IN ITALY.

Hokitika Guardian, 10 August 1923, Page 1

IN ITALY.

CHEERS FOR ENGLAND. Exchange). The sincere and cordial welcome given h v Italy to the British Sovereigns came right from the heart of the Italian people. Such warm enthusiasm is based on the friendly relations which bine always existed between the two eouuirics. These two countries show a rare -- xample to the European nations:, in that t]iev have never been at war with each other, if we except the period of Julius ( Tu.-sar.

England has always been a. friend to Italy. During the Italian insurrection and aspiration for a united Italy the Italians found England the only eounliy upon which foreign influence had no cliT-et. When olir patriots were loreed t,, leave tlieir own land il led to Switzerland, and when that eniintiy was nn-tmi-eil by other Powers she expelled the Italians. The refugees then took refuge in Franco—the .country where the tree of liberty had been planted; but that tree was unable to shelter them, ami they were compelled t,, lice to England. ■: Giuseppe Maz/.mi had to make his escape disguised as a woman). They went to London, where they received a welcome and were never moiesiod: on the contrary, they found friends who sympathised with their ideals and with tlieir aspirations tor free and united Italy. Ihe F.uglish wen- ttie enli' people who tool; the Italian cause t•) heart, and, besides showing Imspiielite, they also gave moral encouragement a,ml support : and. a? I hough tlds was 'mil enough, we had mam- English volnntrers who fought side'b.v side with I lie Italians from beginning to end • f ti e win- for Dalian iu- ,-! . pcildclleo.

L was in London that our exiled men proniulgated tlieir plans lor freedom for Italy. That the Italian poet Gabriel Rossetti ('father of Dante and Christine Ross-otti) saved his life was due to a British admiral. Fir Graham Moore, who dressed Re--etti in the uniform of a British marine lieutenant, and tool; him from Naples to Malta and thence lo Loudon. Daly owes much to the English statesmen Gladstone, who ties, crihed to Lord Aberdeen He awful condition of Naples under which the people were c-imnellod to hie, and who defined its Ciiv-i nmciu io the famous phrase ■•Tim Negation of God.” AY hen Garibaldi started for .Sicily on May 5. UdiO wilh Ids 1200 men, the British lleel were there to keen till eye on the iwo steamships currying the braio men to (i dit for their freedom. An incident during tho late war Ims greatlv helped to cement the friendship Letwc"ii England and Italy, and will pass into history. An intolerable fiction originated in France, which attributed to General Foeh the salvation of Italy on November. 1917. after the disaster or Canardjn. The Italians, totally unsupported. held the line from Col. Ber efts'! tn the mouth of the Piave, against the Ansi ro German aitaelc, front November 10 tn December 1. when the Rritbsh soldiers joined in. General Foeh had decided that the Italian army could not hold the Piave line for very long, being, in his opinion, weak and disorganised. Fo the Fraiuo-Rmish reinforcements were held hack on the Mineio line, in the zone between Brescia and Verona, by order of General Foeh. But Lord Cavan, an English general who had boon sent to Italy with the British army corps, could not longer stand idle with his men. Day after day he went to the Italian high command and asked permission to take pan in the fight without awaiting the order from Paris. Lord Cavan was persistent. onil determined at any cost to en ter into action. FTo kept saying: “AAc arc here to fight, and not to watch others fighting. AA’e want to be of use at the critical time.” But the Italian command resisted his demand, though thev fully appreciated its moral and political value. But when winter had set in and the Anstro-Gorman attack was becoming weaker and weaker, ami tho Piave line had been made secure, and A'enice was made safe from falling into the hands of the enemy, the Dalian high command permitted'Lord Cavan to enter into action with his troops, and lie sent oue division between Mon-

tcllo and the slopes of Toinbtt. 1 hi- j took place oil the night between Do-j comber 3 and I. 1917. This initial action of the Brin-h troops made it. impossible for the French soldiers to re j main any longer in action. So that in I this case ail the help we got wo owe j tiie British soldiers. Is it any womlei j the Italians cheered King George and i Queen Alary of England when they visited Italy r i