ense and who bitterly resent being transferred, without
their consent and without a plebiscite, to Italian rule.

The Italians defend their annexation of the Upper Adige by asserting
that Italy's true northern boundary, in the words of Eugene de
Beauharnais, written, when Viceroy of Italy, to his stepfather,
Napoleon, "is that traced by Nature on the summits of the mountains,
where the waters that flow into the Black Sea are divided from those
that flow into the Adriatic." Viewed from a purely geographical
standpoint, Italy's contention that the great semi-circular barrier of
the Alps forms a natural and clearly defined frontier, separating her by
a clean-cut line from the countries to the north, is unquestionably a
sound one. Any one who has entered Italy from the north must have
instinctively felt, as he reached the summit of this mighty mountain
wall and looked down on the warm and fertile slopes sweeping southward
to the plains, "Here Italy begins."

Italy further justifies her annexation of the German-speaking Upper
Adige on the ground of national security. She must, she insists, possess
henceforward a strong and easily defended northern frontier. She is
tired of crouching in the valleys while her enemies dominate her from
the mountain-tops. Nor do I blame her. Her whole history is punctuated
by raids and invasions launched from these northern heights. But the new
frontier, in the words of former Premier Orlando, "can be defended by a
handful of men, while therefore the defense of the Trentino salient
required half the Italian forces, the other half being constantly
threatened with envelopment."

As I have already pointed out, the annexation of the Upper Adige means
the passing of 180,000 German-speaking Austrians under Italian
sovereignty, including the cities of Botzen and Meran; the ancient
centers of German-Alpine culture, Brixen and Sterzing; of Schloss Tyrol,
which gives the whole country its name; and, above all, of the Parsier
valley, the home of Andreas Hofer, whose life and living memory provide
the same inspiration for the Germans of Tyrol that the exploits and
traditions of Garibaldi do for the Italians.

That Italy is not insensible to the perils of bringing within her
borders a _bloc_ of people who are not and never will be Italian, is
clearly shown by the following extract from an Italian official
publication:

"In claiming the Upper Adige, Italy does not forget that the highest
valleys are inh