THE ADRIATIC COMPROMISE

By the Santa Margherita agreement, a satisfactory disposition of Flume has at last been made. Since the acquisition of the Trentino at the close of the War, Italian eyes have been fixed on the east coast of the Adriatic which Italy has long desired, and which she hoped to gain peaceably. Her opponents, the Jugo-Slavs and their wire-pullers in Belgrade, have always been at a disadvantage of which they are well aware. Italy's military prestige and the moral support that the Treaty of London gave to her attempts, have made them afraid to push matters too far; all they have been hoping for is that they may be well paid to give up the contest. Happily, Italy has been wise enough to see this.

According to the agreement, the Jugo-Slavs are to get most of the Dalmatian coast, and, as a further sop to their pride, concessions have been made on their western boundaries. Italy is to receive Zara and certain strategic islands in the Adriatic; while Fiume, although established by the agreement a free state, not even subject to the League, is virtually an Italian protectorate, since Italian influence is dominant in municipal affairs. The port itself will be used freely by both parties, however, so that the Jugo-Slavs come out of the affair rather well. Above all, the settlement bids fair to be a permanent one, thus removing another of those irritations that more than once in the past have brought Europe to war. The compromise is therefore a decided step toward permanent peace.