proposition that the Government of the United States might think proper to make to it, either for the adoption of additional articles to the extradition treaty now in force between the two countries, or for any thing else.

I have, to this effect, the honor to inclose to your excellency the text of the law in question, and I beg you to accept the assurances of my very high consideration.

L. CORTI.

[Inclosure.-Translation.]

A law to prohibit the employment of children in vagrant occupations, December 21, 1873. Victor Emanuel II, by the grace of God and the will of the nation, King of Italy.

The senate and the chamber of deputies have approved; we have sanctioned and promulgated the following:

ARTICLE 1. Whosoever shall intrust, or, under any pretext, shall deliver, to Italian or foreigners, persons of either sex who have not attained the age of eighteen years although they may be his own children or wards; and whosoever, whether an Italian or a foreigner, shall receive them, for the purpose of employing them in the kingdom in any manner and under any title in vagrant occupations, as for instance in the capacity of mountebanks, performers of tricks, charlatans, strolling musicians or singers, ropedancers, fortune-tellers, or expounders of dreams, explainers of the acts of animals, beggars, and the like, shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of from one to three months, and by a fine of from fifty to two hundred and fifty livres, (lire.) The sentence of condemnation includes, in the case of guardians, deprivation of their guardianship. The court may order guardians to be deprived of their rights as such, and parents to be deprived of their parental authority for such time as may be deemed proper in the interest of the children, according to articles 233 and 269 of the civil code.

ART. 2. Whosoever, within the kingdom, shall have with him, employed in the occupations specified in article 1, persons who have not attained the age of eighteen years, and who are not his children, shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of from three to six months, and by a fine of from fifty to five hundred livres. If the minor shall have been abandoned, or if, in consequence of deprivation of food or maltreatment, he shall have suffered serious injury to his health, or shall have been obliged to escape from the person who had charge of him, the imprisonment shall be for a term of from six months to one year, provided the offense do not render the person committing it liable to a more severe punishment.

ART. 3. Whosoever shall intrust or deliver, within the kingdom, or shall convey to a foreign country, for the purpose of intrusting or delivering them to Italians or foreigners, persons who have not attained the age of eighteen years, although his own children or wards; and whosoever, be he an Italian or a foreigner, shall receive such persons for the purpose of conveying, intrusting, or delivering them abroad, in order that they may be employed in any manner and under any title in the occupa tions specified in article 1, shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of from six months to one year, and by a fine of from one hundred to one hundred and fifty livres Guardians and parents who may be guilty of the offenses specified in this article shall be liable to the penalties provided in the second paragraph of article 1.

ART. 4. Italians in a foreign country who may have with them, employed in the occupations specified in article I, Italians who have not attained the age of eighteen years. shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of from one to two years, and by a fine of from five hundred to one thousand livres.

Whenever it shall appear, from an investigation of the case, that the minor has been abandoned, or that, in consequence of deprivation of food or of cruel treatment, he has suffered serious injury to his health, or has been obliged to escape from the person who had charge of him, the term of imprisonment may be extended to three years, provided the offense do not render the person committing it liable to a still more severe punishment.

ART. 5. Whosoever shall, by violence or fraud, kidnap, or cause to be kidnaped, persons who have not attained the age of twenty-one years, or whosoever shall, by artifice or seduction, entice, or cause to be enticed, persons who have not attained the age of eighteen years away from their parents, guardians, or whomsoever may have the care or direction of them, for the purpose of employing them in the occupations

specified in article 1, shall be punished, in the case of violence or fraud, with reclusion for a term of from three to five years, if the persons kidnaped are to be so employed within the kingdom, and with reclusion for a term of from five to seven years if they are to be employed in a foreign country; and, in the case of artifice or seduction, with inprisonment for a term of from one to three years, if the persons enticed away are to be employed within the kingdom, and with imprisonment for a term of from three to five years if they are to be employed in a foreign country.

Whoever shall have under his control, either within the kingdom or in a foreign country, and employed in the occupations specified in article 1, persons who have not attained the age of eighteen years, who have been kidnaped by violence or by fraud, or enticed away by artifice or seduction, shall be liable to the same penalties, to be enforced in the minimum of their duration, according to the nature of each case.

ART. 6. In case the minor kidnaped or enticed away shall have been abandoned, or, in consequence of deprivation of food or of maltreatment, shall have suffered serious injury to his health, or shall have been obliged to escape from the person who had the control of him, the guilty party shall be punished, in the case of kidnaping by violence or fraud, with reclusion for a term of from five to seven years, if the adandonment or maltreatment shall have taken place within the kingdom, and with reclusion for a term of from seven to ten years, if the abandonment or maltreatment shall have taken place in a foreign country; and in case of enticement by artifice or fraud, with imprisonment for a term of from three to five years, if the act of abandonment or maltreatment shall have taken place within the kingdom, and with reclusion for a term of from three to seven years, if it shall have taken place in a foreign country. In case the act shall in itself constitute a grave crime, the penalty provided for such erime shall be enforced, and never to the least extent provided by law.

If, before any legal steps shall have been taken, the guilty party shall voluntarily set at liberty the person who has been kidnaped or enticed away, without having injured or abused him, restoring him to his family or to the house and to the persons from whom he kidnaped or enticed him away, or putting him in a place of safety, the penalty of reclusion shall be mitigated to that of imprisonment for from one to three years, and the term of imprisonment shall be for from one to six months.

ART. 7. Not only shall the persons who may commit the crimes provided for in the foregoing articles be liable to the penalties therein provided, but also their accomplices.

ART. 8. Any contract, for intrusting or delivering in any manner, prepared for any of the purposes mentioned in articles 1 and 3, made either before or after the publication of the present law, is null and void, in whatever manner the purpose may be concealed or disguised, even though by means of intermediate cessions, either within the kingdom or in a foreign county.

ART. 9. It shall be the duty of parents, guardians, and of any one who may have intrusted or delivered persons under eighteen years of age to be employed in vagrant occupations, to give information or notice to the syndic of the commune in which they reside, or to the diplomatic or consular representative of the kingdom of Italy, if they are in a foreign country, concerning any of their children or wards who may be engaged either within the kingdom or in a foreign country in the occupations mentioned in article 1; and in case of their failure to do so within three months from the date of the publication of the present law, they shall be liable to a fine of from fifty-one to one hundred livres. In giving such information they shall state the full name, the age, and the birth-place of the minors, and of the persons to whom they were delivered and with whom they are, the place of their present and of their last residence, the occupation in which they are engaged, and any other information that may be of service in finding them.

ART. 10. Those who may have under their control, either within the kingdom or in a foreign country, persons under eighteen years of age engaged in vagrant occupations, shall be required, under penalty of a fine of from one hundred to five hundred livres, within four months from the date of the publication of this law, to report to the syndic of the commune where they reside, or to the diplomatic or consular representative of the kingdom of Italy, if they are in a foreign country, the names of such persons under eighteen years of age as they may have engaged in the said vagrant occupations. It shall be their duty at the same time to restore them to their families if they are within the kingdom, or to send them home at their own expense if they are in a foreign country; and, in case of their inability to do so directly, it shall be their duty, within the said term, to present them to the syndic or to the diplomatic or consular representatives of the kingdom, who will provide for their restoration to their families, or for the sending home of the said minors in the ways indicated in article 12. ART. 11. It shall be the duty of syndics within the kingdom, and of representatives of the kingdom in foreign countries, within six months from the date of the publication of this law, to prepare an official list, according to the information obtained by them, of Italian minors in their respective communes or consulates who may be engaged within the kingdom or in foreign countries in the vagrant occupations men

tioned in article 1. They shall avail themselves of the information provided for in articles 9 and 10, and shall complete the same so far as may be necessary; they shall collect and add any other information that may be useful, either for the restoration of the aforesaid minors to their families, or for sending them back to their own country, or for the penal effects of the present law.

ART. 12. The list shall be transmitted to the minister of the interior, and the syndics and the diplomatic and consular representatives of the kingdom shall at once make official provision for the restoration to their families of the minors whose names appear in the list, or for their return to their native country. The necessary expenses, if every other means at the immediate disposal of the said representatives of the kingdom are wanting, shall be anticipated by the state, with the exception of the reimbursement, a carico solidale, of the parents or guardians, detainers or employers. ART. 13. If the minors referred to in the foregoing articles have neither parents nor guardians, nor any person who is able to take charge of their persons and of their education, they shall be placed in some public educational or industrial establishment until they shall have attained their majority, or shall have learned some trade or profession.

ART. 14. Proceedings to enforce the penalties provided in the present law shall be instituted by the public ministry, and in case of the absence of the party accnsed from the country, he may be tried in his absence. The first book of the penal code and the general rules concerning the competency of the judicial authorities are applicable to the offenses provided for in the present law, so far as they may not conflict with the provisions of said law. Verbal accounts, reports, letters, and other documents, although private, coming from a foreign country, may be read on the occasion of the trial.

ART. 15. The provisions of the present law shall take effect simultaneously with its publication. Those of articles 3 and 4, however, shall not take effect until the expiration of the four months allowed by article 10. Notwithstanding, if acts shall have been committed which render those committing them liable to punishment according to the penal code, the provisions of that code shall be enforced.

We order that the present law, bearing the seal of the state, be added to the official collection of the laws and decrees of the kingdom of Italy, and we command all whom it may concern to obey it and to cause it to be obeyed as a law of the state. Done at Rome, December 21, 1873. [SEAL.]

VIGILIANI, Keeper of the Seal.

VICTOR EMANUEL,
VISCONTI-VENOSTA,

No. 394.

Mr. Fish to Count Corti.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,
Washington, May 4, 1874

COUNT: I have the honor to acknowledge the reception of the note which you did me the honor to address to me, of the date of the 27th of April last, referring to the alleged vagrancy of Italian children, and the fa se inducements under which they are taken from their native land, and inclosing an act promulgated by the Italian Parliament on the 25th December last.

This government cordially unites with that of Italy in the hope that that government may, by the means of this act and the energetic enforcement of its most commendable determination to suppress the traffic in these poor children referred to in your note, succeed in arresting the very inhuman practices which the Italian government so strongly condemns.

With respect to your suggestion, that the efficacy of the law referred to would be considerably increased if foreign governments would co operate in its execution, I am at loss to know how, practically, the co-oper

ation of this government can be made available for the execution within Italian territory of a municipal law declaring punishments against internal offenses.

But if your excellency will suggest any mode within the proper functions of this government whereby it can aid in arresting the serious wrong against humanity which your government is aiming to terminate, its consideration will be entertained with every desire for the attainment of the object to which the efforts of your government are being directed.

Washington, May 26, 1874. (Received May 29.)

SIR: The Italian minister of marine has just issued a circular fixing the relation existing between the Italian ton and the measures of capacity of foreign vessels.

I have received instructions from my government to transmit the inclosed copy to your excellency. You will thereby see that, although no treaty stipulations have been made on this subject between the two countries, vessels belonging to the United States receive precisely the same usage as Italian vessels.

I avail, &c.,

L. CORTI.

[Inclosure.].
[Circular.-Translation.]

MINISTRY OF THE MARINE.-DIRECTION OF THE MERCANTILE MARINE. SECTION FIRST, NO. 5041.

Table for the conversion of foreign units of capacity into Italian tons.

To CAPTAINS OF PORTS:

ROME, April 1, 1874.

On and after the 1st of June next foreign units of capacity shall be converted into Italian tons according to the table contained in the present circular, and no longer according to the table referred to in article 24 of circular No. 7950, dated June 18, 1873. S. DE. S. BON.

Table showing the relation existing between the Italian ton and the units of measurement used in the following countries.

If on board of a vessel belonging to the United States of North America there shall be a place having the properties mentioned in article 14 of the royal decree of March 11, 1873, the captain of such vessel may ask that the capacity of the place in question be deducted from the amount of tonnage specified in his register, such capacity to be determined in the manner prescribed by the aforesaid article 14 of the royal decree of March 11, 1873.

And if, on board of a vessel belonging to the same nation, there are spaces similar to those described in article 15 of the royal decree of March 11, 1873, the captain of such vessel may ask that the capacity of such spaces also (excepting those above the deck) be deducted from the amount of tonnage specified in his register, such capacity to be determined in the manner prescribed by articles 17, 19, and 20 of the royal decree of March 11, 1873.

No. 396.

Mr. Fish to Count Corti.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,
Washington, June 5, 1874.

COUNT: I have had the honor to receive your note of the 26th ultimo inclosing a copy of the circular of the Italian minister of marine showing the relations existing between the Italian ton and the units of admeasurement used in the countries therein mentioned. Copies of the same, in translation, will be communicated to the Secretary of the Treasury.

I avail, &c.,

HAMILTON FISH.