St. Loe Strachey
By Amy Strachey
This is the third and final extract which the SPECTATOR is publishing from the memoirs of St. Loe Strachey by Mrs. Strachey. St. Loe Strachey's editorship of the SPECTATOR and his personal qualities and position brought him into contact with the most important people of his time. The book from which these extracts are taken is shortly to be published by Messrs. Victor GoIlancx, Ltd., and is an indispensable part of the history of this period, and of special interest to all readers of the SPECTATOR.
MEMORANDUM OF A CONVERSATION WITH H.E. THE ITALIAN PRIME MINISTER.
"AS he sat behind his desk, making no attempt at a conventional welcome to a foreigner beyond a nod, I could not help noting that I had before me a very busy and very tired man—it was half-past four and he begins work at nine or earlier, I believe—who had committed himself to an appointment which he now felt he had no time for. He was perfectly polite, but seemed embarrassed by circum- stance and not able or willing to pretend to being less busy than he was. Imagine Vulcan interrupted at his forge. But Mussolini is the Vulcan who is hammering out the new Italy on his anvil day by day, and all day. You can feel the heat of the furnace and the strain on his body, in the set of the muscles of his face, in his heavy shoulders, and in his regard.
Tantae _molls emt Romanam condere gentem.' (So vast a burden and so hard a pace Is his, who seeks to mould a Sovereign Race.)
This expression, his manner, his way of talking, his whole aspect is that of the man of action, though not by any means of the man without ideas or ideals. His aspirations, you feel, are vast, passionate, and difficult of communication to others except in simple outline. For himself, however, they are intense. Voltaire says in his play of Merope that the King man, the ruler, can have no allies,' no sharers, no co-operators. Ile must act alone. That truthful exaggeration seemed to me written all over Mussolini. You can far more easily imagine him giving an order than setting forth his object, or explaining why the order was given. I did not conceive him as irresponsible, or wilful, or as an egotistical man—I mean the man in whom self-approval swamps reason and who cannot believe it possible that Ise should ever be mistaken. I can imagine Mussolini in action anxious in a high degree as to his choice between the two roads—left or right. He is clearly a man irritated by opposition, stupidity and timidity, but also a man who can, when necessary, let reason enforce on him a patience which is not naturally his. And on the top of all this there is, I am sure, a mood of real shyness which, though it can be, and is, overcome, is always in the background. That is why he is so much less reticent, so much more easy to reach, so much more comprehensive and comprehending, as I found, at the end of an interview than at the beginning. He has also, I am. sure, that occasional angry 'hastiness' of the young man—Ise is only a very little over forty—which, though it is often necessary for achieve- ment, can also mislead severely. He had formed a view of what I was and what I wanted from him, and when he found his lightning diagnosis did not fit in with the actualities, he was momentarily and in a sense unconsciously annoyed and embarrassed. When, however, he had got me,' as an American would say, all was well. His way of talking was to me very attractive and very impressive. It was not Volcanic, or violent, or loud, or hortative, but what can best be expressed by 'smouldering.' His way of talking reminds one of a very strong fire that has been elaborately and deter- minedly damped down. It is ready to flame, but is not in flame. You feel that it would not need much use of the bellows either from without or within to get Mussolini white hot. Meantime he smoulders in a low, slow voice, with only an occasional sparkle if he approves, .or a darkening of the fuel in his brow and eyes if he is not in agreement." "Here he wanted to know whether I thought that the British people were willing to let Reparations and the Inter- Allied debt be treated together. Italy had accepted the Reports of the Experts just as we had. Italy had also always expressed her intention to pay her debts ; but would it not be rather strange if we were to let the Germans, our former enemies, off their Reparation debt to us while we exacted our debt from Italy ? I naturally was not in a position to discuss so technical a matter, but when Ise again returned to the subject as if he had a sense of grievance here, I told him that I had always advocated a Clearing House transaction under which all payments of all kinds due would be cleared against each other. I did not add, though I felt tempted to do so, that in my belief Reparations and similar payment such OS War Debts could only be paid by goods, and goods which would not, like goods sent in the ordinary way of trade, demand a quid pro quo in other goods. Reparations, and indeed all non-commercial payments or tributes, must relieve the people of the nation receiving them from the obligation of Labour. But that is the last thing wanted by a nation with a million unemployed. We do not want to learn by a practical trial what Bismarck discovered in 1872— namely, that the nation which suffers from the payment of Reparations is the receiver, not the payer. Such payments take work away from the workers. I felt, however, that this would be getting too far away from my object—the desire to suggest a closer unity of purpose with Italy. I left the subject feeling, however, that Mussolini does not himself feel that he has found bottom on the double problems of Reparations and Debts. Surely it is for us to give a lead here ? Our talk ended by my expressing what I admit is more in the nature of prophecy than practical politics, but which in my ease is none the less sincere and none the less a reality. I told Mussolini that I believed, as I was sure he did, that Italy is destined for the third time to be the leading State of Europe. She held that position in Roman Days. She held it again in the Middle Ages. She was now about to enter upon her third, and possibly her greatest period. In the course of the next fifty or a hundred years she might be the European Power of enlightenment in politics, in commerce, in the arts, and in literature. I shall not pretend that he was not touched by hearing what is well known to be his own belief expressed by an Englishman, though from an angle so different from his own. Mussolini in taking leave of me shook hands twice very warmly and I think with sincerity. There was, however, no pose, no attempt to act a part. He is in the widest sense of the word a great man and I can well believe with those who know him best and most intimately that he has intellect as well as character. Ills is the com- prehensive, the far-seeing, deep-seeing mind. He reminded me, though at first the analogy may seem far-fetched, of the late Duke of Devonshire in his slowness, reticence, and yet high intellectual vigour. To have seen the two men together would have been an extraordinary spectacle. That Mussolini has plenty of defects I have no doubt. He is inclined, I expect, to think that opposition to the carrying out of his aspirations is a crime and deserves to be punished as are other crimes. He is trying to make his country great, worthy, and happy, and those who try to prevent his doing so must expect rough treatment. They have no right to block his path. That is a dangerous view ? No doubt it is, and if he cannot learn a little of the Whig spirit it may turn his noble Chronicle Play into a tragedy. Well, whatever the event, I, who am not apt to feel personal fascinations, must confess to being not a little affected by the spell of Mussolini,
• He looked like a great man, and not like a bad man.' That I believe to be a true verdict. He is not a trickster, not a gambler, and not a man to whom the desire to serve his country means in fact the desire to be at the top of the tree and to enjoy the sweets of power and sovereignty!"
(Concluded.)
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