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On this Page 7
I BRITISH & FOREIGN.
ITALY.
fFrom our own Correspondent.]
Borne, February 1.
I must begin this letter with a long and
somewhat tedious financial question which has
just been debated in the Senate. The subject
is one which may be the forerunner of grave
events affecting the future of constitutional
liberty in Italy. There is over the country a
foreboding that something serious may happen,
and it is well that jour readers should know
what is the
. . . poca favilla,
Gran fiamma seconda,
as Dante'says (" The spark that may cause a great
conflagration.") In Italy, bb I told you in a
former letter, we were governed by the Eight
for sixteen years. No one, beginning with King
Victor Emmanuel, wished for the heft, which
was composed of Mazzinians, Garibaldiaus, and
Republicans, but at length the country, ex
hausted by taxation, hailed the Parliamentary
revolution of three years ago and called the
Left to power. Once in office, the Republican
Ministers became Royalists, but they have been
and will continue to be annoyed by two things
—their former relations with the Republicans
and the clique of the '• Italia Irredenta,'' and by
the Senate, which has ever been conservative, and
a merciless judge of the Left. This party, com
promised by its own inaptitude, has_ been
trying" to regain popularity by abolishing
the grist tax. Roth the friends and opponents
of the Ministry have blamed this measure.
Even Gambetta said " Are the Italians mad,
that they think ef doing away with a
tax that yields eighty millions of france?"
But advice and expostulation have been alike
unavailing. Determined to carry their point,
the Ministry threatened the Senate with a
batch of sixty or eighty new members before
the debate came on, that they might obtain a
Radical majority. Thus the absorbing question
throughout Italy for the last few months has
been the grist tax. It haB occupied all minds
—that of the King, who on the first occasion
of his opening Parliament was made by the
Government to pass his word that the tax
should be abolished, and is now preoccupied by
the financial difficulties which its removal will
produce—that of the Ministry, which made its
abolition a point of political principle, in order
to preserve the favour of the Radicals—that of
the Left, always opposed to it—and that
of the Senate, which is alarmed lest
the removal of the obnoxious tax should again
cause a deficit in the revenue. Still the agita
tion is more artificial than real, because the
people are convinced that even with the re
of the moval tax bread, which now costs 55
centimes per chilo (5gd. per 2 lb.}, will not be one
whit cheaper in consequence, and they foresee
that for the grist tax—which yielded 80 mil
lions of francs—the Government will have to
substitute several others to the amount of 100
millions to cover the additional expense of col
lecting them. But is the tax really so ob
noxious ? Certainly it falls heavily on every
one, and especially on the poor—a circumstance
of which the retrograde party make a powerful
lever against the Government, calling it the tax
on hunger.
But the grist tax was not unknown in the
" good old times," when Italy swarmed with
beggars, now no longer the case, because with
liberty we have more resources and higher
wages. A glance at past history will show the
correctness of this statement. The grist tax was
first introduced into Sicily by Ludovic of
Aragon as early as 1342. It then passed into
the southern and central Italian provinces, into
the ex-Papal States, and elsewhere, sometimes
assuming different names. In Rome alone, for
instance, it was first levied by Pope Clement
VII.; Paul III. continued it; Julius III., on his
accession to the chair of St. Peter in 1550,
abolished it to gain popularity, and then re
levied it two years after. Three-quarters of a
century later Urban VIII. (called "Papa
gabella," or the Tax-Pope, because he levied
seventy-three taxes to enrich his relatives, the
Barberini, to whom historians say he gave
150,000,000 scuai, or crowns) gave a harsh fiscal
form to that law. His successor, Innocent X.,
to secure his own election, promised titles of
nobility and the abolition of the grist tax; but
once made Pope he failed to fulfil his promise,
and preserved that tax to enrich his nephews.
On its having been observed to him that he had
broken his word, His Holiness replied, " Non e
tempo di far duchi, ma di far couti"—(" This
is not a time for making Dukes, but Counts"—
"Conti" meaning Counts and accounts.) The
grist tax is, therefore, no new grievance for the
Italians. In 1868 the Kingdom of Italy had
annual arrears of 100 to 150 millions of francs.
Sella, Minister of Finance, plucked up courage,
and presented a Bill to Parliament for
introducing the grist tax. Loud protests were
raised by ihe Left, who said the Government
wished to starve the people. But the Bill
passed into law, and in the first year
the tax yielded thirty millions, which afterwards
increased to eighty millions. This, however,
did not suffice to cover the deficit. Sella was
followed by Minghetti, who annexed to the
Treasury many revenues of the municipalities;
and the balance was obtained, but with grievous
loss to the great citieB, especially to Rome,
Naples, Florence, Ancona, and others.
Wheu, in 1876, the Left came into Dower, all
looked for the abolition of many taxes, and
especially of the odious grist tax. But Depretis
was mute on the subject. Instead of lightening
the burdens of the nation this Minister presented
some " leggine" (little laws), as he called them,
to increase the imposts on sugar—which already
cost If. 50c. the chilo (2 lb.), aud now costs If.
80c., or at the rate of 9d per English lb.—
petroleum, &c., and thus he obtained fifty-three
million francs from new taxes. " II ne valait
pas la peine de changer de gouvernement!" The
Depretis Ministry went out, and was followed by
Cairoli, who gave the portfolio of Finance to
Doda. The new Minister astonished the nation
by giving out that he had found sixty millions
of surplus revenue, and proposed to abolish the
grist tax. The finding of this mare's nest was
hailed with ridicule by every one, and Doda
resigned. It was discovered that of the famous
sixty millions only twelve millions existed,
which were barely enough to allow the grist tax
on maize to be abolished, which yielded twenty
five millions. This was accordingly done, but
greatly against the will of the Senate. The
present Parliament, which has been called
" Cromwell's Parliament," passed a Bill, at the
instigation of Cairoli, who is no financier,
completely abolishing the grist tax.
Grimaldi, wno succeeded to Doda in
the Treasury, saw clearly that to adopt such a
measure would ruin the finances. Of course
such a plain-spoken Minister had to resign, and
was replaced by Magliani, who proposed to re
trench several millions from the War Deport
ment, lay on other imposts, and asked the
Senate to pass the Bill for annulling the grist
tax which had been already approved by the
Lower Houbo. The Senate, which after the
advent of the Left had had frequent conflicts
with the Chamber of Deputies, found, after a
Committee had carefully examined the balance
sheets, that we were already in arrears, that
new taxes were impossible, that it would be
suicidal policy to economize in the War Depart
ment whilst Europe is armed to the teeth, and
proposed the suspension of the Bill in order to
avoid a new conflict with the Parliament. So
the debate was opened. Great men, venerable
patriots and statesmen, supported the opinions
of the Committee. The Senators Count Bembo,
Dr. Pantaleoni(the "Dr. Antonio" of Ruffini),
Jacini, who was several times in the Ministry
under Cavour, spoke in favour of suspending.
This last Senator remarked if they really wished
to relieve the burdens of the people they ought
to do away with the lottery, which yields
eighty millions, or reduce the income tax,
wnich is paid by every one whose income
amounts to or exceeds 250f. per annum (£lO).
Count Cambray, Digny, ex-Minister of Finance,
Buoncompagni, and others, also spoke in
favour of suspending the Bill. Among these
others was Count Arrivabene, who in 1820
fled from Italy under sentence of death
by Austria, for the sole reason that a patriotic
poem by Gabriele Rossetti — " Sei pur bell a
con gli astri sul criue"—had been found in his
house. He lived long in France and Belgium,
where he became known as a great political
economist, whom kings and the great men of
the time delighted to honour. This venerable
nobleman, with the experience of his ninety
four years, solemnly counselled the Senate Dot
to abolish that tax, adding that the late King
of the Belgians (Leopold I.), Gladstone, and
others bad often said to him," Advise the
Italians to look well to their finances." _ Those
Senators who spoke in favour of the Bill ware
men of bo mark, if we except the Marquis
Pepoli, connected with the Emperor of Germany
bv hiB marriage with a Princess Hohenzollem.
But the " tag of war" began when the Senator
Saracco, in a powerful speech weighty with
provident foresight, overwhelmed the Minister
Magliani with a formidable array_ of cyphers
and unanswerable facts. Magliani, in reply,
failed to convince either his opponent or the
Senate. On the evening of January 24 it was
put to the vote. There was a very full House,
the diplomatic gallery full, and every available
inch of space allotted to the public taken up.
The House divided—125 voted iu favour of
Sarsccc's motion, and 83 in favour of
the Government. This result produced a pro
found impression throughont the kingdom.
Now there are but two ways for the Govern:
ment to get ont of the difficulty, either to close
the session and create a great number of new
Senators devoted to the Ministry who will vote
in favour of the Bill, or else to dissolve Parlia
ment and ask the country to judge between the
two Houses. But the King seems to be opposed
to the first of these measures, on the ground
that it would be a wrong to the Senate thus to
increase its numbers; and with regard to elect
ing a new Chamber of Deputies, as His Majesty
has promised that the franchise shall be greatly
extended, he would prefer that the general
election should take place after the passing of
the new law for the extension of the franchise.
It seems, however, that the King, yielding to
the pressure of the Government, will close the
session.
King Humbert and all Italians have for the
last few months felt much anxiety about the
health of Queen Margaret. It appears that Her
Majesty caught a slow fever when in Venice
last autumn, and was very ill at Monza, from
whence she was taken to Bordighera, asmall
town on the Riviera of Genoa, to recruit her
health. She was Btill too weak to spend Christ
mas in Rome and undergo all the fatiguing
levies on New Year's Day which Court ceremo
nial imposes, and returned to the capital a week
later. The fact that Professor De Martino, her
medical attendant when the Prince of Naples
was bom, had been sent by the King to visit
Her Majesty at Pordighera, gave rise to con
jectures and rumours which expressed the desire
of the nation. Bnt it seems that the Queen's
health has never fnlly recovered from the shock
which her delicate nervous system received at
the time of Passanante's attempt on the King's
life, the remembrance of which haunts her con
stantly. Since her return to Rome Her Majesty's
health has visibly improved, and her gracious
personand sweet smile may now be seen every fine
afternoon on the Pincio gladdening the hearts
of her devoted subjects, who bless her as she
passes. The Italians have a veritable eulte for
Queen Margaret!
The recent visit to Rome of Count Menabren,
our Ambassador at London, has given rise to
Various rumours. Some imagined His Excellency
was to be transferred to Paris; others were of
opinion that the King desired to consult with
him on the present difficult position of affairs
in Italy. Another on dit is that his visit has a
royal wedding for its object,—no other than the
marriage of H.R.H. Prince Thomas, the Queen
of Italy's brother, with the Princess Beatrice,
daughter of Queen Victoria. The Prince was
educated in England, at Harrow, by order of his
uncle, the late King Victor Emmanuel. The
marriage is said to have been on the tapis two
years ago; but the Prioce's mother, the Duchess
of Genoa,aferventCatholic,opposed the match on
the ground of religion. It is now supposed that
the objections of the Duchess have been over
come, and that Count Menabrea has resumed
the negotiations. This would not be the first
marriage of the House of Savoy in which His
Excellency has been concerned. It was he who
brought about King Victor Emmanuel's morgan
atic marriage with the Countess Mirafiore; and
it was he who along with the Marquis Gualterio
proposed and arranged the union of the present
Sovereigns of Italy.
It will please your readers to hear that Mr.
Smiles, the author of " Self-Help," who visited
Italy last autumn, has just been made a Knight
of the Order of Saints Maurice aud Lazarus by
King Humbert motxiproprio.
You may already have heard by telegraph of
another little stir recently made in Rome on
the occasion of the funeral of General Avez
7<.ra by the "Italia Irredenta" (Unredeemed
Italy") Society. The deceased General was an
honest old Republican, a member of Parliament,
and one who would never have raised a finger
against the House of Savoy. Having been
favousas a patriot he received a public funeral.
Someliterary men, along with a few Trindentine
and Istrian immigrants, took this opportunity
to make a demonstration by unfurling the flag
of these provinces when the coffin was lowered.
As the Prime Minister Oairoli (formerly a Re
publican and a friend of the " Italia Irredenta"
movement) was present, as also the Minister of
the War Department, this demonstration was
highly unseemly. A letter was afterwards pub
lished by Matteo Imbriaui, accusing these
Ministers of double-dealing, inasmuch as they
had permitted the deputation of the "Irre
denta" to accompany the funeral, and to carry
the flag furled through the streeM of Rome,
and had afterwards prevented the unfurling
of it at the grave while Imbriani was
making a speech in honour of the deceased.
Menotti Garibaldi replied to this letter, saying
that such was not the case, and the affair was
hushed up. However, a motion was made on
the subject in Parliament, but Cairoli post
poned his answer indefinitely. Contempo
raneously in the Hungarian Chamber Baron
Haymerle was interrogated on this question of
the " Italia Irredenta," but the Baron, who was
Ambassador in Rome for several years, knows
the mind of Italian statesmen of all shades of
politics, and is aware that they are all alike
opnosed to the schemes of the "Irredenta"
He does not magnify the thing like his brother,
who, with Bismarck's approval, wrote the
pamphlet "Italico Res," because he knows well
that it is not really a party but a kind of Society
of about a score of hot-brained individuals,
instigated by Tyrolese and Iatrian exiles, who
would like to pick a quarrel with Austria, so he
rejected the motion. He acted like a sensible
man; for indeed it is a mistake to attach any
importance to the " Irredenta," and were it not
that the Austrian and German papers take
notice of it we in Italy should never give it a
thought, for I repeat it is not and has no hope
of ever being a party.
And now permit me to take you from the
Quiripal to the Vatican. Pope Leo XIII. has
been ill in consequence of the extreme cold in
Home. He is now better, and his prudent
and crafty mind is engrossed in trying to
reconcile Church and State everywhere
but in Italy, a country which he rarely
names, and indeed affects to ignore.
The affairs of Germany chiefly absorb him
at present, as he has not yet obtained the victory
over the astute High Chancellor. Certain it is
that Bismarck is no longer the same man who
framed the laws of 1873. At that time he was
hostile to the Church and a friend of " Pro
gressists" or Radicals, but since the attempts
against the Emperor's life be has looked favour
ably on the Conservatives and been severe
against the Socialists; in short, he is once more
the Bismarck of 1870, that is, the friend of the
Ultramontane party. This being the case, he is
less rigid with the Catholic clergy, and would
fain conciliate the Pope, could that be done
without lessening the authority of the empire
or seeming to abjure those laws which he would
be ashamed alike to abrogate or enforce. Bis
marck is more a politician than a man of
mystic convictions, so he changes easily, and
the Pope thus flatters himself that he may be
gained over—to Canossa— but the wily High
Chancellor often escapes him. Here in Italy it
is feared that these two crafty politicians will tind
some way by which they may seem to come to
an understanding, while each will think he has
the advantage of the other. Meanwhile the
" ravell'd skeine" of English Catholicism becomes
still more entangled. Cardinal Manning aims
at being the overseer of the conduct and dis
cipline of the monastic Orders in England.
These decline to submit, and invoke the ancient
consuetudes of the Church and their rules,
which authorize them to acknowledge no other
superior than their General who resides ia
Home. Leo XIII., who does not like to
alienate from himself the " English Pope"
who sends him large collections, nor
make the head ef the monastic Orders his
enemy, has skilfully avoided settlingjthe dispute
himself by sanding to London Father Ballerioi,
a Jesuit who will decide in favour of tbe monks,
whose superiors have always and everywhere
eluded the authority and oversight of Go
vernments, owning obedience to their General
and to the Pope alone when called to account tor
their actions. Nor do the Catholics in Brazil
show themselves very amenable to Papal rule.
There the Emperor is a Freemason, so are his
Ministers and all those in authority, and these
make bard laws against the Church. The Pope
will not tolerate these innovations, and he has,
through Cardinal Nina, claimed thit the
Brazilian Government restore liberty to the
priests, on pain of excommunication. Mean
while, on tbe 21st of January, H I.H the Prin
cess Isabella, daughterof Don Pedro d' Alcantara,
and her huBband, Prince Gaston, of Orleans,
Comte d'Eu, arrived in Home. They are at
the Hotel de Home, and although travelling
in strictest incognito, went to visit the
King and Queen as soon as they arrived.
His Majesty returned their visit. These
courtesies have annoyed the Pope, who knows
that the Comtease d'Eu is heiress to the throne
of Brazil.
An agricultural paper, 11 coltivatore, an
nounces that in the vineyards of Asireale and
Hiposto, in Sicily, an insect still worse than
the Phylloxera vastatrix has appeared. The
peasants in these parts have given the name of
tortrice to this new scourge. It propagates
its species abundantly three times in the year,
the last of these being when the grapes are
fully ripeDed. The insect then puuctures a
grape and feeds on it. The grape thus injured
rots, and exudes a fluid which soon corrupts the
whole bunch, and thus destroys the hopes of the
vine-dreBser just at the time of vintage. There
is also an evil which threatens the rich produc
tion of silk, for which Lombardy, Komagua, and
Calabrias are noted. This winter has been un
usually severe in Italy; frost and snow have
prevailed from the Alps to Brindisi. It is well
known that the silkworm seed suffers if kept in
an atmosphere so low as 4° or 5° centigrade
below zero. But in Lombardy we have still a
temperature of 8° or 9° centigrade below zero,
so it is feared that the seed may be frozen or
affected with asphyxia. Some experimeots have
indeed been made upon cards of Japauese and
Chinese seed, and not a single worm appeared.
When we consider that Italy produces 390
millions of francs' worth of silk, this new
calamity must fall heavily on the country.
An important discovery has just been made,
namely, that dynamite can be applied to agri
cultural purposes. Here in Home the College
of Agronomical Engineers have accomplished
the planting of olives ion the slopes of Mount
Catilio by means of the Nobel dynamite, by
which they have been able to clear in the solid
rock spaces destined to receive large trees. At
the same time, about twenty proprietors of the
province of Yiterbo, belonging to the Agrarian
Society, also united in trying to utilize the
explosion of dynamite in laying bare the soil
under rocks. They made their experiments on.
the property of the Messrs. Garnei, two miles
from Yiterbo, under the technical direction of
the engineer, G. Badia. It was agreed that tbe
charges should be two Nobel cartouches No. 1
■and one of No. 2 to blast the tufo ; and for the
travertine, a kind of coarse marble which
abounds there, a charge of two cartouches of
No. 1. The result was splendid. After the
explosion a vast space of clear soil was exposed
to view, the tvfo having been shattered to
fragments and entirely removed, so that little
manual labour would be necessary to fit the
gronnd for cultivation. The experiments made
on the travertine rock were still more successful,
for the blasting of the hard and seemingly im
penetrable mass left a deep wide hole sufficient
for planting one of the largest trees. Beneath
the travertine was found a very rich soil of
vegetable formation. These experiments are to
be repeated, and if they continue to be crowned
with success they will be of vast importanci
for the improvement of agriculture, and will
afford a new source of wealth.
It may interest your readers to know what it
going on here in the literary world. The
realistic school of poetry has lately found some
proselytes on this side of the Alps. This style,
which aims at describing subjects au naturel,
was exemplified in England by the poems of
William Blake. It found an enthusiastic
disciple and advocate in Swinburne, was
adopted by Dante G. Rossetti in some of his
poems; and a few years ago the school re
appeared in France in the romances of Zola and
Daudet, and in Italy in the poems of Lorenzo
Stecchetti. Giosuè Carducci, an able writer
and Professor of Literature in the University of
Bologna, became enamoured of it, and to the
novelty of realism (which is sometimes too
licentious) he sought to add that of metre.
He discarded all classical metres used by Ali
ghieri Dante, Petrarch, Ariosto, Tasso, and
Manzoni, and readopted the Horatian verse,
using the rhythm and metrical measure of the
poems of Horace. Italian poetry thus assumed
a Latin garb and a lubric realism. Carducci,

foreseeing the storm of criticism which his
poems were likely to arouse, entitled his volume
"Ode Barbate" (barbarous odes). They have
recently been translated by Mrs. Jacobson and
published by the editor, Friedrich of Leipsic.
Professor Carl Hillebrand has annexed a preface
on Carducci's style of poetry, which also
appeared in the appendix to the National
Zeitung of Berlin of December 1 last.

With regard to archaeological subjects, I may
mention that the seventh volume of " Roman
Antiquities," edited by G. Marquardt and T.
Mominsen, who iB a Roman citizen, has just
been received with much interest in Rome.
This volume contains the first part of the
''Private Life of the Romans," written by
Marquardt. It is illustrated by twelve en
gravings and two lithograph*, and is published
by S. Hirzel, of Leipsic. Part second, which
will contain the conclusion of the subject of
" Roman Antiquities," is to come out next

year.

The "Monograph on Monte Testaccio," by
Herr Heinrich Dressel, has been welcomed with
mingled pleasure and incredulity by tbose who
take an interest in the excavations and other
archaeological researches now going on in Rome.
This mysterious mound has hitherto been an
archaeological puzzle, and a brief notice of it
may not be without interest to those who have
visited or who hope to visit Alma Roma.

There exists in Rome an archaeological trium
virate, consisting of a certain P (who desires
to be incognito), P. Brnzza (a most intelligent
antiquarian), and Dressel, who are always in
search of ancient pottery and other remains,
which they seek to interpret and illustrate.
They are intimate friends, without a shade of
rivalry, and pore over and decipher effaced in
scriptions and makers' marks together with most
laudable patience. Bruzza has, within a very
few years, made a collection of thousands of old
bricks, with their different marks, and has,
besides, published learned works on epigraphy.
Italian archaeologists had set little value on the
remains of pottery found on the Mount Tes
taccio, because the marks and graphite signs
found on them can add nothing to epigraphy,
reduced to philological science by Borghesi de
Rossi and Mommsen. Still, it was hoped that
some light might be thrown on the origin of
the classical mound, and the purpose for which
it was raised, or at least that some exact his
torical date in connection with it might have
been found. But in Dressel's Monography
there are only conjectures. He first of all de
scribes the Testaccio, which is situated at the
base of the Aventine Hill, and near the Aurelian
walls; that is, between the pyramid of Oaius
Gestius and the Tiber. He then speaks " of the
material of which it is composed"—amphora?
and broken pottery, whence its name Tes
taceus. Dressel believes that name to be an
terior to mediaeval Rome; but this is a gra
tuitous supposition. There is no author nor
monument which attests to it. He has also a
chapter on " The Scientific Material of the Tes
taccio," and repeats what we all know already—
that it abounds with interesting fragments of
amphoric and other pottery, graphite inscrip
tions, and paintings, which he himself sometimes
fails to decipher. Then follows another chapter on
" The Literature of the Testaccio," in which he
repeats the mediaeval legend that the Oiesars
used to throw upon the mound the vases in
which subject peoples brought tribute to Rome.
Then be mentions the Historic Period, and says
the mound was supposed to be there in the time
of King Tarquinius Priscus, when that monarch
forbade the potters to throw broken pottery
into the Tiber, so that the Testaccio soon rose 10
the height of SO metres above the sea level,
according to the measurement by Eschinardi.
But Ligorio showed this to be erroneous, and
proved that the mound near the potteries afore
said was called Doliolum; and two years later
Marmi corrected Ligorio, and said that that
word was a corruption of Dolocenum. Reiffer
scheid and Bruzza, learned authorities, think
that the mound was formed by degrees of the
fragments of the large amphorae, full of
wine, oil, corn, pulse, &c., which came up the
Tiber to Rome from Spain and Africa; and
these two archaeologists return, like Dressel,
without any valid proof, to the earliest
legendary origin of the mound, and restore its
name of Testaccio. Archaeologists never tire of
exploring it. Dressel has done so for seven
years, from 1872 to 1879; but he says himself
that he has only examined the surface and done
no excavating. He found quantities of pottery
—the bowls of amphorae, with black painted
inscriptions—but hundreds of these are to be
fouud over all the Roman Gampagna. He once
came upon two pieces bearing Greek inscriptions,
and thought he had made an important disco
very, but on closer inspection the Greek proved
to be modern ! Dressel concludes with a de
scription of the manner in which he supposes
the mound to have been raised—out of broken
amphoræ, &c., but his suppositions have come
down to us from the Middle Ages. At all
events, he deserves praise for the industry with
which he has sought to read the archaeological
riddle of Monte Testaccio.

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