AN ITALIAN VIEW OF THE WAR.
[To THE EDITOR OF TER "SPECTATOR."]
SIR.,—The following extract from a letter just received from an Italian friend, who is a very thoughtful man, and is the author of two very able philosophico-theological works, may interest your readers :—
" What a terrible scourge has been visited upon Europe ! When will it cease ? Let us hope that God will stretch forth in the matter His omnipotent hand and free us from this scourge sooner than we fear. The Kaiser will bear before the Eternal a very terrible responsibility, and the German people is putting itself outside the comity of civilized men. What good fortune for Italy that the treaty of alliance was only for defence, and hence pacific ! Germany and Austria violated the letter and the spirit of the alliance by declaring war with a view to the alteration of the status quo, [the preservation of] which was the aim of the treaty. Thus they have rendered themselves guilty of betrayal towards us [Italians]. And their having completed the operation without consulting Italy proves that they were conscious of the betrayal of which they were guilty. Our people is to-day unanimous against the Germans [' l'edeschi ' includes Austrians], and fervently desires the triumph of the Triple Entente. The greater part of the newspapers and of parties have pronounced them- selves in favour of giving up our neutrality by entering upon war with Austria. That this should happen is not impossible, as is proved by the fact, among other things, that we have four hundred thousand men on a war footing on the Austrian frontier, and that Austria has mobilized an army of half a million on the Italian frontier. But the Government—in which the whole nation has full confidence—is judge of the opportune moment, and also of the circumstances in which warlike action may be rendered necessary. Meanwhile Italy is preventing the Austrian army which is mobilized on her frontier from being used against Russia and Servia."
This last-mentioned point serves to show that Italy, which since the beginning of the war has shown strong sympathy with the Triple Entente, is already giving to it very effective material help. This help, there seems good reason to hope, may be soon translated into one of a more thoroughly active
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