ITALY AND THE WAR.
[To THE EDITOR 07 THE "BrxerIT0a."1
Sru,—It may be of interest to your readers to hear from one who has lately come from Italy, and who has been living in the country and working there as a journalist for seven years, the general position of public opinion there. To any one who has mixed with Italians of different ranks in life, and learned something of what they really think and feel, even though they do not readily put it into words, it was never conceivable that they could in any circumstances fight on the side of the " Tedeschi." The depth and intensity of the hatred of the Italians for the Austrians and the keenness of their " Irredentism," the desire to see the unredeemed lands which are so largely Italian by blood and language joined to the Mother Country, is something so deep-rooted and instinctive that no Italian statesman would venture to run counter to it. Ever since the beginning of the war the two most marked developments of public opinion have undoubtedly been the sympathetic appreciation of England and her action on the part, almost without exception, of the Press and of private individuals, even in the dark early days, when it did not look like being the winning side, and the increasing indigna- tion against the methods and ideals of Germany. Side by side with this there is a widespread acknowledgment of the security and support that Italy has had, especially in the past, from the Triple Alliance, and that feeling is the best assistance of the Government in its efforts to prolong and adhere to the neutrality which it has proclaimed ; but should the occasion arise when neutrality can no longer be preserved, there is undoubtedly a rising wave of feeling in Italy which would carry with it a very large proportion of the nation.—I
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