Crítica
- EXPULSION OF RICCIOTTI GARIBALDI NOT YET ORDERED
- FASCISTS CONTINUE TO CAUSE ALARM ON THE FRENCH FRONTIER
- A son of the ex-Kaiser will have to give up a dignity
Crítica's cable page of 12 November 1926 followed two linked crises: the aftermath of the failed Catalan invasion plot and the tension on the Franco-Italian frontier. From Paris, Interior Minister Sarraut said after a cabinet meeting that the files on the Garibaldi and Macià affairs would go to the Minister of Justice, and he denied that Ricciotti Garibaldi had been ordered out of France. A second cable described Fascist agitation along the Riviera after attacks on French consulates that followed the attempt on Mussolini's life. It reported the precautions police took when the man who broke into the Ventimiglia consulate was arrested, a protest meeting that broke up only on its Fascist leader's order, and Italian reinforcements meant to keep the Fascist bands in check. From Berlin came word that the ex-Kaiser's son Prince Eitel Friedrich would be asked to give up the grand mastership of the Order of St John after being found at fault in his divorce.
Translation
EXPULSION OF RICCIOTTI GARIBALDI NOT YET ORDERED
…Minister of the Interior, M. Sarraut, after a cabinet meeting, reported that the documents concerning the Garibaldi and Maciá affairs will be handed over to the Minister of Justice. M. Sarraut denied [?] that the expulsion of Ricciotti Garibaldi from French territory had been ordered.
FASCISTS CONTINUE TO CAUSE ALARM ON THE FRENCH FRONTIER
…carried out against other French consulates following the attempt on Mussolini's life, there is no doubt that there is a certain activity among the Fascists of the frontier, which still causes alarm on the Riviera. The police were obliged to take every kind of precaution to prevent [?] new disorders from breaking out when the man who had violated the Ventimiglia consulate was arrested. The protest meeting that had been organized was dispersed only when the Fascist chief who led it gave the order. The many rumors circulating are increasing the unease that reigns on this side of the frontier. The Italians have reinforced their regular troops on the frontier in order to keep control over the Fascist bands.
A son of the ex-Kaiser will have to give up a dignity
BERLIN, 12. — It is announced that Prince Eitel Friedrich will be asked for his [?] from his functions as grand master of the most aristocratic order, that of St. John, in view of his having been found guilty in the divorce suit that his wife brought against him. One of the duties of the grand master is to bestow the accolade, and according to the [?] of the order, this may only be done by a person whom no one can reproach for any act of his life.
Context
How Garibaldi's double game came to light
The Paris cable treats "the Garibaldi and Macià affairs" as linked files, and they were linked through the plot of Prats de Molló, the plan by Francesc Macià and Estat Català to invade Catalonia from France. The operation collapsed in early November 1926, and Macià himself was arrested on the 4th in the country house he was using as headquarters. Among the Italian exiles Macià recruited for their military experience was Ricciotti Garibaldi Jr, grandson of the hero of Italian unification, whom later historiography describes not as a genuine anti-fascist but as a double agent; the invasion failed because the French police had been warned, apparently through a leak from Garibaldi's group. In November 1926 the accusation still circulated mainly as press reporting. The London Spectator, writing a day after this page, said French newspapers alleged that Garibaldi, a professed anti-Fascist, was really an agent of the Italian police, and recounted that French police had found in the baggage of an Italian police official the passport of an anti-Fascist named Scivoli, which had shortly before been entrusted to Garibaldi. A French historical account describes Garibaldi as exposed in Nice on 4 November as a spy for the Mussolini regime. In the portion that can be read, Crítica's cable does not state the espionage charge and reports only how Sarraut was handling the documents.
What became of the conspirators after the arrests
Sarraut's statement that the files would go to the Minister of Justice, together with his denial that Garibaldi had been expelled, matches the course the affair then took. Within a few days most of those arrested were expelled from France, while about twenty, regarded as the masterminds of the operation, were transferred to Paris to stand trial. Garibaldi was among them: the eighteen defendants tried in Paris were sixteen Catalans and two Italians, Arturo Rizzoli and Ricciotti Garibaldi Jr. The trial opened on 21 January 1927, and Macià used it to read a long statement on behalf of all the accused. Garibaldi's case was therefore handled by the courts alongside the other leaders rather than settled by a quick administrative expulsion, and the headline's "not yet" reflects the moment before that course was fixed.
The attempt on Mussolini and the Ventimiglia incidents
The most recent attempt on Mussolini before this page was in Bologna on 31 October 1926, when a shot was fired at him as he rode in an open car and a 15-year-old boy was lynched; the attempt led to laws creating Mussolini's secret police. Two days later, on 2 November, trouble broke out around Ventimiglia station, an international station on Italian soil where French railwaymen lived. About fifteen railwaymen were searched and driven out with kicks and punches, and the same day a Fascist militant burst into the French consulate at Ventimiglia, shouting insults and threats. The Italian authorities and Mussolini in person offered official apologies. The Spectator likewise reported that in the border towns the French flag had been insulted and French officials assaulted, and explained that Italy felt France had harboured too many Italian refugees plotting against their country. Crítica's statement that Italy reinforced its regular frontier troops to control the Fascist bands is the paper's own report and is not confirmed by the sources used here.
Eitel Friedrich, his divorce and the Order of St John
Prince Eitel Friedrich was the second son of Emperor Wilhelm II by his first wife, and from 1907 to 1926 he served as Herrenmeister, Master of the Knights, of the Order of St John, the Johanniterorden. He and Duchess Sophia Charlotte of Oldenburg had no children and were divorced in October 1926, and the court's final judgement found Eitel to be the more guilty party. Crítica says the suit was brought by his wife, whereas his biography states that Eitel himself began divorce proceedings in March 1919, alleging infidelities before the war. Contemporary foreign coverage told the story as the paper did: the New York Times carried a Berlin report on 23 October 1926 headed "Prince Eitel Frederick Divorced By Wife". His tenure as Herrenmeister ended in 1926, the same year the Berlin cable predicted he would be asked to step down.
Original
NO FUE ORDENADA AUN LA EXPULSION DE RICCIOTTI GARIBALDI
ministro del Interior, M. Sarraut, después de un consejo de gabinete, informó que los documentos referentes a los asuntos de Garibaldi y Maciá, serán entregados al ministro de Justicia. M. Sarraut negó [?] se hubiese ordenado la expulsión del territorio francés de Ricciotti Garibaldi
LOS FASCISTAS CONTINUAN CAUSANDO ALARMA EN LA FRONTERA FRANCESA
efectuados contra otros consulados franceses, a raíz del atentado contra Musso lini, no hay duda de que existe cierta actividad entre los fascistas de la fron tera, que causa aún alarma en la Riviera. La ' policía se vió obligada a tomar toda clase de precauciones para impedir que [?] originaran nuevos desórdenes cuando se detuvo al hombre que había violado el consulado de Ventimiglia. El meeting de protesta que se había organizado, solamente fué disuelto cuando el jefe fascista que lo encabezaba lo ordenó. Los muchos rumores que circulan ha cen aumentar la intranquilidad que reina en este lado de la frontera. Los italianos han reforzado sus tropas regulares de la frontera, con el objeto de mantener la fiscalización sobre las bandas fascistas.
Un hijo del ex kaiser deberá renunciar a una dignidad
BERLIN. 12. - Se anuncia que se le pedirá la [?] al principe Eitel Federico de sus funciones de gran maestre de la orden más aristocrática, la de San Juan, en vista de que ha sido juzgado culpable en el proceso de divorcio, que entabló su esposa contra él. Uno de los deberes del gran maestre es dar el espaldazo, y según los [?] de la orden, sólo puede hacerlo una persona a quien nadie pueda reprocharle algún acto de su vida.
Source: Source: Internet Archive / Biblioteca Nacional de la República Argentina