Treaty of San Stefano

“ The United Kingdom, France, and Italy at once signified their assent to this proposal. As for Bismarck, he promised in a speech to the Reichstag (Feb. 19) that he would act as an "honest broker" between the parties most nearly concerned. There is little doubt that Russia took this in a sense favourable to her claims, and she, too, consented.
Nevertheless, she sought to tie the hands of the Congress by [pg 229] binding Turkey to a preliminary treaty signed on March 3 at San Stefano, a village near to Constantinople. ”

“ From the latter point of view the Emperor Francis once more, as in the Treaty of Campo-Formio, recognised the Rhine as the limit of France. In Italy the Cisalpine Republic was once more constituted with the Adige as its frontier, Modena was to be compensated with the Breisgau, and Venice was again left to the House of Austria. Tuscany was taken from its Austrian Grand Duke, and erected into a kingdom of Etruria in favour of the Prince of Parma, a relative of the King of Spain, and Piedmont was annexed to France ”

“ The alliance with Austria and Germany gave, however, to Italy a certain latitude and a certain freedom of movement. The Marchese of San Giuliano, who was at [34] the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, faced by the Austrian ultimatum to Serbia and by the scheming to bring about war at all costs, had to play fast to keep Italy neutral. As a matter of fact, the treaty called only for action if one or more of the nations of the Triple Alliance was assaulted by a nation outside that alliance. ”

“ Continuing, Stefano, on his own account, offered Venice to the Emperor, with all its contents, adding that, in the case of the former’s acceptance, he would be more than pleased to act as the Emperor’s Viceroy and would guarantee a solid yearly tribute. History asserts that Stefano was believed to be honest, but by what process of reasoning the belief was arrived at we are not told. At any rate, it did not take the Emperor very long to decide upon the annexation of the province, the governorship of which was at the same time offered to that sterling patriot, Stefano. ”

“ But, strange to say, a majority of the inhabitants prefer that their town should continue to exist, and this it can only do if, in accordance with the Treaty of Rapallo, it becomes a neutral State on friendly terms with both its neighbours, Italy and Yugoslavia. The Italian Government desires, of course, to execute its Treaty obligations, [66] and if it finds too painful the task of moderating the ardours of its own super-patriots, it will no doubt be glad to have this done by an International force. ”

“ ART. XCVIII. His royal highness the Archduke Francis d'Este, his heirs and successors, shall possess, in full sovereignty, the duchies of Modena, Reggio, and Mirandola, such as they existed at the signature of the Treaty of Campo Formio. ”

“ Let us remember that the powers will only support our wishes when they have need of us. Gratitude and sympathy are mere phrases when the map of Europe is being redrawn. If Italy desire to safeguard her interests in the Adriatic she cannot postpone her decision till the last moment. Italy is isolated; the Triple Alliance treaty cannot defend her even if it be still in force. Italy and Austria, as Count Nigra and Prince Bülow said, must be allies or enemies. Can they remain allies after what has happened? ”

“ He contrived, however, to wheedle one of the Regents, Adelbert by name, into interceding with the Venetian Government for him, and they, partly out of gratitude to her and partly out of a desire to remain in the good graces of the Imperial Government, consented to the Caloprini’s return. But Stefano never saw Venice again, for he died before the negotiations were concluded, so that his sons had to return alone and face their fellow-citizens as best they could without him. ”

“ The southern states of Europe were almost entirely bound to the Franco-Austrian alliance. Spain had been united to France by the offensive and defensive treaty, known as the ‘Pacte de Famille,’ concluded by the French minister, Choiseul, in 1761, and tested in the war of American Independence. Portugal, though connected with England, commercially by the Methuen treaty, and politically by a long course of protection against Spanish pretensions, was striving by a series of royal marriages to become the ally of Spain. In Italy, Naples was ruled by a Spanish prince married to an Austrian princess ”

“ The United States and Great Britain have no longer any treaty of alliance of guarantee with France. The Anglo-Saxons, conquerors of the War and the peace, have drawn themselves aside. Italy has no alliance and cannot have any. No Italian politician could pledge his country, and Parliament only desires that Italy follow a democratic, peaceful policy, maintaining herself in Europe as a force for equilibrium and life. ”

“ I have heard it said that there is one law for the rich and another for the poor. There is no doubt one international law for the strong and another for the weak.
What about the League of Nations? This is pre-eminently a case for action under the Covenant. Italy and Greece are both parties. How can they, consistently with the terms of the Treaty they so recently signed, refuse to leave this dispute to be dealt with by the League? Italy had a special part in drafting the Treaty and in imposing it upon Germany and Austria. She cannot now in decency [Pg 65] repudiate its clauses. ”

“ The second-and third-class nations fell out with the first-class Powers. Italy, for example, whose population is almost equal to that of her French sister, demanded compensation for the vast additions that were being made to France's extensive possessions. The grounds alleged were many. Compensation had been promised by the secret treaty. The need for it was reinforced by the rejection of Italy's claims in the Adriatic. The Italian people required, desired, and deserved a fair and fitting field for legitimate expansion. ”

“ By a separate agreement with Germany, likewise attached to the Treaty, it was provided that if France should occupy Tripoli or Morocco, and if as a result of such action Italy should feel it necessary "in order to safeguard her position in the Mediterranean" to herself take action in those territories, or even in French territory, and should war result, Germany bound herself to support Italy in arms. ”

“ The first exchange of ideas between the two Governments 70 proved fruitless, since Kalnóky, somewhat Clerical-minded, was averse from guaranteeing the integrity of all Italian territory, and Mancini was equally unwilling to guarantee to Austria permanent possession of Trent and Trieste. Mancini, moreover, wished the treaty of alliance to provide for reciprocal protection of the chief interests of the contracting Powers, Italy undertaking to second Austria-Hungary in the Balkans, and Austria and Germany pledging themselves to support Italy in Mediterranean questions. ”

“ As between individuals, it is reasonable that all peaceful means of adjusting a quarrel should be employed, so, in the greater affairs of nations, all the arts of statesmanship ought to be had recourse to before resort is had to bayonets and blood. How successful such a course would have proved, and how beneficial to the cause of Italian liberty, is more than sufficiently shown by the great result which diplomacy obtained, when Austria, insisting on treaty rights, [pg 045] displayed the flag of war at Ferrara. In that case, no doubt, the Pope was the chief diplomatist. ”

“ In a military sense, and in a moral sense, Italy is the superior of the beaten, bankrupt monarchy of Austria, and capable of wresting Venetia from the intrusive race, which holds it as much in defiance of common sense as of common right.
But would Italy be permitted to settle her quarrel with her old oppressor without foreign intervention? We fear that she would not. Venetia is held by Austria in virtue of the Vienna settlement of Europe, in the first place, and then under the treaty that followed the war of 1859. ”

“ It is strange how San Stefano, in spite of herself, like some light little person involuntarily caught into a tragedy, seems fated to be historic. San Stefano is a suburb on the flat northwestern shore of the Marmora that tries perseveringly to be European and gay. San Stefano has straight streets. San Stefano has not very serious-looking houses standing in not very interesting-looking gardens. San Stefano has a yacht-club whose members, possessing no yachts, spend their time dancing and playing bridge. ”

“ Venice, Istria, and the duchies of Rome, Spoleto, and Benevento were next attacked, but they united to resist their common enemy, and put themselves under the protection of the pope. Under these circumstances Stephen II (752–757) saw an opportunity to unite all these provinces and to make himself their political head. He determined to try to succeed to the power of the emperor in Italy. He accordingly went to France and secured the promise from Pippin to give him all the above-named territories and to force the Lombards to withdraw from them into the territory which they had first occupied. ”

“ Our conclusion is that, by virtue of the most-favored-nation clause of article XVII of the Consular Convention between the United States and Italy of 1878, the Italian Consul General was entitled in the instant case, being that of the death of an Italian national in this country prior to the termination of the Treaty between the United States and Persia of 1856, to the benefit of article VI of that Treaty, and that the net assets of the decedent should be delivered to him accordingly. ”

“ These characteristics are apparent in the audacity which outran his instructions in the negotiation of the barrier treaty, in the credulity which accepted almost without inquiry the spurious secret treaty of Vienna, in the levity which formed an elaborate combination against the emperor without first soberly estimating his offensive strength, and in the perversity which sought in a dispute about the occupation of four Italian towns a pretext for plunging Europe into war in order to shatter the only continental power which could then hold its own against a united house of Bourbon. ”

“ Soon after this the Porte, Russia, and Naples signed a treaty of union with England, the duration of which was fixed for eight years. Their conditions were generally a mutual guarantee of all possessions, including Egypt in the case of the Porte; a common prosecution and termination of the war; the closing of all harbours, and especially those in the Mediterranean, against the French; with British subsidies to other states. Italy was to be the first field of action for the allied powers, the design being to save the King of Naples from French domination. ”

“ At home the English Court did its best to prevent its Ministers exacting these promises. It was the Queen's strong wish that the Federation of Italy and the restoration of the Dukes of Parma and Modena should stand as Austria's compensation for yielding Lombardy to Italy, and that the Congress at Zürich should insist upon these conditions forming part of the ultimate European treaty. ”

“ That treaty had been conceived in the spirit of old-time diplomacy and had assigned to Italy districts which disinterested experts declared could not be hers except upon the principle of the spoils to the strong. Much of the territories promised in the Tyrol, along the Julian Alps, and on the Adriatic coast was inhabited entirely by non-Italians, whose political and economic fortunes were bound up with states other than Italy; justice and wisdom alike seemed to dictate a refusal of Italian claims. ”

“ Italy pledges herself to conclude with Turkey by the same time the latter shall renew her treaties of commerce with the other Powers, a treaty of commerce on the basis of European public law, that is to say, Italy consents to leave to Turkey all the latter's economic independence and the right, in commercial and customs matters, to act like all other European Powers, and without being bound by the capitulations and other acts, entered into up to this day. ”