ROUND THE CAULDRON

Evening Star, Issue 15641, 4 November 1914, Page 7

ROUND THE CAULDRON

THE LASTD OP THE ROMANS. NoTIV. (For the 'Evening Star*—Copyright.)

[By E. S. How.]

Of all tho peoples who ha,ve com© to our land as "alien, immigrant*" nono aio ecoj popular as the Italians. They bring with ; them a, richn«ss of color and sugjtcstvveness of historical charm which ore evident even

in ■&» garb and tho faces oi sh& organgnoders, ice-cream vendors, and also in. th© exteriors of those popular rest restaurants which, have, recently sprung up in bo lr-ajry of our large cities. Even a highclass restaurant must have an Italian name to become considered as being of tho first carder, and the iaehionable reteTeo oi onr great prize fights jiow also bears an Italian (name. These notes arc written in no humorous spirit, but because I want to say that tho average Englishman who sees so many Italians com© to his country to earn a living in euch a. variett of ways is liable to form quite wrong deductions as to the positions and power of the country from which thev come. In the last few

decades there has been an industrial and general economic development in Italy of •which England is not generally aware. I became conscious of it mvself first when I found it necessary to make a collection of Italian publications. Tho stylo and contents of the illustrated papers took me completely by surprise, but tho trado papers simply amazed me. Not only on account of their general appearance, but also on account of the variety and resources of tho firms which were advertising therein. I have since found more, than enough to confirm thi3 first impression. In, thoso forms of engineering which call for particular skill, ."ingenuity, and workmanship Italy will compete successfully with any country under th© tun, and in any branches of industry which call for tho display of artistic faculties Italy easily leads. In the motor car industry; which, being comparatively new, gives her a chance almost, equal to her competitors, she has dono wonderfully well, and in certain forms oi shipbuilding sh© is making gigantic strides. Tho American firm of Kodak camera-

leakers is establishing here the largest of lis works, while our own firm of Tickers l:a» extensive works heTe also.

The prayers of the truly devout axe silent iiid secret prayers, but if I make public r.m> of my own it is because I would like every Englishman to share it- with mo. I prayed to thank God that, we wen* not fighting Italy, ami to beg that it may remain so. It is not because I fear the extra weight of Italy thrown in the balance against us, but becauso this is a truly lovable. honorable, and artistic people, whose influence upon tho world is for the pood of the world. I call them unhesitatingly tho " English of the Latins." iTieif courtesy is as unfailing and as true lis their pride, and there is a harmony between the two extremes of character pectiliar to this people. Your Spaniard is perhaps too proud .-id your Inenchmau perhaps too polite, but your Italiaux is your equal, and his pride and courtesy alike proceed from a recognition of that sound fact. The whole of tho north of this country reminds me strangely of ono huge grotto. After the tenee and feverish passago through. France, thero oamo a restful charm as we passed through this lovely country—the land of lithe men and lovely women, the work of the fields proceeding and tha national life continuing in their normal courses Only occasionally signs of military activity would become evident, and I passed only one train completely filler with "soldiers. *My own train stopped at every station, serving as a sort of continuous local unci as -we- eveTy large town iheie was art inrush of family paxtiea returning from excursions in tho email outlying villages, and the musical jound of" the voices of the grown-ups against tho background of happy child reus chatter made it hard to realise what was happening beycr.d the Alps, and that this was tho ono and only great Power of

Europe which still treads tho paths of peace. Having left London with the minimum possible amount of baggage—a rough iweed suit—my nationality teemed to bo in-mediately apparent here, and this helps mo quite a. lot. There is no doubt about the sympathy, of the Italians being mainly with us. The whole attitude of Italy to the two other members of the Alliance is perhaps best si mined up in the phra°e of a fellow-traveller, vho in French described his country to mo as saying to its partnera "Vouj avcz commence—finissez," and that, I think, is the eoundest summary one could possibly have. I may bo wrong, but I should imagine- that the oozing of German and Teutonic influence has been less in Italy than in any other country. This may hj? «ue_ to the proverbial and jtstifiable antagonism of tho ge«tlo and artistic Italian to the stodgy and rather brutal ""Stranieri." or it may be duo to the fact that it vculd be largely a case of diamond cnt diamond, for Italy has its own oozing 1 process, as the universal Settlement of Italians will show. I have visited many countries, and, with the exception of Scandinavia, have found myself more in sympathy with the Italians around me than with "any other people. lam now debating within myself as to whether I prefer them to the Danish and Swedes, hut there are few points in common, and tho attraction is to different temperamental sympathies.

There is a charni of romance here which is unspeakably beautiful. I liko the sliorleroppea ai:d somewhat bullet-shaped dark heads of these Italian men. set as they ars tm sturdy shoulders and active fra.nes of men 'who live in a country which is the very home of far-famed physical energy. The Coliseum left rne dumb with -wonder* 1 inent, and that is but one of the ten thousand works -which the Roman people produced, and now to-day a " riVorgimentc " is 5n active progress -which, -will manifest itself, not in the rearing of high blocks of masonry, but in the achievement of tha union of art and industry, and tha consequent inception of a new era in economic iietory. This thought has been with me. much while I have been here, and it grows stronger 1 within me the more T see of this happy people around me. Jeremy Eeiitham and the whole numerous utilitarian school had -never thought of the possible ectry of the Italians and the best Lam characteristics into the field of industry, hut it has taken place, and our industrialists and garden city manufacturers could learn much from a sojourn here. Nowhere in Europo is the historical position so strong, and nowhere in the. world are there bo many noble monuments to back it up and justify its developments. I have at this moment lifted my eyes to the- -walls of thi.-. hotel writing room. They are covered •with colored posters and cards advertising shipping lines, exhibitions, hotels, and various husireea houses. They form a blaze of blended colors and a perfection of typographical art which nothing I had i;ver seen in London could equal. Only an Italian eye could conceive the ensemble which had been produced in every case by the use of colors which the less daring English commercial artist would flinch fiom and if he did use them could tu&xcely hor*e to produce tho same effects as those ot a dweller beneath the soft j-kiea near the ?Jediterranean waters, and it strikos me very forcibly that the very -warmth of the Mediterranean climate -which is alleged as the reason and excuse fee the indolent "manana" of the Spaniard is probably the verv reason for the strength and energy of the Italians. The same cause can have different effects, A .blow with a hammer will shiver a bar of cast iron to fragment®, but will only toughen a bar of hammered metal. The adversity which drives one man to drink may provide another with the priceless as3e"t of a strong and tested character, which hitherto lay dormant. While I cannot bring myself to contemplate the possibilities of conflict between England and Italy, I And it still harder to imagine 6uch a conflict between England and France under the present conditions. I could quite imagine a conflict between France and Italy on some question which might arise between them at any other time, or between Italy and. Spain or Spajin and France, perhaps—let us say on some question arising in the Mediterranean, although any such question would doubtless be amenable to arbitration, and is not

likely to arise. But I cannot, for the life ■. of ma, imagine Italy in conflict with { Ranee in the present armageddon, because

or tho inevitable final conflict itself between th* Latin and the Teuton civilisation, which the agce have been producing, and which must result in tho supremacy of on© or the other. The brunt of tho conflict has fallen on Franco simply because she happens to be a more northerly position than Spain or Italv; and still wotso trouble lias befallen Belgium, because she happens to be still farther north. Now, even in a southerly position, Italy has not been free from the grip of the leuton, because its frontier adjoins, a Teuton frontier; while Spain has escaped this trouble because her frontier simply coincides with that of a sister Latin nation, which is now acting as a huge ami much-banged buffer for her safefclv; but in the last analysis tho results of this struggle are as vital to Italy and to Spain as to Franco and Belgium, and it is possible that tho form ot statesmanship which keeps its eyes glued to little things may lead to tho forgetting ot Vvg thing*. I once gave a mean man as his character the dictum that "be was eo keen on the 5 per cent, that ho forgot all about tho 95 per cent." When 1 see tho Italian papers hero pointing out the small questions which may arise between France and Italy at somo future date, I would urge them to forget the 5 per cent, for tho moment. .1 wouta 60und the tocsin of the Latin races everywhere, asking them to remember the Teuton "one, two, three" of 1864, 1866, and 1870 respectively. Tho Teutons are together as one man. . . . The Latins seem to be agitated by little questions, and as to who shall be the next Pope, and what shall be Ids nationality ana views on this trouble. A political Pope is deemed to be a foregone conclusion by the Press; a religious Pope, and a Pope who loves tho Latins, and through them humanity, is all wo need. I have never realised all that Latin civilisation had meant until I saw it lighting for its life. In an insular Euglish way I did not thing much of it, and did not know that it tictured my life with every day I live, every book I read, and every ideal I cherished. I did not know that Latin sympathies and Latin ideals had become part of me, and I say it must win, it must live, and it must emerge victorious from the brutal attack which a bastard Teutonic doctrine of brute force and blood and iron is making upon its cuUvork and upon its greatest nations and exponent "'Stranieri" 1 It is not a question now as to whether the "Straneiri" shall dominate Trieste and Flume and the rest of the "Terra Irridenta." It is a question now as to whether the Teuton or the Latin shall dominate Europe, and the false bogy of tho "Slav" is simply used to conceal the intent. To "Italia Ridenta." England, which is not a Latin, but an absorber of Latin ideals and Latin culture, and a haven of refuge for the exponent of every ideal, as her history proves, looks for a common cause in the struggle to preserve Latin civilisation as a real force in the life of Europe. France and Belgium crushed, Spain weak, Portugal defenceless, what bulwark remains to Italy when her turn comes. England's part has been saved by the abandonment of a noble Latin race to tho issue of a doubtfid struggle aimed at Latin civilisation itself, for which the Teuton contempt has been so freely and often expressed. Italy, the England of the Latins, will choose well when the time conies, and if 1 havo judged her people, her statesmen, and her Press aright, they are not to lie bought by callous Teuton bribes, given to be taken away, but will recognise the essential solidarity of Latin civdisation, and now, as in tho days of Mazzini and Garabaldi (a man from Nice), recognise that truth and liberty are more than mere words, and outweigh in value any bribe which the hand of man could ever oifer. "Blood and iron" or " culture and ideals,*' that is your choice. Choose! May the liistorical position. preva.iL