SHOULD ROME BE BOMBED?
Sut,—Why should Rome be spared lest antiquities and art treasures might suffer? The destruction of such things is of no military value. But our airmen have shown themselves extremely skilful in hitting their objectives and could easily avoid the large open spaces of the Forum and Palatine. The Vatican City, of course, should be avoided.
But the destruction of the hideous Victor Emmanuel monument which disfigures the centre of the town, and which Mussolini often makes the scene of his bawlings, and a bomb on his stronghold, the Palazzo Venezia, might wake up Rome. The Palazzo, though old, is of no overwhelming architectural value. The railway station, the new government buildings, the port of Ostia are suitable objectives, and the people of Rome who acquiesced in the brutal bombardment of the Abyssinians would learn a lesson. Buckingham Palace has
not been spared. Why should the Quirinal be immune? Avoid the poorer districts by all means, but do not make Rome a safe retreat for the tyrant and his gang.—Yours, &c., M. E. DURHAM.
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