the Novi Bazar Railway (post, chaps. ii., iii.), and a dispute had arisen between the Porte and the Italian Government in consequence of the refusal of the former to respect the Italian postoffices opened at Salonika, Avlona, Smyrna and Jerusalem, and its subjects and its merchant shipping in Tripoli. Eventually a naval demonstration was resolved on and Admiral Grenet was ordered to seize a Turkish island. The Porte, however, gave way on April 20.

An Easter vacation had never arrived more opportunely to relax the strain on the public nerves. The Prime Minister took advantage of it to see Prince Bülow at Venice; the deputies from the province of Parma visited their constituencies, which were seriously disturbed by the agricultural strike (proclaimed May 1). The social feud afflicting agriculture in the Emilia had become exceptionally grave. The Socialists intervened as a party to support the strikers; the landowners combined, formed a defence fund, and organised a body of armed volunteers, who could be brought in a very short time to any point threatened, by means of a squadron of motor cars. This action was denounced by the Press of the Extreme Left as contrary to law and public interest. But the landowners found support in the city of Parma, where the majority of the butchers and bakers decided to support their league. The strikers boycotted the bakeries and refused to carry the wood necessary to heat the ovens; this work was done by volunteers from the aristocracy and the upper middle class. The strike extended to the southern provinces; the Government was compelled to arrest the agitators in the province of Bari. Later (June 19) the Chamber of Labour at Parma decided on a general strike, and the trade unions of the other towns concerned essayed to draw the working classes of the great cities into the movement, but in vain. The Government ordered military intervention at Parma; for some days. (June 19-23) there was actual fighting in the streets; boiling water was thrown on the troops; the working-class quarter was surrounded and occupied by the soldiery, the Chamber of Labour broken into and the documents in it seized (June 24). Next day, order being re-established, the Minister of the Interior ordered the restoration to their legal owners of the building, the papers, and the money seized. This moderation in the hour of victory eventually calmed party passions.

The session had been resumed on May 12, with a formal act of homage to the memory of Count Tornielli, who had died at Paris (April 9), a circumstance which also gave opportunity for a manifestation of sympathy with France. The Italian Press compared the action of France in the affairs of the Balkan railway and the Heraclea Mines with the course taken by Austria, and drew conclusions detrimental to the popularity of the Triple Alliance. The exaltation of patriotic sentiment was expressed in the acceptance by the Chamber (May 23) of a motion proposed by Sgr. Andrea Baccelli, granting 1,000,000 francs for the erection

on the Mons Janiculus of a simple and majestic statue to Dante. Some days later (June 3) the Chamber approved without debate a vote for the establishment at Paris of an international bureau of public hygiene, and the Bill relative to the Franco-Italian Convention for the reciprocal protection of labour. Next day the Foreign Office Estimates came before the Chamber, and Sgr. Tittoni took occasion to set forth his policy of firmness without provocation, and to uphold the leading ideas of his speech of March 11. A more heated tone characterised the debate on the votes for new railway construction. The Government demanded 550,000,000 francs (22,000,000l.) to double the lines on certain important routes and to establish direct communication between Bologna and Florence, and between Rome and Naples. Sgr. Wollemborg, supported by 104 other members, demanded that the Government should also construct certain strategic railways on the north-eastern frontier; the Government threatened to make the question one of confidence, while promising to consider the demand. The proposal was rejected; and, in spite of the agitation set up by the Chambers of Commerce, which complained vigorously of the railway service, the Chamber on June 16 passed the Government Bill.

The day following it began the debate on the Civil Service Bill, dealing with a problem (that of trade-unionism in the service) as much discussed in Italy as in France. The week before, the delegates of the employees' associations had held a noisy meeting and had passed a motion savouring of revolutionism. Their defenders in the Chamber for the most part vied with the Extreme Left in the violence of their language, and, in the disorderly scene which ensued, the language of Sgr. Santini towards another member, Sgr. Zambelli, was so provocative that preparations were made for a duel (June 19). After the fervour of their oratory had subsided, however, they showed much less ardour for the fray; but, as honour demanded a meeting, they resolved to fight. The duel (June 22) lasted an hour and five minutes without definite result; the medical men in attendance then intervened to declare that Sgr. Santini was suffering from an affection of the heart which placed him at a disadvantage. This episode, which afforded some public amusement, having been satisfactorily settled, the Chamber rapidly disposed of the Finance Bill. It had the satisfaction of learning that the revised Budget of 1907-8 exhibited a surplus of at least 51,000,000 francs (2,040,000l.); Sgr. Carcano (June 24) also proposed to devote 26,000,000 francs (1,040,000l.) to national defence. The Chamber, in an access of patriotism, granted 233,000,000 francs (9,320,000l.) to be distributed over ten financial years; and then, after having approved without debate the new treaty with Abyssinia for the settlement of the boundary of Erythræa, it examined the Government Bill regulating higher education. Sgr. Ferri, a Socialist deputy, savagely attacked the Minister of Public Instruction, Sgr. Rava;

he was called to order by the President of the Chamber, Sgr. Marcora, and made an insulting reply; and the sitting was suspended amid tumult. When it was resumed, the extreme Right and the Opposition on the Left entered into a coalition; the Government Bill for the increase of the salaries and the improvement of the rules of promotion of University professors was rejected on a secret ballot. Sgr. Rava offered his resignation; the Cabinet, however, refused to accept it. The Chamber adjourned on June 30; the Senate some days later.

Meanwhile the agricultural labourers' strike at Parma gradually died down. The Chamber of Labour left the men free to return to work; the masters' association met to end the lockout. The Government, which had intervened with energy to bring about this relaxation in the tension, had also attempted to calm the agitation in Sicily by a graceful concession, viz., the discontinuance of the police supervision of Sgr. Nasi at his private house, and the remission of the remainder of his sentence (June 28). Shaking off the dust of his feet against Rome, the ex-Minister slowly took his way towards Sicily, where the various popular societies organised splendid receptions for him. Trapani re-elected him to Parliament (July 19), though he was disqualified for the next four years, and gave him a triumphant welcome when he again took possession of his dwelling. Meanwhile Sgr. Rava was dismissing the officials proved guilty of negligence or incapacity as the result of the administrative inquiry which had followed the trial. Moreover, the representatives of the Universities, assembled at Rome under the presidency of Sgr. Batelli, a deputy and a professor, passed a resolution expressing their want of confidence in the Minister of Education. Sgr. Batelli opposed the motion, declined to be responsible for it, and resigned his post as president.

After this opening, the recess was tolerably calm; a shadow was cast over it by the death of the Marquis di Rudini (Aug. 8); its only remarkable features were the great drought in Apulia, which caused some disturbances, and the usual Ministerial journeys, that which attracted most comment being the visit paid by Sgr. Tittoni to the German Foreign Minister, Herr von Schoen, at Berchtesgarden (Aug. 25). Mention must also be made of the measures taken by the Italian trade unionists to set up a Confederation of Labour modelled on that of Paris; of the Socialist Congress at Florence (Sept. 19-22), which ratified the victory of the Reformist or Parliamentary section over the Integralists or Irreconcileables; of the breach of the Socialist party with the Revolutionary Labour section, and, finally, of the long visit paid by M. Isvolsky, the Russian Foreign Minister, to Sgr. Tittoni, at Desio (Sept. 29). On this occasion Sgr. Bissolati, who had been appointed Director of the Avanti, published in that paper an article which attracted much attention, recognising that a visit of the Tsar to Italy would be opportune, and urging the Socialists to abstain, through patriotic

considerations, from any manifestations of hostility towards the Russian Government.

The great crisis in the Near East (chaps. ii., iii.) could not but react profoundly on Italy. The first impression was that the Foreign Office at Rome had been duped by that of Vienna. A congress of deputies and representatives of the popular party met at Milan, and decided to begin a campaign against the Foreign Minister. Almost the whole Press blamed Sgr. Tittoni, even the Popolo Romano, which was semi-official and Austrophil. The situation was complicated by the question of the Italian University promised by Austria. Italy demanded its establishment at Trieste, Austria, after long negotiations, ended by offering to establish at Vienna a mere faculty of law, in which the teaching should be given in Italian. Sgr. Giolitti left his home at Cavour on October 24 to summon the Cabinet, and it was rumoured that he would take the post of Foreign Minister; but he preferred to gain time. Irredentist feeling was exhibited in the customary fashion by assemblages, meetings and resolutions (Oct. 25). The police blocked the streets leading to the Palazzo Chigi (the Austrian Embassy); Innsbrück, Trieste and even Vienna saw scenes of riot and bloodshed (Nov. 22). Such was the state of public feeling when the Parliament resumed. its sittings on November 25.

The chief contest of the autumn session in both Houses was concerned with foreign affairs. In the Chamber Sgr. Fusinato, a former Foreign Under-Secretary, brought forward a motion on December 1 in support of the Government. Sgr. Barzilai replied, ridiculing the mover's optimism, and proclaiming that the Triple Alliance had failed. His fiery speech produced a reply two days later from Sgr. Fortis, a former Prime Minister, who summarised the history of the question with consummate skill, and by the measured energy of his declarations constrained the House to listen to him. So profound was the impression caused by his speech that there was some expectation of a Ministerial crisis. But on December 4 Sgr. Tittoni spoke. He began modestly by admitting that he had made three mistakes. The first arose out of his conviction that international treaties could not be set aside except with the assent of all the signatories; and this conviction he retained. He had trusted in the promises of the Austrian Government in regard to the Italian University, and on this subject nothing was settled. Finally, he had thought that Italian opinion would value more highly Austria's evacuation of Novi Bazar, and her abandonment of her advance on Salonika and of the clause of the Berlin Treaty affecting her rights in regard to Montenegro. After the opening, Sgr. Tittoni set forth the views of the Italian Foreign Office with a felicity of expression which reversed the feeling of the House. As he came down from the tribune, Sgr. Giolitti embraced him; and the Chamber passed a resolution approving his policy. The debate in the Senate took place on

December 21, before a crowded audience. Sgr. Tassi and Sgr. Vischi addressed an interpellation to the Government on the recent occurrences at Vienna (post, chap. ii.) and on its foreign policy. The first congratulated Sgr. Fortis on having said that the only enemy Italy had to fear was her ally Austria-Hungary; the second was called to order for expressing regret that the Emperor of Austria had not returned at Rome the visit paid him by the King of Italy at Vienna. Sgr. Tittoni answered with the calmness appropriate to the Senate, defending the pacific and dignified policy which had earned for Italy the respect of Europe. Some days later the Chambers adjourned for the Christmas recess.

It was during this interval, on December 29, that Messina and Reggio in Calabria were destroyed in a few minutes by an earthquake followed by a tidal wave and a series of conflagrations. The suddenness of the catastrophe, intensified by the interruption of all means of communication, the extent of the disaster, the appalling number of the victims, the horrors surrounding the survivors, excited compassion throughout the world. The energy shown by the seamen of Russia, the United States, England and France, in rendering aid to the destroyed towns, afforded some consolation by exhibiting the truth that nations ultimately form one brotherhood.

CHAPTER II.

GERMANY AND AUSTRIA-HUNGARY.

I. GERMANY.

IN Germany the question which most occupied politicians was the state of the Imperial finances. At the beginning of the year, though the bank rate stood at 7 per cent. and the money market was in a very strained condition, it was found necessary to raise a new Prussian loan besides the Imperial loan needed to cover the deficit on the Imperial Budget. The total amount raised by these loans was 32,500,000l. It was generally recognised that this heaping up of debt to cover State deficits. must be stopped and some means devised to enable the State to pay its way. The incidence of both direct and indirect taxation in Germany is far less than in France and England, though the total expenditure of that Empire and the separate States amounted to 355,000,000l., a sum considerably greater than the expenditure of any other country in the world; the greater part of it, however, was covered by revenue from remunerative State enterprises such as railways, State lands and forests, and mines. How to raise the whole of the balance by increased. taxation was the chief part of the problem, and for this purpose a new Minister was added to the Prussian Cabinet, Herr von Sydow, Under-Secretary of the Post Office, being appointed on