Evening star., 1926-05-16

phase or FaSclSnlO. he
Y movement which in MuSSo-
lini has found one of the
great leaders of our own time repre-
santS beyond all else the seizure OF
power by q minority, bur on the whole
minority made up Of an elite. rms
power has been seized with the dellb-
crate purpose to save nation Whlch
seven years ago at the close of the
war seemed sinking into anarchy,
communism, utter paralysis
The men who made the movement
were animated by clear conviction
that their country could only be saved
from ruin by a complete revolution,
by the destruction of precisely those
things which in our own Anglo-SaX-
on world seem the foundation of lib
erty and order. A free press. free
elections, government by Legislative
or parliamentary institutions, these
we're the things which in the mind of
the Fascist leaders represented the
cause of the downfall of Italy they
were the debris of an outWOrn system
which had to hc abolished before the
new construction could begin.
Accordingly. with the utmost Nlo-
lence, by a reign of terror, the leaders
of the Fascist movement, Mussolini
above all, proceeded to conquer. to
Coerce, to cow all the representatives
and defenders of the old regime.
They carried on q revolution which
was designed to root out, to crush, TO
extirpate all that stood in the way OF
their conception of the necessary re-
generation of their country.
Ground Now Cleared.
Today the task is accomplished
Parliament has ceased to be a reallty,
he press is completely controlled. the
machinery of election has been recaSt
10 suit Fascist needs The reign oi
terror is ending because there is no
longer any real opposition. The do
mestic battle, i'll the phrase of the
Fascist leaders, has been won and
the new task is to consolidate the vic
tory. to achieve the ends for which
the revolution was made.
But by contrast with the methods
of the revolution, the results are as
tonishing The Italy of today Is some
thing vastly different from any Italy
which has existed since the days or
Rome itself There is order In the
business of life. The finances Of the
country have been admirably reorgan-
lied. The railways have been put
unon an efficient and paying basis.
the streets are clean. there Is a sense
of animation. of industry, of activity;
of life. There is a sense of n2tlonal
unitv and conference which is lmpreS-
Sive.
To Judge from the outside. the men
who have made the revolution, from
Mussolini down. have not been am
mated by any vulgar desire to selze
power, much less by any sell1sh ue-
sire to profit materially. one Is
forced to see in all that they nave
done and are doing that the dominat-
ing motive is a form Of almost IN
famed patriotism. They have acted
and are acting with fixed determina-
tion TO make of their nation great
country. to benefit the condition OF
the masses and to abolish all the
forms of class contest which are
sapping the life of France ana "i
Britain at the present moment
Brooked NO Opposition.
In the pursuit of their objective
these men have stopped at nothing
In the presence of opposition theE
have been as ruthless as the men or
the French revolution or the Rus-
sian. But always there has been the
dominating conviction that they
served a great purpose ana tnat'
the purpose being what 1t was, the
end justified the means. They have
crushed all opposition TO make unity
in the nation and they have dreamed
and worked for this unity as men
who loved their country.
There is no more arreStinE cll-
CumStance in contemporary history
than the contrast between the means
and methods of the Fascist and the
ends which they have sought. More
over, they have conquered. they have
won absolute control, the men VINO
opposed them are dead, in exile or
coWed into absolute submission. And
recognizing that they have conquered,
that the victory is achieved, these
leaders, Mussolini first Of all. have
perceived that the time has come to
have done with domestic violence.
The problem of today at home Is
not to crush the opposition, which
has disappeared, but to check and
restrain the violence which was the
outstanding circumstance of the bat
tie.
But It is at precisely this point
that the Italian phenomenon becomes
OF European. indeed, of world i'm
portance. For nothing is more in
cvtable than that ihe consultation
of the home situation should be
sought through foreign success. And
today all Europe is watching
anxiously to know if Italy, having
passed through its revolution and
having in a degree at least found its
Napoleon, is about to embark upon
a Napoleonic period Of adventure.
Rome in Tense Mood.
IL you go from London to Vienna,
passing through Paris and Berlin,
YOU will see practically no soldiers,
see no parades, hear no bands and
discover few flags in the breeze. On
all sides you will encounter the en-
during wearinesS of the war. But
if you go TO Italy, above all If you go
to Rome. you will feel yourself in
,tantlv in the atmosphere of eX-
plosi,e and exacerbated nationalism.
do not know any way quite to pre-
sent the picture of Italy as L saw IL
from the Roman point of view in the
excited days which were marked nrst
by the attempt upon Mussolini's life,
and then by the Duce's departure for
Tripoli, which was in Itself the clear
est and most striking revelation or
this new and explosive national SEN
timent.
Moreover, you cannot stay long in
Italy without feeling a strong under
current of hostility, of hostility to all
foreigners. but, beyond this, of hos
tility to the other nations which have
been more fortunate in obtaining colo
nies, empires, places In the sun. To
day all Italians are deeply moved by
a sense that while other countries are
old and sinking into weakness. notably
Britain and France, While those coun-
tries no longer have increasing popu-
lations, while they are still under the
sway of the wornout systems which
the Italian revolution has abolished,
Italv is shut up in her narrow PENN
sula, with a crowding population, in
creasing to the point of suffocation,
with all outlets denied it.
Wants Place i'm Sun.
Italy feels that she is young, strong,
yirile. that she deserves a great place