Norwich bulletin., 1919-04-24

Paris April 2.--In a statement ls- sued by President Wilson today eX- plaining his position on the Adrlauc question he declares that Plume can not become a part of Italy. The president points out that every condition concerning the Adriatic set tlelnent has been changed since Italy entered th ewar upon the promises ol the pact of London.
 In issuing his official statemnt on the Adriatic question. President Will sin let it be known that he desired once again 10 call attention to the fact that there were certain well defined prin- cinies which have been accepted by the peoples of the world as the basis Tor a lasting pace The nited States delegation simply recalled this in or der that there should be no deviation from the principles.
 The text of the statement follows:
 Tn view of the capital importance of the questions affected. and in order to throw all possible light upon what is involved in their settlement. l hope that the following statement will con- tribute 10 the final formation of opinion and 10 a satisfactory solution.
 When Italy entered the war she en- tered upon the basis of a definite pri- Vatc understanding with Great Britain and France. now known as the pact of
  face of circumstances has been alter ed Many other powers great and small. have entered the struggle with no knowledge of that private under standing.
 "Thc Austro- Hungarian empire. then tho enemy of Europe, and at whose eX- pcnsc the pact of London was to be kept in the event of victory. has gone to pieces and no longer exists. Not only that. but the several parts of that empire. 1t Is agreed now by Italy and all her associates, are to be erected in to independent states and associated in d league of nations not with those who recently were our enemies, but with Italy herself and the powers that stood with Italy in the great war for liberty.
 We are to establish their liberty as well as our own. They are to be among the smaller states whose inter ests are henceforth to be safeguarded as scrupulously as the interests of the most power of the states.
 "The war was ended moreover by proposing to Germany an armistice and peace which should be founded on cer- tain clearly defined principles which set up d new order of right and jus tice.
 Upon those principles the peace with Germany has been conceived. not
 
 eciples it will be executed We can not ask the great body of powers to propose and effect peace with Aus tria and establish a new basis of in- dependence and right in the states which originally constituted the Aus Hungarian empire and in the states of the Balkan group on prin- ciples Of another kind. We must ap- ply the same principles 10 the settle ment of Europe in those quarters that we have applied in the peace with Ger many.
 Tt was on the explicit avowal of those principles that the initiative for peace was taken. It is upon them that the whole structure of peace must rest.
 If those principles are to be ad- herred 10. Plume must serve as the outlet of the commerce, not of Italy but of the land of the north and the northeast of that port; Hungary Bo- heuia Rumania and the states of inc new Jugo-Sla group. To assign Plume 10 Italy were to create the feeling that we have deliberately put the port up on which all those countries chiefly depended for their access to the Med iterranean in the hands of a power oi which it did not form an integral part and whose sovereignty if set up there must inevitably seem foreign, not do.
  cial and industrial life of the region. which the port must serve. It is fol that reason, no doubt, that Plume Wa. not included in the pact. of Londor but there definitely assigned to tn, Croatians.
 And the reason why the line of thu pact of London swept about many O the islands of the eastern coast of tn, Adriatic and around the portion of tn, Dalmatian coast which lies most opel to that sea was not only that here anC there on those islands. and here ant there on that coast. there are bodie of people of Italian blood and connec ton, but also. and no doubt chiefly because it was felt that it was neces sary for Italy to have a footholt amidst the channels of the easterl Adriatic in order that she might mak her own coasts safe against the maya aggression of Austria-Hungary
 But Austria Hungary no longer ex ists. It is proposed that the fortifica tions which the Austrian governmen constructed there shall be raised am permanently destroyed.
 Tt is part also of the nwe plan O European order which centers in tn league of nations that the new state erected there shall accept a limitatio Df armaments, which puts aggressio put of the question. There can be n Tear of the unfair treatment of group of Italian people there. because ade luate guarantees will be given. unde international sanction, of the equa and equitable treatment of all racia pr national minorities.
 '1n brief. every question associate with this settlement wears d new as pect-a new aspect given it. by tn very victory for right for which Ital has made the supreme sacrifice c blood and treasure. Italy. along wit the four other great powers. has be some one of the chief trustees of tn new order which she has played s honorable a part in establishing. And on the north and northeas her natural frontiers are completel restored, along the whole sweep of tn Alps from northwest to southeast t nle very end of the Istrian Peninsul,