Crispi

Crispi, FRANCESCO, statesman, was born 4th October 1819 at Ribera in Sicily, and was called to the bar in Palermo, but joining in the revolutionary movement of 1848, had to flee to France. He organised the successful movement of 1859-60, and re-entered Sicily with Garibaldi. He has been conspicuous in the history of the restored kingdom of Italy as deputy, president of the chamber, minister, and in 1887-90, and again in 1894-96, premier. He represented the Left, was strongly anti-clerical, and maintained the alliance with Germany even at the cost of the alienation of France. In 1895 strenuous efforts were made by his enemies to discredit him by connecting him with a series of bank scandals. See Life by W. J. Stillman (1899).