ETHIOPIA AND THE ITALIAN COLONIES
SIR,—It is not surprising that Brigadier Kennedy Cooke found " little real anti-Italian feeling" in Eritrea at the time of which he is speaking. With Rommel in Egypt and the war far from won, our position in Eritrea must have appeared to the inhabitants as very precarious, and they were wisely circumspect in their protestations of loyalty to either side. The real question, however, is what is to be gained by re-introducing Italian authority in any form into Eritrea, or indeed into Africa? Italian colonial policy (which is older than Fascism and might well survive it) never held out any hope to the native peoples under its control—beyond a little material betterment, perhaps, at the discretion of their European masters, but no suggestion of eventual independence or even of administrative co-operation. Our own policy of trusteeship, whilst often rather far :n the background, is nevertheless a guarantee of our intentionse and it is accepted as such by our colonial peoples, who may sometimes express impatience but never despair. With the Italians, there was never even the pretence that the native peoples were considered as other than a market or a labour-force—or, of course, as an army.
Individual Italian interests in Africa are protected by the terms of the Atlantic Charter, which may be generously interpreted. but the difficult problems of Eritrea in relation to her neighbours would be uselessly, and perhaps fatally, complicated by the recall of an Italian administration to the scene of its disaster.—Yours faithfully,
PEREGRINE E. L. FELLOWES, (Formerly of Intelligence, Sudan and Eritrea). 2 Wetherby Place, London, S.W. 7.
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