ITALY. 



409 



real importance, and that to try and put it 

 down by force would be an error of statesman- 

 ship. Signer Crispi blamed Signer Depretis 

 for having thwarted the legitimate desires of 

 Greece for the annexation of Albanian terri- 

 tory, and concluded by saying that what Italy 

 required was a firm and powerful Government. 

 Such a one alone would possess influence 

 abroad. The Prime Minister, Signer Cairoli, 

 made a speech in the Chamber, in which he 

 declared that peace was a necessity for Italy, 

 and that the Government was tirmly resolved 

 to respect its international obligations. The 

 vote, which closed the debate on March 20th, 

 gave to the Government a large majority. 

 From among the eight orders of the day be- 

 fore the Chamber, Signer Cairoli elected to 

 stand or fall on that presented by Signor Man- 

 cini, which read : " The Chamber takes note of 

 the Ministerial declarations, and, confident that 

 Italy in her foreign relations will represent 

 among the nations a policy of peace, of respect 

 for treaties, and of progress in international 

 civilization, passes to the order of the day." 

 This motion was adopted by 220 to 93 votes. 



On April 29th the Ministry were defeated in 

 the Chamber, by 176 to 153, on a vote of confi- 

 dence in connection with the provisional exer- 

 cise of the budget. Signor Cairoli at once 

 went to the Quirinal to have an audience of the 

 King, who returned to Rome from Turin in the 

 afternoon. A Cabinet Council was subsequent- 

 ly held, and, after a prolonged sitting, Minis- 

 ters decided upon placing their resignations in 

 the hands of the King. King Humbert sent for 

 Signori Oairoli and Depretis, and, declining to 

 receive the resignation of the Ministers, accept- 

 ed instead their proposal to dissolve the Cham- 

 ber and appeal to the country. New elections 

 took place in May, which gave to the Ministry 

 a majority of about 24 over the combined 

 Right and the Dissidents of the Left. The 

 Right numbered about 150, and the Dissidents 

 of the Left 90 supporters. The new Parliament, 

 which is the fourteenth Italian Parliament, 

 and the first elected since the accession of King 

 Humbert to the throne, was opened by the King 

 on May 26th. The speech from the throne, 

 which treated almost exclusively of internal 

 questions, recommended the abolition of the 

 grist-tax, and a reform of the electoral law, 

 and announced the presentation of several bills. 

 Respecting foreign affairs, the speech said : 

 " The initiative taken by a friendly power, and 

 approved by other powers, including Italy, jus- 

 tifies the hope that the remaining difficulties at- 

 tending the execution of the Berlin Treaty will 

 be removed. It is also to be hoped that it will 

 be possible to prevent the outbreak of war in 

 the territory bordering on Montenegro. The 

 Italian Government will lend its assistance to 

 the endeavors which are being made for bring- 

 ing about a solution of the Greek question, in 

 accordance with the engagements existing be- 

 tween Italy and other powers, and with the 

 traditions of Italian policy." The proceedings 



of the Parliament were generally not of great 

 interest. On July 10th the Chamber for a third 

 time voted for a gradual abolition of the grist- 

 tax. The first article, abolishing one fourth of 

 the tax from the 1st of September next, was 

 voted by 262 against 108, and the second, to the 

 effect that the tax should entirely cease on the 

 1st of January, 1884, by 244 against 116. This 

 time the Senate also yielded to the wish of the 

 Government, and on July 19th the King signed 

 the decree by which the abolition of the tax 

 became law. On receiving intelligence of the 

 vote of the Senate, the King, who had the abo- 

 lition of that impost especially at heart, congrat- 

 ulated the Prime Minister on having held fast 

 to his programme and successfully carried it 

 in the face of no ordinary difficulties. 



The foreign relations of Italy also became 

 frequently the subject of animated debates. The 

 opponents of the Ministry eagerly seized every 

 opportunity for charging the Government with 

 following a foreign policy ever uncertain, hes- 

 itating, and risky. It was especially the Tu- 

 nisian question which gave rise to many bitter 

 attacks upon the Government. u When Italy 

 became a nation," said Signor Salvini, in the 

 sitting of November 12th, u she looked around 

 upon her seas and beheld England and France 

 holding such positions on the Mediterranean as 

 rendered them almost masters of that sea. Car- 

 thage should be allowed to rise again, but not 

 to the injury of Rome." When he saw he 

 French flag covering Tunis, which was not a 

 suburb of Algeria, he could not keep silence. 

 Signor Damiani said the Government, afraid of 

 war with France and of being abandoned by 

 the other powers, had shrunk back. The Min- 

 isters had no faith in the strength of the Italian 

 people. The advantages obtained by France 

 must not be allowed to destroy Italy's rights 

 nor her means of asserting them. France, by 

 the annexation of Tunis to Algeria, would tend 

 toward creating a French Africa; but Italy 

 would have the means of frustrating France's 

 designs of conquest. These means were the 

 strength of Italy's rights and the importance 

 which she maintained in those regions an im- 

 portance which others vainly pretended not 

 to recognize. This importance was derived 

 from tradition, from commerce, from the close 

 vicinity of the two coasts, from Italy's colony 

 there, and from that just influence which was 

 the result of the good policy observed in the 

 past by Italians toward less civilized States. 

 He referred with satisfaction to the treaty of 

 1868, due to General Menabrea, who had been 

 the first to recognize the importance of Italy's 

 interests in those regions. In the mean time 

 France sought to find her advantage in the aug- 

 mentation of the Tunisian debts, which would 

 enable the creditors, for the most part French- 

 men, to impose their will when Tunis was no 

 longer in a position to fulfill her engagements. 



Besides the Tunisian question, the relations to 

 Austria gave considerable trouble to Italian 

 statesmen. The party of the " Italia Irreden- 



