New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-05-15
The Italian Crisis.

taxable indications that the present crisis
is more real and less a result Of stage
management than those Of preceding
months. The fact seems to be that the
people Of Italy have taken the question Of
peace or war out Of the hands Of their
statesmen.
This was the peril with which Italian
statesmen, who were primarily seeking to
acquire profit without paying for it In
blood. had always 10 reckon. It was easy
enough to rouse Italian sentiment for the
redemption Of Italians and Italian speak
ing lands from Austrian control After
half q century Gar:baldi's hymn could
hardly leave any Italian cold, with
Trieste, Trent, Fiume under Hapsburg, not
Savoy rule.
The brutality, the tyranny Of the Aus
trians in Northern Italy IN the nineteenth
century was not a thing that men Of the
present generation could easily forget
were there no present grievance, no con-
temporary problem. Bat when 20 ancient
wrongs there is added the injury ever
present in the eyes of Italians Of "unre-
deemed" provinces there is small difficulty
in stirring the italian mob.
The bargain-counter appearance Of
Italian diplomacy should not blind Ameri-
cans to the justice Of the Italian case with
respect to much Of the territory desired.
While the Italian speaking fraction Of the
Trentino is in austrian hands, Milan,
Verona. the whole Pc Valley is in peril,
Austrian armies have within their grasp
the control Of the roads and the passes
which are the gates to the Pc Valley,
have, in fact, the key to the Italian door.
In 1856 Italy Joined Germany against
Austria to free Vonetia and the Trentino.
The failure to acquire the Trentino at
that time ranked bitterly in the Italian
mind-it was a Leener disappointment
than the enforced cession Of Nice and
Savoy 20 France a few years before, since
Savoy was French and Nice did not COM
mand the entrance 10 Italy.
Italian craftsmanship in August, 1914,
had to make hard and hazardous de-
cision in Withdrawing support from the
Triple Alliance. 1t made the decision be-
fore the Battle Of the Marine and it did
not waver in the days when Paris seemed
certain TO fall and a second French disas-
ter as complete as 1870 seemed inevitable.
In that time, too, Italy declined German
brides Of no incons.derabe size. Savoy,
Nice. Corsica, Algeria, Tunis, these
French provinces or colonies the Central
European alliance offered for Italian sup
port, and these offers Italy declined, de-
spite the fact that Italian ambition had
long been turned in this direction.
So far Italy played truly noble role.
She took actual risks. Austro-German
victory, If it were not followed by attack
upon Italy would mean Austrian su-
premacy in the Adriatic and the Hgean,
the end Of the dream Of the Irredentsts,
the collapse Of the newer Italian longing
to follow the splendid pathway Of Venice
down the Dalmatian coast and into the
Near East We shall DO well to remem-
Der this now, when Italian statesmen seem
to be playing a less attractive role.
Once Italy had declined German brides
she had TO meet equally attractive offers
from the other side. Albania, the Dial
matian Islands, Austria's Italian prov
inces, a share in the spells Of Turkey and
guarantee for her African colonies,
these things the Allies could offer.
But Italy once more declined. From
Austria she asked certain things. They
were not unjust, these Italian demands.
That is, not without justification, since
they concerned Italian speaking communi-
ties for the larger part, however impos-
sible it was for Austria TO yield in GER
tain instances. In asking them Italy
simply sought 10 complete the work Of
Caribaldi and Cavour. She did not ask
territory as the price Of neutrality. She
asked Italian territory, excluded from her
own boundaries by accident and misfort-
une, not by right.
To Judge from the progress Of negotia-
tons. Austria under the spur Of Germany,
has little by little consented TO cessions.
She has been willing to give something,
but she has neither granted the half Of
Italian demands nor agreed 70 make any
concessions under conditions which would
satisfy the Italians. Rather she has adopted
the method Of Bismarck, who dangled
Luxembourg under the eyes Of Napoleon
r. .-lI .,,;th Austria q 4