Peace in Rome

Old journalistic hands in Rome can always tell the difference between a genuine Italian demonstration and one of organized "spontaneity." In the latter case each demonstrator has to bring to the scene a card which he received by mail, must give this to a Fascist Party official Censorship kills dispatches saying cards have been stamped, but last week Italian censors were delighted to pass cables in which correspondents vouched for the real enthusiasm of a huge Rome crowd screaming "CIANO! CIANO! CIANO!"

Benito Mussolini's son-in-law, Count Galeazzo Ciano, was busy inside the Chigi Palace (Foreign Office) signing the Mussolini-Chamberlain pact, text of which came out fortnight ago, with the British Ambassador Lord Perth, who as Sir Eric Drummond was for 14 years Secretary General to the League of Nations. Unheralded, there was also signed at the same time last week, by Count Ciano, Lord Perth and Egyptian Minister Mustafa El-Sadek Bey, an Italo-British-Egyptian "good-neighbor pact."

This highly complex, most professional diplomatic deal was closed by signing with quill pens one protocol, eight accords and declarations, three exchanges of notes. Total: about 5,000 words.

Immediately after the signing, Premier Mussolini and Prime Minister Chamberlain exchanged cablegrams of warmest friendship and at the U. S. State Department experts said that a long step had been taken toward blocking another European war, laying the foundation for ultimately drawing Britain, Germany, Italy and France into a Four-Power Peace Pact.

Surprises were few as the official Mussolini-Chamberlain text was released in full, but observers noted: 1) It omits the expected direct reference to Palestine, although indirectly referring to existing Italian treaty rights in connection with that mandate. 2) Britain and Italy agree to bring each other up to date each year with information on their military, naval and air forces. 3) Respecting the interests of Italy in the Mediterranean, which were to have been called "vital" while those of Britain were to have been called only "essential," this whole matter is covered by simply reaffirming the Italo-British Gentlemen's Agreement of Jan. 2, 1937. 4) Unexpectedly Italy mentioned Ethiopia's famed Lake Tana by name, affirmed that she will respect British interest in having this great lake remain the source of the Blue Nile, which waters the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. This was to set at rest popular British fears of several years' duration that the Italians might by gigantic blasting and hydraulic operations cause the overflow of Lake Tana to water Ethiopian lands instead of Egyptian.

And most notably, whereas early reports had the treaty inoperative until Italian troops left Spain, the actual agreement merely notes the agreement that Italy will pull out of Spain when the war ends. In Leftist Spain last week this was held to be the collapse of whatever was left of Nonintervention.

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