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diff --git a/24781.txt b/24781.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a7abf81 --- /dev/null +++ b/24781.txt @@ -0,0 +1,15804 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Birth of Yugoslavia, Volume 2, by Henry Baerlein + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. 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: ASCII + +*** 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 + + + + + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES + +Obvious printer's errors have been fixed. See the end of the project +for the more detailed list. + +The formatting of the project has been reproduced as true to the +original images as possible. + +THE LEGEND FOR NON-LATIN-1 CHARACTERS + +['c], ['C] c with acute +[vc], [vC] c with caron +[vs], [vS] s with caron +[vz], [vZ] z with caron +d[vz], D[vz] d and z with caron + + + + +THE BIRTH OF +YUGOSLAVIA + +BY + +HENRY BAERLEIN + +VOLUME II + +LONDON +LEONARD PARSONS +DEVONSHIRE STREET + +_First Published 1922_ +_[All Rights Reserved]_ + +LEONARD PARSONS LTD. + + + + +CONTENTS OF VOLUME II + + + PAGE + + VI. YUGOSLAVIA'S FIRST YEAR OF LIBERTY (AUTUMN 1918 TO AUTUMN 1919) 7 + + VII. FURTHER MONTHS OF TRIAL (1919-1921) 208 + +VIII. YUGOSLAVIA'S FRONTIERS (1921) 272 + + IX. CONCLUSION: A FEW NATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS 392 + + INDEX 411 + + MAP OF YUGOSLAVIA + + + + +THE BIRTH OF YUGOSLAVIA + + + + +VI + +YUGOSLAVIA'S FIRST YEAR OF LIBERTY + + +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--ITALIANS' MILDNESS ON THE ISLE OF VIS--THEIR TRUCULENCE AT +KOR[VC]ULA--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--RADI['C] 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--TEME[VS]VAR 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 +[VS]IBENIK--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 VISIT +TO SOME OF THE ISLANDS--WHICH THE ITALIANS TRIED TO OBTAIN BEFORE, BUT +NOT DURING, THE WAR--OUR WELCOME TO JEL[VS]A--PROCEEDINGS AT +STARIGRAD--THE AFFAIRS OF HVAR--FOUR MEN OF KOMI[VZ]A--THE WOMEN OF +BI[VS]EVO--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 MILETI['C]--D'ANNUNZIO COMES TO +RIEKA--THE GREAT INVASION OF TROGIR--THE SUCCESSION STATES AND THEIR +MINORITIES--OBLIGATIONS IMPOSED ON THEM BECAUSE OF ROUMANIAN +ANTISEMITISM. + + +NEW FOES FOR OLD + +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, _The Hungarian Nation_, 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. Kovacs, +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 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. + + +ROUMANIAN ACTIVITIES + +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 weapons 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, 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 Me[vs]ica, near Ver[vs]ac, +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 Ver[vs]ac a National Roumanian Military Council. The placard, +printed of course in Roumanian, is dated Ver[vs]ac, 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 _in l[)a]untra [s,]i in afar[)a]_ (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 Ver[vs]ac, begged his friend Captain Singler of the +_gendarmerie_ 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 Me[vs]ica was in his district, and that he had no +animus against Roumanians but only against plunderers. After his arrival +at Me[vs]ica 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 Ver[vs]ac +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. "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." + + +THE ITALIAN FRAME OF MIND + +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 +_morale_. + + +SENSITIVENESS WITH RESPECT TO THEIR ARMY + +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 Boroevi['c] 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 reasons--the artillery was unpacked and the Austrians +returned to their old front. In May 1917, between Monte Gabriele and +Doberdo, Boroevi['c] 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, _Der Verrath bei +Carzano_ ("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 _debacle_ on the Piave are as +follows: when the Allied troops had reached Rann, Susegana, Ponte di +Piave and Montiena, the Austrian High Command 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 a 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.;[1] 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 +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. + +"The record of the Italian troops in the field renders unnecessary an +assertion of their courage," says Mr. Anthony Dell;[2] "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 +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. + + +AN UNFORTUNATE NAVAL AFFAIR + +There was in Yugoslav naval circles no very cordial feeling for the +Italians. The Austrian dreadnought, _Viribus Unitis_, 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 nightfall on October 31, 1918, the raiders +arrived outside Pola. + +Were they aware that anything had happened in the Austro-Hungarian navy? +On October 26 there appeared in the _Hrvatski List_ 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. + + +WHAT WAS HAPPENING AT POLA + +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 _Viribus Unitis_, 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 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 _Viribus +Unitis_, 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 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. + +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 Tresi['c]-Pavi[vc]i['c], 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. Tresi['c]-Pavi[vc]i['c],[3] 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 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 _Viribus Unitis_, between +Tresi['c]-Pavi[vc]i['c] 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 _proces-verbal_ 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 Tresi['c]-Pavi[vc]i['c] in an article in the +_Balkan Review_ (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 Vukovi['c] 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 Vukovi['c], 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. + + +THE STORY OF THE "VIRIBUS UNITIS" + +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,[4] 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 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 _Viribus Unitis_ 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 _Viribus Unitis_ 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 +Vukovi['c] 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[5] 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 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 Vukovi['c], who had insisted on going down +with his ship. About fifty other men were killed. + +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 _Viribus Unitis_ had been torpedoed by two Italians, who were in +custody. And then the wireless was sent to Paris. + +The two officers were taken to the Admiralty and then placed on the +dreadnought _Prince Eugene_, it being rumoured that the Italians of Pola +intended to rescue them. Subsequently Koch and other officers, together +with Dr. Stani['c], President of the Italian National Council, went out +to see the prisoners. Stani['c] 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. + +"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." + +They said that that was so. + +"But if you had known," said the Admiral to Rossetti, "would you have +done this?" + +"Yes," he answered. "I am an officer. I had my orders to blow up the +ship and I would have obeyed them." + +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. + +Never, says Koch, will the unpleasant taste of those 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 +_Viribus Unitis_ 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. + + +HOW THE ITALIANS LANDED AT POLA + +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 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 _Radetzky_. 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. + + +THE SEA-FARING YUGOSLAVS + +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 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,[6] 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,[7] 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 Bra[vc] 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 +Kor[vc]ula 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 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 _bourgeoisie_, 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, +Mihanovi['c], 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 _Fortnightly Review_ 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 one-third of the population of Dalmatia is +Italian, and "almost exclusively the nobility and the upper +_bourgeoisie_." 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! + + +WHO SET A STANDARD THAT WAS TOO HIGH + +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[8] of the experience of some French ladies who came to the +Albanian coast on the _Citta di Bari_ 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 _Brindisi_ 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 _Citta di Bari_ 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 _Fourche_, had been +escorting the _Citta di Messina_ 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 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 _Citta di Messina_, 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. + + +AN ELECTRICAL ATMOSPHERE AND NO PRECAUTIONS + +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 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. + + +ITALIAN MILDNESS ON THE ISLE OF VIS + +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 Duimi['c] 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 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.[9] 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 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. + + +THEIR TRUCULENCE AT KOR[vC]ULA + +They landed on the same day, November 3, on the beautiful and prosperous +island of Kor[vc]ula (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 Kor[vc]ula, 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 Kor[vc]ula. 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 Kor[vc]ula 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 Kor[vc]ula, 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 _Leonidas_, an American +ship, came in with a number of mine-sweepers. 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 _Leonidas_ 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 Kor[vc]ula. One day a steamer came from Metkovi['c], +having on board a few men of the Yugoslav Legion. The people of +Kor[vc]ula, 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 [vS]imunovi['c], who had gone to Australia +from the Kor[vc]ula village of Ra[vc]i[vs]ca, 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. + +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 [Greek: ho +pharos], which subsequently became Farra or Quarra, leading to the name +Hvar, by which it is known to the Slavs. They also, 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.[10] 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 +[vS]ibenik, Zemunik, etc. + + +AND ON HVAR + +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 mirrors did not long resist the +fine elan of the attacking party. Old vases, other ornaments and books +were thrown into the harbour near the _Sirio_, 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 _Sirio's_ 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. + + +HOW THEY WERE RECEIVED AT ZADAR + +On the mainland the Italians were received at [vS]ibenik with some +suspicion. They announced, however, that they came as representatives of +the Allies, and begged for a pilot who would take them into [vS]ibenik'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--_Sebenico_, _Lussin_, _Mossor_ +and _Dinara_--with a total displacement of 390 tons.) 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,[11] 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 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. + +[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.] + + +WHAT THEY DID THERE + +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. +Stoikevi['c]--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 +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 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. + + +PRETTY DOINGS AT KRK + +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 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 _Stocco_ 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. +Mahni['c],[12] 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 Gregor[vc]i['c] and A[vs]kerc, both of +them priests. The former, being of a mild disposition, bowed before the +storm; but A[vs]kerc 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 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. Mahni['c] 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 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 _Annamite_ to the Yugoslav Reading-Rooms at +Lo[vs]inj 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 _Annamite_ 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 Lo[vs]inj mali and Cres five ladies were collected, +four of them being teachers and one the wife of the pilot, +Sindi[vc]i['c]. 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. Mahni['c], 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. + + +UNHAPPY POLA + +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 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. + + +WHAT ISTRIA ENDURED + +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 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[13]--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 Pribi[vc]evi['c] 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."[14] + + +THE FAMOUS TOWN OF RIEKA + +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. "Hote insalue, 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 +"Hote insalue." 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 _status quo ante_ 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.... + + +THE DRAMA BEGINS + +Some of the leading citizens of Rieka formed themselves into a Croat +National Council; Dr. Bakar[vc]i['c] and Dr. Lenac went up to the +Governor's palace, and with them went Dr. Vio, as delegate of the town +council. He 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 of some thirty individuals with sticks who were +lurking round the corner. His figures were as follows: + + 6,000 Socialists. + 3,000 Autonomists. + 1,500 Yugoslavs. + ----- + That is, 10,000 voters out of 12-13,000. + +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. + +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.[15] There must also have been some who could not bear to +contemplate the loss of their old privileged position. + + +THE I.N.C. + +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 they +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. + + +THE CROATS' BLUNDER + +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 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. + + +MELODRAMA + +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. + + +FARCE + +On November 4 an Italian destroyer, the _Stocco_, shortly followed by +the _Emanuele Filiberto_, 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 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 _Emanuele Filiberto_ +and the _Stocco_ did not land. Colonel Tesli['c] 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. + + +PAROLE D'HONNEUR + +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.[16] ... On November 15 a +detachment of Serbian troops arrived, under Colonel Maximovi['c], 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. Maximovi['c] 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. Maximovi['c] +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. Ru[vz]i['c], 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 +Maximovi['c], Colonel Tesli['c] and Captain Dvorski (of the Yugoslav +navy), as well as French and British officers. It was arranged _sous +parole d'honneur d'officier_ that at 4 p.m. the Serbian troops should +leave Rieka and go to Porto Re, 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 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 +Maximovi['c] 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. + +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. + + +THE POPULATION OF THE TOWN + +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 _Daily Telegraph_. 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: + + YUGOSLAVS. ITALIANS. MAGYARS. + +1880 10,227 (49%) 9,237 (44%) 379 (2%) +1890 13,478 (46%) 13,012 (44%) 1,062 (4%) +1900 16,197 (42%) 17,354 (45%) 2,842 (7%) +1910 15,692 (32%) 24,212 (49%) 6,493 (13%) + +Assuming for the moment that these figures are correct--and it is an +enormous assumption[17]--are not the 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 _au serieux_ 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.[18] 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, held 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 Su[vs]ak is perpetrated. Su[vs]ak 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 Su[vs]ak were allowed a +vote at Rieka, while if a Croat lived at Su[vs]ak and carried on his +avocation at Rieka he could vote in Su[vs]ak only. One must not imagine +that Su[vs]ak 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 +Su[vs]ak 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 Su[vs]ak. 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 +Su[vs]ak, while in Rieka he called himself Sarini. It must have caused +him many sleepless nights.... Counting Su[vs]ak 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...." + + +THE TALE CONTINUES ON THE NORTHERN ISLES + +"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 Martin[vs]['c]ica, 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 Martin[vs]['c]ica, 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 Hla['c]a, 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 Hla['c]a 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 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 _only in their homes_ 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 necessities. It was raining in torrents when Father +Hla['c]a, 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 Hla['c]a 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 Nere[vz]ine 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 Nere[vz]ine 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 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. + + * * * * * + +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. + + +RAB IS COMPLETELY CAPTURED + +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 _Guglielmo Pepe_ 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 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. + +"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." + + +AVANTI SAVOIA! + +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 Svibi['c] with +sixteen other officers who had just come out of an internment camp in +Austria. Svibi['c] 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. + + +THE ENTENTE AT RIEKA + +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 _Il Popolo_ announced in +a non-official manner that the I.N.C., in full accord with the military +command, had taken over the administration--_i poteri pubblici_. This, +by the way, was never confirmed by the representatives of the other +Allies. The I.N.C. furthermore 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 cafes 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--_l'Echo de +l'Adriatique_--which had been established to present the Yugoslav point +of view, was continually being suppressed. 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. _La Rassegna Italiana_ 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. +[vS]tigli['c]--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 Jakov[vc]i['c], Ivan +Mikuli[vc]i['c] and Grga Ma[vz]uran--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. + + +A CANDID FRENCHMAN + +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 few remarks in the _Rije['c]_ 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'etes 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 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, _fratelli d'Italia_? 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." + + +ECONOMIC CONSIDERATIONS + +"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: _L'Adriatico et il Mediterraneo_, 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, 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 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. + + +THE TURNCOAT MAYOR + +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--_a la bonheur_. +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 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 [vS]ojat, teacher at the High School at Su[vs]ak, +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 [vS]ojat 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 Su[vs]ak, "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. [vS]ojat, 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. [vS]ojat's hand +and greeted the two other persons who were with him. And Mr. [vS]ojat +was pleased to think that Vio would now be a good Croat, as of old. But +on the following day he was an Italian. + + +HIS FERVOUR + +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 Jella[vc]i['c] +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, 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 _Regolamento del Cimitero comunale di Fiume_, 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 will be the omission of +an _I_ from certain postage stamps. When the old Hungarian stamps were +surcharged with the word FIUME, the sixty-third one in every sheet of +half an edition was defective and was stamped FUME.[19] + + +THREE PLEASANT PLACES + +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. Krsti['c], +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. 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 _Pravi Dalmatinac_ ("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 Yugoslavs than the Signori Grbac, +Koro[vs]a['c] and Codri['c] 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 podesta, +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. Po[vs]ci['c], a naturalized +American subject, to give them English lessons. Away with these baubles, +cried Stadler; on January 10 he stopped the lessons. + + +ITALY IS LED ASTRAY BY SONNINO + +While the Italians were thus engaged, what was the state of opinion in +their own country? Would Bissolati's organ, the _Secolo_, and the +_Corriere della Sera_, 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 _Tribuna_ 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 [vS]ibenik? "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 _Mattino_ 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 _Secolo_, which deprecated the +contemptuous writings of Italian journalists with regard to the +Slavs--the _Gazzetta del Popolo's_ "little snakes" was one of the milder +terms of opprobrium. The _Secolo_ 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. + +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 _Giornale +d'Italia_ 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 Radovi['c], 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 wearing Italian medals for bravery;[20] 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 +_Spectator_, 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 _Journal des Debats_ and the +_Humanite_ 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. 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 Karageorgevi['c] +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 _Corriere della Sera_, 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 _Tribuna's_ lack of wisdom when it said that "the Italian +people could never tolerate that beside our flag should fly other +flags, even if friendly, for this would imply a confession of weakness +and incapacity." + + +THE STATE OF THE CHAMBER + +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. 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. + + +THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY + +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 _The New Europe_ +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 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 +_The New Europe_ 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 _The +New Europe's_ collaborators. In vain does the _The New Europe_ say that +the Professor's programme must involve a war between Italians and +Yugoslavs. "We must be prepared for a new war," said the _Secolo_ 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 _Corriere +della Sera_ 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 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 _Corriere_ and _Secolo_ 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.] + + +A FOUNTAIN IN THE SAND + +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 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 proteges 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 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. + +While the vast majority of Italians would not listen to Bissolati they +delighted in Gabriele d'Annunzio. The great poet Carducci[21] 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 _Lettera ai Dalmati_. 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 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 [vS]ibenik they took him into +their service. + + +THOSE WHO HELD BACK FROM THE PACT OF ROME + +_The New Europe_, 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 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 Pa[vs]i['c]. Whether it be true or not +that Signor Amendolla, the General Secretary--he is the political +director of the _Corriere della Sera_--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 Pa[vs]i['c] foresaw what would happen and was therefore +unwilling to be implicated. He is an astute statesman of the old +school--"too old," says _The New Europe_, 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 something more definite, but to this Orlando was not well disposed; +and Trumbi['c], 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. + + +GATHERING WINDS + +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 _Pax Romana_, 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 _Pax Romana_. The Dalmatian +clergy, who are patriotic, have been rather a 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." + +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 _Unita_ 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 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. + + +WHY THE ITALIANS CLAIMED DALMATIA + +"The Italian Government," said the _Morning Post_,[22] "is well +qualified to judge of the interests of its own people." Here the +_Morning Post_ 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 Re, 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 M. Emile +Haumant,[23] 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 Jagi['c] 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 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. + + +CONSEQUENCES OF THE TREATY OF LONDON + +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,[24] 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 +Orlando, in an interview granted in April 1918 to the _Journal des +Debats_, 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. Zari['c], 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," said Sazonov, "sometimes the circumstances are too much +opposed to you and you have to act against your inclinations."[25] 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." + +The President made no reply. + +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. + +"You have come to work and fight for the peace," said the Bishop. + +"Yes, indeed, to fight," said Dr. Wilson. "And I will act with all my +energy. You," he said, "you must help me." + +"I will help you," said the Bishop, "with my prayers." + +The Yugoslav Delegation in Paris had, on the authority of the Belgrade +Cabinet, suggested that the question should be arbitrated. + +"The Italians have declined the arbitration," said Dr. Zari['c], "just +as in the War Germany and Austria declined yours." + +The President nodded. + +"They have committed many disorders in our fair land," said the Bishop. + +"I know, I know," said the President. + +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. + + +ITALIAN HOPES IN MONTENEGRO + +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 _Modern Italy_, 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 repression. We repeat, +it is painful to see the French lend their men, 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 regime, 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 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 Kola[vs]in. There was a +time, during the first Balkan War, when he advocated union with Serbia +and on April 6, 1916, he wrote in the _Bosnische Post_ 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.[26] 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 +_Nineteenth Century_, January 1921) the insurgents could not do much. +Eleven of these volunteers were 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'Esperey 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 +Darkovi['c], 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 +Darkovi['c] 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 SS. +_Skroda_ and _Satyre_ 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 +_Vedeta_ passed up the river just before the outrage and the _Mafalda_ +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. + + +WHAT HAD LATELY BEEN THE FATE OF THE AUSTRIANS THERE + +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 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. + + +AND OF THE NATIVES + +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 Kola[vs]in 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 +Ve[vs]ovi['c],[27] 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 Martini['c], +the Military Governor, issued Order No. 3110 which stated that: "In +consequence of the recent inquiry having revealed the fact that +telegraph and telephone wires have been cut by civilians, we make the +following order: + + "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. + + "2. If the author of the outrage cannot be found, the + procedure will be as follows:-- + + "(_a_) 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. + + "(_b_) Hostages will be taken who, if the cases of sabotage + are repeated, will be executed in their commune." + +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 Njegu[vs] 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 L2, 10s., a quart of milk 5s., a kilo of coffee L2, +18s. 4d., a yard of cloth L4, 4s. to L6, 6s., a pair of boots L8, 7s. An +average of 200 persons--mainly women and children--were dying every day +of starvation. + +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 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. + + +NOW NIKITA IS DEPOSED + +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 Skup[vs]tina 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 Skup[vs]tina +had met; a better plan was to communicate with the Press Association, in +the hope that many editors would print his words. If it was a final +anti-climax for a mediaeval prince--ah well, what is life but one long +anti-climax? He would protest against the constitution of the +Skup[vs]tina. 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 +Skup[vs]tina 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 +Mi[vs]i['c], 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 Skup[vs]tina +consisted of about 200 men, ten of whom were Serbs from 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. + + +THE ASSEMBLY WHICH DEPOSED HIM + +The Podgorica Skup[vs]tina 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 Skup[vs]tina 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[28] 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 Skup[vs]tina 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 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 Skup[vs]tina 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.e._ 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 regime. With them was +the Queen's brother, the Voivoda Stephen Vukoti['c], a grand-looking +personage who has remained all his life a poor man; he was questioned by +General Franchet d'Esperey 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 monastery of +De[vc]ani with the design of establishing a Bol[vs]evik 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 _Morning Post's_ 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. + +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. 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 Skup[vs]tina 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 Skup[vs]tina 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. Gloma[vz]ic, 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. Gloma[vz]ic +to lunch. + + +NIKITA'S SORROW FOR THE GOOD OLD DAYS + +Nikita had no hopes that any good would come from such a Skup[vs]tina. +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 11/2 per cent., public works 4 per cent. and education 5 +per cent. The Skup[vs]tina 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 Skup[vs]tina. 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 Skup[vs]tina, he could say with truth, +"L'etat c'est moi." The Skup[vs]tina of 1918 was going to make vast +changes. + + +THE STATE OF BOSNIA + +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--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 _gendarmerie_ having +to be protected 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 +_kmet_ 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 to know that the restaurateurs at the stations of Ilid[vz]e +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 _intelligentsia_ 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 _Srpski Zora_ +("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 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 _clientele_ +of the _Srpski Zora_, and the shattered nervous organism of its editor, +Mr. [vC]okorilo, will be, one trusts, reconstituted and devoted, as it +can be, to a nobler purpose. One of its deplorable effects has been +that the organ of the Croat party, a paper called _Jugoslavija_, 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. + + +RADI['C] AND HIS PEASANTS + +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, Radi['c], 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 Ecole des Sciences Politiques in Paris. But Stephen +Radi['c] 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 who gave himself the trouble to go amongst the peasants. "In +politics," said Radi['c] 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 Radi['c] +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 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 Radi['c]'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. +Proti['c], who came out for Croatian Home Rule, was also strange in +appearance, for while Radi['c] 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. Proti['c] understood that at this period +Radi['c]'s republicanism was somewhat academic. + +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 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. Radi['c] 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. + +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 +Paveli['c], one of the Vice-Presidents of the Yugoslav National Council, +who was received in special audience by the Prince at Belgrade, is also +the leader of the old Star[vc]evi['c] party and as such an opponent of +complete centralization. The _Obzor_, 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 role were to be that of +Yugoslavia's Boston. + +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 +Koro[vs]ec[29] 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. + + +THOSE WHO WILL NOT MOVE WITH THE TIMES + +There remains the Voivodina (Banat, Ba[vc]ka, etc.) party, some of whom +are as much frightened of Croat predominance as the _Obzor_, for +instance, is of Serb. The argument of these Voivodina politicians is +that Serbia has lost so many of her _intelligentsia_ 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 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. Ja[vs]a Tomi['c]. 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. Tomi['c] 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. Tomi['c] believes that a real +_intelligentsia_ would demand of the people what it can execute, and he +regrets to think that at least two-thirds of the _intelligentsia_ want +the people to call themselves Yugoslavs. But Mr. Tomi['c] 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. Tomi['c], 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. + +It may be said without fear of contradiction--in fact I was given the +figure by one of the decentralization leaders of Croatia--that at least +90 per cent. of the Croat _intelligentsia_ 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. + + +THE YUGOSLAV POLITICAL PARTIES + +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: + + (_a_) the Pa[vs]i['c] party, consisting chiefly of the Serbian + Old Radical party, together with Serbian parties from the + Voivodina and Bosnia. + + (_b_) the Pribi[vc]evi['c] party, consisting chiefly of the + Croatian Coalition party, together with the Slovene Liberal + party and the Serbian parties in opposition to Pa[vs]i['c]. + + (_c_) the Christian Socialist party, under Koro[vs]ec, + consisting chiefly of Slovenes, together with a young group in + Croatia and other Clerical groups that are forming in Dalmatia + and Bosnia. + + (_d_) the Star[vc]evi['c] party, under Paveli['c], consisting + of decentralizing parties in Croatia and Slavonia, and some + Croats in Bosnia. + + (_e_) Socialists: + + (1) the Slovene non-communistic Socialists. + + (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 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. + + (3) Dr. Rado[vs]evi['c]'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. + + (_f_) Republican party, consisting of 90,000 Croat peasants + under Radi['c]. + +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 (_a_) and (_b_), 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 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 (_a_) or +(_b_). Finally most of them settled down in (_b_), 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 +Koro[vs]e['c] party met with comparative disaster, and the Star[vc]evic +group was overwhelmed. With about fifty members apiece, the Communist +and the Radi['c] 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 Radi['c] Peasant party, of the Agrarians with some thirty deputies, +and the Independent Peasant party with eight. + +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. Paveli['c], 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 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.[30] 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. + + +THE SLOVENE QUESTION + +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. Trumbi['c] to the +Council of Ten in Paris we will take these extracts: "The province of +Gorica-Gradi[vs]ca may be divided into two different parts, both from an +ethnical and economic point of view. The western part, up to the line +Cormons-Gradi[vs]ca-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-Gradi[vs]ca-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 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." + + +THE SENTIMENTS OF TRIEST + +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 _L'irredentismo adriatico_ (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. 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 +_Edinost_, 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 _Mercure de France_ 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 [vS]vegel related in a well-informed article,[31] 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 Austrian Government and which, according to the +_Neue Freie Presse_ 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. + + +MAGNANIMITY IN THE BANAT + +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 in a land so insecure as Hungary was then. While Count Michael +Karolyi'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."[32] At Pan[vc]evo, 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. + + +TEME[vS]VAR IN TRANSITION + +An extraordinary state of things was to be seen at Teme[vs]var, 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 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 +Teme[vs]var 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 Fuerth and Isaac Gara, started to bring +charges against its founder. Roth, whose previous resources were not +large and were well known to Fuerth and Gara, used now to frequent the +fashionable cafe and indulge, night after night, in potations of +champagne, inviting to his table not Fuerth 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 cafe at Teme[vs]var leap on +to one of the marble tables and there perform a _pas de seul_. Dr. Roth +succeeded in worming himself into this merry warrior's good graces, and +Fuerth and Gara looked with jaundiced eyes on the carouses of these two. +And in their newspaper, the _Teme[vs]var_, 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'Esperey, and Roth was taken in a car to Arad, where he was +deposited on the other side of the line of demarcation. + + +A SORT OF WAR IN CARINTHIA + +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 +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.e._ 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, Kloetsch 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 (Voelkermarkt) 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. 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. _Le +Journal_, 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 Bol[vs]evik tracts, telling +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. + + +YUGOSLAVIA BEGINS TO PUT HER HOUSE IN ORDER + +It was not until now that Great Britain (on May 9) and France (on June +5) formally recognized the new Serbo-Croat-Slovene State.[33] As the +_Times_ said, two years afterwards,[34] "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 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 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. + + +THE PROBLEM OF AGRARIAN REFORM + +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. Pa[vs]i['c], 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 Lubi[vs]ica 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 +be restored to them; they drove their cattle on to it, but the priest +with the help of _gendarmerie_ 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 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 [vC]ekoni['c] 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 [vC]ekoni['c] 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 Radi['c], 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.[35] It is a matter +for congratulation that the measures now in force are not definite--the +final dispositions will be taken in two or three years.[36] And perhaps +then some part of the counsel of Radi['c] may be adopted--Radi['c], +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 _zadruga_ (ownership by the community) there should also +be the mobility of individual ownership. + +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 Ba[vc]ka, 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, 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. + + +FRENZY AT RIEKA + +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 podesta 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 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 feted 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 _was_ +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 _Dante +Alighieri_, the great dreadnought, manoeuvring with her searchlights, +let them rest awhile upon the _Schley_, 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 _Andre Chenier_ +was performed 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, _Italy and the +Yugoslavs, A Question of International Law_, 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 (_International Law_, 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 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 _Pester Lloyd_ of April 29 was lying when it printed an +official message stating that General Segre, 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 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. + + +ADMIRAL MILLO EXPLAINS THE SITUATION + +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 _intelligentsia_ 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 Gradi[vs]ca, 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 Croats the +contents were telegraphed to Paris. It is a lengthy and to us at times a +rather rhetorical expose, 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 (_da artificiose +interessate campagna_).... It must be remembered that this is the first +contact (_il primo contatto_) 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 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 regime; +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 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." + + +HIS MISGUIDED SUBORDINATES AT [vS]IBENIK + +It is strange that this order should have been so scurvily treated in +the town of [vS]ibenik, 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 [vS]ibenik, 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 Domiaku[vs]i['c] 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 Domiaku[vs]i['c]'s nomination. If the +Governor intended him to abide by the stipulations of the Armistice, he +must have been astonished at the 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 [vS]ibenik 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[37] on various +occasions to 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 [vS]ibenik, who, when approached by a certain +Mr. Iva[vs]a Zori['c] 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. Zori['c] 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." + + +THE ITALIANS WANT TO TAKE NO RISKS + +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 Grbi['c], the schoolmaster at Sutomi[vs]cica, 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 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 permitted more than one priest of the old regime 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 Buratovi['c] 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 Buratovi['c], 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 Primo[vs]ten 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: + + Per cent. Yugoslavs. Per cent. Italians. + 1. Zadar with 80.25 with 18.61 + 2. Hvar (Lesina) " 92.94 " 6.75 + 3. Kor[vc]ula (Curzola) " 94.89 " 5.08 + 4. [vS]ibenik (Sebenico) " 95.66 " 1.31 + 5. Starigrad (Cittavecchia) " 97.98 " 1.91 + 6. Vis (Lissa) " 98.98 " 0.92 + 7. Skradin (Scardona) " 99.36 " 0.57 + 8. Knin " 99.48 " 0.31 + 9. Drni[vs] (Dernish) " 99.49 " 0.41 +10. Benkovac " 99.60 " 0.30 +11. Tijesno (Stretto) " 99.61 " 0.35 +12. Biograd (Zaravecchia) " 99.66 " 0.23 +13. Pag (Pago) " 99.67 " 0.31 +14. Obrovac (Obrovazzo) " 99.84 " 0.12 +15. Kistanje " 99.88 " 0.12 +16. Blato (Blatta) " 99.93 " 0.05 + +The London Treaty had conferred on Italy the foregoing Judiciary +Districts, whose population, according to the last Austrian census, was +as given on page 147. + +Italy was also to receive portions of the following Justiciary +Districts: + + Per cent. Yugoslavs. Per cent. Italians. +1. Trogir (Trau) with 99.12 with 0.32 +2. Sinj " 99.29 " 0.24 +3. Imotski " 99.84 " 0.11 +4. Vrlika " 99.95 " 0.04 + +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.[38] 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. + + +YET THEY ARE INCREDIBLY NONCHALANT + +Dalmatia, as is shown by the number of emigrants, is not a wealthy +province; and one would have supposed 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 [vS]ibenik 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. + + +ONE OF THEIR VICTIMS + +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. Bogi['c], who was deported to Sardinia for +political reasons. On January 1 he was arrested, together with a +Franciscan monk, a schoolmaster and others, transported to [vS]ibenik +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 +S.S. _Almissa_, bound for Ancona. Near [vS]ibenik 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. Bogi['c] 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 S.S. _Derna_ 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 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 +groessten 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. Bogi['c] was a member of +the National Committee at Knin, and as such he wrote to a colleague at +Drni[vs] to ask him whether the Italian troops were coming up from +[vS]ibenik. 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 +[vS]ibenik 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 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. + + +SEVEN HUNDRED OTHERS + +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 [vS]ibenik, 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, were forced to go back +to Skradin as best they could by wading through the marshes? + + +A GLIMPSE OF THE OFFICIAL ROBBERIES + +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: + + Crowns. + 1. March 22, 1919. Bogdan Babovi['c], son of Radovan, + of Montenegro, was robbed of 1,348 + 2. " 22, " Peter Luk[vs]i['c], son of Stephen of + Spi['c], " " 1,800 + 3. " 30, " Marijan [vS]evelj, of Tu[vc]epa, " " 3,530 + 4. " 31, " Frano Franki['c] and Ivanica + Petri[vc]evi['c], " " 12,000 + 5. April 8, " Stephen Vuku[vs]i['c], son of Peter, + of Katuna, " " 4,758 + 6. " 8, " Nikola Cike[vs], son of Mate, of + [vZ]e[vz]evice, " " 3,071 + 7. " 8, " Martinis Jozo, son of the late + Nikola, of Komi[vz]a, " " 6,332 + 8. " 8, " Jure Rubi['c], son of the late Peter, + of Zadvarje " " 6,030 + 9. " 8, " Mato [vS]kari[vc]i['c], son of Stephen, + of Podgrazza, " " 500 +10. April 8, 1919. Mihovil [vS]arac, son of the late Crowns. + Marko, of Split, was robbed of 300 +11. " 11, " Ilika Kutlja[vc]a, son of the late + Peter, of [vC]ista, " " 600 +12. " 13, " Marko [vC]aljku[vs]i['c], son of the + late Ante, of [vS]estanova, " " 11,000 +13. " 14, " Damjan Udovi[vc]i['c], son of Jakov, + of Imotski, " " 3,200 +14. " 16, " Antun Radi['c], son of Peter, of + Trogir, " " 62,000 +15. " 16, " Madalena Kugmi['c], widow of + Nikola, of Split, " " 1,000 +16. " 17, " Pero Juri['c], son of Abram, of + Ostrozac, " " 2,285 +17. " 19, " Jakov Jurkovi['c], son of Mi[vs]ko " "} +18. " 19, " Mate Raji['c], son of Ilija, " "} 8,140 +19. " 19, " Jerko Reji['c], son of Luke, " "} +20. " 19, " Josip Kolumbur, son of Marko, + of Livno, " " 25,000 +21. " 25, " Zorka Aljinovi['c], of Split, " " 600 +22. " 28, " Ana [vZ]i[vz]ak, of Split, " " 1,900 +23. " 29, " Nikolina Rastor, of Split, " " 1,800 +24. " 30, " Antica Mili['c], of Split, " " 5,000 +25. " 24, " Tomislav Novak, son of Mate, + of Hvar, " " 3,000 +26. " 24, " Gjuran Arif, of Livno, " " 2,200 + -------- + Total 136,794 + -------- + +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 Metkovi['c] told me that he had gone to the island of +Kor[vc]ula to his brother and, on landing, had been relieved of 34,000 +crowns. + + +AND HARSHNESS AND BRIBERY + +In Asia Minor we have another disastrous example of the Allied policy of +allowing a disputed zone to be occupied _ad interim_ 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 regime 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. 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: + + +I + +GOVERNMENT OF DALMATIA AND OF THE DALMATIAN ISLANDS AND OF THE CURZOLA +ISLANDS + +SUBJECT: _Question of Food Supplies for the Civil Population._ + +No. 43. _March_ 18, 1919. + +To all subject authorities: + +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. + +THE VICE-ADMIRAL +THE GOVERNOR, +E. MILLO. + + +II + +ROYAL GOVERNMENT OF DALMATIA AND OF THE DALMATIAN ISLANDS AND OF THE +CURZOLA ISLANDS + +STAFF. SECTION OF PROPAGANDA, No. Prot. "P." SEBENICO, _April_ 18, 1919. + +The section of propaganda of the Government of Dalmatia, whose object is +the rapid diffusion of Italianity 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 fetes and spectacles +be organized. + +[Signature illegible.] + + +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 _Puglia_, 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. + + +THE ITALIANS IN DALMATIA BEFORE AND DURING THE WAR + +To grasp the conditions at Split we must go back to the years just +before the War. From the reports of the 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." + +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, Metkovi['c] 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 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. +Trumbi['c], 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 _intelligentsia_ 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 +"Societa del Tiro al Bersaglio" of Split, which called itself a shooting +club, but was not in 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 _intelligentsia_ 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. + +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 _intelligentsia_. The only Italian who suffered this fate was a Mr. +Tocigl, with whom Dr. Salvi had had a personal difference. + + +CONSEQUENT SUSPICION OF THIS MINORITY + +One cannot therefore be surprised if the Slavs, on the collapse of +Austria, regarded the Italian party, and 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 _coup d'etat_ +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 _Puglia_ being struck +and Admiral Rombo's chief of staff insulted. There was a widespread +feeling of resentment at the way in which the _Puglia_ 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. + + +ALLIED CENSURE OF THE ITALIAN NAVY + +"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 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." + + +NEVERTHELESS THE TYRANNY CONTINUES + +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 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, [vS]ime [vS]ari['c] Mazi['c], 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 +Lon[vc]ar 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 Lon[vc]ar 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 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 Ton[vc]i['c], 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 Drni[vs], three from +Obrovac, four from Skradin, nine from [vS]ibenik 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 Lovrovi['c], 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 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 +_Rije['c] S.H.S._, that Dr. Boxich, on account of having--exceptionally, +the paper said--spoken the truth to a passing foreigner, had been +deported to Italy. + + +A VISIT TO SOME OF THE ISLANDS + +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. 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 S.S. _Porer_, 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 _Porer_ 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. + +The large, rather waterless island of Bra['c], 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. + + +WHICH THE ITALIANS HAD TRIED TO OBTAIN BEFORE, BUT NOT DURING, THE WAR + +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 in the case of the Trentino and Triest. But +now they demanded various Dalmatian islands, the chief of which were +Hvar, Kor[vc]ula 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 Buelow +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 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. + + +OUR WELCOME TO JEL[vS]A + +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 Jel[vs]a +(Gelsa) on the island of Hvar, we left Vrbo[vs]ka 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 fetes 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 Jel[vs]a, 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 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 Jel[vs]a, 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 Zari['c], 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 to Italy; and all +on account of his having written, in English and French, a scientific +ethnographical treatise on the islands. + + +PROCEEDINGS AT STARIGRAD + +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.[39] 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 _intelligentsia_ 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 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, _La Dalmazia_,[40] 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 Cyclopaean 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. Tama[vs]kovi['c]--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 Hektorovi['c], 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 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. (_La +Dalmazia_ 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. "There are places in Dalmatia," +Signor Luzzatti, an Italian ex-Premier, had been saying in the _Temps_,[41] +"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.e._ that of Fiume, Sebenico, +Zara, Trau, 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 Bra['c], 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 Pavi[vc]i['c], the musket of +an ardito went off and an eye was blown out to Mr. Pavi[vc]i['c]. Great +terror prevails among the Yugoslav population." A later message, to the +newspaper _Jadran_ 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 Vrankovi['c], 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 _La Dalmazia_, 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. + +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 +Kor[vc]ula, which said that we were not to be allowed to speak to any of +the 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. + +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. + + +THE AFFAIRS OF HVAR + +The subordinate Admiral, from Kor[vc]ula, 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 Bojani['c], 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. + + +FOUR MEN OF KOMI[vZ]A + +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 _Corriere d'Italia_. 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 Komi[vz]a, 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. When some of the members, discovering to what +they were committed, sent in their resignation, it was refused. At +Komi[vz]a 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. + + +THE WOMEN OF BI[vS]EVO + +From Komi[vz]a, the next morning, we steamed over on the destroyer to +the wonderful blue grotto of Bi[vs]evo (or Busi), which surpasses Capri. +An Austrian Archduke, we were told, had once waited a week at Komi[vz]a, +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 Bi[vs]evo 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 Bi[vs]evo 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. 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." + +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 _Porer_ at Komi[vz]a--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. + + +ON THE WAY TO BLATO + +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 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 +_gendarmerie_; 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 +after this the following Order was issued by the staff of the 66th +Division of Infantry: + + +No. 46. Confidential--Personal. VERY URGENT. + +_June_ 23, 1919. + +TO THE COMMANDERS AT BENKOVAC, OBROVAC, +NOVIGRAD, ERVENIK, KISTANJE, SKRADIN, +BIOGRAD, NIN, GJEVERSKE, SUKO[VS]AN AND +KARIN. + +TO THE COMMAND OF THE ROYAL DIVISIONS. + +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. + +A copy of said telegram should be transmitted to me. + +THE MAJOR: THE MAJOR-GENERAL: + FORESI. SQUILLACE. + + +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.] + + +WHAT THE MAJOR SAID + +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, Draguni['c], both of them Yugoslavs. He told +them that two Englishmen who were cruising about in the _Porer_ 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 +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. It was an exhortation to the +people, urging them to have nothing more to do with the Yugoslav +_intelligentsia_, 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 Kraljevi['c], 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 Grubisi['c], 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 [vC]arap was knocked +unconscious with a mighty blow of a musket, the fourteen-year-old Joseph +Sule[vz]i['c] had a similar experience, and among many others who were +assaulted we will only mention an ex-official, Anthony Pi[vz]tuli['c], 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 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...." + + +THE PROTEST OF AN ITALIAN JOURNALIST + +I would also give Signor Buonfiglio's dispatch from this island--it +appeared in the _Corriere d'Italia_ 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. +Iv[vc]evi['c], 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. + +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. + +On our way to the minute harbour of Pregorica, where the _Porer_ 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. +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. + + +INTERESTING DELEGATES + +Lying off Kor[vc]ula, 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 Cvili[vc]evi['c] +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. 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 +Kor[vc]ula, 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. + + +A DIGRESSION ON SIR ARTHUR EVANS + +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 archaeologist 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; 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 _Through Bosnia and the +Herzegovina on Foot_ appeared in 1877, his _Illyrian Letters_ in 1878, +his _Slavs and European Civilization_ 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 vised +'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 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 precis 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 _Manchester Guardian_. 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." + + +THE DUPES OF NIKITA IN MONTENEGRO + +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 +Radovi['c], a man of over seventy, was cut down; they waited until +everyone had left the village to go to some fete in a neighbouring +village, and the old man defended himself to the last. + +These emissaries from Gaeta, misguided Montenegrins, other Southern +Slavs and Italians, made considerable 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 Radovi['c], 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."[42] 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. 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 Montenegrins. 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. + +The Italians persevered in their manoeuvres--Nikola Kova[vc]evi['c], +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. + + +ITALIAN ENDEAVOURS + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +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. + +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 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 _British Citizen_. 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, +_Servia, the Poor Man's Paradise_, trembles with rage whenever a Serb +speaks admiringly of Gladstone. + + +VARIOUS BRITISH COMMENTATORS + +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[43] 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. Massingham of _The Nation_ +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 +Gloma[vz]i['c], the very human prefect of Cetinje, is a native of +Nik[vs]i['c], that Milo[vs] Ivanovi['c], the mayor, is from the Ku[vc]i, +near Podgorica--and he was a magistrate under Nikita; that Bojovi['c], +the prefect of Podgorica, is a barrister of the Piperi, while +Radoni['c], the mayor, was an artillery officer, then a political +prisoner and then the food administrator under Nikita; that +Jaoukovi['c], the prefect of Nik[vs]i['c], was a magistrate under the +old regime--he comes, I believe, from the Mora[vc]a; Zerovi['c], the +mayor and an ex-magistrate, is a native of Nik[vs]i['c]; that the +prefect of Antivari, Dr. Goini['c], is a doctor of law whose home is +between Antivari and Virpazar; that Bo[vs]ko Bo[vs]kovi['c], the prefect +of Kola[vc]in, won great fame as an officer under Nikita, while +Mini['c], the mayor, was Nikita's chief of the Custom-house. As for the +doctors who left the country, these consisted of Matanovi['c] and +Vulanovi['c], 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 (Odgerovi['c], Radovi['c]--both of +whom were doctors in the time of Nikita--and Matanovi['c], 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. + +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 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. + +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 _Journal Officiel_--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. Buri['c] stated in the columns of the _Saturday +Review_ 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 faineants...." 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. + + +THE MURDER OF MILETI['C] + +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 Risti['c], heard one night that the Italian General at +Dobrota was harbouring at his residence no less than twenty-one +Montenegrin pro-Nikita komitadjis. 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 +Risti['c] 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 Risti['c] 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 Mileti['c] 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. + + +D'ANNUNZIO COMES TO RIEKA + +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 +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 _Santa Entrata_--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. +_Pittsburg_, 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. As for large numbers of these officials, +their secret understanding with d'Annunzio received many proofs. On +September 29 the _Era Nuova_ 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 _Era Nuova_ 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 100 lire. One observed that +when the S.S. _Danubio_ left [vS]ibenik 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. + + * * * * * + +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 mediaeval 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 +_Gazzetta del Popolo_. "I have received a call from a superior hidden +force, and though the fever burns 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 +Bol[vs]evism. 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.[44] And it was in order to avoid such +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 +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. + + +THE GREAT INVASION OF TROGIR + +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 Katalini['c], 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 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." + + +THE SUCCESSION STATES AND THEIR MINORITIES + +The Yugoslav Government--as if it had not sufficient problems to +solve--was ordered now by the Peace Conference to accept sundry +regulations as to the rights of minorities, the transit of goods, and an +equitable regime 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 +Ver[vs]ac to a deputation of Jews, when he made his formal entry into +the town of Pan[vc]evo. And when they stared at him, "It is not +tolerance that I will show," said he, "but love." Perhaps the Opposition +in the Yugoslav Skup[vs]tina 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 +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. + + +OBLIGATIONS IMPOSED ON THEM BECAUSE OF ROUMANIAN ANTISEMITISM + +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 manoeuvres," said the late King Charles to M. de Laveleye,[45] +"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 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 communique, 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 +_Moniteur Officiel_, 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.e._ 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, 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, _pour encourager les autres_. 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. + +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 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 _en bloc_ could become citizens, barred them _en +bloc_ 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 _not_ masters in their own house, +but must obey the decision of the majority. However, the Opposition in +the Belgrade Skup[vs]tina 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. + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: _The Defeat of Austria, as seen by the 7th + Division._ London, 1919.] + + [Footnote 2: _Contemporary Review_, February 1920.] + + [Footnote 3: Afterwards Yugoslav Minister at Madrid and then at + Washington.] + + [Footnote 4: _Fortnightly Review_, June 1919.] + + [Footnote 5: Cf. _Manchester Guardian_, December 13, 1918.] + + [Footnote 6: _Land and Water_, May 29, 1919.] + + [Footnote 7: _Nineteenth Century and After_, November 1920.] + + [Footnote 8: _Au Secours des Enfants Serbes._ Paris, 1916.] + + [Footnote 9: Several old wooden warships, such as the _Aurora_, + the _Schwartzenberg_ and the _Vulcan_, were lying for years in + [vS]ibenik 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.] + + [Footnote 10: Cf. _Die Handelsstrassen und Bergwerke von + Serbien und Bosnien wahrend des Mittelalters_, by Dr. + Constantin Jire[vc]ek. Prague, 1879.] + + [Footnote 11: 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: + + YUGOSLAV SCHOOLS. + + Elementary School for Boys Pupils, 342 + Elementary School for Girls " 331 + Combined Elementary School " 222 + Higher Elementary School for Girls " 121 + Teachers' Training College " 70 + Classical College " 469 + ---- + Total of Yugoslav Pupils, 1555 + ---- + + ITALIAN SCHOOLS. + + Elementary School for Boys Pupils, 250 + Elementary School for Girls " 221 + Higher Elementary School " 93 + Classical College " 157 + Technical College " 181 + ---- + Total of Italian Pupils, 902 + ---- + + 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 _Land and Water_ (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 + ([vS]ibenik)--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 + _Italianists_.] + + [Footnote 12: This prelate died in December 1920. With fearless + patriotism, said the _Tablet_ (January 1, 1921), he "had + defended his flock from the Germanizing influence of the + Habsburgs and the more insidious encroachments of the + Italians."] + + [Footnote 13: 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.).] + + [Footnote 14: Pribi[vc]evi['c] 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. Pribi[vc]evi['c] 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.] + + [Footnote 15: 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 _Daily Telegraph_) calls "the worst + characteristics of Balkan terrorism" on the part of the troops? + During the twenty days of the Yugoslav regime 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.] + + [Footnote 16: 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 _Secolo_ + (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."] + + [Footnote 17: The Italianist employes 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.] + + [Footnote 18: 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'Esperey, 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."] + + [Footnote 19: 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.] + + [Footnote 20: 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. (Signed) JAKOV DELONGA."] + + [Footnote 21: + + "In tra 'l gregge che misero e raro + L'asburgese predon t' ha lasciato, + Perche piangi, o fratello croato, + Il figiul che in Italia mori." + + ("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.")] + + [Footnote 22: April 23, 1919.] + + [Footnote 23: Cf. _La Slavisation de la Dalmatie._ Paris, + 1917.] + + [Footnote 24: 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 pere Bonnet," said + Montesquieu, "lorsqu'il dit du mal de moi, ni moi-meme lorsque + je dis du mal du pere Bonnet, parce que nous nous sommes + brouilles." Let the reader trust in nothing but the facts, and + I hope that those which I present are not an unfair selection.] + + [Footnote 25: 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 _Primorske Novine_ (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.] + + [Footnote 26: 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.] + + [Footnote 27: We shall see that the subsequent history of this + officer was less laudable.] + + [Footnote 28: Cf. _Nineteenth Century and After_, January + 1921.] + + [Footnote 29: 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 Koro[vs]ec's position reminds + one that in the early days of Bulgaria's freedom her Premier + was the Archbishop of Trnovo.] + + [Footnote 30: Cf. p. 60, Vol. II.] + + [Footnote 31: Cf. _The New Europe_, March 27, 1919.] + + [Footnote 32: There are in the Banat some ultra-patriotic + Magyars, such as the man at Antanfalva (Kova[vc]i[vc]a) 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 _intelligentsia_ 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 _intelligentsia_ to have, as centre-half in + the football team, not a Magyar but a more skilful Jewish + player.] + + [Footnote 33: 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.] + + [Footnote 34: October 13, 1921.] + + [Footnote 35: 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.] + + [Footnote 36: 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.] + + [Footnote 37: The trouble arose at the end of May when a number + of citizens of [vS]ibenik, men and women, donned the American + colours as a compliment to the sailors of the U.S. warship + _Maddalena_, who had taken to wearing those of Yugoslavia. The + [vS]ibenik 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 Jakovljevi['c], 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 _Maddalena_ 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. + Mi[vs]e Ivanovi['c] 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 [vS]ibenik 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.] + + [Footnote 38: 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 _Modern Italy_ + (published in London) quoted with approval the following + telegram which appeared, it said, in the _Tempo_ 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."] + + [Footnote 39: 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 Obili['c] medal for bravery and several other decorations + which--and his case was typical--he had not troubled to + procure.] + + [Footnote 40: June 24, 1919.] + + [Footnote 41: May 15, 1919.] + + [Footnote 42: Mr. Leiper in the _Morning Post_ (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 _is_ 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.] + + [Footnote 43: Cf. _Morning Post_, November 17, 1920.] + + [Footnote 44: A most vivid account of this affair was + contributed to the _Chicago Tribune_ (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 _Talbot_ 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 _A Political Escapade: The Story of + Fiume and d'Annunzio_, 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.] + + [Footnote 45: Cf. _The Balkan Peninsula_ (English translation). + London, 1887.] + + + + +VII + +FURTHER MONTHS OF TRIAL + +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--(_a_) MARKOVI['C], THE COMMUNIST--(_b_) RADI['C], THE +MUCH-DISCUSSED--THE SERBS AND THE CROATS--THE SAD CASE OF +PRIBI['C]EVI['C]--LESSONS OF THE MONTENEGRIN ELECTIONS--WHICH ONE +GENTLEMAN REFUSES TO TAKE--MEDIAEVAL DOINGS AT RIEKA--THE STRICKEN +TOWN--HOPES IN THE LITTLE ENTENTE. + + +D'ANNUNZIO SPREADS HIMSELF + +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 Ni[vs] and printed in a book. +One passage tells about a conversation as to a disputed point of +mediaeval 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 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 per cent. +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. + + +THE WAVE OF ITALIAN IMPERIALISM + +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, 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. + +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, +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. + + +THEIR WISH FOR RIEKA, DEAD OR ALIVE + +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 _corpus +separatum_--and this was the chief point which made the proposals +inacceptable to Italy. That Socialist group which is represented by the +_Avanti_ 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, +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 +[vS]ibenik; 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 +_Il Tempo_,[46] 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. + + +FRUITLESS EFFORTS OF ITALY'S ALLIES + +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 _Temps_,[47] 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'incoherence," 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, +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 very explicitly rejected +and on more than one occasion by the Yugoslav delegates in Paris. + +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 _Corriere d'Italia_ 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[48] 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,[49] and composed an anthem which on ceremonial 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 _Times_,[50] 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. + + +SOME OF RIEKA'S SCANDALS + +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 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, _Il Lavoratore_, 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 Marzi['c], 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 regime." 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 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 _Morning Post_ 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 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. Senor 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 Mailaender 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 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. + + +PROGRESS OF THE YUGOSLAV IDEA + +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. D[vz]amonia and +Professor Stanojevi['c] smilingly remembered 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 regime 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. + + +DESPITE THE NEW PHENOMENON OF COMMUNISM + +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. 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 Ni[vs], for example, they conducted the +municipal affairs quite satisfactorily, while at [vC]uprija they +perceived that it would be impossible to put into effect their entire +programme, and so, after fourteen days, they resigned. + + +THE RISE AND FALL OF COMMUNISM IN YUGOSLAVIA + +... As for the Communists in the Skup[vs]tina, 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 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 Skup[vs]tina 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 Skup[vs]tina 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. +Dra[vs]kovi['c], 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 very miscellaneous collection of +English, French, American, Russian and other money.) After the murder of +Mr. Dra[vs]kovi['c] 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 +Skup[vs]tina 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 _Labour Monthly_,[51] to talk of the "White Terror in +Jugo-Slavia," as if there prevailed in that country anything comparable +with Admiral Horthy's regime in Hungary. + + +OTHER LIONS IN THE PATH + +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;[52] to carry on the business of +government it became necessary to secure the coalition of several +parties. The Radical and Democrat _bloc_ 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 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 +Pa[vs]i['c], the old diplomat, Proti['c], the executor of his ideas, and +Patchou, a medical man from Novi Sad, the real brain of the party. We +shall give an example of Patchou'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. Pavlovi['c], 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 Pa[vs]i['c]. "Then we can't accept arbitration," said Pavlovi['c]. +And Patchou spoke. "I would be very glad to know," said he, "what Mr. +Pavlovi['c] would say if we could get, by possibly now sacrificing +Bitolje, not only Bosnia, but Dalmatia and other Slav countries." "All +that," said Pavlovi['c], "is music of the future." "For you perhaps," +said Patchou, "but not for us." And the vote in favour of arbitration +was carried. Patchou died in 1915 at Ni[vs]. Besides being an expert in +finance and foreign affairs he was less arbitrary in his methods than +Proti['c]. 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. Pribi[vc]evi['c], the most +prominent man in that party. It would have been well if Dr. +Davidovi['c], the gentle, tactful leader of the party, could have taken +into his own composition one-half of his lieutenant's excessive +combativeness. Pribi[vc]evi['c] and Proti['c] find it impossible to work +together, and we can sympathize with both of them. One day at a more +than usually disagreeable Cabinet meeting Pribi[vc]evi['c] reminded the +then Prime Minister that he was the first among equals, a point of view +which did not square with the methods of Proti['c], who gives his +support to those Ministers who bend before him. And as Pribi[vc]evi['c] +has hitherto insisted on being in every Cabinet, Proti['c] has withdrawn +and has started a newspaper, the _Radical_, 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 +Pribi[vc]evi['c], the arch-centralizer who scorns to wear the velvet +glove, stays in the Government. There is also much doubt as to whether +Proti['c] 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. Proti['c] 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. Proti['c] 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. Pa[vs]i['c] +has not displayed sufficient energy. + +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.[53] The Yugoslav 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. + + +THE NADIR OF DEVINE AND NIKITA + +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 Petrie[vc]evi['c] 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 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 Njegu[vs], 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. + + +A GENERAL + +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. Smol[vc]i['c], 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 Ve[vs]ovi['c], who took to the mountains and defied +the Austrians. On the accession of the Emperor Karl he surrendered and, +much to the 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 cafe 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,[54] and among his documents were +some which proved, it was alleged, that he was in communication with +d'Annunzio. + + +TWO COMIC PRO-ITALIANS IN OUR MIDST + +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 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[55] than by those of +an anonymous philosopher in the _Edinburgh Review_.[56] "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 +regime 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 +little ragged Slav children of Kievo whom she saw clustering round the +kindly Italian officer were glad enough to eat his chocolates,[57] but I +think that we others should pay more attention to those secret +societies, the _[vc]etasis_ (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 +_La Serbie_, 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 +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. + + +THE BELATED TREATY OF RAPALLO + +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.[58] "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 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 _Scotsman_[59] was +typical of this very bland attitude; it congratulated everyone on the +harmonious close to a long, intricate and frequently dangerous +controversy. The _Glasgow Herald_,[60] 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." + +"We shall not establish friendly and normal relations with our neighbour +Italy unless we reduce all causes of friction to a minimum," said M. +Vesni['c], the Yugoslav Prime Minister, who during his long tenure of +the Paris Legation was an active member of the Academie 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 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. +Vesni['c] 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." + +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,[61] but with Italy in possession of +Istria and the isle of Cres, 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, Kor[vc]ula 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, 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 _Manchester Guardian_, of February 13, 1921) deplores the +"Balkanic mentality that seems to afflict some Englishmen when dealing +with these problems." + + +ITS PROBABLE FRUITS + +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 _in +situ_, 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. + +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, Vesni['c] +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. + + +NEW FORCES IN THE FIRST YUGOSLAV PARLIAMENT + +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 +Skup[vs]tina with nobody to lead; the clericals of Slovenia came to +grief, a fact which appeared to give general satisfaction, and a similar +mishap befell 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 Skup[vs]tina with some +fifty members. + + +(_a_) MARKOVI['C] THE COMMUNIST + +The temporary triumph of the Communists was admittedly due to the +exceptional position in which the country found itself. They had in Sima +Markovi['c] an enthusiastic leader who has abandoned the teaching of +mathematics in order to expound the gospel of Moscow, and in the +Skup[vs]tina 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 +Pa[vs]i['c]'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 +Markovi['c]'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. + +The Croat Peasants' party, or the Radi['c] 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. + +"Would it not have been better," I asked him, "if you had gone? The +Constitution will be settled without you." + + +(_b_) RADI['C], THE MUCH-DISCUSSED + +"We had various reasons," said he, "for not going. One of them was that +the Assembly which laid down the 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." + +"What are your own views on this subject?" + +"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." + +I ventured to say that this sudden conversion to republican ideas in one +who for centuries had lived in a monarchy was peculiar, and Radi['c] +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. + +"You don't accept everything that your peasants shout for?" + +"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." + +"And those who say that you are longing for the return of the +Habsburgs?" + +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 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. + +"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 Pa[vs]i['c]--will make you all happy to come together." + +"From the bottom of my heart I hope he will succeed," said Radi['c], +"and he will be remembered as our second and more fortunate +Strossmayer." + +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 Pa[vs]i['c], 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 Radi['c] +are, both of them, by the grace of God, of a humorous disposition. +Outwardly, there is not much resemblance between them: Pa[vs]i['c], 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 Radi['c] 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 Pribi[vc]evi['c], then Minister of +the Interior, who is determined to compel the Serbs and the Croats +straightway to live in the closest companionship, whereas Radi['c], +supported by most of the Croat _intelligentsia_, 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 of the South Slav nation to come gradually and not violently +together,--last year when Radi['c] was lying in prison on account of his +subversive ideas Pribi[vc]evi['c] sent a message to say that he was +prepared to adopt half his programme. And Radi['c] 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 Radi['c] +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. Pribi[vc]evi['c] 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 _intelligentsia_. 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 Radi['c], +"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. + +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 Radi['c] and +this Serbian party, which is only two or three years old, although its +founder, the excellent Avramovi['c]--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. + +The most uncertain factors seem to be the moderating hold of Radi['c] +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 Radi['c]'s weekly paper _Dom_[62] ("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 Radi['c]. It is not unfair to +say that the Church desired, above all things, to keep the peasant +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 Radi['c]'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. + +Those who are openly sailing in Radi['c]'s boat are for the most part +the hard-headed peasants. Yet a number of the _intelligentsia_ 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 +greater number of the Croat _intelligentsia_ 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. + +When Belgrade makes a statesmanlike gesture then Radi['c] will probably +be able to persuade the peasants to abandon their republican +slogan--both they and the _intelligentsia_ 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 +Pa[vs]i['c], 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. + + +THE SERBS AND THE CROATS + +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 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. + +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 _intelligentsia_ 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 _intelligentsia_ 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 +Pribi[vc]evi['c], 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 Radi['c] had his +very small following in the Zagreb Lantag. [Those who represented +Croatia in the central Parliament at Buda-Pest were chosen by the Ban, +Khuen-Hedervary. 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 +Pribi[vc]evi['c] and to a greater extent by another Serb, Dr. Du[vs]an +Popovi['c], 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.] + +At Zagreb the fusion of the Croat and Serb _intelligentsia_ was still +very incomplete at the outbreak of the War--the Croat Star[vc]evist +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 Star[vc]evist leaders heralded in +Croatia a cessation of the ancient hostility. Pribi[vc]evi['c] 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 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 role 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 +Du[vs]an Popovi['c], there would have been in Zagreb a very much suaver +atmosphere. But unfortunately Popovi['c] 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.[63] 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 _Contemporary Review_ (November +1921) said that the division 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. + +Whatever one may think about the Balkan peoples it is a fact that the +essential Serb, the Serb from [vS]umadia, 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. Radi['c] was in +prison, but they were told that this impetuous demagogue was insisting +on a republic, and the Croat _intelligentsia_ were far from happy. It is +true that in the elections of November 1920 the National party, as the +Star[vc]evists now called themselves, had no great success; but the +Radi['c] 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 Radi['c] 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), 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 _intelligentsia_ 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. + + +THE SAD CASE OF PRIBI[vC]EVI['C] + +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 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. Pribi[vc]evi['c] 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, Pribi[vc]evi['c]'s face grew black. Unhappily he is not even +Fortinbras and yet imagines he is Hamlet. A good many people in +Yugoslavia call him _un homme fatal_, most of the others _l'homme +fatal_. 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 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: + + "At the table also sat the sage Pribi[vc]evi['c], + Who can converse with Emperors...." + +There are some who, curiously, have compared Radi['c]'s party with the +Sinn Feiners; Radi['c] 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 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 Pribi[vc]evi['c], 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. + +However, the Serbs and Croats have a man whose counsel is more worthy of +attention. Dr. Trumbi['c], 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. + + +LESSONS OF THE MONTENEGRIN ELECTIONS + +Except at Kola[vs]in, 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. Yoyi['c], 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. Gjonovi['c], 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." + + +WHICH ONE GENTLEMAN REFUSES TO TAKE + +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 regime, 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. + +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 attache, 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 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 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."[64] Because M. Poincare, 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 _raison d'etre_ 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. + + * * * * * + +In August 1921 the _Secolo_ 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 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 Du[vs]an, 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 _Morning Post_. 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." + + +MEDIAEVAL DOINGS AT RIEKA + +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, _A Political Escapade_ +(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" (_sic_). He was given a _faglio di via +obligatorio_ 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 _Vedetta_, 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 cafes. +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 was likely to happen +if the place was delivered altogether to the C.N.I. could be seen when +the harbour of Baro[vs], 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 Baro[vs] 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 Baro[vs], 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 _Rad_ (Captain +Vlaho Grubi[vs]i['c]) came into Baro[vs], 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 +Grubi[vs]i['c] 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 _Carlo Mirabello_ sent +to ask Grubi[vs]i['c] 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 France and England, to prevail over those elements who have +dragged Rieka down to death and to dishonour. + +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 _La Nazione_,[65] "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 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,[66] 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. + + +THE STRICKEN TOWN + +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 Su[vs]ak 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 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 Stipeti['c], formerly a major of the Austrian +General Staff. Some dissident Croats--among them Dr. Emanuel Gagliardi, +Captains Cankl and Petri[vc]evi['c], Gjuro Kli[vs]uri['c], Josip Boldin +and Major-General I[vs]tvanovi['c]--two dissident Montenegrins, Jovo +Plamenac and Marko Petrovi['c], 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 _coup +d'etat_. 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. + +"If Italy were to offend against the freedom and 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 _Zagreber +Tagblatt_[67] 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 _gendarmerie_ +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. + +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 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,[68] that this was not the case, they had +adopted Western culture, they had raised the revolutionary flag against +the dynasty of Karageorgevi['c] 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 is the +future. A cartoonist in the Belgrade _Vreme_ 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...." + +There was a characteristic little affair at Saint Anna on March 23. A +few minutes after Zanella had left the Lubi['c] Inn a suspicious-looking +person appeared. He began observing the customers and their +surroundings, when the Police-Commissary Per[vs]i['c] 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. Per[vs]i['c] 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 _Vedetta Italiana_; 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. "Pieta, Pieta!" 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. + +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 Su[vs]ak 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 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. + +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 +_Nation_,[69] 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 _gendarmerie_ 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 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 Baro[vs]. Accurately speaking, the +arrangements with regard to Baro[vs] 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 Baro[vs], 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 [vS]ibenik and other Adriatic towns did not possess. This, +naturally, they refused to undertake, as also to agree to the Italian +suggestion that a free 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[70] 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." + + +HOPES IN THE LITTLE ENTENTE + +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 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 regime 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.[71] 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 +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. + +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. + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 46: April 16, 1920.] + + [Footnote 47: January 22, 1920.] + + [Footnote 48: According to the Rome correspondent of the _Petit + Journal_.] + + [Footnote 49: 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.] + + [Footnote 50: February 20, 1920.] + + [Footnote 51: September 1921.] + + [Footnote 52: 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 _Grazer Volksblatt_ 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. Guertler 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."] + + [Footnote 53: Cf. "The Tri-Une Kingdom," by Pavle Popovi['c] + and Jovan M. Jovanovi['c], in the _Quarterly Review_, October + 1921.] + + [Footnote 54: 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.] + + [Footnote 55: Cf. _Spectator_, July 17, 1920.] + + [Footnote 56: Cf. _Edinburgh Review_, July 1920.] + + [Footnote 57: A few months after this, in the course of a + little controversy in the _Saturday Review_ (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 _Capitano_ in order to thank him + for the bridges and waterworks which were being built in + Dalmatia.] + + [Footnote 58: 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.] + + [Footnote 59: November 13, 1920.] + + [Footnote 60: November 15, 1920.] + + [Footnote 61: 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 Bol[vs]evik 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.] + + [Footnote 62: Whatever be the limitations of the _Dom_ as a + newspaper--it is almost exclusively occupied with the person + and programme of Mr. Radi['c]--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 Radi['c] 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 Radi['c] 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 Radi['c] 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 Radi['c] was a knave and by the second he had demonstrated + that he was an imbecile. And my friend Mr. Leiper of the + _Morning Post_ speculated as to whether he was more likely to + end his days in a lunatic asylum or a prison. But Radi['c] 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 (Radi['c]) + had just brought down from his vineyard. The conversation + lasted for about four hours, and in the course of it Radi['c] + mentioned that a certain Moslem deputy from Novi Bazar, + irritated by the fact that Mr. Dra[vs]kovi['c], 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 Radi['c] 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.] + + [Footnote 63: Cf. _The Quarterly Review_ (October 1921), in + which Messrs. Pavle Popovi['c] and Jovan M. Jovanovi['c] + published a very able survey of Yugoslav conditions.] + + [Footnote 64: Cf. _Nineteenth Century and After_, January + 1921.] + + [Footnote 65: April 26, 1921.] + + [Footnote 66: Unhappily it became apparent that the Italians + were not disposed to have the Treaty put in force] + + [Footnote 67: March 23, 1922.] + + [Footnote 68: Cf. an article in a fascisti newspaper, quoted by + the _Zagreber Tagblatt_ of May 14, 1922.] + + [Footnote 69: Cf. "The Rise of the Little Entente," by Dorothy + Thompson. April 1, 1922.] + + [Footnote 70: _Fortnightly Review_, May 1922.] + + [Footnote 71: 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.] + + + + +VIII + +YUGOSLAVIA'S FRONTIERS + +INTRODUCTION--(_a_) THE ALBANIAN FRONTIER: 1. THE ACTORS--2. THE +AUDIENCE RUSH THE STAGE--3. SERBS, ALBANIANS AND THE MISCHIEF-MAKERS--4. +THE STATE OF ALBANIAN CULTURE--5. A METHOD WHICH MIGHT HAVE BEEN TRIED +IN ALBANIA--6. THE ATTRACTION OF YUGOSLAVIA--7. RELIGIOUS AND OTHER +MATTERS IN THE BORDER REGION--8. A DIGRESSION ON TWO RIVAL ALBANIAN +AUTHORITIES--9. WHAT FACES THE YUGOSLAVS--10. DR. TRUMBI['C]'S +PROPOSAL--11. THE POSITION IN 1921: THE TIRANA GOVERNMENT AND THE +MIRDITI--12. SERBIA'S GOOD INFLUENCE--13. EUROPEAN MEASURES AGAINST THE +YUGOSLAVS AND THEIR FRIENDS--14. THE REGION FROM WHICH THE YUGOSLAVS +HAVE RETIRED--15. THE PROSPECT--(_b_) THE GREEK FRONTIER--(_c_) THE +BULGARIAN FRONTIER--(_d_) THE ROUMANIAN FRONTIER: 1. THE STATE OF THE +ROUMANIANS IN EASTERN SERBIA--2. THE BANAT--(_e_) THE HUNGARIAN +FRONTIER--(_f_) THE AUSTRIAN FRONTIER--(_g_) THE ITALIAN FRONTIER. + + +INTRODUCTION + +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 part of Yugoslavia's frontiers +remained undecided. We will travel along the frontier lines, starting +with that between Yugoslavs and Albanians. + + +(a) THE ALBANIAN FRONTIER + +1. THE ACTORS + +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. + +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, 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'Esperey, by a majority of the local Albanians, and by those who hope +for peace in the Balkans. + + +2. THE AUDIENCE RUSH THE STAGE + +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'Esperey 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'Esperey--provided the local +population with a great deal of booty, and in particular with mules. +There was constant trouble in those regions of Albania which were +occupied by the Italians,[72] 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. + +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 Cviji['c], 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 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 Mueller, "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. + +Among the solutions of the Albanian problem was that which Dr. Mueller +very seriously, not to say ponderously, put forward in 1916.[73] 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 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. Mueller, 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. Mueller 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. Mueller's +scheme put into action. + + +3. SERBS, ALBANIANS AND THE MISCHIEF-MAKERS + +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 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 Pouni[vs]a Ra[vc]i['c], of +whom we have much to say. He was accompanied by Smajo Ferovi['c], 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. Pa[vs]i['c] 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. + +When the War was over, the Serbs, sweeping up from Macedonia, were +requested by General Franchet d'Esperey 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 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'Esperey 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 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'Esperey 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?" + +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,[74] that it was good business--"_un buon +affare_"--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 _Fortnightly Review_ (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 S.S. _Knin_. To the Irish, the +Egyptians and the Turks the poet-filibuster had merely sent greetings. +Some one 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. + +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 Milo[vs] against the Turks, +and the same cause united the Serbian authorities to the famous Vezir +Mahmud Begovi['c] of Pe['c]. 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 Bumci, 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 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 Patchou. 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. Patchou 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 Patchou, "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 Chimigo,[75] 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 from Albania. Zena Beg returned with a request for +money, guns and so forth; but they were not sent. + +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 Bumci. 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 ideas--his house at Scutari was +burned,[76] 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 Bumci, 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 _Posta e Shqypnis_ 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 Bumci, he +contributed anti-French and, I believe, anti-English poems to the _Epopea +Shqyptare_. + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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 not horrible," he cried in Italian, "that this man +should dare to come to my house and make propaganda against us?" + +"Really, sir, I am astonished," said Monsignor Bumci, 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![77] 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." + +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. + +"Well, one cannot praise the custom of blood-vengeance," said the +Monsignor. + +"You spoke," I said, "of your Government insisting on justice for the +Albanians." + +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 whose anti-Slav paper, the _Bessa Shqyptare_, 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 Prennushi, 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. + + +4. THE STATE OF ALBANIAN CULTURE + +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,[78] 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 aesthetic 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 Caesar's _Bellum Gallicum_ 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 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 +_Morning Post_ 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[79] 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. + +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. 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 mediaeval +ideas on the sanctity of guests and the punctilious maintenance of their +honour,[80] 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,[81] 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." + +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 +neighbours. But there are as yet, Miss Durham must acknowledge, very +few signs that this will ever come to pass. + +"We are Albanians," said Monsignor Bumci, "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." + +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,[82] 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." +"_Nukahaile_ [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." + +"We are all united, Catholic and Moslem. It is splendid!" said Monsignor +Bumci. "And we are not by any means fanatical--with us it is the +country first and our religion afterwards." + +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 Bumci 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. + +"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." + +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 W.C.--then they would have laughed at this +Government which tried to lay a hand on their ancestral liberties. + +"The end of it all is," said the Monsignor, "we are Albanians. We demand +the independence of our country." + +"As a Latin," writes Professor Katarani,[83] "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 _Mattino_ +and the _Tribuna_.... 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,[84] "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 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. + +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 Pe['c] amounted, according to Glueck, 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. + +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 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." + +To whatever state of culture the Albanians may climb, I think it will be +generally agreed that some regime 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. + + +5. A METHOD THAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN TRIED IN ALBANIA + +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 Shqyptart would +need to bring in a military force, on similar lines to the Swedish +_gendarmerie_ 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 _gendarmerie_; 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. + + +6. THE ATTRACTION OF YUGOSLAVIA + +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 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[85] "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 what has taken place in the Prizren-Pe['c]-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. + +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 _gendarmerie_ 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 +(_ne_ Stojan) Stefanovi['c] of the village of 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 Pe['c], 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. + +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,[86] 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 Kujundji['c], 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 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 mediaeval 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 De[vc]ani 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 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. + +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. + + +7. RELIGIOUS AND OTHER MATTERS IN THE BORDER REGION + +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. + +"Never," they replied. + +"What is your religion?" + +"Well, it is very strange," they told us, "but we have none." + +"What religion did you formerly have?" + +"Well, we don't know." + +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 +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 Pe['c], 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 Vasojevi['c], that the Gashi are calling to +the Piperi and the Berishi to the Ku[vc]i. 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 +Vasojevi['c] 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 Vasojevi['c] earned for themselves the nickname of +Kastratovi['c]. + +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 Pi[vs]kopalja on the Drin--much +to the edification of the local Moslems. This church of their ancestors +was 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 Pe['c]. +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 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. + +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 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 Vasojevi['c] having their property ravaged by some Albanian +marauders who were prompted by the same Great Power. The Vasojevi['c] +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 +Vasojevi['c] 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. + +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 _New +Statesman_ 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 Pouni[vs]a Ra[vc]i['c], the +Montenegrin who arrested Brodie. Albanians have told me that +Pouni[vs]a'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. + +This is what Pouni[vs]a Ra[vc]i['c] told me: + +"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 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 _gendarmerie_. 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. + +"I had some urgent business at Plav," continued Ra[vc]i['c], "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 Pe['c], a former +Austrian agent who had committed many crimes against the Serbs and had +lately escaped from the prison at Pe['c]. 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 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 Rejepagi['c] (the leading family) and Ismael Omeragi['c], +also two Christians, of whom I remember Stani[vc]a Turkovi['c]. '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 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 Pe['c], 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 Pe['c],' said Brodie; 'I want to go to +Scutari.' 'You must go to Pe['c],' 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 _New +Statesman_ that Brodie was treated with "gross indignity."] 'Three +horses were got ready,' said Ra[vc]i['c] in conclusion, 'and on these +they rode to Pe['c], accompanied by a guard, both to prevent them from +escaping and from coming to harm.'"[87] + +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 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. + + +8. A DIGRESSION ON TWO RIVAL ALBANIAN AUTHORITIES + +[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 (_Twenty Years of Balkan Tangle_; 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.[88] 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 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 +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[89] (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. + +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 Pa[vs]i['c], 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[90] 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 _gendarmerie_? The special task of the latter was 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 mediaeval 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."] + + +9. WHAT FACES THE YUGOSLAVS + +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, 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 _[vc]if[vc]ija_, +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 Du[vs]an, 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 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 Obradovi['c], 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 Ku['c]i 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 _[vc]if[vc]ija_ 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 +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. + +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 Pe['c] 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 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, rode 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. + +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 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." + +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 Musakadi['c], a Bosnian Moslem who +deserted from the Austrian army to the 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 +Br['c]ko, 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 Br['c]ko 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. + +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 were they who had conquered it, the Serbs took to thrashing +their allies and ejecting them from the cafes. The Italians did not +protest.... + + +10. DR. TRUMBI['C]'S PROPOSAL + +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. Trumbi['c], 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 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. Trumbi['c] 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. +Trumbi['c], 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. + + +11. THE POSITION IN 1921: THE TIRANA GOVERNMENT AND THE MIRDITI + +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 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? + +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 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. + +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 +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, _Bashkimi l'unione_, 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. + +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 _Fortnightly Review_ 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 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. + +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. + +A delegation from the Mirditi, consisting of the Rev. Professor Anthony +Achikou and Captain Dod Lleche, 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 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 Moji[vs]te, 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 lucrative operation which d'Annunzio's +arditi[91] 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 proteges 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? + +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),[92] 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.[93] This clever +man, 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 71/2 (the pay of a simple gendarme)--which they are alleged to +receive. Do they ever think of the starving Italian peasants? + +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.[94] +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. + +Lord Robert Cecil did not at first seem to think that their desire for a +republic independent of Tirana could be 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. + +The Italian delegate, Marquis Imperiali, submitted that there was no +need to hurry this Commission and Monsieur Djoni explained in a +telegram[95] 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. + + * * * * * + +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 regime? +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 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 Pouni[vs]a Ra[vc]i['c] and his companions in the +summer of 1921 while they were riding one day from Djakovica to Pe['c]. +Pouni[vs]a 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 Pouni[vs]a 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 Pe['c], 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. + +How much the Albanian conceives that he owes a duty to the State may be +instanced by the application of a smuggler that he be granted a permit +to go to Zagreb in order to dispose of 6000 oka[96] 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.) + + +12. SERBIA'S GOOD INFLUENCE + +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 Pouni[vs]a 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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 mediaeval 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 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 _Fortnightly +Review_ 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,[97] 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 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." + +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 +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. + +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. + +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 when the +partisans of Essad Pasha's policy[98] 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 _gendarmerie_ will have +to be rendered, and schools will have to be established for both sexes. + +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. + + +13. EUROPEAN MEASURES AGAINST THE YUGOSLAVS AND THEIR FRIENDS + +Berati Beg, Tirana's delegate in Paris, said in an interview with a +representative of the Belgrade _Pravda_, 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.[99] But +the most probable explanation of this lack of courtesy towards 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.[100] 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 _Temps_ +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.[101] Thus the misguided person 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, +_The Second Year of the League_, 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. + +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 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 Pe['c] +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'Esperey perceived in 1918 that +they could be fairly comfortable. Monsieur Albert Mousset, the shrewd +Balkan expert of the _Journal des Debats_, 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 +_gendarmerie_ 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 _tabula rasa_, 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. + +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 +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 _Observer_--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. + +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 +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 Ni[vs] in 1915, they declined to betray +their Allies. + +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 +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. + +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. Bo[vs]kovi['c], +the chief Yugoslav delegate, said, the Southern Slavs do not conceal +their sympathy[102] nor the hope that they will gain the necessary +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 Yugoslav 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 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[103] 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 _Mafalda_, 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 _Times_;[104] one need not +labour the point by mentioning what happened to Father Vincent Prennushi +whose candidature was vetoed in Rome, so that he was replaced by Father +Fichta. + +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 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 _Times_ 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 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 _The Near East_ said on November 3, 1921, that the +Serbian Government was reported to be committing unwarrantable acts, +giving as an example that Commandant Martinovi['c] 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 +Martinovi['c] 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,[105] 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 Marshal Mi[vs]i['c] 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 _The Near East_.[106] 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. + + +14. THE REGION FROM WHICH THE YUGOSLAVS HAVE RETIRED + +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 mediaeval 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 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. + +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 regime 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. + +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 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. + + +15. THE PROSPECT + +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 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. + +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'Esperey 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. + +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 (_trouee_) of Couvin, often called erroneously the trouee of the +Oise, at a short distance from Paris, was purposely opened. "Formerly," +says Professor Jean Brunhes,[107] "the sources of the Oise belonged to +France, protected, far back, by the two enclaves of Philippeville and +Marienbourg, both fortified by Vauban." And M. Gabriel Hanotaux[108] +remarks that this opening of the trouee of Couvin was the reason why in +1914 France lost the battle of Charleroi. + +The Ambassadors' Conference has committed a grave injustice. "Let us +hope," says M. Justin Godart,[109] a French ex-Under Secretary of +Hygiene, concerning whose very misguided mission to Albania we have +written elsewhere,[110] "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 role. 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. + +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'Esperey's wise and prudent +dispositions shall be honoured. + + * * * * * + +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 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,[111] 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 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. + + +(_b_) THE GREEK FRONTIER + +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 _L'Hellenisme_, 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 +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. + + +(_c_) THE BULGARIAN FRONTIER + +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.[112] It is rather different with regard to Tsaribrod, on the +main line between Ni[vs] 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 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 +_intelligentsia_ 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. +Stanojevi['c], the deputy for Zaje[vc]a, which is not far from the +frontier, proposed in the Skup[vs]tina 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 Skup[vs]tina 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 _Observer_, 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 what is most righteous and attainable; we +ought not to let ourselves be carried away by our imagination." + + +(_d_) THE ROUMANIAN FRONTIER + +THE STATE OF THE ROUMANIANS IN EASTERN SERBIA + +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 _Les +Roumains de Serbie_ (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 regime 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 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 Du[vs]anovac in eastern +Serbia. Later on Athanasius performed his military service at Zaje[vc]a, +where he married--so one of his sisters told me--one Mileva, the +daughter of Yovan Stan[vc]evi['c], 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 regime 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 +Soldatovi['c], 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 _bordei_, 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 _mamaliga_"[113]--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 +Milo[vs]. 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 Gligorievi['c], his representative in those parts, to Prince +Milo[vs], 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 to intervene in +her internal affairs. He adopted a very cautious attitude in this +matter, but when Gligorievi['c] 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. Milo[vs] 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 +Korni['c], 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." + +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 Mi[vs]kovi['c], 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 Jonovi['c], the most notable person, who used to represent this +district in the Skup[vs]tina at Belgrade, has three Serbian +daughters-in-law. 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 +Dobromirovi['c] of Zlot; there was Jorge Stankovi['c], 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 Yovanovi['c] 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 employes are Roumanians. + +Dr. Athanasius and his friends are agitated, as one would imagine, when +they discuss with you the numbers of their countrymen. In _Le Temps_ 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 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 "i['c]" 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 Po[vz]arevac 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 Markovi['c] 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,[114] or from Tara Rumaneasca, _i.e._ 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 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 Georgevi['c] +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. + +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. + + +2. THE BANAT + +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, 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 Teme[vs]var 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 Ver[vs]ac 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. _Adeverul_, which is one of the least chauvinist of +Bucharest newspapers, claimed for Roumania at least the railway line: +Teme[vs]var, Ver[vs]ac, 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 +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, 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 Ver[vs]ac 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 Ver[vs]ac, 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 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 Sredi[vs]te. In 1809 the +Roumanians were transplanted from Zsam to Petrovasela, between Ver[vs]ac +and Pan[vc]evo, where they entered the Pan[vc]evo Frontier Regiment; +their place at Zsam was taken by Germans, who, being more industrious, +were preferred by the landowners. + +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 +Ko[vc]a 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 Ko[vc]a, have been driven into +chronic lawlessness. + +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 Teme[vs]var) 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 large town of +Teme[vs]var 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 +Teme[vs]var 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 Teme[vs]var Germans +were given to Roumania but on account of their economic existence, which +certainly in the case of the departments of Nagyszentmiklos, Perjamos +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 Pardany, Modos and Banlak, 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 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 +Teme[vs]var, 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. + +A similar rectification is needed in the country to the north and +north-west. The three German villages of Komlo[vs], Mariafeld and St. +Miklo[vs] 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 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 Pribi[vc]evi['c] to one of them +at Ver[vs]ac--"we will give them everything up to a university." + +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 +_The New Europe_,[115] 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. + +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 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 Pa[vs]i['c]--"I speak for Serbia. Can you speak for Roumania?" + +And Jonescu unfortunately had to shake his head. + +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. + +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. + + +(_e_) THE HUNGARIAN FRONTIER + +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 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 +presumably 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 +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 [vS]okci--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 Cviji['c] 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 Dobrovi['c], 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. + +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 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 +_intelligentsia_. 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 _Morning Post_ 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 _The Future of the Southern Slavs_; 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 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 Bol[vs]evik 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. + + +(_f_) THE AUSTRIAN FRONTIER + +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 _Epoca_, 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. + +Two zones in Carinthia--"A" to the south-east, with its centre at +Velikovec (Voelkermarkt), and "B" to 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 Bol[vs]evik regime, 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. + +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 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 _intelligentsia_: 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 11/2 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 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. + +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 regarded. 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. 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. + +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 _Grazer +Tagblatt_, 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: + + German Children. Slovene Children. +Borovlje (Ferlach) 31 per cent. 69 per cent. +Grab[vs]tajn (Grafenstein) 10.6 " 89.4 " +[vZ]relc (Ebenthal) 24.4 " 75.6 " +Pokr[vc]e (Poggersdorf) 1.3 " 98.7 " +Bistrica (Feistritz) 16.2 " 82.8 " + +And twelve days later the official census gave these results: + + Germans. Slovenes. +Borovlje 90 per cent. 10 per cent. +Grab[vs]tajn 50.1 " 49.9 " +[vZ]relc 49.2 " 50.8 " +Pokr[vc]e 41.1 " 58.9 " +Bistrica 44.4 " 55.6 " + +Far more trustworthy is the almanac issued every 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. + +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 (_e.g._ the "Kaerntner Bauernbund," the "Verein der +Alldeutschen," the "Deutscher Volksverein," etc. etc.), which, as was +admitted, drew their funds to a considerable extent from Germany +herself. + +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 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. + +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 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. + +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 Grab[vs]tajn (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 +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 Grab[vs]tajn. 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 _gendarmerie_ 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 Grab[vs]tajn 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 _Hrvat_, the organ of the Narodny Club in Croatia (the +decentralizing but strongly national party) blames Monsignor Koro[vs]ec, +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 +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 _Hrvat_, 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 _Koroski Slovenec_, 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. + + +(_g_) THE ITALIAN FRONTIER + +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-Gradi[vs]ca, +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 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 _faute de mieux_--the frontier from +the river Ar[vs]a 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 +Ar[vs]a 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-Gradi[vs]ca, 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. + +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, 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. + +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 we cannot look forward with +that confidence we should have had if more sagacious counsels had +prevailed. + +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 _leccapiatini_ (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 _Il +Lavoratore_--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 _New York Herald_, Mr. Eyre, +happened to be in the building. They afterwards said that the attack by +those ultra-nationalist 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. + +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 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 +Ar[vs]a it would make the Italians in the Triest-Istrian State become a +minority. + +With respect to the indisputable Slav districts east of the Isonzo, +_i.e._ the territory of Gorica-Gradi[vs]ca 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 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. + +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 aegis 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. + +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 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.) + +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." + +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. 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." + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 72: 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 _Fortnightly + Review_ 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.] + + [Footnote 73: _Albaniens Zukunft._ Munich, 1916.] + + [Footnote 74: _La Sera_, August 6, 1920.] + + [Footnote 75: _Giornale delle Puglie_, September 6-7, 1920.] + + [Footnote 76: 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?] + + [Footnote 77: In the winter of 1921 this gentleman was expelled + from his country.] + + [Footnote 78: _Albanesische Studien._ Jena, 1854.] + + [Footnote 79: _Albanien und die Albanesen._] + + [Footnote 80: 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: "Ka[vc]ak Karadak Kralj Nikola barabar!" (that + is to say, "The Albanian and the Montenegrin are equal in the + eyes of King Nicholas!"). Ka[vc]ak 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.] + + [Footnote 81: _Turkey in Europe._ London, 1900.] + + [Footnote 82: _Ein Vorstoss in die Nordalbanischen Alpen._ + Vienna, 1905.] + + [Footnote 83: _Italy in the Balkans at this Hour._ Naples, + 1913.] + + [Footnote 84: _L'Albanie Independente_, by Dukagjin-Zadeh Basri + Bey. Paris, 1920.] + + [Footnote 85: Cf. the _New Statesman_, February 5, 1921.] + + [Footnote 86: When the Serbian troops arrived at Pri[vs]tina 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 _The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, + Ireland_, 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 Pri[vs]tina, because "from an early dinner + to the hour of rest he never left his chair, nor did the claret + ever quit the table."] + + [Footnote 87: When this account of the incident was published + in my small book, _A Difficult Frontier_, it caused a reviewer, + one I. M., in _The Near East_ 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 _The Near East_ very seriously. It is + not worth while informing them how General Phillips of Scutari + dealt with Captain Brodie.] + + [Footnote 88: Referring in the _Nation and Athenaeum_ to Sir + Charles's latest work, _Hinduism and Buddhism_ (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."] + + [Footnote 89: Cf. pp. 72-73, Vol. I.] + + [Footnote 90: Cf. _Manchester Guardian_, February 28, 1919.] + + [Footnote 91: Cf. _A Political Escapade: The Story of Fiume and + D'Annunzio_, by J. N. Macdonald, O.S.B. London, 1921.] + + [Footnote 92: Cf. _Tribune de Geneve_, October 13, 1921.] + + [Footnote 93: Those who are curious as to the gentleman's + antecedents may like to refer to my book, _Under the + Acroceraunian Mountains_.] + + [Footnote 94: Cf. _La Suisse_ (of Geneva), October 13, 1921.] + + [Footnote 95: Cf. _Journal des Debats_, October 15, 1921.] + + [Footnote 96: This would be about 18,000 lb. avoirdupois.] + + [Footnote 97: Cf. p. 283, Vol. II.] + + [Footnote 98: Cf. _Morning Post_ of December 14, 1921.] + + [Footnote 99: Cf. _Le Temps_, November 11, 1921.] + + [Footnote 100: "Who is this anonymous idiot?... He really ought + to have known better than that," says a reviewer in _The Near + East_. 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, _A Difficult Frontier_ + (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."] + + [Footnote 101: In the _Samouprava_ of November 12 the whole + case was discussed with his usual lucidity by Dr. Lazar + Markovi['c], 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 Pa[vs]i['c].] + + [Footnote 102: 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.] + + [Footnote 103: 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.] + + [Footnote 104: December 16, 1921.] + + [Footnote 105: 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.] + + [Footnote 106: November 24, 1921.] + + [Footnote 107: Cf. "Geographie Humaine de la France" in the + _Histoire de la Nation Francaise_. Paris, 1920.] + + [Footnote 108: Cf. _L'histoire illustree de la guerre de + 1914_.] + + [Footnote 109: _L'Albanie en 1921._ Paris, 1922.] + + [Footnote 110: _Under the Acroceraunian Mountains._] + + [Footnote 111: M. Gabriel Louis Jaray. Cf. his _Les Albanais_ + (Paris, 1920) and his other writings on the Albanians.] + + [Footnote 112: Cf. _A History of the Peace Conference of + Paris_. Edited by H. W. V. Temperley, vols. iv. and v. London, + 1921.] + + [Footnote 113: Elias Regnault, _Histoire politique et sociale + des Principautes Danubiennes_. Paris, 1885.] + + [Footnote 114: 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 + Po[vz]arevac and Kraina. It signifies a stupid fellow, one from + the wilderness.] + + [Footnote 115: February 13, 1919.] + + + + +IX + +CONCLUSION: A FEW NATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS + +THE SLOVENES AND THE SERBS--THE MONTENEGRINS AND THE SERBS--THE CROATS +AND THE SERBS--SERB AND BULGAR. + + +THE SLOVENES AND THE SERBS + +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 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.[116] + + +THE MONTENEGRINS AND THE SERBS + +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 cafe 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 +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 Pe['c] who belonged to the great +Vasojevi['c] 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 Vasojevi['c], 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 Durham remarked,[117] 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 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." + +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 [vC]a[vc]ak, 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 [vC]a[vc]ak 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. + + +THE CROATS AND THE SERBS + +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 Ja[vs]a Tomi['c], +"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 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.[118] 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.... + +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, criticize the central Government are by no means +necessarily in favour of setting up a separate one. Whatever the +impetuous Radi['c] 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 Pribi[vc]evi['c] +with the request that he would let them kill the demagogue, were for +expressing in this way what Dr. Du[vs]an Popovi['c], 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 Stambouluesky, 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,[119] whom I quote, there is nothing +that so thoroughly displays the dominance of Belgrade as the 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 _Morning Post's_ 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. + + * * * * * + +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 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 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. + +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. + + +SERB AND BULGAR + +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 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 [vC]a[vc]ak 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 _nom de guerre_, 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, 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 +_Nordeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung_ (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[120] _in camera_ 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. + +As one must repeat _ad nauseam_, the gulf between Serb and Bulgar has +not been caused by an extreme 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. + +At the end of his book, _Balkan Problems and European Peace_, 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 Karaka[vc]an +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, as is natural, have gone out to that Balkan country which +cultivated him and since, as Dr. Milovanovi['c], 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 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. + +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 attache. + +The attache suggested a division between Serbia and Bulgaria. + +"No," said the professor; "let the country remain a whole, like the +child before Solomon." + +"Would you be satisfied?" asked the attache, "if this question were now +decided once and for all?" + +"Yes," said the professor, "if the judge be another Solomon." + +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 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 +preservation of her dialects, local administration, police, etc. + + * * * * * + +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 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: + + Oh! la belle journee de votre bonheur, + Souhaitons votre bon voyage tout-a-l'heure. + Couronne de grands succes du ciel je vous implore, + Allegresse, sante et prosperite je vous augure. + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 116: Cf. _Modern Italy_, by Giovanni Borghese. Paris, + 1913.] + + [Footnote 117: Cf. _Through the Lands of the Serb_.] + + [Footnote 118: Cf. _The Children of the Illuminator_, by Bishop + Nicholai Velimirovi['c]. London, 1919.] + + [Footnote 119: _Edinburgh Review_, July 1920 (anonymous).] + + [Footnote 120: Subsequently printed as a pamphlet with the + title, _Die Ausgestaltung des deutschen Kultur-Einflusses in + Bulgarien_. 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.] + + + + +INDEX OF VOLUME II + +(_The Names of Books, Newspapers, and Ships are in Italics._) + + +Abbazia, Conditions at, 72 _et seq._ + +Achikou (Kol), brother of Anthony, 326. + +Achikou (Prof. Anthony), the Mirdite, 285, 327 _et seq._ + +_Adeverul_, its claims, 363. + +Agrarian Reform in Czecho-Slovakia, 136. +-- -- in Hungary, 135. +-- -- in Yugoslavia, 132 _et seq._ + +Ahmed Beg Mati, 282-3. + +_Albanais_, _Les_, quoted, 352. + +_Albanesische Studien_, quoted, 287. + +Albanians against Austrian army, 100. +-- compared with Basques, 294. +-- -- -- Kurds, 311. +-- of Dalmatia, 38. +-- and the land in Yugoslavia, 136-7. + +_Albanie Independente_, quoted, 292. + +_Albanien und die Albanesen_, quoted, 288. + +Alberti (Mario), his _L'Adriatico et il Mediterraneo_, 66. + +Alexander (King) and the Communists, 221. +-- -- and the Croats, 400. +-- -- on the Italians, 60, 120. + +Ambassadors' Conference, 273, 337 _et seq._, 349 _et seq._ + +Ambris (A. di) and the British boots, 219. + +Anglo-Albanian Society, 296, 306, 323. + +Apponyi (Count), on Hungary's neighbours, 371. + +Asquith (H. H.) and Dalmatia, 92. + +Austrian activities in Albania, 277-8, 281, 286, 292, 303, 316-7, 320. + +Austrians in Montenegro, 97 _et seq._ +-- their hospitals, 97-8. + +Austrians, their parliamentary manners, 224. + +Autonomists, the old party, 29, 35-6, 45-6, 159 _et seq._ +--the Rieka party, 46, 54, 261. + +Avramovi['c] of the Peasants' party, 242. + + +Badoglio (General) and the coal-supply, 215-6. + +Balkan Committee, 347. + +Banat, after the War, 124 _et seq._, 362 _et seq._ + +Baro[vs], _see_ Rieka. + +Bartlett (C. A. H.) and Italy's rights, 139. + +Basri Bey, 292-3. + +Beaumont (A.), the correspondent, 47, 53, 55-6, 64. + +Belloc (H.), his curious ideas, 25-6, 35. + +_Bellum Gallicum_, quoted, 287. + +Bencivenga (General) and the Albanians, 280. + +Benelli (Sem), poet and warrior, +140. + +Berati Bey, the delegate, 273. + +Berlin Congress and two villages, 304. + +_Bessa Shqyptare_, its existence, 285-6. + +Bib Doda, Prenk, 291, 324-5. + +Bissolati, the gallant Minister, 80 _et seq._, 85-6, 152. + +Blakeney, for Rieka, 268. + +Blood-vengeance, Monsignor Bumci on, 285. +-- Miss Durham on, 287. +-- how it may be washed out, 298. +-- its high-water mark, 288. +-- its prevalence, 293, 330. +-- its relative decline, 283. + +Bobrikoff (General), on religion in Serbia, 397-8. + +Bogi['c] (Dr.), the victim, 149 _et seq._ + +Bojana, perilous for French boats, 96. + +Bojani['c] (Dom Ivo), his protest, 175. + +Borghese (Prince Livio), 375. + +Bosnia and Agrarian Reform, 132-3, 221. +-- after the War, 106 _et seq._, 220-1. + +_Bosnische Post_, quoted, 95. + +Boxich (Dr.), the results of truthfulness, 164-5. + +Brodie (Captain), his exploit, 306 _et seq._ + +Brunhes (Prof. Jean), cited, 350. + +Bryce (Roland), his Montenegrin report, 253 _et seq._ + +Bufani, of the Banat, 370. + +Bukvich (Captain), the Intelligence Officer, 158 _et seq._ + +Bulgars, some characteristics, 403-4. +-- and the future, 405 _et seq._ + +Bumci (Monsignor), the mild Regent, 281, 283, 284, 285, 290-1. + +Buonfiglio (R.), the journalist, 176, 178, 182. + +Buri['c] (V.), 193-4. + +Burrows (the late Prof.) and the Albanians, 276. + +Buxton (Noel), 347, 405 _et seq._ +-- -- his _Balkan Problems and European Peace_, 405. + + +Cagni (Admiral) at Pola, 23-4, 44. + +Candrea (Prof.), his map, 364. + +Cappone (Colonel) of [vS]ibenik, 35, 145. + +Carducci, quoted, 83. + +Carinthia, hostilities, 124, 128 _et seq._ +-- the plebiscite, 374 _et seq._ + +Cecil (Lord Robert) and the Albanians, 323, 327, 328-9. + +[vC]ekoni['c] (Count) and the Dobrovoljci, 135. + +Centurione, the deputy, 78. + +Chauvinism, Serbian lack of, 348-9, 384. + +_Chicago Tribune_, quoted, 198-9. + +Chimigo (Prof.) and the Italians, 282. + +Church in Albania, 291. +-- -- in Croatia, 242-3, 245. +-- -- in Serbia, 397-8. + +Cicoli (Admiral) and Austria's collapse, 18-9. + +Clemenceau (G.), 23, 93, 199, 213 _et seq._, 284. + +[vC]okorilo and his undesirable newspaper, 109 _et seq._ + +Colajanni and the Slovenes, 388. + +Communists in Yugoslavia, 221 _et seq._, 238, 254. + +_Contemporary Review_, quoted, 15, 247-8. + +_Corriere d'Italia_ (and _see_ Buonfiglio), 215. + +Costume, Absence of, 287-8. + +Cres, Italian measures at, 42, 56 _et seq._ + +Croats and Agrarian Reform, 133 _et seq._, 221. +-- -- and Magyars, 246. +-- -- their relations to the Serbs, 111 _et seq._, 220, 240 _et seq._, + 244 _et seq._, 251-2, 397 _et seq._ + +Crosse (Rev. E. C.), his _The Defeat of Austria_, 14. + +Cunnington (Captain Willett), his accusation, 306, 309. + +Cviji['c] (Prof.), his views, 275. + + +_Daily Telegraph_, quoted, 47. + +Dalmatia, why demanded by Italians, 87 _et seq._ +-- -- deportations from, 152. +-- -- population, 148-9, 230-1. +-- -- how treated by Italians, 148 _et seq._ + +_Dalmazia_, a newspaper, 171 _et seq._ + +D'Annunzio, his absurdity, 86. +-- -- the Holy Entry, 196. +-- -- various exploits at Rieka, 208 _et seq._ +-- -- his invective, 83. +-- -- his munificence, 280-1. +-- -- in temporary possession, 198 _et seq._ +-- -- his thousand proclamations, 197. +-- -- disapproves of Treaty of Rapallo, 234-5. + +Darkovi['c], the respected deputy, 96. + +Davidovi['c], leader of Democrats, 225. + +Dell (Anthony) on the Italians, 15. + +Delonga (Jakov), his testimony, 76. + +Devine (A.) and his propaganda, 193-4, 227-8. + +Djakovica, 293, 298 _et seq._ + +Djer Doucha, the villain, 307. + +Djoni (Mark), President of the Mirditi, 324, 325, 328, 342. + +Doci (Primo), the great Abbot, 324. + +Doday (Father Paul), 286. + +Doimi (Dr.) of Vis, 29. + +Domiaku[vs]i['c] (Prof.) at [vS]ibenik, 144. + +Donghi (Marchese), his assertions, 26-7. + +Draghicesco (Dr.), his _Les Roumains de Serbie_, 356. + +Dra[vs]kovi['c], his murder, 223-4. + +Drin, river, as a frontier, 279, 302, 304, 321. + +Durham (Edith), apologist, 289, 290. +-- -- compared with Sir Charles Eliot, 310 _et seq._ +-- -- disgusted with Great Britain, 313. +-- -- her _Through the Lands of the Serb_, 395. +-- -- her _Twenty Years of Balkan Tangle_, 310. +-- -- her respect for Mr. Bottomley, 311. +-- -- her wrath, 305. +-- -- on Albanian medicine, 288. +-- -- on the tyranny of Serbian schools, 297. + + +_Echo de l'Adriatique_, its suppression, 62-3. + +_Edinburgh Review_, quoted, 230, 399. + +_Edinost_, quoted, 123. + +Eliot (Sir Charles), 274, 289, 310 _et seq._ + +Entente, Little, 269 _et seq._ + +_Epopea Shqyptare_, quoted, 284. + +Essad and Essadists, 292-3, 336, 342-3, 345. + +European War and the Albanians, 312-3, 317, 345-6. + +Evangheli (Pandeli), 345. + +Evans (Sir Arthur), 67, 184 _et seq._ + + +Fan Noli, the versatile, 327-8. + +Fascisti, 78, 217, 260 _et seq._ + +Fichta (Father), 284, 293. + +Fisher (Rt. Hon. H. A. L.), 340 _et seq._ + +Fiume, _see_ Rieka. + +Fodor (Prof. Dr.), on race, 8. + +_Fortnightly Review_, quoted, 20, 26, 269, 275, 280, 324, 333. + +Franchet d'Esperey (Marshal) and Albania, 274, 278-9, 350, 351. +-- -- -- and Montenegro, 96, 103. + +Frank party in Croatia, 114. + +French, how they regarded the Italians, 63-4, 96, 199. +-- how treated by the Italians, 42, 198-9. + +Freund (Leo), the secret agent, 281. + +Frontier, Yugoslav, with Albania, 273 _et seq._ +-- -- with Austria, 374 _et seq._ +-- -- with Bulgaria, 354-5. +-- -- with Greece, 353-4. +-- -- with Hungary, 370 _et seq._ +-- -- with Italy, 383 _et seq._ +-- -- with Roumania, 356 _et seq._ + + +Gaeta army, 187, 228. + +Gardner (E.), on Balkanic mentality, 236. + +Gauvain, the publicist, 90. + +Gavazzi (Dr. A.), on Rieka's population, 54. + +_Gazzetta del Popolo_, quoted, 197. + +"Geographie Humaine de la France," quoted, 350. + +Germans, in Banat, 363 _et seq._ +-- in Carinthia, 374 _et seq._ + +Giglioli (Prof.), his claim, 79, 80. + +Giolitti, 78, 210, 219, 234. + +Giuratti, the patriot, 264-5. + +_Glasgow Herald_, on Treaty of Rapallo, 233. + +Gloma[vz]i['c], the lame prefect, 105, 192. + +Goad (H. E.), his explanations, 90, 269, 275, 280, 325, 333. +-- -- his wrath, 231, 324, 350. + +Godart (Justin), his work in Albania, 279, 334. +-- -- his _L'Albanie en 1921_, 351. + +Gorica, its population, 388-9. + +Gothardi of Rieka, 46-7. + +_Grazer Tagblatt_, 378. + +Grazioli (General) at Rieka, 54, 62. + +Grossich (Dr.) of Rieka, 48, 140, 258-9. + +Grubi[vs]i['c] and his flag, 260. + +Gusinje, its past and future, 304 _et seq._ + + +Hahn (Consul), his labours, 287. + +Halim Beg Derala, 285, 298. + +Hanotaux (Gabriel), 294, 351. + +Haumant (E.), his _La Slavisation de la Dalmatie_, 89. + +Herbert (Hon. Aubrey, M.P.), 288. +-- -- on Montenegro, 257. +-- -- his propaganda, 327. + +Herbert (Hon. Aubrey, M.P.), his request, 323. +-- -- his testimony, 306. +-- -- the 120 villages, 296. + +Hickmann (Prof.), cited, 346. + +_Histoire illustree de la guerre de 1914_, quoted, 351. + +Hla['c]a (Karlo) of Cres, 56 _et seq._ + +Horthy (Admiral) at Pola, 17 _et seq._, 270. + +_Hrvat_, on the Carinthian plebiscite, 382-3. + +_Humanite_, 76. + +_Hungarian Nation_, quoted, 8. + +Hvar, its interesting names, 32-3. +-- the Italians land on, 32 _et seq._ + + +Imperiali (Marquis), his submission, 329. + +Islamism, Fanatic, of some Albanians, 299. +-- Superficial, of other, 281. +-- Treatment of, by Greek Church, 301. +-- Treatment of, by Montenegrins, 302. + +Islands of Adriatic, demanded by Italy, 166 _et seq._ +-- -- -- visited, 165 _et seq._ + +Istria, its population, 121, 386 _et seq._ + +Italianists of Dalmatia and Rieka, 35, 39, 40, 54, 137 _et seq._, 158, 175. + +Italians (and _see_ Dalmatia) and Allied flags, 145, 155, 178. +-- reprimanded by their Allies, 161-2. +-- loyalty to Austria in the War, 159 _et seq._ +-- system of bribery, 156 _et seq._, 163, 170, 176. +-- land in Dalmatia, 29 _et seq._ +-- discouragement in 1917, 11. +-- conduct towards the French, 42, 52, 198-9. +-- what they thought of the French, 94. +-- generosity in Albania, 282, 328, 333, 344. +-- Good and bad, on the islands, 168 _et seq._ +-- incapacity, 275, 278, 319. +-- intrigues, 274, 279, 280 _et seq._, 292, 303, 305, 329, 337-8, 351. + +Italians land in Istria, 42 _et seq._ +-- and the Dalmatians' money, 37-8, 147-8, 153-4, 163. +-- in Montenegro, 94 _et seq._, 105, 187 _et seq._, 194-5. +-- naval enterprise, 123-4. +-- naval enterprise, lack of, 16 _et seq._, 27-8. +-- measures at Rab, 59, 60. +-- measures against Rieka, 262 _et seq._ +-- measures at Rieka, 48, 52, 195 _et seq._ +-- against the Serbo-Croat language, 57. +-- retreat from Slovenia, 61. +-- what they had to face in 1918, 12 _et seq._ +-- how they regard the Yugoslavs, 16, 84. +-- how they are regarded by the Yugoslavs, 15-6, 27-8, 201, 236-7. +-- relations with Yugoslavs, 383 _et seq._ +-- steps against Yugoslav churches and schools, 44, 57 _et seq._, 146-7, + 152-3, 184. + +_Italy in the Balkans at this Hour_, quoted, 292. + + +Jaray (Gabriel Louis), 352. + +Jire[vc]ek (Dr. C.), his _Die Handelsstrassen, etc._, 33. + +_Journal des Debats_, 76, 91, 329, 339. + + +Kadri (Hodja), 283. + +Karl (ex-Emperor), his grand offer, 320. + +Karolyi (Count Michael), 125. + +Katarani (Prof.), 292. + +Klementi, 316 _et seq._ + +Koch (Admiral), the active Slovene, 17 _et seq._ + +Korac, the remarkable Socialist, 117-8. + +Kor[vc]ula, Italians land on, 31-2. + +Koro[vs]ec (Monsignor), 115, 117, 119, 382. + +_Koroski Slovenec_, 383. + +"Kossovo" Committee, 326. + +Kossovo in Yugoslavia, its condition, 287. + +Kova['c]s (A.), turns to the Croats, 8. + +Krk, the persecuted Bishop, 40 _et seq._ +-- Proceedings at, 39 _et seq._ + + +_Labour Monthly_ on the "White Terror," 224. + +_Land and Water_, quoted, 25, 35. + +Language of Bosnia, 89. + +Laveleye (M. de), his _The Balkan Peninsula_, 203. + +_Lavoratore_, quoted, 217, 386. + +Lazari, his question, 187. + +League of Nations, 323, 337 _et seq._ + +Leiper (R.), the shrewd observer, 104, 188-9, 242. + +Lenac (Dr.) of Rieka, 45, 50, 52. + +_Leonidas_, the American ship, 31-2. + +Lesina, _see_ Hvar. + +Leyland (John), the naval authority, 25. + +Liga Nazionale, its schools, 59, 158, 184, 318. + +Lin, a village, 342. + +Lincoln, quoted, 209. + +Lissa, _see_ Vis. + +Ljocha (Alush) and his house, 283-4. + +Lloyd George (D.) and the Adriatic, 93, 213-4. +-- -- and the Serbo-Albanian frontier, 284, 336 _et seq._ + +Lovrana, 73-4. + +Luzzatti, compares two civilizations, 172. + + +Macchiedo (Dr.), liberated from Sardinia, 152. + +Macdonald (J. N.), his _A Political Escapade_, 199, 258, 327. + +Macedonia, and the Communists, 222-3. +-- its progress and future, 137, 202, 405 _et seq._ + +Magnanimity of the Serbs, 124 _et seq._, 270. + +Magyar hopes, 270. + +Mahni['c] (Bishop), _see_ Krk. + +_Manchester Guardian_, quoted, 21, 186, 236, 313. + +Mandirazza (F.) and his two masters, 84. + +Markovi['c] (Dr. Lazar), 337. + +Markovi['c] (Sima), the Communist, 223-4, 238. + +Martini['c] (Count), his ruthlessness, 98-9. + +Martinovi['c] (General), 346. + +Massingham (H. W.), 192. + +_Mattino_, quoted, 75. + +Maximovi['c] (Colonel) at Rieka, 51-2. + +Mazzini, and Vis, 82. + +_Mercure de France_, quoted, 123. + +Mileti['c] (Captain), his murder, 195. + +Millo (Admiral), on Austrian currency, 153. +-- -- on Dr. Boxich, 165. +-- -- and d'Annunzio, 197, 209, 215. +-- -- Homage to, 87. +-- -- discourses on public order, 174. +-- -- on the Slavs, 141 _et seq._ + +Milovanovi['c] (Dr.), on Macedonia, 406. + +Minorities in Yugoslavia, 201 _et seq._ + +Mirditi, 290, 323 _et seq._, 340 _et seq._ + +M'Neill (Ronald, M.P.), champion of Montenegro, 95, 102, 191, 253 _et seq._ + +Montaigne, quoted, 194. + +Montenegrins and Albanians, 136-7. +-- and the Austrian army, 98 _et seq._ +-- their culture, 393 _et seq._ +-- their General Election, 253 _et seq._ +-- as migrants, 228. +-- misled, 94, 187-8. + +Montesquieu, quoted, 90. + +Moretti (Dr.), his pacific efforts, 180-1. + +_Morning Post_, quoted, 88, 104, 188-9, 191, 218, 242, 257, 336, 400. + +Moslems in Bosnia, 119, 202-3, 220-1, 225, 393. + +Mousset (Albert), 339. + +Mueller (Dr. Max) and Albanian affairs, 276 _et seq._ + + +Narodna Uprava, 127. + +_Nation_, quoted, 192, 267, 310. + +_Nazione_, quoted, 261. + +_Near East_, quoted, 257, 309, 337, 346-7. + +_Neue Freie Presse_, quoted, 124. + +_New Europe_, quoted, 79, 80, 84-5, 123, 369. + +_New Statesman_, quoted, 296, 309. + +Nicholas of Montenegro, his lack of courage, 9. +-- -- deposed, 100 _et seq._ +-- -- his downfall, 255 _et seq._ + +Nicholas of Montenegro, his methods with Albanians, 289. +-- -- his methods with Europe, 304. +-- -- and the Skup[vs]tina, 106. + +Nikai (Dom Ndoc), 285. + +_Nineteenth Century and After_, quoted, 25, 95, 102, 256. + +Nitti and d'Annunzio, 196, 198, 201, 209, 210, 212-3, 215-6, 218. + +Nopsca (Baron), 274, 288. + +Novi Bazar, Sandjak, 108, 119, 316-7. + + +Obradovi['c] (Dositej), 315. + +Obrovac, Divergent views concerning, 148. + +_Observer_, quoted, 340. + +_Obzor_, a newspaper, 115. + +Orlando, the Premier, 78, 80, 85-6, 91, 138, 185. + + +Pact of Rome, 84 _et seq._, 185. + +Paolucci (Lieut.), and the _Viribus Unitis_, 16, 20 _et seq._ + +Parkington (Sir R.), 194. + +Parties, Political, in Yugoslavia, 117 _et seq._ + +Pa[vs]i['c], his astuteness, 85, 117, 240. +-- his prudence, 133, 225. + +Patchou (Dr.), of the triumvirate, 225, 282. + +Paveli['c] (Dr. A.), dentist and politician, 114-5, 117, 119. + +Pe['c], 293, 298. + +Pelagosa, its amenities, 167. + +Pericone (Captain) of Scutari, 280, 343. + +Pistuli (Notz), his mission, 328. + +Pivko (Prof.), his exploit, 13. + +Plamenac (J.) and the Gaeta army 187. +-- -- his unpopularity, 94-5. + +Plav, 304 _et seq._ + +Podgorica Skup[vs]tina, 100 _et seq._ + +Poggi (Lieut.), at Kor[vc]ula, 31, 183. + +Pojar (Dr.), his case, 390. + +Pola, 16 _et seq._, 42, 44, 387-8. + +Pombara (Captain Binnos de), his feat, 27-8. + +Pommerol (Captain), on the islands, 165 _et seq._ + +Popovi['c] (Dr. Du[vs]an), 246-7, 399. + +Popovitch (Dr. A.), his curious +career, 356 _et seq._ + +_Posta e Shqypnis_, quoted, 284. + +_Pravda_, quoted, 336. + +_Pravi Dalmatinac_, 73. + +Prekomurdje, what happened there, 372 _et seq._ + +Prennushi (Father Vincent), 286, 344. + +Prezzolini (G.), on Dalmatia and Tripoli, 82. +-- -- and Vis, 82. + +Pribi[vc]evi['c] (Svetozar), the Minister, 44, 117-8, 225-6, 240-1, + 245 _et seq._, 399. + +_Primorske Novine_, quoted, 92. + +Pri[vs]tina, Horrid conditions at, 298. + +Proti['c], the statesman, 113, 225-6. + + +_Quarterly Review_, on Yugoslavia, 226, 247. + + +Race before religion, 390-1. + +Ra[vc]i['c] (Pouni[vs]a), 278, 306 _et seq._, 330. + +Radi['c] (S.) of Croatia, 111 _et seq._, 119, 135-6, 238 _et seq._, 399. +-- -- his _Dom_, 242-3. + +Rado[vs]evi['c] (Dr.), 118. + +Radovi['c] (Andrija), 187-8. + +Raineri (Admiral), 49 _et seq._ + +Rapallo, Treaty of, 83, 211, 232 _et seq._, 260 _et seq._, 384. + +Rapp, his testimonial, 125. + +_Rassegna Italiana_, quoted, 63. + +Re-Bartlett (Mrs.), on Dalmatia, 230-1. + +Red Cross, American, 189. +-- -- International, 189. +-- -- Italian, 216. + +Regnault (E.), his _Histoire politique, etc._, 358. + +Religion before race, 372. + +Rieka, _see_ D'Annunzio and Vio. +-- Americans at, 52. +-- the Austrian stores, 216 _et seq._ +-- Baro[vs] harbour, 260, 268. +-- the C.N.I., 45 _et seq._, 49, 54, 61-2, 140, 197, 212, 216 _et seq._, + 258 _et seq._ +-- Croat mistakes, 48-9. +-- Croat National Council, 45 _et seq._, 62-3. +-- economic position, 66 _et seq._ +-- the frenzy, 137 _et seq._ +-- moribund under Italy, 259, 260. +-- population analysed, 53 _et seq._ +-- a few scandals, 216 _et seq._ + +Rieka and the Treaty of Rapallo, 234-5, 385 _et seq._ + +_Rije['c]_, quoted, 64. + +Risti['c] (Colonel) and the komitadjis, 194-5. + +Rossetti (Major) and the _Viribus Unitis_, 16, 20 _et seq._ + +Roth (Dr.), Lord of Teme[vs]var, 127-8. + +Roumanians in Banat, 9, 10, 362 _et seq._ +-- and their Jews, 203 _et seq._ +-- in Serbia, 356 _et seq._ + +Rugovo, Reason for burning of, 305. + +Ryan (T. S.) of the _Chicago Tribune_, 198-9. + + +Salis (Count de), his mission, 190-1. + +Salonica, and the Serbs, 353-4. + +Salvemini (Prof.), the anti-chauvinist, 87, 231-2, 234. + +Salvi (Dr.) of Split, 159 _et seq._ + +_Samouprava_, quoted, 337. + +San Marzano (General di), 51-2, 54, 61. + +Sanctis (Lieut. de), his sanctions, 163. + +Saseno, 295. + +_Saturday Review_, 231. + +Savinsky, the Russian Minister, 406. + +Sazonov, and the Adriatic, 91-2. + +Schanzer (Signor), on Rieka, 264-5. + +Schools, _see_ Liga Nazionale. +-- for Albanians, 300. +-- in Carinthia, 377-8. +-- at Cres, 57-8. +-- in Dalmatia, 146-7. +-- in Istria, 73-4. +-- at Kor[vc]ula, 184. +-- Militant, at Borgo Erizzo, 38. +-- in Montenegro, 257. +-- at Pola, 44. +-- at Rieka, 53. +-- at [vS]ibenik, 144-5. +-- at Zadar, 35. + +_Scotsman_, on Treaty of Rapallo, 233. + +Scutari, its probable future, 296, 320, 335. + +Sebenico, _see_ [vS]ibenik. + +_Secolo_, on Montenegro, 257. +-- on Treaty of London, 50. + +_Secours des Enfants Serbes_, _Au_, 27. + +Segre (General), his alleged request, 140. + +_Sera_, quoted, 280. + +Serbo-Croat Coalition, 245 _et seq._ + +Serbs, in relation to Albanians, 295 _et seq._ +-- -- -- Croats (and _see_ Croats), 115 _et seq._, 397 _et seq._ +-- -- -- Montenegrins, 188-9, 192-3, 253 _et seq._, 393 _et seq._ + +Sereggi (Archbishop), 281-4. + +Seton-Watson (Dr. R. W.), 236, 347, 354. + +Sforza (Count), his letter, 268. + +[vS]ibenik, 30, 33 _et seq._, 144-5. + +Siebertz, the traveller, 288, 291. + +[vS]imunovi['c] (M.) and the Italians, 32. + +Slovenes (_see_ Carinthia), their country, 120 _et seq._, 235-6, 245. +-- their culture, 392-3. +-- their political methods, 114-5, 374 _et seq._ + +Socialists, Italian, and Rieka, 211-2. + +[vS]ojat (F.) and Dr. Vio, 69. + +Sonnino (Baron), 28, 75 _et seq._, 85-6, 93, 122, 138, 167, 185, 374, 384. + +_Spectator_, quoted, 230. + +Sportiello (Captain) at Vis, 30. + +Stadler (Lieut.-Colonel), the podesta, 74, 137. + +Stambouluesky as a Yugoslav, 399. + +Stamps, at Zagreb, 72. + +Star[vc]evi['c] party in Croatia, 117, 119, 248. + +Steed (H. Wickham), his letter, 77. + +Steinen (Dr. H. von den) and the Bulgars, 404. + +Steinmetz, the traveller, 290. + +[vS]tigli['c] and the poor officials, 63. + +Strossmayer, Radi['c] on, 239. + +_Suisse_, _La_, quoted, 328. + +Supilo, of Dalmatia, 92. + +Su[vs]ak, 54-5. + +Susmel (Edoardo), the writer, 62. + +[vS]vegel (Ivan), on Italian shipping policy, 123-4. + +Svibi['c] (Colonel) and the Italians, 61. + +Sydenham (Lord), his lack of discretion, 95, 188-9. + +Szeged, its position, 369. + + +_Tablet_, quoted, 40. + +Tamaro (Dr. A.) and _Modern Italy_, 94. + +Tardieu, his suggestion concerning Rieka, 195. + +Taylor (A. H. E.), on Prekomurdje, 373. + +Teme[vs]var in transition, 126 _et seq._, 367. + +Temperley (Major H. W. V.), on Albania, 338-9. +-- -- on Montenegro, 254-5. +-- -- his _A History of the Peace Conference_, 354. +-- -- his _The Second Year of the League_, 338. + +_Tempo_, on the Rieka deputations, 212. + +_Temps_, quoted, 213, 336. + +Tesli['c] (Colonel), 50-1. + +_Times_, quoted, 131, 344-5. + +Tittoni, and Rieka, 195, 199. + +Tomi['c] (Ja[vs]a), the old-fashioned, 116, 397. + +Treaty of London, 28-9, 33, 50, 60, 75 _et seq._, 80, 82, 90 _et seq._, + 120, 213, 278. +-- -- Rapallo, _see_ Rapallo. + +Tre[vs]i['c]-Pavi[vc]i['c] (Dr. A.), 19, 20. + +Trevelyan (G. M.), on the Italians in Dalmatia, 235. + +_Tribuna_, quoted, 75, 77. + +_Tribune de Geneve_, quoted, 327. + +Triest, what is desirable, 122. +-- its future, 44, 386 _et seq._ +-- Italians and Slovenes, 123. +-- its population, 121. + +Trogir, the great invasion, 200-1. + +Trumbi['c] (Dr. A.), 86, 252, 321. + +_Turkey in Europe_, quoted, 289. + + +_Under the Acroceraunian Mountains_, 327, 351. + +_Unita_, quoted, 87. + + +Veglia, _see_ Krk. + +Velika Kikinda, its necessities, 368. + +Velimirovi['c] (Bishop), his _The Children of the Illuminator_, 398. + +Venizelos and the Serbs, 353-4. +-- and Thrace, 355. + +Veprinac, its population, 44. + +Verdinois (Major), his word, 179, 180. + +_Verrath bei Carzano_, _Der_, 13. + +Ver[vs]ac, the former Bishop's declaration, 202. + +Ver[vs]ac, scene of Roumanian activities, 10. + +Vesni['c] (Dr.) and the Italians, 233-4, 237. + +Ve[vs]ovi['c] (General), his enterprises, 98, 228-9. + +Vio (Dr.) of Rieka, 29, 45-6, 48, 54-5, 68 _et seq._ + +Vis, Italians land on, 29, 30. +-- concerning its possession, 82-3. + +Vivante (A.), his _L'irredentismo adriatico_, 122. + +Vivian (H.), his ferocity, 191. + +Volosca, 73-4. + +_Vorstoss in die Nordalbanischen Alpen_, quoted, 290. + +Vukoti['c] (Voivoda), his answer, 103. + +Vukovi['c] (Admiral), his fate, 20 _et seq._ + + +Westlake (Prof.), his _International Law_, 139. + +Wied (Prince of), erstwhile Mpret, 276-7. +-- (Princess of), her ladies criticized, 288. + +Wilson (President), 63, 92-3, 125, 138-9, 213-4. + + +Xenia (Princess), 103. + + +Yastrebow, the Russian authority, 287. + +Yugoslavia, conditions after the War, 226. +-- her cohesion, 120, 229, 230, 249, 272. +-- and the future, 236-7, 398-9. + + +Zadar, reception of Italians, 35. +-- Schools at, 35. +-- and Treaty of Rapallo, 234, 236, 268-9, 385. +-- Wild doings at, 37-8. + +Zagreb and the future, 398 _et seq._ +-- and the stamps, 72. + +_Zagreber Tagblatt_, 264-5. + +Zanella (Prof.), 69, 217, 261 _et seq._ + +Zara, _see_ Zadar. + +Zari['c] (Bishop), and Wilson, 91-2. + +Zari['c] (Prof.), his removal, 169, 170. + +Zena Beg, 282-3, 285. + +Ziliotto (Dr.) of Zara, 36-7, 164-5. + + +PRINTED BY MORRISON AND GIBB LIMITED, EDINBURGH + +[Illustration: The Map of Yugoslavia] + + + + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES + +Fixed Issues + +page 007--inserted a missing apostrophe after 'Italians' +page 009--typo fixed: changed 'weapoms' to 'weapons' +page 014--typo fixed: changed 'as' to 'a' +page 048--typo fixed: changed 'thay' to 'they' +page 054--typo fixed: changed 'hold' to 'held' +page 077--typo fixed: changed 'Corriera' to 'Corriere' +page 094--typo fixed: changed a comma to a period after 'repression' +page 094--typo fixed: changed a period to a comma after 'lend their men' +page 146--typo fixed: changed 'aproached' to 'approached' +page 147--typo fixed: changed 'permittep' to 'permitted' +page 172--removed an extra opening bracket in front of 'There are places' +page 181--typo fixed: changed 'If was' to 'It was' +page 189--typo fixed: changed 'Montengrins' to 'Montenegrins' +page 196--removed an extra opening quote in front of 'As for large' +page 197--removed an extra closing bracket after '100 lire' +page 209--typo fixed: inserted a missing period after 'per cent' +page 222--typo fixed: 'YUGLOSLAVIA' changed to 'YUGOSLAVIA' +page 317--typo fixed: changed 'irode' to 'rode' +page 343--typo fixed: changed 'Yulgosav' to 'Yugoslav' +page 371--typo fixed: changed 'persumably' to 'presumably' +page 377--typo fixed: changed a comma to a period after 'less regarded' +page 408--typo fixed: changed 'preservaiton' to 'preservation' +page 411--inserted a missing comma after 'Books' + + + + + +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.txt or 24781.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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