526 



ITALY. 



Sanctis, Education ; General Bonelli, War ; 

 Admiral Acton, Navy ; Micelli, Agriculture 

 and Commerce. On the same day Signer Cai- 

 roli presented the new Ministry to the Cham- 

 bers and made a statement of the questions 

 with which they had undertaken to deal. A 

 cold reception was given to the Ministry, and 

 leave was asked to interpellate the Govern- 

 ment relative to the late Ministerial crisis. On 

 the following day Signor Sella introduced his 

 interpellation. Signor Cairoli in reply stated 

 that the difference which arose between the 

 members of the last Cabinet concerned the 

 course to be pursued in regard to the grist-tax 

 question. On December 5th Signor Magliani 

 presented his modifications in the budget for 

 1880. These modifications showed an increase 

 of 13,000,000 lire over the original estimates, 

 8,000,000 lire of which were due to retrench- 

 ments, mainly in the army, and 5,000,000 lire 

 to the surplus of the revenue. An understand- 

 ing was reached by the Ministry with Signor 

 Crispi, and the latter was elected President of 

 the Budget Committee. 



The relations of Italy to foreign countries 

 were discussed by the Chambers on several oc- 

 casions. On January 20th Signor Vitelleschi 

 in the Senate said that Italy ought to join 

 with Austria, England, and France in assist- 

 ing the populations of the East to set up con- 

 stitutions for themselves, apart from the pre- 

 dominating influence of any foreign power. 

 Signor Depretis, replying on the following day, 

 said that the Government considered that the 

 Berlin Treaty formed part of the public law 

 of Europe, and they would loyally cooperate 

 to secure its execution. The Government, he 

 added, had not yet undertaken mediation be- 

 tween Turkey and Greece. In Tunis and Egypt 

 the Cabinet desired to maintain the legitimate 

 influence of Italy, and nothing more. On Jan- 

 uary 22d an order of the day was accepted by 

 the Minister and adopted by the Chamber, stat- 

 ing that " it is necessary not only that treaties 

 be loyally executed, but that the internal policy 

 of the country shall not disturb the financial 

 equilibrium or the organization of the military 

 forces." On July 28th the new Cabinet was in- 

 terpellated with regard to its foreign policy re- 

 lating to Greece, Egypt, and Roumania, Signor 

 Cairoli in reply said that it was impossible fully 

 to discuss so delicate a subject, more particu- 

 larly as the Government had only recently taken 

 office, and had yet to make a complete exami- 

 nation of the documents and the acts of its 

 predecessors. Regarding Greece, he might de- 

 clare that the Government would faithfully 

 maintain the Treaty of Berlin, and he was glad 

 that the part in which the plenipotentiaries of 

 Italy and France had agreed in taking an initia- 

 tive at the Congress was in accord with the 

 principles of nationality Italy had always pro- 

 fessed. Italy had close relations with Greece 

 and felt profound sympathy for her, and she 

 would not be untrue either to the one or the 

 other. In Egypt Italy had never failed in pro- 



tecting her subjects, and had sustained her 

 rights in order that other Powers might not 

 have exclusive influence. 



A provisional treaty of commerce with France 

 was signed on January 15th, and ratified by the 

 Chambers in February. It was to be in force 

 for one year, and secured to the two countries 

 the treatment of the most favored nations. A 

 treaty of commerce with Austria was sanctioned 

 by the Chambers in January. 



On May 19th the civil-marriage act, provid- 

 ing that the civil act shall in all cases precede 

 the religious ceremony, was passed by the 

 Chamber of Deputies, by a vote of 163 to 101, 

 after inserting amendments to the effect that 

 penal action instituted against married persons 

 who have gone through the religious ceremony 

 shall be stayed on their registering their mar- 

 riage before the civil authorities. The bill was 

 strongly opposed by the clerical deputies, while 

 the Minitster of Justice declared that civil mar- 

 riage as regarded by the law contained nothing 

 detrimental to the privileges of the Church, but 

 only protected those of the state. 



The Chamber of Deputies on June 30th 

 approved, after a debate extending over two 

 months, by a vote of 257 to 96, the Ministerial 

 railroad bill, which provides for the construc- 

 tion of 6,020 kilometres of railroad within 

 twenty-one years, at an annual expenditure on 

 this account of 60,000,000 lire. 



The seizure of a Eepublican flag at Milan, 

 on which occasion several arrests were made 

 and a number of persons wounded, was made 

 the subject of an interpellation. Signor Caval- 

 lotti, of the Extreme Left, attacked the Gov- 

 ernment, declaring that the Ministries of the 

 Right, and even the Austrian Government, 

 had not been as intolerant as the present Min- 

 istry. Signor Depretis, the Minister President, 

 declared that the prefects had only done their 

 duty ; that the country desired peace and or- 

 der, which only a strong government could 

 give. Signor Tajani, the Minister of the In- 

 terior, in speaking of the Republican Associa- 

 tions, said that they numbered over 20,000 

 members, and that, wherever the Government 

 had come in contact with them, it had been 

 found that they were preparing to overthrow 

 the existing order of things, and no Govern- 

 ment could tolerate such a state of affairs. 

 The debate terminated on April 4th in a vote 

 of confidence, which was carried by 273 to 37 

 votes. All parties of the Right, Center, and 

 Left voted in favor of the Government, except- 

 ing the 37 members of the Extreme Left head- 

 ed by Signers Cavallotti and Bertani. 



In the beginning of April General Garibaldi 

 arrived in Rome, and called a meeting of the 

 leaders of the Republican party for the 21st. 

 In his letter convoking the meeting he said 

 that he considered it to be the duty of the Re- 

 publican party to rally all its forces in the 

 field of legal agitation, in order progressively 

 to secure that liberty which is their undoubted 

 right, but which now depended on the whim 



