How utterly the situation has changed since the crime was
demonstrated in Signor Mussolini's speech to the Senate on. Monday. For the first time (the Times correspondent tells us) he did not get a good reception. But more striking still was the tone of his speech, which was at least in part apologetic. " Fascismo," he said, " has only been shaken. This blow has done it good." Imagine for a moment the Mussolini of a month ago admitting that Fascismo had been shaken ! Now he is asserting, almost desperately, that it has " only been shaken "—not broken. However, we cannot think that the friends of Italy will hope for the immediate fall of Fascismo. It is almost certain that anarchy would result. We must hope for a purged and reconstituted Government, resting on the support of the Conservatives and the moderate Liberals. There have already been Faseisti disturbances in the north, and the most unsatis- factory part of Signor Mussolini's speech was his defence of them. The test of Fascismo is : Will it or will it not administer justice equitably between its own followers and the rest of the nation ? By this must it stand or fall.
* *
Previous page
