The Times | 20 Dicembre 1935

Uneasiness In Rome FROMf OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT ROME, DEC. 19 Official Italian opinion affects to-night to see in the resignation of Sir Samuel Hoare nothing beyond a personal affair. Sir Samuel, one of the customary spokes- men suggests, resigned because he was made the target of sharp criticism, and perhaps because he wanted to faciJitate the work of his Government. Yet his recent statements on the Abyssinian problem are not regarded as cancelled. He was then speaking as a member of the British Cabinet, and as that Cabinet is still in power the Anglo-French proposals, according to the Italian view, must still hold good. The spokesman also declared that Signor iMlussoiini’s speech yesterday at Pontinia was not in any way to be interpreted as a reply to the Anglo-French proposals. Nothing indicating the decision of the Italian Government, he repeated two or three times, has as yet been declared. This, the spokesman added, ought not to cause surprise, because the proposals were extremely complicated, and it was even possible that the study of the proposals might not be exhausted at thle meeting of the Fascist Grand Council to-morrow night. An inquiry whether the Grand Council had adjourned last night to await developments in the House of Commons to-day was met by the reply that the Italian answer would not be influenced by London and Geneva. Thesc statements have becn hieard with some incredulity. Most diplomatic observers believe that the Grand Council adjourned mainly because of the news of Sir Samuel Hoare’s resignation and because of the desire to await the outcome of to-day’s debate in the Commons. A frank acknowledgment of such a stand- point would, in the circumstances, havc been intelligible. What has caused un- favourable comment is the failure to give any interim indication whether Italy is prepared to accept the Anglo-French pro- posals as a basis of negotiations. When the French Ambassador visited Signor Suvich yesterday evening, he is believed to have urged the advisability of some response. The general tone of Signor Mussolini’s speech yesterday and, in par- ticular, his qualification of the Anglo- French scheme as a “trick” have pro- voked criticism. The resignation of Sir Samuel Hoare has suddenly awakened here a livelier sense of his virtues and of his sentiments tewards Italy. and there is to-day anxiety lest he may be succeeded bv Mr. Eden or sonme other out-and-out sanctionist. The possibilitv that M. Laval will not long survive the British Cabinet crisis has added to the uneasiness, and the uncom- fortable feeling has been aroused that owing to the swift turn of events Signor Mussolini has been caught overcalling his hand.