Sept. 6. "Tne Prime Minister of Italy has won admiration at home and abroad for his independence of thought and resolute action. And he has deserved well of his country in saving her from the slippery edge of the pit of Bolshevism. But it is impossible to think that now he is acting worthily either of himself or of the national prestige in the ferocity of his conduct towards Greece and in refusing to allow the League of Nations to arbitrate. And instead of being ''profoundly surprised and grieved'? at the attitude of the British press, Signor Mussolini might pause to consider the great significance of its differing from him. It is no pleasure to any Englishman to join issue with Italy. The warmest friendship has prevailed between the two nations for many years; Britain has watched the splendid risorgimento of her Southern friend and ally with equal admiration and pleasure; and the joy with which she learnt that Italy did not regard the Triple Alliance as compulsion on her to enter the war on Germany's side was a piece of pure sentiment, quite unaffected by the thought of the material advantage derived from Italy standing aloof. The fact that British onlookers reluctantly disapprove of Signor Mussolini's Greek policy is of great import.
That a horrid crime has been committed in the murdering of the Ttalian Mission in Albania and that reparation should be made for it, nobody disputes, certainly not Greece. What she does protest against, with every appearance of reason, being commanded to make amends in a form which would tacitly admit her guilt. As M. Gonatas, the Greek Premier, argues, there is absolutely no proof that the murder was committed by Greek bands, and the Greek Government is certainly innocent of complicity in it.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.