The Washington herald., 1919-01-05

\ coast OF the Adriatic. with scores of
| excellent harbors and thousands OF
| rocky islands, in the hands of a rival
/ power while she herself is restricted
| to the sandy western coast as at pres
\ ent, puts her at the mercy of the
country holding the disputed terri
| tories. This strategic claim is prob
| ably the basis of the irreconcilable
| Italian attitude on this point. Italy
| for two generations has regarded
herself as the heir to these territories
upon the breakup Of Austria Hun
gary. And it is hard forAher to recon-
cile herself to lose them to a state
whose existence few people would
have thought possible five years ago.
The italian claim to considerable
| parts Of the coast of Dalmatia and
| to Istria is also based upon the fact
! that these lands were formerly SUBJ
| Ject to Venice, and before Venice ex-
listed to Rome. and that such cul-
| ture and civilization as existed in
+ these sparsely-populated regions were
| brought there by Italians. The Slav
population, though superior numeri-
| cally, the Italians claim is inferior in
| culture and in trading ability, while
| the hatred OF the Slavs for the Ital-
| ians is such that Italian commerce
| will be routed out where 1t has es-
tablished itself along the sea coast II
the Slavs obtain political power
Mountain True Boundnry.
Moreover, the italians deny that the
| Eastern seaboard OF the Adriatic
{ ought naturally to belong to the state
which holds the hinterIand They
point out the Importance Of the Din
a NA-hf oh 10
miles inland. and say that the few
passes In these mountains and the diff
| hculty of communication make the
mountain range. and not the sea. the
natural boundary for Yngo- -Slavia.
! But the Italian claim to Istria, with
| the great naval base at Pola the ports
OF lara and Sebenico, and some Of the
islands further south off Herzegovina,
are particularly based upon the treaty
or London. signed by Italy, Great
Britain. France and Russia in March,
1915, in order to secure the entry of
Italy into the war. The Italian view
point about the treaty is that It rep
resents less than a minimum Of what
Italy must have, and Italians declare
! the treaty is a wicked document which
| gives too much to Yugo-Slavia. es-
pecially the port OF Fiume and the
coast line of Herzegovina proper.
These concessions to the Slavs. they
declare, were inserted in the London
treaty at the bidding OF Foreign Min
lister Sazonof. of the old Russian au-
tocracy, which was anxious to secure
firm hold on the Adriatic in order
/ later to exert the power of Russia
against Italy.
I For these reasons the Italians be-
lieve that the London treaty ought to
be revised upward. The fall OF the
Russian autoCracy removes a reason
/ Tor placating Russia at the expense
| OF Italy. and, therefore, Italy's
| delegates at the Peace Conference
Stgnor Orlando and Baron Sonnino.
Will probably ask for the whole coast
as Tar down as Montenegro; they are
willing to leave the harbor of Cattaro
and most of the Albanian coast line
TO the south in the hands of the Yugo-
Slavs
| The attitude | have sketChed is that
OF official Italy. as it will develop at
the Peace Conference unless there is
a political upheaval in Rome before
the delegates meet at Versailles There
are however. Italian statesmen of
more moderate trend. notably Signor
Bissolatti. the Socialist leader. who
lsions 10 iugO- Slavia than are indi-
Gated here.
Lands Formerly Italian.
: The Italians meet the claim that
/ the annexation of REGIONS where the
, SlaNs are in majority violates Presi-
! dent Wilson'S principles by declaring
! that until 80 years ago these lands
! were indisputably Italian. Since then,
they say. the Vienna government has
deliberated implanted Slavs in these
Italian territories and expelled Ital-
, lans' in order to be able to say that
! the country had become Slav. AEsaC-
+ Lorraine, Italians declare, was similar
| ly furnished with a German majority
for purposes of policy by the Berlin
! government since 1871, but this did not
/ prevent the lost territories from be
| ing taken over by France and what
! France has done Italy must be per-
mitted to do in the similar circum-
| stances prevailing in the AdriatIc
! coast lands.
Attitude of the Yugo-Slnvs.
If official Italians proclaim the
| Treaty of London a wicked instrument
dictated by Slavs. which deprives
! them of some of their right. the Yugo-
| Slavs are no less insistent that the
| London document must be consigned
! to the waste basket because il raw
! ishes from the new Slav state part
| of its birthright. and offends against
! several of President Wilson's four
teen points. America, they point out.
did not sign the Treaty of London,
hence Yugo-Slavs want the Uniteo
] States TO insist that ii should be aban-
| doned as contrary to American war
aims. and that the annexation by Italy
of large stretches of the YugO-Slav
sea coast be forbidden by President
Wilson.
Big Obstacle Overcome.
One of the main obstacles to YugO-
Slav claims. the delay in getting to-
gether of the Slovenes and Croats
who formerly belonged to Austria
and Hungary and the free Serbians,
has now been overcome. The rather
autocratic policy of the Serbia pre-
mier, Pashitch, has been stumb-
ling block at which many Italians
rejoiCed. because they felt that if
they could keep the component
parts of Yugo-Slavia from union,
| the YugO-Slavs' aims could not be
realized. Now. however, those ma
! tions which unwillingly fought un-
der the banner of the Hapsburgs
and Serbia have agreed to a regency
! under the Serbian Crown Prince, and
the new government in Agram NAV