388 



ITALY. 



not be impaired. If he could not place the state 

 in a position to dispense with borrowing, he said 

 he would resign. A saving of 68,000,000 lire 

 had been effected in the budget of 1891-'92, and 

 40,000,000 lire more would be saved in the budg- 

 et for 1892-'93. 



The Rudini ministry accepted the foreign 

 policy of Crispi with all its obligations and re- 

 newed the triple alliance, notwithstanding the 

 growing discontent with the burdens that it im- 

 poses. The new commercial treaties with Ger- 

 many and Austria-Hungary, and the one with 

 Switzerland that was still under discussion in 

 the last months of the year, held out prospects 

 of an improvement in the economical situation, 

 by an increase in the exports of agricultural 

 products. In negotiating the treaties the Gov- 

 ernment took care not to injure the manufactur- 

 ing interests. In reference to the rumored ad- 

 hesion of Great Britain to the triple alliance, 

 the Marquis di Rudini answered an interpella- 

 tion in the Senate on June 29 by saying that 

 Italy sought to have understandings and agree- 

 ments with powers animated with a desire to 

 preserve peace and maintain the existing bal- 

 ance of power, and especially the status quo in 

 the Mediterranean. Some years before there 

 had been an exchange of views between Italy 

 and Great Britain, and both countries had pro- 

 posed to co-operate for the maintenance of peace 

 and the status quo. An agreement with Ger- 

 many and Austria had already been arrived at 

 for the renewal of the treaties of alliance that 

 would lapse in 1892. These alliances, he declared, 

 firmly and sincerely maintained, " will assure the 

 peace of Europe for a long time to come." At 

 an interview between M. de Giers and King 

 Umberto and his ministers, at Monza, on Oct. 

 14, the Russian minister was reported to have 

 announced and explained the Franco-Russian 

 rapprochement, saying that Prance while isolated 

 was subject to anxieties, freed from which she 

 would cease to be an element of uneasiness for 

 other countries ; as for Russia, the idea of lean- 

 ing on so powerful a state was dictated as much 

 by state reasons as by the mutual inclinations 

 of the two nations ; France can count on Rus- 

 sia so long as she is neither aggressive not pro- 

 voking. The Czar desired to learn the pacific 

 sentiments of King Umberto. Between Russia 

 and Italy the only points of difference that could 

 arise were concerning the Dardanelles question, 

 already settled, and the Bulgarian question, 

 which the Czar had no desire to stir up so long 

 as Europe enjoyed the present tranquillity. 



The Roman Question. The change of min- 

 isters removed some of the minor causes of fric- 

 tion that had arisen from Crispi's aggressive atti- 

 tude toward the Church without altering the es- 

 sential features of the ecclesiastical policy of the 

 Government. The projects concerning divorce 

 and the deposition of bishops were abandoned. 

 The policy of the new Government the Marquis di 

 Rudini summed up in the words, " No conces- 

 sion, no provocation, no condonation of affronts 

 to the civil power." The tension caused by the 

 renewal of the triple alliance and the new com- 

 mercial treaties hastened the partial rapproche- 

 ment between the Vatican and the Freycinet 

 ministry in France. The fortunes of the monarch- 

 ical parties had fallen so low and the parties 



that had allied themselves with the Church in 

 France had become so weak and disorganized, 

 that the diplomatists of the Vatican thought it 

 expedient to accept and approve the republic in 

 France, and in doing so they calculated on receiv- 

 ing some support from France for the claims of 

 the Papacy to Rome. The present Pontiff, while 

 ostensibly clinging to the pretensions advanced 

 by Pius IX to the full restoration of the tem- 

 poral power, has permitted compromise proposi- 

 tions to be put forward under his auspices. By 

 removing the ban of non expedit imposed on Ital- 

 ian Clericals by his predecessor and himself, by 

 which they are not permitted to vote in national 

 elections or to be elected to Parliament, he can 

 change the balance of power in party politics and 

 bring in a Government of the Right that would 

 not be so purely hostile to Papal pretensions as 

 the Left and the Right of the Chamber are equal- 

 ly, so long as the rule of electoral abstention is 

 kept in force. As a preliminary condition, it is 

 necessary to secure the acceptance of his com- 

 promise scheme by a strong enough combination 

 of foreign governments, either the German and 

 Austrian or the French and Russian, or all of 

 them. This scheme has been supposed by some 

 to. involve the substitution of an international 

 guarantee of the powers for the Italian law of 

 guarantees of May 13, 1871. the removal of the 

 Government and royal court to some other city, 

 and the conversion of Rome into a free city. If 

 this plan can not be carried out, it is supposed 

 that Leo X would accept an arrangement by 

 which the court of the Vatican and that of the 

 Quirinal can be held in Rome at different periods 

 of the year. A large section of the Clericals, 

 comprising a few of the more Liberal of the prel- 

 ates and many laymen of the provincial aris- 

 tocracy, are in favor of participating in Italian 

 politics on the simple condition that the status 

 quo represented by the law of guarantees shall 

 receive an international character. A part of the 

 irreconcilable element, old ecclesiastics and no- 

 bles, look forward to the downfall of the unit- 

 ed monarchy, and the establishment in its stead 

 of a federal republic in which the territoral sov- 

 ereignty of the Pope will find its natural place. 

 The Papal question was brought before the pub- 

 lic view in a practical shape by an untoward in- 

 cident springing from the accentuation of the 

 national jealousy between the French and the 

 Italians. A vast number of pilgrims, societies of 

 French Catholic working men and others, went 

 to Rome in the beginning of October, 1891, to 

 do homage to the Pope and receive his benedic- 

 tion. A party of these, on Oct. 2., insulted the 

 memory of Vittore Emanuele by spitting on the 

 visitors' register at his tomb in the Pantheon, 

 and shouting perdition to him and to King Um- 

 berto and long life to the Pope. Three very 

 young men, Michel Trufe, a student, Maurice 

 Gregoire, a lawyer, and Eugene Choncary, a 

 journalist, were arrested for the outrage. The 

 Affair caused a great commotion in Rome. The 

 bands of pilgrims were mobbed, thousands of 

 young men paraded the streets cheering the 

 King, public meetings were held and anti-French 

 speeches delivered, great numbers of citizens 

 went to the Pantheon to inscribe their names in 

 the visitors' book at the tomb. The police pre- 

 vented serious disorders, and the Government 



