No. 180.
Count Litta to Mr. Evarts.
[Translation.]
Legation of Italy,
Washington
,
May 21, 1877.
(Received May 21.)
Mr. Secretary of State: Referring to the note
addressed on the 7th of March last by Baron Blanc to Mr. Hamilton Fish,
in relation to the prize offered by the Italian minister of public
instruction on the occasion of the fourth congress of Orientalists,
which is to be held at Florence in 1878,1 have the honor, in pursuance
of orders received from my government, herewith to transmit to your
excellency a notice which has been published in the Gazzetta Uffiziale
of Italy, and I beg you to be ‘pleased to bring it to the knowledge of
the learned public of the United States.
I avail myself of this occasion to offer you, Mr. Secretary of State, the
assurances of my very high consideration.
[Inclosure.—Translation.]
notice.
The committee of arrangements of the fourth international congress of
Orientalists, which is to meet at Florence in September, 1878,
published, on the 12th of January last, the programme of competition
for the prize of 5,000 lire (francs), which has been offered by his
excellency the minister of public instruction of the Kingdom of
Italy, for the best work on “The vicissitudes of Aryan civilization
in India.”
According to this programme, the works of those desiring to compete
for the prize in question were to be examined and the prize was to
be awarded by five reputable Orientalists, only one of whom was to
be an Italian.
In view of the possibility that the vote of some one of the examiners
might fail to be given, or might not be received in time, and
desiring that the number of votes cast by the judges may not be too
limited, the committee has unanimously decided to add two other
examiners—one a foreigner and the other an Italian—so that the total
number will be seven, five of whom will be foreigners and two
Italians.
None of the other conditions of the award have been changed.
The committee begs the delegates to the congress to give this notice
the widest publicity possible, and to endeavor to have it inserted
in the newspapers. In behalf of the committee:
- M. AMARI, Chairman.
- A. DE GUBERNATIS, Secretary.
Rome
,
March 14,
1877.
