

ITALY, 



years has more than been made up. - in 



1896 amounting to over 7$ per re I IIHII in 



1887. The wine exports to Prance, which amounted 

 12.000,000 lir. . >-7. : . : \ i-tna. 



America, and SwiUorland now take tJM win.-. 

 The loss of the olive-oil trade with France ha- 

 ft real gain, as Italy now ships the oil ilir. t t. t h.- 

 of France, The rftdi in 



cotton goods ha* grow n up in ton rears. Tin- home 



trade is steadily increasing, as is shown by the fa. -i 

 that with a Iftlfe inerva-e in the population tin- im- 

 ports of agricultural produce -;.!:> in- 



crease, while those of manufactured articles have 

 decreased 50 per cent, in ten years, and the in 

 of raw matenals have increased in th. same ratio. 



Navigation. The ntunber of vessels en t civ, 1 at 

 I- BM rai 100.615, 0(96,994,800 



tons, of which 85,1*7. .-f ton-. wen 



gaged in the coasting trade; tin- number cleared 

 was 100,158, of 88,677,952 tons, of which 84,561, of 

 18.068.669 tons, were coasting vessels. Of 15,428, 

 of 8.891.004 tons, entered from distant ports, - 

 of 2,076.219 were Italian, and 6,554, of 6,314,785 

 tons, were foreign vessels. The nuinUT entered 

 cargoes in ocean commerce was 12.805, of 



:;! tin number cleared with 

 goes was 11,106. of 5,789,850 tons. The total num- 

 ber of steam vessels entered was 33,940, of 2JJ.s 17 

 051 tons, of which there were engaged in 

 commerce 1,546 Italian steamers, of 1,539,806 tons, 

 5.226, of 6,166,733 tons, were foreign strainer- in 



11 of 11,963.828 tons, 



Italian coasting steamers, and 4.024, of .l.MU/.si 

 tons, were foreign coasting steam. -r-. 



The Italian merchant fleet in 1896 numbered 

 6,166 sailing vessels, of 555,569 tons, ami 345 steam- 

 ers. of 220,508 tons ; total, 6,511 vessels, of 776,077 



Communication*, The total length ..f rail- 

 roads in o|ieration .Ian. 1, 1896, was JMJ55 mi 



The postal traffic in 1895 comprised 161,881,000 



internal, 87.997,000 foreign, ami 2.376.000 transit 



rs; 63,644.000 internal, 5,733,000 foreign, and 



296,000 transit post cards ; 234,835,000 internal, 



7.000 foreign, ami 2,000 transit printc.l indo- 



sures and circulars; and 11,324,000 money It-tier-. 



and post -office orders inthe in ternal service, amount- 



1,645.491.000 lire in value, 92,905,000 in th, 



tl service, am. Minting to 92,905,000 lire, 



and 2,000, amounting to 776,000 lire, in Iran-it. 



The telegraphs in July, 1895, had a total length 

 of 26.105 miles, with 75,095 miles of wire. There 

 were 7.322,703 internal. 1,741.517 international, 

 824,489 service, and : tnsit dispatchea sent 



in 1895; total number, !..* 1 1. ]:;:. _-raph 



receipts, were 17.275,109 lire ; post-office re< 

 50.700.687 lire ; expenses common to the two serv- 

 ices, 51,099,589 lire ; special telegraph expenses, 

 8,776,078 lire. 



Attempted IJ. iricide.-While King Umberto 

 was driving on April 22 to the race course an 

 anarchistic ironworker of Artegna made a rush 

 for the carriage and, leaping upon the step, struck 

 at the King with A dagger that he had concealed in 

 a handkerchief. The King, partly rising. turned 

 the blow by striking the man's wrist with his elbow, 

 and the man was seized by the escort. " These 

 are our little professional perquisites/' Umberto 

 ouictly remarked. At the trial the assassin said 

 that he had acted alone and in despair, as men 

 do when " :.it suicide; that if the deed 



had been premeditated h- would have thrown a 

 -: the object of hi- attempt nj>on the life of 

 the King was to strike the chief representative of 

 the class living in comfort. When M-ntcm-ed to the 

 galleys for life, on May 29. he shouted for anarchy 

 and the revolution and said that the turn of the 



bourgeois (Jovcrnment would . lax < 'iuli- 



f the Italian | revealed by tin- cir- 



cumstances attending th i'he police had 



taken no extraordinary precautions, although the 



failie- riminal naa forewarned them of the 



intended assassination. A man nam.-d Romeo 



M -u-picion of complicity in 



the crime, and a week later hi- family learned that 

 he was dead. The police report cd thai he had com- 

 mitted suicide. I. m an autopsy showed that he had 

 been murdered in hi-, cell. 



General Elections. After the im-dr 



i on I-Yb. -he attitude of the \:m- 



.mber wa- Mich that n<> inn-,. 



'ruction of the mini-try without a di- 

 tion \\as likelv t 



duration. Whei n-pi fell m consequi 



of the Aliy-sinian di-a-ter the Man|ui- <li Rmlini 

 obtained an overwhelming majority in t he < 'ham her 

 that had been elected under the Government of his 

 predecessor and opponent, to \\h<>m previously it 

 had been entirely subservient. The Radicals who 

 follow EtfgnorOftVftUotti and the ltudini-i ' 



A. TC bound together before by their common 

 opposition to Cri-pi. and when the enemy was. 

 thrown the conditions of the alliance had to be ful- 

 filled, for the Con-er\ai i\<-- in the Chamber \\.-iv 

 not numerous enough t<> form a majority by them- 



. and the help ..f the Rai 



ble. The Rudini Cabinet, in framing its for 

 and home policies and in carrying them out, made 

 Iftfgft OOnOBMfoOl to the Radical-. The ('..n 



j-emier lii-ld views on the foreign rdati. : 

 Italy that were singularly like those of tie 

 but 'he was restrained, as they would be to a L 



extent if tii- -ibh- for the government 



of the country, from making any. sudden revolu- 

 tionary break 'from the policy established by o-i-pi. 

 The triple alliance he wa- lirmly coinmitte.'l to ami 

 bound to uphold by the general force of j >u I .lie opin- 

 ion, but he was not equally commit ted t<> i he close 

 friendship with Kngland' established I 



though his Collservatixe rolli-ague* \\rre ill f a \ 



preserving it with all its obligations. The Kudi- 

 nists wen- a- anxiousas the Radicals ((.rext ,,rc friend- 

 ly relations with France, but they were not willing 

 to sacrifice the alliance with the central powers 

 and re-establish the military alliance wit h I- ranee. 

 When public opinion seemed' to favor tin- abandon- 

 ment of Krythrea the Marquis di Riulini fa\ 

 this solution of the African difficulty, not al<.i 

 financial and military grounds, but as a means of 

 eM-apiiiLT from the entanglement with Kngland and 

 of irainini: the good will of the dual alliance. His 

 lie Africai. le was 



afterward constrained to give up when the public, 

 recovering from the first shock of defeat, evin. 

 strong d.-ire to the coloiiv for which so 



much blood and treasure had been -pent. The 

 Radical- were di-appoint ed on receiving thi- and 

 other checks to the policv that they endeavoreil to 

 impose on the ministry. They desired adi r.ii/ 



.ng that the electorate would strengthen t hem 

 in theChamberand perhaps enable them todemand 

 a controlling voice in the ministry or to form one 

 <f their own. The decree of dissolution was i-Mied 

 on March 4. The elections were held on March 'J1, 

 the second ballots a week later. The new chamber 

 was composed of about 150 members of th. Right 



V> members of the Left, including wit h t he- 

 Constitutional Radicals t lie Republicans mid Social- 

 ists. These latter group- profited inost at the polls, 

 and formed a larire element in the new Parliament. 

 -Titutional party that was iden- 

 tified with the policy of the late Premier Cri-pi was 

 defeated with heavy loss, hut what the Cri-pini lo-t 

 was not gained by 'the Constitutional adheren 



