is attitude as implying the tacit abandonment of
Italy's extreme territorial claims. Sonnino was so reserved that he took
no share at all in the Congress and refused to receive the Yugoslavs. He
made no secret of his determination to exact the London Treaty. Nothing
was signed by the Italian Government; and if Orlando's honour was
involved it certainly does not seem possible to say the same of Sonnino.
It may be that Pa[vs]i['c] foresaw what would happen and was therefore
unwilling to be implicated. He is an astute statesman of the old
school--"too old," says _The New Europe_, which regards him as an
Oriental sultan. But respecting the Pact of Rome they were rather at
issue with the Italians. What the Italians gained was that the various
clauses of the Pact were used as the basis for propaganda in the
Austrian ranks on the Piave. And when once the Austrian peril had
vanished the old rancour reappeared, particularly when, by the terms of
the military armistice with Austria, Italy obtained the right to occupy
a zone corresponding with what she was given by the London Treaty.
Whereas in that instrument the frontiers were exactly indicated, there
was in the Pact of Rome no more than a general agreement that the
principles of nationality and self-determination should be applied, with
due regard to other "vital interests." Bissolati's group was in favour
of something more definite, but to this Orlando was not well disposed;
and Trumbi['c], the President of the Yugoslav Committee, did not avail
himself of the, perhaps rather useless, offer of some Serbs who were not
participating in the Congress, but suggested that while he worked with
the Government they would keep in touch with the Bissolati group; even
as Bismarck who would work openly with a Government, and through his
agents with the Opposition.

GATHERING WINDS

As the Serbian Society of Great Britain observed in a letter of welcome
which they addressed to Baron Sonnino on the occasion of a visit to
London, they were convinced "after a close study and experience of the
Southern Slav question in all its aspects and some knowledge of the
Adriatic problem as a whole, that there is no necessary or inevitable
conflict between the aspiration of the Southern Slav people towards
complete unity and the postulates of Italian national security and of
the completion of Italian unity; but that, on the contrary, there exist
strong grounds for Italo-Southern Slav co-operation and fr