Italy Declares Her Neutrality 51 and Magenta and freed Northern Italy save for Venice. Less than fifty years had gone by since the last Austrian soldiers withdrew from the " redeemed Italy " and the dream of the great Italian patriots was realized. Even in this century, in the Trentino, about Trieste and along the Dalmatian coast nearly a mil- lion Italians beckoned to their countrymen and begged that the work of making Italy be completed by the conquest of the Irredenta. Austria, victorious in the present war, her Empire would descend the Adriatic, little Montenegro, birth- place of the Queen of Italy, would lose its bit of sea coast. Albania would be gathered under the Hapsburg crown, Valona, the key of the Adriatic, would become an Austrian naval base; Salonica, the gateway to Asia Minor, would follow the same des- tiny. So at least the Italians viewed the prospect of the victory of their partner in the Triple Alli- ance. Self-interest, sentiment, memories of the last cen- tury's great struggle fought against Austria for Italy, roused a lingering sympathy for France which, though sometimes impatient and unkind, was still the France that brought liberty to the Italians, if at the price of the home of the House of Savoy and the birthplace of Garibaldi. On the other hand, war with France meant the probable loss of Tripoli, open to invasion from French Tunis; the paralysis of Italian commerce,