The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-01-10
Country's Social and In
dusttial Revival ofLast
Thirty Years Has
Changed Her Charac-
Ter Among Nations

sluCo during the last thirty
years that has changed her
character among nations. The reign
In family " Italy, the House of Savoy,
Ia had much TO do with this. Just
how much is clearly set forth in T.. NJ.
UHI.rWuod'S new book, United Italy"
re,.uIy published by the George H.
p.uG Company. The House of Savoy,
Say ia" author. although the Carig-
nlUp ur cadet branch has only ruled
oy,r United Italy for fifty years. is by
hr 'le oldest reignlng family in Eu-
~. In COMPARISON with these rugged
n au.ur"rs of the Alps, the Roman
Of Iui even the Bourbons, are but
emit Erowth. Count Humbert of
savoy 'of the White Hand" entered
middle European politics IN the eleventh
century under the patronage Of the En-
per O. Conrad, and by the end of the
fourteenth century the Alpine counts
bed -rea,ly enlarged their dominions,
All were ruling over the greater part
o. Piedmont and Savoy, while about
49, Duke Amadeus VII. secured a sea-
0, ny the possession ~ Nice, and dur
in 'l" succeeding years the rulers of
tie little buffer State Of Savoy held
their own as best they could between
The conflicting powers of France and
Spain. strengthening themselves now
BY force Of arms, now by diplomacy,
Tow hv ntermarriage with their royal
tel-hh1rs. In 1855 Victor Amadeus
II, who had married a niece of Louis
XIV Maria Cristina of Bourbon. daugh-
Ter Of Henry ". of France, was COM
PEELED by his royal kinsman to perse-
cute he Waldenslans. and the massa-
rres which followed, so common an in
c.dent in those days, have been COM
nemorated to ali time by Millions mag
hf'rnt sonnet which begins:
'Avcnse, o Lord Thy slaughtered saints,
lie scattered on the Alpine mountains
cold"
As his reward for important services
rendered during the war of the Spanish
Sue, ss.on, Victor Amadeus II. was
made King of Sicily. which in 1920 was
exchanged for Sardinia, n title held by
The dynasty of Savoy until 1861, when
Victor Emmanuel became King Of
Italy His grandson Is the present ruler
o. the young kingdom.
With no king and queen is the pomp
and how Of royalty so little in evidence
as with the soverelgns of Italy. Frankly
ana deeply devoted to each other and
To their family, they prefer a simple,
unos'entatious life. that leaves time for
WORK and study, and for the direction OF
their chlldren's education; both King
anu Queen have a profound conviction
Of the value of fresh air and sunshine,
N little prince and the princesses
rom their babyhood having been ac-
cd'''med TO sunbaths after their morn
M toilet, while they spend long de-
IcolS months at the Kings beautiful
hunting lodge of Castel Porziano, on
me s"ashOre, where they run about
barefoot and in the slightest attire,
gaining like the humblest of their sub
!ac'- health and strength for future
year from a simple, natural life. When
u" duties of State permit the royal
parents delight to motor down to visit
iar.r children there. in the peace and
quiet ot that beautiful coast, even in
Nn'"r as bright and balmy as the
French Riviera, and which, as the King
s'E nf his lonely island of Monte Cristo,
Eh"r" he and the Queen spend happy
DAY shooting and climbing, is a moral
slna'0rum"
h.n- Victor Emmanuel is essentially
~ u of few words, his public speeches
are rare, but they are always much
l" 'N" point and are those of n man
VIII has thought clearly and deeply
Na " uhieCt on which he speaks, and
N''1 he discovers, by means of one OF
E"-" surprise visits that the royal
Ei..t or tho royal love for motoring en-
a'.' him TO make, that his soldiers or
u. poorer subjects are not cared for
aS they should be, and that officials
am those responsible are not alive to
W"' duty, he Is capable with single
sentence Of making the delinquents
''' Ie his disapproval and Indignation,
am excuses and speclous explanations
ore met with a silence that speaks
NOR loudly than words. 1t is a trad-
"on N the House of Savoy that where
SuH"rIng and sorrow have stricken their
people there Is the place for the King
10 he, giving that personal supervision
ana human sympathy that does so much
10 console the sufferers, and to urge
.Nos" whose duty It is to relieve them
70 further efforts. The great Victor
emmanuel thus began his reign over
United Italy, coming in the terrible
uiyS u the Roman inundatlon Of 1870
10 The lately acquired capital to SYM
pan 20 with his new subjects. King
mum ert followed his example, and
whether il was a fire, or floods, or a
runway smash or the inhabitants of
naples maddened with terror fighting
AGAINST the doctors and the sanitary
arrangements that sought to save them
nom cholera, wherever calamity or
''"S''Nohe overwhelmed the mind and