t it gave Orlando an
opportunity for carrying out his threat of retiring from the Conference.
Insisting that Wilson had appealed to the Italian people over his head and
that they must choose between him and the President, he set forth at once
for Rome, followed by the other Italian commissioners, although the
economic experts remained at Paris. Orlando was playing a difficult game.
He was hailed in Rome as the defender of the sacred rights of Italy, but
in Paris he lacked partners. Both the British and French agreed with
Wilson that Italy ought not to have Fiume. They secretly regretted the
promises of the London Treaty, although they were prepared to keep their
word, and they were by no means inclined to make further concessions in
order to bring Orlando and his colleagues back. After a few days of
hesitation, they decided to go on with the German treaty and to warn the
Italians that, if they persisted in absenting themselves from the
Conference, their withdrawal would be regarded as a breach of the Treaty
of London which stipulated a common peace with the enemy. They also
decided that Italy could not expect to share in German reparations if her
delegates were not present to sign the German treaty. Such arguments could
not fail to weigh heavily with the Italian delegates, even at the moment
when the Italian press and people were giving them enthusiastic
encouragement to persist in their uncompromising course. On the 5th of May
Orlando left Rome to resume his place in the Peace Conference.

In the meantime the Japanese had taken advantage of the embarrassment
caused by the Italian withdrawal, to put forward their special claims in
the Far East. During the early days of the Conference they had played a
cautious game, as we have seen, attending meetings but taking no decided
stand upon European matters. They had even refused to press to the limit
the amendment to the League Covenant which enunciated their favorite
principle of the equality of races. But now they insisted that on one
point, at least, Japanese claims must be listened to; their right of
inheritance to the German lease of Kiau-Chau and economic privileges in
the Shantung peninsula must receive recognition. This claim had long been
approved secretly by the British and French; it had even been accepted by
the Chinese at the time when Japan had forced the twenty-one demands upon
her. It was disapproved, however, by the American experts in Paris, and
Wilson argued