We have expressed elsewhere our deep regret at the reprisals
of the Italians on the Arab population of the oasis. Though admitting to the full the provocation offered to the Italians, and also the danger to which they would have been exposed if they had not cleared the oasis, we feel convinced that the Italian action was overdone, and that the soldiers were allowed to get out of hand. Even granted that the Italians had a. right to exercise vengeance upon a population which was in effect claiming first the rights of non-belligerents and then of combatants, it was bad policy as well as inhumane to demand their pound of flesh. Even if it is shown, as we believe it will be shown, that the slaughter of the Arabs has been much exaggerated, that slaughter will prove, we cannot doubt, a very great obstacle to what the Italians most desire—the pacification of Tripoli and the acquiescence of its inhabitants in Italian rule. But though we feel this we must deprecate very strongly the violent and offensive language that has been used to the Italians by certain sections of opinion in this country.
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