The following quotations might suggest that the new year had brought a change of attitude in some papers on the ItaloEthiopian question:
Le Temps.—I was right in saying that the Italian government had been grievously misinformed and that it has hurled itself into an adventure of no doubtful issue.
L'Intransigeant.—The Negus, that savage, by his good sense, by his tactics and his trust in the justice of law, is at present showing superior races wherein lay their superiority.
Le Journal,—Call a halt! Do not be stubborn in the pursuit of doubtful and illusory advantages. Since the Abyssinians have never accepted, and probably never will accept, your protectorate, give up the idea and content yourself with Eritrea.
But these quotations, collected by Lu, date from January, February and March, 1896.