The first object of the Banca Commerciale was to acquire the control of the Shipping Companies which represent the all-important factor in the organisation of foreign trade. By obtaining 45,000 shares as security for a loan, which could not be repaid, to the Navigazione Generale Italiana, the Bank acquired practical control of that Company; and, by a stratagem explained at length by Dr Preziosi, the chief rival, the Lloyd Italiano, was also brought within the net of its influence. Gradually all the important shipping companies came under the Bank's management. It is not necessary to believe Dr Preziosi's contention that the Bank has purposely mismanaged these companies and stunted their growth with a view to helping their Austrian and German rivals ; it is sufficient for us to know that, if the Bank desired, such action was within its power. The Bank then turned its attention to the steel and iron, naval construction, and armaments companies, the bulk of which it formed into a trust under its control. As an instance of the power of the Bank and as showing its close relations with German and Italian industry, we may mention that in 1913, when Germany was dumping iron on the Italian market, the Bank acted as an intermediary between the German and the Italian Iron Trusts, and brought about an agreement under which the Germans were guaranteed a fixed but limited annual import of 40,000 tons, the result of which was to add 33 per cent. to the price of German iron.

The Bank, in its recent statement of defence, also claims to have identified itself with the vigorous development of chemical, mining, textile and electricity companies. By electricity companies the Bank means companies for producing electrical power. In the matter of electrical machinery and appliances the Bank has always seen that its clients and the companies under its control should get such goods from Germany; and the A. E. G., the Brown Boveri and the Siemens, the three well-known German producers of these goods, who are always strongly recommended by the Bank, between them export annually to Italy goods of an average value of 8,000,000l. sterling. In this connexion we may note that Dr Helferich, who has since become Finance Minister of Germany, but who at the time was Manager of the

Deutsche Bank, which has been always represented on the Board of the Banca Commerciale, in discussing the advantages of the investment of German capital abroad, stated the first object to be the encouragement of the German export trade. He added as a further advantage that of financial mobilisation in time of war. The meaning of this phrase has been variously construed, but perhaps it explains the statement that only 2 per cent. of the capital of the Bank is now German-Austrian. If the statement is true, it shows that, with an infinitesimal expenditure of capital, German management could still control the fate of a large number of Italian companies whose total capitalisation amounts to about 40,000,0002. sterling. The Bank, following German models, has established, or has combined with other financiers to establish, financial institutions in foreign countries. It has created the Società Commerciale d'Oriente, of which Herr Joel was the first president. It combined with Austrian financiers to found the Banca d'Albania, and with other financiers it founded the Banque Française et Italienne pour l'Amérique du Sud, of whose character Dr Preziosi has the gravest suspicions.

Next to the Banca Commerciale Italiana, the Credito Italiano, which until quite recently has also been under German control, has been the most important organ for German economic penetration. Ezio M. Gray notes as a fact, which we trust is only a fortuitous coincidence, that in March last, just before the coming into force of the Legge Salandra against 'espionage,' several of the managers of the Credito Italiano left the country, among them being the manager of the Roman branch, who was director of no less than twenty-seven industrial companies. Whatever doubts there may be as to these gentlemen, there are none as to the Manager of the Civitavecchia branch, who was also the local German consul. We have an official announcement dated April 16, 1915, that he was divested of his consular functions and escorted to the frontier.

Another form of peaceful penetration is the control of the press. Early in August last the Frankfurter Zeitung' published an article which explained that, apart from the publications of commercial agencies, there were

168 newspapers printed in the German interest outside the Fatherland. The object of the article was to reassure the German public as to the attitude of neutral powers; but the results are more reassuring to those who in the past have attached too much weight to the press. What is meant by the reference to the publications of commercial agencies is well known to any one who has visited Italy since August last. We do not know how many of the 168 newspapers referred to were Italian, but the attempt to influence the press went far beyond the utilisation of controlled newspapers. There was hardly any paper so insignificant that it did not receive the attention of German agents. Nor were papers notoriously hostile left alone. Every kind of pressure was exercised. We know from reports of proceedings in the Courts that there has been abundant evidence of bribery and of treating on an elaborate scale; but this method was applied of course only to the more disreputable organs. The threat of withholding advertisements, when emanating from a body controlling large commercial interests, was, in the case of a struggling paper, not unlikely to be effective. News was syndicated to the smaller papers with local circulation, while to the more important organs original material was supplied gratuitously in great abundance. Most of it was, however, so exuberant in tone and so pedantic in manner as at once to betray its origin, thus becoming useless for purposes of propaganda.

The most pertinacious workers in this field of operations were the German consuls; but their influence was only occasionally successful. German consuls have multifarious functions; besides acting as press agents, they also assisted the passage of contraband goods to Germany. Ezio M. Gray gives many details of their work. Since his book was written, in fact ten days before the declaration of war against Austria, the German consul pleaded the urgency of consigning at once to Germany 200 cases declared to contain salted fish lying in the port of Genoa. In transit to the station one of the cases burst open and revolvers fell out. This led to the examination of the other cases, which were found to contain only revolvers. Though no consul is involved, an incident which occurred at the port of

Venice should be told, as it opened the eyes of Italy to the ingenuity and the intentions of the Germans. Through an accidental discovery by one of the docklabourers, 92 barrels declared to contain beer and consigned by the Patzenliefer Brewery in Berlin to Tripoli were found to contain 545 French (no doubt captured) rifles and 27,300 cartridges. Had these rifles been found in the hands of natives, it would have led to complication with France; and that no doubt was what was hoped for.

Spying should, I suppose, strictly be regarded as coming within the term 'peaceful penetration,' but the Italian literature on the subject is already too vast to be dealt with in this paper. One would have supposed that, as in Italy the naval construction and the factories for armaments, munitions and cement factories are mostly managed by Germans, and as the electrical machinery and appliances are supplied from Germany and frequently put in by German workmen, there would be very little left to spy; but the evidence contained in Ezio M. Gray's book is sufficient to show that this supposition is

erroneous.

In conclusion, we may say that Italians are by character, history and traditions a very tolerant people. While they have never had feelings of affinity for Germans, they have not in the past actively disliked them; what has now angered them is the German claim to dominate them in their national life. The two nations have complementary qualities and should in time learn to respect each other, but Italy does not need or desire interference in her development. L'Italia farà da se.'

ALBERT BALL.

Art. 9.-WAR, WOUNDS, AND DISEASE.

To the truth of the saying that disease, not battle, digs the soldier's grave the campaigns of the 19th century bear ample witness. How great may be the losses from this cause was never shown more terribly than in the illfated Walcheren Expedition (1809), when 23,000 men out of 39,000 died in four months; only 217 were killed! In 1828 a Russian army, 100,000 strong, marched on Turkey; victorious in the field, it was completely vanquished in the hospitals, which in July 1829 contained 40,000 men, more than half of the available strength. Of the whole force, only 15,000 returned to Russia. Since the Crimean War there has been a gratifying reduction in the deaths from disease. The accompanying diagram from an article by M. N. Kozlovski shows the proportion of killed in battle and deaths from wounds and disease, in certain wars of the last and present centuries.

* Translated by Major G. S. McLoughlin, D.S.O., in the Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps,' vol. xviii, 1912, p. 345.