THE H.B. TRIBUNE. FRIDAY, MARCH 19, 1915. ITALY’S NEUTRALITY.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume IV, Issue 396, 19 March 1915, Page 4

THE H.B. TRIBUNE. FRIDAY, MARCH 19, 1915. ITALY’S NEUTRALITY.

Yesterday we endeavoured to give an outline, necessarily brief, of the relations and sentiments that stand between Italy and Austria as the outcome of the events of the last century. From it there would be gathered at least one sure and definite conclusion—that Italy’s association m an alliance that included Austria could not have been dictated by any feeling of friendship. To Austria Italy has to attribute the repression, through a long series of years, of all her highest national aspirations, and also the continuation of an enforced subjection to the Austrian yoke of two substantial and . most unwilling sections of the Italian people and the filching of two most valuable Italian territorial areas. It is therefore to some motive entirely distinct from that of friendly confidence that we must look for Italy’s subscription and adherence to the Triple Alliance, in which her companion States were the Empire of Germany and the Dual Kingdom of Austria-Hungary. An article which appears in a recent number of the “Fortnightly Review” supplies the answer. There a contributor has given a review of a recently published English translation by another Italian of speeches delivered in the Senate by Signor Tomassi Tittoni, for some years Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs and now Italian Ambassador to France. In these it is made indubitably clear .that the first and preeminent object in Italian foreign policy has been the preservation in Europe of that general peace which alone would leave Italy free to carry on her scheme of consolidation of the regenerated nation and the development of its colonial territory as an outlet for portion of its overflowing population? In this latter connection few of ns, perhaps, realise that the population of Italy is quite as dense as that of Germant', that she has 60 per cent, more people to the square mile than France, and 200 per cent, more than Spain, and that there is a very appreciable portion of her total area that is practically non-produc-tive. Her colonial possessions and their preparation for the maintenance of the surplus population of a singularly prolific race are thus matters of vital importance to her, and her recent departure from her policy of peace by entering upon war with Turkey was undertaken solely for the purpose of establishing more firmly her hold in Northern Africa. Peace, then, was Italy’s supreme and paramount objective. Her entry into the Triple Alliance was, according to Signor Tittoni, prompted entirely *by a desire to prevent the outbreak of any general hostilities in Europe, and by the fact that by joining with Germany and Austria she seemed to be best assisting to the maintenance of the balance «n power that could best be honed to preserve that peace. Little attempt has been made to disguise the fact that her choice of Allies with this purpose in view was forced upon her by the understanding that had been arrived at between Britain, France, and Russia, or that, had she been able to gratify her national predilections, she would have preferred to allv herself on the side of. Britain and France, to both of whom she is indebted for material assistance in gaining the place she now holds among the nations. It is also shown that' the alliance to which she subscribed was one purely of defence against the remote possibility of aggression on the part of the other group. Her attitude of neutrality since the outbreak of the war shows how consistently she has insisted on this aspect Of it, and no amount of pressure, whether in the form of threats or ol cajolery, even when exercised at a time when the cause of her Allies seemed fairlv well assured of victory, could shift her from the stand she originally took up. The review writer comes thus to the conclusion that Italy is more than justified in standing aside and allowing. the warring nations to fight- out the issue among themselves.

The intrigues of Germany, however, have introduced into the purview entirely new. matters for consideration, and her forcing of turkey into the turmoil —solely with, the view of embarrassing her enemies with the fear of a general Mohammedan uprising—has brought about conditions that closely touch Italy s own national interests, and that may yet result in a surrender by her statesmen to the popular cry for active participation. Italian diplomatists, concerned for the secu*a establishment of a nation that has only recently entered upon a new lease of life after centuries of practical oblivion, have made no secret of the fact that, in connection with their foreign relations, they must study first the interests of the rejuvenated nation that is now in its second adolescence. In connection with the present war they have had some difficulty in ascertaining how best those interests could be consulted. Although we very naturally hear virtually nothing but. the reecho of the voices of those who are clamouring for vengeance upon Austria and for the reclamation ot .lost provinces, there is. by no means unanimity on the subject of inteivention. There are in reality two currents of public opinion, with neither of which has the ; Government heretofore directly identified itself. In the North, where the memory of Austrian oppression is strongest, and where the still oppressed Italian populations of the Trentino and of Trieste are in constant evidence to stir resentment, there is a Radical party that has, from the first Austro-Gerinan reverse. urged vehemently upon the Government the need for seizing the opportunity td attack the Teutonic Alliance. The other, composed ot less homogeneous elements, has continued to argue that the nation, having declared itself neutral, should remain so, unless put upon its defence. The arguments of the advocates of neutrality are as various as the elements they include. The aristocrats have, in the nature of things, personally suffered little at the hands of Austria, compared with the general mass of the people, and Are thus influenced by the tact of there being, after all, an alliance with that Power. The clerical party sees its own material interests to be best served by the preservation or the Austrian association, which has always worked in favour of the Church. Socialists foyg that

so short an interval and that no prospective territorial gains could compensate for the certain loss in manhood and in treasure. Commercial interests fight against the loss of a most profitable trade with the neighbouring belligerents, whose necessities admit of no haggling over prices.

Between these two sections the Government has to choose, and it is probably quite useless for us to speculate as (o the considerations that will ultimately tip the balance. We have had so mans' unfulfilled prophecies with reference to the immediate entry of neutrals upon the field that it seems best to disregard them all and await the actual event. For official Italy it must, however, be said that, despite the fact of her membership of the Triple Alliance, she has not, like official America, hesitated for a moment in placing the responsibility for the war where it rightly belongs, or in adducing spontaneously the documentary evidence of diplomatic correspondence to support her assertions. Whatever she may determine With regard to giving them practical assistance, she has it to her credit that she voluntarily and frankly did what she could to justify Britain and her Allies in the eves of the world, and so gain them the moral approval and support that, in the end. wiU count for not a little.