LEADER OF ITALY

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 112, 13 May 1937, Page 22

LEADER OF ITALY

ATTACKED BY A DEAN

"THINKS HIMSELF CAESAR"

An outspqken sermon in which he ■ bitterly attacked* Mussolini's conquest of Abyssinia was preached recently by the Dean of. Winchester, the Very Rev. TE. G. Selwyn, says the "Daily Telegraph." ~.'' He was.taking part in a Requiem at St. George's Church, Bloomsbury, W.C., for "all men, women, and children who were slaughtered in Abyssinia." The service, was attended by Emperor Haile Selassie, who drove from Bath, Ras. Kassa, his cousin, and one of the generals commanding an army of Abyssinians during the war, and Dr. Martin, the Minister in London. Dr. H. Crotty. Bishop of Bath and Wells, presided at the service which was conducted by the Rev. J. W. I?oole, Minor Canon of Canterbury Cathedral, assisted by the Rev. W. C. Roberts, Rector of St. George's. The Crucifix among eight tall candles burning on the altar, and the sacred pictures on the walls of the church were draped in black. The body of the church was crowded with mourners, many being English clergymen. From time to time a few worshippers here and there would vacate; their pews, which, were immediately filled by newcomers. , -, •,, ~.■ 7 The Emperor and his • three attendants, who sat in their-black, cloaks in the choir stalls on the south side of the chancel,, remained still, and' expressionless almost throughout the service. Only when the choir intoned the Agnus Dei, "O Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world: ..grant them rest . . . grant them rest .'..■ . grant them rest eternal," did Haile Selassie, whose gaze had been fixed on the blackdraped crucifix, lean his head forward and cover his eyes with his hand. "MASSACRED IN BED." After the rector had read a list of the chieftains, including Ras Desta, and the Europeans, including D£ Melly, the British ambulance director, who gave their lives for the Abyssinians, the dean ascended the pulpit. He spoke of those who fell in action in defence of their country, and then of "those tens of thousands massacred in their beds, for.nO other fault than that they were Abyssinians." , He compared the defence of the country to the fighting of the Spartans at Thermopylae, calling the Abyssinians "martyr patriots." "There is no Englishman," he said, "who does not blush with shame when he reflects on the events of the past year. For it was not only Abyssinia's enemies but her friends, not only the brutal invader but those who promised to defend her, who had a part in encompassing her ruin. "There are few who do not realise that either we should never have promised, or- else, having promised, we should have fulfilled. Our own country has its own share of guilt for what . has happened, and we can only enter God's presence with a prayer for forgiveness on our lips. "The law of humanity that Italy has so fearfully violated," the dean added, "still stands. The Archbishop of Canterbury, speaking in the House of. Lords, has recently voiced it, but the ruler of Italy has seduced his people with the poison of militarism. - "He supposes himself to be Caesar, but he is the true ante-type of the Syrian Emperor Antiochus, surnamed Epiphanes 'the brilliant' and nicknamed Epimanes 'the madman.' "No one who knows the Italians will deny that they are by nature a kindly and unwarlike people," the dean concluded. "Their record of savagery in Abyssinia, Libya, and Spain, a record which recalls the atrocities of whicji the Armenians were victims a generation ago, can only be explained by the view that they have been seized by a spirit of evil of superhuman nature." |