The reconstruction of South-Eastern Europe

SOUTH-EASTERN EUROPE

this province extend in the north as far as Cormons, and along the railway as far as Gorica (Goritza); in the east as far as the river Isonzo (Sota), and from Gradiska straight to Monfalcone; a dense and homogeneous Slav population inhabits the whole of the rest of the province. In the districts of Logatec and Pastojna, in the south-western Carniola, with nearly a hundred thousand purely Slav inhabitants, there are no Italians, and these districts are claimed by the Italians only in virtue of strategic reasons.

Thus leaving Dalmatia and the districts of Carniola out of the question, the Italian claims upon Istria, Trieste, and Goritzia are untenable as a whole. Here some compromise is necessary, and it could be easily effected if both sides were equally animated by the sincere desire for a peaceful settlement.

With regard to the historical nght of Italy to those provinces, I should say that there is scarcely any province in Europe belonging to any nation to which another nation would not have some historic right. The argument of historic right is rather an antiquated one, and better suits the medieval and dynastic Europe with her people ruled by monarchs whose reigns are based upon divine right, than the modern European democracy in which rule is based upon popular consent. The historic rights have cost Europe so much bloodshed, suffering, and devastation that we may fairly suppose that this

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