejects ali the old plans for abol- | ishing the marsh of Ostia, that is by filling up by means of the deposits from the Tiber or by connect- | ing it with the sea and thus trausforming it into a | Sait Water swamp, but proposes the use of steam | Pumps. For the marsh of Ostia he thinks a steam | + engine of eighty-nine horse power would be suffi- | cient, The yetrly consumption of coal he estimates | at 249 tons; the first exhaustion of the water | would require fourteea days, the oost for the whole work, including the purchase of machines, would be 1,083,491; the annual expense alter | commemora | Was used for that purpose, | there and made simply an informal request, ssion ensued, the Commissione that they '$ taking hot, without | viviation of law, give the desired perimis- sion. The cominittee then put tne mat- ter before thew in a new light, laying tne claim | that the proposed procession Was properly a fu neral one. A body of men intended to march from a given pont, orderiy and peaceably, to an ditice Where funeral services were to be peld tn jon Of @ deceased comrade. The | Place ia question, although not ordiuarily used as | a churcd, wight, With propriety, on an occasion of thie nature, be ciussified in that category. Ke- ligious services lad been held tere quite tre quently of late, aud no later than @ week ago if The committee came ‘They | thought that by presenting the case fairly and juily before tue Board their formal aud official pe- tiulon, which they would subsequently make, Would | be granted. * But the Commisstoners were inexorabie, They read the law, and veld that it was plain and to long disc the groune could | the point, und they deemed the present case to be clearly within its provisions, Alter some discussion the Commissioners held a consultation, and announced, at its conclusion, | that they would take legal advice as to the inter- pretauion of tue act, and inform twe genuemen of | We result at # laver hour, The committee ex- pressed the hope tuat tueir final cecision would be a favorable one, and alter the nour for its ren- dition bad been named td be two o'clock P. M., at the City Hall. the delegation withdrew, The City Hail was fixed upon as the place of meeting because it wouid be most convenient sor | ail parties, the Commissioners Haviog, they said, pnsiness as a body at Wat ume with the Board of | Aldermen. Acommunication was at once dent to Corpora- tion Counsel Smith to come to headquarters and that funcuionary was soon at hand, The entire Matter was tuen gone tuto, and Mr. Smith ver- | bully announced that im hts opimion the proposed | parade in honor of the memory oi Jona Mitchel Was illegal and could not be eld. 4 | Promptiy at two o’clock the four Police Commis- | sioners met the delegates im the City Bal build- | ing, ana the two bodies proceeded to oue of the Aldermanic chambers. Here the Commissioners announced as their ultimatum tuat the parade | could not be had. Messrs. Bourke and Rossa thea spoke at lengtu, expressing a deep regret taat the | Board took the action it aid, The tterview here terminated, the delegates | neither averting their intention to comply Wiva the decision oF to disregard it. i A reporter called upon Commisstoner Voornis late yesterday aiternoon, Whom ue ound dione in his office at Volice Headquarters, lis colleagues | aving gone home, and questioned wun with re- | gard to the probable action of tue Commissioners In case any body o( men paraded ob Sunday. i Ve shill,” said the Commissioner, “enforce the law. Here it nds, The Corporation Counsei Nas advised (he Boara as 10 its pro) er interpreta. tion, Nothing is left tor the Board but to see that \ it is carried ont, and Lhis we propose bo do.” | The question, therefore, whether che parade will take place or Dot, remains in stare quo. Tt is an undeniable tact that the iceling of deep dissatisiaction and regret is unanitious among | our Irish fellow citizens, and it may be, 48a prom- inent Irish oficial very earnestly expressed It yos- teraay while hotiy denouncing the course of the Police Board, “Trae Irishmen cau’) ve mtimt- j dated from asserting their rights.” CONVENTION OF IRISH SOCIETIES. The annual convention of the Irish societies, representing the Hibernian Temperauce and Benevolence organizations, was held iase might at \ the New Hinernta Hall, No, 28 Prince street, Mr, Thomas Werrigan in the chatr. The following | officers were elected for the ensuing year:—Vice, | President, Henry McGrath; Corresponding Secre- tary, b. 1. Carey; Recording Secretary, Stephen Walsh; Treasurer, Timothy Darcy. Mr. Carey | pronounced a eulogy upon the ate John Mitchel, and stated it was dae to the soctetics represented | by their delegates here aud to their countty that | corresponding periods of 1 and renewed the petition of the day previews, A | the warel 3 @ Proper recognition of Mr. Mitchel’s wortn and genius should be put on record in the Convention and he consequently moved that a special com- mittee be appointed to draw resolutions express- yng the seutiments of the Convention iu relation to Mr. Mitchel. The motion was carried and a committee ap- pointed, who, after @ brief mterval, reported the resolutions, which were adopted and (ae Conven- tion then adjourned, ' MFETING OF THE POLICE 1 The Board of Police Commissioners he! t a meee ing yestercay afternoon, at which but title pus ness was trausacted. OMcer O'Donnell, of the ‘Twenty-first precinct, was dismissed from the forge or intoxication. A resolution Was adopted that the Committee on Supplies and Repairs adver tise m the City Record for proposals to furnish a new boiler for the police boat Sen: nd to fit up ahew building on Lawrence street ior a station house for the Thirtieth precinct. John Cottreli, Thomas Griffin and Joun L, Van Wart were appoiuied patroimen, HONORS TO JOHN MITCHEL IN QUEBEC. Quesec, Canada, March 26, 1875. Ata mecting of the Lrish Catholic Benevolent Society the iollowing resolutions were unant- mously adopted :— That we have iearned with profound r rowiu) news ot the death ot the Mitchel. whose been brought t Fights of is ony hat we feel his ear to us. ‘That the rani zeulous char stay in this t the sor- wood John cer bas cl tor the sod people. joss as (hat of some personal friend ot the Irish nationalists lose t and ireland her brightes son, whose ascminently Inarked by aprightness swadfastuess of parpose, with the We of country. of the foregoing be transmitted to the family of thé deceased. The irish Catholic benevolent societies in va- Tious parts of the Provinces are holding meetings and pas-ing resolutions similar to the above, most AID TO MITCHEL’S PAMILY-—A GOOD SUGGESTION, NEW YORK, March 25, 1875. To THE Epiron oF THE HERaLy:— The Irish patriot Join Mitchel has gone to hi¢ everlasting rest. His {mneral tn !reiand on the 23d inst., attended by an immense concourse of people, ts evidence of Nis greet popularity in Dis native land. An exile f{ years from his country for what the En; bh government only. claimed was a political offence, he came to the United States, where he ree sided for some years, alter he came from Aus- tralia. The political offence was his devotion and love for Ireland. His family now reside in this country, He recently crossed the ocean ana was , elected to Parliament upon two occasions in oppo- sition to every power the Kngiisi government could pri aust him, which election nndoubte edly was Intended toshow the devotion of Ireland to her patriotic men and conntry, for John Mitcuel never have taken the oath of allegi- auce w the Crown of England in order to enter Parliament. While agreeing mainly with the Leraip that it would be well for every per- son interested to contrioute $l to the widow of Jotin Mitchel, I respectiully submit there never'was a time in this country ween a better opportunity has been ofered to the irish people a8 cilizens Of this country to show their ayprect tion oO: the public men of their native iand, their patriotism and love of country, chan by an immense demonsiration or a public faneral on next Sunday, Joba Mitchell w, devoted to his country—a .gentieman of retined culture, an accomplisked and elegant writer. He went to Ireland, and with enfeebled heaith has falleo im the front o: (ne bate, He nes buried in fis native laud, which he toved go well, the place for the patriot to dic. Away from his: family, he died It Is the poetry of politics and patriousm. | would respectfully mmittee should be appomted to tributions as each inaividual is disposed to give benefit of Mrs, Mitchell as the funeral procession is moving. Such contributions te be deposited at such points as the committee duly appointed may direct, a notce of which should ve published in the HERALD and city papers: generally. i would further sugges:, as the Hipp drome as been selected as the place where an oration 1s to be deliverea, thatil would be rhe most proper place to receive, at each eutrance, such contributions as the people are willing to bestow Jor the benefit of the widow of Joun Mitcuel, to be used vy Ler as she may deem proper. JOHN BROSNAN, No. 140 Fw among triends. receive such ton strect, COMMERCE AND NAVIGATION. A REVIEW OF OUR FOREIGN TRADE FoR 1874, Monthly Report No. 6 of the Bureau of Statistics isi press. it contaims the statistics of our for- eign trade for the month ended December 31, 1874, and jor the calendar year 1874, compared with the ‘The Chief of the 8 the folowing synop: Bureau furni | Domestic | Periods. Imports. | ph Fades) onth envied Decems| meer al Is ‘| $33,907,008] $1,633,731 ein 4 | 15,658,348) ths ended HL WST1 | 877,969,741] 620,473,7. ‘| 624,997.487| 60 per 31, Month ended ber 3, Is mount of our foreign irade for the 1s ended December 31, 1874 and 1873, handise and Oi the total twelve mont! the following values consisted of me of specie and builion, respectively :— Foreign Exports 3,304 29,749,439) The vaiue of Joreign commodities remaining in ouses of the United States December 31, 45,804,512, agaist $62,004,952, December 1874, was $ a1, Wi rhe folowing is an analysis of the imports for the calendar years 187; Total subse Toral tree ¢ y 8 Entered for imurediate uon Enter Of the total foreign trade during ty Mouths ended December 31, 1873 and t tive, th lowing V 4 respecs J ues were carried im Ameri= can and forcign vessels aud {a cars and other lana | venicles: tonnage oi vessels rade which entered into it American vese Foreign v | TOMI... 64 cc esecrereees ‘vhis report contains the statistics of tmmuigra- tiou for tue quarter ending December 31, 18v4, aud @iso jor the calendar year 1874, ‘The total number Ol Immigrants who arrived in the United piates during the tweve months enaed Decemper 1874, Was 260, of whom 159,956 we Jes ‘and 100,878. fe Under fifteen years, 51,¢ fifteen, ana forty, 72,113; forcy years Of age aud upward, 37,0105 1 @ied on the voyage, 129%, 4 Of the total arriv, England, 43,398; Irel 47,08! eit Quebes 44; balance from 144 otier coun tries. 3 Iminigrants having professional occupations, 2,4 skilled occupations, 32,482; mis saneous: oecupaitons, 101,518; not het Cy eit, occu- ation. matuly Women and enildren, > Nt report aiso contains, tn addition to other miscellancous Matter Not herein referred to, a dex tailed StaLement of the imports and exports Of the United Kingdom for the calendar year 1574, YHu NANUET MURDER. | Adecision upon the bill of exceptions filed tm | the case of Michael Murpay, @ laborer,, of Jersey | City, who was convicted of murder in the first | degree for shooung Mrs. Huyus, at Nanuet, tn Rockland county, op the 19th of Ap 1874, Will on vy the Supreme Court, General Term, im Brooklyn, Yaext Tuesaay. Murphy, it may be re- mempered, Was sentenced to death, alter bein | found guilty in the Rockland county Court | Oyer and Cerminer, held as New Olty a lew mont | since. Pending the execution of the sentence @ | writ of error was obtained, and a stay of proceed- | ings was granted by Judge Donohue on a mowon | for a new (rial. 9.