Lamb, Lion & Pig

Daily last week high strung letters from impatient young Fascist airmen reached Benito Mussolini, offering in case of war with Britain to dive with bombs upon Buckingham Palace, the Houses of Parliament, or H. M. S. Hood or Renown.

Characteristically Italian, these frenzied

proffers of suicidal heroism spent themselves against the unItalian inner calm of

the Dictator. For one more week as the

British general election worked up toward

its crescendo Nov. 14. II Duce sat tight in

Rome and in Ethiopia fought a methodical

little war (see p. 22).

Ethiopia's Government thought Britain was playing a backstairs pro-Italian game. So did Mr. Lloyd George and many another. Until the election is safely over all wiseacres agreed, London not only can not admit but must vigorously deny dealing with Rome. And this week handsome young British Minister for League of Nations Affairs Anthony Eden returns to beat the drums of Geneva louder than ever.

Last week Premier Mussolini shut out of Italy London's Daily Telegraph, considered the mouthpiece of Captain Eden who has been loudly construing the Covenant to mean that all other League States are today at war with Italy. The Captain knew that war had not been declared by anybody, not even by Italy and Ethiopia, much less by Britain or France.

If Eden had not been pursuing his Sanctions vendetta, and if Prime Minister Baldwin had not been beating Big Navy election drums, the foreign policy of His Majesty's Government, as officially expounded to the House of Commons last week by Foreign Secretary Sir Samuel Hoare, would have been something an Italian could tie to with satisfaction. "This is not a quarrel between Britain and Italy," flatly declared Sir Samuel. "Indeed, I believe that, outside Italy, I was the first public man to remind the world of Italy's claims to expansion and economic security. . . .

"Italy is still a member of the League. I welcome this fact. . . . Cannot this eleventh hour chance be so used as to make it unnecessary to proceed further along this unattractive road of economic action against a fellow member, an old friend and a former ally?

"I shall now pass from the question of economic pressure to that of so-called military sanctions," said Sir Samuel with great emphasis at the crux of his discourse. "No such measures have formed any part of our policy. . . ."

To test whether this might mean anything last week, whatever it may mean after Nov. 14, Premier Mussolini withdrew 15,000 troops from Libya where they have been said to menace Britain's position in Egypt (see p. 23). Obviously this was a silent request from the Dictator that Britain withdraw at least one ship from the Mediterranean. Day later the battleship Resolution was ordered to steam home to England. In electioneering Britain the Admiralty refused to interpret this move, said on the one hand that they would send out another ship of equal size, hinted on the other that they might withdraw the even more potent Hood and Renown.

At week's end leading Italians of all ranks, from Senators to journalists, were in a public frenzy of indignation. The calm Dictator, after tersely repeating his warning that to War from any quarter he will reply with War, received and fraternized with some 500 peasants in bucolic celebration of records they have made in colonizing reclaimed lands this year. Handing out cash prizes he exhorted the winners paternally: "Don't make mixed marriages. Marry girls of your own villages. Then when the great crisis in the life of the people comes you will not have family problems to solve as well. When this little meeting is over go back to your homes and enjoy a glass of wine but do not drink up your prize money. Remember the old Roman proverb: 'He who drinks no wine is a lamb, he who drinks just enough is a lion but he who drinks too much is a pig.' "

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