The Dominion TUESDAY, JUNE 5, 1917. ITALY'S GREAT EFFORT

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3102, 5 June 1917, Page 4

The Dominion TUESDAY, JUNE 5, 1917. ITALY'S GREAT EFFORT

If the report be true that the Austriaa Eiii'Eiion, returned from the Isofizo front in a state of fury and despair at the failure of his armies to resist tho Italian advance towards Trieste, then the day of the rise of a larger Italy may bo near at hand. The dream a-nd the desire- of Italian patriots for the- last fifty years and more was that their countrymen in tho Trentino and in Trieste, living under tho hated ilag of Austria, should bo brought under tho Italian flag and become part of a large, free, and united Italy. This dream promises, by the uniquo skill and marvellous courage of tho Italian soldiers in tho face of seemingly insurmountable difficulties, to become actual fact in the near future. Italy today is fighting for the liberation of her enslaved children. Austria to-day, by the persistent injustice she metes out to other races living in lands sho rules o\er by the sword, fosters rebellion and incites to a war of deliverance from without. Sixty years ago nearly the .whole of tho Italian peninsula was under the iron heel of Austria, and Joseph Mazzini truly described tho position when ho said: "Misfortune, suffering,- protest, individual sacrifice havo reached their climax. Tho" cup is full. .Oppression is everywhere, like the air we breathe ' These words describo the condition of affairs in tho Trentino and in the city of Trieste under Austria. In the city of Trieste, for example, nearly 80 per cent, of the peoplearc Italians. Visitors before tho war report that tho place was so Italian that they could hardly believe they were in Austria. But Austria so governed the Italians in Trieste as to train them to hatcher. Tho Italian language must not be used in the State schools; and in tho voluntary schools ; tho history of Trieste > must not be taught. Out of nearly 5000 oflicials in the Customs and police only 'a very small proportion were Italians. It' became a crime to play Italian music. A child of 10 played the Garibaldi hymn tune on the piano and the father was put in gaol for treason. Italian industries were deliberately crushed, and Germans and Slavs were brought m to shut but tho Italians. Such was the state of things before the war, and for long years before the war. The people were goaded to madness. Tho soidiers of Italy are fired to heroism and to grim determination to punish Austria by the knowledge of the sufferings of their countrymen who are living under tho.Austrian flag. '; It is interesting to read that Briton and Italian are fighting shoulder to shoulder in this war ot redemption at the Isonzo. On land and sea Britain has helped Italy in her victorious warfare towards Trieste. History repeats itself. Sixty years ago Britain was Italy s constant and unfailing helper in her rise to freedom, independence, and unity. The great poets of Britain, Tennyson, Swinburne, the Brownings, and Meredith, show in their verso the white heat- ot sympathy they felt for the cause oi Italian "freedom, and they register also their hatred of Austrian tyranny. Swinburne thus sang:

"Italia! by the passion of the pain That bent and rent thy chain. Italia! by the breaking of tho tonub Tlio shaking of tho land?. _ Beloved, 0 wen'e mother, 0 mens Queen Arise, appear, be seen! Lecky, in his Democracy and Liberty, says that tho Italian movement was tho "one movement in the nineteenth century when politics assumed something of the character of poetry." Gladstone helped by turning tho limelight of exposure on the degraded despotism of lung BoiißA of Naples—an Austrian pupput. England found a/ home for Italian patriots, • and .powerful' societies were organised to help Her in her struggles. Mk. G. M. TreVRLYAN, in his Garibaldi and the. Malawi of Italy, has brought to light the part that Lokd John, Russell played in saving by bis diplomacy the cause of Italian m•dependencc. He prevented Napcilkon 111 from blocking Garibaldi r descent, from Sicily on, Southern Italy—a descent which lo.ti to tho liberation of half of Italy. Later, when Victor Emmanuel accepted from Oauibaldi Southern Italy and Sicily, tho great Continental Powers met to interpose and share in the spoil, and then the cloud of foreign war seemed hanging over Young Italy. But Britain's voice once more, rang through Europe. Britain declared that she recognised Victor Emmanuel as King of a united Italy and the Itahan people as the best judges oE their own affairs. No power then could flout Britain's judgment. Count Cavouu shed tears of gratitude when he read Britain's proclamation, and another great Itaha-n said it was worth more to Italy ™'\ n '■] K rcat, army. Thus Britain helped to make the proscnt Italy. Ihe makers of Italy arc usually spoken of as threo-MAZZIM, UaiUBALDI,

and Cavour; but Mn. Tkevelyan relates that in an Italian villa thero were tho portraits of the- four makers of Italy—tho fourth was Loud Joun Russell, the statesman whose courageous proclamation gave Italy her right place- among the nations. It is natural and reasonable, in tho light of these- facts, that Britain to-day should givo special help to Italy in her efforts in tho way of liberation and enlargement. The Austrian Empbhoii has good reason fcir being in a state of fury and despair at Italy's victorious march towards Trieste. That great seaport is one of tho most valuable gems iu his crowu. Trieste is Austria's one great commercial harbour and her one great military harbour. An Austrian authority wrote in the Quarterly llcvttw of January, 1911, that tho loss of Trieste "would involve the abandonment of Austria's rank as_ a Great Power and her degradation to the position of a circumscribed inland State"; and ho added that it would mean her "political suicide." Italy, in seeking.the capture of Trieste, is not only fighting for tho liberation of her'downtrodden children but is also aiming a smashing blow at a vital part of an enemy whose- despotism and injustice invite retribution. A part of the earth will be freer and happier when tho Italian nag flics over Trieste. Then it may bo said, adapting tho words of tho American poet: T!in" Victor in: tlio land sits free And" hnppv by tho summer sea. And Hapsburg Trieste now is Italy. Sho smite above: her broken chains The languid smile that follows piun, Stretching' her cramped limbs to tlic sun again.