There is no money in the treasury, and so they enfeeble her instead of strengthening.

Italy has achieved the dearest wish of her heart and become an independent State--and in so doing she has drawn an elephant in the political lottery.

She has nothing to feed it on.
Inexperienced in government, she plunged into all manner of useless expenditure, and swamped her treasury almost in a day.

She squandered millions of francs on a navy which she did not need, and the first time she took her new toy into action she got it knocked higher than Gilderoy's kite--to use the language of the Pilgrims.
But it is an ill-wind that blows nobody good.

A year ago, when Italy saw utter ruin staring her in the face and her greenbacks hardly worth the paper they were printed on, her Parliament ventured upon a 'coup de main' that would have appalled the stoutest of her statesmen under less desperate circumstances.