Last Parliament?

Queen Elena left the Quirinal Palace first in a State berlin, with a company of cuirassiers riding before. The Royal Princesses followed in other berlins. The Palace guns boomed and between their salvos the great bells in the Capitol belfry could be heard a mile around. Arrived in the Chamber of Deputies, the Queen and her ladies were escorted to a box. Below on the floor were palms and 800 black-shirted Senators and Deputies.

Five minutes later, punctual little King Victor Emmanuel arrived, in the full dress uniform of an Italian General. The instructions to the Deputies had been: "The entrance of the King into the Chamber will be the signal for an enthusiastic outburst of applause." It was. The King marched up and sat down on the throne which had been specially built so that his short legs could reach the floor. Flanking the throne were eight gilded chairs and in each chair a Prince of the blood.

A heavy-jowled man in the full dress of a Prime Minister turned to the Deputies and told them to sit down. They sat. Benito Mussolini read out in a fine commanding voice the oath of fidelity to the King and Constitution. He ended with: "I swear," and raised his right arm in the Fascist salute. Next he read out the names of the new Deputies in alphabetical order. Each rose at his name, raised his arm and said, "I swear."

Thus last week was inaugurated the 29th session of the Italian Parliament.

In dead silence the King delivered his speech. Best came last: "The upward climb of the Italian nation . . . will not be interrupted because the Italian people, as united and solid around the shield of my house and around the sign of the Roman Fasces as never before, deserves and will have an even greater destiny." Most significant came first: "The new duties of the State cannot but lead to transformations in the constitutional order, which the Italian people have already signified they will willingly accept."

The King, the Princes, the Prime Minister and the Legislators all knew what that meant, for Mussolini's "transformations" involve the substitution of an appointed National Council of Corporations for the Parliament. The 29th Parliament may well be Italy's last.

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