THE PACT OF LONDON



treason. Italy was undergoing extreme privation, owing to
the diminution of tonnage and the sinking of the supply-
ships destined for Italian ports. And on top of it all came
the complication of the question of exports whether to
Switzerland or to other countries, and the further complica-
tion of what was known as the silk-waste (Cascami) ex-
port scandal relating to earlier exports to enemy countries,
in which certain prominent manufacturers and a deputy of
wealth and standing were alleged to be implicated; all of
which had to be investigated by the Government. And to
make the situation more difficult there was a feeling preva-
lent that notwithstanding the sacrifices undergone by the
Italian People, Italy and her part in the war were under-
valued by her Allies. This feeling applied especially to the
part that her fleet had performed. The sinking by Austrian
cruisers of the British Mine-Sweepers in the lower Adriatic
in May (15) the year before had always been held, though
perhaps not openly, as chargeable to Italy's failure to pro-
tect better those waters, and some endeavor had been made
to obtain Italy's consent to place her fleet under the French
Admiral in command in the Mediterranean. All such sug-
gestions, however, Italy had firmly rejected, at least so far
as concerned her independence of action in guarding her
coasts and interests in the Adriatic, and some feeling had
resulted therefrom. There was a time, indeed, when. the
feeling growing out of this might have been characterized
more strongly.
  In the early Spring, steps were being taken to clear the
North Sea, and the suggestion of the creation of an Ad-
miral-in-Chief came up again. But Italy, whose coast was
largely unprotected, had her own views touching the em-
ployment of her fleet, whose disposition her Government
knew had a political as well as a military bearing, and the
only result of the attempt to exert pressure upon her was
to exasperate her. Her Government leaders knew their
People better than their British and French colleagues
knew them, and they undoubtedly had sound ground for
questioning whether they would be sustained if they with-



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