No. 413.
Mr. Marsh
to Mr. Evarts.
Legation of
the United States,
Borne, February 17, 1880.
(Received March 8.)
No. 807.]Sir: The Roman journals of this morning announced
the nomination of twenty-six new senators by His Majesty, a number barely
equal to that of the vacancies which have occurred in the Senate since the
last Parliamerit,
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and
insufficient, even supposing them all to vote with the administration, to
overthrow the anti-ministerial majority at the close of the last
session.
The session was opened this morning with a speech from the throne, several
copies of which and a translation are herein inclosed. The King, it will be
perceived, is outspoken in his support of the policy recommended by the
ministry at the last session, and it is probable that the influence of the
Crown and the firm attitude of the ministry and of the Chambers will secure
the adoption of that policy, though perhaps in a somewhat modified form.
The ministers of war and of the marine as well as of the public works will
ask large appropriations for new military and naval constructions, and for
the extension of the railway system of this kingdom. How such expenses are
to be met without the imposition of new burdens as intolerable as those
which the ministry propose to remove from the already overtaxed capital and
industry of the people, is not apparent, but the spirit of militarism, which
the Napoleonic dynasty has left as its dying curse to the European
continent, may induce Parliament to vote appropriations which the nation
cannot meet.
Hitherto money has been voted without stint and almost without opposition to
the army and the navy, and it is hardly an exaggeration to say that,
practically, Italy has been treated as existing for its soldiery and its
fleet, not they for their country. And yet that portion of the army which is
occasionally employed as an aid to the police is found unable to protect a
single square mile of the island of Sicily, which hardly measures in area as
much as the single State of New Hampshire, from daily robberies, murders,
and ransoms.
Italy has no enemies, present or prospective, unless provoked by her own
imprudence, without her own border. But she proposes the creation of a
fleet—one of which, the Duilio, is just completed at the cost of more than
four million dollars, and three others of like colossal dimensions are in
course of construction—of iron-clad ships of war more formidable in their
means of both offense and defense than anything elsewhere attempted in naval
architecture and equipment. Not to be behindhand with their nautical
brethren, the land army has lately been strengthened, or incumbered, as the
case may prove, with a gun weighing upwards of a hundred tons, which has
been cast at the government works at Turin, and is, for the present, mounted
on a sea-coast battery at La Spezia.
It is certainly a gratifying proof of national energy and skill that Italy
should be able to execute, chiefly within her own territory and with her own
means, such stupendous undertakings, but the misdirection of her powers
implied in such achievements accompanied with such shortcomings is,
nevertheless, greatly to be deplored.
I have, &c.,
[Inclosure in No.
867.—Translation.]
The King’s speech on the opening of the Parliament,
February 17, 1880.
Senators and Deputies: I may, to-day, after the
arduous experience of these twe years, repeat the words which I
addressed to you in a day of affliction, when in the unanimity of the
national sentiment I found grounds of confidence and of hope.
In presence of the grave questions agitated in the last session, which
touched so deeply so large a proportion of our citizens, they proved
themselves able calmly to
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await the result of the parliamentary discussion and the blessings hoped
from our institutions.
The two promises which the founder of the kingdom left as his final
legacy to resuscitated Italy, the reform of the tributary system for the
relief of the poorer”classes and the extension of the rioüt of suffrage,
form a sacred obligation to his venerated memory and to the just
expectations of our people.
If the wise resolution not to disturb the balance between revenue and
expenditure has created difficulties and delays, a safe experience will
avail, lam confident, to hasten the completion of a task initiated with
the reduction of the burden most grievous to the classes smitten by
fortune, but ennobled by labor.
To give efficient support to every civil reform and to strengthen its
authority, it is needful to provide for the reorganization of the
electoral body.
Persuaded that my rule is founded on the love of the people, I desire
that its representation derive new strength from a greater concurrence
of opinions and of interests.
Instruction, more widely diffused by virtue of laws voted by you, now
allows you to call with confidence to the exercise of the highest right
of the citizen all who present the necessary guarantees of legally
established capacity.
My government, then, will propose to you two bills for the gradual
suppression of the tax on grist and for electoral reform.
These are the most urgent and fundamental measures that I have to
recommend to you. They will be supplemented and completed by certain
other measures:
The revision, of the communal and provincial law in some important points
indicated by a general agreement in public opinion;
A reconstruction of the administrative and judicial arrangements whose
complicity has been so often a source of complaint;
To provide for the impartial and well-co-ordinated execution of the
railway constructions ordained by a law which does honor to the past
session, rules designed to facilitate the traffic, to stimulate the
industry, and to fortify the harmony of local interests; and
To continue the already well-advanced revision of our penal legislation
and to initiate the amendment of the code of commerce, which has become
urgent from the novel and daily changes in economical condition.
Such are the labors to which my government will invite you, in full
confidence that your discussions will proceed with diligence and
efficiency.
In the past session Parliament gave a noble example of charity, which the
inclemency of the seasons had rendered necessary, by availing itself of
it in the form of an encouragement to industry. My government will now
lay before you several bills providing for the execution of productive
works, with the view of giving a vigorous impulse to the national
enterprise.
Grave reasons compel us to include among these certain works
indispensable to the salubrity and embellishment of Rome, which affected
the unity and grandeur of the older Italy, and ought not to be the
projer home of the new Italy, furnished with naught but the memories of
her past fortunes.
I need not recommend to your patriotism the complete organization of the
army and navy, the guardians of our national honor and our national
safety. I have had proof in late years of your solicitude for this very
important object. The friendly relations which we cultivate with all
states and which are reciprocated by all, confirms us in the persuasion
that the impartiality and loyalty of governments are the nearest means
of maintaining concord among nations; the maintenance of peace is the
earnest wish and the highest interest of Italy. The scrupulous
observance of the Treaty of Berlin is her natural policy, and it is easy
for her to fulfill the promise made to the world that, once restored to
unity, she would prove an element of concord and of progress.
Senators and Deputies: If the late session was
long and laborious, I hope that equal eliligence and even greater
fruitfulness will mark that which I now inaugurate, reaffirming my faith
in the destiny of the country, in the wisdom of Parliament, in the
loyalty and affection of the people who, directed in the paths of
liberty by my magnanimous grandfather and recalled by my great sire to
the dignity of a nation, know that it will always find me devoted to the
traditions of my family and in the soundness of our institutions.
