The Italians, I am glad to reflect, are not addicted
to suicidal mania ; they possess, in fact, a highly developed instinct foi self-preservation. Signor Mussolini, moreover, is an ostentatious but realistic man. True it is that he has derived from NiccolO Machiavelli the idea that it is "better to be impetuous than cautious, since fortune is a woman and it is necessary to master her by force." True it is that he has derived from Arminius Goering the fantastic fiction that he can seize Gibraltar and acquire thereby the golden keys of East and West. True it is that, thus inspired, he has induced General Franco to postpone his victory parade from the dos de Mayo (not a very auspicious anniversary for any army of occupation) to the more sedative date of the feast of San Isidore on May i5th. True it is that he has unleashed the Italian Press against President Roosevelt and the Gospel of reason. Yet Signor Mussolini is not a stupid man ; he must know that if such a war came his Italy (which he loves and we love) will crumble in the Mediter- ranean as a rusk in a cup of tea. He may dream of Gibraltar, Malta, Suez, Aden, Cairo and Khartoum. Yet he must know that the balance is now tilted against him, and that it would be more convenient if his partner in the Axis, when addressing the Cinderella of Parliaments on April 28th, were not to slam the door.
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