CHAPTER XII: ROME, 1916
I had been for some time urging a visit to Italy from one of the members of the Coalition Government, and was much gratified when the Prime Minister decided to come himself. Salandra and Sonnino had only returned the previous day from the conference at Paris when Mr. Asquith arrived on the 31st of March, accompanied by O'Beirne, Colonel Hankey. and Bonham Carter. An immense crowd trooped to the Embassy to salute him on his arrival. At the banquet that evening at the Foreign Office the Prime Minister spoke in French, and acquitted himself extremely well.
I could not of course accompany him on the following day to
the Vatican. But I learned that Benedict XV showed some diplomatic
skill in introducing a subject which he was believed to have at
heart. "He thought of nothing," he said, "and prayed
for nothing but peace, which he felt the British could do more
than any other nation to restore. He sought it only for its own
sake, though it was commonly reported that his advocacy of peace
was in the first place due to a desire to assist at the peace
congress." If the subject was thus introduced in the hope
of eliciting some expression of opinion the manoeuvre was not
successful. To my surprise the Cardinal Secretary of State volunteered
to pay the return visit at the Embassy, which would have been
a new departure. A reception at the Capitol by the Syndic of Rome
was to take place at four, so six had been appointed for the visit.
As the Cardinal did not arrive at that hour, I telephoned to Sir
Henry Howard, our Minister to the Holy See, to ask whether there
had been any misunderstanding. The reply was that the Secretary
of State had already left his house. At seven, as he had not appeared,
I telephoned again, and was then informed that he had left a card
at five. Evidently the intention to pay a personal visit at an
Embassy accredited to the Quirinal had been reconsidered.
A ceremony in the historic halls of the Capitol is always picturesque,
and its suggestive interest did not lose by the fact that the
chief magistrate, who looked the part of a Senator of Rome in
the fourteenth century, bore the name of Prospero Colonna. Here
the Prime Minister responded to the civic welcome in English,
but his speech, converted by Capel-Cure into Italian, was ready
for publication almost immediately after delivery. He was good
enough to adopt the main lines which I had suggested as opportune
for such an address, and an enthusiastic deputy observed to me
at its conclusion that it had revealed a remarkable appreciation
of the Latin spirit. In the evening there was a dinner-party at
the Embassy with a reception afterwards. On the next day, which
was a Sunday, Signor Salandra gave an official luncheon, to which
he invited the representatives of the Allies and a large number
of senators and deputies. In other respects the day was free,
and my wife took our guests to Tivoli. At 7.30 in the evening
we started for the Italian front. The drive to the station was
marked by one of the most enthusiastic demonstrations I have witnessed
in Rome. The Prime Minister in all his speeches had touched the
right note, and the response of the citizens was cordial and spontaneous.
Early next morning, while we were breakfasting in the train,
an Austrian aeroplane hovered unpleasantly near the line at the
station of Casarvo, some five and twenty miles west of our destination
at Udine. It was, however, driven off by the air batteries. On
our arrival, Mr. Asquith at once went to see the King at his modest
head-quarters, some ten miles or more away. We followed him a
little later. There everything revealed the austerity of camp-life.
The luncheon was served in great simplicity. The staff were all
old friends, whom it was pleasant to meet in these new surroundings.
After lunch we drove in cars to the foot-hills of the Carnic Alps,
where stores and dépôts were inspected. The method
and order in the Army Service administration impressed me favourably.
Then we proceeded to climb one of those long ascending valleys
thrust deep into the Alpine system, the Val Racolana, by a road
recently constructed where no road had ever penetrated before,
to carry guns to positions at the, extreme end of a gorge which
does not issue in a pass. This road, with its hair-pin turns scaling
slopes which from below looked almost unreachable, was one of
the many engineering feats carried out in an incredibly brief
time in regions hitherto inaccessible to traffic. We saw the aerial
transport at work, and were struck with the efficiency with which
the mountain campaign had been organized. The guns, which we eventually
reached, had to fire with a high trajectory over at least one
intervening ridge at objectives in enemy territory. The Italian
Army has its specially trained and recruited Alpine battalions,
which are justly regarded as a corps d'élite. But
in a war on such a vast scale many other troops had to be employed
in the high altitudes, and men from the south, who had never before
encountered ice or snow, were to be found there, cheerfully enduring
the rigours of winter in the Alps. It was a pleasure to see the
King among his troops, encouraging them with a genial word and
a friendly smile. One felt that when the war was over he would
have friends in every village. We returned from this expedition
just in time to dine at Cadorna's headquarters.
On the following morning the King called for us at 8 a.m. and
drove us to the Isonzo front. We passed through Cividale and Cormons,
which was bombarded a little later in the afternoon, and made
our way to the observation post of St. Quirin, situated on a height
whence a wonderful view over the eastern area of war was obtained.
This post had been shelled on the previous day, when five men
and a child were wounded. While we were studying the positions
an enemy aeroplane approached sufficiently near for the local
air guns to attack it, whereupon it sheered off again. Thence
we drove on through Medina to the head-quarters of the Third Army,
the Duke of Aosta's command, and so back to Udine, where the Prime
Minister took leave of the King. He left with his party for Paris.
I remained through the afternoon with my son, who took me to see
the British Ambulance station and Field Hospital at S. Giovanni
di Manzano. George Trevelyan was away with the cars, but I found
a number of old friends happy in their work. The spring weather
had been magnificent, and the Prime Minister's genial personality
had made his visit a popular success. In the sleeping-car I enjoyed
the unusual experience of eight hours in bed, and returned to
Rome much encouraged.
Nevertheless in the middle of May the enemy, who had accumulated
some 2,000 guns for what was described as a punitive expedition,
succeeded in inflicting a severe reverse on the Italian forces
in the Trentino, where a contemplated change in the command had
been too long delayed. In the centre the Austrian line was advanced
to a distance of only eighteen miles from Vicenza. But it was
firmly held on both wings. The loss of guns entailed was a heavy
blow. The fighting in the mountains had been very costly in human
life, and the moment was an anxious one. But the initial advantage
gained against the Italian centre was not pressed home. The punitive
attack in the Trentino indeed came near to being a disaster for
the Austrians, who had withdrawn a number of troops from their
Eastern front. It had been assumed that the Russians would be
unable to move until considerably later. But in response to Cadorna's
appeal for co-operation Brusiloff attacked on the 14th of June,
and won a big victory which was followed by the capture of Czernovitz.
Cadorna, who had plenty of first line and reserve troops, was
able to contain the advance, and to reconstitute his lines. Then
he rapidly transferred men and guns to the Isonzo, crossed the
river, and carried the important position of Gorizia.
Almost simultaneously there had been an increase of submarine
activity along the west coast of Italy, a matter for grave preoccupation
when the sinking of one or two colliers or grain ships might upset
the whole economic machinery. Elba was bombarded, though without
serious results. If this double pressure had been designed to
make the Italians more disposed to consider peace negotiations,
for which Germany, working through neutral countries, was now
endeavouring to create a favourable atmosphere, it entirely failed
in its object. The only result was to bring home to the authorities
the fact that the enemy was well supplied with information regarding
the internal situation, and that it was dangerous to allow so
many German subjects to remain at large.
In May Sir George Grahame, the present Ambassador in Brussels,
joined my staff as Counsellor, replacing Sir Herbert Dering, who
had been appointed Minister to Siam. To my great regret he only
remained less than a year, when he was transferred to Paris, where
his long former service and experience made him very valuable.
The 1st of June is a famous date in naval annals, of good omen
therefore for the British fleet to engage. But when on the 2nd
the first telegrams from German sources describing the battle
of Jutland were published in Italy, they made a grim impression.
We were without any information until late that night, nor was
the message then received very clear or comforting. Some days
passed before we knew the real facts. Meanwhile, we had to do
our best to reassure the hesitating in a spirit of confidence.
All we could say was that our battle-cruisers had engaged the
whole German high-seas fleet in an endeavour to hold it until
the battle fleet could arrive on the scene. When the big ships
approached the German Fleet had declined battle and withdrawn.
A day or two later a telegram announced the tragedy of the
Hampshire, and the passing of Kitchener on a wild night
of storm west of the Orkneys. With him were lost O'Beirne, one
of the ablest of our younger diplomatists, Fitzgerald, Kitchener's
devoted military secretary, and hundreds of officers and seamen
who could ill be spared. It was an evil chance of war which thus
closed the career of a remarkable man, as he was setting out on
what would probably have proved a fruitless errand.
The day the news was received a number of visitors came to
condole. Some of them seemed to regard his elimination as an almost
irretrievable calamity. I told them that Kitchener had been indispensable
at a given moment, that his prevision of the length of the struggle
and his summons to the Flag had been of inestimable service to
his country. But his work as an organizer of war had been done.
We mourned him personally, but as a war minister he was by no
means irreplaceable. So much I could say with perfect honesty.
He had great qualities, vision, perseverance and driving power,
though some essential elements seemed to be lacking in his reserved
and rather intractable character, so that he only touched greatness
at points. But my heart was heavy for the old friend, who was
never to enjoy respite from uncongenial work, who had missed much
of the human side of life, and to whom I fear the end came at
a moment of discouragement and disillusion.
In the middle of this depressing month the attitude of the
Chamber, which had for some time preoccupied the Government, assumed
a critical phase. Salandra, who had been a severe critic of the
military hierarchy, had committed a tactical error in not making
certain additions to the ministry when a warning note was sounded
earlier in the spring. He now demanded a vote of confidence, and,
failing to obtain it, resigned. The situation presented a paradox
in that the minister who had brought Italy into the war was really
defeated by a section of the war party. They believed that there
was danger that the Giolittian combination would succeed in upsetting
the Government. To prevent it from claiming victory they asserted
the necessity of creating a national Government and voted with
the opposition. Giolitti himself, on the other hand, was reported
to have advised his adherents not to oppose Salandra. If he did
so there was evidently some lack of co-ordination, as some of
them voted one way and some the other. The orthodox Socialists
of course refused the vote of confidence. But it was the interventionists
who really placed the Government in a minority.
It seemed doubtful whether Sonnino would consent to remain
in office. A certain number of the younger politicians would willingly
have seen him replaced by their nominee. His presence in the Cabinet
was a stumbling-block to the office-seeker. The Left who had demanded
a Committee of Parliamentary control, to which he would under
no circumstances agree, were most anxious to get rid of him. The
Chamber seemed to be divided into two fairly equal groups---those
who desired a Sonnino Ministry, and those who urged the nomination
of Orlando, a Sicilian of pronounced Liberal views, whose choice
would be less repugnant to the Left.
The King, who returned from the Front, found the right solution
for the time being and called upon the veteran patriot, Boselli,
who, in spite of his seventy-eight years, was full of fire and
energy, to form a Government. Boselli wisely did not take charge
of any administrative department, and the Interior, which is usually
the province of the President of the Council, was entrusted to
Orlando, who was eventually to be his successor. Sonnino decided
to remain at the Foreign Office because, as he told me, he thought
his departure would be dangerous to the cause. He admitted that
a number of politicians were doing their best to trip him up.
I asked him whether such individuals carried any weight in the
country. He said they did not greatly matter when there was a
sufficiently strong current of public opinion to disarm opposition.
But at the actual moment, though the spirit in the towns might
be sound, there was little or no enthusiasm left in the country
districts. Under the circumstances the men who watched for opportunities
in the game of politics could be a disturbing factor. He added
that he was making some progress towards the end which we had
both at heart. Recent action in Germany had given him his opportunity.
In July accordingly existing agreements with the enemy, and notably
the commercial treaty, were denounced.
It was not however until the end of August, after a series
of provocative measures had failed to make Germany take the initiative,
that Sonnino, who was now master of the situation, obtained a
formal declaration of war. The decision had, I gathered, been
taken some time earlier, but its execution was postponed so as
to synchronize with the declaration of war by Roumania.
The Coalition Cabinet formed by Boselli was far larger than
any of those which had preceded it. Bissolati became a Minister,
and the Left was further represented by Comandini and Bonomi who,
like Bissolati, had fought in the Alpine division. I greatly regretted
the retirement of my old friend Ferdinando Martini. He had, however,
an efficient successor at the Ministry of the Colonies in Signor
Colosimo, hitherto a consistent Giolittian, with whom negotiations
connected with the Senoussia problem now brought me into constant
relations. Signor Carcano, who had been invaluable at the Treasury,
and had established very cordial relations with our financial
authorities, consented at the request of the sovereign, in spite
of failing health, to remain at his post.
It was I think about this time that the word Fascio, which
has since become so familiar, first assumed prominence, being
used to designate a movement of a national character. A number
of patriotic deputies, realizing that the false Parliamentary
situation, which made it difficult for the Ministry to know at
a critical moment on whom they could count, constituted a permanent
danger, and might even compromise the issue of the war, instituted
the Parliamentary Fascio. They formed themselves into the
solid group which the name suggests, and pledged themselves, independently
of party sentiments or political loyalties, to hold together and,
postponing an other considerations, to support the Government
in the zealous prosecution of the war. The Fascio, embracing
many elements, mutually incompatible in peace time, soon became
a power, and insured the Ministry against further anxiety from
Neutralists and Pacifists. It is curious that the name first adopted
by an organization within the Chamber should later have been adopted
by a movement which was to some extent a revolt against the abuses
and insincerities of Parliamentary government.
The difficulty of finding freights with an increasing demand
and a constantly diminishing tonnage had become a nightmare, and
Italy, which produces hardly any of the raw material of industry,
was exposed to continual anxiety as to whether her indispensable
requirements in coal and grain could be satisfied before the narrow
margin of stock was exhausted. One particular Roman journal indulged
in almost passionate outbursts against the greed of commercial
Britain and her ship-owners in a series of articles which showed
that the writer did not understand the factors which governed
the question. Mr. Runciman, who dealt most ably with these issues,
had with infinite trouble and patience, after many conferences
with shippers, coal-owners and exporters, succeeded in establishing
certain schedules of maximum prices for coal exported from Great
Britain to France. It might be claimed with apparent reason that
it would be only equitable to do the same for Italy. But the situation
was governed by wholly different conditions. French ports were
near, relatively small vessels could be used, and some 75 per
cent of the tonnage carrying coal to France, whose Mediterranean
ports were deliberately excluded from the arrangement, was British
or French, and could therefore be controlled. On the other hand
75 per cent of the tonnage serving the Mediterranean was neutral.
Such tonnage was available only because rates were high. America
was a very keen competitor for neutral shipping, and any attempt
to establish a maximum freight would have had for its result the
desertion by these vessels of their actual ports of call for more
remunerative voyages. We had no further tonnage available with
which to replace them. Nor would any advantage be gained by limiting
rates for the small proportion of British tonnage carrying coal
to the Mediterranean, as prices would be regulated by the 75 per
cent majority engaged in the trade. The most that could be anticipated
was some limitation by negotiation of the price of coal f.o.b.
in England.
In August Mr. Runciman came to Italy for a conference on the
coal question. At Capel-Cure's suggestion Pallanza on the Lago
Maggiore was chosen as the meeting-place. There he not only placed
his own house at my disposal, but induced the Marchese di Casanova,
the brother of Donna Bettina, to offer hospitality in the beautiful
villa of S. Remigio to Mr. and Mrs. Runciman and the Italian delegates,
the Ministers Arlotta and di Nava. Casanova, a really remarkable
musician, a scholar and an artist in every fibre, with a critical
sense and tastes shared by the charming Irish cousin who became
the Marchesa, was probably for the first time in his life drawn
into the unfamiliar society of economists and politicians, with
whom I apprehended he would feel little at ease. Our debt to him
was all the greater for his splendid hospitality, which made a
sternly business conference one of the pleasantest episodes of
those grim years of war. The results were I think eminently satisfactory,
as much was explained which had hitherto not been understood,
and a basis was established for future supplies on the most favourable
conditions which circumstances permitted. Runciman was a master
of his subject, and his efforts to do justice to the other side
of the question facilitated negotiations. I now understood why
Kitchener, speaking of the political associations in which he
never felt at ease, had told me that he felt more drawn to Runciman
than to any other member of the Cabinet. We were fortunate in
having sympathetic collaborators in Arlotta and di Nava, assisted
by the irreplaceable Attolico who, with one foot in London and
one in Rome, did such valuable and difficult work in wrestling
with the problem of supplies. When the conference broke up we
paid a hasty visit to Milan, where we were most warmly received
by the Chamber of Commerce, and then went on to see the President
of the Council at Turin.
1 have occasionally been asked somewhat ingenuously whether
we had much to do at the Embassy in war-time. The question suggests
a certain lack of imagination. What might not be so obvious to
the uninitiated was the immense development of the commercial
section, which in charge of Capel-Cure rapidly outgrew its initial
phase. Further secretaries and typists had to be added, and the
welcome assistance was enlisted of Mr. J. H. Henderson, an old
Balliol man, whose family connection with business interests in
Italy made him invaluable. He has since succeeded to the direction
of the department which has become a permanent institution. The
Board of Trade in the autumn of 1916 put forward a scheme for
entrusting all commercial interests in foreign countries to special
Trade Commissioners, similar to those appointed to deal with the
interests of British commerce in the Dominions. It was proposed
that they should work quite independently of the Foreign Office,
and correspond directly with the Board of Trade. In view of the
strong objections not unnaturally raised by the former, certain
modifications were made in the proposal in the sense of requiring
consultation with that department regarding the selection of persons
appointed to such posts, and of making it obligatory for the latter
to keep heads of missions informed of their proceedings. Commercial
work had no doubt been very inadequately handled under the traditional
diplomatic and consular régime. Representatives abroad,
who were rather discouraged from undertaking responsibility by
intervention, were not to blame for conditions which many of them
were anxious to see modified. Obviously the old system had become
an anachronism unsuited to new developments in international relations.
While I agreed with Runciman, when he wrote to me that if we could
discuss the matter together we could adjust the inter-departmental
difficulties in a single day, there was a good deal in the Board
of Trade proposals which, judging them from experience of the
country in which I was posted, I was not prepared to endorse.
There is no real analogy between the conditions in British Dominions
and those prevailing in foreign countries and, while it was doubtful
whether any absolutely uniform system would meet the particular
exigencies of each and all, I felt sceptical as to the advantage
of creating a Trade Commissioner independent of the diplomatic
mission in those with which I was most familiar. It is no longer
possible to make a complete separation of political and commercial
considerations, and our rivals in the world's markets would certainly
not attempt to do so. In certain posts it is hardly conceivable
that official support would not prevail over independent action,
and where prestige plays an important part the knowledge that
an official in charge of commercial interests was also a member
of the Embassy or Legation would assure him an authority which
no unattached commissioner could enjoy. A large measure of independent
initiative should be allowed to the commercial branch, but in
the complicated adjustment of international relations to-day it
would not be possible to accept responsibility for the political
machine without control over the agents in charge of the commercial
machine. In London a diplomatic representative may not be regarded
as a possible factor in the commercial equation. But there are
countries where to dissociate commercial from political representation
would weaken the latter and place the former at a disadvantage.
The system eventually adopted was that which I had supported.
Special commercial sections were instituted at the Missions abroad,
subject to the direction of the head of the Mission, but able
to correspond directly with the Board of Trade. At home a new
Department, that of Overseas Trade, was created to act as a liaison
between the Board of Trade and the Foreign Office.
The Contraband Department at the Foreign Office exercised an
exemplary vigilance over all matters affecting the commercial
blockade, in the maintenance of which Great Britain acted as the
executive arm of the Allies. Problems were constantly propounded
to us for investigation, and considerable tact was necessary in
pressing for information with which to reply to questionnaires,
in order not to arouse susceptibilities. Many of our apparently
importunate applications had really no other object but to ensure
that the Allies should not compete against each other in the same
market, and they were therefore advanced in the general interest,
especially before Allied purchasing was largely co-ordinated in
London. I have always felt a particular debt of gratitude to the
admirable diplomatist who was in charge of commercial and contraband
issues at the Italian Foreign Office, my friend Count Manzoni,
whose patience, courtesy and goodwill were inexhaustible.
The following example may serve as well as any other to illustrate
the curious devices which were employed as the dearth of raw material
pressed more hardly on Germany. Italy is one of the world's principal
manufacturers of soft hats. It was ascertained by one of our zealous
agents that there was a very keen demand for roughly blocked hats
in Switzerland. These were re-exported to Germany, where they
were reduced back to the constituent wool, a commodity which had
become practically unobtainable there. The Italian Government
accordingly took steps to prohibit this trade.
The increasing shortage of shipping had compelled us to restrict
the importation of luxuries into the United Kingdom, and unfortunately
some of the most valuable products of normal Italian industry,
such as silk and marble, were included in that category. The economic
position of Italy, where industrial development had been very
rapid during the decade preceding the war, became very difficult
when most of her foreign markets were closed and the price of
coal advanced to some £8 a ton. The exigences of the blockade
now menaced her dwindling export trade in another vital point.
The fruit of the southern provinces, especially oranges and lemons,
had been absorbed by Central Europe, to which it was carried overland.
After the entry of Italy into the war her European market was
restricted to Switzerland. The restriction was, however, more
apparent than real as the Swiss buyers re-exported the fruit to
Germany and Austria. This indirect war trade was held at home
not to be consistent with the principles of the commercial blockade.
On the other hand the export of sulphur, the only other important
product of Sicily, had already been seriously reduced, and to
shut down the sale of fruit meant absolute ruin to the island.
I strongly urged that it would be a mistake to do so. Oranges
and lemons had no food value, and could not materially increase
the enemy's offensive or defensive power, while the trade through
Switzerland brought a great deal of gold and thus helped to supply
the sinews of war. If the exportation were definitely prohibited,
it would moreover be necessary for us to make ourselves responsible
for the disposal of the crop, which was a matter of life or death
to Sicily. The War Trade Department was inexorable, and so a reluctant
Treasury had to guarantee the value of the fruit. The final decision
was only taken towards the end of 1916, after the orange harvest,
which is spread over a period of five to six months, had actually
begun, and the first trains were already on their way to the north.
Contracts had to be cancelled, consignments stopped half-way,
and extremely difficult negotiations conducted against time for
the transfer of the whole of the crop to the British Government.
In carrying these out Capel-Cure once more did invaluable work.
The disposal of the fruit was entrusted to a special commission,
presided over by Mr. E. T. Dottridge, C.B.E., of the historic
firm of Joseph Travers & Sons, whose staff contributed not
a little to the success of the operations. He had to improvise
an organization which remained in activity till the end of the
war, and rendered important service in a field quite unknown to
the outside world. Alternative markets were not easy to find,
and a considerable proportion of the crop was ear-marked for our
own forces at the various fronts. There was also the almost insoluble
problem of finding shipping to carry this perishable commodity.
Fruit-trains dispatched before the prohibition of export remained
blocked on railway sidings. Cargoes loaded on deck for lack of
other space rapidly deteriorated, and the losses during the transition
period were considerable, so that the first balance sheet entailed
a heavy demand on the Treasury guarantee. On the other hand, the
season of 1917-18, when the organization was working smoothly,
thanks largely to a failure in the Spanish crop, showed a profit
which more than compensated for the losses of the previous year.
The arguments which I had advanced against the suspension of
the fruit trade to Switzerland, which I still believe to have
been sound, not only failed to convince the authorities at home,
but they were responsible for a message which seemed to be so
near to a reprimand for having questioned the expediency of the
instruction, that I felt bound to submit that my post must be
at the disposal of the Secretary of State if I was held to have
exceeded or fallen short of my duties. I immediately received
an entirely reassuring answer, followed by the most charming letter
from Sir Edward Grey which it has ever been my good fortune to
receive. The particular issue had of course not fallen under his
direct cognizance.
And here I would take the opportunity of recording how deeply
I, with the whole service, felt the misfortune which soon afterwards
deprived us of a chief who not only commanded all our esteem and
loyalty, but had established a sense of personal affection in
all who served under him. It is not only in the Navy that things
go well when men work as a "band of brothers," and I
doubt whether the prestige abroad of our Foreign Office ever stood
higher than during that period preceding the war, when the personal
touch of Grey had established that relation.
The final phase of a curious experiment in State trading, which
circumstances had forced us to undertake, was not without its
humorous side. Special contracts had to be drawn up for each fruit
season. During the summer and autumn of 1918 we once more drafted
an agreement with the department representing the interests of
the Sicilian growers and exporters, similar to those negotiated
in 1916 and 1917. Much labour had been expended on it. We had
to hold out for prices which would involve the least risk of loss
to the Treasury. The signature had been unexpectedly delayed owing
to difficulties in adjusting one or two quite subsidiary points
on which a compromise was eventually agreed to. Then at the eleventh
hour I was informed that as the war was evidently drawing to a
close the Treasury would not be prepared to continue the guarantee.
I represented that under the circumstances I would do my best,
but that the agreement, though not actually signed, was regarded
as definitely concluded, that it was now very late for the merchants
in Sicily to make other arrangements, and that in view of our
strong insistence the prohibition of unrestricted trade this change
of attitude would not be easy to defend. In reply I was recommended
to use the argument that oranges and lemons had no food value,
and that, if the fruit did find its way to enemy markets, the
better prices there obtainable would bring more gold into Italy
to provide the sinews of war---my own contention of two years
earlier which had been so badly received. It was little use pointing
out the irony of the situation to an official department, the
direction of which had changed since 1916, and departments, like
Popes, claim to be infallible and resent the suggestion of inconsistency.
Personally, however, I had the satisfaction of experiencing Time's
revenges.
Italian hemp is greatly superior to that grown in other countries.
The finest quality is produced in the neighbourhood of Ferrara,
and that of the Neapolitan province commands the next best price.
The Admiralty, having found our cooperation valuable in purchasing
hemp for naval use, eventually placed the whole business in the
hands of our commercial section, and gave us a large discretionary
latitude to buy at opportune moments. The organization which Capel-Cure
devised responded satisfactorily, and the Admiralty had no reason
to regret the confidence placed in the Embassy, a confidence somewhat
unusual in those days, when our silent service was the object
of much irresponsible criticism. The ample latitude thus accorded
enabled us on one occasion to save the country some ten thousand
pounds on a single purchase. Our expenditure in this important
and limited market ran into millions.
Not the least onerous of the many duties unexpectedly thrust
upon the Ambassador was that of deciding, after the introduction
of obligatory military service, how many of the British subjects
actually residing in Italy should receive exemption on the grounds
that they were performing indispensable work, directly or indirectly
of greater importance to ourselves or to our ally. Local Committees,
under the chairmanship of the consuls in the principal areas,
prepared lists and collected the necessary evidence, while an
army medical board examined and classified all who were of military
age. The records were forwarded to Rome, where I had an advisory
board to assist me. In many cases a decision could be taken without
much hesitation: in others the pleas urged by employers required
very careful consideration. The responsibility was too serious
to be delegated, and I had to give earnest attention to every
individual case which was open to doubt. It was gratifying to
find that the inspector of recruiting, when he visited Rome, confirmed
every one of our decisions.
Sooner or later almost all the protagonists in the great drama
passed through Rome or came there for some special purpose. To
some of these visits I have already referred, or shall refer,
in connection with the circumstances which occasioned them. General
Foch I had only the pleasure to meet there once. He had very definite
and lucidly expressed views as to how the enemy should be fought
on every front including the Far East, and was one of the few
who seemed to have formed a synthetic appreciation of the whole
situation. But he was a gracious listener as well as a brilliant
talker, and an hour's conversation with him left me in no doubt
that for once the right man had come to the top. Dr. Benes was
more frequently called to Italy, where a Czecho-Slovak division
was now being formed. The young university professor whom circumstances
had rapidly fashioned as a statesman, readily receptive of fresh
ideas and quick to adapt himself to new associations, was perhaps
not the less sympathetically welcomed in Rome because after his
escape from Prague his wife had been made a prisoner and menaced
with all the rigours of the old régime familiar in the
history of the Risorgimento. It was less easy to convince people
in the north of Italy, where the Austrian occupation was still
in living memory, that the Croats, who had passed into popular
legend as the ready instruments of the sinister Haynau, and who
fought with determination in the actual war, could readily be
converted into friends. There were still many living who could
have said like Clough
I see the Croat soldier stand
Upon the grass of your redoubts.
The traditions in which a young nation has grown to maturity
are slow to die. It was perhaps not sufficiently appreciated at
home how closely the Croat neighbour had been identified in Italy
with the two-headed eagle. That the relations with the new Southern
Slav state have, after an inevitable period of mutual hesitation,
been regularized on terms which promise to ensure good neighbourship
for the future, is to the credit of both parties. To accomplish
this happy result it was necessary that time should attenuate
the early impatient zeal of Chauvinism, and especially that those
most directly concerned should have found the solution for themselves
without the intervention of foreign partisanship and journalistic
advice.
While these issues were still in embryo the Dalmatian patriot,
Supilo, in whom my interest had first been aroused during the
notorious Friedjung trial, paid me more than one visit. He was
rough, in externals, but not lacking a natural peasant courtesy
in the frank expression of his views. I was impressed with the
indication which his conversation afforded of weak points in the
enemy armour, and these I did not fail to commend to my chiefs.
Trumbitch, the President of the Southern Slav Committee, I also
saw after the premature death of Supilo. Neither of them appeared
to be unreasonably intransigent, and both seemed convinced that
their national aspirations could only be realized by negotiation
and understanding with Italy. I had also several conversations
with the evergreen but rather dour Pasitch, who expressed himself
with considerable difficulty in French, which made it the less
easy to fathom the working of his mind. It was in Rome also that
I first made the acquaintance of Venizelos, benevolent, white-haired,
but as yet without lines on the smooth cheek, using with sure
effect the soft voice that never failed to convince you that his
words were meant to give clarity to and not to disguise his thought.
During my residence in Greece he had not yet emerged as the leader
and future emancipator of Crete and I have always found it difficult
to picture to myself the eminent statesman of later years at the
head of an armed opposition camped in the inaccessible mountains
of that beautiful island. The apparent moderation of Venizelos
impressed the Italian statesmen with whom he came into contact.
That she should be deprived of his exceptional capacity has been
a misfortune for Greece. Perhaps, as in the case of his distinguished
predecessor, my old friend, Charles Tricoupis, that stage was
too small for so great a personality.
Little by little Rome became almost as full of our own countrymen
as during a moderate tourist season. Not a few acquaintances and
friends engaged in various duties arising out of the war took
up their residence there. Mark Kerr, who, after the withdrawal
of the British Naval Mission to Greece, was placed in command
of the British vessels lent to the Italian Navy, came only rarely
from Taranto to the Capital. The Duke of Sutherland, who was entrusted
with a naval reserve command over a detachment of fast motor-launches
in the heel of Italy, spent some days with us on his way south,
as did the Duchess when she joined him later at the village of
Trecasi, near Otranto. "Tab" Brassey, who arrived early
in 1917 to organize the overland route to Taranto, was some time
with us, and as an unfortunate accident was soon to end the life
of one of the best of friends, it was a satisfaction to have seen
so much of him. Brassey's good record as a philanthropic mine-owner
in Sardinia had made him a persona grata, and it was a
welcome change to have a collaborator who knew the country and
spoke the language. Experience of emissaries who neither spoke
nor understood a word of any foreign language had not always been
encouraging. I remember my feelings when such an officer, at a
conference in the room of the Minister of Marine, who was of course
fairly familiar with English, surprised that any questions should
be raised in regard to a proposal to make use of Italian resources,
audibly enquired, "Look here, what are these damned Italians
making difficulties about?" Aubrey Herbert, who with his
genial disregard of risks and consequences seems to have been
a not unwelcome guest in the Turkish trenches at Gallipoli, turned
up again in Rome after the evacuation. The Red Cross Mission was
composed of old friends. Lord Monson, who was at the head of it
was supported by the late Hubert Beaumont and Leonard Shoobridge,
an inseparable of the old Balliol days in the seventies. Another
Balliol man, Mr. Godfrey Samuelson, worked there, and later as
a volunteer in the Commercial Department. After the entry of Italy
into the war a small office of Propaganda was organized in Rome
by Mr. Algar Thorold, and the Embassy was thus relieved of much
direct correspondence. Naval intelligence was in the hands of
Lieut. W. Haslam of the Naval Reserve, who maintained constant
contact with the Embassy. Later a Military Intelligence Office,
quite independent of the Intelligence section at the Italian Army
head-quarters, was established in Rome under Sir Samuel Hoare
on a scale which I could not help regarding with some envy when
I thought how grudgingly a couple of type-writers had been conceded
to our permanent staff. This office, which worked cordially with
the Embassy, took over the issue of passports and visas and the
control of the Black List, a duty of no little responsibility
in view of the number of enemy agents who were endeavouring to
obtain access to Allied countries. The Shipping Board also sent
experts to Italy to advise and assist in the more rapid clearing
of congested ports; Scotchmen these for the most part, very capable,
and right good men. In addition to those employed on more or less
permanent establishments, there were always coming and going staff-officers
and experts concerned with problems of finance, munitions, or
blockade. As time went on we were rather overwhelmed with mutually
independent missions, and some co-ordination seemed desirable
to prevent overlapping. I was then appointed High Commissioner
for Italy, which gave me a sort of general controlling authority.
Reference to the Roman office of Propaganda suggests that this
may be an appropriate place in which to record certain experiences
in that particular field. The word propaganda, in the sense of
the organized dissemination in a specific interest of information,
veracious, tendencious, or even false, has been borrowed from
ecclesiastical nomenclature, in which it is used to indicate the
missionary activities of the Catholic Church. It might seem superfluous
to point this out. But I was credibly informed that our Military
Intelligence office received an instruction to report on the activities
of a College for Propaganda which it was understood had been founded
in Rome. After due investigation a reply seems to have been returned
to the effect that there was in that city a College for Propaganda,
but that its aims appeared to be entirely religious. Some reference
to the venerable Collegium de Propaganda Fide had evidently
started a zealous secret agent at home on the quest of a mare's
nest. Fortunately, we had an efficient organization which was
able to locate it in the Spanish Square.
In a brilliant American volume, in which it is not always easy
to distinguish the paradoxes of an epigrammatist from the real
opinions of a cynic, I have read that the United States were brought
into the war by the campaign of propaganda, ably and ruthlessly
conducted by British agents and Missions. German writers of a
certain authority, concerned to account for the final débâcle,
have attributed it to the sinister influence of Lord Northcliffe's
efforts, and of activities which may be studied in the Secrets
of Crewe House. I had no means of estimating the practical
result of these activities. There are, however, two principles
which I believe to be sound in their application to what we shall,
for lack of a better name, probably continue to call propaganda:
firstly, that the effect which it is likely to produce will be
diminished rather than intensified by the recognition of acknowledged
and much-discussed organizations for its promotion; and secondly
that no form of propaganda will have more than an ephemeral success
which is not inspired by conviction and based on truth.
As regards the area under my direct cognizance, I have referred
in an earlier chapter to the steps which were at once taken to
place before as wide a public as possible the circumstances which
had made war inevitable. This object was attained by the voluntary
co-operation of friendly elements in the country, and no one was
aware of any official intervention. The circulation through agencies
in touch with the mass of the people of unhysterical documents
convincing by their clear exposition had probably a far greater
effect than the quantities of pamphlets and pictorial broadsheets
distributed by the enemy in shipping offices and waiting-rooms,
or the abusive articles which appeared in organs well-known to
be amenable to hostile influences. Such unostentatious efforts
were supplemented by the lecturing campaigns already mentioned.
The British-Italian Institute at Milan, founded by Donna Bettina
di Casanova, who had from the first worked with all her heart
to bring into line the two countries with which she was associated,
was invaluable in circulating information, providing lectures
and offering opportunity for contact. Similar institutes on a
more modest scale were started in other cities, including Rome.
The Embassy at that time exercised a general superintendence of
all centres, and acted as the intermediary with the continually
changing authorities at home which dealt with propaganda.
I laboured not a little to find a remedy for a situation greatly
to our disadvantage in Italy, where Germany had secured a sort
of monopoly in the foreign book trade. This had indeed occupied
my attention before the war. The learned and scientific literature
available for professors and students, the foreign periodicals
obtainable which recorded historical, geographical and medical
research were almost exclusively German. The book-market at Leipzig
satisfied requirements promptly, economically, and on easy terms
for the retailer. English books, on the other hand, were costly,
and being invariably bound or at any rate eased in boards, which
for customs' purposes was regarded as equivalent, were subject
to import duty. Orders took much longer to execute, and the system
of sale or return outside the United Kingdom did not appeal to
the publisher. The practical monopoly of Leipzig had become a
potent cultural influence. And yet there was evidence of a demand
for English books, subject to greater facilities for their acquisition,
from the professorial world and a limited reading public. I suggested
the institution of a central depôt at Milan or Florence
to act as the distributing medium. A small addition to the sale
price would cover cost of superintendence and insurance against
damage in transit. Paper covers such as are used for all continental
publications might be substituted for the dutiable boards. In
view of the ample expenditure which was sanctioned for "information"
it was justifiable to hope that the initial cost of such a central
bureau might be met by public funds. These proposals were referred
to a Committee in London on which some of the most important publishing
houses were represented, and the Chairman, Sir Henry Newbolt,
did all that was in his power to promote a solution. But nothing
was accomplished. With rare exceptions British publishers, who
seem tenaciously conservative in their practice, were not disposed
to meet conditions which would have offered some hope of competing
with the German monopoly, or they did not consider the Italian
market sufficiently important to interest them. Their attitude
towards the proposed use of paper covers seemed to be not that
we should accommodate the supply to the demand, but that foreign
customs regulations should be modified to suit the character of
our production. After the war, with an adverse British and a very
favourable German exchange, the position became still more unpromising.
A form of anti-war propaganda, employed with some success in
Italy, according to my informants, when the length of the struggle
was beginning to weigh heavily on the peasantry, was certainly
ingenious. A large percentage of the population, especially in
the south, is illiterate and dependent on professional or friendly
assistance when occasion arises to send a letter. There used to
be in Rome two benevolent-looking old gentlemen who pursued the
vocation of letter-writers to the Quarter, sitting at their tables
under awnings beside the Arco Pinto, near the theatre of Pompey.
I have often watched them with interest composing epistles for
the puzzled artisan or the anxious mother, seated on a second
chair at their table. During the war it seems that individuals,
ostensibly moved by benevolent impulses, visited the country villages
offering to write letters gratuitously from parents to their soldier
sons, with the additional inducement of free postage. Such communications
did not fail to paint in the darkest colours the unhappy state
to which war had reduced the home, and were ingeniously devised
to depress the men at the Front.
The Italian Government in due course created a department of
propaganda, under my friend the deputy for Perugia, Sig. Romeo
Gallenga-Stuart. Co-operation with this department was maintained
by Mr. Thorold, who took over the superintendence and financing
of British activities in that field, only reporting to me when
necessary. Under his auspices the conception of a permanent British
Institute in Florence matured. A French Institute, supported by
the State, had long existed there as well as a German Institute,
then temporarily at any rate closed. The British Institute was
designed to offer facilities for higher education in English literature
and culture. I was pressed to go to Florence for the opening ceremony
and, in view of the assurances received, did not fail to enlarge
upon our confidence in the future of the foundation.
Under the direction of Mr. A. F. Spender, who indeed created
the Institute, it proved a great success, and pupils from many
provinces came to Florence to study there. When at the end of
the war various propaganda enterprises were terminated, the official
liquidator indicated in a speech at Florence that the Institute
would be an exception. Indeed, to have closed it while a number
of the students were only half-way through their two years' course
would have been almost a breach of faith. Although I had not been
responsible for its inception, the burden of fighting for its
maintenance fell upon me. With difficulty the Foreign Office induced
the Treasury to continue its grant for another year, after which
it was definitely to cease. In this crisis, when to us in Italy
it seemed that our good name was at stake, the Institute was saved
by the munificence of Sir Walter Becker, who had so liberally
supported ambulances and hospitals during the war. A fund created
by the late Mr. Arthur Serena to promote education in English
in the country of his family's origin enabled the trustees to
assign an assured revenue to the Institute, and the generosity
of Miss S. R. Courtauld and Sir Daniel Stevenson has endowed it
with £15,000. With these resources to supplement fees and
subscriptions, the permanence of its activities seems guaranteed,
though additional income is still required to make the future
secure. It is gratifying to feel that, thanks to private benevolence
the British Institute at Florence, whose constitution has now
been defined in a Royal Charter, will continue its work of cementing
cordial relations between the two nations.
The last phase of the British propaganda campaign produced
some curious developments during the period, rather an anarchical
one as it seemed to us abroad, when improvised administrations
able to dispose of ample resources worked independently of the
regular civil service. The results anticipated from a more intense
and co-ordinated effort had been held to justify the creation
of a Ministry of Information presided over by Lord Beaverbrook,
but another distinct service of "Propaganda in enemy countries"
was entrusted to the restlessly active Lord Northcliffe. For reasons
which seemed convincing at home Italy was eventually also assigned
to his province, and was thus for propaganda purposes assimilated
to an enemy country. This I only learned indirectly, and I was
provided with no explanation to offer in answer to the questions
which were inevitably addressed to me by a somewhat perplexed
ally. But I will not here anticipate developments which belong
more properly to the concluding phase of the war.
As this chapter has been largely concerned with matters which
lie outside the normal province of diplomacy, it may be appropriate
here to speak of the particular work undertaken by my wife, who
devoted her energy and great powers of organization to the provision
of relief for the wounded and disabled. In raising funds for this
purpose she endeavoured also to assist members of a class who
were hit severely by the suspension of the tourist movement---artists
and workers in artistic handicrafts. A shop which she opened,
constantly provided with new stocks of useful and pretty things
sold exclusively for the benefit of the wounded, soon proved too
small for its object, and larger premises in the Via Veneto, combined
with a tea-room and known as La Belle Alliance, soon became
a much-frequented resort. Lampshades and screens executed by artists
under her guidance from Japanese, Byzantine and classical designs,
painted dress materials, artistic toys, small pieces of furniture
copied from good designs and painted or lacquered in the Venetian
manner secured a ready market, while their production gave employment
to many who at that time found little demand for their craftsmanship.
Old Japanese embroideries, of which she had a considerable stock,
were eagerly bought. Venetian glass had become difficult to obtain,
owing to the closing of the furnaces, but she had fortunately
laid in an ample supply. Judicious purchases were made of old
furniture and discarded church candlesticks, which were restored
or copied by clever workmen. Well-known artists offered pictures
and sketches. A number of friends were busy producing handbags
and bead-necklaces. Gifts were continually received for sale.
I shall always remember how the wives of two of my secretaries,
Lady Gerald Wellesley and Mrs. Parr, ransacked their jewel boxes
and brought all they could spare to be sold for the cause. Before
long the business of La Belle Alliance outgrew the new
premises, and the exhibition with the tea-room was transferred
to some out-buildings in the Embassy gardens, approached by a
separate entrance. The tea-rooms organized on a much larger scale
were thronged till the end of the war. A number of willing helpers
undertook the duties of service by rotation, among the most constant
being Marchesa Guiccioli, Countess Lovatelli, Donna Diana Piercey,
Madame Allatini, and Miss Verschoyle. But there was never such
a successful saleswoman as our dear friend Mrs. Barton, who came
from Geneva and stayed with us many months, devoting herself to
the cause of the Italian wounded. Our Swedish housekeeper took
charge of the commissariat, and managed it on sound business lines
so as to secure the maximum benefit to the fund. In Malta, where
the fuel difficulty had been even more urgent than with us, an
economic stove had been invented. Lord Methuen kindly sent me
particulars of its construction, which we followed. It consisted
of a sheet-iron cylinder, or rather drum, with a removable lid
having a hole some three inches in diameter in the centre. The
drum was packed tightly with sawdust, or even dry leaves or paper,
round an iron or wooden core, which when removed left a draught
funnel up the centre. It was ignited with a rag steeped in petroleum
through a tube inserted in the base of the cylinder. The compressed
fuel burned slowly, giving out a great heat. On these stoves which
could be made for a few francs all the water was boiled.
From the receipts which were well maintained grants in aid
were made from time to time to various organizations managed by
local committees. But after a certain period my wife decided to
suspend these grants, and accumulate a large fund with a view
to starting industries in which the partially disabled could be
trained to engage, such as carpet making. The total amassed by
her own efforts was eventually swollen by a munificent donation
from the American Red Cross.
But the shop and the tea-room represented only a part of her
activity. There were concerts and bazaars with lotteries which,
happily for benevolent enterprise, find no conscientious objectors
in Italy. Musical plays and other theatrical performances, some
of which were not only produced but written by herself, were in
continual stages of preparation and performance. The Ball-room
at the Embassy, temporarily converted into a theatre, was hardly
large enough to satisfy the demand for places. She also organized
a very successful lottery on behalf of the Blue Cross, and a Fair
in the Embassy Garden in support of Red Cross work among the smaller
Allied nations. There each member of the alliance had its own
pavilion. It was after the United States had entered the war,
and the section presided over by Mrs. Page, whose liberality in
all war charities was unbounded, was one of the principal features.
The British pavilion was in charge of a group of charming ladies
in Gainsborough dresses, and their appeals to purchasers were
irresistible. As the fair took place in the summer season the
largest profits were probably derived from the American bar conducted
by Captain Larking as a specialist with the assistance of an attractive
group of barmaids.
Perhaps the most daring and certainly not the least successful
of her enterprises was a British-Italian Exhibition of Arts and
Crafts, which the difficulties of transport only rendered practicable
after the armistice. Extensive temporary premises for the purpose
in the Via Nazionale were lent by the Banca di Credito. The scheme
of decoration and the design adopted for the stalls made it one
of the prettiest exhibitions I have ever seen. British and Italian
arts and crafts were represented in fairly equal proportion. Of
the British goods shown the most interesting categories were the
glass and china. Many sales were effected, and there would have
been many more had it been possible for our producers to promise
earlier delivery. Visitors also found a tea-room with a stage,
on which costumes were displayed by living mannequins and films
were shown. In contemplating such an undertaking at such a time
she incurred a considerable financial risk. But her courage was
justified by results. Not only were all expenses covered, but
a handsome balance remained to be added to the relief funds.
For reasons which they were best able to appreciate the Italian
Military Authorities did not permit the wounded or mutilated when
convalescent to be seen in the streets. The figures so familiar
at home in the blue hospital clothes were therefore not seen in
Rome. A big school in Via Montebello, which bounds the southern
end of the Embassy garden, had been converted into a military
hospital, and we were concerned for the unfortunate invalids who
were confined in the hot weather to the close and rather unattractive
wards. The Embassy garden was placed at the disposal of the commandant
for a certain number of hours every day, and a doorway opened
m the southern wall enabled the men, by crossing only one unfrequented
street, to come and lie on the grass under the shade of pines
and ilexes.
My wife's unflagging zeal on behalf of the wounded was spontaneously
recognized by the Italian State, and she was awarded what I believe
to have been a very rare distinction---the gold medal for auxiliary
service. This, the one recognition she received after the war,
was certainly well earned by three years of unremitting work.
Many other duties and obligations fell upon her which could not
be neglected, and she was the presiding and energizing spirit
of the British-Italian Institute in Rome.
A good many British soldiers passed through the capital on
their way to various destinations. Their number increased later
when we had established depôts at Taranto which became the
chief link with Salonika, and a permanent body of transport units
and military police were then quartered in Rome. In the early
stages, when there were relatively few men arriving singly, they
were apt to get lost. They had to remain several hours, often
a whole day, waiting for a train, and did not know where to find
a meal, to wash or to change their money. One or two kind souls,
English ladies who were working for their livelihood in Rome,
made their sacrifice to the cause by going every morning, before
daylight in winter, to the station to meet the trains from France
and offer their services to these men. The military attaché,
Sir Charles Lamb, then turned his attention to providing a hostel
for travelling soldiers where they could find a refuge and a simple
meal. After we had struggled for some time with the problem in
inadequate rooms, the director of an American Evangelical Mission,
the activities of which were suspended during the war, the Rev.
J. Tipple, offered us the use of his ample premises for a soldiers'
hostel and club. It proved an immense boon, and was most efficiently
managed by a body of volunteer workers, amongst whom were a few
that were always ready to act as guides to the principal sights
of the city. The Christmas dinner, the greater part of which was
prepared at the Embassy, was a great event at the hostel.
A good many men from the Dominions who could afford to travel
spent a few days of their short leave in Rome, and on the Christmas
of 1917 there was an unusually large number assembled there. After
dinner they all came on to the Embassy, where the famous Canadian
tenor, di Giovanni (Edward Johnson) and Donna Hortensia Piercey
sang to them. It was pleasant to hear more than one of them say
that that evening at Porta Pia had made them feel the touch of
home for the first time since they had left their native lands.
Personally, I seldom remember having spent a happier evening than
with these friends of a day.
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