The Marquis di San Giuliano.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLVII, Issue 4, 24 January 1912, Page 2

The Marquis di San Giuliano.

The Man Who Brought on the War Between

Italy and Turkey.

IN that burst of disapproval with which European newspapers hailed the outbreak of war between the Sultan in Constantinople and the King in Rome, the name of the Marquis di San Giuliano leaped into sudden renown. The descent of the Italian fleet upon the coast of Tripoli scored a personal triumph for the one statesman with whom modern Rome, according to the London press generally, can compare Talleyrand himself in diplomacy. He is thoroughly disliked abroad and seemingly not altogether appreciated at l n Vienna, according to the Lon-

don ‘'Chronicle” —his warmest friend in the foreign press—he is an object of suspicion. The Marquis di San Giuliano returns hate with hate. He dislikes his country's ally, Austria, as thoroughly as she detests him. The greater Italy that is to be must be his achievement. Tins temperamental and . typically Latin Marquis di San Giuliano is perhaps better known in London than in any other European capital. That is the impression of so careful a student of his ways and works as the London “Chronicle” which, in a eulogistic character sketch, reminds the world that the Italian was ambassador from the King of Italy to the King of Britain for some active' years. He impressed the English then as summing up in bis person everything that a great Italian ought to be —as polished as a Chesterfield in his politeness, as impeccable a- a Mntri-h in his taste and as brilliant ps Machiavelli himself in his diplomacy. The Marquis is pronounced by the London daily just cited “the strongest and best equipped personality that has served the Italian government since the

fall of Crispi.” The Marquis is a SiciD ian nobleman of Norman descent with a, bearing and a dignity that suggest the centuries behind his ancestral tree, Some fifty-eight years of age, a Senator; of the kingdom and thus removed from the exigencies of electioneering, he is a confirmed student of foreign affairs, Diplomacy is the passion of his existence. He has, as one witty enemy of his remarks, made it his mistress instead of his wife.

Despite his solid attainments, the Marquis was hindered by his brilliance from rising too rapidly. He talked so well about so many things that he was' early in his career suspected of insineeritv. The accusation that he was a

mere seeker. of success hurt him long. As it is. the thirty years or so he has spent in public life brought him but four offices all told. He was given, to begin with, an obsure under-secretaryship iu the ministry of agricultlire, from which, at his own entreaty, he was transferred to the foreign office. His abilities proved so solid and his power to influence men became so marked that he received a portfolio when the Pelloux cabinet came into being a dozen years ago —that of Postmaster-General. It can not be said that his peculiar gifts shone in that field of activity. The work of administration was too dry and dull for sa sanguine a temperament. He sighed for the distinctions of diplomacy. The Italian political world admitted his gifts, but he was not exactly available. At last, some six years ago, there occurred a cabinet reconstruction. The Marquis was placed at the head of the foreign qffice—the goal of a life’s ambition. ” It was inevitable that something Hko

a contest between the Marquis and the King should initiate the official suprem a<-y of the subtle di San Giuliano over foreign relations. The monarch is essentially simple. The Marquis is complex. The King is always eager to play with every card faee up on the ta'ble. The Marquis never shrinks from devices sanctioned by tradition and summed up in modern times under the crude name of bluff. But the bluff of the Marquis, as the Berlin Kreuz-Zeitung once remarked, is the rarest and the finest art. On<; hardly knows that it has been even attempted until it has >t<J.npletely triumphed. Tl>e King loathes all that partakes of the nature of intrigue or of trickery. It took him a long time to under-tand the Marquis di San Giuliano and an infinitely longer time to lend himself to his methods. Ultimately the foreign minister won. He owed the • ireum stance more to his personality than to his brains. The King and the Marquis have in common such things as a love of Italy's <yld coins, old monuments. Each is a keen student of agriculture. Only bis Majesty was dumbfounded by the dreams of the Marquis relative to a revived Roman Empire. No doubt the temperamental incapacity of the Marquis to efface himself had, as the "London Chronicle’’ says, much to do with the result. He is too dazzling, too restless, too original to be an echo of anyone. So he made himself minister of foreign affairs in fact as well as in name. Here the Marquis encountered another difficulty. He was asked to share Ins secrets with his colleagues. Hrs mind was a vast storehouse of information on such subjects as the spy system of Austria in Salonika, the secret pact between the heir to the throne of Fram•:< Joseph and the German Emperor, the negotiations between St. Petersburg, and the religions leaders of Islam. The Marquis established a secret service of his own. Unoffici 1 agents of his policy intervened mysteii isly in Morocco and In Budapest. N< t a word would the M.irqu - tell about his plans. He bec. the incarnate mystery of Italian World politics. The Premier could get no information f; ■ his own subordinate. "V> Inn the tin: .tomes,” the marquis said, "I w*'l tell everything.” The phrase b< .me a sort of jest in Rome. The L" to tr-’l everything will come, the “T: ;■ ma” r. inplains, in some other w.-.lu than Hint of the Marquis's dip.. aev. ' . th.-. death of his wife some years *- ;■ creations of the Marquis have f ’■ mainly. He has somewhat a’ ■ ■ former activity as a dra- ' Ti ne was when some of the i;‘t" .ns of the new plrvs » . i" tr.e Roman Press were " " non isly by this artist with ■■■ ' ’- Of late be bis devoted himself ♦ ' ' • of Dante. The Marquis v- ,:i h demand as a lecturer on f ■ th mes onnected with Italy • a t a liters that he could I lim I ■ ’- perse well from the sale o’ ” ’ He invariably donates the 1 ! ' ■■ ■■ of 1 - talk—is he prefers to s'vied to some lo al charitv, ; ~t few years he has 1 . ’ It" ivoid 1 ■ tore engage- >' 1 It, tli< r His manner is exit i-mg to an aud'enee. There : bis lingiiage the least trace of ' hint'.- His humour is lively. H • ’ - t’ I' ff.in language with inex;.i : ::: ;t an 1 elegance of diet His v. : e is harmonious. He al 1 knows wl ■ he is talking about, co ’ ' • nq.’rts this knowle’.'e •. :t'i f 'I in a delightful way. If.. is s. d to inherit these gifts from his '»■ r. ibo was a. daughter of the brilliant Prince of Cassaro. ami one of ti ■ t - 'J leaders of her time. T.b-.-an • ■ a term that esv irjlv fits th. '' ( ri-s. He ■< elegant in his attire . it a tra - of fonprshn -*. n n;an of f ■ > bnt m r tbishv. Democratic J o nt ••’.is > 0,0 < r>-! at bv the ” .1,.-.* .t 1 .1 inJiea, Illi 1 -one ••.tint.- oneedis the 'Hi it is that in Franco. Pren> > . i ..iil.iax > one of the be,t dressed >’ '■ I ir>>)>e, nd mu- h fun has boon poked a* the .bganre of the Marquis ’ • ... i|»t rts. n • lives ntlv on bis < tats In Si Hv nnrr. > 1 ■ I I ■ circle th.at is rati* r n;rn*cr...i- neuhr-wa ant nieces •» welt as one of hi* daughters and her

children. He reads the latest polite literature and loves Candueei. Nor are his own literary abilities mediocre on the creative side. Some of the finest prose in current Roman periodicals is from his pen, and be writes much on many themes. His material is afforded by his experiences in travel, by archaeological study and by the sympathetic interest with which he follows the progress of dramatie art in Italy. Much that he writes is published anonymously owing to the somewhat rigid etiquette of his position. Like a well-known member of the Ministry at Paris, the Marquis wrote much love verse when he was extremely young.

The grand crisis in the career of the subtle Marquis cannot long be delayed. The struggle divined by all Europe between himself and the incarnate spirit of contemporary Austrian diplomacy, Count Aehrenthal, will, predicts the "London Chronicle,” be well worth watching. The Count and the Marquis have crossed swords before, but hitherto the victories have been to the credit of Vienna. In bringing on this war, the Marquis foiled the Count neatly. The gain of Italy is the loss of Austria. The explanation is found in the antithesis between the Marquis, as the British daily interprets him, and “the tall, bespectacled, parc-hment-hued diplomatist in the Ballplatz, of a slow, methodical, half-pedantie suavity of manner, monotonously precise and unrhetorical in address, a master of reserves and blessed with a gift for avoiding notice.” He, too, says our contemporary, is a tireless planner of politics; but in the relentless and desperate struggle between Vienna and Rome for power in what Europe calls the cockpit of the world, the most splendid triumph has been achieved by the Italian Marquis. The next move, however, is Count Aehrenthal’s.