ITALY. 



5,C 



t 



a< 



i 

 ? 



B, Bit-king to minimi/.etlie international 

 tanoter of the incident, simply condncted the 

 i ]iilgrims to the frontier, instead of pros- 

 iiting them for the de-eeral ion of a tomb 

 committing "an act tending to diminish 

 ie independence of the state audio de-troy il- 

 nil\." In his speech delivered at Milan oil 

 I, the Premier said ; 



We have established ill our midst the I'apacy, 

 hich .sometime- a-Miincs a threatening attitude; hut 

 .ph.Tc ..faction is limited to the exercise of spirit- 

 . power, not onlv hy the law, which will not he 

 htly contravened, hut al.-o |i\ almo>t unanimous 



ll-cllt even oil the part of those who deem thelil- 



inoM religion-. The country's ecclesiastical 

 ..me traditional, and the honor and 

 of the Kingdom of Italy will be scrupulously 

 ined. The deplorable incidents brought about 

 a few rdiort-siirhtcd ]ier.-ons will not make us devi- 

 from that policy. Not for so slight u matter will 

 questions regarding the Constitution of the 

 .in. Not for that will we tamper with the im- 

 ovable statutory law of guarantees, the wisdom and 

 expediency of which have been proved by long BX- 

 vriciicc. Italy will not fail in the respect which she 

 lie liberty of conscience and religious tohra 

 'on which it is our boast to profess. . 



Labor Disturbance. The working men's 

 emonstrations on May 1 were attended with 

 ,ore excitement in Italy than elsewhere. Strong 



anls of soldiers were posted in the chief cities 

 at points where they could aid the police in pre- 

 serving order. At Rome an open-air meeting of 

 5,000 persons was held in the Piazza Santa Croce. 



\tral Deputies were seated on the platform, 

 and most of the speeches were moderate. Sud- 

 denly, while a working man named Vincenzo 

 Landi was making a speech of a more violent 

 racter than the rest, the cavalrymen stationed 



the square were ordered to mount. The crowd 

 began to run away when the Socialist Deputy 

 Amileare Cipriani shouted, "We must act if we 

 are not cowards." A pistol shot was fired, and 

 the next moment a hail of stones was poured 

 down on the heads of the advancing soldiers, 

 who charged on a trot and dispersed the crowd, 

 illirig some and injuring several hundred, among 

 hem the Deputies Cipriani and Barzillai. who 



ere arrested with 300 or 400 more persons. 

 Among the police and military 10 men were 

 wounded. In Florence the police attempted to 

 break up a meeting on account of an incendiary 



ech.and when the mob began to stone shop wiri- 

 ows the streets were cleared by a cavalry charge. 

 In Naples two large gatherings were dispersed 

 by the police and the orators arrested. On the 

 day following, a strike began among the work- 

 men connected with the building trades in Rome. 

 On May 4 a fire, supposed to be incendiary, broke 

 out in the barracks of the carbineers at Rome. 

 The Government was sharply assailed in the 

 Chamber for the action of the authorities on 

 May day and for the arrests that continued to be 

 made. The attack was led by Deputy Imbriani, 

 who was supported by all the Radicals, and sev- 

 eral stormy discussions of the subject took place. 



The Mala Vita. A secret society, organized 

 for criminal purposes, of the kind that formerly 

 existed in southern Italy, but were thought to 

 have been stamped out, was discovered early in 

 1891, and in April 179 persons were tried at Ban 

 as being concerned in the conspiracy. The so- 



ciety wa- called the Mala Vita. Its nci-ti -n< 



rayed I IV some of the members. A pcr- 



snn wishing to lien. me a memlier had to \- in- 



trndllced to the chief, who Would ili-lnict all- 

 ot her associate tu institute a rigorous in<|iiiry as 

 to whether (lie applicant was worthy. Al. 

 negotiations were conducted in thieves' slang. 

 Then- wen three grades of member-, each po-- 

 seiiig a separate head-- the Camorri-tes. the 

 1'ieciotti. ana the (Jiovaiiolti, or novices, whan 

 the admission of a new associate had licen re- 

 solved upon, a meeting of the section in which 

 he was to be enrolled was convened. lie took 

 the oath with one foot in an open grave, the 

 other lieing attached to a chain, and swore to 

 abandon father, mother, wife, children, and all 

 that he held dear in order to work out the ob- 

 jects of the association. Humility and self-ab- 

 negation were imposed upon the novice by the 

 terms of the oath. No one was allowed to" join 

 the organization who had been a gendarme, a 

 policeman, or a custom-house officer. The prin- 

 cipal object of the society appears to have been 

 brigandage. The booty obtained in predatory ex- 

 peditions and the ransoms derived from the capt- 

 ure of unlucky travelers were thrown into a com- 

 mon stock, a certain proportion being, however, 

 specially set apart for division among the Cam- 

 orristes, whose duty it was, within eight days, 

 to divide the remainder among all the members 

 of the organization, an exceptionally large share 

 being claimed by the chief. Breaches of the so- 

 ciety's rules and disobedience to the orders of a 

 supreme officer were punished by torture and 

 death, the executioners being selected by lot. In 

 the event of any person thus selected failing to 

 carry out the society's decrees, he was visited 

 with the same penalty. When a member was pro- 

 moted to the superior grade and became a Cam- 

 orriste, he had to undergo a ceremonv similar to 

 that which accompanied his first admission to 

 the society, with certain additions, such as a 

 mock combat with daggers. He was also obliged 

 to have designs or hieroglyphics tattooed upon 

 his body, bv which he could at any time be 

 identified. ^Vlany of the prisoners were women. 

 The outcome of the trial was that 175 prisoners 

 out of 179 were convicted as members of the 

 criminal association. Extraordinary precautions 

 were taken to protect the witnesses for the pros- 

 ecution, who received threatening letters from 

 the families of the accused, denouncing them as 

 objects of the vengeance of the society. The 

 police afterward unearthed an affiliated organi- 

 zation at Taranto, and many arrests were made. 



Peace Congress at Rome. An Interna- 

 tional Peace Congress was opened on Nov. 12, 

 by ex-Minister Bonghi, its president. The five 

 questions on the programme, with the answers 

 given, were as follow : 



(1) Pedagogical reforms. The principles of 

 peace shall be propagated in the schools. Wo 

 will try to infuse the students of Europe and 

 America with a spirit of respect and considera- 

 tion for foreign nations. (2) Peace and dis- 

 armament as questions of political and social 

 economy. The main speaker on this subject was 

 Capt. Siccardi, and his argument was that the 

 maintenance of excessive armaments cans, 

 and does not avert it. The congress urges upon 

 peace societies to agitate the subject of disarraa- 



