506 



ITALY. 



After the occupation of Massowah, the Ital- 

 ian troops took possession of Beilul. The sec- 

 ond expeditionary force arrived at its desti- 

 nation, Assab, in the beginning of March. 

 Presents and conciliatory messages from King 

 Humbert and Signer Mancini were conveyed to 

 the Abyssinian Negus by Oapt. Ferrari. A 

 third force left Naples on the 23d of Febru- 

 ary. The civil authority in Massowah contin- 

 ued to be exercised by Egyptian officials until 

 about the 1st of December, when the Egyp- 

 tian governor was sent away, and the admin- 

 istration taken over by the Italian commander, 

 Gen. Gene. 



In December, Count Robilant, when ques- 

 tioned in regard to foreign policy, said that 

 the Government had no intention of departing 

 from the direction taken by Signor Mancini. 



Ministerial Crisis. The unsuccessful foreign 

 and colonial policy of the Depretis ministry in- 

 curred the condemnation of the nation, which 

 has felt dissatisfied with its diplomatists and 

 sore toward the other powers ever since Count 

 Corti returned empty-handed from the Berlin 

 Congress. Russia acquired Bessarabia, Austria 

 Bosnia and Herzegovina, England Cyprus, and 

 finally it transpired that France was invited to 

 take possession of Tunis, thus frustrating one 

 of the fondest ambitions of Italy. In the ne- 

 gotiations with England respecting co-opera- 

 tion in the Soudan, Signor Mancini said that 

 Italy could enter into no engagements that 

 were contrary to the agreement concluded with 

 the two empires. The Red Sea Expedition, 

 however, was generally disapproved when the 

 results and cost of the enterprise were weighed, 

 partly because the new acquisitions appeared to 

 be of no value, partly because the Government 

 was expected to find a field for the colonizing 

 activity of the Italians on the shores of the 

 Mediterranean, and not in a quarter so remote 

 as the Red Sea. On May 8 the Government 

 was able to defeat a hostile motion in the 

 Chamber by a majority of 91. On June 17, in 

 a vote on the budget, the ministers found them- 

 selves with a majority of only 4 in a house of 

 322, and at once decided to resign. Cairoli 

 and Minghetti, the leaders of the Opposition, 

 conferred with the King with reference to the 

 formation of a new ministry ; but there were 

 difficulties in the way. Signor Depretis was 

 charged with the formation of a new Cabinet. 

 The Radicals, who combined with the Conserva- 

 tives in the hostile vote, were not strong enough 

 in the Chamber to undertake the government. 

 After a crisis lasting a fortnight, during which 

 the Chamber finished voting the supplies and 

 adjourned, the former ministers returned de- 

 finitively to office with the exception of Signor 

 Mancini and Signor Pessina, who was suc- 

 ceeded as Minister of Grace and Justice by 

 Signor Tagani. Signor Depretis took the port- 

 folio of Foreign Affairs ad interim. In Octo- 

 ber ^this post was given to Count Robilant. 

 During the ministerial crisis the municipal 

 elections in Rome occurred. The divided Lib- 



erals were opposed by the compact Clerical 

 party, but gained a decided victory. 



Legislation. After a debate extending over 

 three months, on March 6, in a vote by secret 

 ballot, the Chamber of Deputies agreed by a 

 majority of 23 to the leasing of the state rail- 

 roads to the Adriatic, Mediterranean, and Sicil- 

 ian Railroad Companies. No measure ever 

 carried in the Italian Parliament met with so 

 vigorous and obstinate a resistance. 



The Madonna of Corano. A supposed miracle 

 at Corano, a village in the mountains near Pia- 

 cenza, was the cause of manifestations of re- 

 ligious enthusiasm among the people of the 

 district that became a delirious excitement and 

 called for the interference of the civil authori- 

 ties. On June 30 a little girl told a story of 

 seeing a lovely lady who said she was the Ma- 

 donna. As many as 16,000 persons, mostly 

 women, collected at the spot, where a shrine 

 was erected. Many in their ecstasy believed 

 that they saw or heard the Virgin. Medical 

 men reported that the hallucination was spread- 

 ing to a dangerous extent. The Prefect of Pi- 

 acenza sent a number of troops to the syndic 

 of the village, who on July 31 took down the 

 shrine, cut down the bushes on which offer- 

 ings were hung, and made the steep path to the 

 spot inaccessible. Many remained until night 

 to witness the expected miraculous appear- 

 ance of the Virgin, and then went away disap- 

 pointed. 



Sanitary Conference. A conference of dele- 

 gates of the powers met at Rome May 20, to 

 discuss international measures to prevent the 

 spread of infectious diseases. The initiative 

 steps toward the assembling of the conference 

 were taken by the Italian Government upon 

 the reappearance of cholera in Egypt in 1883. 

 Gen. Cadorna presided over the meetings. The 

 powers were represented by the members of 

 the diplomatic body in Rome, and by tech- 

 nical delegates. Dr. Sternberg represented the 

 United States on the technical commission. 

 The discussion of the causation of cholera, on 

 which Prof. Lewis, the Indian delegate, and 

 the English delegates differ with Dr. Koch, the 

 German representative, and most of the other 

 delegates, was excluded from the deliberations 

 of the technical commission. On the question 

 of preventing the importation of Asiatic chol- 

 era by way of the Suez Canal Dr. Brouar- 

 del proposed that vessels arriving at Suez 

 from infected ports should be subjected to 

 medical inspection, and if there were indica- 

 tions of cholera on board that the ship should 

 be disinfected, the persons supposed to be in- 

 fected sent to a hospital, and the others iso- 

 lated for five days in a lazaretto. The British 

 delegate insisted that British vessels from India 

 should not be detained, but that the canal 

 should be regarded as an arm of the sea. The 

 French proposition was strongly supported by 

 the German and Italian delegates, and was 

 carried in the technical commission by the 

 unanimous vote of all excepting the British 



