the provisions-created in the face of the greatest difficulties and carried into effect with indomitable resolution and surprising rapidity, that were being matured in anticipation against the day when they could become national assets. That these measures, necessary to national progress and civilization, could not be put into operation without a heavy call on the purse of the Italian people was obvious; and the way in which the young nation responded to the call, and still continues to respond to it, is certainly not the least among the factors contributing to the justification of that modern Roman Triumph taking place in the shadow of the capitol to-day. So energetically was the work carried out of restoring equilibrium to the national finances which had been forced to undergo so heavy a strain, that in 1876, only six years after the transformation of Rome into the capital of United Italy, the then Minister of Finance, Marco Minghetti, was able to produce a budget which brought the revenue and expenditure of the country to equality. Returning to the critics, and especially to the English critics of the way in which the Italians have managed their internal affairs, these, I think, are too ready to overlook the fact that the Italian battle for liberty and progress, for unity at home and justice abroad, began rather than ended when she succeeded in expelling the foreigner from her gates. Fortune, it is true, favored her in so far as the dealing of the final blow for independence of the foreigner was concerned. To imagine, as many people, I believe, do imagine, that a united Italy could long exist while so bitter an opponent to all social and material progress as the Vatican wielded a civil jurisdiction in the very heart of the country, is a futile thing. If any one be not convinced of this, let him exercise his imagination a little further, and reflect upon what would have been the probable consequences to Italy had, for instance, the battle of Sedan been won by Napoleon III. and had the French occupied Berlin. Such an event would almost certainly have retarded any true national unity on the part of the Italians for an indefinite period-until such time, indeed, as the French Government might have no political necessity to hedge the Sovereign Pontiff round with French bayonets. No doubt Italy would always have been to the good so far as the expulsion of the Austrians, a fact already accomplished, was comcerned. But what would have been her position as a nation had there continued to exist in her midst a Sovereign State which, at any moment might count upon the support of a great military empire flushed with recent military success? It may, I think, be surmised with tolerable certitude that had the French got to Berlin in 1870, French enthusiasm for the Empire would, when called upon, have willingly lent itself to give material expression to those sympathies with the temporal pretensions of the Vatican, which were always an open secret as being entertained by at least one of the Imperial couple, on whom, rightly or wrongly, not a little of the responsibility for the Franco-Prussian War has been said to rest. Perhaps the crown of the French Emperor was not the only one which practically fell at Sedan. It was natural that with so many weighty questions relating to foreign, ecclesiastical, and financial policy to be dealt with, the problems connected with social reform should momentarily have been relegated to a secondary place during the period immediately succeeding the final consolidation of the new Italian kingdom. As I have pointed out, however, the machinery for a complete process of social reformation had already been prepared, and when the Italian budget showed a balance between expenditure and revenue this machinery was quickly put into operation. But it would be useless to deny, since Italians themselves. would not deny it, that from the year 1876 until late in the eighties party ambition rather than the welfare and progress of the country influenced the rulers of Italy. It is to this period that Italy owes the growth of that bureaucratic fungus which, when once permitted to take root in a nation, is with difficulty eradicated. Northern statesmen were replaced by politicians of a less patriotic character, who brought with them the shifty and corrupt principles which had ever distinguished the political adventurers of the South. Under the Depretis administration, which practically lasted until 1887, reforms had to be paid for in votes to keep that administration in office. The Chamber of Deputies became little more than a committee of the Government, and its members were easily bribed to give consent to any measures calculated to secure to the Depretis cabinet a continuance of office. Had this system of corruption been applied to the Parliament only, its effects would not, perhaps, have been so far-reaching or so detrimental to the true interests of the country. Unfortunately, however, the Civil Service fell a victim to similar methods of corruption. Posts in that Service were unblushingly bestowed on those who had least qualification for the handling of public funds or to the powers entrusted to them; the number of impiegati in all the various departments of the State was increased to an altogether ridiculous extent; and, in a word, the country was saddled with an army of ill-paid officials drawn from every class whose sole raison d'être was that they were obedient creatures of an administration, the only programme of which was office. There can, I believe, be little doubt that in these years Italy sowed the seed of that internal discontent which, together with the ceaseless animosity of the Vatican, has proved so serious an impediment to the completion of her victory over the Powers fighting against her. The national discontent very soon showed itself in the appearance of numerous parties disaffected not only towards the Government, which would have been a healthy movement, but towards the very Constitution which the patriotic and disinterested politicians of earlier years have evolved in the face of almost unsurmountable difficulties. Socialism, anarchism, republicanism-every shade of extremist opinion-found its supporters in a country still in its infancy and requiring neither parties nor programmes to guide its steps, but one compact and solid administrative power to direct it unswervingly towards that goal which the statesmen, who made united Italy, had set before it. Notwithstanding the entirely undeserved humiliation which he eventually brought upon his country at Adowa, and other transactions which need not be recalled here, there can be no doubt that the advent of Francesco Crispi to power at the death of Depretis was a blessing, albeit in disguise, to Italy. A strong man was needed, and Crispi, with all his defects, was a strong man and an able leader. If his methods at times were of the least scrupulous kind, he, at all events, had the excuse of finding himself confronted by a situation which was not very far from chaotic. The people instinctively felt that a strong hand was now at the helm, although they neither loved nor trusted the owner of it. Perhaps Crispi's worst mistake, apart from his permitting himself to play into the hands of individuals who were cynically speculating with Italian honor and Italian money for their own base profit, was his ruthless attitude towards the Socialists. I hasten to add that, personally, I am very far indeed from sympathizing with Socialism, or with any party, the ultimate aims of which are to change the balance of society. But it would be a great mistake to confound Italian Socialism and the aims it has hitherto had in view, with that advanced and exaggerated gospel of disintegration and destruction which has lately found adherents in England among individuals who, it may be supposed, would claim for themselves the epithet of statesmen. The seeds sown during the few years immediately preceding his succession to the Depretis administration had borne ample fruit by the time Crispi assumed office; and anarchism, imported from America and Russia, was rapidly being propagated among the ranks of the discontented working classes. The stern repressive measures adopted by Crispi against the subversive parties in the State were unluckily applied in all their severity, also to the Socialists whose programma minimo was not only harmless but positively beneficial in drawing attention to legitimate hardships and abuses under which the proletariat was suffering at the hands of unscrupulous employers of labor and under the petty tyranny of bureaucracy. Curiously enough, the arch-enemy of the Italian State, the Church, was not slow to take advantage of these measures, and to turn them to her own account; and Crispi, who was at heart a bitter anti-clerical, undoubtedly played into the Vatican's hands by enforcing them. It was by no means an uncommon thing for priests in some country town or village to denounce to the civil authorities as dangerous socialists or anarchists young fellows whose sole crime consisted in anti-clerical opinions and abstention from church. Mere denouncement was sufficient to subject the denounced to all the rig orous punishments which had been authorized by the repressive policy of the Government, and little or no inquiries were made as to the justice of accusations proceeding from the sacristy. The present writer personally knows of an instance in which well-educated and intelligent young men, one or two of them indeed, mere boys, absolutely guiltless of belonging to any subversive party, were arrested by the police, sent to the domicilio coatto, and practically ruined for life, both physically and morally, on the accusation of a priest whose malpractices they had exposed. The instance I have quoted was by no means a solitary one; and to be known as a free-thinker in matters of religion was often sufficient to enable the priests to remove from the community an individual whose presence interfered with their business. As is infallibly the case, persecution led to greater diffusion of subversive doctrines, and flagrant instances of injustice such as I have named bred an ever-increasing spirit of bitterness and discontent among the industrial classes, which may be said to have reached its culmination when the innocent King Humbert fell a victim to the ill-judged severity of his Ministers at the hands of an assassin who had received his instructions in America. However little sympathy one may have with the ultimate aims of Socialism, it must be admitted that the influence of the leaders of that movement in Italy has, on the whole, been beneficial. Abuses long ignored, or openly countenanced, have been redressed owing to their action in and outside Parliament; the passage of wise measures for the improvement in the conditions of labor and education has been facilitated, and sometimes initiated by their energy; while, and for this at all events, they deserve the gratitude of the enlightened in all countries, they have systematically fought against the igno rance and superstition encouraged by the Church, and have opened the eyes of a vast number of their compatriots to the corrupt practices of a considerable proportion of the priesthood. One can hardly mention Crispi without making some allusion to his foreign policy. Of his ill-fated colonial policy, the less said the better; and there are many Italians who consider that his foreign policy was scarcely less detrimental to their country. The rupture with France was assuredly both unwise and unstatesmanlike, and opinions differ largely as to whether his counterblast of the Triple Alliance has not been more expensive than profitable. This is neither the time nor the place to discuss the problem; at any rate from a political standpoint. The expenses necessarily connected with partnership in the Alliance have, of course, been heavy, and it is obvious that it has obliged Italy to spend more on armaments than might otherwise have been the case. The sacrifice, however, has been willingly made; and few, I suppose, will deny that the Triple Alliance has contributed to the maintenance of European peace, and, therefore, to the well-being of the Italian nation. Indeed, there is no saying whether peace would have been secured to the new Italian kingdom for any length of time, had not the political foresight of Crispi-in the case of one of the partners-turned an hereditary foe into an ally, although, perhaps, not an entirely whole-hearted one. But these are thorny subjects; and just as the Triumph of Italy, now taking place in the shadow of the Capitol, has only to do with the politics of peace and progress, so I feel that the introduction into these pages of any matter extraneous to these would be both misplaced and unnecessary. In later years, and under the wise and liberal reign of Victor Emanuel III., of whom perhaps one may venture to say that he is a better statesman than most of his Ministers, political persecutions have ceased; and the result has been that the extreme parties in the States have largely modified their programmes. Although social problems are still acute, and perpetual strikes, industrial and agricultural, still bear evidence of a certain amount of social discontent and unrest, the monarchy is ever gaining ground in the affections of the people. Even the Socialists are in their hearts convinced that the fall of the monarchy would mean the disruption and political annihilation of Italy; while the Republicans, who at one time were a not inconsiderable party, have become a quantité negligéable. Much of this change of feeling is due to the admirable insight of the young Sovereign himself, and to the courage and devotion which he and his Queen have exhibited on all occasions-and these have been many-when disaster has overtaken some portion of the kingdom. Nor have their sympathies with sorrow and suffering been confined to moral expression only. The magnificent generosity of the King is repeatedly shown in the most practical of ways; while the name of Queen Elena has become a household word for goodness and charity in thousands of Italian homes throughout the country. Of all the criticism to which modern Italy is subjected by the superior foreigner (and like all young people she has to endure a good deal of criticism from her elders) perhaps the most shallow is that stock-in-trade one, which taunts her with having lost the artistic spirit that might be supposed to be her especial patrimony. I hope I may escape the accusation of being a Philistine if I venture to suggest that the utilitarian rather than the artistic spirit is of primary importance to a young nation. It may be true that the modern Italians have not that artistic sense which so specially distinguished their forefathers. Indeed, the streets of Rome, and of other great Italian cities bear painful witness to the remarkable decay of that sense; while the artistic output in what are known as the Fine Arts is, in the main, on a very deplorable level when compared with that of past centuries. But the critics in question are apt to forget, or despise, the existence of what may be termed the utilitarian arts-and in many of these last Italy has shown herself to be second to none, and, in some, a pioneer. It would almost seem as though Italian intellect had been specially directed into other channels than those of purely creative art in order successfully to deal with the new position in which the events of fifty years ago placed her. To produce distinguished men in the fields of social and applied science, medicine, surgery, engineering, and invention has indisputably been of greater practical service to modern Italy than the reincarnation of the entire company of those mighty artists of the cinquecento and seicento who made her so famous in the past. A fairer criticism would be to admit that, while the higher ideals of creative art in all its branches save that of music are dormant in the Italians of the present day, they are nobly replaced by inventive and creative genius belonging to other domains of human intellect more important to a nation, occupied in the supreme task of securing to itself its rightful position among the leading countries of the world. And while I am discoursing on the subject of foreign criticism of Italian methods of conducting Italian affairs, I should like to point out how very invidious, not to say impertinent, are those explosions of indignation to which our English journals too often lend their columns, whenever the authorities Rome or other Italian cities venture to carry out what, rightly or wrongly, they in consider to be changes necessary to the requirements of their town. No one likes to be told by outsiders how he should manage his own house; and interference of this nature seldom produces any result other than that of resentment, or amusement. If our indignant letter-writers to the newspapers would only realize that Italy possesses many eminent men as anxious as any foreigner can be to preserve, as far as possible, the beautiful and historic monuments of their own country, and fully competent to mount guard over the artistic and unique heritage bequeathed to them from the past, they would, perhaps, also realize that, when the protests of such men pass unheeded, their own are scarcely likely to be regarded in any other light than that of an interference doubly unwarrantable inasmuch as it proceeds from foreigners who have no logical right to impose it. Methods of government, and the habits and customs of another country are, of course, legitimate subjects for criticism; but when criticism is carried to the lengths of dictating to the municipal authorities of foreign cities how they are to manage their own concerns, it degenerates into what school-boys would call "infernal cheek." It is natural that the majority of visitors to Italy should form their opinions as to her national progress in the last fifty years chiefly by what meets their eye in the larger towns. These present evidence enough that the modern Italians have wasted neither their time nor their opportunities. We have only to compare the present conditions of such cities as Rome and Naples with those of even twenty years ago to realize the immense improvements that have been accomplished in every direction. Some mistakes, no doubt, have been made, and some relics of the past have been too hastily swept away which might have been spared without |