Italian action was hastened by news that, in December 1884, an exploring party under Signor Bianchi, royal commissioner for Assab, had been massacred in the Aussa (Danakil) country, an event which aroused in Italy a desire to punish the assassins and to obtain satisfaction for the still unpunished massacre of Signor Giulietti and his companions.
They had remained unpunished since the attack on Myitkyina in December 1892.
On returning to Rome, Felix was accused of having taken advantage of a dispute between the Jews and Syrians of Caesarea to slay and plunder the inhabitants, but through the intercession of his brother, the freedman Pallas, who had great influence with the emperor Nero, he escaped unpunished.
If he unwillingly refused to intervene in favour of Marshal Ney, it was because he believed that so conspicuous an example of treason could not safely be allowed to go unpunished.
At the same time the ministry persecuted the press, and allowed hardly a whisper of discontent to pass unpunished.