retired, and a Liberal ministry was
constituted (June 24, 1900) under Saracco, president of the (p. 396)
Senate. Five weeks later, upon the assassination of King Humbert,
occurred the accession of the present sovereign, Victor Emmanuel III.

*437. The Saracco and Zanardelli Ministries, 1900-1903.*--The Saracco
ministry, formed as a cabinet of pacification, was overthrown February
7, 1901, in consequence of its hesitating attitude towards a dock
strike at Genoa. It was succeeded by a ministry containing Giolitti
(in the portfolio of the interior) and presided over by Zanardelli,
long a leader of the extremer wing of the Radicals. The members of the
new Government were drawn from several groups. Three were of
Zanardelli's following, three were adherents of Giolitti, three
belonged to the Right, one was a Crispian, and two were Independents.
Such was their forced reliance, however, upon the support of the
Extreme Left that the formation of this cabinet served as an impetus
to a notable advance on the part of the extremer groups, especially
the Socialists.

*438. Giolitti, Fortis, and Sonnino, 1903-1909.*--In October, 1903,
Premier Zanardelli retired, by reason of ill-health, and the cabinet
was reconstituted under Giolitti. Aside from the premier, its most
distinguished members were Tittoni, minister of foreign affairs, and
Luzzatti, minister of finance. The position of the new Government was
insecure, and although the elections of November, 1904, resulted in
the return of a substantial ministerial majority, the cabinet,
realizing that it really lacked the support of the country, resigned
in March, 1905. A new and colorless ministry, that of Fortis, lasted
less than a year, i.e., until February 2, 1906. The coalition cabinet
of Sonnino proved even less long-lived. The well-known statesmanship
of Sonnino, together with the fact that men of ability, such as
Luzzatti and Guicciardini, were placed in charge of various
portfolios, afforded ground for the hope that there might ensue an
increased measure of parliamentary stability. But the hope was vain
and, May 17, 1906, the ministry abandoned office. Curiously enough,
the much desired stability was realized under a new Giolitti
government, composed, as all Italian governments in these days must
be, of representatives of a number of political groups. In part by
reason of the shrewdness of the premier and his colleagues, in part by
reason of sheer circumstance, the Giol