The daily times. [volume] (Wilson, N.C.) 1902-1936, 1919-06-25
ACCUSED OF
DOUBLE DEALING
Milan Paper Reveals the Inside
Facts of Italian Policy at
Peace Conference.
DEEPLY OFFENDS WILSON
DEEPLY OFFENDS WILSON

/ MILAN, uHS AA.--<1p pOD ~ -
dramatic downfall of the Orlando
| Sonnino regime the Milanese demo
cratic journal II Secolo, is finally
! permitted to publish chapter OF
| fact which throws a flood of light
i on the Italian policy at the Peace
| Conference.
At the preliminary meetings OF
the Cabinet held III Rome, during
| December last, Scnnino scored a ma
| iortiy of the determining votes that
! Italy was to go to Paris demanding
| the fulfillment of the famous COM
| pact of London and nothing else
| Indeed at a council of war Leld on
December 26th, Sonnino imposed
Italy's remuneration Of F'un-e IN
spite of stout opposition from
| General Diaz, the Italian Commander
in Chief.
During those discussions Orlando
at first favored the minority view,
according to which the London COM
pact should serve as a weapon Tor
vindicating national rights, while
the annexation of the city and port
of Fiume on the score of its Italian
majority was to be negotiated tol
in exchange for Sebencia, where
majority of the inhabitants are
Croats subsequently, however, Or
lando came entirely under Sonnino's
sway and this says the Secolo, eX-
plains his hesitations, equivocatons
and reticence which terminated by
rendering him obnoxious to every
body. THE story goes in Paris, says
the Secolo, that Lloyd George once
said Orlando represented the biggest
failure in his political life. Lloyd
George had always succeeded in max
ing compromises with everybody
but in Orlando he had never found
a single consistent point upon which
to work"
Orlando was welcomed in Paris
by the Big Three at the outset OF
the conference as one on whom they
ing and fruitful cooperation for
they regarded Scnnino as ''stoo much
compromised by his political his
tory
While Orlando acted as sole spok-
esman at Paris, confining himself to
the agreement mapped out in the
compact OF London, he was at the
time, so the Secolo alleges, engaged
in stirring up noisy and incessant
nationalist demonstrations through
out Italy, particularly on the Fiume
question, with the abject OF making 6
the conference believe that our dele
cation was far more moderate than
the country
At the outcome of these nationalist
demonstrations Orlando obtained
Sonnino's reluctant consent in the
middle of March to propose to the
conference, through Signor Barzilai.
the annexation of Fiume, but always
provided that the compact Of London
were preserved intact. This demand,
however, made little impression, be-
cause everybody at the conference
was fully aware that the Italian
Minister of Foreign Affairs was real
ly unfavorable to the project.
Without his approval direct negot-
iations were next opened up with the
Jugo-Slav representatives with the
result that on April 11th, an agree
ment was reached securing to Italy
four-fifths of the Austrian tonnage.
while the Jugo-Slavs contented them
selves with a single ship. Promising
headway was further made relating
to the Fiume settlement when a pre-
emptory order from Orlando rup-
tured the negotiations of April 23rd
When the Italian delegates had
made their starting exodus from the
conference a pooling of the Austrian
shipping was decided on by the high
er economic council. Nevertheless
the Italians on their return resum-
ed their conversation with the Jugo-
Slavs, and on May 18th, at a recep-
tion at the Hotel Crillon were for
mally assured by the head of the
American delegates that the Ameri-
can delegation not only would strive
to obtain the approval of the confer
ence for private and immediate
arrangement arrived at between It