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DEPRETIS, AGOSTINO (1813-1887)

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Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 61 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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DEPRETIS, See also:AGOSTINO (1813-1887) , See also:Italian statesman, was See also:born at Mezzana See also:Corte, in the See also:province of See also:Stradella on the 31st of See also:January 1813. From See also:early manhood a See also:disciple of Mazzini and affiliated to the Giovane Italia, he took an active See also:part in the Mazzinian conspiracies and was nearly captured by the Austrians while See also:smuggling arms into See also:Milan. Elected See also:deputy in 1848, he joined the See also:Left and founded the See also:journal Il Diritto, but held no See also:official position until appointed See also:governor of See also:Brescia in 1859. In 186o he went to See also:Sicily on a See also:mission to reconcile the policy of See also:Cavour (who desired the immediate See also:incorporation of the See also:island in the See also:kingdom of See also:Italy) with that of See also:Garibaldi, who wished to postpone the Sicilian See also:plebiscite until after the liberation of See also:Naples and See also:Rome. Though appointed See also:pro-See also:dictator of Sicily by Garibaldi, he failed in his See also:attempt. Accepting the See also:portfolio of public See also:works in the Rattazzi See also:cabinet. in 1862, he served as intermediary in arranging with Garibaldi the expedition which ended disastrously at See also:Aspromonte. Four years later, on the outbreak of See also:war against See also:Austria, he entered the See also:Ricasoli cabinet as See also:minister of marine, and, by maintaining See also:Admiral Persano in command of the See also:fleet, contributed to the defeat of See also:Lissa. His apologists contend, however, that, as an inexperienced civilian, he could not have made sudden changes in See also:naval arrangements without disorganizing the fleet, and that in view of the impending hostilities he was obliged to accept the dispositions of his predecessors. Upon the See also:death of Rattazzi in 1873, Depretis became See also:leader of the Left, prepared the See also:advent of his party to See also:power, and was called upon to See also:form the first cabinet of the Left in 1876. Overthrown by See also:Cairoli in See also:March 1878 on the grist-tax question, he succeeded, in the following See also:December, in defeating Cairoli, became again premier, but on the 3rd of See also:July 1879 was once more overturned by Cairoli. In See also:November 1879 he, however, entered the Cairoli cabinet as minister of the interior, and in May 1881 succeeded to the premiership, retaining that See also:office until his death on the 29th of July 1887. During the See also:long See also:interval he recomposed his cabinet four times, first throwing out See also:Zanardelli and Baccarini in See also:order to please the Right, and subsequently bestowing portfolios upon Ricotti, See also:Robilant and other Conservatives, so as to See also:complete the See also:political See also:process known as " trasformismo." A few See also:weeks before his death he repented of his transformist policy, and again included See also:Crispi and Zanardelli in his cabinet.

During his long See also:

term of office he abolished the grist tax, extended the See also:suffrage, completed the railway See also:system, aided See also:Mancini in forming the Triple See also:Alliance, and initiated colonial policy by the occupation of See also:Massawa; but, at the same See also:time, he vastly increased indirect See also:taxation, corrupted and destroyed the fibre of See also:parliamentary parties, and, by extravagance in public works, impaired the stability of Italian See also:finance.

End of Article: DEPRETIS, AGOSTINO (1813-1887)

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