Evening star., 1919-07-27

1 It's turn uTeW many herman ulNlSiOHS
| eaStw
In the campaign of 1918 Italy again
| fought well in the opening phases.
| Meantime her demands upon her al
| lies for coal and munitions were not
; promptly answered. and at least II is
the Italian belief that this failure
was responsible for the great disas-
ter of Caporetto and the consequent
4, invasion of Nenetia, as well as the
devastation of large areas of Italian
| territory. BY contrast the allies.
and particularly the French. had sent
! large numbers of picked troops 10
| the Piave front and emphasis is put
on this contribution to the salvation
! of Italy. un''-
The Italian delegation which came
/ TO the peace conference therefore
came armed with the specific pledges
made by the western powers in ,a9La
I and fortified by the recent victories
OF Italian armies and by the possess
sion of much of the territory which
had been promised them. They had
made a bargain. They had on the
whole fulfilled the bargain and they
came prepared to receive the reward
which had been promised.
Italy Coldly Received in Paris.
But in Paris there can be no aues-
received. France and Great Britain,
TO be sure, were prepared to fulfill
their bargain. They had agreed that
, Italy should have Trieste and the
Trentino and northern Dalmatia. AS
to Dalmatia the population. with mi
nor exceptions, was unquestionably
SlaVonic and desired to be Jugoslav.
and not Italian; nevertheless. if Italy
insisted, Great Britain and France at
all times were prepared to honor
their signature. But Italy now asked
more than Trieste and the Trentino
and northern Dalmatia. She asked
the port of Fiume expressly excluded
from the Anglo-French agreement
Could Italy hold Fiume as well as
Trieste she would have a strangle
hold upon Jugoslav commercial in
tercourse with the world If Fiume
passed into Jugoslavic hands Trieste.
would unquestfonably suffer since
Jugoslav commerce would infallibly
pass through Fiume. American SYM
pathy was instantly and emphatically
expressed for the Jugoslavs. Presi-
| dent Wilson, alike in the matter of
Italian claims, while the British aud
the French, in supporting 1taly's
claim upon them, insisted upon the
letter of the contract. which excluded
| Fiume.
The Italians. therefore, saw the.
British acquire Egypt. the major frac.
tion of German African colonies and
i her Asiatic islands and occupying Mes
opotamia, Palestine and Arabia. They
saw the French regain Alsace-Dor-
| raine, acquiring some measure of
title to the Saar basin, completing
| their, title to Morocco and acquiring
| the kamerun, portion of the Togo,
and Syria. while their far more mod
est claims met with violent opposi-
tion from America. American ops .
position had, at least, the tacit SYM
pathy of Anglo French public opinion
and official spokesmen. ,.0yv.r
| In particular the Italians resented
the fact that British French and
American sympathy was un9ualifiedly
given to the Jugos!avs in their Adri-
attic aspirations, although the Aus
trian and Hungarian fractions of the
new Jugoslav people had fought
against italy and for the Austro-
German alliance with a ferocity and
a determination hardly surpassed m
the war. 4g .-yo--
Jugoslav Rival Feared. -.
Beyond all else the italians receg=
nized that. were a strong Jugosiav
state to rise on the eastern shores
of the Adriatic, where are situated
all the good harbors that at no DIS
tant time this state, which at its-ia-s
ception would be equal in area to
Italy, might become a dangerous
rival, forbidding italian influence
| along the pathway where Venice mad
once ruled. 1t was true that MAJ
zini and other great Italians of the
past had urged understanding rather
than rivalry but in the italian mind
recent events had a large inf1uence
and the Italian people continued 20
see in the enemies who had fousht
them at the Isonzo and the Piave per-
manent foes.
Moreover, as italian aspirations and
purpose quarreled with those of the
and of
Adriatic. they equally collided with
Greek hopes and claims in the Ae-
gean and in Asia Minor. Italian
forces already occupied Valona: the
key of the Adriatic. but the Greek
claim to northern Epirus to the ltai-
ian mind constituted a threat to this
base, while in the Aegean Greece.
with the frank support ,6d OF Amsrsrn Aestsrm
powers. demanded the cession OF the
Dodesahesus and Rhodes. which 1taly
had seized in her Tripolftan war. and
on, the mainland of Asia HenlaelSs Issass
to Italy in secret bargains IN iSla,
1t was true that people of northern
Epirus were Hellenic, that there was
not an italian in the Aegean island.
that Smyrna was the seat of great
| Greek colony and the whole western
coast of Asia Minor Hellenic since
territories had been promised by
| the western powers as the price OF
Italian participation. In the recent
| war Greeks had been more often an
| enemy than a friend, and once more
the Italians saw with amazement
| and anger their recent allies cham
pioning the claims of state which
had been hostile rather than cham
| pioning their own demands.
Ran Counter to Ia Points.
The Italian claims, now advanced
j, and fortified by past bargains. run
/ counter to Mr. Wilson's fourteen
points; they do violence to the un
questioned rights of the southern
Slavs, the Greeks. the German-speak-
ing population of the Tyrol and the.
Turks and Greeks alike in Asia
Minor Italy's possession of the Ter
ritory which she now claims Will
certainly make for future interna-
tional anarchy or still further wars.
but on the other hand. IL a
ern Adriatic. Italy will be menaced
in this direction, while if Greece real
ICES even the moderate aspirations of
VeniZelos the Aegean and the east
ern shore of Asia Minor will become
Hellenic again and Italy will find
herself ringed round on the Mediter-
ranean by British and French colo
nies and pushing new states. More
| over. Italy sees this thing threaten
ing despite the pledges given her by
her recent allies, who have them
selves acquired more territory than
| she asks for as a result of this war.
! Manifestly, then. there is an Italian
case. Whether it be wise for italians
| following the unhappy precedent of
the now conquered Austria to ac-
| cumulate future trouble by annexing
| territory inhabited by Germans, Jugo-a