Evening star., 1916-07-23
ITALY TO BREAK WITH GERMANY

forward; his unbending opposition to
all forms OF centralisation, his de.
mocracy. are precious qualities which
are at the dds disposal PCS Of ~ the , sovernmsnt.
minister of the interior, literary. an
eloquent speaker. Signor Media is the
first Catholic to sit In ministry along.
side of Freemasons and anti-clericals.
Signor Medals participation in govern
ment is an event Of great political sig
nificance for the war and for the peace
thereafter.
The other members. Signors Arlotta
and de Neva. belong, to the liberal
groups of the right and center; Signors
Bonome. reformer; Comandini, republi-
can; Girardini. radical. also Signors
Fera. Ruff1ni, Netti. each in their roles
constitute ministry of more than or
Italy has Joined the entente powers in
the recent joint note addressed the
Greek government. which. while not
wishing that government to abandon
its neutrality. demanded even in that
interest a rehabilitation Of the Greek
army. whose hostile attitude was mani
fest. The entrance of Bulgarian forces
into Greece could not be permitted.
The manifestation in praise Of 'ftaay's
effort In the war" which was recently
given at the Sorbonne in
Addresses at Paris. was in the form of
cl addresses by NM Ana
Jul ooAAe' tole France and Bar
thou. and by signor Tittoni. the italian
ambassador at Paris. They were decla-
rations of supreme interest The high
praise of Italy by Anatole France, the
stirring and impassioned eloquence OF
NJ. Barthou. followed by a strong diplo-
matte study on the origin and respon-
sibilities of the war, by Signor Tittoni.
were all capital declarations on a sub
ject which has been sought to be made
obscure. No one Is so qualified to
straighten out the tangled skein of
events that eliminated in the present
monstrous war as Signor Tittonf. His
expose was precise and orderly: a cold
judgment which will be handed down
to history without discussion.
NJ. Anatole France presided, and COM
menced by solemn tribute OF praise
countryman and colleague. NJ -Barthou;
tribute of praise and admiration for
Italy's ambassador. who was acclaimed
In the diplomatic tribune OF the French
chamber in the historic days OF May.
1915: When. on the Capitol. amid the
plaudits of the Romans. the bell of
the Campanefle announced to the world
that Italy took arms for just cause
NJ Louis Barthou during his resume
of the negotiations of Italy with Aus
tria from December. 1914. to May, 1915.
asked: why did Italy not declare war
against Germany" That was a secret
then and the orator expressed himself
with all the reserve imposed by the
situation. Nevertheless he alluded TO
the financial pressure which had given
over the peninsula, its banks, indus
tries, commerce and merchant marine.
to Germany.
The Intervention of Italy caused to
be assembled on her frontiers s0o,o 900
@Austrians. This num-
Austrian Army ber sufficed to indi-
n;.4, cate the measure of
e'eo' the service rendered
to the entente powers. a service all the
greater when the warfare would be OF,
SUBMITS of 5000 meters, for which
service Italian soldiers had been spe-
cially trained. 1t was Elisea Reclus
who had shown that this warfare was
less difficult. for the Austrians, because
those mountains all turned their abrupt
side toward the Italian planes, thus
forming serious barrier against italy.
The treaty of 1886 and the words ex-
ecuted by Austria. despite the alliance,
augmented Italy's situation and the OBJ
stacles which physical conditions had in
terposed. The tenacity, heroism and de-
votion OF the italian soldier had overcome
these obstacles by an often incredible
a audacity. -
Signor Tittoni began by an aIlusion to
former misunderstanding between France
and Italy. Henceforth there would reign
forever. friendship strengthened by
sympathetic confidence, by respect and
hA- frrxy,
ITALY had been reproached with not hay-
ing foreseen the war. The reproach was
unfounded. One might foresee a necessary
war: one could not foresee an unneces-
sary war; one might foresee everything
except the errors of human folly
Speaking of the responsibilities for the
war Signor Tittoni cited an eminent psy-
chologist. who wrote: mo one wished
the war and every one feared it." II was
possible that Austria and Germany did
not desire general European war. 1t
was possible that Austria thought she
might perpetrate with impunity the ag-
gression against Serbia without Russia
taking notice of the insolent challenge
without Frances keeping her engage
ments with Russia. without Italy's doing
anything to prevent the disturbance Of
the Adriatic equilibrium to her detriment
and to the fragrant violation of alliance
conceived and accepted as work Of
legitimate defense of equilibrium and OF
peace.
X
1t was quite possible that Austria
thought herself able. second time. to
repeat the intervention made
Austria's in 1909 at Petrograd. some
months after the annexation
Ciioi. of Bosnia Herzegovina, with
out rejecting that Russia could not sup
port such Intervention without signing
her abdcation. 1t was possible even that
Germany thought she would be able to
violate the neutrality of Belgium without
England resenting an attack which
would crush that noble little nation and
without the civilized world being pro-
foundly indignant Even il Austria and
Germany could defend themselves from
the charge of having coldly prepared the
war the facts show that they only were
militarily prepared.
We may pass over the details Of the
aggression against Serbia, with which we
are familiar. After the Balkanic war
Albania was created by the powers as a
peace offering to Austria Also Monte
negro was forced to abandon to her Scu-
tart, Serbia to renounce a road to the
Adriatic sea Albanian frontiers to Ser
bia and Greece were traced according to
the imperious ambition of Austria.
Having indelibly fixed the responsible
ties for the war. the Italian. statesmen