OF THE ADRIATIC PROBLEM. 513 



waters bordering the Italian coast make it difficult for Italian ob- 

 servers to locate enemy submarines or mines sown by enemy craft. 

 Even in the matter of illumination the Italians are at a great dis- 

 advantage. Raids are usually made by crossing the sea under the 

 cover of darkness and appearing ofif the enemy coast in the early 

 morning. When an Austrian raider thus appears off the Italian 

 coast, his objective is well ilhtminated by the rising sun; whereas 

 the Italian artillerymen must look into the sun when firing upon 

 their attacker. And when an Italian squadron appears off the 

 eastern coast, it finds its objective obscured by the shadow of high 

 cliffs and must look toward the sun when developing its fire, the 

 while its own vessels are so well illuminated as to form excellent 

 targets for the east coast batteries. 



On such arguments as these Italy might claim the need of special 

 consideration in the Adriatic. Without taking time to develop the 

 counter arguments I will merely note that in the proposals which 

 have been made for the settlement of the Adriatic question, complete 

 security has been offered to Italy by granting her Pola, Valona and 

 a central island group, three points which have long been recognized 

 as the strategic keys of the Adiratic. 



On ethnographic grounds Italy could claim but little east of her 

 old land frontier. She might ask for Gorizia, Trieste and a narrow 

 strip along the west coast of Istria ; but beyond this both Italian and 

 Jugoslav geographers agree that Italians are few in number and 

 scattered throughout an overwhelming mass of Jugoslavs. On 

 topographic grounds, and to preserve the geographic and economic 

 unity of the Isonzo basin, as well as to afford Italy reasonable 

 protection on the east, her frontier in this region might be pushed 

 up the slopes of the Julian Alps to the crest dividing the westward 

 from the eastward flowing rivers, and in Istria to the main back- 

 bone ridge of Monte Maggiore. This would subject 370,000 Jugo- 

 slavs to Italian rule, and leave less than 50,000 Italians in Jugoslavia. 



But Italy demanded much more than this. East of this line she 

 asked for the Idria district with its valuable mercury mines, and its 

 20,500 Jugoslavs with practically no Italians ; for a large district 

 cutting the Fiume-Laibach railway and containing 40,000 Jugoslavs 



