. Signor Giolitti, who has died at the. age of
eighty-five, has sometimes been called the " Grand Old Man" of Italian politics. He was 'Liberal by name, it is true, but it was often difficult for foreigners to identify his _super=skilful tactics and acCommodations with anything that could fairly be called Liberalism. He ..was an astonishingly clever winner of elections and was Prime Minister five times. He had almost as much-power when he was out of office as when he was in. Now that Fascisra is enthroned. it is .natural to look back with some regret to the gentleness and tolerance of Signor Giolitti,: but one cannot help feeling that if the Constitutional parties had had more energy and more sincerity they could have made a better fight against the despotism which they now deplore. Signor Giolitti made a bad mistake when 'he allowed the workers to seize the factories in 1919. But from the British point of view he made a worse one in 1915 when he opposed Italy's intervention in the War. He actually • won- over -a majority of the Chamber to neutrality, and Salandra, the Prime Minister of the day, resigned. Popular feeling, however, carried the day. Salandra was restored and war was declared.
Previous page
