terprise in all parts of the Empire
while ostentatiously favoring other foreign undertakings. Incidents
such as the abduction of an Italian girl and her forcible conversion to
Islam and marriage to a Turk, and the attacks on Italian vessels in the
Red Sea, added fuel to the flame, and public opinion became more and
more excited. The Premier at last saw that the country was practically
unanimous on the question of Tripoli, and although personally averse to
all adventures in the field of foreign affairs which interfered with
his political action at home, he realized that unless he faced the
situation boldly his prestige was gone. On the 20th of September the
expedition to Tripoli was decided. Hastily and secretly military
preparations were made, and the Note concerning the sending of Turkish
reinforcements or arms to Tripoli was issued. Then followed the
ultimatum, and finally the declaration of war. The Socialist leaders,
who saw in this awakening of a national conscience and of a militant
Imperialist spirit a serious menace to their own predominance, were in
a state of frenzy, and they attempted to organize a general strike as a
protest against the Government. But the movement fizzled out miserably,
and only an insignificant number of workmen struck.

On the other hand, the declaration of war was greeted by an outburst of
popular enthusiasm such as no one believed possible in the Italy of
to-day. The departure or passage of the troops on their way to Tripoli
gave occasion for scenes of the most intense patriotic excitement, and
the sight of some two hundred thousand people in the streets of Rome at
one A.M. on October 7th, cheering the march past of the 82d infantry
regiment, is one not easily forgotten. The heart of the whole nation
was in the enterprise. Even many prominent Socialists, casting the
shackles of party fealty to the winds, declared themselves in favor of
the Government's African policy and accepted the occupation of Tripoli
as a necessity for the country, while the Clericals were even more
enthusiastic. But there was hardly a trace of anti-Turkish feeling; it
was simply that the people, rejoiced at having awakened from the long
nightmare of political apathy and international servility, had thrown
off the grinding and degrading yoke of Socialist tyranny, and risen to
a dawn of higher ideals of national dignity. Italy had at last asserted
herself. The extraordinary efficiency, speed, and secrecy with which