ITALY. 



421 



the efficacious aid obtained through the words 

 ami works of Mr. Gladstone against the tyr- 

 anny of the Bourbons, and send him their 

 grateful thanks for the faithful manner in 

 which he represented Italian public opinion at 

 the Ulackheath meeting." On the 2d of Octo- 

 ber ;in interview was held at Turin between 

 the Kiii_ r , with members of the cabinet, and 

 an envoy from Vienna, 

 with reference to a 

 proposition which was 

 said to have been made 

 by Russia for that 

 country, Germany, and 

 Italy, to form a com- 

 bination against the 

 Turkish Empire. Aus- 

 tria and England wish- 

 ed to dissuade Italy 

 from such a step. Si- 

 gnor Melegari is said to 

 have expressed himself 

 as averse to Italy's 

 compromising herself 

 with any power, and 

 to have proposed an 

 alliance of all the great 

 powers to induce the 

 contending parties to 

 lay down their arms, 

 after which a congress 

 should be held to es- 

 tablish the political au- 

 tonomy of Bosnia, the Herzegovina, and Bul- 

 garia. About the middle of October, Signor 

 Depretis, in a speech at Stradella, made the 

 following expression on the foreign policy 

 of Italy : " Nobody can wish me to launch 

 into the very grave questions which now 

 hold civilization in anxious suspense ; but 

 nobody can ignore the recent proofs that 

 the mercy, the justice, the irrepressible in- 

 di_ni:ition of the human conscience against 

 barbarian outrages can impose themselves, 

 like a moral law and a moral necessity, 

 even on the traditions of diplomatists, and on 

 the coldest calculations of self-centred politi- 

 cians." Early in December the British pleni- 

 potentiary, the Marquis of Salisbury, stopped 

 at Rome on his way to Constantinople, and 

 held conferences with the Minister of Foreign 

 Affairs, the King, and the crown-prince. Of 

 these conferences it is reported only that Signor 

 Melegari, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, said 

 that Italy desired to remain at peace with all 

 the powers, especially with England, and to 

 see a military occupation of Turkish territory 

 avoided as long as it was possible. On the 

 18th of December Signori Miceli and Petru- 

 celli in the Chamber of Deputies asked the 

 Government for information respecting its 



tion were published, it would be found that 

 Italy had not been less prudent or leaa wise 

 than the other powers, lie mu<t confine him- 

 self now to stating that the Italian Govern- 

 ment could not abandon the treaty of Parin, in 

 virtue of which it had taken part with tin- 

 great powers in all the questions which had 

 been raised, and continued : " The Government 



THE MODERN CAPITOL AT ROUE 



cannot be unfaithful to the political principles 

 to which it owes its origin ; but in the present 

 circumstances our conduct is naturally guided 

 by our need for peace and by our diplomatic 

 relations, while, at the same time, we do not 

 ignore the duties of humanity and civilization, 

 or omit to make every effort to obtain all pos- 

 sible amelioration of the condition of the Chris- 

 tian subjects of Turkey." The minister further 

 expressed his opinion that Italy's mission 

 should be one of conciliation, and he hoped it 

 would lead to a satisfactory result. 



On New-Year's-day Garibaldi sent the King 

 as a New-Year's present a fine young goat 

 from Caprera. In return the King sent him a 

 mosaic table, and bronze statuettes of Frank- 

 lin and Washington. In February the friend- 

 ship between Garibaldi and the Government 

 was interrupted by reason of some unfavorable 

 action of the Government in reference to his 

 project for the improvement of the Tiber. A 

 speech which Garibaldi afterward made at the 

 dedication of a monument was so violent that 

 the papers which published it were seized. 

 Upon the appointment of the new ministry, 

 however, with whose party Garibaldi is most 

 closely allied in sympathy, he wrote to Signor 

 Depretis, saying that he would, since the Kim:, 



attitude on the Eastern question. Signor De- by calling the Left to power, had given so plain 



pretis, Minister - President, replied, assuming a mark of his regard for constitutional views, 



that the greatest reserve in expression was for no longer entertain scruples about accepting 



the present necessary, but adding that when the gift of one hundred thousand lire which 



the diplomatic documents on the Eastern qnes- had been offered him by the King and the na- 



