The New Nationalism

THE NEW NATIONALISM Foreign Affairs.—Soon after coming into power Mussolini attended the opening of the Lausanne conference on the peace with Turkey, and there he first came into contact with his British and French colleagues. On Aug. 27, 1923, the Italian Tellini, president of the inter-Allied commission for the delimita tion of the Graeco-Albanian frontier, and four of his staff were murdered by Epirote bands near Yannina on Greek territory, as a result of a violent campaign in the Greek press against Tellini, who was accused of unduly favouring the Albanian claims. On the 29th the Italian Government presented an ultimatum to Greece demanding immediate satisfaction and an indemnity of 50,000,000 lire. As the Greek Government rejected some of the conditions, and denied responsibility for the crime, an Italian fleet was sent to Corfu to occupy the island. The Greek com mander having refused to lower the flag a few shots were fired on the fort, one of which killed or wounded a number of refugees who, unknown to the Italian admiral, were lodged in it. The island was then occupied. On Sept. 1 Greece appealed to the League of Nations Council, but as the Conference of Ambassa dors had also been invested with the question, the Italian dele gate to the League Council, Salandra, maintained that the con ference alone was competent to deal with the matter, whereas the British delegate, Lord Robert (Viscount) Cecil, the Greek delegate, Politis, and the delegates of the small Powers insisted on the League's right to intervene. After arranging that an en quiry should be conducted by the four Great Powers, the Con ference of Ambassadors finally decided that Greece should give full satisfaction, and pay the indemnity demanded. On the 13th the conference announced Greece's acceptance of its decision and Italy evacuated Corfu by the 27th.

The next important action of the Fascist Government in the field of foreign affairs was the settlement with Yugoslavia. As Mussolini had long recognized the difficulty of fully carrying out the Rapallo and Santa Margherita agreements, he had sug gested, as early as Nov. 1922, to M. Ninchich, the advisability of a more complete agreement. The Santa Margherita convention was ratified on Feb. 21,1923, and Italy proceeded to evacuate the third Dalmatian zone; but the existence of the Fiume Free State was the chief obstacle to a real understanding. Negotiations with Yugoslavia were resumed, and on Jan. 27, 1924, the various agreements were signed in Rome. By the first of these the two Powers undertook to collaborate in maintaining the condi tions established by the peace treaties and to assist each other politically and diplomatically in case of a conflict. By a second

convention Italy recognized Yugoslavia's full sovereignty over Porto Baros and the Delta, while Yugoslavia recognized that of Italy over Fiume; a free customs zone was also established comprising Fiume and Castua (the latter ceded to Yugoslavia). Ratifications were exchanged on Feb. 22, and subsequently a se ries of commercial agreements was concluded at Nettuno.

Mussolini and Parliament.

In the summer of 1923 a bill was drafted dividing the country into 15 constituencies, each voter to vote for the party list which he preferred, the party securing relatively the largest number of votes to be entitled to two-thirds of the seats in the Chamber, while the remaining third was divided among the other parties on a proportional basis. The bill encountered much opposition among the Socialists and the Popolari, and also among some sections of the Liberals, but it was admittedly only a temporary and tentative measure, and it was voted by a large majority in the Chamber in July and by the Senate in Nov. 1923. At a cabinet Council on Dec. 31 the Gov ernment renounced the full powers granted to it by parliament a year previously, and on Jan. 25, 1924, parliament was dissolved. Mussolini stated that, while recognizing the value of the elective Chamber, it must not be accorded absolute predominance over the other organs of the State—the Crown, the Senate, the Ex ecutive—all of which have their allotted functions. He rejected the idea of electoral and political alliances with other parties, but decided to include in the Government electoral list men of all parties or no party who might be counted on to render services to the country. Salandra, Orlando, De Nicola and De Nava undertook to support the Government. The Duke of Cesar?), minister of Posts and Telegraphs, disapproving of certain influen tial Fascists, resigned and presented an opposition list.

The Government candidates comprised about two hundred ex-service men. The Opposition competed for the 179 seats reserved for the minorities. The elections were held on April 6. In all 7,628,859 votes were recorded; of these 4,693,690 were for the Government, i.e., 65.25% of the recorded votes, not in cluding those in favour of minority candidates who had declared themselves supporters of the Government ; the Government thus would have been entitled to over two-thirds of the seats independ ently of the new law. Ex-premier Facta did not stand but was raised to the Senate soon afterwards.