The situation is so strangely anomalous that we see even allies fortifying and arming themselves one against the other we cannot however blame Italy for this
Of the many examples I could cite to show how strongly the Italian soul is opposed to the idea of war I will be content to give you two of the most eloquent ones
As the leader of the government in 1865 General La Marmora35 who was a true product of the old Piedmontese militarism initiated confidential negotiations with the court of Vienna in an effort to procure the surrender of Venice in exchange for a sum of millions to be established that these talks never went beyond the preliminary stage was not La Marmora's fault
The second example is even more typical