Agostino Depretis

Agostino Depretis
12th, 14th and 16th Prime Minister of Italy
In office March 25, 1876 – March 24, 1878
Monarch	Victor Emmanuel II Umberto I
Preceded by	Marco Minghetti
Succeeded by	Benedetto Cairoli
In office December 19, 1878 – July 14, 1879
Monarch	Umberto I
Preceded by	Benedetto Cairoli
Succeeded by	Benedetto Cairoli
In office May 29, 1881 – July 29, 1887
Monarch	Umberto I
Preceded by	Benedetto Cairoli
Succeeded by	Francesco Crispi
Personal details
Born	January 31, 1813(1813-01-31) Stradella
Died	July 29, 1887(1887-07-29) (aged 74) Stradella
Political party	Democrat (Historical Left)

Agostino Depretis (January 31, 1813 – July 29, 1887) was an Italian statesman.

Biography

Depretis was born at Mezzana Corte, near Stradella, in the province of Pavia (Lombardy).

From early manhood a disciple of Giuseppe Mazzini and affiliated with the La Giovine Italia, he took an active part in the Mazzinian conspiracies and was nearly captured by the Austrians while smuggling arms into Milan. Elected deputy in 1848, he joined the Left and founded the journal Il Diritto, but held no official position until appointed governor of Brescia in 1859. In 1860 he went to Sicily on a mission to reconcile the policy of Cavour (who desired the immediate incorporation of the island in the kingdom of Italy) with that of Giuseppe Garibaldi, who wished to postpone the Sicilian plebiscite until after the liberation of Naples and Rome.

Though appointed pro-dictator of Sicily by Garibaldi, he failed in his attempt. Accepting the portfolio of public works in Urbano Rattazzi's cabinet, in 1862, he served as intermediary in arranging with Garibaldi the expedition that ended disastrously at Aspromonte. Four years later, on the outbreak of war against Austria, he entered the Ricasoli cabinet as minister of navy, and he insisted with admiral Carlo Persano in the attack to the island of Lissa as a revenge for the Italian defeat of Custoza, in this occasion he also refused to give to admiral Persano detailed order about the expedition in the Adriatic Sea against the fleet led by Wilhelm von Tegetthoff. His apologists contend, however, that, as an inexperienced civilian, he could not have made sudden changes in 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 death of Rattazzi in 1873, Depretis became leader of the Left, prepared the advent of his party to power, and was called upon to form the first cabinet of the Left in 1876. Prior to this, Depretis "was a journalist-politician who had allied himself in parliament with the Left. When he came into power it was as the leader of the Left, and as such he ruled as prime minister, save for a brief interlude, for most of the eleven years from 1876 to 1887."^[1] Overthrown by Benedetto Cairoli in March 1878 on the grist-tax question, he succeeded, in the following December, in defeating Cairoli, became again premier, but on July 3, 1879 was once more overturned by Cairoli. In November 1879 he, however, entered the Cairoli cabinet as minister of the interior, and in May 1881 succeeded to the premiership, retaining that office until his death.

During the long interval he recomposed his cabinet four times, first throwing out Giuseppe Zanardelli and Alfredo Baccarini in order to please the Right, and subsequently bestowing portfolios upon Cesare Ricotti-Magnani, Robilant and other Conservatives, so as to complete the political process known as trasformismo. A few weeks before his death he repented of his transformist policy, and again included Francesco Crispi and Zanardelli in his cabinet.

During his long term of office he abolished the grist tax, extended suffrage, completed the railway system, aided Mancini in forming the Triple Alliance, and initiated colonial policy by the occupation of Massawa; but, at the same time, he vastly increased indirect taxation, corrupted and destroyed the fibre of parliamentary parties, and, by extravagance in public works, impaired the stability of Italian finance.^[1]

Depretis (a Freemason, incidentally) and Conte di Cavour, Italy's first prime minister, are the only Italian prime ministers who died in office.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Flynn, John T. Pre-Fascist Italy: Tax and Borrow and Spend, Mises Institute

Preceded by Marco Minghetti	Prime Minister of Italy 1876–1878	Succeeded by Benedetto Cairoli
Preceded by Luigi Melegari	Prime Minister of Italy 1877–1878	Succeeded by Luigi Corti
Preceded by Francesco Crispi	Italian Minister of the Interior 1878	Succeeded by Giuseppe Zanardelli
Preceded by Benedetto Cairoli	Prime Minister of Italy 1878–1879	Succeeded by Benedetto Cairoli
Preceded by Benedetto Cairoli	Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs 1878–1879	Succeeded by Benedetto Cairoli
Preceded by Giuseppe Zanardelli	Italian Minister of the Interior 1878–1879	Succeeded by Tommaso Villa
Preceded by Tommaso Villa	Italian Minister of the Interior 1879–1887	Succeeded by Francesco Crispi
Preceded by Benedetto Cairoli	Prime Minister of Italy 1881–1887	Succeeded by Francesco Crispi
Preceded by Pasquale Mancini	Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs 1885	Succeeded by Carlo Felice Robilant
Preceded by Carlo Felice Robilant	Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs 1887	Succeeded by Francesco Crispi

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

External links

• Glenn DePretis
• Discorsi parlamentari di Agostino Depretis Vol. I
• Discorsi parlamentari di Agostino Depretis Vol. I