Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-12-19

IN which. too. are many SlOVeneS, ana
the great mass of Serbs. who inhabited
both the old states OF Serbia and
and the Austrian and
Austro Hungarian territories Of Dial.
malta and Bosnia Herzegovina
The former Austrian and Hun
garian subjects. while accepting the
union with the Serbs. have never &C
copied the basis on which the union
was made: they have always advo-
Gated a federal system. rather than
that which was created and made
them more or less impotent minor
ties in the presence Of the over
whelming Serb majorities. But the
resistance to Serb supremacy was al
ways tempered by the fear of italian
aggression.
The Croats have never reconciled
themselves to Italian possession Of
Fiume, their natural port, as the
Slovenes have continued to claim the
right of their brethren within Italian
frontiers. who number several hun
bred thousand. to exercise the right
of self differentiation and Join the
Jugoslav state. And the Serbs have
always been under pressure to demon
strate their right to rule in the Jugo-
slav state by their power to protect
the Croat and Slovene minorities and
advance their aspirations.
Italy's Broad Ambition.
Italy, in the years of Mussolini,
having made peace of sorts with the
Jugoslavs, has been trying feverishly
to establish some sort of hegemonX In
all Of the Balkans and in particular
to destroy the French position in the
Little Entente. Her idea has been tn
create a combination of small powers
which would be under Italian in
fuence and would give Italy posi-
ton of Importance which she has not
yet acquired in Europe. To this end
she has worked in Bucharest and I'm
Budapest. even In Vienna. But she
has never been able to shake the
French orientation of Czechoslovakia
or the French sympathies Of the great
foreign minister, Benes.
Meantime Italy has quarreled in
cessantly with France, and each at
tack upon Mussolinis life has been
followed by an outbreak of passionate
recrimination directed against the
French nation. The real significance
of the present Albanian crisis must
be found in the fact that so far as 1t
can be seen today it at one time de
stroys italian hopes in the matter of
throws Jugoslavia into very close
association with France.
Such association is fatal, because
whatever Italian nationalism might
think of present or eventual Italian
ability to fight France. the situation
changes when such a struggle in
wolves a war on two fronts and i'm
mediate conflict with Serbian armies
seeking to take the whole Adriatic
littoral from the mouth of the Isonzo
southwark. Italy thus finds herself
almost encircled by the areas Of
French and Slav territory which ex
tend from Tunia to Cattaro. with only
the interruption of the Austrian Swiss
territories. Her position is quite Ike
that Of Germany between Russia and
France in 1914.
Other Factors Italy Faces.
This position is further rendered
Italy holds many thousands of Ger
transporting peoples within her
frontiers in the Upper Adige. and her
treatment of these has produced not
merely Austrian but German protest
and led to very bitter episode less
than two years ago. Finally there is
the Greek situation, for the Greeks
have never ceased to desire and claim
the southern part Of Albania, where
there is a Greek population. They
also violently resent Italian retention
of Rhodes and the Dodecanese. in the
Aegean, as they also recall with BIT
terness the episode of Corfu.
Italy, then. finds herself in trouble
with the French. the Austrian-Ger-
mans, the Jugoslavs and the Greeks.
1t must be added. too, that. although =
little public expression has been had
for the fact, the Swiss have taken real
alarm at various signs which they .
interpret as indicative of Italian as
piration to annex the Italian.speakinG
Swiss canton of Ticino. which lies
south of the Alps and is inhabited by
a population which while 'loyallS"
Swiss in sentiment is Latin by race.
The ambition of the new Italy to
control the Adriatic Is challenged by
the rise of the southern Slav state,
which is destined to become increas-
lngly a strong military nation. The
aspiration to expand into Africa Is
backed by the French possession Of
Tunis and Algeria and the British
guaranty of the independence Of
Egypt. Hopes of some sort of alliance
with Germany, which had little real
with the accumulation of the Tyrolese
issue. and in addition. as a conse-
1uence. of the unmistakable drawing
If Germany and France together az 4
result Of Locarno and Thoiry.
Perils in Situation.
The most acute danger of trouble.
however, is and must remain that
growing out of the Jugoslav situa
ion. 1t is dangerous because of the
situation within both Italy and Jugo-
lavia. The nationalism of Mussolni
las reused the spirit and passions of
he Italian people to such pitch that
my obvious failure in the foreign field
night have grave consequences. Mus
iolini has convinced his fellow coun-
rymen that their mission is to restore
he Roman Empire: he cannot safely
hesitate in the presence of what to
Romans must be no more than lily
ian tribes.
The Serbs. who dominate in JuSQ.
lavia. on the contrary, are bound o.
ecognize that the hope of bringing
bout the ultimate fusion Of the
'roates and the Slovenes with them
elves depends upon the degree TO
which they support the rights and re-
lie the interests of these minorities.
md 1t must be remembered, in add
ion, that the Serbs are a fighting
ace. They are also recovering very
apdily from the effects of the war, as
: usually the case with agricultural
copies.
They have, to be sure, two menaces
that coming from Hungary and that
in Bulgaria. From both
hey have taken large areas In recent
ears. But any Hungarian interven-
lon would lead to Rumanian and
&ech attack upon Hungary, in &C.
ordance with the terms of the pact
7hich created the Little Entente.
borrower, the Hungarians. although
hey desire certain boundary revisions,