The Birth Of Yugoslavia Volume Ii Part 7

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 munic.i.p.alities 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, ime aric Mazic, 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 Loncar 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 a.s.sembled in front of the church, and prevented the Ma.s.s from being celebrated. On March 29 the aforementioned Loncar 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 Toncic, 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, three from Obrovac, four from Skradin, nine from 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 pa.s.sed; 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 Lovrovic, 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 a.s.sist 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 pa.s.sionate. 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 _Rijec S.H.S._, that Dr. Boxich, on account of having--exceptionally, the paper said--spoken the truth to a pa.s.sing 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 h.e.l.l, 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 Brac, 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, pa.s.sionate or otherwise, as in the case of the Trentino and Triest. But now they demanded various Dalmatian islands, the chief of which were Hvar, Korcula and Vis, with a total population (in 1910) of 57,954.

The Austro-Hungarian Amba.s.sador reported (cf. Red Book, concerning April 14, p. 133) that a conversation between Baron Sonnino and Prince Bulow 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--162 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 Amba.s.sador 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 Amba.s.sador understood that Italy's partic.i.p.ation 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 Amba.s.sador 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 JELA

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 Jela (Gelsa) on the island of Hvar, we left Vrboka 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 Jela, 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 circ.u.mstance 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 Jela, in the time of the other commandant, some of the people were interned; the young captain a.s.sured 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 Zaric, 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 c.o.xville 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 munic.i.p.ality 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. Tamakovic--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 Hektorovic, 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 b.u.t.t 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 circ.u.mstances 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 Brac, 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 Pavicic, the musket of an ardito went off and an eye was blown out to Mr. Pavicic. 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 Vrankovic, 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 Korcula, 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 ash.o.r.e 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 Korcula, 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 cla.s.s 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 Bojanic, 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 KOMIA

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 Komia, 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 doc.u.ments; 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 pa.s.sing 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 Komia all the munic.i.p.al officers had been discharged by the Italians, the reading-rooms and places of amus.e.m.e.nt 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 BIEVO

From Komia, the next morning, we steamed over on the destroyer to the wonderful blue grotto of Bievo (or Busi), which surpa.s.ses Capri.

An Austrian Archduke, we were told, had once waited a week at Komia, 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 Bievo 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 a.s.sembled on a gra.s.sy 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 Bievo 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 Komia--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 s.p.a.ce--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 munic.i.p.al 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. .h.i.t 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 a.s.sured 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, SUKOAN 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 t.i.ttoni 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