ITALY: In Sardinia

On Mar. 4, 1848, King Carlo Alberto granted to his Sardinian subjects a Statuto fondamentale del Regno, or Constitution. An expansion of that Constitution has served Italy until the present, but Benito proposed to have it changed.

The Directorate of the Fascist Party, Benito at its head, appointed a committee of 15, composed of five Senators, five Deputies, three professors, one judge, one journalist, to modify the Constitution. Benito told them that they were only to do a little decorating and "to leave the main walls of the Constitution as they are."

This was taken to mean that the Constitution would be changed only to take into account the press and the labor organizations and the right of women to vote. Modification of the King's power or any change in Senate or Chamber was forbidden.

The Liberals, when they observed that the IS members of the Commission were all moderate, old and experienced men, exclaimed with great satisfaction: "We are saved!"

Thus did Benito please part of his Opposition.