mean war
with France. The unification of the peninsula was left to be
accomplished by the Conservatives.

After 1870 the dominance of the Conservatives was prolonged to 1876.
The Lanza government, whose most distinguished member was the finance
minister Sella, lasted until July 10, 1873, and the second ministry of
Minghetti, given distinction by the able foreign minister
Visconti-Venosta, filled out the period to March 18, 1876. Upon these
two ministries devolved the enormous task of organizing more fully the
governmental system of the kingdom, and especially of bringing order
out of chaos in the national finances. The work was effectively
performed, but when it had been completed the nation was more than
ready to drive the Conservatives from office. The Conservative
administration had been honest and efficient, but it had been rigid
and at times harsh. It had set itself squarely against the democracy
of Garibaldi, Crispi, and Depretis; it had sought to retain the (p. 392)
important offices of state in the hands of its own immediate
adherents; and in the execution of its fiscal measures it had been
exacting, and even ruthless. March 18, 1876, the Minghetti government
found itself lacking a majority in the Chamber, whereupon it retired
and was replaced by a Radical ministry under the premiership of
Depretis, successor of Rattazzi in the leadership of the Left. A
national election which followed, in November, yielded the new
Government the overwhelming parliamentary majority of 421 to 87.

*432. The Rule of the Radicals, 1876-1896.*--Prior to their accession to
power the Radical leaders had criticised so sharply the fiscal and
administrative policies of their opponents that they were expected by
many persons to overturn completely the existing order of the state.
As all but invariably happens under such circumstances, however, when
the "outs" became the "ins" their point of view, and consequently
their purposes, underwent a remarkable transformation. In almost every
essential the policies, and even the methods, of the Conservatives
were perpetuated, and the importance of the political overturn of 1876
arises, not from any shift which took place from one style of
government to another, but from its effects upon the composition and
alignment of the parties themselves. During its fifteen-year
ascendancy the Right had exhibited again and again a glaring lack of
coherence; yet its unity was in reality considerably more su