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Antonino Paterno - Castelli, Marquis Di San Giuliano

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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"SAN' 'GIULIANO, ANTONINO PATERNO - CASTELLI, Marquis Di (1852-1914), Italian statesman, was born at Catania in 1852, a member of a very ancient and noble Sicilian family. After graduating in law at the university of Catania, he began his public career in the field of local politics and in 1879 was chosen mayor of his native city. In 1882 he was elected to parliament and proved an active worker on committees, speaking frequently and well on foreign and colonial affairs, railway, agricultural, social and fiscal problems. In 1891, as member of the committee of inquiry on Eritrea, he opposed the African policy of both the Crispi and the Rudini Cabinets. When in the following year Sig. Giolitti became premier, the Marquis di San Giuliano was selected as undersecretary for agriculture, while in the Pelloux ministry (1899-1900) he held the portfolio of posts and telegraphs. During the next few years he devoted himself to travel in the near East and in North Africa and to the study of the problems concerning those regions. Having been defeated at the elections of 1904, he was nominated senator; in parliament he had long been a staunch follower of Sig. Sonnino; but when, in Dec. 1905, Sig. Fortis became prime minister, he accepted the post of minister for foreign affairs, and on the fall of the Cabinet early in 1906 he was appointed ambassador in London, where he remained until 1910, gaining much popularity and contributing to render Anglo-Italian relations ever more cordial. He enjoyed the special regard of the late King Edward VII., who afterwards visited him at Catania. From London he was transferred to Paris; but he soon returned to the Consulta as member of the Luzzatti Cabinet (1910-II), and continued at the same post in Sig. Giolitti's administration. In the autumn of 1911 the crisis with Turkey broke out, and it is believed that it was he who convinced the premier of the national necessity for the Italian occupation of Libya. During the whole tenure of office the Marquis di San Giuliano was an ardent believer in the Triple Affiance, on which he thought that Italy's foreign policy should be based, and attached the greatest importance to a good understanding with Austria, an attitude not calculated to win him popularity in many circles; under his guidance consequently Italy opposed Serbia's desire for a port on the Adriatic and Greece's aspirations in Epirus, and supported the policy of creating an independent Albanian State. On Giolitti's resignation in March 1914, San Giuliano retained office under Sig. Salandra, at the latter's urgent request, and was soon faced by the responsibilities arising out of the outbreak of the World War. Public opinion was inclined to attribute the declaration of Italian neutrality to the premier rather than to the minister for foreign affairs. But it is certain that, once the decision had been taken, the Marquis di San Giuliano carried out the policy it involved with the most complete loyalty.

The strain and overwork, however, of the three years of office together with grief at the death of his only son in 1912, had told on his constitution; and after an acute attack of gout, he died in harness at the Consulta on Oct. 16 1914. He was a man of wide literary, historical and artistic culture, a Dante student, and the author of several books and articles on social questions, the conditions of Sicily, foreign affairs, etc.; his Lettere dall'Albania are deservedly appreciated, and his geographical studies led to his being elected president of the Italian geographical society.