‘Let the Consuls see to it that no harm befall the State ; that was the mandate given to the chief magistrates by the Roman Senate constituting them supreme in times of crisis. But even in the ordinary course of events the consuls were preceded by those bundles of rods encircling an axe, which signified the power of life and death. To-day this emblem once again means power, and those who wield the Fasces possess, or mean to possess authority which is supreme and against which there is no appeal. For some years now we have been accustomed to them as the standard of the Fascist party in Italy, and already, in rather more than a decade, they have been invested by British eyes with a host of relevant and irrelevant associations, for the most part noble and joyous, but among those who equate liberalism and liberty often sad and regretful. Yet even those many Englishmen who pass secure and easy judgment of approval on the new Italy may have found it something of a shock to discover the axe and rods being carried through the length and breadth of their own country. On the bookstall and in the hands of the newsvendor, on the political platform and even in the lapel of the coat, this sign has appeared with dramatic suddenness, proclaiming the birth of a new organization whose members are determined that the people shall pass the final decree, entrusting them once for all with the task of seeing to it that no harm befall the State.