10 DECEMBER 1881, Page 3

S. Mancini, the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, delivered a

great speech on Wednesday. The full report has not arrived, but he appears to have said that France had subjected Italy to unjust treatment in Tunis, that the King had, therefore, paid his visit to Vienna, and that Italy and Austria were most friendly. `This is not quite consistent with the public assertion by Prince Bismarck that Italy was drifting fast to a Republic ; and Signor Mancini denied his statement, declaring that Italy was more and more loyal,— an assertion received with a burst of applause. Neither is it consistent with the statement of M. de Kelley, Permanent Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, to the Delega- tions. The Viennese correspondent of the Standard declares that he is in a position to state that King Humbert offered at Vienna active support to Austria in the Balkans, in return for the 'Trentino, the Italianised Tyrol, which projects so deep into Italy, and makes the scientific fortification of the northern frontier so nearly impossible. This was peremptorily declined, though the Emperor remained personally courteous ; and Italy and Austria remain as before, with this difference, that the Emperor knows he must pay for Italian help, if he wants it. We distrust all such statements, which, true or false, are always emitted with a purpose ; but the story explains a good deal that was inex- plicable. Men like Baron de Ksllay do not talk at random, and the German Chancellor's fierce annoyance with Italy is openly expressed.