Some Italians were so intoxicated with the success of Garibaldi's
troops and the French army that they began to see dangerous visions.
Once again, on December 28, 1860, they were warned by the great
founder of their country. "Let us avoid," wrote Cavour,[45] "every
expression which could permit one to suppose that the King's
government aspires not merely to the possession of Venice, but also to
that of Triest, with Istria and Dalmatia. I know well that in the
towns of the littoral the population is fundamentally Italian by race
and sentiments, but that the rest of the country belongs exclusively
to the Slavs.... Every word which touches this question, however
lightly it be uttered, would become a dangerous weapon in the hands of
our enemies. They would know very well how to use them in order to
raise up England against us, for that Power would also not look with
favour on the Adriatic Sea becoming, as in the days of Venice, an
Italian Sea." Cavour's opinion as to the towns was presumably based on
such researches as were made in 1842 by Kandler. The city of Triest
contained in that year 53,000 persons "who speak Italian" and 21,000
"who speak Slav"; but as Italian, an international language, was used
by the numerous German, Armenian, Greek, Turkish and Levantine
colonies, and was spoken in public by all the Slavs, the 53,000 would
lose a considerable proportion who were not fundamentally Italian by
race or sentiments. It may safely be stated, on the other hand, that
none of the Italians and an infinitely small number of the exotic
population would speak Slav, so that one may say that Triest contained
21,000 Slovenes. One need not attach overmuch importance to the fact
that the town in 1866, among other manifestations of loyalty
occasioned by the defeat of the Italian navy near Vis (Lissa), created
the Austrian Admiral Tegetthoff an honorary citizen. Even if the
53,000 had all been Italians, Triest might have thought it expedient
to act in this way.... Cavour may have accepted in very good faith the
similar figures for the little ports of western Istria; in them there
was no such miscellaneous population, but a large number of those who
spoke Italian did so because it was only at this period that the
Bishop, Dr. George Dobrila, the great regenerator of the Istrian
Yugoslavs, began to rouse his countrymen and to induce them not to
discard their own language. "Wachen sie die Slaven" ("Awaken the
Slavs"), said Francis Joseph before the war against Italy in 1866 when
he was anxious for the southern provinces; and although the Emperor
used various means to put the Slavs to sleep again, it may be noted
that in 1861 Cavour would learn that in the Diet there were two Slavs
against twenty-eight Italians, in the Parliament no single Slav;
whereas if he had lived another fifty years he would have seen the
same country returning nineteen Slav deputies to the Diet against
twenty-five Italians, and three to the Parliament at Vienna against
three Italians....