It was a vote expressing the regret of the Chamber at the tidings which had just reached it, of Mazzini's death. Giuseppe Mazzini, whose name, to many ears, was so long a synonym of all that was dark and dangerous in political conspiracy, whose Republican propagandism kept thrones in terror, and who was popularly credited with very distorted theories as to the duty of regicide-theories, however, which he himself emphatically denied died at Pisa on the 10th of March. His age is variously stated at from 63 to 66 years. His health had been declining for some time; but it was reported that just before his death he was preparing for a journey of revolutionary propagandism into the North of Italy. His funeral was celebrated at Pisa on the 14th, with numerous deputations from the towns and provinces, from the Freemasons and other societies. About 12,000 persons, it is said, were present; but there was no disturbance of the peace all was conducted with order and decorum. The Radical party seized the occasion for a demonstration and procession at Rome on the 17th. That also passed off in perfect order. Benedetto Cairoli spoke when the car adorned with Mazzini's bust stopped in the Court of the Capitol. "Romans," he said, "where Cola di Rienzi fell, Mazzini triumphs!" Unquestionably, to Mazzini's burning enthusiasm and indomitable perseverance, more than to the agency of any other man,-even to that of Cavour or of Garibaldi, who could hardly have done what they did but for his previous influence on the popular mind, the great fact of Italian Unity was fairly to be ascribed.

The rival Governments of the Vatican and the Quirinal, which had pursued their ways very quietly side by side during the first half of the year, came into collision at the beginning of August, when the municipal elections were held for Rome and other cities. Since 1859, when Italy became a kingdom, the whole of the clerical party had kept aloof from participation in the elections, whether municipal or political. Nè eletti nè elettori, was their maxim of conduct, held almost as a religious dictum; and consequently the Liberal party had had the elections to themselves, even while Rome was still a Papal city. But this year a direct order was issued from the Vatican, requiring every adherent of the Pope to vote, and every parish priest to urge the faithful to the duty. To the strenuous efforts of the papalini, equally strenuous efforts were opposed on the other side. Each party prophesied that the vehemence of their antagonists would lead to some violent outbreak. Nothing of the kind occurred. The orderly spirit of the population again displayed itself most creditably. The priests went up in bodies of from ten to sixty; marching compact and united like bodies of soldiers. Of the monks who voted, the Dominicans formed the largest number. But the victory lay with the Moderate Liberals; of the clerical candidates, though Prince Torlonia was at the head of the list, not one was returned. As soon as the result was known, the whole city waved with an imbandierata, or display of flags. At night the Corso was illuminated.

The elections at Naples, where the Cardinal-Archbishop Riario Sforza was the ruling spirit of the Church's action, turned out more to the advantage of the Clericals; though as against the Moderate Liberals, they could hardly be said to have obtained a decided majority. The extreme Radicals were signally defeated-in fact, these elections and other symptoms seemed to show that the Republicans and Internationalists had at this time scarcely any footing in Naples. Its evils came from other sources: from its insecurity from street crimes, the failures of justice, and the loose morality of officials. In the Neapolitan provinces, too, brigandage was alarmingly rife this summer. A complaint on the subject was addressed to the head of the Ministry, Signor Lanza, signed by eleven deputies.

In the absence of great political excitement, the convulsions of nature this year in Italy were varied and startling, and produced very calamitous results. On the 24th of April there was an eruption of Mount Vesuvius, which lasted for a week, and caused great destruction of property and loss of life. The lava divided into two streams, one of which, taking a north and north-easterly direction, rushed down to San Sebastian and Massa, destroyed several villas at Cercola, and, turning sharp off, menaced Ponticella: the other poured itself on the Novelle of Resina. Thirty thousand persons fled from their homes to take refuge in other places, or to bivouack in the open air. The deaths were estimated at several hundreds. In the autumn, a hurricane swept over the island of Sicily, and destroyed the flourishing town of Palazzolo, in the province of Noto. But the worst physical calamity which befell the Italian kingdom was occasioned by the terrible inundations which the autumn rains brought to pass in the basin of the Po. When Christmas came, no less than 80,000 persons, it was calculated, had been thrown upon the public charity for food and clothing, in consequence of the devastation thus produced throughout the northern provinces.

On the 14th of December, Signor Sella, replying to Signor Rattazzi, gave information respecting the financial condition of the country. He announced that the state of the finances in 1872 had been in conformity with the Government anticipations; reminded the House of the deficits which had existed in previous years; and said that in 1872 the State held in the Treasury not only the produce of the taxes then due, but a considerable amount that had been in arrear. The fact of these arrears having been paid into the Treasury had induced the Government to postpone the imposi tion of the new taxes, to the amount of twenty million lire, which had been asked for in the financial Bill.

In this winter session of the Assembly, a Bill of no small importance was presented for the consideration of a special committee. It had been anticipated and discussed by the public during the summer, raising in every mind the expectation of another angry collision between the rival Powers of the Vatican and the Quirinal. The measure was directed to the regulation of Religious Corporations ithin the city of Rome. It was moderately framed. As intro

duced by the Minister of Justice on the 20th of November, its main provisions stood thus:

The laws of 1866, 1867, 1868, and 1870, relative to the suppression of religious corporations and the conversion of their property to be applied to the province and city of Rome: but in the case of those corporations that have a director or deputy-director in the city of Rome, the houses of such directors to be maintained, though without power of adding to the original property, or claiming civil rights. The property of the suppressed corporations to be still applied to the charitable purposes for which they were originally established. The edifices appertaining to the religious establishments in Rome to remain at their disposal until such time as the pensions to be granted shall have been decided upon, which decision must be arrived at within twelve months. The property of the religious corporations in the city of Rome to be converted into inalienable public rentes. The Minister, in the course of his speech, added that the total net revenue of the corporations amounted to 7,192,000f.

The Pope's Allocution at a Consistory on the 23rd of December, when twenty-two Cardinals were present, was a characteristic summing-up of the "situation" as viewed from the loopholes of the Vatican.

"The Church," he said, "continues to be sorely persecuted. This persecution has for its object the destruction of the Catholic Church. It is manifested by the acts of the Italian Government, which summons the clergy to serve in the army, deprives the bishops of the faculty of teaching, and taxes the property of the Church by heavy burdens. Above all things, the law presented to Parliament on the subject of religious corporations deeply wounds the rights of possession of the Universal Church, and violates the right of our Apostolic

mission. . .

"In face of the presentation of this law, we raise our voice before you and the entire Church, and condemn any enactment which diminishes or suppresses religious families in Rome or the neighbouring provinces. We consequently declare void every acquisition of their property made under any title whatsoever."

Then, recalling to the minds of the promoters of this law the censures directed against those who encroach on the rights of the Church, the Pope continued:

"But our grief at the injuries inflicted on the Church in Italy is much aggravated by the cruel persecutions to which the Church is subjected in the German Empire, where not only by pitfalls, but even by open violence, it is sought to destroy her, because the persons who not only do not profess our religion, but who even do not know that religion, arrogate to themselves the power of defining the teachings and the rights of the Catholic Church. These men, besides heaping calumny upon ridicule, do not blush to attribute persecution to Roman Catholics; they bring such accusations against the bishops, the clergy, and a faithful people because they

will not prefer the laws and the will of the State to the holy commandments of the Church. The men who are at the head of public affairs should recollect that none of their subjects better than the Roman Catholics render unto Cæsar the things which be Cæsar's, and for that very reason render unto God the things which be God's." He then remarked that some parts of Switzerland appeared to be pursuing the same path as Germany, and brought to recollection what had occurred to the Church of the Canton of Geneva. He spoke of Spain, declaring that the Clergy Dotation Law was opposed to the concordats and to justice. He dwelt upon the schism among the Armenians of Constantinople, who persisted in their rebellion, and who by stratagem had deprived the Roman Catholics of their immunities. On the other hand, he rejoiced at the constancy and the activity of the episcopate and the clergy of all those countries where, jointly with a faithful people, they defended the rights of the Church. He invited the Metropolitans to assemble their suffragans for consultation, in order to battle against iniquity, and concluded by invoking the Almighty to come to the aid of the Church.

The retirement of M. de Bourgoing, the French Minister at the Vatican, because his Government allowed the officers of the Orénoque to pay their respects on Christmas Day to the Italian King as well as to the Pope, was a tribute of loyalty to the Holy See for which the Ultramontanes greatly applauded him. He was replaced by M. de Corcelles, not at first with the title of Ambassador, but as envoy from M. Thiers, who, it was said, took the opportunity to assure the Pope of the undiminished importance he attached to the maintenance of good relations between his Government and the Holy See.

SPAIN.

Spain offered the only exception to the generally tranquil course of the world's politics this year. There all the elements of turbulence were in ceaseless action. King Amadeus, El Rey intruso, as his inhospitable subjects were wont to style him, kept on his throne indeed, but it was a throne shaken by many tempests, whose occupancy brought him small dignity, less authority, and utter unrest. Nothing but the worth and gallantry of his personal character saved his position from being one for commiseration amounting to contempt.

Señor Sagasta, who had climbed to power on the overthrow of the Malcampo Ministry in November 1871, had contrived to stave off for a time the evil day on which he must be brought face to face with an unmanageable Cortes. The royal influence, however, forced him to the battle-field on the 22nd of January of the present year, and he then delivered his Ministerial programme. He explained that a national policy of the Spanish people was now to be substituted for the old continental policy of the House of Austria

and the family policy of the House of Bourbon; that this new and national policy consisted in a careful abstention from interference in the affairs of other nations, and a corresponding claim of exemption from the interference of other nations in Spanish matters. He lamented the absence of internal concord; hinted at the adoption of rigorously repressive measures against the "International" and other disloyal associations; commended Señor Angulo's administration of the finances; promised liberal legislation in reference to religious matters; and ended by a reference to the Cuban question, which caused considerable agitation in the Assembly, as he took occasion to pronounce an eulogy on the conduct of the volunteers in the matter of the recent Havannah massacre.

Then followed a stormy incident, which at once placed the existence of the new Cabinet in jeopardy. Some questions of mere business arrangement arose between Señor Herrera, Vice-President of the Cortes, and Secretary Rios Portillo. The members of the Assembly instantly took sides; wild confusion ensued. Sagasta declared that he should treat the support of his Vice-President as a Cabinet question. It was immediately put to the vote, and the Ministry was defeated by nearly 100 voices. Sagasta then repaired to the King, and told him that two alternatives were open-dissolution of the Cortes, or the acceptance of his resignation, and a change of Ministry. The King decided for the former course. Sagasta read the decree of dissolution from the tribune, and announced the new elections as fixed for the 2nd of April, and the meeting of the Assembly for the 24th of that month.

The dissolution of the Cortes seemed likely to secure the Sagasta Ministry in office for at least the next three months; but in the middle of February a danger arose to it from a difference between the Unionist and Progressist members of the Cabinet. Admiral Topete, indignant at some recent promotions in which his own party was overlooked, demanded the removal of General Gaminde, Señor Angulo, and two other Sagastites from the Cabinet, and threatened otherwise to withdraw the support of himself and his adherents from Sagasta. Sagasta would have consented to make Gaminde a scapegoat, but Gaminde refused to be sacrificed; and the coalition Cabinet was on the eve of total rupture, when the King himself interfered, insisted that he would recognize two constitutional parties only, the Conservatives and Radicals, and gave the Sagastinos and Unionists twenty-four hours to effect an amalgamation of their various elements into one Conservative party.

The result was the formation of a remodelled Cabinet, containing five Unionists and three Sagastinos. Sagasta remained at the head of the Cabinet, Malcampo was still Minister of Marine, Camacho was appointed Minister of Finance. Thus again the ship was floated, "Conservative" breezes filling the sails.

The shifting of old names and party symbols was in truth at this time not a little difficult to follow. After the Ministerial crisis of November 1871, the then victorious Progressista party had