ITALY. 



313 





struetion. The ministers therefore prorogued the 

 Chamber for a few days, and during the recess 

 promulgated the bill by royal decree. This action 

 was condemned, not by the Socialists and Repub- 

 licans alone, the Revolutionary Left, but by the 

 Constitutional Left, followers of Zanardelli and 

 Giolitti, and by dissentient Conservatives of the 

 Iludini faction, who maintained that the Italian 

 Constitution as traditionally interpreted permits 

 legislation by royal decree only in case of certain 

 tariff modifications, and that it precludes the pro- 

 mulgation by the initiative of the Crown and 

 without previous sanction of Parliament of any 

 political measures. When the Chamber reassem- 

 bled a week after the promulgation of the bill of 

 public safety, it passed a bill of indemnity, but 

 was prevented, by the turbulent Opposition from 

 adopting the bill of public safety itself, which 

 went into force on July 22, 1899, after the violent 

 demonstrations of the Radicals and Socialists had 

 brought the session to an end. The Government 

 refrained at first from applying the new law. 

 Later its provisions were applied by local tri- 

 bunals, and in the autumn the second section of 

 the Roman Court of Cassation upheld the law on 

 an appeal based on one of its articles. Assuming 

 from this that the decree was provisionally valid, 

 the Government showed no haste after the win- 

 ter session opened to bring the bill forward for 

 parliamentary ratification, and thus provoke a 

 renewal of violence and obstruction. Obstruction 

 began when the discussion of the articles began 

 after the ministry had secured a vote of confi- 

 dence on March 2 of 222 to 189. A roll call was 

 demanded on every motion, even on applications 

 for leave of absence. Any 10 members can make 

 such a demand under the rules, but since it was 

 only intended to call the roll as a safeguard in 

 case of important decisions, President Colombo 

 refused to employ it to aid the obstructionists, 

 who thereupon created such a tumult that the 

 sitting was suspended. The clause for the regu- 

 lation of public meetings came first, and when 

 the closure was voted, shutting off all except those 

 who had given notice of amendments, the Social- 

 ists prevented others from speaking by noise and 

 uproar, then made interminable speeches them- 

 selves when the Marquis di Iludini offered a pro- 

 posal to eliminate this clause, and afterward re- 

 newed their turmoil and insults when he with- 

 drew it. The excitement was communicated to the 

 people, leading to disturbances and fights between 

 citizens, especially students, who shouted, some for 

 the Constituent Assembly, others for the King. 

 Count Cambray-Digny moved a set of rules to 

 prevent obstruction, and the Opposition hindered 

 the Chamber from taking action upon them until 

 the president stopped speakers who digressed from 

 the subject of debate. When the members of the 

 Revolutionary Left raised the cry for a Constitu- 

 ent Assembly their allies fell away from them. 

 Their "determination to discuss constitutional re- 

 vision and the referendum in defiance of President 

 Colombo's veto led him repeatedly to suspend the 

 sittings. The ministers on March 30 determined, 

 since they could not break the deadlock over the 

 public safety bill, to withdraw it and proceed with 

 urgent economical measures. The Extreme Left, 

 battled by President Colombo's rulings, tumultu- 

 ously demanded his resignation. He had checked 

 all discussion of the Government proposal amend- 

 ing the rules of debate, had put the motion, and 

 the house had adopted the anti-obstructionist 

 rules by means of a technical violation of the ex- 

 isting rules. The violation was the act of the 

 president of the Chamber, and therefore the Ex- 

 treme Left, who had won a barren victory and 



held the field from which the enemy had retreated 

 in good order by the withdrawal of the public 

 safety bill, resolved to continue the campaign by 

 assailing President Colombo. When the house 

 met on March 30 they shouted insults and ob- 

 jurgations, stamped and slammed desk lids, raised 

 such a din, created such a scandal, and affronted 

 the president with such offensive epithets that he 

 left the chair without opening the proceedings, 

 whereupon the Extremists and their Moderate 

 and Conservative allies marched out in triumph. 

 The latter made it more difficult for the president 

 to retain his office than the noisy Socialists by 

 resigning their membership in the presidential 

 bureau. To clear the situation President Colombo 

 offered his resignation. In the secret ballot on 

 April 2 he was re-elected by 205 votes to 158 over 

 Signer Biancheri, many of the Rudinians having 

 voted with the Government. Before Count Cam- 

 bray-Digny's amendments to the rules of pro- 

 cedure were put to the vote by summary proced- 

 ure without discussion, on April 3, the Deputies of 

 the Left and the Extreme Left, contesting the 

 regularity of the late proceedings, announced that 

 they would never recognize the validity of the 

 proposed rules and left the house in a body, shout- 

 ing for a Constituent Assembly. The Chamber 

 then adopted the amended procedure almost unan- 

 imously, and adjourned till May 15. When the 

 Deputies reassembled on that date Signer Giolitti 

 proposed a committee to consider a compromise on 

 the question of procedure. Signer Ferri, speaking 

 for the Extreme Left, announced a determination 

 not to permit any discussion under the amended 

 rules, and to oppose their application by every 

 legal means, even by violence, if necessary. When 

 business was opened under the new rules the So- 

 cialists began to sing in chorus, and drowned the 

 president's voice by beating desks. On the follow- 

 ing day the Chamber was dissolved by royal de- 

 cree. Elections were held in the beginning of 

 June, so that the new Chamber could be assembled 

 to vote provisional supplies before June 30, the 

 end of the financial year. The Clericals voted in 

 greater numbers than in former elections, disre- 

 garding the papal interdiction in spite of the ef- 

 forts of the clerical organizations to make them 

 give up their ballot papers to be forwarded to the 

 Vatican. 



Serious riots occurred in Milan and other indus- 

 trial centers, which were suppressed only by the 

 firmness of the military authorities and the disci- 

 pline and fidelity of the troops. The result of the 

 elections was a victory for the Extreme Left, which 

 increased its number of seats from 09 to 97. The 

 ministerial party lost as many, w r hile the Consti- 

 tutional Opposition returned in about the same 

 strength as before. The Socialists, who numbered 

 15 in the former house, doubled their representa- 

 tion. Although the ministry had still a majority 

 of nearly 100, the outcome was a moral defeat 

 so serious that after the Chamber met on June 1(> 

 and elected a presiding officer who was not Signor 

 Colombo, because he had lost his seat and had 

 granted provisional supplies, Gen. Pelloux offered 

 the resignation of the Cabinet on June 18, and 

 insisted on its acceptance. On June 20 King 

 Umberto commissioned Signor Sarocco, president 

 of the Senate, an aged Liberal, to form a new 

 ministry. He constructed one on the basis of the 

 majority that had elected Signor Gallo president 

 of the Chamber. Its composition, announced on 

 June 24, was as follows: President of the Council 

 and Minister of the Interior, Giuseppe Sarocco; 

 Minister of Foreign Affairs, Marchese Visconti 

 Yenosta; Minister of War, Gen. Conte Ponza di 

 San Martino; Minister of Marine, Admiral Morin; 



