The Italian elections have ended in a complete victory for
the policy of the Triple Alliance. All the Radical leaders who, as a rule, tend to an alliance with France, ha N% been thrown out, and their trustworthy followers are reduced to less than sixty. The Ministerial leaders, on the other hand, are all elected, and their followers, in a House of 508, number at least 325, and probably more. This does not mean security either for the Ministers or their internal policy, the electors having regarded only the broad question ; but it does mean that the Alliance will last, that the great Army will be main- tained, and that for the present the Italian Treasury will stagger on by dint of civil reductions, suspensions of public works, and greater severity in the collection of taxes. Those devices will be sufficient for a year or two ; but the Ministry will accumulate hatreds, the Floating Debt will increase, and the difficulty will, at the end of the time, be worse than ever. There seems, however, no alternative ; the King's Government, though it can direct foreign policy, not being strong enough either to make a smaller army more mobile, or to insist on drastic economy throughout the Administration, or to impose new taxes for "the period of preparedness."
