The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1897-12-03


there had been times when he had
erred. He claimed. however. from his
conquerors an unbiased judgment. and
asserted that he was prepared to tessi-
fly before the commission and to omit
nothing, so that the matter might be
probed to the deepest, adding pathet-
ically, but it will be very hard at rs,
after devoting 6s years to the service
of my country"
This passage Of the speech provoked
violent interruption. and the president
of the chamber formally cautioned two
Socialist deputies who were particular
ly vlrulent.
Signor Crispi. after order was re-
stored, said:
II remain calm, even in the face Of
my adversaries' invectives. / have a
serene conscience, and I shall die, when
my time comes, with the name OF
Italy upon my lips. But ask to be al
lowed to pass my last days quietly. II
Italy needs me, I shall always ba
ready to serve herj but I do not have.
and never have had, ambition for
power"
signor Crispi, the most brilliant Ital-
ian statesman since the days Of Ca
your, is called upon to face. In his ex-
treme old age, not accusations of po-
litical crimes, but ordinary felonies. He
has already been subjected to tho hu-
initiation of magisterial examination in
connection with charges of completely
in the gigantic frauds that wrecked the
Bank Of Naples, the Bank of Rome,
- ~ nfh ri AraH
institutions. The Crispi cabinet was
driven from office as the result Of these
scandals. In each case the insolvency
Of the bank appeared to have been
brought about through the blackmail-
ing extortion to which it was sub
jected by leading politicians and gov
ernment officials of the day. Most of
this dishonesty took place during the
administration Of CrisDl.
Not even his most relentless enemy
has ever accused him of plundering the
banks to add to his private resources.
On the contrary, his countryman for
the most part accepted his assertion
that *he money extortad from these in
stitutions was used by him for the Sc
cret service fund OF the government
ana electoral expenditure.
Unfortunately for him, the judicial
authorities. who inquired into the cir
cumstances that led Up to the failure
of the banks, discovered that among
the most voracious OF the plunderers
was Sisnora Crispi, tho veteran states
man wife. 1t was stated at the time
that from one bank something like 10,-
600 600 of francs (about s2,o0O,0O0) found
its way into her private banking ac-
count, and It was urged and IL still
further urged, that Signor Crispi, not
being rich man, must have known of
his wifes predatory demands, as in no
other way could he have accounted for
the large sums Of money she expended
upon her establishment while he was
IN power
Crspi's friends assert that just be-
fore the 1895 elections Signor Crispi
made a loan Of 100000 lire from the
Bank OF Naples for election expenses
The Crspi cabinet fell when half the
amount had been repaid, and the bal
rncc was made up by the premier's
friends, King Humbert contributing
1so, 900 lire. Everything was paid up
before the banks failure, and Crispi
declared to the king that unless his per-
secutors were called off he would de-
fend himself to the last, adding: I'm
such q case, sire, two persons will go
into exie-I as poor man. and you
with your millions"
The Socialist press interpreted this
audacious language to be the threat of
disclosures that, in consequence Of
tip. King Humbert had saved the whole
amount oF his large deposits in the
Bank of Naples just before the crash
came.