PULLING THE LION'S TAIL

The other day, Ellenboger, a member of the Austrian Chamber of Deputies, in the course of a speech on the League, inserted a few uncomplimentary remarks upon the Italian government and its head. Shocked by this rude breach of international etiquette, the President of the Chamber reprimanded the speaker, and the Foreign Minister dispatched his secretary post-haste to the Italian legation to mollify the indignant ambassador from Rome.

Despite this overture, Mussolini still remained deeply hurt that anyone should criticize his enlightened reign, for an official communique states that, "the Italian government has declared itself unsatisfied, so the incident may have further consequences." This naive prophecy has been interpreted in diplomatic circles as meaning that Vienna may be asked to deliver the impertinent deputy to the offended nation for trial.

Such action would be only another instance of the already well demonstrated arrogance of the Fascist regime, but the fact that this step is actually being contemplated shows how curiously the roles of the two nations have been reversed in the past 10 years.

In the nineteenth century, the Hapsburgs, in burgs, in procession of northern Italy, were engaged in putting down the political aspirations of the rest of the peninsula. In 1903 Francis Joseph vetoed a papal election, exercising the prerogative which his predecessors, the Holy-Roman emperors had claimed a thousand years before.

The end of the war meant the passing of the imperial dynasty, and now it is Italy under the lead of an adventurer who rests her foot upon the neck of her old master.