The Washington herald., 1915-02-07
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time conGSlerors. Yet the threat of war
never has entirely ceased to lower upon
1t and there Italy ever has stood with
her hand on the doorknOb Of the temple
of Janus
On either of her shores the skies have
remained as fair as the Mediterranean
and the Adriatic. while at the top OF the
kingdom, the Alps are her bulwarks of
snow, with but a narrow path around
their southern side and only tunnels
under them. But in spite of the triple
alliance between her and Germany and
her ancient foe, Italy has not been able,
without a feeling of dread and resent
ment. to look northward from the Lom-
hardy plain and see the eagles of Aus
tria perched above her on the peaks of
the Tyrol.
The annexation of that Tyrolean hori-
zon has remained an object of the ma
tional imagination and emotion. The
longing has for its name Italia irridenta
or unredeemed Italy. and Is by no means
limited to that stony southern spole of
the Tyrol. 1t follows as well the shores
of the Adriatic and embraces the whole
northern coast of that sea, clear to
the Montenegrin frontier. For that re-
gion throughout Is more Italian than
Austrian in race and sentiment, and Is
regarded as part of the family heritage,
whose restoration is coveted almost as
ardently as the French seek to recover
Alsace and Lorraine.
How binding the passion is We may
judge from the spectacle annually pre-
sented by the unseemly observance Of
the anniversary of the hanging Of Over
dank. a citizen of Trieste, who attempt
ed to assassinate Emperor Francis Jo-
seph. The thiTty-second anniversary OF
celebrated in hundreds of meetings all
over Italy.
How Democracy Wins.
There are people of the Italian race
living under other flags than the Aus
trian, but it is significant that the most
fervent irridentists do not entertain
lively hopes CT redeeming or reclaiming
them. Yet Corsica, Nice and Mentone.
Savoy and most OF Cisalpine Switzerland
all belonged to Italy at other times. Ra-
Cially their inhabitants are fully as 1tal-
ian as any in the Tyrol and far more so
than the population Of Trieste and Dali
malta.
The traveller by an Alpine railway
passes through a tunnel from a Swiss
Canton altogether German or French
and finds himself when he emerges into
daylight a few minutes afterward I'm
an Italian Canton OF the mountain re-
public where the people and their speech,
their signboards. their costumes and
their. architecture are thoroughly Italic.
Along the Mentone-Nice shore, the
plain people still speak their Italian dIa-
iect. and so do the rustic Corsicans. But
all those Italians have been entirely
weaned from the motherland. Italian
Switzerland Is as loyalty Swiss as the
CantOnS DeyODu lne Alps Inc NOTSlCdnS
and the Nicois are as French as the peo-
pie Of any department of France. But
the 10000 or 10000 Italians in Austria
remain as unchangingly Italian as the
Florentines.
There can be only one reason for this
difference and Il may be found in the
absorptive properties Of democracy. The
Swiss and French democracies have sue
ceeded in reconciling the Italians OF
Switzerland, the Riviera and Corsica,
where monarchial and aristocratic Aus
tria has utterly failed in its effort to
convert italians into Austrians.