TO MUSSOLINI'S THREAT

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 35, 10 February 1926, Page 9

TO MUSSOLINI'S THREAT

*£ J'&OULD NEVER SUBMIT ]| VOLUNTARILY'^ | (SPEECH EXAGGERATED. BY #^t,;i->. PRESS. t .<fc*ai£jfc2ui:-. r .(United Press Association—Copyright.) /.(Australian-New Zealand Cable Assn.) /- LONDON, 9th February. yf Dr. Held, the Bavarian Premier, in f an interview, said: "I was thunder- £ struck at Signor Mussolini's offensive f. outburst. He much misquoted my % speech, but I have reason to believe j£ ;that Count Barbero, the Italian Consulfe; General at Munich, deliberately comf. xnunicated a falsified version to Eome. Sil told Dr. Stresemann and Dr. Luther Pthis to-day, pointing out that Count £ Barbero is patron of a body a£ Fascist! lit Munich. I consider that Signor rMussolini'^threat to carry the tricolI'our beyond the Brenner frontier most ffcrave. We should bo at a disadvtanfjtage, because we are unarmed, but we ijwould never submit voluntarNy." I The "Daily Telegraph's" diplomatic s feorrespondent says such threats, if ever seriously intended, would require the : consideration of the League of Nations, because they are not consonant with fthe spirit or letter of the Covenant or the Locarno agreements. '• The "Daily Telegraph's" Berlin cori Respondent says that Signor Mussolini : himself is reported to have been surprised at the effect of his words. At »ny rate he has circulated the text of his" speech, in which the passage about carrying the colours over the Brenner Pass is couched in considerably less ag- ' I'jgressive terms than the newspaper vcr[aion. There is some hope, therefore, ijthat the incident may be modified by : Subsequent explanations. A curious effect is that Signor Mussolini is completely reinstated in the good graces of France, the larger section of the Press commending him as '•n example of how to talk' to Germany.