The Italian Colonies

...In the matter of colonies, one essential point must be stated: there is no room, even in present conditions, for s policy of "renouncement" on the part of Italy...

...Of court*, what Italy mull not and cannot do is to make it* colonic* into in»trum*nt* of war and imperialism, raw-tag tutpieion among th* power* inUretied in territories and urn lane* adjacent to our fjfottettiont...

...A year ago Churchill roughly declared ti*t Italy had irretrievably lost its "empire...

...Don Laigi Sturzo waa a founder of a pre-Faaciat liberal party of Catholic democrats, which has been reorganized and is now part ef the Italian government . to be entrusted to the British since they might soon be obliged to leave Egypt oven if they should succeed in retaining the naval base at Alexandria...

...England asked for Italy's cooperation in "potting Egypt in its place," but Eng-'*nd alone brought to boar the force of arms, Italy bring refused to do so...

...Is that the Charter, will not spply to enemy countries...

...Lybia, Britree and Somaliland would have the same status as Tunisia, the Congo, Cameroon and other African colonies...

...It was the agreed opinion of all the European powers England first among them—that Italy should toko over Lybia ss Its portion in the legacy of the bankrupt °Uoman Empire...

...Italy had only to proceed with its requisition by means of the diplomatic and military •"•thoda than adopted by all civilised nations...

...He added, quite rightly, that it will not do constantly to remind a nation, which has for a year been fighting alongside the Allies and is in the process of restoring all the spiritual and political values of democracy, that it has been conquered and must expect to be treated accordingly...

...We shall discuss among ourselves aa Italians (and not with the citizens of other nationa, even though born in Italy), tha question of whether Eritrea, Somaliland and Lybia can bo made into assets rather than liabilities and furnish outlets for our emigration (which will remain a thorny problem after the war) and the question of whether they can develop progressively along the lines of Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco, until they can one day become their own masters...

...Even the "steel pact...

...this question is one of the postwar secrets...

...It is clear, however, that in British opinion all of Lybia must change hands snd cease to be an Italian colony or territory...

...But Count Sforaa know* perfectly well that (his Maa, like proposal* voiced ia the United States to th* effect that the European nations should relinquish all their Atlantic, Pacific and Mediterranean colonies, are either mere academic exercises or pieces of sensational journaliam...

...Eden's purpose at this thus waa to eliminate obstacles in the Way Of a COSsiOU of East Prussia ts Poland in compensation for the loss of territory east of the Carson line...

...I say "opinion," but Biddle uaed the word "determination" in his Columbus Day message...

...Can it be thst this shadow of the old Italy inspires the Admiralty with fear...

...In the most recent crisis it waa saved only by the support ef the Communists...

...The British, as well M Bjtuy Americans, include in this term Cyreaaka and Tripoli tan ia, which, according to Fascist usage, were integral parts of Italy itself...

...Another rumor hinted that Tripolitania was to become sn independent Jewish nucleus (in this wsy guaranteeing to France ths Tunisian boundaries of the East), and that Cyrenaica was Premier Bonoani's government haa been tottering ever since it was organised...

...Tho problem today is this: should wo resist the attempt being made by Allies, In the name of tho right of conquest, to deprive us of the colonies acquired by Italy before Fascism ? Ws answer: yes, even if those colonies are worthless, even If they srs s national liability, even if they do not provide an outlet for future emigration, even if they compel us to maintain, at our cost, a colonial army and a navy to service it Wa shall settle things for ourselves when we are in a position to do with our colonies whst we will, to better conditions among colonists and natives alike, to come to a free wtdorstandlng with France or Egypt, with England or the Nogus of Abyssinis or whatever neighbors we may have-even with America, for Eritrea, if necessary...

...There are those who ssy thst tho colonies possessed by Italy before Fascism were acquired under Impulse of a policy of expansion unsuitod to her economic power, snd that they did not provide an outlet for the emigration of her surplus population...

...But this concern was mingled with a feeling of superiority, because the British never thought the Italians would make war against them...

...The Mediterranean was always England's main preoccupation...

...Today the situation is reversed...

...No statement has been made about the applicability of too Charter to Italy, sines Italy is still, ba it for better or for worse, at one and the same time a former enemy (as witnessed by the treatment of the prisoners-of-war held by the Allies) and a co-belligerent (as wit -nissed by the military aid rendered to tho Allies by the Italian army, navy, airforce and Partisan units) and a friendly, sovereign Scats (as witnessed by the fact that there is already an Italian Ambassador in Moscow and thst ambassadors will soon arrive in London and Washington...

...The country has undergone and is still undergoing a war of such destructiveness that it will require twenty, thirty or perhaps even fifty years to recover...

...We have every right to oppose such a reward and to refuse to be subjected to such a humiliation...

...As other more powerful interests ore brought into plsy, however, Abyssinis may be satisfied with Italian Sotnaliland...

...It is plain that the Admiralty, having burned its fingers in hot water, ia afraid of cold water...

...such a policy would be met neither with respect nor with good grace...

...It has not been stated whether or not Eritrea enters into this plan...

...At last, Italy gained Lyfeia...

...By Luigi Sturzo THE answer given by British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden in the House of Commons eon-eemmg the fate of the Italian "empire" reveals Mthing new...

...A year ago a French-Canadian paper published an item of' news from Algiers concerning the possibility of offering Cyrenaica or even Tripolitania to Turkey as an inducement for entering the wsr...

...it never suspected Mussolini of being so msd as to embark on an adventure involving wsr with England...

...In spite of the sybilline reply made to Bonomi by Sir Noel Charles, to the effect that Eden's words has been "misrepresented by the press," there is no substantial change in London's atti-ture...

...The Americans have made Eritrea into a supply base for the present war...

...This notion seems so unreasonable, even so absurd, that I ahould be inclined to deny the existence of any such plan drawn up by the British Admiralty, were it not that I have been informed of the existence of such s plsn and its spprovsl by Churchill...

...I hope Biddle is not mistaken...

...As we look back wo sea that British political leaders not only favored Italy's involvement in African colonisation but actively forwarded it This waa the case for both Assab and Eritrea...

...The tripartite accord among England, Franco and Italy concerning Abyssinia, prepared, in 1925, by Sir Austen Chamberlain, marked the beginning of a favorable policy toward Fascist Italy which lasted, in spite of the little rift caused by the "sanctions," until the "gentlemen's agree-meat" with regard to the Mediterranean, signed in April, 1933, by the other Chamberlain, then Prime Minister...

...In accord with this policy, England was inclined to favor Mussolini in his experiment in dictstorship, in spite of an early resentment against him when, as a young adventurer, he occupied Corfu and backed Poin-tare's occupation of the Ruhr...

...Ifai's declaration of war en Juno, 1946, struck London like a thunderbolt, putting an end to all fatuous hopes and attempt...

...From 1,11 to 1932 (the rami beginning of the Italian war Abyssinia and the Fascist policy of making the ¦oditerranean mare neetrum) the British Government ft*4 no fear of Italy as a potential enemy liable to *™-tnger its interests in the Mediterranean...

...Today, under tho pretext of "unconditional surrender" imposed upon us after ths Italian people had already clamored for peace, there srs tboss who wish to take our colonies from us ss ths spoils of conquest, after we have fought alongside them for mora than a year...

...Amid powerful conflicting interette on all eidee, Italy etandt alone, struggling to keep on itt feet...

...If the British persist in taking from us our colonies, their vision will fell short of even ten years...

...At the same time, ho gave an interview to tho representative of the New York Time* in which he expressed the Italian Government's resentmentot this treatment, more appropriate to a conquered country than to one which has been liberated...

...Naturally, Bonomi asserted Italy's right to keep its colonies, and he voiced the protest of Italian public opinion against the untimely, one-sided, and haughty declarations of the British Foreign Secretary...

...Ia such • case...

...We know that, although the United States is not fighting for territorial gains, it intends to increase the number of its naval bases in both ths Atlantic and the Pacific, and to acquire islands and other atrategic points necessary to its future policy of security, commercial expansion and naval superiority in the world...

...The word "empire" as sued by these members of the jritiih Cabinet has not the same meaning in terms of territory as was attributed to it by the Italian Fascists, who applied it to the region of East Africa comprising > Abyssinia, Eritrea and Sotnaliland...

...Soma spokesmen for Abyssinia have mentioned claims on Eritrea as an outlet to the sea for their country...

...Which of these three qualities will be taken into sccount when ths question of ths Italian colonies arises...

...Instead of making a gesture of generoaity which can strengthen it, consciously or unconsciously they will turn Italy (which they hsve staked out aa their own aphere of influence) Into a second restless and resentful India...

...The Italian Premier, Ivanoe Bonomi, upon receiving the report of Eden'a words, demanded an explanation from the British Ambassador, Sir Noel Charles...

...It was said in 1942 that the plan of the British Admiralty, accepted by Churchill himself, was never to allow any strong power to command the opposite shores ef the Mediterranean in such a way as to bo able to prevent the passage of British shipping...

...Tho mortgages held by tho popular will of a nation will not endure prescriptions of any kind...

...Let us reason it out...

...with Germany signed by the Fascist Government in Milan, in May 1939, appeared to the British, devoid of real moaning, especially since the Italian declaration of neutrality after the outbreak of hostilities in September of the asms year raiaed British hopes (or, more correctly, lessened British doubts...

...Count Sfarsa has, at various limes, brought up th* idea of a joint international management of the African eolont**, under the direction of the Leagne of Nationa...

...And whst if this plan were the pretext for atill another plan which, for diplomatic reasons, it is unwise to revesl or to discuss...

...The Admiralty, of course, thinks in technical rather than in political terms, but when these terms are translated into their political equivalents they go beyond technicsl matters snd embrace much larger problems and grave respon-•ibilties...

...As a mat-tar of fact, it is stated in its first article thst the contracting powers "do not seek territorial or ether aggrandisements.'' Unfortunately, the Atlantic Charter has aisdorgonc vsrying interprets* ties*, Jast as wss the case with British reservs-tlena to the BrUaeVKellogg pact One of the most saris ace, as aamoanced by Eden to the House of Commons...

...Wo may or may not agree with this opinion, but arguments for or against it are now merely historical and academic...

...These are all mortgages on a hypothetical future...

...Since it is in the general tradition of the British Government to act not on a basis of revenge but rather on s basis of cold calculation snd self-interest, we must leak for the motives of a policy which sppears to us IS questionable...

...hence the fortification of Pantelleria, the air fields in Sicily and Tripolitania and the increase of Italian naval power were sources of a certain amount ef concern...

...and, ss for itself, it would lower tho esteem of him who renounces, and provide justification for whoever takes advantage of it Without entering into over-refined diplomatic subtleties, it would seem wisest to leave things as they are in the hands of the Italian Government and ths future constituent assembly, which must certainly reexamine all that haa happened since the fall of Mussolini on July 25, 1943, in order not only to pass judgment on tho responsibilities of those who played a part in the events of these months, but also to ascertain and make known to the Allies the popular wilt of Italy, whether or not this popular will is agreeable to them and regardless of its power to shape tho immediate future...

...Msy we mot ask whether the Atlantic Charts* has no bearing on this case...

...For greater clarification let ua look at the period preceding Fascism...

...The fact remains that, iccerding to the British point of view, the old Italian colonies, having no connection with the Fascist "imperial" exploits, are, or should be, lost to Italy...

...There were rumors that propositions msde by the British to this end (exactly whst propositions were never specified) were unable to overcome Ankara's fear of Moscow, and so nothing came of them...

...Th* truth hi that no European nation will relinquish anything and it will be a miracle If there ia any attempt to adopt the plan proposed by Herbert Morrison to the House of Commons ia January, 1943, whereby native populations would be gradually educated and given eventual participation in self-government The realisation of this elementary fact will prevent us from making one-sided concessions or hasty sacrid** of our colonise, and will put us on tha right track (already followed by tha late Italian Colonial Minister Amendola and others before him) of giving the natives a fuller share of their own administration...

...In Its defest it may well be forbidden to create military bases or coastal snd island fortifications snd it may even bo obliged to cede (temporarily or not) naval bases to England...

...Instead of being able to count, on a friendship with Italy renewed by the present tragedy...

...Mueto...

...According to Roosevelt's opinion, aa expressed by Attorney General Biddle, the Atlantic Charter ahould apply to Italy...

...The future outlook remains dark, especially aa Italy is in the position of having to defend its own natural borders at the Brenner Pass and in the region of Venezis Giulis...

...We sse, then, that disposal ef the Italian coloniea IS nnder way, shrouded in silence as if it were s matter of concern to no one and that the details of the disposal are developing according to the circumstances of the war and dependent on what-evet advantagea may be obtained with the least iaecanr sale ace...

...For a long time England has maintained a cordial policy toward Italy, based on a traditional friendship and on the conviction that Italy might serve te counter-balance any over-independent or over-snterprising action in the Mediterranean on the part ef France...

...Bismarck, who knew what ha waa talking about, used to say that in the realm of politics it was difficult to look ahead for even ten years...

...Those who seek to remske the world on maps have scant notions of geography...

...at bargaining, and revealing that the Mediterranean waa no longer eafe or the British Mediterranean fleet secure...

...Italy, because of its natural weakness, was sot considered a potential danger in this area...

...There is coining into existence a democratic Italy which will probably be deprived of an army and perhaps of a navy...

...There has been talk, too, of giving to the Senussi tribes sovereignty over part of Cyrenaica under a sort of British protectorate...

...Laying aside the over-all accusations, front both American and Italian sources, against Britain policy in Italy, wa must try to understand the plan which Churchill and hi* Cabinet have been carrying eat in Italy for almost two years, since no statement or press declaration has enlightened us on the question...

...Nearly all Italian leaders object to Britain's stripping them of their colonies, unless there is a new "trusteeship" plan adopted by the world security organization which will apply to the colonies of all nations...

...Bat how can anyone believe that th* Italy ruined by thia unwanted war can have imperialittic aim* of the tort (ottered by Muoiolini* Fifty yeart may well pas* before Italy COW, be rtttor*d to th* plat* it held before th* unhappy March on Roma...