Confidential report from Michael MacWhite to Joseph P. Walshe (Dublin)

Soon after the outbreak of hostilities in Europe in 1939 Mr. Charles Bewley, our former Minister at Berlin, came to Rome to represent, as he stated himself, a Swedish newsagency. After five years, or thereabouts, as Irish Minister to the Holy See, during which time he had established many contacts in Italian social circles, he was said to be well qualified for his new appointment.

On his arrival in Rome it seems he did not resume any of his old associations with the representatives of the Irish institutions or with those Irish clergymen whom he had formerly known. Neither did he make his presence known at the Legation. Some months later, however, I met him at a reception at the Belgian Embassy and at other diplomatic functions as he was well known to the Heads of many Missions here with some of whom he had become acquainted at Berlin. He was welcomed by Italian and diplomatic hostesses known for their Bridge parties and, in these places, he was naturally referred to as the 'Irish Minister '. It is customary on the Continent to address people according to the rank or title they last held.

After having been in Rome for some months he called at the Legation to have a glance at the Irish papers. On the card he left he was described as Minister at Berlin but this description was crossed out by a stroke of the pen. He informed me, as I had already heard, that he represented a Swedish News Agency. A few days later, I asked the Swedish Minister who had been previously accredited to Berlin if he knew anything about this Agency or of the Swede who was said to direct it. He knew the latter to be a penniless journalist but he believed the Agency to be part of a German organisation 'directed by a gentleman with a club foot'. In other words, by Dr. Goebbels. From the Counsellor of the Swiss Legation I learned that Bewley is held in the highest estimation by the German Embassy here. His information about England and other countries is held to be invaluable. According to the same source his work in Rome is to keep the Germans posted about things in Italy that might otherwise escape purely German ears. From a lady who met him at Bridge parties I gathered that, in the circles in which she mixed, Bewley was said to be the representative in Rome of an Anti-English organisation in Ireland, probably the I.R.A. It is likely he is in communication with some of its leaders and I recollect Mr. O'Donovan mentioning that our Legation in Madrid had forwarded letters for him to Ireland. He makes periodical visits to Berlin and is understood to have gone there about the end of June and has not, so far, returned. Some time before his departure I met the wife of an Italian Minister who said 'My aunt told me she was speaking to you yesterday'. I said I doubted it very much as I had not been out of doors. 'Oh, you must have been to the German Embassy for it was there my aunt said she met the Irish Minister '. Some days later, an official of the Italian Passport Office telephoned to know the names of the countries for which the Minister wanted Visas. On being informed that the Minister had made no application for Visas he apologised saying it was Minister Bewley who had applied for them.

From what I hear Bewley does not create a favourable impression everywhere he goes. He is reputed to be very inquisitive and to initiate discussions on topics most people wish to avoid in these times. From official Italian sources I can get no reaction to his activities but if I happen to meet somebody from the German Embassy he is invariably mentioned. It is however evident that outside of German circles he does not impress people favourably.