The Timaru Herald. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19, 1939 ACID TEST OF ITALIAN PEACE TALK.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVI, Issue 21324, 19 April 1939, Page 6

The Timaru Herald. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19, 1939 ACID TEST OF ITALIAN PEACE TALK.

Italian newspaper attacks on President Roosevelt’s message to the leaders of the Totalitarian States of Europe make most intriguing reading because of the two voices with which the Fascist spokesmen periodically discuss the attitude of the Great Powers in relation to world peace. “The message,” says one influential journal “is part of a general attack by the democracies, and should be considered an act of war.” If this challenging observation means anything, the Dictators do not seek the peace of Europe on the basis of the independence of existing countries. It is interesting to recall, however, in face of the Italian press outbursts, two of II Duce’s recent pronouncements on international relations:

"Fascism believes neither in the possibility nor the utility of perpetual peace. It repudiates the doctrine of pacifism. War alone brings up to its highest tension all human energy and puts the Stamp of nobility upon the peoples who have the courage to

meet it.” "Italy has always believed in peace founded on justice, at which the policy of Fascist Italy is aimed.”

Although it can be said that it is the privilege alike of statesmen and poets to contradict themselves, it is interesting to note that Signor Mussolini strives to strike a note that harmonises with each occasion. Fireeating oratory about the nobility of war is all very well for Black Shirt consumption, but if the Italian viewpoint is to be taken seriously, and Signor Mussolini’s confession of faith during his talks with Mr Chamberlain is genuine, Italy is as firmly pacificatory as Great Britain herself. But is he? Let us see. What is known, however, is that with loud protestations of peace on his lips the Italian Dictator has brutally had recourse to war as an instrument of national policy, and by recourse to the sword has reduced sacred treaties to scraps of paper and made war on the defenceless: “Mark where his camage and his conquests cease He makes a solitude and calls it —peace.” The Italian Press can scream hysterically, but the fact remains that Signor Mussolini, for all his smooth words to Britain and for all his great deeds for Italy, has yet to prove that he can be relied upon to meet his international obligations in the letter and the spirit. He spoke at the banquet given in Rome in honour of Mr Chamberlain of “the new realities” in the Mediterranean and Africa. No fresh agreements based on those so-called realities are worth fashioning, and no enduring peace can be negotiated, apart from guarantees that contracts entered into will be strictly honoured. Diplomatic talks in many capitals have produced much praise of peace; it is devoutly to be hoped that deeds will follow the comforting phrases.