DEATH OF RUDINI.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 272, 10 August 1908, Page 7

DEATH OF RUDINI.

ITALIAN EX-PREMIER. (IIY TELEGRAPH—PRESS ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT.) (Rec. August 9. 4.30 p.m.) . Rome, August 8. The death is announced of the Marquis di Rudini, ex-Premier of Italy, aged 09 years. '

RUDINI'S CAREER. ■Marquis 1 Antonio Starabba lludini, Italian statesman and Knight of the Annunziata, was born on April 6, 1839, at Palermo. In 1866, he was elected syndic of his native city, and displaj ed considerable personal courage in quelling a Separatist insurrection organised by the reactionary party. The prestige thus acquired led to his appointment to tho Prefecture of Naples in 1867, and in October, 18G9, to the Ministry of tho Interior in the Menabrea Cabinet.. His term of office was short, as lie fell with Menabrea in the following December, and held no prominent positiou until upon tho death of Minglietti in 18SG, ho became leader of the Riclif. Earlv in 1891 lie succeeded his fellow Sicilian, Crispi, in the Premiership and Ministry ol' Foreign Alfairs, by forming a Coalition Cabinet with a part of the Left under Nicotera; but his administration proved weak and vacillating, its only important act being tho renewal of the Triple Alliance for a period of twclvo years. Alter an attempt to modify his Cabinet, he was overthrown in May, 1892, by a vote of tho Chamber.

Upon the return of bis rival, Crispi, to power m December, 1893, he resumed political activity allying himself with the 'Radical leader Cavallotti, whose defamatory anti-Crispin campaign lie openly encouraged. The crisis consequent upon the disaster of Adowah (March, 1896) enabled Rudini to return to power as Premier and Minister of the Intorior in a Cabinet formed by the veteran Conservative, General Ricotti. He concluded peace with Abyssinia, but endangered relations with Great Britain by the unauthorised publication of secret diplomatic correspondence in a Green Book of Abyssinian affairs. His internal policy was marked by continual yielding to Radical pressure, and by persecution of Crispi. Dissolving the Chamber early in 1897, in obedience to Radical dictation, and supporting Radical candidatures in the ensuing general election, ho augmented the influence of the subversive partfes, and inadvertently paved the way for the outbreak of Maj% 1898, the suppression of which, manu militari, entailed considerable bloodshed, and necessitated the proclamation of a state of siege at Milan, Naples, Florence, and Leghorn. Indignation at the results of liis policy led to his overthrow in June, 189S, when, in order to prevent the advent of his Conservative opponents, he resigned office, without permitting Parliament to designate a successor. During his second term of office, he thrice modified his Cabinet (July 189G, December 1597, May 1898), without strengthening his political position. In many respects, Rudini, though leader of tho Right, and nominally a Conservative politician, proved a dissolving element in tho Italian Conservative ranks. By his alliance with tho Liberals, under Nicotera. in 1891, and by his understanding with the Radicals under Cavallotti in 1831-98, by his betrayal of his Conservative colleague, General Ricotti, to whom lie owed tho Premiership,' in 189 C; by his vacillating action after his fall from power, ho divided and demoralised a constitutional party which, with greater sincerity and less relianco upon political cleverness, he might have welded into a solid Parliamentary organisation.