352 



ITALY. 



was no longer a solid phalanx of 100 members. 

 It was divided into half a dozen warring fac- 

 tions. The Socialists, who denounced anarchists 

 and ridiculed Republicans, were themselves di- 

 vided into irreconcilable schools. The revolution- 

 ary Socialists, led by Prof. Ferri and Andrea 

 Costa, who have been most active and numerous, 

 were defeated in the party congress at linola in 

 October by the evolutionary or opportunist 

 group, the leader of which, Signer Turati, had 

 been read out of the party in the spring as too 

 lax and lukewarm in his socialism. The ques- 

 tion of divorce was brought forward by a So- 

 cialist who introduced a bill in Parliament, the 

 principle of which was approved by members of 

 all parties, even Conservatives, who considered it 

 unjust that, while the wealthy can obtain recog- 

 nition in Italian courts of divorces they have 

 obtained in foreign countries or sometimes get 

 a divorce in the form of an annulment of mar- 

 riage by the Church, for the poorer classes mar- 

 riage is indissoluble. The Premier deemed it im- 

 prudent to leave this question in the hands of 

 the Socialists, especially since the Pope delivered 

 an allocution against divorce and the Clericals 

 started an agitation against divorce. A Govern- 

 ment bill was introduced, but was not pushed 

 forward because public opinion was not yet ripe. 

 Foreign Relations. After the occupation of 

 Tunis by France in 1881 with the consent of Eng- 

 land and Germany, Italy appealed in vain to 

 Austria and Germany to protect her Mediter- 

 ranean interests, which were in no way guaran- 

 teed by the triple alliance. She complained of 

 the French naval station of Bizerta as a menace 

 to Sicily, and though her allies declined to inter- 

 vene, France abstained from going on with the 

 fortifications. A naval agreement was made with 

 England in 1887, when the triple alliance was 

 renewed, for the preservation of the status quo in 

 the Mediterranean. In 1896 the convention with 

 Tunis expired, and a new one was concluded with 

 France in which French suzerainty over the re- 

 gency was recognized and Italy abandoned her 

 rights under the capitulations. In 1898 England 

 offended Italy by recognizing as within the 

 French sphere of interest the Tripolitan Hinter- 

 land. The Italian Government sounded the Eu- 

 ropean cabinets with regard to an eventual occu- 

 pation of Tripoli. Germany disclaimed any inter- 

 est in the matter; France could recognize no 

 right to appropriate a Turkish province and had 

 no desire to occupy Tripoli herself, having given 

 assurances to the Porte to that effect, but she 

 had no interest in placing obstacles in the way 

 of any action of Italy; England disclaimed all 

 intention of occupying Tripoli, but declined to 

 contract an engagement to support Italy in such 

 an enterprise and was in general opposed to the 

 vivisection of Turkey. Italy assured France that 

 she had no objections to the French occupation 

 of the oasis of Tuat and that occurrences in the 

 Hinterland of Morocco could not be considered as 

 a Mediterranean question. When afterward the 

 French made incursions into the Tripolitan Hin- 

 terland to punish tribes for raiding territory 

 under French protection Italy invariably asked 

 explanations, and those that were given were 

 evasive and unsatisfactory. When the trade re- 

 lations between Italy and France improved Italy 

 asked for a categorical statement and a formal 

 assurance, and was reminded that she had joined 

 other Mediterranean powers in urging the Sul- 

 tan of Morocco to oppose the extension of the 

 Sahara Railroad as dangerous to his dominions, 

 which he declined to do unless the same powers 

 would guarantee him against receiving any detri- 



ment. The result of the pourparlers thus opened 

 was a formal declaration on the part of Italy 

 that she would not oppose any development of 

 French power in Morocco and of one on the part 

 of France that she would not encroach upon Trip- 

 oli nor oppose in any way the eventual Italian 

 occupation. England afterward formally declared 

 that she would not object to the annexation by 

 Italy of Tripoli and would suffer no encroach- 

 ment by Egypt on the eastern frontier. Italy and 

 Austria-Hungary had an agreement to preserve 

 the status quo in Albania, where Italian trade 

 and education were fostered by the Italian Gov- 

 ernment. After an understanding was reached 

 with France the fortification of Bizerta was re- 

 sumed and the port opened as a great naval har- 

 bor. An Italian fleet visited Toulon. King Yit- 

 torio Emanuele visited various European courts 

 in the summer of 1902, but not the court of 

 Vienna, which preserves relations with the Vati- 

 can that preclude royal visits between the courts. 

 He went to Berlin, but his first visit was to the 

 court of the Czar, where Signor Prinetti and 

 Count Lamsdorff discussed the concordance of 

 Italian and Russian interests in the Adriatic and 

 the Balkans. An Italian fleet visited Tripoli as 

 a sign of the claim, now formally recognized, of 

 the heritage of Italy in this part of the Turkish 

 Empire. The fleet was received with courtesy, 

 but the Porte at the same time increased the gar- 

 rison and strengthened the fortifications. The 

 Italian squadron visited later the Adriatic ports 

 of Turkey and Montenegro. The Italian Govern- 

 ment made a demand later on the Porte that the 

 pirates of the Red Sea be suppressed, and before 

 the Turkish war-vessels appeared Italian ships 

 captured and punished some of the offenders. A 

 diplomatic conflict arose in the spring between 

 Italy and Switzerland. The Italian minister in 

 Berne, Commendatore Silvestrelli, called the at- 

 tention of the Swiss Federal Council in the sum- 

 mer of 1901 to attacks on the royal family of 

 Italy printed in the anarchist journal Risveglio 

 of Geneva. He did not urge the matter, but in 

 the spring of 1902, when articles appeared praising 

 the murder of King Umberto, he called on the 

 Federal authorities to prosecute the editor under 

 the Swiss penal code for inciting to crime. The 

 Federal Council replied that there was no in- 

 fraction of the law he cited; but if he would 

 appeal in the name of his sovereign for proceed- 

 ings to be taken against the editor based on any 

 article vilifying the King of Italy, action could be 

 brought under the law for the protection of for- 

 eign sovereigns, which required such a preliminary 

 request. He did not wish a trial in which scan- 

 dalous stories about the royal family could be 

 repeated, and therefore he demanded the applica- 

 tion of the penal law against incitement to mur- 

 der. The Federal Council resented his pretension 

 to interpret Swiss law, and requested his recall 

 when his imperative demand was repeated. The 

 Italian Government declined to recall the minis- 

 ter, and in consequence the Swiss Government 

 broke off diplomatic relations with Italy in April. 

 Through the mediation of Germany direct rela- 

 tions were resumed in August, when both govern- 

 ments appointed a new representative. 



Dependencies. Eritrea is an Italian colony 

 embracing the port of Massowah. on the Red Sea, 

 where Egypt had a garrison before the evacua- 

 tion of the Soudan, and a Hinterland formerly 

 claimed by Abyssinia and ceded to Italy in the 

 treaty of Ucciali, signed May 2, 1889. The treaty 

 of Adis Abeba, signed Oct. 26, 1896, in which 

 Italy renounced the claim of a protectorate over 

 Abyssinia, concedes to Italy all territory north of 



