London, June 11.
"Mussolini has timed the blow with characteristic cowardice and treachery," declared Mr. Alfred Duff Cooper, Minister of Information, broadcasting to Canadian, American and home listeners last night.
"It will be remembered for generations as one of the vilest things in history. Mussolini had waited for more than nine months until France had fought desperately against great odds.
"At last, the opportunity to stab an old friend in the back in the hour of that friend's greatest peril had proved too strong a temptation for Mussolini to resist.
"It is also very tragic that there is so much we like and admire in Italy and the Italian people. Had they had a democratic system of government which allowed the will of the people to prevail, they would never have entered into this war on the side of their hereditary enemy against their hereditary friends. The foolish crowd of young Fascists who were cheering this afternoon in Rome little know the fearful fate that awaits them.
"Whatever temporary successes they may achieve in the earlier days of warfare, they will certainly be defeated in the end. Mussolini will bring misery and starvation upon his people. "He will leave nothing behind him but the curses of those he had betrayed, and he will increase the number of ruins for which Italy has se long been famous."
May Prove Liability Mr. Duff-Cooper said Italy had never won a war without assistance, except against the unfortunate Abyssinians who were armed with spears against tanks, and with bows and arrows against poison gas. In her struggle for independence in the last century, she was assisted at every turn both by Great Britain and France. It was French soldiers, and not Italians, who drove the Austrians out of Italy. Germany was no more likely to win the war with the assistance of Italy than without her.
On the contrary, it is more than likely that Italy will prove a liability rather than an asset, as indeed she proved to her allies in the last war.
"I believe the news that Italy has joined in the war, is well timed to strengthen the endurance and encourage the hearts of the British and French people because we know the Italians of old, and we know that whatever other qualities they may possess, we can never fail to beat them on the field of battle."—Reuter.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.