The Minghetti Ministry in Italy has succumbed to fate, to
the dislikes which every Ministry accumulates on itself, to the extrava- gances of the King, and to the wrath of the Tuscan Deputies, who were determined that the control of the Southern Railways should not be transferred to Rome. Notwithstanding M. Mingbetti's favourable financial statement, the Radicals brought forward a motion against the grist tax, which was accepted as a vote of want of confidence, and carried by a majority of 61 in a House- of 423, more than four-fifths of the total number of Deputies. The Ministry consequently resigned, their resignation was ac- cepted, and S. Depretis formed a Government. It is not sup- posed that the policy of the new Administration will greatly differ from that of its predecessor, except in so far as its jealousy of the Vatican may be a little more pronounced. The Italians, however, have never been able to frighten themselves about the Black Spectre, as the Germans do. They know too exactly what a Pope is, and what he can and cannot do.
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