Evening star., 1935-11-03

BY PERTINAX. ,
TINE first man in Europe to pro-
claim himself dictator was
Benito Mussolini. and 1t can
L not be said that the leaders of
political opinion In England and
France, those pillars Of democratic
institutions in Europe. were deeply |
shocked or lost their bearings.
They considered that Benito MuSso-
lini would cross the political sky like
a meteor. that he would be nothing
more than a passing phenomenon.
At that time II Duce had not yet
learned the current vocabulary OF
statesmen; he struck the foreign dip
lomats who met and talked with him
as raw and uneducated. At the Lau-
same Conference November, 1922
whenever he was confronted by .
French or British proposal. regardless
of it's nature. he would abruptly re-
tort: What shall get in return?"
One month later the head Of the
Fascist government went to London
to attend a conference called to dis
cuss interallied debts and repara-
tions Mr.. Bonar Law, then prime
minister of England. had an hours
talk with him. Directly afterward
friend of mine, who was then full
filling a high diplomatic function,
asked Mr.. Bonar Law his opinion of
Mussolini The English prime min
lister replied that he had never met
such an ignoramus in his whole life.
OF course, this was a conference on
debts and reparations-and knowledge
of financial questions has never been a
strong point of Benito Mussolini's
political equipment.
Stability Was Doubted.
At that time, l3 years ago, most
French and British politicians we're
agreed in thinking that the new re-
gime would not Withstand the wear
and tear of Office for very long. Thus
M. Paul Boncour. then a candidate for
cabinet rank in France, did not realize
that he was storing up trouble for
himself in the years to come when he
wrote his famous phrase about the
Caesar of Carnival'-a phrase for
which M. Boncour apologized to II
Duce years later in a personal letter
upon taking charge of the French
foreign Office.
1t was in England that II Duce re-
cruited his first foreign admirers.
Italy was generally popular in the
British Isles because she might be
used as a continental lieutenant to
check and curb French military as
tendency. Let us not forget that dur.
ing the Washington Arms Conference
OF 1922 Italy's claim for naval equal
lty with France did not originate in
Rome, but in London. The instruc-
tions of the Italian delegate, Mr..
Schanzer, were to insist upon a pro-
portion of naval power for Italy not
exceeding two-thirds of the French
fleet.
1t is the time-honored habit of
British politicians to enjoy a con-
tinental holiday in the peninsula as
well as In France once or twice a
year. Between 1923 and 1925 most
OF those who went to Rome discovered
that II Duce was not to be regarded
as wild beast, that the love of
European peace burned in his heart,
that he did not want to propagate
Fascism in the home of the mother
of Parliaments," and that, therefore,
the material benefit his administra-
ton conferred upon his own country
could be unreservedly approved.
Befriended by Chamberlain.
"He has fine brown eyes and he
is very teachable.' Thus wrote the
Countess of oxford to her friends. Sir
Austen Chamberlain shared in that
trend of opinion and soon proclaimed
himself the personal friend" of the
dictator. He trusted Mussolini's word
that the treaties of Tirana (Novem-
ber, 1926, and November, 1920 did
not infringe upon the sovereignty of
Albania and did not clash with the
spirit and the letter of the Leagues
covenant. AS a loyal supporter of
the entente cordiale, he exhorted
Mussolini to come to terms with
Aristide BRAND. another member of
that category of Sir Austen Cham
berlain's personal friends" in which
Gustav Stresemann also was held in
high esteem.
The favor which Benito Mussolini
managed to secure for himself in Eng
land (for long while even the So
cialst Daily Herald was loud in his
praise) made things much easier for
Adolf Hitler in 1888, when der Fuehrer
seized the German Reich for hir-self.
In March, 1888, Ramsay Mac.
Donald, then prime minister of Eng
land, and Sir John Simon, his secre-
tary of state for foreign affairs. flew
to Rome and started there the Peace
Club" which soon broke up with the
failure of the four-power pact. In
vain the highest diplomatic authori-
ties demonstrated and maintained that
Adolf Hitler's government, at any rate,
was not sane and normal. Most Eng
lishmen stood by the view that all
foreign regimes were Of about the
same value and that, when the last
word was said, there was very little
to choose between them.
AmiabiIity Evaporated.
Then, all of a sudden, within the
short space of a few weeks, all those
fancies, all that amiable skepticism
and complacency-which England had
wrapped herself in for years-all van
ished as quickly and as completely
as the mist vanishes in the rising sun
on a September morning. And. most
surprisingly, it was Mussolini and
not Hitler, in spite of the latter's
most cruel record, who converted
England to q new appreciation of the
real meaning of a dictatorial regime
50 far as international peace is con-
cerned.
Why and how was the Italian die
tator able to do this?
Not only because he made 1t clear
in the course of his negotiations with
London and Paris this past July and
| AuciIst that he wanted war for the