The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-07-21
Crispi is Forbidding and Dangerous
in Public But Affable in
Private Life.
6abid, Fearless and Unbiased and
Brutal, Independent and
Kind by Turns.
AAa withal : Singular Mixture of Reck-
lessnoss and Arrogance-A Curl
Gus Character.

1 francesca Crispi, Italy's prime minister,
81 now q man of II. He does not look old;
he dresses elegantly and carefully, repudiat-
ing in all his person the sans facon of the
classical democrat. His head has semi-
martial cast, his hair is scanty. but his
thick, white moustache recalls Victor
Emanuel's; his eye is brilliant, his speech
sharp, incisive, full of imagery and some
times slightly declamatory. He has Won
derful capacity for work, sustained by the
lf-gfatifcation of we'll established
power, grasped late in life, for he was 60
wher he at last reaped the harvest for
which he had been toiling nearly half CEN
fury.
At IS he fell desperately in love with
pretty peasant girl as poor as she was beau
tiful. saws writer in the New York Sun,
and set all opposition aside by running
away with her and marrying her in secret
Whether she would have had to repent her
confidence was not put to the test, for the
girl died, happily for herself no doubt, two
years afterward.
Like all the men of his tendencies who
professed to be patriots, francesca Crispi
embraced journalism during the troubled
times preceding '48, and even with other ex-
allied youths. founded paper, dlverslfylng
politics with snatches of rather clever
poetry. As was to be expected. the whole
editorial staff got into difficulties with the
banished the kingdom. Crispi went to
England, where he gave lessons in Italian,
Greek, Latin and French.
He subsequently became follower of
Mazzini and took part in the Garlbaldlan
campaigns, receiving political recognition
when the first steps for unifying Italy were
taken. Then the neutral side of his nature
showed itself His second wife had &C.
companied him during the whole of the
Garibaldian campaign, and, like Anita
dangers with unflinching, unhesitating de-
votion, but suddenly, when she should
have reaped her reward in her husbands
gratitude and honorable position, Crispi
deeply enamored of a younger and more at.
tractive woman, abandoned her without
brutal conduct for time marred his ca
reer. The queen of Italy at first obsti-
nately refused to see this third wife, and il
was openly said that, divorce not existinl
in Italy, the last union was illegal. A
great deal OF was fe.s 49, the 1o1
the plea he alleged in extenuation of hi
attitude toward her, which was the duty O
leRitimatizing daughter born of tn.
later connection.
But even public and royal indignatio,
fell before Crispi's extraordinary good for
time. and the obstacles in his way to So
preme power vanished as il by enchant
mont. The Albanian Greek, the politica
refugee Of tho Batignolles, the Neapolital
rebel, the husband of three wives, two Q
whom are living !. the premier rem Of lta,
which confers on him the rank of cousin {
the king, and SiQnora Crispi No. 3, with tn
4 title of excellency, goes to court and sits bt
side Queen Marguerite at the quirina
eignora Crispi No. 2. the heroine Of ls6
draRs q miserable, lonely ana o1snonore
existence at Florence.
In private life he can be - affable as
q fofbidding and dangerous in public; h
friends are won't to declare that famllit
intercourse with him is delightful, but a
too rare. Like all great workers ne r' {.
desk at 6 O'Clock, and labors indefatigabl;
temperate to a degree, he never drlnl
ANYTHING stronger than wine and water. an
spends barely half an hour at his mea!
Il is difficult to obtain an audience from IL
Italian premier, overwhelming Occupation
fakinr mn every precious minute; he IT
ceiyes standing, listens without interrul
ting and ia impatient of interlocutors wi
are not brief and lucid. He answers shor
", never takes notes, and trusts entirely
his excellent memory.
In matters of administration, of extern
and internal policy. he is decided, rabi
fearless and unbiased. He is independe
equally Of plutocracy. aristocracy and HE
archy-Withal a singular mixture OF rec
Ieasness. weakness and arrogance. It is
sheer arrogance that he has lifted himse
to his present pinnacle, and the same arr
rance prompts him to talk of himself
smmovable, to announce what he propos
doing in ten or twenty years, as If death
self were powerless to remove HIM from |
most. He brooks no criticisms; the attac
81 the press lnfuriate him, and more tn
once in the vengeful ebullition of his IA
he has been tempted to take regretat