ITALY

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 192, 9 May 1919, Page 8

ITALY

Signor Orlando, it Born in 1860. Vittorio Enianuele Or- 5 lando, Italian Prime Minister, a Sicilian, " former Professor of Constitutional Law E at Palermo University, was for many years a lieutenant of the former Prime ■» Minister, Signor Giolitti. Ho became Minister of the Interior in the late Boselli Cabinet, and was much criticised d on account of the latitude he allowed d the neutralist and pacifist agitators. On. 1 perceiving the danger of their move- s; ment, he governed with a firm hand, and t having succeeded Signor Boselli as Prime t Minister in 1917, he gained prestige by f the moral courage he showed at the moment of the Caporetto disaster. He organised national resistance to the AustroGermnn invasion, and in a series of patriotic 'speeches sustained the spirit of t the country. He is personally in favour c of a liberal foreign policy, and is under- j stood to favour a direct understanding a with the Southern Slavs. j Baron Sonnino. I , Baron Sidney Sonnino was born in 1847, \ 'the son of an Italian Jewish father and •■ a British mother. Aβ a young man he j j was attached to the Italian Legation at j j Madrid, Paris, and Vienna. Wealthy and ; well educated, of a. serious turn of mind, j ' he entered Parliament at the age of 30 !' as a Liberal Conservative, and showed considerable competence in 6ocinl, financial, and economic questions, studied the condition .of the peasantry in Sicily, and ( ] advocated the gradual breaking up of j J I bie estates. In the Crispi Cabinets of. 1887-90 and 1803-96 he made his mark as j Undor-Secigtary for Finance, and subsc- i quently as Minister of the Treasury, and , in the latter capacity he saved Italian j credit by drastic financial and fiscal re- ■ forms, but shared with Crispi the discredit of the disaster of Adowa in 1896. He was alternately leader of the Opposition and leader nf the Majority for ten years, but was Prime Minister only for the short periods of three months each in 1906 and 1910, being overthrown on | each occasion by Giolittian hostility. Sonnine took office as Foreign Minister in November, 1914, on the death of .the Marquis di San Giuliano, and conducted the. negotiations with Austria and Germany for. recognition of the claims of Italy. He negotiated simultaneously the don Treaty with England, France, and Russia, and concluded it after tnetailure of the negotiations with Austria. General Bi Robilant.' General Count Mario- Di Robilant, nephew of the former Italian Ambassador at Vienna and former Minister, is an accomplished soldier and represented Italy at the Supreme War Council of Versailles; He commanded with great ability an Italian army during the first 21 years of the war, and was transferred to Versailles in the summer of 1918. Marquis Salvago-Raggi. Marquis Salvago-Raggi, the.only trained diplomatist among the Italian delegates, served as. Secretary in various Italian Embassies, but first acquired prominence as Italian Minister to China diirin» the Boxer troubles. He was subsequently appointed Diplomatic Agent at Cairo, and afterwards Ambassador in Paris. Signor Salandra. Antonio Salandra, Prime Minister of Italy at the outbreak of war, is a native of Apulia.'Entering Parliament at an early age, he acquired influence as an authority on jurisprudence and finance, and in the Crispi Administration of 1893- % became Under-Seoretary for Finance. In the second Pelloux Cabinet of 18991900 he was Minister of Agriculture, and succeeded Giolitti as p riiue.Minister in 1913. He retained office.during the first 18 months of .the war, and was responsible both for Italy's, declaration of neutrality at the beginning of August, 1914, and for her declaration of war on Austria in May, 1915. Signor Barzilai. Salvatore Barzilai is a native of Trieste of Jewish blood. . He was early identified with Italian Irredentist agitation, and left Trieste for Italy . where he joined the Republican Party One of the most eloquent speakers in.the Italian Chamber, he took oifico as Minister without portfolio in the Boselli Cabinet, and contributed by his speeches to maintain •public spirit.- He was a member of the Italian Parliamentary Committee _ that organised the Rome Congress of Oppressed Austro-Huugarian Nationalities.