ITALY IN THE COMING WAR."

Press, Volume XLVI, Issue 7260, 21 January 1889, Page 5

ITALY IN THE COMING WAR."

The Eserdto liaUano, the military organ at Borne, has published an article in the form of a letter to an hon. deputy and ex-offlcer, under the above title, signed by its editor, Signer de Lnigi, himself an officer who went through the last war in which: Italy was engaged, and who is regarded as a high authority in military matters, and to whom, as editor of the organ or the War Department, grave attention' is due. The letter was suggested by the published interview of the Deputy the correspondent of "a Srench newspaper. The Rome correspondent of the Times extracts the most significant passages, -which may, lie thinks, be taken as the military opinion of Italy :— "The Italians protest that they have no Intention of attacking France; the French on the other hand, affirm that they are animated by no warlike intentions towards as. I believe that both the parties who repeat almost daily the same declarations do so in perfect good faith. The war will nevertheless break out on the firstHOCcasion which presents atself, r siace if is title natural and • inevitable result of the series of events which has created the present- position— ie., the constitution on the frontigrs of France of two great States, united and thoroughly nationalised, which limit her influence and restrain her power of expansion, and on which rests the new. political equilibrium of Europe. France cannot do otherwise than direct all her efforts to changing this state, of things. She would disown her splendid past, and would not do honor to hername and nature, did she not attempt sooner or later to burst the iron; circle in which the unity of Germany and Italy have bound her; and she will do so. Let no one blame her for the effort. "Let us speak frankly. What is the good of deceiving each other reciprocally 8 France will never, not even after 1882, be able to count on the neutrality; of Italy. Italy is led by the instinct of self-preserva-tion to unite without hesitation Jher forces icom the very beginning of the struggle to the forces of those who intend to keep France la that. iron circle which is the surest guarantee of peace; and France knows it well. A success of , the French arms, facilitated by our neutrality, would be soon and bitterly felt by Italy. After a victorious war with Germany, war against Italy; after Berlin, Borne; this is inevitable. The Italian statesman who in this emergency should hesitate an instant to take the .only possible resolution would betray, his country and expose his name to the well* deserved vituperation of future genera* tions. He would have led his country to certain destruction. I fancy that I hear a chorus of protests, more or less sincere; but the future will prove that I am right, for the truth cannot be averted.": No one here (adds the correspondent) who is in the way of gathering the ideas that float about, or who has examined the situation continuously for the past year or two, will doubt that the above is the purport of what is thought here, or that it is substantially sound. More than that, there is a growing feeling that unless the forces that make for peace are soon shown to be overwhelmingly superior to those that make for disturbance, the crisis will not be long waited for. Silent arming aad. nervous preparation are the order of the moment..