FRANCE AND ITALY.
[To THE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR:1
SIR,—On reading your article, in the Spectator of October 5th, on the Triple Alliance, it appeared to me that you had, in common with the English Press generally, overlooked the remarkable movement in Italy which has recently mani- fested itself in favour of peace and friendship with France. As a possible factor in the solution of the European pro- blem, it perhaps deserves your attention ; and I hope that you will therefore permit me to state certain facts connected therewith.
In the spring of 1887, I went to Milan and Rome, on behalf of the International Arbitration and Peace Association, in order to create branch Societies ; and these were soon founded through the aid of several eminent persons representing the Radicals of Milan and the Moderates, as well as the Radicals, of Rome. Prom that time the movement has steadily grown, directed, as it has been, principally, by Signor Moneta, the editor of the most widely circulated newspaper in Italy, the Secolo. I have seen much of him, and I believe that the enthusiasm which he has evoked is due as much to a belief in his honesty and his self-sacrificing labours as to his unaffected eloquence.
At first, this crusade began with large meetings at Milan, attended by men of all ranks and parties ; and then delegates were sent into the provincial towns to form committees and Societies, which grew rapidly, and were supported by well- known men of high character. Later on, the Roman Committee took up the propaganda, and a great congress of delegates from all parts of Italy was held, under the presidency of Signor Bonglii, ex-Minister of Commerce, and a "Moderate ;" and now the movement spreads from one end of the peninsula to the other. Peasants and townsfolk alike join in it, and
lately they sent a deputation to Paris, which was received at the railway-station with every manifestation of hearty welcome.
Is it not, then, quite possible that the Italian people, crushed by the ruinous burdens which the Triple Alliance entails, may soon break away from it ? Why should they not declare their neutrality, and so remove all hostility on the part of France P* The danger of attack from the latter has no other source, probably, than the German alliance; so that Italy could at once reduce her Navy and Army by one-half or more. Her next gain, and that an immense one, would be the renewal of the commercial treaty with France, the negotiations for which were broken off by the latter on the day after Signor Orispi went to Berlin.
Thus income would be increased and expenditure reduced simultaneously ; while the area, and therefore the destructive- ness, of the next war, if it must come, would be diminished by the withdrawal of one of the combatants. It is the interest of France and of Italy alike to enrich each other by unfettered commerce ; and from all I have heard, I disbelieve in any permanent enmity between these two Latin races. Such a conclusion has also its obvious advantages for England, for it would take away the last shadow of an excuse for an "under- standing," however shadowy.—I am, Sir, &c.,
[*IS not that begging the whole question? The Italians- say, and we believe, that if Italy were isolated, she would in. stantly be invaded by France, which feels throttled, not by the alliance, but by the existence, of powerful States all round her.—En. Spectator.]
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