century furnishes plenty of material to novel-writers; and the reign of Peter II., the grandson of Peter the Great, and those of the Czarina Anne and Peter III., have lately been very finely depicted by Solovief, Karnovitch, and Danilevsky.

The first-named of these authors is a son of our eminent historian, whose premature loss Russia had to deplore about two months ago. Nobody has done so much for the history of his country as the deceased; his "History of Russia," on which he laboured for more than twenty years, has stopped at its twenty-second volume. It is a great pity that he was not able to carry it forward to the end, for it was to him that we owe the first systematic history of the Romanofs. He traces the record down to the end of Catherine II.'s reign. Further on we possess only monographs and relations of particular events. Solovief was the man to fill this gap, being endowed with great intellectual gifts, and with a still greater power of labour. Such perseverance is very rare among our countrymen, which makes this loss of our best historian all the greater.

T. S.

CONTEMPORARY LIFE AND THOUGHT IN

ITALY.

ROME, Dec. 16th, 1879.

THE

The Political Situation.

HE Italian Parliament was about to meet again in November last, after nearly four months' rest, when it was suddenly announced that Signor Cairoli's friends, persuaded that the Cabinet had not a majority in the House, were attempting a reconciliation between the present Premier, Cairoli, and the late Premier, Depretis. Signor Miceli, who has just been entrusted with the portfolio of Agriculture and Commerce, requested the principal leaders of the Left to meet and discuss the best means for coming to an understanding between the different sections of the party. Signori Depretis, Nicotera, Crispi, Mancini, La Porta, and several others, accepted the invitation. But it soon appeared clear that no satisfactory conclusion could be expected from such a proceeding. Meanwhile, the Ministers, who had rarely met during the summer recess, and who had been going about the country enjoying the sea or the mountain air, commenced to hold councils and to discuss the financial budgets, prepared with great accuracy and conciseness by the young Minister of Finance, Signor Grimaldi, a Neapolitan deputy. He declared most positively that the financial calculations made by Signor Seismit-Doda, the Minister of Finance in the first Cairoli Cabinet, which showed a surplus of sixty millions, were completely wrong. Furthermore, Signor Grimaldi declared that the calculations made by his predecessor, Senator Magliani, which enabled Italy to abolish the grist tax, were equally exaggerated. Important discussions took place. The friends of Signor Cairoli, who desired to maintain their popularity and to abolish the grist tax, and who saw how important it was to keep on friendly terms with so intelligent and so influential a man as Signor Grimaldi, did all in their power to induce him to alter his calculations. This the young Minister refused most positively to do. The consequence was, that an extra-parliamentary crisis took place. Signor Grimaldi, and the Minister of Grace and Justice, Varè, who had sided with him, withdrew, together with Senator Perez, the Minister of Public Instruction. The new Cabinet was formed before the meeting of

Parliament, Signor Depretis, who had been overthrown a few months ago by Signor Cairoli, accepting the office of Minister of the Interior in it. During the summer recess little or nothing had been concluded. Signor Villa, the Minister of the Interior, and now Minister of Grace and Justice, had prepared a Bill for introducing important reforms in the interest of public safety in Italy, leaving the Carabineers with their present valuable organization, and uniting the Government and Municipal police into one disciplined body. The Minister had also prepared the new electoral law, which will undergo some change in the hands of the present Minister of the Interior, Signor Depretis.

But the country was more anxious about the relations of Italy with foreign powers than about home affairs. Signor Visconti Venosta, the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Minghetti and Lanza Cabinets, had succeeded in keeping Italy constantly independent, but never isolated. It appeared now that Italy was both independent and isolated. Count Corti, who represented Italy at the Congress of Berlin, was accused of doing nothing to prove that she had a right to be numbered among the great nations of Europe. The Count has over and over again declared that it would have been absurd for a country like Italy to assume a more active part. Italy, together with France, spoke clearly on the question of Greece, which led the Powers to sign the 13th protocol; but found it impracticable to raise a voice against the Austrian occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, or the English protectorate in Asia. The important despatches published in the Italian Green Book, a volume of more than six hundred octavo pages, show how anxious the Italian Government has been, and continues to be, as to the position assumed by France and England in Egyptian affairs. The publication of General Cialdini's despatch, containing the conversation held on this subject with M. Waddington, aroused a feeling of general indignation against France, which has not yet subsided. But the attitude of France towards Italy; the refusal of the French Government to intervene; the inauguration in Turin of the monument erected to Sommeille, Grandis, and Gattoni, the three engineers who carried out the piercing of the Mont Cenis tunnel; the demonstrations of sympathy manifested by the Austrians in the inauguration of the Pontebba line; and the pressure used by the Prince Imperial of Germany during his stay at Pegli, were not all sufficient to induce the Italian Government to place itself at the head of the proposed league of Italy, Austria, and Germany to protest. against the conduct of France and England in Egyptian affairs. The Italian Government, while keeping itself ready to act in harmony with Austria and the other Powers on the matter, refused to take a prominent part. The good understanding between Italy and Austria in this matter was greatly facilitated by the fact that Baron Haymerle, who had represented the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the Court of Italy, was called to succeed Count Andrassy at Vienna. And the good offices of Baron Haymerle succeeded likewise in checking the impression produced by Colonel Haymerle's publication of his Italica Res, apropos of the Italia Irredenta question. The Austrian Government must now be persuaded. that that movement never assumed an alarming character, and was not worth the publication issued on the subject by Colonel Haymerle, General Mezzacapo, and the committee of the Italia Irredenta.

The question whether Italy is or is not to be represented in the Egyptian Government cannot be said to be solved. It is solved de facto, but diplo

matic negotiatins are still going on between Italy and other Powers. Italy, unquestionably, exercised a considerable influence in Egypt before the formation of the Suez Canal. Italian advice had the preponderance in the councils of the Viceroy, and Italian commerce and speculation gave the Italians undoubted importance. But shortly after the Crimean War, English and French capitalists poured no end of money into Egypt, while the Italians did nothing but present great schemes on paper, requiring the outlay of money by Viceroys and Pashas. Had the Italians assisted with their money in counteracting French and English influence, they might now more easily succeed in their aspirations.

Commercial and Scientific Exploration.

But while the Italians are vainly striving to govern Egypt, their com mercial and scientific explorers are advancing successfully in Central Africa. The Prince of Teano, who only very recently was elected President of the Italian Geographical Society, delivered a most important speech on Italian explorations; and Count Pietro Brazza, a young Roman nobleman, delivered at the Collegio Romano an important lecture on his expedition to Lake Nyanza. Captain Sebastian Martini has left Zeilah on his way to Shoah, where the Marquis Antinori, the leader of the expedition, is anxiously awaiting him. Signori Cecchi and Chiarini, who formed part of the Antinori expedition, have left Shoah, and are advancing to the centre. Captain Martini is accompanied in this, his third expedition to Shoah, by young Count Pietro Antonelli, a nephew of the late Cardinal Secretary of State. Signor Matteucci, together with the Milan Committee, is organizing a new expedition, and will be joined by Don Giovanni Borghese, a son of Prince Borghese of Rome. Much of the enthusiasm of the Italians for opening commercial relations with Central Africa is due to old Monsignor Massaia, a Piedmontese missionary, who has resided thirty years at Shoah, who acquired great influence over King Menelik, and who, we are informed, is now a prisoner in the hands of King John of Abyssinia. The Marquis Antinori, an old Perugian nobleman above seventy, and a personal friend of the present Pontiff, is anxious that Italy should settle on the Red Sea to assure direct communications with Central Africa, and to co-operate with the other Powers in putting down the slave trade, which is assuming colossal proportions. This question of Italian commerce with Africa highly interests the Pope, who, on several occasions, has declared that the law providing that young priests must serve in the army will cause all the influence exercised by Italian missionaries in Africa, China, and America, to fall into the hands of Dutchmen, Belgians, and French

The two sons of Duke Grazioli, who have just returned from a two years' voyage round the world, have confirmed what Admiral de Monale stated in the Italian Senate on this important question. The missionaries who are constantly sent out by the Propaganda Fide to every part of the world, are young and robust men, precisely such as the law on military conscription picks out to serve in the army. Thus, two or three hundred young priests, who do very little in the way of strengthening the armed forces of Italy, are prevented from carrying Italian influence into more distant lands.

The Conservative Programme and Free Trade.

The eminently patriotic and pacific fête which took place at Turin last November, when King Humbert inaugurated the monument erected in

memory of the colossal work achieved in the piercing of Mont Cenis, attested most clearly that the great majority of the Italians rejoice at every earnest manifestation of peace and labour. The Conservative movement, which has assumed important proportions, is in itself a symptom of pacific policy. The Conservative party has organized itself thoroughly, and has commenced its work in the municipal camp. The deplorable conditions of municipal finance, the money uselessly squandered by several provincial and commercial councils, alarmed the Conservative party, which was partly subject to the will of the Pope; and the old formula, "Neither electors nor elected," the breaking of which was regarded by the clericals as a tacit recognition of accomplished facts, was virtually put aside to save local interests. The ice was broken, and one may positively rely on seeing the Conservative party present itself in compact form at the next political elections. The recent book, published by Senator Stefano Jacini, of Milan, entitled, "I Conservatori e l'evoluzione naturale dei partiti politici in Italia," has contributed in great part to encourage and to raise the hopes of the Conservatives. Senator Jacini, who held the portfolio of Public Works in the La Marmora Cabinet, and who took a great part in the negotiations which brought about the Italo-Germanic alliance of 1866, is a man of great political merit and enjoying great authority in the State. His frank Conservative programme-though not very clear on certain points-has produced a considerable impression. Senator Jacini is of opinion that Italy must abandon every idea of territorial aggrandisement, and must unite with those Powers which are resolved to maintain peace. This policy will place the country in a position to settle the financial question, to obtain a partial disarmament of the nation, and to promote agricultural and commercial improvement. Count Campello, one of the leaders of the rising Conservative party, entertains the same ideas, which he has set forth in a brief pamphlet just published. Count Campello says:

"If one considers the present state of things, one cannot help believing that this bellicose fever, which compels nations to arm to the teeth, sacrificing the national wealth in ironclads and fortresses, in carbines and cannons, must necessarily stop, unless the most powerful Empires are to be completely destroyed. And it is the duty of every good Italian to hope that we shall, the moment other Powers have done the same, diminish our military expenses."

The Commune of Florence has set an example which deserves special attention. The enormous Place d'Armes, covering an extent of several acres of splendid land outside the Porta Pinti, which served no purpose but that of a drill-ground, has been let to Cirio, the courageous Piedmontese exporter, who is now building refrigerating cars for the exportation of Italian agricultural produce to England, Germany, and Russia. The exports of vegetables, fruit, eggs, and fowls last year amounted to forty millions of francs. Signor Cirio purposes to export next year to the amount of one hundred millions of francs. The Place d'Armes of Florence will be cultivated with vegetables destined to fill the markets of Northern Europe with the artichokes and cauliflowers of Italy. This is a practical mode of doing good to Italy. Signor Cirio's patriotic efforts have encountered endless local and external opposition. But nothing would be so fatal to this sort of enterprise as a protective reaction on the part of Austria and Germany in the negotiations for the new commercial tariffs. Italy is a witness, at this moment, to the evil effects of protectionist duties. The smuggling of sugar and tobacco, since the passing of the late