The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1936-05-05


we get through with the British
we will deal their navy blow
they will remember for 20 years.
and we will 20 down glOriOuSly."
SPIRIT OF DEFIANCE
Thus spoke an Italian admiral
when I was in Rome on my way
out Of Ethiopia. Today, with the
flight Of the Emperor and the cap
ture Of Adds Ababa, and the oc-
cupation of the shores OF Lake
TSana by BlackshirtS, that spirit
Of defiance in Italy is stronger
than ever.
Now the collapse of Ethiopia
resistance is equally the collapse
Of the League policy OF sanctions.
But when the League steps out
Of the contest it removes the
League buffer between Britain
and Italy and leaves these two
nations frankly arrayed against
each other on the imperial queS-
ton, vital for both.
At this tense moment the
British press reports Marshal
Badoglio is undertaking to arm
and organize 100000 Philippians
Immediately as the nucleus Of q
great black army. What that
could mean for Britain may be
judged in the light of q report
circulating in British officialdom
that Marshal BadogGo considers
it eventually necessary to connect
Italian Libya with Ethiopia by
q corridor through the British
Sudan. This would enable the
Italians to maintain communica-
tionS in their new empire without
using the vulnerable Suez Canal.
British Lion Uneasy
At the same time report comes
that Italy has sent another 49,
600 troops to Libya. Taken all in
all, Italy's triumph has created
more diSquiet in London than
anywhere save perhaps in Adds
Ababa, and the British lion fully
shares the discontinue Of the
Lion Of Judah.
The British lion put his ma
jeStic nose into Italian affairs
last autumn. Ever since, period
ically, persistently, Italy has
slapped the Britannia proboscis
until it has become redder than
ever since l776. The effect upon
Britain has been painful. The
effect upon italy has been unpar-
alleled. Nothing like it ever hap
pened in modern Italian history,
so to elevate the national spirit,
to unity it, to stimulate it to fren-
zies Of patriotic ENTHUSIASM.
Britain did more to unity italy
in three months than the FaSciStS
had been able to do in IA years.
Up until the British led the impo-
sition Of sanctions upon Italy
there may have remained 20 per
cent of Italians who opposed Mus
Solini in their hearts, and GER
tainly so per cent of them were
against war in Ethiopia.
The war was unpopular. But
from the moment of British inter
vention the entire Italian nation
rallied to Mussolini as one man
and instead Of Italy against Ethio-
pia, the war became Italy against
the world, but particularly against
Britain. Immediately the war be-
came insanely popular.
EDn1sx1 nfIoTs IoHy thu
bulletins of fresh Italian advances
in Ethiopia reach the capital,
crowds swarm down the streets
where crowds have Swarmed 1000
years, and cheer and sing. I asked
an Italian friend:
aren't they a little bit
ashamed to celebrate so proudly
q victory over the poor old Ethi-
Opians who haven't got any
thing but pOpguns against your
airplanes and tanks and can
nOM?"
The italian replied:
Don't be silly. They aren't
celebrating victory over the Eth
Opfans. They are yelling because
we gave the old British Lion
another jab in the ribs"
Stares at the Map
The man in the Roman street
regards Fascist Italy as the nat
ural inheritor of the British EN-
pire. He Stares at the maps Of
Rome which MusSolini has erected
in marble, showing the Roman
Empire from its infant beginnings