“I consider it natural that Baron Haymerle should have made no official complaint respecting Urezzana, and furthermore, that he was tactically right in taking that course. I should not regard it as good policy however to adopt a purely passive attitude towards similar permanent threats. Such a course would, I fear, only encourage Italian Chauvinism, and the semi-complicity of the Government therewith. According to my political convictions a purely defensive attitude, _i.e._, one of mere complaint, is not an effective weapon against such permanent threats or incitement. It is open to Austria to parry such attacks, by assuming the offensive, on similar lines to the Italian demonstrations. It is not the Italian Government which adopts a threatening attitude. It only suffers Italian subjects to do so. Now I am convinced that there are elements and movements in Austria that favour the restoration of the Papal States, and of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, just as the Irredentists work for the acquisition of the Trentino. If these elements in the press and public life of Austria were to come or to be drawn into greater prominence, that would involve a counteraction against the Irredenta, which would compel the Italians to fall back upon the defensive, without being able to make any complaint. Even the plea that Austria, in view of such threatening movements, requires a better line of defence than that which she now possesses would be quite as legitimate as a craving for the Trentino, Trieste, and Dalmatia. Italy by herself would scarcely venture to attack Austria, but her present attitude is a constant encouragement to the war party in Russia. For about twelve months I have had the impression that Italy is inclined to place herself at the disposal of a Russian policy of war if in return she were offered an accession of territory and a stretch of the Adriatic coast. The relations which it has been sought to establish between the two armies, the Italian and the Russian, and the shifting of the centre of gravity of the Italian army towards the north support this impression, not less than the indications furnished by various votes which the Great Powers have respectively given. This whole attitude shows that Italy must not be numbered to-day among the peace-loving and conservative Powers, who must reckon with this fact. I beg your Serene Highness also to think over this matter for yourself, and to kindly send me your views in an autograph private letter. Of course any initiative in opening up this subject must be carefully avoided, but Baron Haymerle, or Count Andrassy when he comes to Vienna, can hardly fail to bring it up in conversation with your Serene Highness, and thus give you an opportunity of introducing observations in the sense of the foregoing remarks, not as the expression of German policy, but as your own opinion in the character of a friendly expert. In certain circumstances the Nuncio also might afford an opportunity for an