Morning journal and courier., 1891-05-07
UNEAsINEss IN ROME.
Recent Events Cause Feeling of Dis-
 trast-The People Alarmed over the
 Explosion, the Accession Of the New Ministry Into Power and the May.

Recent Events Cause a Feeling of Dis.
 trust-The People Alarmed over the Explosion, the Accession of the New
 Ministry Into Power and the May Day Riots. r -..~
 LONDON, May GA letter received here
 from Rome discloses number of new
 facts in regard to the riots which took
 place there on May-day and as to the gen.
 eral feeling of the people upon the same
 occasion. According to this letter the
 public officials at Rome as we'll as the peo-
 pie have been in state of actual panic for
 a week or two. This state of affairs, it
 appears, is due to several causes, the most
 prominent of which are the fall of the
 ministry headed by Minister Crispi, the
 accession of the new ministry into
 power, the strong public demand
 for an equalization of expenses and
 without fresh taxation, the diplomatic
 troubles which have arisen between Italy and the United States, and finally the explosion at Pozzo Pantaleo, which caused so much damage and alarm in Rome tended to bring about the feeling of panic which, as already stated, exists among the public officials and the inhabitants general ly of Rome In spite of all the denials and official statements made to the effect that the explosion at Pozzo Pantaleo was not the work of socialists or anarchists, the Romans are convinced that the explosion was the work of anarchists. So deeply is this conviction rooted in the public breast that the people live in daily expectation of hearing that there has been an explosion in another powder magazine or that some public building has been blown up. As this let ter was written before the fire which de- houses of the Carabineria and which ere ated so much alarm at the vatican, the feeling now existing in Rome can be easily imagined, especially as the fire is currently attributed to the socialists or anarchists. | The feeling of panic referred to in the let ter from Rome is thus apparently justified, ! or at least it has received a sufficient | amount of confirmation to enable the pes simists to say, 'I told you so."
 Continuing the letter says the trouble | which undoubtedly exists has caused col | lapse of speculative enterprises, which | state of affairs has in turn thrown thou | sands of workmen out of employment; and in their state of enforced idleness | Iuoy uaGurally Decame ulSSaulSQeu WlGQ their employers, with the government and | with the whole system under which they live. In this frame of mind the working men became prey for the agitators, who | are continually digging away at the foun- l lations of popular content
 On May day, this Roman letter says, the | natural excitability of the workingmen was worked upon to fever heat, and the | widest rumors were circulated by those | who had everything to gain and nothing | to lose by popular disturbance. These | rumors gradually grew in importance un- til it was actually believed that it was true | that revolution was impending. These | rumors were continually magnifed, and | ao where was the panic greater than at the | and among the various religious | societies and communities of this city | In this connection it was stated that | ,hese religious bodies had hurriedly | stocked their headquarters with five days | provisions and that the inmates had been | strictly confined within doors In a word, | he religious communities were so alarmed | 1t the socialist taint in the air that they | lad prepared to stand a siege in the event | 'f wholesale uprising upon the part of | he masses. But this feeling of panic was lot confined to the religious bodies The | 'icher families of this city were also so seriously alarmed that they adopted the 'ame tactics as the religious institutions md also stored provisions in their houses md made other preparations to face seri- 'us riot, and perhaps an attack upon their esidences.