NEWS OF THE WEEK
S1GN OR CRISPI has another grave difficulty to meet besides the condition of Italian finance. The discontent which has been long smouldering in Sicily threatens to burst into flame in the shape of a peasant war. The island belongs for the most part to large proprietors who do not let farms, but work their lands, as the Roman nobles used, through troops of labourers supervised by bailiffs. These labourers are badly paid, are overworked, and are lodged at such distances from the fields they till that the mere walking to and fro is a severe addition to the day's toil. Recently their distress has been much aggravated by a rise of prices consequent on the introduction of octroi-duties into the small towns, and they have listened greedily to both Socialist and Anarchist lecturers. Furious riots have accordingly been frequent, attended with acts of savage ferocity, the Sicilians retaining much of the Moorish capacity for cruelty, and on December 24th, a mob seized the town of Vedguarnera, cut the telegraph- wires, liberated the convicts, destroyed the octroi-offices, burnt the Town Hall and Poet-Office, and commenced plundering the shops. Order was restored after some hours by the arrival of the infantry; but the case is not isolated, and it is felt that large measures are indispensable. Unhappily, nothing per- manent can be effected without a radical change of tenure, and to effect this in a legal way would require a heavy loan, which the Treasury is in no condition to raise. The peasantry, it should be added, profess full loyalty to the Monarchy.
