The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-11-23
Italy Under the House Of Savoy,

In the current number Of the Reuie,D Of
Rerie,Ds there is q violent arraignment Of
contemporary Italy by Miss LOUISE DE
LA RAAHH, best known by her pen-name Of
OUIDA. The impeachment is answered
in the same periodical by a distinguished
italian, Signor GIOVANNI L VEcCHIA,
and that reply Is worth considering, be-
cause, while the author comedies that the
present condition Of Italy might in several
ways be bettered, he undertakes to'prove
that it is, at all events. q great improve
ment IN the preceding state Of things.
The outcome Of OUIDA's diatribe may be
summed up IN o sentence. She asserts
that the King Of Italy is greedy, that the
Government is corrupt, that the Parlia-
ment is incapable, that the governing
classes are despotic, that the middle classes
are ~riff-raff, that the soldiers are cruel and
hated, that the Judges do not render JUS
tice, that'the peasantry are the caterpillars
OF the soil and that the whole Italian COM
munity is ga vast camorrG for the pro-
lection Of its own knaves." Signor DAnhA
VEcoHIA meets the first charge by pointing
out what use King HUABERT makes Of the
money he receives. 1t is true that he has
$1,75o,0o o q year, but with this he has to
keep up ten royal residences. He has no
wish for so many palaces, and he maintains
most Of them In order to crafty local
pride, all the capitals Of the former indie
pendent States in Italy desiring to keep the
semblance of q court Of their own. 1t is
certain that with the money needed for the
maintenance Of ten great houses the King
is enabled to retain thousands of people in
his service and out Of the %workhouse. Some
other facts cannot be reconciled with the
righteousness imputed by OUIDA to the
italian sovereign.
For example. when VICTOR EMMANUEL
died, he left debts amounting to over
$1,000, 900. SignorC R1sP1~ proposed to ask
the Parliament to pay these debts, but King
HUMBERr forbade him, saying, 1.-THE debts
Of the father shall be paid by the son" and
he discharged them. Another incident Is
worth recalling. 1t appears that according
to the Italian statute, or constitution, the
heir to the throne is entltledto an appanage
when he comes Of age and to another when
he marries. King HUMBERT has not yet al
lowed his Ministersto ask Parliamentto vote
the latter grant, and the court Of the Prince
Of Naples is still kept up by his father.
Again, when the city Of Turin voted $780,
900 for a monument to HUMBERT's brother,
the King sent with his thanks a check for
$4,000, to help to finish a hospital, which
Is snow the largest and best equipped in Eu-
rope. Signor DALLA VEccHIA further testi-
fes that King HUMBERT distributes every
year about 5000, 900 in charity.
SO much for the alleged greediness of the
italian sovereign. AS for the corruption Of
which the Kings Ministers are accused, the
only evidence brought forward is that fur
nished in the case OF Signor CRIsPL. That
he was guilty OF dishonesty, there is no
doubt, but he has been punished for it.
That is more than France can say OF GER
tain Ministers implicated in the Panama
scandal. The notion that King HUMBERT
preferred CRIsPI, dishonest as he was, to
other aspirants for the premiership, Is
repealed by Signor DAhLA VEcoH1A, who
insists that CRIsPI was far from being a
persona grdta at the italian court, and that
1t was Parliament, public opinion, and BIS
MARcK that conformity forced him to recall
CRIsPI to office In 1894. Public opinion, by
the way, Is more powerful in Italy than In
any other European country, with the ex-
ception Of England, Norway and France.
The fact. OF course, Is incompatible with the
alleged existence Of despotio regime.
Another of OUmAIs statements Is said to
be u%nfounded; it Is denied that in Italy peo-
pie are condemned without being permitted
to speak in their own defence. A Dreyfus
affair would be impossible in the italian
peninsula. The Italian law requires that
every accused person shall be- represented
by counsel an advocate is appointed by the
Court II the accused Is unable to hire one.
Slgnor DALLA VEcoHIA does not DENY
that the italian standing army is a burden
on the Of the people. He reminds
US, however, that the history of the penin-
sula is replete with warnings that the
burden must be borne. Italy must be mill
tariIy strong, or she will become the prey
Of the foreigner In the future, as she was
in the past. Undoubtedly, militarism has
Objectionable aspects, but many close OBJ
servers OF contemporary Italy nave ex-
pressed the opinion that in that country
the army is a school OF civic virtues. II, as
oUIDA says, the soldiers are hated, it is
hard to understand the public subscrip-
ton which Rgas opened for them by the
Milanese aftke4he suppression of the recent
revolt during which gangs Of hoodluml.
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