The fall of Signor Sonnino, the disappointment caused by the
non-fulfilment of the expectations to which his advent to power
had given rise throughout Italy and the dearth of influential
statesmen, made the return to power of Signor Giolitti inevitable.
An appeal to the country might have brought about a different
result, but it is said that opposition from the highest quarters
rendered this course practically impossible. The change of
government brought Signor Tittoni back to the foreign office;
Signor Maiorano became treasury minister, General Viganò
minister of war, Signor Cocco Ortu, whose chief claim to consideration
was the fact of his being a Sardinian (the island had
rarely been represented in the cabinet) minister of agriculture,
Signor Gianturco of justice, Signor Massimini of finance, Signor
Schanzer of posts and telegraphs and Signor Fusinato of education.
The new ministry began auspiciously with the conversion
of the public debt from 4% to 334%, to be eventually reduced
to 312%. This operation had been prepared by Signor Luzzatti
under Signor Sonnino’s leadership, and although carried out by
Signor Maiorano it was Luzzatti who deservedly reaped the
honour and glory; the bill was presented, discussed and voted
by both Houses on the 29th of June, and by the 7th of July the
conversion was completed most successfully, showing on how
sound a basis Italian finance was now placed. The surplus for
the year amounted to 65,000,000 lire. In November Signor
Gianturco died, and Signor Pietro Bertolini took his place as
minister of public works; the latter proved perhaps the ablest
member of the cabinet, but the acceptance of office under Giolitti
of a man who had been one of the most trusted and valuable
lieutenants of Signor Sonnino marked a further step in the
dégringolade of that statesman’s party, and was attributed to
the fact that Signor Bertolini resented not having had a place
in the late Sonnino ministry. General Viganò was succeeded
in December by Senator Casana, the first civilian to become
minister of war in Italy. He made various reforms which were
badly wanted in army administration, but on the whole the
experiment of a civilian “War Lord” was not a complete
success, and in April 1909 Senator Casana retired and was succeeded
by General Spingardi, an appointment which received
general approval.
The elections of March 1909 returned a chamber very slightly different from its predecessor. The ministerial majority was over three hundred, and although the Extreme Left was somewhat increased in numbers it was weakened in tone, and many of the newly elected “reds” were hardly more than pale pink.
Meanwhile, the relations between Church and State began to
show signs of change. The chief supporters of the claims of the
papacy to temporal power were the clericals of France
and Austria, but in the former country they had lost
all influence, and the situation between the Church and
Church
and State.
the government was becoming every day more strained.
With the rebellion of her “Eldest Daughter,” the Roman
Church could not continue in her old attitude of uncompromising
hostility towards United Italy, and the Vatican began to realize
the folly of placing every Italian in the dilemma of being either a
good Italian or a good Catholic, when the majority wished to be
both. Outside of Rome relations between the clergy and the
authorities were as a rule quite cordial, and in May 1903 Cardinal
Sarto, the patriarch of Venice, asked for and obtained an audience
with the king when he visited that city, and the meeting which
followed was of a very friendly character. In July following Leo
XIII. died, and that same Cardinal Sarto became pope under the
style of Pius X. The new pontiff, although nominally upholding
the claims of the temporal power, in practice attached but little
importance to it. At the elections for the local bodies the
Catholics had already been permitted to vote, and, availing
themselves of the privilege, they gained seats in many municipal
councils and obtained the majority in some. At the general
parliamentary elections of 1904 a few Catholics had been elected
as such, and the encyclical of the 11th of June 1905 on the political
organization of the Catholics, practically abolished the non
expedit. In September of that year a number of religious institutions
in the Near East, formerly under the protectorate of the
French government, in view of the rupture between Church and
State in France, formally asked to be placed under Italian protection,
which was granted in January 1907. The situation thus
became the very reverse of what it had been in Crispi’s time,
when the French government, even when anti-clerical, protected
the Catholic Church abroad for political purposes, whereas the
conflict between Church and State in Italy extended to foreign
countries, to the detriment of Italian political interests. A more
difficult question was that of religious education in the public
elementary schools. Signor Giolitti wished to conciliate the
Vatican by facilitating religious education, which was desired
by the majority of the parents, but he did not wish to offend the
Freemasons and other anti-clericals too much, as they could
always give trouble at awkward moments. Consequently the
minister of education, Signor Rava, concocted a body of rules
which, it was hoped, would satisfy every one: religious instruction
was to be maintained as a necessary part of the curriculum, but
in communes where the majority of the municipal councillors
were opposed to it it might be suppressed; the council in that
case must, however, facilitate the teaching of religion to those
children whose parents desire it. In practice, however, when the
council has suppressed religious instruction no such facilities are
given. At the general elections of March 1909, over a score of
Clerical deputies were returned, Clericals of a very mild tone who
had no thought of the temporal power and were supporters of the
monarchy and anti-socialists; where no Clerical candidate was
in the field the Catholic voters plumped for the constitutional
candidate against all representatives of the Extreme Left. On
the other hand, the attitude of the Vatican towards Liberalism
within the Church was one of uncompromising reaction, and
under the new pope the doctrines of Christian Democracy and
Modernism were condemned in no uncertain tone. Don Romolo
Murri, the Christian Democratic leader, who exercised much
influence over the younger and more progressive clergy, having
been severely censured by the Vatican, made formal submission,
and declared his intention of retiring from the struggle. But he
appeared again on the scene in the general elections of 1909, as a
Christian Democratic candidate; he was elected, and alone of the
Catholic deputies took his seat in the Chamber on the Extreme
Left, where all his neighbours were violent anti-clericals.
At 5 a.m. on the 28th of December 1908, an earthquake of appalling severity shook the whole of southern Calabria and the eastern part of Sicily, completely destroying the cities of Reggio and Messina, the smaller towns of Canitello, Scilla, Villa San Giovanni, Bagnara, Palmi, Melito, Earthquake of December 1908. Porto Salvo and Santa Eufemia, as well as a large number of villages. In the case of Messina the horror of the situation was heightened by a tidal wave. The catastrophe was the greatest of its kind that has ever occurred in any country; the number of persons killed was approximately 150,000, while the injured were beyond calculation.
The characteristic feature of Italy’s foreign relations during this period was the weakening of the bonds of the Triple Alliance and the improved relations with France, while the traditional friendship with England remained unimpaired. Franco-Italian friendship was officially Foreign affairs. cemented by the visit of King Victor Emmanuel and Queen Elena in October 1903 to Paris where they received a very cordial welcome. The visit was returned in April 1904 when M. Loubet, the French president, came to Rome; this action was strongly resented by the pope, who, like his predecessor since 1870, objected to the presence of foreign Catholic rulers in Rome, and led to the final rupture between France and the Vatican. The Franco-Italian understanding had the effect of raising Italy’s credit, and the Italian rente, which had been shut out of the French bourses, resumed its place there once more, a fact which contributed to increase its price and to reduce the unfavourable rate of exchange. That agreement also served to clear up the situation in Tripoli; while Italian aspirations towards Tunisia had been ended by the French occupation of that territory, Tripoli and Bengazi were now recognized as coming within the Italian “sphere of influence.” The Tripoli hinterland,
