Fascista Italy, I assure you, is in very strong hands. All our enemies know that every attempt at revolt will be inexorably crushed. The old Italy is dead and will not come to life again. The men who gave their lives in the war will prevent it; those who fell in the Fascista war, no less sacred and necessary, will prevent it; the living will prevent it. We, here and everywhere, are ready for any battle so that we may uphold the foundations of our race and of our history. The time has come to face serenely the sons of other nations. The era of renunciations and obligations is past; the head of the Government tells you this. You asked me to come here upon this occasion of the inauguration of the London section of the Fascista Party. I present you with your banner; keep it as you keep alive the flame of that faith for which so many fine young men have died, keep it for the fortunes of Italy and Fascismo.
“OUR TASK IN HISTORY IS TO MAKE A UNITED STATE OF THE ITALIAN NATION”
Speech delivered 2nd January 1923, upon the occasion of the Ministerial Reception in Palazzo Chigi at Rome, in answer to the Hon. Teofilo Rossi, Minister of Industry and Commerce, who had concluded his address to the President by saying: “The victorious Greeks returning from Troy through the storm cried: ‘Nil desperandum Teucro duce et auspice Teucro.’ We in our turn will say: ‘_Nil desperandum_ while at the helm of the State there is a man like Benito Mussolini.’”
Dear Colleagues,—Let me first of all say how happy I am that we should have met in these magnificent rooms which furnish evidence of the strength and beauty of our race, and are also a testimony of our victory, as, if I am not mistaken, these were the apartments of an enemy’s Embassy.[12]
Palazzo Chigi, at present Ministry for Foreign Affairs, formerly was the seat of the Austrian Embassy to the Quirinal.
I was very much touched by the words spoken just now by our colleague Rossi. The nation as a whole is not deceived, and follows with brotherly sympathy the work of our Government. It is aware of the difficulties we have to overcome: difficulties which arise from the double work of demolition and reconstruction which we have undertaken simultaneously. The nation, little by little, is being restored to order. There are more than ten thousand communes in Italy, and there is no reason to fear a catastrophe because there is a quarrel, without any particular positive importance, in one of them during the critical days of Saturday and Sunday.