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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Birth of Yugoslavia, Volume 2 + +Author: Henry Baerlein + +Release Date: March 8, 2008 [EBook #24781] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BIRTH OF YUGOSLAVIA, VOLUME 2 *** + + + + +Produced by Jason Isbell, Irma Spehar and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<h1>THE BIRTH OF<br /> +YUGOSLAVIA</h1> + +<p class="center" style="margin-top: 4em; font-weight: bold; font-size: 80%; text-indent: 0em">BY</p> + +<p class="center" style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 110%; text-indent: 0em">HENRY BAERLEIN</p> + +<p class="center" style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 80%; margin-top: 8em; text-indent: 0em">VOLUME II</p> + +<p class="publisher"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.25ex">LONDON</span><br /> +LEONARD PARSONS<br /> +DEVONSHIRE STREET</p> + +<p class="center"> +<i>First Published 1922</i><br /> +[<i>All Rights Reserved</i>]<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap" style="font-size: 80%">Leonard Parsons Ltd.</span><br /> +</p> + + + + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="CONTENTS_OF_VOLUME_II" id="CONTENTS_OF_VOLUME_II"></a>CONTENTS OF VOLUME II</h2> + +<table class="toc" border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="ToC"> + +<tr><td colspan="3" align='right'><small>PAGE</small></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rightalign"><a href="#VI">VI.</a></td><td align='left'><a href="#VI"><span class="smcap">Yugoslavia's First Year of Liberty</span> (<span class="smcap">Autumn 1918 +to Autumn 1919</span>)</a></td><td class="rightalign"><a href="#Page_7">7</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rightalign"><a href="#VII">VII.</a></td><td align='left'><a href="#VII"><span class="smcap">Further Months of Trial</span> (1919-1921)</a></td><td class="rightalign"><a href="#Page_208">208</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rightalign"><a href="#VIII">VIII.</a></td><td align='left'><a href="#VIII"><span class="smcap">Yugoslavia's Frontiers</span> (1921)</a></td><td class="rightalign"><a href="#Page_272">272</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rightalign"><a href="#IX">IX.</a></td><td align='left'><a href="#IX"><span class="smcap">Conclusion: A Few National Characteristics</span></a></td><td class="rightalign"><a href="#Page_392">392</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'><a href="#INDEX_OF_VOLUME_II"><span class="smcap">Index</span></a></td><td class="rightalign"><a href="#Page_411">411</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'><a href="#map"><span class="smcap">Map of Yugoslavia</span></a></td></tr> +</table> + + + + +<hr /> +<h1><a name="THE_BIRTH_OF_YUGOSLAVIA" id="THE_BIRTH_OF_YUGOSLAVIA"></a>THE BIRTH OF YUGOSLAVIA<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span></h1> + + + +<h2><a name="VI" id="VI"></a>VI</h2> + +<h3>YUGOSLAVIA'S FIRST YEAR OF LIBERTY</h3> + + +<p class="subtitle"><span class="smcap">New foes for old—Roumanian activities—The Italian frame of +mind—Sensitiveness with respect to their army—An unfortunate +naval affair—What was happening at Pola—The +story of the "Viribus Unitis"—How the Italians landed at +Pola—The sea-faring Yugoslavs—Who set a standard that +was too high—An electrical atmosphere and no precautions—<ins class="correction" +title="Transcriber's note: original reads 'Italians'">Italians'</ins> +mildness on the Isle of Vis—Their truculence at +Korčula—And on Hvar—How they were received at Zadar—What +they did there—Pretty doings at Krk—Unhappy +Pola—What Istria endured—The famous town of Rieka—The +drama begins—The I.N.C.—The Croats' blunder—Melodrama—Farce—Parole +d'honneur—The population of the +town—The tale continues on the northern isles—Rab is +completely captured—Avanti Savoia!—The Entente at Rieka—A +candid Frenchman—Economic considerations—The turncoat +Mayor—His fervour—Three pleasant places—Italy is +led astray by Sonnino—The state of the Chamber—The state +of the country—A fountain in the sand—Those who held +back from the Pact of Rome—Gathering winds—Why the +Italians claimed Dalmatia—Consequences of the Treaty of +London—Italian hopes in Montenegro—What had lately +been the fate of the Austrians there—And of the natives—Now +Nikita is deposed—The Assembly which deposed him—Nikita's +sorrow for the good old days—The state of Bosnia—Radić +and his peasants—Those who will not move with the +times—The Yugoslav political parties—The Slovene question—The +sentiments of Triest—Magnanimity in the Banat—Temešvar +in transition—A sort of war in Carinthia—Yugoslavia +begins to put her house in order—The problem of +Agrarian Reform—Frenzy at Rieka—Admiral Millo explains +the situation—His misguided subordinates at Šibenik—The +Italians want to take no risks—Yet they are incredibly +nonchalant—One of their victims—Seven hundred others—A +glimpse of the official robberies—And harshness and +bribery—The Italians in Dalmatia before and during the +War—Consequent suspicion of this minority—Allied censure +of the Italian navy—Nevertheless the tyranny continues—A<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span> +visit to some of the islands—Which the Italians tried to +obtain before, but not during, the War—Our welcome to +Jelša—Proceedings at Starigrad—The affairs of Hvar—Four +men of Komiža—The women of Biševo—On the way to +Blato—What the Major said—The protest of an Italian +journalist—Interesting delegates—A digression on Sir +Arthur Evans—The dupes of Nikita in Montenegro—Italian +endeavours—Various British commentators—The murder of +Miletić—D'Annunzio comes to Rieka—The great invasion of +Trogir—The Succession States and their minorities—Obligations +imposed on them because of Roumanian Antisemitism.</span></p> + + +<p class="section">NEW FOES FOR OLD</p> + +<p>With the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian army, +the Serbs and Croats and Slovenes saw that one other +obstacle to their long-hoped-for union had vanished. +The dream of centuries was now a little nearer towards +fulfilment. But many obstacles remained. There would +presumably be opposition on the part of the Italian and +Roumanian Governments, for it was too much to hope +that these would waive the treaties they had wrung from +the Entente, and would consent to have their boundaries +regulated by the wishes of the people living in disputed +lands. Some individual Italians and Roumanians might +even be less reasonable than their Governments. If +Austria and Hungary were in too great a chaos to have any +attitude as nations, there would be doubtless local opposition +to the Yugoslavs. And as soon as the Magyars had +found their feet they would be sure to bombard the +Entente with protestations, setting forth that subject +nationalities were intended by the Creator to be subject +nationalities. A large pamphlet, <i>The Hungarian Nation</i>, +was issued at Buda-Pest in February 1920. It displayed +a very touching solicitude for the Croats, whom the Serbs +would be sure to tyrannize most horribly. If only Croatia +would remain in the Hungarian State, says Mr. A. Kovács, +Ministerial Councillor in the Hungarian Central Statistical +Office, then the Magyars would instantly bestow on +her both Bosnia (which belonged to the Empire as a +whole) and Dalmatia (which belonged to Austria). That +is the worst of being a Ministerial Statistical Councillor. +Another gentleman, Professor Dr. Fodor, has the bright +idea that "the race is the multitude of individuals who +inhabit one uniform region." ... Passing to Yugoslavia's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span> +domestic obstacles, it was impossible to think +that all the Serbs and Croats and Slovenes would forthwith +subscribe to the Declaration of Corfu and become excellent +Yugoslavs. Some would be honestly unable to throw off +what centuries had done to them, and realize that if they +had been made so different from their brothers, they were +brothers still. For ten days there was a partly domestic, +partly foreign obstacle, but as the King of Montenegro +did not take his courage in both hands and descend on the +shores of that country with an Italian army, he lost his +chance for ever.</p> + + +<p class="section">ROUMANIAN ACTIVITIES</p> + +<p>There was indeed far less trouble from the Roumanian +than from the Italian side. On October 29, 1918, one +could say that all military power in the Banat was at an +end. The Hungarian army took what food it wanted +and made off, leaving everywhere, in barracks and in +villages, guns, rifles, ammunition. Vainly did the officers +attempt to keep their men together. And scenes like +this were witnessed all over the Banat. Then suddenly, +on Sunday, November 3, the Roumanians, that is the +Roumanians living in the country, made attacks on many +villages, and the Roumanians of Transylvania acted in a +similar fashion. With the Hungarian equipment and with +<ins class="correction" +title="Transcriber's note: original reads 'weapoms'">weapons</ins> of their own they started out to terrorize. +Among their targets were the village notaries, in whom was +vested the administrative authority. At Old Moldava, +on the Danube, they decapitated the notary, a man called +Kungel, and threw his head into the river. At a village +near Anina they buried the notary except for his head, +which they proceeded to kick until he died. Nor did they +spare the notaries of Roumanian origin, which made it +seem as if this outbreak of lawlessness—directed from +who knows where—had the high political end of making +the country appear to the Entente in such a desperate +condition that an army must be introduced, and as the +Serbs were thought to be a long way off, with the railways +and the roads before them ruined by the Austrians, it +looked as if Roumania's army was the only one available. +On the Monday and the Tuesday these Roumanian freebooters,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span> +who had all risen on the same day in regions +extending over hundreds of square kilometres, started +plundering the large estates. Near Bela Crkva, on the +property of Count Bissingen-Nippenburg, a German, +they did damage to the sum of eight and a half million +crowns. At the monastery of Mešica, near Veršac, the +Roumanians of a neighbouring village devastated the +archimandrate's large library, sacked the chapel and +smashed his bee-hives, so that they were not impelled +by poverty and hunger. In the meantime there had been +formed at Veršac a National Roumanian Military Council. +The placard, printed of course in Roumanian, is dated +Veršac, November 4, and is addressed to "The Roumanian +Officers and Soldiers born in the Banat," and announces +that they have formed the National Council. It is a +Council, we are told, in which one can have every confidence; +moreover, it is prepared to co-operate in every +way with a view to maintaining order <i>în lăuntra și în afară</i> +(both internal and external). The subjoined names of +the committee are numerous; they range from Lieut.-Colonel +Gavriil Mihailov and Major Petru Jucu downwards +to a dozen privates. The archimandrate, who +fortunately happened to be at his house in Veršac, begged +his friend Captain Singler of the <i>gendarmerie</i> to take some +steps. About twenty Hungarian officers undertook to +go, with a machine gun, to the monastery on November +7; at eleven on the previous night Mihailov ordered the +captain to come to see him; he wanted to know by whom +this expedition had been authorized. The captain +answered that Mešica was in his district, and that he +had no animus against Roumanians but only against +plunderers. After his arrival at Mešica the trouble was +brought to an end. Nor was it long before the Serbian +troops, riding up through their own country at a rate +which no one had foreseen, crossed the Danube and +occupied the Banat, in conjunction with the French. +The rapidity of this advance astounded the Roumanians; +they gaped like Lavengro when he wondered how the +stones ever came to Stonehenge.... When the Serbian +commandant at Veršac invited these enterprising Roumanian +officers to an interview he was asked by one of +them, Major Iricu, whether or not they were to be interned.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span> +"What made you print that placard?" asked +the commandant; and they replied that their object +had been to preserve order. They had not imagined, +so they said, that the Serbs would come so quickly. "I +will be glad," said the commandant, "if you will not do +this kind of thing any more."</p> + + +<p class="section">THE ITALIAN FRAME OF MIND</p> + +<p>Italy was not in a good humour. She was well aware +that in the countries of her Allies there was a marked +tendency to underestimate her overwhelming triumphs +of the last days of the War. Perhaps those exploits +would have been more difficult if Austria's army had not +suffered a deterioration, but still one does not take 300,000 +prisoners every day. Some faithful foreigners were +praising Italy—and she deserved it—for having persevered +at all after Caporetto. That disaster had been greatly +due to filling certain regiments with several thousand +munition workers who had taken part in a revolt at +Turin, and then concentrating these regiments in the +Caporetto salient, which was the most vulnerable sector +in the eastern Italian front. How much of the disaster +was due to the Vatican will perhaps never be known. +But as for the uneducated, easily impressed peasants of +the army, it was wonderful that all, except the second +army and a small part of the third, retreated with such +discipline in view of what they had been brooding on +before the day of Caporetto. They had such vague ideas +what they were fighting for, and if the Socialists kept +saying that the English paid their masters to continue +with the War—how were they to know what was the +truth? The British regiments, who were received not +merely with cigars and cigarettes and flowers and with +little palm crosses which their trustful little weavers +had blessed, but also with showers of stones as they +passed through Italian villages in 1917, must have sometimes +understood and pardoned. Then the troops were +in distress about their relatives, for things were more and +more expensive, and where would it end? In face of +these discouragements it was most admirable that the +army and the nation rallied and reconstituted their <i>morale</i>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span></p> + + +<p class="section">SENSITIVENESS WITH RESPECT TO THEIR ARMY</p> + +<p>Of course one should not generalize regarding nations, +except in vague or very guarded terms; but possibly it +would not be unjust to say that the Italians, apart from +those of northern provinces and of Sardinia, have too much +imagination to make first-class soldiers. And they are +too sensitive, as you could see in an Italian military +hospital. Their task was also not a trifling one—to +stand for all those months in territory so forbidding. +And there would have been more sympathy with the +Italians in the autumn of 1918 if they had not had such +very crushing triumphs when the War was practically +over. What was the condition of the Austrian army? +About October 15, in one section of the front—35 kilometres +separating the extreme points from one another—the +following incidents occurred: the Army Command at +St. Vitto issued an order to the officers invariably to carry +a revolver, since the men were now attacking them; a +Magyar regiment revolted and marched away, under +the command of a Second-Lieutenant whom they had +elected; at Stino di Livenza, while the officers were +having their evening meal, two hand grenades were thrown +into the mess by soldiers; at Codroipo a regiment revolted, +attacked the officers' mess, and wounded several +of the people there, including the general in command. +Such was the Austrian army in those days; and it was +only human if comparisons were made—not making any +allowances for Italy's economic difficulties, her coal, +her social and her religious difficulties—but merely bald +comparisons were made between these wholesale victories +against the Austrians as they were in the autumn of 1918 +and the scantier successes of the previous years. In +September 1916 when the eighth or ninth Italian offensive +had pierced the Austrian front and the Italians reached +a place called Provachina, Marshal Boroević had only +one reserve division. The heavy artillery was withdrawn, +the light artillery was packed up, the company commanders +having orders to retire in the night. Only a +few rapid-fire batteries were left with a view to deceiving +the enemy. But as the Italians appeared to the Austrians +to have no heart to come on—there may have been other<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> +reasons—the artillery was unpacked and the Austrians +returned to their old front. In May 1917, between Monte +Gabriele and Doberdo, Boroević had no reserve battalion; +his troops, in full marching kit, had to defend the whole +front: they were able to do so by proceeding now to this +sector and now to that. No army is immune from serious +mistakes—"We won in 1871," said Bismarck, "although +we made very many mistakes, because the French made +even more"—but the Yugoslavs in the Austrian army +could not forget such incidents as that connected with +the name of Professor Pivko. This gentleman, who is +now living at Maribor, was made the subject of a book, +<i>Der Verrath bei Carzano</i> ("The Treachery near Carzano"), +which was published by the Austrian General Staff. His +battalion commander was a certain Lieut.-Colonel Vidale, +who was a first cousin of the C.O., General Vidale; and +when an orderly overheard Pivko, who is a Slovene, and +several Czech officers, discussing a plan which would +open the front to the Italians, he ran all the way to the +General's headquarters and gave the information. The +General telephoned to his cousin, who said that the allegation +was absurd and that Pivko was one of his best officers. +The orderly was therefore thrown into prison, and Pivko, +having turned off the electricity from the barbed wires +and arranged matters with a Bosnian regiment, made his +way to the Italians. The suggestion is that, owing to +the lie of the land and the weak Austrian forces, it was +possible for the Italians to reach Trent; anyhow the +Austrians were amazed when they ceased to advance and +the German regiment which was in Trent did not have to +come out to defend it. Everyone in the Austrian army +recognized that the Italian artillery was pre-eminent +and that the officers were most gallant, especially in the +early part of the War, when one would frequently find +an officer lying dead with no men near him. But such +episodes as the above-mentioned—it would be possible, +but wearisome, to describe others—could not but have +some effect on the opposing army, and would be recalled +when the Italians sang their final panegyric. The reasons +for the Austrian <i>débâcle</i> on the Piave are as follows: +when the Allied troops had reached Rann, Susegana, +Ponte di Piave and Montiena, the Austrian High Command<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> +decided on October 24 to throw against them the +36th Croat division, the 21st Czech, the 44th Slovene, a +German division and the 12th Croat Regiment of Uhlans. +However, the 16th and 116th Croat, the 30th Regiment +of Czech Landwehr and the 71st Slovene Landwehr Regiment +declared that they would not fight against the French +and English, and, instead of advancing, retired. The +78th Croat Regiment, as well as three other Czech Regiments, +abandoned the front, after having made a similar +declaration. At the same time the 96th and 135th Croat +Regiments, in agreement with the Czech detachments, +made a breach for the Italians on the left wing at Stino +di Livenza, while Slav marching formations revolted at +Udine. The Austro-Hungarian troops consequently had +to retreat.... No one expects of the Italian army, as +<ins class="correction" +title="Transcriber's note: original reads 'as'">a</ins> whole, that it will be on a level with the best, but +when the British officers who were with the Serbs on the +Salonica front compare their reminiscences with those +of the British officers on the Italian front, it is improbable +that garlands will be strewn for the Italians. Towards +the end of October a plan was adopted by the British +and Italian staffs for capturing the island of Papadopoli in +the Piave; this island, about three miles in length, formed +the outpost line of the Austrian defences. On the night +of October 23-24 an attack was to be made by the 2nd +H.A.C., while three companies of the 1st Royal Welsh +Fusiliers were to act as reserve. This operation is most +vividly described by the Senior Chaplain of the 7th +Division, the Rev. E. C. Crosse, D.S.O., M.C.;<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> and he +says nothing as to what occurred on that part of the island +which was to be seized by the Italians. Well, nothing +had occurred, for the Italians did not get across and when +the water rose they said they could do nothing on that +night. These are the words of Mr. Crosse's footnote: +"The obvious question, 'What was going to be done with +the farther half of the island?' we have purposely left +undiscussed here. This half was outside the area of the +7th Division, and as such it falls outside the scope of this +work for the time being. The subsequent capture of the +whole island (on the following night) by the 7th Division +was not part of the original plan." Afterwards, when a +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span>crossing was made to the mainland, the left flank was unsupported, +as the Italians did not cross the river, and thus +the 23rd Division had its flank exposed. A belief is +entertained that the Italian cavalry is one of the best +in the world; evidently it is not the best, for on that +Piave front, where thousands of Italian cavalry were +available, the only ones who put in their appearance +early in the battle were three hundred very war-stained +Northampton Yeomanry.</p> + +<p>"The record of the Italian troops in the field renders +unnecessary an assertion of their courage," says Mr. +Anthony Dell;<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> "for reckless bravery in assault none +surpasses them." But when you have said that you +have nearly summed up their military virtues, for discipline +is not their strong suit, and they have little sense +of responsibility. On the other hand, we must remember +their admirable patience, but the great mass of the people +have not attained the level of Christianity; they are +savage both in heart and mind, with no outlook wider +than that of the family. It is the Italian proletariat +which is judged by the Yugoslavs, whose otherwise acute +discernment has been warped by the unhappy circumstances +of the time. Indifferent to the fact that he +himself is a compound of physical energy and oriental +mysticism, the Yugoslav has become inclined to contemplate +merely the physical side of the Italian, and for +the most part that portion of it which has to do with war. +The Italian long-sightedness and prudence and business +capacity are ignored save in so far as they delayed the +country's entrance into the Great War. The sensitiveness +and artistic attributes of the Italians, who gaze with +aching hearts upon the glories of a sunset, are but rarely +felt by Serbs, who gather brushwood for the fire that is +to roast their sucking-pig and who sit down to watch the +operation, haply with their backs turned to the sunset. +The Yugoslav, especially the Serb, is a man from the +Middle Ages brought suddenly into the twentieth century. +With his heroic heart and his wonderful strength he fails +to understand those people who, on account of one +reason or another, have no passion for war. And as the +military deeds of the Italians have had such effect upon +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span>the minds of the Yugoslavs, we have alluded to them at a +greater length than would otherwise have been profitable. +The Yugoslavs despise the Italians. Also the Italians, +who concern themselves with diplomacy, are conscious +that their keen wits and their long training in the wiles +of the civilized world, their old traditions and their +prestige give them a considerable advantage over the +Yugoslav diplomat, so that this kind of Italian despises +the Yugoslav. He knows very well that the French or +British statesmen do not, amid the smoke of after-dinner +cigars, esteem his case by the same standard as that +which they apply to the case which the ordinary Yugoslav +diplomat presents to them in office hours. As for the +wider Italian circles, one must fear that the old hatred +of Germany, because the Germans seemed to despise +them, will henceforward colour the sentiments with which +they regard the Yugoslavs. It is a state of things between +these neighbours which other people cannot but view +with apprehension.</p> + + +<p class="section">AN UNFORTUNATE NAVAL AFFAIR</p> + +<p>There was in Yugoslav naval circles no very cordial +feeling for the Italians. The Austrian dreadnought, +<i>Viribus Unitis</i>, was torpedoed in a most ingenious fashion +by two resolute officers, Lieutenant Raffaele Paolucci, +a doctor, and Major Raffaele Rossetti. In October 1917 +they independently invented a very small and light +compressed-air motor which could be used to propel a +mine into an enemy harbour. They submitted their +schemes to the Naval Inventions Board, were given an +opportunity of meeting, and after three months had brought +their invention into a practical form. The naval authorities, +however, refused to allow them to go on any expedition +till they both were skilled long-distance swimmers. +Six months had thus to be dedicated entirely to swimming. +At the end of that time they were supplied with +a motor-boat and two bombs of a suitable size for blowing +up large airships. To these bombs were fixed the small +motors by means of which they were to be propelled +into the port of Pola, while the two men, swimming by +their side, would control and guide them. Just after<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> +nightfall on October 31, 1918, the raiders arrived outside +Pola.</p> + +<p>Were they aware that anything had happened in the +Austro-Hungarian navy? On October 26 there appeared +in the <i>Hrvatski List</i> of Pola a summons to the Yugoslavs, +made by the Executive Committee of Zagreb, which had +been elected on the 23rd. This notice in the newspaper +recommended the formation of local committees, and +asked the Yugoslavs in the meantime to eschew all +violence. When Rear-Admiral (then Captain) Methodius +Koch—whose mother was an Englishwoman—read this +at noon he thought it was high time to do something. +Koch had always been one of the most patriotically +Slovene officers of the Austrian navy. On various +occasions during the War he had attempted to hand over +his ships to the Italians, and when some other Austrian +commander signalled to ask him why he was cruising +so near to the Italian coast he invariably answered, "I +have my orders." He found it, however, impossible to +give himself up, as the Italians whom he sighted, no matter +how numerous they were, would never allow him to come +within signalling range. Koch had frequently spoken +to his Slovene sailors, preparing them for the day of +liberation, and he was naturally very popular among +them. Let us not forget that such an officer, true to his +own people, was in constant peril of being shot.</p> + + +<p class="section">WHAT WAS HAPPENING AT POLA</p> + +<p>On the afternoon of that same day, October 26th, +when the Austro-Hungarian Empire, with its army and +navy, was collapsing, Admiral Horthy, an energetic, +honest, if not brilliant Magyar, the Commander of the +Fleet at Pola, called to his flag-ship, the <i>Viribus Unitis</i>, +one officer representing each nationality of the Empire. +Koch was there on behalf of the Slovenes. The Admiral +announced that a wholesale mutiny had been planned +for November 1st, during which the ships' treasuries +would be robbed, and he asked these officers to collaborate +with him in preventing it. Koch, at the Admiral's +request, wrote out a speech that he would deliver to the +Slovenes, and this document, with one or two notes in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> +the Admiral's writing, is in Koch's possession. "If you +will not listen to your Admirals, then," so ran the speech, +"you should listen to our national leaders." He +addressed himself to the men, of course in the Slovene +language, as a fellow-countryman. He begged them to +keep quiet. He deprecated all plundering, firstly in +order that their good name should not be sullied, and also +pointing out that the neighbouring population was overwhelmingly +Slovene. Out of 45,000 men only 2000 +could leave by rail; he therefore asked them all to stay +peacefully at Pola. Meanwhile the local committee had +been formed; Koch was, secretly, a member of it, and +on the 28th, Rear-Admiral Cicoli, a kindly old gentleman +who was port-commandant, advised Koch to join it as +liaison-officer. It was on the 28th at eight in the morning +that the officers who had been selected to calm the different +nationalities started to go round the fleet. That officer +who spoke to the Germans declared that one must not +abandon hopes of victory, and that anyhow the War +would soon be over. Count Thun, who discoursed to +the Czechs, was ill-advised enough to make the Deity, +their Kaiser and their oath the main subjects of his +remarks, so that he was more than once in great danger +of being thrown overboard. Koch went first of all to +the <i>Viribus Unitis</i>, but the mutiny had begun; a bugle +was sounded for a general assembly; it was ignored, and +the crew let it be known that they were weary of the +old game, which consisted of the officers egging on one +nation against another. This mutiny had not yet spread +to the remaining ships, and on them the speeches were +delivered. At the National Assembly that evening Koch +was chosen as chief of National Defence; he thereupon +went to Cicoli and formally asked to be allowed to join +the committee. When Vienna refused its assent, Koch +resigned his commission. By this time all discipline +had gone by the board, no one thought of such a thing +as office work and, amid the chaos, sailors' councils +appeared, with which Koch had to treat. The situation +was made no easier by the presence of large numbers of +Germans, Magyars and Italians, of whom the latter also +formed a National Council. On the 30th, Koch, as chief +of National Defence, asked Admirals Cicoli and Horthy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> +to come at 9 p.m. to the Admiralty, with a view to the +transference of the military power. At 7.30, in the +municipal building, there was a joint meeting of the +Yugoslav and the Italian National Councils, and so many +speeches were made that the Admirals had to be asked +to postpone their appearance for two hours; and at +eleven o'clock, with the street well guarded against a +possible outbreak on the part of any loyal troops, the whole +Yugoslav committee, accompanied by one member of +the Italian committee, went to the Admiralty. Horthy +had gone home, but Cicoli and his whole staff were +waiting. The old gentleman was informed that he no +longer had any power in his hands; he was asked to +give up his post to Koch, and this he was prepared to do. +"It is not so hard for me now," he said, "as I have +meanwhile received a telegram from His Majesty, ordering +me," and at this point he produced the paper, "to give +up Pola to the Yugoslavs." The affair had apparently +been settled between nine and eleven o'clock. Cicoli +was ready to sign the protocol, but out of courtesy to a +chivalrous old man this was left undone; after all there +were witnesses enough.</p> + +<p>During the night of October 30th-31st, a radiogram, +destined for President Wilson, was composed. "Together +with the Czechs, the Slovaks and the Poles, and in understanding," +it said, "with the Italians, we have taken +over the fleet and Pola, the war-harbour, and the forts." +It asked for the dispatch of representatives of such +Entente States as were disinterested in the local national +question. But now a telegram was received from Zagreb, +announcing that Dr. Ante Tresić-Pavičić, of the chief +National Council, would be at Pola at 8 a.m. and that, +pending his arrival, no wireless was to be sent out. Dr. +Tresić-Pavičić,<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> poet and deputy for the lower Dalmatian +islands, had always been, in spite of his indifferent health, +one of the most strenuous fighters for Yugoslavia. Two +years of the War he spent in an Austrian prison, but on +his release he managed to travel up and down Croatia +and Dalmatia, inciting the Yugoslav sailors to revolt; +many of them had already read a speech by this silver-tongued +deputy in the Reichsrath, a speech of which +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span>the reading and circulation had been forbidden as a crime +of high treason. About 9 a.m. of the 31st there was a +meeting, on board the <i>Viribus Unitis</i>, between Tresić-Pavičić +and Koch. There was a brief ceremony, the +leader of the Sailors' Council handing over the vessel +to the deputy, as representing the National Council of +Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Admiral Horthy, in his +cabin, likewise drew up a <i>procès-verbal</i> to the same +effect, saying that he was authorized to do this by the +Emperor, and he supported his statement by the production +of a wireless message. Koch urged on the doctor +the necessity of sending the above-mentioned wireless +to Wilson. "The news of this great event," says Tresić-Pavičić +in an article in the <i>Balkan Review</i> (May 1919), +"was dispatched to all the Powers by wireless." But +unfortunately he seems, whether on his own responsibility +or that of Zagreb, to have prevented Koch from sending +it on that day. Captain Janko de Vuković Podkapelski +was then placed in command of the fleet, though the +Sailors' Council at first declined to accept him. He was +at heart a patriot, but had taken no active part in Yugoslav +propaganda and, unluckily for himself, he had been +compelled to accompany Count Tisza in his recent ill-starred +tour of Bosnia, when the Magyar leader made a +last attempt to browbeat the local Slavs. Yet, as no +other high officer was available, Koch told the Sailors' +Council that they simply must acknowledge Vuković, +and at 4 p.m. he took over the command, the Yugoslav +flag being hoisted on all the vessels simultaneously, to +the accompaniment of the Croatian national anthem and +the firing of salutes.</p> + + +<p class="section">THE STORY OF THE "VIRIBUS UNITIS"</p> + +<p>Three hours previously to this a torpedo-boat, with +Paolucci and Rossetti on board, had sailed from Venice; +and at ten o'clock in the evening, as Paolucci tells us,<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> he +and his companion, after a certain amount of embracing, +handshaking, saluting and loyal exclamations, plunged +into the water. The first obstacle was a wooden pier +upon which sentries were marching to and fro; this +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span>was safely passed by means of two hats shaped like +bottles, which Paolucci and Rossetti now put on. The +bombs were submerged, and thus the sentry saw nothing +but a couple of bottles being tossed about by the waves. +A row of wooden beams, bearing a thin electric wire, had +then to be negotiated, and the last obstacle consisted of +half a dozen steel nets which had laboriously to be disconnected +from the cables which held them. It was now +nearly six o'clock; the two men cautiously approached +the <i>Viribus Unitis</i> and fixed one of their bombs just +below the water-line, underneath the ladder conducting +to the deck. Paolucci simply records, without comment, +that the ship was illuminated; perhaps he and his friend +were too tired to make the obvious deduction that the +hourly-expected end of the War had really arrived. A +number of officers from other ships had remained on the +<i>Viribus Unitis</i> after the previous evening's ceremony; +but the look-out, seeing the Italians in the water, must +have thought it was eccentric of them to come swimming +out at this hour to join in the festivities. A motor-launch +soon picked them up and they were brought on +board the flag-ship. "Viva l'Italia!" they shouted, +for they were proud of dying for their country. "Viva +l'Italia!" replied some of the crew to this pair of allied +officers. When they were conducted to Captain Vuković +they told him that his vessel would in a short time be +blown up. The order was given to abandon ship, and +Paolucci and his friend relate<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> that when they asked the +captain if they might also try to save themselves he shook +them both by the hand, saying that they were brave men +and that they deserved to live. So they plunged into +the water and swam rapidly away, but a few minutes +later they were picked up by a launch and taken back, +the captain having suddenly begun to suspect, they said, +that the story of the bomb was untrue. They were +again made to walk up the ladder, under which lay the +explosives. It was then 6.28. The ladder was crowded +with sailors who were also returning to their ship. "Run, +run for your lives," shouted Paolucci. At last his foot +touched the deck, and then he and Rossetti ran as fast +as they could to the stern. Hardly had they got there +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span>than a terrific explosion rent the air, and a column of +water shot three hundred feet straight up into the sky. +Paolucci and Rossetti were again in the water, and looking +back they saw a man scramble up the side of the vessel, +which had now turned completely over, with her keel +uppermost. There on the keel stood this man, with +folded arms. It was Vuković, who had insisted on going +down with his ship. About fifty other men were killed.</p> + +<p>When Koch came out of his house, feeling that there +must be no more delay in sending the radiogram to +President Wilson, a young Italian Socialist ran up to him +in the street and told him of the fate of the flagship. As +the news spread everyone thought it must be the work +of some Austrian officers. It was feared that they would +explode the arsenal, and that would have meant the +destruction of the whole town. Amid the uproar and +chaos, Koch had placards distributed, saying that the +<i>Viribus Unitis</i> had been torpedoed by two Italians, who +were in custody. And then the wireless was sent to Paris.</p> + +<p>The two officers were taken to the Admiralty and then +placed on the dreadnought <i>Prince Eugene</i>, it being +rumoured that the Italians of Pola intended to rescue +them. Subsequently Koch and other officers, together +with Dr. Stanić, President of the Italian National Council, +went out to see the prisoners. Stanić was left alone with +them for as long as he wished. And when Koch saw them—he +did not then shake hands—and asked if they knew +what they had done, "I know it," replied Rossetti rather +arrogantly. Paolucci's demeanour was more modest.</p> + +<p>"I was your friend all through the War," said Koch, +"and now you sink our ships. I can only assume that +you were ignorant of what had taken place."</p> + +<p>They said that that was so.</p> + +<p>"But if you had known," said the Admiral to Rossetti, +"would you have done this?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," he answered. "I am an officer. I had my +orders to blow up the ship and I would have obeyed them."</p> + +<p>Koch had undertaken that if it turned out that they +were unaware of the ship's transference to the Yugoslavs +he would kiss them both. He did so, and allowed them +to communicate with Italy by wireless.</p> + +<p>Never, says Koch, will the unpleasant taste of those<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> +kisses leave his mouth. The men were officers; their +words could not be doubted. But as they must surely +have been in Venice for at least a day or two before +October 31, it seems extraordinary that they did not +hear, via Triest, of what the Emperor Charles was doing +with his navy. If only they had perfected their invention +and learned to swim a trifle sooner there would be +no shadow cast on their achievement, but the Yugoslavs—who +had never seen any sort of Italian naval attack +on Pola during the War—could not be blamed for thinking +that the disappearance of their <i>Viribus Unitis</i> would +be viewed with equanimity by the Italians.... With +regard to the other vessels, it was arranged in Paris that +they should proceed, under the white flag, to Corfu with +Yugoslav commanders; but this was found impossible, +as they were undermanned. Part of the fleet arrived +at Kotor and was placed at the disposal of the commander +of the Yugoslav detachment of the Allied forces +which had come from Macedonia. A serious episode +occurred at Pola, where on November 5 an Italian squadron +arrived and demanded the surrender of the ships. The +Yugoslav commander succeeded in sending by wireless +a strong protest to Paris against this barefaced violation +of the agreement. The Italian commander, Admiral +Cagni, likewise sent a protest, but Clemenceau upheld +the Yugoslavs. They were absolutely masters of the +ex-Austro-Hungarian fleet; it rested solely with them +either to sink it or hand it over to the Allies in good +condition. The Yugoslavs did not sink the fleet, because +they wished to show their loyalty to, and confidence in, +the justice of the Allies. They never suspected at that +time that the ships would not be shared at least equally +between themselves and the Italians. But in December +1919 the Supreme Council in Paris allotted to the Yugoslavs +twelve disarmed torpedo-boats for policing and +patrolling their coasts.</p> + + +<p class="section">HOW THE ITALIANS LANDED AT POLA</p> + +<p>Admiral Cagni was invited by the Yugoslavs to enter +the harbour of Pola. But for two and a half days he hesitated +outside and heavily bombarded the hill-fortress of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> +Barbarica, which had been abandoned. At last he made +up his mind to risk a landing. The Italian girls of Pola, +dressed in white, came down in a procession to the port; +their arms were full of flowers for the Italian sailors. +And the first men who disembarked were buried in flowers +and kissed and kissed before the girls perceived that, by +a prudent Italian arrangement, this advance guard consisted +of men of the Czecho-Slovak Legion. The first +care of the Italians at Pola was not to ascertain the +whereabouts of the munition depots; they made for the +naval museum, where trophies from the battle of Vis +in 1866 were preserved. These they removed, as well +as whatever took their fancy at the Arsenal. Among +their booty was a silver dinner service which it had been +customary to use on occasions of Imperial visits. An +Italian officer appeared on the <i>Radetzky</i>. Very roughly +he asked an officer who he was. "I am the commander," +said this first-lieutenant. "No! no!" said the other, +"I am that." But the Italians for the most part avoided +going on board the ships.... Admiral Cagni himself +was very ill at ease, but grew noticeably more confident +as he observed the utter demoralization of Pola. His +correspondence likewise underwent the appropriate +changes. While Koch was in command of 45,000 men, +Cagni wrote to "His Excellency the most illustrious +Signor Ammiraglio"; when the numbers were reduced +to 20,000 the style of address was "Illustrious Signor +Ammiraglio"; when they fell to 10,000 it became "Al +Signor Ammiraglio"; when only 5000 remained a letter +began with the word "Ammiraglio!" and when the +last man had left Pola and Koch was alone, Cagni sent +word through his adjutant that he knew no Admiral +Koch but merely a Signor Koch.</p> + + +<p class="section">THE SEA-FARING YUGOSLAVS</p> + +<p>Talking of numbers, one may mention that the Yugoslavs +formed about 65 per cent. of the Austro-Hungarian +navy, as one would naturally expect from the sea-faring +population of Dalmatia and Istria. In the technical +branches of the service only about 40 per cent. were +Yugoslavs, for a preference was given to Germans and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> +Magyars. Out of 116 chief engineers only two were +Yugoslavs. Serbo-Croat was an obligatory language; +but German, as in the army, was the language of command. +Thus one sees that, in spite of not being favoured, +the Yugoslavs of the Adriatic, who are natural sailors, +constituted more than half the personnel of the navy. +"These Slav people," writes Mr. Hilaire Belloc,<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> who +took the trouble to go to the Adriatic with a view to +solving the local problems, "these Slav people have only +tentatively approached the sea. Its traffic was never +native to them." If he had continued a little way down +the coast he would have seen many and many a neat +little house whose owners are retired sea-captains. "They +are not mariners," says Mr. Belloc. If he had made a +small excursion into history he would have learned that +Venice—since it was to her own advantage—made an +exception of Dalmatia's shipping industry, and while she +was placing obstacles along the roads that a Dalmatian +might wish to take, allowed the time-honoured industries +of the sea to be developed. Such fine sailors were the +Dalmatians that Benedetto Pesaro, the Venetian Admiral +against the Turks in the fifteenth century, deplored the +fact that his galleys were not fully manned by them, +instead of those "Lombardi" whom he despised. "They +are," says Mr. John Leyland,<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> the naval authority—they +are "pre-eminently a maritime race. The circumstances +of their geography, and in a chief degree the wonderful +configuration of their coast-line, with its sheltered +waters and admirable anchorages, made them sea-farers.... +The proud Venetians knew them as pirates and +marauders long ago." And "there has never been a +better seaman," adds Mr. Leyland, "than the pirate +turned trader." In 1780 the island of Brač had forty +vessels, Lussin a hundred, and Kotor, which in the second +half of the eighteenth century quadrupled her mercantile +marine, had a much larger fleet than either of them. +The best-known dockyards were those at Korčula and +Trogir, while the great Overseas Sailing Ship Navigation +Company at Peljesac (Sabioncello) occupied an important +position in the world of trade. The company's fleet of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span>large sailing vessels was of native construction; both +crews and captains were natives of the country, so that +it was in every way the best representative of the Dalmatian +mercantile marine of the period. When the +Treaty of Vienna in 1815 gave Venice, Istria and the +Eastern Adriatic to the Habsburgs the vessels plying in +those waters were very largely Slav. And with the substitution +of steam the Dalmatians are still holding their +own, with this difference, that the ships are now built, +even as they are manned, not by nobles and the wealthy +<i>bourgeoisie</i>, but by men who come from modest sea-faring +or peasant families. In the Austrian mercantile +marine German capital formed 47·82 per cent., Italian +capital 19·37 per cent. and Slav capital 31·80 per cent. +One of these Dalmatian Slavs, Mihanović, going out in +poverty to the Argentine, has followed with such success +the shipbuilding of his ancestors that he is now among +the chief millionaires of Buenos Aires. With regard to +fishing, there are along the Istrian and Dalmatian coast +more than 5000 small vessels which give employment +to 19,000 fishermen, of whom only 1000 are citizens of +Italy. But Mr. Belloc says that these Slav people have +only tentatively approached the sea, that its traffic was +never native to them, and that they are not mariners. It +is marvellous that you can be paid for writing that sort of +stuff.... By Mr. Belloc's side is the Marchese Donghi, +who in the <i>Fortnightly Review</i> of June 1922 says: "It is +superfluous to add that everything which has to do with +navigation [in Dalmatia] is entirely in the hands of the +Italians." But I think it is superfluous to contradict a +gentleman who ingenuously believes that Dalmatia is +largely Italian because on our maps we have hitherto +used Italian place-names. Will he say that the population +of Praha is not Czech because on our maps that +capital is commonly called Prague? It pleases the +Marchese to be facetious about what he describes as +"that queer thing called the Srba Hrvata i Slovenca +Kralji (Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes)"; he +should have said "Kraljevina Srba, Hrvata i Slovenaca." +He says that in Serbia "no industry is possible," whereas +in one single town, Lescovac, there are no less than +eleven textile besides other factories. He says that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span> +one-third of the population of Dalmatia is Italian, and +"almost exclusively the nobility and the upper <i>bourgeoisie</i>." +I suppose that is why more than 700 of Dalmatia's leading +citizens were deported by the Italians after the Great +War. He says many other nonsensical things, and sums +it all up by telling us of the "bewildered incomprehension" +of the Adriatic problem!</p> + + +<p class="section">WHO SET A STANDARD THAT WAS TOO HIGH</p> + +<p>Whether rightly or wrongly, the Yugoslavs had formed +their opinion of the Italian sailors, an opinion which dated +from the time of Tegetthoff and had not undergone much +modification by the incidents of this War. They remembered +what had happened when they cruised outside +Italian ports; they knew very probably that the British +had on more than one occasion to break through the +boom outside Taranto harbour, and they may have read<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> +of the experience of some French ladies who came to the +Albanian coast on the <i>Città di Bari</i> towards the end of +1915 with 2000 kilos of milk, clothing and medical supplies +for the Serbian children who had struggled across the +mountains. These ladies write that after the torpedoing +of the <i>Brindisi</i> their own crew ran up and down without +appearing to see them; the crew had life-belts, those +of the ladies were taken away. Ultimately they succeeded +in having themselves put ashore, and the <i>Città di +Bari</i> fled in the night without landing the stores. And +in Albania, the ladies say, one witnessed the "stoic +endurance of the noble Serbian race, of which every day +brought us more examples. In that procession of ghosts +and of the dying there was no imploring look, there was +no hand stretched out to beg." ... The Yugoslavs may +have known what happened to Lieutenant (now Captain) +Binnos de Pombara of the French navy. This officer, +in command of the <i>Fourche</i>, had been escorting the <i>Città +di Messina</i> and, observing that she was torpedoed, had +sent to her, perhaps a little imprudently, all his life-boats +and belts. A few minutes later, when he was himself +torpedoed, the Italians did not see him; anyhow they +made for the shore. De Pombara encouraged his men +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span>by causing them to sing the Marseillaise and so forth; +they were in the water, clinging to the wreckage, for +several hours, until another boat came past. The next +day at Brindisi, when he met the captain of the <i>Città di +Messina</i>, this gentleman once more did not see him; +but the French Government, although de Pombara was +a very young man, created him an officer of the Legion +of Honour.</p> + + +<p class="section">AN ELECTRICAL ATMOSPHERE AND NO PRECAUTIONS</p> + +<p>There was thus a certain amount of tension existing +between the military and naval services of the Yugoslavs +and those of Italy. Other Yugoslavs were apprehensive +as to whether the Italians would not demand the enforcement +of the Treaty of London. But the United +States was not bound by that agreement, which was so +completely at variance with Wilson's principle of self-determination. +One presumed that, pending an examination +of these matters, the disputed territories would be +occupied by troops of all the Allies. But unfortunately +this did not turn out to be the case. France, Britain +and America stood by, while the Italians and the Yugoslavs +took whatsoever they could lay their hands on. As the +Yugoslav military forces had to come overland, while +the Italians had command of the sea, it was natural +that in most places the Italians got the better of the +scramble; and where they found the Yugoslavs in possession, +as at Rieka, they usually ousted them by diplomatic +methods. And in one way or another they managed to +make their holdings tally, as far as possible, with the +Treaty of London, and even to go beyond it. Baron +Sonnino declined to make a comprehensive statement +as to the Italian programme. Of course he desired in +the end to exchange Dalmatia—the seizure of which +would entail a war with Yugoslavia—against Rieka. +But as Italian public opinion had scarcely thought of +Rieka during the War, he made it his business to cause +them to yearn for that town. His compatriots were +asking why Mr. Wilson's Fourteen Points should be waived +for France in the Sarre Basin, for Britain in Ireland and +Egypt, but not for them. And some of his would-be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> +ingenious compatriots pointed out—their contentions +were embodied in the Italian Memorandum to the Supreme +Council on January 10, 1920—that as the Treaty of London +was based on the presumption that Montenegro, Serbia +and Croatia would remain separate States, this instrument +had been altogether upset by the merging of those +Southern Slavs into one country, Yugoslavia; it followed, +therefore, that the Treaty which attributed Rieka to +the Croats could no longer be invoked. But the other +parts of the Treaty which gave the Slav mainland and +islands to Italy were absolutely unassailable. The +reader will resent being troubled by this kind of balderdash, +but Messrs. Clemenceau, Lloyd-George and Wilson +may have resented it even more.</p> + + +<p class="section">ITALIAN MILDNESS ON THE ISLE OF VIS</p> + +<p>On November 3 the Italians arrived outside Vis +(Lissa), the most westerly of the large islands, where +the entire population of 11,000 is Slav, except for the +family of an honoured inhabitant, Dr. Doimi, and three +other families related to his. Dr. Doimi's people have +lived for many years on this island—his father was mayor +of the capital, which is also called Vis, for half a century—and +now they have become so acclimatized that, as +he told me, three of his four nephews prefer to call themselves +Yugoslavs. This phenomenon can be seen all +down the Adriatic coast. It has often, for example, +been pointed out to Dr. Vio, the very Italian ex-mayor +of Rieka, that he has a Croat father and several Croat +brothers. Thus also the Duimić family of the same town +has one brother married to a Magyar lady and very fond +of the Magyars, a second brother who is a Professor at +Milan, and a third who lives above Rieka and is a Yugoslav. +The terms "Yugoslav" and "Italian" have now come +to signify not what a man is, but what he wants to be, +applying thus the admirable principle of self-determination. +Well, in the old days on the isle of Vis between +two and three hundred people belonged to the Autonomist +party, owing to their great regard for Dr. Doimi; but +these say now that they are Yugoslavs, and the Italians—at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> +all events Captain Sportiello, their chief officer at +Vis—acknowledged that they must base their demand on +strategic reasons. A day or two before the Italians +arrived the population had arrested several Austrian +functionaries, including the mayor and three gendarmes, +who had maltreated them during the War. None of these +persons were Italian; and when the Italian boats were +sighted a committee went to meet them joyfully and +brought the officers ashore upon their backs. The +officers explained that they had come as representatives +of the Entente and the United States, and for the object—which +appeared superfluous—of protecting Vis from +German submarines. If the Italians had been everywhere +as inoffensive as at Vis, it would be more agreeable to +write about their doings. Captain Sportiello, a naval +officer, showed himself throughout the months of his +administration to be sensible; he frequented Yugoslav +houses. The greatest divergence occurred on June 1, +1919, when the Italians planned to have a demonstration +for their national holiday, and asked the inhabitants to +come to the bioscope, where they would be regaled with +cakes and sweets; the inhabitants replied that they +preferred to have Yugoslavia.... But there is a monument +in the cemetery at Vis to which I must refer. It +is a very fine monument of white marble, erected by the +Austrians to commemorate their victory in these waters +over the Italian navy in 1866.<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> On the top there is a +lion clutching the Italian flag, while on two of the sides +there are inscriptions in the German language. One of +them, some feet in length, relates that this memorial is +placed there for the officers and men who on July 20, +1866, gave their lives in the service of their Emperor +and country. The Italians screwed two marble slabs +across the upper and the lower parts of this inscription, so +that the German lettering of the central part remained +visible; on the lower slab one read: "Novembre 1918" +and on the upper one "Italia Vincitrice" (Victorious +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span>Italy). We were taken by several Italian officers to look +at this. They were so proud of it that they presented us +with photographs of the monument in its altered state. +I fear that the Italian mentality escapes me. I should +not have written anything about them.</p> + + +<p class="section">THEIR TRUCULENCE AT KORČULA</p> + +<p>They landed on the same day, November 3, on the +beautiful and prosperous island of Korčula (Curzola), +putting ashore at Velaluka, the western harbour. With +the exception of five families, all the people are Yugoslavs; +and the Italians, who sailed in under a white flag, +announced that they had come as friends of the Yugoslavs +and of the Entente, to preserve order and to protect +them against submarines. On the 5th, they went to +the town of Korčula, where one of the two officers, +Lieutenant Poggi, of the navy, put his assurances in +writing, as he had done at Velaluka. He protested +against the word "Occupation." On the 7th they returned +to Velaluka and on the 12th went back, with +about a hundred men, to Korčula. Once more he wrote +that he had not come to occupy the island; he added, +though, that the district officials should act on the +opposite peninsula of Sabioncello in the name of the Yugoslavs, +but over Korčula and the island of Lastovo (Lagosta) +in the name of Italy—not of the Entente. He wanted +to remove the Yugoslav flags from public buildings and +substitute Italian flags. When he was reminded of what +he had said with regard to the Entente, he exclaimed: +"No, no! This is Italy!" The chief district official +protested, and refused to carry out Lieut. Poggi's injunctions, +nor were the Italians able to do so. This officer +remained at Korčula, requisitioning houses and hoisting +as many Italian flags as he could. He issued an order +that after 6.30 p.m. not more than three persons were +allowed to come together in the streets. His men used +to offer food to the women of the place, who declined it; +after which the food was given to the children, who were +previously photographed in an imploring attitude. There +was some trouble on December 15 when the <i>Leonidas</i>, +an American ship, came in with a number of mine-sweepers.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span> +Apparently the Yugoslavs contravened the Italian regulations +by omitting to ask whether their band might play +in the harbour, but, on the supposition that this would +not be accorded to them, went down to the harbour just +as if they were not living under regulations. They +waved American, Serbian and Croatian flags, all of which +the Italians attempted to seize; the most gorgeous one, +a Yugoslav flag of silk with gilt fringes, they tore up +and divided among themselves as a trophy. When the +<i>Leonidas</i> made fast, a lieutenant leaped ashore and +placed himself, holding a revolver, in front of an American +flag. The captain, according to some reports, had his +men standing to their guns, while others of the crew are +said to have been given hand-grenades; but whether +by this method or another, the turbulence on shore was +calmed and the Italians seem to have invited the captain +to step off his boat. He preferred, however, to go to +another port; the populace came overland. One need +not say that there was jollification.... When the other +American boats departed, a small one remained at +Korčula. One day a steamer came from Metković, +having on board a few men of the Yugoslav Legion. +The people of Korčula, not being allowed to take the +men to their houses, came down quietly to the harbour +with coffee and bread, but the carabinieri drove them +away. These legionaries were emigrants to Australia +and Canada, who had come back to fight for the Entente, +including Italy. The Italians wanted to arrest them all +on account of a small Croatian flag which one of them +was holding, but at the request of the American ship +they refrained. A certain Marko Šimunović, who had +gone to Australia from the Korčula village of Račišca, +went over to speak to the sailors on the American boat. +Because of this the carabinieri took him to the military +headquarters. He was interned for several months in +Italy.</p> + +<p>The long island of Hvar (Lesina) was not occupied +until November 13. It is interesting, by the by, to note +how this island came to have its names. In the time of +the Greek colonists it was known as ὁ φἁρος, which subsequently +became Farra or Quarra, leading to the name +Hvar, by which it is known to the Slavs. They also,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> +in the thirteenth century, gave it an alternative name: +Lesna, from the Slav word signifying "wooded," for +the Venetians had not yet despoiled the island of many of +its forests. Lesna was the popular and Hvar the literary +name; and the Italians, taking the former of these, +coined the word Lesina, the sound of which makes many +of them and of other people think that this is an Italian +island.<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> The question of Slav and Italian geographical +names in Dalmatia has been carefully investigated by a +student at Split. Taking the zone which was made over +to the Italians by the Treaty of London, he found that +with the exception of a reef called Maon, alongside the +island of Pago, every island, village, mountain and river +has a Slav name, whereas out of the total of 114 names +there were 64 which have no names in Italian; and +this is giving the Italians credit for such words as Sebenico, +Zemonico and so forth, which in the opinion of philologists +are merely modifications of the original Šibenik, Zemunik, +etc.</p> + + +<p class="section">AND ON HVAR</p> + +<p>At Starigrad on Hvar the Italians also said that they +were representatives of the Entente, but soon they prohibited +the national colours. Being perhaps aware that +in the whole island, with its population of about 20,000, +there were before the War only four or five Italians who +were engaged in selling fruit, their countrymen in November +1918 did their best, by the distribution of other +commodities—rice, flour and macaroni—to make some +more Italians. They succeeded at Starigrad in obtaining +fifteen or twenty recruits. And they made it obvious +that it would be more comfortable to be an Italian than +a Yugoslav. The local Reading-Rooms, whose committee +had received no previous warning, fell so greatly under +the displeasure of the Italians that one night after ten +o'clock—at which time curfew sounded for the Yugoslavs; +the Italians and their friends could stay out until +any hour—the premises were sacked: knives were used +against the pictures, furniture was taken by assault, and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span>mirrors did not long resist the fine élan of the attacking +party. Old vases, other ornaments and books were +thrown into the harbour near the <i>Sirio</i>, the Italian destroyer +which was anchored ten yards from the Reading-Rooms. +Of course there was an inquiry; the result of +it was that several Yugoslavs (and no others) were imprisoned. +The <i>Sirio's</i> commander was a gentleman of +some activity; he sent a telegram to Rome and another +one to Admiral Millo, the Italian Governor of the occupied +parts of Dalmatia, saying that the people of the island +longed for annexation. These telegrams he read aloud +before the islanders, with all his carabinieri in attendance.... +The old-world capital of the island, which is a +smaller place than Starigrad, was occupied on the same +day. The first serious encounter took place on December +4, when the Italians, who were quartered on the upper +floor of the Sokol or gymnastic club, observed that furniture +was being taken from the rooms below them and was +being carried out into the street. If they had asked the +people what they were about they would have heard +that these things had been stored in the gymnasium during +the War and that the place was now to be devoted to its +original purpose. What they did was to believe at once +the yarn of a renegade, who told them that the people +were preparing to blow up the house. The Italians +opened fire, wounded several persons and killed one of +their own carabinieri.</p> + + +<p class="section">HOW THEY WERE RECEIVED AT ZADAR</p> + +<p>On the mainland the Italians were received at Šibenik +with some suspicion. They announced, however, that +they came as representatives of the Allies, and begged for +a pilot who would take them into Šibenik's land-locked +harbour, through the mine-field. The Yugoslavs consented, +and after the Italians had installed themselves +they requisitioned sixty Austrian merchant vessels which +were lying in that harbour. (They left, as a matter of +fact, to the Yugoslavs out of all the ex-Austrian mercantile +fleet exactly four old boats—<i>Sebenico</i>, <i>Lussin</i>, <i>Mossor</i> +and <i>Dinara</i>—with a total displacement of 390 tons.)<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span> +On the other hand, at Zadar, they were received in a very +friendly fashion. In this town, as it had been the seat +of government, with numerous officials and their families, +the Autonomist anti-Croat party had been, under Austria, +more powerful than in any other town in Dalmatia. With +converts coming in from the country, which is entirely +Slav, the Autonomists in Zadar had become well over half +the population,<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> which is about 14,000, that of the surrounding +district being about 23,000. Zadar was thus a +place apart from the rest of Dalmatia, and although the +Dalmatian Autonomists were unable to claim any of the +eleven deputies who went to Vienna, they managed to be +represented in the provincial Chamber—the Landtag—by +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span>six out of the forty-one members. The Landtag was not +elected on the basis of universal suffrage; four out of these +six members were chosen by large landowners, one (Dr. +Ziliotto, the mayor) by the town of Zadar and one by +the Zadar chamber of commerce. Out of the eighty-six +communes of Dalmatia, Zadar was the solitary one that +was Autonomist. Some very few Autonomists were wont +to say that they aspired to union with Italy, but it was +generally thought that most of them agreed with Dr. +Ziliotto when he said in the Landtag in 1906: "We, +separated from Italy by the whole Adriatic—we a few +thousand men, scattered, with no territorial links, among +a population not of hundreds of thousands but of millions +of Slavs, how could we think of union with Italy?" +And Dr. Ziliotto was one of those who always regarded +himself as an Italian. But whether the Zadar Autonomists +were sincere or not when Austria ruled over them, the +large majority of them hung out Italian colours after the +War, and in this they were undoubtedly sincere, although +the motives varied; in some it was the love of Italy, in +some it was ambition and in some a thirst for vengeance.</p> + +<p>[Although both Yugoslavs and Italians criticize the +Austrian figures, it is probable that they are pretty +accurate. The census of 1910 gave for Dalmatia: +610,669 Serbo-Croats, 18,028 Italians, 3081 Germans and +1410 Czecho-Slovaks. The Autonomist party claimed +that they were not 18,028 but 30,000; and that 150,000 +persons in Dalmatia speak Italian. But the Orlando-Sonnino +Government really did try its utmost to improve +these figures. At the end of November 1918 the Italians, +who had charge of the police at Constantinople, put up +notices asking all Austrian subjects from Dalmatia to +inscribe themselves with the authorities and thus receive +protection. In addition to the ordinary large Yugoslav +population, the Austrian army was still there, and two +of its officers, in uniform, inscribed themselves. The +Italians had to endure not a few rebuffs, for they applied +to people at their houses—they had found the nationality +lists at the police offices. The Dutch were looking after +Yugoslav interests, but received no instructions.]<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span></p> + + +<p class="section">WHAT THEY DID THERE</p> + +<p>It was thought at Zadar that the Italians would be +followed in the course of days by the other Allies. Anyhow +the Yugoslavs were in no carping spirit; about 5000 +of them assembled to greet the Italian destroyer; they +were, in fact, more numerous than the Italians. And +perhaps one should record that on this memorable occasion—it +was at an early hour—Dr. Ziliotto had to complete +his toilette as he ran down to the quay. Soon the Italian +captain, shouldered by the crowd, was flourishing two +flags, the Italian and the Yugoslav—although his country +had, of course, not recognized Yugoslavia. For a little +time it was the colour of roses, and the worm that crept +into this paradise seems to have been a Japanese warship +in whose presence each of the two parties wished to demonstrate +how powerful it was. The carabinieri resolved +to maintain order, and as an inmate of the seminary +made, they said, an unpolished gesture at them from a +window they went off and, with some reinforcements, +broke into the Slav Reading-Room and damaged it considerably. +The Italian officers and men at Zadar went +about their duties for some time without permitting +themselves to be drawn into local politics, but they were +told repeatedly that the Slavs are goats and barbarians, +so that at last the men appear to have concluded that +strong measures were required. Some of them mingled, +in civilian clothes, with the unruly elements, and Zadar's +narrow streets became most hazardous for Yugoslav +pedestrians. Girls and men alike were roughly handled; +thrice in one day, for example, a professor—Dr. Stoikević—had +his ears boxed as he went to or was coming from his +school. Yet Zadar is a dignified old place; the chief +men of the town and the Italian officers did what they +could to keep it so. But away from their control some +deeds of truculence occurred. The prison warders, as +the spirit moved them, forced the Slavs there to be quiet, +or to shout "Viva Italia!" Most of the Slavs were in +the gaol for having had in their possession Austrian paper +money stamped by the Yugoslav authorities; these notes +were subsequently declared by the Italians to be illegal; +but if a man came from Croatia, for example, and had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> +nothing else, it was a trifle harsh to lock him up and confiscate +the money. Eight good people went to Zadar +prison owing to the fact that near the ancient town of +Biograd they had been sitting underneath the olive trees +and singing Croat folk-songs. Nor was it much in keeping +with Zadar's dignity when the "Ufficio Propaganda" put +out a large red placard which invited boys between the +ages of nine and seventeen to join in establishing a "Corpo +Nazionale dei giovani esploratori"—that is to say, an association +of boy scouts. It is superfluous to inquire as to +why these boys were mustered.... When the Austrians +collapsed, a few old rifles were seized by the Italians and +the Croats, the latter having fifteen or twenty which they +hid in various villages. A priest and a medical student +were privy to this fearful crime. A hue and cry was +raised by the carabinieri—the priest vanished, the student +jumped out of a window of his house and also vanished. +But the carabinieri would not be denied. They suspected +that the Albanians of the neighbouring village of Borgo +Erizzo were abetting the Slavs. It was necessary, therefore, +to castigate them. The 2500 inhabitants of Borgo +Erizzo, nearly all of them Albanians who speak their own +language and Serbo-Croat, while 5 per cent. also speak +Italian, used to be divided in their sympathies before the +War—75 per cent. being adherents of the Slavs in Zadar +and 25 per cent. of the Autonomists. Now they have, +excepting 5 per cent., gone over to the Slavs, and as they +have retained some of the habits of their ancestors, they +were not going to let the hostile forces win an easy victory. +A student marched in front of the Italians, then about +ten carabinieri, then a few ranks of soldiers, and then the +mob of Zadar. The Albanians were in two groups, twenty +sheltering behind walls to the right of the road and twenty +to the left; they were armed with stones, their women +folk were bringing them relays of these. The encounter +ended in three carabinieri and seven or eight soldiers +being wounded. In order to avenge this defeat one +Duka, who is by birth an Albanian and is a teacher at +the Italian "Liga" school, which was built a few years +ago at Borgo Erizzo, determined on the next afternoon to +attack the Teachers' Institute, which is situated 400 steps +from his own establishment, and which on the previous<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span> +day had shown a strong defence. He led the attack in +person, firing his revolver. But the casualties were light. +The Teachers' Institute was, after this, occupied by the +military, and Admiral Millo paid a complimentary visit to +Duka at his school.</p> + + +<p class="section">PRETTY DOINGS AT KRK</p> + +<p>Proceeding up the Adriatic we come to the Quarnero +Islands, of which the most considerable is Krk (Veglia). +The whole district had, at the last census, 19,562 inhabitants +whose ordinary language was Serbo-Croat, and 1544 who +commonly spoke Italian. Of these latter the capital, +likewise called Krk, contained 1494, and only 644 who +gave themselves out as Slavs. The town, with its tortuous, +rather wistful streets, was the residence of the Venetian +officials, and five or six of those old families remain. The +rest of the 1494 are nearly all Italianized Slavs, who under +Austria used to call themselves either Austrians of Italian +tongue or else Istrians. However, if they wish to be +Italians now, there is none to say them nay. They +include five out of the twenty officials, and these five +gentlemen seem to have boldly said before the War that +it would please them if this island were to be included in +the Kingdom of Italy. They did not give their Austrian +rulers many sleepless nights; this confidence in them was +justified, for during the War they placed themselves in +the front rank of those who flung defiant words at Italy, +and one of them enlarged his weapon, copying upon his +typewriter some Songs of Hate, which probably were sent +to him from Rieka or Triest. These typewritten sheets +were then circulated in the island. One of them—"Con +le teste degli Italiani"—had been specially composed for +children and expressed the intention of playing bowls +with Italian heads. The songs for adults were less blood-thirsty +but not less cruel. The Yugoslavs of the island +must have been engaged in other War work; no songs +were provided for them.... When Austria collapsed, +some youths came from Rieka, flourishing their flags and +sticks, and crying, "Down with Austria!" "Long live +Italy!" "Long live Yugoslavia!" "Long live King +Peter!" There was, in fact general goodwill. A Croat<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span> +National Council was formed, and was recognized by the +Italian party; it introduced a censorship, but as the +postmaster's allegiance was given to the minority he sent +a telegram to Triest, asking for bread and protection; +and on November 15 the <i>Stocco</i> arrived. Other people +soon departed; the Bishop's chancellor and his chaplain, +two magistrates and a Custom-house official, were shipped +off to Italy or Sardinia, while the owner of the typewriter +flew off as a delegate to Paris, having persuaded the town +council of the capital to vote a sum of 36,000 crowns for +his expenses—but a crown was now worth less than half a +franc. However, two members of the town council thought +that it was a waste of money; but when they were +threatened with internment in Sardinia they withdrew +their active opposition, and the delegate set out. On the +way he granted an interview to an Italian journalist, and +depicted the spontaneous enthusiasm with which the +islanders had called for Italy. But the journalist had +heard of the National Council and he asked, very naturally, +whether it shared these sentiments. "Ha parlato da +Italiano!" ("I have spoken as an Italian"), replied the +delegate; and when the newspaper reached the island, +this cryptic saying was interpreted in various ways, his +critics pointing out that, as he had diverged from truthfulness, +this was another little Song of Hate. The Bishop, +Dr. Mahnić,<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> did not go to Italy for several months. He +was a learned Slovene, an ex-Professor of Gorica University, +known also as a stern critic of any poetry which was +not dogmatically religious. He gave vent to his dislike +of the poetry of Gregorčić and Aškerc, both of them +priests. The former, being of a mild disposition, bowed +before the storm; but Aškerc wrote a cutting satire on +his critic. The Austrians, disapproving of his religious +and patriotic activities, thought they would smother him +by this appointment to a rather out-of-the-way diocese. +But his influence spread far beyond it, and in the islands +he was so solicitous for the people's material welfare +that, for example, he founded savings-banks, which were +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span>a great success. It was unavoidable, as he was a man of +character, that he should come into conflict with the +Italians, for their commanding officer, a naval captain +of Hungarian origin, was not a suave administrator. He +charged a priest with making Yugoslav propaganda +because he catechized the little children in their own +language; another priest on the island of Unie, which +forms a part of the diocese, was accused of making propaganda, +because he has had in his church two statues—which +had been there for years—of SS. Cyril and +Methodus. They were removed from the church, he put +them back; finally he was himself expelled and Unie +remained without a priest. The naval captain was +irritated by the old Slavonic liturgy, which is used in all +except four churches of the diocese, but if he could not +alter this—Dr. Mahnić referring him to the Pope—he and +the Admiral at Pola, Admiral Cagni, could manage with +some trouble to rid themselves of the bishop. This +gentleman, who was in his seventieth year and an invalid, +said that he would perhaps go to Rome after Easter. +On March 24 the captain told him that the admiral had +settled he should sail in three days, but the bishop was +ill. On the 26th the captain returned with a lieutenant +of carabinieri to ask if the bishop was still ailing; the +admiral, it seemed, had ordered that two other doctors—the +officer of health for the district and an Italian army +doctor—should verify the report of the bishop's own +medical attendant. The three of them quarrelled for +two hours, but finally they all signed a memorandum that +the bishop was ill. On the 31st the captain came to say +that a destroyer would arrive and that it would take the +bishop wherever he wanted to go, for the Italians had +made up their minds that go he must. He had objected +far too vigorously to their methods—not approving, for +example, of the written permit which was given in the +autumn to the people of two villages in Krk, on which it +stated that these people could supply themselves with +timber at Grdnje. This was a State forest, rented by a +certain man; but the Italians acknowledged that what they +wanted was adherents, and these grateful villagers, if +there should be a plebiscite, would vote for them. The +man appealed to justice, but the judge received a verbal<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span> +order not to act. The villagers were given a general amnesty +on January 1, an Italian flag was hoisted at the judge's +office—the judge had gone away. Another transaction +which the bishop had resented was after a visit paid by +the captain and another officer of the French warship +<i>Annamite</i> to the Yugoslav Reading-Rooms at Lošinj mali +(Lussinpiccolo); a priest and two other gentlemen had +escorted their guests to the harbour at 11 p.m.; during +the night all three were arrested and the priest deported. +When the <i>Annamite</i> put in at the lofty island of Cres +(Cherso) and a couple of officers went to the Franciscan +monastery, it resulted in the monastery being closed and +the monks removed. Their simple act of courtesy was, +said the Italians, propaganda. From Lošinj mali and +Cres five ladies were collected, four of them being teachers +and one the wife of the pilot, Sindičić. They were guilty +of having greeted the French, and on account of this were +taken to the prison at Pola. Afterwards in Venice they +were kept for six weeks in the company of prostitutes +and from there they passed to Sardinia, on which island +they were retained for nine months. As for Dr. Mahnić, +he set sail on April 4 at 6 a.m. Being asked whither he +would like to go, he said he wished to be put down at +Zengg on the mainland. "Excellent," said the Italians; +but after a few minutes they said they had received a +radio from Pola that the bishop must be taken to Ancona. +He was afterwards allowed to live in a monastery near +Rome.</p> + + +<p class="section">UNHAPPY POLA</p> + +<p>The Italians had not been two days in Pola—in which +arsenal town the population, unlike that of the country, +mostly uses the Italian language—when they made +themselves disliked by both parties. The President of +the Italian National Council was told by the Admiral that +an Austrian crown was to be worth forty Italian centesimi. +This, said the Admiral, was an order from Rome. The +President explained that this meant ruin for the people +of the town. He asked if he might telegraph to Rome. +"I am Rome!" said the Admiral, or words to that effect. +Thereupon the President and the colleagues who were +with him said they would never come again to see the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span> +Admiral "If I want you," said the Admiral, "I will +have you brought by a couple of carabinieri." On the +next day red flags were flying on the arsenal and on the +day after the Italian troops were taken elsewhere, while +10,000 fresh ones came from Italy. And Pola, in exchange +for troops, gave coal. For some time the Italians carried +off two trainloads of it every day. This absence of coal +from their own native country, which rather places them +at the mercy of the coal-producing lands, seems to be +more their misfortune than anybody's fault, yet the +Italian party of Rieka added this to their grievances +against France and Great Britain. Those two countries +ought, they said, in very decency, to correct the oversights +of Providence; but no very practical suggestions +were put forward.</p> + + +<p class="section">WHAT ISTRIA ENDURED</p> + +<p>According to the Austrian census of 1910 Istria contained +386,740 inhabitants, of whom 218,854 (or 58·5 per +cent.) habitually used the Serbo-Croat language, while +145,552 (or 38·9 per cent.) used Italian. The Yugoslavs +cannot help regarding the Istrian statistics with suspicion, +and believing that here, more than in Dalmatia, they were +made to suffer on account of Austria's alliance with Italy +and with the Vatican: one of the wrongs which Strossmayer +fought against was that Istria had been entrusted +to an Italian Dalmatian bishop who could not speak a +word of Slav. This prelate appointed to vacant livings +a number of Italian priests whom the people could not +understand; a Slav coming to confess had to be supplied +with an interpreter. As to the statistics in the commune +of Krmed (Carmedo), for example, of the district of Pola, +the census of 1900 gave 257 Croats against three Italians, +whereas in 1910 it was stated that 296 inhabitants spoke +habitually Italian and six spoke Croatian. Nevertheless, +if one accepts the Austrian figures, the 58·5 per cent. +should not be treated as if they did not exist. Perhaps +the Italian officials could find no interpreters to translate +their proclamations and decrees; if the Yugoslavs could +not read them that was a defect in their education. If +they were unable to write to the authorities or to send<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span> +private telegrams in Italian, let them hold their peace. +At any rate, said Vice-Admiral Cagni, we will not encourage +the Croatian language, and on November 16, 1918, +he commanded the Yugoslav schools to be shut at eleven +places in the district and also two schools in the town. +The Austrians had allowed these schools to remain open +during the War; but of course if you wish to prevent +people from learning a language this is one of the first +steps you would take. Thirteen Yugoslav schoolmasters +at Pola were thus deprived of their means of livelihood. +The Admiral said that he really did not want to let matters +remain in this condition, but all these schools had been +at the expense of the State; let the Yugoslavs support +their own schools. They were, as a matter of fact, entitled +by reason of their numbers to have State-supported +schools. Yet that was, of course, in the time of Austria; +and why should Italy be bound by Austrian laws? Italy +would do what she saw fit. In various places the teachers +were, in the presence of Italian officers, compelled to use +Italian for the instruction of purely Yugoslav children. +Slav schoolmistresses were, in several cases, taken out of +bed in the middle of the night and conducted on board +Italian ships. The clergy were ordered to preach in +Italian in churches, such as that of Veprinac, where the +congregation is almost entirely Slav<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a>—and so on, and so +on. Well, there are several ways of governing a mixed +population, and this is one of them.... "Zadar and +Rieka," said Pribičević in November to an Italian interviewer +at Zagreb—"Zadar and Rieka will enjoy all liberty +of culture and municipal autonomy. And we are convinced +that an equal treatment will be accorded to the +Slav minorities who will be included in your territory. +We understand and perfectly recognize your right to Triest +and to Pola, and we would that in Italy our right to Rieka +and Dalmatia were recognized with the same justice."<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span></p> +<p class="section">THE FAMOUS TOWN OF RIEKA</p> + +<p>Rieka is a place concerning which a good deal has +been written, but I doubt if there have been two words +more striking than the phrase which the Consiglio Nazionale +Italiano applies in a pamphlet to the last Hungarian +Governor. This official, appreciating that his presence +in the town would serve no useful end, dissolved the State +police on October 28, 1918, and departed. "Hôte +insalué, il disparut...." says the pamphlet. After all +the years of kindness, all the million favours showered +on the Autonomists by their beloved friends the Magyars, +after all the dark electioneering tricks and gutter legislation +which for years had been committed by the Magyars +to the end that the Autonomists and they should have all +the amenities of some one else's house, it surely is the +acme of ingratitude to call this tottering benefactor +"Hôte insalué." If the Autonomists did not desire to +reap advantages from any Magyar corruption, they might +at any time since November 17, 1868, have torn the +swindling piece of paper, the "krpitsa," from the Agreement +made between the Magyars and the Croats. Then +the Croat would not have been kept for all these years a +slave in his own home.... But on October 28, 1918, +the "krpitsa" had no more weight, the iniquitous Agreement +was obsolete, the Croats came into possession of +their own. The Compromise of 1868, which gave the +administration of Rieka provisionally to the Magyars, +was formally denounced on October 29, so that the +<i>status quo ante</i> returned, and Rieka was again an integral +part of the Kingdom of Croatia. The Croatian Government +(that is, the National Council) had then every right +to depute its adherents at Rieka to undertake the affairs +of that town. Dr. Vio was too much of a lawyer to dispute +the legality of any of these statements....</p> + + +<p class="section">THE DRAMA BEGINS</p> + +<p>Some of the leading citizens of Rieka formed themselves +into a Croat National Council; Dr. Bakarčić and +Dr. Lenac went up to the Governor's palace, and with +them went Dr. Vio, as delegate of the town council. He<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span> +said they recognized the Croatian Government, on condition +that the town's municipal autonomy was guaranteed. +To this they readily consented, with respect to the Italian +language, to their schools and to the existing town administration, +thus agreeing to every suggestion which Dr. +Vio made. Moreover they gave him the town register +(of births, etc.), which the Magyars had appropriated +and which was now discovered at the palace. This was +at 9 a.m. on October 30. Dr. Vio said that he was glad +that everything had been arranged so amicably. But on +the same evening the Italian National Council elected +itself, for a large number of the Autonomist party had +now become the Italian party. There still remained, +however, an Autonomist party, which was no longer +inspired, like the old Autonomists, by despotic sentiments +towards the Croats, but by a feeling that in consequence +of this long despotism the Croats were, as yet, not fit to +govern such a place as Rieka. This is a matter of opinion. +These Autonomists considered that, at any rate for several +years, the town should not belong to Yugoslavia or to +Italy, but be a free town under Allied, British or American, +control. After five or six years there could be a plebiscite, +and during that period the population would be encouraged +to devote itself more to business and less to politics. This +would tend to make them a united people, with the +interests of the town at heart. But the Italian party, +said the Autonomist leader, Mr. Gothardi, did not appear +to think these interests important; when it was argued +that Rieka would not flourish under Italy, because of +the competition with Italy's other ports and especially +Triest, because of the vast Italian debt, and for other +reasons, the Italian party answered that even if the grass +grew in Rieka's streets it must belong to Italy. "Very +well," said the Slavs, "then we will develop the harbour +at Bakar" a few miles away. "Infamous idea!" +exclaimed the Italianists; "Rieka is the harbour for +the hinterland." There the Autonomists agree with them, +that the town should finally belong to the State which +has the hinterland. Mr. Gothardi's party gathered strength +and he himself became so obnoxious to the Italianists +that when I saw him in the month of May 1919 he had +been for several weeks a prisoner in his flat, on account<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span> +of some thirty individuals with sticks who were lurking +round the corner. His figures were as follows:</p> + + +<table summary="statistics"> +<tr><td style="text-align: right">6,000</td><td style="text-align: left">Socialists.</td></tr> +<tr><td style="text-align: right">3,000</td><td style="text-align: left">Autonomists.</td></tr> +<tr><td style="text-align: right">1,500</td><td style="text-align: left">Yugoslavs.</td></tr> +<tr><td style="text-align: right; line-height: 25%">——</td><td style="line-height: 25%"> </td></tr> +<tr><td style="text-align: right">That is, 10,000</td><td>voters out of 12-13,000.</td></tr> +</table> + +<p>One may mention that he, like some others of his party, +belongs to a family which has been at Rieka for two +hundred years, whereas of the fifteen gentlemen who +called themselves the Italian National Council, only one—a +cousin of Mr. Gothardi's—is a member of an old +Rieka family. Most of the others we are bound to call +renegades.</p> + +<p>It may be asked why the Italian National Council +was established, and why its members swore that they +would give their lives if they could thus give Rieka to +the "Madre Patria." Some of them believed, I am sure, +that this was for Rieka's good, cultural and economical; +others entertained the motives that we saw at Zadar—personal +ambition and the desire to satisfy some animosities. +And there were others who remembered what +occurred in the great harbour warehouses. They hoped, +they thought that if the town fell to the lot of Italy no +questions would be asked.<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> There must also have been +some who could not bear to contemplate the loss of their +old privileged position.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span></p> + +<p class="section">THE I.N.C.</p> + +<p>For a considerable time it was not known who were +the members of the Italian National Council. From +internal evidence one saw that they were not particularly +logical people, for they made much play, in their announcements, +with "democratic principles" in spite of the +undemocratic fog in which they wrapped themselves. +Of course they had not been elected by anyone except +themselves; but there was a vast difference between +them and the self-elected Croat National Council, since +the latter derived their authority from the Croatian +Government at Zagreb, which Dr. Vio, in the name of the +Rieka municipality, had recognized—whereas the Italian +National Council was destitute of any parent, though they +would, had they been pressed, have claimed, no doubt, +the blissfully unconscious "Madre Patria." Subsequently +it turned out that the I.N.C. consisted of Dr. Vio and of +fourteen persons who had hitherto not taken part in +public life. They were fourteen worthies of the background, +the most remarkable act in the life of their President, +Dr. Grossich, for example, dating from twenty +years ago when he was the medical attendant of the +Archduchess Clothilde, and decorated, so <ins class="correction" +title="Transcriber's note: original reads 'thay'">they</ins> say, his +consulting-room with black and yellow festoons. The +I.N.C. appeared at its inception to be different from a +Russian Soviet because it had no power.</p> + + +<p class="section">THE CROATS' BLUNDER</p> + +<p>A number of deplorable transactions ensued, and they +were not all committed by the Italianists. The proclamations +which were sent from Zagreb, exhorting the people +to be tranquil, were printed in the two languages, but +some Croat super-patriots at Rieka tried to make the +town mono-lingual. At the railway station and the post +office they removed the old Italian inscriptions and put +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span>up Croatian ones, they wrote to the mayor in Croat, +which, although Dr. Vio has a Croat father and visited a +Croat school and a Croat university, was tactless; they +wrote that Croat would now be the language of the town, +which was a foolish thing to do. They even seem to have +demanded the evacuation of the town hall within twenty-four +hours. And the irresponsible persons who made +this demand were very properly snubbed by the municipal +authorities.</p> + + +<p class="section">MELODRAMA</p> + +<p>These excited patriots, delirious with joy that at +last their own town was in their hands, did not set Rieka +on fire, nor did they murder women and children; but the +Italianists forthwith sent wireless messages to Venice, +screaming that all these enormities were taking place. +A few of them rushed off in motors to Triest, where they +made themselves into a Committee of Public Safety, +picked up some Triest sympathizers and flew on to Venice, +where they related breathless stories of foul deeds. One, +which appeared in the Italian Press, was that three +children of Rieka had been publicly committed to the +flames.</p> + + +<p class="section">FARCE</p> + +<p>On November 4 an Italian destroyer, the <i>Stocco</i>, +shortly followed by the <i>Emanuele Filiberto</i>, a cruiser, +came on their errand of humanity. The I.N.C. at once +organized a plebiscite—by which is meant not a dull +giving and counting of votes in the usual election booths. +A plebiscite, at all events a plebiscite at Rieka, signifies +for the Italianists a mob assembled in a public thoroughfare; +photographs of such assemblies illustrate their +pamphlets and are entitled "plebiscito." At the harbour +the Italian Admiral, whose name was Raineri, told the +joyous I.N.C.—who now had flung aside their anonymity—that +he had come to bring them a salute from Italy, +and that he had been sent to shield Italians and to protect +Italian interests. The plebiscite threw up its hats and +waved its flags, and shouted its applause and sang its +songs. Flowers fell upon the Admiral, and on his men and +on the guns; the ships, as we are told, were changed to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span> +floating gardens. But the sailors did not disembark. +Some ladies, members of the plebiscite, besought the +Admiral to come ashore, and hoping to persuade the +men, they climbed on board and playfully seized many +sailors' caps, which in the town, they said, could be redeemed. +Then shortly afterwards, the Yugoslav officials +came to greet the Admiral, as did the commandant of +the Yugoslav troops which had been for several days +guarding the town. Meanwhile some unknown persons +had been up in the old clock-tower and, for reasons known +perhaps to themselves, had taken in both the Croatian +and Italian flags; the Admiral drove up to see the +Governor, Dr. Lenac, and requested that his country's +flag should be rehoisted, which of course was done. And +until November 17 the Admiral was nearly every day +up at the Governor's palace, as a multitude of details had +to be discussed. A French warship arrived on the 10th, +followed by a British vessel on the 12th or 13th. Perfect +calm prevailed. Croatian and Italian flags flew everywhere, +as well as French ones, British and American. +The name of the Hotel Deak was altered to Hotel Wilson.... +But the men of the <i>Emanuele Filiberto</i> and the +<i>Stocco</i> did not land. Colonel Teslić assured the Admiral +that if anyone started to set fire to an Italianist child or +to indulge in any other crime he would prevent it.</p> + + +<p class="section">PAROLE D'HONNEUR</p> + +<p>All this was very disconcerting to the I.N.C. They +knew that on the hills outside Rieka were large numbers of +Italian troops, which had come overland from Istria. But +how to get them in? Rieka had not been ascribed to the +Italians by the London Treaty.<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> ... On November 15 +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span>a detachment of Serbian troops arrived, under Colonel +Maximović, and were given a magnificent reception. +Thousands of people accompanied them, and in front of +the French destroyer there was a manifestation. Some +of the Serbs, old warriors who had been under arms since +the first Balkan War, were moved to tears. The Italianists +were furious; Admiral Raineri called on the Governor +for an explanation of the Serbs' arrival. A conference +was held between the Admiral, the Colonel and two +Yugoslav officers. If the Serbs remained at Rieka, said +the Admiral, he would land his marines. Maximović +said he had come in obedience to his orders, and that he +would have to prevent by force the disembarkation of the +Italians. At this moment a Serbian officer entered to +announce that Italian armoured cars were approaching +from Abbazia. Maximović immediately ordered his +troops to mobilize, but the Admiral said a mistake had +been made and that the cars would be sent back. (The +Government Secretary, Dr. Ružić, had been told at +three o'clock by a telephone operator that the Admiral +had himself telephoned to Abbazia for the cars.) It was +decided at this conference that on Sunday, November 17, +the Yugoslav troops would evacuate the town, that it +would be occupied by Serbian and American troops, and +that, to mark the alliance, a small Italian detachment +would be landed. As Admiral Cagni, of Pola, ordered +that Italian troops should be disembarked at Rieka, +another conference was held between Admiral Raineri, +Colonel Maximović, Colonel Teslić and Captain Dvorski +(of the Yugoslav navy), as well as French and British +officers. It was arranged <i>sous parole d'honneur d'officier</i> +that at 4 p.m. the Serbian troops should leave Rieka +and go to Porto Ré, an hour's sea journey, that the +Yugoslav troops should remain, and that the Italians +should not land. No other steps would be taken till +November 20 at noon, and the Supreme Command would +be asked to settle the difficulty. As soon as the Serbian +troops were out at sea, the Italian army, under General di +San Marzano (attended by a kinematograph), marched +in from the hills, entering the town simultaneously from +four directions, in accordance with a strategic plan. The +General was told what Raineri had agreed to do; he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> +replied that he was Raineri's senior, that the final decision +rested with him, and that he intended to proceed into +the town. (One of the British officers is said to have +addressed him rather bluntly.) At 4.30 Raineri landed +his marines, and afterwards he was dismissed from his +post—not, indeed, for having broken his word given at +the inter-Allied conference, but for having delayed so +long before disembarking troops in the town. He said +he had received a written order from the Entente; if +only Maximović had not left he might have shown it +him. With twenty carabinieri the General went to the +Governor's palace and asked Dr. Lenac to vacate it. +He was so excited that he almost pushed the doctor out. +"There is no room for the two of us," he said. And that +is how the Italian occupation began. The French and +British brought some troops in at a later date, but when +they had six hundred each the Italians had 22,000. With +the Italians came fifty Americans, so that the force might +have an international appearance. These Americans +were given broad-sheets, printed by the town Italianists +in English; they welcomed the Americans as liberators, +and informed them that the population had by plebiscite +declared for annexation to the Motherland. On the +same night the Yugoslav troops were turned out of their +barracks into the street by the Italian army.... These +are, I believe, the main facts as to the occupation which +has been the subject of much heated argument. I had +the facts from eye-witnesses and documents: I exposed +the evidence of each side to the criticism of the other.</p> + +<p>Very soon the disorders began. On the evening of +the occupation Italian troops ran through the town, +accompanied by some of the plebiscite, and compelled +the people to remove the Yugoslav colours from their +button-holes. In cases they surrounded their victim +and used force. When this was used against women, +after the arrival of the French and British, it produced +some serious international affrays. The Italians, who +invariably outnumbered the others, did not scruple to +employ their knives; thus in the middle of December +two French soldiers were stabbed in the back and their +murderers were never found.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span></p> + + +<p class="section">THE POPULATION OF THE TOWN</p> + +<p>But there had been at Rieka an Englishman for whom +I have an almost inexpressible admiration. This was +Mr. A. Beaumont who, a couple of days after the Italians +occupied the town in the above-mentioned curious fashion, +sent from Triest a long message to the <i>Daily Telegraph</i>. +How can anyone not marvel at a gentleman who travels +to a foreign town which is in the throes of unrest and +who, undeterred by his infirmity, sits down to grasp +the rather complicated features of the situation? I am +not acquainted with Mr. Beaumont, but he must be +blind, poor fellow, for he says that the Yugoslavs occupied +with ill-concealed glee a town entirely inhabited by +some 45,000 Italians. Perhaps somebody will read to +him the following statistics made after the year 1868, +when Rieka came under Magyar dominion. The statistics +were made by the Magyars and Italianists combined, so +that they do not err in favour of the Yugoslavs. He +might also be told that the Magyar-Italian alliance closed +the existing Yugoslav national schools for the 13,478 +Yugoslavs in 1890, while they opened Italo-Magyar +schools for the 13,012 "Italians" and Magyars. They +would not even allow the Yugoslavs to have at Rieka +an elementary school at their own expense. Everything +possible was done during these decades to inculcate hatred +and contempt for whatsoever was Slav, hoping thus to +denationalize the citizens. In view of all this it speaks +well for Yugoslav steadfastness that they were able to +maintain themselves. Here are the figures:</p> + +<table summary="statistics" style="font-size: 90%"> +<tr><td> </td><td><span class="smcap">Yugoslavs.</span></td><td><span class="smcap">Italians.</span></td><td><span class="smcap">Magyars.</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td style="padding-right: 1.5em">1880</td><td style="padding-right: 1em">10,227 (49%)</td><td style="padding-right: 1em; text-align: right">9,237 (44%)</td><td style="padding-right: 1em; text-align: right">379 (2%)</td></tr> +<tr><td style="padding-right: 1.5em">1890</td><td style="padding-right: 1em">13,478 (46%)</td><td style="padding-right: 1em; text-align: right">13,012 (44%)</td><td style="padding-right: 1em; text-align: right">1,062 (4%)</td></tr> +<tr><td style="padding-right: 1.5em">1900</td><td style="padding-right: 1em">16,197 (42%)</td><td style="padding-right: 1em; text-align: right">17,354 (45%)</td><td style="padding-right: 1em; text-align: right">2,842 (7%)</td></tr> +<tr><td style="padding-right: 1.5em">1910</td><td style="padding-right: 1em">15,692 (32%)</td><td style="padding-right: 1em; text-align: right">24,212 (49%)</td><td style="padding-right: 1em; text-align: right">6,493 (13%)</td></tr> +</table> + +<p>Assuming for the moment that these figures are correct—and +it is an enormous assumption<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a>—are not the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span>Autonomists to be found chiefly among the Italians and +Magyars? It is claimed that the Autonomist, Socialist +and Slav vote exceeds that of those who desire annexation +to Italy. One need not treat <i>au sérieux</i> the great procession +organized by the Italianists, when they could not +scrape together more than about 4000 persons, including +many schoolboys and girls, the municipal clerks, visitors +from Italy, Triest and Zadar. One need not gibe the +Italianists with the numbers who followed Dr. Vio on +that famous day when, weary of palavering, he summoned +round him his supporters and strode off to the Governor's +palace, where General Grazioli, who had succeeded General +di San Marzano, was installed.<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> Arrived there, Dr. Vio +with a superb gesture begged the General to accept the +town in the name of Italy. It is not often in the lifetime +of a man that he has the opportunity of giving a whole +town away. Dr. Vio made the most of that occasion; +if the crowd which followed him was disappointing, there +may be good explanations. The allegiance of a town, +one may submit, should be settled in another fashion. +The house-to-house inquiry, conducted in the spring of +1919 by the Autonomists—resulting in an anti-annexionist +majority—was much impeded by the police; and it is +of course the business of the authorities and not of +any one party to hold elections in a town. Had the +Italian National Council, bereaving themselves of Italian +bayonets, <ins class="correction" +title="Transcriber's note: original reads 'hold'">held</ins> a real plebiscite—secret or otherwise—the +result would doubtless have given them pain, but no +surprise.... And this will happen even if the Magyar +system of separating Rieka from the suburb of Sušak +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span>is perpetrated. Sušak contains about 12,500 Yugoslavs +and extremely few Italianists; and, by the way, to show +how the Magyars and the Italianists worked together, +it is worth mentioning that the Magyar railway officials +who lived at Sušak were allowed a vote at Rieka, while +if a Croat lived at Sušak and carried on his avocation +at Rieka he could vote in Sušak only. One must not +imagine that Sušak is a poor relation; most people +would prefer to live there. Dr. Vio was intensely wrathful +because the British General resided in a beautifully +situated house there by the sea. Not only is Sušak +about twenty yards, across a stream, from Rieka, but +from a commercial point of view their separation seems +absurd, since half the port, including the great wood +depots, is in Sušak. One of these timber merchants +presented an example of Italianization. His original +name was E. R. Sarinich and this was painted on his +business premises at Sušak, while in Rieka he called +himself Sarini. It must have caused him many sleepless +nights.... Counting Sušak with Rieka as one town, the +total population in the autumn of 1918 was about 51 per +cent. Yugoslav, 39 per cent. Italian and 10 per cent. +Magyar. These Magyars, by the way, seem not to have +been noticed by Mr. Beaumont. There were still a good +number of them in the town. "Whilst Italy might have +consented," says Mr. Beaumont, "to a compromise with +Hungary, had that State continued to exist as part of +the Austro-Hungarian Empire, she certainly never contemplated +handing over"—["handing over" is rather +humorous]—"Fiume and its exclusively Italian population +to the Jugo-Slavs." Underneath Mr. Beaumont's dispatch +there is printed a semi-official statement, sent by Reuter, +from Rome. "Yesterday afternoon," it says, "our +troops occupied Fiume. The occupation, which was +made for reasons of public order, was decided upon in +view not only of the urgent and legitimate demands of the +Italian citizens of Fiume, but also of the insistent appeals +of eminent foreigners...."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span></p> + + +<p class="section">THE TALE CONTINUES ON THE NORTHERN ISLES</p> + +<p>"Italy's reward," says Mr. Beaumont, "must be commensurate +with her sacrifices, and this is the attitude +assumed here. It is quite apart from the mere question +as to whether the Jugo-Slavs are in a majority in certain +districts or not. Those districts form a part of old Italian +territory, of Italian lands once peopled and occupied +by the Italian race and into which, with Austria's encouragement, +Slav populations have filtered." [I should +love to know what are Mr. Beaumont's sources.] "The +question must not be left to local ambition and antipathies. +It must be decided authoritatively and quickly +in strong counsel to the Jugo-Slav leaders." ... Let us +leave Rieka and see how the Italians decided authoritatively +and quickly on the island of Cres (Cherso). It is +a large but not thickly populated island; having 8162 +inhabitants for 336 square kilometres. The Yugoslavs, +according to the census of 1910, number 5714 or 71·3 +per cent., while the Italian-speaking population amounts +to 2296 or 28 per cent. About the middle of November +the Italian authorities placed in the village of Martinšćica, +which is in the south-western part of the island, 17 soldiers, +3 carabinieri and a lieutenant. Let me say at once +that I have never been to Cres, all my knowledge of this +case comes from a Franciscan monk who lives there, +the Rev. Ambrose Vlahov, Professor of Theology. At +Martinšćica, he says, there is not a single Italianist; +the entire village is Yugoslav. When the Italian military +arrived the lieutenant insisted that the priest, Karlo +Hlaća, should cease to sing the Mass in Old Slav, and that +for the whole service he should use Italian, the only +language, said the lieutenant, which he (the lieutenant) +understood. It was futile for the priest to demonstrate +what a ridiculous and unreasonable demand this was; +the lieutenant always came back to the subject, being +sometimes merely importunate and sometimes using +menaces. As Hlaća was a model ecclesiastic, highly +esteemed by his parishioners, the lieutenant comprehended +that as long as this priest remained, he would +be foiled in his endeavours; he therefore sought an +opportunity to turn him out. On January 5, 1919, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> +priest had, by order of his bishop, to read during the +service a pastoral letter on the duties of the faithful +towards the Church and towards their fellow-men; he +had also to add a simple and concise commentary. In +this letter there was a passage dealing with schools, and +the priest on that topic remarked that "by divine and +human law every nation may ask that its children should +be instructed in their mother tongue." When Mass +was finished, the mayor of the village assembled the +parishioners and notified them that henceforward, by +order of the lieutenant, there would no longer be in the +village a Croatian but an Italian school. And in order +to mollify the people he added that the lieutenant proposed +to give subsidies to such as stood in need; they +had only to present themselves before that officer. But, +though the people often found it hard to satisfy their simple +wants and were at that period in very great distress, +they walked away from this assembly without making +one step in the lieutenant's direction. This incited him +to such fury that he ran, accompanied by soldiers and +carabinieri, to the priest, and publicly, in a loud voice, +insulted him, calling him an intriguer, a rebel, an agitator. +On the following day the lieutenant had him conducted +to the village of Cres by two soldiers and a carabiniere, +who were all armed.... At Cres the priest was brought +before the commanding officer of the Quarnero Islands—our +old acquaintance, the naval captain of Krk—who +happened to be in this village. He started at once to +bellow at the priest and, striking the table with his +hand, exclaimed: "This is an Italian island, all Italian, +nothing but Italian and evermore it will remain Italian." +About a score of parishioners had come to Cres behind +their priest and his escort; they begged the commandant +to set him free. As an answer he harangued them with +respect to the Italian character of the islands, told them +that they would have to send their children to the Italian +school and that the whole village would be Italianized +and that <i>only in their homes</i> would they be permitted +to speak Croatian.... On January 8 the priest was +taken from Cres to the island of Krk, where he was informed +that he would have to leave his parish, but that +he might go back there for a day or two to fetch a few<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> +necessities. It was raining in torrents when Father Hlaća, +wet to the skin, arrived at his village on the 11th at seven +o'clock in the evening. As he suffers from several chronic +ailments—which was known to the lieutenant—this bad +weather had a grave effect upon him. When he reached +his house he went to bed at once with a very high temperature. +After about a quarter of an hour the lieutenant +appeared with two carabinieri and shouted at him that +he must get up. This draconian injunction had to be +obeyed, the more so as the lieutenant was labouring +under great excitement. He looked at the priest's +permit which allowed him to come back to the village, +and said, "If I were in your shoes I wouldn't venture +to come back here." These words gave Father Hlaća an +impression that his life was in danger. The lieutenant +then ordered him not to go out among the people, but +to stop where he was until he was taken away. Five +days after this the priest was taken to Rieka, so that +the villagers were left with nobody to guard them against +the violence and the temptations offered them by the +Italians. The Croat inscription outside the school was +replaced by one in Italian and, with the lieutenant acting +as teacher, the doors were thrown open. But the only +children who went there were those of the lieutenant +himself and those of the mayor, who was a renegade in the +pay of the Italians. It was announced that heavy fines +would be inflicted if the other children did not come. +The villagers were in great trouble and in fear, with +nobody to give them advice or consolation.... There +may be some who will be curious to know concerning +the "Italian" population of this island, which, according +to the 1910 census, reached the large figure of 28 per cent. +At a place called Nerežine it was stated, in the census of +1880, that the commissioner had found 706 Italians and +340 Yugoslavs. Consequently an Italian primary school +was opened; but when it was discovered that the children +of Nerežine knew not one traitor word of that language, +the school was transformed into a Yugoslav establishment. +This is one case out of many; the 28 per cent. +would not bear much scrutiny.... But the Italian +Government, at any rate the "Liga Nazionale" to +whose endowment it contributes, had been taking in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span> +hand this question of elementary schools in Istria and +Dalmatia among the Slav population. The "Liga" +made gratuitous distribution of clothing, of boots, of +school-books and so forth. Some indigent Slavs allowed +themselves in this way to become denationalized.</p> + + +<p style="padding-top: 1.5em">When, however, you examine the embroideries of these +islands—particularly beautiful on Rab and on the island +of wild olive trees, the neighbouring Pag—you will be +sure that such an ancient national spirit as they show +will not be easily seduced. The Magyars, by the way, +whose culture is more modern, borrowed certain features +that you find on these embroideries—the sun, for instance, +and the cock, which have from immemorial times been +thought appropriate by these people for the cloth a +woman wears upon her head when she is bringing a new +son into the world, whose dawn the cock announces. +Older than the workers in wood, much older than those +who carved in stone, are these island embroiderers. In +this work the people reproduced their tears and laughter.</p> + + +<p class="section">RAB IS COMPLETELY CAPTURED</p> + +<p>What will it avail to put up "Liga" schools in these +islands, where the population is 99·67 per cent. Yugoslav +and 0·31 per cent. Italianist—that is, if we are content +to accept the Austrian statistics? What ultimate advantage +will accrue to Italy from the doings of her +emissaries, in November 1918, on the isle of Rab? It +was Tuesday, November 26, when the <i>Guglielmo Pepe</i> +of the Italian navy put in at the venerable town which +is the capital of that island. The commander, with an +Italianist deputy from Istria, climbed up to the town-hall +with the old marble balcony and informed the mayor and +the members of the local committee of the Yugoslav +National Council that he had come in the name of the +Entente and in virtue of the arrangements of the Armistice; +he said that in the afternoon Italian troops would +land, for the purpose of maintaining order. It was pointed +out to him that no disturbance had arisen, and that, +according to the terms of the Armistice, he had no right +to occupy this island. The commander announced that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> +he must disarm the national guard, but that the Yugoslav +flags would not be interfered with; the Italian flag +would only be hoisted on the harbour-master's office +and the military headquarters. On the next day, after +he had been unable to induce the town authorities to +lower their national flag from the clock-tower, he sent a +hundred men with a machine gun to carry out his wishes. +Filled with confidence by this heroic deed, he marched +into the mayor's office and dissolved the municipal +council. Armed forces occupied the town-hall, over which +an Italian flag was flown. An Italian officer was entrusted +with the mayoral functions and with the municipal +finances, while the post office was also captured and all +private telegrams forbidden, not only those which one +would have liked to dispatch, but those which came in +from elsewhere—they were not delivered. All meetings +and manifestations were made illegal. The commander, +whose name was Captain Denti di —— (the other part +being illegible), sent a memorandum to the municipal +council which explained that he dissolved it on account of +their having grievously troubled the public order; he did +this by virtue of the powers conferred upon him and in +the name of the Allied Powers and the United States of +America. The islanders did not pretend to be experts +in international law, but they did not believe that he +was in the right.</p> + +<p>"I have every confidence," said the Serbian Regent, +when he was receiving a deputation of the Yugoslav +National Council a few days after this—"I have every +confidence that the operations for the freedom of the world +will be accomplished, that large numbers of our brethren +will be liberated from a foreign yoke. And I feel sure +that this point of view will be adopted by the Government +of the Kingdom of Italy, which was founded on these +very principles. They were cherished in the hearts and +executed in the deeds of great Italians in the nineteenth +century. We can say frankly that in choosing to have us +as their friends and good neighbours the Italian nation +will find more benefit and a greater security than in the +enforcement of the Treaty of London, which we never +signed nor recognized, and which was made at a time +when nobody foresaw the crumbling of Austria-Hungary."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span></p> + + +<p class="section">AVANTI SAVOIA!</p> + +<p>It would be tedious to chronicle a thousandth part +of the outrages, crimes and stupidities committed on +Yugoslav territory by the Italians. Where they were +threatened with an armed resistance they yielded. Thus +on November 14, when they had reached Vrhnica (Ober-Laibach) +on their way to Ljubljana (Laibach), they were +met by Colonel Svibić with sixteen other officers who had +just come out of an internment camp in Austria. Svibić +requested the Italians to leave Vrhnica. He said that +he and the Serbian commander at Ljubljana would prevent +the advance of the Italians into Yugoslav territory. +They would be most reluctant to be obliged to resort to +armed force should the Italians continue their advance, +and they declined responsibility for any bloodshed which +might ensue.... The colonel of the Italian regiment +which had been stationed for some days at Vrhnica +informed the mayor of that commune that he had +received orders to depart; he retired to the line of demarcation +fixed by the Armistice conditions.</p> + + +<p class="section">THE ENTENTE AT RIEKA</p> + +<p>It was ironical that a young State, struggling into +life, should be hindered, not by former enemies but +by friends of its friends. The Italians complained that +the French, British and Americans were not fraternizing +with them. In the first place, it was repugnant to the +sense of justice of these nations when they saw that +General di San Marzano, after having fraudulently seized +the town of Rieka and turning its absolutely legal Governor +into the street, did not ask the citizens to organize a +temporary local government, in which all parties would be +represented, but delivered, if you please, the town to fifteen +gentlemen, the I.N.C., who—at the very utmost—represented +half the population. On November 24, the local +newspaper <i>Il Popolo</i> announced in a non-official manner +that the I.N.C., in full accord with the military command, +had taken over the administration—<i>i poteri pubblici</i>. +This, by the way, was never confirmed by the representatives +of the other Allies. The I.N.C. furthermore<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> +declared null and of no effect any intervention of the +Yugoslav National Council in the affairs of the authorities +of the State of Rieka. When the Yugoslavs appealed +to the French, British or Americans they were naturally +met with sympathy and urged to have patience. Case +after case of high-handed dealing was reported to these +officers. They sometimes intervened with good effect; +far more injustice would have happened; far more +Croats and Autonomists, for instance, would have been +deported if the Allies had not interceded. It was now, of +course, impossible for Yugoslavs to wear their colours; +nor could they prevent the C.N.I. from hanging vast +Italian flags on Croat houses. One of the largest flags, +I should imagine, in the world swayed to and fro +between Rieka's chief hotel and the tall building on the +opposite side of the square—and both these houses, +mark you, were Croat property. But the Allied officers +knew very well (and the C.N.I. knew that they knew) +that more than thirty of the large buildings on the front +belonged to Croats, whereas under half a dozen were the +property of Italians or Italianists. The ineffable Mr. +Edoardo Susmel, in one of his pro-Italian books, entreats +certain French and British friends of the Yugoslavs to +come for one hour to Rieka and judge for themselves. +But twenty minutes would be ample for a man of average +intelligence. In many ways the presence of the Allies +grieved the C.N.I. The Allies looked without approval at +the "Giovani Fiumani," an association of young rowdies +of whose valuable services the C.N.I. availed itself. But +if these hired bands could not be dispersed they could have +limits placed upon their zeal. One of their ordinary +methods was to sit in groups in cafés or in restaurants +or other places where an orchestra was playing, then to +shout for the Italian National Anthem and to make themselves +as nasty as they dared to anyone who did not rise. +If everybody rose, then they would wait a quarter of +an hour and have the music played again. The Allied +officers persuaded General Grazioli to prohibit any National +Anthem in a public place. It was distasteful to the Allied +officers when a local newspaper in French—<i>l'Echo de +l'Adriatique</i>—which had been established to present the +Yugoslav point of view, was continually being suppressed.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span> +For example, on December 14, it printed a short greeting +from the Croat National Council to President Wilson. +The most anti-Italian phrase in this that I could find +was: "Their fondest hope is to justify to the world, +to history and to you the great trust you have placed in +them." This was refused publication. It is unnecessary +to say that Yugoslav newspapers were confiscated and +their sale forbidden—after all, one didn't buy German or +Austrian newspapers in England during the War, and the +Italians now regarded the Croats as very pernicious +enemies. <i>La Rassegna Italiana</i> of December 15 called +its first article—printed throughout in italics—"I +Prussiani dell' Adriatico," and took to its bosom an "upright +American citizen" returning from a visit to "Fiume +nostra," who defined the Yugoslavs "on account of their +greed and their brutality and their spirit of intrigue and +their lack of candour as the Prussians of the Adriatic." +Personally I should submit that the Prussian spirit was +not wholly lacking in those two Italian officers who penetrated +on November 25 into the dining-room at the +quarters of the Custom-house officials and informed them +that they wanted their piano. No discussion was permitted; +the piano "transferred itself," as they say in +some languages, to the Italian officers' mess. The Prussian +spirit was not undeveloped in a certain Mr. Štiglić—his +name might cause his enemies to say he is a renegade, +but as my knowledge of him is confined to other matters, +we will say he is the noblest Roman of them all. He likewise +had a dig at the Custom-house officials; I know not +whether he was wiping off old scores. Appointed by the +I.N.C. as director of the Excise office, he communicated +with the resident officials—Franjo Jakovčić, Ivan Mikuličić +and Grga Mažuran—on December 5, and told them +to clear out by the following Saturday, they and their +families, so that in the heart of winter forty-one persons +were suddenly left homeless.</p> + + +<p class="section">A CANDID FRENCHMAN</p> + +<p>This and innumerable other manifestations of Prussianism +were brought to the attention of the French, +so that it was not surprising when a Frenchman made a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> +few remarks in the <i>Rijeć</i> of Zagreb. His article, entitled +"Mise au point," begins by a reference to the Yugoslav +cockades which were sometimes worn by the French +sailors. This, to the Italians, was as if an ally in the +reconquered towns of Metz and Strasbourg had sported +the colours of an enemy. "The cases are not parallel," +says the Frenchman. "You have come to Rieka and +to Pola as conquerors of towns that were exhausted, +yielding to the simultaneous and gigantic pressure of the +Allied armies. These towns gave themselves up. Are +they on that account your property, and are we to consider +as a dead-letter the clauses of the Armistice which +settled that Pola should be occupied by the Allies? I +am not so dexterous a diplomat as to be able to follow +you along this track; let it be decided by others. But +we who were present perceived that your occupation, +which you had regulated in every detail, had a close +resemblance to the entry of a circus into some provincial +town, whose population is known beforehand to be of a +hostile character. It is needless to say that this masquerade, +these vibrating appeals to fraternity that were +placarded upon the walls gave us in that grey, abandoned +town an impression of complete fiasco." ["It is significant," +writes Mr. Beaumont the Italophil, "that the +Slav population ... observe an attitude of strange +reserve and diffidence. They are silent and almost sullen. +When the Italian fleet first visited Pola there was hardly +a cheer...."] "Now let me tell you," says the Frenchman, +"that our entry into Alsace was different. Foch +was not obliged to send emissaries in advance in order to +decorate the houses with flags and to erect triumphal +arches. The French cockades had not nestled in the +dark hair of our Alsatian women since 1870, for forty-eight +years the tricolors had been waiting, piously folded +at the bottom of those wooden chests, waiting for us to +float them in the wind of victory—nous rentrions chez +nous tout simplement. Or, vous n'êtes pas chez vous +ici, messieurs." ["Common reserve and decency should +have induced the Jugo-Slavs to abstain," says Mr. Beaumont, +"from rushing to take a place to which they were +not invited ... an exclusively Italian city."] "Whatever +you may assert," says the Frenchman, "everything<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span> +seems to contradict it. Your actors play their parts +with skill, but the public is frigid. Now the decorations +are tattered and the torches on the ramparts have grown +black.... Permit me, following your example, and +with courtesy, to call back the glories of old Italy, to +remind myself of the great figures that stride through +your history and that give to the world an unexampled +picture of the lofty works of man. Our sailors, who are +simple and often uncultured men, have no remembrance +of these things; the brutal facts, in this whirling age in +which we live, have more power to strike their imagination. +What is one to say to them when they see their comrades +stabbed, slaughtered by your men as if they were noxious +animals—yesterday at Venice, the day before that at Pola, +to-day at Rieka. Englishmen and Americans, your +Allies, receive your 'sincere and fraternal hand' which +holds a dagger. As a method of pacific penetration you +will avow that this is rather rudimentary and that the +laws of Romulus did not teach you such fraternity. We +have also seen you striking women in the street and +disembowelling a child. What are we to think of that, +<i>fratelli d'Italia</i>? Excuse us, but we are not accustomed +to such incidents. Is it not natural that the legendary, +gallant spirit of our sailors should infect the crowd? +Our bluejackets have looked in vain for the three colours +which are dear to them and which you have excluded +utterly from all your rows of flags. Well, in default of +them, they had no choice but to array themselves in the +cockades which dainty hands pinned on their uniforms.... +And our 'poilus,' in their faded, mud-smeared garments +walk along 'your' streets, disdainfully regarded by your +dazzling and pomaded Staff. Do you remember that +these unshaven fellows who thrust back the Boche in 1918 +are the descendants of those who in 1793 conquered +Italy and Europe with bare feet? Therefore do not +strike your breasts if now and then a smile involuntarily +appears upon their lips. O you who henceforth will be +known as the immortal heroes of the Piave, if our fellows +see to-day so many noble breasts, it was not seldom that +they saw another portion of your bodies."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span></p> + + +<p class="section">ECONOMIC CONSIDERATIONS</p> + +<p>"Yes, but that has nothing to do," some people will +say, "with Rieka's economical position. We admit that +Croatia has the historical right to the town, but we wish +to be satisfied that the Croats are not moved by reasons +that would cause Rieka's ruin. It may be nowadays, +owing to the unholy alliance between Magyars and +Italians, that the town, with respect to its trade, is more +in the Italian sphere than in that of Yugoslavia." The +answer to this is that Italy's share of the value of the +imports into Rieka in 1911 was 7·5 per cent. of the total, +while her share of the value of the exports amounted to +13 per cent., which proves that Italy depends commercially +more on Rieka's hinterland than does that hinterland +upon Italy. It seems to be of less significance that the +millionaires of Rieka are mostly Croats, for they might +conceivably have enriched themselves by trade with Italy. +But of the nine banks, previous to the War the Italianists +were in exclusive possession of none, while the Croats +had four; of the eight shipping companies three were +Croat, three were Magyar, one British, one German—not +one Italian. It is true that some Italian writers lay +it down that Rieka's progress should be co-ordinated with +that of Venice, to say nothing of Triest, and should not +be exploited by other States to the injury of the Italian +Adriatic ports. Their point of view is not at all obscure. +And all disguise is thrown to the winds in a book which +has had a great success among the Italian imperialists: +<i>L'Adriatico et il Mediterraneo</i>, by Mario Alberti (Milan, +1915—third edition). The author says that Italy, having +annexed Triest and Rieka, will be "assured for ever"; +her "economic penetration" of the Balkans "will no +longer be threatened" by the projected Galatz-Scutari +(Danube-Adriatic) railway; Italian agriculture which, +he says, is already in peril, "will be rescued"; the +Italian fisherman will no longer have the ports of Triest +and Rieka closed (for exportation to Germany and +Austria); the national wealth will be augmented by +"several milliards"; new fields will be open to Italian +industry; her economic (and military) domination over +the Adriatic will be absolute. There will, he continues,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span> +be no more "disturbing" competition on the part of any +foreign mercantile marine; the Adriatic will be the sole +property of Italy, and so on. It would be worth while, +as a study of expressions, to photograph a few Rieka +Italianists in the act of reading these rapturous pages.... +But lest it be imagined that I have searched for the most +feeble pro-Italian arguments in order to have no difficulty +in knocking them down, I will add that their strongest +argument, taken as it is from the official report of the +French Consul in 1909, appears to be that the commerce +of Croatia amounted then to only 7 per cent. of the total +trade of the port of Rieka. I am told by those who +ought to know that wood alone, which comes almost +exclusively from Croatia, Slavonia, etc., represents 16 per +cent. If other products, such as flour, wine, etc., are +considered, 50 per cent. of the total trade must be ascribed +to Croatia, Slavonia, etc. And that does not take into +account the western Banat and other Yugoslav territories. +Serbia, too, would now take her part, so that +there is no need to fear for the position of a Yugoslav +Rieka based solely—omitting Hungary and the Ukraine +altogether—on her Yugoslav hinterland. Rieka without +Yugoslavia would be ruined and would degenerate into a +fishing village, with a great past and a miserable future. +This could very well be seen during the spring of 1919 +when the communications were interrupted between Rieka +and Yugoslavia. At Rieka during April eggs were +80 centimes apiece, while at Bakar, a few miles away, +they cost 25 centimes; milk at Rieka was 6 crowns the +litre and at Bakar one crown; beef was 30 crowns a +kilo and at Bakar 8 crowns. Italy was calling Rieka +her pearl—a pearl of great price; the Yugoslavs said +it was the lung of their country. It is within the knowledge +of the Italianists that the prosperity of Rieka would +not be advanced by making her the last of a chain of +Italian ports, but rather by making her the first port of +Yugoslavia. What has Italy to offer in comparison with +the Slovenes and the Croats? The maritime outlet +of the Save valley, as well as of the plains of Hungary +beyond it, is, as Sir Arthur Evans points out, the port of +Rieka. And, in view of the mountainous nature of the +country which lies for a great distance at the back of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> +Split and of Dubrovnik, it would seem that Rieka—and +especially when the railway line has been shortened—will +be the natural port of Belgrade.</p> + + +<p class="section">THE TURNCOAT MAYOR</p> + +<p>One cannot expect in a place with Rieka's history +that such considerations as these will be debated, calmly +or otherwise, but at all events on their own merits. They +will be approached with more than ordinary passion, +since so many of the people of Rieka have been turncoats. +Any man who changes sides in his religion or +his nationality or politics—presuming, and I hope this +mostly was so at Rieka, that his reasons were not base—that +man will feel profoundly on these matters, more +profoundly than the average person of his new religion, +nationality or politics. He will observe the ritual, he +will give utterance to his thoughts with such an emphasis +that his old comrades will dislike him and his new associates +be made uneasy. Thus a convert may not always +be the most delightful creature in the garden, and he is +abundant at Rieka. As an illustration we may study +Dr. Vio. Many persons have repeated that he has a +Croat father, yet they should in fairness add that his +father's father came from Venice. But if he came from +Lapland, that ought to be no reason why the present +Dr. Vio should not, if he so desires, be an Italian. If +he had, when he arrived at what is usually called the +age of discretion, inscribed himself among the sons of +Italy—<i>à la bonheur</i>. But he took no such step. He +came out as a Croat of the Croats, for when he had finished +his legal studies he became a town official, but discovered +that his views—for he was known as an unbending +Croat—hindered his advancement. The party in possession +of the town council, the Autonomist party, would +have none of him. At last he, in disgust, threw up his +post and went into his father's office. He was entitled, +after ten years' service, to a pension; the Autonomists +refused to grant it for the reason that he was so dour a +Croat. Very often, talking with his friends, did Dr. Vio +mention this. He made a successful appeal to the Court +at Buda-Pest and a certain yearly sum was conceded to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> +him, which he may or may not be still obtaining. Then, +to the amazement of the Croats, he renounced his nationality +and became—no, not an Italian—a Magyar. He +was now one of those who called Hungary his "Madre +Patria," and as a weapon of the ruling Hungarian party +he was employed against the Italianists. In the year +1913 the deputy for Rieka died and Dr. Vio was a candidate, +his opponent being one of the Italianist party, +Professor Zanella. Dr. Vio had the support of the +Government officials, railway officials and so forth, and +was elected. Now he was a Magyar of the Magyars: +Hungarian police officials were introduced, and Magyar, +disregarding the town statutes, was employed by them +as sole official language. The citizens still speak of those +police.... The War broke out, and Dr. Vio donned a +uniform, serving chiefly on the railway line between Rieka +and Zagreb. Gradually he seems to have acquired the +feeling that it was unnatural for him to be a Magyar of +the Magyars, even though he was compelled, like so many +others, to wear this uniform. But one day in 1916 when +his friend and fellow-officer, Fran Šojat, teacher at the +High School at Sušak, walked into his room at Meja, +when he happened to be putting little flags upon a map, +he prophesied—King Peter and the Tzar would have +been glad to hear him. Presently, he had himself elected +as the mayor, which enabled him to leave an army so +distasteful to him. How long would he wait until he +publicly became a Croat once again? He did not doubt +that the Entente would win, and told that same friend +Šojat that Rieka on the next day would be Croat. To +another gentleman in June of 1918 he said he hoped +that he would be the first Yugoslav mayor of the town, +and on that day, out hunting, he sang endless Croat +songs. In September, to the mayor of Sušak, "You will +see," he said, "how well we two as mayors will work +together." When the Croat National Council entered +into office at the end of October he again met Mr. Šojat, +just as he was going up to that interview in the Governor's +Palace. "Jesam li ja onda imao pravo, jesi li sada +zadovoljan?" he said. ("Was I not right that time? +Are you satisfied now?") Joyfully he pressed Mr. +Šojat's hand and greeted the two other persons who were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span> +with him. And Mr. Šojat was pleased to think that Vio +would now be a good Croat, as of old. But on the +following day he was an Italian.</p> + + +<p class="section">HIS FERVOUR</p> + +<p>When I went up to see this variegated gentleman—whose +personal appearance is that of a bright yellow cat—he +purred awhile upon the sofa and then started striding +up and down the room. As he sketched the history of +the town, which, he said, had always been Italian and +would insist on being so, he spoke with horror of the days +when Jellačić was in control, and then, remembering +another trouble, he raised both his hands above his head +and brought them down with such a crash upon the +desk where I was writing his remarks that—but nobody +burst in; the municipal officials were accustomed to his +conversation. He was reviling at that moment certain +Allied officers who had not seen fit to visit him. "I +care not!" he yelled. "We are Italian! I tell you +we are Italianissimi!" (He was glad enough, however, +when his brother Hamlet, who had remained a Yugoslav +and was on friendly terms with the chief of the carabinieri, +managed to obtain for the mayor a passport to Italy, +concerning which the carabinieri had said that they must +first of all apply to Rome.) The doctor was sure that +Yugoslavia would not live, for it had two religions; +and another notable defect of the Croats—"I speak their +language quite well," he said—was that in the whole of +Rieka not one ancient document was in Croatian. I +was going to mention that everywhere in Croatia until +1848 they were in Latin—but he saw what I was on the +point of saying and—"Look here! look here!" he cried, +"now look at this!" It was a type-written sheet in +English, whereon was recounted how the mayor had offered +to four Admirals, who came to Rieka on behalf of their +four nations, how he had, in order to meet them in every +way—"They asked me," he said, with blankness and +indignation and forgiveness all joined in his expression—it +was beautifully done—"they asked me, the Italian +mayor of this Italian town, whether it was truly an Italian +town!"—well, he had offered to take a real plebiscite,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> +on the basis of the last census, and the Admirals, while +appreciating his offer, had not availed themselves of it. +(Maybe some one had told them how the census officials, +chiefly members of the "Giovani Fiumani," had gone +round, asking the people whether they spoke Italian +and usually filling in the papers themselves. Presumably +the mayor did not propose to allow anyone who had then +been described as an Italian now to call himself Croat.) +I was just calculating what he was in 1910 when he played +a trump card and begged me to go up to the cemetery +and take note of the language used for the epitaphs. Then +let me return to him on the morrow and say what was the +nationality of Rieka. There seemed to be the question +if in such a town where Yugoslavs so often use Italian +as the business language, many of them possibly might +use it as the language of death; as it happened the first +Yugoslav to whom I spoke about this point—a lawyer +at whose flat I lunched the following day—produced a +little book entitled <i>Regolamento del Cimitero comunale +di Fiume</i>, and from it one could see that in the local +cemetery the blessed principle of self-determination was +in fetters. Chapter iii. lays down that all inscriptions +must have the approval of the civic body. You are +warned that they will not approve of sentences or words +which are indecent, and that they prohibit all expressions +and allusions that might give offence to anyone, to moral +corporations, to religions, or which are notoriously false. +No doubt, in practice, they waive the last stipulation, +so that the survivors may give praise to famous or to +infamous men; but I am told that they raised fewer +difficulties for Italian wordings, and that the stones which +many people used—those which the undertakers had in +stock, with spaces left for cutting in the details—were +invariably in Italian.... I hope I have not given an +unsympathetic portrait of the mayor who has about +him something lovable. Whatever Fate may have in +store for Rieka, Dr. Vio is so magnificent an emotional +actor that his future is assured. I trust it will be many +years before a stone, in Croat, Magyar or Italian, is +placed above the body of this volatile gentleman.... +And then perhaps the deed of his administrative life +that will be known more universally than any other<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span> +will be the omission of an <i>I</i> from certain postage stamps. +When the old Hungarian stamps were surcharged with +the word <span class="smcap">Fiume</span>, the sixty-third one in every sheet of +half an edition was defective and was stamped <span class="smcap">Fume</span>.<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a></p> + + +<p class="section">THREE PLEASANT PLACES</p> + +<p>In the immediate neighbourhood of Rieka, across the +bay, lies Abbazia, which Nature and the Austrians have +made into a charming spot. By the famous "Strandweg" +that winds under rocks and palm and laurel, you go to +Volosca in the easterly and to Lovrana in the westerly +direction. Just at the back of all these pretty places +stands the range of Istria's green mountains. More than +twenty years ago a certain Dr. Krstić, from the neighbourhood +of Zadar, conceived the happy thought of +printing, in the peasant dialect, a newspaper which would +discourse on Italy in articles no peasant could resist. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span>He was given subsidies, and for some time the newspaper +was published at Volosca. But perhaps the peasants +did not read it any more than those near Zadar would +take in the <i>Pravi Dalmatinac</i> ("The Real Dalmatian"), +which attempted a few years previous to the War to +preach sectionalism to the Serbo-Croats. The Italians +who came to the Abbazia district in November 1918 +did not try such methods. In the combined commune +of Volosca-Abbazia the population at the 1910 census +consisted of 4309 Yugoslavs, 1534 German-Austrians, +and 418 Italians. Most of the 418 had never seen Italy; +the only true Italians were some officials who had come +from other parts of Istria. The official language was +Italian, which was regarded as more elegant. The +district doctor was Italian, but all the other 29 non-official +doctors were either Germans, Czechs or Croats. +At Volosca eighteen years ago there was no Croat school; +when one was opened the Italian school at once lost half +its membership and before the War had been reduced to +25 pupils. Before the War at Abbazia the Croat school +had six classes, while the Italian had ceased for lack of +patronage. The German school had 160 pupils; this +has now been dissolved, the pupils being mostly sent +to the re-opened Italian school. Thus it will be seen +that efforts were required to Italianize these places. +The efforts were continued even during the War, it is +said by the ex-Empress Zita. At any rate the people +who had altered their Italian names saw that they had +been premature and reassumed their former ones. They +reassumed the pre-war privileges: at Lovrana, for +example, they "ran" the village, not having allowed +any communal elections since 1905 and arranging that +their Croat colleagues in the council should all be illiterate +peasants. Some Italians were interned in 1915, as the +Croats had been in 1914, but the council came again +into their hands. At the meetings they had been obliged, +owing to the council's composition, to talk Croatian; +but their own predominance was undisturbed. On their +return to power during the War they displayed more +generosity, and admitted even educated Croats to the +council. And if such out-and-out Italians as the Signori +Grossmann, Pegan, etc. of Lovrana were kinder to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> +Yugoslavs than the Signori Grbac, Korošać and Codrić +of Rieka it may be because the gentle spirit of the place +affected them. The leading families would even intermarry; +Signor Gelletich, Lovrana's Italian potentate, +gave his sister to the Croat chieftain. But, as we have +said, idylls had to end when in November 1918 the +Italian army came upon the scene. Abbazia and Volosca +and Lovrana were painted thoroughly in the Italian +colours. Public buildings, private houses—irrespective +of their inmates—had patches of green, white and red +bestowed upon them. Everything was painted—some +occupation had to be found for the military, who appeared +to be more numerous than the inhabitants. Meanwhile, +their commanding officers had other brilliant ideas: an +Italian kindergarten was opened at Volosca, and the +peasant women of the hills around were promised that +if they came with their children to the opening ceremony, +every one of them would be rewarded with 1 lb. of sugar. +So they came and were photographed—it looked extremely +well to have so many women seizing this first +opportunity of an Italian education for their babies. +Some one at Rieka most unfortunately had forgotten to +consign the sugar. The Italian officer who was appointed +to discharge the functions of podestà, that is, +mayor, of Abbazia was a certain Lieut.-Colonel Stadler. +He sent to Rome and Paris various telegrams as to +the people's ardent hope of being joined to Italy. The +people's own telegrams to Paris went by a more circuitous +route. But Stadler did not seem to care much +for the French, nor yet for the English. About a dozen +of the educated people, thinking that the French might +also come to Abbazia and wishing to be able to converse +with them, took lessons in that language; another dozen, +with a similar motive, had a Mr. Pošcić, a naturalized +American subject, to give them English lessons. Away +with these baubles, cried Stadler; on January 10 he +stopped the lessons.</p> + + +<p class="section">ITALY IS LED ASTRAY BY SONNINO</p> + +<p>While the Italians were thus engaged, what was the +state of opinion in their own country? Would Bissolati's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span> +organ, the <i>Secolo</i>, and the <i>Corriere della Sera</i>, which had +been favourable to the Slavs since Caporetto, have it +in their power to moderate the fury of the anti-Slav +papers? Malagodi of the <i>Tribuna</i> said on November 24 +that the position at Rieka had been remedied. But was +the public fully alive to what was happening at Zadar +and Šibenik? "While these cities have been nominally +occupied by us and are under the protection of our flag, +the Italian population has never been so terrorized by +Croat brutality as at this moment." The <i>Mattino</i> disclosed +to its readers in flaring headlines that "Yugoslav +oppression cuts the throats of the Italian population in +Dalmatia and terrorizes them." Would the people of +Italy rather listen to such thrills or to the <i>Secolo</i>, +which deprecated the contemptuous writings of Italian +journalists with regard to the Slavs—the <i>Gazzetta del +Popolo's</i> "little snakes" was one of the milder terms +of opprobrium. The <i>Secolo</i> recalled Italy's own illiterate +herds and the fact that the Italian Risorgimento +was judged, not by the indifferent and servile mass, +but by its heroes. It explained that the Treaty of +London was inspired by the belief that Austria would +survive, and that for strategic reasons only it had +given, not Rieka, but most of Dalmatia and the islands +to Italy.</p> + +<p>It was calamitous for Italy that she was being governed +at this moment not by prudent statesmen such as she +more frequently produces in the north, but by southerners +of the Orlando and Sonnino type. The <i>Giornale d'Italia</i> +would at a word from the Foreign Minister have damped +the ardour of those journalists and other agitators who +were fanning such a dangerous fire. Sonnino once +himself told Radović, the Montenegrin, that he could +not acquiesce in any union of the Yugoslavs, for such a +combination would be fraught with peril for Italians. +And now that Southern Slavs were forming what he +dreaded, their United States, it would have been sagacious—it +was not too late—if he had set himself to win their +friendship. Incidents of an untoward nature had occurred, +such as those connected with the Austrian fleet; +nine hundred Yugoslavs, after fighting side by side with +the Italians, had actually been interned, many of them<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> +wearing Italian medals for bravery;<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> the Yugoslavs, in +fact, by these and other monstrous methods had been +provoked. But it was not too late. A Foreign Minister +not blind to what was happening in foreign countries +would have seen that if he valued the goodwill of France +and England and America—and this goodwill was a +necessity for the Italians—it was incumbent on him to +modify his politics. The British Press was not unanimous—all +the prominent publicists did not, like a gentleman +a few months afterwards in the <i>Spectator</i>, say that "if +the Yugoslavs contemplated a possible war against the +Italians, by whose efforts and those of France and Great +Britain they had so recently been liberated, then would +the Southern Slavs be guilty of monstrous folly and +ingratitude." Baron Sonnino might have apprehended +that more knowledge of the Yugoslav-Italian situation +would produce among the Allies more hostility; he should +have known that average Frenchmen do not buy their +favourite newspaper for what it says on foreign politics, +and that the <i>Journal des Débats</i> and the <i>Humanité</i> have +many followers who rarely read them. And, above all +else, he should have seen that the Americans, who had +not signed the Treaty of London, would decline to lend +themselves to the enforcement of an antiquated pact +which was so grievously incongruous with Justice, to +say nothing of the Fourteen Points of Mr. Wilson. +But Sonnino threw all these considerations to the winds. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span>He should have reconciled himself to the fact that +his London Treaty, if for no other reason than that +it was a secret one, belonged to a different age and was +really dead; his refusal to bury it was making him +unpopular with the neighbours. One does not expect a +politician to be quite consistent, and Baron Sonnino is, +after all, not the same man who in 1881 declared that +to claim Triest as a right would be an exaggeration of +the principle of nationalities; but he should not in 1918 +have been deaf to the words which he considered of such +weight when he wrote them in 1915 that he caused them +to be printed in a Green Book. "The monarchy of +Savoy," he said in a telegram to the Duke of Avarna on +February 15 of that year, "has its staunchest root in the +fact that it personifies the national ideals." Baron Sonnino +was rallying to the House of Karageorgević most of those +among the Croats and Slovenes who, for some reason or +other, had been hesitating; for King Peter personified +the national ideals which the Baron was endeavouring +to throttle. As Mr. Wickham Steed pointed out in a +letter to the <ins class="correction" +title="Transcriber's note: original reads 'Corriera'"><i>Corriere</i></ins> <i>della Sera</i>, the complete accord +between Italians and Yugoslavs is not only possible and +necessary, but constitutes a European interest of the +first order; if it be not realized, the Adriatic would become +not Italian nor Slav, but German; if, on the other hand, +it were brought about, then the language and the culture, +the commerce and the political influence of Italy would +not merely be maintained but would spread along the +eastern Adriatic coast and in the Balkans in a manner +hitherto unhoped for; if no accord be reached, then the +Italians would see their whole influence vanish from every +place not occupied by overwhelming forces. But Sonnino, +a descendant of rancorous Levantines and obstinate +Scots, went recklessly ahead; it made you think that +he was one of those unhappy people whom the gods +have settled to destroy. He neglected the most elementary +precautions; he ought to have requested, for +example, that the French and British and Americans +would everywhere be represented where Yugoslav territory +was occupied. But, alas, he did not show that he +disagreed with the <i>Tribuna's</i> lack of wisdom when it +said that "the Italian people could never tolerate that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> +beside our flag should fly other flags, even if friendly, +for this would imply a confession of weakness and +incapacity."</p> + + +<p class="section">THE STATE OF THE CHAMBER</p> + +<p>The Government was in no very strong position, for +the Chamber was now moribund and the many groups +which had been formed, in the effort to create a war +Chamber out of one that was elected in the days of peace, +were now dissolving. An incident towards the end of +November exhibited not only the contrivances by which +these groups hoped to preserve themselves, but the eagerness +with which the Government rushed to placate the +powerful. A young deputy called Centurione, a member +of the National Defence group (the Fascio), made a furious +attack on Giolitti, under cover of a personal explanation. +He had been accused of being a police spy. Well, after +Caporetto, convinced that the defeat was partly due to +the work of Socialists and Giolittians, he had disguised +himself as a workman and taken part in Socialist meetings. +He was proud to have played the spy for the good of his +country, and he finished by accusing Giolitti and six others +of treason. The whole Chamber—his own party not being +strongly represented—seems to have made for Centurione +who, amidst an indescribable uproar, continued to shout +"Traitor!" to anyone who approached him. Sciorati, +one of the accused, was at last able to make himself heard. +He related how, at Turin, Centurione had made a fool of +himself. (But if Lewis Carroll had been with us still +he might have made himself immortal.) "I have seen +him disguised," said Sciorati, "as an out-porter at the +door of my own house." Giolitti appeared and demanded +an immediate inquiry, with what was described as cold +and menacing emphasis. And Orlando, the Prime Minister, +flew up to the Chamber and parleyed with Giolitti +in the most cordial fashion. Centurione's documents +were at once investigated and no proofs of treason were +found, no witnesses proposed by him being examined. +He was expelled from the National Defence group for +"indiscipline," his colleagues frustrating his attempts +to sit next to them by repeatedly changing their seats.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span> +The attitude of the Fascio was humble and apologetic, +and the other significant feature of the incident was the +haste with which Orlando reacted to Giolitti's demand for +an inquiry.</p> + + +<p class="section">THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY</p> + +<p>Baron Sonnino had to take into account not only the +unsteadiness of the ground on which the Government +stood, owing to these parliamentary regroupings, but the +general effects that would ensue from the country's +financial position. When, in spite of the victory and the +approach of peace, the exchange price of the lira dropped +2 to 3 points towards the end of November, this may have +had, contrary to what was thought by many, no connection +with a revolutionary movement. The fact that in +Triest the authorities had been obliged to isolate Italian +ex-prisoners on their return from Russia, since they were +imbued with revolutionary principles, at any rate were +uttering loud revolutionary cries, may have been the +mere temporary infection caught from their environment. +But that of which there was no doubt was the entire +truth of Caroti's statement when that deputy declared +at Milan that while Italy had been triumphant in the +military sphere, she had been economically overthrown. +Bankruptcy had not been announced, though it existed. +Sonnino may therefore have been impelled not only by +imperialism, by his inability to adjust himself to the new +international situation, but by the hope that through his +policy the new internal situation might be tided over. +If the thoughts of his fellow-countrymen could be directed +elsewhere than to bankruptcy and possible revolution, it +might be that in the meantime adroit measures and good +luck would brush away these disagreeable phenomena. +And he would then be rightly looked upon as one who had +deserved well of his country. So he set about the task +with such a thoroughness that he turned not alone the +thoughts of men, but their heads. Professor Italo Giglioli +addressed a letter to <i>The New Europe</i> in which he said +that he was claiming now not the territories given by the +Treaty of London, but considerably more. He wanted +all Dalmatia, down to Kotor. In foreign hands, he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> +said, Dalmatia would be an eternal danger, and besides: +"What in Dalmatia is not Italian is barbaric!" It was +a melancholy spectacle to see a man of Giglioli's reputation +saying that Dubrovnik, the refuge of Slav culture in +the age of darkness and the place in which Slav literature +so gloriously arose, was, forsooth, throughout its history +always Italian in culture and in literature. "Among +thinking people in Italy," proclaims the Professor, "there +are indeed but few who will abandon to the Balkan +processes a region and a people which have always been +possessed by Italian culture and which constitute the +necessary wall of Italy and Western Europe against the +inroads of the half-barbaric East." He protests that it +is ridiculous of <i>The New Europe</i> to assert that the secret +Treaty of London is supported by a tiny, discredited band +of Italians; and indeed that Review has regretfully to +acknowledge that many of his countrymen have been +swept off their feet and carried onward in the gale of +popular enthusiasm. Giglioli ends by asking that his +name be removed from the list of <i>The New Europe's</i> +collaborators. In vain does the <i>The New Europe</i> say that +the Professor's programme must involve a war between +Italians and Yugoslavs. "We must be prepared for a +new war," said the <i>Secolo</i> on January 12. "The Italians +who absolutely demand the conquest of Dalmatia must +have the courage to demand that the demobilization of +our Army should be suspended, and to say so very clearly." +And the <i>Corriere della Sera</i> warned Orlando of the consequences +if he took no steps to silence the mad voices. +"No one knows better," it wrote, "than the Minister of +the Interior, who is also Premier, that on the other coast +Italy claims that part of Dalmatia which was assigned +to her by the Treaty of London, but not more.... If +the Government definitely claims and demands the whole +of Dalmatia, then the agitation is justified; but if the +Government does not demand it, then we repeat that to +favour and not to curb the movement is the worst kind +of Defeatism, for it creates among Italians a state of +mind tending to transform the sense of a great victory +into the sense of a great defeat ... quite apart from +the intransigeance which this provokes in the Yugoslav +camp." It was in vain. And when Bissolati, having<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span> +resigned from office on the issue of Italo-Yugoslav relations, +attempted to explain his attitude at the Scala in +Milan on January 11, his meeting was wrecked, for +though the body of the hall and the galleries were relatively +quiet, if not very sympathetic—it was a ticket +meeting—the large number of subscription boxes, which +could not be closed to their ordinary tenants, had been +packed by Bissolati's adversaries, who succeeded in preventing +him from speaking. After a long delay he +managed to read the opening passage, but when he +came to the first "renunciation"—the Brenner for the +Teutons—disturbance set in finally and he left the +theatre. Afterwards the rioters adjourned to the <i>Corriere</i> +and <i>Secolo</i> offices, where they broke the windows. And +thus the first full statement of the war aims of any Italian +statesman could not be uttered. It was spread abroad +by the Press. Bissolati claimed to speak in the name of +a multitude which had hitherto been silent.... The +masses, he said, demanded, that their rulers should devote +all their strength to "the divine blessing of freeing mankind +from the slavery of war." ... "To those," he said, +"who speak of the Society of Nations as an 'ideology' +or 'Utopia' which has no hold over our people, we would +reply: Have you been in the trenches among the soldiers +waiting for the attack?" [Signor Bissolati had the +unique record, among Allied or enemy statesmen, of +having volunteered for active service, though past the +fighting age, and of having served in the trenches for +many months before entering the Orlando Cabinet.]</p> + + +<p class="section">A FOUNTAIN IN THE SAND</p> + +<p>The speech was an admirable expression of that new +spirit which the Allies had been fighting for. "Each of +the anti-German nations," he said, "must guard itself +against any unconsciously German element in its soul, +if only in order to have the right to combat any trace +in others of the imperialism which had poisoned the outlook +of the German people." With regard to the Adriatic: +"Yugoslavia exists, and no one can undo this. But to +the credit of Italy be it said, the attainment of unity and +independence for the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> +must be alike the reason and the certain issue of our +War.... Italy felt that if Serbia had been swallowed +up by that monstrous Empire—itself a vassal of the +German Empire—her own economic expansion and +political independence would have received a mortal +blow. And so she was on Serbia's side, first in neutrality, +then in intervention.... Those who only see, in the +formation of the Yugoslav State, a sympathetic or antipathetic +episode of the War, or a subsidiary effect of it, +have failed to detect its inner meaning." As for the +Treaty of London which was concluded against the enemy, +it was not to be regarded as intangible against a friendly +people. By special grants of autonomy, as at Zadar, or +by arrangements between the two States, he would see +the language and culture of all the trans-Adriatic sons of +Italy assured. He warned his countrymen lest, in order +to meet the peril of a German-Slav alliance against them, +they should have to subordinate themselves to France +and England, and be their protégés instead of their real +Allies—a situation not unlike that of the Triple Alliance +when Germany protected them against the ever-imminent +attack of Austria.... "But perhaps the Yugoslavs +will not be grateful or show an equal spirit of conciliation? +Certainly they will then have no vital interests +to push against Italy, and in the long run sentiments +follow interests." There was, in fact, throughout the +speech only one questionable passage, that in which he +said that "if Italy renounced the annexation of Dalmatia +she might obtain from Yugoslavia or from the Peace +Conference the joy of pressing to her heart the most Italian +city of Rieka, which the Treaty of London renounced." +This may have been a sop to Cerberus. But Bissolati's +appeals to justice and to wisdom fell upon the same stony +ground as his demonstration that Dalmatia's strategic +value is very slight from a defensive point of view to +those who possess Pola, Valona and the outer islands. +There is a school of reasonable Italians, such as Giuseppe +Prezzolini, who for strategic reasons asked for the isle of +Vis. Mazzini himself, after 1866, found it necessary, +for the same reasons, that Vis should be Italian, since it +is the key of the Adriatic. Some of us thought that it +might have been feasible to follow the precedent of Port<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span> +Mahon, which Great Britain occupied without exercising +sovereignty over the rest of the island of Minorca. The +magnificent harbour of Vis, perfectly protected against +the bora, would have satisfied all the demands of the +Italian navy. Vis is to-day practically as much Slav +as Minorca was Spanish, and if the Slavs had been left in +possession of the remainder of that island it would have +proved the reverse of a danger to the Italians, since with +a moderate amount of good sense the same relations would +have existed as was the case upon Minorca.... The +solution which was ultimately found in the Treaty of +Rapallo was to allocate to the Italians in complete sovereignty +not the island of Vis, but the smaller neighbouring +island of Lastovo.</p> + +<p>While the vast majority of Italians would not listen +to Bissolati they delighted in Gabriele d'Annunzio. The +great poet Carducci<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> had his heart full when he thought +about the ragged, starving Croat soldiers, pitiable victims +of the Habsburgs, exploited by them all their lives and +fighting for them in a foreign land—and they fought +bravely; but as they were often clad in miserable garments, +they were called by those who wanted to revile +them "Croat dirt." And that is what they are to +Gabriele d'Annunzio. When the controversies of to-day +have long been buried and when d'Annunzio's works are +read, his lovers will be stabbed by his <i>Lettera ai Dalmati</i>. +And if the mob had to be told precisely what the Allies +are, it did not need a lord of language to dilate upon +"the thirty-two teeth of Wilson's undecipherable smile," +to say that the French "drunk with victory, again fly +all their plumes in the wind, tune up all their fanfares, +quicken their pace in order to pass the most resolute +and speedy—and we step aside to let them pass." No +laurel will be added to his fame for having spoken of +"the people of the five meals" [the English] which, "its +bloody work hardly ended, reopens its jaws to devour +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span>as much as it can." All Italy resounded with the catchword +that the Croats had been Austria's most faithful +servants, although some Italians, such as Admiral Millo, +as we shall see, when writing confidentially, did not say +anything so foolish. Very frequently, however, as the +Croats noticed, those who had been the most uncompromising +wielders of Austria's despotism were taken +on by Italy, the new despot. For example, at Split +when the mayor and other Yugoslav leaders were arrested +at the beginning of the War, one Francis Mandirazza +was appointed as Government Commissary, after having +filled the political post of district captain (Bezirkshauptmann) +which was only given to those who were in the +entire confidence of the Government. As soon as the +Italians had possession of Šibenik they took him into their +service.</p> + + +<p class="section">THOSE WHO HELD BACK FROM THE PACT OF ROME</p> + +<p><i>The New Europe</i>, whose directors had taken a chief +part in bringing the Italians and the Yugoslavs together, +which congress had resulted in the Pact of Rome, of April +1918, pointed out that in those dark days of the high-water +mark of the great German offensive, this Pact—which +provided the framework of an agreement, on the +principle of "live and let live"—was publicly approved +of by the Italian Premier and his colleagues, but was +rejected now when the danger was past and Austria was +broken up. Those who brought about the Pact reminded +Italy that she was bound to it by honour and that the +South Slav statesmen never had withdrawn from the +position which it placed them in with reference to Italy.... +Everyone must sympathize with the disappointment +of those gentlemen who—Messrs. Franklin-Bouillon, +Wickham Steed and Seton-Watson were associated +in this endeavour—had striven for a noble end, had +achieved something in spite of many obstacles, and now +saw that one party simply would not use the bridge which +they had built for it. This party had, however, shown +such reticence both while the bridge was being made +and afterwards that one could scarcely be astonished +at their attitude. The Congress at Rome was in no<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span> +sense official, but a voluntary meeting of private persons, +who were got together with a certain amount of trouble. +So unofficial, in fact, was the Congress that those Serbs +who worked with the representatives of the Yugoslav +Committee belonged to the Opposition; the Serbian +Government, then in Corfu, not giving their adhesion to +the Congress, which was perhaps a very clever move on +the part of Pašić. Whether it be true or not that Signor +Amendolla, the General Secretary—he is the political +director of the <i>Corriere della Sera</i>—was asked by the +Yugoslav Committee not to admit any Serbian deputies +except those of the Opposition, it appears that no other +Serbs took a part in the proceedings. The Italian Government +adopted an ambiguous attitude, for while Orlando +publicly endorsed the resolutions, as did several other +Ministers, notably Bissolati, the Premier gave no confirmation +to those who interpreted his attitude as implying +the tacit abandonment of Italy's extreme territorial +claims. Sonnino was so reserved that he took no share +at all in the Congress and refused to receive the Yugoslavs. +He made no secret of his determination to exact the +London Treaty. Nothing was signed by the Italian +Government; and if Orlando's honour was involved it +certainly does not seem possible to say the same of +Sonnino. It may be that Pašić foresaw what would +happen and was therefore unwilling to be implicated. +He is an astute statesman of the old school—"too old," +says <i>The New Europe</i>, which regards him as an Oriental +sultan. But respecting the Pact of Rome they were +rather at issue with the Italians. What the Italians +gained was that the various clauses of the Pact were used +as the basis for propaganda in the Austrian ranks on the +Piave. And when once the Austrian peril had vanished +the old rancour reappeared, particularly when, by the +terms of the military armistice with Austria, Italy obtained +the right to occupy a zone corresponding with +what she was given by the London Treaty. Whereas in +that instrument the frontiers were exactly indicated, +there was in the Pact of Rome no more than a general +agreement that the principles of nationality and self-determination +should be applied, with due regard to other +"vital interests." Bissolati's group was in favour of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> +something more definite, but to this Orlando was not well +disposed; and Trumbić, the President of the Yugoslav +Committee, did not avail himself of the, perhaps rather +useless, offer of some Serbs who were not participating +in the Congress, but suggested that while he worked with +the Government they would keep in touch with the +Bissolati group; even as Bismarck who would work +openly with a Government, and through his agents with +the Opposition.</p> + + +<p class="section">GATHERING WINDS</p> + +<p>As the Serbian Society of Great Britain observed in +a letter of welcome which they addressed to Baron Sonnino +on the occasion of a visit to London, they were convinced +"after a close study and experience of the Southern +Slav question in all its aspects and some knowledge of +the Adriatic problem as a whole, that there is no necessary +or inevitable conflict between the aspiration of the +Southern Slav people towards complete unity and the +postulates of Italian national security and of the completion +of Italian unity; but that, on the contrary, there +exist strong grounds for Italo-Southern Slav co-operation +and friendship." The Italian Government, however, +had now got almost their whole country behind them, +and in the months after the War so many Italians had +become warlike that they were enchanted with the picture +drawn by Gabriele d'Annunzio: "And what peace will +in the end be imposed on us, poor little ones of Christ? +A Gallic peace? A British peace? A star-spangled +peace? Then, no! Enough! Victorious Italy—the +most victorious of all the nations—victorious over herself +and over the enemy—will have on the Alps and over her +sea the <i>Pax Romana</i>, the sole peace that is fitting. If +necessary we will meet the new plot in the fashion of the +Arditi [units of volunteers employed on specially dangerous +enterprises], a grenade in each hand and a knife between +our teeth." It is true that the other poor little ones of +Christ, the Franciscans, who are greatly beloved by the +people of Dalmatia, from whom they are sprung, have +hitherto preached a different <i>Pax Romana</i>. The Dalmatian +clergy, who are patriotic, have been rather a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> +stumbling-block in the way of the Italians. A very small +percentage of them—about six in a thousand—have been +anti-national and opportunist. At one place a priest +whom his bishop had some years ago had occasion to +expel, returned with the Italian army in November 1918 +and informed the bishop that he had a letter from the +Pope which reinstated him, but he refused to show this +letter. He was anxious to preach on the following Sunday; +the bishop declined to allow him. Then came unto the +bishop the chief of the Italian soldiery and he said unto +him: "Either thou shalt permit this man to preach +or I will cause thine office to be taken from thee." Unfortunately +the bishop yielded, and the sermon, as one +would imagine, was devoted to the greater glory of the +Italians. Sometimes the Italians, since their occupation, +have made a more humorous if not more successful use +of the Church. On Palm Sunday, after the service a +number of peasants, in their best clothes, were walking +through a village holding the usual palm leaves in their +hands. They were photographed, and a popular Italian +newspaper printed this as a full-page coloured illustration. +It was entitled: "Dalmatian Peasants on their +way to pay Homage to Admiral Millo."</p> + +<p>This policy of a grenade in each hand and a knife +between the teeth makes a powerful appeal to the munition +firms. And others who feed the flame of Italo-Slav +hatred are, as Gaetano Salvemini, the anti-chauvinist, +pointed out in the <i>Unità</i> of Florence, those professional +gladiators who would lose their job, those agents of the +Italo-German-Levantine capitalism of the Triest Chamber +of Commerce who want to be rid of the competition of +Rieka and think that this can only be obtained by annexation, +and also those Italian Nationalists who believe that +the only path to national greatness is by acquiring territory +everywhere. No light has come to them from the +East; the same arguments which are now put forward +by such societies as the "Pro Dalmatia" could be heard +in Italy before she possessed herself of Tripoli. One +heard the same talk of strategic necessities; one heard +that nearly all the population was waiting with open +arms for the Italians; one heard that from a business +point of view nothing could be better; one heard that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span> +the Italians without Tripoli would be choked out of the +Mediterranean. And what have been the fruits of the +conquest of Tripoli? No economic advantages have +been procured, as Prezzolini wrote, no sociological, no +strategic, no diplomatic benefits. A great deal of money +was thrown away, a vast amount of energy was wasted, +and thousands of troops have to be stationed permanently +in the wilderness. That expedition to Tripoli, which was +one of the gravest errors of Italian politics, was preceded +by clouds of forged documents, of absurdities, of partial +extracts out of consular reports, of lying correspondence +which succeeded in misleading the Italians.</p> + + +<p class="section">WHY THE ITALIANS CLAIMED DALMATIA</p> + +<p>"The Italian Government," said the <i>Morning Post</i>,<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> +"is well qualified to judge of the interests of its own +people." Here the <i>Morning Post</i> is not speaking of the +Italian Government which dealt with Tripoli, but that +which has been dealing with Dalmatia. The reasons +which have been advanced for an Italian or a partly +Italian Dalmatia are geographical, botanical, historical, +ethnical, military, naval and economic. As for the +geographical reasons: even in the schools of Italy they +teach that the Italian natural frontier is determined by +the point of division of the waters of the Alps and that +this frontier falls at Porto Ré, a few miles to the south of +Rieka—everything to the south of that belonging to the +Balkan Peninsula. We may note the gallant patriotism +of an Italian cartographer mentioned by Prezzolini; +this worthy has inscribed a map of Dalmatia down to the +Narenta with the pleasing words: "The new natural +boundaries of Italy." As for the argument that the +flora of Dalmatia resembles that of Italy, this can equally +well be employed by those who would annex Italy to +Dalmatia. Historically, we have seen that Venice, +which held for many years the seacoast and the islands, +did not alter the Slav character of the country. It is not +now the question as to whether Venice deserved or did +not deserve well of Dalmatia, but "the truth is," says +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span>M. Emile Haumant,<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> the learned and impartial French +historian, "the truth is that when Marmont's Frenchmen +arrived they found the Slav language everywhere, the +Italian by its side on the islands and the coast, Italian +customs and culture in the towns, and also the lively +and sometimes affectionate remembrance of Venice; +but nowhere did a Dalmatian tell them that he was an +Italian. On the contrary, they all affirmed that they +were brothers of the Slav beyond, in whose misfortunes +they shared and whose successes they celebrated." The +Italians themselves, in achieving their unity, were very +right to set aside the undoubted historical claims of the +Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, those of the House of Este +and those of the Vatican, seeing that they were in opposition +to the principle of nationality and the right of a +people to determine its own political status. With regard +to the ethnical reasons, we are flogging another dead +horse, as the statistics—even those taken during the +Italian occupation—prove to the meanest intellect; and +now the pro-Italians, despairing to make anyone believe +that the 97·5 per cent. of the people of Dalmatia are +truly Italians who by some kink in their nature persist +in calling themselves Slavs, have invented a brand new +nationality, the Dalmatian, after the classic style of the +late Professor Jagić who at Vienna, under the pressure of +the Austrian Government, began talking of the Bosnian +language in order not to say that it is Serbo-Croat. He +was drowned in laughter. With respect to the military +reasons, the Dalmatian littoral cannot be defended by a +State which is not in possession of the hinterland. In +time of peace a very strong army would be needed; +Italy would, in fact, have to double her army for the +defence of a frontier 700 kilometres long. And in the +event of war it would be necessary either to abandon +Dalmatia or to form two armies of operation, one on the +frontiers of Julian Venetia, the other in Dalmatia, and +without any liaison between them. From the military +point of view it is incomparably more to the interest of +Italy that she should live on friendly terms with the +people of the eastern shore of the Adriatic than that she +should maintain there an army out of all proportion to +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span>her military and economic resources—an army which in +time of war would be worse than useless, since, as M. Gauvain +observes, the submarines, which would find their +nesting-places in the islands, would destroy the lines of +communication. An Italian naval argument is, that if +she had to fight on the eastern side of the Adriatic her +sailors in the morning would have the sun in their eyes; +but the Yugoslavs would be similarly handicapped in the +case of an evening battle. With regard to the economic +reasons, the longitudinal lines will continue to guarantee +to the Germans and Magyars the commercial monopoly +of the East, and Italy will perceive that she has paid +very dearly for a blocked-up window. The sole method +by which Italy can from the Adriatic cause her commerce +to penetrate to the Balkans is by concluding with a +friendly Yugoslavia the requisite commercial treaties, +which will grow more valuable with the construction of +the lateral railways, running inland from the coast, +which Austrians and Magyars so constantly impeded.</p> + + +<p class="section">CONSEQUENCES OF THE TREATY OF LONDON</p> + +<p>If, then, it is difficult to see where the Italian interests +will be profited by the possession of Dalmatia, there +remains the argument that, irrespective of the consequences, +she must have a good deal of it since it was +allotted to her by the Treaty of London,<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> although +the engagements entered into by Italy, France and +Great Britain when they signed the Treaty with +Germany caused the earlier instrument to be subject to +revision where its terms had been disregarded. Signor +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span>Orlando, in an interview granted in April 1918 to the +<i>Journal des Débats</i>, eagerly insisted that the Treaty +had been concluded against the Austrian enemy, not +against the Yugoslav nation; and if this be more than +a mere phrase it is clear that with the disappearance of +Austria-Hungary the Treaty automatically fell to the +ground. By this Treaty of April 1915, France and Great +Britain are bound—if necessary, by force of arms—to +assist Italy in appropriating what, I believe, will be +acknowledged to be some one else's country, at all events +a country the vast proportion of whose inhabitants have +determined that on no account will they come under the +Italians. Would it not have been advisable if those +who signed this document had made a few not very +recondite researches into eastern Adriatic questions? +They must have felt some qualms at the cries of indignation +and amazement which arose when the provisions of +the Treaty were disclosed, for it did not remain a secret +very long. They had imagined, on the whole, that as +Dalmatia had been under alien rulers, Venetian, Austrian +and so forth, for so many years it really would not matter +to them very much if they were governed from Vienna or +from Rome. Perhaps a statesman here and there had +heard that the Dalmatian Diet had petitioned many times +since 1870 that they should be reunited to their brothers +of Croatia and Slavonia in the Triune Kingdom. But all +the calculations seem to have been made upon the basis +that Austria-Hungary would survive, as a fairly formidable +Power at any rate. The union of the Southern +Slavs was too remote, and the Italians would be kindly +masters. When the howl of indignation rose, the statesmen +seem to have conceived the hope that the Italians +would be generous and wise. The chief blame for the +Treaty does not rest, however, on the Frenchmen and the +Englishmen, but on the Russians; it was naturally felt +that they should be more cognizant of Slav affairs, and +if they were content to sign the Treaty, France and +England might well follow their example. When Dr. +Zarić, the Bishop of Split, saw the former Russian Foreign +Minister, M. Sazonov, in Paris in the spring of 1919, this +gentleman was in a state of such dejection that the Bishop, +out of pity, did not try to probe the matter. "Sometimes,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> +said Sazonov, "sometimes the circumstances are +too much opposed to you and you have to act against +your inclinations."<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> The French and British statesmen +gave the Bishop the impression that they were ashamed +of the Treaty. He read to them in turn a memorandum +in which he suggested that the whole Dalmatian question +should be left to the arbitration of President Wilson, who +was well informed, through experts, of the local conditions. +And was it, in any case, just that an Italian, both claimant +and judge, should sit on the Council of Four, to which no +Yugoslav was admitted? To President Wilson the +Bishop said, "You have come to fight for the just cause."</p> + +<p>The President made no reply.</p> + +<p>The Bishop, a native of the island of Hvar, a great +linguist, was a man who made you think that a very +distinguished mind had entered the body of the late +Cardinal Vaughan. To him the most noticeable features +of the President were the clear brow, the mystic eyes +and the mouth which showed that he stood firmly on the +ground.</p> + +<p>"You have come to work and fight for the peace," +said the Bishop.</p> + +<p>"Yes, indeed, to fight," said Dr. Wilson. "And I +will act with all my energy. You," he said, "you must +help me."</p> + +<p>"I will help you," said the Bishop, "with my prayers."</p> + +<p>The Yugoslav Delegation in Paris had, on the authority +of the Belgrade Cabinet, suggested that the question +should be arbitrated.</p> + +<p>"The Italians have declined the arbitration," said +Dr. Zarić, "just as in the War Germany and Austria +declined yours."</p> + +<p>The President nodded.</p> + +<p>"They have committed many disorders in our fair +land," said the Bishop.</p> + +<p>"I know, I know," said the President.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span></p> +<p>But, it will be asked, why did not Dr. Wilson insist +on a just settlement of the Adriatic question, taking into +his own hands that which Mr. Lloyd George and M. Clemenceau +were so chary of touching? These two statesmen, +with the London Treaty hanging over them, wanted +Wilson's assent for matters in which British and French +interests were more directly concerned, while they required +Sonnino's co-operation in the Treaty with Germany. It +would have suited them very well if Wilson had taken +such energetic steps with Italy that they themselves +could, suitably protesting to Sonnino, be swept along by +the presidential righteousness. But Dr. Wilson was +disappointing those who had—in the first place because +of the lofty language of his Notes—awaited a really great +man. He was seen to be out of his depth; strenuously +he sought to rescue his Fourteen Points and to steer the +Covenant of the League through the rocks and shallows +of European diplomacy. Sonnino, playing for time, +involved the good Wilson in a maze of confused negotiations, +while nearly every organ of Italian official and +unofficial opinion was defaming the President. On +April 15 Dr. Wilson in a memorandum suggested the +famous "Wilson Line" in Istria, which thrust the Italian +frontier westwards, so that Rieka should be safeguarded +from the threat of an Italian occupation of Monte Maggiore. +Italy was to give up northern Dalmatia and all the +islands, save Lussin and Vis; in return she was to be +protected by measures limiting the naval and military +powers of Yugoslavia. When Wilson appealed over the +head of the Italian Government to the people, their +passions had been excited to such a degree that much +more harm was done than good. It is said that he had +promised Messrs. Lloyd George and Clemenceau that he +would not publish his letter for three hours, but that—pride +of authorship triumphing over prudence—it was +circulated to the Press two hours before this time was +up, and a compromise which had been worked out by Mr. +Lloyd George had perforce to be abandoned. This was +one of the occasions when the President's impulsiveness +burst out through his cold exterior, when his strength of +purpose, his grim determination to fight for justice were +undermined by his egotism.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span></p> + + +<p class="section">ITALIAN HOPES IN MONTENEGRO</p> + +<p>For months the Italians had been consoling themselves +with the thought that such a hybrid affair as Yugoslavia +would never really come into existence. Some visionaries +might attempt to join the Serbs and Croats and Slovenes, +yet these must be as rare as Blake, who testified that +"when others see but the dawn coming over the hill, I +see the sons of God shouting for joy." One only had to +listen, one could hear already how they were growling, +how they were quarrelling, how they were killing each +other. In Montenegro, for example, and Albania the +Italians were greatly interested—not always as spectators. +If you tell a hungry Montenegrin peasant in the winter +that there is a chance of his obtaining flour and—well, +that he may have to fight for it, but he will get good +booty at Cetinje, he will go there. In January 1919 +there was a battle. "The Montenegrin people rose in rebellion +against the Serbians to recover their independence," +said an Italian writer, one Dr. Attilio Tamaro in a weekly +paper called <i>Modern Italy</i>, which was published in London. +"This intensely popular revolt, animated by the heroically +patriotic spirit of the Montenegrins, was relentlessly +suffocated in blood. In the little city of Cetinje alone, +where there are but a few thousand inhabitants, over +400 were killed and wounded. The Serbians and the +French together accomplished this sanguinary <ins class="correction" +title="Transcriber's note: original reads 'repression,'">repression.</ins> +We repeat, it is painful to see the French lend their <ins class="correction" +title="Transcriber's note: original reads 'men.'">men,</ins> +their blood and their glorious arms to the carrying out of +the low intrigues of Balkan politics." The money and +the arms that were found on the dead and captured +rebels were Italian. If the schemes of the Italians had +not been upset by the timely arrival of the Yugoslav +forces, with the few Frenchmen, they would have occupied +Cetinje and restored the traitor king. As it was, they +occupied Antivari, from which place they smuggled arms +and munitions into the country. They conspired with the +adherents of the old régime, a very small body of men +who were enormously alarmed at the loss of their privileged +position. The chief of them was Jovan Plamenac, a +former Minister whom the people at Podgorica had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span> +refused to hear, a few weeks previously, when he attempted +to address them. He was hated on account of the most +ruthless fashion in which, as Minister, he had executed +certain of his master's critics at Kolašin. There was a +time, during the first Balkan War, when he advocated +union with Serbia and on April 6, 1916, he wrote in the +<i>Bosnische Post</i> of Sarajevo that Nikita, owing to his flight, +"may be regarded as no longer existing." But his unpopularity +remained and, with vengeance burning in his +heart, he went from Podgorica to the Italians. They +concocted a nice plan—he was to raise an army of his +countrymen and the Italians would bring their garrison +from Scutari. On January 1 Plamenac and his partisans +tried to seize Virpazar, on the Lake of Scutari—the Commandant +of the Italian troops at Scutari, one Molinaro, +had asked the chief of the Allied troops, three days before +this attempt, whether he might dispatch two companies +to that place for the purpose of suppressing the disorders +which had not yet come to pass. Another rising was +engineered at Cetinje, where twenty or thirty of the poor +peasants who had let themselves be talked over by Plamenac +were killed; the rest of the misguided fellows +were sent home, only their leaders being detained. Plamenac +himself escaped to Albania.<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> On the side of the +Montenegrin Provisional Government no regular troops +were available, as the Yugoslav soldiers who had lately +arrived were engaged in policing other parts of the country. +Volunteers were needed and a body of young men, mostly +students, enrolled themselves. They were so busy that +they omitted to inform Mr. Ronald M'Neill, M.P., that +they really were Montenegrin students. That indignant +gentleman insists that they were Serbs, armed with +French and British rifles, against which, he tells us (in +the <i>Nineteenth Century</i>, January 1921) the insurgents +could not do much. Eleven of these volunteers were +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span>killed and they were buried underneath the tree where +Nikita used to administer his brand of justice. All kinds +of incriminating documents were found upon the dead +and captured rebels, as also a significant letter from the +Italian Minister accredited to Nikita, which was addressed +to the chancellor of the Italian Legation at Cetinje. An +inter-Allied Commission, over which General Franchet +d'Espérey presided, issued their report on February 8 +at Podgorica. "All the troops," it said, "in Montenegro +are Yugoslavs and not Serbs; there are not more than +500 of them." It further stated that the rebellion had +been provoked by certain agents of the ex-King, assisted +by some Italian agents. As for the ridiculous Italian +charge which I quoted, accusing the French of a share +in the low intrigues of Balkan politics, this participation +consisted in their General at Kotor demanding of Darković, +the leader of the Montenegrin deputies, that his followers +and the rebels should not come to blows. The reply, +which annoyed the General, was to the effect that if the +rebels made an attack, then Darković with his scratch +forces would defend himself—and the battle lasted for +two or three days. A junior French officer, who had been +in command of a small detachment at Cetinje, told me +that the noise of firing had awakened him every night +and he had not the least idea what it was all about. But +the French had a pretty accurate idea of the nationality +of the "brigands" who on December 29 fired on the +<small>ss.</small> <i>Skroda</i> and <i>Satyre</i> near the village of Samouritch +when it was carrying a cargo of flour up the Bojana for +the Montenegrins. These vessels were sailing under the +French flag and the "brigands," about fifty in number, +were armed with machine guns. An International Commission +established these facts, as also that the Italian +ship <i>Vedeta</i> passed up the river just before the outrage +and the <i>Mafalda</i> just after it, and neither of them was +molested. In consequence of what occurred and as +practically all the supplies for Montenegro had at that +time to be sent by the Bojana, General Dufour, in the +absence of French troops, authorized the Serbs on +February 12 to occupy the commanding position of +Tarabosh.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span></p> + + +<p class="section">WHAT HAD LATELY BEEN THE FATE OF THE AUSTRIANS +THERE</p> + +<p>These Yugoslav troops had been detached from the +left wing of the Salonica forces and had come overland +in order to deal with the situation in Montenegro. The +Austrians had been in a woeful plight; it was regarded +as a punishment to serve in Montenegro and Albania, +not only because of the lack of amenities and the unruly +spirit of the people, but also for the reason that the officers +who came there—many managed to avoid it—were too +often causes of dissatisfaction. More complaints had +gone up from this front than from any other. The +supplies allotted by the High Command in Austria were +ample, as the Rieka depots testified, but a great deal did +not reach its proper destination. Some officers took +down their wives or other ladies, loading up the army +motor-cars with luxuries of food and grand pianos, while +the men were forced to tramp enormous distances; if +anyone fell out, the natives in Albania would emerge +from where they had been hiding and would deprive the +wretched man of his equipment and his clothing, and +perhaps his life. The sanitary section of that Austrian +army was not good; it happened frequently that victims +of malaria and wounded men were told to walk—if they +arrived, so much the better. These poor fellows did not +know that if they ultimately got back to Vienna they +might be the objects of Imperial solicitude—the least +to be dreaded was the Archduke Salvator, who was wont +to come to a hospital, with his wife, and to bestow on +every man a coloured picture-postcard of their Imperial +and Royal persons, with a sentence printed underneath +respecting their paternal and maternal love; it was +officially reported in Vienna, of another hospital, that +those who lay there had been spending "happy hours" +in "the circle of the exalted Family"—this referred +to the Archduchess Maria Immaculata, whose compositions +for the piano are said to be beyond all criticism; +she herself did not play them, but would sit there while +they were inflicted by a courtier on the helpless men. +Not very enviable was the lot of those Magyar officers<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> +who were taken to that hospital in Buda-Pest over which +the Archduchess Augusta, a strikingly ugly woman, +presided. It was a regulation that no wounds were +allowed to be dressed until the Archduchess, arrayed in +uniform and armed with a revolver, made her appearance +of an evening. The officers were told that it was etiquette +for them to broach a pleasant conversation with their +benefactress. But the most dangerous Habsburg was +the Archduchess Blanka, who was interested in medicine; +she had thought out for herself a remedy which human +ailments never would withstand, but which was more +especially effective in cases of tuberculosis, of malaria +and of kidney diseases. At the hospital in the Kirchstetterngasse +she had a ward entirely devoted to kidneys. +Her treatment consisted in hot bandages of corn-flowers; +the patients were packed in these bandages and that was +all that was done to them. With regard to the diet, +there were no particular regulations. Some of the men +were sent from there to another and less original hospital, +but it was often too late.</p> + + +<p class="section">AND OF THE NATIVES</p> + +<p>The Montenegrins who had been for so long—some of +them for three years—leading a congenial life among their +rocks, descending now and then to kill an Austrian and +to gather booty, were most active when the ill-starred +Imperial army was retiring. Six hundred Austrians, +for instance, took the road from Kolašin with the intention +of marching to Lieva Rieka, a distance of 45 kilometres. +Thirty-five of them arrived there. Thus the population +avenged such incidents as the hanging by the Austrian +authorities of the brother of the ex-Minister General +Vešović,<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> the General having taken to the hills and his +brother being executed by way of reprisal. The Austrians +had now to pay the penalty of ruthlessness; on September +1, 1917, Count Clam Martinić, the Military Governor, +issued Order No. 3110 which stated that: "In consequence +of the recent inquiry having revealed the fact that +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span>telegraph and telephone wires have been cut by civilians, +we make the following order:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"1. Persons caught red-handed in acts of sabotage +will be summarily shot, their houses will be razed +to the ground and their property confiscated by the +Military Administration Authorities.</p> + +<p>"2. If the author of the outrage cannot be found, +the procedure will be as follows:—</p> + +<p style="margin-left: 10%; text-indent: 0em">"(<i>a</i>) The commune where the act of sabotage +has taken place will be condemned to a +heavy fine. If the sum demanded is not +paid within forty-eight hours, the cattle +will be seized.</p> + +<p style="margin-left: 10%; text-indent: 0em">"(<i>b</i>) Hostages will be taken who, if the cases of +sabotage are repeated, will be executed in +their commune."</p></div> + +<p>Life under the Austrians had become unendurable. +Typhoid fever, marsh fever, typhus and dysentery assumed +such proportions that in the towns and villages one saw—apart +from such notices as Order No. 3110—no other +bills posted up on the walls but those containing advice +as to the correct way of nursing the sick. While poor +wretches were dying of hunger in the hospitals and on the +high road for want of bread, the authorities published +a recipe for the making of wheat-butter, which was a +recent discovery of German science, reputed to be very +nourishing for debilitated organisms. But the price of +a kilo (2 lb.) of wheat was 12 crowns (about 10s.). When +the epidemic of typhus, which broke out in Cetinje and +in the Njeguš clan, reached alarming proportions and +spread to other districts, the medical authorities advertised +that household effects and linen should be washed with +water and potatoes. A kilo of potatoes, in the autumn of +1917, cost a price equivalent to 6s., a quart of oil cost +£2, 10s., a quart of milk 5s., a kilo of coffee £2, 18s. 4d., +a yard of cloth £4, 4s. to £6, 6s., a pair of boots £8, 7s. +An average of 200 persons—mainly women and children—were +dying every day of starvation.</p> + +<p>The Austrian army in retreat was incapable of action. +It occupied a line east of Podgorica: Bioce-Tuzi-Lake +of Scutari, with very few guns. The troops were scanty, +they were weakened by malaria, etc.; but the Italians<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> +pursued them with great caution. The chief enemies +were Albanians and Montenegrins. The wily Austrians +gave rifles to the Albanians in order that they should +attack the Montenegrins, but they were often used against +their former owners. Then the contingents of the +Salonica army came across the mountains, and when the +Austrians went north, as best they could, the Yugoslavs +of the Imperial and Royal army—Bosniaks were well +represented—pinned on their tunics the national colours +and were greeted by the inhabitants. Arriving at Cetinje +they heard the incredible news that a Yugoslav State +had been founded, that the Austrian navy had been +handed over to the Yugoslavs, that French and Italians +were already at Kotor. During the journey to that port +the commanders were depressed, but the rank and file +rejoiced at the idea of going home. Discipline was at +an end. Thousands of rockets were fired into the air. +It was the end of the Habsburg monarchy.</p> + + +<p class="section">NOW NIKITA IS DEPOSED</p> + +<p>The next thing for the Montenegrins to do was to +depose Nikita. By a futile proclamation that personage +had tried in October to resist the union of the Yugoslavs; +he had made a last desperate attempt to save his crown. +"I am ready to do," he said, "what my people desires." +He plaintively protested that all his life had been dedicated +to their service and now he wanted to go back to +ascertain precisely what they wished. "Montenegro," +he had said, "belongs to a nation of heroes, who fought +with honour for the highest ideals." But when on +November 24 the Great National Skupština met, and +when on the 26th it unanimously deposed him—the old +gentleman was wise enough to follow the advice of some +French statesmen and remain where he was. "Here am +I amongst you, dressed in our beautiful national costume," +he said at Neuilly to his supporters, on one of the occasions +when he denied that he had been a traitor or anything +so dreadful. But being a prudent old gentleman he refrained +from uttering these words at Podgorica, where +the Skupština had met; a better plan was to communicate +with the Press Association, in the hope that many editors<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span> +would print his words. If it was a final anti-climax for +a mediæval prince—ah well, what is life but one long +anti-climax? He would protest against the constitution +of the Skupština. He had by no means given his approval +to the new election laws; and if, contrary to his own +practice, the gendarmes were having nothing to do with +the urns, that was merely in order to curry favour with +the Western Powers. The deputies were chosen by the +people indirectly—that is to say, every ten men elected a +representative, and these in their turn elected the deputies. +This was not done by ballot, for Montenegro, like Hungary, +had never known the ballot. An absurd outcry was +raised by Nikita's band of adventurers and their unhappy +dupes in this country; they called the world to +witness this most palpable iniquity on the part of the Serbs, +whose armed forces had rushed across the mountains, +and the moment they arrived in Montenegro had so +overawed the population that this pro-Serb, pro-Yugoslav +Skupština was duly chosen. Go to! Of course it was a +sad disappointment to Nikita that a Yugoslav instead +of an Italian army should occupy Montenegro. He had +telegraphed at the beginning of the War to Belgrade +that: "Serbia may rely on the brotherly and unconditional +support of Montenegro, in this moment on which +depends the fate of the Serbian nation, as well as on any +other occasion"; and since he knew, without any +telegram, that Serbia would in her turn support Montenegro—but +not the tiny pro-Nikita faction—he was +reduced to the appalling straits of a plot to force himself +upon his own people by means of a foreign army. Now +the composition of the aforementioned Yugoslav forces +should be noted—after more than six years of heroic +fighting against the Turks, the Bulgars, the Austro-Germans, +the Albanian blizzards, and again the Bulgars +and the Austro-Germans there did not survive a very large +number of the splendid veterans of Marshal Mišić, and in +Macedonia the ranks were filled by Yugoslav volunteers +from the United States. Many of these Yugoslavs +(over half of them Dalmatians and Bosnians) were included, +in the army which entered Montenegro. The +whole force at the time of the National Skupština consisted +of about 200 men, ten of whom were Serbs from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span> +the old kingdom—and if anyone maintains that 200 men +could impose their will upon a population of 350,000 +which has arms enough and is skilful in the use of arms, +he makes it clear that he knows little of the Montenegrins.</p> + + +<p class="section">THE ASSEMBLY WHICH DEPOSED HIM</p> + +<p>The Podgorica Skupština was not elected by these +troops. No one will pretend that in the excitement of +those days the voting was conducted in a calm and +methodical fashion. Here and there a dead man was +elected; the proceedings—though they were not faked, +as in Nikita's time—were rough-and-ready. But if the +deputies had been selected in a more haphazard fashion, +say according to the first letter of their surnames, the +result would have been identical—they would, with a +crushing majority, have deposed their King and voted +for the merging of their country in the rest of Yugoslavia. +If the former Skupština had been convoked, as some +people advocated—it would have most effectively nonplussed +the pro-Nikita party here and elsewhere (it might +even have silenced Mr. Ronald M'Neill, M.P., who asserted<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> +that this "packed assembly" consisted of "Serbian +subjects and bought agents in about equal numbers")—but +then two-fifths of the country—those territories +acquired in the Balkan War—would not have been +represented. Observe, however, that the Skupština in +Nikita's time was for union with Serbia. Even then—although +of the 76 deputies the king nominated 14, +while the other 62, of course, were people whom he +pretty well approved of—even then they had passed +resolutions in favour of an economic union, a common +army and common representatives abroad. The Podgorica +Parliament had 168 members, of whom 42 were +from the new areas. The Constitution did not provide +for such an assembly; but Nikita's friends who clamoured +for the Constitution evidently had forgotten that under +Articles 2 and 16 a king who deserts his country and +people is declared to have forfeited his legal rights. +Those foolish partisans who cried that it was monstrous +not to wait until all the interned Montenegrins had come +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span>back from Austria and Hungary, may be reminded of +Nikita's Red Cross parcels which these prisoners had refused +to take. Moreover, certain of them were elected, after +their arrival, as vacancies occurred, and they were also +represented among the dozen deputies whom the Skupština +chose for the Belgrade Parliament. No disorders +happened during the elections, the best available men +were chosen—76 of them having enjoyed a university +education. It is worthy of remark that while 20 of the +Podgorica deputies had sat in Nikita's former parliaments, +another 150 of these ex-deputies survive, and yet out +of the total number of past and present deputies (<i>i.e.</i> +over 300), only 15 declared for a kind of autonomy, but +were in favour of Yugoslav union. The Metropolitan of +Cetinje, the Bishops and five of the six pre-war Premiers +gave their unreserved support to the new régime. With +them was the Queen's brother, the Voivoda Stephen +Vukotić, a grand-looking personage who has remained +all his life a poor man; he was questioned by General +Franchet d'Espérey as to whether he had also voted +against his brother-in-law. "If I had seven heads and +on each of them a crown," answered the Voivoda, "I +would give them all for the union of the Southern +Slavs." ... Where was the opposition to Yugoslavia? +"The Black Mountain," said Nikita at Neuilly—"the +Black Mountain, as well as her national King, has always +pursued the same path, the only one leading to the +realization of our sacred ideal—that of National Unity." +One might object that a national King should really not +have written to his daughter Xenia on October 19, 1918, +that he would propose a republic for all the Serbs and +Yugoslavs, with the abdication of the two kings and the +two dynasties. He added that the Serbs were not ripe +for a republic, but that in advanced circles his suggestion +would be enthusiastically received, and in a short time +he would reap the benefit. "That," he wrote, "is my +impression—it may be that I am wrong—but I do not +know what else I can do." And a truly national King—but +the world, as Sophocles remarked, is full of wonders, +and nothing is more wonderful than man—a truly national +King should not have supported those twenty Montenegrins +who in the summer of 1919 assembled at the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span> +monastery of Dečani with the design of establishing a +Bolševik republic. Before the Yugoslav troops could +reach the spot these men were surrounded by Albanians +and overpowered, so that another wild dream of the old +intriguer was dissipated.... When Mr. Leiper, the +<i>Morning Post's</i> acute representative, was in Montenegro +during the summer of 1920 he found only one person +in three weeks who pined for the return of Nikita. +"Presently," he says, "we were accosted by an ancient, +wild-looking 'pope,' with a face rugged and stormy as +the crags among which he lived, and long, straggling +hair tied in behind by an old leather boot-lace.... The +talk turned to politics. My friend wailed over times +and morals. Food was scarce, the wicked flourished +like green bay trees, honest folks were oppressed, starved, +neglected; for example, his own self that sat before me—would +I believe it?—after forty years' service he had +not so much as attained the dignity of Archimandrate.... +They were a rascal lot, those at present in power, ripe +for hanging, every man-jack of them. And oh for the +days of good King Nicholas, who would have given them +short shrift!" Mr. Leiper subsequently learned that +Nikita's panegyrist had spent his life in the wilds of +Macedonia, where he acted as agent and decoy of the +then Montenegrin Government. One murder, at least, for +which he received a good sum of money, could be laid +to his charge. Now he was living in retirement, hoping +no doubt for better days, and meanwhile winked at by +the tolerant authorities.</p> + +<p>After the assembling of the Podgorica Parliament a +proclamation was issued by the joyous Montenegrins at +Cetinje. "Montenegrins!" it began, "the great and +bloody fight of the most terrible world war is over! +Despotism has been smothered, freedom has come, right +has triumphed.... Montenegrin arms and the heroic +deeds of our Homeland have distinguished themselves +for centuries. The fruits of these great deeds and colossal +sacrifices our people must realize in a great and happy +Yugoslavia.... Let us reject all attempts which may +be made to deprive us of our happy future and put us in +a position of blind and miserable isolation henceforth to +work and weep in sorrow.... Before us lie two paths.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span> +One is strewn with the flowers of a blessed future, +the other is covered with dangerous and impenetrable +brambles." If any disinterested and intelligent foreigner, +say a Chinaman, had been asked whether he thought that +it was more to the advantage of Montenegro that she, +like Croatia, Bosnia and the rest, should merge herself +in the Yugoslav State or whether he considered that the +sort of federation which the ex-King had suggested would +assist more efficaciously the welfare—social, economical +and national—of the Montenegrin, he would not have +thanked you for asking so superfluous a question.... +Nikita then asserted that those terrible Serbian bayonets +had caused the Podgorica Skupština to vote as it did. +Anyone who has spoken to one of those Bocchesi or +Dalmatian volunteers who were at that time in Montenegro +will quite believe that they applauded the result, but to +pretend that they drove the Skupština with bayonets to +do what every reasoning creature would have done is +so farcical that one might have thought it would not +even form (as it did form) the subject for questions in +the British House of Commons.... The only part +played by bayonets was when on November 7 (one day +previous to that fixed for the elections) a detachment of +the Italian army landed at Antivari and another marched +to within about six kilometres of Cetinje, where they were +met by the Montenegrin National Guard, were told that +bigger forces, which it was difficult to restrain, would +shortly arrive and were given one hour in which to depart. +Of this they availed themselves, announcing that they +were all Republicans. They left behind them an elderly +man who was sick and requested the Montenegrins not +to murder him. The Italians and Nikita's friends soon +afterwards spread a report of horrible murders in Montenegro. +Certain Allied officers went up to investigate +the matter and found that the charges were baseless. +They were told by Mr. Glomažic, the prefect of Cetinje, +that the Allies, apart from the Italians, could go anywhere +in Montenegro, but that the Italians would be opposed +by force of arms and that if the Allies came up together +with the Italians, then they too would be attacked. +Thereupon the Allied officers invited Mr. Glomažic to +lunch.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span></p> + + +<p class="section">NIKITA'S SORROW FOR THE GOOD OLD DAYS</p> + +<p>Nikita had no hopes that any good would come from +such a Skupština. In 1912 it had been different; with a +budget of some 6,200,000 perpers (or francs), including +the Russian subsidies and the revenues from the Italian +tobacco monopoly, the royal civil-list comprised 11 per +cent. of the expenses, while the police accounted for 12 per +cent., agriculture and commerce 1½ per cent., public works +4 per cent. and education 5 per cent. The Skupština of +that period had not caused him to pay more attention to +the people's requirements. The darkness in which they +lived was so profound that when Montenegro had to pay +the interest on a six-million-franc loan from Great Britain +no one in Cetinje could calculate how much was due; a +telegram was therefore sent to London asking for this +information and the date when payment should be made. +If his people did not prevent him from allocating merely +11,000 francs to the Ministry of Justice for the increase +of salaries and so forth, while the Ministry of the Interior +received 700,000 francs for the work of spying, the expense +of killing people and various propaganda—both +these items being labelled "special expenses"—then +Nikita had no fault to find with his Skupština. Things +were almost as satisfactory as before 1907, when for the +first time a budget was issued and the people were told +how their contributions were spent. The personal +property of the sovereign had indeed been formally +separated from that of the State in 1868; but Nikita's +manipulations were so little supervised that, even when he +had established the Skupština, he could say with truth, +"L'état c'est moi." The Skupština of 1918 was going +to make vast changes.</p> + + +<p class="section">THE STATE OF BOSNIA</p> + +<p>In Bosnia, for some time after the Austrian collapse, +it was inconvenient to travel. If you went by rail you +were fortunate if you secured a good berth on the roof of +a carriage; by road you went less rapidly and therefore +ran a greater risk of being waylaid by the so-called "Green +Depot," who were deserters from the Austrian army<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span>—either +through national or other reasons—with their +headquarters in the forests. Some of them were simply +men who had gone home on leave and stayed at home. +Here and there a National Guard of peaceful citizens, +irrespective of nationality, was formed against them. +But it was some time before they were induced to lead a +less romantic life. What happened afterwards in Bosnia +between the Serbs, the Croats and the Moslems was so +much a matter of routine that the Italians should not +have run off with the idea that this imperilled Yugoslavia. +Of the 1,898,044 inhabitants in 1910 the proportions were +as follows: Orthodox, who call themselves Serbs, 43·49 +per cent.; Moslem, 32·25 per cent.; and Catholics, who +call themselves Croats, 22·87 per cent. (The remainder +are miscellaneous persons, such as 850,000 Jews, who speak +the usual Balkan Spanish; they play an inconsiderable +part in public life.) The Serbs, the Moslems and the +Croats are identical in race and language, but have hitherto +been much divided. Those who joined together in the +Turkish days were led to do so as companions in distress; +the rule of Austria, or to speak with greater accuracy +the rule of Hungary—no one knew exactly who possessed +the land, but the Magyars took it for granted that it was +theirs—this rule, of course, did nothing to unite the +various religions. The Moslems, especially after their +complete isolation from Turkey, were the most favoured, +while the Serbs, owing to the proximity of Serbia, were +the most oppressed. And during the War it was the +Serbian population which was chiefly tortured. Besides +all those who were dragged away to such places as Arad, +hundreds and hundreds were hanged in their own province. +Not satisfied with using, as we see in so many of those +ghastly photographs, their own army as the executioners, +the Austro-Hungarians also organized local bands among +the lower classes of the towns, and in so doing they availed +themselves of any latent religious fanaticism among the +Moslems. From the day of the Archduke's assassination +it was the Serbs who suffered most; and many onlookers +must have expected in the autumn of 1918 that they would +take a very drastic revenge. For some weeks the people +were left very much to their own devices, with no troops +or police—the Austrian <i>gendarmerie</i> having to be protected<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span> +by the better classes, who explained to the peasants that +it was not right to regard only the uniform of those who +had so often maltreated them; yet the gendarmes took +the earliest opportunity of getting into mufti. There was +also for several months a dearth of detectives. Many of +those who had worked under Austria and were more or +less criminal, fled at the collapse; others continued to +act, but in a half-hearted way. Sixty new detectives +were taken on by the Yugoslav authorities, and fifty-six +of them had to be dismissed. After all, if one can judge +a person's character from his face, the detective who +allowed you to do so would be so incompetent as not to +warrant a trial. And after six or seven months of Yugoslav +administration only thirty-three out of fifty-two detective +appointments in Sarajevo had been definitely filled. +So there was not much restriction on the peasants in their +dealings with each other. A few of them were murdered. +In Sarajevo the National Guard was largely composed +of well-meaning street boys; the Serbian troops did not +arrive until November 6, and in many parts of Bosnia not +until the end of the month. And yet in the whole country, +with people on the track of those who in the pay of Austria +had denounced or murdered their relatives, and with the +poor <i>kmet</i> at last able to rise against the oppressive landlord, +there were in the first six months under fifty murders, +and these were mostly due to the desperate straits of the +Montenegrins, who came across the frontier in search of +provisions, during which forays they assassinated various +people. In the Sandjak of Novi Bazar there was no doubt +less security; but to anyone who knew, say the Rogatica +district, under Austria's very capable administration, it +will seem that Bosnia, after the collapse, was singularly +tranquil. Anyhow the population, in the summer of +1919, were living on much more amicable terms with one +another than for many years. The Government met +with some criticism, for it was alleged to be reserving all +the lucrative appointments for the Serbs; one had to +take into account, however, that it was the Serbs who +had been chiefly ruined by the War, and it was just that +the concessions for the sale of tobacco, for the railway +restaurants and so forth, should be, for the greater part, +given to them. Nevertheless it may interest travellers<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span> +to know that the restaurateurs at the stations of Ilidže +and Zenica are Catholics—the Moslems are not yet very +competent in such affairs. They are, as their own leaders +sadly confess, the least cultured and the least progressive +class. As elsewhere in Islam there has been a total lack +of female education—the mothers of the Sarajevo Moslem +<i>intelligentsia</i> can neither read nor write, while their sons +are cultivated people who speak several languages. A +change is being made—there are already five Moslem lady +teachers employed in the mixed Government schools; +this a few years ago would have been thought impossible. +It is to be deplored that these divisions into Moslem +and Orthodox and Catholic should be perpetrated—the +Moslem leaders look forward to the time, in a few years, +when their deputies will no longer group themselves +apart on account of their religion; but it is unwise to +introduce too many simultaneous innovations, considering +that the illiterates of Bosnia number about 90 per cent. +of the population. The Yugoslav idea will prosper in +this country; and, by the way, while you meet an occasional +Serb who hankers for a Greater Serbia, an occasional +Croat who would like a Greater Croatia, the Moslems have +no aspirations save for Yugoslavia. [They speak of "our +language," since the word "Serbian" has for them too +much connection with the Orthodox religion, the word +"Croatian" with Roman Catholicism.] They are not +indifferent to the fact that to their own 600,000 in Bosnia +they will add the 400,000 of Macedonia and Old Serbia, +together with the 200,000 of Montenegro and the Sandjak.... +One was inclined to think that the least desirable +person of the new era in Sarajevo was the editor of the +<i>Srpski Zora</i> ("Serbian Dawn"); his methods had a resemblance +to those of Lenin, for he printed lists of persons +whom he called upon the Government to prosecute, and +when he was himself invited to appear in court and answer +to some libel charges he declined to go, upon the ground +that the laws were still Austrian and the judge a Magyar. +He disapproved of such tolerance, he disapproved of the +Croats because they declined to recognize that the Serbs +had more merit than they, and as for Yugoslavia—it was +a thing of emptiness—he laughed at it and called it Yugovina, +the south wind. The only chance of life it had was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span> +if you left the whole affair to the Serbs and then in two +years it would be a solid thing. It may be thought that +the local Government, since they left him at large, endorsed +his theories; but they were reluctant to give him +a halo of martyrdom. They imagined that he was nervous +because he was losing ground—they acknowledged, +though, that he still gave pleasure to a great many Serbs, +who were carried away by his appeals to their old prejudices. +It is undeniable that with the peculiar traditions +and customs of Bosnia, that province must for some +years have a Government—whatever method is evolved +for the other parts of Yugoslavia—whose eyes are not +turned constantly to Belgrade. It might even be well +to set up a local Chamber in which all classes would be +represented. The Moslems and Croats would thus lose +any lurking fear that they were being swamped, and by +coming into contact with other political parties even the +less cultured classes would gradually tend to discard +these fatal religious, in favour of political, divisions. A +somewhat primitive Balkan community cannot be expected +of its own accord to love henceforward in the name of +politics those whom hitherto it has hated in the name of +religion. And as yet they are much more interested in +the harvest than in politics; from day to day they change +their views, according to the views of the last orator +from Belgrade, Zagreb or Ljubljana. Only the Socialists +appear to be well disciplined. Of course the present +political parties in Yugoslavia are not wholly free from religious +prejudices, an important party, for example, among +the Slovenes being based on Roman Catholicism. But +as the Slovenes are, as yet, the best upholders of the +Yugoslav idea, it is obvious that education covers all +things, and that with the increase of education in Bosnia +the religious differences will be less important. Anything +that can be done against this tyranny is beneficial, whether +the St. George be a political orator or a schoolmaster. +And as the effects produced by the former are more rapid, +so should he be encouraged. He is, in fact, appearing +in Bosnia, he will carry away, more or less, the <i>clientèle</i> +of the <i>Srpski Zora</i>, and the shattered nervous organism +of its editor, Mr. Čokorilo, will be, one trusts, reconstituted +and devoted, as it can be, to a nobler purpose.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span> +One of its deplorable effects has been that the organ of +the Croat party, a paper called <i>Jugoslavija</i>, has been +compelled to write in a similar strain, whereas the editor, +a dapper little priest, assures one that he would prefer +a more elevated tone.</p> + + +<p class="section">RADIĆ AND HIS PEASANTS</p> + +<p>Those who wished that Yugoslavia would be an idle +dream have had their hopes more centred in Croatia. +They told the world that horrible affairs took place, that +there has been a revolution, several revolutions, that +castles have been sacked and that the statesman, Radić, +was imprisoned. If you met this little pear-shaped man, +who is a middle-aged, extremely short-sighted person, +with a small, straggling beard, an engaging smile and a +large forehead, you would say that surely he had spent +a good many hours of his life in some university garden +where the birds, knowing that he could not easily see +them, were in the habit of alighting for their dinner on +his outstretched hands. He is a very learned little man, +who started his career by obtaining the first place at the +famous École des Sciences Politiques in Paris. But +Stephen Radić happens also to be very much interested in +politics and extremely impulsive, so that his wife and +daughter have often had to look after the bookshop, +since the Government—that of Austria-Hungary and +afterwards that of Yugoslavia—had consigned him to +prison. He probably expected nothing else, for his eloquence—and +he is an orator in several languages—has +frequently carried him along and swept him round and +round, like a leaf, not only in a direction opposite to that +which he previously travelled but flying sometimes in +the face of the most puissant and august authorities. +So, for example, he began to agitate in 1904 against the +vast territorial possessions of the Church in Croatia. +This resulted in the then Archbishop issuing an interdict +against him and his meetings—a measure which, I believe, +is still in force. He was described as Antichrist, with +the consequence that his audiences, out of curiosity to see +what such a personage might look like, became larger +than ever. For many years he was the only Croat politician<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span> +who gave himself the trouble to go amongst the peasants. +"In politics," said Radić to me—he said a great many +other things in the course of our first conversation, which +lasted for four hours, though it seemed a good deal shorter—"In +politics," said he, "one should not, as in art, try +to be original. One should interpret not only the living +generation but the ancestors." The peasant, who feels +what Radić expresses, has repaid him well, for there is +now no party in Yugoslavia which is more devoted to its +leader. He has taken the place once occupied by the +clergy—he is by no means hostile to the Roman Catholic +Church, but he is the foe of clericalism. "Praised be +Jesus Christ! Long live the Republic!" is the usual +beginning of one of his orations, so that his enemies accuse +him in the first place of being a hypocrite, and in the second +of holding views which cannot possibly amalgamate +with those of monarchical Serbia. But the reference to +Christ appears perfectly natural to the Croat peasant—at +an open-air meeting of 10,000 of them I saw their heads +uncovered, and all bowed in prayer for a few minutes on +the stroke of noon. As for the Republic, this first came +into the picture on July 25, 1918, when the cry was raised +at a meeting of the Peasants' party. A large number of +peasants had imbibed this idea in America—those who +emigrated have been in the habit of returning, and even +if their home is in the desolate parts of Zagorija or among +the rocks of Primorija, the coastal region. And thousands +of Croats had spent part of the War as prisoners in Russia—having +deserted from the Austro-Hungarian army—so +that they had seen how the Great White Tsar, previously +regarded as an almost divine being, could be dethroned. +Four months after this famous meeting a Convention +was held, in the American fashion, with 2874 delegates, +who represented some 100,000 people. They pronounced +themselves to be Republicans and Yugoslavs. It is quite +true that many of the farmers in Croatia have a pretty +vague idea of the Republic. "Long live Mr. Republic!" +has been heard before now at one of their meetings, while +a landowner of my acquaintance was asked by two of his +aged tenants whether in the event of this Republic being +established they should choose as President King Peter +or the Prince-Regent or King Charles. But we should<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span> +remember that in 1907 a printing press was founded by +the Peasants' party at Zagreb, and those who gave their +money for this cause were, to a great extent, illiterate. +The people are groping towards the light, and they are +willing to be told by those they trust that they have much +to learn as to the nature of the light. Republicanism was +fanned into flame by Radić's imprisonment and other +causes, so that he says he is uncertain whether he can +now persuade them to modify their demands. But if +he tells them that in his opinion a constitutional monarchy +will meet the case, they will probably still consent to +accept his view—and this has of late come to be his +own opinion. It may very well be that he adopted the +republican idea with no other purpose than to obtain +for the peasants the social and economic legislation which +they would otherwise not have secured. And, after all, +there was something of a republican nature in Croatia's +autonomy under the Magyars. As for his imprisonment, +it was strange that the Belgrade Cabinet, who should +have known their man, treated him as if he were a De +Valera; and perhaps the conduct of a subsequent Cabinet, +that of Mr. Protić, who came out for Croatian Home +Rule, was also strange in appearance, for while Radić +was still in prison he was invited to decide as to whether +the Ban, Croatia's Governor, should or should not remain +in office. But Mr. Protić understood that at this period +Radić's republicanism was somewhat academic.</p> + +<p>His party had, in years gone by, been small enough +in the Landtag; but the fact that his followers then +numbered only two is anyhow of no importance, as his +very real power was derived from the peasants, who were +largely voteless. How often in his prison he must have +yearned for those old Landtag days—apart from his +advocacy of the peasants, he loves to speak. In two hours +he would traverse the whole gamut of human thought, +expressing opinions to which John Hampden and Jack +Cade and Montaigne and Machiavelli would in turn +assent. The words used to rush from his lips in a torrent, +while to many of his faithful peasant followers he seemed, +throughout his discourse, to be in direct contact with the +Almighty. Next to the Almighty the Croatian peasant +had been taught to revere Francis Joseph, so that when the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span> +heir to the throne was murdered in 1914 it was not very +difficult to make the Croat peasants rise against this +sacrilege by plundering the Serbian shops at Zagreb—Austrian +officers coming with their children to look on—just +as in other parts of Croatia and Bosnia. There is as +yet within the Croat peasant a certain hostility against the +Serb and for various reasons: one of them is that he was +always taught by Austria to detest the adherents of the +Orthodox religion, another reason is that for centuries +they have had a different culture; and so, since Austria's +collapse, when it has been explained to them what is a +republic and what is a monarchy, they have often demanded +the former for no better reason than that the +Serbs prefer the latter. They were taught by Austria to +look forward to a Greater Croatia, which would eliminate +the Slovenes by delivering them to the Germans, for that +celebrated corridor to the Adriatic. And it is from the +Slovene Socialists that the peasants of Croatia might very +profitably learn.... The Slovene influence, coming +from a more highly organized province, would be beneficial +both for Serbs and Croats, for the industrial workers and +for the peasants. The nature of the Southern Slavs, say +these Socialists, is democratic, and the State mechanism +might be made more so. Now that the various parts of +Yugoslavia have liberated or are liberating themselves +from various yokes, they have approached one another +with a different mentality; they will become much better +known to one another. And it was hoped that when Mr. +Radić regained his freedom and his book-shop he would +find that his devotees preferred to hear him not as a +Croat Jack Cade but as a Yugoslav Hampden. In his +absence the party was leaderless.</p> + +<p>As for the other Croats, only Frank's Clerical party, +which numbered five or six deputies, and did not hide its +persistent sympathies with the House of Habsburg, kept +up Separatist tendencies. All the Coalition (now the +Democrat) party and two-thirds of the so-called Party of +Croatian Right were for a close union with Serbia and the +regency of Prince Alexander. That is not to say that there +was perfect unanimity with regard to the interior arrangements +of this union; in fact Dr. Ante Pavelić, one of the +Vice-Presidents of the Yugoslav National Council, who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span> +was received in special audience by the Prince at Belgrade, +is also the leader of the old Starčević party and as such an +opponent of complete centralization. The <i>Obzor</i>, Zagreb's +oldest newspaper, maintains this point of view, not paying +much attention to the form of the State, monarchic or +republican, so long as it is organized in a manner which +would prevent the Croats being subordinated. Zagreb, +it thinks, is destined to play the New York to Belgrade's +Washington—but nowadays it looks very much as if +Zagreb's rôle were to be that of Yugoslavia's Boston.</p> + +<p>Among the Slovenes this anxiety for decentralization—which +is very proper or exaggerated, according to the +point of view—is less accentuated. It appears as if the +Christian-Socialist party of Monsignor Korošec<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> is rather +centralist in its Belgrade words and decentralist in its +Ljubljana deeds. This party has shed some of its extremist +clerical members, who to the cry, "The Church is +in danger!" were very good servants of the Habsburgs. +Such of them as were unable to accept the new order of +things—elderly priests, for the most part—retired from +the political stage.</p> + + +<p class="section">THOSE WHO WILL NOT MOVE WITH THE TIMES</p> + +<p>There remains the Voivodina (Banat, Bačka, etc.) party, +some of whom are as much frightened of Croat predominance +as the <i>Obzor</i>, for instance, is of Serb. The +argument of these Voivodina politicians is that Serbia has +lost so many of her <i>intelligentsia</i> during the War that she +must have special protection; they also found it hard to +swallow the old functionaries whom the State took over +from Austria. Of course it does not follow that if a Slav +has been a faithful servant of Austria he will be an unsatisfactory +servant of the new State. Obviously the +circumstances of each case must be considered; and, as a +barrister, a dissentient member of this party told me at +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span>Osiek, one must often put personal feelings aside; he +himself had been arbitrarily imprisoned during the War +by an official who was then an Austrian and is now a +Yugoslav functionary. The most extreme exponent of +this anti-Croat party seems to be a well-known editor at +Novi Sad, Mr. Jaša Tomić. In his opinion you cannot +join by means of a law in twenty-four hours people who +have never been together; let it be a slower and a surer +process. He is ready to die, he says, but he is not ready +to lose his national name. Let the Serbs and Croats and +Slovenes retain what is most precious to each of them. +Let them not be asked to give up everything. In the +matter of the flag Mr. Tomić is justified, for now their +former flag has been taken from each of them and a totally +fresh one created, which is particularly hard on the Serbs +after the sublime fashion in which their old colours were +carried up the Macedonian mountains in the Great War. +It would not have required much ingenuity—as they all +three share the colours, red, white and blue, differently +arranged—to have devised, not a mere new and unmeaning +arrangement of the simple colours, but a method on the +lines of the Union Jack or of the former Swedish-Norwegian +flag, wherein all three would have remained visible. Mr. +Tomić believes that a real <i>intelligentsia</i> would demand of +the people what it can execute, and he regrets to think +that at least two-thirds of the <i>intelligentsia</i> want the +people to call themselves Yugoslavs. But Mr. Tomić +has a far greater majority than two-thirds against him, +because while his arguments would be admirable if the +Serbs and Croats and Slovenes had no neighbours, they +must be—and the vast majority of Yugoslavs feel that they +must be—superseded on account of this imperfect world. +By all means let each one of the three retain every single +custom that will not interfere with the national security +and will not interfere too much with the national welfare. +If Mr. Tomić, who is much respected but generally looked +upon as rather old-fashioned, is going to die sooner than +give up something which the State considers essential he +will be following in the footsteps of those whom Cavour, +in the course of the welding of Italy, had to execute.</p> + +<p>It may be said without fear of contradiction—in fact +I was given the figure by one of the decentralization leaders<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> +of Croatia—that at least 90 per cent. of the Croat <i>intelligentsia</i> +wants the union with Serbia, and if a republic is +decided upon they will mostly vote for King Alexander +as President. While they discuss their internal organization—no +simple matter when one considers their varied +antecedents, their different legal systems and so forth—they +will not let Yugoslavia go to pieces. The work of +construction and of more or less strenuous, but necessary, +criticism occupies by far the greater number of the +politicians. They have not yet, all of them, given their +adherence to this or that group, while new groups are +arising—such as the Agrarian, which being far more +interested in the peasant's material welfare than in anything +else will give their alliance to that political party +which is prepared to assist the villages towards improving +their cleanliness and their manure.</p> + + +<p class="section">THE YUGOSLAV POLITICAL PARTIES</p> + +<p>The chief parties which in the new State's first two +years evolved themselves out of those that previously +existed in the various parts of Yugoslavia were:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>(<i>a</i>) the Pašić party, consisting chiefly of the +Serbian Old Radical party, together with Serbian +parties from the Voivodina and Bosnia.</p> + +<p>(<i>b</i>) the Pribičević party, consisting chiefly of the +Croatian Coalition party, together with the Slovene +Liberal party and the Serbian parties in opposition +to Pašić.</p> + +<p>(<i>c</i>) the Christian Socialist party, under Korošec, +consisting chiefly of Slovenes, together with a young +group in Croatia and other Clerical groups that are +forming in Dalmatia and Bosnia.</p> + +<p>(<i>d</i>) the Starčević party, under Pavelić, consisting +of decentralizing parties in Croatia and Slavonia, and +some Croats in Bosnia.</p> + +<p>(<i>e</i>) Socialists:</p> + +<p style="margin-left: 1em">(1) the Slovene non-communistic Socialists.</p> + +<p style="margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 4em; text-indent: -3em">(2) Korac's party, chiefly from Slavonia and +Serbia. This remarkable man, whose +mind floats serenely in a body that is +paralysed, has twice been included in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span> +Cabinet. By many he is looked upon as +too subversive, but he believes that a +revolution will come unless his department +acts in a revolutionary fashion. +His programme includes old-age pensions +from the age of sixty—the people being +now enfeebled by the wars—and obligatory +insurance with regard to all those, including +State employees in the railway +service and the post office, who do not +enjoy an independent existence, half the +insurance being paid by the employer and +half by the employee, while with regard +to accidents the whole would be paid by +the employer. He has also very firm +ideas for the safeguarding of the human +dignity of the pensioners.</p> + +<p style="margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 4em; text-indent: -3em">(3) Dr. Radošević's party. This gentleman was +said to adore Lenin, on whom he lectured. +His party had no strength except such +as it derived as a protest against any +forced centralization.</p> + +<p>(<i>f</i>) Republican party, consisting of 90,000 Croat +peasants under Radić.</p></div> + +<p>Of these by far the most important were the first two. +In Serbian political parties the personal question used to +be nearly always uppermost, and now, in the case of +parties (<i>a</i>) and (<i>b</i>), it was most difficult to understand +what aims the one had which the other did not share. +One may say that each of them was a group under a wily +politician who was able, not only to forge out of various +elements a homogeneous group, but to persuade them +that there was a fundamental difference between their +group and any other. Here one has not so much the +Western system, under which a man enters a Cabinet as +the exponent of party principles, but the Eastern system +under which a Minister uses his influence to found a +party, which is based inevitably on the disappearing +relics of the past. In the spring of 1919 many foreign +observers fancied that new parties were surging up like +mushrooms and proving, no doubt, that the people's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span> +vitality was strong, although one would have waited +willingly for this evidence until the country's external +and internal affairs were more settled. As a matter of +fact these rather numerous parties, of which the outside +world now heard for the first time, had been in existence +or semi-existence for years. There was, however, a +certain bewildering vacillation on the part of some of the +deputies. The Bosnian Moslems, for instance, could not +make up their minds whether they would be Serbs or +Croats and belong to (<i>a</i>) or (<i>b</i>). Finally most of them +settled down in (<i>b</i>), while two others formed an independent +group. It must be remembered that they, like +all the other deputies, were not really deputies but delegates, +since it was not yet possible to hold elections. +There would naturally be many changes after the first +General Election; for one thing, the Moslems intend to +join in one group with their brethren from Macedonia and +Novi Bazar.... As we shall see, later on, the changes +produced by the first General Election—which was +the election held in November 1920, for the Constituent +Assembly—were extremely sweeping. While the +Radicals and Democrats returned with close on one +hundred members each, the Korošeć party met with +comparative disaster, and the Starčevic group was overwhelmed. +With about fifty members apiece, the Communist +and the Radić parties gave expression, roughly +speaking, to the discontent produced by the unsettled +conditions—unavoidable and avoidable—of the new +State's first two years. The Moslems came back with +nearly thirty members, and a healthy phenomenon for a +country in which the peasant so largely predominates +was the success, apart from the Radić Peasant party, of +the Agrarians with some thirty deputies, and the Independent +Peasant party with eight.</p> + +<p>The Italian Press disposed in five lines of the historical +Act of Union which occurred when the delegates of the +Yugoslav National Council were received by the Prince +at Belgrade on December 1, 1918. In the address, which +was read by Dr. Pavelić, it is recorded that "the National +Council desires to join with Serbia and Montenegro in +forming a United National State of Slovenes, Croats and +Serbs, which would embrace the whole inseparable<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span> +ethnographical territory of the South Slavs.... In the +period of transition, in our opinion, the conditions should +be created for the final organization of our United State." +And there is a dignified protest against the Treaty of +London and the Italian encroachments which even went +beyond that which the treaty gave them. In his reply +the Prince, among other remarks, said that "in the name +of His Majesty King Peter I now declare the union of +Serbia with the provinces of the Slovenes, Croats and +Serbs in an indivisible kingdom. This great moment +should be a reward for the efforts of yourselves and your +brothers, whereby you have cast off the alien yoke. +This celebration should form a wreath for the officers +and men who have fallen in the cause of freedom.... +I assure you and the National Council that I shall always +reign over my brothers and yours, and what constitutes +the Serbs and their people, in a spirit of brotherly love.... +The first task of the Government will be to arrange +with your help and that of the whole people that the +frontiers should comprise the whole nation. In conjunction +with you I may well hope that our powerful +friends and Allies will be able justly to appreciate our +standpoint, because it corresponds with the principles +which they themselves have proclaimed and for the +achievement of which streams of their precious blood +have been poured out...." The Prince spoke of Italy +in phrases to which we have already alluded.<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> He +reminded her of the Risorgimento and of the principles +with which her great sons had then been inspired. But +the Italian Press preferred to moralize in column after +column on the variety of the political groups of Yugoslavia, +with the object of showing to the world that they +were a people of no cohesive capacities and of no real +national consciousness.</p> + + +<p class="section">THE SLOVENE QUESTION</p> + +<p>This matter of the frontiers had been very lucidly set +before the Allies with regard to Dalmatia and Rieka; it +now remained for the Slovenes to formulate their case. +From the statement given by Dr. Trumbić to the Council +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span>of Ten in Paris we will take these extracts: "The province +of Gorica-Gradišca may be divided into two different +parts, both from an ethnical and economic point of +view. The western part, up to the line Cormons-Gradišca-Monfalcone, +is economically self-supporting. If +we estimate the population on a language basis, there are +about 72,000 Italians and 6000 Slovenes. Geographically +it is simply the prolongation of the Venetian plain. +We do not claim this territory called Friuli, which belongs +ethnologically to the Italians. The rest of this province +to the east and the north of the Cormons-Gradišca-Monfalcone +line, which comprises the mountainous region, +is inhabited by 148,500 Slovenes and 17,000 Italians, of +whom 14,000 are in the town of Gorica, where they +constitute half the population.... The Slovenes are +an advanced and civilized people, acutely conscious of +their racial solidarity with the other Yugoslav peoples. +We therefore ask that this district should be reunited to +our State.... Istria is inhabited by Slavs and Italians. +According to the latest statistics, there were in it 223,318 +Yugoslavs and 147,417 Italians. The Slavs inhabit +central and eastern Istria in a compact mass. More +Italians live on the western coast, particularly in the +towns. They inhabit only five villages north of Pola, +and their populations have no territorial unity. Istria +is territorially linked with Carniola and Croatia, whereas +it is separated from Italy by the Adriatic, and therefore +it ought to belong to the Yugoslav State.... Triest and +its neighbourhood is geographically an integral part of +purely Slav territories. The majority of this town—two-thirds, +according to statistics—is Italian and the +rest Slav. These statistics being on the language basis, +include Germans, Greeks, Levantines, etc., as Italian-speaking, +among the Italians. The Slav element plays +an important part in the commercial and economic life +of Triest. If the town were ethnically in contact with +Italy we would recognize the right of the majority. But +all the hinterland of Triest is entirely Slav. Yet the +commercial and maritime value of Triest is what chiefly +counts, and it is a port of world trade. As such it is the +representative of its hinterland, which stretches as far as +Bohemia, and chiefly of its Slovene hinterland, which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span> +forms a third of the whole trade of Triest and is inextricably +linked with it. Should Triest become Italian it +would be politically separated from its trade hinterland, +and would be prejudiced in a commercial respect. Since +Austria has crumbled as a State, the natural solution +of the problem of Triest is that it should be joined to our +State."</p> + + +<p class="section">THE SENTIMENTS OF TRIEST</p> + +<p>It would be futile to talk of Triest without considering +the relations between Italians and Germans. We have +seen already how at the elections they combined against +the "common enemy." But in commerce the Germans +were in need of no alliance, for the Italians have relatively +so little capital to dispose of that they were unable to +keep the Germans from attaining that very dominant +position in Italy. As the Italians have, as a general +rule, a lack of initiative and enterprise with respect to +modern industry, it was to German efforts that the great +industrial and commercial awakening of Italy and of +Triest were largely due. In that town the Italians were +principally agents; and it is to be feared that if it +ultimately falls into their hands it will become a +German town under the Italian flag. It would be the +object of the Italians to emancipate Austria from the +Yugoslavs, giving them an outlet to Triest over Italian +territory; and it would be to the Italian advantage if +Austria were joined to Germany. Therefore it is preferable +for all the Allies, except the Italians, that +Triest should be international. Conditions could then +be offered to the Austrians that would cause them to +prefer these rather than to join themselves to Germany. +But, in the opinion also of many enlightened Italians, +it is not in that country's interest that she should hold +Triest. Apart from the older publicists and statesmen, +including Sonnino, who might wish to modify their +opinions, one of the best-informed writers on Triest and +Istria, A. Vivante, a native of Triest, in his <i>L'irredentismo +adriatico</i> (1912) is a most determined adversary to an +Italian occupation of Istria or Triest; his book has been +withdrawn from circulation by the Italian Government.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span> +Other resolute opponents have been all the inhabitants +of Triest, except the extreme Nationalists. The town's +prosperity dated from the time when the Habsburgs +were driven out of Italy. Triest has not forgotten what +occurred when she and Venice were under the same +sceptre; and this it was which brought about, at Austria's +collapse, the autonomous administration in which practically +all the elements of the town participated. Only +the Irridentists then thought that Triest's liberation need +involve union with Italy and economic separation from +the hinterland on which it depends.... When the +occupation started, in November 1918, the Chief of the +Italian police summoned before him the members of the +Yugoslav National Council of Triest. Only two of them +answered the summons, whereupon a lieutenant read +them the following order from the Italian Governor: +"In view of the fact that the Italians troops have occupied +the line of demarcation and that traffic over this line is +suspended for the former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, +it is ordered that, for strategical reasons, the South Slav +National Council in Triest be dissolved and its offices +closed." The Slovenes demanded a copy of this order, +which, however, was refused. They were not allowed to +depart until the books and national emblems had been +removed from the premises of the National Council, the +doors sealed and a guard stationed. "We others, +Italians," an Italian writer had said in the <i>Edinost</i>, the +Slovene paper of Triest, on August 18, 1918, "should +understand that if we want our freedom we must see +that this is likewise given to our neighbours." And the +<i>Mercure de France</i> of October remarked that these wise +words would be listened to at Rome. In the realm of +navigation the Italians were not idle. They started at +once to negotiate with the Austrians for the sale to themselves +of the Lloyd Steamship Company, the Austro-Americana +and the Navigazione Libera, the three largest +Austrian companies. By the end of February 1919, a +Mr. Ivan Švegel related in a well-informed article,<a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> the +Italians had, by acquiring a large portion of their shares, +obtained the decisive influence in these companies. The +deal which was carried through with the assistance of the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span>Austrian Government and which, according to the +<i>Neue Freie Presse</i> of February 22, "fully satisfied the +needs of Austrian commerce," was transacted during +the Armistice and behind the back of public opinion. +Surely the Austrian mercantile marine, to which the +Yugoslavs contributed the majority of the personnel +and which they, with the other nationalities of the late +Empire, helped to build up with the aid of considerable +subsidies, should not have been permitted to fall an easy +prize into the lap of Italy, but ought rather to constitute +an asset in the liquidation of the late Austrian State and +a subject of public discussion.... In consequence of +the Italian attitude towards Austria on the one hand +and the Slovenes on the other, the Austrians made +an attack from northern Carinthia near Christmas and +despoiled the Slovenes of about half the territory they +had occupied. An American mission asked both sides +to cease from hostilities, saying that the question of +frontiers would be decided by Paris in a few weeks. Two +Americans, who unfortunately could speak neither German +nor Slovene, motored through the country, made some +inquiries, especially in the towns, and departed for Paris. +It would have been as well if, like the French farther +to the east, they had deliminated between the two people +a neutral zone. Sooner or later the troubles were bound +to recommence.</p> + + +<p class="section">MAGNANIMITY IN THE BANAT</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, of all the lands which the Yugoslavs were +inheriting from Austro-Hungary, that which was passing +through the period of transition with the least disturbance +was the Banat. Those Magyars who stayed were saying +wistfully that it had been Hungarian for a thousand +years, but considering what they had done they could not +have brought forward a worse reason for their reinstatement. +Here and there at places near the frontier, such +as Subotica, they waylaid and murdered lonely Serbian +soldiers; after which, with the complicity of Magyar +officials whom the Serbs had not removed, they managed to +escape to Hungary. But as a rule they thought it wiser +to stay peacefully in the Banat than seek their fortunes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span> +in a land so insecure as Hungary was then. While Count +Michael Karólyi's Government was doing its utmost to +cultivate good relations with France, England and America—printing +in the newspapers cordial articles in French +and English, surrounding the Entente officers even in +their despite with the old, barbaric hypnotizing Magyar +hospitality, assuming in a long wireless message to +President Wilson that the Hungarians were among those +happy people who at last had been liberated from the +yoke of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire—("I +beg you, Mr. President, to use your influence that no acts +of inhumanity or abuses of authority may threaten our +new-born democracy and freedom from any quarter. +They would cruelly wound the soul of our people and +hinder the maturing of that pure pacifism and that +mutual understanding between the peoples without which +there will never be peace and rest on earth.... We will +not discredit or delay with acts of violence the new-born +freedom of the peoples of Hungary or the triumph of your +ideas....")—at a place called Nagylak the free Hungarian +people requested the authorities to give them an official +document permitting them to plunder for twenty-four +hours; at a place called Szentes there was a car which +had been stolen from a man at Arad, sixty miles away; +hearing where it was he telegraphed to the authorities +and nothing happened; so he hired another car and went +himself to Szentes where the Magyar Commissary confiscated +this one also. It was better to remain in the +Banat if one had anything to lose. The treatment which +the Magyars received was such that Mr. Rapp, Commissary +of the Buda-Pest Government, published a proclamation +on the generous conduct of the Serbian troops +occupying southern Hungary: "Our nationals," he +declared, "though vanquished and in a minority, are +safe. The Serbian officers in command treat them in a +most humane and chivalrous fashion."<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> At Pančevo, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span>for example, the Magyar officials were placed, for their +protection, on board a boat by the Serbian authorities +and kept there, provided with food and cigars, for twelve +hours, after which, as the danger was past, they were set +at liberty. In the same town, forty years earlier, the +language used in the law courts had been Serbian; no +one, in fact, spoke Magyar, except the cab-drivers—if you +spoke it people said you must have been in prison. Yet, +although the Magyar judges had, to put it mildly, not +been too considerate towards the Serbs, they were retained +in office on the understanding that they would learn +Serbian within a year; nor were they asked, as yet, to +administer the law in the name of King Peter, but in the +name of Justice. This magnanimity was not displayed +because, as with the railway employees, the Serbs were +short of people for those posts, since they had barristers +well qualified to be employed, as they were, for example, +at Sombor, in the position of temporary judges. Even +the town advocate was not dismissed, although this +healthy gentleman had superseded a Serb forty-two years +of age, considerably older than himself, who had been +compelled to join the army. Not alone were all these +functionaries left in office, but the papers sent to them +were in their own language, Magyar or German. And in +return they generally were loyal to the Yugoslavs.</p> + + +<p class="section">TEMEŠVAR IN TRANSITION</p> + +<p>An extraordinary state of things was to be seen at +Temešvar, where the Magyar mayor was one of the most +worried men in Europe. Until February 1919 he was +being asked to serve not two but several masters. Some +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span>uncertainty existed as to whether the town was under +French or Serbian military command, but that was not +a very serious question. There was at Novi Sad a temporary +Government for all the Voivodina, this was the +"Narodna Uprava" (National Government), consisting +of eleven commissaries, each over a department, who had +been appointed by the Voivodina Assembly of 690 Serbs, +12 Slovaks, 2 Magyars and 6 Germans—one deputy for +every thousand of the population. The mayor of Temešvar +could have reconciled the wishes of the Narodna +Uprava and the military authorities, but there was a +Magyar Jewish Socialist, a certain Dr. Roth, who had +elected himself to be head of the "People's Government," +and was subsequently appointed by telephone from +Buda-Pest the representative of the Hungarian Government. +Roth organized a civil guard, mostly of former +Hungarian soldiers, who—although he paid them well (since +Buda-Pest had given him 12 million crowns for propaganda +purposes), yet had a way of borrowing a coat or +cap from Serbian soldiers and, arrayed in these, holding +up pedestrians after nightfall. Roth had therefore been +granted the right to rule, but—save for the dubious +guard—his power was only that which the Serbian or +French authorities would give him. He issued many +orders to the mayor, some of which were very questionable, +as for instance when he sent provisions out of the +Banat to Hungary. This produced so great a scarcity +that the flour-mill employees thought it was the time to +go on strike; they demanded 80 per cent. increase in +wages, without undertaking to go back to work if they +received it. "I am not a politician," said the harassed +mayor, "I only want to save the town from starving." +But the Narodna Uprava would send no food, since the +town (that is to say Roth) would not acknowledge its +authority. There were many rumours as to how Roth +spent the sums from Buda-Pest, and a weekly Socialist +sheet, which he himself had founded, but had now made +over to a couple of his friends (likewise Magyar Jews), +called Fürth and Isaac Gara, started to bring charges +against its founder. Roth, whose previous resources +were not large and were well known to Fürth and Gara, +used now to frequent the fashionable café and indulge,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span> +night after night, in potations of champagne, inviting +to his table not Fürth nor Gara, but the French General. +This officer, in the advance through Serbia, had captured +a great many prisoners and a very large number of guns, +arousing everybody's enthusiasm by his personal bravery, +his dashing tactics and the skill with which he executed +them. He was a most original person, who would sometimes +about midnight in that café at Temešvar leap on to +one of the marble tables and there perform a <i>pas de seul</i>. +Dr. Roth succeeded in worming himself into this merry +warrior's good graces, and Fürth and Gara looked with +jaundiced eyes on the carouses of these two. And in their +newspaper, the <i>Temešvar</i>, they said very biting things. +Thereupon Roth complained about them to the Serbian +authorities, asking that they should be sent to Belgrade. +When the Serbs did nothing he made application to +the French, and they—not aware of all the circumstances—sent +the couple under guard to Belgrade, where they +were interned. The mayor continued to receive the +orders of the various parties, and then suddenly Roth +organized a strike which lasted for two days—the railways, +the electric light, the water-supply and the shops +all joining in the movement. There was even a Magyar +flag on the town hall, and cries were raised by a procession +for the Magyar Republic. But this time he had gone +too far. An order came from Belgrade, from General +Franchet d'Espérey, and Roth was taken in a car to Arad, +where he was deposited on the other side of the line of +demarcation.</p> + + +<p class="section">A SORT OF WAR IN CARINTHIA</p> + +<p>But the German-Austrians in Carinthia, seeing how the +Slovenes were being treated by the Italians, could not +resist attacking on their own account; and here the most +tragic feature was that in the German ranks were many +Germanized Slovenes. This had been the case at Maribor +in Styria, where the population rose against the 70 +Slovene soldiers during the visit of an American mission. +Many of those who were afterwards questioned were +obliged to admit that they were of Slovene or of partly +Slovene origin, but Austria had taken care of their national<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span> +conscience. Had they been freely left to choose between +the two nationalities, and had they, out of admiration for +the German, selected that one—you would not endeavour +now to make them Slovenes; but of course these people +were never given the choice, and therefore every effort +should be used to make to dance that portion of their +blood which is Slovene, and sometimes all your efforts +will be fruitless. That those who fought in Carinthia +against the Slovene troops were of this origin can be seen +by the names of the officers of the so-called "Volkswehralarmkompagnien" +(<i>i.e.</i> the People's Emergency Defence +Companies). A document, marked W. No. 101, and +signed by a Captain Sandner, fell into Slovene hands on +February 21. It gives very full arrangements for these +companies in Wolfsberg and the neighbourhood. At +St. Paul, for instance, men are to gather from three other +regions, to wit 40 from St. Paul itself, 120 from Granitzthal, +60 from Lagerbuch and 30 from Eitweg; the officers +of this St. Paul contingent are called Kronegger, Andrec, +Klötsch and Gritsch—the last three are of Slovene origin. +These Defence Companies consisted largely of ex-soldiers, +under the command, very often, of a schoolmaster or some +such person; and if they had done nothing more than to +defend their own soil, one would have less to say about +them; but as a matter of fact they sent arms across to +their adherents in the territory occupied by the Slovenes. +Thus at Velikovec (Völkermarkt) and Donji Dravograd +(Unter-Drauburg) shots were fired from houses which +had been armed in this way. Incursions were made +into Yugoslav territory, where the people were urged +to rise; and as these Defence Companies did not wear +any uniform their members could, if captured, protest +their innocence. The officers were given 20 crowns a +day, the men six crowns, with 5.44 a day for their keep +during the time of emergency, and four crowns daily in +addition if they went outside the garrison town. As it +would not be possible to get the commissariat at once into +working order the men were asked to bring at least +sufficient bread with them for a few days. Most of the +men had their own guns; those who had not would be +lent one at the village office on the understanding that +it was brought back there when the emergency was over.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span> +These Defence Companies were joined in the spring by +2000 of the proletariat of Vienna who, at the railway +station before they started, were cheered by speeches on +the subject of plunder; at Graz they were joined by some +students who proposed to maintain order.... It was +in April that the Germans began nearly every day to +fire on the Yugoslav troops, regardless of the Americans, +who said that any infringement of the Armistice would +be severely punished. The Slovene bridgehead around +Velikovec was, towards the end of April, bombarded for +several days with heavy artillery, and the local commander, +on his own initiative, crossed the Armistice line in order to +seize this artillery; he did, in fact, carry off some twenty +pieces, with which he returned to his old positions. This +caused the Germans to send through Zurich most indignant +telegrams to the Entente Press, denouncing the +Yugoslavs for having flagrantly crossed the Armistice line +by 10 kilometres (cf. <i>Le Journal</i>, for example, of May 5). +In the same report they were held up as villains for having +crossed the river Drave at several points and cut the +railway line; as a matter of fact their infantry was at +least 11 kilometres to the south of the Drave, and the +artillery, of course, still farther off. This railway line, +which was the means of communication between Austrians +and Italians, was the subject of very fierce talk on the +part of the latter. All this time, be it remembered, the +Slovenes had feeble forces; and their own officers do +not pretend that they approach the Serbs as combatants. +After centuries of servitude—a more insidious servitude +than if their masters had been Moslem—they have now +awakened to devote themselves, and with great success, +to agriculture and industry. Nevertheless the old fighting +spirit of the Slav has not been quite extinguished in +them. Their opponents on May 2 made a big attack upon +Celovec (Klagenfurt) and Beljak (Villach), where they +had at their disposal the munitions of the entire 10th +Austrian army. Several battalions had come down from +Vienna, as well as 340 unemployed Austrian ex-officers, +who were clothed as infantry privates. These officers +were serving for the love of their country—up to May 1 +at all events they were in receipt of no pay. The Slovene +ranks were somewhat depleted by Bolševik tracts, telling<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span> +them to go home, as there would be no more war; and +yet at Gutenstein sixty men with three machine guns, +under Lieut. Maglaj, a Slovene from Carinthia, kept +1500 men at bay from 9 a.m. till 3.30, after which they +slowly withdrew until the fighting ceased at six; a +corporal and two men of a machine-gun detachment were +cut off and concealed themselves in the shrubs of a defile. +Suddenly they heard a German company come down the +road, singing as they marched. The three men opened +fire—the Germans in perplexity stood still and then +retired in disorder. The whole German-Austrian movement +was checked by General Maister. And when the +Serbian veterans, men of all ages, with uniforms of every +shade, marched through the streets of Maribor, it was felt +that there need be no more anxiety as to that particular +frontier of Yugoslavia.</p> + + +<p class="section">YUGOSLAVIA BEGINS TO PUT HER HOUSE IN ORDER</p> + +<p>It was not until now that Great Britain (on May 9) +and France (on June 5) formally recognized the new +Serbo-Croat-Slovene State.<a name="FNanchor_33_33" id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> As the <i>Times</i> said, two +years afterwards,<a name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> "it was not the Allies who created +Czecho-Slovakia or brought about the establishment of +Yugo-Slavia. These events were the inevitable result +of the previous history which the Allies could not, even +if they had desired to do so, prevent." The Americans +had not been so extremely considerate to Italy, for they +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span>had recognized the Yugoslav State on February 7, a few +days after Norway and Switzerland.... And how +necessary it was for the Yugoslavs to have some leisure +for their home affairs, which presented so many complications. +Here one system of laws and there another—with +the best will in the world and waiving to the +uttermost one's own idiosyncrasies, the Serbs and Croats +and Slovenes were faced, at the beginning of their union, +by most arduous problems. The Agrarian question was +regarded generally as one of the most urgent. In Serbia +itself, with practically the whole country in the hands of +small peasant proprietors, this question did not arise; +but in the provinces which had been lately under Austria-Hungary +no time was to be lost, and yet a good deal of +time would be needed to cope with a problem so full of +complications. One difficulty was that each political +party was inclined to solve this matter in accordance +with its own interests. Among the three Slovene parties, +for example, the Socialists would naturally work for their +own principles, the Christian-Socialist party, whose +supporters were chiefly the small farmers, would prefer +to legislate for them, while the Liberal party, having in +its ranks the larger landowners, would wish that all, +except the very largest, should if possible be left intact; +the very large landowners, moreover, will with the spread +of democratic ideas lose their influence over the voters. +There are several points on which all parties are agreed: +thus, it is most undesirable that a man's holdings should, +as now, be separated from each other, often by considerable +distances, so that half his time may be spent in +going to and from his fields and a good deal of the other +half in the disputes which naturally spring from such a +scattered ownership.... In Bosnia, where the Agrarian +troubles had produced such frequent outbreaks and +savage repression, the Austrians were given the mandate +in 1878 in the hope that they would regulate this matter. +They did not do very much; all that they really did +was to modernize a little. They wrote down in a book +who was the landlord and who were the kmets, and a +copy of these details was available for each one of the +kmets. He had the right to remain where he was—unless +his conduct was exceptionally bad—and to retain<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span> +two-thirds of the produce of the land. This kmet-right +was not hereditary in the female line; but the kmet +could buy his portion—this was an old right, which +Austria regulated—and become a free man, a beg. He +would sometimes be a free man in one place and a kmet +in another. In Bosnia there are, of course, some extremely +large landowners; but most of the begs are +poor folk, who live on the third part of a few farms. +It would be better if these men were not compensated +with cash, but rather that they should be established on +farms which they would work themselves, the distinction +between the small begs and the kmets thus disappearing.</p> + + +<p class="section">THE PROBLEM OF AGRARIAN REFORM</p> + +<p>A special Ministry was created to supervise, throughout +Yugoslavia, the question of Agrarian Reform; but +the Cabinet was frequently engaged in discussing this +important topic and, many months afterwards, when +the ownership of a good deal of the land had been changed, +it was acknowledged that the problem had been attacked +more often than it had been solved. Mr. Pašić, who +does not believe in hasty legislation, pointed out that +the Austrians had in forty years done really very little +in Bosnia. He was told, however, that in Croatia, for +example, the revolutionary spirit at the end of the War +was so intense that if the Government were to postpone +the necessary reforms then the people would simply +seize whatever land they wished to have. It is true +that violence was rampant in those parts—the peasants +believed that with Austria's collapse there would arrive +the Earthly Paradise, and in order to bring this about +they ravaged a good many fine estates and set fire to +various castles. They were going to stand no nonsense. +At a place called Lubišica in Croatia—where the 350 +families lived in 260 houses—the landowner, out of the +goodness of his heart, bestowed twenty "joch" of meadowland +on the village in 1864. A law was passed which +obliged him to devote a certain amount of land to the +support of the church and the school—he gave the +identical twenty joch. And at the end of the War the +peasants maintained that at last this land was going to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span> +be restored to them; they drove their cattle on to it, +but the priest with the help of <i>gendarmerie</i> drove them +off again. Once more the cattle came back and then the +priest seized a gun; he fired at his parishioners and +wounded in the head a sixteen-year-old boy, as well as +three other persons. This so enraged the village that +they went in a body and slew the priest.... And the +authorities, although at that period they were faced with +so many problems, attempted to settle right away this +very complicated question. The Dobrovoljci—volunteers +with the Yugoslav forces who had come home from the +United States, Canada and Australia or who had managed +to escape from the Austro-Hungarian army—had been +promised so many acres, each of them, after the War. +And these Dobrovoljci and the agitated peasants found +that the land was, so to speak, thrust upon them. A +lawyer-politician would take a map, would assign a +certain area to A, another to B, and imagine he had done +a good morning's work; but unhappily the lawyer often +forgot that a farm, to be of any use to its tenant, must +have a road leading to it, must have a well, a cart, a horse, +some oxen and so forth—to say nothing of a dwelling-place. +Thus it would happen that the new tenant would +go to look at his holding and in disgust would go away, +or—contrary to law—would sublet it or sell it back to +the original owner. If, on the other hand, he remained +the State would, from an economical point of view, only +benefit in those regions where the land had hitherto +been more or less uncultivated; where it had been +cultivated by the moderately large or the very large +landowner it always returned a harvest more considerable +than that which the new tenant, insufficiently +equipped and experienced, was able to achieve. Not +only would there be this diminished production—frequently +in the proportion of six to ten—but a large +number of employees were thrown out of employment: +sometimes a clever Czech overseer, whose family of six +children had almost become Croat, and sometimes a +native farmer whose house was wanted for the Dobrovoljci. +The Czech would return to his own country and +the dispossessed farmer would become a Communist. +Yet these material and human losses to the State might<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span> +have been endured if there had been a compensating +political advantage, that is to say if the new tenants +had been satisfied. But in far too many instances they +were not. And one cannot help thinking that, in the +vast majority of cases, they themselves would have +preferred to wait until the Peasants' Co-operative Associations—such +as flourish in Denmark—had been established. +It need scarcely be said that, from the point of view of +the peasant and of the State, these associations are an +absolute necessity. The most deplorable example of the +measures that were taken in such haste is seen, of course, +in a model-property, such as that of Count Čekonić in +the north of the Banat, where the new tenants, seeking +as elsewhere to satisfy only their own wants and paying +no heed to any possible exports, allow a highly developed +property to go in a retrograde direction. If the Dobrovoljci +had been skilled agriculturists there would have +been no harm in settling them on this excellent estate; +and with a Co-operative Association the 3000 joch of +sugar that were grown there during the War would not +now be reduced to 88 joch. But as it is, what with the +unfortunate inexperience of most of the new tenants +and their lack of means, and what with the stupidity of +the local authorities who left to the previous owner one +field here and one field there in the most absurd fashion, +it would have been better both for Count Čekonić and +for the State if he had simply presented to the Dobrovoljci +half his land. A great many mistakes have been made +in this question of Agrarian Reform, one of the most +cardinal being—as Radić, the spokesman of the Croat +peasants, has pointed out—to bestow the land not on +people because they can farm it, but because they were +heroes in the War.<a name="FNanchor_35_35" id="FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> It is a matter for congratulation +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span>that the measures now in force are not definite—the final +dispositions will be taken in two or three years.<a name="FNanchor_36_36" id="FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> And +perhaps then some part of the counsel of Radić may be +adopted—Radić, whose critics are never weary of denouncing +him for being a demagogue, a firebrand and +various other things, but who by that time may very +likely be a Cabinet Minister. He advises that there +should be a compromise, that the ownership of land in +Yugoslavia should not be strictly individualist nor +strictly communist, but that while preserving the spirit +of the <i>zadruga</i> (ownership by the community) there +should also be the mobility of individual ownership.</p> + +<p>But in the field of Agrarian Reform there has been +one excellent plan, the transference of men from the +unfertile districts of Montenegro and Lika, also of landless +men from the Banat and Bačka, as also Serbs from Hungary +and Slovenes from Istria, to those parts of Kossovo and +Macedonia which were lying ownerless. The Albanians +in Kossovo are mostly shepherds, and the land, which by +Turkish law had belonged to "God and the Sultan," +was now at the disposal of the Yugoslav authorities. +Down to the spring of 1922 they had placed some 35,000 +persons in these regions, the Montenegrins being generally +allocated to an Albanian neighbourhood, for they are +accustomed to the idiosyncrasies of the Shqyptart. At +first the Albanians viewed the new settlers with disfavour, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span>but now so great a sympathy has developed between +them that on various occasions the Montenegrins have +remonstrated with the gendarmes for the excessive order +they enforce and which, the Montenegrins say, you +really cannot ask of an Albanian. Against the Montenegrins +the Albanians do not care to use their rifles, since +the custom of blood-vengeance is in the Montenegrin +blood. In fact, these Albanians are very fair neighbours, +the most unruly of them living in the mountains of +the frontier. And the Montenegrins have been showing +that when they are not compelled to live with weapons +in their hand they can be quite industrious. There has, +till now, been more colonization of Kossovo than of +Macedonia; but there are wide tracts of country around +Skoplje which will be settled, once they have been freed +from malaria. The political consequences that this will +have on Macedonia, by the stabilization of economic +conditions, the supersession of the wooden plough by +the steam plough—in fact, the advent of a new European +spirit need scarcely be enlarged upon. In Serbian +Macedonia, or South Serbia as it is now officially called, +more than seven million acres of good soil are as yet +not being used.</p> + + +<p class="section">FRENZY AT RIEKA</p> + +<p>As the months rolled on at Rieka the Italianists +became more frantic. Their telegrams to Rome, in which +they begged for instant annexation, were in vain, and after +all, what was the use of adopting the system of Lieut.-Colonel +Stadler, their energetic podestà at Abbazia, who +would go into the hills, accost the peasants and instruct +them that they must not say: "It will be settled by the +Paris Conference," but rather—"It has been settled +by the Paris Conference." All the world was learning +what was the position of affairs at Rieka; one of the most +important of these plaguy Allied officers had said that +when he first came to the town he thought it was Italian, +but he had soon perceived that it was all a comedy, +and the Italianists were dreadfully afraid that memoranda +and statistics and what not had been dispatched to Paris +and that there was the faintest, awful possibility that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span> +one could say: "It has been settled by the Paris Conference." +Everyone, alas! was studying the case—one +heard that Cardinal Bourne, in the course of being fêted +at Zagreb, was reported to have shown himself quite +intimate with Croatian history and to have discussed +especially the story of Rieka. But by far the shrewdest +blow to the Italianists was Wilson's Declaration. What +had his emissaries, who had listened with such care to +everybody, told him? One must have a grand procession +through the town to show the whole world what +the people wanted! As for Wilson, it was good to hear +the lusty shouts of the "Giovani Fiumani": "Down +with Wilson! down with redskins!" Some of the +demonstrators, after shouting that Wilson was a donkey, +a horse, a ruffian, would acclaim the new suggestion, +that their enemy was not Wilson at all but Rudolf of +Austria, who was still alive. Another very good idea +would be to have great posters made with Wilson's +head crowned by a German helmet, and now, of course, +the Hotel Wilson must become the Hotel Orlando. Let +them put a large black cross on all the Croat houses of +Rieka—well, on second thoughts, next morning, that +was not a very brilliant idea, because the crosses were +too numerous; so let the soldiers rub them out again. +And where the Croat names on banks and shops and +elsewhere had been effaced, demolished—one could hide +them by long strips of paper which they were so busy +printing: "Either Italy or death!" "Viva Orlando!" +"Viva Sonnino!"—those papers were the best reply +to people who were asking if the entire Italian Cabinet +was in harmony with Sonnino. Not merely in harmony—the +Cabinet <i>was</i> Sonnino and more particularly Orlando +was Sonnino. An Italian major came out on to a balcony +one evening, in uniform, and opened his Italian heart +to the crowd. What would the Allies say to that? +The <i>Dante Alighieri</i>, the great dreadnought, manœuvring +with her searchlights, let them rest awhile upon the +<i>Schley</i>, an American destroyer. What would the Yankees +do? "Avanti Savoia!" Perhaps in the old days they +would have sent a shot or two into the searchlights, +just for luck, but now they did nothing. And what a +scene at the Opera when <i>André Chenier</i> was performed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span> +and one of the singers came to the word "Traitor!" +and some one shouted "Wilson!" and the whole house +shouted "Wilson!" and the singer, forced to repeat +the blessed word, added amid indescribable enthusiasm +the name of the President, that ignominious President +concerning whom it was revealed by one of their newspapers +that he must obviously have pocketed Yugoslav +money, perhaps a million, and who most probably had +a Yugoslav mistress—when that opera-singer had emended +the phrase, did that very exalted Italian officer leave +his box? Why, no—he stayed until the end of the +performance.... Did any Italian in Rieka read to the +end a small and lucid American book, <i>Italy and the +Yugoslavs, A Question of International Law</i>, by C. A. H. +Bartlett of the New York and United States Federal +Bar? "It is an admitted fact," says Mr. Bartlett, +"that Italy at the outbreak of hostilities had no rights +to, or in, the territory to which she now makes claim. +Her title, therefore, has arisen since the commencement +of the War, and must be founded on either effective +possession legally acquired or on documentary evidence +or some other right recognized by international law." +And quoting Professor Westlake (<i>International Law</i>, +Part I. p. 91) as to the four grounds on which a State +may vindicate its sovereignty over new domain, he discusses +the position in the Adriatic, and concludes that +Italy can claim no title by occupancy, cession, succession +or self-determination. We refer elsewhere to Mr. Bartlett's +commentary on the London Treaty, which is the instrument +invoked by the Italians for their claims to Dalmatia. +With regard to Rieka, which, as everybody knows, was +not included even in the London Treaty, Mr. Bartlett +says that while "admitting, for the purpose of argument, +that the seizure has since resulted in an effective possession, +yet, as that is not sufficient in itself to give title, +it has no legal or effective force, but can be compared +with nomads squatting on the roadside and then claiming +a right to the soil. Italy was ashamed to assume the +responsibility for the original appropriation of Rieka, +which was made in violation of every legal right of those +to whom it belongs, and she might well be, for a more +audacious, unjustifiable proceeding in violation of every<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span> +principle of international law it is difficult to imagine." ... +As for the Italian National Council, listen to the stirring +sentences of Mr. Grossich, its old President, after they +had unanimously voted on May 17, and with passionate +conviction, an order of the day directed to Orlando. +In that order it was stated that they looked upon the +plebiscite of October 30, 1918, as an indestructible, +historical and legal fact. Grossich exposed the situation +and was then for some instants mute. His voice was +trembling when he spoke: "The sacrifice which circumstances +may demand is tremendous, but if it is required +by the supreme interests of Italy we will know how to +support it. More than a citizen of Fiume, I feel myself +an Italian" ("Primo che fiumano mi sento italiano"). +At this point the old patriot broke into tears. "Fiume +will defend herself with arms against all those who desire +to violate her will, her national conscience. Seeing that +her tenacious, indestructible Italianity is a grave impediment +for Italy in the attaining of other objects, let Fiume +be left to look after herself, sure as she is of her sons, +prepared as she is, to-day more than ever, to sacrifice +herself. She will defend herself against all and from +wherever they come." Those who listened thought +that this must mean that either the <i>Pester Lloyd</i> of +April 29 was lying when it printed an official message +stating that General Segré, the Italian representative +at Vienna, had in the name of his Government requested +the Hungarian Soviet Republic to undertake +the care of Italian subjects in Rieka, or else that the +Magyars had told him that the 22,000 or 23,000 +Italian soldiers in Rieka ought to be sufficient, as this +was practically one soldier for every person who had +been described as an Italian. But the I.N.C. had now +resolved to take no risks; they entered into negotiations +with Sem Benelli, a well-known poet of the school which +some critics call enlivening and other critics call inflammatory. +Anyhow, on the afternoon of June 13, +Mr. Benelli was made a citizen of Rieka, a member of +the central committee and was entrusted with the portfolio +of Minister of War, that is to say Commissary for +Defence. He thanked the I.N.C. in a long speech, and +declared that his appointment was the wedding of Rieka<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span> +and Italy. Then Dr. Vio proposed a law, respecting +the defence to the uttermost of Italian rights—that an +army should be created and that the expenses should be +met by the issue of bonds for a hundred million lire. +The citizen Benelli was asked to undertake the organization +and the command of the army.</p> + + +<p class="section">ADMIRAL MILLO EXPLAINS THE SITUATION</p> + +<p>Farther down the coast and on the islands the Italians +seemed, with few exceptions, to have relinquished every +effort to make themselves popular with the Slavs. Of +course one naturally hears more of the cases of tension +than of those where friendliness prevails; but in the +towns or villages where the Slav <i>intelligentsia</i> appreciated +that an officer was doing his best, they were obliged invariably +to add that he was doing it in spite of his men, +and that his control of these men was more or less defective. +Numbers of the soldiers, marines and carabinieri may have +been animated, when they landed in Dalmatia, with +excellent intentions, but their months amid an alien population +had produced in them too often a deplorable effect. +It must be taken into account that many of them had +an almost insurmountable desire to be demobilized. At +Gradišca, where many Slovenes were interned, with +fences round them but with no roof other than the sky, +their guards with other soldiers had risen in revolt. This +outbreak was suppressed, certain soldiers—some say sixty, +but the number is doubtful—being shot; and all the +others took an oath that on the first occasion of a deserter +being shot at, they would, down to the last man, leave +the barracks. This movement had been growing since +the withdrawal of Bissolati from the Cabinet. As for the +young officers, they had been exhorted, in a communication +from Admiral Millo, the Governor, that they must realize +the position they were in. The Admiral's memorial, +which was marked with wisdom but also with a too-sweeping +air of superiority, was labelled "Secret Document: +No. 558 of Register P. Section of Propaganda. +Sebenico, March 21, 1919." A copy was found by the +Yugoslavs under an officer's mattress, was transcribed and +replaced. Since it made admissions with regard to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span> +Croats the contents were telegraphed to Paris. It is a +lengthy and to us at times a rather rhetorical exposé, +of which it will suffice to make some extracts. "The +Officer," says Admiral Millo, "should place himself in a +calm and dignified fashion outside and above the disputes +which divide the sentiments of the local population. And +in accounting, psychologically and historically, for the +detestations and the aspirations of either party, he +must regard the situation with the serene mind of a judge.... +The position of officers is extremely delicate, more +particularly in the small centres. It is known that outside +the towns the population in its great majority and often +its totality consists of Yugo-Slavs or Slavs of the South, +that is to say, Croats or Serbo-Croats. It is a people +of another race, of that formidable Slav race which for +centuries has been pressing against the West, athirst for +liberty and eager for the sea; a people with a psychology, +a mentality, a civilization, habits, traditions, a national +consciousness and a quite special individuality. This +population is fundamentally good, good as simple and +primitive people are. But the simple and primitive +peoples are also extremely sensitive and suspicious and +violent in their impulses.... May Heaven preserve the +officers from not taking these things into account and +from letting themselves be guided solely by their Italian +feelings.... Firm nerves, sangfroid and an evenly-balanced +mind are required in order to prevent the hostility +of the population from causing, as a reaction, resentment +and a spirit of revolt, of vengeance and of oppression on +our part. The officer must ... become an element of +moderation and pacification, with the object of assuaging +and obviating the bitter feelings which have been created +and fed by a past that is and must be wiped out for ever; +and of dissipating that hostility which, determined by +a political situation and events, has been and is being +incited and strengthened by blind passions and an +artificially created campaign of interested parties (<i>da +artificiose interessate campagna</i>).... It must be remembered +that this is the first contact (<i>il primo contatto</i>) +which the population, as yet primitive and uncultured in +its mass, has had with Italy, where it instinctively sees the +enemy and the new oppressor. We must do our best to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span> +make them see in Italy their friend and liberator.... It +is evident and it leaps to the eyes of all how delicate and +important is the moment of this first contact. Nothing +more than a superficial knowledge of the circumstances is +needed for the officer to understand that in all his official +and personal acts he must behave in such a manner that +the population, which is primitive and simple and therefore +all the more susceptible to suggestions, should +regain the impression that Italy is a great country, the +country of liberty and right, that its people is educated +and civilized, that its officers and soldiers are here to fulfil +a work of civilization and education, of love, in a country +which must be Italian on account of historic rights and +for the exigencies of Italy's defence: in which the Slavs, +who have been introduced by the course of events and as +an effect of the expansive potentiality of their race and the +artifices of those who dominated the country, will find in +the independence and development of their nationality +a great fatherland which is civilized, powerful, humane +and free.... In estimating the enmity of the Croats +the fact must be taken into account that the Croatian +world, I mean to say the Croat people, with its action in +the interior of Austria while the Italian army was acting +outside, resolutely and victoriously, has co-operated in +precipitating the downfall of Austria and in freeing itself +from a detested régime; particularly in the last year of +the War this sentiment of nationality became accentuated +with the fervent aspiration for liberty.... These are the +circumstances which have determined a special psychology +composed of joy and ecstasy—both elements which, in minds +that are laden with all the influences of the East, produce +a facile and dangerous excitement. On the other hand +there survives in the Italian population the hatred against +the Croatian supremacy, a hatred which is comprehensible +but which in time must give place to other sentiments, +rendering possible a fair coexistence of the two populations, +whose aim should be common—the prosperity and +development of Dalmatia, in the prosperity and for the +prosperity, in the greatness and for the greatness of Italy. +From this picture it must be instantly clear to every officer +that his duty here is ... a truly lofty mission of civilization.... +Especially the officer who is in charge of administrative<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span> +work must awaken impressions that are naturally +caused by the sense of justice for all; his severity +must be good and his goodness must be severe, and from +every act there must transpire the dignity which comes +from the might and right of Italy, the kindness and generosity +which come from the virtue of the race.... There +is already an impression on the part of the Croats that the +Italians are good, that Italy is strong. There must also +be born and reinforced the other conviction that we are +not oppressors but liberators.... The best propaganda, +the most efficacious, because spontaneous and unexpected, +is done by the officer and his men. The Italian officer ... +with the harmony of manners which distinguishes him, +obtains very easily the sympathies of this population, a +sympathy, however, which for an optimist may become +dangerous. Young officers must not forget that the propagators +of the great Yugoslavia still exercise with their +megalomania a potent influence over the primitive population +and that a gesture of theirs, a word, an attitude, +may even yet indirectly favour the Croat cause and make +difficulties for us in exhibiting our mission of civilization."</p> + + +<p class="section">HIS MISGUIDED SUBORDINATES AT ŠIBENIK</p> + +<p>It is strange that this order should have been so +scurvily treated in the town of Šibenik, where it was +issued and where the Admiral resided until the beginning +of June, after which he transferred the seat of government +to Zadar. At Šibenik, by the way, the population comprises +13,000 Yugoslavs and 400 Italianists. On February +20, 1919, there arrived from Zadar, in consequence +of an invitation from Admiral Millo, the Italian professor +Domiakušić who, according to the sixth clause of the +Armistice, was justified in assuming the functions of school-controller, +but was not authorized to become the inspector +or in any way to interfere in didactic matters. Two inspectors +existed in Dalmatia, one for the elementary and +one for the secondary school, but the chief school authority +of the province and the two inspectors under him were +not informed of Professor Domiakušić's nomination. If +the Governor intended him to abide by the stipulations +of the Armistice, he must have been astonished at the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span> +schools being shut on the day after his arrival. And +they remained shut, both the modern school and the +middle-class girls' school for months, because the Professor's +quite illegal attempt to usurp the inspectorship +was resented. The secondary school was closed and the +teachers who had come to Šibenik with their families, +but whose permanent domicile was elsewhere, received an +order, delivered by carabinieri, that they would have to +leave the town in four days. A few Italians were brought +from Split and the school was reopened, but the attendance, +which had been about 200, was now 24, and of +these only two were the sons of Yugoslavs—but Yugoslavs +who had taken office under the Italians, one as President +of the Court of Justice and the other as prison inspector; +these gentlemen took their boys by the hand and led +them to school. Perhaps the Admiral was unaware of +these transactions; but various Yugoslav officials, whose +salaries had been withheld because they would not sign +a paper asking to be made Italian officials, continued, +notwithstanding, at their posts for two months; after +which the Government perceived that by the clauses of the +Armistice they were compelled to pay them. Each of +them received exactly what was due, while some Italian +teachers who had signed the paper were given a war +bonus, extending over five months, of 80 per cent. +Whether the Admiral knew of this or not, it does not +harmonize with his exalted sentiments. And the town-commandant +spoke very darkly<a name="FNanchor_37_37" id="FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> on various occasions to +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span>the leading citizens of what would come to pass if the +Italians by any chance were told to leave the place. His +brave fellows, the arditi, so he said, had plenty of machine +guns and of ammunition. But this fair-haired German-looking +officer was a rampageous sort of person who discharged, +according to his lights, the Admiral's "truly +lofty mission of civilization." It was not he, but another +of the Admiral's subordinates at Šibenik, who, when <ins class="correction" +title="Transcriber's note: original reads 'aproached'">approached</ins> +by a certain Mr. Ivaša Zorić with the request +that something might be done to release his son, a prisoner +of war in Italy, replied: "Your son shall be released in +eight days, provided that you declare, in writing, that you +are content with the Italian occupation." On Mr. Zorić +saying that he was unable to do this, "Very well," said +the officer, "then your son will be one of the last to be set +free."</p> + + +<p class="section">THE ITALIANS WANT TO TAKE NO RISKS</p> + +<p>Altogether one might say that the schoolmasters were +being treated in a manner that was at variance with the +Admiral's document. To give a few examples: Ivan +Grbić, the schoolmaster at Sutomišcica, was arbitrarily +imprisoned and was afterwards removed to another school +at Privlaka. The Government school at the former +place was closed, an Italian private institution being +opened in the same building, with a teacher who was +devoid of professional qualifications. The pupils of the +school which had been dissolved were compelled by +soldiers to attend the new Italian school. The elementary +schools at Zemunik were likewise closed and the schoolmasters, +after a period of imprisonment, taken to another +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span>village. If in the rather dreary little Zemunik, where +there is not one Italian, the schoolmaster was very +dangerous to the might of Italy, let us compare with this +the conduct of the Slovene authorities who <ins class="correction" +title="Transcriber's note: original reads 'permittep'">permitted</ins> +more than one priest of the old régime to remain in office—one +of them at a village four or five miles from Ljubljana—though +they knew that these clergy were wont from the +pulpit to utter disloyal sentiments. Maybe the Slovene +Government was unwise, but they had scruples in removing +a priest; and moreover, they had not given up the hope +that these gentlemen would by and by change their +opinions. On the island of Pag the schoolmaster Buratović +and his wife, who was also a teacher, had to fly in order +to escape imprisonment. The schoolmaster Grimani of +the same place was obliged, with his wife, to follow the +example of Buratović, so that the school was necessarily +closed; and an Italian school was started in this island +with its 0·31 per cent. of Italians. The same edifying +scenes must have taken place as in so many Magyar +schools where the pupils—Serbs, Slovaks, Roumanians +and so forth—did not understand what the teacher +was saying. The Government of the occupied part +of Dalmatia appointed to the elementary schools at +Rogoznica and Primošten two young Italian law-students +from Zadar, who had no pedagogic qualifications; and +whereas the legal annual salary was 1080 crowns, these +lucky young men were in receipt of 625 crowns a month, +which covered more than handsomely any depreciation +in the currency. But now to another subject:</p> + +<table summary="statistics" style="font-size: 90%"> +<tr><td class="rightalign"> </td><td> </td><td>Per cent. Yugoslavs.</td><td style="padding-left: 2em">Per cent. Italians.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="rightalign">1.</td><td class="leftalign">Zadar</td><td class="rightalign">with 80·25</td><td class="rightalign">with 18·61</td></tr> +<tr><td class="rightalign">2.</td><td class="leftalign">Hvar (Lesina)</td><td class="rightalign"><span style="padding-right: 0.75em">"</span> 92·94</td><td class="rightalign"><span style="padding-right: 1em">"</span> 6·75</td></tr> +<tr><td class="rightalign">3.</td><td class="leftalign">Korčula (Curzola)</td><td class="rightalign"><span style="padding-right: 0.75em">"</span> 94·89</td><td class="rightalign"><span style="padding-right: 1em">"</span> 5·08</td></tr> +<tr><td class="rightalign">4.</td><td class="leftalign">Šibenik (Sebenico)</td><td class="rightalign"><span style="padding-right: 0.75em">"</span> 95·66</td><td class="rightalign"><span style="padding-right: 1em">"</span> 1·31</td></tr> +<tr><td class="rightalign">5.</td><td class="leftalign">Starigrad (Cittavecchia)</td><td class="rightalign"><span style="padding-right: 0.75em">"</span> 97·98</td><td class="rightalign"><span style="padding-right: 1em">"</span> 1·91</td></tr> +<tr><td class="rightalign">6.</td><td class="leftalign">Vis (Lissa)</td><td class="rightalign"><span style="padding-right: 0.75em">"</span> 98·98</td><td class="rightalign"><span style="padding-right: 1em">"</span> 0·92</td></tr> +<tr><td class="rightalign">7.</td><td class="leftalign">Skradin (Scardona)</td><td class="rightalign"><span style="padding-right: 0.75em">"</span> 99·36</td><td class="rightalign"><span style="padding-right: 1em">"</span> 0·57</td></tr> +<tr><td class="rightalign">8.</td><td class="leftalign">Knin</td><td class="rightalign"><span style="padding-right: 0.75em">"</span> 99·48</td><td class="rightalign"><span style="padding-right: 1em">"</span> 0·31</td></tr> +<tr><td class="rightalign">9.</td><td class="leftalign">Drniš (Dernish)</td><td class="rightalign"><span style="padding-right: 0.75em">"</span> 99·49</td><td class="rightalign"><span style="padding-right: 1em">"</span> 0·41</td></tr> +<tr><td class="rightalign">10.</td><td class="leftalign">Benkovac</td><td class="rightalign"><span style="padding-right: 0.75em">"</span> 99·60</td><td class="rightalign"><span style="padding-right: 1em">"</span> 0·30</td></tr> +<tr><td class="rightalign">11.</td><td class="leftalign">Tijesno (Stretto)</td><td class="rightalign"><span style="padding-right: 0.75em">"</span> 99·61</td><td class="rightalign"><span style="padding-right: 1em">"</span> 0·35</td></tr> +<tr><td class="rightalign">12.</td><td class="leftalign">Biograd (Zaravecchia)</td><td class="rightalign"><span style="padding-right: 0.75em">"</span> 99·66</td><td class="rightalign"><span style="padding-right: 1em">"</span> 0·23</td></tr> +<tr><td class="rightalign">13.</td><td class="leftalign">Pag (Pago)</td><td class="rightalign"><span style="padding-right: 0.75em">"</span> 99·67</td><td class="rightalign"><span style="padding-right: 1em">"</span> 0·31</td></tr> +<tr><td class="rightalign">14.</td><td class="leftalign">Obrovac (Obrovazzo)</td><td class="rightalign"><span style="padding-right: 0.75em">"</span> 99·84</td><td class="rightalign"><span style="padding-right: 1em">"</span> 0·12</td></tr> +<tr><td class="rightalign">15.</td><td class="leftalign">Kistanje</td><td class="rightalign"><span style="padding-right: 0.75em">"</span> 99·88</td><td class="rightalign"><span style="padding-right: 1em">"</span> 0·12</td></tr> +<tr><td class="rightalign">16.</td><td class="leftalign">Blato (Blatta)</td><td class="rightalign"><span style="padding-right: 0.75em">"</span> 99·93</td><td class="rightalign"><span style="padding-right: 1em">"</span> 0·05</td></tr> +</table> + +<p>The London Treaty had conferred on Italy the foregoing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span> +Judiciary Districts, whose population, according to +the last Austrian census, was as given on page 147.</p> + +<p>Italy was also to receive portions of the following +Justiciary Districts:</p> + +<table summary="statistics" style="font-size: 90%"> +<tr><td class="rightalign"> </td><td> </td><td>Per cent. Yugoslavs.</td><td style="padding-left: 2em">Per cent. Italians.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="rightalign">1.</td><td class="leftalign" style="padding-right: 3em">Trogir (Traù)</td><td class="rightalign">with 99·12</td><td class="rightalign">with 0·32</td></tr> +<tr><td class="rightalign">2.</td><td class="leftalign" style="padding-right: 3em">Sinj</td><td class="rightalign"><span style="padding-right: 0.75em">"</span> 99·29</td><td class="rightalign"><span style="padding-right: 0.75em">"</span> 0·24</td></tr> +<tr><td class="rightalign">3.</td><td class="leftalign" style="padding-right: 3em">Imotski</td><td class="rightalign"><span style="padding-right: 0.75em">"</span> 99·84</td><td class="rightalign"><span style="padding-right: 0.75em">"</span> 0·11</td></tr> +<tr><td class="rightalign">4.</td><td class="leftalign" style="padding-right: 3em">Vrlika</td><td class="rightalign"><span style="padding-right: 0.75em">"</span> 99·95</td><td class="rightalign"><span style="padding-right: 0.75em">"</span> 0·04</td></tr> +</table> + +<p>In the early part of 1919 a plebiscite was organized +by a delegation which the representatives of the occupied +communes elected at Split on January 11. According +to the census of 1900 the occupied territory contained +35 communes, divided into 398 localities, with 297,181 +inhabitants. In 35 localities, with 14,659 inhabitants, +the census was prevented by the Italians, who also confiscated +the results of the plebiscite in the commune of +Obrovac.<a name="FNanchor_38_38" id="FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> The delegates were therefore successful in +canvassing 95·07 per cent. of all the inhabitants. In +34 communes the majority for union with Yugoslavia +was over 90 per cent., while in 24 it exceeded even 99 per +cent. At Zadar (the town) out of 14,056 inhabitants +6623 (= 47 per cent.) voted for Yugoslavia, while in +the suburbs, with a larger population, the majority was +89·57 per cent. In the islands the majorities ranged from +96 per cent. to 100 per cent. And if any doubts were +entertained as to these figures, the delegates were authorized +to propose another plebiscite under the control of a +disinterested Allied Power.</p> + + +<p class="section">YET THEY ARE INCREDIBLY NONCHALANT</p> + +<p>Dalmatia, as is shown by the number of emigrants, +is not a wealthy province; and one would have supposed +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span>that if the Italians thought it necessary to occupy a +country whose inhabitants were so unmistakably opposed +to them, it would have been—to put it at the lowest—politic +to hamper no one in the getting of his livelihood. +Austria had established fourteen military fishing centres +(besides others in Rieka, Istria, etc.), and these the +Croats joined most willingly, as a means of avoiding +service in a hated army. After the war, when their nets +were worn out, Italy supplied her Chioggia fisherfolk with +new ones. Owing to the conditions of the Triple Alliance, +the Italians enjoyed the right to "high-sea" fishing, that +is to say, the fishing up to three miles from the Dalmatian +coast; but now the Italian boats occupied all the rich +fishing grounds among the northern islands. These +dispossessed natives were originally more preoccupied with +fish than with Italians. Is it strange that they refused +to see that Italy was, in the words of Admiral Millo, the +friend and liberator?... A German firm, the Steinbeiss +Company, had built in Bosnia a very narrow-gauge line +for the exploitation of its forests; during the War this +line was continued to Prijedor, and with great difficulty +it had served for the transport of food-stuff and passengers +from Croatia: on the Croatian lines up to Sissak normal +gauge; from there to Prijedor narrow gauge; from there +to Knin very narrow gauge, and from there to Split or +Šibenik narrow gauge. Thus with the loading and unloading +between 30 per cent. and 50 per cent. of the goods +were lost; but when Italy sat down at Rieka the inhabitants +of Dalmatia looked to this line. At Prijedor +hundreds of waggons of wheat and corn were waiting to +be forwarded, and with Italy blocking the road at Knin +they simply perished.</p> + + +<p class="section">ONE OF THEIR VICTIMS</p> + +<p>The Italian administration of Dalmatia—economically, +politically, scholastically, ecclesiastically and financially +(as we will show)—was thoroughly mistaken. Wherever +one goes one is overwhelmed with evidence; it is impossible +to print more than a tithe of it. But the mention +of Knin recalls the case of Dr. Bogić, who was deported +to Sardinia for political reasons. On January 1 he was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span> +arrested, together with a Franciscan monk, a schoolmaster +and others, transported to Šibenik and put into a cell +devoid of bed, light or a window. Thence, with nothing +to eat, although the weather was wintry, he was taken +on to the <small>s.s.</small> <i>Almissa</i>, bound for Ancona. Near Šibenik +the boat collided with the isle of Zlarin; he and the other +prisoners attempted to get out of their cabin, but carabinieri +kept them there by flourishing revolvers in their +faces. At Ancona, Spoleto, Perugia, Florence and Leghorn +the doctor was always lodged in prisons, had his +finger-prints taken, had to stand up to salute the warders, +had to look on while his things were stolen—at Ancona, +for instance, they despoiled him of eighty cigars. His +wrists were always bound; he was attached not only to his +fellow-travellers but to Italians who were under life-sentences. +The carabinieri cut up their bread, put it on +their knees and then, without unbinding the ropes, left +them to eat it as best they could. The journey was very +slow; thus from Perugia to Florence—being all the time +attached to one another—it took sixteen hours. Dr. +Conti, the prison doctor at Florence, said that Dr. Bogić +was ill, but as he declined to give him a certificate the +journey was resumed. From Florence to Leghorn he +was bound so tightly that his wrists were very much +swollen. From Leghorn in the <small>s.s.</small> <i>Derna</i> he was shipped +to Sardinia, where he had experience of several prisons, +including that of Terranuova-Pausania, where water +flows down the walls and vermin are everywhere. He +received 2.75 lire a day with which to buy his food, and +although he is a doctor they refused to let him read any +medical books. When I asked him of what he had been +guilty, he began by recounting his war work. Over +6000 Italian prisoners were at Knin, and he was there +as military doctor for more than two years. These +Italians were employed on the railway line and—as is +clear from the letters they wrote to him after their release—letters +some of which I read—they had very friendly +recollections of the doctor. Once in the summer of +1918 a group of Italians arrived who had been, in the +doctor's words, "bestially maltreated at Zala-Egerseg +by the Magyars." Dozens died on the way to Knin, +others while they were being got out of the station, others<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span> +on the way to the hospital. They were nothing but +skeletons, dressed almost exclusively in paper clothes. +General Wucherer happened to be at Knin and to him +the doctor reported that the Italians had been treated in +an absolutely criminal fashion. Wucherer, who was a +decent fellow, ordered the doctor to dictate the whole +affair and said that if nothing else could be done he would +go direct to His Majesty. Then standing up he struck the +table, in the presence of his staff, of Dr. Grgin of Split +and of the railway commandant Captain Bergmann, and +"Wir sind doch die grössten Schuften!" he exclaimed +("After all, it is we who are the biggest scoundrels!").... +When the Yugoslavs overthrew the Austrian Government +at Knin, the doctor, a kindly-looking, little, bald +man, made a speech to the prisoners from the balcony +of the town hall. He armed two of the Italians and ten +French prisoners, whom he told off to guard the magazine. +The two Italians (Cirillo Tomba and Mario Favelli) +vanished after a couple of days; the French remained +for a week, and when a French destroyer arrived at Split +they were taken there, not as prisoners but as soldiers, +bearing arms. Dr. Bogić was a member of the National +Committee at Knin, and as such he wrote to a colleague +at Drniš to ask him whether the Italian troops were +coming up from Šibenik. This letter was his undoing. +The reason he wrote it was because the population at +Knin was extremely agitated by the prospective occupation +and begged him to ascertain the latest news. He +should have remembered, no doubt, that the Italians +regarded this as enemy country and that to make inquiries +with regard to the movement of troops was a crime. An +officer came and asked him, in the General's name, if he +would kindly take part in a conference; on reaching the +place which was indicated he found himself surrounded +by carabinieri. Their captain, a certain Albano, said +that he and two or three others must go to Šibenik to +undergo a short interrogatory, and that as he would return +in two days at the latest it was unnecessary for him to +take any money, clothes or linen. As a matter of fact +the doctor had, on the previous day, been warned from +Split that the Italians meant to intern him; but he laughed—he +had done so much for them and he felt so innocent<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span> +that it seemed absurd to run away. He could have +gone, because he had a written permit issued to him on +January 10 by the 144th Italian infantry regiment at +Knin, which stated that he and his wife might go, whenever +they wished, to Split.</p> + + +<p class="section">SEVEN HUNDRED OTHERS</p> + +<p>During the winter and spring over seven hundred +persons, chiefly belonging to the clerical, the legal and +the medical professions, had been deported from Dalmatia. +The leader of the Italian party at Zadar told +me that two of them had written him from Nocera Umbra, +saying that this, their place of interment, was a health +resort and that they were getting fat. He scouted the +idea that they were under any sort of compulsion when +they wrote or that they were pulling his leg. One must +anyhow congratulate them in not being taken to Sardinia, +as were the vast majority. Those who managed to return +from that island—among them Dr. Macchiedo of Zadar, +through the intervention of Bissolati, on account of Mrs. +Macchiedo being at death's door—said that they found +in Sardinia what they had expected of a penal establishment. +Many priests were deported, on account of +crimes which varied in enormity. A very frequent +cause was that they refused to preach in Italian to a +congregation which only understood Serbo-Croat. One +must say that the Italians exhibited no religious partiality, +for they treated the Roman Catholic Church just the +same as the Orthodox. Some of the persecutions were +so fatuous that one could only suppose they must be +due to a misunderstanding. To mention only one which +came under my observation at Skradin, not far from +Šibenik, where the Orthodox priest in his sumptuous +vestments had led his congregation out of the old town +in order to perform an annual ceremony in connection +with the fertility of the fields. In what way was the +Italian cause assisted when carabinieri broke up that +procession and refused even to allow the people to walk +back on the road, so that all of them, including the priest +and the other church officials with the sacred emblems,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span> +were forced to go back to Skradin as best they could by +wading through the marshes?</p> + + +<p class="section">A GLIMPSE OF THE OFFICIAL ROBBERIES</p> + +<p>An allusion has been made to the Italian financial +methods. More than one Italian officer, including +Admiral Millo, spoke to me about the Austrian currency, +which seemed to them one of the gravest problems. In +Yugoslavia these notes were only legal tender if they had +the Government stamp, and the Italians resolved that +in the territories which they occupied the notes must +have no stamp upon them. So far, so good. But when +some poor peasant came across the line of demarcation +from Croatia or else landed somewhere in a boat the +Italians were not making good propaganda for themselves +when they seized the notes, tore them up and +refused to give their victim a receipt. One poor fellow +whom I know of came with his mother along that +wonderful road which the Austrians built over the +mountains and down to Obrovac. He had some serious +affection of the eyes and was compelled to go to Zadar +to consult an oculist. He took with him practically +all his fortune, as he and his mother did not know what +otherwise to do with it. They had never yet made use +of a bank. Well, the Italians tore up the notes and told +him testily to go about his business. The same thing +happened to the following persons:</p> + + +<table summary="statistics" style="font-size: 90%" cellpadding="1"> + +<tr><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td>Crowns.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td class="rightalign">1.</td><td> March</td><td class="rightalign"> 22,</td><td> 1919.</td><td class="leftalign"> Bogdan Babović, son of Radovan, +of Montenegro,</td><td> was robbed of</td><td> </td><td class="rightalign"> 1,348</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rightalign">2.</td><td> "</td><td class="rightalign"> 22,</td><td> "</td><td class="leftalign"> Peter Lukšić, son of Stephen of +Spić,</td><td><span style="padding-right: 2em">"</span>"</td><td> </td><td class="rightalign"> 1,800</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rightalign">3.</td><td> "</td><td class="rightalign"> 30,</td><td> "</td><td class="leftalign"> Marijan Ševelj, of Tučepa,</td><td><span style="padding-right: 2em">"</span> "</td><td> </td><td class="rightalign"> 3,530</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rightalign">4.</td><td> "</td><td class="rightalign"> 31,</td><td> "</td><td class="leftalign"> Frano Frankić and Ivanica +Petričević,</td><td><span style="padding-right: 2em">"</span> "</td><td> </td><td class="rightalign"> 12,000</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rightalign">5.</td><td> April</td><td class="rightalign"> 8,</td><td> "</td><td class="leftalign"> Stephen Vukušić, son of Peter, +of Katuna,</td><td><span style="padding-right: 2em">"</span> "</td><td> </td><td class="rightalign"> 4,758</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rightalign">6.</td><td> "</td><td class="rightalign"> 8,</td><td> "</td><td class="leftalign"> Nikola Cikeš, son of Mate, of +Žeževice,</td><td><span style="padding-right: 2em">"</span> "</td><td> </td><td class="rightalign"> 3,071</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rightalign">7.</td><td> "</td><td class="rightalign"> 8,</td><td> "</td><td class="leftalign"> Martinis Jozo, son of the late +Nikola, of Komiža,</td><td><span style="padding-right: 2em">"</span> "</td><td> </td><td class="rightalign"> 6,332</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rightalign">8.</td><td> "</td><td class="rightalign"> 8,</td><td> "</td><td class="leftalign"> Jure Rubić, son of the late Peter, +of Zadvarje</td><td><span style="padding-right: 2em">"</span> "</td><td> </td><td class="rightalign"> 6,030</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rightalign">9.</td><td> "</td><td class="rightalign"> 8,</td><td> "</td><td class="leftalign"> Mato Škaričić, son of Stephen, +of Podgrazza,</td><td><span style="padding-right: 2em">"</span> "</td><td> </td><td class="rightalign"> 500</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rightalign">10.</td><td> "</td><td class="rightalign"> 8,</td><td> "</td><td class="leftalign"> Mihovil Šarac, son of the late Crowns. +Marko, of Split,</td><td><span style="padding-right: 2em">"</span> "</td><td> </td><td class="rightalign"> 300<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rightalign">11.</td><td> "</td><td class="rightalign"> 11,</td><td> "</td><td class="leftalign"> Ilika Kutljača, son of the late +Peter, of Čista,</td><td><span style="padding-right: 2em">"</span> "</td><td> </td><td class="rightalign"> 600</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rightalign">12.</td><td> "</td><td class="rightalign"> 13,</td><td> "</td><td class="leftalign"> Marko Čaljkušić, son of the +late Ante, of Šestanova,</td><td><span style="padding-right: 2em">"</span> "</td><td> </td><td class="rightalign"> 11,000</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rightalign">13.</td><td> "</td><td class="rightalign"> 14,</td><td> "</td><td class="leftalign"> Damjan Udovičić, son of Jakov, +of Imotski,</td><td><span style="padding-right: 2em">"</span> "</td><td> </td><td class="rightalign"> 3,200</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rightalign">14.</td><td> "</td><td class="rightalign"> 16,</td><td> "</td><td class="leftalign"> Antun Radić, son of Peter, of +Trogir,</td><td><span style="padding-right: 2em">"</span> "</td><td> </td><td class="rightalign"> 62,000</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rightalign">15.</td><td> "</td><td class="rightalign"> 16,</td><td> "</td><td class="leftalign"> Madalena Kugmić, widow of +Nikola, of Split,</td><td><span style="padding-right: 2em">"</span> "</td><td> </td><td class="rightalign"> 1,000</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rightalign">16.</td><td> "</td><td class="rightalign"> 17,</td><td> "</td><td class="leftalign"> Pero Jurić, son of Abram, of +Ostrozac,</td><td><span style="padding-right: 2em">"</span> "</td><td> </td><td class="rightalign"> 2,285</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rightalign">17.</td><td> "</td><td class="rightalign"> 19,</td><td> "</td><td class="leftalign"> Jakov Jurković, son of Miško</td><td><span style="padding-right: 2em">"</span> "</td><td rowspan="3" style="text-align: left; width: 0.5em"><span style="font-size: 300%">｝</span></td><td class="rightalign"></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rightalign">18.</td><td> "</td><td class="rightalign"> 19,</td><td> "</td><td class="leftalign"> Mate Rajić, son of Ilija,</td><td><span style="padding-right: 2em">"</span> "</td><td class="rightalign"> 8,140</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rightalign">19.</td><td> "</td><td class="rightalign"> 19,</td><td> "</td><td class="leftalign"> Jerko Rejić, son of Luke,</td><td><span style="padding-right: 2em">"</span> "</td><td class="rightalign"></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rightalign">20.</td><td> "</td><td class="rightalign"> 19,</td><td> "</td><td class="leftalign"> Josip Kolumbur, son of Marko, +of Livno,</td><td><span style="padding-right: 2em">"</span> "</td><td> </td><td class="rightalign"> 25,000</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rightalign">21.</td><td> "</td><td class="rightalign"> 25,</td><td> "</td><td class="leftalign"> Zorka Aljinović, of Split,</td><td><span style="padding-right: 2em">"</span> "</td><td> </td><td class="rightalign"> 600</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rightalign">22.</td><td> "</td><td class="rightalign"> 28,</td><td> "</td><td class="leftalign"> Ana Žižak, of Split,</td><td><span style="padding-right: 2em">"</span> "</td><td> </td><td class="rightalign"> 1,900</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rightalign">23.</td><td> "</td><td class="rightalign"> 29,</td><td> "</td><td class="leftalign"> Nikolina Rastor, of Split,</td><td><span style="padding-right: 2em">"</span> "</td><td> </td><td class="rightalign"> 1,800</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rightalign">24.</td><td> "</td><td class="rightalign"> 30,</td><td> "</td><td class="leftalign"> Antica Milić, of Split,</td><td><span style="padding-right: 2em">"</span> "</td><td> </td><td class="rightalign"> 5,000</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rightalign">25.</td><td> "</td><td class="rightalign"> 24,</td><td> "</td><td class="leftalign"> Tomislav Novak, son of Mate, +of Hvar,</td><td><span style="padding-right: 2em">"</span> "</td><td> </td><td class="rightalign"> 3,000</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rightalign">26.</td><td> "</td><td class="rightalign"> 24,</td><td> "</td><td class="leftalign"> Gjuran Arif, of Livno,</td><td><span style="padding-right: 2em">"</span> "</td><td> </td><td class="rightalign"> 2,200</td></tr> + +<tr><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td>Total</td><td class="rightalign" style="border-top: solid black 1px; border-bottom: solid black 2px">136,794</td></tr> +</table> + +<p>These were the complaints over a period of a month, +which were received by the Provincial (Yugoslav) +Government at Split. One has to take their word for it +that the list is not fictitious. I did not investigate any +of the cases; the Italian officers to whom I showed the +list said that they were persuaded I would find that in +every case the person culpable was an officious, ignorant +N.C.O. The list is, of course, no more than a fragment. +At Starigrad, on the island of Hvar, I was told that from +the people, who were searched both on landing and on +leaving, 40,000 crowns had been confiscated, and at first +they had been told that the money should be stamped. +A merchant whom I happened to meet during the few +hours I was at Metković told me that he had gone to the +island of Korčula to his brother and, on landing, had been +relieved of 34,000 crowns.</p> + + + +<p class="section">AND HARSHNESS AND BRIBERY</p> + +<p>In Asia Minor we have another disastrous example of +the Allied policy of allowing a disputed zone to be occupied<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span> +<i>ad interim</i> solely by the troops of one interested country. +The chronic state of war which followed the landing of +the Greeks at Smyrna, the atrocities, the charges and the +counter-charges, were investigated by an Inter-Allied +Commission of Inquiry; and their report, which was +issued early in 1920 and was signed by an American +Admiral and French, Italian and British Generals, laid +the responsibility at the door of the Greek Higher Command. +The Commission considered that an inter-Allied +occupation was necessary, because the Greeks, instead of +maintaining order, had given their position all the characteristics +of a permanent occupation, the Turkish +authorities being powerless. They also considered that +order should be maintained by inter-Allied troops other +than Greek.... No such Commission visited Dalmatia, +chiefly because the Yugoslavs, in spite of endless provocations, +displayed greater self-control than the Turks. +But an Inter-Allied Inquiry would have reported that +the Italian régime had not the marks of a permanent +occupation simply because such methods could never be +permanent: everywhere in the occupied territory it was +forbidden, under severe penalties, to have any Serbo-Croat +newspaper. On one island I found about fifteen +gentlemen gathered round a table in a sort of dungeon, +reading the newspapers which had been smuggled into +their possession. This they had been doing for more +than six months. Every letter was censored, all telegraphic +and telephonic communication between the +occupied territory and the outside world was prohibited. +All flags, of course, except that of Italy, were vetoed. +Admiral Millo told us that this prohibition did not extend +to the flags of France, Great Britain and the United +States; considering that it is on record when and where +the flags of these nations were, if flown by civilians, +ordered to be taken down at Rieka, despite the presence +of Allied contingents, it seems scarcely worth saying that, +as we were often told, the Admiral's permission, which +was in accordance with the Armistice, was disregarded +by his subordinates. Another thing that was very +rigorously forbidden, especially on the islands, was for +any Yugoslav to go down to the harbour, if a boat came +in, and carry on a conversation with somebody on board.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span> +It would be tedious to enter into all the questionable +and tyrannical Italian methods, such as the requisitioning +of Yugoslav clubs, schools, etc., sometimes leaving +them empty because they found they did not want them, +the requisitioning of private houses, with no consideration +for their owners, the wholesale cutting-down of +forests, the closing of law-courts, the demand that other +courts should pronounce no judgment before first submitting +it to them. But, above all, what the Yugoslav +Government at Split complained of were the methods +they employed in the gratuitous or semi-gratuitous +distribution of food, clothing and money:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="center">I</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Government of Dalmatia and of the Dalmatian +Islands and of the Curzola Islands</span></p> + +<p style="text-indent: 0em"><span class="smcap">Subject:</span> <i>Question of Food Supplies for the +Civil Population.</i><br /> + +<span style="float: right; padding-right: 1.5em">No. 43. <i>March</i> 18, 1919.</span><br style="clear: both" /></p> + +<p>To all subject authorities:</p> + +<p>I have heard that several commanding officers who +have to distribute food to the civilian population have, +by virtue of an authorization that they may save part of +the entered amounts for the purpose of using that sum for +propaganda, saved a conspicuous quantity without having +the possibility of using it later. As it has been ascertained +that the only effective means of propaganda is +the distribution of food supplies ... amounts which +are useless [for other purposes] and absolutely necessary +for purposes of propaganda.</p> + +<p class="right"> +<span class="smcap" style="padding-right: 1em">The Vice-Admiral</span><br /> +<span class="smcap" style="padding-right: 1em">The Governor,</span><br /> +E. Millo. +</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="center">II</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Royal Government of Dalmatia and of the Dalmatian +Islands and of the Curzola Islands</span></p> + +<table summary="signature"> +<tr><td class="leftalign" style="padding-right: 22em"><span class="smcap">Staff. <br />No. Prot. "P."</span></td> +<td class="rightalign"><span class="smcap">Section of Propaganda</span>, <br /><span class="smcap">Sebenico</span>, <i>April</i> 18, 1919.</td></tr> +</table> + +<p>The section of propaganda of the Government of +Dalmatia, whose object is the rapid diffusion of Italianity<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span> +in this noble region which gives at last to Italy the +complete dominion over the most bitter Adriatic, has set +before itself a vast programme of truly Italian action +... it is therefore necessary to give +these latter certain advantages ... it has +been suggested that Italian schools be favoured ... +that offices be opened for the gratuitous +or semi-gratuitous distribution of food, that presents be +given to the indigent population, that fêtes and spectacles +be organized.</p> + +<p class="right">[Signature illegible.]</p> +</div> + +<p>These two documents give some indication of the +plan of campaign. One might mention, by the bye, +that during this period there was a great shortage of +food-stuffs in Italy; large quantities were being sent +from the United States. The Yugoslav Government +at Split complained of the disastrous social and moral +results of these proceedings. It gave rise to many +abuses and to a clandestine trade. On the young it had, +for example, at Split a most unhealthy influence; all +they had to do was to go on board the <i>Puglia</i>, the Italian +flagship, whether their parents allowed them or not, and +there they were given both provisions and cash. As +elsewhere in the world there are at Split a number of +idlers and scamps, who seized this opportunity; another +class of person, who had erstwhile been regarded as +Austrian spies, did not hesitate a moment to proclaim +that they were the most ardent Italian patriots. All +these people were ready enough to give their signatures +to anything in return for the Italian bounty, and to +endeavour to persuade others to do so; in that way the +Italians collected 6000 signatures, whereas the Italianists +of Split were, at the outside, 1800; at Trogir, where the +Italianists numbered 80 to 100, they collected more than +1000 signatures.</p> + + +<p class="section">THE ITALIANS IN DALMATIA BEFORE AND DURING +THE WAR</p> + +<p>To grasp the conditions at Split we must go back to +the years just before the War. From the reports of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span> +Austrian Intelligence Officer, Captain Bukvich, we shall +see what was the attitude of the Slavs and the Italianists +respectively towards the Government, and hence towards +each other. It may be that the very loyal, some would +call it cringing, attitude of the Italianists was forced +upon them by the great inferiority of their numbers. +What they were aiming at, with very few exceptions, +were the benefits of the moment, rather than those others +of which here and there an isolated Italianist would dream, +when between the smoke of his cigarette he saw the +Italian tricolour flying over Dalmatia. If this lonely +dreamer had gone to Italy before the War with the purpose +of awakening in people an interest in what some day might +happen, he would have found that most of the Italians +had never heard of Dalmatia. But among those who +had heard were the officials of the "Liga Nazionale," +which assisted the Dalmatian Italians to support those +famous schools. In a report (Information No. 668) +which Padouch, the successor of Bukvich as Intelligence +Officer, sent from Split on September 25, 1915, to the +Headquarters at Mostar, we are told that "an Italian of +this place, with whom I confidentially spoke on the subject +before the outbreak of the War, openly and candidly +told me that in their Liga school one-third of the children, +at the most, have parents whose nationality has always +been Italian. The others are children of the people, +of that class which on account of its humble social position +has lost its national consciousness. He told me that +the parents received subsidies and the children clothes, +school-books, etc., gratuitously."</p> + +<p>The reports of Captain Bukvich were sent to his +superiors at Mostar. No doubt a great many documents +were destroyed just before the Austrian collapse, as the +Government had ordered to be done—three boxes, presumably +containing copies, are known to have been committed +to the flames at Split, while at Zadar there was a +wholesale destruction on October 31. Yet a fair number +of interesting papers survived, principally at Mostar, +Castelnuovo, Metković and Dubrovnik. In 1913 Captain +Bukvich sent many reports to the effect that Split was +completely anti-Austrian and that the Italian party were +the only loyal people. On September 16 he said that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span> +the inhabitants believe in the coming of a great Serbia, +and he substantiates this with numerous instances. +"The students over thirteen years of age," he says, "are +all Serbophil, and most of the masters, professors and State +clerks.... The chief paper in Split is Serbophil and has +been confiscated twenty-seven times between October +1912 and September 1913." He reported on August 19, +1913 (Information No. 211), to the General Staff of the +Imperial and Royal 16th Corps at Dubrovnik with reference +to the Francis Joseph celebrations of the previous +day: "... only the public buildings and a few other +houses were beflagged. One must notice the satisfactory +conduct and the finely decorated houses of the autonomous +Italian party." On February 27, 1914 (Information +No. 62), he narrates that a big dinner was given at the +bishop's palace to celebrate the centenary of the incorporation +of Dalmatia into the Habsburg monarchy; all +the chief citizens were invited to this dinner, but the +Croat deputies, Dr. Trumbić, Dr. Smodlaka and other +Croats declined with thanks. Dr. Salvi, however, of the +autonomous Italian party, put in an appearance. On +July 31 (Information No. 267) he refers to the mobilized +men who marched through the town and were put on +board ship. "The attitude," he says, "of the Slav +<i>intelligentsia</i> was quite passive. The Italian band waited +for the troops, a procession was improvised, great ovations +took place, and enthusiasm was shown by the Autonomous +party, who called: 'Hoch Austria! Hoch the Emperor! +Hoch the War! Down with Serbia! Down with the +Serbian municipality!'" A certain Demeter, an Austrian +naval lieutenant, was a spectator of these scenes. He +made some notes for the typist, afterwards embodied in a +report to the Military Command at Mostar and marked +"Secret No. 147." He relates, with unconcealed fury, +how the Slavs not merely displayed no raptures when the +War proclamation was read, but walked away in the +midst of the recital and refrained from following the band, +which later on paraded the town. Only the Italians, he +said, exhibited the proper feeling. They did more than +that; for with the same date, July 31, one finds an interesting +letter from the "Società del Tiro al Bersaglio" of +Split, which called itself a shooting club, but was not in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span> +possession of arms; it was, as a matter of fact, a gymnastic +society with a political object. The secretary, +Luigi Puisina, wrote on the 31st to the authorities, to +say that they had determined to offer themselves in uniform +for any service of a military nature ("per quei +qualsiasi servizi di carattere militare"). Bukvich reported +on August 3 (Information No. 268) that for the +present these gymnasts will be used as special constables, +and he adds, to one's astonishment, that this has caused +the Slav <i>intelligentsia</i> to be still more profoundly depressed. +Nothing could elude the eagle eye of Bukvich: on December +17, 1914, he noted that the small boys in the streets +were winking and smiling at each other in consequence of +the news that the Austrians had been driven out of Belgrade.</p> + +<p>When Italy entered the War a handful of Dalmatian +Italians—I believe six from Zadar and two from Split—went +to serve in the Italian army. Five others, four of +them from Zadar, were interned at Graz; with these +exceptions the Italians and Italianists were very much +more faithful to the Austrian Empire than were the +Croats, hundreds of whom were hanged or shot or lodged +in fortresses. The Italians, however, persist in charging +the Croats with unbounded fidelity; in fact, it is one of +their most powerful arguments. They themselves in +Split continued to do what the Austrians expected of +them: those who were of military age became units of the +army, while the rest of them, with one exception, were not +incommoded. The President of their club, the "Cabinetto +di Lettura," that Dr. Salvi of whom we have heard, was +not only most assiduous in addressing letters of devotion +and fidelity to the Emperor, in promoting all kinds of +patriotic Austrian manifestations, but as the particular +friend of Mr. Tszilvas, the Austrian sub-prefect, he was +wont to go down with him to the harbour and watch the +embarkation, in chains, of the Slav <i>intelligentsia</i>. The +only Italian who suffered this fate was a Mr. Tocigl, with +whom Dr. Salvi had had a personal difference.</p> + + +<p class="section">CONSEQUENT SUSPICION OF THIS MINORITY</p> + +<p>One cannot therefore be surprised if the Slavs, on the +collapse of Austria, regarded the Italian party, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span> +especially Dr. Salvi, with some suspicion. Since they +had always placed themselves at Austria's disposal, it +would be most natural if they attempted by a <i>coup +d'état</i> to save the Empire. Yet this was the moment +when they joined the Slavs and helped to turn the +Austrians out. There was no notion then that the Italian +army would succeed the Austrian; and it was not until +Christmas that this army tried to enter Split. When +they proposed to come ashore they were prevented by +the French, Americans and British; thereupon they +threatened to come overland—although the town was not +included in the London Treaty—but again they were prevented. +In February, on the occasion of a conference +between the four Admirals, there was a demonstration +against Italy, the commandant of the <i>Puglia</i> being struck +and Admiral Rombo's chief of staff insulted. There was +a widespread feeling of resentment at the way in which +the <i>Puglia</i> was, as we have seen, availing herself of the +baser elements in the town for the furtherance of her propaganda; +but what put the match to the bonfire was the +omission of certain Italians in uniform to salute the Serbian +National Anthem. The Admirals held an inquiry, found +that "officers belonging to an Allied nation have been +molested." They announced that they would not tolerate +a repetition of such acts, and that inter-Allied patrols, +acting with Serbian troops and the local police force, +would take measures to prevent them. On March 8, +however, there was a renewal of the troubles; and again +the Admirals made an inquiry. The Italian member +of the Commission added to his signature that he disapproved +of the findings and that he would present a +special report.</p> + + +<p class="section">ALLIED CENSURE OF THE ITALIAN NAVY</p> + +<p>"By general conviction," says the Admirals' summing +up, "there exist at Split two political parties which are in +sharp contradiction as to the future status of Dalmatia. +The presence of Allied ships, and especially the Italian +ones, has increased this contradiction rather than +diminished it. On the day when disorders broke out +at Split a few Italian sailors had made a small demonstration<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span> +a little before the incidents. Certain movements +and words on the part of youths, sympathizers with +Yugoslavia, offended the Italian sailors. They were bold +enough to arrest two of these youths.... This procedure +of arresting them naturally and inevitably moved the +great majority of the bystanders and was the actual +cause of outrages. This act was approved by the Italian +Naval Authorities, who accordingly are to be considered +responsible for these disorders.... Several civilians +and Serbian soldiers were wounded." The report adds +that some Italian sailors were armed with knives and revolvers, +contrary to the regulations of the Italian Naval +Authorities, and concludes with these words: "By arresting +some citizens the Italian sailors have committed an +illegal act, which they carried out according to instructions +that were given them by the Italian Naval Authorities. +Accordingly the Commission considers these +authorities responsible for the injuries inflicted on the +Serbian soldiers."</p> + + +<p class="section">NEVERTHELESS THE TYRANNY CONTINUES</p> + +<p>But in many parts of Dalmatia and the islands the +Italians had no fear of such a Commission. Let us see +what they had been doing in the neighbourhood of Zadar, +the old capital. Apart from the usual prohibitions with +respect to newspapers and so forth, the municipalities +were dissolved and an Italian commissary installed. Their +first task was to introduce the Italian language and make +it obligatory, although the commissary's own employees +would often be not more acquainted with it than with +Hindustani. Eighty-five per cent. of the civil servants +in the occupied territory were Yugoslavs; during March +and April 1919 they were deprived of their salaries because +they had declined, in accordance with the existing laws +and particularly in accordance with the terms of the +Armistice, to make a request in Italian to the Provisional +Government that they should be confirmed in their posts. +This outrageous order, which left hundreds of families +without the means of subsistence, was not merely illegal—let +alone inhumane—but was in contradiction with an +earlier order issued by Admiral Millo, which was placarded<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span> +throughout the territory and which confirmed in their +posts all the civil employees. However, the Italians were +unsuccessful in their efforts to obtain these signatures, +though they did not abandon their watchword: "Either +Italy or starvation!" They never ceased to persecute +the peasants of the surrounding country and islands. +Commands, menaces, blows inflicted by carabinieri and +officers, houses searched night after night, and so on.... +In the second half of February it was intended to conduct +a number of peasants, accompanied by Italian flags, to +Zadar, so that they might thank the Admiral, who chanced +to be there, for the benefits which Italy had bestowed +upon them. An officer who in this branch achieved +particular distinction was Lieutenant de Sanctis, the +Commandant of Preko, a village opposite Zadar. Bread +and Italian promises were dangled before these poverty-stricken +fisherfolk and peasants; they refused to take +part in the ridiculous demonstration, and in order to +avoid being made to go they concealed themselves and +even went to the length of sinking their boats. In the +possession of a peasant at Preko, Šime Šarić Mazić, were +found some banknotes with a Yugoslav stamp on them +and a very small French flag; for these transgressions +de Sanctis ordered first that he should receive a box on +the ears, after which he was bound, thrown into prison, +and there flogged by carabinieri who, as two doctors +afterwards certified, inflicted serious injuries upon his +hands, which they beat with chains. For the same +reasons and at the same place a peasant called Mate +Lončar was imprisoned and wounded with a bayonet. +On March 2 at Preko the Italians, enraged because the +people had not come to their demonstration, dispersed +with sticks all those who were assembled in front of the +church, and prevented the Mass from being celebrated. +On March 29 the aforementioned Lončar was condemned +to three years' imprisonment because 11,780 crowns, +unstamped notes, had been found on him; the notes, of +course, were confiscated. Such notes, by the way, were +given or received in payment by Italian merchants at a +discount of 10 per cent., 15 per cent. or 20 per cent. Even +the military used these forbidden notes, and compelled +the peasants at the market to accept them. In the night<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span> +of March 15-16 six of the leading Yugoslavs of Zadar, +who had not ceased to advise the people to bear their +present misfortunes in patience, were suddenly arrested +and deported to Italy; they included Mr. Joseph de +Tončić, President of the Yugoslav Club and formerly +the Deputy-Governor of Dalmatia; he was a man seventy-two +years of age and in precarious health. During this +same night forty persons were deported from Knin, three +from Drniš, three from Obrovac, four from Skradin, nine +from Šibenik and four from Benkovac.... On the +populous island of Olib (Ulbo) the abuses connected with +the distribution of food were exceptionally flagrant; +here the Italian officers compelled everyone to stand still, +bare-headed, when they passed; they would not allow +anyone to leave the island, and forbade the peasants to +speak Croatian! On the opposite island of Silba (Selve) +the schoolmaster, Matulina, and the priest, an old man of +seventy-five, called Lovrović, were imprisoned. The latter +had told his parishioners, in the course of a sermon, to +behave well during Lent and keep away from the Italian +sailors. He was thereupon shipped to Zadar and thrust +into a moist and dirty dungeon, where for two days and +nights he was at the mercy of six criminals.... After +having seen at Zadar a number of persons belonging to +each party, I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Boxich. +It was indeed a pleasure, because this thin, highly-strung +Italianized Slav, the former chief of the Radical Italian +party, was full of the most fraternal sentiments towards +the Slavs. If, he said, their peasants lacked education, +one ought to assist them; not to do so was a sin against +humanity. It had been the desire, he said, of his party, +both before and during the War, to work openly against +the Austrian Government, unlike the Moderate Italian +party, of Ziliotto, which feigned to be very pro-Austrian. +While Ziliotto was receiving high Austrian decorations, +he was an object of persecution, and was obliged to go +away and live for two and a half years in Rome. Ziliotto, +he said, was Zadar's evil spirit, seeing that he had thoroughly +deceived and betrayed Italy—so many of those who now +called themselves good Italians had been very good +Austrians, and would as readily have turned into good +Americans or Frenchmen. So petty and local was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span> +Ziliotto's party, with no idea of the world or of freedom. +In fact, I thought that if a Yugoslav had listened to the +doctor's eloquence he would have overlooked a recent +lapse or two, when Boxich, in order to prove to Admiral +Millo that he was a much better Italian than Ziliotto, was +alleged by the Yugoslavs to have committed various dark +deeds in connection with a hunt for hidden arms. The +Admiral also had told me that he was not pleased with +Dr. Boxich. "At present," said the doctor to me, "I +am isolated, and I am proud of it. This is not the time +to found a party of ideas; the atmosphere is too morbid, +too passionate. This is the time," he said, "for an +honourable man to remain isolated and to stay at home." ... +Several weeks after this at Sarajevo, I read in a +Zagreb newspaper, the <i>Rijeć S.H.S.</i>, that Dr. Boxich, +on account of having—exceptionally, the paper said—spoken +the truth to a passing foreigner, had been deported +to Italy.</p> + + +<p class="section">A VISIT TO SOME OF THE ISLANDS</p> + +<p>It was impossible to be at Split without meeting +people who had fled from the occupied islands. It was +also, in consequence of what they told one, impossible +to set out with an unprejudiced mind. But, after all, +we have our preconceived ideas on Heaven and Hell, and +that will be no reason for us not to go there. I had +become acquainted at Split with Captain Pommerol, of the +British Army, a Mauritian of imposing physique and, as +I was to see, of a lofty sense of justice. He had recently +been spending several months in Hungary on a mission +from the War Office. They had now dispatched him to +Dalmatia and Bosnia with a very comprehensive programme; +and, as I secured a little steamer, he came +with me to the islands. [We hesitated to embark on this +expedition, since the islanders whose national desires had +been choked for so many months would probably display +their sentiments in such a way as to bring down grave +penalties upon themselves. But the Yugoslavs, both on +the mainland and on the islands, were anxious that we +should go; they doubted whether Western Europe had +any knowledge of the Italian methods of administration.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span> +And if the immediate result of our journey would be to +call down upon themselves—as indeed it did—a savage +wind, they were optimistic enough to feel that it would +eventually produce a whirlwind for their oppressors.] ... +The <small>s.s.</small> <i>Porer</i>, 130 tons, was flying at the stern the +temporary flag of white, blue, white in horizontal stripes +which had been invented for the ships of the former +Austro-Hungarian mercantile marine; on the second +mast they displayed the flag of one of the Allies, and the +<i>Porer</i> happened to be sailing under the red ensign. She +had a Dalmatian crew of eight, including the weather-beaten +old captain and the still older and equally benevolent +gentleman who combined the functions of cook and +steward. In addition to Serbo-Croat, they had among +them some knowledge of Italian, German and even +English. The scholar was the mate who, having had +his headquarters at Pola during the War, spoke Viennese-German. +His wife had died at Split after an illness of +several months, brought on by the idea that her husband +had been killed at Pola in an air-raid.</p> + +<p>The large, rather waterless island of Brać, which is +nearest to the mainland, seems to be chiefly remarkable +on account of its chrysanthemums, from which an insect-powder +is produced; and the number of changes, no less +than twenty, that occurred in the ownership of the island +from the beginning of the Middle Ages down to the Congress +of Vienna. During that period it was sometimes +under the Byzantines, sometimes the Venetians, the Holy +Roman Empire, its own autonomous Government, the +Hungarians, the Bosnians, the French, the Russians (one +year, in 1806) and the Austrians. It was not occupied +by Italy after the end of this War, and Baron Sonnino did +not ask for it when he was negotiating, before the War, +with Austria.</p> + + +<p class="section">WHICH THE ITALIANS HAD TRIED TO OBTAIN BEFORE, BUT +NOT DURING, THE WAR</p> + +<p>The Italian Government put forward the question of +the islands for the first time in April 11, 1915. There had +been no previous discussion, passionate or otherwise, as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span> +in the case of the Trentino and Triest. But now they +demanded various Dalmatian islands, the chief of which +were Hvar, Korčula and Vis, with a total population (in +1910) of 57,954. The Austro-Hungarian Ambassador +reported (cf. Red Book, concerning April 14, p. 133) +that a conversation between Baron Sonnino and Prince +Bülow with respect to these islands had been extremely +animated, and that Sonnino had pointed out that the +Navy and the whole country expected of him that he +would alter Italy's unfavourable position on the Adriatic, +where from Venice to Taranto she had not one serviceable +harbour, that is to say serviceable war-harbour. And +Sonnino added that he thought this was an opportune +moment in which to rectify that state of things. On +April 28 the Austro-Hungarian Foreign Minister, besides +drawing the Italians' attention to the nationality of the +islanders—1·62 per cent. calling themselves Italian—pointed +out that not only would there no longer be any +question of a strategic equilibrium in the Adriatic if +Austria were to lose these islands, but that the adjacent +coast would always be threatened. On May 4, the +Ambassador asked whether an arrangement with Italy +would be impossible if the Austrians agreed to every one +of Italy's other conditions, showing thereby what the +value of these islands was in Austrian eyes. When +Sonnino did not reply to this question, the Ambassador +understood that Italy's participation in the War had been +determined. But on May 10, the Austrian Government +made up its mind to give up Pelagosa "on account of its +proximity to the Italian coast." As a matter of fact it +lies 42 miles from Vis and 33 miles from the nearest point +in Apulia. As a strategic base this group of rocks would +have no value, since the water is too deep for the construction +of a harbour, and the sirocco rages with such +ferocity that it flings the foam over the top of the lighthouse, +which is 360 feet in height. This inhospitable place, +with its population of 13 human beings, some sheep and +goats, was inhabited in prehistoric days; when the excavations +were being made for the lighthouse a variety +of implements from the Stone Age were discovered, including +a stone arrow that was found between the ribs +of a skeleton.... But the Austrian Ambassador let it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span> +be known at the same time that he would be prepared +to make a further friendly examination of the Italian +demands with reference to the other islands. His Government +also on May 15 (Red Book, No. 185, p. 181) announced +that they were quite disposed to reopen the +discussion. However, on the 23rd of the month, Italy +came into the War. The Italians had been explaining that +if only Austria would give up these islands—which was +as if you were to invite a person whose designs you suspected +to come and camp in the hall of your house—then, +said the Italians, there would be an excellent prospect of +permanently amicable relations between the two States.</p> + + +<p class="section">OUR WELCOME TO JELŠA</p> + +<p>As soon as the War was over, Italy disembarked on +the islands which she had obtained by the Treaty of +London. Something has been said on previous pages +of the way in which she introduced herself and made +herself at home. As we were sailing towards the pretty +town of Jelša (Gelsa) on the island of Hvar, we left +Vrboška on our right. The Bishop of Split had told me of +a grievance which the Italian troops at that place had +lodged with his brother, the mayor. Some of them had +visited, for the fêtes of carnival, both the Yugoslav Club, +where they found many persons who could speak Italian, +and the Italian Club, where they were annoyed to find +that it was spoken by very few. As we came into the +little port of Jelša, with the green shutters of its white +houses harmonizing with the foliage of the cypresses and +oleanders, we could see a crowd of people running round—and +carabinieri running with them—to that part of +the harbour where we were unexpectedly going to stop. +There was some confusion, the carabinieri pushing the +people back, evidently to prevent them shaking hands +with us; and one small boy who did not hear or did not +understand what they were shouting received a terrific +blow in the back from the fist of a furious Italian. Some +cries were raised in honour of Yugoslavia, Wilson, France +and England, which may have been imprudent; but +when a place in which there is not one single Italian has<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span> +been held down for months, has been forbidden to show +the slightest joy on account of the birth of Yugoslavia, +has been savagely punished for having a copy of a Yugoslav +newspaper, has repeatedly been cursed and cuffed and +ordered, at the bayonet's point, to execute some wish of the +carabinieri—one cannot be astonished if in the presence of +some non-Italian foreigners they could no longer repress +their feelings. Some of the people had brought flowers +with them, and as Pommerol and I plunged into the whirlpool +and made our way towards the Italian commander's +office, we had many flowers either thrust into our hands +while the carabinieri were looking the other way or else +we had them thrown at us, in which case some of them +would usually descend upon the shoulders or the three-cornered +hats of the carabinieri. Whenever anybody +uttered one of the forbidden exclamations one or more of +the carabinieri would fling themselves into the crowd and +attempt, with the help of vigorous kicking, to reach the +culprit. Thus, in the midst of a series of scrimmages, we +got to the captain's quarters. We found him a very pleasant +young man, keenly conscious of the difficulties of his +position; as we afterwards heard, he was such an improvement +on his predecessor that the carabinieri were convinced +he was a Yugoslav and had been heard to mutter +threats against his life. He had apologized to the inhabitants, +and had dismissed one of his men who had hauled +down a Yugoslav flag and blown his nose on it. For these +men an extenuating circumstance was that they had +been very drunk on the night before our arrival, as they +had heard—it was in the first half of June 1919—that the +islands had been definitely given to Italy, and this they +had been celebrating. We knew that after an American +and an Englishman had visited Jelša, in the time of the +other commandant, some of the people were interned; +the young captain assured us that he would do no such +thing. And one could see that he would never imitate +the brutality of his predecessor, who had caused a frail +old man of sixty-six, Professor Zarić, to be pulled out +of his bed in the middle of a winter's night and taken +across the hills on a donkey to Starigrad, afterwards on a +destroyer to Split, from where—but for the intervention +of the American Admiral—he would have been deported<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span> +to Italy; and all on account of his having written, in +English and French, a scientific ethnographical treatise on +the islands.</p> + + +<p class="section">PROCEEDINGS AT STARIGRAD</p> + +<p>At Starigrad on our arrival the harbour and its precincts +looked like the scene of an opera, with an opening +chorus of carabinieri. They were posted at various +tactical points and no one else was visible. One of them +advanced, however, and conducted us at our request to +the office of the Commandant, a major who must have +played a very modest part in the War, as I believe he only +had three rows of ribbons.<a name="FNanchor_39_39" id="FNanchor_39_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> He gave us some vermouth +and informed us that the population was very quiet, very +happy. When I said that I would like to see the mayor +he sent an orderly, and in less than one minute his worship +stood before us. He immediately confirmed what the +major had said with regard to the population. In fact +the picture which he drew brought back to memory the +comment of the Queen of Roumania who, when an +American lady at a reception in Belgrade told her that +she lived at a place called Knoxville or Coxville in the +States, replied "How nice!" The good Italians, quoth +the mayor, were distributing supplies among the natives, +and with the exception of the Croat <i>intelligentsia</i> they all +wished for union with Italy. I asked him if he did not +think that, looking at it from the economic point of view, +there would be some difficulties when the island's exports—wine +and oil and fish—would have to compete with the +products of Italy. But he said that one must think of +the other benefits—no longer would the island have to +bear the hated Austrian. It was all the fault of Austria, +he continued, that after 1885 the Starigrad municipality +had been Croat; since then the Italians had lost their +school and their orchestra. But now it would all be +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span>changed. He was clearly a product of the new dispensation; +and he told me that as the ex-mayor was an +Austrian of course he had to be discharged. Nothing else +did this gentleman tell me, which was a pity, as in a +message, presumably sent by him, to an Italian newspaper, +<i>La Dalmazia</i>,<a name="FNanchor_40_40" id="FNanchor_40_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> of Zadar, it was stated that in this +conversation I had displayed a supreme ignorance of local +questions.... Then we all stood up and the major said +that he would accompany us down to the boat. I told +him that I would join him there after I had seen some +Yugoslavs, and Pommerol was good enough to walk away +with him while I went round the ancient little town—it +even has some Cyclopæan walls—with certain Yugoslavs, +two lawyers and a doctor. One of the lawyers turned out +to be the ex-mayor, whose Austrianism had apparently +taken a less active form than that of his successor, for he +had only been an Austrian subject, while the actual mayor—Dr. +Tamašković—had served, until the end of the War, +in the 22nd Austrian Regiment. With regard to the +events of 1885, they told me that this was the time when +the Croatian national consciousness awoke, so that an +insufficient number of people had remained either to support +an Italian school or yet an orchestra. And now the +number of Italian adherents was about 200 (out of 3600), +and might increase if ice-creams were handed round in +all the schools. One of my companions happened to live +in the house of Hektorović, the sixteenth-century poet, +and we spent a few minutes in the perfectly delightful +garden with its palms and shady paths and bathing tank, +like that one in the Alcazar at Seville. Then we went +on to the harbour where a number of the people were +collected. Pommerol was in the middle of a group of +military and naval officers and civilians, these latter being +partly visitors from Istria and Zadar. Suddenly a woman, +standing near me, threw her head back and cried: "Viva +Italia!" when other people joined her she redoubled +her efforts. I should say that about thirty people were +gathered round the major, shouting for Italy, and he was +obviously gratified. But then a much larger number of +persons who had different sentiments began to shout for +Wilson, Yugoslavia and so forth. The carabinieri rushed +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span>among them, howling vengeance. A Mrs. Politeo, who +was holding a bouquet, was flung down by them and +trampled on. The lawyers and the doctor with whom +I had been walking were all three struck over the head +or on the shoulders with the butt end of muskets. (<i>La +Dalmazia</i> wrote that I had been filling their heads with +idle tales.) Children were screaming. I saw another +woman, hatless, being dragged off by a couple of carabinieri—and +a naval officer, who was disgusted, sternly +ordered them to let her go—and they obeyed reluctantly. +Four Dominican monks were next attacked—they had +not taken part in the demonstration; it was enough for +the carabinieri that they belonged to the Yugoslav party. +One of them, Father Rabadan—an elderly gentleman +with gold spectacles—was thrown down, struck until his +face was covered with blood, and then dragged off to +prison. The carabinieri were being helped by soldiers—one +of these I saw in the act of loading his rifle—and the +noise was tremendous. Here one would see a Yugoslav +trying to tell one of the warriors that he had done nothing; +then another ardito would go swooping on to his prey: +one or two of the officers looked awkward—one or two +actually looked exultant. As we steamed out of the +harbour four or five carabinieri and arditi were running +along the road parallel with us, others were climbing over +the stone walls—apparently it was a man-hunt. <ins class="correction" +title="Transcriber's note: original reads '("There'">"There</ins> +are places in Dalmatia," Signor Luzzatti, an Italian ex-Premier, +had been saying in the <i>Temps</i>,<a name="FNanchor_41_41" id="FNanchor_41_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> "where +Yugoslavs and Italians are mingled; but it is clear that +in those circumstances the oldest and serenest civilization +should prevail. Italy in her relations with other races +has continued the traditions of ancient Rome.... It is +their palpitating desire [<i>i.e.</i> that of Fiume, Sebenico, Zara, +Traù, Spalato, etc.] to live under the direct protection of +Italy." And on the next day a telegram was sent to +Split from the unoccupied island of Brać, giving the +names of twenty-one persons who were arrested, and the +name [Semeri] of an officer who had helped to beat Father +Rabadan and continued: "The carabinieri are still +looking for Yugoslavs. On the occasion of the arrestment +of the clerk Nikola Pavičić, the musket of an ardito went +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span>off and an eye was blown out to Mr. Pavičić. Great +terror prevails among the Yugoslav population." A later +message, to the newspaper <i>Jadran</i> at Split, said that +twenty-eight persons had been arrested and imprisoned +in two narrow cells, which were overlooked from the +neighbouring houses. There they were being maltreated, +and for the first day being given nothing to eat. Everyone +felt surprise that among the arrested was a certain +Mr. Vladimir Vranković, as he was one of those who had +betrayed their nationality. But after ten minutes this +clumsiness on the part of a carabiniere was rectified and, +by command of Major Penatta, he was released. All +those who could get away from Starigrad were taking +refuge in the villages. The message ended by asking +for the intervention of the Entente, as the people's life +was being made intolerable, and for the reason that they +would not trample under foot everything which they +regard as holy. But, according to <i>La Dalmazia</i>, the +indignant Italian population sent to the Paris Conference +a vibrating telegram, which begged for immediate annexation +to Italy, and protested against those who in an +unworthy and ugly manner had disturbed the place's +beautiful tranquillity.... The prisoners were court-martialled +at Zadar and condemned to terms that varied +from four to eight months—seven of the accused, including +Father Rabadan and two other Dominicans, receiving +the severest sentence.... I hope the indignant Italian +population dispatched, later on, a telegram of thanks to +the Paris Conference for having ordered Yugoslavia to +guarantee the position of the handful of Italians to be +left in Yugoslav territory, and even their special commercial +interests in Dalmatia; while the half million +Slovenes and Croats whom Italy proposed to annex were +not to be protected by an equivalent guarantee. It +would be ridiculous to bind with such conditions a Great, +Liberal Power.</p> + +<p>After this it was no great surprise to hear, on reaching +Hvar, the capital of the island, that our further progress +was impeded. The pale Commandant of sinister aspect, +this time a naval officer, Lieut. Vincenzo Villa, showed us +a telegram from the Vice-Admiral at Korčula, which said +that we were not to be allowed to speak to any of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span> +inhabitants. "To explore the islands there is some little +difficulty," said Burton in a lecture on the ruined cities, +which he visited when he was Consul at Triest. Early in +the morning our cook, who went ashore to see what he +could buy, was immediately arrested by the carabinieri, +who were keeping order very much like those "bravissimi +citadini" who in the autumn of 1870, when many of the +citizens of Rome were at loggerheads with the Vatican, +arrested and disarmed all those adherents of the Papacy +who showed their noses outside the Vatican's portals. +Our cook was afterwards released by the Commandant, +who allowed him to visit the market, escorted by carabinieri. +After that we returned to Split, and from there +to Zadar, in order to see Admiral Millo.</p> + +<p>One would like to know what the Admiral would have +said if this interview had taken place a few months later +when, in alliance with Gabriele d'Annunzio, he was in +open, armed revolt against the Government of Italy. +The dark-bearded, stately Admiral, Senator of the +Kingdom, had not begun as yet to make that series of +buccaneering speeches, and he courteously told us, more +than once, that he could permit of nothing which would +outrage public order. He was much afraid that if we +went back to the islands we would be the cause of lamentable +scenes; in fact he could not let us go without an +order from his Government. "These islands," he said, +"are not yet ours; we are occupying them, as you know, +in the name of the Entente and the United States. You +have the right," he said, "to go there; but, unfortunately, +if you do, the population will give way, as they have done +already, to excesses." Since the last thing that we wished +was for the islanders to bring us flowers and cheer the +name of Wilson—in view of what these crimes entailed—we +suggested that a small number, four or five of each +party—those who desired to be with Yugoslavia and +those who preferred Italy—should in succession come +to us on board. Naturally we should be unable to do so +if we had to visit any inland place; and after a prolonged +argument the Admiral agreed to this plan. We +returned to Hvar.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span></p> + + +<p class="section">THE AFFAIRS OF HVAR</p> + +<p>The subordinate Admiral, from Korčula, had come +across on a destroyer and was kind enough to tell us at +considerable length what were his views on local and +international affairs. He frankly appealed to us—and +his humorous blue eyes were radiating frankness—to +survey the whole matter in a broad, statesmanlike fashion. +But we were less ambitious; we desired merely to be the +mouthpiece of both parties. Those who first came on +board were the Italianists, and I hope I shall not be +considered unfair if I employ this word rather than +"Italians" for a body of men, most of whom are admittedly +devoid of any Italian blood and whose Italian +sympathies are of very recent growth. This class numbers +9 per cent. of the population of the town. Their chief +point seemed to be that the Church was opposed to them, +because there was no room for clericalism in Italy (!); +and the only other point worth mentioning was that +Austria was to blame for the phylloxera which had +played havoc with their vines. Among the Yugoslavs +who succeeded these gentlemen there was an elderly +priest, a canon, who related that some carabinieri—no +doubt in order to display to all men that Italy had shaken +herself free from clerical obscurantism—entered the +church while the bishop was officiating, and hoisted on the +roof an Italian flag. This canon, Dom Ivo Bojanić, +could scarcely be blamed if the Italian innovations did +not appeal to him. He chanced to be looking out of his +window on a moonlit night and noticed that an agile +policeman was climbing up to his balcony for the purpose +of decorating it with an Italian flag. The old gentleman +protested, and was thereupon taken to the barracks, +where he remained for one day. The Yugoslavs told +us that the state of things was worse than in Africa—but +that was a figure of speech; the facts were that the +different societies and clubs had been closed, that all +persons going down to the harbour had been forbidden to +speak their own language to their friends on board ship, +that three Croat teachers had fled to escape being interned, +while an Italian soldier who did not know a word +of Croatian had been appointed in their place.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span></p> + + +<p class="section">FOUR MEN OF KOMIŽA</p> + +<p>When we departed from Hvar the Admiral sent his +destroyer to accompany us on our tour. She had on +board a Roman journalist, Signor Roberto Buonfiglio, +who was travelling in Dalmatia and the islands on behalf +of the clerical <i>Corriere d'Italia</i>. The situation at Vis, +the historic palm-shaded capital of the island of the same +name, has already been described. The Italian Commandant, +Sportiello, was a tactful and popular person; +moreover the Yugoslavs were on the best of terms with +Dr. Doimi, the head of one of the very rare Italian families. +At Komiža, the other little town on that island, the relations +between Yugoslavs and Italianists were not so +cordial. But the deputation which represented the latter +party comprised one man whom the Austrians had put in +gaol for several years for forgery; a father and son, of +whom the one had sold himself for the sake of rice, while +the other had also been imprisoned by the Austrians for +uttering false documents; the fourth and most innocent +member—his name happened to be Innocent Buliani—had +nothing to conceal except his fickleness, for in a +short period he had called himself an Austrian, a Yugoslav +and an Italian. None of these four was a native of the +place, whereas the Yugoslavs who came to see us were +natives who had risen to be the chief doctor, lawyer, +priest and merchant. One of the Italianists, Antonio +Spadoni, told us that the people were afraid of expressing +their real wishes for union with Italy. This hypothesis +might seem to demand some elucidation, but Signor +Spadoni insisted on passing on to the "Workers' Society," +which the young Commandant had founded for the +purpose, according to Spadoni, of helping the people to +find work and of looking after their interests. We were +subsequently told by the Yugoslavs that the Commandant +himself called the members his "Rice Italians," for many +of them did not speak the language and did not even +sympathize with Italy. But on joining they had committed +themselves to something that was printed at the +top of the paper, which part had been turned over. It +really doesn't sound very worthy of a Great Power.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span> +When some of the members, discovering to what they +were committed, sent in their resignation, it was refused. +At Komiža all the municipal officers had been discharged +by the Italians, the reading-rooms and places of amusement +had been closed, and the Food Administrator at +Split was forbidden to send any food, lest he should interfere +with the Italians' object in distributing rice, etc. +Once he was permitted to forward some American flour, +and the people had to pay forty crowns of duty on each +hundredweight.</p> + + +<p class="section">THE WOMEN OF BIŠEVO</p> + +<p>From Komiža, the next morning, we steamed over on +the destroyer to the wonderful blue grotto of Biševo (or +Busi), which surpasses Capri. An Austrian Archduke, +we were told, had once waited a week at Komiža, but had +been compelled to leave without seeing the cave. We +were more fortunate—the wind, the water and the sun +were kind to us; we entered in a rowing-boat the little +pearl-grey Gothic chapel which Nature has constructed +underneath a hill, and as we gazed into the blue-green +waters, through which from the rocks below a fountain +of most brilliant blue was rising, every time an oar was +dipped the waters painted it a silvery white. The population +of Biševo consists of about 150 people, who mostly +live around the little church of Saint Sylvester, two hundred +feet above the sea. They occupy themselves with sheep +and fruit and bees and fish, and with the vines that are +even more famous than those of Vis. A good part of +the population had assembled on a grassy platform high +above the entrance to the cave, and as we climbed out of +the rowing-boat on to the destroyer a much larger rowing-boat +came round a promontory. Sixteen women formed +the crew. They sang their national Croatian songs, and +when they approached us some of them stood up and, +while the wind played with their straw-coloured and +golden hair, they laughingly threw flowers at us. As we +left Biševo the men and women high above us and the +women in the boat were waving their hands; some of +them were singing, others were shouting a farewell.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span> +Here and there on the sunlit waters, rising and falling, +were the flowers which had woven on the sea a gorgeous +carpet. "Well," said the lieutenant-commander, "I +admit that this is a Yugoslav island."</p> + +<p>I forget whether Signor Buonfiglio made any remark, +but a few hours later at Velaluka he was most incensed. +As our boat—we had returned to the old <i>Porer</i> at +Komiža—sailed into the harbour a huge Yugoslav flag +was flying from the summit of a hill, with French, British +and American flags around it. The destroyer had arrived +before us and the burly journalist was striding up and +down the quay. "I protest," he exclaimed, as he saw +us, "and not as a journalist but as an Italian citizen! +I protest!" Between us and the front row of houses, +which included the town-major's office, there was a large +empty space—the inhabitants could be descried up the +side-streets and behind the windows. De Michaelis, +the town-major, was evidently a superior young man; +as he poured out the champagne he told us with perfect +frankness that the educated people at Velaluka were +Yugoslavs. Suddenly there was a terrific noise just +underneath us. We hurried downstairs and found that +the soldiers in their excitement had fired off a machine +gun into the wall. Half an hour later the firing could be +heard from the top of the hill, but we never ascertained +whether anyone was wounded. In this place the +Italianist party sent to us an ex-publican who had now +joined the police, a small trader and a municipal clerk +who had recently been imported from Zadar. The +Yugoslavs were a large landowner, a doctor and a priest, +who told us that the people for the most part were refusing +to accept gratuitous food from the Italians.</p> + + +<p class="section">ON THE WAY TO BLATO</p> + +<p>We were anxious to visit Blato, an inland village of +8000 inhabitants. De Michaelis regretted very much that +he had no carriage, but a Yugoslav had a quaint little +car on which he was learning how to drive and he was +kind enough to take us—for which he was afterwards<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span> +deported to Italy. The good man made so much noise +in changing his gears that our progress was advertised in +the uttermost fields, and very few of those who bore +down upon us came unprovided with flowers. Several +of the bouquets hit Pommerol or myself in the eye, and +the Dutch say that the best cause has need of a good +pleader. But the people were so gay, waving their hats +and running after us (they did not always have to run) +and shouting for the various Allies and for President +Wilson. I remember two small round-eyed boys who +were not old enough to run; they were standing hand in +hand by the side of the road, panting the magic word +"Wilson! Wilson! Wilson!" There was a sudden +contrast when we jerked into the village. People were +not rushing towards us, but away from us—with furious +carabinieri behind them. We got into the garden in +front of the <i>gendarmerie</i>; one of the men was so enraged +that he kept on muttering "Bestia! Bestia! Bestia!" +In the Commandant's office we met Major Federico +Verdinois, the town-major, who said that if he had only +known of our coming this wretched scuffle would not have +happened. Even as he spoke it started again; we leaned +out of the window and saw two or three persons who were +being prevented by soldiers from going down the street +or from going anywhere. An officer was slashing with +a riding-whip at a soldier who was particularly rough. +"One can do nothing with the marines; they are brutal," +said Major Verdinois. At last there was peace, and the +major said that an Italian deputation would come to see +us. It consisted of six individuals. The Austro-Hungarian +census of 1910 said that the Blato district contained +13,147 Serbo-Croats, 3 Germans and 6 Italians; but these +six were not all in the deputation, for two of its members +had come from Hvar, one from Zadar, two were ex-Austrian +spies and one was a Yugoslav, who hoped in +this way to help his people. One gentleman deplored +that he had not been told about our journey; had he +known he would have told his peasants to appear. Another +gentleman assured us that the peasants were afraid of +declaring their real wishes. Of course a country whose +friends call it the most liberal in the world could not +allow such a state of things to continue, and a short time<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span> +after this the following Order was issued by the staff of +the 66th Division of Infantry:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p> +No. 46. Confidential— <span class="smcap" style="padding-left: 4em">Very Urgent.</span><br /> +<span style="padding-left: 4em">Personal.</span> +<span style="float: right; padding-right: 1.5em;"><i>June</i> 23, 1919.</span><br style="clear: both" /></p> + +<p class="hanging"><span class="smcap">To the Commanders at Benkovac, Obrovac,<br /> +Novigrad, Ervenik, Kistanje, Skradin,<br /> +Biograd, Nin, Gjeverske, Sukošan And<br /> +Karin.</span></p> + +<p class="hanging"><span class="smcap">To the Command of the Royal Divisions.</span></p> + +<p>It is necessary to bring about, with no delay and very +discreetly, the dispatch of messages to the Prime Minister +Nitti and to the Minister of Foreign Affairs Tittoni from +the mayor, from societies, etc., of this garrison, expressing +the people's keen desire to be annexed to Italy.</p> + +<p>A copy of said telegram should be transmitted to me.</p> + +<table summary="signature"> +<tr><td style="padding-right: 10em"><span class="smcap">The Major:</span><br /> <span class="smcap" style="padding-left: 6em">Foresi.</span></td><td><span class="smcap">The Major-General:</span><br /> <span class="smcap" style="padding-left: 8em">Squillace.</span></td></tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>To return to the events at Blato—while we were +waiting for the Yugoslavs a woman made her way as far +as the corridor, flung herself down on her knees and +entreated us to protect her. Major Verdinois gave us his +word of honour that no Yugoslav with whom we spoke +would, for that reason, be arrested. Perhaps he was +overruled by his superior officers—at all events he arrested +and deported to Italy, in the night of June 19, no less than +ten persons, that is, all the Yugoslavs who spoke to us at +Blato, with two exceptions. [We cabled this to the Paris +Conference, and after some delay the unfortunate men +were repatriated.]</p> + + +<p class="section">WHAT THE MAJOR SAID</p> + +<p>For what happened before our arrival I am indebted +to the chemist Radimiri, from whose report the following +is an extract: "At ten in the morning Major Verdinois +had summoned to his office the communal doctor, Moretti, +and the secretary, Dragunić, both of them Yugoslavs. +He told them that two Englishmen who were cruising +about in the <i>Porer</i> would very likely be coming up that +afternoon to Blato and he would permit no sort of demonstration. +The doctor, he said, would be held responsible<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span> +for any disorder; and as Moretti was about to make this +known to the people, who were just coming out of church, +the Italian adjutant approached him with a paper and +ordered him to read it to the Yugoslavs. This document—it +has been preserved—is in the Serbo-Croat language +and was given to the doctor because the adjutant, who +did not know the language, mistook it for another one. +<ins class="correction" +title="Transcriber's note: original reads 'If was'">It was</ins> an exhortation to the people, urging them to +have nothing more to do with the Yugoslav <i>intelligentsia</i>, +which had made a great deal of money during the War. +'And you have given your blood for four and a half years +and what has been your benefit?' Dr. Moretti made a +personal appeal for the maintenance of order, and the +people, having called out 'Long live Wilson!' went their +divers ways in peace. Nevertheless three platoons +appeared, each with one officer and one N.C.O. The +adjutant's platoon distinguished itself, for while the +arditi attacked anyone they saw, including women and +children, with the butt end of their muskets, Lieut. +Giovanoni laid about him with a dog-whip. Several of +the soldiers made for a group of four young fellows; +three of them escaped and the fourth, Peter Kraljević, +was struck with a rifle so severely across the face that he +was bathed in blood. As he tried to defend himself he +was shot at from a distance of three paces: one bullet +went through his nose, another wounded him in the +forehead. He fell to the ground, and a teacher, Mrs. +Maria Grubisić, who had witnessed the whole incident, +sank down unconscious at his side and was covered with +his blood. Various other people were injured—three +little girls received rifle shots in their bodies. All the +main streets were shut off and eight machine guns were +placed in readiness. But the people were not to be +intimidated, and when the Englishmen arrived their +national consciousness was displayed. As a result Peter +Čarap was knocked unconscious with a mighty blow of +a musket, the fourteen-year-old Joseph Suležić had a +similar experience, and among many others who were +assaulted we will only mention an ex-official, Anthony +Pižtulić, a man of sixty, who was struck twice with a +rifle on his stomach and then prevented from going home +but chased out into the fields.... It seemed as if it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span> +would be impossible for our people to have a conversation +with the Englishmen, but at last twenty men and twelve +girls managed to reach that house...."</p> + + +<p class="section">THE PROTEST OF AN ITALIAN JOURNALIST</p> + +<p>I would also give Signor Buonfiglio's dispatch from +this island—it appeared in the <i>Corriere d'Italia</i> of June 16—but +more than three-quarters of it is devoted to an account +of some Dalmatian delegates who were received, during +the War, by Francis Joseph and expressed their loyalty. +The deputation was introduced by Dr. Ivčević, a Croat; +and if Signor Buonfiglio wants us to deduce from this +how ardently the Croats loved the Habsburgs he will +have to give some other explanation for the very loyal +speeches of his countryman, Dr. Ziliotto of Zadar. But +I presume that his editor did not send Signor Buonfiglio +on this journey to the end that he should write of what +official speakers saw fit to say during the War. As for +the incidents we witnessed and the islanders' aspirations, +he merely says that their welcome to us was an artificial +affair which the Yugoslav committees, with extreme +effort, had organized—and I don't think that that is a +very illuminating observation.</p> + +<p>We learned that on arriving in Blato the Italians +dissolved the town council, on account of its incapacity +to do the work. However, a military man to whom it was +handed over gave his opinion that he had never seen a +better administration.... Out of all that we were told, +I will relate the following: some Italian soldiers were +playing football, and when they kicked the ball into a +maize-field and continued to play amid the maize, the +farmers asked them to desist. Two officers and forty +men were present; they fell upon the three farmers, and +when finally the major commanded them to stop, they +dragged them to the barracks and thrashed them so that +the people in adjacent houses heard them all the night.</p> + +<p>On our way to the minute harbour of Pregorica, where +the <i>Porer</i> was waiting for us, we had a repetition of the +scenes enacted between Velaluka and Blato; and a +number of young men, heedless of the risks they ran, +rushed down the mountain-side to Pregorica by the shortcuts.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span> +In the harbour were some carabinieri, as well as +our escorting destroyer. We therefore had to leave without +delay, lest the young patriots should come into contact +with the carabinieri. So very hastily and in a very +illegible scrawl I copied the original letter given on +November 4, 1918, by Lieut. Poggi to the people of +Velaluka: "We Italians," it said, "have come to Velaluka +as the friends of Yugoslavia and of the Entente. +We have come as friends and not as foes, and as such I +ask you to accept us. We are hoisting our flag together +with that of Yugoslavia, and with your friendly consent +we will keep it there until the question of the general +peace is definitely arranged, according to your and our +... according to the principles of ..." The two +missing words are illegible.</p> + + +<p class="section">INTERESTING DELEGATES</p> + +<p>Lying off Korčula, that evening, we received the usual +delegates. One of the Italians, Dr. Benussi, said in a +trembling, tearful voice that the Italians were far too good. +And while we were hearing from one of his colleagues +what were his views on the subject of a plebiscite, Dr. +Benussi moaned unceasingly, "I wish I had not come! +I wish I had not come!" He considered that it was +outrageous of us to allude to plebiscites. The Yugoslavs +did not tell us anything very thrilling; the Italian +authorities persisted in writing to the peasants in Italian, +of which they scarcely understand a word. What a pity +that this is not their most serious fault! A barrister +called Dr. Pero Cviličević came, with a companion, to +see us the next day, before breakfast. He said that they, +like most people on the island, were Croats; and he and +his friend belonged to the Serbo-Croat party, which was, +he said, a righteous, though rather a small party, as +the island had been gravely handicapped by the support +which Austria gave the Serbs. "And now," he added—it +seemed a trifle illogical—"the people are all very contented. +Believe me," he said. Furthermore, he volunteered +the information that the law was being administered +in the name of the Entente and the United States.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span> +It may show a distinct bias on our part, but I fear we +asked him whether the blows from the butt end of muskets +were being applied under the same sanction.... When +we paid our formal visit to the Commandant at his office +on the quay he did not ask if we would care to go to one +of the Italian schools. An American journalist had made +a speech in Rome, describing how he had been taken +to a school at Korčula, how the mistress had allowed +him to ask the children if they knew Italian, how they +had raised their hands, and how this had convinced him +that Dalmatia should become Italian. Apparently that +journalist had not been told that prior to the War this +town of some 2000 inhabitants was provided with five +schools in which not a single child spoke Italian, and +with one school subsidized by the Liga Nazionale which—as +in Albania—lured its pupils by gifts of clothing, +books, etc. The teachers, from the Trentino, knew not +a word of Serbo-Croat and the children not a word of +Italian. But not very much harm was done, as the +population considered it shameful to attend this school, +and the bribes never succeeded in attracting more than +thirty pupils, even when money was paid to the parents. +This institution was reopened by the Italian army after +the War, and presumably it is the one which the American +visited. I do not know whether the schoolmistress, +forewarned of his visit, had told the children in Serbo-Croat +that a gentleman would come and say something +in Italian, whereupon they would hold up their hands.</p> + + +<p class="section">A DIGRESSION ON SIR ARTHUR EVANS</p> + +<p>Seeing that the Adriatic problem, after all these +months, had not been solved but on the contrary had been +allowed to spread its poison more and more, one naturally +wonders what was being done in Paris. The Conference +was fortunate enough to have at its disposal, after the +Armistice, the famous ethnologist and archæologist Sir +Arthur Evans. This gentleman, whose distinctions are +too numerous to mention (Fellow of Brasenose; twice +President of the British Association; Keeper during +twenty-four years of the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span> +D.Litt.; LL.D.; F.R.S.; P.S.A., and so forth), has for many +years devoted himself to the eastern Adriatic—the second +edition of his <i>Through Bosnia and the Herzegovina on Foot</i> +appeared in 1877, his <i>Illyrian Letters</i> in 1878, his <i>Slavs +and European Civilization</i> in the same year. He never +ceased from that time onward to study these matters. +"I think," he says in a letter to me from Youlbury, near +Oxford, of which he kindly permits me to make any use +I like, "that in some ways I have more title to speak +on the Adriatic Question than any other Englishman, +as Dalmatia was my headquarters for some years. Neither +did I approach the question with any anti-Italian prejudices. +I was so far recognized as a competent and +moderate authority that I was asked by the Royal +Geographical Society to give them a paper on the subject.... +Anxious, with others friendly to both sides, to secure +an equitable agreement between the Italians and Yugoslavs, +I took part in a series of private conferences in +London which led to a preliminary Agreement forming +the basis on which the Congress at Rome approached the +question. There the Agreement was ratified and publicly +approved by Orlando. How Sonnino proceeded to try +to wreck it, you will know. Finally (just before the +Armistice, as it happened) there was to have been a new +Congress of Nationalities at Paris, which I was asked +to attend. It was stopped by the big Allies, as matters +were thought too critical, owing to the submission of +Bulgaria. But I thought it would be useful if I went to +Paris all the same, and I obtained from the Foreign +Office, War Office, etc., a passport viséd 'British War +Mission.' Shortly after I arrived in Paris the Armistice +was declared. Soon afterwards, owing to the departure +of Mr. Steed and Dr. Seton-Watson, there was left literally +no one among our countrymen at Paris who knew the +intricacies of the Adriatic Question and the relations of +Italy with the Yugoslavs, and the Yugoslav-Roumanian +difficulties, etc. That being the case, Lord Derby asked +me to be his go-between, and I had an immense lot of +work thrown on my shoulders. I had gone to the expense +of taking a large salon at the Hotel Continental, where I +had private Conferences—the Yugoslav and Roumanian +leaders there, for instance, discussed the Banat frontier<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span> +question, and the conciliatory proposals made no doubt +furthered the final solution, with which they harmonized. +When there was a serious danger of a clash between the +Italian army and the Serbian forces at Ljubljana, knowing +the imminence of the danger I made such strong representations +to Lord D., which he forwarded to Balfour, +that immediate pressure was exercised at Rome, and the +Italians just drew back in time. I also was able to +convey strong monitions to the other side. I used to +let our Ambassador have a short précis almost daily of +affairs connected with those regions.... With great +trouble I prevailed on the Yugoslav representatives to +agree to a scheme, which I drew up, for the neutralization +of the East Adriatic coastal waters, and this was taken +up by the Americans—Colonel House inviting me to +an interview on the subject, in which he expressed his +approval. A copy was also sent to the F.O., and for +this and for several other bits of work useful to the F.O. +I received Balfour's official thanks. I had also many +friendly conversations with prominent Italians in Paris, +and in every way ingeminated agreement between them +and the Southern Slavs. But, meanwhile, I exposed the +Nationalist Italian campaign, to which Sonnino was +privy, in the <i>Manchester Guardian</i>. Finally I went, at +the end of 1918, for a short holiday to England, Lord +Derby (with whom I always had the friendliest relations) +giving me a diplomatic pass. When, however, early in +January 1919 I prepared to return to Paris, where I had +kept on my expensive rooms, I found difficulties in my +way. Italian intrigue had apparently been on foot. I +was advised to write to Lord Hardinge, and I told him +briefly the circumstances. This great man never answered +or acknowledged my letter, and it was only by +making urgent personal representations at the F.O. +that I finally got the answer that they refused me a passport.... +I gather that it was not only Italian intrigue +but the feeling that they did not want 'damned experts.' +And so they blundered on, and to this day"—the letter +is dated July 17, 1920—"nothing is settled on the +Adriatic but unsettlement."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span></p> + + +<p class="section">THE DUPES OF NIKITA IN MONTENEGRO</p> + +<p>Meanwhile at intervals during this year there had +been troubles in Montenegro. On three occasions the +Italians at Antivari had endeavoured to extend their +sphere of influence, but the armed civilian population +had been equal to these emergencies and had each time +thrust them back to the coast. At Gaeta, between Rome +and Naples, a very well-paid corps was stationed—almost +every man was either a commissioned or a non-commissioned +officer. The Italian Government was +asked by Signor Lazari, the Socialist deputy, for what +purpose it allocated 300,000 lire a month to support these +peculiar troops. They were mostly Montenegrins—relatives +of Nikita, members of the five favoured families, +persons who were stranded and so forth; likewise at +Gaeta were a number of other Yugoslavs who had been +liberated from their Italian internment camps, but many +of them, when they discovered what was expected of +them, revolted. Thirty or forty of them managed to +escape to France, and others to Montenegro, as for +example the man who for twelve years had been Nikita's +porter. He and three others reached Cetinje one day in +August 1920 when I was there. They had with them a +picture-card of the sixty-nine officers of the Gaeta army. +Every one knows every one else in Montenegro and only +two of these officers had held a previous commission. +According to Nikita's Premier, Jovan Plamenac, the +Italian Government considered this as the Montenegrin +army and regarded (rather optimistically) as a loan the +money it contributed to keep it up. In driblets the non-revolting +part of this Gaeta army was taken to the eastern +shores of the Adriatic, for the purpose of making "incidents" +in Montenegro. There was a regular scale—so +much in cash for the murder of a prefect, so much for +a deputy. One day the father of Andrija Radović, a man +of over seventy, was cut down; they waited until everyone +had left the village to go to some fête in a neighbouring +village, and the old man defended himself to +the last.</p> + +<p>These emissaries from Gaeta, misguided Montenegrins, +other Southern Slavs and Italians, made considerable<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span> +use of the mischievous speeches that were sometimes +heard in the British Parliament. They would explain +to some poor, ignorant mountain-dweller that such great +people in England were still discussing Nikita's return, +and if he did return and they had listened to the voice of +Radović, woe be to them. Some of these wretched dupes +would follow their seducers, who—I have no doubt—would +not only have declined his decorations if they had been +better informed, but would have placed the matter in the +hands of their solicitor, as Gabriel Rossetti threatened to +do if he were ever elected to the Royal Academy. And +yet, after the character of the scoundrel King was fully +exposed, his advocates, so far as I know, had not the grace +to own their error. Of course there was in Montenegro +a certain amount of uninstigated unrest; the wine of +politics, which they were now for the first time freely +quaffing, had gone to their heads—it was youth against +age, the students were enthusiastic Democrats, the +peasants were sturdy Radicals and they did not always +restrict themselves to dialectical arguments. A certain +number of people had gone to live "u shumi"—"in the +woods." But the reasons that impelled them were not +so much their devotion to the ex-King, as their own +criminal past or their poverty. Others again had taken +to this life for what may be called reasons of "honour."<a name="FNanchor_42_42" id="FNanchor_42_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a> +Among the brigands was a man who was captured on the +borders of Herzegovina, and before his execution—he +had murdered seven people—he declared that he was a +patriot and had done all this for the sake of King Nicholas, +his victims being members of the domineering party. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span>But when reminded that one of them was a baby, he +hung his head and said no more.... There was discontent +produced by the high cost of living—as the +Italians not only held Antivari but even fired on French +boats that were taking supplies up the river Bojana, +it was necessary to revictual all except the new parts +of Montenegro from Kotor. The lack of petrol, from +which even the American Red Cross units were suffering, +compelled the authorities to fall back on ox-waggons, +which at any rate are not expeditious. By the way, it +was the staff of another mission, calling itself the International +Red Cross, which was to blame for adding to the +country's troubles; after they had been installed for a +month or two at Cetinje the people themselves, and not the +authorities, turned them out, on the ground that they +had used the Red Cross to conceal their machinations +in Nikita's interest. The Yugoslav Government was +held up to reprobation in the British Parliament and +press for having hampered more than one British +mission in the work of relieving the <ins class="correction" +title="Transcriber's note: original reads 'Montengrins'">Montenegrins</ins>. The +resources of these missions appeared to be moderate—the +head of one of them had a meeting with Colonels +Fairclough and Anderson of the American Red Cross +and suggested that they should provide him with the +wherewithal for carrying on. But even if their resources +had been scantier their co-operation would have been +very welcome if they had satisfied the authorities that +they were as non-political as the Americans. It was +curious that those who in the British press ventilated the +grievances of these missions were the same people who +championed Nikita.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span></p><p>The Italians persevered in their manœuvres—Nikola +Kovačević, the police commissary of Grahovo, sent in +the month of May a confidential man of his to the Italian +General at Dobrota, near Kotor. This man, who speaks +perfect Italian, told the General that ever since 1916 he +had haunted the forests as the leader of a band. Fifty +persons, he said, had attached themselves to him; and he +had now come in for a supply of arms and money, also for +instructions. It would be impossible, said he, to endure +the Serbian troops much longer in the country.</p> + + +<p class="section">ITALIAN ENDEAVOURS</p> + +<p>"You must hold out for a couple of months longer," +said the General. "I can give you no money at present, +but I can take you on a steamer to San Giovanni, where +we have a camp of the King's friends; and from there +you can easily go to Italy."</p> + +<p>"I have given my word of honour," said the man, +"that I will not go without my people. So I must +first of all go back to ask them."</p> + +<p>"In a military way," said the General, "the Serbs can +now do nothing. They had tremendous losses in the +war; and in two months the King of Montenegro will +return or else there will be an Italian occupation. Work +hard, my friend. I want you, in the first place, to set +houses on fire; then to shoot officers and officials who +are for Yugoslavia. You should also rob the transports."</p> + +<p>Thereupon the man returned to Grahovo and soon +afterwards the French General Thaon, who happened to +go there, spoke with him for two hours and invited him +to his headquarters at Kotor.</p> + +<p>The disturbances in Montenegro did not cease; a +country through which you could formerly drive with +less risk than in Paris, was now infested by outlaws and +those who pursued them. And Count de Salis, who had +served as H.B.M.'s Minister at Cetinje, was sent back to +Montenegro on a mission of inquiry. His report was not +published, for the reason that he did not beat about the +bush in his references to the Italians and for the further +reason that he gave the names of those persons from +whom he culled his information. This was a fine opportunity<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span> +for the foreign busybodies who were thrusting +their silly little knives into Yugoslavia. "Count de Salis +reports clearly and unmistakably," said Mr. Ronald +M'Neill in the House of Commons, "that in his judgment +the wish of the Montenegrin people is to retain their +own sovereign and their own independence." When +Sir Hamar Greenwood subsequently, speaking for the +Government, threw out a hint that this was not the case, +it was amusing to see how the pro-Nikita party lost their +interest in the report. A certain Mr. Herbert Vivian sent +from Italy in April 1920 a most ferocious indictment +against the Serbs in Montenegro to a London paper called +the <i>British Citizen</i>. He said that the Countess de Salis, +while at Cetinje, was in danger of her life. But the lady +has been dead for many years. I presume this is the +same Mr. Vivian who in a book, <i>Servia, the Poor Man's +Paradise</i>, trembles with rage whenever a Serb speaks +admiringly of Gladstone.</p> + + +<p class="section">VARIOUS BRITISH COMMENTATORS</p> + +<p>Count de Salis's impartial methods did not always +please the population, which was by a large majority +against the former king's return and—as he clearly +stated—heart and soul for Yugoslavia. Balkan people +do not yet, to any great extent, appreciate your desire +for truth or even your honesty if you should give a hearing +to their antagonists. The Cetinje public, therefore, +organized a demonstration or two against the Count. +They would have preferred that he should reach the +afore-mentioned conclusions without such an exhaustive +study of the case. He noted that there had been certain +irregularities in the Yugoslav administration, but it was +inevitable that in those unsettled times the inexperienced +officials would not prove equal to every emergency. +These officials, by the way, in 1919 were not Serbs from +Serbia, but for the most part native Montenegrins. +"The country is occupied and administered by foreigners," +said<a name="FNanchor_43_43" id="FNanchor_43_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> Mr. Ronald M'Neill, M.P. "Montenegro," said he, +"is full of Serb officials." I suppose one must receive +it more with sorrow than with anger if a man like Mr. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span>Massingham of <i>The Nation</i> says that the Serbs "have +deposed the Montenegrin judges, schoolmasters, doctors, +chemists and local officials, and set up their own puppets." +While he might have assumed that the long years of +War had left the Serbs with a very inadequate supply of +officials for the old kingdom, he would have ascertained, +if his sources had been more trustworthy, that Glomažić, +the very human prefect of Cetinje, is a native of Nikšić, +that Miloš Ivanović, the mayor, is from the Kuči, near +Podgorica—and he was a magistrate under Nikita; that +Bojović, the prefect of Podgorica, is a barrister of the +Piperi, while Radonić, the mayor, was an artillery officer, +then a political prisoner and then the food administrator +under Nikita; that Jaouković, the prefect of Nikšić, was +a magistrate under the old régime—he comes, I believe, +from the Morača; Zerović, the mayor and an ex-magistrate, +is a native of Nikšić; that the prefect of Antivari, Dr. +Goinić, is a doctor of law whose home is between Antivari +and Virpazar; that Boško Bošković, the prefect of +Kolačin, won great fame as an officer under Nikita, while +Minić, the mayor, was Nikita's chief of the Custom-house. +As for the doctors who left the country, these +consisted of Matanović and Vulanović, who have gone +to Novi Sad and Subotica respectively, as it is easier to +make a living in those towns than in Montenegro. There +are now three Yugoslav doctors at Cetinje (Odgerović, +Radović—both of whom were doctors in the time of +Nikita—and Matanović, a young man); they are all +Montenegrins. So, too, with the chemists and the schoolmasters +and the post and telegraph officials—I am sure +that Mr. Massingham will excuse me if I do not mention +all their names.</p> + +<p>Since there are quite a number of Montenegrins in +the Serbian administration and army, all the officers +and men, for example, of the 2nd—the so-called +"iron"—Regiment being of Montenegrin origin, one fails +to see for what reason a Serb should be debarred from +posts in Montenegro. It is unfortunate when people +use the word "Montenegrin" without knowing that +there is no separate Montenegrin nation, in the sense +that there is a French or Italian nation. The Montenegrins +are a small section of the Serbian nation, which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span> +sought a refuge among the bare, precipitous mountains +and, unlike the other Serbs, maintained its independence. +One should, therefore, to avoid confusion, speak of Serbs +of Serbia and Serbs of Montenegro rather than of Serbs +and Montenegrins. The purest Serbian is spoken in +western Montenegro, on the borders of Herzegovina; +those districts are ethnically different from the southern +region, centring round Cetinje, which is the real old +Montenegro, and the north and north-eastern parts, +called the Brda, which in speech and customs are akin +to the south. In western Montenegro, as in Herzegovina, +the people, who live among their mountains on milk +and its products, are very prolific, having families of +eight or ten children. They are a very healthy, moral +race.</p> + +<p>Another pro-Nikita, anti-Serbian writer, excusable +only on account of his insignificance, is Mr. Devine, who +teaches, I am told, at a school near Winchester and seems +very unwilling to be taught. If he wishes, by producing +a book on the subject, to show other people that he knows +painfully little about Montenegro, that is his own affair. +But he is just as ignorant with regard to his hero. He +says that he "is in a position to state that there is not +one single word of truth in the insinuations and charges +impugning the absolute integrity and loyalty of King +Nicholas towards his Allies." The King was, according +to Mr. Devine, a defenceless old man whom it was very +bad form to attack. But the King had been defending +himself at considerable length not only in a harangue +to his adherents in a Paris suburb, but also on various +occasions in a newspaper, the <i>Journal Officiel</i>—and both +the speech and long extracts from the newspaper are +quoted, with approval, in Mr. Devine's book. This +quaint person is so frantically keen to pour whitewash +over Nikita that he has no time to listen to the main +treacheries of Nikita's career. "Malicious falsehoods!" +he splutters—and they can be traced to horrible pan-Serbians. +He has reason to believe that they wish to +make Serbia the Prussia of the new Federation; well, +the Croats and the Slovenes and the Bosniaks and all +the others cannot say that Mr. Devine has not warned +them. My Montenegrin friend Mr. Burić stated in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span> +columns of the <i>Saturday Review</i> that this odd gentleman +had nourished the ambition of becoming Montenegrin +Minister to the Court of St. James, but that the plan +did not succeed. I never saw Mr. Devine's denial—perhaps +it fell into the clutches of a ruthless pan-Serbian +printer. Naturally, Mr. Devine would not care to be the +diplomatic representative of a villain; therefore, when +he is brought face to face with certain definite charges +he persists in replying "not in detail, but from the broad +point of view." He is so exceedingly broad that when +an accusation is levelled against the King he sees in this +an accusation against the entire country—a country +which unfortunately, as he says, "alone of all the Allies +has no diplomatic representative in this country." Mr. +Devine continues unabashed to repeat and repeat his +pro-Nikita stuff in various newspapers. "Il y debvroit +avoir," says Montaigne, "quelque corection des loix +contre les escrivains ineptes et inutiles, comme il y a +contre les vagabonds et fainéants...." Not long ago +I happened to see that this egregious person described +himself as "Hon. Minister Plenipotentiary for Montenegro," +but another gentleman, Sir Roper Parkington, +a pompous wine-merchant, announced in the Press that +he had become "Minister (Hon.) of Montenegro." Perhaps +one of them has resigned, and our poor overworked +Foreign Office will not be invited to decide between a +Minister (Hon.) and an Hon. Minister.</p> + + +<p class="section">THE MURDER OF MILETIĆ</p> + +<p>The Italians' stay at Kotor was drawing to an end. +"We have no aggressive intentions," said Signor Scialoja, +the Foreign Minister, "and we shall be glad if we are +able to establish with our neighbours on the other side +of the Adriatic those amicable relations"—and so forth +and so forth. This he said on December 21, but if the +Government was imbued with the same principles in +August it is unfortunate that it omitted to instruct the +responsible officers in Dalmatia. The Yugoslav commander, +Lieut.-Colonel Ristić, heard one night that the +Italian General at Dobrota was harbouring at his residence +no less than twenty-one Montenegrin pro-Nikita komitadjis.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span> +They were clad in Italian uniforms, and, as a torpedo-boat +and a motor-launch were always kept with steam up, +could be shipped off at a moment's notice to Italy. +Colonel Ristić sent his adjutant to make inquiries, and +the Italians gave their word of honour that no Montenegrins +were in the house. In order to avoid a conflict +Colonel Ristić then requested the French General to +send an officer; but this gentleman was not received +by the Italians. Four or five Montenegrins, with an +Italian lieutenant, came out of the house and fired at +the twenty gendarmes who now encircled it. The fire +was returned—all the Montenegrins and the Italian +were killed. After this the French police disarmed the +remaining Montenegrins and imprisoned them; and on +the following day, much to his chagrin, the Italian +General was told to take up other quarters at Mula, so +that he was separated by the French and the Yugoslavs +from Montenegrin territory.... Not long after this a +certain Captain Miletić was cycling late one afternoon +on the road to Mula. Five or six Italian soldiers lay +concealed, and so expertly did they murder him that his +friends who were cycling a hundred paces ahead and +other friends who were fishing very near the spot in a +boat heard nothing whatsoever. It was eight days after +this when the Italians had to go from Kotor and the +neighbourhood.</p> + + +<p class="section">D'ANNUNZIO COMES TO RIEKA</p> + +<p>The question of Rieka had not yet been settled. The +more suave Tittoni, who had succeeded Sonnino, was +hoping with the help of France to hold his own against +Wilson. Monsieur Tardieu thought that the town with +a large strip of hinterland should become a separate +independent State under the League of Nations. An +arrangement was also proposed by which the city was +to be administered by Italy, while the Yugoslavs should +have a guarantee of access to the sea. These negotiations +were still in a nebulous state, but certain proposals were +going to be put into force which were suggested by +the Inter-Allied Commission of Inquiry. With French, +American, Italian and British representatives this commission<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span> +had visited Rieka. One of the recommendations +was to the effect that public order should be maintained +by British and American police; on the very day +(September 12) that the British military police were +to inaugurate their service, Gabriele d'Annunzio took +matters into his own hands. He rose, he tells us, from a +bed of fever and, refusing to recognize the Nitti Government, +he marched with the appropriate theatrical ceremonies, +into his "pearl of the Adriatic." What he +called the 15th Italian victory, or, alternatively, the <i>Santa +Entrata</i>—the Holy Entry—was accomplished without +the shedding of a drop of blood. Rieka, the stage of +many fantastic scenes, witnessed one of the quaintest +in the simultaneous arrival at the Governor's palace of +a General to whom the Allies had entrusted the command +of the town and a rebel Lieut.-Colonel who refused to +recognize his authority. They seemed to be on the best +of terms. The General (Pittaluga) informed the Allies +that he was still in supreme command. Being invited +on the following morning to explain the situation at a +conference on board the U.S.S. <i>Pittsburg</i>, at which were +present the Allied naval and military commanders, +General Pittaluga informed them that he would be +responsible for the maintenance of order and that nothing +was to be considered altered in the government of the +town. Forty minutes later, without consulting the +Allies, he had handed over the town to a rebel and he +himself, in his private car, had vanished. In a subsequent +message to the Turkish Minister in Berne, sympathizing +for the Allied occupation of Constantinople, d'Annunzio's +Foreign Department informed him that "the Legionaries +of the Commandant d'Annunzio put to flight the English +police-bullies who were biding their time to snatch the +tortured city." Opinions vary as to whether the poet-pirate +was at that time acting in collusion with Rome—his +defiance and their thunders being included in the stage +directions—or whether he was a real rebel. We may +assume that Signor Nitti did not countenance the buccaneer +and that if officers and civil servants diverted Government +cargoes into his hands they were not acting as +Government agents. <ins class="correction" +title="Transcriber's note: original reads '(As for'">As for</ins> large numbers of these +officials, their secret understanding with d'Annunzio<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span> +received many proofs. On September 29 the <i>Era Nuova</i> +reported that, two days before, Major Reina, d'Annunzio's +Chief of Staff, was invited to Abbazia, where he had an +interview with the Chief of Staff of the 26th Corps. +Illuminating also is the report, in the <i>Era Nuova</i> of +October 27, of a test case at Genoa, when a sergeant was +tried for leaving his regiment and going to Rieka. The +prosecutor demanded four months' detention and degradation. +The court accepted the plea of the defence, +which was that the court could not condemn or dishonour +a soldier who was only guilty of patriotic sentiment. +Moreover, it transpired that those who returned from +Rieka, after receiving there a salary from both parties, +were granted three weeks' leave and a reward of <ins class="correction" +title="Transcriber's note: original reads '100 lire.)'">100 lire.</ins> +One observed that when the <small>s.s.</small> <i>Danubio</i> left Šibenik +for Rieka with sixty waggon-loads of coal, the captain +received his sailing orders from the Royal Italian port-officer. +When d'Annunzio seized Rieka there was on that +same night a solemn demonstration at Zadar, led by +Vice-Admiral Millo, who was supposed to be governing +Dalmatia in the name of the Entente.</p> + + +<p style="padding-top: 1.5em">The Consiglio Nazionale Italiano of Rieka, that self-elected +body which had so often told the world that +Rieka was unshakeably determined to be joined to the +Motherland, now took to its bosom the modern Rienzi, +regardless of that which happened to the mediæval one. +The C.N.I. could now devote itself to serious executive +work, for d'Annunzio—in spite of or because of his fever—relieved +them of the rather exhausting task of issuing +proclamations. In three months he sent out something +like a thousand. He did a great many other things—he +ruined, for instance, the economic life of the town. Everything +had for a time gone swimmingly. The Chief of the +Republic of San Marino was voicing the sentiments of +numberless Italians when he saluted the poet as a great +Italian patriot. Such was the feeling of the majority of +the army and navy, so that the Government in Rome +was made to look ridiculous. "Mark well what I am +telling you," said the poet to the special correspondent +of the <i>Gazzetta del Popolo</i>. "I have received a call from +a superior hidden force, and though the fever burns<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span> +within me I am consoled, because the War has made +me a mystic and I feel I am inspired from on high in this +mission." D'Annunzio and his cohorts refused to have +anything to do with the Cabinet. Signor Nitti, supported +by the Parliament and the more responsible people, was +openly attacked by the Nationalists and secretly by the +profiteers and the newly rich on account of his bold +taxation programme, by which he hoped to bring 30 +milliards of francs into the Exchequer. The Nationalists +assisted d'Annunzio to win over the army; and in northern +Italy there were many who realized that an army which +can be moved by such an appeal can, on the next day, +rally to Bolševism. No other troops remained in Rieka, +the small French and British detachments having been +withdrawn. Before this happened there occurred a +repetition, on a larger scale than usual, of a few French +soldiers being attacked by a body of Italian warriors +who greatly outnumbered them. Some of the French +were Annamites, than whom no more harmless persons +can be imagined.<a name="FNanchor_44_44" id="FNanchor_44_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> And it was in order to avoid such +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span>untoward incidents that the Franco-British troops were +evacuated. D'Annunzio was left to do his worst. Rieka +was one of the problems which the Peace Conference had +failed to solve, and now they were in much the same +inglorious position as the Great Powers who in 1913 warned +Turkey not to mobilize, since they would not allow the +Balkan Confederation to make an attack, and after the +attack gave it out that the Balkan States would not be +permitted to acquire any new territory. The Supreme +Council in Paris was losing its prestige very rapidly. "A +little patience," begged Tittoni, "and my Government +will turn out d'Annunzio." "What we want," exclaimed +Clemenceau, "is a Government in Italy!"—and the +Italian delegates, with flushed faces, pointed out that it +was not Italy which wanted Rieka, but Rieka which +wanted Italy. They would do their best, although so +many men in Italy were now convinced that Rieka would +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span>sooner die than give up d'Annunzio. Presently, under his +administration, it began to die. But this was not altogether +distasteful to certain intriguers who were interested in +the future of Triest. There might also arise, to the satisfaction, +of other intriguers, an armed conflict with the +Yugoslavs. But nothing could be calmer than the Yugoslavs' +attitude. Perhaps these barbarians—as they are +often styled in Italy—were confident that justice would +prevail. Perhaps they thought that they could bide +their time, and certainly what happened at Trogir was +not calculated to reassure the Italians.</p> + + +<p class="section">THE GREAT INVASION OF TROGIR</p> + +<p>The little, ancient town of Trogir lay some twelve +miles to the south of the demarcation line. Its inhabitants, +with the exception of five Italophil families, are Yugoslav; +and in the month of September 1919 the Yugoslav army +was represented by eight men. Truth compels us to +mention that on a certain night these men, instead of +doing patrol duty, were sleeping off the effects of a carouse; +and when the townsfolk looked out of their windows in +the morning they saw machine guns and Italian soldiers. +At 4 a.m. they had crept into the town with the help of a +certain Conte Nino di Fanfogna, who had assembled a +National Guard of thirty peasants, the employees of those +five families. Conte Nino was striding to and fro; he +muttered threats of death. Some of the chief men, such +as Dr. Marin Katalinić, Dr. Peter Sentinella and others, +came together and were at a loss for some effective means +to chase out the Italians, since they had not even a revolver. +An American boat appeared, but the captain, when appealed +to, said that he was only cruising and could not +come ashore. In the town hall Count Nino, labouring +under some excitement, dismissed the mayor; and when +Ferri, the mayor, told him to go about his business, he +protested that he was the dictator and would, if necessary, +use force. Outside in the square the Italians and the +people stood face to face, and suddenly a few Yugoslav +flags were fluttering, and then an old man, Dr. Sentinella's +father, climbed up to the place in the town hall where<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span> +the Italian flag had been hoisted. He tore it down. +The soldiers were for shooting him, but the people began +pulling the rifles out of their hands. Other soldiers, full +of apprehension, dropped their rifles; the people picked +them up, and those who were unacquainted with the +mechanism cried out certain awe-inspiring sounds. Women +and children—I fear this will not be believed; it is none +the less true—women and children removed some of the +men's helmets, and one group of children turned a helmet +into a football. "I am a father of a family!" cried a +soldier. "I am innocent, I have been deceived!" cried +another. "O, Mama mia!" cried a third. They wept, +they bolted into the courtyards, and the women showed +them little mercy, for they tore off the men's belts and +even struck them with their fists. A Mrs. Sunjara routed +four men and went home with their machine gun on her +back. In a few minutes the square was free of soldiers, +and forty rifles were stacked in the town hall. Fifty +soldiers on the quay were dealt with by a butcher who +started firing at them; when they heard the shouts of +the approaching crowd they threw down their weapons and +fled. Two large motors escaped; the third was intercepted +at the bridge, and although young Sentinella, who ordered +them to stop, had forgotten his own rifle, they all—thirteen +men and two officers—threw theirs away. It +was suggested that the running soldiers should be pursued. +"No," said an old man, "for we would kill them +all. Let them rather go back without arms or helmets. +It will frighten the others." ... Two hours later a party +of Serbian soldiers arrived, but they were not needed, +save for the protection of those who had thrown in their +lot with the Italians. From Split, a few miles away, +1500 volunteers, who speedily assembled, came with +knives or agricultural implements or any other weapon. +"The Yugoslavs must realize," said Nitti, "that it is to +their interest to maintain sincere relations of friendship +with Italy."</p> + + +<p class="section">THE SUCCESSION STATES AND THEIR MINORITIES</p> + +<p>The Yugoslav Government—as if it had not sufficient +problems to solve—was ordered now by the Peace Conference<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span> +to accept sundry regulations as to the rights of +minorities, the transit of goods, and an equitable régime +for international commerce. The other States which +had inherited the Habsburg Empire were, all of them, +faced with the same demands; and they objected that +to sign such Articles was inconsistent with their +sovereignty. The most onerous item—relating to the +racial and religious minorities—had been imposed—at +America's instance, owing to the manner in which the +Jews were treated in Roumania, despite King Charles' +promises in 1878. The Yugoslavs, with a far smaller +number of Jews and no Jewish outcry, were concerned +only for the principle of independence. Not having +persecuted the Jews they resented having to undertake +that for the future they would act in a liberal spirit. +"I will have nothing to do with tolerance," said the +Orthodox Bishop of Veršac to a deputation of Jews, +when he made his formal entry into the town of Pančevo. +And when they stared at him, "It is not tolerance that +I will show," said he, "but love." Perhaps the Opposition +in the Yugoslav Skupština might have exhibited +more kindliness in its attitude towards the Government +and have refrained from rousing a storm against the +signature of the obnoxious Articles. The Government +and the Opposition being practically of equal strength, +the Ministers, who in a calm atmosphere could have +explained the realities of the situation, found themselves +at a grave disadvantage. They could have shown that +they would be assuming obligations which they had +assumed already. In Macedonia, as any traveller could +see, the time-honoured custom of persecuting him who +happened to be the under-dog was abandoned; the +authorities preferred to ignore the religious difference +between themselves and the Bulgarian party, and as the +difference consisted in praying for the Exarch instead of +the Patriarch in the liturgy there was not the slightest +persecution needed to persuade the Exarchists to become +Patriarchists. Many who had been unaware of this new +spirit which informed Yugoslavia and had fled with the +Bulgarian army, afterwards came back to Macedonia. +Nor did the Moslems complain: two Bosnian Moslems were +expressly included in the Cabinet, and every consideration<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span> +was shown to them—at Ghevgeli, for instance, where +building material was, after the War, so scarce that +many of the inhabitants had nothing but a hole in the +ground, the prefect caused the two mosques which had +been destroyed by shell-fire to be reconstructed.</p> + + +<p class="section">OBLIGATIONS IMPOSED ON THEM BECAUSE OF ROUMANIAN +ANTISEMITISM</p> + +<p>If the Serbs were to express their grievance against +the Roumanian ruling class for having landed them in +this position, the Roumanians would reply that the Serbs +do not run the same risk as themselves of being swamped +by the undesirable Galician Jew. The Roumanians argue +that their peasants will go under if they are not shielded. +"In our last great manœuvres," said the late King +Charles to M. de Laveleye,<a name="FNanchor_45_45" id="FNanchor_45_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> "it was proposed to entrust +the supply of food to Christians. On the first day the +provisions came; on the second everything was late; +on the third day the whole army was dying of hunger. +I was forced to make a hasty appeal to the Jews. They +have great qualities—they are intelligent, energetic, +economical; but these very qualities make them dangerous +to us on economic grounds." Roumanians acknowledge +that the agrarian policy of a few vast landowners and a +submerged peasantry did not admit of peasants being +made more formidable by increased education, and they +doubt whether their country-folk, so fond of music and +dancing and drinking, have it in them to rival those +Serbian non-commissioned officers who, early in 1919, +became millionaires by skilful operations on the money +market in the Banat. Yet the Serbs are as much addicted +as anyone to the aforementioned delights, and it is probable +that the Roumanian boyars do their own people +an injustice. But while the people were favoured at +the expense of the immigrants—not always very effectively: +the Jews have been prohibited from owning +land, yet a fifth of the whole of Moldavia belongs indirectly +to a single Jew—one would suppose that some distinction +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span>might have been made between the more or less pernicious +alien who is apt to get the village into his toils and that +other Jew whose family has lived perhaps two hundred +years in the country, who feels himself a Roumanian +but is legally a foreigner. One Magder, a Jewish barrister, +performed such exploits at the front during the Great +War that he was mentioned in the communiqué, a distinction +only conferred upon two other soldiers. For +one and a half years the official publications insisted on +Roumanizing his name into Magdeu, after which three +Cabinet meetings occupied themselves with the subject +and finally announced that the error was not intentional +but typographical. A French officer wished the +Roumanian Croix de Guerre to be given to him, but +Headquarters refused the request on the ground that he +was a Jew. One cannot blame the United States for +taking the initiative in compelling the Roumanians to +modify their legislation, since the clauses of the Treaty +of Berlin were merely carried out to the extent of naturalizing +a maximum of fifty Jews a year, each case having +to undergo innumerable formalities, accompanied with +payments to deputies and others that rose to 30,000 francs. +Many Jews volunteered for the army in 1913 for the +sake of thus obtaining the naturalization that was promised +them as a reward; but these promises were frequently +not kept. A good deal of injustice occurred +during the Great War: the <i>Moniteur Officiel</i>, No. 261 +(of February 2, 1918), printed a decree relating to one +Kaufman, who together with two Christian soldiers had +been away from his corps for twelve days in the previous +September. Kaufman was condemned to death, and +the others to five years' hard labour. When the King +was asked to deal more equitably with the three men, +Kaufman's sentence was commuted to "hard labour +without limit," <i>i.e.</i> for life. It is superfluous to give +many illustrations: at Falticeni seventy-two Jews were +imprisoned without a trial for four months, though twelve +of them were Roumanian citizens and veterans of 1877, +while most of the others had sons at the front; at the +village of Frumusica a major caused the Jews to come out +of their synagogue in order to listen to a speech in which +he advised the Christian soldiers to watch them well,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span> +as they were worse than the Germans. No doubt there +were Jews in the Roumanian army whose patriotism was +less than ardent—and who can blame them? In the +69th Regiment a special corps of Jews was clothed in the +discarded, dark uniform that was more visible to the +enemy. In the 65th Regiment Jon Dumitru was paid +14 francs a month for spying on his Jewish comrades. +At the battle of Savarat, to cover the retreat of three +battalions, a special corps of Jews was formed—one +hundred and twenty-two men under a Jewish second +lieutenant; all but three of them were killed or wounded. +After this retreat the General, who lost his head, commanded +that the survivors should be killed wholesale on +account of self-inflicted wounds; but seeing that they +were so numerous (and innocent) he pardoned them, and +only executed two Jews, Lubis Strul and Hascal Simha, +<i>pour encourager les autres</i>. A young doctor, 2nd Lieutenant +Cohn, who came back from Paris, contracted +typhus at the hospital where he was serving; afterwards +he was sent to the 26th Regiment and kept under observation; +it was most suspicious, said the authorities, that +a Jew should return from France for his military service. +A reward of 2000 francs was offered to anyone who could +supply incriminating evidence against the doctor, but +this was offered in vain. The Jews, by the way, were +told that while they would be removed from menial +positions in the hospitals they "would be tolerated" as +doctors—and nearly a hundred of these doctors died on +active service.</p> + +<p>The better class of Roumanians, such as Take Jonescu, +is opposed to such methods—he was therefore charged with +being in the pay of the Jews, although he was a wealthy +man (a very successful barrister) whom politics made +poorer. It remains to be seen whether the Roumanians—whose +position with regard to the Jews is, partly through +their own fault, not without peril—will be willing to put +into effect those reforms to which the Supreme Council +compelled them to subscribe. The Article in question +will probably become a moral weapon, since the Roumanians +regard themselves as on a higher level than +the Balkan peoples, and will not desire that continual +complaints should be made against them. One does not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span> +expect their prejudices and their apprehensions to be +suddenly renounced—instead of judging each case individually, +the railway administration, after the Government +had agreed that the Jews <i>en bloc</i> could become +citizens, barred them <i>en bloc</i> from that particular service +by requiring that candidates should present their certificates +of baptism. The Agricultural Syndicates have also +introduced a statute which limits their organizations to +Roumanian citizens who profess the Christian religion. +Gradually—one hopes, for the sake of their country—the +Roumanians will bring themselves to adopt a less +timorous spirit, and to acknowledge that it is more dangerous +to the Fatherland if a Jew as such is prevented than +if he is permitted to hold the office of street-sweeper. +From such lowly public offices, or from that of University +Professor, no citizen should be excluded on religious +grounds or admitted to them "by exceptional concession." +And if a Jewish cab-driver at Bucharest is so +severely flogged by his passengers outside the chief +railway-station that he succumbs in the hospital to his +injuries—a fate that overtook one Mendel Blumenthal, +a man fifty-three years of age, in September 1919—one +trusts that a newspaper article asking for an inquiry +will henceforward not be censored. "It is true," said +Dr. Vaida-Voevod, then the Prime Minister, "that the +Jews still evince some reluctance to assimilate intellectually +with our people or to identify their interests +with those of the Roumanian State. But goodwill +should be shown on both sides, and the overtures should +be reciprocal." Thanks very largely to the former +Liberal Premier, M. Bratiano, whose party was responsible +for much illiberal legislation—one of his powerful brothers +was popularly said to eat a Jew at every meal—the +Supreme Council acted in such a manner as to produce +a particularly unwanted crisis in the Yugoslav political +world. Neither Roumanian nor Yugoslav need, in the +opinion of Take Jonescu, have considered that their +dignity was being slighted, for the tendency of the League +of Nations is to limit the free will of each of them. The +cardinal doctrine of the League, as Lord Robert Cecil +has pointed out, is that its members are <i>not</i> masters in +their own house, but must obey the decision of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span> +majority. However, the Opposition in the Belgrade +Skupština could not resist from using the delicate situation +for what many of the deputies thought was a patriotic +course of conduct, and nearly all of them regarded as an +admirable party cry.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> <i>The Defeat of Austria, as seen by the 7th Division.</i> London, 1919.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> <i>Contemporary Review</i>, February 1920.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Afterwards Yugoslav Minister at Madrid and then at Washington.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> <i>Fortnightly Review</i>, June 1919.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Cf. <i>Manchester Guardian</i>, December 13, 1918.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> <i>Land and Water</i>, May 29, 1919.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> <i>Nineteenth Century and After</i>, November 1920.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> <i>Au Secours des Enfants Serbes.</i> Paris, 1916.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Several old wooden warships, such as the <i>Aurora</i>, the <i>Schwartzenberg</i> +and the <i>Vulcan</i>, were lying for years in Šibenik harbour, where they +were used as repair-ships, store-ships, etc. When the Italians evacuated +Dalmatia they took these vessels with them, but whether on account of +their contents or their history we do not know.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> Cf. <i>Die Handelsstrassen und Bergwerke von Serbien und Bosnien +wahrend des Mittelalters</i>, by Dr. Constantin Jireček. Prague, 1879.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> It is instructive to examine the attendance figures at the schools +of this the only Italian town of Dalmatia, as the Italians call it. The +figures are those of the school year 1918-1919, and refer both to elementary +and secondary schools:</p> + +<table summary="schools" style="padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em"> +<tr><td colspan="3"><span class="smcap">Yugoslav Schools.</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="schoolentry">Elementary School for Boys</td><td style="text-align: right">Pupils,</td><td style="text-align: right">342</td></tr> +<tr><td class="schoolentry">Elementary School for Girls</td><td style="text-align: right"><span style="padding-right: 1em">"</span></td><td style="text-align: right">331</td></tr> +<tr><td class="schoolentry">Combined Elementary School</td><td style="text-align: right"><span style="padding-right: 1em">"</span></td><td style="text-align: right">222</td></tr> +<tr><td class="schoolentry">Higher Elementary School for Girls</td><td style="text-align: right"><span style="padding-right: 1em">"</span></td><td style="text-align: right">121</td></tr> +<tr><td class="schoolentry">Teachers' Training College</td><td style="text-align: right"><span style="padding-right: 1em">"</span></td><td style="text-align: right">70</td></tr> +<tr><td class="schoolentry">Classical College</td><td style="text-align: right"><span style="padding-right: 1em">"</span></td><td style="text-align: right; border-bottom: solid black 1px">469</td></tr> + +<tr><td> </td><td>Total of Yugoslav Pupils,</td><td style="text-align: right; border-bottom: solid black 2px">1555</td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="3"> </td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="3"><span class="smcap">Italian Schools.</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="schoolentry">Elementary School for Boys</td><td style="text-align: right">Pupils,</td><td>250</td></tr> +<tr><td class="schoolentry">Elementary School for Girls</td><td style="text-align: right"><span style="padding-right: 1em">"</span></td><td style="text-align: right">221</td></tr> +<tr><td class="schoolentry">Higher Elementary School</td><td style="text-align: right"><span style="padding-right: 1em">"</span></td><td style="text-align: right">93</td></tr> +<tr><td class="schoolentry">Classical College</td><td style="text-align: right"><span style="padding-right: 1em">"</span></td><td style="text-align: right">157</td></tr> +<tr><td class="schoolentry">Technical College</td><td style="text-align: right"><span style="padding-right: 1em">"</span></td><td style="text-align: right; border-bottom: solid black 1px">181</td></tr> + +<tr><td> </td><td>Total of Italian Pupils,</td><td style="text-align: right; border-bottom: solid black 2px">902</td></tr> +</table> + +<p>I do not know what were the facts ascertained on the spot by Mr. +Hilaire Belloc which enabled him, without any reservations, to inform +the readers of <i>Land and Water</i> (June 5, 1919) that "Zara is quite Italian." +He added that "Sebenia is Italian too." If this be so, how comes it +that in 1919 the Italian authorities found it necessary to terrorize Sebenico +(Šibenik)—which is presumably the town Mr. Belloc refers to—with +machine guns and hordes of secret police and the very lurid threats of +Colonel Cappone, the town commandant? I believe it is nearer the +truth to say that the population of this town consists of some 13,000 +Yugoslavs and 400 <i>Italianists</i>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> This prelate died in December 1920. With fearless patriotism, said +the <i>Tablet</i> (January 1, 1921), he "had defended his flock from the Germanizing +influence of the Habsburgs and the more insidious encroachments +of the Italians."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> The population of Veprinac, according to the last census, is: Yugoslavs, +2505 (83·7 per cent.); Italians, 24 (0·8 per cent.); Germans, 422 (4·1 +per cent.).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> Pribičević issued a statement to the effect that the interviewer, +Magrini, had put into his mouth the precise opposite of what he had +said with regard to Triest and Pola. Pribičević had told him that the +whole of Istria, with Triest, should be Yugoslav. He reminded Magrini +that a third person was present at the interview.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> The supplies for the Austro-Hungarian army in Albania had been +concentrated at Rieka. These had to be guarded by Yugoslav troops, +as the Hungarian watchmen at the port had disappeared, and the Russian +prisoners employed there—about 500 men—had also vanished. In +order to keep off nocturnal plunderers, the Yugoslav troops were told to +fire a few shots now and then into the air. Is it not possible that the +two Italian boys who, as Mr. Beaumont reported, were hit during the +night by stray bullets and succumbed in hospital to their injuries—is it +not possible that they were out for plunder and that this incident should +not be used to illustrate what Mr. Beaumont (of the <i>Daily Telegraph</i>) +calls "the worst characteristics of Balkan terrorism" on the part of the +troops? During the twenty days of the Yugoslav régime their authorities +sold, as they were justified in doing, tobacco from these warehouses to +the value of 120,000 crowns. It was generally said in Rieka that the +Italians in four days had given away six million crowns' worth, that large +quantities of flour were removed until the British put a stop to this, and +that the robberies were flagrant. These allegations may have been untrue +or exaggerated, but individuals were pointed out who in a mysterious +manner had suddenly become affluent; it would at any rate have been +as well if the I.N.C. had ordered some investigation. Since they failed to +do so, it is natural that gossip flourished. In Triest, by the way, even the +Italian population is reputed to have been disgusted when about forty +waggon-loads of flour and twenty of sugar were taken from the stores of +the former Austrian army and shipped to Italy.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> Most people have assumed that this was done in order that Rieka +should be left to Austria-Hungary, although they should have taken +with some grains of salt this Italian generosity which presented the +Habsburgs with a good harbour instead of one of those others in Croatia +which the Italians of to-day are never weary of extolling. The real +reasons why Rieka was omitted from the Treaty of London are, as the +<i>Secolo</i> (January 12, 1919) remarks, perfectly well known. "In order," +it says, "to claim Fiume it is necessary to make appeal to the right of +the people to dispose freely of themselves. In this case the same principle +must be admitted for the people of Dalmatia, who are Slav in a crushing +majority. But this is precisely the negation of the Treaty of London."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> The Italianist employés of the Rieka town council who took the census +in 1910 asked the humbler classes if they were acquainted with the Italian +language; those from whom they received an affirmative reply were +put down as Italians. Had they, on the other hand, asked the people +if they spoke Croatian and put down as Croats those who answered yes, +there would, in the opinion of an expert, Dr. Arthur Gavazzi, have remained +not one single Italian—certainly not the members of the Italian +National Council—as everyone, he says, speaks and knows Croat. This +is a fairly emphatic proof that the fortunes of Rieka are bound up with +those of its suburbs and the hinterland.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> Being the senior in rank of the Allied Generals, General Grazioli +claimed supreme command of all the Allied troops, but this the French +General refused, maintaining—much to the disgust of the Italians—that +he was under the orders of Franchet d'Espérey, who was then in command +of the Army of the Orient. The Italians were so determined to preserve +in their own hands the military supremacy that a very senior General, +one Caneva, was kept in the background of the palace with the sole object +of stepping forward if any Allied officer senior to General Grazioli should +by chance be posted to the town. The disrespectful Allies used to call +Caneva "the man in the cellar."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> The town of Yugoslavia which, after Austria's collapse, was stirred +the most profoundly by its postage stamps was Zagreb. In order to +commemorate the establishment of the new State the Croatian Post +Office published four stamps, which were on sale on November 29. The +whole edition consisted of 100,000 stamps, of which 24,000 were allotted +to Zagreb, the rest going to other parts of the province. It was obvious +that there would be a great demand for these stamps, and in order to +check any abuses or clandestine traffic it was decided that they should +be sold nowhere but at the post offices, also that each purchaser would +only be allowed to buy a limited quantity. At 8 a.m. the sale began, +but at seven many hundreds of people were waiting outside the chief +post office, the post office at the station and another in the Upper Town. +The face value of the four stamps, added together, was one crown. At +first they were resold for between 4 and 20 crowns, then the price jumped +to 30, and by 10 a.m. the 45-heller stamp (of which only 15,000 had been +printed) was sold out. Collectors were paying 8 or 10 crowns for it, in +order to complete their sets. At noon the offices were all shut, as the +rush was considered too dangerous. More than 1000 persons were in +the great hall at the Head Office and another 2000 were gathered outside. +Nearly all the windows where the stamps were being sold were broken. +At the Station Post Office the people began to fight with the sentries. +The National Guard had to be sent for. At 4 p.m. the post offices had +no stamps left (and citizens who had been waiting all day to buy an +ordinary stamp could not be served). At 5 p.m. people who for the first +time in their lives were taking an interest in philately, wanted 300-500 +crowns from collectors for a whole series. Between 5 and 6 p.m. a stamp +exchange was held in the entrance hall. Eight hundred to one thousand +crowns were being demanded for the series. Soldiers were willing to +give the four stamps in exchange for a pair of boots, others were asking +for sugar, coffee or petrol. The price which was ultimately established +was 250 crowns.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> Out of the hundreds of available documents it will suffice if I print +one. It is the report, given in his words, of a Dalmatian, a native of +Sinj, who having been an emigrant could write in English. "On July +1915 I came to the Italian front, and on the morrow I went across the +lines and deserted to the Italians. As soon as I arrived at the station +of internment I requested the Command to be admitted as a voluntary +into the Serbian army. This petition of mine was answered by Italian +authorities in the negative. After the Congress of Rome in 1918 I and +some of my comrades who had recently applied for admission were +permitted to join the Yugoslav legion on June 1. I was right away +sent to the front of the Tyrol, where on August 7 I was wounded in a hard +bayonet fight. On this occasion I was decorated by the Italian Commander +for valour. After 45 days of hospital by my own request I was +sent to the front, where I remained up to the break-up of Austria or until +we Yugoslav legion were disarmed by Italians and as a reward for our +participation in the war we were interned as prisoners of war at Casale +di Altamura in the province of Bari. Four days after my internment +I succeeded in sliding away, so that on the Christmas Eve I was again in +Dalmatia. +<span style="float: right; padding-right: 1.5em;">(Signed) <span class="smcap">Jakov Delonga</span>."</span><br style="clear: both" /></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> +</p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"In tra 'l gregge che misero e raro<br /></span> +<span class="i0">L'asburgese predon t' ha lasciato,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Perche piangi, o fratello croato,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Il figiul che in Italia mori."<br /></span> +</div></div> +<p> +("There among the woebegone where the most contemptible Habsburger +has abandoned his prey, so that, O my Croat brother, it weeps +for the dear son who died in Italy.")</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> April 23, 1919.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> Cf. <i>La Slavisation de la Dalmatie.</i> Paris, 1917.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> The Italians are very poorly served by some of their advocates. +For years they persisted in demanding the execution of whatever in the +Treaty or Pact of London was obnoxious to the Serbs, while they regarded +as obsolete another clause, respecting the formation of a small independent +Albania, which was distasteful to themselves, and—if I rightly understand +the Italophil Mr. H. E. Goad—they were justified because, forsooth, +Bulgaria had entered the War on the other side. To say that the idea of +this small Albania, with corresponding compensations to the Serbs and +Greeks, was held out as a bribe to the Bulgars does not seem to me a +very wise remark. However, "ne croyez pas le père Bonnet," said +Montesquieu, "lorsqu'il dit du mal de moi, ni moi-même lorsque je dis +du mal du père Bonnet, parce que nous nous sommes brouillés." Let the +reader trust in nothing but the facts, and I hope that those which I +present are not an unfair selection.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> When Supilo, the late Dalmatian leader, heard about the secret +Treaty, he went to Petrograd and saw Sazonov. The interview is said to +have been stormy, for the Russian Minister, according to the <i>Primorske +Novine</i> (April 23, 1919), "had not the most elementary knowledge of +the Slav nature of Dalmatia, still less of Istria, Triest, Gorica and the rest." +Mr. Asquith, whom Supilo afterwards visited in London, is said to have +been no better informed than Sazonov.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> And appearing subsequently in London, as Nikita's Prime Minister, +was the central figure of a reception given by Lord Sydenham at the +Savoy. But out of fairness to his lordship I must add that in an hour's +conversation he impressed me with the fact that he was even less acquainted +with Plamenac's antecedents than he was with other Montenegrin affairs, +which he raised on more than one occasion in the House of Lords, endeavouring +there—until Lord Curzon overwhelmed him—to play the +part that was assumed by Mr. M'Neill in the Commons.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> We shall see that the subsequent history of this officer was less +laudable.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> Cf. <i>Nineteenth Century and After</i>, January 1921.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> This very able priest became Vice-President of the Council of +Ministers when the first Yugoslav Cabinet was formed. When Cardinal +Bourne visited Belgrade in the spring of 1919 a Mass was celebrated by +the Yugoslav Cabinet Minister, the British Cardinal and a French priest +who was an aviation captain in the army. Monsignor Korošec's position +reminds one that in the early days of Bulgaria's freedom her Premier +was the Archbishop of Trnovo.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> Cf. p. 60, Vol. II.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> Cf. <i>The New Europe</i>, March 27, 1919.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> There are in the Banat some ultra-patriotic Magyars, such as the +man at Antanfalva (Kovačiča) who, having lost something between his +house and the post office, insisted on advertising for it in the Buda-Pest +papers. But the Yugoslav rule was so satisfactory that, two or three +years after the Armistice, I found in the large Hungarian village of +Debelyacsa—where the <i>intelligentsia</i> called the sympathetic Serbian +notary by his Christian name—not one of the inhabitants proposed to +remove to Hungary. No doubt the goodness of the soil had something +to do with this decision, but, more, the liberal methods of the Serbs. No +military service was as yet exacted—all that the Magyars had been asked +to do was to work for two months in obliterating the ravages of war. +The priest and the schoolmaster who had come from Hungary before the +War still exercised their functions, and—in contrast with what had +previously been the case—both the Magyar and the Serbian language +were taught, the latter from the third class upwards. Altogether there +was perfect harmony between the Magyars and the Serbs; when I was +there the only racial question which occupied the Magyar farmers was +the resolve of their <i>intelligentsia</i> to have, as centre-half in the football +team, not a Magyar but a more skilful Jewish player.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> The Southern Slavs generally acknowledged that the Foreign Office +was bound to behave to Italy, one of the Great Powers, with a certain +deference. They also recognize that the Foreign Office is not actuated by +malevolence if she treats Belgrade as she did Morocco, when in place of +the strikingly appropriate and picturesque appointment of Sir Richard +Burton our Legation there was occupied by one of a series of diplomatic +automata. After all, these automata, who have spent more or less laborious +years in the service, have to be deposited somewhere. But if one does +not demand of the Foreign Office that she should make a rule of sending +to the Balkans, where the personal factor is so important, such a man as +the brilliant O'Beirne, who during the War was dispatched too late to +Bulgaria, yet a moderate level should be maintained—it has happened +before now that we have been represented in a Balkan country by a +Minister who, some time after his arrival, had not read a Treaty dealing +with those people and of which Great Britain was one of the high contracting +parties; when taxed with this omission the aforesaid Minister +hung his head like a guilty schoolboy.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> October 13, 1921.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> This has been done, but to a much more limited extent, in Hungary +where several hundred men who distinguished themselves in the European +War have been granted the Gold Medal for Bravery, which entitles each +of them to a goodly portion of land. This the recipient may not sell, +but he need not leave it to his eldest son if a younger one is more interested +in agriculture. Each medallist, by the way, is authorized to exhibit +outside his house a notice which informs the world that he possesses this +most treasured decoration; but perhaps to our eyes the strangest privilege +the Medal carries with it is the permission to write "Vitez" (which is +the Hungarian for "brave") in front of the name. Thus if Koranji +Sandor is decorated he is to call himself henceforward Vitez Koranji +Sandor, and that is the correct address on an envelope. Not only is the +honorific awarded to him, but is to be used by all his sons and by their +sons. We might imagine that a man would shrink from permanently +calling himself Brave John Smith, especially if he has been very brave, +but the average Magyar will not feel excessively awkward, since he is +not altogether repelled by that which is garish.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_36" id="Footnote_36_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> The Czechs believe that Agrarian Reform should be the work of a +generation. They are beginning on the very large estates, those which +run to more than 50,000 hectares, and in calculating the price to be paid, +40 per cent. is deducted for the State on properties of this size. On those +of between 20,000 and 50,000 hectares 30 per cent. is deducted, and so +on down to the 5 per cent., which is appropriated from the holdings of +from 1000 to 2000 hectares. It is also the Government's intention in +Czecho-Slovakia to take in hand such properties as are badly administered, +and, by a wise proviso, when a denunciation arrives to the effect, for +example, that the proprietor is not using manure and that thus the State +is suffering injury, a dozen men, belonging to the various political parties, +go down to investigate. If they find that the accusation is not justified and +that the place is satisfactorily worked, then the man who made the charge +is obliged to pay the examining committee's expenses.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_37" id="Footnote_37_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> The trouble arose at the end of May when a number of citizens of +Šibenik, men and women, donned the American colours as a compliment +to the sailors of the U.S. warship <i>Maddalena</i>, who had taken to wearing +those of Yugoslavia. The Šibenik ladies and men, relying perhaps on +the words of Admiral Millo with regard to Allied colours, never dreamed +that any objection would be made. But suddenly one evening everybody +with these colours was attacked by Italian soldiers, who tore them off +and explained that it was done by the General's order. Italian officers +did not interfere while ladies were being very roughly handled. A certain +Jakovljević, a shopkeeper, who had sold an American flag, was imprisoned. +On the same evening a number of prominent citizens were summoned +before the town commandant, Colonel Cappone, who spoke as follows: +"A Croat, a Croat has dared to display a flag before an ardito!" [An +American flag.] "This fool! instead of giving him a black eye, the +ardito pulled off his flag. This is Italy! Mind you don't go to the +<i>Maddalena</i> to-morrow! Whatever it costs me, I shall prevent it! You +are the leaders who will be responsible for anything that happens to-morrow." +[This was the eve of the Italian national celebration of June 1.] +"Our arditi are blood-thirsty; do not be surprised if some lady of +yours receives a black eye.... We are the masters here! This is +Italy! This is Italy! We have won the War, we have spent milliards +and sacrificed millions of soldiers." On this Mr. Miše Ivanović remarked: +"I beg your pardon, but the Paris Conference has not yet decided the +fate of these territories." And the Colonel replied, "It has been decided! +But even if we had to leave, remember that on taking down our flag we +shall destroy everything, with 5000 machine guns, 2000 guns and 40,000 +men! Good night, gentlemen." This declaration made by the town +commandant, presumably a responsible officer, was testified by the +signature of all those who were present.... When, in 1921, the Italians +were leaving Šibenik they destroyed a large number of young trees in the +park and elsewhere. The Venetians, in the Middle Ages, had cut down +millions of Dalmatian trees, but always with a utilitarian purpose.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_38" id="Footnote_38_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> In view of what the census said with regard to this place it is superfluous +to add that when an Italian officer in my hearing asked one who +was stationed there if there was any social life, the other answered: +"None at all; the whole population is Slav." I find that <i>Modern Italy</i> +(published in London) quoted with approval the following telegram +which appeared, it said, in the <i>Tempo</i> of May 9: "A remarkably enthusiastic +celebration took place at Obrovazzo. Several thousands, including +representatives of the neighbouring villages, formed a procession and +marched through the town. In the principal piazza, the President of +the National party, Bertuzzi, delivered a stirring speech, which was +enthusiastically applauded."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39_39" id="Footnote_39_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> It is customary for Serbian officers to wear but one decoration, the +highest among those to which they are entitled. To illustrate this +Serbian modesty regarding honorifics, I might mention that one evening +at the house of a Belgrade lawyer I heard his wife, a Scotswoman, to +whom he had been married for more than a year, ascertain that he had +won the Obilić medal for bravery and several other decorations which—and +his case was typical—he had not troubled to procure.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_40" id="Footnote_40_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> June 24, 1919.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41_41" id="Footnote_41_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> May 15, 1919.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42_42" id="Footnote_42_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> Mr. Leiper in the <i>Morning Post</i> (June 23, 1920) scouts the idea of +these malcontents being the supporters of Nikita, who "were all laid by +the heels or driven out of the country long ago—largely by the inhabitants +themselves." He observes that the land is one land with Serbian soil—its +frontiers are merely the artificial imposition of kings and policies. +The nations, he points out, are not two but one—one in blood, in temperament, +in habits, in tradition, in language; round the fireside they tell +their children the same stories, sing them the same songs: the greatest +poem in Serbian literature, as all the world knows, was written by a +Prince-Bishop of Montenegro. Since the day when the Serbian State +came into existence it has been, he says, the constant, burning desire of +the Montenegrins to be joined to it. We may well rub our eyes at a letter +in the same newspaper from Lord Sydenham, who makes the perfectly +inane remark that this constant, burning desire was never probable. +"Montenegro already <i>is</i> Serbia," says Mr. Leiper, "and Serbia Montenegro, +in every way except verbally." But Lord Sydenham has set himself +up as a stern critic of the Serbs in Montenegro; therefore he cannot +countenance the Leiper articles, which give him "pain and surprise." +Is he surprised that Mr. Leiper, a shrewd Scottish traveller, who is acquainted +with the language, should disagree with him? "The great +mass of the people," says Mr. Leiper, "are as firm as a rock in their +determination that Nicholas shall never return." Listen to Lord Sydenham: +"I am afraid," says he, "that your correspondent has been +misled by the raging, tearing Serbian propaganda with which I am +familiar." And he quotes for our benefit an unnamed correspondent of +his in Montenegro who says that the people there are terrified of speaking. +It is much to be desired that a little of this terror might invade a gentleman +who plunges headlong into matters which he does not understand.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_43_43" id="Footnote_43_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> Cf. <i>Morning Post</i>, November 17, 1920.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_44_44" id="Footnote_44_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> A most vivid account of this affair was contributed to the <i>Chicago +Tribune</i> (July 13, 1919) by its correspondent, Thomas Stewart Ryan, +one of the two neutral eye-witnesses. He came to the conclusion that +as Italy was an interested party and was exasperated by the long delay in +the decision, an outbreak even more violent might occur unless her forces +were brought down to the level of the other Allies. In alliance with the +city rabble, the Giovani Fiumani, Italian soldiers attacked the French: +"I can state emphatically," says Mr. Ryan, "that the French guards +did nothing whatever to provoke the assault, some details of which would +blot the escutcheon of most savage tribes. I saw soldiers of France killed, +after surrender, by their supposed Allies.... I could scarcely believe +my ears when Italian officers rapped out the order to load. But they +seemed to remember that Frenchmen can fight." However, he also saw +an Italian officer who "prevented this murder and held back the civilians +who were trying to reach their victim. I must record it to the credit of +this officer that his was the only Italian voice to defend the game little +soldier. 'A hundred against one! Shame on you, soldiers of Italy!' I +wish I knew this officer's name." At another part of the harbour, "A +British naval officer, fearing that the wounded Frenchman would be +stabbed inside the court to which he was dragged, followed the body and +defied the captain of carabinieri, who ordered him to leave." And at the +close "I was no longer alone with my friend as a neutral eye-witness. +The British Admiral Sinclair appeared, causing much perturbation to +the Italian officers, who though some of them had just taken part in +the shambles, were already glib with excuses. 'The British Admiral +wants to know' was enough to bring the Italian officer running and +bowing, with 'I beg of you....' 'We are willing to explain all....' +American naval officers of the destroyer <i>Talbot</i> were also among this +post-mortem crowd. In a French motor bearing two Italian officers +who stood up to ward off possible shots, came a French captain. He was +of that calm, splendid type that makes you think of the Chevalier Bayard, +a knightly figure. Quietly he moved among his dead. Not by the +flicker of an eyelid did he give token of what was working deep down in +that French heart of his. I heard an Italian officer tell him that the +French had started the most regrettable affair by firing on the Italian +ships. The officer spoke this falsehood under the glazed stare of the +French dead and the protesting gaze of the wounded. The French captain +nodded his head, remarked, 'Oh yes! of course. Now we must only +pick up the wounded,' and, with all the gentleness of a mother beside her +child's sick-bed...." A very good account of this shocking episode +is contained in <i>A Political Escapade: The Story of Fiume and d'Annunzio</i>, +by J. N. Macdonald, O.S.B. (London, 1921). His narrative is extremely +well documented—he appears to have been a member of the British +Mission. "It is incomprehensible," says he, "how officers and men +could attack the very post that they had been sent to defend. Moreover, +they were over 100 strong and fully armed, whereas the French garrison +was small and had no intention of putting up a defence." One of the +lesser outrages described by Father Macdonald, since it was not attended +with fatal results, was that which happened to Captain Gaillard, who +from his window saw an Italian lieutenant shoot and kill with his revolver +an unarmed Annamese. The captain cried out with rage, and when his +room was entered by fifteen men carrying rifles with fixed bayonets and +they ordered him to go with them, Madame Gaillard tried to intervene +and received a blow on the arm dealt with the butt end of a rifle. At +this juncture an Italian officer appeared and roughly told Gaillard to come +without further delay. A mob of civilians and soldiers who were outside +greeted Gaillard with a shower of blows, and while they went along the +street, the officer escorting him kept up a volley of abuse against France +and England. Very fortunately for Gaillard he was brought into the +presence of an Italian officer to whom he was personally known. This +gentleman, looking very uneasy, refused to give the name of his brother-officer, +but caused the Frenchman to be released.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_45_45" id="Footnote_45_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> Cf. <i>The Balkan Peninsula</i> (English translation). London, 1887.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="VII" id="VII"></a>VII<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span></h2> + +<h3>FURTHER MONTHS OF TRIAL</h3> + +<p class="subtitle"><span class="smcap">D'Annunzio spreads himself—The wave of Italian Imperialism—Their +wish for Rieka, dead or alive—Fruitless efforts of +Italy's allies—Some of Rieka's scandals—Progress of the +Yugoslav idea—Despite the new phenomenon of Communism—The +rise and fall of Communism in Yugoslavia—Other lions +in the path—The nadir of Devine and Nikita—A General—Two +comic pro-Italians in our midst—The belated Treaty of +Rapallo—Its probable fruits—New forces in the first Yugoslav +Parliament</span>—(<i>a</i>) <span class="smcap">Marković, the Communist</span>—(<i>b</i>) <span class="smcap">Radić, +the much-discussed—The Serbs and the Croats—The sad case +of Pribićevič—Lessons of the Montenegrin Elections—Which +one gentleman refuses to take—Mediæval doings at Rieka—The +stricken town—Hopes in the Little Entente</span>.</p> + + +<p class="section">D'ANNUNZIO SPREADS HIMSELF</p> + +<p>When the Serbian army came, during the Balkan +War, into the historic town of Prilep a certain soldier sent +his family an interesting letter, which was found a few +years afterwards at Niš and printed in a book. One +passage tells about a conversation as to a disputed point +of mediæval history between the soldier and a chance +acquaintance. "Brother," said the Serb, "whose is this +town?" And the man of Prilep recognized at once that +his catechist was not referring to the actual possessor but +to Marko of the legendary exploits. When the same +question was asked of Gabriele d'Annunzio he said that +Rieka was Italian then and for ever, and that he who +proclaimed its annexation to Italy was a mutilated war-combatant. +Most of the citizens, as time went on, began +to think that they would sooner hear about Rieka's +annexation to another land, which was the work of Nature. +Those who did not entertain this view were the salaried<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span> +assistants of d'Annunzio and the speculators who had +bought up millions of crowns in the hope that Italy, as +mistress of Rieka, would change them into lire, even if +she did not give so good a rate as at Triest. The poet +addressed himself to the France of Victor Hugo, the +England of Milton, and the America of Lincoln, but not +to the business men of Rieka, who would have told him +that 70 per cent. of the property, both movable and +immovable, was Yugoslav, while 10 <ins class="correction" +title="Transcriber's note: original reads 'per cent'">per cent.</ins> was Italian +and the rest in the hands of foreigners. Not waiting to +listen to such details, d'Annunzio sailed, with a thousand +men, to Zadar, had a conference with Admiral Millo, and +won him over. Whether he would have persuaded +Victor Hugo, Milton or Abraham Lincoln, we must gravely +doubt. "I am not bound to win," says Lincoln, whom we +may take as the spokesman of the trio, "but I am bound +to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound +to live up to what light I have. I must stand with anybody +that stands right; stand with him while he is right, +and part with him when he goes wrong." In view of the +wilful trespass committed by Italians on the property +and rights of the Yugoslavs and the oft-repeated +guarantees of protection given to the Slavs by the +American Government against such invasion, it is passing +strange that d'Annunzio should have appealed to +Abraham Lincoln of all people. As for Admiral Millo, +he telegraphed to Rome that he had thrown in his +fortunes with those of d'Annunzio, and he made to the +populace a very fiery speech. It is not known whether +he communicated with the France of Clemenceau, the +England of Lloyd George and the America of Wilson, +whose representative he apparently continued to be for +the rest of Dalmatia, while relinquishing that post with +regard to Zadar, his residence.</p> + + +<p class="section">THE WAVE OF ITALIAN IMPERIALISM</p> + +<p>If Admiral Millo's rebellion had been published in +the press of November 16th, it is most likely that 250, +instead of 160, Socialists would have been successful at +the General Election—an election which Signor Nitti,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span> +that very able parliamentarian, had brought about for +the purpose, amongst other things, of testing the forces +and popularity of the Nationalist party. The old Chamber +had—voicing the wishes of the people—voted for +the open annexation of Rieka, without war or violence; +the Nationalists, in order to gain their ends, would +seemingly have stopped at nothing. Military adventures, +the breaking of alliances, agrarian and industrial upheaval—it +was all the same to them. They scoffed at the +common sense of the imperturbable Nitti when he said +that the Italians, like their Roman ancestors, must return +to the plough. Furiously they harped upon the facts +that bread was dearer now, that coal was nearly unprocurable. +And Giolitti, who in 1915 had strenuously +tried to keep the country neutral, said in a great speech +before this 1919 election that the War had been waged +between England and Germany for the supremacy of the +survivor and that Italy should never have participated. +He enlarged upon the fearful sufferings of his countrymen, +and he compared the gains of Italy with those of her +Allies. Nor was he deterred when Signor Salandra, the +former Premier, called him Italy's evil spirit who, devoid +of any patriotism, would have sold the Fatherland to the +Central Powers for a mess of pottage. Giolitti, on whom +300 deputies had left their cards in the tragic hours before +the declaration of war, had good reason to know that +even if Giolittism had melted away, the House had +secretly remained Giolittian.</p> + +<p>A new electoral system was introduced, whereby the +people voted for programmes and parties rather than +directly for individual candidates. This, it was hoped, +would render corruption more difficult by enclosing the +individual within the framework of the list, and it was +also hoped that there would be less violence than usual. +As a matter of fact there probably was a diminution with +respect to these two practices, but only because of the +large number of abstentions—merely 29 per cent. voted in +Rome, 38 per cent. in Naples, and in Turin scarcely more. +The people were tired of the excessive complexity and +dissimulation of Italian politics. There was a good deal +of violence—in Milan, Florence, Bologna and Sicily the +riots were sometimes fatal—and with such an electorate,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span> +more extensive than heretofore, so that symbols had +often to be used instead of the printed word, it was to be +expected that there would not be an atmosphere of even +relatively calm discussion. At Naples 132 candidates +struggled for eleven seats—their meetings were indescribable. +And it may be thought that in such conditions +the victorious parties would not necessarily +reflect the wishes of the country. The Nationalists were +dispersed, the Giolittians were routed—the Socialists +increased from 40 to 156, and the Catholics from 30 to 101. +Gabriele d'Annunzio had been the Socialists' chief elector.</p> + + +<p class="section">THEIR WISH FOR RIEKA, DEAD OR ALIVE</p> + +<p>There was now a fair hope that the Government would +be in a position to solve the Adriatic problem. The +Italian delegates in Paris had suggested that, in the +independent buffer State, Rieka should have a separate +municipal status, and that a narrow strip of land should +join the buffer State to Italy. On December 9, a memorandum +was signed by the representatives of Great Britain +and America, which was the best compromise which anyone +had yet proposed. The strip was dismissed as being +"counter to every known consideration of geography, +economics and territorial convenience." [Nevertheless +this very dangerous expedient of the strip, after having +been thus roundly rejected by the Allies, formed a part +of the Treaty of Rapallo in November 1920—the Yugoslavs +had most generously given way rather than leave this +exasperating Adriatic problem still unsolved.] Rieka +with her environment was to be a <i>corpus separatum</i>—and +this was the chief point which made the proposals inacceptable +to Italy. That Socialist group which is +represented by the <i>Avanti</i> seemed to be the only one +whose attitude was not intransigeant. The question of +Rieka, it argued, was not isolated, but should be considered +as one of the numerous questions of Italian foreign +politics. It laughed at those who every moment cry "Our +Fiume," because there are in the town many people who +speak Italian. Other groups of Socialists had altered very +much from the day when the three delegates—Labriola,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span> +Raimundo and Cappa—spoke of the Adriatic at the +Congress which Kerensky summoned to Petrograd. +Labriola was considered the most arrogant and chauvinist +of the trio, but not even he demanded Rieka—there was +no question of it at the time. Still less did he dream of +Zadar or Šibenik; what he pleaded for was Triest, Istria +and an island.... In December 1919 some Italian +Socialist papers were printing reports on the economic +life of Rieka, which was in a disastrous condition. But +the great majority of Italians were so bent upon securing +Rieka that they did not seem to care if by that time she +were dead. And they threw a little dust into their eyes, +if not into the eyes of the Entente, by declaring that if they +did not annex Rieka that unhappy, faithful town would +annex them. The self-appointed Consiglio Nazionale +Italiano of Rieka was, however, at this time less preoccupied +with the Madre Patria than with her own very +troublesome affairs; she had no leisure to organize those +patriotic deputations to Rome, which sailed so frequently +across the Adriatic and which, as was revealed by Signor +Nitti's organ <i>Il Tempo</i>,<a name="FNanchor_46_46" id="FNanchor_46_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a> were too often composed of +speculators who liked to receive in Italy the sum of +60 centesimi for an unstamped Austrian paper crown +that was barely worth ten. The disillusioned C.N.I. +would have given a good many lire to be rid of d'Annunzio; +the citizens were invited to vote on the following +question: "Is it desirable to accept the proposal of +the Italian Government, declared acceptable by the +C.N.I. at its meeting of December 15, which absolves +Gabriele d'Annunzio and his legionaries from their oath +to hold Rieka until its annexation has been decreed and +effected?" On December 21, in the Chamber, Signor +Nitti announced that more than half the citizens had +voted and that four-fifths of them were in favour of the +suggestion of the C.N.I. But d'Annunzio, whose adherents +by no means facilitated the plebiscite, proclaimed +it null and void. Yet, after all, Italy had likewise, on +every occasion when the Yugoslavs suggested a plebiscite +under impartial control, refused to sanction it.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span></p> + +<p class="section">FRUITLESS EFFORTS OF ITALY'S ALLIES</p> + +<p>Then suddenly a ray of light shone through the +clouds. The ever-cheerful Signor Nitti, after a conference +with Lloyd George and Clemenceau—no Yugoslav +being present, whereas Signor Nitti was both pleader and +judge—was authorized to say that the December memorandum +had been shelved. Terms more favourable to +Italy were substituted and the Yugoslav Government +were told they must accept them. One of these terms +was to modify the Wilson line in Istria, ostensibly for +the protection of Triest and in reality to dominate the +railway line Rieka-St. Peter-Ljubljana; another of +the terms was to present Italy with that narrow corridor +which in December the Allies had so peremptorily disallowed. +No wonder the American Ambassador in +France gave his warning. "You are going," he said, +"much too far and much too quickly. President Wilson +cannot keep pace with you." The French Government +was passing through a period of change, and these new +proposals, as was underlined in the <i>Temps</i>,<a name="FNanchor_47_47" id="FNanchor_47_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> emanated +from London. Mr. Lloyd George, who may have wished +for Signor Nitti's aid in his offensive against France in +the Russian and Turkish questions, was this time very +badly served by his intuition. The Yugoslavs were +ordered to accept the new proposals or to submit to the +application of the Treaty of London, that secret and +abandoned instrument which—to mention only one of +the objections against it—provided for complete Yugoslav +sovereignty over Rieka, a solution that, in view of Italy's +inflamed public opinion, was for the time being impracticable. +And while the Yugoslavs were told that +Rieka would, under the Treaty of London, fall to them, +no details were given as to how d'Annunzio was to be +removed. "Nous sommes dans l'incohérence," as +Clemenceau used to say of the political condition of +France before the war. Seeing that the Italian Government +and the C.N.I. had shown themselves so powerless, +were France and England going to turn the poet out? +But Mr. Lloyd George was more fortunate than Disraeli, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span>whose error in the question of Bosnia and Herzegovina +had had such dire results; on February 13, a very firm +note was issued by President Wilson, which compelled +France and Great Britain to withdraw from the position +they had taken up. Wilson would have nothing to do +with the notorious corridor, though Clemenceau had said +on January 13, to the Yugoslav delegates: "Si nous +n'avions pas fait cette concession, nous n'avions pas eu +le reste." "The American Government," said Wilson, +"feels that it cannot sacrifice the principle for which it +entered the war to gratify the improper ambition of one +of its associates, Italy, to purchase a temporary appearance +of calm in the Adriatic at the price of a future world +conflagration." The rejoinder of the French and British +Premiers was a trifle lame, and when they ventured to +add that they could not believe that it was the purpose +of the American people, as the President threatened, to +retire from the treaty with Germany and the agreement +of June 28, 1919, with France unless his point of view was +adopted in this particular case, which, in their opinion, +had "the appearance of being so inadequate," they were +not caring to remember that while their own countries and +Italy were suffering from a lack of food-stuffs and provisions +were being imported at a disastrous rate of +exchange from the United States, the products of Yugoslavia, +such as meat and meal, could not be obtained +because Rieka, which ought surely to serve its hinterland, +was at that moment not available, owing to +d'Annunzio. At the same time the President did not go +to the opposite extreme of simply allocating the port to +Yugoslavia, which the application of the Treaty of +London would involve. He preferred to act on the +principle that the differences between Italy and the +Yugoslavs were inconsiderable, especially as compared +with the magnitude of their common interests. And +direct negotiations between the two parties were to be +recommended, with the proviso that no use be made of +France and Great Britain's immoral suggestion that an +agreement be reached on "the basis of compensation +elsewhere at the expense of nationals of a third Power." +It had indeed been proposed that the Yugoslavs should +be bribed by concessions in Albania, but this idea was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span> +very explicitly rejected and on more than one occasion +by the Yugoslav delegates in Paris.</p> + +<p>While, in the following months, the Yugoslavs and +the Italians negotiated, the task of their delegates was +impeded by the occasional Cabinet crises in Belgrade +and in Rome. It was made no easier by those Italians +who clamorously objected to the remark of Clemenceau, +when he said that both Yugoslavs and Italians had been +compelled to fight in Austria's army. The <i>Corriere +d'Italia</i> told him that he displayed the zeal of a corporal +to defend the Yugoslavs. After alluding to his "historical +inexactitudes," it reminded him of the Italians +who were slain at Reims and the Chemin des Dames, +but as usual omitted to speak of the French soldiers who +fell in Italy. And, while the negotiations were being +carried on, Gabriele d'Annunzio clung to his town. The +compromise of a mixed administration seemed to have +small chance of being realized. It had been proposed by +that Inter-Allied Commission which was set up to investigate +the circumstances of the French massacre; and +the Italian delegate, General di Robilant, not only said +in his report<a name="FNanchor_48_48" id="FNanchor_48_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> to the Senate that this compromise was +most favourable for Italian aspirations but he is alleged +also to have included some very drastic criticism of the +actions of the high military authorities, whom he charged +with unconstitutional interference. Nevertheless neither +the poet nor the Premier were as yet in a tractable +mood with regard to the Rieka problem. Signor Nitti, +parading his bonhomie, championed the cause in a more +statesmanlike fashion; he did not, like d'Annunzio, +evoke the world's ridicule by his footlight attitudes and +those of his faithful supporters who, when his "Admiral" +Rizzo abandoned him, when Giorati his confidant withdrew, +when even Millo advised moderation, took certain +piratical steps in order to keep the garrison supplied with +food,<a name="FNanchor_49_49" id="FNanchor_49_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> and composed an anthem which on ceremonial +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span>occasions was chanted in the poet's honour. But when +Signor Nitti observed, with the utmost affability, that +Rieka had, after the fall of the Crown of St. Stephen, +become mistress of her own fate and as such, regardless +of the Treaty of London, asked for inclusion in Italy, +he, the Prime Minister, was vying in recklessness with +d'Annunzio. The prevailing sentiment both in Triest +and Rieka, said the <i>Times</i>,<a name="FNanchor_50_50" id="FNanchor_50_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> was that both these towns +should become free ports in order to serve their hinterlands, +which are not Italian. "Italy is neglecting Triest +in favour of Venice," says the dispatch. In Rieka, +where the situation was even worse, "an honest plebiscite, +even if confined to the Italian part of the city, would give +a startling result. The Italians of Rieka are convinced +that their existence depends on good relations with the +Yugoslavs. They wish the town and port to be independent +under the sovereignty of the League of Nations. +This I have recently been told by a large number of +Italians in Rieka who are obliged, in public, to support +d'Annunzio." Signor Nitti must have been aware that +the voice of the C.N.I. was very far from being the +voice of Rieka. The C.N.I. had reasons of their own +for wishing to postpone the day when their arbitrary +powers would come to an end and a legal Government, +whether that of the League of Nations or of the people's +will or of Italy or of Yugoslavia, be established.</p> + + +<p class="section">SOME OF RIEKA'S SCANDALS</p> + +<p>Owing to the complaints of innumerable citizens the +C.N.I. had nominated a Commission to inquire into the +pillage of the former Austrian stores at Rieka—this town, +as we have mentioned, had been the base for the Albanian +army—and the findings of that Commission displayed +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span>the culpability of the most prominent members of the +C.N.I. This document was for a long time unknown +to the general public, but was afterwards published in +Italy by Signor Riccardo Zanella, himself an Italian +and an ex-deputy and ex-mayor of Rieka. There was, +by the way, an article in the Triest paper, <i>Il Lavoratore</i>, +at the beginning of September 1920, wherein one Tercilio +Borghese, a former member of d'Annunzio's army, +confesses that on June 21, he was ordered by d'Annunzio, +as also by Colonel Sani and Captain Baldassari, to get +Signor Zanella in some way out of the world. Hinko +Camero and Angelo Marzić, his fellow-workers, had +likewise to be removed; and for this purpose Borghese +says that the Colonel provided him with a revolver. +He was also to try to seize any compromising documents. +But he was forced by his conscience to reveal everything +to Zanella.... Now this confession may be true or +false, but the Triest "fascisti" (Nationalists) believed in +it, for they issued a placard on which they called Borghese +a traitor and threatened him with death. "He who +after November 1918 returns to the martyred town," +writes Signor Zanella, "is simply stupefied in beholding +that those personages who now strut on the political +scene, burning with the most ardent Italian patriotism, +are the same who until the eve of Vittorio Veneto were +the most unbending, the most eloquent and the most +devoted partisans and servants of the reactionary Magyar +régime." And around them a number of more or less +questionable persons were assembled, whose conduct with +regard to the disposal of the Austrian stores has now +been so severely censured. That organization which, +dependent on the C.N.I., was supposed to administer +the stores, was known as the Adriatic Commission. "We +all knew," said the Commission of inquiry, "that the +eyes of the whole world were gazing at our little town." +It was, therefore, very desirable that nothing irregular +should be done; whereas the judges give a most unfavourable +verdict. Nobody, they say, would rejoice more +than themselves if their conclusions should be shown to +be completely or partly erroneous, for they are all of +them penetrated with love for the fatherland Italy. +But they relate, with chapter and verse, a large number<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span> +of peculiar transactions which show that the goods were +very improperly and very hastily auctioned, and that +those who reaped the benefit were nearly always the +same people. To give one instance, some of the wine, +said to have been damaged, was sold at 260 crowns the +thousand litres, while undamaged wine brought 320 +crowns, and the firm of Riboli, the only one which appeared +at the so-called auction, was only asked to pay 30 crowns. +Thus a considerable number of people in Rieka were +anxious that the town should not come under any +Government which might punish the culprits or make +them disgorge. And Nitti and d'Annunzio agreed with +these interested parties in opposing a solution other +than the overlordship of Italy. "The Yugoslavs should +understand," said the amiable Premier, "that Italy has +no intention of acting in a manner distasteful to them, +but is struggling for a national ideal." And meantime +what of the conditions in the poor distracted town? +"D'Annunzio," says an Italian paper, "is no longer +the master of Rieka. He has become the prisoner of +his own troops.... While he amuses himself and +organizes the worst orgies, his troops quarrel in the +streets and discharge their weapons.... A great many +of them have their mistresses in the hospital, where they +make themselves at home. When the doctors, after +some time, protested, the arditi, with bombs in their +hands, threatened to blow up the hospital if they were +not allowed to enter it." On the other hand the pale, +weary-looking poet succeeded in impressing on a special +correspondent of the <i>Morning Post</i> that he was "master +of his job." He told this gentleman—and was apparently +believed—that with the consent and approval of the +C.N.I. he had had the whole place mined, city and +harbour, and was prepared to blow it up at a moment's +notice. The means by which d'Annunzio, according to +his interviewer, worked on those who were depressed +with gazing at the empty shops, the silent warehouses, +the grass-grown wharves, so that the overwhelming +majority of the town supported him, was by simply +making to them an eloquent speech. D'Annunzio would +indeed be the master of his job if with some rounded +periods in Italian he could cause the very numerous<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span> +hostile business men to forget so blissfully that they +were men of business. Under his dispensation the town +is said to have been turned into a place of debauchery. +Accusations were brought against his sexual code, and +with regard to men of commerce: "those who are not +partisans of d'Annunzio are expelled, and their establishments +handed over to friends of the ruling power.... +Woe to him who dares to condemn the transactions of +the poet's adherents. There and then he is pronounced +to be a Yugoslav, is placed under surveillance and is +persecuted." These Italian critics of the poet do not +in the least exaggerate. One instance of his conduct +towards a British firm will be sufficient. The "Anglo-Near +East Trading Company" shipped sixty-seven cases +(5292 pairs) of boots to private traders in Belgrade, and +on the way they reached Rieka just before d'Annunzio. +In March 1920 they were still detained there, and on the +13th of that month a certain Alcesde di Ambris, who +described himself as the Chief of the Cabinet, wrote a +letter saying that the boots were requisitioned, and that +they would be paid for within thirty days at a price +fixed on March 5 by experts of the local Chamber of +Commerce. The company was offered forty lire a pair, +but they declined to accept so inadequate a sum. Señor +Meynia, the Spanish Consul, who was also representing +Great Britain, attempted in various ways to help the +firm; he was finally told by an officer that the "exceptional +situation of Rieka compels the Authority to +suspend the exportation or transport of such goods as +are thoroughly needed here." And the Consul could do +no more than protest. One might presume, from this +officer's reply, that d'Annunzio required the boots for +his army. As a matter of fact, they were simply sold +to a couple of dealers, one Levy of Triest and Mailänder +of Rieka. It is alleged that the prices paid by these +receivers of stolen property was a good deal higher than +forty lire. When Signor di Ambris travelled to Rome +in the merry month of June and enjoyed a consultation +with the Prime Minister, who by this time was Signor +Giolitti, it was not in order to explain any such transactions +as that one of the boots, but for the purpose, we +are told, of offering the services of d'Annunzio and his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span> +legionaries in Albania. The regular Italian army was +just then being roughly handled by the natives.... +It may be that Signor di Ambris wanted guarantees +that if the d'Annunzian troops were to come to the +rescue, they would not suffer the fate of the Yugoslavs +who in the Great War had managed to desert to Italy, +had valiantly fought and won many decorations and—after +the War—been ignominiously interned. And they +had given no grounds for charges of financial frailty.</p> + + +<p class="section">PROGRESS OF THE YUGOSLAV IDEA</p> + +<p>The months go by and Yugoslavia still survives. At +the post-office of a large village in Syrmia, not far from +Djakovo, where Bishop Strossmayer laboured during +fifty-five years for the union of the Southern Slavs which +he was destined not to see, a bulky farmer told me that +in his opinion Yugoslavia, created in 1918, was now in +1920 "kaput." He deduced this from the fact that a +telegram used to travel much more expeditiously in +Austrian days; but he did not remember that the Yugoslavs, +in the Serbian and in the Austro-Hungarian armies, +had suffered enormous losses in the War, and that while +French, Dutch and Swiss doctors have been obtained by +the Belgrade Government, one cannot use telegraphists +who are ignorant of the language. An excellent province +in which Yugoslavia's solidity can be studied is Bosnia. +At the outbreak of the War the Moslems and Croats +were not imbued with the Yugoslav idea; it seemed +to them that the Serbs, one of whom had slain the Archduke, +were traitors to Southern Slavdom. During the +War the Croats and Moslems were taught by their Slav +officers to be good nationalists and were given frequent +lessons in the art of going over to the enemy. After +the Armistice one did not see every Serb, Croat and +Moslem in Bosnia forthwith forgetting all the evil of the +past. Among the less enlightened certain private acts +of vengeance had to be performed; but these were not +as numerous as one might have expected. And very +soon the population of Bosnia came to be interested far +less in the old religious differences—the two deputies +Dr. Džamonia and Professor Stanojević smilingly remembered<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span> +the day when, as schoolboys at Sarajevo, +they had been persuaded by the Austrians to pull out +each other's hair for the reason that one was a Croat +and one was a Serb—and now it was the engrossing subject +of Agrarian Reform which claimed the attention +of Catholic, Orthodox and Moslem. This is not a religious +question, for while the landlords are mostly Muhammedan +begs about half the peasants are of the same religion; +and the negotiations have been marked by a notable +absence of passion. Most of the begs acknowledge that +the old régime was unprofitable, for with the peasant +paying one-third to one-fifth of his production to the +landlord the land only yielded, as compared with the +sandy districts of East Prussia, in the proportion of five +to twenty-two. Under the new order of things, with the +State in support of the "usurping" peasant—so that +there are said to be in Bosnia about a thousand peasants +who are millionaires (in crowns)—there is no longer any +dispute with regard to the "kmet" land, where the +peasants with hereditary rights have become the owners; +and with regard to the "begluk," which the beg used +to let to anyone he pleased, it is only a question as to +the degree of compensation. Thus, it is not among the +landowners and the peasants that one must look in +searching for an anti-national party. Bosnia contains +various iron works and coal mines, where profession is +made of Communism. But when the Prince-Regent was +about to come to pay his first official visit in 1920 to +Sarajevo the Governor received a communication from +the Communists of Zenica, which is on the railway line. +They asked for permission to salute "our Prince" as +he came past; and a deputation of these Communists, +who are very like their colleagues in other parts of Yugoslavia, +duly appeared and took part in a ceremony at +the station.</p> + + +<p class="section">DESPITE THE NEW PHENOMENON OF COMMUNISM</p> + +<p>Just as innocuous—whatever the enemies of Yugoslavia +may say—are the Communists in the old kingdom +of Serbia. Perhaps in the whole State of Yugoslavia +they number 50,000 in a population of about 12,500,000.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span> +But they are so well organized that in the municipal +elections of 1920 they were victorious in most of the +towns. In Belgrade they secured 3600 votes, as compared +with 3200 for the Radicals, 2800 for the Democrats—both +of whom were not only badly organized but very +slack—and 605 for the Republicans. However, the +Communists refused to swear the requisite oath, and in +consequence were not permitted to take office, the Radicals +and Democrats forming a union to carry on. It was +agreed to have a new election and the other parties, +being now awakened, determined that the Communists +should not again top the poll. But in the provincial +towns they have not by any means shown themselves a +disintegrating influence. At Niš, for example, they conducted +the municipal affairs quite satisfactorily, while at +Čuprija they perceived that it would be impossible to +put into effect their entire programme, and so, after +fourteen days, they resigned.</p> + + +<p class="section">THE RISE AND FALL OF COMMUNISM IN <ins class="correction" +title="Transcriber's note: original reads 'YUGLOSLAVIA'">YUGOSLAVIA</ins></p> + +<p>... As for the Communists in the Skupština, it +may be argued that though this party of over fifty members +has ceased to exist we should have said not simply that +they are innocuous but that they have been rendered so. +They were in principle against any State which violated +their somewhat hazy ideas on the subject of Capital: +while professing to aim at the holding of wealth in common +they secured a great deal of their success at the polls +through the bait of more land for the individual, which +they dangled before the eyes of the most ignorant classes. +Some of the electors who supported them were prosperous +farmers unable to resist the idea of a still larger farm; +but the majority of their adherents were as ignorant as +they were gullible. Yet one should remember that for +most of them this was practically their first experience +of an election: the constituencies which had formerly +been in Austria-Hungary had always seen the booths +under the supervision of the police, while the Macedonian +voter (three Communists were returned for Skoplje) had +only known the institutions of the Turkish Empire. +Being told by the Communists that their box at the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span> +polling-station was really the box for the poor, the +Fukara, all the gypsies and so forth of Skoplje, who had +never voted in their lives, hastened to claim the privilege, +under the impression that a Communist Government +would liberate them from taxes and military service. +Other reasons for the success of the Communists in Yugoslavia, +an essentially non-industrial State, were the general +discontent with post-war conditions, and the virus which +so many of the voters had acquired in Russia or on the +Dobrudja front during the War. The activity in the +Skupština of this very indigestible party—largely composed +of Turks, Magyars, Albanians, Germans and others—their +activity in and out of Parliament was not confined +to words. In June 1920 they only refrained from throwing +bombs in the Skupština because one of their own +members would have been in peril, and in December a +plot against the Prince-Regent and some of the Ministers +was foiled. Thereupon the Emergency Act of December +27, the so-called Obznana, came into existence. It +suspended all Communist associations. This Act was +issued for the good of the country, but was not previously +presented to the Constituent Assembly or provided with +the royal signature. How justified were the authorities +in thus putting a stop to this party could be seen when +some of the Communist deputies were interrogated, for +either they were dangerous fanatics or else very ignorant +individuals, who knew no more about any other question +than about Communism, and had only been elected +because they professed dissatisfaction with things in +general. A few months later Mr. Drašković, the very +able Minister of the Interior, who had drawn up the +Obznana, but who by that time had laid down the seals +of office, was murdered by Communists at a seaside +resort in the presence of his wife and little children. +The object of this particular outrage was to persuade +the authorities in panic to withdraw the hated Obznana, +whereas the previous attempts on various personages +seem to have been greatly due to the desire to show +some positive result in return for the cash which came +to them from Moscow. (One of the leaders of the party, +the ex-professor of mathematics, was arrested last summer +in Vienna on his return from Moscow, with a large and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span> +very miscellaneous collection of English, French, American, +Russian and other money.) After the murder of Mr. +Drašković the mandates of the Communist deputies +were suppressed; seven or eight of them were detained, +for speedy trial, and the rest were told to go to their +homes. The Communist parliamentary party was at an +end—it was established that their Committee room in +the Skupština had been used for highly improper purposes—but +there was nothing to prevent these ex-deputies +from being elected as members of any other party, and +it was rather beside the mark for an English review, the +<i>Labour Monthly</i>,<a name="FNanchor_51_51" id="FNanchor_51_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> to talk of the "White Terror in Jugo-Slavia," +as if there prevailed in that country anything +comparable with Admiral Horthy's régime in Hungary.</p> + + +<p class="section">OTHER LIONS IN THE PATH</p> + +<p>The behaviour of the Communists was far from being +the only clog in Yugoslavia's parliamentary machine. +After the first General Election of November 1920—delayed +until then on account of Italy's attitude, which +made it impossible to demobilize the army—no single +party nor even one of the large groups was possessed of a +real working majority. Fierce and determined was the +Opposition;<a name="FNanchor_52_52" id="FNanchor_52_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> to carry on the business of government +it became necessary to secure the coalition of several +parties. The Radical and Democrat <i>bloc</i> had to attract +to its side one or two other parties, and it was truly +difficult to make concessions to anyone of these without +rousing the righteous or the envious wrath of another +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span>group. In principle it was proper that the Bosnian +Moslems should receive compensation for their estates; +the question is whether the very large sum was less in +the nature of a fair price than of a bribe. The Radical +party was no longer under its happy triumvirate of +Pašić, the old diplomat, Protić, the executor of his ideas, +and Patchoù, a medical man from Novi Sad, the real +brain of the party. We shall give an example of +Patchoù's prudence; the long views which he possessed +may be illustrated by what occurred at a meeting of +Radical deputies two days before the outbreak of the +second Balkan War. The Tzar's proposed arbitration +was being discussed and certain deputies, such as the late +Dr. Pavlović, who was the first speaker of the Yugoslav +Parliament after the Great War, raised their voices in +opposition; they were supported by the army. "Can we +have Bitolje (Monastir)?" they asked. "It is not known +what the Tzar will decide," said Pašić. "Then we can't +accept arbitration," said Pavlović. And Patchoù spoke. +"I would be very glad to know," said he, "what Mr. +Pavlović would say if we could get, by possibly now +sacrificing Bitolje, not only Bosnia, but Dalmatia and +other Slav countries." "All that," said Pavlović, "is +music of the future." "For you perhaps," said Patchoù, +"but not for us." And the vote in favour of arbitration +was carried. Patchoù died in 1915 at Niš. Besides +being an expert in finance and foreign affairs he was less +arbitrary in his methods than Protić. That very erudite +man—no sooner does an important book appear in Western +or Central Europe than a copy of it goes to his library—has +not been much endowed with patience. This brought +him into conflict with his Democratic colleague Mr. +Pribičević, the most prominent man in that party. It +would have been well if Dr. Davidović, the gentle, tactful +leader of the party, could have taken into his own composition +one-half of his lieutenant's excessive combativeness. +Pribičević and Protić find it impossible to work +together, and we can sympathize with both of them. +One day at a more than usually disagreeable Cabinet +meeting Pribičević reminded the then Prime Minister +that he was the first among equals, a point of view which +did not square with the methods of Protić, who gives his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span> +support to those Ministers who bend before him. And as +Pribičević has hitherto insisted on being in every Cabinet, +Protić has withdrawn and has started a newspaper, the +<i>Radical</i>, in which he attacks him with great violence +and ability. One charge which he brings against this +Serb from Croatia is perfectly true, for he has succeeded +in alienating the Croats. Only two or three Democrat +deputies come from Croatia, and they are elected by the +Serbs who live in that province. It would seem that the +Croats will remain in more or less active opposition so +long as Pribičević, the arch-centralizer who scorns to +wear the velvet glove, stays in the Government. There +is also much doubt as to whether Protić can break down +their particularism, which, of course, is not an anti-national +movement. But luckily, through other men, +it will be stayed. For other reasons one regrets that +Mr. Protić is not now in power; as the Finance Minister +he knew how to introduce order, preferring the interests +of the State to those of his party. Both Radicals and +Democrats have been reluctant, for electoral purposes, +to tax the farmer; and Mr. Protić would probably have +the courage to impose a direct tax, as the Radicals did, +without losing popular favour, in the old days. In this +respect and concerning the numerous posts that have been +created for party reasons it is thought that Mr. Pašić +has not displayed sufficient energy.</p> + +<p>There was in Yugoslavia a heavy war deficit, both +economic and financial. Communications were out of +order and the State, owing to the adverse exchange +(which was not justified by the economic potentialities +of the country, but was probably caused by the unsettled +conditions both internal and external), the State could +not obtain the necessary raw products for industrial +undertakings such as iron-works, tanneries, cloth factories, +etc. The Yugoslavs did not borrow from abroad, as +they might have done, in the form of raw materials. +The agricultural products which were exported should +have been sold for the needful manufacturers' material +and not for articles of luxury and not for depreciated +foreign, especially Austrian, currency.<a name="FNanchor_53_53" id="FNanchor_53_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a> The Yugoslav +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span>public is slow to learn economy, that it should restrict +the importation of luxuries. What makes it particularly +unhappy, in which frame of mind it listens to the voices +prophesying woe for Yugoslavia, is the knowledge that +for increased production and for many other necessary +aims more capital is wanted, whereas under present +conditions it has been difficult to borrow. But happily in +this respect the corner has been turned, and in the spring +of 1922 a considerable loan was negotiated with an +American syndicate.</p> + + +<p class="section">THE NADIR OF DEVINE AND NIKITA</p> + +<p>However, the principal disintegrating force in Yugoslavia, +we were often told in England, was Montenegro, +where, it seems, the natives were yearning to cast off +their yoke. The British devotees of the former king +told us of the ghastly state of Montenegro, and our +Foreign Office was bombarded with reports which ascribed +these evils to the wretched Government of Yugoslavia. +"There is nothing anywhere," says a memorandum from +the ineffable Devine. "The shops are empty, the town +markets are deserted. The peasants, who may not travel +from one village to another without a Serbian 'permit' +... etc. etc." Well, I visited Cetinje market on a non-market +day, and passing through the crowd of people +I admired the produce of various parts of the country—melons, +tomatoes, dried fish, onions, peaches, nuts and +cheese, lemons from Antivari and so forth. I happened +to ask a comely woman called Petriečević from near +Podgorica whether she had a permit; she looked surprised +at such a question. It is very true that the more mountainous +parts of Montenegro are far from prosperous, +but to insinuate that this is the fault of the Government +is childish. Hampered by the lack of transport—practically +everything has to be brought on ox-carts up by the +tremendous road from Kotor—they have recently given +away 38,000 kilos of wheat and many mountain horses +at Cetinje. I suppose it was all in the game for Devine +and his assistants to throw mud at the Yugoslav Government +if they believed that they would—for the happiness +of the Montenegrins and themselves—help to restore<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span> +Nikita. But what was the use of saying that "the poor +people have no money and have nothing to eat; they +are said to be living on a herb of some sort that grows +wild in the mountains"?... A very satisfactory feature +of the past year has been the migration of 7000 Montenegrins +to more fertile parts of Yugoslavia. And as for +Nikita's partisans, they were such small beer that when +they wished to hold a meeting at Cetinje the Government +had not the least objection; it also allowed them to sing +the songs that Nikita wrote, but that was more than the +population of Cetinje would stand. It is only at Cetinje, +where he reigned for sixty years, and at Njeguš, where +he was born, that Nikita has any adherents at all. As for +his adherents at Gaeta, the Cetinje authorities were +perfectly willing to give a passport to any woman who +desired to spend some time in Italy with her husband +or brother or son. She might stay there or come back, +just as she pleased. And very likely when she got to +Gaeta she would relate how in the cathedral, at the rock-bound +monastery of Ostrog, and in other sacred places, +one could see the Montenegrin women cursing their ex-king.</p> + + +<p class="section">A GENERAL</p> + +<p>The sinister shadow of d'Annunzio had fallen across +Dalmatia and beyond it: for instance, on November 20, +1919, the King of Italy's name-day, a general holiday +was proclaimed in the occupied districts. The director +of the school at Zlosela, a Slav who had never been an +Italian subject, gave—perhaps injudiciously—the usual +lessons. He and his wife were arrested and for months +they were in prison, their six-months-old child being left +to the mercy of neighbours; and the local commandant, +Major Gracco Golini, told Dr. Smolčić, the President of +the National Council, that the slightest action on the +part of the Yugoslavs would provoke terrible measures +on the part of d'Annunzio's arditi, who would spare +neither women nor children.... The reader may remember +the Montenegrin General Vešović, who took to +the mountains and defied the Austrians. On the accession +of the Emperor Karl he surrendered and, much to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span> +surprise of his people, he travelled round the country +recommending every one to offer no more opposition, to +be quiet and obedient to the Austrians. When the war +was over the authorities at Belgrade gave him, as they +did to other Montenegrin generals, the same rank in the +Yugoslav army; but the numerous Montenegrins who +resented his unpatriotic behaviour persuaded the War +Office, after two or three months, to remove him from the +active list. This exasperated the ambitious man to +such an extent that he withdrew to his own district and +began to work against Yugoslavia. A major with a +force of 200 gendarmes was sent to fetch him back and, +after conversations that lasted ten days, induced him to +return to Belgrade. There he was not molested; he used +to sit for hours in the large café of the Hotel Moscow in +civilian clothes. But one day a policeman at the harbour +happened to observe him talking for a long time to a +fisherman; he wondered what the two might have in +common. When the fisherman was interrogated he +refused at first to give any information, but he finally +divulged that he had agreed, for 1500 francs, to take the +General down the Danube either to Bulgaria or Roumania. +That evening at nine o'clock the General appeared, with +his son and a servant; he was captured,<a name="FNanchor_54_54" id="FNanchor_54_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> and among his +documents were some which proved, it was alleged, that +he was in communication with d'Annunzio.</p> + + +<p class="section">TWO COMIC PRO-ITALIANS IN OUR MIDST</p> + +<p>Month follows month. The reading public and some +of the statesmen of the world begin to recognize that, +whatever may be the case on other portions of the new +map, there is nothing unreal or impossible or artificial +about Yugoslavia. This State is the result of a national +movement, having its origins within and not without +the peoples whose destiny it affects. The various Yugoslavs, +after being kept apart for all these centuries, have +now—roughly speaking—come to that stage which the +Germans reached in 1866. They cannot rest until they +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span>reach the unity which came to the Germans after 1870. +And here also, it seems, the unity will not be gained +without the sacrifice of thousands of young men. "Go, +my son," said Oxenstiern the Swedish Chancellor, "and +observe by what imbeciles the world is governed." It +is pitiable that the leaders of the nations, in declining +month after month to give to Yugoslavia an equitable +frontier, should apparently have been more impressed +by the arguments of Mrs. Lucy Re-Bartlett<a name="FNanchor_55_55" id="FNanchor_55_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a> than by +those of an anonymous philosopher in the <i>Edinburgh +Review</i>.<a name="FNanchor_56_56" id="FNanchor_56_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> "Nationality?" says the lady, speaking of +the country people of Dalmatia, "nationality? These +people of the country districts—the great mass of the +population—are far too primitive to have any sense of +nationality as yet, but if some day they call themselves +Italian...." That is what she says of a people which +through centuries of persecution and neglect have preserved +their language, their traditions, their hopes; a +people which, more than forty years ago, won their great +victory against the Habsburg régime of Italian and +Italianist officials, so that with one exception every mayor +in Dalmatia and all the Imperial deputies and hundreds +of societies of all kinds, such as 375 rural savings-banks, +were exclusively Yugoslav. Out of nearly 150,000 votes +at the last general election, which was held in 1911 on the +basis of universal suffrage, the Yugoslav candidates +received about 145,000 against 5000 to 6000 for the +Italians. It is indisputable that the Dalmatian peasants +are backward in many things, but one is really sorry for +the person who declares in print that they possess no +sense of nationality. Let her visit any house of theirs on +Christmas Eve and watch them celebrate the "badnjak"; +let her listen any evening to their songs. Let her think +whether there is no sense of nationality among the priests, +who almost to a man are the sons of Yugoslav peasants. +And let her recollect that these are the days when the +other Yugoslavs are at last uniting in their own free +State. She has the hardihood to tell us of the poor +Dalmatians who were being bribed with waterworks and +bridges and gratuitous doctoring. I daresay that the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span>little ragged Slav children of Kievo whom she saw clustering +round the kindly Italian officer were glad enough to +eat his chocolates,<a name="FNanchor_57_57" id="FNanchor_57_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a> but I think that we others should pay +more attention to those secret societies, the <i>četasis</i> (which +is Slav for komitadjis), who have sworn to liberate all +Istria from the Italians. We may also consider the +proposals made by the Southern Slavs whom Signor +Salvemini, the distinguished Professor of Modern History +at Pisa, called "extreme Nationalists" (see his letter +of September 11, 1916, to the editor of <i>La Serbie</i>, which +was being published in Switzerland). Well, it appears +that the "extreme Southern Slav Nationalists," as the +utmost of their aspirations, claim the Southern Slav +section of the province of Gorica with the town Triest +and the whole of Istria, that is to say, a territory which, +with a population the majority of whom are Slav, contains +also 284,325 Italians, whereas the smallest programme +ever proposed by moderate Italians, including +Professor Salvemini, covets some 364,000 Southern Slavs. +Thus the extreme Southern Slav elements, in their widest +demands, are more moderate than the moderate Italians +in their most limited programme. "Without distinction +of tribe or creed," says that Edinburgh reviewer, "all +the Yugoslavs are waiting for their 1870. This will fix +and perpetuate their unity.... The preparation is +going forward silently—almost sullenly—and without +demur or qualification the Yugoslavs are accepting the +Serb military chiefs' guidance and domination." He +was much impressed by the silence and controlled power +of the Serbian General Staff. There was in Europe a +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span>general war-weariness; but not in Yugoslavia. There +was a hush in this part of Europe, broken only by the shrill +screams of Italian propagandists and outbursts of suppressed +passion on the other side.</p> + + +<p class="section">THE BELATED TREATY OF RAPALLO</p> + +<p>And the Rapallo Treaty of November 1920, when at +last the statesmen of Italy and Yugoslavia came to +terms regarding all their frontiers! This Treaty was +received with much applause by the great majority of +the French and British Press; in this country of compromise +it was pointed out by many that as each party +knew that the other had abated something of his desires +the Treaty would probably remain in operation for a +long time to come. And column after column of smug +comment was written in various newspapers by the +"Diplomatic Correspondent," whose knowledge of diplomacy +may have been greater than his acquaintance with +the Adriatic, since they followed one another, like a +procession of sheep, in copying the mistake in a telegram +which spoke of Eritto, the curious suburb of Zadar, +instead of Borgo Erizzo. They noted that each side had +yielded something, though it was true that the Yugoslavs +had been the more generous in surrendering half a million +of their compatriots, whereas the Italians had given up +Dalmatia, to which they never had any right.<a name="FNanchor_58_58" id="FNanchor_58_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a> "The claim +for Dalmatia was entirely unjustified," said Signor +Colajanni in the Italian Chamber on November 23—yet +it was not our business to weigh the profit and loss +to the two interested parties. After all, it was they who +had between themselves made this Agreement, and one +might argue that it surely would be an impertinence if +anybody else was more royalist than the king. These +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span>commentators held that it was inexpedient for anyone +to ask why the Yugoslavs should now have accepted +conditions that were, on the whole, considerably worse +than those which President Wilson, with the approval +of Great Britain and France, had laid down as a minimum, +if they were to realize their national unity. And, of +course, these writers deprecated any reference to the +pressure which France and Great Britain brought to +bear upon the Yugoslavs when the negotiations at Rapallo +were in danger of falling through. If we take two Scottish +newspapers, the <i>Scotsman</i><a name="FNanchor_59_59" id="FNanchor_59_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a> was typical of this very +bland attitude; it congratulated everyone on the +harmonious close to a long, intricate and frequently +dangerous controversy. The <i>Glasgow Herald</i>,<a name="FNanchor_60_60" id="FNanchor_60_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_60_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a> on the +other hand, was one of the few newspapers which took a +more than superficial view. "Monstrous," it said, "as +such intervention seems, no student of the Adriatic White +Paper—as lamentable a collection of documents as British +diplomacy has to show—can deny its possibility, nay its +probability. It is precisely the same game as was nearly +successful in January 1920 and again in April 1920, but +both times was frustrated by Wilson. We are entitled +to ask, for the honour of our nation, if it has been played +again; indeed if the whole mask of direct negotiation—a +British suggestion—was not devised at San Remo +with the express purpose of making the game succeed. +If it be so—and if it is not so it is imperative that we +are given frankly the full story of British policy in the +Adriatic, for instance the dispatches so carefully omitted +from the White Paper—then our forebodings for the future +are more than justified.... It is emphatically a bad +settlement."</p> + +<p>"We shall not establish friendly and normal relations +with our neighbour Italy unless we reduce all causes of +friction to a minimum," said M. Vesnić, the Yugoslav +Prime Minister, who during his long tenure of the Paris +Legation was an active member of the Académie des +Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres and other learned societies; +he excelled in getting at the root of the worst difficulties +in international law, and he was particularly admired +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span>for his ability to combine legal and historic knowledge. +Because he studied history minutely—with a special +fondness for Gambetta who, racially an Italian, had something +of the generous and sacred fervour that distinguished +the leaders of the Risorgimento—M. Vesnić could not +bring himself to hate Italy, despite all that d'Annunzio +and other Imperialists had made his countrymen suffer. +"Neither the Government nor the elected representatives +of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes," said he courageously +in his first speech as Prime Minister, "ought +to look upon Italy as an enemy country. We have +to settle important and difficult questions with Italy.... +We must reduce all causes of friction to a +minimum."</p> + +<p>The Treaty of Rapallo gives Zadar to Italy, because +in that little town there is an Italian majority; but +central and eastern Istria, with their overwhelming Slav +majority, are not given to the Yugoslavs—a fact which +Professor Salvemini deplored in the Roman Chamber. +By the Treaty of Rapallo Rieka is given independence,<a name="FNanchor_61_61" id="FNanchor_61_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a> +but with Italy in possession of Istria and the isle of Cres, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span>she can at any moment choke the unprotected port, +having very much the same grip of that place as Holland +has for so long had of Antwerp; and the sole concession +on Italy's part seems to be that in the south she gives +up the large Slav islands of Hvar, Korčula and Vis, and +only appropriates the small one of Lastovo.... "It +has cost Italy a pang," says Mr. George Trevelyan, +"to consent, after victory, to leave the devoted and +enthusiastic Italians of the Dalmatian coast towns (other +than Zara) in foreign territory." The truth is that +henceforward Yugoslavia will contain some 5000 Italians +(many of whom are Italianized Slavs), as against not less +than 600,000 Slavs in Italy. And while the former are +but tiny groups in towns which even under Venetian +rule were predominantly Slav and are surrounded on all +sides by purely Slav populations, the latter live for the +most part in compact masses and include roughly one-third +of the whole Slovene race, whose national sense is +not only very acute, but who are also much less illiterate +than their Italian neighbours. One cannot be astonished +if the Slovenes think of this more than of Giotto, Leonardo, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span>Galileo and Dante. But one may be a little surprised +that such a man as Mr. Edmund Gardner should allow +his reverence for the imperishable glories of Italy to +becloud his view of the modern world. It is certainly a +fact that the Slovenes are to-day less illiterate than the +Italians, but because Dr. Seton-Watson alludes to this, +Mr. Gardner (in the <i>Manchester Guardian</i>, of February +13, 1921) deplores the "Balkanic mentality that +seems to afflict some Englishmen when dealing with these +problems."</p> + + +<p class="section">ITS PROBABLE FRUITS</p> + +<p>Now it is obvious that the Treaty of Rapallo has placed +between the Yugoslavs and the Italians all too many +causes of friction. Zadar, like other such enclaves, will +be dear to the heart of the smuggler. She cannot live +without her Yugoslav hinterland—five miles away in +Yugoslavia are the waterworks, and if these were not +included, by a special arrangement, in her dominion, +she would have no other liquid but her maraschino. She +cannot die without her Yugoslav hinterland—but so that +her inhabitants need not be carried out into a foreign +land, the cemetery has also, by stretching a point, been +included in the city boundaries. It remains to be seen +how Zadar and the hinterland will serve two masters. +We have alluded to the questionable arrangements at +Rieka, in which town there had for those years +been such an orgy of limelight and recrimination that +even the most statesmanlike solution must have left a +good deal of potential friction. In Istria the dangers +of an outbreak are evident. Italy has now become the +absolute mistress of the Adriatic and has gained a +strategical frontier which could hardly be improved upon, +while Yugoslavia has been placed in an economic position +of much difficulty. Sooner or later, if matters are left +<i>in situ</i>, trouble will arise. Perhaps an economic treaty +between Italy and Yugoslavia, as favourable as possible +to the weaker State, would introduce some sort of stability; +but no good cause would be served by crying "Peace" +where there is no peace, and while Yugoslavia has a +grievance there will be trouble in the Balkans.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span></p> + +<p>The most serious phase of the Adriatic crisis is now +ushered in, for a new Alsace has been created; and those +who point this out cannot be charged with an excessive +leaning towards the Yugoslavs. It also seems to me that +one can scarcely say they are alarmists. If Yugoslavia, +in defiance of that most immoral pressure, had declared +for war, Vesnić at the general election would have swept +the country with the cry of "War for Istria!" To his +eternal honour he chose the harder path of loyalty to the +new ideas which Serbian blood has shed so freely to +make victorious. A momentary victory has now been +gained by the Italians, but not one that makes for peace. +It poisons by annexations fundamentally unjustifiable, +however consecrated by treaty, the whole source of +tranquillity in the Near East. "Paciencia!" [Have +patience] you say, in refusing to give alms to a Portuguese +beggar, and he follows your advice. But when the +Yugoslavs ask for a revision of the Treaty—if the Italians +do not wisely offer it themselves—it would be rash if in +attempting to foretell the future we should base ourselves +upon the premise that their patience will be everlasting. +A new Alsace has been created, an Alsace to which, in +the opinion of competent observers, all the Yugoslavs +will turn until the day comes when it is honourable to +set the standards forth on a campaign of liberation.</p> + + +<p class="section">NEW FORCES IN THE FIRST YUGOSLAV PARLIAMENT</p> + +<p>When the Yugoslavs were at last in a position, late +in 1920, to hold the elections for the Constituent Assembly +the Radicals and the Democrats were the most successful, +but even if they made a Coalition they would still have +no majority. [Now and then the Democrats asserted +themselves against the Radicals, but when the Opposition +thought they could perceive a rift the Democratic Press +would write that the two parties were most intimately +joined to one another, and especially the Democrats.] +The small parties were very numerous, the smallest being +that of M. Ribarac, the old Liberal leader, who found +himself in the Skupština with nobody to lead; the +clericals of Slovenia came to grief, a fact which appeared +to give general satisfaction, and a similar mishap befell<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span> +the decentralizing parties of Croatia. On the other hand +the Croat Peasants' party, whose decentralization ideas +were more extreme, had a very considerable success, +and the Communist party, whose fall we have already +described, had come to the Skupština with some fifty +members.</p> + + +<p class="section">(<i>a</i>) MARKOVIĆ THE COMMUNIST</p> + +<p>The temporary triumph of the Communists was admittedly +due to the exceptional position in which the country +found itself. They had in Sima Marković an enthusiastic +leader who has abandoned the teaching of mathematics +in order to expound the gospel of Moscow, and in the +Skupština the shrill, voice of this kindly, bald-headed +little man had to be raised to its uttermost capacity, for +most of his fellow-members were unwilling to be taught. +It so happens that he is Pašić's godson, and on one occasion +when the little Communist was talking with great vehemence +the old gentleman, who was turning over the +pages of some document, was heard by an appreciative +House to murmur: "Oh, be still, my child, be still!" +But the most unfortunate episode in Marković's oratory +was when he expressed the hope that Communism would +rage through the country like an epidemic, forgetting for +the moment that those municipalities which had gone +over to Communism had won general praise for their +improvements in the sanitary sphere. Largely on account +of this infelicitous simile he was replaced in the leadership +by another, a less vigorous and less entertaining +person. And this party stood in particular need of +attractive champions.</p> + +<p>The Croat Peasants' party, or the Radić party, as it +came to be called, gave to its beloved chief more than +half the seats in Croatia, forty-nine out of ninety-three; +and the whole party refused to go to Belgrade.</p> + +<p>"Would it not have been better," I asked him, "if +you had gone? The Constitution will be settled without +you."</p> + + +<p class="section">(<i>b</i>) RADIĆ, THE MUCH-DISCUSSED</p> + +<p>"We had various reasons," said he, "for not going. +One of them was that the Assembly which laid down the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span> +Constitution was not sovereign. For example, it was +not permitted to discuss whether Yugoslavia should be +a monarchy or a republic. I admit that three-quarters +of the members would very likely have voted for a +monarchy, and in that case we should have accepted +the situation very much as do the royalist deputies in +the French Parliament."</p> + +<p>"What are your own views on this subject?"</p> + +<p>"Well," said he, "for this period of transition I +believe—mark you, this only applies to myself—that a +monarchy is not merely acceptable but preferable. On +the other hand the Croat peasant was so badly treated +by the Habsburgs that he will now hear of nothing but +a republic."</p> + +<p>I ventured to say that this sudden conversion to +republican ideas in one who for centuries had lived in a +monarchy was peculiar, and Radić acknowledged that +when the first republican cries were raised at a meeting +of the Peasants' party on July 25, 1918 they came to him +as a revelation, one which he accepted.</p> + +<p>"You don't accept everything that your peasants +shout for?"</p> + +<p>"I do not," said he. "There was a gentleman who +asked them at a meeting whether they would kill him if +he, elected as their representative, were to go to Belgrade. +They shouted back that they would do so. And when +the prospective candidate came to tell me this story, +thinking that I would be delighted, I told him that a +ship's captain cannot have his hands bound before undertaking +a voyage and he must therefore withdraw his +candidature.... When the time comes we will go to +Belgrade."</p> + +<p>"And those who say that you are longing for the +return of the Habsburgs?"</p> + +<p>He gripped my arm. "They are fools," said he. +"We are looking forward as eagerly as the great Bishop +Strossmayer to the union of the Southern Slavs. According +to the spirit of his time he began at the top, with +academies, picture galleries and so forth. We prefer +to begin with elementary schools." And bubbling with +enthusiasm he told me of the efforts his party was making. +It was plain to see that what lies nearest to his heart is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span> +to improve their social and economic status. And those +observers are probably in the right, who believe that he +merely uses this republican cry as a weapon which he +will conveniently drop when it has served its purpose.</p> + +<p>"If only Yugoslavia had a great statesman," said I, +"who would weld the new State together, so that the +Croats remain with the Serbs not alone for the reasons +that they are both Southern Slavs and that they are +surrounded by not over-friendly neighbours. The great +statesman—perhaps it will be Pašić—will make you all +happy to come together."</p> + +<p>"From the bottom of my heart I hope he will succeed," +said Radić, "and he will be remembered as our second +and more fortunate Strossmayer."</p> + +<p>We generally imagine that the statesmen of South-Eastern +Europe are a collection of rather swarthy, frock-coated +personages who, when not engaged in decrying +each other, are very busily occupied in feathering their +own nests. If any one of them, at the outset of his +career, had a sense of humour we suppose that in this +heated atmosphere it must have long ago evaporated. +But strangely enough, the two most prominent politicians +in Yugoslavia, the venerable Pašić, the Prime Minister +of this new State of Serbs and Croats and Slovenes, even +as he used for years to be the autocrat of Serbia, and his +opponent Stephen Radić are, both of them, by the grace +of God, of a humorous disposition. Outwardly, there +is not much resemblance between them: Pašić, the +picture of a benevolent patriarch, letting fall in his +deep voice a few casual words which bring down his +critics' case, hopelessly down like a wounded aeroplane, +and Radić the fervid little orator, the learned man, whose +life has been devoted to the Croat peasants and who is +said to find it difficult to make a speech that is under +eight hours in length. Last year when the vigorous +Pribičević, then Minister of the Interior, who is determined +to compel the Serbs and the Croats straightway +to live in the closest companionship, whereas Radić, +supported by most of the Croat <i>intelligentsia</i>, argues +that in view of their very different culture, the Serbs +having enjoyed a Byzantine and the Croats an Austrian +education, it would be advisable for these two branches<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span> +of the South Slav nation to come gradually and not +violently together,—last year when Radić was lying in +prison on account of his subversive ideas Pribičević sent +a message to say that he was prepared to adopt half +his programme. And Radić sent back word regretting +that the Minister could not adopt the whole of it and thus +obtain for himself the Peasants' party. It is wrong to +assert that this party is unpatriotic; the enemies of +Yugoslavia, who welcome in Radić a disruptive element, +are totally in error. Years ago he was working for the +eventual union of Serbs and Croats—the Austrians +imprisoned him because in 1903 he went to Belgrade +at the accession of King Peter and made an admirable +speech to this effect—and his present attitude is due to +the impatient manner in which Mr. Pribičević and his +friends are endeavouring to bring the union about. His +peasants are a conservative people; they cannot instantly +dispel the anti-Serb ideas which the Austrians for ever +inculcated, nor the negative anti-Serb frame of mind +which they learned from their own <i>intelligentsia</i>. It +will take a little time before the Catholic peasant realizes +that the Orthodox Serb is his brother and that now his +military service will not be in an alien army, but in his +own. "Let us go slowly," says Radić, "with our peasants"; +and he knows them very well.... One is told that he +changes his opinions from hour to hour; he is certainly +very impetuous, very much under the influence of his +emotions; but in one thing he has never varied—he +has always struggled for the Croat peasant, and he has +been rewarded by the unbounded devotion of that faithful, +rather incoherent, creature.</p> + +<p>Now the Serbs are a democratic people; they are by +their nature in opposition to any force, civil or military, +which might attempt to make the monarchy more absolute. +The wisest Serbs do not forget that in the peasant +lies their principal wealth, and although as yet the +Serbian Peasants' party does not hold many constituencies +in the old kingdom, nevertheless it appears to have +a brighter prospect than any other Serbian party, for in +that country the revolt against the lawyer-politician is +likely to be more efficacious than in France or England. +One may look forward to an understanding between<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span> +Radić and this Serbian party, which is only two or three +years old, although its founder, the excellent Avramović—an +elderly gentleman who sits behind vast barricades +of books in various languages—has devoted himself +for many years to agrarian co-operative societies, of +which in Serbia there are more than 1500.</p> + +<p>The most uncertain factors seem to be the moderating +hold of Radić over his peasants and over himself. No one +doubts but that he has the interests of the peasant very +much at heart, and if he succeeds in improving the +peasant's lot then that grateful giant will presumably not +sink again into the sleep which he enjoyed when he was +under the Habsburgs. The circulation of Radić's weekly +paper <i>Dom</i><a name="FNanchor_62_62" id="FNanchor_62_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a> ("The Home") has risen from 2000 before the +elections and 9000 during the elections to 30,000. One +enterprising vendor, a Serb from the Banat, takes 500 +copies a week and tramps over the countryside, disposing +of his wares either for cash or for eggs, the latter of +which he sells at the end of the week to a Zagreb hotel. +The peasant is making great efforts to raise himself—a +case has recently been brought to light of a farmer in +Zagorija who, as a hobby, has taught more than 700 +persons to read and write. The peasant perceives that +he has been assisted far less by the Catholic Church than +by the work of Radić. It is not unfair to say that the +Church desired, above all things, to keep the peasant +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span>under her control. If a parish priest was disliked by his +flock, so a prominent Croatian priest tells me, that was +all the more reason why the Bishop refused to remove +him. And the clergy, except for an enlightened minority, +have been very much opposed to Radić's policy of +democratizing the Church.... In return for his unceasing +labours he has now secured the peasant's love +and confidence. He will retain them if he satisfies his +client, and it seems to be within his power—gaining +for him a better position and dissuading him from fantastic +demands. He can be of immense assistance in the task +of building up the State. But will the brilliant flame +within him burn with steadiness? Has he got sufficient +strength of will? With all his qualities of heart and +brain he has not managed to discard his zig-zag impetuosity. +The peasants, who recognize his talents, ask him +to captain the ship; but he runs down too often into his +cabin and leaves the unskilled sailors on the bridge. +Down in the cabin he is feverishly and with great skill +writing a contradiction of a pronouncement he made +yesterday.</p> + +<p>Those who are openly sailing in Radić's boat are for +the most part the hard-headed peasants. Yet a number +of the <i>intelligentsia</i> are coming on board—some of them, +no doubt, with a view to their own advancement, but +others on account of their convictions. And a still +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span>greater number of the Croat <i>intelligentsia</i> look on him +with sympathy—municipal officials, barristers, doctors, +merchants, schoolmasters and military officers. It is +most foolish to pretend that all these people are thinking +regretfully of the old Habsburg days—they are, in the +vast majority, sincere and loyal Yugoslavs who have +certain grievances. They do not believe that Croatia has +fared very well since the institution of the new State +and it would seem wise to give them as much autonomy +as is consonant with the interests of the whole country, +for then they will only have themselves to blame if there +is no improvement. Maybe they are unduly sensitive, +but they were for many years in political warfare with +the Magyars and this should be taken into consideration. +Even if all the grievances are based on misconceptions, +on the difficulties of the moment, on the circumstances +of the fading past—the new generation of Croats, say +their teachers, are growing up to be excellent Yugoslavs—yet +an effort should be made to sweep them away.</p> + +<p>When Belgrade makes a statesmanlike gesture then +Radić will probably be able to persuade the peasants +to abandon their republican slogan—both they and the +<i>intelligentsia</i> will abandon their reserved attitude towards +the Government which they were far from entertaining +when the State was first established. It seems as if the +role of conciliator may well be filled by that wise old +man, Nicholas Pašić, who is now no longer a mere Balkan +Premier. When he was that he very properly used +Balkan methods, despite the stern remarks of a few +Western critics.</p> + + +<p class="section">THE SERBS AND THE CROATS</p> + +<p>We have alluded to the relations between Serbs and +Croats. This is a subject of such importance that it +will be well to consider it more fully. When Yugoslavia +sprang into existence at the end of the War—70 per cent. +of this State having previously been under the rule of +the House of Habsburg—it was met in various quarters +with a grudging welcome. Soon, we were told, it would +dissolve again, and every symptom of internal discontent +was treated as a proof of this. On the other hand there<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span> +were those who told us that the Southern Slavs, having +come together after all these hundreds of years, were +tightly clasped in each others' arms and that all reports +to the contrary came from very interested parties.</p> + +<p>Little was said of the Slovenes; their language, as +we have mentioned, is not the same as that spoken +by Serbs and Croats, and—what is of still greater importance—they +have Slovenia to themselves. If Croatia +were equally immune from Serbs, then by this time the +Southern Slavs would be a more united nation. Those +people were wrong who fancied that the presence of the +Serbs in Croatia—they form between one-fourth and one-third +of the population—would be of service in welding +together the new State. They forgot that for many +years the Austro-Hungarian Government had in Croatia +played off the Roman Catholic Croats against the +Orthodox Serbs. The two Slav brothers were incited +to mutual hatred, and though such a propaganda would +naturally have more effect among the uneducated classes, +yet all too often the <i>intelligentsia</i> responded to these +machinations. More favour, of course, was shown to +the Croats, whose obedience could largely be secured by +means of the Church, whereas no similar pressure could +be brought to bear upon the Orthodox Serbs. Even if +the Government approached the Orthodox clergy, these +latter had only a very moderate control over their flock. +A Serb is always ready to subscribe towards the erection +of a new church, which he regards as most other nations +regard their flag; but when it is built he rarely enters +it. This being so, the Austro-Hungarian Government +tyrannized over the Serbs in Croatia by measures taken +against their schools, the Cyrillic alphabet and so forth. +It was natural that the suffering Serbs were apt to compare +these restrictions with those that were imposed +upon the Croats. However, among the <i>intelligentsia</i> an +effort—a fairly successful effort—was made to nullify +this dividing policy; the Serbo-Croat Coalition was +formed, one of the protagonists being Svetozar Pribičević, +that very energetic Serb of Croatia, and in 1906 this party +obtained no less than sixty-eight seats, while the power +of the older Croat parties was correspondingly diminished +and Radić had his very small following in the Zagreb<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span> +Lantag. [Those who represented Croatia in the central +Parliament at Buda-Pest were chosen by the Ban, Khuen-Hedérváry. +Those forty members had practically no +acquaintance with the Magyar language, so that some of +them drew their 8000 annual crowns and only went to +Pest if an important division was expected, others who +spent more time in the capital wasted their lives amid +surroundings just as riotous as and more expensive than +the Parliament, while only those did useful work who +managed to confer, behind the scenes, with the authorities. +To some extent this was done by Pribičević and to a +greater extent by another Serb, Dr. Dušan Popović, who +surpassed him in capacity and geniality. It was he, +by the way, who demonstrated in the Buda-Pest Parliament +that if the average Croat deputy was ignorant of +the Magyar language, there was a greater ignorance of +Serbo-Croatian on the part of the Magyars. One day +when he had started on a speech in his native tongue he +was howled down after he had explained that he was +talking Serbian. He promised to continue in Croatian, +and did so without being interrupted.]</p> + +<p>At Zagreb the fusion of the Croat and Serb <i>intelligentsia</i> +was still very incomplete at the outbreak of the +War—the Croat Starčevist party and others going their +own way. During the War the Austro-Hungarian +Government ruled by means of the Coalition party; but +the latter had no choice, and throughout Croatia they +were never charged with infidelity to the Slav cause. +They did whatever their delicate situation permitted; +and in October 1918, when the Slavs of Croatia and +Slovenia threw off the yoke of centuries and joined with +the Serbs of Serbia and Montenegro, one hoped that the +simultaneous arrival in Belgrade of the Coalition and the +Starčevist leaders heralded in Croatia a cessation of the +ancient hostility. Pribičević became Minister of the +Interior in the new State, and very soon it was obvious +that he meant to govern in a centralizing fashion, despite +his earlier assurance that no such steps would be taken +without the sanction of the Constituent Assembly. No +doubt his motives were unimpeachable; he feared lest +the negative, anti-Serb mentality, which for so long had +flourished among the Croats, would not, except by drastic<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span> +methods, be removed. He was met with opposition. +Now you see, he cried, there are still in Croatia a number +of disloyal Slavs, great landowners, Catholic clergy and +others whom the Habsburgs used to favour. And he +continued, with hundreds of edicts, to try to weld the +State together. Consumed with patriotism, his great +black eyes on flame amid the pallor of his face—his luminous +and martyred face, to use the expression of his friends—he +never for a moment relaxed his efforts; if those who +opposed him were numerous it was all the more reason why +he must be resolute. The rôle fitted him very well, for he is +the dourest politician in Yugoslavia—a perfectly honest, upright, +injudicious patriot. His Democratic party had now +taken the place of the Serbo-Croat Coalition and it saw the +other parties in Croatia gradually drifting back again from +it or rather from the dominating man; if his place had been +occupied by his afore-mentioned colleague, the burly and +beloved Dušan Popović, there would have been in Zagreb a +very much suaver atmosphere. But unfortunately Popović +is a wealthy man, a highly successful lawyer who cares little +for the tumult of politics.... It was a thorny problem, +whether the State should be constituted on a federal +or a centralized basis.<a name="FNanchor_63_63" id="FNanchor_63_63"></a><a href="#Footnote_63_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a> The federation of the United +States depends on the centralization of political parties, +whereas in Yugoslavia the parties have only just begun +to combine. Feudalism in the German Empire rested on +the predominance of Prussia, a position which the Serbs +are, under present conditions, loth to occupy in Yugoslavia. +In Germany, moreover, many of the States used +to be independent, while in Yugoslavia this was only the +case with Serbia and Montenegro. Centralism would +tend to obliterate the tribal divisions, but on the other +hand it brings in its train bureaucracy, which is slow, +cumbrous and often corrupt; it demands unusually good +central institutions and first-rate communications, neither +of which are as yet in a satisfactory state. The constitution +has arrived at a compromise between the federal +and the centralized systems. A writer in the <i>Contemporary +Review</i> (November 1921) said that the division +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span>of the whole of Yugoslavia into some twenty administrative +areas [he should have said thirty-three] to +replace the racial areas, was a very drastic proposal to +put forward; and he added that when the historic +provincial divisions of France were broken up into departments, +the nation had been prepared by nearly 200 years +of centralization under the monarchy. It is a flaw in his +argument to say that the previously existing areas were +racial, whereas populations of identical race were divided +from one another by the course of events. And in the +proposed obliteration of these divisions—to be effected +in a less arbitrary fashion than in France, where no account +was taken of the former provinces—it can scarcely be +maintained that, of itself, this part of the centralizing +programme in Yugoslavia is so very drastic.</p> + +<p>Whatever one may think about the Balkan peoples +it is a fact that the essential Serb, the Serb from Šumadia, +is a pacific person, rather lazy perhaps, but certainly +more devoted to dancing than to battle. And some of +the wiser Serbs were dubious in 1919 and 1920 as to +whether the most sagacious methods were being employed +in Croatia. Radić was in prison, but they were told that +this impetuous demagogue was insisting on a republic, +and the Croat <i>intelligentsia</i> were far from happy. It is +true that in the elections of November 1920 the National +party, as the Starčevists now called themselves, had no +great success; but the Radić party had more than half +the seats. Surely this had not been brought about +merely by the chief's imprisonment? There seemed to +be in that province some wider, some growing dissatisfaction. +And in the spring of 1921 most of the Catholic +Croats, those within and those without the Radić party, +were nourishing a score of grievances. No doubt a large +proportion of these were unavoidable (in view of the state +of Central Europe) or were rather trivial (the mayor of an +important town told me that he, who was under the +Minister of the Interior, had received an order from the +Belgrade Minister of War, with respect to the detention +of deserters—conditions, said he, were not so primitive in +the Austro-Hungarian monarchy) and sometimes the +grievances were against the Habsburgs (for not having +made them more fit to assume these new responsibilities),<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span> +and sometimes they were against the Serbs for being less +civilized—though they might be more moral—than +themselves, and sometimes the grievances were personal: +now and then after the Austrian collapse a Serbian +officer or his men, uncertain of the feelings of the population, +had acted with unwise, or rather with inexpedient, +vigour—instead of shooting those who in the general +anarchy were laying waste and plundering, they merely +flogged them, and this was for a long time remembered +against them, although the Croat <i>intelligentsia</i> who had +taken service in the police flogged in a far more wholesale +fashion. But down at the bottom of all the grievances +there is the fundamental fact that the Southern Slavs +yearn to be comrades, to shake off the differences which +in the course of ages have grown up between them. +These fraternal sentiments may be crudely expressed—it +has happened that a Slav from Bosnia (whose +ancestors adopted Islam some centuries ago) finds himself +in a Serbian village. He strikes up acquaintance with +some native. "What is your name?" asks the latter. +"Muhammed." The Serb has never heard of such a +name; he is puzzled. "Well, never mind," says he, and +takes his new friend back to dinner. They sit down to +the sucking pig. Muhammed refuses to partake of it, and +informs the Serb that Allah would be angry. "Don't be +afraid," says the Serb; "I'll tell him that it's my fault," +and after a time he overcomes the Bosniak's scruples.... +In more cultured circles the wonderful union of the +Southern Slavs is manifested after a different fashion, and +those neighbours who imagine that the afore-mentioned +grievances are going to dissolve the new State will one +day see how much they are mistaken. The Southern +Slavs intend to quarrel with each other, to quarrel like +brothers.</p> + + +<p class="section">THE SAD CASE OF PRIBIČEVIĆ</p> + +<p>As between the Catholic and the Orthodox in Croatia +the sole uncertainty is whether this fusion will shortly +take place or after an interval. It is agreed by the most +malcontent schoolmasters that their pupils are growing +up to be excellent Yugoslavs who will have no more<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span> +fear of what they call "Serb hegemony" than have the +Scots of that of England. As for the present generation +of Croats and Serbs, if they were Occidentals they would +be old enough to laugh at each others' peculiarities and +each others' statesmen. But South-Eastern Europe is +still under the morning clouds, and they are inclined to +take seriously what we in the West make fun of. However, +there is one man whose presence in the Cabinet +the Croats cannot be expected to regard with good-humour +or with nonchalance. The reconciliation of +Croatia will be much more easily effected if Mr. Pribičević +resigns. His merits as a demagogue and political writer +are undeniable. He would make an excellent Whip. +But he prefers to be a Minister, and most unfortunately +he is not a statesman. A zealous patriot, he is as yet +unable to conceive that the business of the State could +be more successfully managed without him. The sweets +of office appear, if anything, to have made him more +bitter; and even among the Serbs of the old kingdom +his withdrawal is considered advisable. A friend of his +has told me that in the middle of a laughing conversation +he threw out a hint of this, and like a cloud blown suddenly +across a summer sky, Pribičević's face grew black. Unhappily +he is not even Fortinbras and yet imagines he is +Hamlet. A good many people in Yugoslavia call him +<i>un homme fatal</i>, most of the others <i>l'homme fatal</i>. It is +said that in the Democratic party he is actively supported +by not more than ten deputies, but that the others, to +preserve the party, take no steps. He himself, however, +would probably have not the least hesitation in choosing +another party, if he could otherwise not stay in the +Cabinet; for his permanence in office is the one idea +that crushes every other from his mind. If he cannot +be Minister of the Interior—a post from which he has +been more than once, and happily for Yugoslavia, ejected—then +he insists on being Minister of Education. What +are his qualifications? Years ago he gave instruction +at a school for elementary teachers, and so faint a conception +has he of the educational needs of his country +that one day when a Professor of Belgrade University +asked him if no steps could be taken to diminish the +prohibitive cost of books, especially foreign books, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span> +Minister simply stared at him as if he had been talking +Chinese. And yet in a recent book of national verses, +published by his brother Adam, we are told that:</p> + +<div class="poem" style="font-size: 90%"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"At the table also sat the sage Pribičević,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who can converse with Emperors...."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>There are some who, curiously, have compared +Radić's party with the Sinn Feiners; Radić may have +announced that he would approach the Serbs as the +representative of an independent country, but he never +proposed, even when his views were most extreme, to +realize them with physical force. At a great open-air +meeting of his adherents the speeches were so mild that +only twice did the Chief of Police, who was next to me, +raise a warning finger, and on each occasion to keep the +orator from very innocent digressions. Nevertheless, +there is no concealing the fact that even in these unsatisfactory +times—"It seems to me," said a philosophic +peasant recently at Valjevo, in the heart of Serbia, "it +seems to me that if we had a plebiscite then Valjevo +might not wish to remain with Serbia!"—even in a +world that is so awry the Croats are more reserved towards +the union than is good for the State. Perhaps they +would cherish fewer grievances if they had gained their +freedom with greater difficulty; and surely they need +have no more uneasiness than have the Scots that their +name and nationality will be swamped, for what the +Magyars were unable to do, that the Serbs do not wish +to do. There are among the Serbs a few extremists, +such as a pernicious editor or two, but their anti-Croat +tirades find extremely little favour anywhere. Last +autumn when the Prince-Regent (now King Alexander) +visited the Croat capital his reception was most enthusiastic. +"Let us keep him here!" cried the people, "and +let King Peter stay in Belgrade!" The Prince by his +tact brought the Croat out of his tent; he must not be +allowed to go back again—let the Southern Slavs observe +what each of their provinces can bring towards the +common good. The Croats acknowledge that the military +system of Serbia is more endurable—only one son is +taken out of each family—and that whereas in Slovenia +a lawsuit can be settled in fourteen days it has been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span> +wont in Croatia to take as many years. Unfortunately +human nature, in Serbia, Croatia and everywhere else, +finds that the bad points of other people are more worthy +of comment than the good. When two brothers have +been brought up in very different circumstances there +will be so many points on which they differ; and when a +Serb taking part in a technical discussion of scientists +wishes to say that he differs from the previous speaker +he will commonly observe that that person has made a +fool of himself. When an editor alludes to a political +opponent he may call him an assassin and be much +astonished if this is resented. "Je suis un ours," said +a Serbian savant of European repute; occasionally he +behaves like one and is rather proud of it. The Serbs +of Croatia have been imitating, nay exaggerating, the +emphatic manners of their countrymen in the old kingdom. +And Pribičević, as Minister of Education, has not attempted +to give the Croats a tactful course in courage, +patriotism and morality, where they have much to learn +from the less civilized Serbs, but scowling at them he +has made up his mind that, in and out of school, they +must straightway be the closest of companions.</p> + +<p>However, the Serbs and Croats have a man whose +counsel is more worthy of attention. Dr. Trumbić, +formerly the Minister of Foreign Affairs, had been elected +at the head of four different lists in his native Dalmatia +but had entered the Constituent Assembly without giving +his allegiance to any party. And in April 1921 he made +a speech as memorable as it was long, for it occupied +the whole of one sitting and was continued the next day. +Careless of the applause and the antagonism which he +excited, the serene orator pointed out that the conflict +between Serbs and Croats was based on their different +psychology. Croatia had had her independent life and +must be considered as a factor in Yugoslavia; but having +come in, like Montenegro, of her own accord, she had not +wished to be a separate factor. Traditions should not +be so lightly set aside; and while there was perhaps no +people more homogeneous than the Yugoslavs it should +be remembered that none was more ready to resist the +application of force.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span></p> + + +<p class="section">LESSONS OF THE MONTENEGRIN ELECTIONS</p> + +<p>Except at Kolašin, where a few friends of Nikita +tried their brigand tactics, there was perfect calm in +Montenegro during the elections. As elsewhere in Yugoslavia, +there was a general amnesty and a prohibition, +for the three preceding days, to sell wine or rakia. The +ten elected candidates, all of them for the Yugoslav +union and against Nikita, were equally divided between +Radicals and Democrats on the one hand and Communists +and Republicans on the other. The authorities took +not the slightest step to favour any candidate; various +prominent deputies, such as Dr. Yoyić, the Minister of +Food Supply, were beaten. And in a letter to the Press +we were told by Mr. Ronald M'Neill, M.P., that these +elections were certainly both "farcical and fraudulent." +He is contradicted by Mr. Roland Bryce, who, after his +excellent work on the Allied Plebiscite Commission in +Carinthia, was sent by the Foreign Office with Major +L. E. Ottley to report on the Montenegrin elections. +He says (in Command Paper I., 124) that "in actual +practice the method of voting prescribed by the electoral +law was found to ensure absolute secrecy (the system +adopted being the only feasible one in a country where +the proportion of illiterates is great), and the manner +in which the ballot was supervised and carried out was +unimpeachable and proof against the most exacting +criticism." Mr. M'Neill is also contradicted by the +Republican candidate, M. Gjonović, who in a manifesto +drawn up after the election declares that "none can say +that the elections were not free, or that anyone who +wished could not make up a list. At the elections only +the lists and boxes of the Republicans, Democrats, Independents, +Radicals and Communists were represented. +All of these parties had in their programmes the motto +'The people and State union,' with, of course, different +points of view and different opinions as to the organization +of our national and State forces, except the Communists, +who go further and desire the union of all +peoples."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span></p> + + +<p class="section">WHICH ONE GENTLEMAN REFUSES TO TAKE</p> + +<p>It will thus be seen that the friends of Nikita were +altogether wrong in suggesting that those who voted +for the Republicans or Communists were opposed to the +union with Serbia in Yugoslavia. Both Republicans +and (paradoxical though it sounds) the Communists +resented this insinuation very bitterly; and considering +that the leaders of both parties are pronounced antagonists +of the old régime, and were indeed severally condemned to +death by Nikita, it would have been strange if they now +supported him. Thus every single programme put forward +by the different parties included, in some form or other, +union with Serbia. The candidates themselves explicitly +said so; but Mr. M'Neill knows better, and informs +us how very hostile to the Serbs they really were. He +is a wonderful man, Mr. M'Neill. Standing up in the +House of Commons he directs his penetrating gaze upon +the Black Mountain, and with such effect that he can see +in the minds of Montenegrin politicians what they themselves +had never dreamed of. Since we have such a +man as Mr. M'Neill in the country, one would think that +the Foreign Office might have saved itself the expense +of sending out Mr. Bryce and Major Ottley.</p> + +<p>But since we have it, let us look at Mr. Bryce's very +interesting and detailed report. After explaining that +both Republicans and Communists were in favour of +union with Serbia, he tells us how it happened that so +many people voted for these two lists instead of for the +orthodox Radical and Democratic parties. The Communists, +according to Mr. Bryce, were benefited by a +party organization, a vigorous canvass and a better +discipline than that of any of their opponents. Their +policy won the support of many ardent and very patriotic +Nationalists, who voted in many cases for Communism +on the ground that it was the Russian policy—out of +gratitude for what the Tzars had done for Montenegro +in the past! Major Temperley, assistant military attaché, +in another report (Command Paper I., 123) observes that +some local discontent had arisen in Montenegro because +the native does not understand, and has never experienced<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span> +before, a really efficient system of government, and +because the introduction of conscription was not well +adapted to the national tradition of lawless and untrained +vigour. Major Temperley testifies that the Republican +party gained the suffrages of numerous returned emigrants +who admired the state of things in America. He shares +Mr. Bryce's opinion as to the insignificance of the pro-Nikita +party. "Even making large allowances," says +he, "there seemed to me to be no doubt that the pro-Nicholas +party were the weakest in Montenegro." Certain +of his devotees were simply brigands who, like the +Neapolitan miscreants after 1860, sought to cast a glamour +over their depredations by affecting to be in arms on +behalf of their former King. This personage himself +was so well aware of his unpopularity that he was prudent +enough to tell his supporters to abstain from voting. +Those who did abstain were altogether only 32·69 per cent. +of the electors, though one would have been justified +in expecting a much higher proportion, since the people +have not yet fully grasped their rights and duties with +respect to the franchise; the distances to the booths were +often very great, and the peasants were often indifferent +as to whether one candidate or another with a very +similar programme should be elected. The tribal or +family system is still so prevalent in the villages that one +member of a family would be sent to express the considered +views of his fellows. The effect of the elections +being held on a Sunday was to increase rather than +diminish the number of abstainers, for although Sunday +is a public holiday the Christian Montenegrin is under no +obligation to hear Mass and for that reason travel to the +village. The churches are practically deserted, for he +is accustomed on that day to remain at home; while +the Moslem voters largely declined to vote because there +were no Moslem candidates. That is why it would appear +that those of the 32·69 per cent. who abstained because +they were in favour of Nikita were extremely few. Their +simple-mindedness has its limits, while that of good +Mr. M'Neill believes that because France, Great Britain +and America undertook to restore Montenegrin independence, +they were still obliged to do so after they perceived +at the conclusion of the War that an overwhelming<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span> +majority of Montenegrins did not desire it. This majority +dethroned its traitor-king; but Mr. M'Neill maintains +that France and England have dethroned "a monarch +who was a friend and an ally."<a name="FNanchor_64_64" id="FNanchor_64_64"></a><a href="#Footnote_64_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a> Because M. Poincaré, +in the days before the Montenegrins had rejected Nikita, +addressed him as "Very Dear and Great Friend"—the +ordinary form of words for a reigning monarch—Mr. +M'Neill actually seems to think that France was for +evermore compelled to clasp Nikita to her bosom. He +clearly admires those who, since the end of the War, +have risen in the cause of their old King; and I suppose +that in consequence he disapproves of the Omladina, +the voluntary association of men who banded themselves +together to resist the terrorism of the pro-King komitadjis. +If he had been in Montenegro during the years after the +War he would possibly agree that komitadji is the proper +name for the many lawless elements who have found +the traditional fighting life more congenial than the +thankless task of tilling their very barren land. The +moral effect of opposing to these the Montenegrin Omladina +instead of Serbian troops was to destroy all pretence of +the movement being a national Montenegrin insurrection +against the union, and the cessation of assistance from +Italy resulted in the complete suppression of the movement. +The few outlaws who still remain at large, said +Mr. Bryce in December 1920, are in no sense political, +but are merely bandits. And as the Omladina has now +no <i>raison d'être</i> they have disbanded themselves. Much +now depends on the Constitution. If it gives them equal +rights—and naturally it will—with the other inhabitants +of Yugoslavia the Montenegrins will be content.</p> + + +<p style="padding-top: 1.5em">In August 1921 the <i>Secolo</i> of Milan sent a famous +correspondent to Montenegro. He came to much the +same conclusions as Messrs. Bryce and Temperley. Not +a single political prisoner was to be found, and not one +of the ex-soldiers who returned from Gaeta had been +molested. The correspondent thought that the Serbs +had been ill-advised at the beginning to employ forcible +methods against the pro-Nikita partisans who were +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span>opposed to Yugoslavia; they should, said he, have let +the pear ripen spontaneously and fall into their lap. +But now their policy had become one of conciliation: +during the last two and a half years Montenegro had +received from Belgrade for public works, pensions and +subsidies, 93 million dinars, and had paid in taxes only 5 +millions. Secondary education had been increased, and +700 Montenegrin students (of whom 500 are allotted +a monthly grant) frequent Yugoslav universities. The +fertile lands of Yugoslavia were open to Montenegrin +emigration. In fact an isolated, independent Montenegro +was no longer needed. With the disappearance of the +Turk from all Serbian territory in 1913 a return to the +union of the Serbs, as in the days of Stephen Dušan, +was only hindered by historical, sentimental and, above +all, by dynastic reasons. It was sad, quoth the correspondent, +that the glorious history of Montenegro should +have come to such a tame end, but her historic mission +was closed in 1913, even as that of Scotland in 1707, +to the benefit of both parties. Now the Serbs were +leaving them to manage their own affairs; many ex-Nikita +officials had been confirmed in their posts, while +officers were given their old rank in the Yugoslav army. +It is unfortunate for itself that the "Near East" (of +London) does not employ so discerning a correspondent. +We should then hear no more of such folly as that which—to +select one occasion out of many—caused it in November +1921 to speak about "the forcible absorption of Montenegro." +And the world may be pardoned if it is more +ready to accept the observations made on the spot by +an expert Italian correspondent rather than the futile +remarks sent by the Hon. Aubrey Herbert from the +House of Commons, also in November 1921, to the +<i>Morning Post</i>. This gentleman informs us that "it was +probably because the Yugoslav Government was allowed +to annex the ancient principality of Montenegro, exile +its King, and subjugate its people, without any interference +from the Great Powers, that M. Pasitch thought +that he could do as he liked in Albania." That is the +sort of statement which one may treat with Matthew +Arnold's "patient, deep disdain."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span></p> + + +<p class="section">MEDIÆVAL DOINGS AT RIEKA</p> + +<p>On July 14, 1920, a letter marked "urgent" (No. +2047) was written by Colonel Sani, the Chief of +d'Annunzio's Cabinet, in which he confirmed the orders +which he had already given verbally, to the effect that +all the foreign elements, especially the Serbs and Croats, +who "exercise an obnoxious political influence," should +be expelled from Rieka at the earliest possible date; he +mentions that this is the command of d'Annunzio, who +is in full accord with the President of the Consiglio +Nazionale. This was the continuation of a practice which +the Italian authorities had carried on in a wholesale +manner. Father J. N. Macdonald, in his unimpeachable +little book, <i>A Political Escapade</i> (London, 1921), gives us +numerous examples of persons who in the most wanton +fashion were expelled from the town. Thus a merchant +called Pliskovac was arrested by the carabinieri, while +talking to some English soldiers. After three days, spent +under arrest, he was told that he would have to depart +"from Italy" (<i>sic</i>). He was given a <i>faglio di via obligatorio</i> +by the carabinieri, according to which he was +banished on the ground of being "unemployed." Yet +this man had had a fixed residence in Rieka for thirty-six +years, was employed as a merchant, and furnished with a +regular industrial certificate.... His name had been +found on one of the lists in favour of annexation to +Yugoslavia. When the world in general turned its +attention away from Rieka, very much relieved to think +that there would be an end to all the turmoil now that +an agreement had at last been reached and the poor +harassed place was to be neutral, it presumed that those +among her citizens who had been openly in arms against +the other party would as soon as possible resign. They +would have been astonished to be told that the notorious +self-elected Consiglio Nazionale Italiano, under the selfsame +President, Mr. Grossich, cheerfully remained in +office. It is true that they now called themselves the +"Provisional Government"; in Paris and London this +change of title made a good deal more impression than +upon the local Yugoslavs, whose treatment did not vary. +A decree was printed on January 21, 1921, in the <i>Vedetta</i>,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span> +which laid it down that the expulsions ordered by the +previous Government retained their force, but that +appeals might be addressed to the Rector of the Interior. +A deputation was received by this gentleman, and was told +that the procedure would be so complicated and so +lengthy that it would not permit any one to return until +after the elections. These elections had been fixed for +the end of April, and it seemed as if France and England +were so blinded by the blessed words "Provisional +Government" that they could see nothing else. That +over 2000 arditi, clothed in mufti, had either stayed from +the d'Annunzian era or been since introduced was surely +gossip, and how could anyone believe that those men had +been granted citizenship on the simple declaration of a +Rieka shopkeeper, or some such person, that the applicant +worked under him? These declarations, by the way, +must have refrained from going into details, for there +was an almost total lack of work—except in the political +department of the police. Rieka was to all intents in +the possession of Italy, and she was learning what that +meant. The town was like a dead place, shops were only +open in the morning, and if the shopkeepers had not been +compelled by the authorities to remove their shutters +they would have strolled down to the quays where the +grass was growing—"but, thank Heaven," cried Grossich, +"thank Heaven, it is Italian grass!" (If he ever recalls +that long-distant day, when, as a student, he fought for +his fellow-Croats, and when, as a young doctor, he was +an enthusiastic official of the Croat Club at Castua near +Rieka, perhaps this gentleman thanks his God for having +led him to Rieka and turned him into an Italian.) Cut +off from its Yugoslav hinterland the population of Rieka, +which consisted more and more of arditi and fascisti, less +and less of Yugoslavs, the population had nothing to +do save to speculate in the rate of exchange (but not in +the local notes which no one wanted) and to prepare for +the elections. Thus, with time very heavy on their hands, +there was a great deal of corruption; cocaine could be +obtained at nearly all the cafés. The elections drew +nearer, and one wondered whether the Entente was going +to look at the lists of voters and to inquire how it came +that many natives of the town were not inscribed. What<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span> +was likely to happen if the place was delivered altogether +to the C.N.I. could be seen when the harbour of +Baroš, given by the Rapallo Treaty to Yugoslavia, was +demanded, simply demanded, by the Italian Nationalists; +those ultra-patriots the fascisti, in Italy and in Rieka, +when they saw that in the "holocaust city" everything +was going just as well for them as in the brave days of +d'Annunzio, persisted loudly in claiming Baroš as an integral +part of Rieka. The Yugoslavs must be prevented, +wherever possible, from approaching the Adriatic—this +being the furious policy of the Italian capitalists who had +succeeded in sweeping most of the Italian people off their +feet. With Baroš, a port of limited possibilities, in the +hands of the Yugoslavs, it would mean that the adjacent +Rieka through its Yugoslav commerce would prosper; +but anything that savoured of a Yugoslav Rieka was +obnoxious to the capitalists and their wild followers, +since they feared that in the first place it would raise a +grievous obstacle to their penetration of the Balkans, and +secondly it would involve the ruin of Triest, where German +capital still plays a predominant part. So in their folly +they strenuously fought for the Germans, spurred on by +the terrible thought that Rieka might become predominantly +Yugoslav. They refused to listen to their +wiser men, who pointed out that the possession of an odd +town or island was to Italy of not so much importance as +friendship with their Slav neighbours. When, at the +beginning of April 1921 a large sailing boat, the <i>Rad</i> +(Captain Vlaho Grubišić) came into Baroš, the first ship +to bring the Yugoslav flag to that port, there was intense +commotion among the fascisti. Forty of them with +weapons ran down to the harbour, but Grubišić told them +that he saw no reason why he should not fly the flag of +his State. A number of workmen, Italians and Yugoslavs, +then appeared and made common cause against the +fascisti, so that the latter withdrew. And the captain +of the Italian warship <i>Carlo Mirabello</i> sent to ask Grubišić +if he had removed the flag. On hearing that he had not +done so the captain said that he had acted perfectly +correctly. It seems to be too much to hope that such +honourable Italians as this captain and these workmen +will be able, without certain measures on the part of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span> +France and England, to prevail over those elements +who have dragged Rieka down to death and to dishonour.</p> + +<p>At last, on April 25, the elections were held. There +were two parties, that of the C.N.I., swollen with arditi +and fascisti, who would have nothing to do with the +Treaty of Rapallo—their programme consisted in annexation +to Italy—and the other party, whose object was to +carry out the provisions of the Treaty. Professor Zanella +was its chief. There did not seem to be much hope that +it would be successful, although it contained what was +left of the Autonomists, who in 1919 were the largest +party—desiring that the town should be neither Yugoslav +nor Italian—and these Autonomists were now reinforced +by the Yugoslavs. But so numerous had been the +expulsions that many of the survivors feared that it +would be futile to vote, and on the other hand the Annexionist +party was quite confident that it would win. +During the afternoon of the election day, however, they +perceived that the impossible was happening, and that +Zanella was marching to victory. Thereupon the enraged +fascisti had recourse to violence. "Zanella's victory was +intolerable to these patriots," said <i>La Nazione</i>,<a name="FNanchor_65_65" id="FNanchor_65_65"></a><a href="#Footnote_65_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a> "because +they remembered the two years of tenacity and of splendid +Italian spirit and of suffering which the town had lived +through." Most of the electors remembered the suffering. +The fascisti seized a number of urns and made a bonfire +of them; there was presented the spectacle of Signor +Gigante, d'Annunzio's obedient mayor, bursting with +armed companions into that room of the Palace of Justice +where the votes were being scrutinized. "I yield to +violence," said the presiding official; and twenty minutes +afterwards the contents of the urns were burning merrily. +But these measures did not help the cause of the fascisti, +no more than did their screams that they had been +betrayed. And if Zanella had to fly from Rieka because, +as the Nationalist paper put it, he could not stand up +against the vehement indignation of so many of the +citizens, yet he and his party have triumphed. "Fiume +or Death," used to be the device dear to d'Annunzio. +He placarded the long-suffering walls with it, and it was +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span>on the lapels of the coats of his adherents. "Fiume must +belong to Italy or be blown up," cried the poet. But, +strange to say, a majority of the inhabitants prefer that +their town should continue to exist, and this it can only +do if, in accordance with the Treaty of Rapallo, it becomes +a neutral State on friendly terms with both its neighbours, +Italy and Yugoslavia. The Italian Government desires, +of course, to execute its Treaty obligations,<a name="FNanchor_66_66" id="FNanchor_66_66"></a><a href="#Footnote_66_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a> and if it finds +too painful the task of moderating the ardours of its own +super-patriots, it will no doubt be glad to have this done by +an International force. That method, which was only +prevented by d'Annunzio's arrival in 1919, offers the +speediest and most efficacious solution of Rieka's troubles.</p> + + +<p class="section">THE STRICKEN TOWN</p> + +<p>If anyone imagined that they would be ended with +the installation of Zanella he was wrong. At the municipal +elections 90 per cent. voted for the Autonomist +party, the Yugoslavs having had the good sense to join +them. But the Italian Nationalists were not going to +yield to moderation, and immediately after the elections +Zanella was obliged to flee for his life, so that he was +not installed in office until October 5. He struggled +manfully to clear away the chaos and to make such +economic arrangements as would eventually convert +Rieka into a prosperous port. This the fascisti of Triest +and Venice could by no means tolerate, and on January 31 +an unsuccessful attempt was made by them on his life +as he was leaving the Constituent Assembly. On February +16 the Anai (Assoziazione Nazionale fra gli Arditi +d'Italia) sent out a very urgent message from their headquarters +in the Via Macchiavelli in Triest. They informed +the subsections that not only was Zanella preparing +to deliver Rieka to the Croats, but that the army of +the "globe-trotter" Wrangel was waiting in Sušak to +seize the wretched town. Therefore Gabriele d'Annunzio +had commanded that every loyal servant of the cause +was to be mobilized. And after a few rhetorical sentences +it continued, "I will give the marching orders by telegram +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span>as follows: 'Send the documents. Farina.' If only +a small number of people are needed I will telegraph, +'Send ... Quintal. Farina.'" The men were to +assemble at the Italian Labour Bureau, 9 Via Pozza +Bianca in Triest. They were to be clad in mufti, to be +armed so far as it was possible and to have with them +three days' provender.... The subsections are asked +to telegraph the approximate number of those on whom +they can rely. And this memorandum should be acknowledged. +It is signed, "With brotherly greetings. Farina +Salvatore." About ten days later—between February 26 +and 28—there was a meeting at the Hotel Imperial in +Vienna, under the presidency of Vilim Stipetić, formerly +a major of the Austrian General Staff. Some dissident +Croats—among them Dr. Emanuel Gagliardi, Captains +Cankl and Petričević, Gjuro Klišurić, Josip Boldin and +Major-General Ištvanović—two dissident Montenegrins, +Jovo Plamenac and Marko Petrović, together with two +Italian officers, adherents of d'Annunzio, Colonel Finzi +of Triest and Major Ventura of Rome, ... assembled +for the purpose of stirring up trouble for the Yugoslavs +in the spring. They referred with pleasure to the presence +of sundry Bulgarian komitadjis in Albania, Finzi declared +that the Italian Government would satisfy the Croats +and give them Rieka as soon as Croatia had achieved +her independence and a less visionary promise was made +of disturbances in Rieka. On March 1 the two Italian +officers left for Triest and on March 3 Rieka was confronted +with another <i>coup d'état</i>. The fascisti of Triest +and of Gulia Venetia descended on the town in two +special trains of the Italian State Railway. They had +not the slightest confidence in Zanella, who was an honest +man, working on the basis of the Treaty of Rapallo, +whereby Italy and Yugoslavia recognized the Free State +of Rieka. In their eyes it was a monstrous thing that +Italy should be expected to observe this instrument. +So let the town be freed, let Zanella be expelled. And +as he only had at his disposal a force of about three +hundred local gendarmes, with rifles but without munition, +it was not particularly difficult for the fascisti heroes to +accomplish their task. Zanella had to fly once more.</p> + +<p>"If Italy were to offend against the freedom and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[264]</a></span> +independence of the State of Rieka she would deprive +herself," said Signor Schanzer, the Italian Foreign Secretary +"she would deprive herself of the name of a Great +Power and in the Society of Nations she would retain +no authority." Thus did the successor of the relentless +but unavailing della Torretta try, with eloquent and +noble words, to wipe the blot from Italy's scutcheon. +She could scarcely have the nations coming to the Congress +of Genoa, there to debate with regard to the economic +re-establishment of Europe, while her own conduct was +so very much under suspicion. It would have been +rather curious, so the <i>Zagreber Tagblatt</i><a name="FNanchor_67_67" id="FNanchor_67_67"></a><a href="#Footnote_67_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a> pointed out, +for a robber to invite you to his house with a view to +taking steps against robbery. Something drastic had +to be done, so that Europe would not look askance at +the Italian Government. Zanella, it was true, had been +thrown out—but why should not the world be told that +this had been effected by the people of the town? A +very excellent idea! And so a certain Lieut. Cabruna +of the <i>gendarmerie</i> made a plan to get together the +Constituent Assembly and then—well, there are always +methods by which resolutions can be passed. Perhaps +it would not even be necessary for a single rifle to be +fired at the deputies from the Distinguished Strangers' +Gallery. But most of the deputies succeeded in escaping +from the town, although frantic efforts were made to +prevent them. Out of the threescore only thirteen poor +devils were held fast and came to the futile meeting. +The others, with Zanella, assembled on Yugoslav territory +at a place called Saint Anna.</p> + +<p>And Signor Schanzer went on talking. Officers and +men of the Italian army and navy, said he, had shown +perfect discipline. Signor Schanzer may not be an +expert on discipline, but as a humorist he wins applause. +One's ordinary notions of discipline do not include the +seizure of a warship by a handful of bandits, the cannons +of the vessel being afterwards directed against the Government +palace of a neutral State. The fascisti, with the +help of Italian troops and accompanied by several +Italian deputies, eject the legal Government of Rieka. +One of these deputies, Giuratti, is chosen by his friends +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[265]</a></span>to be President of the Free State—Giuratti of the fascisti, +Giuratti who most barbarically had ill-treated the Istrian +Slavs, but—for we will be just—this was when he believed +they were barbarians, savages, quite common, brutal +men; well, he had learned, he wrote,<a name="FNanchor_68_68" id="FNanchor_68_68"></a><a href="#Footnote_68_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> that this was not +the case, they had adopted Western culture, they had +raised the revolutionary flag against the dynasty of +Karageorgević and if Yugoslavia's dismemberment +should ever come to pass, "then, as I confidently hope," +said he, "the Croats with their righteous national aspirations +will unite with their great neighbour Italy. We +salute the Croat Revolution with sincerest sympathy..." +and so on and so on. That was the kind of calm, impartial +personage to have as Governor of the distracted Free +State, where in one point anyhow most of the population +think the same, and that is that their union with Italy +would be an absolute disaster. Behold this Giuratti +posing his candidature, Giuratti whose patriotism and +idealism are, says the Italian Government, fully appreciated +by them; nevertheless it has advised him to +refuse the suggested honour. That he should be punished +did not occur to them; but what would they have said +if a Yugoslav—surely with more right than an Italian +and certainly with a larger following of townsfolk—had +been selected as President? "The proceedings of the +Italian Government," said Schanzer, "are clear, speedy +and determined." But did anything unpleasant happen +to Commandant Castelli, an officer sent to make order, +when he quite openly placed himself on the side of the +fascisti? Would degradation be the lot of any officer +or soldier who "mutinied" and joined the fascisti?... +Apparently it was due to the unhappy political condition +of Europe that the whole civilized world did not launch +an indignant protest against the baseness and cynicism +of the Italians. But how utterly they failed to persuade +others that the wishes of Rieka were as they represented +them! Rieka desires to remain independent and this +desire the Italians will have to respect. And the later +they make up their mind to keep their promises, so much +the worse for them. The Yugoslavs can wait, for theirs +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span>is the future. A cartoonist in the Belgrade <i>Vreme</i> depicted +a rough old Serbian warrior holding on his open hand a +very neat little Italian soldier. "Now listen to me," +he was saying, "and I will tell you a story. Once upon +a time there was a country called Austria...."</p> + +<p>There was a characteristic little affair at Saint Anna +on March 23. A few minutes after Zanella had left the +Lubić Inn a suspicious-looking person appeared. He +began observing the customers and their surroundings, +when the Police-Commissary Peršić came up to him and +asked for his passport. "Take yourself off!" shouted +the intruder, as he pulled a bomb out of his trouser +pocket. Peršić grappled with him and soon overpowered +him. And outside the house four other fascisti, Armano +Viola, Carpinelli, Bellia and Murolo, were captured. +They claimed to be journalists, and it is quite true that +Viola is on the staff of the notorious <i>Vedetta Italiana</i>; +but when he comes into a foreign country as a special +correspondent and is teaching others how to go about +that business—for until then they had been otherwise +engaged, Murolo being charged with numerous thefts +and attempted murders, while Bellia and Carpinelli +were accused of breaking into the Abbazia Casino—if +Viola was teaching them how to be journalists he would +on this occasion have been better advised if he had restricted +them to the conventional tools of the profession +instead of bombs, revolvers and daggers. Little use +did they get out of them, for a trio of these armed individuals +were seized and disarmed by one Yugoslav +gendarme, who was himself very meagrely equipped. +With tears in their eyes they begged for mercy. "Pietà, +Pietà!" they exclaimed. So long as their own lives +were spared they were very willing to forgo the 60,000 +lire which had been put on Zanella's head.</p> + +<p>Unfortunately it seems obvious that this exploit, if +not ordered by the Italian Government was, at any rate, +permitted by them. How otherwise could the automobile +containing these men have got past the sentries +at the Sušak bridge and two other Italian sentry posts? +Moreover, these men were in possession of documents +which proved that official Italian circles at Rieka were +privy to their undertaking, and that they proposed to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span> +investigate the Yugoslav military positions on the frontier.... +These five fascisti brigands—who were also +lieutenants of the Italian army—would therefore have +to be tried not only for attempted murder but for +attempted espionage. They were put into a train and +transported to the prison at Zagreb. "If once we begin +to march," so the Italian soldiers at Rieka had over +and over again been telling the Croats, "then we shall +not halt before we come to Zagreb, your capital." Those +five will perhaps some day explain to their comrades how +quickly Zagreb can be reached.... As yet those whom +they left behind them had not lost their bombast: a +manifesto was issued by them which declared that five +true patriots had sallied forth to Saint Anna, for the +purpose of parleying with the Constituent Assembly, +and that in a barbarous fashion they had been arrested, +maltreated and possibly killed. Let the people avenge +the shedding of such noble blood. Everything, everything +must be done in order to liberate the captured +brethren. And so, towards eleven at night, about sixty +fascisti and legionaries came together. Armed to the +teeth, they designed to cross over into Yugoslav territory, +but when they noticed that the sentry posts had been +strengthened they went home to bed.</p> + +<p>A number of American and European journalists +rushed out to Belgrade, under the impression that the +Yugoslav-Italian War could now no longer be avoided. +But they did not realize how great a self-control the +Yugoslavs possess. It may be, as a commentator put +it in the <i>Nation</i>,<a name="FNanchor_69_69" id="FNanchor_69_69"></a><a href="#Footnote_69_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a> that Italy "is practically at war with +Yugoslavia," for she is obsessed by the "Pan-Slav +menace"; but if they insist on the arbitrament of arms +they will have to wait until the Yugoslavs have time to +deal with them.... The Free State of Rieka owes its +existence to a Treaty between Italy and Yugoslavia; +both of them should therefore guarantee its freedom. +Italian and Yugoslav <i>gendarmerie</i> and troops should +resist together the incursions of fascisti; and if the two +races cannot work in harmony, then let the administration +of the town be entrusted to neutral troops; and as +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[268]</a></span>High Commissioner one would suggest Mr. Blakeney, +the British Consul at Belgrade. If this imperturbable +and most kindly man were to fail in the attempt at +repeating in Rieka what has been accomplished in Danzig, +then, indeed, one might despair; but he would brilliantly +and placidly succeed. All the other qualifications are +his; an intimate knowledge of every Near Eastern +language—and, of course, Italian; a perfect acquaintance +with the mentality of all those peoples; common sense +of an uncommon order, and the whole-hearted confidence +of those with whom he comes into contact. Great +Britain and France compelled the Yugoslavs, at enormous +sacrifices, to sign the Treaty of Rapallo; they are, therefore, +morally obliged to see that it is executed. For too +many months the Italians were saying that they would +carry out their part of it and leave the third zone in +Dalmatia if the Yugoslavs would agree to a few more +concessions, commercial and territorial, that were not +in the Treaty. During the Genoa Conference in the spring +of 1922 the Italian authorities confessed to the Yugoslav +delegates that their hands were bound by the fascisti. +These elements would certainly object to the execution +of that part of the Treaty of Rapallo which refers to the +port of Baroš. Accurately speaking, the arrangements +with regard to Baroš are embodied in a letter from Count +Sforza, the then Foreign Secretary, and are added to the +Treaty as an appendix. Both were signed on the same +day, and apparently this plan of an appendix was adopted +on account of the fascisti. Yet if Count Sforza had not +signed that letter it is safe to say that the Yugoslavs +would not have signed the main body of a Treaty which +to them was the reverse of favourable. And at Genoa +the Italians started haggling about a strip of land near +Baroš, in the hope that some success would stay the zeal +of the fascisti. Furthermore they pleaded that Zadar +could not live if Yugoslavia did not, in addition to supplying +it with water, give it railway communication with +the interior. The Yugoslavs were thus invited to construct +at great expense a railway to a foreign town which +their own Šibenik and other Adriatic towns did not +possess. This, naturally, they refused to undertake, +as also to agree to the Italian suggestion that a free<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[269]</a></span> +zone of some twenty kilometres should be instituted at +the back of Zadar. One might safely say that the Italian +agents in this region would not have confined themselves +to salutary measures for the welfare of the town. It is +stated in the Treaty of Rapallo that in case of disagreement +either party could invoke an arbitrator, and the +Yugoslavs, who happen now to be the weaker party, +have been contemplating application to the League of +Nations. Well, in Genoa it was proposed by Italy that +Yugoslavia should renounce the clause which deals with +an eventual arbitration. If you make a large number of +demands—never mind that they should be in opposition +to a Treaty you have signed—then you may gain a few +of them—and Italy was hoping that the Free State +would repay the costs which she incurred there on account +of her unruly son d'Annunzio, and, likewise, that the good +Italianists who at the end of the Great War committed +wholesale thefts from the State warehouses should not +be made to pay for it. With all their guile and strength +the Italians were endeavouring to avoid the execution +of her Treaty of Rapallo. "Italy is the one Power in +Europe," says Mr. Harold Goad<a name="FNanchor_70_70" id="FNanchor_70_70"></a><a href="#Footnote_70_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a> who thrusts himself +upon our notice, "Italy is the one Power in Europe +that is most obviously and most consistently working +for peace and conciliation in every field."</p> + + +<p class="section">HOPES IN THE LITTLE ENTENTE</p> + +<p>The complicated troubles, avoidable and unavoidable, +that have been raging in Central Europe after the War are +being met to some extent by the Little Entente, an +association in the first place between Yugoslavia and the +kindred Czecho-Slovakia, and afterwards between them +and Roumania. The world was assured that this union +had for its object the establishment of peace, security +and normal economic activities in Central and Eastern +Europe; no acquisitive purposes were in the background, +and since these three States now recognized that if +they try to swallow more of the late Austro-Hungarian +monarchy they will suffer from chronic indigestion, we +need not be suspicious of their altruism. It is perfectly +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[270]</a></span>true that the first impulse which moved the creators of +the Little Entente was not constructive but defensive; +their great Allies did not appear, in the opinion of the +three Succession States, to be taking the necessary precautions +against the elements of reaction. Otherwise +they, especially France (which was naturally more determined +that Austria should not join herself to Germany), +would not have favoured the idea of a Danubian Federation, +in which Austria and Hungary would play leading +parts. The Great Powers would also, if they had been +less exclusively concerned with their own interests, have +handled with more resolution the attempts of Charles of +Habsburg to place himself at the head of the present +reactionary régime at Buda-Pest; and if it had not +been for certain energetic measures taken by the members +of the Little Entente it may well be doubted whether +the Government of Admiral Horthy, which does not +conceal the fact that it is royalist—the king being temporarily +absent—would have required Charles to leave +the country. The Little Entente pointed out to their +great Allies what these had apparently overlooked, +namely, that the return of the Habsburgs was not opposed +by the Succession States out of pure malice but for the +reason that it would inevitably strengthen the magnates +and the high ecclesiastics in their desire to bring about the +restoration of Hungary's old frontiers. As the frontiers +are now drawn there dwell—and this could not be prevented—a +number of Magyars in each of the three neighbouring +States (the fewest being in Yugoslavia), just as +the present Hungary includes a Czech-Slovak, Roumanian +and Yugoslav population.<a name="FNanchor_71_71" id="FNanchor_71_71"></a><a href="#Footnote_71_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a> But the Great Powers agree +that if this frontier is to be changed at all, every precaution +should be taken against having it changed by +force. It is no exaggeration to say that there can be no +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[271]</a></span>real peace in Central Europe until normal intercourse +with Russia is re-established, but let it in the meantime +be the task of the Little Entente to guard the temporary +peace from being shattered.</p> + +<p>Apart from this defensive object the countries of the +Little Entente have the positive aim of a resumption of +normal economic conditions and the institution of a new +order of things in accordance with the new political +construction of Central and Eastern Europe. It is obvious +that these three States have numerous interests in common +which make their co-operation very natural, if not indeed +indispensable.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_46_46" id="Footnote_46_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> April 16, 1920.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_47_47" id="Footnote_47_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> January 22, 1920.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_48_48" id="Footnote_48_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> According to the Rome correspondent of the <i>Petit Journal</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_49_49" id="Footnote_49_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> But the wind was considerably tempered for him: vessels laden +with his precise requirements sailed over from Italy and said they had +been captured by d'Annunzio's arditi. General Badoglio, in command of +the royal troops outside the town, ascertained in November 1919 that +Rieka's coal-supply was nearly exhausted and 7000 tons per month were +required for the public services alone. He accordingly informed a +syndicate of coal merchants in Triest that he would be personally responsible +for the first consignment of coal to d'Annunzio. A month earlier, +when the town was supposed to be blockaded, it was announced that a +limited supply of food-stuffs would, nevertheless, be introduced, through +the Red Cross, for very young children. This amounted, as a matter of +fact, to 21 truckloads a week. It is significant that there was no rise +in the prices charged in the public restaurants of Rieka, and that persons +living outside the line of Armistice found it cheaper to do their shopping +in the besieged city.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_50_50" id="Footnote_50_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> February 20, 1920.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_51_51" id="Footnote_51_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> September 1921.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_52_52" id="Footnote_52_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> However, in the Yugoslav Parliament, although some of the +deputies have spent their lives in far-off, primitive places—by no means +all of those who represent the Albanians can read and write—one does +not hear such deplorable language as that which, according to the <i>Grazer +Volksblatt</i> of January 19, 1922, disgraced the Austrian Assembly. A +certain Dr. Waneck, of the Pan-German party, wished to criticize the +Minister of Finance, Professor Dr. Gürtler of the Christian Socialists. +He remarked that one could not expect this Minister to be sober at four +o'clock in the afternoon, and went on to say that no less than five banks, +whose names he would give, had received early information from the +Minister, which enabled them to speculate successfully. He repeated +this accusation several times and with great violence, but when he was +invited to reveal the names of these banks—"No, sir!" he cried. "I +will not do so, because I don't want to."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_53_53" id="Footnote_53_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> Cf. "The Tri-Une Kingdom," by Pavle Popović and Jovan M. +Jovanović, in the <i>Quarterly Review</i>, October 1921.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_54_54" id="Footnote_54_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> He was kept for some time in confinement at Mitrovica, in Syrmia, and +in November 1920 he was liberated in consequence of the great amnesty.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_55_55" id="Footnote_55_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> Cf. <i>Spectator</i>, July 17, 1920.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_56_56" id="Footnote_56_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> Cf. <i>Edinburgh Review</i>, July 1920.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_57_57" id="Footnote_57_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> A few months after this, in the course of a little controversy in the +<i>Saturday Review</i> (which arose from an unsigned and, I hoped, rather +reasonable article of mine on the Adriatic Settlement) I quoted from +memory this passage of Mrs. Re-Bartlett's and said that the Italian +captain was giving chocolates to the children at Kievo. Thereupon Mr. +Harold W. E. Goad of the British-Italian League wrote a highly indignant +letter to the editor, and in the course of it he denounced me for having +egregiously invented the chocolates "for the sole purpose of throwing +her testimony into ridicule.... What do you, Sir, think of such methods +as that?" And he concluded by declaring that I wallowed in a "truly +Balkan slough of distortion and calumny." Well, on referring to Mrs. +Re-Bartlett's article I find that there is no mention of chocolates, and I +apologize; presumably the children were crowding round their adored +<i>Capitano</i> in order to thank him for the bridges and waterworks which +were being built in Dalmatia.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_58_58" id="Footnote_58_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> During the Italian occupation, said Professor Salvemini, teachers, +doctors and priests were deported or expelled from the country, while +the Italian Government had to dissolve 30 municipal councils out of +33, so that at the head of the communes were Italian officials and +not properly elected mayors. Moreover, all liberties were suppressed. +No Slav newspapers, no Slav societies were permitted, and 32 out of +57 magistrates were dismissed—these methods being due not to cruelty +or folly, said the Professor, but to the necessity of keeping order by +forcible means in a country which was wholly hostile.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_59_59" id="Footnote_59_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> November 13, 1920.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_60_60" id="Footnote_60_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> November 15, 1920.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_61_61" id="Footnote_61_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> This, of course, did not meet with the approval of Signor d'Annunzio. +He made numerous pronouncements with regard to his inflexible desires, +saying that, if necessary, he would offer up his bleeding corpse. And +his resistance to the Italian Government did not confine itself to rhetoric. +During his usurpation of Rieka this man had done his country grievous +harm. It was not only that he held her up to the smiles of the malicious +who said that she could not keep order in her own house, but he was +guiding the people back to barbarism. When sailors of the royal navy +deserted to his standard, he knelt before them in the streets of Rieka at +a time when from Russia Lenin was inciting the Italian Communists to +revolution and to the conquest of the State. He refused to deal with +Giolitti, even as he had rejected the advances of Nitti. But the aged +Giolitti grasped the problem with more firmness, which was what one +might expect from the statesman who, after his return to power, had +leaned neither on the industrial magnates of Milan nor on their Bolševik +antagonists. Giolitti was resolved to put an end to the nuisance of +d'Annunzio; in no constitutional State is there room for a Prime Minister +and such a swashbuckler. The Nationalists of Italy were furious when +they perceived that the Premier was in earnest and that force would be +employed against their idol. And it had to come to that, for the utterly +misguided man continued to resist—hoping doubtless for wholesale +desertions in the army and navy—with the deplorable result that a good +many Italians were slain by Italians. Orders were issued by the Government +that all possible care should be taken of d'Annunzio's person; and +eventually when Rieka was taken by the royalist troops the poet broke +his oath that he would surely die; he announced that Italy was not +worth dying for and it was said that he had sailed away on an aeroplane. +He had accomplished none of his desires; the town had not become +Italian, though he had bathed it in Italian blood. His overweening +personal ambitions had been shipwrecked on the rock of ridicule, for as +he made his inglorious exit he shouted at the world that he was "still +alive and inexorable." But yet he may have unconsciously achieved +something, for his seizure of what he loved to call the "holocaust city" +provided the extreme Nationalists with a private stage where—in uniforms +of their own design, in cloaks and feathers and flowing black ties and +with eccentric arrangements of the hair—they could strut and caper +and fling bombastic insults at the authorities in Rome, until the Government +found it opportune to take them in hand. The greatest Italian +poet and one of the greatest imaginative writers in Europe will now be +able to devote himself—if his rather morbid Muse has suffered no injury—to +his predestined task. Those—the comparatively few that read—whose +acquaintance with this writer's work usually caused them to regret +his methods, could not help admiring his personal activities, his genius +for leadership and his vital fire during the War. But, once this was over, +he relapsed; and expressing himself very clearly in action, so that he +became known to the many instead of the few, he lived what he previously +wrote, and now it is generally recognized that Gabriel of the Annunciation, +as he calls himself, who produced a row of obscene and histrionic +novels, is a mountebank, a self-deceiver and a most affected bore. When +he came to Rieka he thought fit to appeal to the England of Milton. +And, like him, Milton lived as he wrote. Milton, Dante and Sophocles—to +mention no others of the supreme writers—were as serious and responsible +in their public actions as in the pursuit of their art.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_62_62" id="Footnote_62_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> Whatever be the limitations of the <i>Dom</i> as a newspaper—it is almost +exclusively occupied with the person and programme of Mr. Radić—yet +that brings with it the virtue, most exceptional in Yugoslavia, of refusing +to engage in polemics. This would otherwise take up a good deal of its +space, as Radić has become such a bogey-man that nothing is too ridiculous +for his opponents to believe. A Czech newspaper not long ago informed +the world that this monstrous personage had told an interviewer that not +only had Serbian soldiers in Macedonia been murdering 200 children but +that they had roasted and consumed them. Furthermore Radić had +said that the British Minister to Yugoslavia had called upon him and +had asked his advice with some persistence, not even wishing to leave +Radić time to reflect, as to whether the Prince-Regent should rule in +Russia, while an English Prince should be invited to occupy the Yugoslav +throne. The first of these remarks proved conclusively, said a +number of Belgrade papers, that Radić was a knave and by the second +he had demonstrated that he was an imbecile. And my friend Mr. +Leiper of the <i>Morning Post</i> speculated as to whether he was more likely +to end his days in a lunatic asylum or a prison. But Radić was caring +about none of these things; his birthday happened at about this time +and some 30,000 of his adherents came to do him honour at his birthplace, +over 500 of them on decorated horses having met him at Sisak +station the previous evening. When I asked him what he had to say +about the two afore-mentioned remarks he gave me an amusing account +of how the interviewer had appreciated the various samples of wine +which he (Radić) had just brought down from his vineyard. The conversation +lasted for about four hours, and in the course of it Radić mentioned +that a certain Moslem deputy from Novi Bazar, irritated by +the fact that Mr. Drašković, Minister of the Interior, found no pleasure +in his continued presence on a commission of inquiry in the region of +Kossovo, had been throwing out very dark hints about a child which +he accused the Serbs of killing in the stormy days of 1878, and then +relating to the Tsar that this dastardly deed had been committed by the +Turks. This was the basis of that part of the interview. As for the +other absurdity, it was mentioned that some courtiers had told the +Prince-Regent that he alone could establish an orderly Government in +Russia, whereupon Radić observed that England and France were not +likely to allow one person to reign both there and in Yugoslavia. And +when I asked why he had not published this explanation in his paper, +he said that he couldn't very well charge a guest with having liked his +wine too much.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_63_63" id="Footnote_63_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63_63"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> Cf. <i>The Quarterly Review</i> (October 1921), in which Messrs. Pavle +Popović and Jovan M. Jovanović published a very able survey of Yugoslav +conditions.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_64_64" id="Footnote_64_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64_64"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> Cf. <i>Nineteenth Century and After</i>, January 1921.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_65_65" id="Footnote_65_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65_65"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> April 26, 1921.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_66_66" id="Footnote_66_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66_66"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> Unhappily it became apparent that the Italians were not disposed +to have the Treaty put in force</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_67_67" id="Footnote_67_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67_67"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> March 23, 1922.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_68_68" id="Footnote_68_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor_68_68"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> Cf. an article in a fascisti newspaper, quoted by the <i>Zagreber Tagblatt</i> +of May 14, 1922.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_69_69" id="Footnote_69_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor_69_69"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> Cf. "The Rise of the Little Entente," by Dorothy Thompson. April 1, +1922.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_70_70" id="Footnote_70_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor_70_70"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> <i>Fortnightly Review</i>, May 1922.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_71_71" id="Footnote_71_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor_71_71"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> The magnates of Hungary and their friends do not grow weary of +lamenting the sad fate of the Magyar minorities. Whatever may be +happening in Transylvania, they have a very poor case against the Serbs. +In the Voivodina there are, according to Hungarian statistics, about +382,000 Magyars out of 1·4 million inhabitants. These Magyars have +their primary and secondary schools, their newspapers and so forth, +whereas in the spring of 1922 the schools in various Serbian villages +near Budapest were forcibly closed, the lady teachers being told that +if they stayed they would have to undergo the physical examination +which is applied to prostitutes.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="VIII" id="VIII"></a>VIII<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[272]</a></span></h2> + +<h3>YUGOSLAVIA'S FRONTIERS</h3> + +<p class="subtitle"><span class="smcap">Introduction</span>—(<i>a</i>) <span class="smcap">The Albanian Frontier</span>: 1. <span class="smcap">The Actors</span>—2. <span class="smcap">The +audience rush the stage</span>—3. <span class="smcap">Serbs, Albanians and the Mischief-makers</span>—4. +<span class="smcap">The State of Albanian culture</span>—5. <span class="smcap">A method +which might have been tried in Albania</span>—6. <span class="smcap">The attraction +of Yugoslavia</span>—7. <span class="smcap">Religious and other matters in the border +region</span>—8. <span class="smcap">A digression on two rival Albanian authorities</span>—9. +<span class="smcap">What faces the Yugoslavs</span>—10. <span class="smcap">Dr. Trumbić's proposal</span>—11. +<span class="smcap">The position in 1921: The Tirana Government and the +Mirditi</span>—12. <span class="smcap">Serbia's good influence</span>—13. <span class="smcap">European measures +against the Yugoslavs and their friends</span>—14. <span class="smcap">The region +from which the Yugoslavs have retired</span>—15. <span class="smcap">The prospect</span>—(<i>b</i>) +<span class="smcap">The Greek frontier</span>—(<i>c</i>) <span class="smcap">The Bulgarian frontier</span>—(<i>d</i>) <span class="smcap">The +Roumanian frontier</span>: 1. <span class="smcap">The state of the Roumanians in +eastern Serbia</span>—2. <span class="smcap">The Banat</span>—(<i>e</i>) <span class="smcap">The Hungarian frontier</span>—(<i>f</i>) +<span class="smcap">The Austrian frontier</span>—(<i>g</i>) <span class="smcap">The Italian frontier</span>.</p> + + +<p class="section">INTRODUCTION</p> + +<p>Nobody could have expected in the autumn of 1918 +that the frontiers of the new State would be rapidly +delimitated. Ethnological, economic, historic and +strategical arguments—to mention no others—would be +brought forward by either side, and the Supreme Council, +which had to deliver judgment on these knotty problems, +would be often more preoccupied with their own interests +and their relation to each other. It would also happen +that a member of the Supreme Council would be simultaneously +judge and pleader. The mills of justice would +therefore grind very slowly, for they would be conscious +that the fruit of their efforts, evolved with much foreign +material clogging the machinery and with parts of the +machinery jerked out of their line of track, would be +received with acute criticism. When more than two +years had elapsed from the time of the Armistice a considerable<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[273]</a></span> +part of Yugoslavia's frontiers remained undecided. +We will travel along the frontier lines, starting +with that between Yugoslavs and Albanians.</p> + + +<p class="section">(a) THE ALBANIAN FRONTIER</p> + +<p class="section">1. THE ACTORS</p> + +<p>Those who in old Turkish days lived in that wild +border country which is dealt with on these pages would +have been surprised to hear that they would be the objects +of a great deal of discussion in the west of Europe. But +in those days there was no Yugoslavia and no Albania +and no League of Nations, and very few were the writers +who took up this question. It is, undoubtedly, a question +of importance, though some of these writers, remembering +that the fate of the world was dependent on the fraction +of an inch of Cleopatra's nose, seem almost to have +imagined that it was proportionately more dependent on +those several hundred kilometres of disputed frontier. +It would not so much matter that they have introduced +a good deal of passion into their arguments if they had +not also exerted some influence on influential men—and +this compels one to pay them what would otherwise be +excessive attention.</p> + +<p>Let us consider the frontier which the Ambassadors' +Conference in November 1921 assigned to Yugoslavia and +the Albanians. We have already mentioned some of +the previous points of contact between those Balkan +neighbours who for centuries have been acquiring knowledge +of each other and who, therefore, as Berati Bey, +the Albanian delegate in Paris, very wisely said, should +have been left to manage their own frontier question. A +number of Western Europeans will exclaim that this +could not be accomplished without the shedding of blood; +but it is rather more than probable that the interference +of Western Europe—partly philanthropic and partly +otherwise—will be responsible for greater loss of life. +If it could not be permitted that two of the less powerful +peoples should attempt to settle their own affairs, then,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[274]</a></span> +at any rate, the most competent of alien judges should +have sat on the tribunal. A frontier in that part of +Europe should primarily take the peculiarities of the +people into account, and I believe that if Sir Charles Eliot +and Baron Nopsca with their unrivalled knowledge of the +Albanians had been consulted it is probable they would, +for some years to come, have thought desirable the frontier +which is preferred by General Franchet d'Espérey, by a +majority of the local Albanians, and by those who hope +for peace in the Balkans.</p> + + +<p class="section">2. THE AUDIENCE RUSH THE STAGE</p> + +<p>A battle which took place near Tuzi, not far from +Podgorica, in December 1919, may assist the study of +the difficult Albanian question. At the first attack +about 150 Montenegrins, mostly young recruits, were +killed or wounded; but in the counter-attack the Albanian +losses were much greater, 167 of them being made +prisoners. On all of these were found Italian rifles, +ammunition, money and army rations. On the other +hand, a few Montenegrins, with three officers, were also +captured and were stripped and handed over, naked, to +the Italians. But these declined to have them, saying +that the conflict had been no concern of theirs, and the +unfortunate men—with the exception of one who escaped—remained +among the Albanians. The fact that Tuzi +would be of no value to the Italians neither weakens +nor strengthens the supposition that they were privy +to the Albanian attack; but it may very well be that the +natives had taken their Italian equipment by force of +arms. It would, anyhow, seem that the Italians have +little understanding of this people: during the War, +when General Franchet d'Espérey was straightening his +line, he paid some hundreds of Albanians to maintain +his western flank, and they were very satisfactory. (It +troubled them very little whether they were holding it +against the Austrians or against other Albanians.) When +Italy took over that part of the line she employed a whole +Division, which—to the amusement, it is said, of Franchet +d'Espérey—provided the local population with a great<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[275]</a></span> +deal of booty, and in particular with mules. There was +constant trouble in those regions of Albania which were +occupied by the Italians,<a name="FNanchor_72_72" id="FNanchor_72_72"></a><a href="#Footnote_72_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a> and in June 1920 things had +come to such a pass that the Italian garrisons, after being +thrown out of the villages of Bestrovo and Selitza, were +actually retiring with all the stores they could rescue to +Valona. Their retreat, said Reuter, in a euphemistic +message from Rome, was "attended by some loss." As +Valona was their last stronghold in Albanian territory, +it seemed that very few, if any, of the tribes were in +favour of an Italian protectorate. And since it was +calculated that during the first six months of 1920 the +Italian Government was paying from 400 to 500 million +lire a month for corn, and the year's deficit might be +enough to lead the State to the very verge of bankruptcy, +one was asking whether from an economic, apart from +any other, point of view, it would not be advisable for +the Italians to cut their losses in central Albania. And +this they very wisely determined to do. Would that +their subsequent policy in northern Albania had been +as well-inspired.</p> + +<p>It would also seem as if the affair of Tuzi shows that +the Albanians have no wish for a Yugoslav protectorate, +and there are a good many Serbs, such as Professor +Cvijić, who view with uneasiness any extension of their +sway over the Albanians. Many of the tribes are prepared, +after very small provocation or none, to take up +arms against anybody; and those who, in the north +and north-east of the country, are in favour of a Yugoslav +protectorate would undoubtedly have opposed to them +a number of the natives, less because they are fired with +the prospect of "Albania for the Albanians" than on +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[276]</a></span>account of their patriarchal views. We must, however, +at the same time, acknowledge that those Albanians +who are impelled by patriotic ideals, and who would +like to see their countrymen within the 1913 frontiers, +resolutely turn away from the various attractions which +the Slavs undoubtedly exercise over many of them and +combine in a brotherly fashion, under the guidance of a +disinterested State, to work for an independent Albania—those +idealists have every right to be heard. Their +solution is, in fact, the one that would, as we have elsewhere +said, be best for everyone concerned. The late +Professor Burrows, who believed in the possibility of such +an arrangement, thought that it would take generations +for this people "to pass from blood feud and tribal +jealousy to the good order of a unified State, unless they +have tutorage in the art of self-government." There +seem to be grave difficulties, both external and internal, +in the way of setting up such a tutorage over the whole +of the 1913 Albania; and if a majority of the northern +and north-eastern tribes prefer to turn to Yugoslavia, +rather than to join the frustrated patriots and the wilder +brethren in turning away from it, they should not be +sweepingly condemned as traitors to the national cause. +The frame of mind which looks with deep suspicion on a +road that links a tribe to its neighbour is not very promising +for those who dream of an Albanian nation; it is a +prevalent and fundamental frame of mind. "The Prince +of Wied," we are told by his countryman, Dr. Max Müller, +"succeeded in conquering the hearts of those Albanians +who supported him and of gaining the highest respect +of those who were his political opponents." No doubt +they were flattered when they noticed that he had so far +become an Albanian as to surround his residence at +Durazzo with barbed-wire entanglements.</p> + +<p>Among the solutions of the Albanian problem was that +which Dr. Müller very seriously, not to say ponderously, +put forward in 1916.<a name="FNanchor_73_73" id="FNanchor_73_73"></a><a href="#Footnote_73_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a> This gentleman, with a first-hand +knowledge of the country, which he gained during +the War, did not minimize the task which would face +the Prince of Wied on his return. Of that wooden potentate +one may say that his work in Albania did not collapse +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[277]</a></span>for the reason that it was never started; a few miles +from Durazzo, his capital, from which, I believe, he +made only that one excursion whose end was undignified, +a few miles away he excited the derision of his "subjects," +and a few miles farther off they had not heard of him. +Dr. Müller, after reproving us sternly for smiling at the +national decoration, in several classes, with which his +Highness on landing at the rickety pier was graciously +pleased to gladden the meritorious natives, admits that +at his second coming he will have to take various other +steps. Austrians and Germans should be brought to +colonize the country, and not peasants, forsooth, like +those who have laboriously made good in the Banat, +but merchants, manufacturers, engineers, doctors, officials +and large landowners—not by any means without close +inquiry, so as to admit only such as are in possession of +a blameless repute and a certain amount of cash. Dr. +Müller was resolved that, so far as lay with him, none +but the very best Teutons should embark upon this +splendid mission. He desired that, after landing, they +should first of all remain at the harbour, there to undergo +a course of tuition in the customs and peculiarities of +the tribe among which they proposed to settle. His +compatriots would be so tactful—apparently not criticizing +any of the customs—that the hearts of the Albanians +would incline towards them and by their beautiful +example they would make these primitive, wild hearts +beat not so much for local interests but very fervently +for the Albanian fatherland. One cannot help a feeling +of regret that circumstances have prevented us from +seeing Dr. Müller's scheme put into action.</p> + + +<p class="section">3. SERBS, ALBANIANS AND THE MISCHIEF-MAKERS</p> + +<p>In 1913, after the Balkan War, the flags of the Powers +were hoisted at Scutari, and a frontier dividing the +Albanians from the Yugoslavs (Montenegrins and Serbs) +was indicated by Austria and traced at the London +Conference. This boundary was still awaiting its final +demarcation by commissioners on the spot when the +European War broke out. Then in the second year of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[278]</a></span> +the War disturbances were organized by the Austrians +in Albania—their friend the miscreant ruler of Montenegro +caused money to be sent for this purpose to the Austro-Hungarian +Consul at Scutari—and in April and May of +that year the Serbs were authorized by their Allies to +protect themselves by occupying certain portions of the +country. Various battles took place between those +Albanians who were partisans of Austria and those who +were disinclined to attack the Serbs in the rear. The +Serbian Government opposed the Austrian propaganda +by dispatching to that region the Montenegrin Pouniša +Račić, of whom we have much to say. He was accompanied +by Smajo Ferović, a Moslem sergeant of komitadjis. +They explained to the Albanians that the Serbs +had been offered a separate peace with numerous concessions, +but that Mr. Pašić had refused to treat. When +the two Albanian parties discussed the situation by +shooting at each other, the Austro-Hungarian officers +made tracks for Kotor, and that particular intrigue came +to an end.</p> + +<p>When the War was over, the Serbs, sweeping up +from Macedonia, were requested by General Franchet +d'Espérey to undertake a task which the Italians refused, +and push the demoralized Austrian troops out of Albania. +Some weeks after this had been accomplished, the Italians, +mindful of the Treaty of London, demanded that a large +part of Albania should be given up to their administration. +The Serbs agreed and withdrew; they even took away +their representative from Scutari, where the Allies had +again installed themselves. The Treaty of London bestowed +upon the Serbs a sphere of influence in northern +Albania, but—save for a few misguided politicians—they +were logical enough to reject the whole of the pernicious +Treaty, both the clauses which robbed them in Dalmatia +and those which in Albania gave them stolen goods. +Over and over again did the Yugoslav delegates declare +in Paris that it was their wish to see established an +independent Albania with the frontiers of 1913. These, +the first frontiers which the Albanians had ever possessed, +were laid down by Austria with the express purpose of +thwarting the Serbs and facilitating Albanian raids. It +is true that several towns with large Albanian majorities<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[279]</a></span> +were made over to the Serbs—very much, as it turned +out, to their subsequent advantage—yet, being separated +from their hinterland, this was a doubtful gift. Nevertheless, +if a free and united Albania could be constituted +the Serbs were ready to accept this frontier, and even +Monsieur Justin Godart, the strenuous French Albanophile +of whom we speak elsewhere, cannot deny that this +attitude of the Yugoslavs redounds very much to their +honour. But before relative tranquillity reigns among +the Albanians it is, as General Franchet d'Espérey perceived +in 1918, an untenable line. He, therefore, drew a +temporary frontier which permitted the Serbs to advance +for some miles into Albania, so that on the river Drin or +on the mountain summits they might ward off attacks. +These, by the way, had their origin far more in the border +population's empty stomachs than in their animus against +the Slavs. And nobody with knowledge of this people +could regard the 1918 frontier as unnecessary. The +Albanians were themselves so much inclined to acquiesce +that one must ask why, in the months which followed, +there was a considerable amount of border fighting. +What was it that caused the Albanians in the region of +Scutari to make their violent onslaughts of December +1919 and January 1920, the renewed offensive of July +1920 at the same places—after which the Albanian +Government forwarded to that of Belgrade an assurance +of goodwill—and the organized thrust of August 13 against +Dibra, which was preceded on August 10 by a manifesto +to the chancelleries of Europe falsely accusing the +Serbs of having begun these operations, and which was +followed by the Tirana Government promising to try to +find the guilty persons? The 19th of the same month +saw the Albanians delivering a further attack in the +neighbourhood of Scutari, and then the Yugoslav Government +decided that their army must occupy such defensive +positions as would put a stop to these everlasting incidents. +But a voice was whispering to the Albanians +that they must not allow themselves to be so easily +coerced. "You have thrown us out of all the land behind +Valona," said the voice, "and out of Valona itself. You +must, therefore, be the greatest warriors in the world, +and we will be charmed to provide you with rifles and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[280]</a></span> +machine guns and munitions and uniforms and cash. +We will gladly publish to the world that your Delegation +at Rome has sent us an official Note demanding that the +Yugoslav troops should retire to the 1913 line, pure and +simple. Of course we, like the other Allies, agreed that +they should occupy the more advanced positions which +General Franchet d'Espérey assigned to them—and to +show you how truly sorry we are for having done so, we +propose to send you all the help you need. In dealing +with us you will find that you have to do with honourable +men, whereas the Yugoslavs—what are they but Yugoslavs?"</p> + +<p>Anyone who travelled about this time along the road +from Scutari down to the port of San Giovanni di Medua +would inevitably meet with processions of ancient cabs, +ox-wagons and what not, laden with all kinds of military +equipment. Some of these supplies had come direct +from Italy, while others had been seized from the Italians +near Valona. The detachment of Italian soldiers at San +Giovanni, and the much larger detachment at Scutari, +may have looked with mixed feelings at some of these +commodities, but on the other hand they may have +thought, with General Bencivenga,<a name="FNanchor_74_74" id="FNanchor_74_74"></a><a href="#Footnote_74_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a> that it was good +business—"<i>un buon affare</i>"—in exchange for Valona to +obtain a solid and secure friendship with the Albanians. +Roads, as he pointed out, lead from Albania to the heart +of Serbia, and for that reason a true brotherhood of arms +between Italians and Albanians was, in case of hostilities, +enormously to be desired. And so the Italians stationed +at Scutari, under Captain Pericone of the Navy, may +have felt that it was well that all those cannon captured +from their countrymen were in such a good condition. +They would now be turned by the Albanians against the +hateful Yugoslavs. ["Italy is the one Power in Europe," +says her advocate, Mr. H. E. Goad, in the <i>Fortnightly +Review</i> (May 1922), "that is most obviously and most consistently +working for peace and conciliation in every field."] ... +A further supply of military material is said to have +reached the Albanians from Gabriele d'Annunzio in the +<small>s.s.</small> <i>Knin</i>. To the Irish, the Egyptians and the Turks +the poet-filibuster had merely sent greetings. Some one +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[281]</a></span>may have told him that even the most lyrical greeting +would not be valued by the Albanians half as much as a +shipload of munitions.</p> + +<p>For a considerable time the more intelligent Italians +had noticed that these two Balkan peoples were disposed +to live in amicable terms with one another. Traditions +that are so powerful with an illiterate people—under +five per thousand of the Albanians who have stayed in +their own country can read and write—numerous traditions +speak of friendship with the Serbs: Lek, the great +legislator, was related to Serbian princes; Skanderbeg +was an ally of the Serbs; "Most of the celebrated +leaders of northern Albania and Montenegro," says +Miss Durham, "seem to have been of mixed Serbian-Albanian +blood"; Mustapha Vezir Bushatli strove +together with Prince Miloš against the Turks, and the +same cause united the Serbian authorities to the famous +Vezir Mahmud Begović of Peć. A primitive people like +the Albanians admire the warlike attributes beyond all +others, and the exploits of the Serbian army in the +European War inclined the hearts of the Albanians +towards their neighbours. Some of them remembered +at this juncture that their great-grandfathers or grandfathers +had only become Albanian after having accepted +the Muhammedan religion; now the old ikons were +taken from their hiding-places. And there was, in fact, +between the two Balkan people a spirit of cordiality which +gave terrible umbrage to the Italians. So they took the +necessary steps: many of the Catholic priests had been +in Austria's pay, and these now became the pensioners +of Italy. Monsignor Sereggi, the Metropolitan, used to +be anti-Turk but, as was evident when in 1911 he negotiated +with Montenegro, he is not personally anti-Slav. +Yet he must have money for his clergy, for his seminary, +and so forth. His friendship would be easily, one fancies, +transferred from Rome to Belgrade if the Serbs are +willing to provide the cash—and nobody can blame him. +Leo Freund, who had been Vienna's secret agent and a +great friend of Monsignor Bumçi, the Albanian bishop, +was succeeded by an Italian. But, of course, the new +almoner did not confine his gifts to those of his own faith. +Many of the leading Moslems were in receipt of a monthly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[282]</a></span> +salary, and this was not so serious a burden for the +Italians as one might suppose, since Albania is a poor +country, and with no Austrian competition you found +quite prominent personages deigning to accept a rather +miserable wage. "And do you think," I asked of Musa +Yuka, the courteous mayor of Scutari, "that those +mountain tribes are being paid?" "Well," he said, "I +think that it is not improbable." ... At the time of the +Bosnian annexation crisis the Serbs had as their Minister +of Finance the sagacious Patchoù. The War Minister, +a General, was strongly in favour of an instant declaration +of war, and the Premier suggested that the matter +should be discussed. He turned to the Minister of +Finance and asked him whether he had sufficient money +for such an undertaking. Patchoù shook his head. +"But our men are patriots! They will go without +bread, they will go without everything!" exclaimed the +General. "The horses and mules are not patriots," +said Patchoù, "and if you want them to march you'll +have to feed them." The Albanians were so little inclined +to go to war with Yugoslavia that the Italians +had, in various ways, to feed them nearly all. And what +did the Albanians think of these intrigues? At any +rate, what did they say? "Italy," quoth Professor +Chimigò,<a name="FNanchor_75_75" id="FNanchor_75_75"></a><a href="#Footnote_75_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a> a prominent Albanian who teaches at Bologna, +"Italy is always respected and esteemed as a great +nation.... The Albanian Government," said he, "has +charged me to declare in public that Albania does not +regard herself as victorious against Italy, but is convinced +that the Italians, in withdrawing their troops +from Valona, were obeying a sentiment of goodness and +generosity." Such words would be likely to bring more +plentiful supplies from Rome. And fortunately the +Italians did not seem to suffer, like the Serbs, from any +scruples as to the propriety of taking active steps against +another "Allied and Associated Power." When Zena +Beg Riza Beg of Djakovica came in the year 1919 to his +brother-in-law Ahmed Beg Mati, one of the Albanian +leaders, he told him that the Belgrade Government, in +pursuance of their policy "The Balkans for the Balkan +peoples," would be glad if the Italians could be ousted +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[283]</a></span>from Albania. Zena Beg returned with a request for +money, guns and so forth; but they were not sent.</p> + +<p>Ahmed Beg and Zena Beg are patriotic young Albanian +noblemen of ancient family and great possessions. But +Zena Beg has the advantage of living in Yugoslavia, +outside the atmosphere of corruption which is darkening +his native land. Ahmed Beg, who in 1920 was Minister +of the Interior, Minister of War, Governor of Scutari +and Director (in mufti) of the military operations against +the Yugoslavs, did not accept Italian bribes, but he was +surrounded by those who did, and thus the gentle and +industrious young man was being led to work against +his own country's interests. With him at Scutari was +another of the six Ministers of the Tirana Government, +in the person of the venerable Moslem priest Kadri, +Minister of Justice, and one of the four Regents, Monsignor +Bumçi. There was about it all an Oriental odour +of the less desirable kind, which caused some observers +to say that when Albania obtains her independence she +will be a bad imitation of the old Turkey—a little Turkey +without the external graces. When the thoughtful greybeard +Kadri went limping down the main street, a protecting +gendarme dawdled behind him, smoking a +cigarette; but this endearing nonchalance was absent +from the methods of government: any Albanian whose +opinions did not coincide with those of the authorities +could only express them at his peril. [Blood-vengeance +is, to some extent, being deposed by party-vengeance—this +having originated in the time of Wied, when the +politicians were divided into Nationalists and Essadists, +after which they became Italophils and Austrophils, +who now have been succeeded by Italophils (who ask +for an Italian mandate) and Serbophils and Grecophils +(who desire that these countries should have no mandate, +but should act in a friendly spirit towards an independent +Albania). Meanwhile the Italophils, nearly all of them +on Italy's pay-roll, were, till a few months ago, in the +ascendant, and their attitude towards the other party +was relentless.] One Alush Ljocha, for example, said +that he thought it would be well if Yugoslavia and +Albania lived on friendly terms with one another. +Because of this—the Government having adopted other<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[284]</a></span> +ideas—his house at Scutari was burned,<a name="FNanchor_76_76" id="FNanchor_76_76"></a><a href="#Footnote_76_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a> and when we +were discussing the matter at the palace of the Metropolitan, +Monsignor Sereggi, I found that His Grace was +emphatically in accord with a fiery Franciscan poet, +Father Fichta, with the more placid Monsignor Bumçi, +and with two other ecclesiastics who were present. "We +did well to burn his house, very well, I say!" exclaimed +Father Fichta, "because Alush is only a private person +and he has no business to concern himself with foreign +countries." Of course, when Father Fichta made his +comments on foreign countries it was not as a private +person but as a responsible editor. Thus in the <i>Posta e +Shqypnis</i> during the War he denounced Clemenceau and +Lloyd George as such foes of humanity that their proper +destination was a cage of wild beasts, and, after having +visited France during 1919 as secretary to the sincere +and credulous Bumçi, he contributed anti-French and, +I believe, anti-English poems to the <i>Epopea Shqyptare</i>.</p> + +<p>"I have been told," I said, "by an intelligent Albanian +who was educated at Robert College at Constantinople +that the greatest hope for the country lies, in his opinion, +in the increase of American schools, such as that one +at Elbasan and the admirable institution at Samakoff +in Bulgaria, where the Americans—in order not to be +accused of proselytism—teach everything except +religion."</p> + +<p>"If I had my own way," cried Fichta, "I would +shut up these irreligious American schools. Religion is +the base of the social life of this country."</p> + +<p>"And you and the Muhammedans," I asked, "do +you think that your co-operation has a good prospect +of enduring? With a country of no more than one and +a half million inhabitants it is essential that you should +be united."</p> + +<p>"God in Heaven! Who can tolerate such things?" +exclaimed the Metropolitan. That very corpulent old +gentleman was bouncing with rage on his sofa. "Is it +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[285]</a></span>not horrible," he cried in Italian, "that this man should +dare to come to my house and make propaganda against +us?"</p> + +<p>"Really, sir, I am astonished," said Monsignor +Bumçi, reproachfully, in French, "that you should ask +such a question." [It was answered a few weeks later, +when Halim Beg Derala and Zena Beg—who, being outside +Albania, were free to utter non-Governmental +opinions—said that they had not the slightest doubt +but that the friendship between the fanatic Moslem and +the fanatic Catholic would come to an end and each of +them would again in the first place think of his religion, +so that, as heretofore, they would regard themselves as +Turkish and Latin people rather than as Albanian. This +foible does not apply to the Orthodox Albanians of the +South, who are more patriotic.] "I am astonished," said +the Monsignor, "that you should question our friendship +with the Moslem. They have been the domineering +party, but all that is finished, and we are the best of +friends. See, they have chosen me to be one of the +Regents!<a name="FNanchor_77_77" id="FNanchor_77_77"></a><a href="#Footnote_77_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a> Our Government of all the three religions is +very good, and," said he, as he thumped the arm of his +chair, "it insists on the Albanians obtaining justice in +spite of our enemies."</p> + +<p>It chanced that I had met Father Achikou, Doctor +of Theology and Philosophy, in the Franciscan church. +Because his brother had had occasion to kill an editor +in self-defence, this, perhaps the most enlightened, +member of the Albanian Catholic clergy, had been compelled +to remain for eight months in the church and its +precincts, seeing that the Government was powerless to +guarantee that he would not be overtaken by that national +curse, the blood-vengeance.</p> + +<p>"Well, one cannot praise the custom of blood-vengeance," +said the Monsignor.</p> + +<p>"You spoke," I said, "of your Government insisting +on justice for the Albanians."</p> + +<p>And some time after this Professor Achikou and another +prominent young priest were deported to Italy +and, I believe, interned in that country.... With their +fate we may compare that of Dom Ndoc Nikai, a priest +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[286]</a></span>whose anti-Slav paper, the <i>Bessa Shqyptare</i>, is alleged to +exist on its Italian subsidy, and Father Paul Doday, +whom Italy insisted on installing as Provincial of all +the Franciscans (after vetoing at Rome the appointment +of Father Vincent Prênnushi, whom nearly all the +Franciscans in Albania had voted for). Father Doday, +it is interesting to note, is of Slav nationality, for he +comes from Janjevo in Kossovo, but he studied in Italy, +and has abandoned the ways of his ancestors. This +town of some 500 houses, inhabited by Slavs from Dalmatia +and a few Saxons who are now entirely Slavicized, +still retains a costume that resembles the Dalmatian, as +also a rather defective Dalmatian dialect. The Austrians +for thirty years endeavoured to Albanize them, but the +people resisted this and boycotted the church and school. +The priest Lazar, who defended their Slav national +conscience, was persecuted and forced to flee to Serbia—he +is now Mayor of Janjevo. It usually happened, by +the way, that the priests of this Catholic town came from +Dalmatia; but the Slav idea could bridge over the +difference between Catholicism and Orthodoxy, so that +if no Catholic priest was available his place would +be taken by an Orthodox priest from a neighbouring +village. Only a few of the natives are anti-nationalists, +having been brought up, like Father Doday, in some +Italian or Austrian seminary. There are in Albania +to-day about ten such priests who come from Janjevo.... +How well this Father Doday has served his masters +may be seen in the case of the Franciscan priest in Shala, +who, with the whole population of armed Catholics, +resisted the Italian advance of 1920. Together with +Lieut. Lek Marashi he organized komitadjis in Shala and +elsewhere, his purpose being to liberate his country from +the Italians. Since these latter could do nothing else +against him they compelled the Bishop of Pulati to +punish him; however, all that the Bishop did was to tell +the patriot priest to go away. But Father Doday was +more willing to work for the Italians; he excommunicated +his fellow-countryman, on the ground that he would +not come to Scutari, where his life would have been in +danger.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[287]</a></span></p> + + +<p class="section">4. THE STATE OF ALBANIAN CULTURE</p> + +<p>But, you may say, one cannot in fairness expect the +new Albanian Government to achieve in so short a time +what the Serbian Government has effected among the +Albanians of Kossovo, who are being persuaded to +relinquish their devastating custom of blood-vengeance. +Prior to March 1921, over 400 of its devotees and of +brigands had given themselves up in Kossovo—turning +away from the old days when, as one of them expressed it, +"a shot from my rifle was heard at a distance of three +hours' travel"; one of the most eminent among them +disdained to surrender to a local authority and made +his way to Belgrade, where he presented himself one +afternoon to the astonished officials at the Ministry of the +Interior. "After all," as Miss Durham has written, "the +most important fact in northern Albania is blood-vengeance." +What we must set out to probe is whether +the Albanians, if they are left to themselves, will be able +after a time to administer their country in a reasonably +satisfactory manner.... Their culture is admittedly a +very low one. In the realm of art a few love-songs +and several proverbs were all that Consul Hahn could +collect for his monumental work,<a name="FNanchor_78_78" id="FNanchor_78_78"></a><a href="#Footnote_78_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a> though his researches, +which lasted for years, took him all over the country. +One of these love-songs, a piece of six lines, will give some +idea of their æsthetic value; a lover, standing outside +the house of his lady, invites her to come out to him +immediately; he threatens that if she disobeys him he +will have his hair cut in the Western style, nay more, he +will have it washed and then he will return, howling like +a dog. Consul Hahn's summing up of the Albanians, +by the way, stated that the social life of Cæsar's <i>Bellum +Gallicum</i> was applicable to the tribes which now inhabit +southern Albania, those of the north not being +equal to so high a standard. Yastrebow, the well-known +Russian Consul-General, tells us of the villages of Retsch +and Tschidna, where in winter men and women clothe +themselves with rags, in summer with no rags—so that +in the warmer months a visitor, presumably, in order not +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[288]</a></span>to shock the natives, would take the precaution of depositing +his clothes in some convenient cavern. On the other +hand, when the ladies in waiting on the Princess of Wied +drove out in low-cut dresses, it being warm weather, the +people of Durazzo were scandalized at what they called +the terrible behaviour of their Prince's harem. These +mountain people live on maize and milk and cheese—salt +is unknown to them. Baron Nopsca is regarded +by the few educated Albanians as the most competent +foreign observer. He knew the language well and +travelled everywhere. One custom he relates of the +Merturi is the sprinkling of ashes on a spot where they +suspect that treasure is buried; on the next morning +they look to see what animal has left on the ashes the +print of its feet, and this tells them what sacrifice the +guardian of the treasure demands—sheep or hen or +human being. Miss Durham says that human excrement +and water is the sole emetic known to the Albanians; +it is used in all cases of poisoning. But the Albanian's +death is most frequently brought about by gun-shot. +"In Toplana," as they say, "people are killed like pigs"—42 +per cent. of the adults, according to Nopsca, dying +a violent death. "It was her good government and her +orderliness that obtained for her her admission to the +League of Nations," said the Hon. Aubrey Herbert, M.P., +in the <i>Morning Post</i> of November 29, 1921. And the +enthusiastic President of the Anglo-Albanian Society is +modest enough to refrain from telling us how much she +was indebted to his own championship. The evil eye is +feared in Albania more than syphilis or typhus. Siebertz<a name="FNanchor_79_79" id="FNanchor_79_79"></a><a href="#Footnote_79_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a> +mentions a favourite remedy, which is to spit at the +patient. A ceremonial spitting is also used by anyone +who sees two people engaged in close conversation; very +likely they are plotting against the third party, and by +his timely expectoration their wicked plans will be +upset.</p> + +<p>Absurd as it may sound, there are not a few Albanian +apologists who lay the entire blame upon the Turks. +They assert—and it is true—that Constantinople left this +distant province so completely almost to its own devices +that the suzerain might just as well not have existed. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[289]</a></span>A few Turkish officials lived in the towns, in the country +they showed themselves when they were furtively +travelling through it; and the chief officials, such as the +Vali of Scutari, were wont to be Albanians. And, being +left by the Turks to evolve their own salvation, they +turned Albania into a region of utter darkness—at any +rate, they did practically nothing to shake off the barbarism +which they had inherited. They have certain +alluring attributes, such as their unpolluted mediæval +ideas on the sanctity of guests and the punctilious maintenance +of their honour,<a name="FNanchor_80_80" id="FNanchor_80_80"></a><a href="#Footnote_80_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a> their readiness to die for freedom +as well as for a quarrel about a sheep, and their not infrequent +personal magnetism. They are very abstemious, +their morals are pure, they have certain mental qualities, +as yet undeveloped, and they are thrifty. But "they +are so devoid of both originality and unity," says Sir +Charles Eliot,<a name="FNanchor_81_81" id="FNanchor_81_81"></a><a href="#Footnote_81_81" class="fnanchor">[81]</a> that acutest of observers, "that it is vain +to seek for anything in politics, art, religion, literature +or customs to which the name Albanian can be properly +applied as denoting something common to the Albanian +race."</p> + +<p>The apologists, such as Miss Durham, argue that the +other Balkan peoples suffered from a good deal of internal +tumult after they had set themselves up as independent +countries. And it is submitted that the Albanians would +gradually develop the same national spirit as their +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[290]</a></span>neighbours. But there are as yet, Miss Durham must +acknowledge, very few signs that this will ever come to +pass.</p> + +<p>"We are Albanians," said Monsignor Bumçi, "we +ask for Albania! We demand it! Surely you can see +that we are all marching together, men from all parts of +Albania, marching against the Yugoslavs. I say we are +united."</p> + +<p>And some miles from Scutari a part of the Albanian +army was returning from a foray into Yugoslavia. When +they came into the territory of a certain tribe they were +compelled, by way of toll, to surrender their booty. Such +incidents occurred in several places, so that obviously +the conditions still prevail that were described in 1905 +by Karl Steinmetz,<a name="FNanchor_82_82" id="FNanchor_82_82"></a><a href="#Footnote_82_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a> an Austrian engineer who learned +the language and travelled through the country in the +disguise of a Franciscan monk. "The tribes cannot +conceive the idea of a higher unity," says he in one of +his valuable books. [So that in attempting to build up +the new State these tribal institutions should be used as +much as possible. Except in the towns, which play a +relatively small part in the country's life, the voting +should be by tribes.] "How could a Nikaj and a Shala +meet," says he, "except for mutual destruction? Will +a Mirdite for a nice word give up his bandit expeditions +to the plain? The local antagonisms are as yet far too +great." More often than not you would find that the +Albanians regard each other as at the time of the Balkan +War, when, for example, a Serbian cavalry officer took the +village of Puka and asked the mayor to lead him to the +neighbouring village of Duci. His worship consented, +but after walking on ahead for half an hour he stopped. +"We are now midway between the two villages," he said, +"and I can go no farther." "Unless you continue," +said the captain, "I shall be obliged to have you shot." +"<i>Nukahaile</i> [I don't care]," said the Albanian. "It is +all the same to me whether I am killed by you or by the +men of Duci, and I certainly shall be killed if I show +myself there."</p> + +<p>"We are all united, Catholic and Moslem. It is +splendid!" said Monsignor Bumçi. "And we are not by +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[291]</a></span>any means fanatical—with us it is the country first and +our religion afterwards."</p> + +<p>Certainly the Shqyptar is not so good a churchman +as we have sometimes been led to believe. Prenk Bib +Doda is said to have cherished the precepts of the Catholic +Church with such devotion that he could not bring himself +to institute divorce proceedings against his childless +wife. We are told that his mother was animated with +similar scruples, and that, to solve this awkward question +the old lady one day seized a rifle and shot her daughter-in-law +dead. There is not more truth in this tale than +in that of the brigands who, on a certain Friday, overpowered +and slew a caravan of merchants between Dibra +and Prizren. On examining their spoil they are said to +have discovered a large amount of meat, but, as it was +Friday, to have refrained from consuming it. Prenk Bib +Doda was, as a matter of fact, impotent; and his widow, +Lucia Bib Doda, survives him.... One agrees with +Monsignor Bumçi that the Albanian is not altogether so +blindly a supporter of his Church as we have been told, +and his murderous intentions against a neighbouring +tribe will be not at all diminished if they happen to profess +the same religion as himself.</p> + +<p>"Anyone can see," quoth the Monsignor, "that the +Government is dear to us. Men are coming from all over +the country, anxious to execute its wishes and to be enrolled +against the Yugoslav."</p> + +<p>Yes, we saw numbers of men tramping up to Scutari, +from boys to septuagenarians. They were going to +fight—it pleased them enormously. But if the Tirana +Government had ordered them to go back and work on +their fields, if it had asked them to take some precautions +against the ravages of syphilis, if it had expressed the +hope that they would no longer sell their women for an +old Martini, or that the village prefects would pay some +regard to sanitary matters—in the whole of Albania, +says Siebertz, there is only one <small>w.c.</small>—then they would +have laughed at this Government which tried to lay a +hand on their ancestral liberties.</p> + +<p>"The end of it all is," said the Monsignor, "we +are Albanians. We demand the independence of our +country."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[292]</a></span></p> + +<p>"As a Latin," writes Professor Katarani,<a name="FNanchor_83_83" id="FNanchor_83_83"></a><a href="#Footnote_83_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a> "I was +fire and flame for Albania.... But after a few months +I was forced not only to change my views about them, +but to regret all that I had written in the <i>Mattino</i> and the +<i>Tribuna</i>.... They are not a people, but tribes ... +they are against every principle of public officials, they +live the most primitive lives. I who know Albania +from end to end, who have sacrificed myself for that +country, am absolutely convinced that there could be no +greater misfortune than if, in its present state, it were +given autonomy or independence. Otherwise I confess +that an Albania free from any foreign Power would be +to the interest of Italy." And he concludes by saying +that the Albanians have done nothing to deserve an +independent State. It is well known that in the Albanian +Societies that after May 1913 were engaged at Constantinople +and Sofia, at Rome and Vienna, in striving +for the independence of the country it was not the +Albanians themselves who had the chief word. Those +who were initiated into secret Balkan policies were aware +that Albania was the domain with which Article 7 of +the old Triple Alliance was concerned.... The fiery +Albanian patriot, Basri Bey, Prince of Dukagjin, also +agrees that in the beginning an independent Albania +would be productive of anarchy. "I greatly regret to +acknowledge it," says he,<a name="FNanchor_84_84" id="FNanchor_84_84"></a><a href="#Footnote_84_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a> "but Albania is, so to speak, +the classic type of a country which has never had a real +government." Nevertheless, he is strongly in favour of +independence, his reasons being because Albania is "at +the same time the old mother and the youngest daughter +of the Balkans." This flamboyant prince and doctor +and deputy who denounces both Essad Pasha and his +nephew Ahmed Beg Mati, has got his own panacea for +the country, which is a Turkish army of occupation +commanded by a French general. Basri Bey seems to +confirm the remarks of his more enlightened co-religionists, +Halim Beg Derala and Zena Beg, for whereas the +Moslems can claim no more than a rather larger third of +the inhabitants, he calmly assumes that the whole country +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[293]</a></span>is Moslem. Albania, he says, is now more than ever +attached to Turkey, for the attachment is purely moral. +... The influence of this gentleman seems to be confined +to Dibra, but he has a good opinion of his own importance. +In 1915, in the days of the greatness of Essad +Pasha, he set up a Government at Dibra with himself +as Prime Minister and Essad Pasha as his Minister of +the Interior! There does not seem to be much justification +for Basri Bey to call himself a prince. He is a +Pomak, for his ancestors were Bulgars who accepted +Islam. His father was an official of the Turkish Government +at Philippopolis.</p> + +<p>Father Fichta told me that his countrymen would do +very well indeed if they could import from other parts +of Europe financial help, technicians and judges. Some +years ago the Turks settled to send two judges to Scutari; +then the Albanians would no longer be able to charge +them with not administering the law, so that each man +was obliged to take it into his own hands. "It is +entirely your fault," said the Albanians, "that we are +driven to adopt the method of blood-vengeance." So +thoroughly did they adopt it that the assassinations in +the region of Prizren, Djakovica and Peć amounted, +according to Glück, to a total of about six hundred a +year. The Turks therefore sent a couple of judges to +Scutari, and on the day after their arrival they were +murdered.</p> + +<p>What memory have the Albanians of their own great +men? One sultry afternoon, as we were driving in a +mule cart from the quaint town of Alessio, the driver +lashed his mule with a long stick; but after half a mile +of this, the animal applied a hind-leg sharply to the +driver's mouth. He roared and fell back in our arms +and bled profusely and was doctored by the fierce +gendarme, who put a handful of tobacco on the wound, +so that the driver had to keep his mouth shut. For the +remainder of the afternoon our mule went at a walking +pace, and presently, to while away the time, we begged +the gendarme and a merchant of Alessio, who was travelling +with us, to repeat the song of some old hero, such as +Skanderbeg. They stared—their mouths were also shut. +And finally the gendarme said he knew a hero-song. It<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[294]</a></span> +dealt with Zeph, a man with sheep, and Mark who stole +them. "Give me back my sheep," said Zeph. "No, +no!" said Mark. "Beware!" said Zeph. And one day, +as he hid behind a wall, he fired at Mark and slew him. +"That is the song," said the gendarme, "about the hero +Zeph."</p> + +<p>To whatever state of culture the Albanians may climb, +I think it will be generally agreed that some régime +other than unaided independence must, in the meantime, +be established there. One hears of those who argue that +Albania should forthwith be for the Albanians, because +they are a gifted and a very ancient people. They are +not more gifted than the Basques, and their antiquity is +not more wonderful. Nor do they stand on a higher +level of culture with respect to their neighbours than do +the Basques as compared with theirs. Not many tears +are shed by the Basques or by anyone else because those +interesting men are all the subjects of France or Spain.</p> + + +<p class="section">5. A METHOD THAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN TRIED IN +ALBANIA</p> + +<p>If only the Albanian question would be taken in +hand by humanitarians.... Here you have one and a +half million of wild children.... Build them schools +and roads, police their country—they themselves agree +that the savage atmosphere in the northern mountains +was radically altered by the Austrians when they occupied +that country during the War. One has heard of numerous +philanthropic societies in Great Britain whose object +has been more remote and less deserving; if some such +society would turn to Albania, their educational and +economic labours might, after a time, be made self-supporting +by the permission to exploit—of course, with +due regard to Albania's future—the forests and mines. +"To be master in Albania," says M. Gabriel Hanotaux, +"one would have to dislodge the inhabitants from their +eyries"—(another French statesman has used a less +exalted simile: "Albania," M. Briand once said, "is +an international lavatory")—and it goes without saying +that any corporation which undertakes to civilize the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[295]</a></span> +Shqyptart would need to bring in a military force, on +similar lines to the Swedish <i>gendarmerie</i> in Persia. The +Swedes, in fact, who are a military nation, might be +glad to accept this mandate; the expenses could be +met by an international fund. A certain number +of Albanians would be admitted to the <i>gendarmerie</i>; +and the more unruly natives would be dealt with +as they were, for everybody's good, by Austria.... +The Yugoslavs would then be delighted to accept the +1913 frontier, which is also what the Albanians ask for; +and Yugoslavs, Italians and Greeks would all retire +from Albania. There is really no need for the Italians +to demand Valona or Saseno, the island which lies in +front of it. The Italian naval experts know very well +that the possession of Pola, Lussin and Lagosta would +not be made more valuable by the addition of an Albanian +base.</p> + + +<p class="section">6. THE ATTRACTION OF YUGOSLAVIA</p> + +<p>But as Europe has not arrived at some such solution, +and since the Albanian Government has been prematurely +recognized by the Powers, then while the Albanians are +engaged in the stormy process of working out their own +salvation, it is only fair that Yugoslavia should be given +a good defensive frontier. The 1913 frontier is only +possible if the Albanians are pacific, but as it has now +been thought wise to set up an unaided and independent +Albanian State there is nothing more certain than the +turmoil of which its borders will be the scene, and this +will be so whether the Italians do or do not come to +the Albanians' assistance. What hope is there of even +a relative tranquillity on the Albanian border when so +many of the natives, preferring Yugoslav rule to that of +their own countrymen, will be waging a civil war? That +this preference is fairly widespread one could see in 1920 +by the number of refugees on the Yugoslav side of the +frontier. [Of course, a large number of Albanians also +fled to Scutari and elsewhere from the districts lately +occupied by the Yugoslav army. In both cases the +refugees were moved sometimes by hopes for a brighter<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[296]</a></span> +future, sometimes by fears which were caused by their +clouded past. To speak first of those who fled on account +of a guilty conscience, it is evident that these were more +numerous among the refugees in Albania than among +those in Yugoslavia, for it was the Yugoslav authorities +and not the Albanian who extended their sway. Mr. +Aubrey Herbert, M.P., wrote<a name="FNanchor_85_85" id="FNanchor_85_85"></a><a href="#Footnote_85_85" class="fnanchor">[85]</a> "that in the North the +Yugoslavs had destroyed more than 120 Albanian +villages." It would have been interesting if he had given +us their names, because the Yugoslavs appear to have +set about it so thoroughly that one cannot find anything +like that number on the Austrian maps, which are the +best pre-war maps for those regions. The Anglo-Albanian +Society tells the British public, in November, +1920, of the 30,000 destitute refugees in Albania, and +in such a way that the cause of their exodus is ascribed, +without more ado, to the terrible Yugoslav. But as the +names are known of a good many Albanians who did +not wait for the Yugoslav army, on account of past +troubles between themselves and Yugoslavs, as also +between themselves and other Albanians, it would have +been as well if the Anglo-Albanian Society had reminded +the public that all who fly in those parts are not angels. +It would, on the other hand, be just as rash to sing the +undiluted praise of those Albanians who, at odds with +the Tirana Government, thought it opportune to leave +their native land; but one can safely say, I think, that +among these wanderers there was a larger proportion of +laudable men....] Yugoslavia attracts the Albanians +for more than one reason—not so much because the +ancestors of many of these Muhammedan Albanians +were, and not so long ago, Christians, as because inclusion +in Yugoslavia would be to their economic advantage—Scutari +can scarcely exist without the Yugoslav hinterland, +while the people of the mountains are longing for +that railway which the Yugoslavs will only build over +land which is moderately immune from depredation. +Other causes which have made so many of the borderland +Albanians—to speak only of them—turn their eyes +to Yugoslavia are the admiration which any primitive +people feels for military prowess and the knowledge of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[297]</a></span>what has taken place in the Prizren-Peć-Djakovica +region since it came into possession of the Serbs in 1913. +Let us in the first place see what sentiments are now +entertained by the Albanian natives of that region towards +their rulers. It goes without saying that these +sentiments are perfectly well known to those Albanians +who live outside the Yugoslav frontier.</p> + +<p>Well, at Suva Rieka, near Prizren, for example, I +found that all the Muhammedan inhabitants of Serbian +origin are aware that they used to celebrate the Serbian +national custom of "Slava," still keep up the Serbian +Christmas Eve customs and often practise the old Christian +nine days' wailing for the dead. Some of us may think +that this new pro-Serbian tendency is rather on account +of utilitarian reasons; the great thing is that it should +exist. With rare exceptions, the people of Suva Rieka +used to live by plunder; now they are sending their +children to the Serbian school, at any rate the boys, +and for the study of religion the authorities have made +arrangements with a local Moslem. It is to be regretted +that Miss Edith Durham, whose writings were so pleasant +in the days before she became a more uncompromising +pro-Albanian than most of the Albanian leaders, says +that if these children go to Serbian schools it merely +shows to what lengths of coercion the Serbs will resort. +In 1912-1913 Serbian and Montenegrin officers seem to +have told her that severe measures would be employed +against any recalcitrant Albanian parent who might +decline to send his son to school. Assuming that these +officers were not young subalterns, that they were quite +sober and that they were not rudely "pulling Miss +Durham's leg," it may be urged that even if the children +be driven to school at the point of the bayonet, such +conduct would compare favourably with that of the +Albanians towards the Serbs in Turkish times. Talking +of coercion, I suppose that the progress in agricultural +methods which one sees around Prizren is only further +evidence of Serbian tyranny. The <i>gendarmerie</i> on the +country roads is composed largely of Muhammedan +Albanians—doubtless the Serbs have coerced them by +some horrible threats. And if Miss Durham were to hear +that Ramadan (<i>né</i> Stojan) Stefanović of the village of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[298]</a></span> +Musotisti had decided to return to the Orthodox faith +to which his brothers George and Ilja had been more +faithful than himself—such variegated families are not +uncommon—I believe, though I may be doing her an +injustice, that her first impulse would be to write to the +papers in drastic denunciation of the Serbian authorities. +They have, like most of us, sufficient to regret—for +example, the person whom they sent to Peć, when they +wanted the land to be distributed, was King Peter's +Master of the Horse. He was thoroughly unsuitable, +and caused a great deal of dissatisfaction.</p> + +<p>There was a time at the rather gloomy town of +Djakovica, when, owing to the blood-vengeance, the +Merturi were unable for eight years to enter the place; +now they come in, merely to gaze at the Serbian major +who is in command. Halim Beg Derala, the aristocratic +and wealthy ex-mayor, who as a pastime used to plan +an occasional robbery in Turkish days, told me—he speaks +a little French, in addition to Albanian, Turkish, Serbian +and Greek—that citizens were often unable to leave their +houses for two months at a time,<a name="FNanchor_86_86" id="FNanchor_86_86"></a><a href="#Footnote_86_86" class="fnanchor">[86]</a> and although every +house was provisioned for a siege, yet one frequently +had to manage without bread. Now the candid-eyed, +fair-bearded priest rides out with Ljuba Kujundjić, the +erstwhile leader of komitadji, in order to negotiate +with the Albanian Zeph Voglia, at that personage's own +request, for his surrender to the Serb authorities. Zeph +has written from a forest that he feels uneasy, because +he owes sixteen blood-vengeances. He asks that his +affairs may be settled by the law, and those sixteen +pursuing countrymen of his have signified that this will +meet their views, since in the first place the Serbs are +disinterested in the matters between them, and, secondly, +the Serbian penalties are not so mild as theirs, not permitting +that a murder shall be expiated by the payment +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[299]</a></span>of a moderate sum or that a guilty party may absent +himself for three years and suffer no further loss than the +devastation of his house. Another sphere in which the +Serbs have gained Albanian sympathies is with regard +to the disputed ownership of land. Even as the Moors +have been in the habit of handing down, from father to +son, the key of some Sevillan house that vanished centuries +ago, the Montenegrins, more fortunate, have been appearing +with the ancient title-deeds of lands that now are +in Albanian possession. According to Serbian law it is +the oldest document which prevails. And the Albanians +are generously compensated.... Those who, with the +highest motives, advocate "Albania for the Albanians," +may argue that the mediæval activities of Riza Beg +and Bairam Beg Zur—whose adherents started shooting +at each other every evening after six o'clock in the refuse-laden +streets of Djakovica—would have been concluded +and would not have been continued by their sons even +if the Serbs had not appeared. Let them, before proclaiming +the modern reasonableness of the Albanians, +recollect that in 1919 the Moslem Bosniak ex-prisoners +required on the average three months in order to traverse +central Albania, the country of their co-religionists. +From village to village the Bosniaks made their way, +earning a little and then being plundered at the next +place. Eighty per cent. of this population believe, in +their fanaticism, that the Sultan will again unfurl over +them his flag and that the world will ultimately be converted +to Muhammed. And if, entertaining such ideas, +they are so rigorous towards their fellow-Moslems, what +prospect is there that this 80 per cent. will assist the +Orthodox and Catholic Albanians in building up a State? +Their ferocity, in fact, is so profound that it thrives on a +diet which is chiefly of milk.... Perhaps a day will +come when the Albanian will submit to be ruled by a +member of another tribe, when local politics will engage +his attention less than the silver, iron, copper, arsenic +and water-power of his country. Perhaps the day will +come. Midway between Djakovica and the monastery +of Dečani there stand two large houses side by side. +In 1909 a man belonging to one of them slew four men +of the other house, and on account of this he fled beyond<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[300]</a></span> +the Drin, together with thirteen other men of his family. +There is no knowing how long these refugees would have +stayed away if that part of the country had not come +under Serbian rule, but in 1919 negotiations were set on +foot which—to the satisfaction of the members of the +other house—would enable the thirteen innocent refugees +to return, while the criminal would be arrested.</p> + +<p>As evidence of the cordiality now prevailing between +Albanian and Serb in Yugoslavia, one may mention +those cases where the Albanians in 1919 entered into a +bond that for six months they would exact no blood-vengeance +from their fellow-countrymen; the number +of these debts which hitherto had been regarded as debts +of honour was very considerable, for they were not only +incurred by assassination but could also be in payment +of a mere scowl or of your wife, from within the house, +having heard the voice of another man raised in song. +The Serbian authorities are hoping confidently that the +Albanians who have thus for a season placed themselves +under the law will be ready in the future to pledge themselves. +They are beginning to see that in a place the size +of Djakovica it should be possible to make a wheel, +that one should be able to find a shop whose contents +are worth more than 100 francs, that the breed of their +cattle, of their sheep and goats and horses could be +vastly improved, that if their land were sanely treated +it could be rendered much more fertile, and that their +system of fruit cultivation is absurdly primitive.... +And with Djakovica and the whole region of Kossovo +being treated as we have shown by the Yugoslavs I think +it will be almost as great a surprise to the reader as it +was to the local population when he learns that in a +memorandum of April 26, 1921, the Tirana Government +complained to the League of Nations that the Yugoslav +civil and military officials were behaving in a very pitiless +fashion towards the Albanians. Certainly they have not +as yet established Albanian schools, but they propose +to do so when there is accommodation and when teachers +are available; and then, maybe, to the disgust of Miss +Durham, Mr. Herbert, etc., the Albanians of the district +will, with an eye to the future, prefer to visit the Yugoslav +schools.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[301]</a></span></p> + + +<p class="section">7. RELIGIOUS AND OTHER MATTERS IN THE BORDER +REGION</p> + +<p>Having glanced at what the Serbs have done in such +a very short time—most of the years since 1913 being +years of war—to win the gratitude of their Albanian +fellow-subjects, we shall, in following a possible frontier +between Yugoslavia and the Albanians, at any rate +believe that many Albanians of those thus coming under +Yugoslav rule would regard the change, as well they may, +with equanimity. Suppose, then, that the frontier were +to run along the watershed at the top of the mountain +range to the west of Lake Ochrida. The people living +to the east of this line in that district would acknowledge +their Serbian origin. Thence passing to the neighbourhood +of the village of Lin and from there in a northwesterly +direction, so as to include in Yugoslavia the +Golo Brdo, the so-called Bald Mountains, whose thirty +villages are inhabited by Islamized Serbs who only speak, +with very rare exceptions, the Serbian language, one +may say that not only would their inclusion in Yugoslavia +be beneficial to these people, but that they would accept +it with alacrity. No very deep impression has been +made upon them by the religion to which, not long ago, +they were converted. In the Golo Brdo it was in great +measure due to the Greek Church which, about the +middle of the nineteenth century, left the region without +a single priest, so that children of the age of eight had +not been christened, and the people in disgust went +over to Islam. Near Ochrida, some of them were asked +whether they frequented the mosque.</p> + +<p>"Never," they replied.</p> + +<p>"What is your religion?"</p> + +<p>"Well, it is very strange," they told us, "but we have +none."</p> + +<p>"What religion did you formerly have?"</p> + +<p>"Well, we don't know."</p> + +<p>Their priest roams the mountains with his gun, and +there has been a tendency, since a man in this position +received his salary from the State, for many to persuade +the mufti to appoint them, irrespective of whether they +could read or write. The devout Moslem is, to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[302]</a></span> +exclusion of everything else, a Moslem; but in these +districts, where the faith was assumed in a moment +of pique or as a protection, and where the Muhammedan +clergy has been so negligent, the people are gladly cultivating +their Christian relatives. In the district of Suva +Rieka one hears of conversions to Christianity, and the +functionaries bring no pressure to bear, unlike the misguided +Montenegrin officials who in 1912 rode into Peć, +the old Patriarchate, and wanted in their delight to have +everyone immediately to adopt the Orthodox faith. +Now the authorities, with greater wisdom, do not interfere +in these matters. They know that Yugoslavia will have +no enemy in that house in the village of Brod, between +Tetovo and Prizren, where two brothers are living +together, of whom one went over to Islam. They know +that the Muhammedan Krasnichi of Albania are proclaiming +their kinship with the great Montenegrin clan +of Vasojević, that the Gashi are calling to the Piperi +and the Berishi to the Kuči. The new cordiality will be +impaired neither by the differences of religion nor by +the similarity of costume. The average Albanian of +Djakovica would not be any fonder of an Orthodox +fellow-citizen if the latter continues to wear the Albanian +dress which was generally adopted about a hundred +years ago, and the Vasojević may please themselves as +to the wearing of a costume which they once found so +useful in the Middle Ages. They happened to be for ten +days in the Hoti country for the purpose of wiping out +a blood affair, and when they were about to fall into the +Hoti's hands they shouted, "What do you want with +us? We are Kastrati!" The Kastrati, to whom these +Albanian-clad people were led, confirmed the statement, +so that the Vasojević earned for themselves the nickname +of Kastratović.</p> + +<p>From the Golo Brdo the best frontier would pass +north-eastwards to the Black Drin and along that river +until it is joined by the White Drin. This is a poor +country whose inhabitants are, for the most part, Moslemized +Serbs. About a hundred men are now engaged +in excavating the very finely decorated Serbian church +at Piškopalja on the Drin—much to the edification of +the local Moslems. This church of their ancestors was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[303]</a></span> +covered in during the Middle Ages in order to conceal it +from the Turks. Too often the natives' present occupation +is brigandage; but from of old they have had +economic relations with Prizren, to which old town of +vine-arched, narrow, winding streets and picturesque +bazaars these countryfolk have been accustomed to come +every week. These Moslems (of whom there are some +100,000 in the department of Prizren, with 13,000 +Orthodox and 3000 Catholics) used to detest the +Christians on account of their religion, although half of +the Moslems could speak nothing but Serbian. The +Serbs, it must be admitted, were not always blameless; +in the early nineties, for example, they suspended a pig's +head outside the mosque. And the amenities of Prizren +were complicated by the hostility between Orthodox and +Catholic. This was largely due to the fact that, by the +intervention of the French Consul after the Crimean War, +the Catholics—descendants of Ragusan emigrants of the +Middle Ages—had secured the former Orthodox church +of St. Demetrius, in which church, by the way, the services +had come to be held in Albanian. When the Vatican, in +the second half of the nineteenth century, sent a Serbian +priest, the congregation had become so thoroughly +Albanized that after a year he had to leave. The propaganda +of Austria, Italy and Russia did nothing towards +persuading the three religions of Prizren to regard each +other in a more amicable fashion; while Italy and Austria +gave exclusive assistance to the Catholics, whom they +found in such distress that, forty years ago, most of them +went barefoot, the presence of the Russian Consul was +of such importance to the Orthodox that their position +at Prizren was better than in their old patriarchal town +of Peć. Nowadays, with Austrian and Russian propaganda +deleted, there is only that of the Italians, whose +proposal to create an independent Albania (under Italian +protection) was at first applauded by some simple folk in +1919. The Moslem took to accepting Italian money +and then honourably informing the Yugoslav authorities +that they had been appointed as agents of Italy; they +offered to capture the Franciscan priests with whose +help the Italians were trying to secure the Catholics; and +as for the cash, it seems mostly to have been spent in a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[304]</a></span> +convivial fashion by the Moslems and the Serbs together. +This friendship appears likely to continue, for the Serbian +authorities, so far from countenancing such pranks as +that of the pig's head, do not even propose to reconsecrate +their ancient church of Petka. When this building +was made into a mosque, the Moslem still permitted +the Christian women to come and pray there, while if a +Christian man was sick they let him leave a jar of water +in the mosque all night, so that it might acquire certain +medicinal properties. It is the intention of the Serbs not +to restore the church to Christian worship, but to turn it +into a museum.</p> + +<p>With the frontier then being drawn along the Drin, +towards the Adriatic, the famous villages of Plav and +Gusinje would definitely pass to Yugoslavia, in accordance +with the wishes of a deputation sent by them to +Belgrade in 1919. The well-meaning British champions +of Gusinje, who maintain that this village is furiously +antagonistic to the Slav and is ready to struggle to the +uttermost rather than be incorporated in a Slav kingdom, +these champions do not, I think, draw a sufficient +distinction between Montenegro and Yugoslavia. Plav, +with its mostly Christian population, and Gusinje, where +the Moslem preponderates, refused at the time of the +Berlin Congress to be given to Montenegro, with which +they had certain local quarrels. Nicholas reported to +the Powers which had awarded him these places that they +were obdurate, for which reason he was given in their +stead a much-desired strip of coast, down to Dulcigno, +and nothing could have suited that astute monarch +better. Nikita—to call him by his familiar name—imagined +that the two villages would eventually fall to +Montenegro, because of the formidable mountains which +divide them from the rest of Albania; the road from +Gusinje to Scutari is very long and very arduous. When +Montenegro succeeded in capturing Plav in 1912, a certain +Muhammedan priest of that place joined the Orthodox +Church and was appointed a major in the Montenegrin +army. He acted as the president of a court-martial, +and in that capacity is reputed to have hanged or shot, +some say, as many as five hundred of his former +parishioners, because they declined to be baptized. He<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[305]</a></span> +told them that their ancestors were all Serbs, and that +therefore they should follow his example. Since the +Montenegrins did not restrain this over-zealous man, the +villagers were naturally not in favour of that country. +Montenegro had a very small number of good officials, +owing to Nikita's peculiar management which, in considering +his favourites, did not regard illiteracy as a bar +to the highest administrative or judicial post.... The +people of Plav and Gusinje have, on the other hand, no +hostility against Serbia. In November 1918 a detachment +of thirty Serbs was stationed at Gusinje, what time +certain Italian agents put it into the shallow minds of +some Albanians that Albania desired to be independent +under Italian protection. Nothing happened when a +Serbian force came from Mitrovica, except that these +agents and a few of their tools—be it noted that perhaps +half the population is ignorant of the Albanian language—withdrew +to the Rugovo district, where they tried to +induce the people to fly with them, so that the world +would hear how iniquitously the Serbs had acted. Those +of Rugovo refused to accompany them; in consequence +of which there was a fight, some houses were burned, +some women and cattle were seized. And afterwards +the men of Rugovo repaired to Gusinje and exacted a +vengeance which, the most Serbophobe person will admit, +had nothing to do with the Serbs. The luckless village +of Gusinje was again laid waste in 1919 by the Montenegrins, +but this came to pass as the result of the Montenegrin +clan of Vasojević having their property ravaged by +some Albanian marauders who were prompted by the +same Great Power. The Vasojević believed that this +evil deed was done by the men of Gusinje, so that they +destroyed their houses. When the facts were explained +to them, the Vasojević said that they were prepared to +rebuild the village. And now Plav and Gusinje, who ask +for Serbian and not Montenegrin officials, recognize that +it is impossible for them to live except in union with +Yugoslavia.... Miss Durham's wrath concerning an +affair which happened during 1919 in this region shows to +what lengths a partisan will go. She complained with +great bitterness that the Serbs had actually arrested a +British officer whose purpose it was to make investigations.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[306]</a></span></p> + +<p>The Serbs are human beings and are not immune +from error; and Miss Durham is so determined to expose +them that if all her charges were dealt with from Belgrade +it would necessitate the appointment of one or two +more officials. But in this particular case she is not the +sole accuser. A Captain Willett Cunnington—who, +according to the President of the Anglo-Albanian Society, +the Hon. Aubrey Herbert, M.P., has several years' +intimate experience of Albania—said in the <i>New Statesman</i> +that in consequence of what occurred to Captain +Brodie the Serbian Government was compelled to +apologize abjectly. Now I happen to be very well +acquainted with the stalwart Pouniša Račić, the Montenegrin +who arrested Brodie. Albanians have told me +that Pouniša's knowledge of the north and north-west +of their country is not a matter of villages but of houses. +And he has always observed the customs which prevail +in those houses, so that when he is known to be approaching, +the people who live at a distance of many hours +will come to meet him, whether for the pure delight of +discharging their firearms to his greater glory or for the +purpose of seeking his advice. It is not because he has +studied jurisprudence in Paris that they respect him in +that bitter region, but because he does not disregard the +laws that govern the wild hearts on both sides of the +frontier. Yet I suppose Captain Brodie had never heard +of him—poor Captain Brodie! unconscious of the great +good luck which had brought him into the presence of +this man who could have made his journey much more +pleasant for himself and vastly more profitable for his +superiors.</p> + +<p>This is what Pouniša Račić told me:</p> + +<p>"At the end of January and the beginning of +February 1919, we were having a certain amount of +trouble in the Gusinje and Plav district, where I +was acting as delegate of the Belgrade Government. +Travellers were being murdered, telephone wires were +being cut, and so forth. In those parts, which I have +known for so many years, it is a good deal easier to +ascertain a criminal's name than to seize him, and I had +not captured these malefactors when one day I had +a message to say that a European Commission was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[307]</a></span> +approaching. Later on I was told that thirty-nine of its +members were Albanians. I ordered my lieutenant to +find out whether they were from our territory, in which +case they were to be disarmed and brought to me; or +from Albania, in which event they were to be received +politely. A quarter of an hour after this I was told that +they were all well-known brigands from our State, and +there was one specially notorious person, Djer Doucha, +who in 1912 was converted to Christianity and was made +a gendarme at the court of King Nicholas; in 1915, after +the Austrian invasion, he was reconverted to Islam and +became a sergeant of <i>gendarmerie</i>. In that position he +killed fifty or sixty Serbs and Montenegrins, to say +nothing of his other acts of violence. In 1918, for instance, +he murdered seven school-children whom he met on the +road.</p> + +<p>"I had some urgent business at Plav," continued +Račić, "and there all these people were brought before +me. In addition to the thirty-nine Albanians there were +three men in British uniforms. I was acquainted with +one of them, a certain Perola, a Catholic of Peć, a former +Austrian agent who had committed many crimes against +the Serbs and had lately escaped from the prison at Peć. +One of the other two said that he was Captain Brodie, +whom the London Government had sent as their delegate +for Albania and Montenegro. I suppose the third man +was his British orderly; I never heard him speak. But +Brodie said many things. One of them (which was +quite true) was that his Government had not yet recognized +the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. +He demanded the instant release of his companions. +'Do you know who they are?' said I. 'That is no +concern of yours,' said he. 'Well,' said I, 'they are +criminals, and it is for the judges to say whether or not +they are to be liberated.' 'I protest,' he exclaimed, 'in +the name of England, against their arrest!' 'And I +thank you,' said I, 'in the name of the Serbian police, +for having brought them here.' 'You are a savage, +a barbarous nation!' said he, 'and you don't deserve +to be free and independent.' 'Sir,' said I, 'if you are an +Englishman you should know that we are your allies, +that you and we have shed our blood for the common<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[308]</a></span> +cause. We love England very much, and I am very +surprised to hear a British officer speak in this way.' +Again he demanded to be set free, he and all his people, +so that he could continue his mission; but I told him +that after what I had heard from him and what I had +seen of his escort, I could not permit him to go on to +other villages unless he could show me an authorization +from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at Belgrade. 'I +do not recognize the Belgrade Government,' said he. +'Whom, then,' I asked, 'do you regard as the legitimate +ruler of this country?' 'King Nicholas,' said he, 'and +the Government of Montenegro.' So I advised him to +get a visa from King Nicholas and to come back to perform +his mission, when that visa would be honoured. 'Anyhow,' +said he, 'the people of these parts are against +Serbia.' Thereupon I sent for the chief men and told +them to say quite candidly in front of this Englishman +what they wanted. There were five Moslems, including +Islam and Abdi Beg Rejepagić (the leading family) and +Ismael Omeragić, also two Christians, of whom I remember +Staniča Turković. 'Long live Serbia!' they +shouted. 'Death to Nicholas and the Albanians!' On +hearing this Captain Brodie was discontented; he told +me that I was a savage and did not know how to esteem an +Englishman. 'I esteem you very much,' said I, 'and +because he is wearing a British uniform I won't arrest +this interpreter of yours.' (By the way, Perola was not +acting as interpreter in our conversation, as the captain +and I were talking French.) 'He used to be an Austrian +agent,' said I. 'You are a liar!' cried Brodie; 'I +know this man; he was nothing of the sort.' I remained +calm, but I told him that he must not speak to me again +in such a way. I asked him how long he had known +Perola, who had got away from our prison a month ago. +'I have known him for a month,' said Brodie. 'And +now,' said I, 'will you please show me your documents?' +'I have none,' said he, 'and I do not require any, as I am +a British officer.' 'But I have read in the papers,' said +I, 'that your people arrested and shot several persons +who were wearing the uniform of a British officer. If +you have no documents to prove that you are not a spy +and that you are a British officer I shall have to arrest<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[309]</a></span> +you.' Then he showed me one with some Italian words +on it, I think a permission to go somewhere on the Piave +front. 'From now,' said I, 'you are arrested; no one +can come to you and you cannot leave this house. Prepare +yourself to start to-morrow or the day after, if you +are tired, for Peć, and perhaps Skoplje, so that you may +prove your identity.' He protested, and declared that +he must see the people in the neighbouring villages. 'If +you are a real Englishman,' said I, 'I could not allow +you to go by yourself, since there are many Moslems in +these parts who have been excited against England by +their hodjas, owing to your war with Turkey. They +might kill you, and I would be held responsible; so that +even if you had the necessary documents I could only let +you go if precautions were taken to guard you. I am +sorry,' said I, 'that you should have spoken as you +have done against the Serbs; in fact, it seems to me that +you are doing a disservice to England, and that here in +this village I am serving her more truly.' 'I decline +to go to Peć,' said Brodie; 'I want to go to Scutari.' +'You must go to Peć,' said I. He said that I could +telephone concerning him either to the Belgrade Government +or to the General at Cetinje. 'Unfortunately,' said +I, 'it is these people who are with you who cut the telephone +wires two days ago.' After this I appointed a +guard for him. I gave him my room, with soldiers to +serve him, to keep the room warm and bring him whatever +food we had. [Observe that the above-mentioned +Captain Willett Cunnington wrote in the <i>New Statesman</i> +that Brodie was treated with "gross indignity."] 'Three +horses were got ready,' said Račić in conclusion, 'and on +these they rode to Peć, accompanied by a guard, both to +prevent them from escaping and from coming to harm.'"<a name="FNanchor_87_87" id="FNanchor_87_87"></a><a href="#Footnote_87_87" class="fnanchor">[87]</a></p> + +<p>In its old Albanian days the village of Gusinje was +perhaps the most inaccessible spot in Europe—it was +rarely possible for anyone to obtain permission to approach +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[310]</a></span>it. Even to Miss Durham, friend of the Albanians, this +people sent a decided refusal. But now, under the +guidance of the Yugoslav authorities, they have abandoned +these boorish ways; Miss Durham could go there +at any time, but maybe the village no longer attracts +her.</p> + + +<p class="section">8. A DIGRESSION ON TWO RIVAL ALBANIAN AUTHORITIES</p> + +<p>[We have more than once alluded to the writings of +Miss Durham, since very few British authors have dealt +with Albania, and she has come to be regarded as a trustworthy +expert. But the flagrant partiality of her latest +book (<i>Twenty Years of Balkan Tangle</i>; London, 1920), +which, moreover, is written with great bitterness, will +make the public turn, I hope, to Sir Charles Eliot, who +is a vastly better cicerone. The present ambassador in +Japan is, of course, one of the foremost men of this generation. +His Balkan studies are as supremely competent +as his monumental work on British Nudibranchiate +Mollusca, published by the Ray Society when Sir Charles, +having resigned the Governorship of East Africa, was +Vice-Chancellor of Sheffield University. Equally admired +are his researches into Chinese linguistics and his monograph, +the first in the language, on that most obscure +subject, Finnish grammar.<a name="FNanchor_88_88" id="FNanchor_88_88"></a><a href="#Footnote_88_88" class="fnanchor">[88]</a> Will it be believed that in +her account of the Balkan tangle Miss Durham does not +quote Sir Charles Eliot, but Mr. Horatio Bottomley? +It seems that Mr. Bottomley has not devoted much attention +to the Balkans, since in November 1920 he poured +the vials of his wrath upon the Serbs, who, according to +his "latest reports from Montenegro," had destroyed no +less than 4000 Montenegrin houses in the district of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[311]</a></span>Dibra, a place which lies some 75 miles by road from +the land of the Black Mountain and probably does not +possess more than two or three Montenegrin houses; +but he flings hard words against the Serbs, and that is +good enough for Miss Durham. On the other hand, Sir +Charles Eliot, who has travelled largely in Albania, wrote +the simple facts about that people and they are obnoxious +to this lady. "It is not surprising to find that there is +no history of Albania, for there is no union between +North and South, or between the different northern +tribes and the different southern Beys," said he in 1900, +and such a people does not undergo a fundamental change +in twenty years. "Only two names," says Eliot, "those +of Skanderbeg and Ali Pasha of Janina, emerge from +the confusion of justly unrecorded tribal quarrels.... +Albania presents nothing but oppositions—North against +South, tribe against tribe, Bey against Bey." (According +to Miss Durham they are all aflame with the desire +to form a nation.) "Even family ties seem to be somewhat +weak," says Sir Charles, "for since European +influence has diminished the African slave-trade, Albanians +have taken to selling their female children to supply +the want of negroes." (The Albanians are "enterprising +and industrious," says Miss Durham.) "In many +ways," says Eliot, "they are in Europe what the Kurds +are in Asia. Both are wild and lawless tribes who inflict +much damage on decent Turks and Christians alike. +Both might be easily brought to reason by the exhibition +of a little firmness.... Albanian patriotism is not a +home product—had they ever been ready to combine +against the Turk there seems to be no reason why they +should not have preserved the same kind of independence +as Montenegro; but from the first some of the tribes +and clans endeavoured to secure an advantage over the +others by siding with the invaders—papers and books +on the national movement are written at Bucharest, +Brussels and various Italian towns, but they are not read +at Scutari or Janina. The stock grievance of this literature +is that the Turks will not allow Albanian to be +taught in the schools, and endeavour to ignore the existence +of the language; but though the complaint is well-founded, +I doubt if the mass of the people have much<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[312]</a></span> +feeling on the subject." ... Those who are rash enough +to assert, because Miss Durham says so, that in the last +two decades the Albanians have made a progress of +several centuries may be recommended to the testimony +of Brailsford<a name="FNanchor_89_89" id="FNanchor_89_89"></a><a href="#Footnote_89_89" class="fnanchor">[89]</a> (1906), of Katarani (1913), and of the +Italian Press which, after the retreat of their army to +Valona, published in 1920 the most ghastly particulars +of what befell the hapless officers and men who were +captured by the Albanians.</p> + +<p>Let the British public henceforth go to Sir Charles +Eliot and not to this emotional lady for its picture of the +unchanged Shqyptar. She reveals to us that more than +one person in the Balkans said that her knowledge of +those countries is enormous; she has knocked about +the western Balkans and picked up a good deal of material, +but her knowledge has its limitations: for example, she +makes the old howler of ascribing Macedonian origin to +Pašić, though his grandfather came not from Tetovo in +Macedonia but from near Teteven in what is now Bulgaria. +Miss Durham plumes herself for having sent back to +Belgrade the Order of St. Sava, and seeing that it is +bestowed for learning she did well. But even if her +acquaintance with Balkan affairs were more adequate—her +diagnosis of the Macedonian racial problem is extremely +rough and ready—all the writings of Miss Durham +are so warped with hatred for the Slav that they must +be very carefully approached. Because she thinks it +will incline her readers towards the Albanians she says<a name="FNanchor_90_90" id="FNanchor_90_90"></a><a href="#Footnote_90_90" class="fnanchor">[90]</a> +that they were early converts to Christianity. She +omits to mention that the Moslem, on arriving in the +Balkans, was able to spread his religion much more +easily in Albania than anywhere else; and again, in the +seventeenth century, when Constantinople offered many +lucrative posts to the Moslem there occurred in Albania +a great wave of apostasy. Miss Durham speaks with +pride of the Albanians who during the Great War fought +in the French, Italian and American ranks. Would it +not be more straightforward if she added that large +numbers were enrolled in the Austro-Hungarian army +and <i>gendarmerie</i>? The special task of the latter was +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[313]</a></span>to dislodge from their mountain fastnesses those Montenegrins +who continued to carry on a desperate guerilla +warfare against the invader. To pretend that the Albanian +has earned the freedom of his country by his glorious +exploits in the War is an absurdity. He is a mediæval +fellow, much more anxious to have a head to bash than +to ascertain whom it belongs to. The Slavs have not +always treated their raw neighbours with indulgence; +in the Balkan War, when their army marched through +Albania to the sea some very discreditable incidents +occurred, whatever may have been the provocation they +received from the sniping natives and however great be +the excuse of their own state of nerves. Yet the first +stone should be flung by that army of Western Europe +which, in its passage through the territory of a treacherous +and savage people, has done nothing which it would not +willingly forget. And seriously to argue that the Slavs +are of an almost undiluted blackness, while the Albanians +are endearing creatures, is to take what anti-feminists +would call a feminist view of history. Miss Durham tells +us that some years ago she stood upon a height with an +Albanian abbot and promised him that she would do all +that lay in her power to bring a knowledge of Albania +to the English. The worthy abbot may have glanced at +her uneasily, but noticing her rapt expression reassured +himself. And she appears to have believed that England, +eagerly absorbing what she told them of this people, +would in August 1914 make her policy depend on their +convenience. But to Miss Durham's horror and amazement, +Great Britain turned aside from this clear and +honourable duty. She entered the War as an ally of +the Slav, bringing "shame and disgust" upon Miss +Durham. "After that," says she, "I really did not +care what happened. The cup of my humiliation was +full."]</p> + + +<p class="section">9. WHAT FACES THE YUGOSLAVS</p> + +<p>It is not as if Serbia never made mistakes in dealing +with the Albanians. The Sultan used to govern them by +sending in one year an army against them, and in the +next year asking for no recruits or taxes. The Montenegrins,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[314]</a></span> +of whom the older generation was bored when it +had no man to shoot at, used to be on very neighbourly +terms with them. Both these systems the Albanians +could understand. But they did not know why the +Belgrade Government in 1878—and it was a mistaken +policy—should expel a number of Albanians from the +newly-won zones, thrusting them across the frontier and +putting in their place a number of Serbs who were settled +in Old Serbia. The twofold folly of this plan was not +grasped at the moment; but for several years the Serbian +frontier districts were regularly invaded and plundered. +The following years of Turkish misrule, and especially +the young Turkish policy of treacherous force, which +resulted in Albanian risings every year, may possibly have +caused many Albanians to be honestly glad when the +Balkan War brought the Serbs into their country. But of +these Albanians not a few would rejoice because they +hoped that with the help of the Serbian army it would be +possible to slay the members of some adjacent tribe +against whom they happened to have a feud. Perhaps +the Serbs were so eager to bathe their horses in the +Adriatic that they did not notice such trifles as the +destruction of a ford, this having been done to prevent +a visit from undesirable neighbours. One might have +imagined that Serbia, being well known as a land of small +peasant proprietors—where there is even a law which +forbids a peasant's house from being sold over his head; +he is, under any circumstances, assured of so much as will +enable him to eke out a livelihood—one would have +thought that the Albanian <i>čifčija</i>, who is nothing more +than a slave of the feudal chief, would have rejoiced at the +arrival of a liberator; and indeed, while the Serbian troops +were in Albania the peasant refused to give his lord the +customary third or half of what the land produced, and +after the departure of the Serbs he was unapproachable +for tax-collectors. Who knows whether this social readjustment, +so auspiciously begun, might not have made +Albania wipe out her grievances against the Serbs and +remember only that in the Imperial days of Dušan, even +if he was not of the most ancient Balkan race, there was +prosperity and happiness where now is desolation; busy +merchants in the seaport towns of Albania, which now<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[315]</a></span> +are ruins; ships sailing in from Venice with the luxuries +of all the world and taking back with them all those good +things, a half of which Albania has forgotten how to +make? And after that there had been times of friendship +with the Serb—Dositej Obradović, the philologist (one of +those amiable persons who invented for the Albanians +an alphabet), tells us, for instance, how in his travels +through Albania he was assured by natives that they and +the Serbs lived together as if they were members of one +family, while the Kući in eastern Montenegro had, by a +gradual process of assimilation, become transformed from +Catholic Albanians into Orthodox Montenegrins. It is +told that in the wondrous hours when the <i>čifčija</i> gloried +in the soil he was about to win, even the notoriously +wild Klementi, filled with hunger for the land, ran down +from their fastnesses. But, most unfortunately, at that +moment the Great Powers decided that Albania was to +be an autonomous, hereditary State. This interrupted +the movement towards reconciliation with Serbia; and +even now the Serbs will be told by many encouraging +people that in their efforts to win the regard of Albanians +they have an impossible task, that if some of them take +a step towards you one day they will rush back a dozen +on the day after. These people will repeat the legend that +the Albanians have an invincible hatred for the Slavs; +but the Albanians have not forgotten how, in the course +of the Middle Ages, they were willingly open to Slav +penetration—the Serbian language reached to beyond +Alessio, the small Albanian dynasties intermarried with +Slav ruling families, so that they preferred to speak +Serbian, and down to this day two-thirds of the place-names +of northern Albania are of Slav origin. One of +the most important documents in this connection is a +letter from the town of Dubrovnik to the Emperor Sigismund +in the year 1434. They inform the Emperor that +Andria Topia, lord of the Albanian coast, has secretaries +who know nothing but the Serbian language and alphabet. +Thus when the Emperor sends him letters in Latin he is +obliged to have them translated elsewhere, and the contents +of the Imperial letters are not kept secret. So the +Emperor was forced to write to Topia in Serbian.... +Long memories are not always inconvenient, and Albanian<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[316]</a></span> +memories are long because, until recent years, all that +they knew came from tradition—Austria and Italy had +not yet become so concerned about Albanian education +that (forgetting their own illiterates in Bosnia and +Calabria) the two Allies waved into existence boys' and +girls' schools up and down the country; so desirous +were they that these founts of knowledge should be +patronized that both Italians and Austrians were prepared +to pay good money and eke a supply of garments and a +gaily-coloured picture of King or Emperor, as the case +might be; and with respect to the cash, not only was +each willing to pay but to pay more than the other. Yet +the Albanian is most mindful of tradition, and he is aware +that his approach to the Slav in the Middle Ages was +blocked by the inopportune arrival of the Turks; it is in +the nature of man that the Albanian was more impressed +by the brilliant young States of the early princes, with +that barbarically sumptuous residence at Scutari (the +Catholics of Scutari also being in the diocese of Antivari, +which was under Serb domination) than, centuries later, +when he found himself confronted with the pitiable +population of Old Serbia.</p> + +<p>In the Sandjak the task of Yugoslavia will be relatively +simple; the Albanians who live there are not +autochthonous, but arrived at the beginning of the +eighteenth century on the plateau of Pechter. These +Klementi—then very numerous—cared nothing for their +Serbian origin, so that the Patriarch of Peć had to protect +himself against them by means of a janissary guard—which +the Sultan permitted him to maintain at his own +expense—whereas they were attentive to the teachings of +their religion, in so far as they obeyed the Catholic +missionaries who dwelt among them and requested that +in their forays they should confine themselves to +Muhammedan and Orthodox booty. One of the places +they attacked was Plav, from which they drove the +population, and themselves henceforward took to living +on the fertile fields in summer, while they spent the winter +in some mountain caverns. But after seven years a large +proportion of this tribe went back to its ancestral stronghold +in the Brdo range, from which the Turks had transplanted +them to the Sandjak. This wish of theirs to go<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[317]</a></span> +to their old home was gratified after they had beaten off +the Turks triumphantly in various engagements on the +way, and even pursued them to their trenches.... The +Klementi who had stayed on the Pechter were further +depleted a few years later, when their kinsfolk, answering +the appeal of the Archbishop of Antivari, <ins class="correction" +title="Transcriber's note: original reads 'irode'">rode</ins> up there +and carried off fifty families who were on the eve of +renouncing their religion. The final group which remained +became Moslem, and with such ardour that when +the Serbs of Kara George reached the Sandjak they found +that these Klementi were completely Islamized; they +resisted the Serbian army with the utmost resolution. +Subsequently they attempted to convert the Serbian +population round them, but with mediocre success, for +the Klementi themselves were not too strong; moreover, +they were isolated from the other Muhammedan Albanians.</p> + +<p>And yet certain incidents which occurred in the +Sandjak during the Great War seem to show that even +there the task of dealing with the population is a troublous +one. They are conservative; one sees, for example, a +woman who has got up very early holding aloft a vessel +against the sun. This is done with the object of preventing +the cows of a certain man from giving any milk. +But the man is on the alert. He shoots the vessel out +of her hand and proceeds, with an easy mind, about +his business. Frequently the Austrians disarmed these +men, but it is their practice to have more rifles than +shirts, although during the occupation a rifle cost twenty +napoleons. It occurred to the Austrian Governor-General +of Montenegro, Lieut. Field-Marshal von Weber, +that these Albanians were children and, if treated well, +would make useful volunteers. A party of them was +thereupon sent to Graz, where they were told that they +would be trained to fight on behalf of the Sultan. Their +military education was a trifle agitated—for instance, +on their second day at Graz they thrashed their officers—but +when their training was considered adequate they +were sent to the front, and there they immediately +surrendered to the Italians. This was not the first time +that a body of Albanians had gone to Austria. In 1912, +for the Eucharistic Congress at Vienna, some two dozen +of them, in their national costume and conducted by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[318]</a></span> +their priests, had taken part in the procession. It is +said that the financier Rosenberg, of whom one has +heard, bore a portion of the pretty large expenses of the +deputation. His title of baron dates from this period. +Austria's work among the school-children was no more +successful than among the adults. Remembering that +just outside Zadar lies Arbanasi, or Borgo Erizzo, a +village of 2500 inhabitants, nearly all of whom are +Albanians, it seemed good to the Austrian authorities +to procure from that place a schoolmaster who would +make suitable propaganda. There was at Arbanasi a +teachers' institute, as also an Italian "Liga" school +which was closed by the Austrians during the War, and +when the schoolmaster arrived at Plav, where the people +speak Serbian, he set about teaching the children Albanian +and also making propaganda for Italy, as he was from the +"Liga" school.... That fidelity of the five hundred +men of Plav who clung, as we have related, to their +religion, had its pendant when the Austrians were engaged +in constructing a road. The custom was for a potentate +of that district to procure for the Austrians a sufficient +number of men, to whom three or four crowns a day +would be paid. Any man who disregarded the potentate's +summons was thrashed by him, and thrashed in such a +way that for three days he was prostrate. The late +Chief of Police at Sarajevo, Mr. Ljescovac, was (being a +Bosnian subject) administering this district during the +Austrian occupation. He tried frequently to get particulars +from the men who had been so mercilessly flogged, +with a view to opening an inquiry. Their invariable +answer was: "I know nothing."</p> + +<p>In the days of Charles, another member of the Topia +family, a copyist, who was in his service, was transcribing +the Chronicle of George Hamartolos, and twice, thinking +of his master, he inserts: "God, help Charles Topia." +As we leave the Serb and the Albanian face to face, +sensitive, imaginative, tenacious people, both with very +ancient claims, we must hope that a happy solution +will be found. After all Serbia, being in Yugoslavia, is +now a Muhammedan and a Catholic Power. She has +men at her disposal, such as Major Musakadić, a Bosnian +Moslem who deserted from the Austrian army to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[319]</a></span> +Serbs, fought with them on several fronts and received +the highest decoration for valour, the Kara George; then, +after the War, he was sent by the Government to command +at Brćko, a place in his native Bosnia where there is a +Moslem majority. A few of the Orthodox protested +energetically that they would not have a Moslem over +them; they were received by the Minister of Justice +in Belgrade. "Gentlemen," said he, "go back to Brćko +and when anyone of you has earned the Cross of Kara +George I shall be glad to see him here again." ... As +in the old days, the Serbian civilization is far superior, +but this is not everything; that the Albanian is ready +to meet it with peace or war he shows clearly as he glides +along in his white skull-cap, his close-fitting white and +black costume, with his panther-like tread and with +several weapons and an umbrella.</p> + +<p>But for the various reasons to which we have alluded +he is now much more inclined to live in peace with the +Yugoslav. Very differently, except if they are charged +with gifts, does he receive the Italians; even at the +moment of accepting their gifts of military material and +cash he regards them with a more or less concealed +derision, for he is impressed, as we have pointed out, by +nothing so much as by military prowess and the reverse, +whereof the news is carried far and wide. At the end +of September and beginning of October 1918 two weak +Yugoslav battalions of about a thousand rifles accomplished +at Tirana what the large Italian forces could +not, at any rate did not, achieve. Ten thousand Austrians +were in the town, and for three months the Italians had +sat down outside it. Then the Serbs descended on the +place from the mountains; their carts came by the +ordinary road, and on arriving at the Italian lines the +drivers asked for hay; but when they explained that +the rest of their force was going round by the mountain +trail the Italian commandant refused to give any supplies +to such liars. (Later on, though, he gave them sufficient +for five days.) When an Austrian officer who was +stationed in a minaret saw the Serbs coming down from +those terrible heights he was so astonished that he felt +sure they must be robbers. And after they had captured +the town and the Italians conducted themselves as if it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[320]</a></span> +were they who had conquered it, the Serbs took to +thrashing their allies and ejecting them from the cafés. +The Italians did not protest....</p> + + +<p class="section">10. DR. TRUMBIĆ'S PROPOSAL</p> + +<p>To sum up this part of our long and, I fear, rather +tiring dissertation on the Yugoslav-Albanian frontier that +is to be: the Yugoslav delegates at the Peace Conference +invariably disclaimed any desire to have Albanian lands +conferred on them against the wish of the inhabitants. +According to Prince Sixte of Parma, the ex-Emperor +Karl was disposed to offer to the Serbs as a basis of peace +a Southern Slav kingdom consisting of Serbia, Montenegro, +Bosnia, Herzegovina and the whole of Albania. But +this last item only made it clear that in his brief tenure +of the throne the Emperor had grasped something of the +grand generosity of European statesmen when they deal +with the possessions of other people in the Near East. +The Albanians are not Southern Slavs, and it is merely +the voice of the thoughtless mob in Montenegro which has +been claiming Scutari for the reason that they held it in +the Middle Ages—several of their rulers are buried there—and +because 20,000 Montenegrins gave their lives to take +it in the Balkan War. Responsible persons in Yugoslavia, +such as Dr. Trumbić, the former Foreign Minister, do not +believe that Scutari is a necessity for their State—whether +Yugoslavia is a necessity for Scutari is another question—and +they hold that it is quite possible to preserve the 1913 +frontier (perhaps with a minor rectification in Klementi) +and live in friendship with their neighbours. This, of +course, is under the assumption that these neighbours +will "play the game"—and it is just this which the +Albanians will be unable to do if they are left to their own +slender resources. How could one expect so poor—or +shall we say so unexploited?—a country to make any +social progress without the help of others? It has become +the habit of many Albanians to accept financial assistance +from Italy; if an independent Albania is now established +these subsidies will be increased—and he who pays the +piper calls the tune. If, however, an arrangement could +be made for helping the Albanians—and the country<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[321]</a></span> +undertaking this would have to be devoid of Balkan +ambitions on its own account—then the 1913 frontier +would be possible. No doubt the cynics will say that +the Yugoslavs are aware that this is an unlikely solution, +and that failing a disinterested Power, whose supervision +would cause the Albanians during the troublesome civilizing +process to be moderately peaceable neighbours, +failing such a Power the Yugoslavs would feel that they +were justified in asking for the frontier of the Drin. But +this frontier I have heard advocated less by Yugoslavs of +any standing than by those Albanians who despair of +the administrative capacities of their fellow-countrymen. +The Yugoslavs have not the smallest wish to add to their +commitments, and even if all the Albanians on the right +bank of the Drin were anxious for Yugoslav overlordship—and +this, naturally, is not the case—there would be serious +hostility to be expected from some of those on the other +bank. If no disinterested Power, such as Great Britain +or Sweden, will take the matter in hand, then Dr. Trumbić +has an alternative proposal, which is for a free, independent +Albania (with the 1913 frontier) which would exist on the +Customs and on a loan made by the Great Powers, who +would put in a Controller charged with seeing that the +money were spent on roads, schools, etc. A police force, +and not an army, would be maintained; while, if need +be, the country could be neutralized; and Dr. Trumbić, +within whose lifetime bandits and heiduks were roaming +through Bosnia, believes that the Albanians would +gradually discard their cherished system of feuds.... +This would be the happiest solution, for it would leave +the Balkans to the Balkan peoples, while it would aim at +the development of whatever good qualities there are in the +Albanians, and it would definitely recognize a Yugoslav-Albanian +frontier which is acceptable to both countries.</p> + + +<p class="section">11. THE POSITION IN 1921: THE TIRANA GOVERNMENT +AND THE MIRDITI</p> + +<p>While Europe in the year 1921 was either exhausted +or belligerent, or both, she had a vague knowledge that +hostilities were being carried on between the Serbs and the +Albanians. Telegrams from Rome, Tirana and elsewhere<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[322]</a></span> +appeared in the papers, saying that the Serbs continued to +advance. Occasionally a Serbian statesman would declare +that his Government desired the independence of Albania. +Then some Albanian delegate in Geneva would make a +protest and ask the League of Nations, of which Albania +was now a member, to take this matter in hand. A +Serbian delegate would also address the League. Again +you would hear of the Serbian army pushing forward, +that a good many soldiers had fallen. And no one seemed +to know why the Serbs would want to shed their blood +in order to add to their miscellaneous problems this very +grave one of administering such a region inhabited by +such a people. Why did they not content themselves +with the frontier which the Powers temporarily assigned +to them in 1918 and which, from the junction of the +Black and White Drin, runs south along the rocky right +bank of the river and then, crossing to the other side, +passes along the top of a range of mountains? What +more could they wish to have, presuming that it was not +their intention to annex what lay between them and the +Adriatic?</p> + +<p>Well, it appears that never once did they go beyond +the aforementioned line to which they were legally entitled, +except when for a short time they were in pursuit, towards +Ljuria, of certain invaders. Not only were they legally +entitled to take up their position on the mountains to the +west of the Black Drin, but the Moslem tribes, the Malizi +and the Ljuri, who dwell in that uninviting district, were +most anxious that the Serbs should come and should +remain. For this the tribes had two principal reasons: +in the first place, they recognized that their compatriots +in Djakovica and Prizren were immeasurably better off +than before they came under Serbian rule; and secondly, +they did not wish to be separated from these towns which +are their markets. In fact, they had become so anxious +to throw in their lot with the Slavs that they formed +six battalions, which operated on both banks of the river, +under the command of Bairam Ramadan, Mahmoud +Rejeb and others. In opposition to these battalions were +the troops of the so-called National Government, that of +Tirana. This Government is repudiated by a great many +Albanians on account of its reactionary methods, its subservience<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[323]</a></span> +to the Italians, and its failure to do anything +for the people. The battalions, then, were engaged in +1921, not against their immediate neighbours to the west, +the Catholic Mirditi, of whom we shall speak anon, but +against the more distant Government of Tirana. Thus +the League of Nations beheld that the administration +which they were about to confirm as the legitimate +Government of Albania was violently opposed by compact +masses of Catholics and Moslems. Perhaps some of the +members of the League began to doubt whether they +should have accepted the assurance of the Anglo-Albanian +Society that the Tirana Government (containing Moslem, +Catholic and Orthodox members) was really a national +affair; perhaps they began to suspect that the two +Christian elements were only there to throw a little dust +in the eyes of Europe; and perhaps Lord Robert Cecil +began to feel doubtful whether, at the urgent request of +his friend Mr. Aubrey Herbert, President of the Anglo-Albanian +Society, he had been well advised to bring +about the admission into the League of a country which +had two simultaneous Governments before it had a +frontier. Perhaps one was beginning to recognize that +there are Albanians but no Albania.</p> + +<p>The emissaries of Tirana might depict as of no importance +the hostilities that were being waged against +them by those Moslem tribes, they might tell the League +of Nations that the Mirdite revolution was not worth +considering. It is a fact that the Mirditi are not very +numerous, but in close connection with their 18,000 people +are the Shala with 500 houses and the Shoshi with 300. +Tradition has it that they are descended from three +brothers who set out from the arid village of Shiroka on +Lake Scutari to seek their fortune. The most ancient, +the most noble and important family of northern Albania +is that of Gjomarkaj, whose seat is at Oroshi, the capital +of the Mirditi. Despite enormous difficulties they succeeded +in maintaining their own position and the prestige +of the Mirditi. They refused to recognize the Turkish +Government and clung so tenaciously to their own usages +and laws, and were so famous for their courage that +the Sultans were eager to grant them privileges and +concessions. Thereafter they promised to assist the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[324]</a></span> +Sultan against external aggression, and always did so +with great success. It was due to the Mirditi that the +Albanian mountaineers preserved their nationality, their +religion and their customs, for they were ever the leaders +of the other Albanian tribes. The most prominent of +the Mirditi in our time have been Prenk Bib Doda, who, +after long years of exile, was assassinated in Albania; Mark +Djoni, now the President of the Mirdite Republic; and, +above all, the great Abbot Monsignor Primo Doci, a man +of vast culture, who returned to his own country after +serving the Vatican as a diplomat in various parts of +the world. It is not surprising that the educational +standard of his native land filled him with the determination +to build schools and that, owing to his efforts, the +Roman Catholic establishment of thirty native priests and +of bishops who were nearly all foreigners has developed +into a body of almost three hundred native priests with no +foreign bishops. A poet himself, he founded the literary +society, <i>Bashkimi l'unione</i>, in which all capable patriots +were invited to collaborate. He constructed more than +twenty strongholds in and around Oroshi, and when he +died in February 1917 it was largely owing to the persecution +which he suffered at the hands of the Austrians. +What has latterly aroused his faithful people is the +persecution levelled at them by the Moslem-Italian +Government of Tirana.</p> + +<p>A certain amount of mystery envelopes the death of +Bib Doda; an opinion widely held is that Italians were +responsible, but Mr. H. E. Goad rebukes me in the +<i>Fortnightly Review</i> for not knowing that the Italians laid +aside the crude methods of political murder centuries ago. +Perhaps he doesn't regard the massacre of the helpless +French soldiers at Rieka in 1919 as political murder, +since they were only privates; perhaps he doesn't count +that famous expedition of the five lieutenants to +assassinate Zanella, because it was unsuccessful; but he +may be right concerning Bib Doda. That personage had +been to Durazzo to confer with the Italians; he had +refused to accept an Italian protectorate in Albania, and +on his return he was killed in his carriage before he could +reach Scutari. The chief assailant was a Catholic of +Klementi, believed to be an adherent of Essad Pasha and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[325]</a></span> +also an Italian "agent d'occasion." Yet as several +Italian soldiers who accompanied Bib Doda were wounded +it would seem that those, myself included, who believed +that this affair had been arranged by the Italians were +wrong.</p> + +<p>As for Bib Doda's fortune, Mr. Goad asserts that by +Albanian law he did not have to leave it to his nearest +kinsman, Marko Djoni. That is, I beg to say, precisely +what he had to do according to the custom of their ancient +family. Mr. Goad says that the cash went to the poor; +I say that a good deal of it went into the pocket of a lady +who was much younger than the dead man and was on +excellent terms with an Italian major. If Mr. Goad had +visited Albania at that time and had been interested in +other things besides what he tells us of—the moonlight +of Klisura and the splendid plane trees over the Vouissa +and the sunrise reflected on the gleaming mountain-wall +of the Nemorica—I would not have to tell him all this +about Bib Doda's money. He says that Marko Djoni is +a discredited, disgruntled person who became a tool of +the Serbs and fled to Serbia. But he forgets that Bib +Doda was killed in March 1919, and that until May 1921 +Marko Djoni remained in Albania, enjoying the friendship +of Italy rather than that of Serbia. In fact it was not +easy for him to abandon this friendship, owing to various +deals in connection with the Mirdite forests. No doubt +he resented the loss of his heritage; but why in the name +of goodness should not he and his followers fight for their +liberty, and why should the Serbs not help them at a time +when the frontiers of Albania had not been fixed nor the +Government officially recognized? The Serbs were helping +him to make war, says Mr. Goad, against his legitimate +rulers. Yet we must be lenient with our Mr. Goad, +for he himself admits that "few can write of Balkan +politics without revealing symptoms of that partisan +disease." He has made up his mind that the Serbs are the +villains of the piece, and there, for him, is the end of it.</p> + +<p>A delegation from the Mirditi, consisting of the +Rev. Professor Anthony Achikou and Captain Dod +Lléche, came to Geneva in October 1921, and requested +the League not to issue a confirmation of the Tirana +Government. They showed that this Government had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[326]</a></span> +no other aim than to turn Albania into a small Turkey. +No doubt the Moslems, as the most numerous element, +had a right to have a majority in the Cabinet, but there +was no justification in their appointment of pure Turks. +(The Tirana Government proposed in the autumn of 1921 +that any Albanian coming from Turkey, who has held a +public office there, shall be refused admittance into +the Albanian Administration until two years after his +return. This is a proposal but not yet, I believe, an +effective law.) The Minister of Justice has been old +Hodja Kadri, and the Minister of War one Salah el Din +Bey, an officer of Kemal Pasha, and neither of these +was acquainted with the Albanian language. When the +Mirditi started to show their dislike of this Government, +the War Minister commanded his troops to slay without +mercy anyone who dared to raise his voice. Thus it +came about that the villages of Oroshi, Laci, Gomsice and +Naraci were destroyed, while those of the inhabitants +who could escape fled across the frontier to Serbia. As +for particular cases of iniquity we may instance that of +the Moslem officer, Chakir Nizami, who, as a manifestation +of his hatred for the Christians, had violated at +Scutari a girl of fourteen whose name was Chakya Hil +Paloks. He was sentenced by the French military +authorities and was liberated by the Minister of Justice as +soon as the French had quitted Scutari. On the other +hand, Kol Achikou, a brother of the delegate, had killed +a Moslem in self-defence and been acquitted by the +French court martial; after their departure he was +taken to Tirana and sentenced to death. But apart +from all such misdeeds the Mirditi complained that the +Tirana Government, which could not openly wage war +with Serbia, had organized the "Kossovo" Committee, +whose object it was to foment trouble in Serbia and to +send armed bands of marauders on to Serbian territory. +At the very moment when the delegation was at Geneva, +one of these bands (in the night between October 12 and +13) raided the village of Mojište, near Gostivar. Furnished +with Italian machine guns and bombs they came over +the mountains, set fire to the village and killed many of +the people as they fled. They are accustomed on such +expeditions to steal the children and hold them to ransom—a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[327]</a></span> +lucrative operation which d'Annunzio's arditi<a name="FNanchor_91_91" id="FNanchor_91_91"></a><a href="#Footnote_91_91" class="fnanchor">[91]</a> may +have copied from their Albanian colleagues. It would +seem, then, according to the statement of the Mirditi, +that in the conflict on the Black Drin, of which Europe +had vaguely heard, the Tirana Government and not that +of Serbia was the aggressor. Mr. Aubrey Herbert may +write pathetic letters to the Press, Miss Durham may +write letters of indignation, but how could their protégés +of Tirana be said to be valiantly defending themselves +against the wicked Serbs when the very villages which, +said Mr. Herbert, were destroyed—Aras and Dardha and +so forth—were situated in the district to which the Serbs +were legally entitled?</p> + +<p>The Mirditi delegates had an interview in Geneva +with Lord Robert Cecil. An attempt was made by the +Tirana delegates to discredit Professor Achikou, by +publishing a telegram from Monsignor Sereggi, the Archbishop +of Scutari (but which the Professor accused the +rival delegate, the bearded, bustling Father Fan Noli, +of having composed himself),<a name="FNanchor_92_92" id="FNanchor_92_92"></a><a href="#Footnote_92_92" class="fnanchor">[92]</a> and in that message it +was stated that Achikou was expelled from Albania. +This he did not deny; he was, he said, one of 4000 who +had been driven out by an arbitrary Government and he +hoped that they would soon be able to return. The +message called Achikou a traitor; but that is a matter +of opinion. It said that he was in the service of a +foreign Power; he replied that the Mirditi had never +concealed their wish to live in friendship with their +neighbours, and the proof that they envisaged nothing +more than friendship was that they were petitioning the +League to recognize the Mirdite Republic. Among the +other charges against Achikou was one which said that +he was sailing under false colours. This was an absurd +accusation, and one which enabled the reverend Father +to mention that his opponent Monsignor, who was then +being called Bishop, Fan Noli, was neither a bishop nor +an Albanian, but a simple priest, a Greek from Adrianople, +whose real name was Theophanus.<a name="FNanchor_93_93" id="FNanchor_93_93"></a><a href="#Footnote_93_93" class="fnanchor">[93]</a> This clever man, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[328]</a></span>who had decided to form an Orthodox Albanian Church +and had apparently become its bishop without the +formality of consecration, had enjoyed some success at +Geneva owing to his knowledge of languages. He circulated +a telegram from Tirana which purported to be a +disavowal of the Mirditi delegation by a number of +Mirditi notables; but a reply was sent by Mark Djoni, +the President of the Mirdite Republic, an elderly man of +great sagacity and experience, for in Turkish times he +had been chief magistrate of the Mirditi. He pointed +out that all the notables and all the tribal chieftains had +gone, like himself, into exile, and that the names were +those of insignificant persons who had acted under fear +of death. Djoni did not in this telegram allude to the +position of those Catholic priests and others in northern +Albania who support the Tirana Government and its +Italian paymasters; some of them may believe that +they are acting in the interest of their country—to act +otherwise would be perilous, and everyone seems to know +the precise number of napoleons a month—ranging from +the 150 of an ecclesiastical magnate down to 7½ (the pay +of a simple gendarme)—which they are alleged to receive. +Do they ever think of the starving Italian peasants?</p> + +<p>On October 7 another telegram was sent from Oroshi +(the capital of the Mirditi) to the Tirana Delegation +which "protested energetically against the activities of +a certain Anthony Achikou." Yet, on October 9, an +individual called Notz Pistuli, who had travelled specially +from Scutari, presented himself at the Mirdite delegates' +hotel, and in the name of the Scutari National Council +asked whether a reconciliation could not be made between +the Mirditi and the Tirana Government.<a name="FNanchor_94_94" id="FNanchor_94_94"></a><a href="#Footnote_94_94" class="fnanchor">[94]</a> Being told +that the Mirditi would have nothing to do with the +Turkish Government of Tirana, he held out hopes that +another Government more representative of Albania +would soon be constituted. It was remarkable that +Tirana should have dispatched this envoy after giving +out that the Mirditi were traitors and that their delegates +represented nobody.</p> + +<p>Lord Robert Cecil did not at first seem to think that +their desire for a republic independent of Tirana could be +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[329]</a></span>gratified, but on being initiated into the facts of the +case and told that definitely to reject them would look +as if he were a foe to Christianity, Lord Robert said +that such was far from being the case. He would do +whatever he could to help them. And on the next day +it was decided that, in accordance with the Mirdite +request, a Commission should proceed to Albania.</p> + +<p>The Italian delegate, Marquis Imperiali, submitted +that there was no need to hurry this Commission and +Monsieur Djoni explained in a telegram<a name="FNanchor_95_95" id="FNanchor_95_95"></a><a href="#Footnote_95_95" class="fnanchor">[95]</a> that if the +Commission went forthwith it would discover in Albania +cannons, rifles and other war material from Italy, that +it would find numerous Turkish officers of the Kemalist +army who had been brought from Asia Minor in Italian +ships, and that it would perceive that the cannons, the +Turkish Government of Tirana, the rifles, the Turkish +officers, certain Catholic ecclesiastics—in a word, the +whole of Albania such as it is to-day is nothing else, said +he, but a masked Italian instrument of war against +Serbia—while all the bloody consequences of this perpetual +struggle have to be endured by the border population.... +One afternoon, at the beginning of November, +650 Tirana soldiers, pursued by the Mirditi, gave themselves +up to the Serbian authorities on the Black Drin. +They had with them a dozen officers of whom two were +Italians, and these accounted for themselves by saying +that they had come out to organize and to lead the +Albanian army.</p> + + +<p style="padding-top: 1.5em">Now, would this be the best solution of the Albanian +problem, that the Mirdite Republic and that of Tirana +should both be recognized, since it is quite clear that it +would be immoral—and very useless—for Europe to try +to persuade the Mirditi to place themselves under the +Tirana régime? But there appears to be no doubt +that the Moslems of northern Albania—however much +they may now sympathize with the Mirditi in their +attitude towards Tirana—would just as strenuously resist +their own incorporation in a Christian Republic.... +Down at the bottom of their hearts all the Albanian +delegates who came to Geneva must know that if an +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[330]</a></span>Albanian State is larger than one tribe it will go to pieces. +Whatever good qualities may be latent in the Albanian, +he is as yet—with rare exceptions—in that stage of culture +which has no idea of duty on the part of the State or of +duty towards the State. As an example of his views on +the exercise of authority we may instance the case of the +82 Albanians, led by Islam Aga Batusha (of the village +of Voksha), who stopped Pouniša Račić and his companions +in the summer of 1921 while they were riding one +day from Djakovica to Peć. Pouniša enjoys the fullest +confidence of the border tribes because he has never been +known to break his word; they are very conscious that +even their vaunted "besa" is not nowadays observed +as it was, say fifty years ago, for the Austrian and Italian +propaganda schools have had an unfortunate effect. +Well, as the 82 sat round Pouniša and his friends in the +courtyard of a mosque, where they spent the whole day +confabulating, they said they hoped that he, a just and +wise man, would help them; and their principal grievance +was that the Serbian police no longer allowed them to kill +each other. Why should the police interfere in their +private affairs? Recently the police had arrested a man +whom one of these protesters wanted to kill, and therefore +he thought he would have to kill one of the police. Even +those who have spent their lives in Serbia are too often +at this stage of development—a few years ago, in the +village of Prokuplje, an Albanian assassinated his neighbour +and was sentenced to twenty years' penal servitude. +The judge asked the dead man's brother if he was satisfied. +"No, I am not," he answered, "because now I shall +have to wait twenty years to kill him." Their ancient +custom of blood-vengeance continues to flourish, though +in Serbia the police and public opinion are against it; +thus, at Luka, in the department of Peć, one Alil Mahmoud +was murdered by a Berisha to avenge his uncle, so that +now the sons of this Mahmoud propose to kill a Berisha—not +the murderer, but one equal in rank to their late +father, and in consequence Ahmed Beg, son of Murtezza +Pasha, of Djakovica, is afraid to leave his house, which +the Serbian police, at his request, is guarding.</p> + +<p>How much the Albanian conceives that he owes a +duty to the State may be instanced by the application of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[331]</a></span> +a smuggler that he be granted a permit to go to Zagreb +in order to dispose of 6000 oka<a name="FNanchor_96_96" id="FNanchor_96_96"></a><a href="#Footnote_96_96" class="fnanchor">[96]</a> of tobacco which he had +brought over the frontier. He was talking to a Serb +who has the confidence of the Albanians because he does +not treat them as if they were Serbs; and when this +father confessor advised him to get rid of the tobacco +locally (which he succeeded in doing) the Albanian +objected that the excise officers gave him constant +anxiety, they were thieves who insisted on payment +being made to them if they came across his merchandise. +And if it be said that this is too humble a case, we may +mention that of Ali Riza, one of the chief officers of the +Tirana army which was last year operating against the +Serbs. So indifferent is he as to the uniform he bears that +the year before last, in Vienna, he begged an influential +Serb to recommend him for a lieutenancy in the Serbian +army. (His request was not granted because it was +ascertained that, besides being unable to read and write, +his work as an Austrian gendarme had been more zealous +than creditable.)</p> + + +<p class="section">12. SERBIA'S GOOD INFLUENCE</p> + +<p>What, then, is Europe to do with these wild children +of hers?... The tribes, Catholic and Moslem, who +dwell between the Big Drin and the frontier allotted to +Serbia in 1913, asked the aforesaid Pouniša in 1919 to +intervene in their quarrels; and the result was that a +small number of Serbian soldiers were scattered about +that country. They were placed at the disposal of the +chief, whom they assisted in maintaining order. (Needless +to say, they collected no taxes or recruits, and all +their supplies came to them from Serbia.) The people +were impressed not only by the uniform but by the +men's conduct. Before going to these posts—where +they were relieved every two or three months—the men +were instructed with regard to Albanian customs, and +no case occurred of any transgression. So rigidly did +they enforce the precept that anyone who tried to violate +or carry off a woman was, if he persisted, to be shot, that +last year, at Tropolje in Gashi, when the girl in question +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[332]</a></span>was said to be not unwilling, they pursued the abductors, +and in the subsequent battle there were fatalities on +both sides. The Serbian soldiers, for whose safety the +village was responsible, made themselves so popular that +when the Tirana Government appointed one Niman Feriz +to go to those parts as sub-prefect he was chased away +by the people headed by the mayor of the Krasnichi, who +is a nephew of Bairam Beg Zur, the illiterate ex-brigand +and ex-Minister of War of the Tirana Government.</p> + +<p>Let this system of small Serbian posts be extended +over the whole of northern Albania, that is to say, in those +districts where the natives are willing to receive them. +After all, the Serbs understand these neighbours of theirs. +Telephones and roads will be built and eventually the +railway along the Drin. The northern Albanians will +then, for the first time, be on the high-road towards peace +and prosperity; and if the rest of Albania has by then +attained to anything like this condition everybody would +be glad to see a free and independent Albania.</p> + +<p>Now what prospect is there of the rest of Albania +taking any analogous steps? If the regions which at +present submit to Tirana decline to modify their methods, +it would seem that warfare between them and their +kinsmen to the north and north-east must continue, and +that the foundations of a united, free Albania will not +yet be laid. One might presume, from their bellicose +attitude, that the Tirana Government (extending to and +including the town of Scutari) is all against a pacific +solution; and if one argues that their attitude would be +quite different without the support they receive from +Italy, then the Italians would doubtless reply that they +have as much right to assist the Tirana Albanians as +Yugoslavia has to assist those of the north.</p> + +<p>But this is not the case. Between Italy and the +Albanians there are no such ancient political and economic +ties as between the Albanians and the Serbs. The +mediæval connection with Venice has left with many +Albanians a dolorous memory, for apart from the fact +that Venice, as in Dalmatia, was pursuing a merely selfish +policy, it was directly due to her that the Turkish Sultan, +in the fifteenth century, was able to establish himself +in Albania. Thrice his troops had been repelled by those<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[333]</a></span> +of Skanderbeg when the arrangement was made for +them to enter the fortress of Rosafat in Venetian uniforms, +and then four hundred years elapsed before the Sultan's +standard was pulled down. In recent times the Government +of Italy has been furnishing the Shqyptart with +schools, and these were not its only acts of benevolence +towards that wretched people. They have given schools +and rifles and munitions and gold. The Albanians were +willing to accept this largesse; but that it forged a link +between patron and client, that it conferred on the +Italians any rights to occupy the country, they denied, +and enforced this denial in 1920 at the point of the bayonet. +Mr. H. Goad said in the <i>Fortnightly Review</i> that this +remark of mine is quite unhistorical, since Italy, says he, +"was in course of withdrawal when certain Albanians, +stirred up as usual by Jugo-Slavs, attacked her retreating +troops." If the Albanians had only known that Italy, +despite her having been, says Mr. Goad, "supremely +useful to Albania," had resolved to quit, they would +perhaps have let them go with dignity. But if Mr. +Goad will read some of the contemporary Italian newspapers +he will see that my allusion to the bayonet was +much too mild. Utterly regardless of the fact that the +Italian evacuation was "according to plan," the Shqyptart +treated them abominably—it brought up memories +of Abyssinia—or does Mr. Goad deny that even a general +officer was outraged and blew out his brains? This +Albanian onslaught was so far from being stirred up by +the Yugoslavs that, as we have seen,<a name="FNanchor_97_97" id="FNanchor_97_97"></a><a href="#Footnote_97_97" class="fnanchor">[97]</a> the Belgrade +Government refused to furnish them with munitions. +This is not to say that they did not approve of the Albanian +push, for they maintain, in spite of Mr. Goad, the principle +of "The Balkans for the Balkan Peoples." If Italy, as our +strange publicist asserts, has a mandate—presumably a +moral one—to defend Albania against aggression he will +find, I think, that the Yugoslavs heartily agree with +this thesis and that they are also quite determined to +defend Albania from aggression.... When he asserts +that various ties existed between Italy and the Albanians—the +Albanian language, the feudal architecture, much +that is characteristic in Albanian art and so forth—I +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[334]</a></span>would refer him to M. Justin Godart, with whom I am +glad for once to be in agreement. "There is no traditional +or actual link," says he, "between the two countries; +if, on account of this geographical position, they propose +to have commercial relations, then everything has yet +to be established. If there is to be a friendship, we +believe that Italy must do her best to wipe out many +memories.... She has not profited from the large +number of Albanians in her southern provinces in order +to have an Albanian policy."</p> + +<p>However, the magnanimous Italians came back, +declaring that on this occasion they would not occupy +the country (except the little island of Saseno); but +that they really could not restrain themselves from bestowing +the schools, the rifles, munitions and gold. Once +more the Albanians agreed to accept them; they also +accepted the Turkish officers and officials whom the +Italian ships brought to them from Asia Minor, and when +their Government became more and more Turkish and +more intractable they found that they had excited the +hostility of large numbers of their own compatriots. +This developed during 1921 into violent conflicts; and +the bountiful Italians provided the Tirana Government's +army with expert tuition. Nevertheless, in the Albanians' +opinion, there are no bonds between the two +races, and if the Italians would retire from Albania, +permitting the Balkans to be for the Balkan peoples, +and if the fanatical Turks went back to Asia Minor, it +would soon be seen that the present rage between +northern and central Albania would peter out into the +isolated murders which the Albanians have hitherto been +unable to dispense with. Left to themselves the Albanians +of Tirana would eventually ask for some such assistance +from Serbia as the northern tribes have received; three +months after the departure of the Italians from Scutari +a plebiscite would show that this town, which has lately +gone so far as to refuse—yes, even her Moslems have +refused—to fill the depleted ranks of the Tirana forces, +was anxious to come to a friendly settlement with her +Albanian neighbours and the Yugoslavs. This would be +a victory of Scutari's common sense over all those fanatics +and intriguers whose activities involve her death; for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[335]</a></span> +she cannot possibly thrive if she persists in cutting herself +off from the hinterland and from the benefits that will +accrue from the canalization of the Bojana.</p> + +<p>However, the Italians—officially or unofficially—will +not yet awhile leave Albania. And how will this retard +or modify the reasonableness of those parts which acknowledge +Tirana? As for the town of Scutari, it is probable +that if she found herself permanently cut off by the +Mirditi from direct communication with Tirana she +would allow her incipient independence to come more to +the surface. With Tirana less capable of enforcing her +behests the Scutarenes would gradually venture to act +in their own interests; they would aim at local autonomy +within the sphere of Yugoslav influence and in the same +sphere as their markets. It is to be hoped that Yugoslavia +will be prepared for this, since she does not possess +too many educated citizens who understand the Albanian +mentality. A course of conduct which pays no attention +to this would alienate even the Turks from Podgorica +and Dulcigno, whose acquaintance with the very language +of Albania is so limited. There seems, however, to be +no reason why the mixed population of Albanian Moslems +and Catholics, of Orthodox Serbs and of Moslems who +declined to come under the all-too-patriarchal rule of +Nicholas of Montenegro should not have the same happy +experience as the inhabitants of Djakovica and Prizren. +Later on the Scutarenes will be called upon to decide +whether they prefer, like those other predominantly +Albanian towns, to remain in Yugoslavia or whether they +wish to throw in their lot with a free Albania, and in +that case their town would become the capital of the +country. Failing Scutari, the capital would most probably +be Oroshi, which is now the capital of the Mirditi.</p> + +<p>And why, we may be asked, why should not Tirana be +the capital? In the central parts of Albania, in the +country round Tirana, where the natives are derisively +called "llape" by the warriors of the north and by the +cultured Albanians of the south, we believe that the +assistance of Italy will be unable to prevent a collapse. +(It must also be remembered that the people of the +district of Tirana are, for the most part, in opposition +to the present Tirana Government. This became clear<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[336]</a></span> +when the partisans of Essad Pasha's policy<a name="FNanchor_98_98" id="FNanchor_98_98"></a><a href="#Footnote_98_98" class="fnanchor">[98]</a> overthrew +and imprisoned the Tirana Ministers.) Economically +and morally Tirana will decline, until she is compelled to +seek a union with the people of northern Albania, those +of the south having meanwhile gravitated towards +Greece. Then the moment will arrive when the north +and the south, in their task of building up a free and +united Albania, will admit the centre under various +conditions. These will have to be of a rather stern +character, or so at any rate they will seem to the folk +of Tirana: taxes will have to be paid, military service or +service in the <i>gendarmerie</i> will have to be rendered, and +schools will have to be established for both sexes.</p> + +<p>This, then, is the future country of Albania, which—if +one is rash enough to prophesy—may exist in fifty years. +But there is no risk whatever in asserting that a free, +united Albania is in the immediate future quite impossible.</p> + + +<p class="section">13. EUROPEAN MEASURES AGAINST THE YUGOSLAVS +AND THEIR FRIENDS</p> + +<p>Berati Beg, Tirana's delegate in Paris, said in an +interview with a representative of the Belgrade <i>Pravda</i>, +at the beginning of November 1921, that he regretted +that European diplomats should interfere in the Serbo-Albanian +question. "Are we not all," said he, "one +large Balkan family? And if the Powers intervene they +will not act in our interests, but in their own." He said +that it used to be Austria which grasped at Albania, now +it was Italy. So the delegate showed that he was a clear-sighted +man; he also showed that in Tirana they are +not unanimous in loving the Italians. But alas! the +Great Powers, urged by Italy, made a most disastrous +plunge; they actually, at least Great Britain, charged +the Serbs, their allies, on November 7, with being guilty +of overstepping the frontier, and on November 9 informed +them where this frontier was. It is a pity that Mr. +Lloyd George should have launched such a thunderbolt, +the French Government not being consulted.<a name="FNanchor_99_99" id="FNanchor_99_99"></a><a href="#Footnote_99_99" class="fnanchor">[99]</a> But the +most probable explanation of this lack of courtesy towards +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[337]</a></span>the Serbs, and lack of the most elementary justice, is that +the Prime Minister, with his numerous preoccupations, +allowed some incapable person to act in his name.<a name="FNanchor_100_100" id="FNanchor_100_100"></a><a href="#Footnote_100_100" class="fnanchor">[100]</a> The +world was told, however, that Mr. Lloyd George had sent +a peremptory demand for the convocation of the Council +of the League of Nations so that a sanction should be +applied against the Yugoslavs. Mr. Lloyd George's +substitute was so little versed in the business that he did +not even know that the League of Nations is not a gendarme +to carry out the decisions of the Ambassadors' +Conference. He should have been aware of the fact that +this was a problem for the Allied States, to be settled by +diplomatic or other measures, and he should also have +known that the League of Nations does not—except if +invited to arbitrate—concern itself with the unliquidated +problems left by the War, such as the Turkish question. +Perhaps that dangerous confusion in the mind of this +unknown official would not have occurred if Albania had +not been illogically admitted to the League of Nations. +But now, in November 1921, not an instant was to be +lost in settling this frontier question, which—as the <i>Temps</i> +pointed out—would have been settled months before if +Italy had not prevented it. (She wished as a preliminary +step to have certain claims of her own in regard to Albania +conceded.) So the Council of the League was to be invited +to apply Article 16, which could scarcely be invoked +unless Article 15, which defines a procedure of conciliation, +had been found of no avail.<a name="FNanchor_101_101" id="FNanchor_101_101"></a><a href="#Footnote_101_101" class="fnanchor">[101]</a> Thus the misguided person +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[338]</a></span>who spoke in the name of Mr. Lloyd George was apparently +too impetuous to read the texts. And then the +Serbs were told that they must withdraw practically to +the frontier which Austria, their late enemy, had laid +down in 1913. Well might Berati Beg deplore that Italy +should take the place of Austria. But such commands +achieve so little. Very soon, when the troubles in +Albania continue, as they certainly will, Mr. Lloyd George +will see that he was misled.... But here it should be +stated that while Italy persisted throughout in demanding +the 1913 frontier (with the ludicrously inconsistent +proviso that she herself should have the island of Saseno, +which in 1913 she had demanded for independent Albania), +and France raised no finger against her, the actual improvements +of the frontier adopted were entirely due to +Great Britain. No one is more qualified to speak on this +matter than Mr. Harold Temperley of Cambridge, who +was one of our experts. In his illuminating little book, +<i>The Second Year of the League</i>, he has pointed out that +the new Albanian frontiers are an improvement on the +old—than which, indeed, they cannot be worse—because +they conform more to natural features, they +take into account an important tribal boundary (leaving +the Gora tribe in Yugoslavia), and restore to both +parties freedom of communication—the road between the +Serb towns of Struga and Dibra being given to the Serbs, +while to Albania is given the road from Elbasan to the +Serb town of Lin. The rectifications in the Kastrati +and the Prizren area involve the substitution of natural +boundaries for unnatural ones in order to protect the +cities of Podgorica and Prizren. They confer no offensive +advantage on the Serbs, nor do they enable them to menace +any Albanian city.</p> + +<p>To any impartial observer it is quite unjust that +the Yugoslavs should have had to plead against the +frontier of 1913. They have not the least desire to plant +their flag on those undelectable mountains. If the +frontier of 1913 could be held with moderate efforts +against these people they would not wish to go an inch +beyond it. But those who drew this frontier, namely the +Austrians, were not much concerned as to whether it +afforded adequate protection to the Serbs; what they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[339]</a></span> +had in view was to keep them away from the Adriatic +(for which reason an arbitrary line cut through the proposed +railway which was to link Peć to Podgorica and the +sea) and to compel the Serbs to station in those districts +a goodly portion of their army, to which end—so that +the frontier should be weak—the towns of Djakovica +and Prizren were separated from their hinterland. The +Austrian plan likewise prevented the towns of Struga and +Prizren from being joined by a road or by a railway along +the Drin; to go from one to the other it became necessary +to make an enormous detour. With the rectifications +to which we have referred, the Ambassadors' Conference +decided to insist on them returning to this miserable line, +instead of permitting them to take up their position where +General Franchet d'Espérey perceived in 1918 that they +could be fairly comfortable. Monsieur Albert Mousset, +the shrewd Balkan expert of the <i>Journal des Débats</i>, has +remarked that on too many parts of the 1913 frontier it +is as if one forced an honest man to sleep with his door +open among a horde of bandits.... The Albanian +Government, admitted to the League of Nations in +December 1920, claimed that the international statute +of 1913, creating a German prince, the Dutch <i>gendarmerie</i> +and the International Financial Commission—which +happened to be inconvenient—was no longer in force; +but that the international decisions as to the frontiers of +Albania—which happened to be convenient—were still +valid. However, during the War the country had been +plunged in anarchy, and the Great Powers decided that +Albania was, in Mr. Temperley's words, a <i>tabula rasa</i>, a +piece of white paper on which they could write what they +wished. In November 1921 the Ambassadors' Conference +finally decided on the frontiers. The gravest +violation of the ethnic principle was in the Argyrocastro +area, where many thousands of Greeks and Grecophils +were handed over to Albania; as for the Serbs, it was +only through the efforts of some British experts that +they obtained any satisfaction at all.</p> + +<p>Why did the Ambassadors' Conference arrive at this +peculiar decision? For a long time the European Press +had been publishing telegrams which told how the Serbs +were ruthlessly invading Albania. Had they advanced<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[340]</a></span> +about half the number of miles with which they were +credited, they would have found themselves near to the +offices of those Italian Press agencies. They were held +up to vituperation for their conduct towards a feeble +neighbour. The Mirditi, we were told, had to fly before +them; whereas the truth was that the friendly Mirditi +were driving the troops of Tirana helter-skelter towards +the Black Drin, where the Serbs—not advancing an inch +from the boundary which the Allies had for the time being +assigned to them—received their prisoners. Again we +were told that the piratical Serbs had seized the town of +Alessio. It must have annoyed the Mirditi to have this +exploit of theirs ascribed to other people. And if the +newspapers contained too many telegrams of this kind +they were strangely reticent with regard to what was +taking place in the shallow Albanian harbours; but the +two Italian vessels which—as I mentioned in a telegram +to the <i>Observer</i>—were unloading, without the least concealment, +munitions and rifles for the dear Albanians at +San Giovanni di Medua in September 1920, were probably +not the only ones with such a cargo. Europe and the +Ambassadors' Conference were simply told that the +truculent Serbs were destroying a poor, defenceless, +pastoral nation. Therefore these Serbs must be ordered +back, and whatever might be the merits of a hostile +Austrian frontier as compared with a well-informed +French one, at any rate the first of these was farther back, +so let the Serbs be ordered thither.</p> + +<p>It was noticeable that when, on November 17, the +British Minister of Education, Mr. H. A. L. Fisher (representing +Mr. Lloyd George), explained before the Council +of the League of Nations why Great Britain had thought +it necessary to act in this Serbo-Albanian affair, he +founded his case not on Article 16 but on Article 12, +which obliges two conflicting nations who are members +of the League to have their case examined by the League. +Evidently the suggested application of Article 16 was +now acknowledged to have been a mistake. The blundering +official in Whitehall should have seen the dignified +sorrow with which Yugoslavia heard of her great Ally's +unjustifiable procedure. So much faith have the Southern +Slavs always had in the Entente's sense of justice that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[341]</a></span> +from 1914 to 1918 they continued to give their all, without +making any agreement or stipulation; more than once +the Serbian Government had the offer of terms from the +Central Powers, but on each occasion, as for example +during the dark days at Niš in 1915, they declined to +betray their Allies.</p> + +<p>Mr. Fisher announced that the British Government's +action was in no way caused by feelings of hostility +against the Southern Slavs. All Englishmen, in fact, +remembered the heroism and fortitude of the Serbs; +they cherished for Yugoslavia the warmest sympathy. +In Mr. Fisher's own case it might conceivably have been +a little warmer—he was not ashamed to repeat the reasons +which had induced Great Britain to summon the Council +of the League. Yet he must have known the comment +that he would arouse among his audience when they +heard him base his arguments exclusively upon reports +of the Tirana Government, while those of Belgrade were +ignored; and in their place the delegate thought fit to +bring up various extracts which had been collected from +the Belgrade Press. If every organ of this Press were +filled with a permanent sense of high responsibility, and +if Mr. Fisher had made inquiries as to the existence in +Belgrade of humorous and ironic writers, one is still +rather at a loss to understand why these miscellaneous +cuttings were placed before the League, which could +scarcely be expected to treat them as evidence. The +delegate added that he did not think a single nation was +animated by unfriendly sentiments towards the Southern +Slavs—so that Italy's unflagging efforts to strengthen +the Tirana Government's army were prompted purely +by the deep love which the Italians—despite their having +been flung out of Valona—bear for the Shqyptart. Mr. +Fisher proceeded to say that no better proof was needed +of the general friendship for the Southern Slavs than +the decision of the Ambassadors' Conference which, +instead of allotting to Albania the frontiers of 1913, a +method that would have been simpler, had resolved on +several rectifications in favour of Yugoslavia, in order +to prevent disturbances on Albania's northern frontier. +After what Mr. Fisher had already had the heart to say +we cannot really be astonished that he, or the people<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[342]</a></span> +on behalf of whom he spoke, should have thought the +enemy-drawn frontier of 1913 as worthy of the slightest +consideration. We are all, I think, unanimous, said Mr. +Fisher in effect, we are unanimous in our esteem for the +Yugoslavs and could do nothing which that nation would +find hard to bear. But after stating that some rectifications +had been made in favour of Yugoslavia he should +have referred to the village of Lin on Lake Ochrida +whose transference to the Albanians will probably give +rise to a great deal of trouble, since it is the most important +centre for the fishing industry. A few of the best Belgrade +papers, careless of the more than Governmental authority +which they enjoyed in the eyes of Mr. Fisher, went so +far as to allege that Lin's change of sovereignty was due +to the formation on Lake Ochrida of a British fishing +company.... We have said that the frontier rectifications +were inadequate; but under the circumstances +they were the best that could be obtained. They were +most bitterly contested by the Italians, who demanded, +as we have said above, that Yugoslavia should be given the +1913 frontier. France did nothing to help the Yugoslavs +in this hour of need, and had it not been for the absolutely +determined support of Great Britain the pernicious frontier +of 1913 would have been adopted intact.</p> + +<p>Coming to the Mirdite revolt, Mr. Fisher's description +is hardly what you would call felicitous. Mark Djoni +and the other members of the Mirdite Government were +compelled last July to seek refuge at Prizren in Yugoslavia, +and since then they have conducted their affairs +from that place. These circumstances, in Mr. Fisher's +opinion, go to prove the existence of a Yugoslav plot +whose aim it is to separate northern Albania from the +Tirana Government. Again Mr. Fisher points an accusing +finger at the Yugoslav officers who, in August, were +helping the Mirditi; but is it not more natural that +these officers should give their services to the Christian +tribes for whom, as Mr. Bošković, the chief Yugoslav +delegate, said, the Southern Slavs do not conceal their +sympathy<a name="FNanchor_102_102" id="FNanchor_102_102"></a><a href="#Footnote_102_102" class="fnanchor">[102]</a> nor the hope that they will gain the necessary +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[343]</a></span>autonomy—is not this more natural and more deserving +of Mr. Fisher's approbation than the fact (of which he +says no word) that the Moslem Government of Tirana +has had the active assistance of Italian officers, such, for +example, as Captain Guisardi, who, in the sector of +Kljesh, has been in command of the artillery? A further +proof that the Mirdite movement has been engineered +by the Southern Slavs is, in Mr. Fisher's opinion, the +damning fact that the Republic's Proclamation was +composed in Yugoslavia and dated there—how brazen +some people are! And the official Yugoslav Press +Bureau has actually circulated the announcements of the +Mirdite Republic. The question is whether the Yugoslav +Government was more than benevolently neutral in thus +assisting their guests at a time when these had not yet +got their machinery into working order. When the +Mirdite Government had made suitable arrangements it +spoke to the world through its representatives at Geneva +or through direct communications to the British and +French Press. Surely, in considering whether the Yugoslav +Government allowed themselves to exceed the +limits of neutrality, one must remember that the Mirdite +authorities at Prizren were out of all touch with their +own army, which was engaged in a guerilla warfare. In +conclusion, according to Mr. Fisher, the British Foreign +Office was persuaded that the Mirdite Republic was +nothing but an instrument of the <ins class="correction" +title="Transcriber's note: original reads 'Yuglosav'">Yugoslav</ins> Government, +and that desire for Albanian unity extended also to the +Christians of that country. The Foreign Office had, no +doubt, been told that the Tirana Government received +the support, at last spring's elections, of some north +Albanian deputies; and possibly they gave no credence +to the rumour that these gentlemen were much indebted +to Italian support. It may have been mere harmless +curiosity which kept Captain Pericone, the Italian commander, +during all that day at the Scutari polling-booths, +but what is certain is that, owing to the influx of Italian +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[344]</a></span>money, the value of a hundred silver crowns in the +morning was 92 lire, and in the afternoon had fallen to +75. It is likewise a fact that numerous Malissori, finding +themselves for the first time in possession of bundles of +paper and feeling far from confident that this was money, +hurried off to the bazaar and spent it all. Thus were +the four friends of the Moslem-Italian<a name="FNanchor_103_103" id="FNanchor_103_103"></a><a href="#Footnote_103_103" class="fnanchor">[103]</a> Government +elected, the four deputies who were in favour of Albanian +unity under that Government; three of them are +Christians (Messrs. Fichta, Andreas Miedia and Luigi +Gurakuqi); one, Riza Dani, is a Moslem. How the +latter travelled to Tirana I do not know, but the three +Christians found that the population was so incensed +against them that they could not go by the direct road; +they were forced to sail down the Bojana on the Italian +ship <i>Mafalda</i>, and then along the coast. This, I presume, +will be considered sufficiently strong evidence that these +deputies did not represent the people, and that their +independence was not exactly of the sort ascribed to +Gurakuqi by a writer in the <i>Times</i>;<a name="FNanchor_104_104" id="FNanchor_104_104"></a><a href="#Footnote_104_104" class="fnanchor">[104]</a> one need not labour +the point by mentioning what happened to Father Vincent +Prênnushi whose candidature was vetoed in Rome, so +that he was replaced by Father Fichta.</p> + +<p>This being the state of things one can scarcely argue +that the people of the north are in favour of a united +Albania, as it seemeth good to the Ambassadors' Conference, +the League of Nations, etc. "We Germans, +knowing Germany and France," said Treitschke in 1871, +"know what is good for the Alsatians better than these +unfortunates themselves.... Against their will we +wish to restore them to themselves." The north +Albanian deputies may join with those of the south +and call themselves the group of "sacred union"; but +they themselves are well aware that it is only in the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[345]</a></span>south-central districts that the Government has a +majority. That is one of the reasons why the seat of +Government is Tirana in the central part of the country, +for the Cabinet lives in apprehension of the followers of +the late Essad Pasha, and by residing in that country +they hope to be able to keep it quiet. How long will +they be able to do so? Have they statesmanship enough +to turn aside the animosity of their own countrymen? +Does their Premier and Foreign Minister, Mr. Pandeli +Evangheli, possess intellectual resources of a higher +order than those which one commonly associates with +the ownership of a small wine-shop?—that was his +occupation till he came, some two years ago, from +Bucharest. When this gentleman had a, perhaps temporary, +fall from power, the <i>Times</i> of December 16, 1921, +wrote of him that "there is no Albanian public man +with a better record for long disinterested service in his +country's cause." Alas, poor Albania! We may surmise +that Mr. Evangheli and his companions do not +rely very greatly on their Western European patrons +who, when it comes to the pinch, will do very little for +them. I should be surprised to hear that they have +caused the provisions of the Ambassadors' Conference +to be traced in golden letters on a wall of their council +chamber. And I doubt whether they take very great +stock of a resolution signed in November 1921, by some +twenty Members of Parliament and a few outside persons. +These expressed their approval of Mr. Lloyd George's step +in convoking the League of Nations for the settlement +of the Serbo-Albanian question. If this resolution served +no other purpose it showed, at any rate, that the signatories +are such thoroughgoing friends of the Tirana +Government that they rushed enthusiastically to their +assistance, though their deep knowledge of affairs—without +which, of course, they would never have signed—must +have caused them to regard the Prime Minister's +impulsive action with something more than misgiving. +It is a minor point that the signatories sought to enlist +the world's sympathy on the ground that a small "neutral +State" had been wantonly attacked by the Serbs, because +if this accusation were true it would not be worth objecting +that the Albanians were scarcely a State (though some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[346]</a></span> +of them were trying to make one) and that their neutrality +during the War consisted in the fact that they were to be +found both in the armies of the Entente and—rather more +of them, I believe—in those of Austria. But the accusation +is untrue; there are, undoubtedly, a number of +fire-eaters in Serbia, as everywhere else, yet the Government +is not so childish as to wish to squander its resources +in a region where there is so little to be gained. (The +Tirana correspondent of <i>The Near East</i> said on November 3, +1921, that the Serbian Government was reported to be +committing unwarrantable acts, giving as an example +that Commandant Martinović had had six million dinars +placed at his disposal in order to recruit komitadjis and +that he had himself promised 2500 dinars to each of +his men if they succeeded in entering Scutari. But +this gentleman, a retired officer, lives almost exclusively +at Novi Sad, where his very beautiful daughter is married +to M. Dunjarski, one of the wealthiest men in Yugoslavia. +Yet neither his son-in-law nor the Serbian Government has +ever given General Martinović the afore-mentioned sum +or any sum at all for the afore-mentioned purpose. He +goes at rare intervals to his old home in Montenegro, of +which country he was once Prime Minister. It is natural +that the numerous refugees from Albania should flock +round him—in view of his own past prominence and of +M. Dunjarski—begging for money and food.) The +protesting British Members of Parliament registered their +sorrow that the Serbs should have employed on their +anti-Albanian enterprise "the strength and riches which +they largely owed to the Allied and Associated Powers." +I was under the impression that the Serbs had expended +a far greater proportion of their strength and riches +than any of the Allies,<a name="FNanchor_105_105" id="FNanchor_105_105"></a><a href="#Footnote_105_105" class="fnanchor">[105]</a> that the Allies had, in 1915, left +them in the lurch, and that the final success on the Macedonian +front was due quite considerably to the genius of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[347]</a></span>Marshal Mišić and the valour of his veterans. As for +the strength and riches which the Southern Slavs possessed +in 1921, it surely would not need an expert to +perceive what the Southern Slav children knew very well, +namely, that they could be more profitably employed in +many other directions. May better luck attend the +future labours of these Members of Parliament.... A +week or so before the publication of this foolish manifesto +there had been issued an equally deplorable Memorandum +by the Balkan Committee (of London), which, +I am glad to say, caused Dr. Seton-Watson to resign from +that body. This jejune and impudent Memorandum +attempted to dictate the terms of the Constitution of the +Triune Kingdom—an attempt very rightly reprobated +by <i>The Near East</i>.<a name="FNanchor_106_106" id="FNanchor_106_106"></a><a href="#Footnote_106_106" class="fnanchor">[106]</a> If the Yugoslav Government were +to adopt the recommendations of the Balkan Committee +they would, it seems, be in a fair way to solve the Albanian +question. Likewise that of Macedonia—when will the +Committee cease to trouble Macedonia? Their object, +in the words of Mr. Noel Buxton, is to aim at allaying the +unrest in the Balkans; it would—I say it in all kindliness—be +a move in that direction if the other members +were to follow Dr. Seton-Watson's example.</p> + + +<p class="section">14. THE REGION FROM WHICH THE YUGOSLAVS +HAVE RETIRED</p> + +<p>What of the population which inhabits the zone +between the two frontier lines? We have alluded to +them as a horde of bandits, we have also spoken of the +six battalions which they placed at the disposal of the +Yugoslavs. If it is true that a poet has died in the +bosom of most of us, it is equally true that in most of +the Albanians a brigand survives. And if not a brigand, +then a mediæval person with characteristics which are +more pleasant to read about than to encounter. Yet the +Shqyptar, as he calls himself (which means the eagle's +son) is not without his aspirations. Reference has been +made to those northern tribes, such as the Merturi and +the Gashi, who benefited from the small Serbian detachments +which came in answer to their urgent wish. And +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[348]</a></span>on the Black Drin the six battalions have shown their +fidelity. There would be no need to guard oneself against +such people. But unfortunately the Albanian is so constituted +that if, in a hamlet of ten houses, five of them +are amicably disposed towards you, there is a strong +tendency among the others to be hostile. When these +torch-bearers of an ancient tradition come under the rule +of an organized State, then they gradually feel inclined +to discard some of their customs which the State frowns +upon. This can be seen in the changes among the people +of Kossovo since it came into Serbian hands. Were +the country between the two frontier lines to remain +under the Serbs it would not be long before some of the +time-honoured sensitiveness of the Albanians towards +each other and towards each others' friends would vanish—though +it has been found that it takes a number of +years before they cease observing or from desiring to +observe the very deeply-rooted custom of blood-vengeance.</p> + +<p>A good many of the border Albanians have made it +clear that they wish for some sort of association with +their more cultured neighbours. But on this point they +are by no means unanimous. The unregenerate part of +the people will not be able to resist an occasional foray +into Yugoslavia. And although the reputation which +the Serbs have left behind them may induce the tribes +to be, for the most part, good neighbours, yet they have +not been long enough under the civilizing process, and +the more advanced among them would agree with the +Yugoslavs that it would have been better for that régime +to have continued over them. You may object that +the finest patriots of the Albanians would have preferred +to remain outside Yugoslavia. But they know that there +are many thousands of their contented countryfolk in +the neighbouring Kossovo and, what is more, they know +that the towns of Kossovo are their markets.</p> + +<p>The Yugoslavs have bowed to the decision of their +Allies. And the official champions of the too-ambitious +League of Nations—overjoyed, after various failures +and after the Silesian award, to have really accomplished +something, and something with whose merits the public +was far less familiar than with the Silesian fiasco—performed +a war-dance on the Yugoslavs. If that people<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[349]</a></span> +had been as obstinate, say, as the Magyars in the case +of Burgenland, no doubt it would have come to another +Conference of Venice; and Yugoslavia would, like +Hungary, have returned from there with something +gained. But, of course, when it is an affair between +Allies one scarcely likes to behave in that stubborn and +unyielding manner which is apparently the right—at all +events, the successful—conduct for a whilom foe. If +the Yugoslavs, in simply accepting the judgment of their +Allies, acted against their own ultimate advantage, they +can, at any rate, believe that their complaisance, their +extraordinary lack of chauvinism, will be recognized. +It is true that when, on former occasions, such as during +the prolonged d'Annunzio farce at Rieka, they displayed +a similar and wonderful forbearance, they did not manage +to free themselves from this foolish charge. There +happen to be a good many people abroad who insist +that the new States are, every one of them, chauvinist; +they think it is the natural thing for a young country to +be, and especially if part of it lies in the Balkans. But +if Yugoslavia repeatedly acts in the most correct fashion +the day may come when she will be able to put a lasting +polish on to the reputation which her Allies have tarnished.</p> + + +<p class="section">15. THE PROSPECT</p> + +<p>We may look forward to seeing the majority of this +frontier population resolved that the links between themselves +and the Yugoslavs shall not be broken. Very little +will they care for the edicts of European Ambassadors. +It would not have been surprising to hear that on the withdrawal +of the Yugoslavs to the prescribed frontier their +resourceful friends beyond it had procured from Serbia +a few volunteers to take the place of the official Serbs. +And failing this, that rough-and-ready people might +simply declare themselves to be in Yugoslavia. This time +they will be unable to persuade the Yugoslav Government +to move its excise posts more to the west. But if these +tenacious men have made up their minds to join their +brethren on the right bank of the Drin and enter Yugoslavia, +the Ambassadors' Conference would preserve more +of their dignity in accepting with a good grace that which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[350]</a></span> +they are powerless to hinder.... The minority of the +border population will go raiding in Yugoslavia. If +they had been consulted they would have drawn the +frontier very much as it is. With large areas lying at +their mercy they will keep the border villages in constant +dread. And that is the other reason which should induce +the Ambassadors' Conference to cancel their unwise +decision.</p> + +<p>It is better when the politicians do not come with +advice to the battlefield; and in those primitive regions, +where part of the people cannot, as yet, be restrained +from perpetual warfare, it would have been better if the +politicians had done nothing but confirm the General's +frontier. Franchet d'Espérey gave it to the Serbs "for +the time being," and that period should last until there +is no longer any military need to hold it. "No General, +however distinguished, could possibly have any authority +whatever to give to any nation the territories of another, +such as can only be transferred and delineated by treaties +and international recognition." So says Mr. H. E. Goad, +or Captain Goad as he has the right to call himself. But +it is a pity that he does not appreciate the difference +between that which is temporary and that which is not.</p> + +<p>Italy has been given against the Yugoslavs a purely +strategic frontier, which places under her dominion over +500,000 unwilling Slovenes, whose culture is admittedly +on a higher level than that of their Italian neighbours. +And yet the Ambassadors' Conference (in which Italy +plays a prominent part) has refused to give Yugoslavia +a strategic frontier against a much more turbulent neighbour, +which frontier, moreover, would include of alien +subjects only a small fraction of the number which Italy +has obtained. The Albanian frontier now imposed on +Yugoslavia is very much like that which the treaties of +1815 gave to France, when the passage (<i>trouée</i>) of Couvin, +often called erroneously the trouée of the Oise, at a +short distance from Paris, was purposely opened. +"Formerly," says Professor Jean Brunhes,<a name="FNanchor_107_107" id="FNanchor_107_107"></a><a href="#Footnote_107_107" class="fnanchor">[107]</a> "the sources +of the Oise belonged to France, protected, far back, by +the two enclaves of Philippeville and Marienbourg, both +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[351]</a></span>fortified by Vauban." And M. Gabriel Hanotaux<a name="FNanchor_108_108" id="FNanchor_108_108"></a><a href="#Footnote_108_108" class="fnanchor">[108]</a> +remarks that this opening of the trouée of Couvin was +the reason why in 1914 France lost the battle of +Charleroi.</p> + +<p>The Ambassadors' Conference has committed a grave +injustice. "Let us hope," says M. Justin Godart,<a name="FNanchor_109_109" id="FNanchor_109_109"></a><a href="#Footnote_109_109" class="fnanchor">[109]</a> a +French ex-Under Secretary of Hygiene, concerning whose +very misguided mission to Albania we have written +elsewhere,<a name="FNanchor_110_110" id="FNanchor_110_110"></a><a href="#Footnote_110_110" class="fnanchor">[110]</a> "let us hope," says he—in my opinion one +of the unjustest men towards Yugoslavia and Greece—"let +us hope that Yugoslavia will understand that it is +unworthy of her to contest the decision of the Ambassadors' +Conference." It has given to the Yugoslavs a frontier +that necessitates the presence of a considerable army, +and this is precisely what suits the Italians. Seeing +that in Italy there are men alive who can recall their +struggles against the Austrian oppressor, it is sad that +their own country should now be playing this very same +rôle. The Ambassadors appear to have taken no notice +of Italy's support of the Tirana Government, but to +have been very drastic with respect to Yugoslavia's +support of the Mirditi. They have punished the Yugoslavs +by binding their hands in a district part of whose +population long for the help of those hands in gaining +some tranquillity, whereas the other part consists of +persons against whom one must defend oneself.</p> + +<p>The politicians have acted as if all the border folk +were as peaceful as they doubtless are themselves. In +consequence, there will be panic and assassination till +the politicians—unable to oppose the wishes of the +majority of those who dwell in the frontier zone—proclaim +that until further notice General Franchet d'Espérey's +wise and prudent dispositions shall be honoured.</p> + + +<p style="padding-top: 1.5em">That is the only method by which an Albania can +be brought slowly into existence. At this moment the +cartographers are printing the map of the Albanians' +country in accordance with the Ambassadors' decision. +They might spare themselves the trouble. The decision +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[352]</a></span>to recognize an Albania was as premature a project as, in +Mr. Wells' opinion, is the League of Nations. A free, +united Albania has been recognized, and in a little time +the Ambassadors' Conference, perceiving that such a +thing does not exist, will be relieved to see the North and +the South taking the steps to which we have referred. +It is wonderful that the Ambassadors' Conference and the +League of Nations should imagine that a country, most +of which is in the social state of the Gallic clans in the +days of Vercingetorix, can suddenly become a modern +nation by the simple contrivance of a parliament, which, +as a matter of fact, has been the caricature of one. In +the words of Lord Halsbury, when reversing a judgment +of the Court of Appeal, I am bewildered by the absurdity +of such a suggestion. Albania is in need of organizers, +not of orators. A very competent French traveller,<a name="FNanchor_111_111" id="FNanchor_111_111"></a><a href="#Footnote_111_111" class="fnanchor">[111]</a> +one who believes that a future is reserved for this unquenchable +people, warns the world against undue haste. +After describing the deplorable state or the non-existence +of Albanian schools, roads, ports, the monetary system +and the organization of credit, he says that it is scarcely +an exaggeration to assert that from the point of view of +economic arrangement everything has to be created. +This necessitates a Government which knows how to +administer and which has funds at its command. But +there is not the least likelihood of regular taxes being +paid to a central Government until you have security +of communication. And even then the native—except +if force is used—will not pay before he sees the benefit +which taxes produce. He who for the most part has +never given obedience save to his village chief will require +to see the local benefit. Therefore his whole outlook +must be changed; slowly from being parochial it must +become national.... There can be no greater folly than +at this stage to aim at applying modern usages, equality +of taxation, uniformity of judicial organization, and so +forth. It must be a very slow advance, says M. Jaray, +taking local traditions and the feudalism, both domestic +and collective, into account. Even if a central Government +had all the necessary qualifications, yet that would +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[353]</a></span>not cause the people to regard it with gratitude and +loyalty. It is too remote. The clans have been accustomed +to look no farther than their own chiefs. Only +in serious circumstances and against an invasion have +they united and chosen a common leader. To expect +the Albanians rapidly to throw aside their clannishness +is to prepare for oneself a disappointment. It is in the +clan that they must be made fit for something more +extensive. Let the country be recognized not as a nation, +but as a collection of clans, and let these clans, with any +outside assistance they themselves may choose, come +gradually to understand the word "Albania." ... And +what are the chances that this will come to pass? No +country is more feudal; yet only the most thoroughgoing +peasant reforms will lay a sure foundation for the State.</p> + + +<p class="section">(<i>b</i>) <span class="smcap">The Greek Frontier</span></p> + +<p>The frontier with Greece has undergone no alteration +as a result of the War. It is inconvenient in certain +details; it runs, for example, at such a very short distance +to the south of the town of Ghevgeli that the prefect has +little chance of frustrating those who actively object to +the payment of import duties. Rather a large number +of Slavs, some say 300,000, live on the Greek side of the +frontier, while a far smaller number of Greeks live in +Monastir. Both the Slavs and the Greeks have made +sundry complaints, which are more or less justified, +against the alien authority which governs them. However, +during 1919 and 1920, the two Governments resolved, +in the furtherance of their good understanding, +to raise none of these questions, neither the claims of the +derelict Slavs, who are mostly Exarchists, nor of the +Monastir Greeks, who are mostly hellenized Vlachs. +The two countries, while Venizelos was in power, were +acting on the principles of the Serbo-Greek friendship +that used to be advocated by <i>L'Hellénisme</i>, the newspaper +which Sir Anastasius Adossides, under Venizelos the +enlightened Governor-General of Salonica, published for +several years before the first Balkan War in Paris. Yugoslavia +was to have every facility given her in Salonica, +which course would naturally be the most beneficial to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[354]</a></span> +that place. And among the minor advantages of really +amicable relations would be the impossibility of such a +state of things as once prevailed at Doiran, where the +masters of the Greek and Bulgarian schools were neither +of them in a position to chastise their peccant pupils, +who could always have the last word by threatening to +transfer themselves to the rival establishment. It was, +I believe, the custom of these young scoundrels to +remain at one or other of the two schools on the understanding +that the teacher gave them a retaining fee +of so many chocolates.... One rather felt, during +1919 and 1920, that the Yugoslavs, in their willingness +to take the hand of Greece, which had so shamefully +refused to act upon its obligations in the first half of the +War, were behaving as if Venizelos would henceforward +be retained in power by his countrymen. Should the +Serbs find themselves hampered in their use of the "Free +Zone" at Salonica, a moment might arrive when they and +the Bulgars would, to their mutual advantage, make an +arrangement with regard to Salonica and her hinterland.</p> + + +<p class="section">(<i>c</i>) <span class="smcap">The Bulgarian Frontier</span></p> + +<p>There have been various modifications in the frontier +line between Serbia and Bulgaria. The Bulgars acknowledge +that in the case of the Struma salient, of the part +near Vranja and of the villages on the bank of the Timok, +it was clearly for the purpose of safeguarding the railways; +and few people would be found to say that Serbia +has been other than modest in her demands. Compare +the Italian position on the Brenner with the Yugoslav +frontier against Bulgaria and in the Baranja: against +Bulgars and Magyars the Yugoslavs only secure a sound +defensive frontier, whereas Italy obtains a capacity for +the offensive against Austria.<a name="FNanchor_112_112" id="FNanchor_112_112"></a><a href="#Footnote_112_112" class="fnanchor">[112]</a> It is rather different +with regard to Tsaribrod, on the main line between Niš +and Sofia. So good a friend of the Yugoslavs as Dr. +Seton-Watson has deplored the cession of this small +place, since it appears likely to imperil a future friendship +between Serbia and Bulgaria. As a matter of fact the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[355]</a></span>Yugoslav Peace Delegates requested, for strategic purposes, +a still more southerly frontier on the Dragoman +Pass, which was denied to them. But Tsaribrod, which +is dominated by the heights of Dragoman, is anyhow a +place of minor importance. It is much to be hoped that +the inhabitants will not imitate those of the Pirot <i>intelligentsia</i> +who in 1878 shook off the dust of their town +when it became Serbian and migrated to Sofia, where +they never wearied of anti-Serbian agitation. One +must do one's best not to retard the arrival of that day +when it will be almost a matter of indifference as to +whether a village is situated in Serbia or in Bulgaria. +Mr. Stanojević, the deputy for Zaječa, which is not far +from the frontier, proposed in the Skupština that Tsaribrod +should be left to the Bulgars in exchange for a sum +of money. This suggestion was opposed by the Radicals, +and the far-seeing Yugoslav statesmen who would gladly +have adopted it were left hoping that the Skupština +would some day decide in its favour.... This moderation +on the part of the Serbs has been less in evidence at +Bucharest and still less at Athens. The Peace Conference +which felt itself unable to deprive its Ally of +southern Dobrudja, and unable to resist the persuasive +eloquence of M. Venizelos, does not seem to have contributed +towards a lasting Balkan peace. A reviewer in +the <i>Observer</i>, while approving of Mr. Leland Buxton's hope +of a Serb-Bulgar reconciliation, asks why this should be +effected to the exclusion and obvious detriment of Greece. +"Why not a Balkan Federation?" he asks. In view of +the very different races which inhabit the Balkans, he +might just as well ask, "Why not a European Federation?" +And the statesmen of the non-Slav Balkan +countries do not seem to have made serious efforts to +prevent the coming of a purely Slav Federation. It +remains to be seen whether, when that comes to pass, +the Greek and Roumanian people will have achieved such +statesmanship as to make an equally small effort to keep +under their control their large Slav territories.... "We +should no longer think of Thrace," said M. Venizelos in +the Greek Chamber in 1913, "for it is impossible to +include in the Greek State all those parts where Greeks +have lived; we ought to be modest and contented with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[356]</a></span> +what is most righteous and attainable; we ought not to +let ourselves be carried away by our imagination."</p> + + +<p class="section">(<i>d</i>) <span class="smcap">The Roumanian Frontier</span></p> + +<p class="section">THE STATE OF THE ROUMANIANS IN EASTERN SERBIA</p> + +<p>A new frontier between Yugoslavia and Roumania +has been drawn by the Allied Powers in the Banat. +But before we consider its merits and absurdities we must +examine the Serbo-Roumanian question in the several +departments of eastern Serbia. During 1919 one heard +a good deal, in Bucharest and in Paris, of the pitiful +Roumanians whom the Serbs had always deprived of +their own national schools and churches. It was claimed, +chiefly by a certain Dr. Athanasius Popovitch, that the +Roumanians in Serbia were longing for the day of their +redemption. On March 8, 1919, two deputations of +Roumanians from the Timok and from Macedonia, who +had lately arrived in Paris in order to plead before the +Conference, presented themselves to the Roumanian +colony at 114 Avenue des Champs-Elysees. We are told +that in consequence of their moving narrative, and on +account of the loud appeal made by them to all their +free brothers, the Roumanian colony founded, with +great enthusiasm, a national league for their delivery. +The Vice-President of the league was announced to be +Dr. Athanasius Popovici. In a pamphlet called <i>Les +Roumains de Serbie</i> (Paris, 1919), Dr. Draghicesco, a +Roumanian Senator, denounces the Serb authorities for +having obliged Dr. Athanasius, while he was a schoolboy, +to change his surname into the purely Serbian one of +Popovitch. "Not being able to endure this régime of +violence," we are informed, "he expatriated himself and +established himself in Roumania." But if Dr. Athanasius +felt so strongly with regard to his name when +he was a mere schoolboy, one is puzzled to understand +why, being an adult and a pamphleteer in 1919, he should +be hesitating between Popovitch, which is Serbian, and +Popovici, which is Roumanian. The Senator does not +seem to be well informed as to the early years of Dr. +Athanasius, who so far from expatriating himself as an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[357]</a></span> +indignant schoolboy, remained in Serbia, where he went +through five classes of the gymnasium in Belgrade, after +which he studied theology in the same town, with a view +to succeeding his father, who was a priest at Dušanovac +in eastern Serbia. Later on Athanasius performed his +military service at Zaječa, where he married—so one of +his sisters told me—one Mileva, the daughter of Yovan +Stančević, a merchant. After his marriage he went to +Jena, in order to continue his studies, and there he became +a Doctor of Letters. It may be that while he was at +Jena he became conscious of the régime of violence to +which the Roumanians in Serbia are subjected; at any +rate he decided not to return to that country, where his +wife and three sisters are well satisfied to live. He +launched himself into a furious anti-Serbian propaganda in +favour of those who, in the words of Dr. Draghicesco, +are profoundly sad and full of grief at being neither +Serbian nor Roumanian, who when they meet a +Roumanian brother listen to him with pleasure and, +with their eyes full of tears, murmur: "How happy +we should be to be with you." ... When I travelled +through those parts with a view to verifying Dr. +Athanasius's assertions, I was invariably told by persons +of Roumanian origin that they had no complaint whatever +against the Serbs, and that the last thing they desired +was to be politically united to the Roumanians of the +kingdom. Dr. Athanasius might reply that his wretched +compatriots were impelled by fear to give such answers. +But what do they fear?—one finds that among these +people are deputies, priests, army officers and so forth. +"To-day," says Dr. Athanasius, "all the peoples who +are reduced to slavery by other people secure the right +to return to their fatherland." The Roumanians of +Serbia would have to be a good deal more miserable before +wishing to have anything to do with Roumania. Milan +Soldatović, ex-mayor of the great mining village of Bor +and himself of Roumanian origin, said that he had never +heard of any one who went to work in Roumania. No +doubt the present generation of Roumanian landowners +deeply deplore the misdeeds of their ancestors, who drove +the ancestors of these peasants away from Roumania. +"The peasant hovels were merely dark burrows, called<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[358]</a></span> +<i>bordei</i>, holes dug in the ground and roofed with poles +covered with earth, rising scarcely above the level of the +plain.... The interior was indescribable. Neither furniture +nor utensils, with the exception of the boards +which served as beds or seats and the pot for cooking +the <i>mamaliga</i>"<a name="FNanchor_113_113" id="FNanchor_113_113"></a><a href="#Footnote_113_113" class="fnanchor">[113]</a>—his sole food, a paste consisting of +maize meal cooked in water. And one cannot be +astonished if the Roumanians in Serbia are chary of +believing that their native land has changed for the +better. "If," said a Roumanian peasant before an Agricultural +Commission in 1848, "if the boyar could have +laid hands upon the sun, he would have seized it and +sold God's light and warmth to the peasant for money." +Even in 1919 the peasant still had much reason to be +dissatisfied, for where the owner parted with his land it +was usually—no doubt as a stage in the transaction—made +over to the village as a whole. And if the boyar +no longer has the monopoly of the sale of alcohol, if he +has so far improved that Vallachia is not now losing its +inhabitants as it was after the Regulations of 1831, when +we read that "in vain the rivers are assiduously watched, +as if in a state of siege; the emigrants cross at the places +which are clear of troops. Emigration is especially rife +in winter, when the frozen Danube presents an ever-open +bridge," yet among the Roumanians of Serbia it +has been handed down from father to son what happened +in the reign of Prince Miloš. To take one case out of +many such that are preserved in the National Archives +at Belgrade, a dispatch was sent on February 11, 1831, +by Vule Gligoriević, his representative in those parts, +to Prince Miloš, who was at Kragujevac, enclosing a +supplication from the priests and other inhabitants of the +large Roumanian island called Veliko Ostrvo, in the +middle of the Danube, praying that they might be allowed +to cross to Serbia. "We are in great misery," they wrote, +"and have boyars who are very bad, and we cannot bear +the misery in which we find ourselves, and in the greatest +grief we beg your Highness to let us come to Serbia with +our wives and children." The Prince had a special +sympathy for Roumania and was therefore most reluctant +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[359]</a></span>to intervene in her internal affairs. He adopted +a very cautious attitude in this matter, but when Gligoriević +sent him petition after petition he was finally +so touched by the recital of their woes that he permitted +them to cross the river; and one night, with the help +of the Serbian authorities, the whole island crossed over, +to wit 57 families, with 186 oxen, 70 horses, 694 sheep +and 87 pigs. Miloš made them a free grant of land for +the building of a village, together with a vast stretch +of territory for pasture and stock-raising; at his own +expense he built them a church and extended to them all +the liberties and advantages enjoyed in Serbia by the +Serbs themselves. As a token of their gratitude these +Roumanian emigrants called their village Mihailovac, after +the name of Michael, the Prince's son. This village is +the birthplace of our friend Dr. Athanasius, whose +sentiments appear to have placed him in a minority of +one. When his pamphlet came into the hands of Jorge +Kornić, the mayor of Mihailovac and a Roumanian by +origin, he brought it to the prefect at Negotin saying that +he wished to have nothing to do "with any devil's work."</p> + +<p>As Dr. Athanasius and his chauvinist friends give a +pretty lurid picture of the Roumanian villager who lives +in Serbia, I visited a few places where the population +is wholly Roumanian or Serbo-Roumanian. The 766 +inhabitants of Ostralje are all of Roumanian descent, +the mayor being one Velimir Mišković, a sergeant of +reserves who has been transferred from the army in +order to carry on his municipal duties. All the inhabitants +speak Serbian and Vlach. "We were always +Serbs," they said. "Nobody told us that we had +migrated to this place." And amongst those who +assembled to talk with us at the schoolmaster's house +there was only one who, in the Roumanian fashion, had +drawn his socks over his white trousers. The 2221 inhabitants +of the village of Grljan are about two-thirds of +Roumanian and one-third of Serbian origin. Formerly +they each had their own part of the village, but now they +are intermingled both in the village and in the cemetery. +They intermarry freely; thus Jon Jonović, the most +notable person, who used to represent this district in the +Skupština at Belgrade, has three Serbian daughters-in-law.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[360]</a></span> +He was a member of the Opposition Liberal +group of Ribarac. "And did you ever request that your +fellow-countrymen should have their own Roumanian +schools and churches?" we asked. This is one of the +chief demands of Dr. Athanasius. "I was not the only +Roumanian who was a deputy," said the old man of the +furrowed face. "There was Novak Dobromirović of Zlot; +there was Jorge Stanković, for instance; but we never +thought of asking for such a thing, since we had no need +for it." The son of the wealthy Sima Yovanović at Bor +observed with a smile that the first business of Roumanian +schools would have to be the teaching of Roumanian. +"My father sent me to be educated at Vienna," he said, +"and when I met some boys from Bucharest we found +that our language was so different that we had to talk +to one another in German. And now when a commercial +traveller comes here from Roumania I have to talk +German to him, as I would otherwise have to converse +with my hands and feet." The French mining officials, by +the way, at Bor testified that they had never heard of any +tension between men of Serbian and those of Roumanian +origin; the Roumanians, who prefer agricultural work, are +more attracted to the mines in winter, when over 40 per +cent. of the 1500 employés are Roumanians.</p> + +<p>Dr. Athanasius and his friends are agitated, as one +would imagine, when they discuss with you the numbers +of their countrymen. In <i>Le Temps</i> of April 22, 1919, +they declared that they could produce 500,000, for they +realized that their previous claim of between 250,000 and +350,000 was not large enough to give the Roumanians in +Serbia the benefit of the principle of nationality. But +even this more modest figure will be found, on examination, +to be exaggerated. In the four north-eastern +counties of Serbia there were 159,510 Roumanians in +1895; 120,628 in 1900, and in 1910 a little over 90,000. +This diminution, say the chauvinists, is due to a falsifying +of statistics, for those, they say, who have attended +a Serbian school are inscribed as Serbs. The truth is +that everyone is entered according to his mother-tongue. +And history knows countless instances of a gradual +decrease in the case of people placed in foreign surroundings +and exposed to foreign influences. Like the Illyrians who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[361]</a></span> +people Dalmatia, the Thracians of ancient Dacia and the +Serbs who emigrated to Russia in the seventeenth century, +the Roumanians of Serbia are undergoing this process +and are inevitably becoming Serbicized. Frequently we +noticed that men possessing no Serbian blood did not care +to admit their Roumanian origin, which, however, is no +secret to their neighbours in spite of the Serbian termination +"ić" that, in the course of years, has been affixed +to their names. An allusion to their origin is clearly +regarded as lacking in delicacy. "Well, my ancestors +were Roumanian," is often as much as they will admit. +And when some enterprising agitators came over from +Roumania to the department of Požarevac in 1919, the +Roumanians of those parts gave up to the authorities all +those who did not manage to escape. For ten years +Lieut.-Colonel Gjorge Marković commanded the 9th +Regiment, which is chiefly formed of Roumanians from +that region. They used to tell him that they wanted +to have nothing to do with the Roumanian boyars. +"Here we are boyars ourselves," they said. All of them +speak Serbian, many of them write it; and on winter +evenings they have for years received instruction in +reading, writing, arithmetic and singing, which compares +favourably with Roumania's army, in which, as I was +told at Bucharest, the plan of starting any education +had to be postponed in consequence of the outbreak of +the Great War. Together with the unwillingness of +these people to acknowledge their origin, one observes +a general vagueness as to the home of their forefathers. +Apparently these came over from southern Hungary, +whence the name Ungureani,<a name="FNanchor_114_114" id="FNanchor_114_114"></a><a href="#Footnote_114_114" class="fnanchor">[114]</a> or from Tara Rumaneasca, +<i>i.e.</i> the Roumanian land, whence the name Tarani. +Others again are descended from Roumanized Serbs +who came from Kossovo and other Serb regions of the +south, lived in the Banat and Transylvania among the +Roumanian villages, acquired the Roumanian language +and then crossed over to Serbia. These three classes have +all come to Serbia in recent times. Any attempt on the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[362]</a></span>part of Dr. Athanasius and his friends to drag in the +Romans can be answered by the undoubted fact that the +ancient Roman colonists had completely disappeared +from Serbia as far back as the fifteenth century, leaving +no trace at all, and there is no connection between them +and the present Roumanian population of Serbia. No +memories remain of the old Roman colonists, save certain +place-names which, as Professor Georgević remarks, +strike one as surprising in the midst of a purely Serbian +population. It is interesting to note that these ancient +Roman place-names are very rare in the regions inhabited +to-day by men of Roumanian origin.</p> + +<p>It would not have been worth whole devoting so much +space to the activities of Dr. Athanasius and his adherents +but for the fact that European public opinion, which has +concerned itself extremely little with the Roumanians +of Serbia, might possibly imagine that their advocate +deserves to be taken seriously.</p> + + +<p class="section">2. THE BANAT</p> + +<p>Anyone who looks at an ethnological map of the Banat +will recognize how difficult it is to partition that province +among two or three claimants. No matter by whom +the map is painted, it must have the appearance of mosaic, +with few solid masses of colour. This fact was quickly +used by the Roumanians, who argued that as the Banat +had never been divided, neither politically nor economically, +it should still remain one whole—of course under +the Roumanian flag. The Magyars haughtily pointed +out that as the Banat had never been divided, but had +for a thousand years lived under the crown of St. Stephen, +it should still remain one whole—of course under the +Hungarian flag. The Roumanians contended that the +indivisibility of the Banat was designed by Nature, +since the mountainous eastern part could not exist if +separated from the fertile west. The Magyars asserted +that it was altogether wrong to think of the radical +remodelling and complete dismemberment of a territory +which Nature had predestined to be one. The Yugoslavs +agreed with both parties that it was not easy to draw a +satisfactory frontier, but they asked that, as far as possible,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[363]</a></span> +the predominantly Roumanian parts should be joined +to Roumania, the Slav populations to them and the +Magyars to Hungary. As a matter of fact the Paris +Conference did attempt to make an ethnical division, +between these three States, of the Banat. Roumania +tried to demonstrate the impossibility of this by turning +off the water in the Bega Canal when the Serbs evacuated +Temešvar and were taking their heavily-laden barges +from that town. There will have to be a central, international +organization to control the network of waterways. +As soon as the Paris Conference had decided on +this division it was told by the Magyars, the Roumanians +and the Yugoslavs that all the numerous Germans of the +Banat wished to belong to Hungary, to Roumania and +to Yugoslavia. A great many of the Germans were +indifferent, so long as they could peaceably carry on their +prosperous agricultural operations. Not much political +solidarity is apparent among the Germans of the Banat, +and seeing that both Yugoslavia and Roumania, now +the principal possessors of this land, have elsewhere +within their boundaries large German populations, their +respective Banat Germans will be able to ally themselves +with these in the Parliaments of Belgrade and Bucharest. +The Banat Germans who are discontented with the Paris +decisions are firstly those, among the aristocratic and +commercial classes, who were accustomed to enjoy under +the Magyars a favoured position, and secondly those who, +with more or less justification, say that Roumania has +yet to show that she will treat her subject minorities in +a truly liberal fashion. It is for this reason that the +Germans of Veršac and Bela Crkva—in which towns +they are about as numerous as the total of Yugoslavs, +Roumanians and Magyars—would give a majority in +favour of Yugoslavia if they were asked to vote as to +Yugoslav or Roumanian citizenship. <i>Adeverul</i>, which +is one of the least chauvinist of Bucharest newspapers, +claimed for Roumania at least the railway line: Temešvar, +Veršac, Bela Crkva, Bazias—an argument thought to be +conclusive being that the two central towns are neither +Roumanian nor Serbian but German. This railway line +was, as a matter of fact, bestowed by the Peace Conference +on Roumania, and it required some strenuous<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[364]</a></span> +work before this decision was modified. The French were +suspected in Yugoslavia of leaning unduly towards the +Roumanians, through sympathy with the Latin strain +in their blood; yet it was the French who were for giving +to Yugoslavia not only Bazias but the villages on the +Danube down to Old Moldava, seeing that in those districts +the Slavs are certainly in a majority. The Roumanian +case was not assisted by Professor Candrea's ethnographical +map, for in the debated country around Bela +Crkva that gentleman, who told me that he had omitted +every place whose population was less than a hundred, +has unfortunately forgotten to include Zlatica, a village +of 1346 inhabitants, which was founded at the gate of a +monastery six hundred and sixty years ago. The population +is according to the Hungarian census of 1910, at +which time all the 1346 were Serbs, with the exception of +220 Czechs and a few gipsies. Professor Candrea has +forgotten Sokolavac, a nourishing place about two hundred +and fifty years old with 1800 inhabitants and practically +all of them Serbs, as the Transylvanian Minister of Education +admitted. Palanka with 1400 inhabitants, most +Serbs; Fabian with about 1000, mostly Czechs; Duplaja +with 1204, all Serbs but for 10 Slovenes; Crvena Crkva +with 1108 (1048 Serbs, 34 Slovaks, 17 Germans and 9 +Magyars), are every one omitted. Lescovac, with 977 +inhabitants, the Professor marks as Roumanian. When I +was at this picturesquely situated place I was received +in the mayor's office by half a dozen burly peasants in +the Serbian national costume who asserted that, with +the exception of the tailor (a Roumanian emigrant) and +one or two other persons, the village was wholly Serb. +But Lescovac was then within the Serbian sphere of +occupation, and possibly if I were to go there now I would +be told an appropriate story by other, or the same, +peasants in Roumanian attire. One must try to find +some surer indication of nationality, and Professor Candrea +told me that twenty-five years ago he took down a pure +Roumanian text at that place, where the Roumanian +language is the most antique in the Banat. On the +other hand, the village must have contained many Serbs, +for when the late notary, a powerful Magyar with +Roumanian sympathies, prevented the school being conducted,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[365]</a></span> +as it always had been, in the Serbian language, +and installed a teacher—he stayed for eight years—who +could only speak Magyar and Roumanian, the villagers +at their own expense procured a Serbian school-mistress. +She was expelled by the notary.... This illustrates +the difficulties which the Peace Conference, in its desire +to trace an ethnical frontier, was confronted with. And +there was no map which did not make it obvious that +Serbian villages would have to remain to the east and +Roumanian villages to the west of any possible line. +They did right, I think, to revise their decision as to the +towns of Veršac and Bela Crkva, for there the Yugoslavs +and their German friends have a large and unquestioned +preponderance. Bazias, with about three miles of the +railway, was given to Roumania so that she should have, +for the exportation of her wood and iron-ore, the only +harbour in that region of the Danube which is capable of +development. However, with no railway over Roumanian +soil from Bazias to the mines, this port is perfectly useless, +and it is to be hoped that Roumania will give it up, for +compensation elsewhere, to the Yugoslavs. The latter +would otherwise be compelled to build three or four +miles of railway, from Bela Crkva to Palanka, which, +unless a great deal of money be spent on it, will always +be one of the worst ports on the river. With a little more +difficulty than to Bazias the Roumanians could construct +a railway to Moldava, which also is a very good port; +and in return for this accommodation, whereby the +wines of Bela Crkva could be shipped from Bazias, their +natural port, the Yugoslavs would be ready to make over +to Roumania one or two villages whose population far +exceeds that of little Bazias. We may also hope that +facilities will be given by the two Governments for the +emigration of those who wish to cross the new frontier +line. Formerly the people of the Banat had no strenuous +objections to being moved, lock, stock and barrel, from +one district to another and without the inducement of +coming under the rule of their own race. Thus the +village of Zsam, to the north of Veršac, was, like many +others, very sparsely inhabited when the Turks withdrew +in 1716; some villages had only three or four occupied +houses. So the Government in 1722 collected into one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[366]</a></span> +village the people of several others, and in this way Zsam, +which had hitherto been Slav, became Roumanian, the +Serbs being established in the neighbouring Središte. +In 1809 the Roumanians were transplanted from Zsam +to Petrovasela, between Veršac and Pančevo, where +they entered the Pančevo Frontier Regiment; their +place at Zsam was taken by Germans, who, being more +industrious, were preferred by the landowners.</p> + +<p>Some of the delineators of this frontier—French and +British—have told me that they were guided throughout +by the ethnical principle. But various unfortunate +exceptions seem to have been made: for instance, at +Koča it runs through a certain house in such a way that +the lavatory alone is in Roumania; and in another village +there lives a man who, since his stables are situated in +Roumania, would have had his horses requisitioned if +he had not been able to bring them into the other part of +the house. Another village has its cemetery in Roumania, +so that the Yugoslavs carry their dead friends over during +the night. Perhaps the Entente officials, perceiving that +their ambitious resolution to divide the country on +ethnic principles was not feasible—there would always +be alien islands to the right and to the left of any line—perhaps +they in despair drew an arbitrary line upon a +map and hoped the poor inhabitants would make the +best of it. But this was rendered more difficult by the +Yugoslav and Roumanian authorities, for the people who +desire to cross the line are put to endless trouble. Apart +from the expense, it usually involves a delay of three +weeks before permission can be obtained, so that the +frontier is rarely traversed save by smugglers and by +those who, like the afore-mentioned man of Koča, have +been driven into chronic lawlessness.</p> + +<p>The first line agreed upon after the War, which +temporarily bestowed the eastern county on Roumania, +the western on Yugoslavia and the chief parts of the +central (or Temešvar) county also on Yugoslavia—with +French co-operation—did not find favour in Paris; +whether or not this decision was influenced by the frequent +journeys of the Queen of Roumania and her fascinating +daughters to that town I do not know. At all +events another boundary was made which included the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[367]</a></span> +large town of Temešvar and all the northern part of that +county in Roumania. It is true that there are Roumanian +villages in the neighbourhood of this German-Magyar-Jewish +town, which is by far the largest place in the +Banat. And the Roumanians, who have already annexed +enormous Magyar and German populations in Transylvania, +do not boggle at another 80,000 foreigners. +One could, however, find very few Yugoslavs who want +Temešvar to be restored to them; they know that they +and the Roumanians, whatever (as regards themselves) +may have been the case in other days, form, each of them, +only about one-thirtieth of the total population. But +they are sorry that the Allies asked them to share in +occupying the town, because the local Serbs, who are +interested in politics, were so enthusiastic, that on the +arrival of the Roumanians they were forced to leave +their businesses and go to live in Yugoslavia. Since +neither Serbs nor Roumanians have any ethnical claim +to the town one would suppose that, as the spoil had +fallen to Roumania, the Entente would have endeavoured +to give the Yugoslavs some compensation: what they +did was to take away from them a good deal of that +which they had—a considerable slice of their western +county—which also was presented to the Roumanians. +Again, the delineators excused themselves by invoking +their ethnical motives, but as a matter of fact in that +part of Torontal the people are predominantly German +and they should have been allotted to Yugoslavia, not +merely because the Temešvar Germans were given to +Roumania but on account of their economic existence, +which certainly in the case of the departments of +Nagyszentmiklós, Perjámos and Csene (to retain the +Magyar spelling) is bound up with Zsombolya, their +market-town, and Kikinda. According to the census +that was taken in 1919, the population of these three +departments now allotted to Roumania consisted of +41,109 Germans, 13,638 Yugoslavs and 19,270 Roumanians. +Further, to the south-east of Torontal, in the +departments of Párdány, Módos and Bánlak, there is not +so intimate a connection with the market-town; here +the population consists of 12,209 Germans, 11,102 Yugoslavs +and 8808 Roumanians. But there seems to be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[368]</a></span> +little reason why the whole of Torontal, following the +wishes of the majority of its inhabitants, should not be +given to Yugoslavia; and this would also reduce to a +minimum the inconveniences produced by any frontier. +For many long years there has been a county frontier +between Torontal and Temešvar, each of which was +under an official who looked direct to Buda-Pest. The +adoption of this ancient county frontier as that of the +two countries would put an end to the present absurd +and unjust, not to say dangerous, situation. It should, +therefore, be brought about as soon as possible.</p> + +<p>A similar rectification is needed in the country to +the north and north-west. The three German villages +of Komloš, Mariafeld and St. Mikloš have their fields +near Velika Kikinda, in Yugoslavia, whereas they are +themselves in Roumania. To bring home his maize +from the land a farmer was obliged to pay, at the most +favourable rate, up to 200 crowns a pound. Considering +that this part of the country is an absolute plain with no +river flowing through it, one would suppose that a rectification +could easily be made. If these Germans had +been consulted they would naturally have opted for +Yugoslavia. The Peace Conference officials might, also +have studied Velika Kikinda, a place with a very creditable +past, which—as I was told by a Serb professional +man of that town—will be completely ruined if she loses +the custom of these German villages and has to depend +upon the Serb peasants who make one embroidered suit +and one pair of sandals last them for ten years.... It +will be necessary for the Yugoslav authorities in the +Banat not only to endeavour to raise their countrymen's +standard of living but also in the southerly districts, +where the standard is higher, to persuade them not to +persist in limiting their families. The Serbs in the old +kingdom have been one of the most prolific of European +races—they would otherwise have been incapable of +carrying on their twenty-six years of war during this last +century—but in the south and south-east of the Banat, +perhaps through mere love of comfort, perhaps through +Magyar oppression, there has been a marked tendency +not to increase. The Magyars and Germans have had +normal families, the Roumanians have increased by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[369]</a></span> +assimilation (a woman marrying into a Serbian family +will often cause them all to speak her easier language). +The Serbs, however, will in their part of the Banat absorb +the others if they show political understanding and a +liberal spirit. "We will give the Germans," said Pribičević +to one of them at Veršac—"we will give them everything +up to a university."</p> + +<p>The north-west corner of the Banat, which has a +considerable Magyar population, has been ascribed to +Hungary. Opposite the apex of this triangular tract of +country lies Szeged, the second city of Hungary (118,328 +inhabitants, of whom 113,380 are Magyars) and the chief +centre of the grain trade of the rich southern plains. +As was pointed out in <i>The New Europe</i>,<a name="FNanchor_115_115" id="FNanchor_115_115"></a><a href="#Footnote_115_115" class="fnanchor">[115]</a> Szeged, which +lies in flat country, would be even more defenceless than +Belgrade if the lands on the other side of the river were +under alien rule. If one draws a strategical frontier the +nationality of the people is, of course, disregarded; it is, +therefore, beside the point to mention that there seem +to be far more Serbs in the angle opposite Szeged than +there were Magyars in the lands opposite Belgrade. +The Entente has simply made up its mind to be generous +to Szeged, and let us hope that we have not left this +region to Hungary on account of the activities of the +extremely intelligent Baroness Gerliczy—a Roumanian +lady married to a Magyar—who owns a large estate there +and was much in Paris during the critical period.</p> + +<p>The other imperfections in the Paris arrangements, +whether with regard to villages or fields, are not incapable +of amendment. One presumes that the Roumanians, +who have no lack of other international problems, will +be wise enough to discard certain dicta of their Liberal +party and of Bratiano, its self-satisfied leader, to whom +all subjects seem great if they have passed through his +mind. One particular dictum which the Roumanians +ought to cast aside is that which insists upon the indivisibility +of the Banat. Another Roumanian statesman, +Take Jonescu, was more sagacious when he, during the +War, drew up a memorandum whose object was that +Greece, Serbia, Roumania and the Czecho-Slovak Governments +should work in harmony. This idea of presenting +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[370]</a></span>a single diplomatic front was to the liking of Mr. Balfour, +who observed to M. Jonescu that it would be better for +these States and better for Europe. As regards an understanding +between Roumania and Serbia in the Banat: +"I," said Pašić—"I speak for Serbia. Can you speak +for Roumania?"</p> + +<p>And Jonescu unfortunately had to shake his head.</p> + +<p>In the fatuous policy of crying for the whole Banat—they +even require the little island in the Danube between +Semlin and Belgrade—Bratiano is assisted by the aged +Marghiloman, who is the chief of a branch of the Conservative +party. But the relations between these two +do not seem destined to be cordial, since Bratiano is +married to Marghiloman's divorced wife.</p> + +<p>May the Roumanian people become reconciled to +Yugoslavia's righteous possession of part of the Banat. +It would be a pity if these two neighbours were to live +together on such terms as, in the eastern county of the +Banat, Caras-Severin, do the Bufani and the other +Roumanians. The Bufani came from Roumania some +hundred and fifty or two hundred years ago, on account of +the taxes which they found intolerable; and they have +not been able to arrive at amicable relations with those +countrymen of theirs who are the descendants of earlier +emigrants. Very seldom do the Bufani and the others +intermarry. These Bufani, so say the others, are like ivy. +"They called out," complain the others, "they called +out: 'Little brother, be good to us!' and then they +strangled us." The Bufani, who are easily recognizable +by their dialect, frequent the same church and have one +priest with the others, but they have a separate cemetery.</p> + + +<p class="section">(<i>e</i>) <span class="smcap">The Hungarian Frontier</span></p> + +<p>North of the town of Subotica the frontier between +Yugoslavia and Hungary is almost a natural one, as it +runs over vast hills of shifting sand which are still partly +in motion. Neither on foot nor on horseback, still less +with loaded carts, is it possible to travel through these +hills. But to the east and to the west of them the frontier +is no better than that which separates Yugoslavia from +Roumania, and when it came to the delimitation the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[371]</a></span> +Magyars thought it would be preferable if this work +were done with their assistance. Otherwise, so they +urged, there would be no check upon the wicked intolerance +of their neighbours. It is true that they themselves +had in the past been in favour of centralization, but +against this one must remember that the "subject +nationalities" were inferior beings. The Yugoslavs, the +Roumanians and the Slovaks could not claim a glorious +descent from Attila, of whom a fresco decorates the +House of Parliament at Buda-Pest, and thus the Magyars +had always thought it seemly that, by various devices, +a limit should be put to the number of Yugoslav, +Roumanian and Slovak deputies. Count Apponyi and +his colleagues told the Peace Conference very frankly +at the beginning of 1920 that it really ought to take their +word for it, and not persist in looking on the Yugoslavs, +etc., as if they were as good as any Magyar. Surely it +was obvious that Yugoslavia, Greater Roumania and +Czecho-Slovakia would be "artificial and improvised +creations, devoid of the traditions of political solidarity +and incapable of producing any." But if the Supreme +Council was resolved to allow certain Magyar territories +to join themselves, if they desired, to these ephemeral +States it would be necessary to ascertain by means of a +plebiscite what were the real wishes of the people in these +territories; and Count Apponyi was kind enough to tell +the Council very definitely how this plebiscite should be +conducted. The principal Allies were to arrange, in +accordance with the Magyar Government, as to the +districts in which a plebiscite was to be held, and the +secret voting was to be controlled by neutral commissions +and delegates of the interested Governments. This may +sound rather rash on the part of the Magyars, since a +plebiscite, no matter how it was arranged and controlled, +would <ins class="correction" +title="Transcriber's note: original reads 'persumably'">presumably</ins> detach a good many jewels from the +crown of St. Stephen, and it was not astonishing that +Count Apponyi and his friends proposed that the Magyars +should be safeguarded by further Commissions which, +if requisite, would override the results of the voting. +These results would indeed, as between the Magyars and +the Yugoslavs, have given our Allies a larger dominion +than they have actually obtained. The triangle south<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[372]</a></span> +of Szeged, to which we have alluded, would certainly, +if there had been a plebiscite, have gone to Yugoslavia. +In Baranja the Yugoslavs have claimed that +the census of 1910, which indicated 36,000 Serbo-Croats, +should have given them 70,000; but this does not take +account of the large number of Šokci—Slavs whose +ancestors were forcibly converted to Catholicism and +who came to consider themselves as one with the Catholic +Magyars. This widespread phenomenon of race being +superseded by religion may be noticed, for example, at +Janjevo in the district of Old Serbia; it is inhabited +by the descendants of Dubrovnik colonists who, being +Catholic, have come to look upon themselves as Albanians. +In Hungary the dominant Magyar minority was wont +to clasp the subject races to its bosom, not with bonds +of love but of religion. Thus in 1914 at Marmoros-Sziget +they charged 100 persons with high treason, +because it was their wish to leave the Uniate Church, in +communion with Rome, and return to the Orthodox +faith. The same charge would have been preferred +against certain Ruthenians who were just as unwilling +to be members of the Uniate Church; but in the case of +these humble, backward people the conversion had been +effected by their priests, who would thereby procure for +themselves a better situation, and the Ruthenians, who +had not been told of this occurrence, were under the +impression that they were still Orthodox. Professor +Cvijić believes that, with the help of the Catholic religion, +no less than 113,000 Serbo-Croats have in Baranja been +lost by their Yugoslav brethren.... When the Yugoslavs +were asked by the Supreme Council to evacuate most of +Baranja they did so. A republic, under the presidency +of one Dobrović, a well-known cubist painter, a native +of those parts, was formed by Yugoslavs and the Magyars +whose freedom had been safeguarded under their rule. +But as this republic was not assisted by the Yugoslav +Government it only lasted for a week.</p> + +<p>Farther to the west is the Prekomurdje, that interesting +Slovene district which extends for about 25 miles +along the Mur. The rich plain that adjoins the river +is mostly in the possession of large landowners, while +the hilly country to the north sustains a scattered and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[373]</a></span> +poor population of Calvinists. There are in the whole +Prekomurdje some 120,000 Yugoslavs, who are descendants +of the old Pannonian Slovenes. This healthy, +honest people has indeed eighteen Catholic and eight +Protestant priests, but is otherwise almost destitute of +an <i>intelligentsia</i>. They speak nothing but Slovene, and +yet the Magyars had for ten years previous to the War +been so imperialist that only Magyar schools were tolerated. +Thus it happened that the children, like so many +others in the Magyar schools, were at a loss to understand +what they were writing, and if their teacher chanced +to learn the Slovene language he was there and then +transferred to Transylvania or the Slovak country or some +other province where he had to teach his pupils in the +Magyar which they did not know. He was supposed to +make the children feel the vast superiority of all things +Magyar, so that they should be ashamed to walk with +their own fathers in the streets and speak another tongue. +We are told occasionally in the <i>Morning Post</i> that consideration +should be shown to the Magyars since they are +a proud people, but would they not merit more consideration +if they were a grateful people, grateful that the rest +of Europe, overlooking their Mongolian origin, has +accepted them as equals? The Magyars were so +thoroughly persuaded of their own pre-eminence that +when the devotees of Haydn founded in his honour a +society at Eisenstadt, where he had worked, it was +allowed on the condition that the statutes and the name +of the society and so forth should be in the Magyar +language, although Haydn was a German. Evidently +the poor Slovenes of the Prekomurdje would be swamped +unless they showed exceptional vigour. And when they +managed to survive until after the War the Americans +in Paris were for handing them to Hungary on the ground +that the frontier would, if it included them in Yugoslavia, +be an awkward one. Such is also the opinion of Mr. +A. H. E. Taylor in his <i>The Future of the Southern Slavs</i>; +this author advocates that Yugoslavia should be bounded +by the Mur, albeit in another part of the same book he +says that "a small river is not usually a good frontier, +except on the map"; and the Mur is so narrow that +when Dr. Gaston Reverdy, of the French army, and I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[374]</a></span> +arrived at Ljutomir we found that a crowd of these men +and boys had waded across the stream in order to lay +their cause before the doctor, who represented the Entente +in that region. The Bolševik Magyars were just then +threatening to set all Prekomurdje on fire, and the pleasant-looking, +rather shy men who stood in rows before us +begged the doctor to procure them weapons—they would +be able to defend themselves. It is satisfactory to know +that most of this portion of the Yugoslav lands has, after +all, not been lost to the mother country.</p> + + +<p class="section">(<i>f</i>) <span class="smcap">The Austrian Frontier</span></p> + +<p>A considerable part of the frontier between Yugoslavia +and Austria has been determined by a plebiscite which +was held, under French, British and Italian control, in +the autumn of 1920. The Slovenes during the previous +year had pointed out that while they could no longer +claim so wide a territory now that Austria had been +drawn towards the Adriatic, yet the rural population +of Carinthia had remained Slovene, thanks to the notable +qualities of that people. The German-Austrians, on the +other hand, maintained that country districts are the +appanages of a town, so that the wishes of a rural population +are of secondary importance. While these questions +were being debated in 1919 by the two interested parties—and +debated, very often, by their rifles—the Italians +intervened. Sonnino's paper, the <i>Epoca</i>, made a great +outcry over Klagenfurt (Celovec) which, if given to the +Yugoslavs, would be an insurmountable barrier, it said, +to the trade between Triest and Vienna, although it was +clear that the railway connection through Tarvis remained +in the hands of the Italians. (There is not a single +Italian civilian in Tarvis—but no matter.) Meanwhile +the French Press noted that the Italians—presumably +not as traders but as benefactors—were seeing to it that +the Austrians did not run short of arms and munitions. +For many months a large area was in a condition of +uncertainty and turmoil, till at last the Peace Conference +ordered a plebiscite.</p> + +<p>Two zones in Carinthia—"A" to the south-east, +with its centre at Velikovec (Völkermarkt), and "B" to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[375]</a></span> +the north-west, with its centre at Klagenfurt (Celovec)—were +mapped out, and it was agreed that if the voting +in "A," the larger zone, were favourable to Austria, +then the other zone would automatically fall to that +country. For several months before the voting day this +area—a region of beautiful and prosperous valleys watered +by the broad Drave and surrounded by magnificent +mountain ranges—for several months this area was the +scene of great activity. German-Austrians and Yugoslavs +no longer, as in 1919, attacked each other with the +implements of war, but with pamphlet, broadsheet, +with eloquence and bribery. Austrian and Yugoslav +officials took up their headquarters at various places and +saw to it that every voter should be posted as to the moral +and material advantage he would reap by helping to +make the land Austrian or Yugoslav, as the case might +be. All those were entitled to vote who, being twenty +years of age in January 1919, had their habitual residence +in this area; or, if not born in the district, had belonged +to it or had their habitual residence there from, at least, +January 1, 1912. The larger zone "A" was left under +Yugoslav administration, while zone "B" was under +the Austrian authorities; and the Inter-Allied officials +exercised a very close supervision in order, for example, +to protect the partisans of either side from undue repression +at the hands of their opponents. Neither the +Austrians nor the Yugoslavs lost any opportunities for +saying in public that the Inter-Allied Commissions were +honestly making every effort to be impartial. It was, +however, unfortunate that Italy should have sent as her +chief representative Prince Livio Borghese, who may +have been as impartial as his colleagues, but whose +reputation, whether merited or otherwise, could scarcely +commend itself to the Yugoslavs. They believed that +his activities in Buda-Pest, under the Bolševik régime, +and afterwards in Vienna, had been very hostile to themselves. +Each of the three allied commissioners had a staff +of some fifty or sixty officials, whose upkeep and expenses +were paid by the two interested countries.</p> + +<p>If an average person had been asked to foretell the +result of the plebiscite I suppose he would have said +that in zone "A" the Yugoslavs and in zone "B" the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[376]</a></span> +Austrians would be successful. We have seen how the +Slovene renaissance of the nineteenth century was met +by the central authorities in Vienna (particularly after +the German victory of 1871), and how the local functionaries +assisted them. They argued that Austria with her +miscellaneous races could only survive if one of them +was supreme. Therefore they looked askance on every +one who regarded himself as a Slovene; if he rose to be +an official it had to be in another part of the Monarchy, +while for the maintenance of Austria (oblivious to the +argument that Austria was a perfectly unnatural affair) +they favoured all those who announced themselves to be +on the side of the predominant race. From 1903 onwards +the Slovene language was barred from the courts +of Carinthia, and if a person did not understand the +language of the German magistrates he had to use an +interpreter. The land was invaded by the German +<i>intelligentsia</i>: professors, masters in primary and +secondary schools, doctors, lawyers and so forth, excise +officials and railway officials—in 1912 Carinthia possessed +about 5000 of these and only 1½ per cent. were +Slovenes. Those among the Slovenes who were capable +of serving in such positions were dispatched to Carniola, +Dalmatia or preferably to the German-speaking lands of +the Empire. A provincial agricultural authority was set +up in 1910 which was recognized by the State and which +enjoyed a monopoly. Its object was to aid the progress +of agriculture by establishing and supporting agricultural +schools, sending experts to the farmer, distributing +subsidies for the purchase of machinery, artificial manure +and so on. The council consisted of twenty-one members, +of whom only one was a Slovene; the subsidies were given +to those who were recognized as Germanophils, while +requests were not permitted in the Slovene tongue. As +for the electoral districts, they were so manipulated that +one deputy represented 120,000 Slovenes and another +represented 27,000 Germans. Constituencies in which +there was a German majority were allowed to send +two members, while the others only sent one. The German +railway employees worked so thoroughly for pan-Germanism +that various Slovenes were arrested—among +them the mayor of a large village who wanted to travel<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[377]</a></span> +from Celovec—for asking in the Slovene language for a +ticket. With regard to schools, there were throughout +Carinthia in 1860 some 28 Slovene and 56 Slovene-German +foundations, whereas in 1914 there were 2 +Slovene, 30 German and 84 mixed schools, where the two +languages were supposed to co-exist; they were indeed +the home of two languages, for the children were nearly +all Slovene, whereas the teacher and the language he used +were German. Among 230 masters only 20 could read +and write Slovene. Qualified teachers who could satisfy +this test were, as we have mentioned, sent to other parts +of the Empire. So far did the system go that Slovene +peasants upon whom the Government had forced a +German education speedily forgot the two hundred words +which they had learned, but as they had been taught no +other script than the German they were accustomed to +write the Slovene language with German Gothic characters. +These peasants were fairly impervious to Germanization; +their strong sense of national consciousness +was supported by the books, religious and otherwise, +which they received every year from some such +society as that of St. Hermagoras at Celovec, which +distributed half a million books a year among its 90,000 +members.</p> + +<p>But that which principally guided the peasant was +the voice of his priest, and the vast majority of priests +in zone "A" were Slovenes. This agricultural zone +possesses no more than one or two small towns, where +the priest is less <ins class="correction" +title="Transcriber's note: original reads 'regarded,'">regarded.</ins> The traders and artisans +frequently look upon themselves as too highly cultured +for the Church; they affect the "Los von Rom" and +the Socialist movements. By holding these menaces over +the Bishop's head a good deal of pressure could be brought +to bear, and this was done by the Germans, who were of +opinion that the Church unfairly encouraged the Slovenes. +The Bishop of Celovec had both the zones in his diocese +until some months before the plebiscite, when a temporary +arrangement was made under which zone "A" +was administered by a vicar. But in bygone years the +Bishop, with these threats hanging over him, was wont +to counsel prudence and to ask his clergy not to agitate +their flock, whom they were merely telling of their rights.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[378]</a></span> +In zone "B," which mostly consists of the town of +Celovec, the Church would naturally be more susceptible +to German influence, apart from the fact that the Bishop +himself is a Bavarian. For personal reasons—he is very +imperfectly acquainted with the Slovene language—he +wished even the clergy of zone "A" to correspond with +him in German; but the priests pointed out that their +faithful parishioners wanted to follow this correspondence +and by far the greater number of them have no +German.... In fact the Church has in each zone brought +its help to the more powerful party—the Slovene peasants +in zone "A" and the German or Germanophil townsfolk in +zone "B"; and it appeared probable before the plebiscite +that in both cases she would be on the victorious side.</p> + +<p>In foretelling the result of the plebiscite one would not +pay much attention to the census which the German-Austrian +officials used to take. A person was inscribed +according to the language he ordinarily employed, and +this was, more often than not, considered to be German +if his superior was a German. Before the census of +1910 the <i>Grazer Tagblatt</i>, which is the Germans' chief +organ in those parts, proclaimed that the official census +was a portion of the national propaganda. All the +propagandist societies were entreated to do their utmost +to induce the people to declare German as their usual +language. Very humorous results were obtained. On +December 18, 1910, the provincial council of public +instruction gave out the number of German and Slovene +children respectively in thirty Slovene parishes. Amongst +them were the following:</p> + +<table summary="statistics" style="font-size: 90%"> +<tr><td> </td><td>German Children.</td><td style="padding-left: 2em">Slovene Children.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="leftalign" style="padding-right: 4em">Borovlje (Ferlach)</td><td class="leftalign"> 31 per cent.</td><td class="leftalign" style="padding-left: 2em"> 69 per cent.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="leftalign" style="padding-right: 4em">Grabštajn (Grafenstein)</td><td class="leftalign"> 10·6 <span style="padding-left: 1em">"</span></td><td class="leftalign" style="padding-left: 2em"> 89·4<span style="padding-left: 1em">"</span></td></tr> +<tr><td class="leftalign" style="padding-right: 4em">Žrelc (Ebenthal)</td><td class="leftalign"> 24·4 <span style="padding-left: 1em">"</span></td><td class="leftalign" style="padding-left: 2em"> 75·6<span style="padding-left: 1em">"</span></td></tr> +<tr><td class="leftalign" style="padding-right: 4em">Pokrče (Poggersdorf)</td><td class="leftalign"> 1·3 <span style="padding-left: 1em">"</span></td><td class="leftalign" style="padding-left: 2em"> 98·7<span style="padding-left: 1em">"</span></td></tr> +<tr><td class="leftalign" style="padding-right: 4em">Bistrica (Feistritz)</td><td class="leftalign"> 16·2 <span style="padding-left: 1em">"</span></td><td class="leftalign" style="padding-left: 2em"> 82·8<span style="padding-left: 1em">"</span></td></tr> +</table> + +<p>And twelve days later the official census gave these +results:</p> + +<table summary="statistics" style="font-size: 90%"> +<tr><td> </td><td>Germans.</td><td style="padding-left: 2em">Slovenes.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="leftalign" style="padding-right: 9em">Borovlje</td><td class="leftalign"> 90 per cent.</td><td class="leftalign" style="padding-left: 2em"> 10 per cent.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="leftalign" style="padding-right: 9em">Grabštajn</td><td class="leftalign" style="padding-right: 2em"> 50·1 <span style="padding-left: 1em">"</span></td><td class="leftalign" style="padding-left: 2em"> 49·9<span style="padding-left: 1em">"</span></td></tr> +<tr><td class="leftalign" style="padding-right: 9em">Žrelc</td><td class="leftalign" style="padding-right: 2em"> 49·2 <span style="padding-left: 1em">"</span></td><td class="leftalign" style="padding-left: 2em"> 50·8<span style="padding-left: 1em">"</span></td></tr> +<tr><td class="leftalign" style="padding-right: 9em">Pokrče</td><td class="leftalign" style="padding-right: 2em"> 41·1 <span style="padding-left: 1em">"</span></td><td class="leftalign" style="padding-left: 2em"> 58·9<span style="padding-left: 1em">"</span></td></tr> +<tr><td class="leftalign" style="padding-right: 9em">Bistrica</td><td class="leftalign" style="padding-right: 2em"> 44·4 <span style="padding-left: 1em">"</span></td><td class="leftalign" style="padding-left: 2em"> 55·6<span style="padding-left: 1em">"</span></td></tr> +</table> + +<p>Far more trustworthy is the almanac issued every<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[379]</a></span> +year by the Church, wherein a person's "usual language" +is taken to be that in which he listens to the word of God. +These ecclesiastical lists were published by German +bishops, and according to them we find that the region +we are considering held in 1910 some 40,000 Germans and +123,000 Slovenes.</p> + +<p>We have seen that Celovec, like the smaller towns in +this area, leans more to the Austrians than to the Yugoslavs. +This is partly the effect of the Austrian Government's +policy and partly of the various pan-German +societies (<i>e.g.</i> the "Kärntner Bauernbund," the "Verein +der Alldeutschen," the "Deutscher Volksverein," etc. +etc.), which, as was admitted, drew their funds to a considerable +extent from Germany herself.</p> + +<p>The German Republic was very lavish in assisting +her smaller Austrian sister during the period before the +plebiscite, pouring both goods and cash into the district; +and after the opening of the demarcation line between +the two zones at the beginning of August they were able +to introduce their supplies quite openly into zone "A." +Very few Germans of the north believe that the German-Austrian +Republic will permanently remain separated +from themselves.... Both Yugoslavs and Austrians +circulated vast quantities of printed matter; for the +Yugoslavs the most convincing argument lay in Austria's +apparently hopeless economic position and the undesirability +of belonging to a State which had to pay so huge +a debt; the Austrian pamphlets denounced the Serbs +as a military race, though even such a dealer in false +evidence as the eminent Austrian historian, Dr. Friedjung, +would find it difficult to sustain the thesis that the wars +engaged in by the Serbs during the last hundred years +were more of an offensive than of a defensive character. +In several prettily prepared handbooks the voters were +implored by the Austrians not to be so old-fashioned as +to plump for a monarchy when they had such a chance of +becoming republicans; one could almost see the writer +of these scornful phrases stop to wipe his over-heated +brow after having pushed back his old Imperial and +Royal headgear. You might imagine that the Austrians +in their deplorable economic condition would have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[380]</a></span> +avoided this topic; on the contrary, they proclaimed +that several commodities which were lacking in Yugoslavia +could be furnished by them in abundance. One +of these, they said, was salt; and certainly the Yugoslavs +purchased a good deal of it, but that was only when +they did not know that it was German salt, which the +Austrians bought in that country and on which they +made an adequate profit. When the Yugoslavs wanted +to get their supplies direct from Germany the Austrians +introduced a transit tax of 1000 crowns—not the nearly +worthless Austrian but Yugoslav crowns—per waggon. +Later on when the Danube was thrown open and this +tax could not be levied, salt was considerably cheaper in +Yugoslavia than in Austria. So with plums—in 1919 +Austria bought nearly the whole of the exports from +Yugoslavia at six crowns per kilo and sold them to Germany +at eleven to twelve crowns, the profit going, so the +authorities said, to the poor.</p> + +<p>As the day of the plebiscite approached, the Yugoslavs +seemed to be more confident than the Austrians. The +staunch peasants of zone "A" were not greatly impressed +by the numerous appeals to their heart and brain which +were handed to them by the Austrians in the Slovene +language. And they were not much alarmed at the +idea of being joined to their countrymen of the south, +those unmitigated Serbs who thrived, if one was to +believe the Austrian propaganda, on atrocities. But +this warning was ridiculed by the Austrians themselves—on +a market day at Velikovec you could see the Austrophils +wearing their colours, which they would scarcely +have done if they had been afraid of possible reprisals—and +zone "A" was generally presumed to have a Yugoslav +majority. On such a market day one saw very few +Yugoslav colours in the farmers' button-holes, for it +was the wish of their leaders to avoid anything which +might give rise to unnecessary conflict. The day drew +near and the Austrians thought that they were making +insufficient progress; for one thing, they were at a disadvantage +owing to the very low value of their money. +They hoped that Germany would come with more zeal +than ever to the rescue, and they hoped that something +fatal would occur to Yugoslavia. So they asked the Inter-Allied<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">[381]</a></span> +Commissions to put it to their Governments that +it would be advisable if the plebiscite were to be postponed +for several months, say until May 1921. But it was +reported that the French and British representatives +declined to countenance the scheme. They may also +have feared that if the period of canvassing were to be so +long drawn out, the same passions would come to the +surface as in the plebiscite in east and west Prussia, +where in many places the Poles could not display their +sympathies except at great personal risk. But in that +particular plebiscite it must be noted that the Allies +were very imprudent in confiding the maintenance of +order to the rebaptized German Security Police, a body +which was entirely in the hands of the reactionary clique. +Yet the military precautions of zone "A" in Carinthia +were not what they should have been, for when the Yugoslavs +had lost the plebiscite an unrestrained horde of +Austrian sympathizers, some of them from that zone +and some from outside it, some of them civilians and +some of them soldiers in mufti who made for certain +places where supplies of weapons had been hidden, +swarmed across the land and terrorized the Yugoslavs +in such a fashion that a Yugoslav military force had to +come in to protect them. "But how barbaric are these +Yugoslavs," sneered their enemies, "for they refuse +to recognize the result of the plebiscite." More than +one diplomat in Belgrade was ordered to present himself +at the Foreign Office and demand an answer why, +etc. But the Yugoslavs had no intention of imitating +d'Annunzio.</p> + +<p>Those who were not in the zone at the time of +the voting might well be astounded at the result, which +was an Austrian victory by 22,025 votes against 15,278 +for Yugoslavia. In view of the undoubted Yugoslav +majority, it was felt that something more than active +propaganda, before and during the election, had been +brought to bear. For example, in the commune of +Grabštajn (Grafenstein) the Germans are said to have +inscribed on the electoral list 180 persons from Celovec +and Styria who had no right to vote; they also asked +that seventy strangers should be inscribed. On submitting +these claims to the judgment of the district<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">[382]</a></span> +council the German leaders, even as the Yugoslavs, were +required to initial each request; it is alleged that these +initialled papers, which were attached to the claims, were +left overnight in a room the key of which was in the +keeping of the German secretary, Schwarz. He is charged +with having removed the initialled papers from the Slovene +claims and affixed them to the German claims. There +was a large amount of more usual corruption. Thus it +is known that twenty-eight Slovene servants at an important +landowner's were unable to resist the material +arguments and voted for the Germans. And if it is true +that a number of people voted twice and even three +times the Inter-Allied Commission fell short of its duties. +It is said that the voting was so lax that if a stranger had +been inscribed and did not turn up to vote, his legitimation +was used by a native. Thus we are told of one +Helena Rozenzoph, aged seventy-five, who was inscribed +at Grabštajn. This woman had never existed; there had +been a certain Barbara Rozenzoph who died in 1919, and +her vote was used by Marjeta Hanzio, aged twenty-two +years. The case was so flagrant that the Commission +discovered it and the woman confessed to having acted +on a note which she had received from the special Austrian +<i>gendarmerie</i> force, the Heimatsdienst. The Commission +seems to have been reluctant to take any steps against +these frauds and it is not astonishing that the commune +of Grabštajn registered 1290 votes for the Austrian +Republic and only 380 for Yugoslavia, although in this +commune of 3440 inhabitants there are no more than +sixteen German families. A German majority was thus +obtained in a province which Dr. Renner, the Austrian +Chancellor, had acknowledged to be Slovene. It seems +incredible that the Commission should have so completely +broken down and the mystery may yet be cleared up, +if as the Yugoslavia delegate requested, all the voting +papers have been preserved.... But the <i>Hrvat</i>, +the organ of the Narodny Club in Croatia (the decentralizing +but strongly national party) blames Monsignor +Korošec, the leader of the Slovene clericals, for the +disastrous plebiscite result. He would have been better +employed, it says, in organizing his people than in +gadding about Croatia, Bosnia, Herzegovina and Dalmatia<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">[383]</a></span> +for the purpose of extending his party. He had +boasted that the Slovenes were so well organized that +they were perfectly confident as to the issue. It would +seem, however, says the <i>Hrvat</i>, that an unexpectedly +large proportion of them are partly or entirely Germanized. +And this, more than the above-mentioned +irregularities, may be chiefly responsible for Yugoslavia's +loss. One must also remember that many a Slovene +would shrink from garrison duty in Macedonia, while it +would be very natural for the Carinthian farmer to look +up at the mountains that separated him from Carniola +and then to recollect that Celovec (Klagenfurt), the +economic centre of the whole area, would be Austrian. +Nevertheless if zone "A" had been smaller—and more +completely Slav—it is probable that the population +would have risen superior to the various doubts which +assailed them. What we have said about the Slovenes +who have become Germanized is borne out by the +<i>Koroski Slovenec</i>, a newspaper which appears in Vienna +and which, though since its formation has been essentially +hostile to the Austrians, tells us that after the plebiscite +the Slovenes have only suffered real oppression from +their denationalized compatriots. Difficulties arose with +regard to the closing of Slovene schools, but this was +largely due to the fact that many of the Slovene schoolmasters +fled to Yugoslavia.</p> + + +<p class="section">(<i>g</i>) <span class="smcap">The Italian Frontier</span></p> + +<p>A Yugoslav barrister from Pola had gone to a neighbouring +village—this was in 1920—for the purpose of +encouraging the natives, who were all Southern Slavs. +He asked them, in the event of their part of Istria being +allotted to the Italians, not to lose heart but to wait for +the day when justice would come by her own. In the +middle of his exhortations a jovial old farmer approached +him and slapped him on the back. "Cheer up, young +man!" he exclaimed. "What is it that you are afraid +of?" ... The Slav population of Istria and Gorica-Gradišca, +even as that of Dalmatia, has endured a great +many things and is prepared to endure a great many +more. Kindness would have gone a long way towards<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">[384]</a></span> +disarming them. If the Italians on the eastern Adriatic +had been exponents of the Mazzini spirit rather than—which +too often has been the case—of the direst +Nationalist, then the Yugoslavs would have accepted—mournfully, +no doubt, but <i>faute de mieux</i>—the frontier +from the river Arša in Istria which President Wilson +suggested. This would have been a compromise frontier, +by which 400,000 Slovenes and Croats would fall to Italy +and a very much smaller number of Italians would fall +to Yugoslavia. It would have satisfied the great sensible +mass of the Italian people, but unfortunately was rejected +by Baron Sonnino and his myrmidons. Far more was +claimed by him, and the succeeding Italian Governments +have had to struggle with the passions he so recklessly +aroused. They have been unable to persuade the country +that with the Arša frontier they would be getting by no +means a bad bargain. By the Treaty of Rapallo the +Italians have obtained much more: the whole of Gorica-Gradišca, +portions of Carniola, the whole of Istria and +contiguity with Rieka (which is made a free town), the +islands of Lussin, Cres and Unie, sovereignty over a strip +of five miles which includes Zadar (and a few adjacent +islands), finally the southern island of Lastovo and +Pelagosa which lies in the middle of the Adriatic.</p> + +<p>In November 1920 all the outside world was congratulating +the Italians and the Yugoslavs on having, +after many fruitless efforts of their statesmen, come to +this agreement. The opinion was expressed that both of +the contracting parties would henceforth be satisfied, +since each of them was conscious that the other had +accepted something less than his desires. It was noted +that the Yugoslavs exhibited more generosity, as they +gave up some half a million of their countrymen, while +the Italians yielded in Dalmatia that to which they had +no right. The Yugoslavs had, in the past two years, +shown so much more forbearance than was usually expected +of a vigorous young nation that the commentators +for the most part fancied they would not waste any time +in grieving over these inevitable sacrifices. It is freely +said that if a liberal spirit is displayed by the Italians at +the various points where they and Yugoslavia are in +contact, both people will settle down, with no afterthoughts,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">[385]</a></span> +to friendly and neighbourly relations. But it +would be foolish to close our eyes to the fact that the +position at Rieka and Zadar, not to speak of any other +places, bristles with difficulties. At Rieka one hopes +that the largest and wisest party, the Autonomists, will +now come into their rights; no doubt a good many of +those opportunist citizens who, at the time of the Italian +occupation, developed into Italianissimi, after having +previously been known as more or less platonic lovers of +Italy, Hungary, or Croatia with ambitions chiefly centred +on their native town, will presently assure you that in +the Free State they are convinced Free Staters; but the +local politicians have been living for so long in such a +thoroughly oppressive atmosphere that most of those +who have been prominent should for a season now retire. +It will be difficult enough for this harassed port to settle +down to business. As for the Zadar enclave, it is not +easy to understand why an Italian majority in this little +town should bring it under the Italian flag while the +overwhelming Slav majorities of central and eastern Istria +have been ignored. And with all the goodwill in the +world the existence of this minute colony encircled by +Yugoslav lands will scarcely make more easy the conduct +of relations between Yugoslavia and Italy. It is naturally +to the interest of both countries that misunderstandings +and suspicions should be swept away. And from this +point of view it is very doubtful whether the Italians +were well advised in taking Zadar into their possession. +Presumably the Government was forced to do so by the +state of public feeling. They withstood this feeling with +regard to the magnificent harbour of Vis, which even +President Wilson suggested they should have, and contented +themselves with the smaller Yugoslav island of +Lastovo (Lagosta). The pity is that the Nationalists +should have forced into their hands anything which may +turn and sting them.</p> + +<p>It may be thought that we are excessively pessimistic +in pointing rather to the dangers which the Treaty places +on the tapis than to the good sense of those who will +deal with them. We do not say that the Italians would +have permitted their Government to solve the Adriatic +question in a safer and more philosophic manner; but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386">[386]</a></span> +we cannot look forward with that confidence we should +have had if more sagacious counsels had prevailed.</p> + +<p>An arrangement most agreeable to the bulk of the +interested population would have been effected if two +Free States, instead of one, had been created: the small +one of Rieka, and a larger one embracing Triest and the +western part of Istria. There would be in each of these +two States a mixed population, who would think with a +shudder of the time when the grass was growing on their +quays. Italians and Slavs, prosperous as of old, would +very cordially agree that the experiment of being included +in Italy had been at any rate a commercial disaster. +[D'Annunzio's administration was, of course, a mere +camouflage. Without the support of the Italian Government, +which paid his troops though calling them rebels, +the poet-adventurer could scarcely have lasted for a day; +and the swarm of officers, many of them worse adventurers +than himself, would have deserted him. Nor +would the population of Rieka have listened to his glowing +periods if the Italian Government had not, under cover +of the Red Cross, sent an adequate supply of food into +the town.] Both Rieka and Triest were, therefore, living +under practically the same conditions, separated from +their natural hinterland, and knowing very well that +as Italian towns their prospects were lamentable. It +was significant that the Italian Government should after +a time have studied the scheme of constructing a canal +from Triest to the Save. Before the War one-third of +the urban population (and all the surrounding country) +was Yugoslav; and now, when so many Yugoslavs have +departed and so many Italians have arrived, even now +it is certain that in a plebiscite not 10 per cent. would +vote for Italy—and this minority would be largely made +up of those <i>leccapiatini</i> (the "plate-lickers") who were +the humbler servants of Austria during the War and are +now begging for Italian plates. When the offices of the +Socialist newspaper <i>Il Lavoratore</i>—the Socialists are +by far the most important party in Triest—were taken +by storm and gutted, the American Consul, Mr. Joseph +Haven, and the Paris correspondent of the <i>New York +Herald</i>, Mr. Eyre, happened to be in the building. They +afterwards said that the attack by those ultra-nationalist<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387">[387]</a></span> +bands, the fascisti—very young men, demobilized junior +officers and so forth—was entirely unprovoked. The +carabinieri gazed indifferently at the scene. Such is life +in Triest, where the labour movement is gaining in +strength every day. Its old prosperity has departed—there +is hardly any trade or water or gas, since most of +the coal was consumed, by order of the Italian authorities, +in making electric light for illuminations. These were +intended to show the city's irrepressible enthusiasm at +being incorporated in the kingdom of Italy. But the +inhabitants know very well that being one of Italy's +many ports is worse than being the only port of Austria; +they know that the most direct railways to Austria pass +through Yugoslav territory, that henceforward the +Danube will be much more largely used by Austria, +Czecho-Slovakia and Hungary (none of whom had a seaboard) +and that Rieka will now be a more formidable +rival than of old.... So, too, at Pola we find that a +majority of the population do not wish their town to be +retained in Italy; a number of Italian workmen fled +from the idle shipbuilding yards and actually came in +1919 and 1920 with the Slovene refugees, their fellow-townsmen, +to Ljubljana in search of employment. There +are not sufficient orders to go round among such yards +in Italy where, owing to the absence of coal and iron, +this particular industry labours under great disadvantages. +But if Rome considers that the retention of Pola is +strategically essential, then in order to meet her wishes +this town might be taken out of the Triest-Istrian Free +State—maybe the Italians will be able to do something +that will cause the citizens to cease regretting those +good days of old when, as Austria's chief naval base, she +flourished on the largesse of officers and men. But what +can she do, and what could anybody do? Hundreds of +houses are deserted; and for the year 1920 the owners +of the theatre—which did not engage expensive actors +but relied mainly on cinema—were faced with a deficit +of 12,000 lire.</p> + +<p>The Triest-Istrian Free State would approximately +contain, without Pola, some 300,000 inhabitants, half +Italian and half Yugoslav. The formation of this State +would be less advantageous to the Yugoslavs, for most<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388">[388]</a></span> +of the big landowners and the shop-keepers are Italians +who live on the Yugoslav peasants; but Yugoslavia, +for the sake of peace, would be glad to see the State +come into existence. Eastern and central Istria, forming +a part of Yugoslavia and lying between the two Free +States, should extend to Porto di Bado, which would +cause it to possess about 3,000 Italians and 280,000 +Yugoslavs. If it were to be bounded by the Arša it +would make the Italians in the Triest-Istrian State +become a minority.</p> + +<p>With respect to the indisputable Slav districts east +of the Isonzo, <i>i.e.</i> the territory of Gorica-Gradišca and +an appreciable part of Carniola, which have been adjudged +to Italy and which long to be joined to the Yugoslav +State, there are two possible solutions. (In passing we +may observe that there is no country where the national +frontier is more clearly indicated. The linguistic frontier +is so strictly defined that the peasant on one side of it +does not speak Italian and his neighbour on the other side +does not understand the Slovene tongue. Nevertheless, +Signor Colajanni, the venerable leader of the Italian +Republicans, took up an undemocratic point of view +and declined to admit the argument of the superiority +of numbers, when he alluded to this frontier in a speech +to the Republican Congress at Naples. Waving numbers +aside, he preferred to appeal to history and culture, +though he should have known that the mass of the +Slovene people is much better educated than the Italian +peasant.) The true ethnographical boundary would be the +Isonzo—not many Yugoslavs live to the west and not +many Italians to the east of that river. Only in the town +of Gorica do we find Italians. In 1910 at the census +the Italian municipal authorities attempted to show that +their town was almost entirely Italian; at a subsequent +census the Austrians found that the returns had been +largely falsified, and that in reality Gorica contained +14,000 Italians and 12,000 Slovenes, while it is common +knowledge that if you go 500 yards from the town you +meet nothing but Slovenes. The prosperity of Gorica +was mostly based on the export of fruit and vegetables +from the Slovene countryside. In 1898 the Slovenes +awakened, formed societies, started in business on a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389">[389]</a></span> +large scale and boycotted the Italian merchants, who +found themselves obliged to learn the Slovene language. +Suppose that, for the sake of meeting the wishes of the +Italian Nationalists, one half of the town were given to +Italy, then that portion would be faced with ruin. It +would, therefore, be advisable that the whole town +should remain with its hinterland, and that Italy and +Yugoslavia should be divided from each other by the +Isonzo. But if this solution is impossible, then a large +district east of the Isonzo should be entirely and permanently +neutralized, which would not endanger the +security of either State. Very different in character is +the line Triglav-Idria-Sneznik, which the Italians hold +ostensibly as a means of defence, but which is an offensive +line against Yugoslavia, and primarily against Ljubljana +and Karlovac.</p> + +<p>No doubt as the Italians in the eastern Adriatic have +obtained a regular position by the Treaty of Rapallo +they will henceforth do their best to win the love of +their new subjects. They will disavow such officers as +that one on the sandy isle of Unie who accused the +Slav priest of propaganda, and in fact, as we have +mentioned elsewhere, expelled him for the reason that +inside his church, where they had been for many years, +stood monuments of the two Slav apostles, SS. Cyril +and Methodus. St. Methodus was the wise administrator +of these two—but even if he takes the rulers of +the eastern Adriatic under his particular protection one +must be prepared for them to fail in smothering, by their +enlightened rule, the discontent which in the last three +years has grown among the Yugoslavs to such acute +proportions. It began, as we have noted, under the +ægis of Baron Sonnino; the old neighbour, Austria-Hungary, +had been Italy's hereditary foe, and the Baron's +school could not bring itself to regard the new neighbours +in a friendly light, although their house was so much +less populated than that of their predecessors, not to +mention that of the Italians themselves.</p> + +<p>There have been times during the last three years +when a war between Italy and Yugoslavia seemed scarcely +avoidable—the natives of the districts most concerned +were looking forward to it with eagerness. At a Yugoslav<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390">[390]</a></span> +assembly held in Triest in the summer of 1919 the other +delegates were electrified by two priests from Istria who +declared that their people were straining at the leash, +anxious for the word to snatch up their weapons. (Many +of these weapons, by the way, were of Italian origin, as +there had been no great difficulty in purchasing them +from the more pacific or the more Socialistic Italian +soldiers; the usual price was ten lire for a rifle and a +hundred rounds.) If there should come about a war +between Italy and Yugoslavia, then it is to be supposed +that the Yugoslavs will afterwards take as their western +frontier the old frontier of Austria (except for the Friuli +district, south of Cormons, which they do not covet, +since they look upon this ancient race as Italian.)</p> + +<p>By signing the Treaty of Rapallo the Yugoslav Government +has shown that it is ready to go to very great lengths +in order to establish, as securely as may be, an era of peace. +It would be just as creditable on the part of the Italians +if they will consent to Istria being partitioned in the way +we have suggested, for they have been wrongly taught +to think themselves entitled to this country, and to believe +that the inhabitants, as a whole, are glad to be Italian +subjects. "You may suppose we are unpatriotic," the +Austrian railway officials of Italian nationality used to +say, "but as Austria gives much better pay than we +should receive from Italy, we prefer that this part of the +world should be Austrian."</p> + +<p>The relations between Italy and Yugoslavia have been +treated at some length, for it would require but little to +bring a gathering of storm-clouds to the sky. One even +hears of Roman Catholics in Istria and elsewhere abjuring +their Church and—for the national cause—adopting the +Serbian Orthodox faith. Twenty years ago it happened +that two Istrian villages, Ricmanje and Log, went over +to the Uniate and thence to the Orthodox Church. This +was on account of a quarrel with the Bishop of Triest, who +wanted, against the wishes of the people, to remove their +priest, Dr. Pojar. But now we have priests in the provinces +given to Italy who are openly calling on their +flock to go over with them to their Orthodox brothers; +and this is a movement which, it is thought, will merely +be postponed by the introduction of the Slav liturgy.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391">[391]</a></span> +To take a single sermon out of many, we may mention +one which in the summer of 1920 was preached in a church +of the Vipava valley. The clergyman, after lamenting +that the chief dignitaries of the Roman Catholic Church +are Italians, gave it as his opinion that there was nothing +to choose in point of goodness between that particular +Church and the Orthodox Church. "And," said an old +peasant who came to Triest with the story of what had +happened, "never in my life did I hear so fine a sermon +and one that did me so much good."</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_72_72" id="Footnote_72_72"></a><a href="#FNanchor_72_72"><span class="label">[72]</span></a> The Italians had originally landed a "hygienic mission" at Valona +early in the European War, and this of course developed into something +else. That ingenuous propagandist, Mr. H. E. Goad, tells us (in the +<i>Fortnightly Review</i> of May 1922) that while Nature had made the innumerable +deep-water harbours on the eastern coast of the Adriatic practically +immune from Italy's attack, a landing or raid from one of them at Ancona, +Bari or Barletta would be a vital blow at Italy, severing vital communications. +He therefore justifies Italy's landing at Valona in that it was a +purely defensive step, made to ensure that its harbour should not be used +against her. He may hold that the seizure of one town is better than +the seizure of none, but from the strategic and political point of view +it would seem that Mr. Goad is an injudicious advocate.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_73_73" id="Footnote_73_73"></a><a href="#FNanchor_73_73"><span class="label">[73]</span></a> <i>Albaniens Zukunft.</i> Munich, 1916.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_74_74" id="Footnote_74_74"></a><a href="#FNanchor_74_74"><span class="label">[74]</span></a> <i>La Sera</i>, August 6, 1920.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_75_75" id="Footnote_75_75"></a><a href="#FNanchor_75_75"><span class="label">[75]</span></a> <i>Giornale delle Puglie</i>, September 6-7, 1920.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_76_76" id="Footnote_76_76"></a><a href="#FNanchor_76_76"><span class="label">[76]</span></a> The delegates of the League of Nations were told, at the beginning +of 1922, by the authorities in southern Albania that it was iniquitous +to believe that they would employ this kind of punishment for political +refugees. Did they not advertise an amnesty to all those who returned +within forty-five days? And in what newspaper, they indignantly asked—in +what newspaper had they published the slightest threat of arson?</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_77_77" id="Footnote_77_77"></a><a href="#FNanchor_77_77"><span class="label">[77]</span></a> In the winter of 1921 this gentleman was expelled from his country.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_78_78" id="Footnote_78_78"></a><a href="#FNanchor_78_78"><span class="label">[78]</span></a> <i>Albanesische Studien.</i> Jena, 1854.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_79_79" id="Footnote_79_79"></a><a href="#FNanchor_79_79"><span class="label">[79]</span></a> <i>Albanien und die Albanesen.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_80_80" id="Footnote_80_80"></a><a href="#FNanchor_80_80"><span class="label">[80]</span></a> But this is less rigorously upheld in the towns if it is a question of +their honour or of cash. When, to give an example, Scutari was occupied +by the Montenegrins at the beginning of the Great War, a Catholic Albanian +merchant came to a Montenegrin lawyer and asked him to institute +proceedings against another merchant who had gravely and publicly +insulted him. The lawyer drew up the complaint, for which he charged +the small sum of 20 perpers (= francs), but although his client was a +wealthy man this fee appalled him; he resolved to take no further steps. +In general, the Scutarenes prefer to suffer imprisonment rather than +part with any money. And the willingness of the Albanians not to look +a gift-horse in the mouth could often be observed at Podgorica between +the years 1909 and 1912, when Nicholas of Montenegro would occasionally +appear in the market-place with a supply of caps and other articles for the +Albanians. These he would distribute, having first exclaimed: "Kačak +Karadak Kralj Nikola barabar!" (that is to say, "The Albanian and +the Montenegrin are equal in the eyes of King Nicholas!"). Kačak is +a word meaning a brigand, an outlaw; the Montenegrins apply it to +their neighbours, and these latter, throwing their new caps in the air +and cheering for Nikita, did not mind what he called them.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_81_81" id="Footnote_81_81"></a><a href="#FNanchor_81_81"><span class="label">[81]</span></a> <i>Turkey in Europe.</i> London, 1900.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_82_82" id="Footnote_82_82"></a><a href="#FNanchor_82_82"><span class="label">[82]</span></a> <i>Ein Vorstoss in die Nordalbanischen Alpen.</i> Vienna, 1905.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_83_83" id="Footnote_83_83"></a><a href="#FNanchor_83_83"><span class="label">[83]</span></a> <i>Italy in the Balkans at this Hour.</i> Naples, 1913.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_84_84" id="Footnote_84_84"></a><a href="#FNanchor_84_84"><span class="label">[84]</span></a> <i>L'Albanie Independente</i>, by Dukagjin-Zadeh Basri Bey. Paris, +1920.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_85_85" id="Footnote_85_85"></a><a href="#FNanchor_85_85"><span class="label">[85]</span></a> Cf. the <i>New Statesman</i>, February 5, 1921.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_86_86" id="Footnote_86_86"></a><a href="#FNanchor_86_86"><span class="label">[86]</span></a> When the Serbian troops arrived at Priština in the Balkan War +they discovered among the inhabitants of that place a man who had not +left his house for some fourteen years. We are told (in <i>The Complete +Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland</i>, etc., vol. v. London, 1921) of my +Lord Eyre of Eyrescourt in County Galway "that not one of the windows +of his castle was made to open, but luckily he had no liking for fresh air." +Yet probably his lordship's countenance had not the pallor of the man +of Priština, because "from an early dinner to the hour of rest he never +left his chair, nor did the claret ever quit the table."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_87_87" id="Footnote_87_87"></a><a href="#FNanchor_87_87"><span class="label">[87]</span></a> When this account of the incident was published in my small book, +<i>A Difficult Frontier</i>, it caused a reviewer, one I. M., in <i>The Near East</i> to +observe, that I "can be jubilant when a Montenegrin in Yugoslav pay +insults a British officer, Captain Brodie." Since the Editor permits such +hopeless nonsense to appear in his columns one may be excused, I think, +for not taking <i>The Near East</i> very seriously. It is not worth while informing +them how General Phillips of Scutari dealt with Captain Brodie.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_88_88" id="Footnote_88_88"></a><a href="#FNanchor_88_88"><span class="label">[88]</span></a> Referring in the <i>Nation and Athenæum</i> to Sir Charles's latest work, +<i>Hinduism and Buddhism</i> (3 vols.), Mr. Edwyn Bevan says that "for a +lonely student, who had done nothing in his life but study, the book would +have been a sufficiently remarkable achievement. That a man who has +been an active public servant and held high and responsible offices +should have found time for the studies which this book presupposes is +marvellous. It is a masterly survey.... There can be few men who +have Sir Charles's gift of linguistic accomplishments, who can not only +read Sanskrit and Pali, but know enough of the Dravidian languages of +Southern India to check statements by reference to the original writings, +and add to this a knowledge of Chinese and Tibetan."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_89_89" id="Footnote_89_89"></a><a href="#FNanchor_89_89"><span class="label">[89]</span></a> Cf. pp. 72-73, Vol. I.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_90_90" id="Footnote_90_90"></a><a href="#FNanchor_90_90"><span class="label">[90]</span></a> Cf. <i>Manchester Guardian</i>, February 28, 1919.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_91_91" id="Footnote_91_91"></a><a href="#FNanchor_91_91"><span class="label">[91]</span></a> Cf. <i>A Political Escapade: The Story of Fiume and D'Annunzio</i>, by +J. N. Macdonald, O.S.B. London, 1921.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_92_92" id="Footnote_92_92"></a><a href="#FNanchor_92_92"><span class="label">[92]</span></a> Cf. <i>Tribune de Genève</i>, October 13, 1921.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_93_93" id="Footnote_93_93"></a><a href="#FNanchor_93_93"><span class="label">[93]</span></a> Those who are curious as to the gentleman's antecedents may like to +refer to my book, <i>Under the Acroceraunian Mountains</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_94_94" id="Footnote_94_94"></a><a href="#FNanchor_94_94"><span class="label">[94]</span></a> Cf. <i>La Suisse</i> (of Geneva), October 13, 1921.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_95_95" id="Footnote_95_95"></a><a href="#FNanchor_95_95"><span class="label">[95]</span></a> Cf. <i>Journal des Débats</i>, October 15, 1921.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_96_96" id="Footnote_96_96"></a><a href="#FNanchor_96_96"><span class="label">[96]</span></a> This would be about 18,000 lb. avoirdupois.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_97_97" id="Footnote_97_97"></a><a href="#FNanchor_97_97"><span class="label">[97]</span></a> Cf. p. 283, Vol. II.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_98_98" id="Footnote_98_98"></a><a href="#FNanchor_98_98"><span class="label">[98]</span></a> Cf. <i>Morning Post</i> of December 14, 1921.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_99_99" id="Footnote_99_99"></a><a href="#FNanchor_99_99"><span class="label">[99]</span></a> Cf. <i>Le Temps</i>, November 11, 1921.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_100_100" id="Footnote_100_100"></a><a href="#FNanchor_100_100"><span class="label">[100]</span></a> "Who is this anonymous idiot?... He really ought to have known +better than that," says a reviewer in <i>The Near East</i>. I quite agree. It is +pleasant now and then to be able to agree with a paper which is so one-sided +as to admit pro-Nikita and anti-Serbian diatribes by Mr. Devine, +but which refuses to insert a letter on the other side. "Let us not mix +ourselves up in their domestic affairs," said the Editor to me after an +hour's conversation. And though it is a matter of no importance, I may +mention that he employs a reviewer who, referring to the map in my +book, <i>A Difficult Frontier</i> (Yugoslavs and Albanians)—a map which is most +conspicuously printed opposite the title-page—observes that it "is hidden +in one unostentatious page, which at first sight escapes the reader's +attention altogether."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_101_101" id="Footnote_101_101"></a><a href="#FNanchor_101_101"><span class="label">[101]</span></a> In the <i>Samouprava</i> of November 12 the whole case was discussed +with his usual lucidity by Dr. Lazar Marković, one of the ablest and most +philosophic men in Yugoslavia. This ex-Professor of Law is now the +Minister of Justice, and it is to be hoped that he will eventually succeed +in the place of Pašić.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_102_102" id="Footnote_102_102"></a><a href="#FNanchor_102_102"><span class="label">[102]</span></a> Those who like to hold the Serbs up to contumely have not a very +strong case when they denounce them for now being on friendly terms +with the Christian Mirditi, whereas they used to be the friends of Essad +Pasha; this personage was at that time the man whose national Albanian +policy had the greatest chance of success. He was the one man who +then appeared capable of establishing a State in which Christians and +Moslems would be fairly represented. But now too many of the Moslem—and +not only they—have adopted an Italophil attitude which is sadly +anti-national.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_103_103" id="Footnote_103_103"></a><a href="#FNanchor_103_103"><span class="label">[103]</span></a> A later phase was for the Government to recognize that what Albania +must have is the friendship of Yugoslavia, so that the eyes of the most +powerful Ministers were turned from Rome to Belgrade. Thereupon the +Italians, loth to lose their footing in the country, gave their patronage to +the anti-Governmental parties. It was pleasant to hear in the summer +of 1922 that when the boundary commissioners had left a lamentable +neutral zone between the two countries the Albanian Government suggested +to the very willing Government of Yugoslavia that they should +co-operate in cleansing that zone of its brigand population.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_104_104" id="Footnote_104_104"></a><a href="#FNanchor_104_104"><span class="label">[104]</span></a> December 16, 1921.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_105_105" id="Footnote_105_105"></a><a href="#FNanchor_105_105"><span class="label">[105]</span></a> According to the Geographical-Statistical Atlas recently published +by the German Professor Hickmann the average loss among the belligerent +countries, in killed, wounded and through diminution of the birth-rate, +was 6·5 per cent. At one end of the list of suffering nations is the United +States with a percentage of 0·4, Great Britain with 3·7, and Belgium with +4·7. Roumania, Italy, Bulgaria and Turkey are all between 6 and 6·5 +per cent. France has a percentage of 8·5, Russia has 9, Germany 9·3 and +Austria 11. Above them all comes Serbia with the appalling percentage +of 23.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_106_106" id="Footnote_106_106"></a><a href="#FNanchor_106_106"><span class="label">[106]</span></a> November 24, 1921.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_107_107" id="Footnote_107_107"></a><a href="#FNanchor_107_107"><span class="label">[107]</span></a> Cf. "Géographie Humaine de la France" in the <i>Histoire de la Nation +Française</i>. Paris, 1920.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_108_108" id="Footnote_108_108"></a><a href="#FNanchor_108_108"><span class="label">[108]</span></a> Cf. <i>L'histoire illustrée de la guerre de 1914</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_109_109" id="Footnote_109_109"></a><a href="#FNanchor_109_109"><span class="label">[109]</span></a> <i>L'Albanie en 1921.</i> Paris, 1922.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_110_110" id="Footnote_110_110"></a><a href="#FNanchor_110_110"><span class="label">[110]</span></a> <i>Under the Acroceraunian Mountains.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_111_111" id="Footnote_111_111"></a><a href="#FNanchor_111_111"><span class="label">[111]</span></a> M. Gabriel Louis Jaray. Cf. his <i>Les Albanais</i> (Paris, 1920) and his +other writings on the Albanians.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_112_112" id="Footnote_112_112"></a><a href="#FNanchor_112_112"><span class="label">[112]</span></a> Cf. <i>A History of the Peace Conference of Paris</i>. Edited by H. W. V. +Temperley, vols. iv. and v. London, 1921.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_113_113" id="Footnote_113_113"></a><a href="#FNanchor_113_113"><span class="label">[113]</span></a> Elias Regnault, <i>Histoire politique et sociale des Principautés Danubiennes</i>. +Paris, 1885.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_114_114" id="Footnote_114_114"></a><a href="#FNanchor_114_114"><span class="label">[114]</span></a> The more advanced Roumanians of the plain also apply this term +to their countrymen who live among the Roumanian mountains or, in +Serbia, amid the heights of Požarevac and Kraina. It signifies a stupid +fellow, one from the wilderness.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_115_115" id="Footnote_115_115"></a><a href="#FNanchor_115_115"><span class="label">[115]</span></a> February 13, 1919.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="IX" id="IX"></a>IX<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_392" id="Page_392">[392]</a></span></h2> + +<h3>CONCLUSION: A FEW NATIONAL +CHARACTERISTICS</h3> + +<p class="subtitle"><span class="smcap">The Slovenes and the Serbs—The Montenegrins and the Serbs—The +Croats and the Serbs—Serb and Bulgar.</span></p> + + +<p class="section">THE SLOVENES AND THE SERBS</p> + +<p>Those who, for some reason or other, do not love the +Yugoslavs will have said to themselves, before taking up +this book, that they would certainly supply that searching +criticism of this people which the author would omit. +They knew it was unlikely that a man would write at such +excessive length about the Southern Slavs if he had not a +weakness for them, and if he predicted for their State the +virtue of cohesion or more than very moderate tranquillity, +his prejudice would have to be discounted. "The Yugoslavs," +said an Italian lady to me in London, and her +beautiful lips looked as if they could scarcely bring themselves +to pronounce the name, "the Yugoslavs," she +said, "are very wild and black." If I have given the +impression in this book that they are white, my fault will +be much greater than the lady's, since I am not quite a +stranger to them. Slovenes, Croats, Serbs and Bulgars—they +have good and evil qualities so different that one +must take them separately, and perhaps it will be more +instructive to compare them with each other. The +Slovenes need not detain us; they are a small people +occupying a surprisingly large area; if they were less well +organized they would have been long ago swallowed up. +They shine as workers in the field and mine and forest +much more than as military men. They have never +been hereditary soldiers, like so many of the Croats, and +it is perhaps this want of confidence in their own military<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_393" id="Page_393">[393]</a></span> +prowess which has caused them to take measures that are +sometimes too severe against the Austrians who are under +them. The Bosnian Moslems assert that, as all their +links with Turkey are now broken, they are the best +Yugoslavs. But the Slovenes are also the best Yugoslavs, +because they recognize that in Yugoslavia is their +sole salvation. Some of us may regret that their tenacity +so far outstrips their idealism. They are a careful people, +as may be seen from Order No. 17024 which was issued, +on December 4, 1920, by the Prefecture of Ljutomir. +Referring to sequestered property, it enjoined that the +Austrian owner should be allowed so much that he could +live on it, but not so much as to enable him to be extravagant. +They are also a relatively well-educated people; +according to official statistics of 1910, 85·34 per cent. of +the Slovene population know how to read and write, while +their neighbours to the east, the Magyars, can only +reckon 62 per cent. and the Italians of pre-war Italy, +62·4 per cent. The most backward part of the Slovene +race, those of Istria, have 46·6 per cent. of illiterates, +while there are Italian provinces where the illiterates +amount even to 85 per cent. Rome itself counts 65 per +cent.<a name="FNanchor_116_116" id="FNanchor_116_116"></a><a href="#Footnote_116_116" class="fnanchor">[116]</a></p> + + +<p class="section">THE MONTENEGRINS AND THE SERBS</p> + +<p>It will be profitable to compare the Montenegrins with +the Serbs, because in our impatience with those persons +who would keep them separate we may have seemed to +imply that we believe them identical. The Serbs who +maintained themselves in those mountains developed +certain characteristics which differentiate them from their +brothers. The Serb of the old kingdom walks, the Serb +of the mountain struts. The magnificent Serbian warrior +of the kingdom is so disciplined that although a Field-Marshal +will sit down openly in a café and drink wine +with some old comrade who is in the ranks, yet when the +soldier is on duty his obedience is perfect. But if the +Montenegrin private thinks that his officer has rebuked +him unjustly, he will not hesitate to kill him. The Serb +has a great respect for the national heroes, while every +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_394" id="Page_394">[394]</a></span>Montenegrin (for the sake of brevity we will use this term +instead of "Serb of Montenegro," and imply, when using +the word Serb, a Serb of the old kingdom)—as we have +said, a Serb respects the national heroes, while every +Montenegrin has a knowledge of his own ancestors for at +least a hundred years. He is a chivalrous person who +wishes to be treated as at least your equal. It was the +Serbs' disregard of this sentiment which now and then +gave umbrage to those Montenegrins who had expected +that their union with the Serbs would cause an immediate +return of the golden age. This was almost as offensive +to the Montenegrins as the request that they would now +contribute towards the support of the army. They had +always left this to the Tzar—"We and the Russians," +they used to say, "are 150 millions." Not all the +Montenegrins have managed to emancipate themselves +from the thraldom of the clan. An amusing example of +this was a major at Peć who belonged to the great Vasojević +family. He gave two of us a large lorry, which +was the only car he had, and advised us to start very early +and to take no one with us, except a guard, as the road +to Mitrovica was in a soft condition. We started off with +about twenty passengers, but only one of them, a Turk, +had any luggage to speak of; and after we had gone a +good part of the way we were held up at a military post. +A Montenegrin captain, also a member of the Vasojević, +had overslept himself and ordered us by telephone to +return for him. The Serbian lieutenant—who had risen +from the ranks—asked at once if that order would come in +writing, and when he received a negative answer he cut off +the communication and wished us a happy journey. The +Montenegrins also differ from the Serbs in their cultivation +of the arts. They have no liking for songs of love, but +say that men should only listen to the guslar and to hero-songs. +They are severer and more dignified than the +Serbs, and it will be some time before the average Montenegrin +throws back his head in a railway carriage and +rolls out a joyous song, as I once heard a Serb do in the +Banat, whereupon another Serb in the far corner—they +obviously had never met—joined in the song with great +heartiness. The Montenegrin says that the Serb chatters +like a gipsy (though we must not forget that, as Miss<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_395" id="Page_395">[395]</a></span> +Durham remarked,<a name="FNanchor_117_117" id="FNanchor_117_117"></a><a href="#Footnote_117_117" class="fnanchor">[117]</a> he is hurt if things Serbian are +criticized by an outsider); he has been told that the +Englishman is grave, like himself, and therefore he +appreciates him from afar. But not many Englishmen +(or Serbs) would care to indulge, like the Montenegrins, +in the ceaseless recapitulation of time-honoured exploits. +The younger folk are not so faithful to these ancient +stories, but it is in Montenegro that performers on the +one-stringed, monotonous guslar can most easily find an +audience. The Serbs of the kingdom have become more +eclectic in musical matters, though even with them the +popular taste is in favour of the man who snores, on the +grounds that he is hearty and robust. In so far as foreign +influence is concerned, the Montenegrin has been to some +extent affected by Italian culture, while that of Greece +and Germany has acted on the Serb. But the Great War +had an equally unfortunate influence on both of them. +One must, however, mention that long before the War, +and owing partly to Albanian influence, partly to their +own struggle for existence and partly to other causes, +the Montenegrins had shown themselves defective in +straightforwardness. Undoubtedly they had deteriorated +under the example of Nikita, but this unfortunate trait +can also be discerned between the lines of the great poem, +the "Gorski Venac," written in the first half of the +nineteenth century. There used to be a certain amount +of what we call theft in Montenegro, but the natives of +that country, as of Albania, cherished rather communistic +ideas; it seemed to them that they had a sort of right to +that which another possessed, particularly if he was a +near relative. After the War the Montenegrin was so +much impoverished that he stole more freely, and the Serb, +whose hands had hitherto been remarkably clean, took to +the same habits and often in a very amateur fashion. +Thus in a Macedonian village where a British army store +had been rifled, the officers turned to the local priest, who +was indignant with his people and conducted the officers +into every house. Nothing was discovered, and the priest +proposed that his own house should be searched. He +was told that this was unnecessary, but he insisted; and +when his careless wife led the way up a ladder into the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_396" id="Page_396">[396]</a></span>loft a British officer perceived at any rate one pair of khaki +breeches. The patients of the Scottish Women's Hospital +at Belgrade were so unpractised in the art of stealing +that one of them—a typical case—returned one day to +have her leg attended to, and in raising her skirt revealed +on the petticoat, which had once been a tablecloth, a +large "S.W.H." These felonious ways are in contrast +with the usual Serb candour. One afternoon in Belgrade +I was searching for a small street in a district which I +had not visited before. When at last, after many +inquiries, I came to within fifty yards of it I found a +policeman—but it is only fair to say that the majority +of the force consisted at this time of soldiers recently +disbanded. When I asked him where the street might be, +the good man thought a while and then, throwing back +his open hand and giving up the problem in despair, said, +"My God, I know not."</p> + +<p>The wave of crime has manifested itself differently +among the Serbs and the Montenegrins, in that the latter +have been more primitive and have consummated their +plundering by assassination—and this in a country where +between 1895 and 1913 only two men were murdered for +their money. In Serbia the people, even in the terrible +distress after the War, did not go to such lengths. During +the first half-year, the only two cases of unnatural death +in the whole district of Čačak, where I spent a couple of +months, were both of them suicides, an old man hanging +himself on account of the death of his last remaining +soldier son, and an officer's wife, who had been too friendly +to an Austrian, throwing herself into a well on her +husband's return. A certain village of the same district +is an instance of the frequency of all those minor peccadilloes, +such as drunkenness and rowdiness and so forth, +which the Serbs permit themselves. There is a law which +lays it down that the mayor must be a native and must +be a man who never has been lodged in gaol. But +that unhappy village in the Čačak region is unable to +produce a single adult man with such a record.... If +the Serb of the old kingdom is a more easy-going individual +than his brother of the mountains it is quite erroneous to +think that they dislike each other or have not resolved to +come together.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_397" id="Page_397">[397]</a></span></p> + + +<p class="section">THE CROATS AND THE SERBS</p> + +<p>Some of Yugoslavia's neighbours were anxious, during +the months which followed the War, that we should learn +how Serb and Croat were continually at each other's +throat. The dissensions between the two branches of +the Yugoslav family would have been much more serious +and more prolonged if their neighbours had paid less +attention to them. It is true that "our Serbian customs," +in the words of Jaša Tomić, "come from the village, while +those of the Croats come from the nobles." The humbler +Croat, one may say, was an employee in a big store, while +the Serb was a small trader. The Croat would naturally +like to introduce the big-store system into Yugoslavia, +but this the Serb does not understand. He has a greater +sense of responsibility and is more careful with regard to +the expenses. To the Croat, in the old Empire, it was +immaterial whether the officials were more or less costly. +The bill was paid by Austria, who was the foe. For some +time the Croat found himself forgetting that he was in +Yugoslavia. When Cardinal Bourne came to Zagreb in +the spring of 1919 and the town-hall was decorated with +the British, Croatian, Serbian, Slovene and the town +flag, some one asked the mayor why the State flag had +been omitted. He was horrified. "The State flag!" +he cried. Then it dawned upon him.... Numbers of +Croats have belonged to the governing class and—impelled +by the Catholic religion—have displayed more +devotion to the arts than to the freedom of their country. +On the other hand the Serbs, a race of practical peasants, +have a highly developed national consciousness. This +they owe partly to their inborn political gifts and largely +to their Church, for the Orthodox religion—one may +say, I think, without injustice—has more frequently +shown itself, so closely is it connected with the idea of the +State, to be rather of this world than of another. One +should say the Orthodox religion as it flourishes in the +Balkans, for when the Russian General Bobrikoff, who +was attached to the person of King Milan, came back +with him to Belgrade after the Peace of San Stefano, he +was scandalized to see that religion had no greater share +in the national rejoicings. "Accustomed as I was in my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_398" id="Page_398">[398]</a></span> +own country," he said, "to see nothing done without +prayers and the blessing of the Church, I was indeed +astounded to observe that the priests played the part of +officials even in the cathedral, and often were altogether +absent." This reminds one of von Baernreiter, who +wished to learn the Serbian language, so that he would +be more eligible for the governorship of Bosnia. He +asked his teacher at Vienna when one could hear sermons +in the Serbian church, and was informed that these +occurred but twice a year and that on those occasions +everybody left the church. The Serb and the Bulgar +have come to neglect our distinctions between that which +is spiritual and that which is temporal; their religion is, +in consequence of their history, so inherent a part of the +nation's life that in losing it one would almost cease to +be a Serb or a Bulgar. Their Church is as national as +that of the Armenians.<a name="FNanchor_118_118" id="FNanchor_118_118"></a><a href="#Footnote_118_118" class="fnanchor">[118]</a> This may not be an ideal state +of things, but it prevailed in Spain under the Moorish +oppression and in the France of Jeanne d'Arc. During +the crisis of the Great War the churches in the West +were everywhere national; and in Serbia it was calculated +that 60 per cent. of the sermons had a pronounced national +colouring....</p> + +<p>Now with these differences between the Croat and +the Serb, does it not seem strange that the vast majority +of them are for union, with a part of this majority in +favour of a reasonable decentralization? But if we +investigate the motives of the Serbs and Croats who +would thwart this union, we will see that they have +nothing of that faith which, after all these centuries, has +moved the Yugoslav multitude. Some of the Serbs wish +to keep aloof on the ground that Serbia in the last hundred +years has borne the brunt of the battle—and this, whether +they were or were not faced with a more difficult situation, +is acknowledged by most of the Croats, who for that +reason would never dream of wishing the more modern +Zagreb to supplant Belgrade. Those few Croats who are +not for Yugoslavia are moved by ecclesiastical prejudice +or by their longing for the privileges which the Habsburgs +granted them. But those who, for various reasons, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_399" id="Page_399">[399]</a></span>criticize the central Government are by no means necessarily +in favour of setting up a separate one. Whatever the +impetuous Radić may have said, he is out for Yugoslavia. +Still one cannot be astonished that he was sometimes +misunderstood. The Zagreb students who, towards the +end of 1918, came to Svetozar Pribičević with the request +that he would let them kill the demagogue, were for +expressing in this way what Dr. Dušan Popović, the well-known +deputy, expressed in another. It was at the +Zagreb Provincial Parliament that he exclaimed, in the +summer of 1918, that "This idea will be victorious and +therefore I say publicly, in the presence of the whole +people, that I am a Croat, a Serb and a Slovene, or, if +you prefer it, none of them but merely a Yugoslav." +In 1914 when Stamboulüsky, the future Prime Minister of +Bulgaria, was arrested and accused of Serbophilism, he +declared: "I am neither Bulgar or Serb; I am a Yugoslav!" ... +For at least a generation Zagreb will remain +particularist, zealously preserving the differences—personal, +social and religious—which distinguish her +people from the dominant Serbs. The Croat officers who +burned with shame at the Archduke's murder on Bosnian +soil, the Croat regiments that in 1915 marched into +Belgrade with bands playing and their colours flying, the +Croat officials whose bread and salt came from the Habsburgs +in administering Yugoslav countries during the +War—all these will not forget a long, deep-rooted and +honourable tradition. But Zagreb is now even as Munich +was in 1866; after having been the Rome of the Yugoslav +movement, the seat of its philosophy and the centre +of its politics, the Croat capital has now an atmosphere +of sad futility, for Belgrade is the beacon of the Yugoslav +world. While comparing Zagreb with Rome one must +add that she had also the misfortune to resemble Rome +of the decadence—a good deal of outer polish was imparted +by the Austrians, at the expense of their victims' backbone. +The five centuries of Turkish domination had no +such demoralizing influence upon the Serbs, especially +not in the country places. In the opinion of a very close +observer,<a name="FNanchor_119_119" id="FNanchor_119_119"></a><a href="#Footnote_119_119" class="fnanchor">[119]</a> whom I quote, there is nothing that so +thoroughly displays the dominance of Belgrade as the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_400" id="Page_400">[400]</a></span>agrarian problem. The projected reforms, which have +been based on the principle that no one should own more +land than he can cultivate with the aid of his family, +would dispossess large numbers of big landowners in +Croatia and still larger numbers of men with moderate +holdings, whose compensation would be "determined +hereafter." The application of these reforms has been +delayed for various reasons, but nowhere at any time +has it been suggested that Croatia might reject them. +In the old kingdom of Serbia, with much the greater +part of the land in peasant possession, it may be said +that there is no agrarian problem.... Those enemies +of Yugoslavia, by the way, who have hoped that the +particularism of Croatia would be something altogether +different from what it is, should have mingled with the +crowd at Zagreb on the evening of Prince Alexander's +arrival in July 1920. The Prince interrupted his dinner, +came out on to the balcony and made a speech. "Draga +moja bratjo Hrvati," he said—"Croatians, my dear +brothers." Not for a thousand years had a ruler of +Croatia addressed his people in their own tongue. One +immense roar of delight broke, as the <i>Morning Post's</i> +special correspondent tells us, from the assembled multitude; +men fell on each other's necks, laughed, wept +and kissed each other.... Such manifestations must +not lead us to believe that all the internal problems of +the young State are settled. Croatia (as also Slovenia) +is jealous of her separate identity, suspicious to some +extent of Serbia, her prestige and projects; she has no +intention of allowing herself, after the hard fight against +Magyarization, to be "Balkanized." But one thing was +made clear by the Prince's visit: there can be no word or +thought of separation.</p> + + +<p style="padding-top: 1.5em">We have spoken of the disaffection prevalent among +the Croats, and on this the world has fixed its eyes, +because of the large number of Croat deputies who have +hitherto declined to come to Belgrade. Nevertheless +there is a more general and more grievous discontent in +Yugoslavia, since, after all, the Croats' attitude is of a +temporary character—for it is probable that after the +next general election their peculiar upbringing will not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_401" id="Page_401">[401]</a></span> +be so potent in determining their sentiments towards +the State. More and more will they be ready to make +common cause with Serbs and Slovenes; and their +criticisms, which are now so negative, will be of a more +useful kind. (They will recognize, for example, that if it +costs 3000 dinars to open an inn in Serbia they were +not justified in protesting when the fee in Croatia was +raised from 5 crowns to 5 dinars.) That Yugoslavia +gives ground for criticism no one, least of all her well-wishers, +deny. And those who pray that she will prosper +do so for the reason that the scattered Southern Slavs +have for the first time now been able—most of them at +any rate—to link their arms together; and we hope +that with high qualities outweighing their defects the +Southern Slavs will permanently take their place among +the nations. But this will not be brought about unless +those ailments which they suffer from are now confronted. +Serbs themselves are often saying that their little Serbia +was better than this fine new country which is thrice as +large. She had fewer problems, she had fewer parties, +and if people were corrupt they were so on a smaller +scale. Traditions which are deprecatingly called Balkan, +but which were at that time suited to a Balkan country, +should not be allowed to spread across a country which +is so much more than Balkan. Merit does not everywhere +in this imperfect world advance you automatically, +but an effort is required in Yugoslavia to resist the calls +of friendship in appointing men to offices. The army of +officials is too numerous; yet many of them are so badly +paid that even if a great reformer could reduce by half +their numbers he would be inclined to lay no hand upon +the total sum they now enjoy. But this necessity of +cleansing the public services is not peculiar to Yugoslavia. +The politicians must have courage to lay heavier taxes +on the peasants: the strange phenomenon is seen of +peasants who assert that they are quite prepared for +this, and on the other hand of politicians who are frightened +lest it lose them many votes. The peasants generally +are so prosperous that some, for instance, whom I know +of near Kragujevac, men occupied in growing cereals, +find that the fowls which they keep rather as a hobby +do not have to lay them golden eggs in order to pay all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_402" id="Page_402">[402]</a></span> +the taxes. In that region it is usual nowadays for +peasants not to count their bank-notes, but to weigh +them; recently a man disposed of certain fields for his +own weight in notes of ten dinars. The peasants are not +only dissatisfied with the two chief parties, the Radicals +and the Democrats, for not taxing them sufficiently—so +that at the next general election they may give a good +deal more support than hitherto to their own Peasants' +party—but they complain that their interests are neglected +although, as we have seen, the lawyers and other townsfolk +of the Radical and Democrat parties are so anxious +with respect to peasants' votes.</p> + +<p>The difficult position of the Yugoslavs—observe how +in the last year their exchange has fallen—is due in part +to the deplorable activities of other peoples (vast amounts +have had to be imported for reconstruction purposes, +Rieka has been practically unavailable as a port, and +conditions have been such that the Yugoslavs have had +to keep a large army mobilized), partly their position +is due to measures ill-advised but which they were compelled +to take (such as their system of Agrarian Reform), +partly to political inexperience and partly to their lack +of organizing powers. Let us hope that from now onwards +Yugoslavia will have to arm herself less heavily +against the slings and arrows of the world, and that she +will be able therefore to become a more proficient swimmer +in this sea of troubles.</p> + + +<p class="section">SERB AND BULGAR</p> + +<p>A map of the Balkan migrations, with its curved +lines leading almost everywhere, is a bewildering spectacle; +but if we study the main clusters of lines we shall see +that the people whose movements they chronicle have +frequently preserved, in a remarkable fashion, certain +common characteristics: thus a stream flowed from the +south-west towards Valjevo in Serbia, and it is interesting +to notice how the prominent men of that region, whose +ancestors came from somewhere between Montenegro +and the old frontiers of Serbia, have all of them certain +characteristics—a talent for foreign languages, a subtlety +of reasoning, originality but insufficient observation, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_403" id="Page_403">[403]</a></span> +clever but fallacious minds. Similarly in the Bulgar +there are qualities which even now can be ascribed to +the Mongol blood. The Bulgar is more stolid than the +Serb; he is less given to sympathy and on that account +can be cruel. The Bulgar is benevolent because he is +urged by kindliness, whereas the more impressionable +Serb is under the influence both of sentiment, sentimentality +and sympathy. These differences of temperament—and +there are others, more or less distinguishable—do +not seem to Balkan thinkers any reason why the two +should keep apart. And a couple of months after the +Great War, during which the Bulgars, as their best friends +must acknowledge, were far from irreproachable in +occupied Serbia—partly this was due to the vast number +of new posts for which they had no suitable men—a few +months afterwards a Bulgarian engineer was placidly +working among the Serbs at Čačak railway station, +wearing his own uniform. And a Serbian butcher who +emigrated to Bulgaria settled down at Ferdinand just +before the War and has lived there unmolested up to +this day, and that in spite of his not being very highly +esteemed—for, as the police president told me, he had +married a woman with more wealth than good fame; +the president had been among her lovers.... One would +not suppose that the contrasting public morality of the +two countries will keep them apart. It is easy enough for +us to argue that this morality is on a pretty low level, +because a Bulgarian War Minister saw fit to sue, under a +<i>nom de guerre</i>, a French armament firm which omitted to +send him the stipulated commission; because another +Minister, incarcerated on account of felony, could be +liberated by the grace of Tzar Ferdinand and become +Premier; because a Serbian Minister used to buy himself +corner-houses, while his Bulgarian colleagues seem to own +most of the houses in Sofia. There was a minor Serbian +official over against whom I took my meals for about a +month; one of his ways was to produce a pocket-knife +and cut his bread with it. Certain other parts of his +ritual did not appeal to me, but who knows whether I +did not disgust him by breaking my bread with my +fingers? And who knows what sentiments were awakened +some years ago at the Orthodox monastery of Gromirija,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_404" id="Page_404">[404]</a></span> +in Croatia, when a foreign guest proposed to wash himself +in water, though by the joyous custom of that house +there was no other liquid on the premises but wine? +If there is in both countries, in Serbia and Bulgaria, a +movement against the cynicism which does not clothe +its corruption with a decent Western drapery, that is +something; if there is a further movement in the direction +of probity, that is something more. And, whatever +some Serbs may tell you, it is undeniable that honesty +has made important strides in the public life of that +kingdom, even without having added to the Statute +Book those rigorous proposals of the newly-formed +Peasants' party, one of which would punish a peculating +official with death. It is, however, apparent that this +party has not arrived at a sense of discretion, for it wants +to terminate the practice of allowing pensions to officials, +so that each man is obliged to make his own provision +for old age. Bulgaria, the younger country, has made +a proportionate progress; there is trustworthy German +evidence to the effect that the corrupt Radoslavoff +Government was despised by the people, not in the hour +of disaster but in 1916, when the Bulgarian soldiers +changed the words of an anti-Serb song and instead of +"Our old allies are brigands" proclaimed that "the +Liberals are brigands." This German, Dr. Helmut von +den Steinen, the correspondent of the <i>Nordeutsche +Allgemeine Zeitung</i> (in which he was bound to speak +favourably of Radoslavoff) used to deliver propaganda +lectures in the Bulgarian language at Sofia during the +War. He was very well acquainted with Bulgarian +affairs and being summoned to Berlin at the end of 1917 +he made a speech<a name="FNanchor_120_120" id="FNanchor_120_120"></a><a href="#Footnote_120_120" class="fnanchor">[120]</a> <i>in camera</i> to a committee of German +savants and artists. In the course of this he lamented +that his country had attached herself to Radoslavoff, +who, said he, was hated and would at the next elections +be swept away.</p> + +<p>As one must repeat <i>ad nauseam</i>, the gulf between +Serb and Bulgar has not been caused by an extreme +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_405" id="Page_405">[405]</a></span>divergence of their private or their public morals, academically +considered, but by the various incidents which in +the eyes of each of them testified to the other's depravity. +And at the bottom of it all was Macedonia—Macedonia +which now, being wisely administered, will be the foundation-stone +of Yugoslavia.</p> + +<p>At the end of his book, <i>Balkan Problems and European +Peace</i>, Mr. Noel Buxton agrees that such a Yugoslav +Federation has become a practical possibility. But his +two alternative proposals with respect to what should +meanwhile be the fate of Macedonia would indefinitely +postpone that Federation. We have already dealt with +the proposal of autonomy, put forward also by Mr. +Leland Buxton. As for what Mr. Noel Buxton calls +the ideal solution—"a plebiscite conducted by an impartial +international commission over the whole of the +historical province of Macedonia"—this is aiming no +higher than at a perpetuation of the two distinct +countries, Serbia and Bulgaria. We should probably +have had more plebiscites in Europe if more Allied +armies had been available, but the campaign of intimidation +and every sort of ruthlessness which occurred in +Upper Silesia and Schleswig make us look rather askance +upon this method of registering the popular will. Mr. +Buxton airily asks for a plebiscite over the whole of the +historical province of Macedonia, ignoring altogether the +special difficulty that "Macedonia" means something +quite different to the Serb, the Bulgar and the Greek. +He dismisses likewise the universal difficulty of plebiscites, +which is to be just in laying down the limits of the various +regions. But there is really no need for Mr. Buxton to +take us on to those quagmires, since he knows, and is good +enough to tell us, what the result of the plebiscite will be. +"The Bulgarian sympathies," says he, "of the mass of +the Macedonian population are apparent to every inquiring +traveller." If Mr. Buxton were to encounter +one of those pretty lawless Karakačan nomads, who +from the Monastir district wander all over the Balkans, +his recognition of the man's Roman and Thraco-Illyrian +descent would be facilitated by the permanent cheesy +odour which pervades his person. There is nothing so +permanent about the Macedonian Slav. His sympathies,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_406" id="Page_406">[406]</a></span> +as is natural, have gone out to that Balkan country which +cultivated him and since, as Dr. Milovanović, the Serbian +statesman, says, "the Serbs did not begin to think about +Macedonia till 1885," it would indeed have been extraordinary +if the Macedonian Slavs—whose ethnical +position, as scientists agree, is such a vague one—had +been generally drawn to Serbia. One cannot help feeling +that in this book Mr. Buxton does a serious disservice to +his reputation as a Balkan expert. He says that Serbia +until the accession of King Peter was Austrophil; which +is, to put it mildly, a very sweeping remark—only that +party which called itself Progressive was identified with +Milan's views. He praises the Bulgars for being devoted +to their national Church, and praises them for producing +a large number of Protestants, whose sincerity, etc., +so that one presumes he would have praised them still +more if the whole nation, as was once on the cards, had +joined the Protestant Church. Save me from my +friends! the Bulgars might say. What is perfectly +sincere about them is their patriotism; and while some +of those who now change their religion have doubtless +no ulterior, personal motive, the entire country would +probably have as little reluctance as Japan in adopting +any religion which, like the Exarchist Church of to-day, +would be an instrument of the national cause. Mr. +Buxton's knowledge of the Balkan protagonists has its +limitations; for example, prior to Bulgaria's entry into +the War he was all for the removal of the British Minister +on account of his pro-Serbian sympathies, but he says +no word about M. Savinsky, the Russian Minister, who +was left by his Entente colleagues to play the first violin. +This capricious gentleman was no diplomat, but a courtier. +He did not even protest when German munitions for +Turkey passed through Roumania, and far too much of +his time was spent in motoring with pretty girls in the +neighbourhood of Sofia. Many good observers were of +opinion that with a more competent Russian representative, +such as M. Nekludoff, who in 1914 was transferred +to Stockholm, the situation would have been +saved. In their memorandum submitted in January +1915 to Lord (then Sir Edward) Grey, Messrs. N. and C. R. +Buxton said that their experience of fifteen years convinced<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_407" id="Page_407">[407]</a></span> +them that the Bulgarian sentiment of the Macedonians +could not in a short time be made to give +way to another national sentiment. If we rule out, as +being slaves of circumstance, all the Macedonians who +now tell you that from Bulgar they have changed to +Serb, there is no reason why we should not credit those +who are so weary of the rival activities of both parties +that they wish for peace and nothing else. They would +follow, not the Messrs. Buxton, but the priest of the +Bulgarian village of Chuprenia, who told me that he held +that one might pray to God for the success of the +Bulgarian arms, without saying whether they were in +the right or in the wrong. After the end of the war +this priest sent a telegram, which was perhaps a little +indiscreet, advocating that the Bulgarian people should +join in Yugoslavia.</p> + +<p>To prevent the Southern Slavs being torn by internal +strife, it is necessary between Serbia and Bulgaria that +one of them should for a time be paramount. We may +be confident that Serbia will not abuse her position. In +fact it is the opinion of a Roumanian lady at Monastir +that the Serbs were uncommonly rash in taking into +their service so many who once had called themselves +Bulgars and now maintain that they are Serbs. But +Serbia has become relatively so strong that she can be +indulgent. She will even satisfy that Bulgarian professor +who is said to have discussed the Macedonian +question with the British military attaché.</p> + +<p>The attaché suggested a division between Serbia and +Bulgaria.</p> + +<p>"No," said the professor; "let the country remain a +whole, like the child before Solomon."</p> + +<p>"Would you be satisfied?" asked the attaché, "if this +question were now decided once and for all?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said the professor, "if the judge be another +Solomon."</p> + +<p>Among the Bulgars who are looking forward to the +day when their country will, in some form or other, +join Yugoslavia, there are some who suggest that when +comparative tranquillity has been assured upon the +Macedonian frontiers (that is to say, between Macedonia +and the Albanians) it would be as well to garrison the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_408" id="Page_408">[408]</a></span> +province with Croatian regiments, pending the employment +in their own country of Macedonian troops. Gradually +the time will come when, as one of the units of the +Yugoslav State, Macedonia will enjoy the same amount +of Home Rule as the other provinces. She will then, +maybe, decide for herself such matters as the <ins class="correction" +title="Transcriber's note: original reads 'preservaiton'">preservation</ins> +of her dialects, local administration, police, etc.</p> + + +<p style="padding-top: 1.5em">Once on the banks of the Danube when I was going +to sail from one of these countries to her neighbour with +whom she had recently been at war, and some of the +inhabitants had kindly come to see me off, I was presented, +amongst other things, with an old gentleman's +good wishes, which he had taken the trouble to express in +French and in verse. I believe that he recited them, +but there was a considerable tumult on the landing-stage. +Then a very angry traveller appropriated one of +my ears and began to tell me that they were for detaining +him in this country; three or four natives of the country +reported, simultaneously, into my other ear that he had +been letting off his revolver and was altogether a +dangerous man. I was to settle whether he should sail +or not, and meanwhile his luggage had been put ashore. +He waved his passport in my face. Both he and his +opponents were gesticulating with great violence, and +this they continued to do even after I filled their hands +with most of the small and large bouquets which the +friendly people had brought down for me. There was so +much noise that the boat's whistle, which the captain +started, was no more than a forest-tree soaring slightly +over those around it. As I tried to disentangle myself +from those who encircled me I caught sight of the old +gentleman of the poem—in appearance he was a smaller +edition of the late Dr. Butler of Trinity; he was clearly +nervous lest I should depart without his lines, which he +extended towards me, written on the back of one of his +visiting-cards. I was just then being told by the agitated +traveller that he had only been firing into the air because +it was Easter, and that this was his invariable custom at +midnight on Easter-Eve. The explanation was so satisfactory +that everyone welcomed my suggestion that he +should sail and that they should send his revolver on to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_409" id="Page_409">[409]</a></span> +him by parcel post. They all shook hands with him. +The two nationalities were on excellent terms. And we +may transfer the old gentleman's good wishes to them +and the other Yugoslavs:</p> + +<div class="poem" style="font-size: 90%"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Oh! la belle journée de votre bonheur,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Souhaitons votre bon voyage tout-à-l'heure.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Couronné de grands succès du ciel je vous implore,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Allegrèsse, santé et prosperité je vous augure.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_410" id="Page_410">[410]</a></span></h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_116_116" id="Footnote_116_116"></a><a href="#FNanchor_116_116"><span class="label">[116]</span></a> Cf. <i>Modern Italy</i>, by Giovanni Borghese. Paris, 1913.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_117_117" id="Footnote_117_117"></a><a href="#FNanchor_117_117"><span class="label">[117]</span></a> Cf. <i>Through the Lands of the Serb</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_118_118" id="Footnote_118_118"></a><a href="#FNanchor_118_118"><span class="label">[118]</span></a> Cf. <i>The Children of the Illuminator</i>, by Bishop Nicholai Velimirović. +London, 1919.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_119_119" id="Footnote_119_119"></a><a href="#FNanchor_119_119"><span class="label">[119]</span></a> <i>Edinburgh Review</i>, July 1920 (anonymous).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_120_120" id="Footnote_120_120"></a><a href="#FNanchor_120_120"><span class="label">[120]</span></a> Subsequently printed as a pamphlet with the title, <i>Die Ausgestaltung +des deutschen Kultur-Einflusses in Bulgarien</i>. This was printed by the +Opposition parties in Sofia, who to circumvent the censor gave out that +it was written by an Englishman against Bratiano.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="INDEX_OF_VOLUME_II" id="INDEX_OF_VOLUME_II"></a>INDEX OF VOLUME II<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_411" id="Page_411">[411]</a></span></h2> + +<p class="center">(<i>The Names of</i> <ins class="correction" +title="Transcriber's note: original reads 'Books'"><i>Books,</i></ins> <i>Newspapers, and Ships are in Italics.</i>)</p> + + +<ul> +<li>Abbazia, Conditions at, <a href="#Page_72">72</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li>Achikou (Kol), brother of Anthony, <a href="#Page_326">326</a>.</li> + +<li>Achikou (Prof. Anthony), the Mirdite, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>, <a href="#Page_327">327</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li><i>Adeverul</i>, its claims, <a href="#Page_363">363</a>.</li> + +<li>Agrarian Reform in Czecho-Slovakia, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>.</li> +<li>— — in Hungary, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>.</li> +<li>— — in Yugoslavia, <a href="#Page_132">132</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li>Ahmed Beg Mati, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>-<a href="#Page_283">283</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Albanais</i>, <i>Les</i>, quoted, <a href="#Page_352">352</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Albanesische Studien</i>, quoted, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>.</li> + +<li>Albanians against Austrian army, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>.</li> +<li>— compared with Basques, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>.</li> +<li>— — — Kurds, <a href="#Page_311">311</a>.</li> +<li>— of Dalmatia, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>.</li> +<li>— and the land in Yugoslavia, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>-<a href="#Page_137">137</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Albanie Independente</i>, quoted, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Albanien und die Albanesen</i>, quoted, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>.</li> + +<li>Alberti (Mario), his <i>L'Adriatico et il Mediterraneo</i>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>.</li> + +<li>Alexander (King) and the Communists, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>.</li> +<li>— — and the Croats, <a href="#Page_400">400</a>.</li> +<li>— — on the Italians, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>.</li> + +<li>Ambassadors' Conference, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>, <a href="#Page_337">337</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_349">349</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li>Ambris (A. di) and the British boots, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>.</li> + +<li>Anglo-Albanian Society, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>, <a href="#Page_306">306</a>, <a href="#Page_323">323</a>.</li> + +<li>Apponyi (Count), on Hungary's neighbours, <a href="#Page_371">371</a>.</li> + +<li>Asquith (H. H.) and Dalmatia, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>.</li> + +<li>Austrian activities in Albania, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>-<a href="#Page_278">278</a>, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>, <a href="#Page_316">316</a>-<a href="#Page_317">317</a>, <a href="#Page_320">320</a>.</li> + +<li>Austrians in Montenegro, <a href="#Page_97">97</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> +<li>— their hospitals, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>-<a href="#Page_98">98</a>.</li> + +<li>Austrians, their parliamentary manners, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>.</li> + +<li>Autonomists, the old party, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>-<a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>-<a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> +<li>—the Rieka party, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>.</li> + +<li>Avramović of the Peasants' party, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>.<br /><br /></li> + + +<li>Badoglio (General) and the coal-supply, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>-<a href="#Page_216">216</a>.</li> + +<li>Balkan Committee, <a href="#Page_347">347</a>.</li> + +<li>Banat, after the War, <a href="#Page_124">124</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_362">362</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li>Baroš, <i>see</i><a href="#Rieka"> Rieka</a>.</li> + +<li>Bartlett (C. A. H.) and Italy's rights, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>.</li> + +<li>Basri Bey, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>-<a href="#Page_293">293</a>.</li> + +<li>Beaumont (A.), the correspondent, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>-<a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>.</li> + +<li>Belloc (H.), his curious ideas, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>-<a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Bellum Gallicum</i>, quoted, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>.</li> + +<li>Bencivenga (General) and the Albanians, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>.</li> + +<li>Benelli (Sem), poet and warrior, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>.</li> + +<li>Berati Bey, the delegate, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>.</li> + +<li>Berlin Congress and two villages, <a href="#Page_304">304</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Bessa Shqyptare</i>, its existence, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>-<a href="#Page_286">286</a>.</li> + +<li>Bib Doda, Prenk, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>, <a href="#Page_324">324</a>-<a href="#Page_325">325</a>.</li> + +<li>Bissolati, the gallant Minister, <a href="#Page_80">80</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>-<a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li> + +<li>Blakeney, for Rieka, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>.</li> + +<li>Blood-vengeance, Monsignor Bumçi on, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>.</li> +<li>— Miss Durham on, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>.</li> +<li>— how it may be washed out, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>.</li> +<li>— its high-water mark, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>.</li> +<li>— its prevalence, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>, <a href="#Page_330">330</a>.</li> +<li>— its relative decline, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>.</li> + +<li>Bobrikoff (General), on religion in Serbia, <a href="#Page_397">397</a>-<a href="#Page_398">398</a>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_412" id="Page_412">[412]</a></span></li> + +<li>Bogić (Dr.), the victim, <a href="#Page_149">149</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li>Bojana, perilous for French boats, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>.</li> + +<li>Bojanić (Dom Ivo), his protest, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>.</li> + +<li>Borghese (Prince Livio), <a href="#Page_375">375</a>.</li> + +<li>Bosnia and Agrarian Reform, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>-<a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>.</li> +<li>— after the War, <a href="#Page_106">106</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>-<a href="#Page_221">221</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Bosnische Post</i>, quoted, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</li> + +<li>Boxich (Dr.), the results of truthfulness, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>-<a href="#Page_165">165</a>.</li> + +<li>Brodie (Captain), his exploit, <a href="#Page_306">306</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li>Brunhes (Prof. Jean), cited, <a href="#Page_350">350</a>.</li> + +<li>Bryce (Roland), his Montenegrin report, <a href="#Page_253">253</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li>Bufani, of the Banat, <a href="#Page_370">370</a>.</li> + +<li>Bukvich (Captain), the Intelligence Officer, <a href="#Page_158">158</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li>Bulgars, some characteristics, <a href="#Page_403">403</a>-<a href="#Page_404">404</a>.</li> +<li>— and the future, <a href="#Page_405">405</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li>Bumçi (Monsignor), the mild Regent, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>-<a href="#Page_291">291</a>.</li> + +<li><a name="Buonfiglio" id="Buonfiglio"></a>Buonfiglio (R.), the journalist, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>.</li> + +<li>Burić (V.), <a href="#Page_193">193</a>-<a href="#Page_194">194</a>.</li> + +<li>Burrows (the late Prof.) and the Albanians, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>.</li> + +<li>Buxton (Noel), <a href="#Page_347">347</a>, <a href="#Page_405">405</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> +<li>— — his <i>Balkan Problems and European Peace</i>, <a href="#Page_405">405</a>.<br /><br /></li> + + +<li>Cagni (Admiral) at Pola, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>-<a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>.</li> + +<li>Candrea (Prof.), his map, <a href="#Page_364">364</a>.</li> + +<li>Cappone (Colonel) of Šibenik, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>.</li> + +<li>Carducci, quoted, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.</li> + +<li><a name="Carinthia" id="Carinthia"></a>Carinthia, hostilities, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> +<li>— the plebiscite, <a href="#Page_374">374</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li>Cecil (Lord Robert) and the Albanians, <a href="#Page_323">323</a>, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>, <a href="#Page_328">328</a>-<a href="#Page_329">329</a>.</li> + +<li>Čekonić (Count) and the Dobrovoljci, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>.</li> + +<li>Centurione, the deputy, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>.</li> + +<li>Chauvinism, Serbian lack of, <a href="#Page_348">348</a>-<a href="#Page_349">349</a>, <a href="#Page_384">384</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Chicago Tribune</i>, quoted, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>-<a href="#Page_199">199</a>.</li> + +<li>Chimigò (Prof.) and the Italians, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>.</li> + +<li>Church in Albania, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>.</li> +<li>— — in Croatia, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>-<a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>.</li> +<li>— — in Serbia, <a href="#Page_397">397</a>-<a href="#Page_398">398</a>.</li> + +<li>Cicoli (Admiral) and Austria's collapse, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>-<a href="#Page_19">19</a>.</li> + +<li>Clemenceau (G.), <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>.</li> + +<li>Čokorilo and his undesirable newspaper, <a href="#Page_109">109</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li>Colajanni and the Slovenes, <a href="#Page_388">388</a>.</li> + +<li>Communists in Yugoslavia, <a href="#Page_221">221</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Contemporary Review</i>, quoted, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>-<a href="#Page_248">248</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Corriere d'Italia</i> (and <i>see</i> <a href="#Buonfiglio">Buonfiglio</a>), <a href="#Page_215">215</a>.</li> + +<li>Costume, Absence of, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>-<a href="#Page_288">288</a>.</li> + +<li>Cres, Italian measures at, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li><a name="Croats" id="Croats"></a>Croats and Agrarian Reform, <a href="#Page_133">133</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>.</li> +<li>— — and Magyars, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>.</li> +<li>— — their relations to the Serbs, <a href="#Page_111">111</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>-<a href="#Page_252">252</a>, <a href="#Page_397">397</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li>Crosse (Rev. E. C.), his <i>The Defeat of Austria</i>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>.</li> + +<li>Cunnington (Captain Willett), his accusation, <a href="#Page_306">306</a>, <a href="#Page_309">309</a>.</li> + +<li>Cvijić (Prof.), his views, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>.<br /><br /></li> + + +<li><i>Daily Telegraph</i>, quoted, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>.</li> + +<li><a name="Dalmatia" id="Dalmatia"></a>Dalmatia, why demanded by Italians, <a href="#Page_87">87</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> +<li>— — deportations from, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li> +<li>— — population, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>-<a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>-<a href="#Page_231">231</a>.</li> +<li>— — how treated by Italians, <a href="#Page_148">148</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li><i>Dalmazia</i>, a newspaper, <a href="#Page_171">171</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li><a name="DAnnunzio" id="DAnnunzio"></a>D'Annunzio, his absurdity, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>.</li> +<li>— — the Holy Entry, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>.</li> +<li>— — various exploits at Rieka, <a href="#Page_208">208</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> +<li>— — his invective, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.</li> +<li>— — his munificence, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>-<a href="#Page_281">281</a>.</li> +<li>— — in temporary possession, <a href="#Page_198">198</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> +<li>— — his thousand proclamations, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>.</li> +<li>— — disapproves of Treaty of Rapallo, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>-<a href="#Page_235">235</a>.</li> + +<li>Darković, the respected deputy, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>.</li> + +<li>Davidović, leader of Democrats, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>.</li> + +<li>Dell (Anthony) on the Italians, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>.</li> + +<li>Delonga (Jakov), his testimony, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>.</li> + +<li>Devine (A.) and his propaganda, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>-<a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>-<a href="#Page_228">228</a>.</li> + +<li>Djakovica, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>, <a href="#Page_298">298</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li>Djer Doucha, the villain, <a href="#Page_307">307</a>.</li> + +<li>Djoni (Mark), President of the Mirditi, <a href="#Page_324">324</a>, <a href="#Page_325">325</a>, <a href="#Page_328">328</a>, <a href="#Page_342">342</a>.</li> + +<li>Doci (Primo), the great Abbot, <a href="#Page_324">324</a>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_413" id="Page_413">[413]</a></span></li> + +<li>Doday (Father Paul), <a href="#Page_286">286</a>.</li> + +<li>Doimi (Dr.) of Vis, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>.</li> + +<li>Domiakušić (Prof.) at Šibenik, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>.</li> + +<li>Donghi (Marchese), his assertions, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>-<a href="#Page_27">27</a>.</li> + +<li>Draghicesco (Dr.), his <i>Les Roumains de Serbie</i>, <a href="#Page_356">356</a>.</li> + +<li>Drašković, his murder, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>-<a href="#Page_224">224</a>.</li> + +<li>Drin, river, as a frontier, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>, <a href="#Page_304">304</a>, <a href="#Page_321">321</a>.</li> + +<li>Durham (Edith), apologist, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>.</li> +<li>— — compared with Sir Charles Eliot, <a href="#Page_310">310</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> +<li>— — disgusted with Great Britain, <a href="#Page_313">313</a>.</li> +<li>— — her <i>Through the Lands of the Serb</i>, <a href="#Page_395">395</a>.</li> +<li>— — her <i>Twenty Years of Balkan Tangle</i>, <a href="#Page_310">310</a>.</li> +<li>— — her respect for Mr. Bottomley, <a href="#Page_311">311</a>.</li> +<li>— — her wrath, <a href="#Page_305">305</a>.</li> +<li>— — on Albanian medicine, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>.</li> +<li>— — on the tyranny of Serbian schools, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>.<br /><br /></li> + + +<li><i>Echo de l'Adriatique</i>, its suppression, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>-<a href="#Page_63">63</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Edinburgh Review</i>, quoted, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>, <a href="#Page_399">399</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Edinost</i>, quoted, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>.</li> + +<li>Eliot (Sir Charles), <a href="#Page_274">274</a>, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>, <a href="#Page_310">310</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li>Entente, Little, <a href="#Page_269">269</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li><i>Epopea Shqyptare</i>, quoted, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>.</li> + +<li>Essad and Essadists, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>-<a href="#Page_293">293</a>, <a href="#Page_336">336</a>, <a href="#Page_342">342</a>-<a href="#Page_343">343</a>, <a href="#Page_345">345</a>.</li> + +<li>European War and the Albanians, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>-<a href="#Page_313">313</a>, <a href="#Page_317">317</a>, <a href="#Page_345">345</a>-<a href="#Page_346">346</a>.</li> + +<li>Evangheli (Pandeli), <a href="#Page_345">345</a>.</li> + +<li>Evans (Sir Arthur), <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a> <i>et seq.<br /><br /></i></li> + + +<li>Fan Noli, the versatile, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>-<a href="#Page_328">328</a>.</li> + +<li>Fascisti, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li>Fichta (Father), <a href="#Page_284">284</a>, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>.</li> + +<li>Fisher (Rt. Hon. H. A. L.), <a href="#Page_340">340</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li>Fiume, <i>see</i> <a href="#Rieka">Rieka</a>.</li> + +<li>Fodor (Prof. Dr.), on race, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Fortnightly Review</i>, quoted, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>, <a href="#Page_324">324</a>, <a href="#Page_333">333</a>.</li> + +<li>Franchet d'Espérey (Marshal) and Albania, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>-<a href="#Page_279">279</a>, <a href="#Page_350">350</a>, <a href="#Page_351">351</a>.</li> +<li>— — — and Montenegro, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>.</li> + +<li>Frank party in Croatia, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>.</li> + +<li>French, how they regarded the Italians, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>-<a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>.</li> +<li>— how treated by the Italians, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>-<a href="#Page_199">199</a>.</li> + +<li>Freund (Leo), the secret agent, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>.</li> + +<li>Frontier, Yugoslav, with Albania, <a href="#Page_273">273</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> +<li>— — with Austria, <a href="#Page_374">374</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> +<li>— — with Bulgaria, <a href="#Page_354">354</a>-<a href="#Page_355">355</a>.</li> +<li>— — with Greece, <a href="#Page_353">353</a>-<a href="#Page_354">354</a>.</li> +<li>— — with Hungary, <a href="#Page_370">370</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> +<li>— — with Italy, <a href="#Page_383">383</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> +<li>— — with Roumania, <a href="#Page_356">356</a> <i>et seq.<br /><br /></i></li> + + +<li>Gaeta army, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>.</li> + +<li>Gardner (E.), on Balkanic mentality, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>.</li> + +<li>Gauvain, the publicist, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>.</li> + +<li>Gavazzi (Dr. A.), on Rieka's population, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Gazzetta del Popolo</i>, quoted, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>.</li> + +<li>"Géographie Humaine de la France," quoted, <a href="#Page_350">350</a>.</li> + +<li>Germans, in Banat, <a href="#Page_363">363</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> +<li>— in Carinthia, <a href="#Page_374">374</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li>Giglioli (Prof.), his claim, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>.</li> + +<li>Giolitti, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>.</li> + +<li>Giuratti, the patriot, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>-<a href="#Page_265">265</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Glasgow Herald</i>, on Treaty of Rapallo, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>.</li> + +<li>Glomažić, the lame prefect, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>.</li> + +<li>Goad (H. E.), his explanations, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>, <a href="#Page_325">325</a>, <a href="#Page_333">333</a>.</li> +<li>— — his wrath, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_324">324</a>, <a href="#Page_350">350</a>.</li> + +<li>Godart (Justin), his work in Albania, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>, <a href="#Page_334">334</a>.</li> +<li>— — his <i>L'Albanie en 1921</i>, <a href="#Page_351">351</a>.</li> + +<li>Gorica, its population, <a href="#Page_388">388</a>-<a href="#Page_389">389</a>.</li> + +<li>Gothardi of Rieka, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>-<a href="#Page_47">47</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Grazer Tagblatt</i>, <a href="#Page_378">378</a>.</li> + +<li>Grazioli (General) at Rieka, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>.</li> + +<li>Grossich (Dr.) of Rieka, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>-<a href="#Page_259">259</a>.</li> + +<li>Grubišić and his flag, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>.</li> + +<li>Gusinje, its past and future, <a href="#Page_304">304</a> <i>et seq.</i><br /><br /></li> + + +<li>Hahn (Consul), his labours, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>.</li> + +<li>Halim Beg Derala, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>.</li> + +<li>Hanotaux (Gabriel), <a href="#Page_294">294</a>, <a href="#Page_351">351</a>.</li> + +<li>Haumant (E.), his <i>La Slavisation de la Dalmatie</i>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>.</li> + +<li>Herbert (Hon. Aubrey, M.P.), <a href="#Page_288">288</a>.</li> +<li>— — on Montenegro, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>.</li> +<li>— — his propaganda, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_414" id="Page_414">[414]</a></span></li> + +<li>Herbert (Hon. Aubrey, M.P.), his request, <a href="#Page_323">323</a>.</li> +<li>— — his testimony, <a href="#Page_306">306</a>.</li> +<li>— — the 120 villages, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>.</li> + +<li>Hickmann (Prof.), cited, <a href="#Page_346">346</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Histoire illustrée de la guerre de 1914</i>, quoted, <a href="#Page_351">351</a>.</li> + +<li>Hlaća (Karlo) of Cres, <a href="#Page_56">56</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li>Horthy (Admiral) at Pola, <a href="#Page_17">17</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Hrvat</i>, on the Carinthian plebiscite, <a href="#Page_382">382</a>-<a href="#Page_383">383</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Humanité</i>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Hungarian Nation</i>, quoted, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>.</li> + +<li><a name="Hvar" id="Hvar"></a>Hvar, its interesting names, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>-<a href="#Page_33">33</a>.</li> +<li>— the Italians land on, <a href="#Page_32">32</a> <i>et seq.</i><br /><br /></li> + + +<li>Imperiali (Marquis), his submission, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>.</li> + +<li>Islamism, Fanatic, of some Albanians, <a href="#Page_299">299</a>.</li> +<li>— Superficial, of other, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>.</li> +<li>— Treatment of, by Greek Church, <a href="#Page_301">301</a>.</li> +<li>— Treatment of, by Montenegrins, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>.</li> + +<li>Islands of Adriatic, demanded by Italy, <a href="#Page_166">166</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> +<li>— — — visited, <a href="#Page_165">165</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li>Istria, its population, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_386">386</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li>Italianists of Dalmatia and Rieka, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>.</li> + +<li>Italians (and <i>see</i> <a href="#Dalmatia">Dalmatia</a>) and Allied flags, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>.</li> +<li>— reprimanded by their Allies, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>-<a href="#Page_162">162</a>.</li> +<li>— loyalty to Austria in the War, <a href="#Page_159">159</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> +<li>— system of bribery, <a href="#Page_156">156</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>.</li> +<li>— land in Dalmatia, <a href="#Page_29">29</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> +<li>— discouragement in 1917, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>.</li> +<li>— conduct towards the French, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>-<a href="#Page_199">199</a>.</li> +<li>— what they thought of the French, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>.</li> +<li>— generosity in Albania, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>, <a href="#Page_328">328</a>, <a href="#Page_333">333</a>, <a href="#Page_344">344</a>.</li> +<li>— Good and bad, on the islands, <a href="#Page_168">168</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> +<li>— incapacity, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>, <a href="#Page_319">319</a>.</li> +<li>— intrigues, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>, <a href="#Page_305">305</a>, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>, <a href="#Page_337">337</a>-<a href="#Page_338">338</a>, <a href="#Page_351">351</a>.</li> + +<li>Italians land in Istria, <a href="#Page_42">42</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> +<li>— and the Dalmatians' money, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>-<a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>-<a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>-<a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>.</li> +<li>— in Montenegro, <a href="#Page_94">94</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>-<a href="#Page_195">195</a>.</li> +<li>— naval enterprise, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>-<a href="#Page_124">124</a>.</li> +<li>— naval enterprise, lack of, <a href="#Page_16">16</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>-<a href="#Page_28">28</a>.</li> +<li>— measures at Rab, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>.</li> +<li>— measures against Rieka, <a href="#Page_262">262</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> +<li>— measures at Rieka, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> +<li>— against the Serbo-Croat language, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>.</li> +<li>— retreat from Slovenia, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</li> +<li>— what they had to face in 1918, <a href="#Page_12">12</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> +<li>— how they regard the Yugoslavs, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.</li> +<li>— how they are regarded by the Yugoslavs, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>-<a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>-<a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>-<a href="#Page_237">237</a>.</li> +<li>— relations with Yugoslavs, <a href="#Page_383">383</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> +<li>— steps against Yugoslav churches and schools, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>-<a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>-<a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Italy in the Balkans at this Hour</i>, quoted, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>.<br /><br /></li> + + +<li>Jaray (Gabriel Louis), <a href="#Page_352">352</a>.</li> + +<li>Jireček (Dr. C.), his <i>Die Handelsstrassen, etc.</i>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Journal des Débats</i>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>, <a href="#Page_339">339</a>.<br /><br /></li> + + +<li>Kadri (Hodja), <a href="#Page_283">283</a>.</li> + +<li>Karl (ex-Emperor), his grand offer, <a href="#Page_320">320</a>.</li> + +<li>Karólyi (Count Michael), <a href="#Page_125">125</a>.</li> + +<li>Katarani (Prof.), <a href="#Page_292">292</a>.</li> + +<li>Klementi, <a href="#Page_316">316</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li>Koch (Admiral), the active Slovene, <a href="#Page_17">17</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li>Korac, the remarkable Socialist, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>-<a href="#Page_118">118</a>.</li> + +<li>Korčula, Italians land on, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>-<a href="#Page_32">32</a>.</li> + +<li>Korošec (Monsignor), <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_382">382</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Koroski Slovenec</i>, <a href="#Page_383">383</a>.</li> + +<li>"Kossovo" Committee, <a href="#Page_326">326</a>.</li> + +<li>Kossovo in Yugoslavia, its condition, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>.</li> + +<li>Kovaćs (A.), turns to the Croats, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>.</li> + +<li><a name="Krk" id="Krk"></a>Krk, the persecuted Bishop, <a href="#Page_40">40</a> <i>et seq.</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_415" id="Page_415">[415]</a></span></li> +<li>— Proceedings at, <a href="#Page_39">39</a> <i>et seq.</i><br /><br /></li> + + +<li><i>Labour Monthly</i> on the "White Terror," <a href="#Page_224">224</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Land and Water</i>, quoted, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.</li> + +<li>Language of Bosnia, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>.</li> + +<li>Laveleye (M. de), his <i>The Balkan Peninsula</i>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Lavoratore</i>, quoted, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>, <a href="#Page_386">386</a>.</li> + +<li>Lazari, his question, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>.</li> + +<li>League of Nations, <a href="#Page_323">323</a>, <a href="#Page_337">337</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li>Leiper (R.), the shrewd observer, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>-<a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>.</li> + +<li>Lenac (Dr.) of Rieka, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Leonidas</i>, the American ship, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>-<a href="#Page_32">32</a>.</li> + +<li>Lesina, <i>see</i> <a href="#Hvar">Hvar</a>.</li> + +<li>Leyland (John), the naval authority, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>.</li> + +<li><a name="Liga" id="Liga"></a>Liga Nazionale, its schools, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_318">318</a>.</li> + +<li>Lin, a village, <a href="#Page_342">342</a>.</li> + +<li>Lincoln, quoted, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>.</li> + +<li>Lissa, <i>see</i> <a href="#Vis">Vis</a>.</li> + +<li>Ljocha (Alush) and his house, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>-<a href="#Page_284">284</a>.</li> + +<li>Lloyd George (D.) and the Adriatic, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>-<a href="#Page_214">214</a>.</li> +<li>— — and the Serbo-Albanian frontier, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>, <a href="#Page_336">336</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li>Lovrana, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>-<a href="#Page_74">74</a>.</li> + +<li>Luzzatti, compares two civilizations, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>.<br /><br /></li> + + +<li>Macchiedo (Dr.), liberated from Sardinia, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li> + +<li>Macdonald (J. N.), his <i>A Political Escapade</i>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>.</li> + +<li>Macedonia, and the Communists, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>-<a href="#Page_223">223</a>.</li> +<li>— its progress and future, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_405">405</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li>Magnanimity of the Serbs, <a href="#Page_124">124</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>.</li> + +<li>Magyar hopes, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>.</li> + +<li>Mahnić (Bishop), <i>see</i> <a href="#Krk">Krk</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Manchester Guardian</i>, quoted, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>, <a href="#Page_313">313</a>.</li> + +<li>Mandirazza (F.) and his two masters, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.</li> + +<li>Marković (Dr. Lazar), <a href="#Page_337">337</a>.</li> + +<li>Marković (Sima), the Communist, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>-<a href="#Page_224">224</a>, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>.</li> + +<li>Martinić (Count), his ruthlessness, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>-<a href="#Page_99">99</a>.</li> + +<li>Martinović (General), <a href="#Page_346">346</a>.</li> + +<li>Massingham (H. W.), <a href="#Page_192">192</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Mattino</i>, quoted, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>.</li> + +<li>Maximović (Colonel) at Rieka, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>-<a href="#Page_52">52</a>.</li> + +<li>Mazzini, and Vis, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Mercure de France</i>, quoted, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>.</li> + +<li>Miletić (Captain), his murder, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>.</li> + +<li>Millo (Admiral), on Austrian currency, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>.</li> +<li>— — on Dr. Boxich, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>.</li> +<li>— — and d'Annunzio, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>.</li> +<li>— — Homage to, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>.</li> +<li>— — discourses on public order, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>.</li> +<li>— — on the Slavs, <a href="#Page_141">141</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li>Milovanović (Dr.), on Macedonia, <a href="#Page_406">406</a>.</li> + +<li>Minorities in Yugoslavia, <a href="#Page_201">201</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li>Mirditi, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>, <a href="#Page_323">323</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_340">340</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li>M'Neill (Ronald, M.P.), champion of Montenegro, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li>Montaigne, quoted, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>.</li> + +<li>Montenegrins and Albanians, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>-<a href="#Page_137">137</a>.</li> +<li>— and the Austrian army, <a href="#Page_98">98</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> +<li>— their culture, <a href="#Page_393">393</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> +<li>— their General Election, <a href="#Page_253">253</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> +<li>— as migrants, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>.</li> +<li>— misled, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>-<a href="#Page_188">188</a>.</li> + +<li>Montesquieu, quoted, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>.</li> + +<li>Moretti (Dr.), his pacific efforts, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>-<a href="#Page_181">181</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Morning Post</i>, quoted, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>-<a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>, <a href="#Page_336">336</a>, <a href="#Page_400">400</a>.</li> + +<li>Moslems in Bosnia, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>-<a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>-<a href="#Page_221">221</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_393">393</a>.</li> + +<li>Mousset (Albert), <a href="#Page_339">339</a>.</li> + +<li>Müller (Dr. Max) and Albanian affairs, <a href="#Page_276">276</a> <i>et seq.</i><br /><br /></li> + + +<li>Narodna Uprava, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Nation</i>, quoted, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>, <a href="#Page_310">310</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Nazione</i>, quoted, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Near East</i>, quoted, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>, <a href="#Page_309">309</a>, <a href="#Page_337">337</a>, <a href="#Page_346">346</a>-<a href="#Page_347">347</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Neue Freie Presse</i>, quoted, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>.</li> + +<li><i>New Europe</i>, quoted, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>-<a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_369">369</a>.</li> + +<li><i>New Statesman</i>, quoted, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>, <a href="#Page_309">309</a>.</li> + +<li>Nicholas of Montenegro, his lack of courage, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>.</li> +<li>— — deposed, <a href="#Page_100">100</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> +<li>— — his downfall, <a href="#Page_255">255</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li>Nicholas of Montenegro, his methods with Albanians, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_416" id="Page_416">[416]</a></span></li> +<li>— — his methods with Europe, <a href="#Page_304">304</a>.</li> +<li>— — and the Skupština, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.</li> + +<li>Nikai (Dom Ndoc), <a href="#Page_285">285</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Nineteenth Century and After</i>, quoted, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>.</li> + +<li>Nitti and d'Annunzio, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>-<a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>-<a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>.</li> + +<li>Nopsca (Baron), <a href="#Page_274">274</a>, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>.</li> + +<li>Novi Bazar, Sandjak, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_316">316</a>-<a href="#Page_317">317</a>.<br /><br /></li> + + +<li>Obradović (Dositej), <a href="#Page_315">315</a>.</li> + +<li>Obrovac, Divergent views concerning, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Observer</i>, quoted, <a href="#Page_340">340</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Obzor</i>, a newspaper, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>.</li> + +<li>Orlando, the Premier, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>-<a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>.<br /><br /></li> + + +<li>Pact of Rome, <a href="#Page_84">84</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>.</li> + +<li>Paolucci (Lieut.), and the <i>Viribus Unitis</i>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li>Parkington (Sir R.), <a href="#Page_194">194</a>.</li> + +<li>Parties, Political, in Yugoslavia, <a href="#Page_117">117</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li>Pašić, his astuteness, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>.</li> +<li>— his prudence, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>.</li> + +<li>Patchoù (Dr.), of the triumvirate, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>.</li> + +<li>Pavelić (Dr. A.), dentist and politician, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>-<a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>.</li> + +<li>Peć, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>.</li> + +<li>Pelagosa, its amenities, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>.</li> + +<li>Pericone (Captain) of Scutari, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>, <a href="#Page_343">343</a>.</li> + +<li>Pistuli (Notz), his mission, <a href="#Page_328">328</a>.</li> + +<li>Pivko (Prof.), his exploit, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>.</li> + +<li>Plamenac (J.) and the Gaeta army <a href="#Page_187">187</a>.</li> +<li>— — his unpopularity, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>-<a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</li> + +<li>Plav, <a href="#Page_304">304</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li>Podgorica Skupština, <a href="#Page_100">100</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li>Poggi (Lieut.), at Korčula, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>.</li> + +<li>Pojar (Dr.), his case, <a href="#Page_390">390</a>.</li> + +<li>Pola, <a href="#Page_16">16</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_387">387</a>-<a href="#Page_388">388</a>.</li> + +<li>Pombara (Captain Binnos de), his feat, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>-<a href="#Page_28">28</a>.</li> + +<li>Pommerol (Captain), on the islands, <a href="#Page_165">165</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li>Popović (Dr. Dušan), <a href="#Page_246">246</a>-<a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <a href="#Page_399">399</a>.</li> + +<li>Popovitch (Dr. A.), his curious +career, <a href="#Page_356">356</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li><i>Posta e Shqypnis</i>, quoted, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Pravda</i>, quoted, <a href="#Page_336">336</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Pravi Dalmatinac</i>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>.</li> + +<li>Prekomurdje, what happened there, <a href="#Page_372">372</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li>Prênnushi (Father Vincent), <a href="#Page_286">286</a>, <a href="#Page_344">344</a>.</li> + +<li>Prezzolini (G.), on Dalmatia and Tripoli, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.</li> +<li>— — and Vis, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.</li> + +<li>Pribičević (Svetozar), the Minister, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>-<a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>-<a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>-<a href="#Page_241">241</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_399">399</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Primorske Novine</i>, quoted, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>.</li> + +<li>Priština, Horrid conditions at, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>.</li> + +<li>Protić, the statesman, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>-<a href="#Page_226">226</a>.<br /><br /></li> + + +<li><i>Quarterly Review</i>, on Yugoslavia, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>.<br /><br /></li> + + +<li>Race before religion, <a href="#Page_390">390</a>-<a href="#Page_391">391</a>.</li> + +<li>Račić (Pouniša), <a href="#Page_278">278</a>, <a href="#Page_306">306</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_330">330</a>.</li> + +<li>Radić (S.) of Croatia, <a href="#Page_111">111</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>-<a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_238">238</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_399">399</a>.</li> +<li>— — his <i>Dom</i>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>-<a href="#Page_243">243</a>.</li> + +<li>Radošević (Dr.), <a href="#Page_118">118</a>.</li> + +<li>Radović (Andrija), <a href="#Page_187">187</a>-<a href="#Page_188">188</a>.</li> + +<li>Raineri (Admiral), <a href="#Page_49">49</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li><a name="Rapallo" id="Rapallo"></a>Rapallo, Treaty of, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_384">384</a>.</li> + +<li>Rapp, his testimonial, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Rassegna Italiana</i>, quoted, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>.</li> + +<li>Re-Bartlett (Mrs.), on Dalmatia, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>-<a href="#Page_231">231</a>.</li> + +<li>Red Cross, American, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>.</li> +<li>— — International, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>.</li> +<li>— — Italian, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>.</li> + +<li>Regnault (E.), his <i>Histoire politique, etc.</i>, <a href="#Page_358">358</a>.</li> + +<li>Religion before race, <a href="#Page_372">372</a>.</li> + +<li><a name="Rieka" id="Rieka"></a>Rieka, <i>see</i> <a href="#DAnnunzio">D'Annunzio</a> and <a href="#Vio">Vio</a>.</li> +<li>— Americans at, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>.</li> +<li>— the Austrian stores, <a href="#Page_216">216</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> +<li>— Baroš harbour, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>.</li> +<li>— the C.N.I., <a href="#Page_45">45</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>-<a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> +<li>— Croat mistakes, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>-<a href="#Page_49">49</a>.</li> +<li>— Croat National Council, <a href="#Page_45">45</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>-<a href="#Page_63">63</a>.</li> +<li>— economic position, <a href="#Page_66">66</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> +<li>— the frenzy, <a href="#Page_137">137</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> +<li>— moribund under Italy, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>.</li> +<li>— population analysed, <a href="#Page_53">53</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> +<li>— a few scandals, <a href="#Page_216">216</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li>Rieka and the Treaty of Rapallo, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>-<a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_385">385</a> <i>et seq.</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_417" id="Page_417">[417]</a></span></li> + +<li><i>Rijeć</i>, quoted, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>.</li> + +<li>Ristić (Colonel) and the komitadjis, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>-<a href="#Page_195">195</a>.</li> + +<li>Rossetti (Major) and the <i>Viribus Unitis</i>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li>Roth (Dr.), Lord of Temešvar, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>-<a href="#Page_128">128</a>.</li> + +<li>Roumanians in Banat, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_362">362</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> +<li>— and their Jews, <a href="#Page_203">203</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> +<li>— in Serbia, <a href="#Page_356">356</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li>Rugovo, Reason for burning of, <a href="#Page_305">305</a>.</li> + +<li>Ryan (T. S.) of the <i>Chicago Tribune</i>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>-<a href="#Page_199">199</a>.<br /><br /></li> + + +<li>Salis (Count de), his mission, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>-<a href="#Page_191">191</a>.</li> + +<li>Salonica, and the Serbs, <a href="#Page_353">353</a>-<a href="#Page_354">354</a>.</li> + +<li>Salvemini (Prof.), the anti-chauvinist, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>-<a href="#Page_232">232</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>.</li> + +<li>Salvi (Dr.) of Split, <a href="#Page_159">159</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li><i>Samouprava</i>, quoted, <a href="#Page_337">337</a>.</li> + +<li>San Marzano (General di), <a href="#Page_51">51</a>-<a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</li> + +<li>Sanctis (Lieut. de), his sanctions, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>.</li> + +<li>Saseno, <a href="#Page_295">295</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Saturday Review</i>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>.</li> + +<li>Savinsky, the Russian Minister, <a href="#Page_406">406</a>.</li> + +<li>Sazonov, and the Adriatic, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>-<a href="#Page_92">92</a>.</li> + +<li>Schanzer (Signor), on Rieka, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>-<a href="#Page_265">265</a>.</li> + +<li>Schools, <i>see</i> <a href="#Liga">Liga Nazionale</a>.</li> +<li>— for Albanians, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>.</li> +<li>— in Carinthia, <a href="#Page_377">377</a>-<a href="#Page_378">378</a>.</li> +<li>— at Cres, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>-<a href="#Page_58">58</a>.</li> +<li>— in Dalmatia, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>-<a href="#Page_147">147</a>.</li> +<li>— in Istria, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>-<a href="#Page_74">74</a>.</li> +<li>— at Korčula, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>.</li> +<li>— Militant, at Borgo Erizzo, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>.</li> +<li>— in Montenegro, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>.</li> +<li>— at Pola, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>.</li> +<li>— at Rieka, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>.</li> +<li>— at Šibenik, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>-<a href="#Page_145">145</a>.</li> +<li>— at Zadar, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Scotsman</i>, on Treaty of Rapallo, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>.</li> + +<li>Scutari, its probable future, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>, <a href="#Page_320">320</a>, <a href="#Page_335">335</a>.</li> + +<li>Sebenico, <i>see</i> <a href="#sibenik">Šibenik</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Secolo</i>, on Montenegro, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>.</li> +<li>— on Treaty of London, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Secours des Enfants Serbes</i>, <i>Au</i>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>.</li> + +<li>Segré (General), his alleged request, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Sera</i>, quoted, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>.</li> + +<li>Serbo-Croat Coalition, <a href="#Page_245">245</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li>Serbs, in relation to Albanians, <a href="#Page_295">295</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> +<li>— — — Croats (and <i>see</i> <a href="#Croats">Croats</a>), <a href="#Page_115">115</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_397">397</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> +<li>— — — Montenegrins, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>-<a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>-<a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_393">393</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li>Sereggi (Archbishop), <a href="#Page_281">281</a>-<a href="#Page_284">284</a>.</li> + +<li>Seton-Watson (Dr. R. W.), <a href="#Page_236">236</a>, <a href="#Page_347">347</a>, <a href="#Page_354">354</a>.</li> + +<li>Sforza (Count), his letter, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>.</li> + +<li><a name="sibenik" id="sibenik"></a>Šibenik, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>-<a href="#Page_145">145</a>.</li> + +<li>Siebertz, the traveller, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>.</li> + +<li>Šimunović (M.) and the Italians, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>.</li> + +<li>Slovenes (<i>see</i> <a href="#Carinthia">Carinthia</a>), their country, <a href="#Page_120">120</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>-<a href="#Page_236">236</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>.</li> +<li>— their culture, <a href="#Page_392">392</a>-<a href="#Page_393">393</a>.</li> +<li>— their political methods, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>-<a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_374">374</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li>Socialists, Italian, and Rieka, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>-<a href="#Page_212">212</a>.</li> + +<li>Šojat (F.) and Dr. Vio, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>.</li> + +<li>Sonnino (Baron), <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>-<a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_374">374</a>, <a href="#Page_384">384</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Spectator</i>, quoted, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>.</li> + +<li>Sportiello (Captain) at Vis, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>.</li> + +<li>Stadler (Lieut.-Colonel), the podestà, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>.</li> + +<li>Stamboulüsky as a Yugoslav, <a href="#Page_399">399</a>.</li> + +<li>Stamps, at Zagreb, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>.</li> + +<li>Starčević party in Croatia, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>.</li> + +<li>Steed (H. Wickham), his letter, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>.</li> + +<li>Steinen (Dr. H. von den) and the Bulgars, <a href="#Page_404">404</a>.</li> + +<li>Steinmetz, the traveller, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>.</li> + +<li>Štiglić and the poor officials, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>.</li> + +<li>Strossmayer, Radić on, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Suisse</i>, <i>La</i>, quoted, <a href="#Page_328">328</a>.</li> + +<li>Supilo, of Dalmatia, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>.</li> + +<li>Sušak, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>-<a href="#Page_55">55</a>.</li> + +<li>Susmel (Edoardo), the writer, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>.</li> + +<li>Švegel (Ivan), on Italian shipping policy, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>-<a href="#Page_124">124</a>.</li> + +<li>Svibić (Colonel) and the Italians, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</li> + +<li>Sydenham (Lord), his lack of discretion, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>-<a href="#Page_189">189</a>.</li> + +<li>Szeged, its position, <a href="#Page_369">369</a>.<br /><br /></li> + + +<li><i>Tablet</i>, quoted, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>.</li> + +<li>Tamaro (Dr. A.) and <i>Modern Italy</i>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>.</li> + +<li>Tardieu, his suggestion concerning Rieka, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>.</li> + +<li>Taylor (A. H. E.), on Prekomurdje, <a href="#Page_373">373</a>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_418" id="Page_418">[418]</a></span></li> + +<li>Temešvar in transition, <a href="#Page_126">126</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_367">367</a>.</li> + +<li>Temperley (Major H. W. V.), on Albania, <a href="#Page_338">338</a>-<a href="#Page_339">339</a>.</li> +<li>— — on Montenegro, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>-<a href="#Page_255">255</a>.</li> +<li>— — his <i>A History of the Peace Conference</i>, <a href="#Page_354">354</a>.</li> +<li>— — his <i>The Second Year of the League</i>, <a href="#Page_338">338</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Tempo</i>, on the Rieka deputations, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Temps</i>, quoted, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_336">336</a>.</li> + +<li>Teslić (Colonel), <a href="#Page_50">50</a>-<a href="#Page_51">51</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Times</i>, quoted, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_344">344</a>-<a href="#Page_345">345</a>.</li> + +<li>Tittoni, and Rieka, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>.</li> + +<li>Tomić (Jaša), the old-fashioned, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_397">397</a>.</li> + +<li>Treaty of London, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>-<a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>.</li> +<li>— — Rapallo, <i>see</i> <a href="#Rapallo">Rapallo</a>.</li> + +<li>Trešić-Pavičić (Dr. A.), <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>.</li> + +<li>Trevelyan (G. M.), on the Italians in Dalmatia, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Tribuna</i>, quoted, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Tribune de Genève</i>, quoted, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>.</li> + +<li>Triest, what is desirable, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>.</li> +<li>— its future, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_386">386</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> +<li>— Italians and Slovenes, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>.</li> +<li>— its population, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>.</li> + +<li>Trogir, the great invasion, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>-<a href="#Page_201">201</a>.</li> + +<li>Trumbić (Dr. A.), <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>, <a href="#Page_321">321</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Turkey in Europe</i>, quoted, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>.<br /><br /></li> + + +<li><i>Under the Acroceraunian Mountains</i>, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>, <a href="#Page_351">351</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Unità</i>, quoted, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>.<br /><br /></li> + + +<li>Veglia, <i>see</i> <a href="#Krk">Krk</a>.</li> + +<li>Velika Kikinda, its necessities, <a href="#Page_368">368</a>.</li> + +<li>Velimirović (Bishop), his <i>The Children of the Illuminator</i>, <a href="#Page_398">398</a>.</li> + +<li>Venizelos and the Serbs, <a href="#Page_353">353</a>-<a href="#Page_354">354</a>.</li> +<li>— and Thrace, <a href="#Page_355">355</a>.</li> + +<li>Veprinac, its population, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>.</li> + +<li>Verdinois (Major), his word, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Verrath bei Carzano</i>, <i>Der</i>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>.</li> + +<li>Veršac, the former Bishop's declaration, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>.</li> + +<li>Veršac, scene of Roumanian activities, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>.</li> + +<li>Vesnić (Dr.) and the Italians, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>-<a href="#Page_234">234</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>.</li> + +<li>Vešović (General), his enterprises, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>-<a href="#Page_229">229</a>.</li> + +<li><a name="Vio" id="Vio"></a>Vio (Dr.) of Rieka, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>-<a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>-<a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li><a name="Vis" id="Vis"></a>Vis, Italians land on, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>.</li> +<li>— concerning its possession, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>-<a href="#Page_83">83</a>.</li> + +<li>Vivante (A.), his <i>L'irredentismo adriatico</i>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>.</li> + +<li>Vivian (H.), his ferocity, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>.</li> + +<li>Volosca, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>-<a href="#Page_74">74</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Vorstoss in die Nordalbanischen Alpen</i>, quoted, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>.</li> + +<li>Vukotić (Voivoda), his answer, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>.</li> + +<li>Vuković (Admiral), his fate, <a href="#Page_20">20</a> <i>et seq.</i><br /><br /></li> + + +<li>Westlake (Prof.), his <i>International Law</i>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>.</li> + +<li>Wied (Prince of), erstwhile Mpret, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>-<a href="#Page_277">277</a>.</li> +<li>— (Princess of), her ladies criticized, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>.</li> + +<li>Wilson (President), <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>-<a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>-<a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>-<a href="#Page_214">214</a>.<br /><br /></li> + + +<li>Xenia (Princess), <a href="#Page_103">103</a>.<br /><br /></li> + + +<li>Yastrebow, the Russian authority, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>.</li> + +<li>Yugoslavia, conditions after the War, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>.</li> +<li>— her cohesion, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>.</li> +<li>— and the future, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>-<a href="#Page_237">237</a>, <a href="#Page_398">398</a>-<a href="#Page_399">399</a>.<br /><br /></li> + + +<li><a name="Zadar" id="Zadar"></a>Zadar, reception of Italians, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.</li> +<li>— Schools at, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.</li> +<li>— and Treaty of Rapallo, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>-<a href="#Page_269">269</a>, <a href="#Page_385">385</a>.</li> +<li>— Wild doings at, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>-<a href="#Page_38">38</a>.</li> + +<li>Zagreb and the future, <a href="#Page_398">398</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> +<li>— and the stamps, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Zagreber Tagblatt</i>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>-<a href="#Page_265">265</a>.</li> + +<li>Zanella (Prof.), <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li>Zara, <i>see</i> <a href="#Zadar">Zadar</a>.</li> + +<li>Zarić (Bishop), and Wilson, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>-<a href="#Page_92">92</a>.</li> + +<li>Zarić (Prof.), his removal, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>.</li> + +<li>Zena Beg, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>-<a href="#Page_283">283</a>, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>.</li> + +<li>Ziliotto (Dr.) of Zara, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>-<a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>-<a href="#Page_165">165</a>.</li> +</ul> + + + +<p class="center" style="font-size: 80%; padding-top: 1em; font-weight: bold">PRINTED BY MORRISON AND GIBB LIMITED, EDINBURGH</p> + + +<p class="figcenter"><a href="images/map-whole2.jpg"><img src="images/map-whole2_th.jpg" +alt="Map of Yugoslavia" title="Map of Yugoslavia" /></a><a name="map" id="map"></a></p> + +<div class="note"> + +<p>Please hover your mouse over the words with a thin dotted red line +underneath them for seeing <ins class="correction" +title="like this">what the original reads</ins>, or a transliteration +of a Greek word.</p> + +<p>Obvious printer's errors have been fixed. See below for the more +detailed list.</p> + +<p>The formatting of the project has been reproduced as true to the +original images as possible.</p> + +<h3>Fixed issues</h3> + +<ul><li>page <a href="#Page_7">007</a>—inserted a missing apostrophe after 'Italians'</li> +<li>page <a href="#Page_9">009</a>—typo fixed: changed 'weapoms' to 'weapons'</li> +<li>page <a href="#Page_14">014</a>—typo fixed: changed 'as' to 'a'</li> +<li>page <a href="#Page_48">048</a>—typo fixed: changed 'thay' to 'they'</li> +<li>page <a href="#Page_54">054</a>—typo fixed: changed 'hold' to 'held'</li> +<li>page <a href="#Page_77">077</a>—typo fixed: changed 'Corriera' to 'Corriere'</li> +<li>page <a href="#Page_94">094</a>—typo fixed: changed a comma to a period after 'repression'</li> +<li>page <a href="#Page_94">094</a>—typo fixed: changed a period to a comma after 'lend their men'</li> +<li>page <a href="#Page_146">146</a>—typo fixed: changed 'aproached' to 'approached'</li> +<li>page <a href="#Page_147">147</a>—typo fixed: changed 'permittep' to 'permitted'</li> +<li>page <a href="#Page_172">172</a>—removed an extra opening bracket in front of 'There are places'</li> +<li>page <a href="#Page_181">181</a>—typo fixed: changed 'If was' to 'It was'</li> +<li>page <a href="#Page_189">189</a>—typo fixed: changed 'Montengrins' to 'Montenegrins'</li> +<li>page <a href="#Page_196">196</a>—removed an extra opening bracket in front of 'As for large'</li> +<li>page <a href="#Page_197">197</a>—removed an extra closing bracket after '100 lire'</li> +<li>page <a href="#Page_209">209</a>—typo fixed: inserted a missing period after 'per cent'</li> +<li>page <a href="#Page_222">222</a>—typo fixed: 'YUGLOSLAVIA' changed to 'YUGOSLAVIA'</li> +<li>page <a href="#Page_317">317</a>—typo fixed: changed 'irode' to 'rode'</li> +<li>page <a href="#Page_343">343</a>—typo fixed: changed 'Yulgosav' to 'Yugoslav'</li> +<li>page <a href="#Page_371">371</a>—typo fixed: changed 'persumably' to 'presumably'</li> +<li>page <a href="#Page_377">377</a>—typo fixed: changed a comma to a period after 'less regarded'</li> +<li>page <a href="#Page_408">408</a>—typo fixed: changed 'preservaiton' to 'preservation'</li> +<li>page <a href="#Page_411">411</a>—inserted a missing comma after 'Books'</li></ul> + +</div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Birth of Yugoslavia, Volume 2, by +Henry Baerlein + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BIRTH OF YUGOSLAVIA, VOLUME 2 *** + +***** This file should be named 24781-h.htm or 24781-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/7/8/24781/ + +Produced by Jason Isbell, Irma Spehar and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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