WHO ARE THE HUNS?

394 Italy's Betrayal of her Allies.
of a state which under the threat of attack seeks vilely to
extort from its hard-beset brother ally lands to which it
has no right and then stabs him in the back and prates of
a "breach" of treaty on the other side—a breach of which
it spoke no word while engaged in auctioning itself off to the '
highest bidder! Moreover Italy had broken mere neutrality
towards its partners in the Alliance during many months, in
that it permitted the French enemy of its ally to withdraw
hundreds of thousands of troops from the Italian frontiers.
In fact, instead of exercising the "benevolent neutrality",* this
Judas of the nations boasted of, its "neutrality" was from
the very beginning of things not only hostile but despicable.
It was for this reason that Italy permitted England to treat
it as she pleased.
Turati, a Deputy of the Italian Parliament, justly declared
in his speech of the 21st of May, that Italy had long before
outraged all the postulates of true neutrality.
The verdict of the Swiss press is incontrovertible: "Whoever
protests against the violation of Belgian neutrality, must
also -protest against the violation of the treaty of the Triple
Alliance."
The whole of this perfidia Italica is revealed in the telegram
sent by King Victor Emanuel on August 2nd, 1914, in
answer to a despatch by Emperor Franz Josef in which the
King declared that he need not assure his ally that Italy would
do all that lay in its power to bring about the restoration of
peace as soon as possible, and that it would preserve towards
its allies a cordial and friendly attitude in accordance with the
treaty of the Triple Alliance, its own sincere feelings and the
great interests which it must guard. (Austrian Red Book, II,
Page 22 and 24.) Immediately upon the report of Count Berchtold
the Italian Government announced on July 25th, that it
intended in the event of an armed conflict, to "preserve a friendly
attitude, in keeping with its duties as an ally!"
The publication of this despatch utterly damns the action
of the king of Italy. Here, after dashing to bits all fidelity
to the Alliance of which it was a member, Italy once more
solemnly assures its allies of its "friendly" and its "benevolent
neutrality." This is without doubt the most shameful example