458 



ITALY. 



would be necessary to effect an equilibrium. 

 Signor Crispi announced in a tneeting of his 

 supporters that the Government would be able 

 to do without fresh taxes. His determination 

 to pursue a conservative policy and resist inno- 

 vations was evidenced by his selection of the 89 

 new members nominated to the Senate, the ma- 

 jority of whom were takeji from the Right Cen- 

 ter. * The Minister of War resigned a few days 

 after the Chamber met, and was succeeded by 

 Gen. Pelloux. 



The Radicals forced a conflict at the opening 

 of the session, the result of which, though the 

 attack was bold and well planned, was a more 

 decisive defeat than any that they had sustained 

 in the former Parliament. Signor Imbriani 

 offered a resolution implying that the Prime 

 Minister had acted unconstitutionally in dis- 

 missing Seismit-Doda by royal decree, and that 

 the subsequent retirement of Giolitti furnished 

 additional proof of his tendency to override his 

 colleagues in the Cabinet and govern dictato- 

 rially. By shrewd tactics Crispi confined the 

 debate to one phase of the question, and having 

 drawn from Seismit-Doda a defense of his pres- 

 ence at the banquet, he quoted from speeches 

 made there to show that the continuity and suc- 

 cess of Italy's foreign policy was at stake and 

 the dignity of the Cabinet lowered by the act of 

 the late Minister of Finance. He asked for a 

 motion of confidence, which was made and im- 

 mediately voted by a majority of 271 against 10. 

 The other Radicals left the Chamber because the 

 constitutional question was avoided by the prem- 

 ature ending of the debate. 



Colonial Possessions. The belt on the west 

 coast of the Red Sea belonging to Italy, with 

 rear country of undetermined depth, has been 

 given the name of the colony of Erythrea. The 

 coast line of about 620 miles extends from Cape 

 Kasar, in 18 2' of north latitude, to Cape Sin- 

 thiar, in 12 50' of north latitude. The western 

 frontier of the Italian possessions is about 38 

 east from Greenwich. Part of the territory has 

 been occupied and declared to be under Italian 

 sovereignty, and over the rest a protectorate has 

 been proclaimed. Erythrea comprises Assab and 

 its territory, having a length from north to south 

 of about 80 miles; Massowah and neigboring isles, 

 with the coast from Emberemi to the peninsula 

 of Buri ; the Dahlak Islands and the protector- 

 ates of the Danakil coast, the sultanate of Ra- 

 heita, and the countries of the Habab, Boyos, 

 and Beni-Amer tribes. Italy has reserved for 

 herself as against other European powers the 

 protectorate of the sultanate of Aussa or Haussa 

 and its dependencies. 



In virtue of the treaties of May 2 and Sept. 

 29, 1889, the Government of the King of Italy 

 represents the Negus of Abyssinia in all his ex- 

 ternal relations. The diplomatic agent at the 

 court of the Negus in 1889 was Count Salimbeni. 

 On May 17, 1890, a peace was signed at Adua 

 with Ras Mangascia, nephew of the late King of 

 Ethiopia, who for some time held the province 

 of Tigreh against King Menelek. 



On the coast of the Indian Ocean, the part of 

 the Somali coast north of the mouth of the Jub 

 near the equator as far as the beginning of the 

 British Somali protectorate of Cape Hafun, in 8 

 of north latitude, inclusive of the sultanate of 



Obbi or Oppia, has been taken under the protect- 

 orate of Italy. Negotiations are pending for 

 the transfer of the stations on the coast belong- 

 ing to the Sultan of Zanzibar. 



The imports into Massowah by land and sea 

 in 1889 amounted to 12,939,957 'lire. Of 2,065 

 vessels, of 200,997 tons, arriving at the port, 1,241 

 were Italian, and of 1,871 that sailed, of the ag- 

 gregate capacity of 211,142 tons, 1,200 were Ital- 

 ian. A line of railroad, 17 miles long, is in oper- 

 ation at Massowah between M'Kulu and Saati, 

 and another railroad has been built from Abd-el- 

 Kader to Arkiko. The colonial army of Italy 

 comprises two battalions of rifles, a battalion of 

 bersaglieri, a company of fortress artillery, a 

 mountain battery of 4 guns, a company of mech- 

 anicians, a company of sappers, a company of 

 railroad troops, a signal corps, a company of san- 

 itary troops, a commissariat company, and a 

 company of train, numbering altogether 109 offi- 

 cers and 3,096 men. with 371 horses. The native 

 troops comprise six battalions of infantry, two 

 squadrons of scouts, a mountain battery with 6 

 guns, and a force of police, numbering altogether 

 114 officers, of whom 74 are Italians, and 3,794 

 men. The town of Massowah has a population 

 of 16,000 people, of whom 500 are Italians (ex- 

 clusive of the military), 700 Greeks, 50 Europeans 

 of other nationalities, and 100 East Indian Ban- 

 ians. Prof. Guido Cora has estimated the area 

 of the regions in Africa under Italian sover- 

 eignty, protection, or influence at 336,070 square 

 miles and the population at 5,958,800. To the 

 country around Massowah under immediate Ital- 

 ian jurisdiction, including Keren and Asmara, 

 he assigns an area of 3,100 square miles, with a 

 population of 250,000 ; the Dahlak archipelago 

 has an area of 420 square miles and 2,000 inhab- 

 itants ; the Assab territory is 550 square miles 

 in extent, and its population is 6,800 ; the terri- 

 tory of the protected Hababs and other tribes is 

 estimated to embrace an area of 18,000 square 

 miles, with 200,000 inhabitants ; the territory of 

 Afar or Danakil, inclusive of Aussa, is estimated 

 at 34,000 square miles, with 200,000 population ; 

 the Somali coast and a tract extending into the 

 interior as far as Wadi Nogal and Mudug has an 

 estimated area of 90,000 square miles and a pop- 

 ulation roughly reckoned at 300,000 ; and Abys- 

 sinia, with Shoa, Kaffa, Harrar, etc., has an ex- 

 tent of 190,000 square miles, with an estimated 

 population of 5,000,000. 



In north Somaliland the Germans were rivals 

 of the Italians before they abandoned their pre- 

 tensions in this region to the English, who im- 

 mediately entered into an arrangement which 

 enables Italy to round off her protectorate over 

 Abyssinia and adjacent countries while leaving 

 England in command of the approaches to the 

 Nile regions. In visiting Uba, near Warsheik, 

 for the purpose of offering presents to the Sul- 

 tan, whose territory had been proclaimed an 

 Italian protectorate, Lieut. Zavagli, of the navy, 

 was killed by the natives on April 24, 1890. The 

 position of the Italians at Keren and Asmara 

 was menaced in the early part of the year by the 

 hostile movements of the dervishes of the Sou- 

 dan. Abu Kerdja, Emir of Tokar, made a raid 

 on Taklai, on the border of the Habab country, 

 and was repulsed. Simultaneously Osman Dig- 

 ma advanced from Kassala against the Beni- 



