after time Italian Ministers complained of disregard of their interests by the men of Berlin and Vienna[511], whereas in 1898 France accorded to Italy a favourable commercial treaty.  Victor Emmanuel III. paid his first state visit to Petrograd, not to Berlin.  In December 1900 France and Italy came to an understanding respecting Tripoli and Morocco; and in May 1902 the able French Minister, Delcasse, then intent on his Morocco enterprise, prepared the way for it by a convention with Italy, which provided that France and Italy should thenceforth peaceably adjust their differences, mainly arising out of Mediterranean questions.  Seeing that Italy and Austria were at variance respecting Albania, the Franco-Italian Entente weakened the Triple Alliance; and the old hatred of Austria appeared in the shouts of “Viva Trento,” “Viva Trieste,” often raised in front of the Austrian embassy at Rome.  Despite the renewal of the Triple Alliance in 1907 and 1912, the adhesion of Italy was open to question, unless the Allies became the object of indisputable aggression.

[Footnote 511:  Crispi, Memoirs (Eng. edit.) vol. ii. pp. 166, 169, 472; vol. iii. pp. 330, 347.]

Still more important was the Anglo-French Entente of 1904.  That the Anglophobe outbursts of the Parisian Press and populace in 1902 should so speedily give way to a friendly understanding was the work, partly of the friends of peace in both lands, partly of the personal tact and charm of Edward VII. as manifested during his visit to Paris in May 1903, but mainly of the French and British Governments.  In October 1903 they agreed by treaty to refer to arbitration before the Hague Tribunal disputes that might arise between them.  This agreement (one of the greatest triumphs of the principle of arbitration[512]) naturally led to more cordial relations.  During the visit of President Loubet and M. Delcasse to London in July 1903, the latter discussed with Lord Lansdowne the questions that hindered a settlement, namely, our occupation of Egypt (a rankling sore in France ever since 1882); French claims to dominate Morocco both commercially and politically, “the French shore” of Newfoundland, the New Hebrides, the French convict-station in New Caledonia, as also the territorial integrity of Siam, championed by England, threatened by France.  A more complex set of problems never confronted statesmen.  Yet a solution was found simply because both of them were anxious for a solution.  Their anxiety is intelligible in view of the German activities just noticed, and of the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War in February 1904.  True, France was allied to Russia only for European affairs; and our alliance with Japan referred mainly to the Far East.  Still, there was danger of a collision, which both Paris and London wished to avert.  It was averted by the skill and tact of Lord Lansdowne and M. Delcasse, whose conversations of July 1903 pointed the way to the definitive compact of April 8, 1904.