TURCO-ITALIAN WAR.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1417, 18 April 1912, Page 5

TURCO-ITALIAN WAR.

PROPOSAL FOR MEDIATION.

Hy Telegraph—PreM Association—Copyright

Constantinople, April 10. Tho Powers have presented a communication with reference to mediation between Turkey and Italy. 11 is practically certain that Turkey's reply will be in tho negative. BOTH SIDES RESOLUTE. ITALIAN KEBXKESS FOR THE AVAR. A singlo day in Romo at tho present Hi no, writes Mr. U. Ward Price in tho ".Daily Mail," is enough to impress a. vivid realisation of the fact that the Italian nation is united in a firm determination to contimio the war until she has pined everyone of the objects with which she set out to make war 011 Turkey. Coming here a week ago from Constaii--1 tinople, the headquarters of tho other cam]), I expected to find that a time of tedium had begun in Rome. Tho activity of tho Italian forces during the last months one expected would have produced a reaction from tho enthusiasm created by tho swift, dccisivo deeds of tho first days of tho war. But so great a keenness for the war is still to be seen on every hand in Italy that 0110 might believe the campaign was of defenco rather than aggression. And so, in fact, to tho Italian mind it is. Public opinion hero considers tho Tripolitain and Cyrenaica to be as real and inseparable a part of Italian soil /« the (Jampagna at. the gates of Rome. Tho Itnliaijs arelikeamanwhohas come suddenly into a eountrv estate. They aro frankly, almost childishly, delighted with their new possession. 'J'hey take keen pleasure in multiplying around them assurances that it really is their very own. Pictures of Trfpoli aro in every shopwindow ; particulars of the new Italian postal service lo Tripoli hang in tho Piazza San Silvestro; there aro shiny row maps with tho title, "Tho Noiv Italian Provinces," and many of tho place-names Italianised, on tho walls of every Ministry, and the Italian correspondents in Africa find every day somo fresh delight to fill tho eye of their leaders, a new view, a picturesque nativo custom, an undiscovered ruin.

It may bo said quito as confidently of Italy as of Turkey that the Government that made peace at present, except on terms quite unacceptable to the other side, would bo swept away by a wave of fierce public indignation. 11l Italy it is not the Ministry that is leading tho pooplo on a quest of colonial acquisition, but it is the people which is inspiring tho Ministry. Just as tho abandonment of African enterprise after tho disasters in Abyssinia was imposed upon tho Italian Government by the compelling weight of tho nation's will, so the pendulum is swinging in tho reverse direction to-da.v. Slowly tho feeling had been gathering 'that Italy was ceasing fo count in the world outside her frontiers. It.was a feeling that was quickenod by the sight of the activity of other Powers around her during the 6ummer, and when, at a clioscn moment, Oiolitti—a strong man fitted to lead bold enterprises —adroitly turned tho nation's eyes to Tripoli there came rolling up to him from tho Italian people an irresistible demand for deeds.

In Turkey, on the other hand, as I leuow from personal experience, in Constantinople since the very beginning of the war, there has novor been one sign of yielding. There, as here, a grim,.halffanatic spirit of national resolution refuses to hear of possible defeat. Each host in this war, ill fact, is as stubborn as its enomy, and cacli appears to hopo that time will play into its hands. It is just the element of truth in each opinion that gives tho chanco of peace its hopeless aspect. Turkey, behind her breastwork of European commercial interests in the Levant, makes light of the damage that her enemy can do her in Tripoli. Italy sets off against the cost of tho prolonged caiiipaisjir tho consideration that her new dominions will under any circumstances continuo for many years to cost her as much as slio is spending now, bv reason of the expense needful to bring the provinces UP to the standard of modern civilisation and equipment. No doubt exists in independent circles in Rome that the expense of the war, though unproductive, is one thafc Italy can bear without foreign financial help for many months to come.