ou have it in
a nutshell.

[Illustration: (Austria-Hungary map)]

Just as in France, since 1870, the national watchword has been
"Alsace-Lorraine," so in Italy, for upward of half a century, the
popular cry has been "_Italia Irredenta_"--Italy Unredeemed. It was a
deep and bitter disappointment to all Italians that, upon the
formation in 1866 of the present kingdom, there should have been left
under Austrian dominion two regions which, in population, in language,
and in sentiment, were essentially Italian. These "unredeemed"
regions were generally called after their respective capital cities:
Trent and Trieste. But, though the phrase _Italia Irredenta_ was
originally interpreted as referring only to the Trentino and Trieste,
it has gradually assumed, in the course of years, a broader
significance, until now it includes all that portion of the Tyrol
lying south of the Brenner, the Carso plateau, Trieste and its
immediate hinterland, the entire Istrian Peninsula, the Hungarian port
of Fiume, and the whole of Dalmatia and Albania. In other words, the
Irredentists of to-day--and, since Italy entered the war, virtually
the entire nation has subscribed to Irredentist aims and ideals--dream
of an Italy whose northern frontier shall be formed by the main chain
of the Alps, and whose rule shall be extended over the entire eastern
shore of the Adriatic.

In order to intelligently understand the Italian view-point, suppose
that we imagine ourselves in an analogous position. For this purpose
you must picture Canada as a highly organized military Power, its
policies directed by an aggressive, predacious and unscrupulous
government, and with a population larger than that of the United
States. You will conceive of the State of Vermont as a Canadian
province under military control: a wedge driven into the heart of
manufacturing New England, and threatening the teeming valleys of the
Connecticut and the Hudson. You must imagine this province of Vermont
as overrun by Canadian soldiery; as crisscrossed by military roads and
strategic railways; its hills and mountains abristle with forts whose
guns are turned United Statesward. The inhabitants of the province,
though American in descent, in traditions, and in ideals, are
oppressed by a harsh and tyrannical military rule. With the exception
of a single trunk-line, there are no railways crossing the frontier.
Commercial intercourse with the United States is virtually forbidden.
To tea