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This new policy was to give Italy a part interest in the strategic French railway penetrating the heart of Ethiopia. Signor Mussolini also received from M. Laval a "free hand" with respect to the dusky Empire (TIME, Jan. 21). In Paris the great passage in Premier Laval's speech last week was considered that in which he adroitly inferred that Sir Samuel Hoare had, by implication, promised British support to France should Germany attack her or attempt to seize Austria. Cried the Frenchman with enthusiasm while the Briton looked faintly uncomfortable: "In an address elevated in its thought, where was found anew the liberal tradition of England and England's sense of the uni versal, Sir Samuel Hoare told us of the determination of the United Kingdom to adhere without reservations to the system of collective security. . . . This declaration marks a date in the history of the League of Nations!" Since British voters do not want to be dragged into another great European war for Peace, but merely to feel that His Majesty's Government are being noble about Ethiopia and severe toward a Big Bully, this French hint that the Big Bully may turn out to be Adolf Hitler would have been distinctly upsetting had not most British newsorgans loyally passed over that part of M. Laval's speech.
Triumphant to London. Morning after Sir Samuel Hoare's maiden League speech, New York Times Correspondent Ferdinand Kuhn Jr. cabled impartially from London: "If the free newspapers of this country were controlled and edited by a dictatorship they could hardly have been more unanimous in their approval." Everyone agreed that the new Foreign Secretary had struck exactly the right note— the British note. "Without doubt," pontificated the London Times, "he has succeeded in expressing the views not only of the government but of the country as a whole."
Only in high Tory circles catered to by the London Morning Post was it frankly said that Benito Mussolini might have great difficulty in deciding what clever Sir Samuel actually meant. "It is possible to imagine Mussolini meditating various conclusions from the words used," said the Post, adding with satisfaction, "there is nothing in the speech to suggest that in the last resort England would act alone to maintain the integrity of Ethiopia." But Sir Samuel's speech was not about an English solo but rather about a European concert on behalf of Ethiopia and "when I say collective responsibility, I mean collective responsibility."
Foreign Minister' Hoare flew to London a clean-cut hero to most British voters, his more enthusiastic friends even suggesting that if he keeps up the pace he set last week he should crown his career one day by realizing his great ambition to become Prime Minister.
No. 18 Cadogan Gardens. Home then went the Right Honorable Sir Samuel John Gurney Hoare, second Baronet of his line, Privy Councilor, Knight Grand Commander of the Star of India and Honorary Air Commodore of Great Britain, to one of London's most amazing town houses, No. 18 Cadogan Gardens. As gracious Lady Maud Lygon Hoare, a daughter of the Sixth Earl of Beauchamp, has said, "It is full of odds & ends we have picked up," many of them brought from distant lands by air.