time. By September, the Turkish papers teemed with accounts of military and naval preparations. On September 26 the ultimatum was launched. The Turks sent a, conciliatory and dignified reply on September 29. On September 30 [1911] Italy declared war.
Italy had what the French call a "bad Press" all over Europe, which pained and surprised the Italians very much. Questioned in the House of Commons as to whether the British Government was aware of Italy's intention beforehand, the spokesman for the Foreign Office declared that the Italian declaration of war was the first intimation of Italian intention which it had received. This statement was certainly untrue in substance if not in form. It is unlikely, to say the least, that th Italian Government would have taken action without advising both France and Germany. It is equally unlikely that under the circumstances of the moment France would have kept the information from the British Government, her partner in the Morocco deal. M. Lucien Wolf declared at the time that a few days after the Franco-German negotiations over Morocco began, the French ambassador at Rome was informed that if the French Protectorate over Morocco was acknowledged, Italy would occupy Tripoli. A French paper published a detailed story to the effect that the signal for Italy to move came from the British Foreign Office itself at the moment when the Franco-German negotiations had reached an acute stage. A Reuter's telegram from Rome, referring to Italian resentment at British Press criticisms, reported Italian assurances that all the European Governments were informed, "many weeks in advance" of Italy's plans. In any case, as the secret diplomatic documents referred to in this chapter bear witness, Italy's share in the rape of North Africa had been acquiesced in long before France's performance in Morocco. In the course of a bitter indictment of Europe, Ahmed Riza, the President of the Turkish Legislature, declared "Italy is not the sole culprit. The other Powers are her accomplices, as the blow that was struck had been prepared by them."
