The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 19, 1919. CONFLICTING INTERESTS ON THE ADRIATIC

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 149, 19 March 1919, Page 6

The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 19, 1919. CONFLICTING INTERESTS ON THE ADRIATIC

Two weeks before Italy' entered the war, on May 9, 1915, a treaty was signed in ber favour by Great Britain, France, and Kussia, which set forth the gains that would conic to Italy as a reward for her sacrifices in the event of victory crowning the warfare of the Allies. This treaty in satisfying' the aspirations of Italy went beyond the wildest dreams of the disciples of Cavouk, Mazzini, and Gaiubaldi, on whose hearts llalia Irridenta. pressed as a burden. This treaty gave Italy the Trcntiuo (with Trieste), Istria, Dalmatia, the Adriatic Islands, the Gulf of Valona, ami, in tho event of Albania remaining an autonomous State, her foreign relations would be controlled by Italy. Further, in the. event of Turkey being broken up Italy would have her share on the Mediterranean coasts, and in Central Africa her colonies would be increased in size. The value and importance of Italy's entrance into the war cannot be overestimated. Von Ludendoih'i.' has just admitted that Germany fell because Italy's attacks on Austria, deprived her of Austria's help. Further, Italy entered the war when dark clouds hung over the Allies. Tho Dardanelles expedition had failed, the British had suffered terribly at Yprcs, and Mackensex was tumbling the llussians to the Sar. It was at this critical stage that the Italian people, inflamed with indignation at tho crimes of the Central Powers and inspired by a passion for liberty, forced a seemingly reluctant Government to declare war against their hereditary enemy, Austria. The Italian people were moved by no huckstering spirit, and were not bribed by any offered spoils of victory. But the political leaders of Italy kept their heads t'ool while the Italian people were at a whito heat, and in the treaty just referred to they drove a fairly hard bargain and fixed a stiff price for their services and sacrifices in IHo war; and this stiff price is causing some very serious complications to-day. It was intended by the Allies that Austria would pay the price, but this ramshackle Empire has tumbled to pieces, and now some of the price is exacted from the new and friendly Southern Slav State, and that State refuses to honour tho bill.

This treaty of May, 1915, was to be kept secret by the contracting Powers, but Trotskv, the Bolshevist Minister of Foreign Affairs, published alb such papers, and early in 1918 tho full text of this treaty was made known throughout Europe. The treaty had a most disturbing effect on the newly-planned Southern Slav State. The rise of this State is the romance of the Avar. In 1916 Serbia was wiped off the map of Europe by the colossal armies of the Huns.. The Serbian Army, however, retreated to the Adriatic, and was saved by the warships and transports of the Allies, who carried it to Corfu, where it was reorganised and equipped,- and then taken to Salonika, and at the end of the day this army took a prominent part in the smashing up of Bulgaria, which to Potsdam was the death-knell of Germany's hopes. Corfu was the home of the Serbian Government, and to that island tho representatives of the Southern Slavs went and conferred with Serbia, and after consulting with all tho parties concerned it was, agreed on July ao, 1917, that Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes be united as one nation under a constitutional monarchy. Twelve million Slavs were thus represented, and when the Central Powers were defeated in November last this Government, which had received the blessing and recognition of the Allies, found a home on its own soil, and it is busily at work trying to organise a' new nation, and it is strong in its protest against this treaty of May. 1915, which would place whole regions of Slavs under the Italian Hag. On the other hand, some aggressive Italians object to the treaty Because it assigns the port of Flume to the Slav people, and a cable of March 14 mentions prominent statesmen like SiGKOit 'Orlando and Baron Son.vino as pressing this demand upon the representatives of the leading Powers. When both Italians and Jugo-Slavs thus object to tho treaty it will open the door for revision by the Peace Congress, and in the event of revision the influence of America and other Powers will make it more favourable to Jugo-Slavia and less favourable, to Italy. An American Commission lias already declared that.tho treaty conflicts with President Wilson's Fourteen Points. Differences about this; treaty in recent weeks nearly led to bloodshed on the Adriatic and inland. In the middle of November Italian troops crossed the boundary laid down in the Austrian armistice and approached Laibach, and the Slav commander warned them there would be bloodshed if they did not stop. On the other hand, a week later Serbian troops entered Fiume, • and thero i might have been trouble, but American troops came on tho scene and allayed all danger of conflict.

Since the publication of this treaty the disciples of Mazzini in Italy have declared that it presses too hardly on Jugo-Slayia, and its terms ought to be modified. Dalinatia, for example, with its great seaboard and its countless islands in the Adriatic, is given to Italy, when, according to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, the Slavs form 96 ppr cent, of the population, and the Italians only ;> per cent., and "their numbers tend to diminish." _ Such an assignment is clearly a violation of the principle of nationality. Mazzini in 1806 wrote: "Istria-is ours. But from Fiume along the Adriatic to tho borders of Albania there stretches a zone in which tho Slav element predominates"; and his words describe the situation to-day. The friends of compromise arranged a great convention of Slavs and Italians, which gathered in Borne in April last, and declarations were adopted that were expected to end strife ;incl lead to a perfect understanding that the interests of Italy and Jugo-Slavia were one. But these declarations have been nullified by some militant Pan-Italians, who, according to Professor Salvejmni, follow SiiYi.ocic rather than-Maz-zini. This Adriatic question, so full of difficulty, is of immense importance to Britain. The British Fleet in the Mediterranean was made necessary through tho prcsenco of Austria in tho Adriatic- Tho.

shores of the Adriatic in the hands of Powers at peace with Britain and at peace with themselves would reduce the work of the British Navy there to the care of the Suez Canal. A strong Slav State on the coast of the Adriatic would shut out Germany and would act as a peacekeeper in the Mediterranean.