Gaetano Salvemini - La politica estera italiana dal 1871 al 1915

The ltalo-Turkish War ways of drawing the attention of the French to the contraband which was seeping throught the Tunisian Libyan frontier. In France, the two incidents provoked a reaction which was out of all proportion to their intrinsic importance. Many Frenchmen had been humiliated and irritated by the concessions which their government had to make to Germany during the preceding Summer in order to avoid going to war over Mo~occo. Their anger had been held in check before so formidable an adversary as Germany. It broke all bounds now that they were face to face with Italy - a country they did not fear. The vociferations of the press grew louder and louder. On January 14th, a few days before these incidents took piace, Poincaré had become prime minister and foreign minister. He was a hard-headed and one track-minded lawyer who "had only two answers: yes or no." Convinced as he was that right was on his side, he did not over-exert himself to enjoin the French press to keep calm. While the French ambassador to Rome, monsieur Barrère, was anxious– ly seeking some way of patching up the quarrel, the German Foreign Secretary, Kiderlen - Watcher, carne to Rome on January 20th, and stayed two days. "Italy," writes the German chancellor, Bethmann Hollweg, "realized again the profìts she could expect from the Triple Alliance. Kiderlen was received with the warmest cordiality. The King and the leading Cabinet ministers vied with each other in affirming their fìrm allegiance to the alliance. In Italian Army circles it was pointed out that now Tunisia and even Egypt could be threatened from Tripolitania and Cyrenaica. " The French deputies also did their bit at their session of January 22nd. They debated the incidents in a state of acute excitement and broke into acclamations when Poincaré declared that "he did not doubt" that the Turkish passengers would be set free "before" "a friendly solution" were possible, and that "he believed he had spoken clearly enough." · Up to this point, the Italian press had maint~ined a tone of relative calm in face of the tempest which had broken ~ut in France. From that moment on, it too raised a hue and cry which vied · in intensity with that of the French newspapers. San Giuliano who had carefully kept secret Aehrenthal' s vetoes against Italian operation in Albania and the Aegean Sea, did nothing now to persuade the Italian press to show greater self-control. On January 25th, another French ship, the Tavignano, was captured near Tunisia, taken to Tripoli, searched, and released as it carried no contraband. This added fresh fuel to the flames. N ow that a state of tension had been created between Italy and France, Giolitti ordered the navy not to stop and search other French ships, and there were no further incidents like those of January. During those days, San Giuliano told Liitzow, the ex-ambassador of Austria, who happened to be in Rome: "Look, what would have seemed a 445 BibliotecaGino Bianco