an Italy; justice and wisdom alike seemed to
dictate a refusal of Italian claims. The annexation of such districts by
Italy, the experts agreed, would contravene directly the right of
self-determination and might lead to serious difficulties in the future.
Would the President sanction the application of treaties consummated
without the knowledge of the United States and in defiance of the
principles upon which he had declared that peace must be made? The
application of the Treaty of London, furthermore, would be at the expense,
chiefly, of the Jugoslavs, that is, a small nation. The Allies, as well as
Wilson, had declared that the war had been waged and that the peace must
be drafted in defense of the rights of smaller nationalities. Justice for
the weak as for the strong was the basis of the new international order
which Wilson was striving to inaugurate.

Had the struggle been simply over the validity of the Treaty of London,
Wilson's position would have been difficult enough, for the Premiers of
France and Great Britain had declared that they could do nothing else but
honor the pledges given in 1915. But Italian opinion had been steadily
aroused by a chauvinist press campaign to demand not merely the
application of the Treaty of London but the annexation of Fiume, which
the treaty assigned to the Jugoslavs. To this demand both the British and
French were opposed, although they permitted Wilson to assume the burden
of denying Italian claims to Fiume. As time went on, Orlando and Sonnino
pressed for a decision, even threatening that unless their demands were
satisfied, Italy would have nothing to do with the German treaty.
Finally, on the 23d of April, the crisis came to a head. On that day the
President published a statement setting forth the American position,
which he felt had been entirely misrepresented by a propagandist press.
Emphasizing the fact that Italian claims were inconsistent with the
principles upon which all the Allies had agreed, as necessary to the
future tranquillity of the world, he appealed directly to the Italian
people to join with the United States in the application of those
principles, even at the sacrifice of what seemed their own interest.

The appeal was based upon sound facts. Its statements were approved
publicly by allied experts who knew the situation, and privately by
Clemenceau and Lloyd George. It had been discussed in the Council of Four
and by no means took Orlando by surprise. Bu