410 



ITALY. 



themselves ready to resnme, when circum- 

 stances might permit, the work of pacification, 

 and were resolved to maintain the independence 

 and neutral character of their policy, always 

 provided that the essential interests of their 

 country were not engaged. Replying particu- 

 larly to the question, whether Italy intended 



CHUBCH AND PALACE OF THE LATERAIf, BOME. 



to make any military preparations, the minis- 

 ters replied that the necessity of anything of 

 the kind was altogether foreign to their anti- 

 cipations ; but should the interests of the coun- 

 try call for such preparations, Parliament should 

 first he consulted. Signer Depretis concluded 

 by saying that Italy deplored the calamity of 

 war, but felt secure in her own loyalty, in her 

 King, and in the valor of her army. 



The Clerical Abuses bill was rejected by the 

 Senate, on May 7th, by a vote of 105 to 92. 

 This vote took every one by surprise, as the 

 separate articles of the bill had been previously 

 adopted, with the exception of the first, which 

 was amended by Signori Cadorna and Lamper- 

 tico, and was then adopted. The bill had been 

 warmly recommended by Signer Sella, the 

 leader of the Right, and when it was defeated, 

 he resigned his leadership. It may seem rather 

 strange that the chief of the opposition should 

 resign in consequence of a vote given against 

 the ministry, while the Minister of Grace and 

 Justice, who brought the bill forward, retained 

 his portfolio. But the measures rejected by 

 the Senate on this occasion were voted by it as 

 a part of the penal code still in operation, and 

 were framed by the former Government, which, 

 when in office, conceived the necessity for this 

 law. A majority of that party now opposed it 

 when brought forward separately by its suc- 

 cessors. On May 23d, the Minister of Foreign 

 Affairs stated in the Chamber of Deputies that 

 the Government would scrupulously observe 

 the law guaranteeing the Pope's liberty. In 



reply to an interpellation on the change of 

 policy in France in regard to Italy, the minister 

 stated that it was clear from the declarations 

 of the French Government that the cordial and 

 friendly relations between the two nations re- 

 mained unaltered, and that it was neither prob- 

 able nor possible that France would let herself 

 be led into acting against 

 the safety of the coun- 

 try, to the formation of 

 which she had so much 

 contributed. Signer De- 

 pretis confirmed Signer 

 Melegari's statement, re- 

 gretting that an inter- 

 pellation, fraught with 

 so much inconvenience 

 and possibility of misun- 

 derstanding, had been 

 made. The Chamber of 

 Deputies adjourned on 

 June 15th, and the Sen- 

 ate shortly after. 



In November, the Min- 

 ister of Public "Works, 

 Signer Zanardelli, ten- 

 dered his resignation to 

 the King, by whom it 

 was immediately accept- 

 ed. His portfolio re- 

 mained provisionally in 

 the hands of the Presi- 

 dent of the Council, Signer Depretis, who 

 was also Minister of Finance. The imme- 

 diate and ostensible cause of this division in 

 the ministerial council was the convention 

 with the railway companies. The Govern- 

 ment, which wished to rescind its contracts 

 with the three existing companies, was limited 

 in its operations by parliamentary votes, for- 

 bidding the railways either being placed under 

 state management or being intrusted to foreign 

 companies. The only capitalists in the country 

 who would or could take charge of so vast an 

 enterprise were the same men to whom the 

 tobacco monopoly had been already farmed 

 out. Signer Zanardelli, at that time in oppo- 

 sition, had stubbornly opposed the tobacco 

 convention, and harbored an invisible antipathy 

 to those capitalists, whom he announced as the 

 " vampires of the state." He, therefore, ob- 

 jected to the new railway convention at every 

 step of the negotiations, and although he seemed 

 from time to time to yield to the pressure of 

 his colleagues, he remained to the end a man 

 convinced against his will, and was placed in 

 the alternative either of a break-up of the 

 whole cabinet or of his own retirement. 



The Chambers met again on November 22d. 

 On November 28th, the Chamber of Deputies 

 adopted, by a large majority, the clause in the 

 penal code then under discussion, abolishing 

 capital punishment. On December 14th, a de- 

 bate occurred on the liberty and secrecy of 

 private telegrams, which led to a vote of con- 

 fidence in the Government being proposed, 



