ite to protect the new Armenian boundaries. Great Britain was made the mandatary for Mesopotamia and Palestine, and France the mandatary for Syria. Pledges were given to the Zionist delegation at San Remo that the military administration of Palestine, which has proved irksome to the Jews, would be changed to a sympathetic civil rule.

Zionists all over the world rejoiced at Great Britain's acceptance of the Palestine mandate. The Zionist Organization of America received hundreds of jubilant telegrams. Telegrams from many Zionist associations were sent to the British Government expressing gratitude for its willingness to accept the mandate.

The San Remo Conference broke up amid general satisfaction. Signor Nitti was pleased with the council's general approval of his scheme for continuing the negotiations with Soviet Russia for a resumption of trade relations. Mr. Lloyd George, on the other hand, had won his point in bringing about direct negotiations with the Germans, and had healed the breach threatened between Great Britain and France. M. Millerand

considered the results of the conference as an absolute vindication of France, both in respect to the Rhineland occupation and the strict insistence on treaty fulfillment. Even the Germans had their cause for contentment in gaining at last their long-requested opportunity for oral discussions. The Premiers left the Villa Devachan and San Remo smiling. The return of M. Millerand and General Foch, who accompanied him, was like a triumphal procession; large crowds and enthusiastic ovations welcomed them at every large railway station in Italy and France.

On the following day M. Millerand, appearing before the French Chamber, announced that the Allies had reached complete agreement on the strict fulfillment of the Versailles Treaty. His statement was greeted with a storm of applause that shook the house. On April 29 Lloyd George appeared before the British Parliament to render an account of the San Remo accomplishment. In a long and sustained speech, delivered in keen and trenchant style, and absolutely free from any apologetic spirit, he de

scribed the disharmony and misunderstanding that had prevailed and traced the course of the discussions which had brought accord.

QUESTION OF DISARMAMENT Among the lucid explanations in Mr. Lloyd George's speech were the following:

This is the position with regard to disarmament: Guns we will get; airplanes we will get. We cannot allow these terrific weapons or war to be left lying about in Germany, with nobody in authority to see to them. It is too danger

eration. They must come there as a people who mean business on the basis of the acceptance of the treaty.

They must show that they are grappling with the problem. That is all we ask at the present moment. Upon all these German questions that have arisen out of the German treaty I am glad to be able to tell the House that we have established most complete accord among the Allies. The strain had disappeared and there was the same old gladness of comradeship that carried us through the trials of the great war.

Hundreds of uninvited delegates from every corner of the world had come to

ous; you never can tell what may happen. Therefore, they have got to be cleared up. Rifles have been infinitely difficult to get, but rifles without big guns and machine guns are not very formidable, although they are dangerous as weapons of disorder, and we shall do our best to secure them. * * *

We must ask Germany to make some proposal to pay. I have been on various sides in regard to this indemnity, but, as a matter of fact, I have proposed nothing new with regard to it. Our complaint is that Germany has taken no steps; our complaint is that she is not taking steps as if she really meant to pay, and she must do it. I want to make it particularly clear before we meet at Spa that we are not going there to discuss abstract questions. Germany must come there with something definite, some proposal with regard to the sum she can pay and with regard to the method by which she proposes to pay, or any other liquidation of their liabilities. They will be guaranteed very fair, impartial and just consid

San Remo to wring special concessions for their respective countries. AssyroChaldeans, Esthonians, Letts, Lithuanians, Ukrainians, Hungarians, Turks, Caucasians, and other races too numerous to mention were in consternation when the conference broke up without having granted them a hearing. Some of these uninvited "walking delegates had been living in San Remo at a cost of 3,000 kroner a day. They departed sadly, bewailing their unhappy fate, and meditating how they should break the news to their expectant Governments.

THE HYTHE CONFERENCE

A second conference, also of the greatest importance, was held at Hythe, England, on May 15. This conference was arranged by Premier Millerand with Mr. Lloyd George at the close of the San

Remo Conference for the purpose of discussing the program for the Spa meeting, which the German Chancellor had been invited to attend. M. Millerand had made it clear to the British Premier that he did not intend to allow any loophole for proposals to revise the treaty, and Lloyd George had suggested a preliminary conference in England. Premier Millerand was accompanied by the British Ambassador in Paris and by the Minister of Finance and Coal Controller, François Marsal. In the country home of Sir Philip Sassoon at Hythe, finely situated on a green and flowery hillside overlooking the Channel and Romney Marsh, the French statesmen met Lloyd George and his advisers.

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The Hythe discussions lasted two days. Important agreements reached. Special concessions granted France following the exposition of her financial proposals. France's claims as a preferential creditor in the distribution of the German indemnity payments were admitted. Lloyd George, however, countered M. Millerand's contention that the devastated French districts should have first claim with the observation that M. Clemenceau had already waived this priority. The French Premier agreed provisionally that the total amount of reparation to be exacted from Germany should be fixed in a lump sum—a proposal to which he had opposed serious objections in San Remo. A French victory was won by the eventual raising of the sum proposed by the British delegates-100,000,000,000 francs -to 120,000,000,000 francs. M. Millerand then set forth his country's imperative need of immediate cash, and urged that Germany be allowed to issue bonds to cover her first and subsequent annual payments, on which pledges France could realize forthwith. British delegates demurred to guaranteeing such a bond issue, but the French were insistent that German bonds would

The

find a ready market in the United States.

In these and other respects the program for the Spa discussions was definitely agreed upon. Treaty revision was resolutely excluded. Germany's immediate disarmament was to be insisted on. It was finally decided to postpone the conference at Spa until after the German general elections. June 21 was the new date fixed.

One question affecting the Allies only was discussed at Hythe, namely, the method of liquidation of the debts of the Allies to one another. The rate and time of such liquidation was made contingent on the arrangements ultimately concluded with Germany. The United States was to be consulted on the granting of a moratorium on all allied debts. The British delegates received favorably the French request that France's debt to Great Britain, amounting to 30,000,000,000 francs, be made subordinate to Germany's payments to France, but reserved final decision until after consultation with her own principal creditor, the United States.

The French feeling regarding the discussions at Hythe was summed up by an article in the Matin on May 18. The Matin article said in part:

Before the conference at Hythe the Allies had no financial system. Since this meeting they have one. That it is perfect and definite neither Millerand nor Lloyd George pretends. At least the two Premiers can feel that they have entered together and almost pari passu upon the ground of realities.

In so far as the Hythe Conference decided upon the total amount of the German indemnity it usurped one of the most important functions that had been assigned to the Reparations Commission by the treaty. An immediate result was the resignation of M. Poincaré from the Presidency of that body on the ground that his presence would no longer be of much use.

HE fall of the Nitti Cabinet in Italy was rather due to the complicated parliamentary situation created by the last general elections than to any organized attack by the opposing parties for the purpose of succeeding to power. The Italian Constitution establishes the Chamber of Deputies as the embodiment of national sovereignty in that its members are elected by popular vote, while the Senate is an appointive body selected by the Crown. Thus, the retention of office by any Government is entirely dependent on the will of the majority in the lower house.

The present Chamber of Deputies consists of three groups, neither of which constitutes a majority separately; while reciprocally they exclude each other. The strongest of the three is the Constitutional group, with nearly 250 members, divided into various factions not always in general accord; the second is the Socialist group, with 156 members, who, though differing in thought upon many subjects, are united by the strictest discipline in imitation of German Socialism, of which the Italian species is the legitimate offspring; and the third is the Catholic Party of 100 members, which has for the first time made a vigorous entrance into politics. Without direct reliance on the Vatican, it follows the inspiration of the high prelates, though with a lofty conception of patriotic duty it has abandoned one of its most cherished aspirations-that of securing temporal power for the Papacy, to which no one in Italy today gives a thought, not even Pope Benedict XV. himself. The constitution of Parliament by these three groups is the great difficulty before Italy, now that the Adriatic question has become a matter of secondary importance, and that the labor agitation is diminishing and the financial problems of the State are being solved by the general acceptance of new and very onerous taxation. The diffi

culties created by the unequal distribution of parties in the Chamber cannot be removed except by dissolution of Parliament and new elections; and the moment is not yet opportune for the adoption of that method of constitutional procedure.

ITALIAN POLITICAL LEADERS

At the present time of universal neurasthenia, the usual stimulant of elections would doubtless fail to bring about such a reorganization of parties as would provide any Government with a clear majority on definite party lines. Two-thirds of the Constitutionals have generally voted with the two Nitti Ministries, and the Catholics, much against their will (until the last vote) followed the same course, some of them probably acting in obedience to the indications of a greater power whose highest interest is the maintenance of order. This small combination majority is headed by a Constitutional group directed by Antonio Salandra, President of the Council of Ministers which declared war against Germany. It was Salandra who delivered from the Capitol the splendid oration universally recognized as one of the finest examples of wartime oratory.

It was, however, largely the will and audacity of Premier Nitti that succeeded, for one year, in obtaining the support of these conflicting factions, to whom, when opposed to him, he seemed to say in all his speeches, "Define the future policy of your opposition and I will give you power with the greatest joy." These characteristics of Nitti made it exceedingly difficult for any other leader to assume the task of forming a new Cabinet.* The only outstanding figure who, like Nitti, is a parliamentarian as well as a statesman, was Vittorio Emanuele Orlando, the " unsuccessful nego

*The King invited Nitti to form a new Cabinet on May 17, as this article was going to press.-Editor.

tiator of Paris," now President of the Chamber. Orlando is a man of exceptional intelligence and keen perceptive power, though lacking firmness of attitude and the necessary force to carry his rapidly conceived solutions of the most difficult problems into execution. Other eligible former Presidents of the Council were too tenacious of their personal views to reconcile all parties to their policies, and for this reason Giovanni Giolitti and Antonio Salandra did not appear best fitted to direct the affairs of the nation at this juncture.

GIOLITTI AND SALANDRA

Giolitti, who is about 80 years old, is a born leader of men, still remarkably vigorous, with a clear grasp of affairs. He has been President of the Council of Ministers (Premier) several times, and occasionally for long periods, being always able, in former times, to manipulate popular elections to suit his own views. Personally incorruptible, he has frequently betrayed an aptitude for the questionable employment of national resources for party purposes; but with the changed atmosphere of the Chamber of Deputies and the present temper of the people, a repetition of such practices would be unlikely to meet with success. Giolitti was so decidedly opposed to the war that on many occasions, owing to hostile demonstrations in the streets and public demands for his head, he was prevented from going to Parliament, and there can be little doubt that, if these events had occurred in France instead of in Italy, he would have had to face the ordeal to which Caillaux was subjected before the bar of justice.

Salandra is a Conservative faithful to parliamentary law and traditions, and might find support in the Catholic Party; but its members are so opposed to being generally regarded as conservative, although a majority of them in reality are, that they would not enter any Cabinet under that banner. The Catholic Party in Italy presents curious contrasts. It fights against Socialism on its own ground, yet offers agrarian and industrial reforms that would be acceptable to many Socialists; it organizes labor unions in just the same way as the

Socialist Party, and, in its very midst, there are to be found those who, like Deputy Miglioli, accept the Soviet rule.

In its foreign policy the Catholic Party supports the views of Nitti, being equally opposed to those of the antiGerman Salandra and the decidedly proGerman Giolitti. No Government that is possible could secure the co-operation, in internal policies, of this disciplined group of a hundred votes. Primarily, the Catholics demand the Portfolio of Public Instruction, with the obvious purpose of largely restoring the hold they had for centuries on education. They also ask the Government to bind itself not to renew the proposal to adopt the divorce law, which nearly went through Parliament successfully a few years ago; and lastly, through a sense of rivalry, they are trying to destroy the political and labor organizations of the Socialists so as to build up like organizations of their own.

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The difficulty of governing under such conditions, with a Chamber composed of so many antagonistic elements, would merely be increased by a dissolution of Parliament. The present is a time when statesmen should be judged less by what they have accomplished than by the difficulties they have overcome.

WHAT NITTI ACCOMPLISHED

Nitti has been invaluable to Italy during the past year, in which he has had almost individual control of the country. He has avoided bloodshed of the fiercest kind among the contending parties; he has given a different aspect to the Fiume question, eliminating the morbid and sentimental from what should be the purely patriotic view; he has dispelled the hatred between Germany and Italy, and, by extending the hand of friendship to Austria, has also effected a reconciliation with that country as a result of the recent visit of Chancellor Renner to Rome, which has sealed a friendship that still seems incredible. He has put into execution a financial policy which carries its severity to the brink of expropriation without a single protest, and he has collected 20,000,000,000 lire in subscriptions to the last national loan, which was a supreme