Evening Post. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1927. LITERARY BOTCHWORK

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 32, 8 February 1927, Page 8

Evening Post. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1927. LITERARY BOTCHWORK

Having apparently no more such trifles as "The- Outline of History" or "The World of William Clissold" to engage his immediate attention, Mr. H. G. Wells was recently reported to be returning to journalism. The loss which the change threatened to permanent literature ■should "have been compensated by the gain of the kind of literature which supplies millions of readers with their staple diet, but if the samples of his article in the "Sunday Express" which were cabled yesterday represent the best that Mr. Wells can do in this way, neither journalism nor the cause of international goodwill which he has so much at heart nor his own reputation will profit by the change. The dictator of Italy, who is imitating the dictators of old by the complete suppression of liberty in his own country and by an ambitious foreign policy which threatens the liberty and the security of other nations, is certain-' ly a fair subject for criticism in a world which is supposed to have been made safe for democracy. And, if ,a fair subject for criticism, Signor Mussolini is also a fair subject for attack. But if any good is to* result from the process the criticism must be well-informed and well-balanced, and the attack must be free from'any suspicion of Violence or exaggeration. As his "Outline of History" shows, Mr. Wells can on occasion restrain his prejudices- and. give the other side a fair hearing. But on his return to journalism he appears to have felt himself free to ignore the obligations of a historian and to hurl the epithets about with- a promiscuous and therefore entirely unconvincing fury. ' •

The result is not a'portrait but a caricature of the man, whom Mr. Wells desires to disparage, and a caricature- so extravagant as to overshoot the mark and to fail even for the partisan purposes of advocacy. So thorough is his obsession that the artist has been completely mastered by the partisan, his normal literary skill has failed him altogether, and the caricature is as clumsy and uninspiring as! it is unjust. Signor Mussolini's arrival on the scene is described by Mr. Wells as that of "a born actor and demagogue, guided by quick instinct as to what will be a success rather than what is intelligible and reasonable." Even the severest of the dictator's detractors has hitherto been willing to allow him some credit for the service .that he rendered his country when he first appeared upon the scene at the head of his Blackshirts. Successive Governments had shown themselves powerless to cope with the post-war unrest of Italy and the rising tide of a Socialism with strong Bolshevik leanings. Signor Nitti had failed to compel the State railwayman to transport the troops or to dismiss the strikers in the Postal Service. The veteran Giolitti, the most expert of Parliamentarians under the old regime, appeared to be hopelessly out of his element. The anaemic of the politicians seemed to be threatening the country with anarchy.' Mussolini at any* rate brought blood enough into the veins of. the body politic to avert that peril, and no fair-minded critic would seek to disguise the fact.

It may of course be argued that the violence which rendered or helped to render that great service has since cost the country more than it was worth. Our present point, however, is that Siguor Mussolini's entry on the scene was not that of "a born actor and demagogue," but that of a born leader of men, and that the courage, the initiative, and the readiness to face responsibility which he displayed on that occasion have not failed him since. Like those historians who are always able to read into the faces of their heroes or their villains the* exact qualities which have been previously established by other evidence, Mr. Wells confidently appeals to the portraits of the Italian leader to justify his diagnosis.

It is necessary, says Mr. Wells, only to study a few of the innumerable photographs now bespattering the world in order to realise that the face is a perfect popular actor's face. It usually stares out of some pseudoheroic costume, with eyes devoid of thought and intelligence, with an expression of Vacuous challenge > "Well, what have you got against me? I deny it." It is the face of a.man monstrously vain, afraid at tho first hiss, not physically afraid, not afraid of the assassin, but afraid, deadly afraid, of the truth that walks by day.

It is a perfect cyclopaedia of previously acquired information that Mr. Wells has discovered in that histrionic face, but it would be more impressive if it conveyed any suggestion that he has been inspired by that devotion to "the truth that walks,.by day" which,, he denies to Mussolini. How overcharged with animus and detraction and distortion Jhg whole thing is—"the Jn-

numerable photographs now bespattering the world," the "eyes devoid of thought and intelligence," the "expression of vacuous challenge"!

In what may be regarded as his summing up Mr. Wells shows himself equally extravagant.

Mussolini, he says t has made nothing of Italy; he is the product of Italy a morbid product. "'

We have already mentioned Signor Mussolini's initial service to Italy. He has since made her trains run to time, given her a highly efficient Service, abolished the Mafra, increased the hours of work, helped the industries of the country to a prosperity that they never enjoyed before, and inspired a genuine, though characteristic^ spirit of patriotism.. There' is much, and probably more, on the debit side, but like other tyrants, like even, the devil himself, Mussolini is entitled to his due, and in Mr. Wells's coarse piece of literary botchwork he has not received it.