17 JANUARY 1925, Page 2

It cannot be said that the situation in Italy is

anything but disquieting. 'It is 'true that the intensity of the Opposition's campaign against the Fascist regime has diminished, but it would seem that this has been effected only by the suppression of the Opposition Press. One paper ironically printed_ the first chapter of Genesis as a leading article to- serve as a -comment, we suppose, on its inability to write anything about current events. Possibly the state of the country is worse than we know of, and, as always in these cases, rumour is busy with alarming reports. Apparently, for instance, there was a very severe outbreak of Fascist violence at Pisa on January 2nd ; the Archbishop of Pisa, Cardinal Maffi, is reported to have telegraphed to the Minister of the Interior : " Pisa, then, was normalized yesterday. As a Bishop I wept, as an Italian I blushed over it."

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