488 



OBITUARIES, FOREIGN. (CUTTS DAWSON.) 



In December, 1877, he entered the Cabinet as 

 Minister of the Interior in succession to Nico- 

 tera. Crispi, the most masterful, impetuous, en- 

 ergetic, and eloquent of Italian politicians, the 

 greatest organizer and administrator, born to act 

 and to command, had waited until others were 

 passing from the scene before reaching a position 

 in which his talents and his authority could be 

 displayed. But this day was even yet not come. 

 He was soon driven from office by a scandal 

 started by a Neapolitan whom he had dismissed 

 irom a post in the Ministry of the Interior. In 

 the days of his revolutionary activity he had 

 gone through a form of marriage in Malta with 

 Rosalie Montmasson, with whom he lived nearly 

 twenty years, then separated from her, making 

 her a satisfactory allowance. The marriage was 

 not in legal form, and in January, 1878, he mar- 

 ried the widow Lina Barbagallo, of Syracuse. 

 His enemies accused him of bigamy and brought 

 him before the Neapolitan court. Although ac- 

 quitted on the criminal charge, his moral reputa- 

 tion suffered to such a degree that his political 

 prestige and influence seemed forever shattered. 

 In March he resigned his office. In a short time 

 he regained his power in the Chamber. He joined 

 the pentarchy in 1883, a combination of groups 

 which lost control as the result of the election, 

 of 1886. The defeat of the Italian expedition 

 into Abyssinia, at Dogali, in January, 1887, 

 led to a reconstitution of the Depretis Cabinet. 

 Crispi became Minister of the Interior and 

 Zanardelli Minister of Justice. When Depretis 

 died in July the voice of the people desig- 

 nated Crispi as his successor. He represented 

 in Italy the idea of a democratic monarchy and he 

 represented the south. His coming to power at 

 the age of sixty-eight signified therefore the tri- 

 umph of democracy over monarchical and aristo- 

 cratic traditions and the shifting of the political 

 center of gravity from Piedmont to Sicily. King 

 Humbert with reluctance commissioned him to 

 form a ministry, which was completed on Aug. 

 7, 1887. He took the portfolio of Foreign Affairs. 

 The triple alliance, into which Italy had entered 

 after the French occupation of Tunis in 1881, 

 was in danger owing to the menaces of France 

 and the vacillating mood of Italian opinion. 

 Crispi took a bold stand where Depretis had been 

 weak. He visited Bismarck at Friedrichsruhe to 

 signify to the world Italy's adhesion to the al- 

 liance. He denounced the commercial treaty w r ith 

 France instead of waiting for French action. He 

 made overtures with England for a Mediterranean 

 naval understanding or alliance. Even in Abys- 

 sinia he gained a triumph in the treaty of Uc- 

 ciali signed in May, 1889. The mightiest man in 

 Italy since Cavour, he seemed to have given vigor 

 and power to the kingdom and did impart a 

 prestige among nations that it never possessed 

 before. The tariff war with France had unfortu- 

 nate economical consequences, and foreign pres- 

 tige imposed financial burdens. The deficits of 

 the treasury grew enormous, yet Crispi would not 

 listen to proposals for reducing the national arma- 

 ments. In 1891 he had to give way to a Govern- 

 ment of the Right under the Marquis Rudini, who 

 was succeeded in the following year by Giolitti 

 with a coalition Cabinet. Neither of them ac- 

 complished any financial reforms, reduction of 

 armaments, or changes in foreign and colonial 

 policy. The triple alliance was renewed on terms 

 which Crispi called unfavorable to Italy. The 

 financial and economic situation grew worse, and 

 finally came the crash of 1893, revealing bank 

 scandals. Giolitti had to withdraw under a cloud, 

 and Crispi returned to power in November, 1893. 



He put down the disturbances in Sicily with an 

 iron hand, and dissolved Socialist associations, 

 incurring the enmity of the Socialists and Rad- 

 icals, who brought accusations involving him in 

 the bank scandals. He could not rebut the charges 

 of having shielded forgers and embezzlers and 

 countenanced the use of the bank funds for elec- 

 toral purposes, if not for his private benefit. To 

 hush up the scandal he suddenly dissolved Parlia- 

 ment at the end of 1894 and ordered the prosecu- 

 tion of Giolitti, who had given form to the charges 

 by revealing official secrets. Crispi's former foes 

 were those on \vhom he now relied. He even 

 offered the hand of friendship to the Church, de- 

 claring religion to be a conservative force which 

 should act with the civil authority. The elec- 

 tions of 1895 gave him once more a great major- 

 ity in the Chamber, but Radicals and Conserva- 

 tives united in bitter personal attacks, against 

 which he still had force to resist. The Adowa 

 disaster brought about his downfall. It was the 

 strangest fortuity of his career that he had ta 

 bear, nor did he attempt in the least to escape 

 the full responsibility for the Abyssinian adven- 

 tures against which he had been the foremost to 

 warn the country. He resigned on March 5, 1890. 

 A parliamentary investigation resulted in 1898 in 

 exonerating him from the charges that were made 

 against his personal integrity, but not of finan- 

 cial irregularities committed for party purposes. 

 Although it was a matter of common knowledge 

 that many Italian ministers are equally blame- 

 worthy with himself on this score, he immediately 

 resigned his seat in the Chamber. Palermo re- 

 elected him with an overwhelming majority. 



Cutts, Edward Lewes, an English author, 

 born in 1824; died in London, Sept. 3, 1901. After 

 receiving a university training he took orders in 

 the English Church in 1848, and was successively 

 curate at Coggeshall and Billericay, in Essex. 

 He served as secretary of the Additional Curates 

 Society in 1865-71, and from the last-named year 

 until his death was vicar of Holy Trinity parish, 

 Haverstock Hill. His writings include A Manu- 

 al of Sepulchral Slabs and Crosses (1849); Col- 

 chester Castle not a Roman Temple (1853); Es- 

 say on Church Furniture and Decoration (1855) ; 

 Essay on Christmas Decoration of Churches 

 (1859); Home Missions and Church Extension 

 (1861); The Villa of Claudine: A Tale (1861); 

 Scenes and Characters of the Middle Ages (1872) ; 

 The First Rector of Burgstead: A Tale (1874); 

 Turning-points of English History (1874); Some 

 Chief Truths of Religion (1875); Pastoral Coun- 

 sels (1876) ; Christians under the Crescent in Asia 

 (1877); Saint Jerome (1879); Saint Augustine 

 (1881) ; The Breaking of the Bread: An Explana- 

 tion of the Holy Communion (1881) ; Constantino 

 the Great (1881); Charlemagne (1882); A De- 

 votional Life of Christ (1882) ; Addresses to Can- 

 didates for Confirmation (1882) ; Perfecting Holi- 

 ness (1883) ; A Dictionary of the Church of Eng- 

 land (1887) ; Colchester, in Historic Towns Series 

 (1888); Saint Cedd's Cross: A Tale (1890); A 

 Handy Book of the Church of England (1892) ; 

 History of Early Christian Art (1892) ; Augustine 

 of Canterbury (1895); Parish Priests and their 

 People in the Middle Ages (1898). 



Dawson, George Mercer, a Canadian geolo- 

 gist, born in Pictou, Nova Scotia, Aug. 1, 1849; 

 died in Ottawa, March 2, 1901. He was a son 

 of Sir John William Dawson, the naturalist, was 

 educated at McGill University, Montreal, and 

 the Royal School of Mines, London, graduating 

 in 1872 at the head of his class. On returning to 

 Canada he made mining surveys in Nova Scotia; 

 lectured at Morrin College, Quebec, and in 1873 



