ights. We have decided to gain these in any case. The only question
is: How can we achieve this with the least sacrifices? As regards the
internal situation of Bulgaria, I may proudly say that our conditions
have improved, and that everybody in the country looks forward to the
great national undertaking we are about to embark on with immense joy
and enthusiasm."

PART IX--ITALY ENTERS THE WAR

CHAPTER LXII

SPIRIT OF THE ITALIAN PEOPLE--CRISIS OF THE GOVERNMENT

The crystallization of popular opinion in favor of intervention kept
pace with the trend of diplomatic negotiations. Italy, especially the
northern provinces, was a great beehive, humming with patriotic
fervor. Evenings in almost any northern town might be seen companies
of young men in civilian dress marching in companies and maneuvering
with military precision. At first the organizers of these "training
walks," as they were called, maintained reticence regarding their
purpose. The youths, they said, were merely undergoing voluntary
training to be ready "in case they should be needed." But the purpose
of these volunteer drills was unmistakable. At times, when the drill
grounds were rather isolated, the marchers would burst into patriotic
songs--the hymn of the Garibaldians, or, perhaps "Trieste of My
Heart." Soon the neutralists began to organize counterpreparations.
Encounters between bands of the rival factions became increasingly
frequent, in fact daily occurrences. From jeers they passed to
scuffles, in which missiles and clubs were the weapons. As a rule
these encounters took place far enough from the city limits to avoid
interference by the police, and only vague reports of them reached the
main body of home-loving citizens.

Milan was the center of these demonstrations. During April, 1915, the
Socialists proclaimed a "general strike," which left a large part of
the working population idle to attend gatherings addressed by the
neutralist orator. These meetings generally wound up with a parade,
and perhaps a hostile demonstration in front of the office of some
interventionist newspaper, or cheers outside the German Consulate. The
next day the Piazza would be thronged with a gathering of
interventionists wearing the national colors entwined with the flag of
Trieste, and, perhaps, with the "honorable red shirt" of the
Garibaldians. During the period just before the entrance of Italy into
the war these rival processions were held on differ