Finally Mr. Wilson makes a powerful and most friendly appeal
to Italy not to ask the United States to make peace on terms of which the American people disapprove. Italy, via-d-vie her Allies, is of course in a position of great tactical advantage, for the Allies agreed early in the war that they would not make a separate Peace. This means, on a literal interpretation, that if Italy should not come to an agreement with us now, it would be impossible for the other Allies to make peace with Germany. The best friends of Italy at this moment are those who recognize and remind her that a true spirit of accommodation may conquer all difficulties, while very strict or pedantic demands may create a multitude of new difficulties and indefinitely postpone peace. If one were microscopically to apply the principle of self-deter. urination on the shores of the Adriatic, no solution would ever come within sight. There are bound to be Italians in Slav districts and Slave in Italian districts.
Previous page
