African Overture?

Whenever it gets in Benito Mussolini's way, the League of Nations gets slapped. Smack! In 1923 Italy's brand new Dictator startled the world by shushing the League when it sought to interfere with his bombardment of Corfu, his successful move to force the Greek Government to pay 50,000,000 lire ($4,265,000 Roosevelt) indemnity for the killing of an Italian general by Greek bandits. Two weeks ago II Duce was in a mood to smack that luckless Ethiopian His Majesty Power of Trinity, Emperor of Ethiopia and Conquering Lion of Judah, who promptly squealed protests last week to the League.

Exactly what happened, and exactly where, may never be clear. In the sun-baked district of Ualual, claimed by Abyssinians to be 100 kilometers inside their frontier, and claimed by Italians to be in Italian Somaliland, an Italian force had to fight for the surprisingly long time of three days to disperse some Abyssinians. The Italians boasted that they killed , claimed to have been wantonly attacked. The Italian Minister at Addis Ababa demanded "indemnity and moral reparations." His Imperial Majesty Power of Trinity I, reputed descendant of King Solomon's Queen of Sheba, promptly flashed charges to Geneva that it was the Italians who wantonly attacked. He further charged that the frontier cities of Ado and Gerlogubi had been pelted by Italian airmen with bombs. Two days later Geneva newshawks were handed by Italy's local diplomatic mission copies of a blunt, unsigned manifesto from Rome. Couched in the first person, it stated that "I will not" submit to League arbitration of the Ualual Incident. All this African fracas might just possibly be the overture to II Duce's long postponed symphony of colonial conquest.

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