ITALY AND ABYSSINIA
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Since your last issue. in which Signor Villari wrote to represent the Italian measures of reinforcement in Abyssinia as purely defensive, an article has appeared in the Daily Mail (Tuesday, April 30th) from its correspondent at Massowah in which the following passage occurs : " One hears on all sides that hostilities will definitely begin in September or October after the rainy season. By that time Italy will be well prepared. . . . If necessary Mussolini will send 1,000
aeroplanes to Eritrea and Somaliland. The full strength of Italy's army today is 600,000. How many of these will be required for the Abyssinian campaign it is difficult to say, but 100,000 would probably be a liberal estimate. Such an army would be equipped with tanks and heavy artillery and every modern device of warfare. . . . The preparations that I have seen are on far too vast a scale to be termed precautionary measures.' " There is much more to the same effect and the situation is summed_ up in the words " The League of Nations is ob- viously powerless. Weighing up the odds it appears that Mussolini holds the trump-cards."
I do not regard the Daily Mail as the most accurate of all newspapers, but it has certainly in the past been very friendly to Mussolini's Italy. It would be interesting to have Signor Villari's comment on an article which bears out your original note.—I am, Sir, yours faithfully.
Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge.
JAMES PASSANT.
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