LA FOCE Sui,—In his recent article, Mr. R. S. Jenkinson
did excellent service in a worthy cause. Before and after the rise of Mussolini, I made frequent prolonged visits to Tuscany, staying on occasion at the home of a descendant of the famous Medici, and can attest to the sympathetic attitude towards -Britain of the culture of the province, notwithstanding the legacy of "Perfidious Albion," contracted through Lord Palmerston's arbitrary conduct. The truth is that the individual Briton gave, in general, a good impression. His Puritan narrowness, his quiet undemonstrative strength of character, his rugged individualism, his mastery of circumstance struck an answering chord in the Latin temperament. Moreover, there remained' memories of British help to the trinity of Mazzini, Cavour and Garibaldi.
The fault of the pre-war period was laid pn the shoulders of the amiable aged politicians then in power, who refused to control the Syndicalisti at the moment arrogantly active; thus paving the way for the Fascisti. I was personally witness to a mild riot in Bologna in the late summer of '22. But all along the estate-owners, with their dignified gentleness and courteous patrician-like character, remained solidly pro- British ; yet in the rough-and-tumble of town strife what purpose could they achieve? It is easy to blame in the after-events not foreseen in the initial stages. The common notion of the Italian as demonstrative without reliability, loud-spoken without stability, could never be held of these upright Tuscan families. There are many untold tales of heroic anti-Fascists that will never be revealed. 0, that we may still boast of retaining those very qualities—a sturdy individualism with just that social sense of justice and charity to relieve our own people from an economic hardship whilst preserving the land from a soulless State
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