Insulted by Britain

Many who read of Il Benito's demands for "satisfaction" from Austria (see above) sneeringly remarked that he had chosen to bully a weak nation, which could no more refuse him anything that he should ask than a mouse can refuse to "satisfy" a tomcat.

So, by a quirk of fate, Premier Baldwin was even then "giving offense" to Mussolini in the following words: "I have been told that this country wants a Mussolini. I have great respect for the chief minister of a great country like Italy, but I know the temperament of my own people. The English people will not tolerate a dictator." (See COMMONWEALTH.)

The sequel is almost incredible. The Italian Embassy at London was instructed to lodge a protest against this part of Premier Baldwin's speech with the British Foreign Office! Mussolini, it appears will brook no insult. Mr. Baldwin, easy going, though he is, found himself suddenly accused by the English Press of having floundered into a "blazing indiscretion."