American Government against such invasion, it is passing strange that
d'Annunzio should have appealed to Abraham Lincoln of all people. As for
Admiral Millo, he telegraphed to Rome that he had thrown in his fortunes
with those of d'Annunzio, and he made to the populace a very fiery
speech. It is not known whether he communicated with the France of
Clemenceau, the England of Lloyd George and the America of Wilson, whose
representative he apparently continued to be for the rest of Dalmatia,
while relinquishing that post with regard to Zadar, his residence.
THE WAVE OF ITALIAN IMPERIALISM
If Admiral Millo's rebellion had been published in the press of November
16th, it is most likely that 250, instead of 160, Socialists would have
been successful at the General Election--an election which Signor
Nitti, that very able parliamentarian, had brought about for the
purpose, amongst other things, of testing the forces and popularity of
the Nationalist party. The old Chamber had--voicing the wishes of the
people--voted for the open annexation of Rieka, without war or violence;
the Nationalists, in order to gain their ends, would seemingly have
stopped at nothing. Military adventures, the breaking of alliances,
agrarian and industrial upheaval--it was all the same to them. They
scoffed at the common sense of the imperturbable Nitti when he said that
the Italians, like their Roman ancestors, must return to the plough.
Furiously they harped upon the facts that bread was dearer now, that
coal was nearly unprocurable. And Giolitti, who in 1915 had strenuously
tried to keep the country neutral, said in a great speech before this
1919 election that the War had been waged between England and Germany
for the supremacy of the survivor and that Italy should never have
participated. He enlarged upon the fearful sufferings of his countrymen,
and he compared the gains of Italy with those of her Allies. Nor was he
deterred when Signor Salandra, the former Premier, called him Italy's
evil spirit who, devoid of any patriotism, would have sold the
Fatherland to the Central Powers for a mess of pottage. Giolitti, on
whom 300 deputies had left their cards in the tragic hours before the
declaration of war, had good reason to know that even if Giolittism had
melted away, the House had secretly remained Giolittian.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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