The Auckland Star WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 7, 1935. ENGLAND AND ITALY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 185, 7 August 1935, Page 6

The Auckland Star WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 7, 1935. ENGLAND AND ITALY.

Tor f he cause thct lacks assistance, For the wrong that needs resistunce, For the future in '.he distance, And tin good that we oau de.

"Open my heart and you will see, graved inside of it, 'Italy,'" runs a couplet in one of Browning's poems. The words are put into the mouth of an Italian, but they represented the affection for Italy felt by both Browning and his wife, and they have found an echo in the hearts of generations of English people. Remembrance of those ties of culture which have for so long bound England to Italy, and that political sympathy which was extended to Italy until Mussolini (in his own words) tramped upon the rotting corpse of freedom, makes the present difference between the two countries all the more deplorable to Britons. French observers, bearing in mind "Italy's practical dependence in many directions on Britain and the traditional links between British and Italian policy," are puzzled by the furiously anti-British tone of the Italian Press. They may well be. If it had not been for the practical sympathy of the British Government in keeping the ring clear for the liberators and unifiers of Italy in the nineteenth century, a united Italy, free from foreign domination, might not exist to-day. The British dispatch asserting the right of the Italian people to seek their own destiny was received in Italy with tears of joy. Garibaldi and Mazzini were popular heroes in England. When the World War came the decision of Britain must have profoundly influenced Italy in her decision to enter the struggle against Germany. Italy's entry was of very great assistance to Britain and her allies, but Italy may be reminded that after the disaster of Caporetto British troops helped to stiffen the Italian line, and that the protection of the Mediterranean, even near Italian coasts, fell mainly on the British Navy.

The British Government and the British people have always been friendly to Italy, and even to. those who sympathise with Italy in her desire for expansion, such outbursts as those of Mussolini and his lieutenants and Italian newspapers are painful. To say that Britain desires Abyssinia for herself is ludicrous. The truth about British feeling for Italy and British foreign policy would be placed before the Italian people if the Press were free, but it is not. In England there is always a section of the Press ready to put the foreigner's case and criticise the Government. In Italy the whole Press has been regimented. The word has gone forth that the Italian case must be pressed to the limit and Britain depicted as an enemy. It is a melancholy example of what happens when a State puts chains on freedom of opinion. If the shades of Garibaldi and Browning meet, they will mingle their tears.