the position of Germany. But Sig. Orlando failed to take advantage of this situation, and on May 5 returned to Paris, without having obtained those guarantees in favour of Italy's interests which the Italian public believed he had secured. On the contrary, on reaching Paris the delegation found its situation less favourable than when it had quitted the Conference. The German treaty was ready, and contained certain modifications concerning reparations, introduced during the absence of the Italian delegation, and against which Sig. Crespi, assistant delegate, had protested. A defensive alliance between France, Britain and the United States had also been concluded without Italy being asked to participate, and although she would probably have refused, the Italian public considered that want of considera- tion had been shown in not asking her. On the yth the peace terms were presented to Germany by the combined delegations.
Discussions on the Adriatic question were now resumed. The British, French and U.S. ambassadors in Rome proposed that . Fiume be placed under the League of Nations, but the scheme fell through owing to President Wilson's opposition to any solution which gave Italy any predominance, however slight, over Fiume. Mr. Nelson Page, the U.S. ambassador in Rome, went to Paris to impress on the President the violence of Italian feeling on the Fiume question, but he proved obdurate. Violent personal attacks against him were being made in the Italian press, often of a scurrilous nature and some of them penned by D'Annunzio. One of the French delegates, M. Tardieu, came forward on May 27 with yet another proposal: Fiume with a strip of territory to the W. was to form an independent state with a mixed administration, Zara, Sebenico and most of the islands to go to Italy, the rest of Dalmatia to Yugoslavia. The Italian delegation could not accept the scheme quite as it stood, but was ready to discuss it. At one moment it seemed as if an agreement had been reached, but Wilson and the Yugoslav delegates met again and both decided to reject it.
Sig. Orlando now returned to Rome to inform Parliament of the course of the negotiations, and was defeated by 259 votes to 78 (June 19). The Cabinet in consequence resigned. Sig. Nitti was entrusted with the formation of a new ministry, and he had accomplished the task by June 22 in the following manner: Nitti (Presidency and Interior), Tittoni (Foreign Office), Luigi Rossi (Colonies), Mortara (Justice), Tedesco (Finance), Schanzer (Treasury), Adml. Sechi (Marine), Gen. Albrici (War), Alfre- do Baccelli (Education), Pantano (Public Works), Dante Ferraris (Industry), De Vito (Transport), Chimienti (Post Office), De Nava (Liberated Provinces). A new peace delegation was formed, without the premier, and composed of Senators Tittoni, Scialoja, Maggiorino Ferraris and Marconi, to whom was added later the Marquis Imperial!, ambassador in London. It left for Paris on June 28, the same day the Treaty of Peace with Germany was signed by Baron Sonnino and Marquis Imperial!.
During this agitated period of international politics, the internal situation in Italy was also grave. Prices rose rapidly after the Armistice, and there was a serious dearth of many goods, such as coal, wheat, meat and sugar. Government measures to meet these difficulties proved quite inadequate, and consisted in a series of regulations for limiting prices which merely made the goods disappear for a time and then reappear at higher prices: in selling bread below cost, which involved a huge deficit in the budget; in doles and subsidies which encouraged idleness, and in innumerable regulations which hampered trade and transport. The working-classes were enjoying very high wages, and squandering their earnings, but were discontented because prices had risen, largely in consequence of the rise in wages. War profiteers, on the other hand, were seen indulging in an orgy of extravagance and vulgar display. It was only the people with fixed incomes who were really hard hit by the rise of prices and of taxation, but everybody alike grumbled and was dis- satisfied. The extreme Socialist leaders exploited this situation for their own purposes, and encouraged the working-classes in the belief that they had been made to fight in the war for the benefit of the capitalists, while it was now their right to obtain an ever-increasing share in the nation's wealth, with no correspond-
ing obligation to work and produce. The example of Russia was' made the most of, and by depicting the condition of the unhappy country as an earthly paradise they persuaded large masses of the people that if a similiar regime were introduced into Italy everyone would be happy. Ex-neutralists in the political field also contributed to the general sense of discontent, by a persistent propaganda of " I told you so," claiming that they were right in opposing the war.
A new party now arosewhichwasdestinedtoplayanimportant part in future political development the Popular or Catholic party. There was already a Catholic group in the . Chamber and many communes were run. by Catholic administrations. But the Catholics were now p ar ty absorbed into the wider Parlito popolare italiano, Formed. whose constitution was announced in the Osservatore Romano on Jan. 20 1919. It rapidly developed its organization, under the leadership of the Sicilian priest Don Luigi Sturzo, who had set forth its general lines in his speech at Milan on Nov. 17 1918. The executive committee, of which Count Santacci was president, met in Rome, and on Jan. 18 1919 presented as its programme a series of far-reaching reforms of a Christian Socialist character, especially as regards the land question, so as to take the wind out of the sails of the Socialists. It advocated the breaking-up of the large estates with compensa- tion to the landlords, collaboration between capital and labour in industry, freedom of religious education and as to divorce, and a patriotic foreign policy. It gained support chiefly in the Veneto and parts of Lombardy, and in general among the peasant class, largely through the activity and good organization of the Catholic cooperative societies and banks. It also included a great many persons of the middle-class and the aristocracy.
The general consequence of this state of discontent was a series of strikes in every trade, including the public services, a repugnance for work, and a diminution of output. The extreme Socialists hoped to be able to bring about a real revolution of the Russian type, while even those members of the Socialist party who were too sensible to agree in this were too much afraid of losing popularity with the masses to speak out openly. During the war, funds had been received from Germany and Austria; now the wind had to be raised by blackmailing timorous shopkeepers endangered by riots, and by pillaging the shops of those who refused to be blackmailed when the riots occurred. Socialist orators were vigorous not only in denouncing the supposed sins of the bourgeoisie, but in warning them that it was no use struggling against the inevitable. On Dec. 22 Revoiu- 1918 the Socialist party held a meeting at Bologna, strikes. and immediately afterwards the Postal Employees' Committee of Action threatened a strike which was only averted by the Government's promise of higher wages. Other strikes oc- curred during the winter and spring, and on April 10 there was a 24-hour strike in Rome because the authorities had forbidden a manifestation in favour of the Russian Bolshevists. A similar demonstration was held in Milan on the i3th, and a few persons were wounded in a scuffle. A shot fired by a Socialist against a patriotic procession near the offices of the Avanti resulted in the wrecking of the latter by the crowd. The G.C.L. ordered a protest strike throughout Italy, but it was carried out in only a few places, and in Rome ended in a great patriotic demonstration on the 1 7th. On May 4 a strike of the tramwaymen and second- ary railwaymen began, involving 80,000 persons; it was the first of the strikes in the public services with which the Socialists hoped to disorganize the economic life of the country. A couple of days later the National Seamen's Federation, presided over by the fire-brand " Captain " Giulietti, held up an Italian steamer conveying munitions to British troops in Russia.
In the domain of foreign affairs the Government had to deal with a complicated Oriental situation. In addition to the general provisions of the Pact of London for an Italian occupation of southern Anatolia, by the agreement of St. Jean de Maurienne (April 1917), Italy had been promised Smyrna and its district in the future repartition of Asiatic Turkey. But at the Peace Conference it became clear
