that the large sums collected throughout Italy on behalf of the
strikers had been squandered or appropriated by the “syndacalist”
leaders. The spirit of indiscipline had begun to reach
the lower classes of state employees, especially the school teachers
and the postal and telegraph clerks, and at one time it seemed
as though the country were about to face a situation similar to
that which arose in France in the spring of 1909. Fortunately,
however, the government, by dismissing the ringleader, Dr
Campanozzi, in time nipped the agitation in the bud, and it
did attempt to redress some of the genuine grievances. Public
opinion upheld the government in its attitude, for all persons
of common sense realized that the suspension of the public
services could not be permitted for a moment in a civilized
country.
In parliamentary politics the most notable event in 1902 was the presentation of a divorce bill by Signor Zanardelli’s government; this was done not because there was any real demand for it, but to please the doctrinaire anti-clericals and freemasons, divorce being regarded Internal politics, 1902. not as a social institution but as a weapon against Catholicism. But while the majority of the deputies were nominally in favour of the bill, the parliamentary committee reported against it, and public opinion was so hostile that an anti-divorce petition received 3,500,000 signatures, including not only those of professing Catholics, but of free-thinkers and Jews, who regarded divorce as unsuitable to Italian conditions. The opposition outside parliament was in fact so overwhelming that the ministry decided to drop the bill. The financial situation continued satisfactory; a new loan at 312% was voted by the Chamber in April 1902, and by June the whole of it had been placed in Italy. In October the rate of exchange was at par, the premium on gold had disappeared, and by the end of the year the budget showed a surplus of sixteen millions.
In January 1903 Signor Prinetti, the minister for foreign affairs, resigned on account of ill-health, and was succeeded by Admiral Morin, while Admiral Bettolo took the latter’s place as minister of marine. The unpopularity of the ministry forced Signor Giolitti, the minister of the 1903–1905. interior, to resign (June 1903), and he was followed by Admiral Bettolo, whose administration had been violently attacked by the Socialists; in October Signor Zanardelli, the premier, resigned on account of his health, and the king entrusted the formation of the cabinet to Signor Giolitti. The latter accepted the task, and the new administration included Signor Tittoni, late prefect of Naples, as foreign minister, Signor Luigi Luzzatti, the eminent financier, at the treasury, General Pedotti at the war office, and Admiral Mirabello as minister of marine. Almost immediately after his appointment Signor Tittoni accompanied the king and queen of Italy on a state visit to France and then to England, where various international questions were discussed, and the cordial reception which the royal pair met with in London and at Windsor served to dispel the small cloud which had arisen in the relations of the two countries on account of the Tripoli agreements and the language question in Malta. The premier’s programme was not well received by the Chamber, although the treasury minister’s financial statement was again satisfactory. The weakness of the government in dealing with the strike riots caused a feeling of profound dissatisfaction, and the so-called “experiment of liberty,” conducted with the object of conciliating the extreme parties, proved a dismal failure. In October 1904, after the September strikes, the Chamber was dissolved, and at the general elections in November a ministerial majority was returned, while the deputies of the Extreme Left (Socialists, Republicans and Radicals) were reduced from 107 to 94, and a few mild clericals elected. The municipal elections in several of the larger cities, which had hitherto been regarded as strongholds of socialism, marked an overwhelming triumph for the constitutional parties, notably in Milan, Turin and Genoa, for the strikes had wrought as much harm to the working classes as to the bourgeoisie. In spite of its majority the Giolitti cabinet, realizing that it had lost its hold over the country, resigned in March 1905.
Signor Fortis then became premier and minister of the interior, Signor Maiorano finance minister and Signor Carcano treasury minister, while Signor Tittoni, Admiral Mirabello and General Pedotti retained the portfolios they had held in the previous administration. The new government 1905–1906. was colourless in the extreme, and the premier’s programme aroused no enthusiasm in the House, the most important bill presented being that for the purchase of the railways, which was voted in June 1905. But the ministry never had any real hold over the country or parliament, and the dissatisfaction caused by the modus vivendi with Spain, which would have wrought much injury to the Italian wine-growers, led to demonstrations and riots, and a hostile vote in the Chamber produced a cabinet crisis (December 17, 1905); Signor Fortis, however, reconstructed the ministry, inducing the marquis di San Giuliano to accept the portfolio of foreign affairs. This last fact was significant, as the new foreign secretary, a Sicilian deputy and a specialist on international politics, had hitherto been one of Signor Sonnino’s staunchest adherents; his defection, which was but one of many, showed that the more prominent members of the Sonnino party were tired of waiting in vain for their chief’s access to power. Even this cabinet was still-born, and a hostile vote in the Chamber on the 30th of January 1906 brought about its fall.
Now at last, after waiting so long, Signor Sonnino’s hour had struck, and he became premier for the first time. This result was most satisfactory to all the best elements in the country, and great hopes were entertained that the advent of a rigid and honest statesman would usher 1906–1909. in a new era of Italian parliamentary life. Unfortunately at the very outset of its career the composition of the new cabinet proved disappointing; for while such men as Count Guicciardini, the minister for foreign affairs, and Signor Luzzatti at the treasury commanded general approval, the choice of Signor Sacchi as minister of justice and of Signor Pantano as minister of agriculture and trade, both of them advanced and militant Radicals, savoured of an unholy compact between the premier and his erstwhile bitter enemies, which boded ill for the success of the administration. For this unfortunate combination Signor Sonnino himself was not altogether to blame; having lost many of his most faithful followers, who, weary of waiting for office, had gone over to the enemy, he had been forced to seek support among men who had professed hostility to the existing order of things and thus to secure at least the neutrality of the Extreme Left and make the public realize that the “reddest” of Socialists, Radicals and Republicans may be tamed and rendered harmless by the offer of cabinet appointments. A similar experiment had been tried in France not without success. Unfortunately in the case of Signor Sonnino public opinion expected too much and did not take to the idea of such a compromise. The new premier’s first act was one which cannot be sufficiently praised: he suppressed all subsidies to journalists, and although this resulted in bitter attacks against him in the columns of the “reptile press” it commanded the approval of all right-thinking men. Signor Sonnino realized, however, that his majority was not to be counted on: “The country is with me,” he said to a friend, “but the Chamber is against me.” In April 1906 an eruption of Mount Etna caused the destruction of several villages and much loss of life and damage to property; in appointing a committee to distribute the relief funds the premier refused to include any of the deputies of the devastated districts among its members, and when asked by them for the reason of this omission, he replied, with a frankness more characteristic of the man than politic, that he knew they would prove more solicitous in the distribution of relief for their own electors than for the real sufferers. A motion presented by the Socialists in the Chamber for the immediate discussion of a bill to prevent “the massacres of the proletariate” having been rejected by an enormous majority, the 28 Socialist deputies resigned their seats; on presenting themselves for re-election their number was reduced to 25. A few days later the ministry, having received an adverse vote on a question of procedure, sent in its resignation (May 17).
