ITALY. 



1 Tho now military regulations have boon 

 and the Kin;: i proud of his army. 

 ie work mu^t lie conipl.-t.fd, and the national 

 fense provided for. The navy, on which de- 

 so large a part of our confidence for the 

 future, will also be the care of the Legislature. 

 Measures for the reform of taxation, especially 

 : ualizing it, will be brought forward. This 

 will lo the beginning of a gradual reform of our 

 :u of taxation and administration, which, 

 created at a time of difficulties and excitement, 

 needs well-considered revision. In the mean 

 while, we must make a halt in entering on iu-w 

 expenses. For those evidently necessary the 

 Government will indicate fitting means to meet 

 them. By following this course the balance 

 of income and expenditnre, so ardently desired 

 by the nation, will be attained, and the attain- 



ment will be the reward of sacrifices nobly 

 borne. Thus will the regeneration of Italy, 

 irom every utain, have this IX.U-.L also- 

 one HO rare in the history of political change* 

 that it ban never harbored the thought of 

 not keeping faith with the public creditor. 

 '1 lie Kin;.' has pleasure in assuring the Parlia- 

 ment that his relations with all foreign pow- 

 ers are excellent. He receives with joy con- 

 tinual testimonies of the value attached by 

 other nations to the friendship of Italy. This 

 is the reward of the moderation and firmness 

 of our conduct. Providence, which has pro- 

 tected us at every step, has this year given 

 us an abundant harvest, which will be a relief 

 to those poorer classes whose welfare is ever 

 present to our thoughts. Let us continue, by 

 virtue of our aims and our acts, to merit the 



protection and aid of God." Great applause 

 followed this address, and interrupted it again 

 and again. Tho King spoke with a strong and 

 clear voice, and with emphasis. 



The Chamber of Deputies reflected Signor 

 Biancheri as President by 236 votes against 

 172 which were given to Depretis. The Pres- 

 ident of the Council of State, Des Ambrois de 

 Revache, was appointed by the King Presi- 

 dent of the Senate ; he suddenly died, how- 

 ever, a few days later. 



Signor Bonghi, the Minister of Public Instruc- 

 tion, proposed in the new estimates an annual 

 grant to public libraries, to be regularly allotted 

 according, partly, to the actual use made of the 

 library, and partly to the liberality with which 

 the locality shall contribute for similar pur- 

 poses. For 1875, the University of Naples 

 stands at the head of the list, with a grant of 

 600, and then come on a descending scale 

 those of Turin, Pavia, Padua, Rome, Genoa, 



Pisa, Bologna, and lastly Catania, to which a 

 sum of but little over 100 is allotted. Simi- 

 lar grants are placed on the estimates for the 

 free national libraries of Naples, Florence, Mi- 

 lan, Venice, and other cities where such insti- 

 tutions are maintained, varying from 700 to 

 70, according to the case. The Italian min- 

 istry thus hope to remove a reproach hitherto 

 made against the nnity of their country, that 

 one result of it has been to strip the local li- 

 braries of its great cities of the funds former- 

 ly allotted them by the sovereigns who have 

 been dethroned. Provincial Italians have often 

 cause to be proud of the rich collection of 

 books that may be found in their chief towns; 

 but, since the whole peninsula came under a 

 single administration, gifts for keeping up the 

 several libraries have been made only by chance 

 and the good favor of the Ministry of Educa- 

 tion. 

 All the political questions in Italy were cast 



