ITALY. 



451 



fortune, against which certain Italian creditors 

 had claims. The Italian judicial authorities 

 summoned the consul, who had gone so far as 

 to break the seals placed on the property by 

 the Italian court and to sell part of the effects, 

 to deliver up the property in his possession, 

 and invited him to assist in the proceedings 

 connected with the administration of the estate. 

 The French consul paid no attention to the 

 order of the court, and when the pretor went 

 to the consulate he was compelled to break a 

 door, as the French officials would yield only 

 to force. The French Government complained 

 of a violation of the consulate, and the Italian 

 Government removed the pretor to another 

 district in the same city as a disciplinary pun- 

 ishment for discourtesy, but maintained the 

 entire legality of the proceedings, and demand- 

 ed that the consul should be censured. In the 

 end the French Minister for Foreign Affairs 

 acknowledged that the consul's conduct was 

 illegal, and the inheritance was returned to the 

 Florentine tribunal for adjudication. 



The dismissal of Count Corti, Italian Am- 

 lor at London, who died soon after his 

 disgrace, was an indication of the strong feel- 

 ing on the Mediterranean question of the Ital- 

 ian Premier, whose antipathy to Count Corti 

 dated from the time when the latter, while 

 Minister for Foreign Affairs at the time of the 

 Berlin Congress, would not press the Italian 

 claims to Tunis, although overtures were made 

 on the part of Germany, saying that Italy, 

 when taking her seat for the first time among 

 the great powers, would not apj>ear as a sup- 

 plicant for favors. In regard to the supposed 

 French aspirations toward Tripoli, Italy has as- 

 sumed a determined attitude. In fortifying 

 Tunis, the French are said to have carried the 

 frontier line into Tripolitan territory. In the 

 summer the French Cabinet raised a trouble- 

 some question regarding the abolition of the 

 capitulations in Massowah before the powers 

 had been duly notified of the Italian annexa- 

 tion. After making good the omission, Signer 

 Crispi retorted by raising a point in connec- 

 tion with the Suez Canal convention proposed 

 by France, which was intended to draw from 

 Turkey a declaration regarding her sovereign- 

 ty, not merely in Massowah. where Italy 

 claimed that it had lapsed, but in Tunis, where 

 it was still nominally in force. The interpre- 

 tation put by Italy on the Suez convention led 

 the Sultan at the last moment to withhold his 

 signature. In regard to Massowah, Italy was 

 supported by the majority of the powers in 

 the contention that the Turkish sovereignty 

 was non-effective, and that the territory was 

 res nullim at the time of the Italian occupa- 

 tion. The school question in Tunis was the 

 subject of representations in consequence of 

 which the Tunisian authorities, without fore- 

 going their purpose to introduce the French 

 educational system, modified their rules so as 

 not to interfere with the missionary schools of 

 Italian monks. 



Tariff Negotiations with France. The comrm r- 

 cial treaty with France expired in 1887. Dur- 

 ing negotiations for a new treaty it was pro- 

 longed until March 1, 1888, as were also the 

 treaties with Spain and .Switzerland. These 

 were renewed, but the French ministers and 

 legislators were too much under the dominion 

 of protectionist interests to agree to a treaty 

 that would be acceptable to Italy. The nego- 

 tiations were broken off 1 in the" beginning of 

 February, 1888, and MM. Teisserenc de Bort 

 and Marie, the French plenipotentiaries, were 

 recalled from Rome. The Italian representa- 

 tives asked for reductions in the French duties 

 on cattle, cereals, and the produce of the vine. 

 On February 21 M. Flonrens communicated to 

 Count Manabrea, the Italian Ambassador in 

 Paris, the final proposals of the French Gov- 

 ernment, and on February 27 the French Sen- 

 ate passed a bill authorizing reprisals against 

 Italy in case the commercial treaty should lapse. 

 The Senate bill contained a clause taxing raw 

 silk, for which the Lyons manufacturers have 

 largely depended on Italy. The Italian Gov- 

 ernment gave notice that it intended to pre- 

 sent counter-proposals, and requested the sus- 

 pension of the new tariff, but to this the French 

 Cabinet would not accede. On March 10 Count 

 Manabrea presented new proposals as a basis for 

 reopening negotiations. In the mean time the 

 reprisals were carried out. 1 he Italian Govern- 

 ment was armed with the necessary powers by 

 an act that was passed on February 8, in accord- 

 ance with which it declared that ceitain speci- 

 fied French imports would come under the 

 general tariff on and after the 1st of March. 

 Among the articles so treated were wine, spir- 

 its, coffee, sugar, chocolate, oils, toap, per- 

 fumery, dye-stuffs, furniture, toys, fire-arms, 

 flour, preserved fruits, etc. The duty on text- 

 ile fabrics, skins, railroad-cars, pottery, glass, 

 and copper manufactures was raised to 50 per 

 cent. ; that on iron manufactures to 20 per 

 cent. : and that on machinery to 30 per cent. 

 The French and Italian merchants, however, 

 very generally evaded the new tariffs by or- 

 ganizing a systematic smuggling trade. Goods 

 were shipped into Switzerland, and from there 

 invoiced to their destination in France and 

 Italy, until persons who practiced this trick 

 were punished for making false declarations. 

 After that an extensive smuggling trade sprang 

 up. The risks and cost of smuggling enhanced 

 the prices of the goods only about 15 per cent., 

 which nearly corresponded to the average rate 

 of duties under the old tariff. The trade in 

 Italian straw-goods, raw silk, and other valu- 

 able wares and in fine French manufactures 

 was as brisk as before, but the large export of 

 grapes and must from the Italian vineyards for 

 the manufacture of wine was interrupted. 



The Premier's Journey to Friedriohsrnhe. In 

 the summer of 1888 Signer Crispi went to 

 Germany in order to pay a second visit to 

 Prince Birmarck at Friedrichsruhe, where he 

 arrived on August 22. The meeting had the 



