DT UC-NRLF 57 flUU DR. PAOLO DE VECCHI ITALY'S CIVILIZING MISSION IN AFRICA ======= o NEW YORK - BRENTANO'S - FIFTH AVENUE & 27th STREET GIFT OF DR. PAOLO DE VECCHI t\ ITALY'S CIVILIZING MISSION IN AFRICA 1912 NEW YORK BRENTANO' S FIFTH AVENUE & 2 ;th STREET ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. FLORENCE 443-1911-12, Barbera Press, ALFANI & VENTURI proprietors. TO HIS MAJESTY THE EMPEROR OF GERMANY This is not a dedication, for, this little work is only an unpretentious exposition of some rather qiteer ideas, a few daring opi- nions, and per haps a very fantastic conclusion. It is instead only an address from an Ita- lian, who adores his own country and in con- sequence, cannot love the German Emperor although he admires in him the greatest liv- ing ruler the world has had since the great Napoleon. When a very sad fatality, called him ra- ther prematurely, to the highly responsible task of governing a country, unsettled after the gigantic war of 1870, of managing people of different races, different nationalities and religious creeds, of directing a political crowd restless under the brzttal domination of an 299778 VI able, bztt despotical diplomatist, he proved to be a worthy match to a worthy cause. His amazing audacity, which for a while filled his people with anxiety, won, after all, the heart of the Germans, who soon found in him the great and just ruler, who gave to his country all that which a man can give, his entire life, leading her to prosperity and glory ; giving to his people that political self- confidence, which is the foundation of a Na- tion s strength. He made a mistake, however, the day he walked into the Vatican with the boldness of a Master, perhaps winning a needed political favor at home, but loosing for ever the de- voted affection of the Italians, which had al- most given him the right to come to Rome as a Roman Emperor. Italy, from that day, forgot Sadowa, and recovered her political independence, her self- reliance, which brought her to the glorious undertaking of to day without help, without tutelage; an undertaking in which the German Emperor s sagacity ought to see the fatal op- portunity of solving the Oriental Question. An opportunity which ought to devolve to a great r^ller, to a great master of diplomacy like him. VII There is in Europe a congeries of civilized Nations, who are disputing between themselves the political supremacy, who are following the principles of the same religion, which has a cross for its pennant, a flag that means the effort of humanity toward moral perfection, but who yet tolerate shamefully that a beautiful part of their land should be ruled by people of different race, of different creed, different principles, entirely opposed to Christianity. Only one third of the population of Tur- kish Europe is Mussulman, and yet the two thirds of them, being Christians, have to stiff er the tyranny and the abuse of Islam, ttnder the eyes of their indifferent brethren. And this outrage is possible in this twentieth century of civilization and progress, only because there is not a man who would lead the willing crowd with that pennant of the Cross, which has been once the glory of Christ- ianity. The time is ripe, and this is the great op- portunity of a really Great Ruler, who wozild thus send down to posterity his name as that of the greatest Reformer after Christ. DR. PAOLO DE J^ECCHL TRIPOLI AND CYRENAICA. Italy's occupation of the North Eastern Coast of Africa, so called Tripolitania and Cyrenaica, has opened up again that Oriental question which has been for centuries the unsolved problem of diplo- macy, which has been also the field of the most terrible wars, massacres and exterminations that history could register in its fatal books. Such an event has been foreseen for years, and it is only due to the urgent reforms needed at home, more than to the ineptitude of the Government, that the occupation did not take place earlier. There were good reasons enough, partly diplo- matical and partly political, but one, the essential one, which stimulated and excited most the patriotic feeling of the Italian people of every class, was the unfair treatment of our numerous colony of laborious and industrious countrymen by the officers of the Turkish Government, who with all sorts of vexations have been continually trying to prevent the peaceful and beneficial invasion of Italy in a country, where she brought labor, industry, wealth and justice. The majority of the natives, well aware of the great advantages of the Italian immigration were favorable to our countrymen, but this did, only irritate more and more the brutal and prepotent soldiers, who saw in the spreading of education and liberal ideas among the native Arabs, a cause of anxiety and danger for the loss of their tyran- nical power and supremacy. Things came to a climax, when the Italian subjects became a target of the most barbarous treatments and insults, and the assassination of a peaceful Italian citizen not only went unpunished, but the perpetrator of the crime, as a challenge to the patient remonstration of the Italian Consul, was promoted to a higher official position, and as if this had not been enough, to the protestations of the Italian Government, a Turkish -Newspaper, pub- lished in Tripoli, in a series of articles, violently insulted the Italian Government, the Italian Army, while the Valy, to the just protest of our official Envoy, boldly answered, that the Press was perfectly free, in that free country ! A National Party, in Italy, which had been growing among the young generation of intellectual men, as a protest against the ultraconservative element holding the reins of the Government, began an active agitation, trying to stimulate public sen- timent, waking up National pride, so as to force the Government to protect National dignity, besides the most vital interests of the country. A Nation like Italy, the historical center of the Roman greatness, the heir to the glorious power of the, once famous, Republics of Venice and Ge- nova, the youngest Nation of Europe, the youngest of the world, born anew only fifty years back, from the ashes of centuries of misruling, of separation, of revolutions, courageously resurrected by the old spirit of a latin race, fermented into a new great element of noble sentiments, a Nation built and ce- mented by the blood of so many martyrs, could not look with indifference to the closing of that sea which had been once her own, entirely by other Nations, to her trade, to her commerce, to her traditions. Sons of Italy swarm over the Coast of Africa, where they are the real, the only toilers of the soil, the only traders of the sea, where their lan- guage is almost the commercial language, the of- ficial language of that country. And yet, the best part of the Mediterranean Africa, does not belong to those Italians, who made it prosperous, who brought there the first wave of civilization, who have there almost the only schools in the land. The National Party actively revived all the historical rights, all the commercial rights, all the human rights Italy had in that desolate land, made desolate by a most brutal domination of a rapacious and tyrannical race, devoid of all sentiments of morality, slave traders and brigands. The Gentil sangue Latino responded to the appeal of the most intellectual men of every class, and the Government could not hesitate any more, pressed as it was by the strong sentiment of re- bellion against the abuse of the Turkish officials, and by the universal cry of the Italian Nation for an immediate action, to protect the interests of our people, to impose the respect of our flag, and to uphold the dignity of Italy. Premier Giovanni Giolitti, in a letter to the Daily Express of London, last September, explains the reasons why Italy was compelled to declare war to Turkey. It is worth giving here in full this letter, a document, which comes from a man representing in Italy the moderate conservative party, the party which hesitated so long to take this final step. Dear Sir: I received your letter in which you request my statement in regard to the actual conflict between Italy and Turkey. After all that has been said and written on the subject it is very difficult to say anything new, especially as our enterprise evolved in such a frank and loyal way that it could not leave any misun- derstanding with the old school of diplomacy, which had a chance to follow it step by step from the beginning. This conflict between Italy and Turkey is of an old standing. It has gone on for years, and often it has come to a crisis which have interested the outside world and compelled us, a -few years ago, to mo- bilize our fleet on the verge of action. The reasons of this conflict are many, the prin- cipal one being, that Turkey would not admit the necessity of our expansion in Tripolitania, and the earnestness of our intentions. One needs only to look at a Map, and will see at once the ethnic connection of Sicily with Tripoli. History tells us that Tripoli was Greek when Sicily was Greek also, and both became Roman under Roman domination. And in these last fifty years of our great evolution, with the growth of our population, and our prosperity and wealth, Tripoli could not but feel the effect of the old ethnic law, and be considered as an appendage of Italy. We cannot direct our emigration, but we are bound to protect our people especially where, on account of the condition of the country, our pro- tection is most needed. We could not abandon our countrymen, their interests and their capitals, in a country so far backward in the progress of civilization, as Turkey, where our countrymen are in constant need, not only of a moral but also of material protection, as are the citizens of other countries, who are com- pelled for that very reason to keep a legal con- stant watch over their subjects. Being unable to prevent the emigration of our countrymen, Turkey resorted to a system of abuses, which compelled - us to request her in a friendly way, to put a stop to the unjust prosecu- tions. But vainly, for Turkey took our patient pro- testations as a sign of weakness, and lately with an open impudent act of despotism violently carried away a young Italian girl in Adana, and for that barbarous act the Authorities refused to give .any satisfaction. > The Turks have been abusing the Italians and their possessions without any regard and con- sideration that the Italians have always treated the Turkish subjects with just respect and humanity. Things have gone so far, as to make it a question of National pride and honor, and we had w but one way of settling it, to defend with arms, what we could not obtain in a peaceful way. And now that we are engaged in this un- dertaking, with all respect toward the other Na- tions, we shall settle with Turkey our difference, ready to enter in friendly intercourse with her, if we find her reasonable. Everybody knows that Italy has taken active part in every just cause, and after these last fifty years of our unification, enjoying broad sentiment of liberty, our people feel entitled to the respect of other Nations, and that it is their duty to step into the mission of civilization which is their calling. Believe me, esteemed sir, yours GIOVANNI GIOLITTI. Such a diplomatic explanation would have been rather superflous, if diplomacy had not some ex- igencies ; and as many European powers were not particularly anxious to get into trouble with Turkey, on account of the many different interests of inter- national character it would involve ; the public sta- tement of the Premier of Italy, had a clear purpose of settling the responsability of such a serious un- dertaking on his own shoulders, or, better, on the shoulders of the majority of the Italian population, clamoring for an immediate action. The claims of Italy to the possession of Tripoli and Cyrenaica are the same as those of France to the possession of her African Colonies, and perhaps, in addition Italy has the ancient rights which come to the heirs of the Roman conquest, to the more recent rights of the Genovese and the Venitian Republics. At any rate, the right of the Turks, is simply that of a usurper, who got it on the strength of a brutal force of arms, when nobody could contest it to them. What the Turks have done for that country, since they took possession of it, nobody knows, or at least, everybody knows that they did nothing to improve it, but simply levied taxes on the poor Arab population, maintaining the commerce of slaves, as the principal trade of the country, while the Ita- lian emigrants, especially those of Sicily, brought there the only industrial commercial and agricultural improvement and the only sign of modern civilization, so much needed in that country, the schools. Ofcours, ewith the wave of civilization, they also brought the war against slavery, and naturally at once encountered the hatred of the Turks, who saw in it the loss of their principal revenues, the loss of their power. So far the claim of Italy was only moral and material, for the ethnic reason of the proximity of Sicily, the emigration brought there a large con- tingent of work, of trade, of wealth. But the political condition of Europe, which had made necessary the expansion of France in Africa, so far as to almost take possession of Tunis, which is under her protectorate, and which compelled England to practically capture Egypt, where her large interests demanded protection, woke up the political people of Italy to the realisation, that soon the Mediterranean sea, that sea once her own, by right of conquest, was going to be entirely lost, for ever to her, if she did not dash to the remaining coast left to her, a coast to which she is entitled, more than France is entitled to the possession of Algier and Tunis, more than England is entitled to the possession of Egypt. After the Franco Prussian war, in the many gigantic plans that Bismark had conceived, was included the distribution of the African coast, and that shrewd modern Machiavelli, had offered Tunis to Italy as a bone of dispute with France. But Italy was not prepared to increase the ill feeling of her Latin sister to foster Bismark's plans. Napoleon the third, in the height of his political power, had already expressed the aspiration of France to Tunis, and disposed that on the division, Tripoli, should go to Italy. It would have been a bitter contest with France the occupation of Tunis, and, besides, Italy was not prepared to such a big enterprise, and the re- IO proach made to poor Cairoli, for his diplomatic ingenuity, was simply a malignant insinuation against the great patriot. Italy could never have dreamt of going to Tunisi to stay. Napoleon had planned the international division of the Mediterranean coast, when France was far from dreaming of the reverses of Sedan, when Eu- rope was very far from foreseeing that Egypt would fall an easy prey to England. If Italy's African dream had been for a while the ambitious possession of Tunis, it was certainly a dream of poets, not of serious political students of the condition of Europe, for, England was too anxious to bargain with France for her possession of Egypt and the Suez Canal, the great water way to India. Besides all that, Italy was not prepared to un- dertake such an occupation against France, who had already a Colonial army used to battle and fight in the Algerian frontiers, and Italy had also the unfortunate Abissinian possession on her shoulder, unsettled, expensive and yet exacting a great deal of attention. Recently the opportunity for an action, on the part of Italy, was precipitated by the Marocco im- broglio, which left Italy freehanded in her African aspirations. As territorial assignments are currently made among the most civilized powers, she was justified in acting as she did. 1 1 By the nature of things the Turkish title to Tripoli was to lapse, and all things considered, it is better to have it lapse in favor of Italy than of France, or Great Britain, or Germany. Hypocritical criticism of Italy in countries, whose governments have been conspicuous in African par- titions, still continues, but it is not worth consid- ering. What profit Italy will gain from a desert country, so worthless that no other power has seriously cared for it, does not appear, but if it is usable by any other country, certainly so by Italy, its nearest neighbour, and the country in Europe with relatively the largest emigration, and thus in the greatest need of Colonies, if Italians are to live under their own flag. The world at large can hardly understand what the occupation of Tripoli and Cyrenaica by Italy means, for it is hardly possible to compare such an action to the occupation of Tunis by France or the taking of Egypt by England. Both those already powerful countries had, one the Financial support, the other a well organized army in her adjoining Colony. And both had to deal with local government utterly unprepared to oppose any resistance. 12 The Khedive of Egypt, a financial slave of En- gland, surrounded by English advisers, by almost an entire English administration, mistrustful of the power of his fellow countrymen, lest he would lose his throne, was ready to give in to the inevitable, and the English army had to deal with a local in- surrection which could be calculated to the limit. France had to deal with the famous Bey of Tunis Mohammed Sidi Saddok, the indolent Ruler of the most indolent troops, who had the choice between the Italian and the French protectorate, with the outmost assurance that the last one would have given him more money and less trouble. Besides, France could occupy Tunis without any theatrical display, and when her Consul Monsieur Roustan, that i2th day of May 1881, famous in the Colonial History of France, announced to the apparently astonished Mohammed Sidi Saddok, that Jules Ferry, the Premier of France, had sent him to offer the protection of his country; General Breart, with his brilliant staff of officers was at the gate of the Bey residence of Kasar Said, followed by two squadroons of Chasseurs d'Afrique. The offer was accepted with a show of protest, which was indispensable to the Bey, as a diplomatic justification for that mistifying bargain. Italy's task is very different. There is not a Khedive in Tripoli financially pledged to Italian 13 Bankers, and there is not a Bey in Cyrenaica ruling indolent soldiers, seeking protection from Italy. Tripoli and Cyrenaica are under the rule of Turkey, and a new Turkey, just awakened to a sort of National pride in which the young Turks have pledged themselves strongly, before their Nation, on the integrity of their country. Italy has to confront a Nation of soldiers, tra- ditional soldiers, who live still in the conviction that Islam is invincible, unconquerable, soldiers led by their ancient condition of shepherds, contempla- tive and slow, by their religion which ties their hands, leaving all things to God, by their traditions as soldiers of Islam, which teach them, that, there is no greater or more necessary act, than that of fighting and conquering for their faith. When England sent her navy to bombard Alexan- dria, and when she landed an army to destroy the insurrection of the Mahdi, the English people were well aware of the fact that the occupation of Egypt meant the preservation of the Suez Canal, water way to her Indian Colonies, the acquisition of the future roads to her Soudanese possessions, to her fu- ture African Empire, which is not built on sentiment, but on commerce, on trade, on commercial expan- sion of her products, for import and export as well. The effort of France to extend her African Empire is also commercial. The scope of her con- I 4 - quest is the investment of her overcapitalization, of her economical prosperity. There is no sentiment in the conquest of Egypt by the English people, there is no sentiment in the conquest of Marocco by France, for neither En- glishmen will emigrate to Egypt, nor Frenchmen to Marocco. Italy is going to Africa to protect her people, for Italy is a country of emigrants, a country in need of expansion for her human labor. No wonder that Italy made preparations to meet all sorts of difficulties, especially after her sad expe- rience of Abissinia. The landing of an army of sothousand men in an hostile country, where everything had to be con- veyed from Italy, everything from a morsel of bread to a drop of water, to supply daily such an army, in a fighting trim, was such a gigantic enterprise that it could not be done at a short notice. Yet, to the great surprise of the most expert military authorities, everything was done with the most commendable exactitude and discipline, as if the preparation of that campaign had been calcu- lated far ahead of that time. War is certainly a terrible event, and in the present international outburst of sentimentalism against bloody conflicts between nations, the world is turning that hypothetical word arbitration to 15 its best advantage by the conservative people, who desire to save what they have, holding it at the great expense and worry of an armed peace, a sort of gigantic policeman, whom you pay profusely, to watch your elegant mansion, while you enjoy the comfort of your wealth. And so it is used and abused by that sort of socialoids, who associate with the anarchists, who by the abolition of war, understand also the abolition of the standing armies, of the formidable navies, which mean taxes over the masses of people, who have no need of that sort of Policeman to watch the mansion they have not, the comfort they can not enjoy, and the capitals which are not their own. If by arbitration, the sentimental apologists, the patrons of Peace, understand the abolition of those tremendous wars of the past, which were fought for the caprice of one man, for the acquisition of power by an ambitious conqueror, for the succession of an aristocratic inheritance, and often, for the ra- pacity of an association of overambitious scoundrels, titled, crowned, illustrious, but nevertheless scoun- drels, then, the good, sentimental lovers of peace do not need to worry. __ 16 The time is past, when Nations had not formed yet a collective soul, when their power of collective thoughts did not exist, for, then, the masses were bound to follow, unconscious, the will of a master, the fortune of the audacious and strong. And so it was that for two centuries, before the French revolution, Europe has been a field of most ferocious wars, horrible revenges, massacres, exter- minations and misery. But the conscience of the people began to wake up to new ideas of liberty, of independence, of freedom, and the seed of the American revolution sown over the propitious soil of France, was the beginning of a new era of civilization for the People, for their nations. And then France fought those famous battles, which were battles of the people eager to destroy a long era of prejudices of oppressions of privi- ledges, in which the world had slept for centuries. What would she be, France, if it had not been for that great revolution, and for those hundreds of battles that she fought so bravely ? And what would Europe have been without that grand and noble struggle? The war aroused those sleeping Nations from their eternal slumber, and the blood shed in those tremendous battles, gave new life to Europe, formed the conscience of the people and built up the cha- racter of the Nations. Sivis paccm, para belhini^ , tell us our leaders, modern philosophers, conservative dreamers of a peace, which has never been, and will never be possible with human nature. But the people, the masses, conscious of their rights, see in the gigantic armaments, in the enor- mous expenses, which falls entirely upon their labor, a menace to their liberties, to their rights, to the very name of peace on which name arbitration, the hypothetical conundrum of to day is based. Who could honestly imagine a universal peace, when Nations like Poland, Finland, Greece, the Balkan people, suffer an unjust oppression, when many Nations are yet under the most autocratic rules, human beings are disposed to suffer? Can they, those Nations, those people follow the famous dictum of a Tyrant, Si vis pacem, para bellum ? > No, they can not. They have to suffer or rebel, and they will have the sympathies of all the other oppressed people, in their struggle for liberty, as the American and the French people had during their struggles. What was, she, America, before Washington, what was France, before Napoleon ? And yet those two names are not remembered for their legislative power, for their administrative genius, but they are painted with sword in hand i8 fighting, and their name, their great name, is that of soldier. And yet they do not represent but the conscience of their people fighting for their liberties ; so much so, that Washington's greatness will go down to pos- terity, superior to that of Napoleon, because he did not abuse of the mission of which he was intrusted : the defense of the rights of his people; while Na- poleon, blinded by his successes, forgot at the end that he had but one mission: to lead his people. People of to day, are not any more the tools of one man's ambition, but the man whom the fate puts at the head of a Nation will be great and famous if he will understand the conscience of his own people. And the people of to day will not stand the enormous expense of an armed peace ; will not support that policeman paid to watch the big man- sions of the few, he will rebel to privileges and their protection. War is certainly a tragedy, an ugly tragedy, but it is not a tragic caprice as Max Jahns, G. Val- bert, Ernest Renan, and Le Bon, would like to make it, war is not a sentimental philosophic ne- cessity, but is unfortunately a fatal necessity. Italy has taken advantage of her opportunities, to shake the yoke of oppression which has hung over her for centuries, her struggle was a tragedy, for i 9 it was a tremendous undertaking, an exhibition of the most noble list of martyrdom of her best people. It was, though, a redeeming long struggle, from which she came out what she is now, a Noble, Grand Nation, whatever ignorant, and abject wri- ters of modern history may say. And, as Italy had her fatal wars, other Na- tions will have theirs, when opportunity will come their way. For, it is not 'possible, that it will breed in the mind of any sensible man, even if he be afflicted by the poetical fad of arbitration, that a Nation like Poland, a great Nation with a great history will not wait for her opportunity, and avail herself of the same, in the most terrible way to regain that li- berty to which she is fully entitled. It has been a long war of redemption, that of Italy, and so it will be a long war of redemp- tion that of Poland, and the world will sympathize with her. The most noble and touching words of a man so generous and so high minded as President William Taft, the deeply suggestive work of Baroness Von Suttner, and the able book of Novikow, which is a jewel of sociologic science, will not change the fatality of history, fatality which like illness and epidemic, may be attenuated, but will afflict the world at large for ever. 20 As long as humanity will exist there will be wars, and if^it is human and just that everybody individually should desire peace, should work for peace, yet it is impossible to admit it. And as fatality calls for war, the people, not the government, should be prepared for it, and the people who will not be ready for war, will suffer the fate of the weak. Italy is not a Nation of fighting people. Her citizens are sober, steady toilers of the soil, indus- trious and expert artisans in almost every branch of work, hard students, with an artistic temperament well known and appreciated all over the world. Their peaceful, humane and gentle character which makes them fond lovers of the family, has been perhaps the psychological reason of the rapid increase of the population, and the consequent need of emigration, to relieve the overpop-ulated districts, especially those of the south. The experience of Abissinia, where they have been the real bearers of Civilization, where, at their own expenses they have helped to found an Empire, where they have only worked for the expansion of England, to whom in a moment of collective folly 21 they gave Cassala, has made the prudent Italian government still more cautious, lest it would run into some risky enterprise. But, to day, the people of Italy, peaceful as they really are, understood that the moment had come, when it was time to show to the world that the love for peace, the humanity of their character were mistaken for fear, for weakness, for cowardice. The best part of the Nation saw that the mo- ment had come when she could prove that her re- cent history of regeneration, of resurrection, the glorious history of these last fifty years of her na- tional life, was not a fallacy, but the result of sound progress and that she could not feel second to any Nation in the world. Notwithstanding the insane opposition of some of the ultra-socialists, and the criminal protest of some dissatisfied men without a country, the majo- rity of the people of Italy, demanded a prompt action, and to that demand, to the surprise of the world the Government responded with admirable promptness. The ultimatum sent by Italy's Minister of Fo- reign Affairs, the 28th of September 1911, will sign an historical epoch of the greatest importance, for, that grave document was sent only with great reluctancy by a peacefully disposed government, which had tried all the peaceful means possible to avoid a conflict. 22 The European powers, eager to prevent a war whose consequences could not be well calculated, offered their mediation, which was a generous offer of a large monetary compensation to Turkey, a very humane way of arbitration on the part of a country which was the offended party. But the Turkish government sent an evasive answer, entirely insufficient to satisfy the Italian Government's precise demand of a prompt settlement, and to the great regret of the conservative party, but the evident delight of the Nationalists of Italy, in fact of the great majority of the Italian popu- lation, war was at once declared, and the Navy and Army at once mobilized for the purpose of occupying Tripoli and Cyrenaica at once. To the great surprise of most of the foreign countries, and even to the Italian population at large, the Government was fully prepared for the great undertaking, the greatest in fact that the world has yet seen. To transport, at a short notice, an army of 50,000 men with the full equipment of a war cam- paign, into the enemy's field across the sea, and land them on a fortified coast defended by the best soldiers, the most stubborn fighters known in mo- dern warfare, is one of the most gigantic under- takings that any Nation has yet dared to do. And all this was done by a splendid Navy, by a large number of transports with the most mathe- matical prevision, without an accident to mar the splendid landing. Reason for going to war cabled by her Foreign Mini- ster at the request of the New York Times. In response to a request cabled by the New York Times in September, 1911 for a statement of Italy's grounds for declaring war against Turkey, the Marchese di San Giuliano, the Italian Foreign Minister, cabled yesterday the following reply, through Signer G. Fari Forni. the Italian Consul General in New York. Rome, Italy, Sept. 30, 1911 The conflict which appears to have unexpectedly broken out between Italy and Turkey is only the epilogue of a long series of vexations and abuses, even more real than apparent, against Italy and Italians, by the authorities of the Ottoman Empire. For a long time innumerable complaints had been made to the Royal Government by our countrymen in every part of the Empire, asking for prompt justice for the many vexa- tions, for denied justice, and for real unjust impositions, which they had to bear, the solution of which was eternally delayed. In this class of complaints eternally involved, which showed that the legitimate demands of the Royal Government were 24 taken into no consideration whatever by the Porte, it is enough to remember the Giustiniani complaints, for the arbi- trary intervention of the Ottoman Authorities. In the cause of local justice, the case of Capoleone Guarmani of Kuhn and of Grissoni from Marcopoli of the Sola heirs, respectively creditors of the Stato or of members of the Imperial Family. The Italian firm Stagni was obliged, by the hostilities of the local Ottoman Authorities to abandon the concession to cut wood in the Province of Brussa. In this manner all the political injuries to which Italians were subject in the various regions of the Empire, remained unsatisfied as, for instance, those in connection with the massacres of Adana in 1909. And the pillaging of the agency of the steamship company, Navigazione Generate Italiana, in Santi Quaranta. Numerous other complaints of more or less importance exist, such as insults and assaults against the members of the Italian Consu- lar service, which show that for a long time Italians were surrounded by a hostile atmosphere, not in accordance with the friendly official relations between the two nations. Under the new regime, which had awakened great hopes in Italy, the above deplorable incidents became more numerous and serious. A very serious case occured recently the rape of the minor Giulia Franzoni, aged 16 years, fraudulently abducted from her family of honest laborers, employed in the Ottoman railroad works of Adana. The girl was seized, converted by force to the Moslem Faith and married by violence to a Mohammedan, notwithstandig the protest of her parents, of foreigners of other nationalities, and the intervention of the Royal Consulate and Embassy. This incident, which would be of great importance to all nations, is more so for Italy, which must provide for the 25 protection of a very large immigration of laborers employed in the railroad works of Asia Minor. The fact that a rapid solution was not found for this barbarous system of forced conversion and rape of an innocent girl, might be incentive of other similar cases, which directly affect the whole working population, principally Italians, obliged to live with their fa- milies in such regions. But the most continuous actions of hostility by the Ottoman authority were perpetrated in those parts of the Empire where Italians' interests were greatest, that is, in the Red Sea and in Tripolitania. From the re- ports of our Consul and from statements of persons returning from those regions, from the continuous incidents which ori- ginated through the Turkish functionaries, it is clearly shown that a hostile atmosphere was aimed at against Italian inter- ests, as if to stem their increasing development. The behavior of the Ottoman Authorities in the Red Sea and on the coast of Arabia, opposite the colony of Eri- trea, has always been violent and provocative. The incidents by which offence was given to the Italian Flag are too many to enumerate. We shall cite only a few which happened under the new regime. On June 5th, 1909 the Turkish Warship Nurahad , 40 kilometers from the coast of Turkey, took possession by force of the sum of 3,340 Talleri on board the Italian Bark Solima , a piratical act without any reason whatever. Recently some notoriety was given to the incident of the Steamship Genova seized by a Turkish Warship, towed to Hodeida, and subjected to an unjust pro- ceeding of attempted appropiation by force of arms. The Italian Government, moved by a spirit of conciliation, at- tempted to make an investigation in the matter in order to amicably settle the incident. The results of the investigation 26 were such as to shame any civil government in what con- cerned the conduct of a local functionary. But that was not enough. While the incident of the Geneva was being settled on December 5th, 1910, .the Com- mandant of Turkish Warship entered by force of arms on Board the bark Selima and forced the Captain to turn over the mail of the merchants of Massaua. Vexations of another nature, of no less importance, were made against other Barks from the Colony of Eritrea, belonging to Ali Kozem and Kalid Hamed. While the Turkish authorities were perpetrating other vexations of minor importance against other vessels, always ready to damage the commerce of the Italian colony of Eritrea, on Aug. 21, 1916, in the hope of impunity, they took vengeance on the cargoes from Eritrea on board the vessel Path Esaon Path es Salam, beating the Captain, throwing him into the sea, and abandoning the damaged vessel after having taken all the merchandise on board, the provisions of the crew included. The barks and the merchants of Eri- \ trea terrified by the continuous threats from the Turkish authorities on the coast of Arabia, have therefore relinquished in great part their business there, with great damage to the commerce of our colony. The hostilities of the Ottoman authorities, at times openly and violently waged, and at times deceitful and spiteful, assumed still greater proportions in Tri- politania. The only aim is to wage war against the eco- nomic interests and commerce of Italy, and to prevent the increase of Italian influence. We cite a few incidents, se- lecting them from the long series we could quote: The Bank of Rome starts in Tripolitania, with an Italian capital of real and beneficial civilization to the country. The authorities prohibit the natives to have any dealings with that institution and punish them for imaginary crimes if they 27 disobey. The Bank is prevented from obtaining the legal acknowledgment before the local courts, and when, after two years of laborious attempts, the acknowledgment cannot be further delayed, the vexations again commenced, taking another form. The Valis rapidly succeed each other in the Government of the Vilayet, but the policy is always the same, until in 1910 the new Vali, Ibrahim Pasha, openly declared, in the Counsel of administration that he would systemically oppose any Ita- lian initiative giving clearly to understand that such were the instructions of his Government. Thus all the propositions, all the requests, for concessions or enterprises made by Ita- lians, such as aqueducts, radio-telegraphic plants, roads, etc., are invariably denied. Despite the Treaties, Italian subjects are denied the obtaining of land. At Horns, at Bengazi and at Derna, the natives who want to sell are threatened and the vengeance is taken on pretext entirely foreign to the real cause. Against the agreements, resistance is opposed to the Archaeological and Mineralogical Missions from Italy. All obstacles and difficulties are accumulated against Italian enterprises, oil mills, and our navigation. */ The natives, terrified, do not dare to avail themselves of these institutions and establishments, being afraid of trai- torous vengeance. In the midst of such handicaps and dif- ficulties, great crimes occur, such as the murders of Father Giustino at Derna and of Gastone Terreni, which was com- mitted a short time after, between Tripoli and Horns. It was attempted to cover this murder under the appearance of a suicide, which was disproved by witnesses and posthumous evidence. For such a barbarous crime, no satisfaction what- ever has ever been obtained, not even a proceeding, either civil or criminal, as asked for by the murdered man's relatives and repeatedly requested by both the Royal diplomatic and Consular authorities. 28 A statement that there was no cause for action and the lapsing of the criminal proceeding on account of a pro- claimed amnesty, was all that the local authorities would con- descend to grant. Such two mournful cases, originating" from the Turks notorious hatred against Italians, caused consternation and discouragement in the Italian Colony, which became neces- sarily timid in starting any useful enterprise. All intervention by the Royal Consul authorities in the Vilayet is openly or covertly obstructed by the Turkish authorities, as was shown in the case concerning the newspaper man, Arbib, clubbed by the police, against which the intervention of the Royal Dra- goman Saman had no other effect than to provoke a new and more flagrant violation of the capitulations. All these uninterrupted series of violence, intimidations, and abuses are openly encouraged and supported by the newspaper Marsad, the official organ of the Vilayet, printed in the Vali's printing office and inspired by him ; which news- paper has a large circulation among the Arabs, and is never sparing on any occasion in abuses and affronts against Italy. From the above it is clearly shown that the Italian Go- vernment found itself against a system and a program of preconceived hostilities against its subjects and against the Italian interests in the Ottoman Empire generally, and in Tri- poli especially. The warm and almost universal sympathy with which Italy has greeted the assumption of power by the Young Turks, the desire to give time for the new consolidation of the new regime, the wish to prevent difficulties and embarrassments to the Ottoman Empire or to Europe, inspired the Italian Government with patience and friendliness, which will not have many instances in the history of nations. 29 Hopes were entertained on the consolidation of the new government of the acceptance of good advice, repentance, and of reciprocating a friendship which, on our side, was bought at the sacrifice of our own interests. But all was in vain; the situation was getting worse and worse every day. We found in Constantinople alternatively either a Go- vernment which gave mellifluous words and promises which afterward were not sustained by corresponding facts, or a go- vernment without any authority, which was unable to im- pose obedience on its dependents, a government which lacked the strength to impose the respect and observance of the Treaties and the capitulations and contracted obligations. In other words, a government which has failed to keep toward Italy its International duties. The limit has been reached. The violent attacks, beyond all measure injurious, of the Turkish Press, the systematic re- sistance and the utter lack of good faith in the subordinate authorities, the extraordinary series of incidents, and com- plaints of all kinds, augmenting day by day, have finally shaken and tired public opinion, the press, the parliament and the government of Italy. Italy is now -compelled to give up every hope of a pea- ceful settlement with Turkey. Having lost faith in the many vain words and mendacious promises given by Turkey in latter years, having lost patience, Italy decided to abandon her policy of forbearance, which might be reproached as a sign of weakness and acknowledgment of inferiority, and has finally resolved to obtain, with the greatest energy, the respect of her rights, and the protection of her interests. The blame will fall upon those who, for the last three years, have daily provoked us, causing, by way of small or serious incidents, an atmosphere of hostility in the several 30 provinces of the Empire, and especially Tripolitania, thus rendering uncertain the safety of the Italian subjects and dan- gerous the carrying on of the peaceful commerce of Eritrea and in the Red Sea. SAN GIULIANO. There, has not been a war yet, which has not found sympathy and opposition, not only at home but in every Nation, even if the critics had no par- ticular interests in the welfare of one or the other of the contending parties. It is not necessary to refer only to that gigantic war between Russia and Japan, during which the Japaneese arm'y was accused of the most atrocious and inhuman massacre in Manchuria, but if one tries to recollect the Transvaal struggle, England was then considered a barbarous Nation, and the sympathies of the world were, for a while, for the Boers, whom German, French, Italian, and many American volunteers went to join in their struggle against England. And who does not remember the atrocities of the French in Madagascar, and the protest of many Nations against the American doings in the Phili- pines Islands. The Germans had their share of criticism for their cruelty against the Natives of their new acqui- sitions in Africa. But nobody will ever forget the sickening atro- cities of the Turks, from the day they slaughtered the poor Christians in Constantinople, 450 years ago, when Santa Sofia, was left a mass of piled up corpses of women, of children, of old people who had run to seek refuge under the cross; to the present massacre of the Armenians, of the Ma- cedonians, of the Albanians. Every man, who has been a soldier, who loves to see the courage of a patriot on a battlefield, in the defense of his country, cannot but admire the valor of the Turkish army at Pleuna, the valor of the Turks whenever valor had to be shown in the face of the enemy. But history, which is true, will always write with horror, their barbarity, and no morbid cor- respondent, bribed to tell sensational inventions, against the most human army of Italy, which in so many occasions has shown her tender kindness, can change the truth of history. It has been a surprise to the world at large, the quick action of Italy, her rapid mobilization of the army, the wonderful way the formidable fleet of transport was gathered at Taranto, with the enormous amount of provisions, of material of war, for such a large army of invasion. But to the few close students of Politics, and especially European politics, it will not be possible to believe that the other Nations were not aware of details of Italy's plans. And the same students will easily understand the dumb silence of the German Government, the hesitating protest of England, the bitter attack of the official press, and the characteristic silence of the diplomacy of Europe. Every power in Europe is watching anxiously the Italian enterprise, and every Nation intimately wishes her a complete success, as well as every Government hopes for it. England, eager that a strip of land, which she could not very well occupy without protest from France and Germany, should be in the hand of a friendly Nation, of which she has no fear for her tutelage of Egypt ; Germany anxious that France should not have the full dominion of the Mediter- ranean ; and France satisfied that the aspiration of Germany over the possession of the port of To- bruck should vanish for ever, and Austria watching her opportunity for a compensation, each one of those Nations is interested to wait in expectation, each one wishing a success to Italy. In the meantime none of them would care to openly offend Turkey, for each one is inter- ested to avoid stirring up the religious sentiment of Turkey, to precipitate a war of Islam against Christ- ianity. 33 Italy is alone in the gigantic task. A peaceful Nation, of peaceful citizens, is now single handed in a conflict against the most warlike Nation, a Nation of soldiers traditional fighters, who perhaps justly call themselves invincible. It is not surprising that the official press of Europe, with the tacit consent, and perhaps the interested inspiration of the various different Go- vernments, should so bitterly attack the little and young Italian Nation in her grand noble under- taking, with a courage which ought to excite the admiration of the world. Italy will excuse a man without a country, who rised his voice in contempt against her, because that man is a Jew, and notwithstanding the fact that Italy is the only country where his coreligionists have enjoyed the widest liberty, the greatest con- sideration and respect; for the miserable interest he has in Palestina, where the Jews would not exist if it was not for the protection of the Turk, he has insulted a Noble country, without any right without any reason without a just cause. His name I will not mention here, for to his insult to my beloved country I have the right to show my greatest contempt. Italy, notwithstanding her sudden move and the rapid execution of her occupation, had been pre- paring herself to the serious enterprise since long 34 time, for the Government was well aware of the difficulties he had to face. The experience of her Abissinian possession has taught Italy not to trust the natives, just as England cannot trust the Egyptians, nothwithstanding the great benefits England has done to their country, just as France cannot trust the people of the interland of her African Empire, just as the American cannot trust the Philipinos, notwithstandig the fact that France and America have given to the Africans and the Philipinos, liberty, education, civilization and wealth. It is natural, that a race so different in cha- racter, in aspiration, in the intimate understanding of its manner of living, and especially so different in its religious sentiment, which is based on the utter contempt of any other religion, especially the Christian one, should, not only mistrust the civili- zing intentions of Europeans, but look with con- tempt and suspicion at anything that is done for them. How many Indians have the Americans seen to return to their free life of the field, after a taste of civilization, which they did not understand, and they did not like. A few miles from Algiers, where France has planted the root of the most attractive civilization, the Arabs live like their ancestors, apparently in 35 the utter contempt of France, of the French, and of the fascination of a Parisian life. Italy, and the Italians are well aware of it, for, the coast and the interland of Tripoli and Cyre- naica have been known for years, and every point of the character of the inhabitants of those regions has been well studied, perhaps as much as every spot of the land. One point is well settled, especially by the expe- rience of the other Colonies of Italy on the coast of the Red Sea, and that is, the Arabs who inhabit the interior, will be subdued with difficulty to a foreign domination, as their religious ties with the Turks are not easily severed. Those living on the coast fully realize and take as much advantage as possible, of the material benefits that the European civilization brings to them, but there is no wasted gratitude for that, for their entire confidence and their sympathies will strongly remain with the Turks, and their apparently easy sub- mission, cannot be trusted, because it is not sincere. The source of peril lies in the Arab tribes of the back country, the Beduins in Tripolitania, and the Senussis in Cyrenaica. The Beduins of Tripoli, allowance made for the difference of the land, of the climate, and the ra- cial origine, can be compared almost to the Indians of America. - 36 - Their nomadic habit, the few necessities of life, the care of their horses, which are their constant companions, as it is the rifle, which they handle with such a wonderful skill, make them equal to the Indians with whom they also have in common the greatest endurance for any fatigue, the indomi- table courage, and the stoical resistance to any pain, and utter indifference to death. Perhaps they have more revengfull character, and are more religious and fanatic on account of their religion. Like the ancient Beduins, they are shepherds, and partly agriculturists, although they have rarely a fixed residence. But they are, above all, soldiers, perhaps sol- diers of the Desert, lacking discipline and order, but terrible guerrillas in supporting a regular army; quick to gather, and quick to disappear where no- body ever knows, for, their home, is nowhere and everywhere. Nobody knows how many they are, and that makes them still more redoubtable. No Mussulman will ever be converted and no Beduin will ever betray his kinsman nor his faith. That of the Beduins, the Indians of Tripolitania, will be a hard problem to solve on account of their warlike disposition, until they compromise, or they will find that the Italian occupation will be a real benefit to them, especially when the Turkish sol- 37 diers will be driven away. For, then, the conta- gious fanaticism of the turkish army will be so- mewhat cooled down by the selfpreservation, by the advantages of being left to their nomadic freedom, to their traditional life of shepherds, in the extensive fields of their ancestors. But the prospects of what the Italian have to meet in Cyrenaica, seems to be more serious, for back of the immense country, in the interland, over the Caravan roads of the Libian desert, there lives not only a people, but a fanatic sect. The history of the Senussis, is too well known to be recounted here, since the destruction at On- durnam of the spurious Mahdi by the troops of England under Kitchener, Sirdar of Egypt. The Senussis originated over one hundred years ago, from a sort of African Martin Luther, a religious reformer, supposed to be descendant from Fatima daughter of Mahomet, hailing from Algeria. Like all reformer, the founder of the sect, Sidi Mohammed ben AH ben El Senussi, travelled all North Africa, as a religious preacher, and after few years of meditations in Holy Mecca, returned to Africa as a religious adviser of the Sultan of Wadai and soon founded, between that State, among the erratic tribes of the Sahaara desert, to the coast, a sect of Mahomedan reform followers powerful for their fanaticism. 38 - His son El Mahdi, during the reign of Yusef Sultan of Wadai, became the leader of the new Moslem religion from Morocco to Egypt. His name, his reputation and his power were used by Mohammed Ahmed, the Dongal fanatic, who proclaimed himself Mahdi, rose against the Egyptians, and after an adventurous career ended at Ondurnam. The real Senussi El Mahdi instead, lived the peaceful life of a religious reformer, preaching piety, and died in 1902 after the occupation of his city by the French troops. The present head of the Senussi, Ahmed-el- Sherif, retired at Kufra, and is the recognised moral director of the conscience of the Arabs, who live around the great desert, to the coast. There is very little danger that the Senussis would proclaime a Holy war against the Italians, to please Constantinople, for although Moslems, are strict followers of the Coran, yet there is not an absolute understanding between the Sultan of Stam- bul and Senussi Ahmed-El-Sherif. But although the Senussis are peaceful, and they are better than the Beduins of Tripoli, and in con- sequence, with due respect to their religion, more apt to accept Italy's friendship for the benefit which they may expect from it, yet it will be the good policy of Italy, to keep a careful watch on all Arabs, 39 Beduins and Senussis, just as France is doing since a great many years, and treat them most court- eously, without ever trusting them for a moment. The occupation of Tripoli and Cyrenaica has brought on against Italy the violent protests of se- veral Newspapers correspondents eager for noto- riety, cheap notoriety, or paid for throwing mud on a glorious Nation, her glorious Navy and valiant Army. The former American Ambassador to Turkey, Mr. Strauss being a Jew, protested in the interest of the Jews of Palestina. The same protests were made by Spain, by the Vatican against the Americans in the Philipines. The same protest by the Americans against the Japaneese in Corea, the same by all the civilized world against the Turks in Armenia. But, who remembers all that stuff written to please a public hungry for sensational news, for the sale of the Paper. The President of the United States, to the pro- test of Mr. Strauss, answered a short but expressive announcement of absolute neutrality in the Turkish Italian conflict, and so did the European Powers. 40 The Vatican alone sent a declaration of regret to the Sublime Porte, on account of the many re- ligious interests the Vatican has in Turkey. But after all what should Italy care for, as long as she has gone life and soul into an enterprise, which she thinks just, and which is just. Italy has taken Tripoli, Bengasi, Derna and To- bruk, with the force of arms, and with the force of arms will keep what she has taken, at the dear cost of her noble children's blood, and if necessary she will take more of the Turkish Empire, in the name of justice, in the name of moral, in the name of humanity and civilization. To put a stop to all hesitations, to all the unfavo- rable reports and comments by an hostile foreign press, and to a misunderstanding of the people of the world in regard to the real meaning and final scope of the occupation of Tripoli and Cyrenaica, Italy's King Victor Emanuel the third, the most be- loved, generous and human Monarch, Saturday No- vember the fourth 1911, signed and issued a Decree of Annexation, which was sent to all the Ambassadors and Representatives of Italy to the Foreign countries, which says : THE OCCUPATION OF THE PRINCIPAL CITIES OF TRIPO- LITANIA AND OF CYRENAICA, WITH THE CONTINUOUS SUCCES- SES OBTAINED BY OUR ARMS, AND THE ENORMOUS NUMBER OF ITALIAN TROOPS ALREADY CONCENTRATED IN THOSE RE- GIONS, BESIDE THOSE READY TO LAND, AND OTHER TO BE SENT, MAKE ALL RESISTANCE FROM THE PART OF TURKEY IMPOSSIBLE. TO PUT A STOP TO THE SHEDDING OF BLOOD, IT IS UR- GENT TO MAKE THE POPULATIONS OF TRIPOLITANIA AND CY- RENAICA, UNDERSTAND THAT IT IS USELESS TO RESIST, AS WITH THE PRESENT ROYAL DECREE, TRIPOLITANIA AND CYRE- NAICA, ARE DEFINETIVELY AND IRREVOCABLY PUT UNDER THE COMPLETE AND ABSOLUTE SOVEREIGNTY OF ITALY. ALL OTHER LESS RADICAL SOLUTION OF THE QUESTION, EVEN LEAVING A SIMULACRE OF SOVEREIGNTY TO THE SULTAN OVER THOSE PROVINCES, WOULD HAVE GIVEN OCCASION TO ENDLESS CONFLICTS BETWEEN ITALY AND TURKEY, DANGE- ROUS TO BOTH GOVERNMENTS AND DANGEROUS FOR THE PEACE OF EUROPE. THE SOLUTION ADOPTED BY ITALY IS THE ONLY ONE WHICH CAN PROTECT THE INTERESTS OF ITALY, OF EUROPE AND ALSO OF TURKEY. A TREATY SIGNED ON SUCH A BASIS, WILL SETTLE ALL OUR DIFFERENCES, AND SERIOUS INTERESTS, AND WILL PUT US IN CONDITIONS WHICH WILL ENABLE US TO INSPIRE OUR POLITICS TOWARD THE MAINTAINANCE OF THE STATU QUO IN THE BALKAN PENINSULA, ON WHICH THE CONSOLIDA- TION OF THE TURKISH EMPIRE ESSENTIALLY DEPENDS . Europe is watching eagerly at the ultimate de- cisions of the Turkish Government. It is to be hoped for the sake of peace, for the benefit of the new acquisitions of Italy, that Turkey could reason and accept the inevitable. 42 But if on the contrary, fate would decide dif- ferently, then there is the opportunity of solving that Oriental problem which would be a great step toward civilization, a return to the just conditions of racial rights, the driving of the Asiatics to the own home, and free Europe from a shame which, to her disgrace, has lasted more than fourhundred and fifty years. THE NEW ITALY. People are beginning to realize that there is a New Italy, although during this year of 1911, she celebrated the 5oth anniversary of her Unifi- cation with an International Exhibition in Rome and in Turin, the new and the old Capital of the young Nation. The reason of this most extraordinary, incre- dible fact, is that foreigners come to Italy to see the ancient ruins of Rome, to study the Art of the past, and envy the beauty of its climate. None of them would care to look at the modern progress of the country, and many of them treated with scorn and contempt the effort of the Italians of to day, toward the improvement of their cities, of their roads, of their lands, considering it a sacrilegious profa- nation of precious relics, belonging not to Italy but to the world. 44 The revolution of Italy had passed almost unno- ticed, and most of the people continued to pour to Rome for Holy week festivals, to visit the Pope, the Vatican, the Churches, unmindful of the revival of National festivities, as if they were amusing and vulgar festivals of Carnival. Few of the intellectual people of Europe took part in the intellectual development of the country, until, lately, some English writers, few German stu- dents, and still later Americans and Frenchmen, began to realize that there was an Italy of to day, not born from the ashes of ancient Rome, not made only of tradition and historical remembrances, but a New Italy, made of new blood, of almost a new race, proud of those traditions of which every country ought to be proud, but still more conscious, of the great noble mission of civilization and progress, for which she had fought and won, after waking up from centuries of torpid slumber to the realization that there was in her, the conscience of a Nation. Few people, few students of history have realized long before these last few years, that Italy, not so far back before the middle of last century, did not exist, but as a Geographical expression, and that then, nobody would have dreamed that Lombardy and Venice, the choicest possessions of a mighty Empire, that Rome and her States, the Religious Empire of Christianity, that Naples and Sicily, the 45 nest of the most abject feudalism, should in less than half a century astonish the world by coming together, called by one sentiment of National feeling under one Flag, the beautiful tricolor of Italy. It was a dream 50 years ago. It is a beautiful reality to day. Few students of history, though, can realize, what it has cost to the Italians, such a redemption, such a struggle, which, any man who loves his country, cannot look back without a profound sense of sur- prise and admiration. There was a little State in the North, made up of stubborn steady people, who had preserved through the many centuries of wars, invasions, op- pressions, misery and slavery which afflicted the beautiful peninsula, the fire of hope for the re- demption of Italy, moulding under the fuel of pa- triotic aspirations, ready to burst into the great flame of National resurrection. And that fire, was kept sacred by a race of the most chivalrous Knights, the most generous leaders our people would want, noble race of soldiers who had kept their name famous through Europe for their noble gallant and courageous deeds. Nothing is more bewildering than the history of Italy of that time, when around the glorious House of Savoy all the Patriots of Italy rushed with one thought, the fulfilment of the aspiration _ 46 of each one of them, the Unification of Italy under one Flag. To recount the history of the Italian revolution of the last 60 years, would be long, but it would not be useless, because the world at large is igno- rant of most of its splendid grandness and its achie- vements. It is an unwritten Poem for future ge- nerations. The revolution of Italy has been a great expe- riment for all European Nations, who have been watching with keen interest her struggles, her trou- bles, and often have doubted of her final successes. Her daring Colonial enterprises, her political contrasts, and oppositions, the difficulties in which she has been on account of her delicate religious questions, the still more difficult problem of the South, the political international mistakes appar- ently irretrievable of many of her statesmen, the enemies rallied against her, and the many national and international misfortunes of late years, which dealt her staggering blows, predicted her a collapse, and yet, with marvellous courage, she rallied, and is to day in a firmer position than ever before, more prosperous than most of the Nations of Europe except France. To day Italy's credit is good, her currency cir- culate above par, and troughout the North her com- mercial industrial development is marvellous. And 47 if the same cannot be said of the South, yet an enormous improvement can be noticed also there, since the government has increased the viability and the means of transportation. One of the most vital problems Italy met since her unification, was the lack of schools all through the south, especially in Sicily, where notwithstanding the natural intelligence of the people most of them could not read nor write. This plague of the anal- phabetisme as it is called in Italy, is rapidly di- sappearing with the large appropriations made by the Government for schools, and from 80 per cent of illiterates the country had 50 years ago, the pro- portion has been reduced to 30 per cent, with 8 per cent in most of the provinces of the North. The last report of the illiteracy among the military re- cruits, gave only 3 per cent, a very satisfactory result in such a short time, especially for a country, which had to face, so many serious economical pro- blems. Italy is essentially an Agrarian country yet at the time of her unification, the systems of cultiva- tion were so far behind those of France, Belgium and Switzerland that the undertaking of modernising the schools and introducing the best and more ap- propriate methods was most difficult on account of the ignorance of the people and the traditional preju- dices, but a comparative statistic of 25 years, 48 - from 1885 to 1910 is very eloquent, for it shows an increase of revenues of nearly two Billions of Lire, all due to the improved methods of irriga- tion, of fertilization, of intensive and extensive cul- tivation. Italy cannot claim, like France an increase of 200 per cent, in these last 50 years, but her pro- duction has increased of 100 per cent, which consi- dering her youth and the great difficulties she had to deal with, political, social and financial, may be taken as a splendid example of Agrarian regeneration. If one looks at the economical Statum of Italy of to day, he will find some wonderful improve- ments, made in a comparatively short time. A sure index of the industrial progress of a country is the consumption of Coal, which is increased in 25 years from 3 to 10 millions of Tons a year. The steam power from 297,000 in the year 1894 was in 1909, 857,000, and the Water concessions which in the year 1903 were of 460,000 horses power, went up in the year 1909 to 600,000. And better still, the Electric power, which was only of 50,500 horses in 1896, and more than doubled in 1899, went to 600,000 horses power at the end of the year 1908. The Electric establish- ments by water power have gain one third. The mineral product has increased from 30 to 76 millions of Lire in 50 years. 49 The production of sulphuric Acid from 75,000 Quintals in 1864, went up to 5 millions 800,000 Quintals in 1909. And to prove how the Agricul- tural methods have improved, is worth noticing that in the year 1893 the production of fertilizers was only 700,000 Quintals valued at about 8 millions of Lire, while in 1909 were sold 9 millions and 300,000 Quintals of fertilizers for 52 millions of Lire. The silk production of Italy is one fifth of the world total, about six times more than France, and four times more than any other Nation. The weaver looms which were only 665 in 1877 increased in number to 14,000 in 1909. The value of Silk tissues from fifty millions in 1891 is now over 100 millions. The Iron industry in 1908 was carried on by 42 Companies, with 227 millions of Lire of Capi- tals and 20 millions of Lire of reserve fund. The production of paper in 1861 was only 29,000 kilos, and in 1910 kilos 250,000. The Tanneries are 1 200 with 6500 horses power, employing besides 15,000 men. Many other industries are growing rapidly in importance like the Glass Factories, Potteries and Chinas for which Italy has been always renowned. The railroad mileage has increased from 2 to 12,000 miles, with 2,500 miles of navigable Canals and rivers. .50 The Mercantile Marine from 57 Steamers in 1861, has now 650, with 2,220 tons potentiality. The Financial condition of the State is excel- lent. From 1 86 1 to 1910 the revenues have in- creased from 758 millions to 2,132 millions, and the expenses from 797 millions to 2,099 millions. In 1 86 1 there was a deficit of 39 millions which increased in the following years of wars, and expenses for improvements ; but at present is changed into an excess of 16 millions. In the last 50 years the Public debt has increased of 455 % Capital, and 329 % interest, and what is remarkable in the economical study of the country, the bonds which were before 1891, 38 % placed in foreign country, they are at present almost all in the hands of Italians. The Italian population in 47 years has increased of nine millions of souls, and although the increased and improved agricultural resources, the increased industrial development, called for more men to till the soil, to work in the manufactures, yet there was a need of expansion, especially for the overambi- tious and eager ones, to earn more and to im- prove their financial condition. The emigration though, became so alarming that the Government had to put some restrictions, and is at present beginning to diminish, gradually, and become only temporary. For, there is less reason for it as the wages of farm laborers and mill-hands are greatly increased and the economical situation of the laboring classes are, in comparison of many other countries, prosperous. It will be surprising to great many who are used to hear of Italian poverty and Italian beggars, how the Saving Institutions of the State, hold at pre- sent more than 4,000,000,000 Lire, which amount is increasing rapidly. A country which can boast four Billions of eco- nomies among the laboring classes cannot be, cer- tainly, considered poor. That eminent American writer Mr. William Roscoe Thayer, Member of the Massachussetts Historical Society, in a book published in 1908, which he called Italica Studies in Italian life and letters in his chapter Thirty years of Italian Progress he writes : As we come to know better the social and economic conditions of our own country, we get over the pleasant assumption that Americans and British are all prosperous - - a fallacy perhaps due to the fact that until lately the acquaintance of So- cial Phylosophers was limited to the well-to-do. In the United States, for instance, there are now mil- lions of persons whose outlook can hardly be brighter than that of the least prosperous Italians. The " poor white trash " of our South can be matched 52 against the most backward South Italians ; the de- relict medievals of Kentucky and Tennessee are the counterpart of the Brigands of the Abruzzi and of the Sardinian mountaineers. Nor are the British Isles an exception. Less than sixty years ago 1,000,000 Irish died of famine while luxury went on unabated in England: and only last year (1902) an economic census of York showed that 23,000 out of 70,000 inhabitants of that typical fairly prosperous English town live abi- tually below the starvation-line. Instead of holding our hands in horror at the poverty and illiteracy of Italy, we should inquire whether the poverty is greater, the illiteracy more widespread than in 1860; and to these questions there can be but one answer. Moreover, to the Kingdom of Italy belongs the credit for this stu- pendous progress : had the Bourbons ruled in Na- ples, the Pope in Rome, the Grand Duke in Tu- scany, during the past forty years, there would have been no such modernizing. So far as concerns eco- nomic and educational requirements, we must con- clude that United Italy has proved herself fit for the new era . As it is not the purpose of this brief work, to go into the details of the economical condition of Modern Italy, but to simply state the great pro- gress the country has made, since her Unification 53 which (and it must be noticed, is a very short period of time), it is well to point out the very important fact that Italy's resources, did not come like those of France, England, Belgium or Holland, from the very rich Colonies they possess, but that on the contrary, Italy's Colonial experience has been a very sad financial failure, for she could not sponge a rich retribution from more than 200 millions of Indus like England does, or coin the rubber market of the Congo States in gold like Belgium, and fill her mighty ships of tropical drugs like Holland, and exploit the wonderful mine of Madagascar like France. Italy has been too sentimental in her Colonial enterprises so far. She had to learn, and it is to be hoped that she did learn a good profitable lesson in Abis- sinia and in Somaliland, where she has profused millions of Lire to improve those countries, to bring there a wave of civilization, to be only retributed, by the modern reporters of to day war in Tripoli, with the most insulting slanders of her cruelty and atrocities, against an Army and a Navy which had received so many wordly praises of humanity and bravery in the sad occasion of Cholera epidemics and the disastrous Earthquakes. But I shall repeat here what Mr. Thayer says in his book : 54 The cardinal social achievement of the ni- neteenth century was the discovery of slum. Be- fore that, the slum had been taken for granted accepted as a necessary evil from the earliest time. Charitable institutions had of course, existed, and paupers had had their dole of soup and bread, with an occasional penny, but it no more occurred to even the benevolent, to stamp out pauperism than it shocked them to keep slaves. In Italy, under the old Regime the slum itself was almost a priviledged institution. The State of the Church swarmed with beg- gars, to whom Pius IX showed special indulgence ; how, indeed, could a Church which encouraged the Mendicant Orders, sodden in idleness and carnality, effectively reprove untonsured mendicants ? The Neapolitan Bourbons actually based their throne on the slums ; the league between Ferdi- nand I or his grandson, Bomba, and the Lazzaroni of Naples was so close that, thank to it, the King more than once stifled the efforts of the decent mi- nority ; and when Victor Emanuel II entered Naples in 1860 he fonnd 90,000 professed Lazzaroni cri- minals of every grade, from the most brutal assassin to the sneak-thief, idler, drunkard, low debauchee, tramp who avowedly had no honest employment. How stand the matter to day? Italy has de- clared war on the slum. The worst parts of Naples 55 have been demolished ; new broad streets bring light and pure air into what were lately the most un- healthful wards of Rome ; that reeking sty, the Florentine Mercato Vecchio and its neighborhood, is an open piazza. The blocks of squalid building which crowded the Duomo at Milan have been swept away to make room for one of the noblest squares in Europe. At each of these improvements the voice of the sickly esthetes was raised " Vandalism " , they mur- mured, f: The Roman Ghetto was so picturesque ''- " The Old Market at Florence had such delightful associations . To these sentimentalists the life, the health, and morals of the living citizens of Rome or Naples or Florence are nothing. What, indeed, could improve drainage or lowered deathrate mean to foreigners in pursuit of what they mistake for cultural emotions ? In every city and almost in every town of Italy this beneficent Vandalism " had been carried forward. Naples has now one of the finest water sup- plies in the world; Rome which was so miasmatic that during the last year of the Papal Government the Ecumenical Council dreaded to sit there on the approach of warm weather, is now a salubrious abode. Sanitation has been pushed not only in the - 56 - cities, but in the country also, where immense tracts of malarious or unproductive land have been re- claimed . It is a fact that the sanitary organization of Italy, has given very satisfactory results this last twenty years. The statistic shows that in the year 1908 on each 1000 inhabitants 7 persons died less than in 1888, which makes a total of 200,000 people saved in that period of time. The mortality is reduced from more than 27 per thousand to less than 20 per thousand, and this saving of lives means an economic advantage of great importance, a capital saving for the Nation. But the best sign of the progress in Sanitation of a country is the statistic relating to infectious, and contagious diseases. And in that line Italy has made very encourag- ing progresses in these last twenty years. The mortality in cases of smallpox from 607 per million came down to 17, and in measles from 703 to 341, in scarlat fever from 303 to 101, and in diphteria from 86 1 to 174. Also in the cases of typhus the mortality came down from 800 to 272 always every million of inha- bitants. Considerable reduction in the mortality from puerperal fever, from malignant pustule, as well as in tubercular infections were noticeable. The most notable progresses though were re- ported in Malaria, which from 536 was reduced to 1 02, and Pelagra from 117 to 39. Although part of this favorable condition can be attributed to the improved economical condition of the country, in general, yet the Sanitary Legislation wisely applied was the real factor of such splendid results, to which the Government contributed with an appropriation of about 3,500,000 Lire annually, less than almost every other Nation of Europe. October 12 1911, the Fifth Congress of the Italian Society for the progress of Sciences, was inaugurated in Rome, in the Aula Magna of the Sapienza the University of Rome. At the closing of the Exposition commemorating the 5oth anniversary of the Italian Unification, this Congress had a worldly, universal importance, for it was the assertion of what liberal, true science can do, toward the perfection of humanity. Minister of Public Instruction Hon. Credaro, in his opening speech, quoted Jules Ferry, the greatest modern statistician of France, once said: It is from the highest intellectual culture, that the young and mighty democracies rise and acquire an eminent place in the world 53 The great Philosopher Fitche said, that : the scope of science is the armonic and progressive development af all the human faculties for the bet- terment of humanity . Minister Credaro closed his speech by hinting at the real scope of science and said: If the future of the Italian Democracy would consist only in industrialism and utilitarism, it would not be worthy of its glorious past, it would not lead to our Nation's greatness. The struggle for existance, which is the fate of every people is based above all on intelligence and on science. The peo- ple which will show the greatest refinement of na- ture, greatest force of intelligence, and the greatest wealth of intellectual culture will lead the others. > The congress was attended by all the prominent men Italy has, in the great field of Science, men well known troughout the world like Marchiafava, Pan- taleoni, Sergi, Luciani, Delia Vedova, Tonelli, Vol- terra, Fano, Ciamician and hundreds of others who have worked all these years to illustrate their mother country. Is well to the honour of scientific studies of the modern Italian school, to refer to some of the speeches delivered in the different subjects, like those of Augusto Righi on The New Physics ; of Ugo Amaldi on the progress of Geometry, thanks espe- cially to the works of Bertini, Veronese, Segre, - 59 Castelnuovo, Enriques and Seven , who have esta- blished a school in Italy, Half a century of economic and statistic studies, exposed by Achille Doria, and tke social and juri- dical section by the eminent Pantaleoni, followed by Tangorra, Delia Volpe, Amoroso, and Bovio, all well known Sociologists, gave an illustration of the great interest taken by modern Italy in pro- blems of social economy. Professor Luciani, the author of one of the most complete works of Physiology presided the discussion on such an important argument, in which took part prominent scientists like Foa, Fano, Ba- glioni, Callotti, Herlistzha. And so did for the geological and mineralogical section Lavalle and Vinassa, and for Chemistry, the celebrated Professor Blaserna. Senator Ciamician, who presided the congress, made a splendid synopsis of the importance of it, of the great work of these last fifty years of studies in Italy, in every branch of science for the advan- cement of civilization in Italy through the world. Italy's anniversary of her fiftieth year of unifica- tion, was also an exhibition of her effort toward that aspiration of progress and perfection, which ought to be the standard of every civilized Nation, and is justly proud of her work, and feels entitled to step in amidst the other Nations who feel their 60 duty to lead the world toward the betterment, if not the perfection, of mankind, of the human race. If Italy has been dragged into a war, it is not for her calling, Fate has decided so, and she will fulfil to the end her mission and follow her destiny. It would not be right, and it would be almost useless, to give here even a short history of the Italian Navy and Army, in a moment in which the discussion on both is open through the watchful wide world, ready to criticise the action and deeds of both, on the African coast and over the Archi- pelagus. History will tell in due time of the noble deeds of the two representatives of the best thing Italy has and to which the Nation has entrusted her honor, her glory. THE NEW TURKEY. Few of the old generation of Italians, must re- member yet the Crimean war, the terrible struggle carried on by the armies of four different Nations on the coast of the Black Sea, against Russia, a little over sixty years ago. The haughty writers of England, the proud ones of France, hardly mentioned the little State of Sar- dinia and Piedmont, as one of the four Nations which fought side by side, victoriously saving the old decrepit Turk from being wiped out by the almighty Moscovites. Yet, Camillo Benso di Cavour, the little Minister of Victor Emanuel II, had send 25,000 men, the flower of the little army of Sardinia and Piedmont, to build the foundation of the mighty Italy of to day. None of the present generation of Italians, fully realize what it meant the shedding of so much noble blood, of our young men on the field of Cernaja 62 at that time, and few perhaps remember how only a few months ago, two of the glorious remains of the heros of that campaign were brought back, for burial at home, with the highest ceremonies of respect, from the allies of then, the enemies of to day. They know those Tartars, of the Crescent, that the Italians can fight, and that in the midst of the misery and hardship of that war, they behaved like veterans, and won the praises of highly civilized and humane beings. That little army of Sardinians and Piedmontese, is now the mighty army of Italy, ready to fight the Tartars of the Crescent just as they fought then the Tartars of the Cross, as ever veterans, but hu- mane not barbarian. The time is ripe to show to the world that there is still some blood of the Romans, of the Ve- nitians, of the Genoveses in their veins, and that although civilized and humane, they can fight for a good cause. The world has not forgotten the valor of the Turks, and Plewna is yet a fresh historical remem- brance of their heroism, of their resistance. But nobody has forgotten the massacres of the poor Armenians, of the Macedonians, of the Albanians, recent atrocities of the most inhuman barbarians the civilized world could tolerate. 6 3 The same barbarity that 450 years ago distin- guished the soldiers of Mahommed the Second when Constantinople fell a pray to the mighty army of Barbarians. The world has progressed in these 450 years, the civilization has advanced, and humanity has regulated and attenuated the barbarities of war, but the Turks have maintained their valor and their barbarity of old. And yet they have been in contact with a great jcivilization, they have had the opportunities of learn- ing that the life of a Christian is worth that of a Mussulman, that no religion teaches to kill, for the lust of killing. It is surprising that a Nation of less than 25,000,000 of inhabitants, averaging only 25 to the square mile, could have existed in a sort of station- ary state of semibarbarous military rule, under the worst form of Theocratic absolute Monarchy, for four centuries and a half, in continual contact with a world struggling for its advancement in civiliza- tion, and that such a Nation should not have felt in the least the influence of the French revolution, the social, political, intellectual evolution that fol- lowed all through Europe. And worst yet, it is surprising that the same Nation should have been able to misrule one of the most prosperous part of Europe, in spite of - 64 - the continual protest of its population, the conti- nual rebellion of its people, oppressed, outraged, massacred, under the very eye of their brethren of the same race and of the same religion. Turkey is not an overprosperous country. Her agriculture cannot be flourishing, if we consider that the average population is only 25 per square mile (very little for an old settled country) and knowing that her methods of cultivation are, nearly everywhere, most primitive. Her industrial develop- ment is very tardy, her commerce is very slow, and her people, like all fatalists, are lazy and indifferent. None of the many writers, who have tried to sketch the Turks, has painted them so vividly, as Edmondo De Amicis, in his admirable book on Constantinople, in which he has a chapter well worth being reported here : All have the same seriousness, the same placid manners, the same reservedness of language, the same gaze and gesture. Pasha and storekeeper alike, show a kind of haughty and aristocratic air, which, even without the difference of dressing, would make you conceive that there are no common people in Constantinople. Their faces are cold, and reveal nothing of their mind, of their thought. It is very rare to find amidst them a refined, frank, expressive and alive visage, as we find among - 65 - us. Every face is an enigma. Their glance que- stions, without replying, and their lips reveal no sensation of the heart. It is hard to express the deadning effect produced upon the soul of a stranger by those mute, cold masks, those statuesque attitudes, those fixed eyes without expression. You -feel sometimes like crying to them : Wake up, and be like human beings, for once, let us know who you really are, what you think, and what you are looking at, with those glassy eyes. It looks so strange and unnatural, that you feel as if there were an understanding between them, or that it may be the effect of some disease peculiar to Stambul. But there is a marked difference in some of the people, even if the costumes and manners are the same. The original tipe of the Turkish race, which is robust and handsome, is found only in the lower classes, who follow for necessity or religion their forefathers sobriety of life. Of them there is yet the vigorous body, the well shaped head, the aquiline nose, the piercing eyes, the prominent jaw, and something strong and bold in the whole person, once characteristic of the race. In The Turks of the higher classes however, in whom hereditary dissipation, and the mixture of 66 different blood, have left a mark, the heads are smaller, the foreheads lower, the eyes stupid and the lips pendent, and their bodies corpulent and heavy. To these physical differences, may be added one greater still, which stands between the Modern and Ancient race, and that is one vague character- less dull being who calls himself the Reformed Turk. Thus comes the difficulty of studying the Turkish people, because, besides the impossibility of approaching them intimately, when it would be easy to approach them, it comes out that they do not represent neither the nature nor the idea of a Nation. Even the corruption and contact with Euro- pean civilization, have not succeeded in removing from higher class Turks their appearance of se- rious and vague sadness, which one sees among the inhabitants, and which gives rather a favorable opinion. From general appearance the Turks of Con- stantinople, are the most civilized and polite people in Europe. A stranger can wander ummolested in the most lonely street of Stambul, visit the Mosques even at prayer time sure of meeting with more respect than perhaps a Turk would meet in our churches. - 6 7 - > No insolent look or word or even curiosity, one meets in the crowd ; laugher as noise or excite- ment are rare among the people ; there is no pu- blic indecency to be seen and in the market they are almost as dignified as in church : there is always a great temperance in words and gestures ; no singing or laud voices will ever disturb the quiet passenger, ; faces, hands and feet are always clean, and it is rare to see ragged or dirty garments ; and there is always a reciprocal manifestation of respect among all classes. But this is only on the surface. Their rottenness is concealed. The cor- ruption is dissimulated by the separation of the two sexes, idleness is hidden under placidness, dig- nity is the mask of pride, the composed seriousness of aspect which resembles deep meditation, conceals the deadly passivity of the intelligence, and what seems sobriety of life, is nothing but an absence of it > To be a quiet spectator in this great world's theatre, seems to be the Turk's highest aspiration. To this perhaps he is led by his ancient origin of a shepherd, contemplative and slow, and by his re- ligion which ties his hands, leaving everything to God, and by his tradition as a soldier of Islam, tradition which tells him that the greatest and best deed of his life is to fight and conquer for his faith, that it is his duty, the only one of his life. 68 All is, fatality with him, for he is only an in- strument in the Providence hands God created man to pass through the earth to pray and admire his works; leave all to him . Consequently, there is neither thirst for know- ledge, no fever of gain, no desire for travel, nor unappeasable passion of love or ambition He considers it an indication of a morbid aber- ration of mind in us He is liable to ask what is the use of a railway, unless it leads to a city where you can be happier than in the one you are. His fatalism, which considers a thought of the future as a vain thing, makes him prize nothing that does not con- tribute to his immediate enjoyment. Thus the European is an idle dreamer be- longing to a frivolous, mean, presumptuous and bastard race, who aims at things which, he, the Turk, disdains, unless he is constrained to value them for fear of being undervalued. And he despises us. This appears to me to be the dominant sen- timent which we, Europeans, inspire in the true Turks, who still constitute the majority of the Nation. This feeling of contempt comes from various causes, the first of which is a very significant fact : viz, that for more than four centuries, although re- - 69 latively very small in number, they have held do- minion over a large part of Europe, which has a faith different from their own, and that they mantain it, in spite of what may happen or has happened (notice that Constantinople of Edmondo De Amicis was written before the year 1878). Half the people explain this as the consequence of the jealousy and discord among European States, but the great majority sees in it the superiority of their strenght, and our own degradation. It never enters into the mind of any Turk of the lower class, that Turkey in Europe could ever be subject to the affront of a Christian conquest from the Dar- danelles to the Danube. To our claim of civiliza- tion they oppose the fact of their domination. Haughty by nature and strengthened in their haughtiness by the consuetude of the Empire, used to hear in the name of God that they belong to a victorious race, born and raised to the art of war, not to the tranquillity of peace, accustomed to live upon the labor of the conquered, they do not un- derstand how people subject to their rule, should have any rights whatever to civil equality. For them, full of a blind faith in the power of a wise Providence, their conquests in Europe, were the realization of God's edict Civilization for them is only an hos- tile force that would disarm them without fight- 70 ing .... and despoil them of their domination . . . . . .and from the example, they have before them, of the reformers of their Nation, who wear coats and gloves, and are supposed to accept European ideas, they conclude that the New Turk, is not worth the Old Turk. He has adopted our clothes, our comforts, our vices, and our vanities, but he has not assimi- lated either our sentiments or our ideas ; he has lost in his partial transformation, what was good in the genuine Ottoman nature, and has acquired nothing to identify him from the European . This admirable picture made by the pen of Ed- mondo De Amicis, more than thirty years ago, stands to day as fresh as the day it was written. Yet the world has gone, everywhere, forward, on the road of civilization, toward the betterment of humanity at large, toward the mutual work of uplifting mankind, for the great sentiment of fra- ternity and equality which must be the guide of modern civilization. It is not the oriental failing, which can excuse the Turks for their fatal inertia, for, Japan, an Orien- tal Nation, has given a splendid example of pro- gress and assimilation that surprised the world. ^ ^ ^ *T T -TT . But Japan began the intellectual upward move- ment, since the day of the fall of the Taicum, since the day of the death of that fatalism which is the death of all human hope and aspiration. The Young, the New Turk as well as the old one, still lives in that Fatalism which is his religion, which will always be his religion, his creed, his pride, which gives him that overconfidence in his power, that makes him despise every one, who is not a Turk, to which ever Nationality or race, he may belong. He endures them all, when necessary, as a big animal endures a myriad of flies upon his back, ready to make way with them as soon as they become unendurable . He even tries to adapt himself to the circum- stances, but intimately is immutable, and invincibly the same, a Turk. While Europe in these last fifty years has run a race with America in the struggle for intellectual, commercial, industrial artistic progress, Turkey has remained gun in hand to defend the pray of more than four centuries, without a single thought of winning that prize with something that was not only the brutal force of coercion, of oppression, of tyranny. The New Turks have for a moment startled the world, with a new move, toward the conquest of modern ideas, and liberal democracy, but a re- 72 volt made in their name, has proved to be a simple conspiracy to get rid of an objectionable tyrant. But the old regime of superstition, of fanatism remains, and the Ulemas are yet the leaders. And the Bugaboo of the Holy war still hang over Eu- rope, over Christianity, against justice and progress. And yet with so much beauty of Nature to be inspired by, so much wealth of Nature to be en- couraged, the same beauty, the same wealth which inspired and encouraged the people of the ancient empires which held that country, the present race, which holds it now, has not shown any product of inspiration, any fruit of scientific investigation, any outcome of agricultural, commercial or industrial advancement, which is the present aim of every Nation, whose standard is not the simple display and exhibit of brutal Force. Turkey has an army, a powerful army because those ancient shepherds, nomad wanderers are born soldiers, are all soldiers, and behind the mighty fortresses of the Dardanelles, built by the cautios indulgence of mighty European Nations, jealous of each other, can defend their stronghold of Con- stantinople, but have no navy, nothing that shows the industrial progress of modern Nations. Nothing is visible in that Great Metropolis of Constantinople of what the Turks have given to civilization in these four centuries of misrule, so- 73 rnething that is their own, that has not been given to them by some European Nation, whom they deeply despise. No inspired work of art, no original music, no genial production, no invention, no great discovery, nothing in fact remarkable that has come from their intellectual effort or their material skill, has ever been given by them to humanity. CONCLUSION. The Great Napoleon was quoted once, as saying, that Europe would be, some day in the near future, either Russian or Republican. The Turks, instead, think that the future is in the hand of Allah, and there is no doubt that they firmly believe so, even to day, after the evi- dent fact that if it had not been for the continual help of England, for the fear of Germany, for the financial support of a race of people which see in the protection of Turkey their only salvation in Orient, Russia would have gone to Constantinople long ago, and Europe would have been a Tartar country, and the Dardanelles the gate of a Mosco- vite sea, that same sea that once was Roman. And the combined armies of Germany, of Au- stria, of Hungary together would not have been able to arrest the irruent army of the Czar the invincible - 76 horde of Cosacks, from sweeping everything, before them, through Europe, as Attila did with his Huns, centuries before. England realizes that her mighty navy, would be powerless against that indestructible gate of the Dardanelles that she carefully helped to build, always with the hope that her natural allied would watch against the danger of the Moscovite invasion. But Russia, the misterious land of wealth, un- developed country of 100,000,000 of inhabitants, all slaves like their name, all fanatic servants of their white ruler of the Kremlin, would march as one man, to fight and conquer. While Europe could always cope with the de- crepit tartar of Orient, who can hardly muster an army of half a million of souls, valiant, stubborn, but ragged soldiers, backed by a Nation of only a quarter of a million of inhabitants, almost without resources, she could not very well stand an army of more than one million of Russians, also valiant, more stubborn and still more fanatic, supported by a Nation of more than 100 millions of inhabitants, and a country full of untold resources. Turkey, left to herself, alone, against her old foe, would be a mere toy in the hands of Russia, and Europe would be soon at the mercy of the great invader. 77 Beware England, beware Europe. Dont let the opportunity of to day be lost for ever, to-morrow might be too late. Russia has not recovered yet from the blows of Japan, and Turkey is almost in a state of Anarchy, and no moment is more propitious than this, and there will never be one so favorable for Europe to settle for ever that Oriental question, that problem of the Balcans, which has cost for the past so many thousand precious lives and so many millions of pounds, and will cost as many, and more in the future. Leave the old quarrels for a while, join hands for a good and noble cause, and with a formidable army of Four big powers invite Turkey to leave Europe, to return to Asia where she belongs to. Her 450 years experience of Asiatic civilization in Europe has failed, and has cost too much to be worth trying any longer. Europe is a Christian country, and as a Christian country has been stri- ving to foster a civilization, which is her own, which is just the opposite of that of Islam. Europe's aim, is peace, and following the dictates if Christ is struggling to settle with arbitrations the future troubles which may arise among civilized Nations. Her aim will be possible, for, the education of the masses tend to abolish wars, tends to solve with mutual understanding, even the most compli- cated and difficult international questions. A Nation like Turkey, whose power is based on a religion, which does not recognise science as the man liberal guide to the research of Truth, as the human mean toward perfection, but relies only in the fatal decrees of Allah, besides the brutal force of his gun, could never arbitrate with a ci- vilized country. There is not one point of contact between the two religions, between the two civilizations, there is nothing in common, nothing that socially could ever bring them together. Nothing can be expected from the Turkish do- mination in Europe, even by the New Turks, for there is nothing they can give her now, nothing they will be able to give her in the future which will be congenial, acceptable to her way of almost uni- form progress and advancement. The place she holds in Europe as conqueror, she will have to relinquish some day in the future, and this is the historical evolution of Nationalities which will settle the great Balcan question with the force of arms later on, when again it will cost hu- man lives by thousand, and untold fortunes. Beware Europe, beware England. The time has come that with an armed arbi- tration, Macedonia could be set free and Constan- tinople made the head city of an Hanseatic League, 79 removing for ever the threatening cause of Russian interferance. A joint garrison of the almighty powers of Eu- rope, would guarantee to that country that peace, which would set her soon on the road of a stu- pendous progress, and the city of Costantinople would be in a few years the pearl of Orient, the center of Christianity, the seat of civilization, the home of Peace. INDEX. TO HIS MAJESTY THE EMPEROR OF GERMANY .... Page V TRIPOLI AND CYRENAICA , I THE NEW ITALY 43 THE NEW TURKEY 6l CONCLUSION 75 RETURN CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT TO-* 202 Main Library LOAN PERIOD 1 HOME USE 2 3 4 5 6 ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS 1 -month loans may be renewed by calling 642-3405 6-month loans may be recharged by bringing books to Circulation Desk Renewals and recharges may be made 4 days prior to due date DUE AS STAMPED BELOW NOV 1 3 197-3 . UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY FORM NO. DD6, 40m, 3/78 BERKELEY, CA 94720 $ YC 47399 399778 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY