ITALY
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ITALY
respective holy founders, St. Alphonsus Liguori and
St. Paul of the Cross. Ecclesiastical learning was
also vigorously cultivated, and few ages show more
erudite scholars than Muratori, Mansi, Bianchi, Bian-
chini, the Ballerini brothers, Zaccharia, Noris, and
others.
The French Revolution put an end to the ancient Republic of Venice (1797) which fell to Austria, while the latter lost Lombardy, where the short-lived Cisal- pine Repubhc of northern Italy was soon followed by the equally ephemeral Ligurian (Genoa, 1798), the Roman (179S), and the Parthenopean (Naples, 1799) republics. The Congress of Vienna (1815) restored the ante-revolution situation, save in Venice, which remained subject to Austria, henceforth mistress of northern and central Italy, the rest of Italy being subject to three other powers, the Kingdom of Sardinia (Turin), the papacy, and the Spanish Bourbons of Naples and Sicily. The second quarter of the nine- teenth century is noted for a deep unrest in Italy against Austrian rule (the Carbonari, also Mazzini, Gioberti, Balbo, and others) culminating in a general adhesion of all the dissatisfied to the House of Pied- mont whose prime minister, Cavour,was henceforth the soul of the new Italian unity (Kraus, "Cavour", Munich, 1901; Von Reumont, " Charakterbilder ", 18S6). The revolutionary agitations of 18-18 led to the flight of Pius IX to Gaeta and the establishment of the second "Roman Republic" soon suppressed by the French under General Oudinot (July, 1849).
Prior to 1859, Italy was divided into the following states: the Kingdom of Sardinia, the Duchies of Mo- dena, Parma, and Piacenza, the Grand Duchy of Tus- cany, the Pontifical States, the Republic of San Marino, the Kingdom of the Two Sicihes and the Principality of Monaco. The Italian territories sub- ject to foreign powers were: Corsica, belonging to France; the group of Malta, belonging to England; the Canton Ticino, belonging to Switzerland; Lom- bardy, Venice, Trent, Triest, and Istria, belonging to the Austrian Empire. In 1848 Piedmont went to war with Austria for Italian independence, but was defeated at Novara in 1849. Ten years later, however. Piedmont made an alliance with France, the second war of independence was declared, and Austria having been defeated at Solferino, 20 July, 1859, by the Franco-Sardinian allies, Lombardy was annexed to Piedmont. In 1860 the Duchies of Modena and Parma, the Grand Duchy of Tuscany and the Roma- gnas (12 March), the Marches and Umbria (5 Novem- ber), Naples and Sicily (21 October), were incorporated with Piedmont, and on 17 March, 1861, the Parlia- ment at Turin proclaimed the Kingdom of Italy. In 1866, by its alliance with Prussia, Italy obtained Venice; finally, on 20 September, 1S70, Rome, hav- ing been taken by force of arms, declared its union with the Kingdom of Italy through the plebiscite (2 October) of that year.
In the formation of the new kingdom, says Min- ghetti, the revolution was the impelling force, not abandoned, however, to the hands of conspirators un- organized and without authority, but directed by the government of Piedmont, especially by Baron Cavour, who used it in the interest of Piedmontese supremacy, while he appealed to the .sentiments of independence and of Italianism very strong in the people of northern Italy. By these two forces, ably manipulated, Cavour secured the political unity of Italy under the sceptre of Savoy. The unification of Italy was essentially an act of the Piedmontese Government; otherwise Cavour himself and Massimo d'Azeglio would not have said that once Italy was created it remained to create Italians, nor woukl there he still, after fifty years of legal unity, that latent germ of regionalism which occasionally assorts itself more or less vigorously. If the truth of history be regarded, it will lie recognized that the idea of Italian unity arose towards the end of
the eighteenth century; with the exception perhaps of
Machiavelh, who thought Duke Valentino (Casar
Borgia) able to bring about the union of the Italians,
not one of the great men of Italy like Dante, Petrarch,
and others, and none of the popes, had the idea of
Italian unity. Joachim Murat, by his Rimini procla-
mation (1815), first suggested this idea but was not
understood and was left to perish alone. His idea,
however, was taken up and was vigorously pressed by
the enemies of Christianity who held that, if, under the
pretext of the unification of Italy, liis temporal power
should be wrested from the pope, the Church of Christ
would of necessity come to an end. In 1871 Rome
was declared the capital of the Kngdom of Italy. In
that same year Pius IX refused to accept the Law of
Guarantees (see Guarantees, Law of), and in 1878
issued the decree " Non Expedit " against Catholic
participation in elections to the Italian Chambers.
Pius X modified this measure (1905), and has per-
mitted , under given circumstances, the participation of
Catholics in the national elections.
Political and Civil Government. — (1) Political Establishment. — The Kingdom of Italy took the form of a constitutional monarchy, hereditary in the male line of the House of Savoy, according to the Salic law, and conformably to the Fundamental Statute that was promulgated by King Charles .\lbert on 4 March, 1848, for the Sardinian states. This statute which was extended to the various parts of Italy, as they were annexed by the Piedmontese realm, is similar to the French Constitution of 1830; according to it, sovereignty is diviiled between the king and the na- tion, the latter electing its representatives by popular suffrage. The legislative power is exercised by the king and Parliament, which consists of the Senate and of the Cliamlier of Deputies. With the exception of the right of initiative, which is common to all, these three governmental entities have each special func- tions: it is the province of the king to convoke both houses of Parliament, to clo.se the sessions, to dissolve the Chamber of Deputies, to sanction and promulgate the laws. The Senate and the Chamber of Deputies have the functions of legislation and of watching over the finances, that is to say, the approval of the state budget, which is prepared by the executive branch of the Government; the houses of Parliament have also the function of investigation in both political and administrative matters; it is exercised through inter- rogation, interpellation, inquest, committees of vigil- ance, and by other means. Laws of taxation, however, and those concerning the budget must first be ap- proved by the Chamber. On the other hand, the Senate has judicial functions, that is, by royal decree the house may be turned into a high court of justice, to pass upon cases of high treason and of attempts against the security of the State and to judge the ministers who may be accused by the Chamber of Deputies. The latter consists of 508 members who are elected upon the uninominal system by as many electoral constituencies, into which the nation is divided, there being an average population of 66,000 inhabitants for each constituency; the constituent districts may be changed every five years. The period between two general elections is called a legislalura, of which there have been 23, since 8 May, 1848, when the first legislatura was opened. The electoral fran- chise is exercised by all male citizens who, enjoying their civil and political rights, have attained the age of twenty-one years, know how to read and write (Elec- toral Law of 2S March, 1S95), and have the minimum requirements of intellectual capacity and of income. All citizens who have attained the age of thirty years and who enjov political and civil rights are eligible to oflice. In 1909 there were 2,930,473 registered voters, an average of 11-7 per cent of the total pop\ilation of the kingdom. In the last general election there were 1,903,687 voters, or 65-3 per cent of the total electorate.
