Evening star., 1914-05-03
ITALYS POLITICAL AFFAIRS

I slovo as the source OF his enlightenment.
The Slovo. it may be added. is cited for
the precision Of its news chronicle. He
| writes:
| The rumors relative to the existence Of
| these Mediterranean agreements were con-
| f1rmed shortly after the renewal of the
treaty Of alliance between Germany. Aus
| tria and Italy. 1t seems that a separate
accord was signed between Italy and
| Germany on the one side, and the allies
concluded another. They established .
| plan of cooperation OF the triplice for
the reciprocal defense Of the interests Of
each one Of the members in time OF
peace. and in case OF war they divided
the Mediterranean into sections. In some
parts-in the Adriatic, for example-the
allies would act in concert In the Ae-
gean sea the action would be combined
In the waters OF Asia Minor the action
might be isolated after prior notice, like
the region of Smyrna, where tho agree
ments reserve to the allies a complete
liberty of action.
Besides the partition OF the Mediter-
| ranean in spheres OF cooperation the
corollary Of the treaty provides in case
of victorious war the division OF Morocco.
Algeria and Tunisia between Germany
and Italy"
There is a note moro grave still con-
tributed by a correspondent from Bel
grade under the rubric "The Anti-Italian
Movement by the Southern Slavs-" The
correspondent writes that the Gernanic
danger is not the only one by which the
Slavs Of the south feel themselves men
, aced. for on the Save and the Drave
fort OF penetration coming from the
north and along the coast Of the Adrintic
Every foot OF ground is disputed
Serv1a, whose cattle find a market in
Italy. holds herself In reserve because
Of her interests. Montenegro. near to
Italy. knows OF the invasion Of capital
: by merchants and men of affairs. The
Italian journal Taraboch. published at
: Scutari. should suffice to edify Its read
ers on the cordiality Of the reciprocal
sentiments between the Inhabitants OF
the two shores OF the Adriatic.
In the north there is the real ground
: of the conflict. and which is reflected in
Dalmatia. Daimatia Is the point where
the Slav Of the south possesses the most
! active consciousness of his race. The
: resistance Is concentrated In lstrta, tho
. ports of Ffume and at Trieste. Tho
! rivals, Slavs, Germans and Italians, there
: the capture of the head Of the Adriatic.
.. Against $4,000 Italians Istria counts
.. 22S,000 Slovenes and Croats. Although
! the Italians are in the minority they ad-
! minister the country. The Slavs are In
, the minority in the diet. yet the local func-
: tionaries are Italians. who ignore for tho
most part the idiom Of the inhabitants
Italian and German are the languages
. -
justice, posts and railways.
s The hostility between italian and slav
was made apparent at the time OF tho
attempt Of the Italians to found Siav
/ university at Trieste. The 223.O0O Saavs
of Istria possess only one institution Of
! secondary instruction. while the 1170O0
3 Italians possess three. 1t is from the
Slavs of Istria that are recruited ma
rtnes, and yet they have no naval school;
] the Italians possess two. At 1.yubJena
: QAaybach), Zagreb. Spalato. SaraJavo
!: and Belgrade meetings of protestadon
4 have recently been held against Italians
: This conflict Of race Is more important
i than a simple manifestation Of students.
a for beneath it is raoo
Conflict hatred. Trieste. Adriatio
port. is coveted alike BY
! VI 0ace. Germans, Slavs and Ital-
4 ians. Trieste is classed as Italian. be-
cause 1t is included In the irredentist
program Germans dream of Trieste as
their ultimate road to the Mediterranean
In 19OO-1910 the proportion OF Slovenes
: at Trieste was 10000. or 63 per cent OF
the population. In 1900 the Italians num-
bered II per cent: actually they are 05
, per cent. At Rome, as at Vienna and
Berlin. the press expresses real dis
quietude over these f-cts. and it confesses
! that only some violent incident may
check the slow but certain march OF the
Slav of the south, more confident than
, ever of overcoming the obstacles against
: which he has been condemned to strug-
i gle.
! The Society Dante Alighieri has opened
! a subscription, which has already reached
200, 900 francs, or $4,000. destined to con-
A troll the municipal elections OF Pola- That
v italy should deem it necessary In tnat
1 way to anticipate its Slav opponents It
, is evident that the conflict is grave.
: Italy is in negotiation at Constantinople
, for the concession of a railroad from
( Adalia, in Asia Minor, where she has
!, created a consulate. Austria-Hungary
, | has also appointed a consul at some place
' adjacent. kilograms from Vienna an
nounce in fact that Austria and Italy are
attempting, with the aid OF Germany. to
! prepare an accord relative to the Mediter-
4 ranean in order to introduce the trtplice
into that sea. but the Lokal Anzeiger de-
3 nies the report and treats It as pure
{ invention.
e Austria-Hungary. on the other hand, is
. demanding certain quay privileges at Sa-
Ioniki, which do not include those ao-
corded to Servia, but which she claims
, should be accorded at the same time.
Besides. the conference at Abbazia would
t carefully examine the debouche accorded
to Servia ON the Adriatic by the conter-
: ence at London. 1t could not. says the
: Reichspost, be considered as Servian
port, but merely commercial debouche
| for the Adriatic-Danube road projected
. across Albania and which had for its
object to emancipate Servta from austria :
Hungary For fact Austria-Hungars
: and Italy would demand, conformable
: to the favored nation clause. the sam.
rights in the port as those conceded TO
t Servia. Finally at Abbazia the port COM
!. ing to Austria in Asia Minor has surelF
been discus -,~ it had already been
. the subject of conversations at Berlin.
:. At the same time that the ministers OF
foreign affairs of Austria-Hungary anu
Italy discussed their prospective inter-
ests in Albania and the eastern Mediter-
5 ranean at Abbazia there was parallel dip
: lomatic action at Corfu, where the En-
l peror Of Germany and the King of Greece
with their ministers, discussed relative
questions.
Now, in order to have the political pot
kept at the boiling point It is announced
, that the Emperor Wilhelm proposes 10
visit the King of Roumania at Bucharest.
) where he would repair the breach in the
relations between Roumania and Austria
Hungary
But the predominating note at this mo
ment in the near eastern question lis
Italy's desire to defer restitution of the
islands of the Dodecanese to Turkey, ac-
cording to the letter of the treaty or
, Ouchy. until she may have obtained a
zone of influence in Asia Minor Turkey
, thus, as declared by the Deutsches volks-
blatt is destined to pay the price OF this
newly created appetite. Turkey. for
fact. will pay double, for after the Ital-
ian appetite there is the Austrian.