Enigmatic Italy
Whilst Count Ciano has been content to speak of Italy's " natural, just, indispensable " aspirations and the necessity of defending her prestige, the inspired Press continues to thunder against the Allied naval blockade in the Mediterranean, and to assert Italy's intention to obtain territorial aggrandisement, with hints about Tunisia, Corsica, Nice, Suez and Jibuti. Signor Ansaldo declares that she will move " before the hour of decision has fallen "; but there are not lacking signs that she wants to be quite sure first when the hour is approaching and what the decision will be. Italy's attitude is designed at the present moment to enable her to do all that can be done for Germany without committing herself to war, but doors are not slammed against the Allies. The protests against the Allied blockade arise from a real sense of hardship, and the scarcely veiled threats of war which the Press delights to utter do not prevent Italy from seeking some accommodation with this country to relieve l•er trade. In spite of the tension, therefore, Sir Wilfrid Greene, the Master of the Rolls, has set out for Rome in his capacity of chairman of the British delegation to the Anglo-Italian Joint Standing Committee which was set up early in the war to discuss economic questions. The British Government is anxious to remove causes of friction so far as is consistent with the necessities of contraband control.
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