Premier Mussolini said that the Allied Powers could have avoided war with Italy if they had adopted conciliatory" policy toward Rome and Berlin.
The text of Premier Mussolini's speech was as follows: "Warriors—Fighters of the seas and the alr—[Blackshirts of the revolution and Legions—Moh and Women of Italy, the Empire and Albania—Listent "The hour of destiny is sounding. The hour of irrevocable decision has come! "A declaration of war has already been handed to the Ambassadors of Britain and France!
"We go to war against the plutocratic and reactionary democracies of the West which at all times have placed obstacles in the way of the marching Ilalian people and which have often plotted against our very existence, "Our conscience is absolutely clear. With you the entire world is witness that the Italy of the Fascio has done everything humanly possible to prevent the tempest which is sweeping. over Europe. But everything was useless. It would have been suflstreets leading into the square. tional hundreds of thousands of Ialy heard the call to arms over the radio.
"We are entering the battlefield against the plutocratic, reactionary Democracies of the West which at all times have opposed the march of events and often plotted against the very existence of the Ialian people." Premier Mussolini declared. elent to revise past conditions and adapt them to the changed living conditions of the nations instead of declaring them inviolable for eternity.
"It would have been sum cient 10 begin the policy of guarantees which proved deadly to all those who accepted them. It would have been sufficient not to reject the proposal made by the Fuehrer on October 6 ast, after the Polish campaign, "it we are today determined to accept the risks and sacrifices of war, then we are doing this because the honour, interests and obligations, for the future order us with an iron rule. A great nation is really great only when it considers its obligations as sacred and does not shrink from the highest test which determines the course of history.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.