Il Piccolo
- In Roman Political Circles
- The Reform of Public Security
- The Treaty with Yemen
Il Piccolo's front page of 2 October 1926 viewed Italian diplomacy and domestic policy through the regime's lens. A Rome dispatch said the Mussolini–Chamberlain meeting at Livorno had ranged over the whole international scene. It presented Italy and Britain, as guarantors of Locarno, weighing the Franco-German talks at Thoiry and a possible monetization of the Dawes Plan, while Tangier, Abyssinia, the Near East and the Balkans received briefer mention. A cabinet report outlined a reform of the public-security law made under parliamentary delegation, the planned appointment of prefect Arturo Bocchini as chief of police, and colonial measures on oilseed duties and Cyrenaican elections. A third piece hailed the new treaty with Yemen as the fruit of Mussolini's personal prestige.
Translation
In Roman Political Circles
[?] ROME, 1 — In the political circles of the capital, the comments prompted by yesterday's Mussolini–Chamberlain meeting are running high. They confirm the importance of the event. The general impression is that the conversations embraced the whole international political situation, but that certain problems of the moment particularly drew the attention of the two statesmen. The latest developments in the Franco-German situation could not fail to be the object of special consideration. It would be wrong to set Livorno against Thoiry. It is natural, however, that Italy and England, as guarantors of the Treaty of Locarno, should have felt the need to see together how Thoiry fits into the Locarno framework. In connection with the Savoyard conversations, the German and French newspapers have dealt at length with the monetization of the Dawes Plan, which, it seems, is supposed to fall within the plan of the Franco-German agreements. Now, since the Dawes Plan is the result of an international act in which England and Italy took part, England and Italy thought it appropriate to consider the consequences that a monetization of the Dawes Plan might have for them, since they too are creditor powers. Tangier, on which the English point of view is so close to the Italian, cannot have taken up much of yesterday's time, and the same goes for the so-called Abyssinian question, on which Italy and England are proceeding in perfect agreement. The Near East will certainly have been examined. Italy has lately worked hard for peace in the Balkans, and this cannot fail to please England, which sees in Italy's policy a great moderating element precisely where the dangers to peace could be greater. [?]
The Reform of Public Security
[?] On the proposal of the Minister of the Interior, the Council of Ministers approved the new provisions drawn up for the reform of the Public Security law, in execution of the delegation conferred by Parliament on the Government by the law of 31 December 1925. The Minister of the Interior himself outlined the general lines of the new measures for the integration and development of the Public Security services. After ample discussion, these general lines were unanimously approved. Some amendments were also approved to the provisions of the law for the protection of maternity and infancy, concerning the composition of the representation of the various ministries and bodies. Finally, the Council of Ministers, on the proposal of the Minister of the Interior, resolved to submit for the sovereign's sanction a draft decree appointing Grand Officer Arturo Bocchini, prefect of the Kingdom, as head of the Police. On the proposal of the Minister of the Colonies, the Council of Ministers approved, among other things: 1) A draft measure admitting oilseeds from the Colonies free of the Kingdom's customs duty, without limit on quantity. 2) A draft measure extending the deadline for elections to the Cyrenaican Parliament. [?]
The Treaty with Yemen
[?] Finally, Hon. Mussolini received the Governor of Eritrea, Comm. Gasperini, who had arrived in Rome accompanied by the Minister of the Colonies, Hon. Di Scalea. Comm. Gasperini gave the Head of Government an oral account of the details of the agreement concluded in Italy's name with Yemen. Hon. Mussolini warmly praised the work of the Governor of Eritrea and declared that this Treaty will serve to strengthen ever further not only the good relations of friendship but also the economic exchanges between the two countries. In diplomatic circles the conclusion of the Treaty between Italy and Yemen is being commented on very favorably. It is noted in those quarters that the Treaty is the conclusion of three years of silent and difficult work by the organs of our colonial policy: work begun by Federzoni, continued by Di Scalea, with an ever-accelerating pace of events, and personally directed by Mussolini, who, in substance, in this new concrete affirmation of our Islamic and Eastern policy too, is the author, the protagonist, the directing mind, just as he is the protagonist of every phase of the country's growth. For three years he has given the utmost attention to the problems of the Red Sea and those of the Mediterranean, and he has drawn up a plan of relations between Italy and Islam. Today Mussolini has the satisfaction, which we know to be profound, of reaping the fruit of his tenacious work. The Italian prestige that he has multiplied is yielding its unfailing results: this Treaty is the most typical example of the policy of prestige, in that it brings a strong Arab and Muslim State into the orbit of Italian friendship without it having been necessary to draw up a contract on the basis of "do ut des." Beyond the Red Sea, at Sana'a, our friendship was sought and obtained for what it is worth in potential, that is, for what is the specific weight of Italian power in the world. A policy of prestige, then, of the classic kind: the fruit of Italy's increased reality — a growth that is one with the exceptional Mussolinian personality, saturated with fatefulness, the dramatic fatefulness of our already visible destiny. [?]
Context
Why Italy and Britain spoke as Locarno guarantors
The Rome dispatch justified the Livorno talks by noting that Italy and Britain were guarantors of the Treaty of Locarno. The main Locarno treaty was a treaty of mutual guarantee under which Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Belgium and Italy guaranteed the inviolability of the Franco-German and Belgian-German borders fixed at Versailles. The settlement had produced its most visible result only weeks before this issue, when Germany was admitted to the League of Nations with a permanent seat on the Council on 10 September 1926. A direct Franco-German initiative such as Thoiry, which the dispatch treated as the latest development, therefore raised the question of where the other two guarantors stood, and the paper's insistence that Livorno was not set against Thoiry was its answer. The claim that the two governments specifically weighed a monetization of the Dawes Plan as creditor powers rests on the 'general impression' in Roman circles rather than on an official communiqué, and the dispatch's conjectural phrasing ('will certainly have been examined') shows how much of its account was inference.
Arturo Bocchini and the centralization of police power
The cabinet report placed Bocchini's appointment beside a reform of the public-security law, which the paper said was being carried out under powers delegated by the law of 31 December 1925. Bocchini, described in the communiqué as a prefect of the Kingdom, is recorded as holding the office of chief of police from September 1926. That is earlier than this 2 October report, which describes the cabinet as only now resolving to submit his appointment decree for the king's sanction. The difference suggests that the cabinet item formalized a choice already made, though the page itself does not explain the sequence. Bocchini's significance became clear over the following years. He stayed in office until his death in November 1940, headed both the regular police and the secret police, the OVRA, and reported only to Mussolini, operating without interference from the Fascist party or the prefects. The routine wording of this communiqué thus records the arrival of the man who would direct the regime's police apparatus for fourteen years.
What the Yemen treaty gave Imam Yahya, and what the paper claimed
The Yemen article portrayed the treaty as pure 'prestige', obtained without any 'do ut des' bargain. The treaty was brought to Rome by the governor of Eritrea, Italy's Red Sea colony, and the article credited Mussolini as its author. The Yemeni side of the story looks different. Imam Yahya had entered Sana'a and declared himself ruler of Yemen after the Ottoman decision to withdraw in 1918; he had since attacked British-held Aden, been repelled, and pushed toward the Emirate of Asir. With the 1926 treaty, Italy became the first country to recognize him as king of all Yemen, and his agreements with Italy and the Soviet Union increased his legitimacy. In other words, the Imam received a tangible diplomatic gain, which the paper's account of friendship won through Italian power left out. The treaty's later history also shows the tensions around it: in 1927 Yahya again attacked territory under British protection, without success, and on 15 October 1937 the Italo-Yemeni treaty was extended.
Original
Nei circoli politici romani
[?] ROMA, 1 Nei circoli politici della Capitale fervono i commenti suscitati dall'incontro Mussolini-Chamberlain di ieri. Essi confermano l'importanza dell'avvenimento. L'impressione generale è che le conversazioni hanno abbracciato tutta la situazione politica internazionale, ma che alcuni problemi del momento hanno particolarmente attratto l'attenzione dei due uomini di Stato. Gli ultimi sviluppi della situazione franco-tedesca non potevano non essere oggetto di speciali considerazioni. Sarebbe erroneo contrapporre Livorno a Thoiry. E ' naturale però che Italia e Inghilterra, garanti del Trattato di Locarno, abbiano sentito il bisogno di vedere insieme come Thoiry si inquadri nella cornice locarnista. In relazione alle conversazioni savoiarde, i giornali tedeschi e francesi si sono molto occupati della monetizzazione del piano Dawes, che, a quel che pare, dovrebbe stare dentro al piano degli accordi franco-tedeschi. Ora, siccome il piano Dawes è il risultato di un atto internazionale, al quale hanno partecipato Inghilterra e Italia, Inghilterra e Italia hanno creduto opportuno considerare le conseguenze che nei loro riguardi una monetizzazione del piano Dawes potrebbe avere, essendo anch'esse potenze creditrici. Tangeri, intorno a cui il punto di vista inglese è così vicino all'italiano, non può avere occupato molto tempo della giornata di ieri, e così pure la cosiddetta questione abissina, intorno alla quale Italia e Inghilterra procedono perfettamente d'accordo. Il vicino Oriente sarà stato esaminato certamente. L'Italia in questi ultimi tempi ha molto lavorato per la pace balcanica, e ciò non può non far piacere all'Inghilterra, la quale vede nella politica dell'Italia un grande elemento moderatore, laddove i pericoli per la pace potrebbero essere maggiori. [?]
La riforma della pubblica sicurezza
[?] Su proposta del ministro dell'Interno, il Consiglio dei ministri ha approvato le nuove disposizioni concretate per la riforma della legge di P. S., in esecuzione della delega conferita dal Parlamento al Governo con la legge 31 dicembre 1925. Lo stesso ministro dell'Interno ha illustrato le linee generali dei nuovi provvedimenti per la integrazione e lo sviluppo dei servizi di P. S. Dopo ampia discussione, tali linee generali sono state unanimemente approvate. Sono state pure approvate alcune modificazioni alle disposizioni della legge per la protezione della maternità e dell'infanzia, relative alla composizione delle rappresentanze dei vari dicasteri ed enti. Infine il Consiglio dei ministri, su proposta del ministro dell'Interno, ha deliberato di sottoporre alla sanzione sovrana uno schema di decreto per la nomina del gr. uff. Arturo Bocchini, prefetto del Regno, a capo della Polizia. Su proposta del ministro delle Colonie, il Consiglio dei ministri ha, tra l'altro, approvato: 1) Schema di provvedimento che ammette in esenzione dal dazio doganale del Regno i semi oleosi provenienti dalle Colonie senza limiti nel quantitativo. 2) Schema di provvedimento che proroga il termine per le elezioni al Parlamento cirenaico. [?]
Il trattato con il Jemen
[?] L'on. Mussolini ha infine ricevuto il Governatore dell'Eritrea, comm. Gasperini, giunto a Roma accompagnato dal ministro delle Colonie on. Di Scalea. Il comm. Gasperini ha esposto a viva voce al Capo del Governo i particolari dell'accordo stipulato in nome dell'Italia con il Jemen. L'on. Mussolini ha molto elogiato l'azione del Governatore dell'Eritrea e ha dichiarato che tale Trattato servirà a rinsaldare sempre più, non solo i buoni rapporti di amicizia, ma anche gli scambi economici tra i due paesi. Negli ambienti diplomatici viene commentata assai favorevolmente la conclusione del Trattato tra l'Italia e il Jemen. Si rileva nelle predette sfere che il Trattato è la conclusione di tre anni di lavoro silenzioso e difficile degli organi della nostra politica coloniale: lavoro iniziato da Federzoni, continuato da Di Scalea, con moto sempre più accelerato degli avvenimenti, e personalmente diretto da Mussolini, il quale, in sostanza, anche in questa nuova concreta affermazione della nostra politica islamica e orientale, è l'autore, il protagonista, la mente direttiva, come il protagonista di ogni fase dell'accrescimento del Paese. Durante tre anni egli ha dato l'attenzione massima ai problemi del Mar Rosso e a quelli del Mediterraneo, e ha disegnato un piano di relazioni tra l'Italia e l'Islam. Oggi Mussolini ha la soddisfazione, che noi sappiamo profonda, di raccogliere il frutto del suo tenace lavoro. Il prestigio italiano ch'egli ha moltiplicato, dà i risultati immancabili: questo Trattato è il più tipico esempio della politica di prestigio, in quanto conduce nell'orbita dell'amicizia italiana un forte Stato arabo e musulmano, senza che sia stato necessario stipulare un contratto sulla base del «do ut des». Al di là del Mar Rosso, a Sana, la nostra amicizia è stata chiesta e ottenuta per quello che essa vale in potenza, per quello, cioè, che è il peso specifico della potenza italiana nel mondo. Politica di prestigio, dunque, classica: frutto della cresciuta realtà dell'Italia: accrescimento che si immedesima con la eccezionale personalità mussoliniana, satura di fatalità, la drammatica fatalità del nostro già visibile destino. [?]
Source: Source: Internet Archive