Pr. z. 3903.
_Dalmatia: Treatment of the Croatian
and Italian Factors._
TO THE IMPERIAL AND ROYAL MINISTER OF
THE INTERIOR, VIENNA.
KNIN, _June_ 25, 1915.
_I permit myself to notify:_
[Herein the Statthalter, Graf Attems, praises his Government for not
having favoured one party more than another at Zadar. He proceeds to
testify to the admirable conduct of Dr. Ziliotto, the well-known mayor
(who subsequently toiled with such zeal for Italy). He says that under
this gentleman Zadar was a very model of a place, never allowing an
occasion to pass by when it was possible to show that, in grief and in
gladness, the sentiments of the glorious House of Habsburg were its
own. Thus on the "all-highest" birthday of the Emperor did the doctor
and his townsfolk revel in loyalty, while at the outbreak of the Great
War they accompanied the departing troops to the quay and provided
patriotic music and refreshments. _This worthy conduct was not in the
least modified_, says the Statthalter, _when Italy entered the War_.]
Further on in this book there are similar good-conduct testimonials
from Split, where the chief Italian used to wander down with an
Austrian official to the harbour and there witness the embarkation, in
chains, of the Yugoslav _intelligentsia_ who were being taken as
hostages. Hundreds and hundreds of Yugoslavs were shot, hanged,
imprisoned; we know the numbers (not difficult to count) of the
Italians in Dalmatia who suffered in any way. We know the equally
minute numbers who escaped to Italy and enrolled themselves in the
Italian army. As for the population of the Italian irredentist
provinces, one may read in the _Secolo_ of August 11, 1916 how it
became generally known that "with the exception of Cervignano and
Monfalcone, our soldiers have been received, on the other side of the
old frontier, with demonstrations quite the reverse of enthusiastic on
the part of the agrarian population. The surprise and disillusion of
our troops were very great, for they expected from our unredeemed
brothers, who all speak our language, a joyous reception." This
frigidity may, however, have been due to the influence of Austrian
priests and gendarmes. What are we to say, though, when we come to the
more enlightened classes? The Italians in Austria were represented by
twelve deputies who were devoted to the Austrian Government and
hostile to Italy, and by six national-liberals and one socialist who
were animated with pro-Italian sentiments. In electing such deputies,
however, the peasants may not have simply allowed the priests and the
gendarmes to command them; it is also possible that they were moved by
the fear that the Trentino would economically be ruined if it were to
become Italian and had to compete with the agricultural products of
the Kingdom. As a matter of fact it was the Trentino _intelligentsia_
which looked forward to annexation, and not, as a class, the peasants.
And, during the War, Italian deputies of various parties overflowed
with loyal Austrian sentiments; unlike the Yugoslav deputies, who
refused in a body to vote the budget and the war credits, the Italian
deputies never even ventured on a national pronouncement. Pittoni,
chief of the Italian socialists at Triest, Faidutti (who was born in
Italy) and Bugatto, the chiefs of the Italian Catholic party of
Gradi[vs]ca, uttered not a few words of hate against the Madre Patria.
The Italians praise always, and with excellent reason, their three
heroes: Battisti, Rismondo and Sauro. But the Yugoslavs, in the course
of the late War, lost in the unredeemed provinces so many hundreds of
thousands who were hanged in Bosnia, who were dragged away--centenarians
and infants--to the prison camps, were spat upon and stoned and
treated in the most barbaric fashion, that they look upon those
Yugoslavs who, like Battisti, fled from Austria and afterwards were
slain by Austrians, as rather to be envied, since at any rate they
struck a blow. But anyhow the names of all these volunteers could not
be celebrated, on account of their great number. "There is nothing in
fact," wired Mr. Beaumont on December 31, 1919, from Milan for the
blameless readers of the _Daily Telegraph_, "there is nothing that
creates such terrible exasperation in Italy as the persistent
repetition of this patent falsehood that the Yugoslavs--meaning
thereby the Croats--fought for the common cause."
Poor Battisti--when his regiment was captured he feigned to be dead.
His men, however, told the Austrians that it was he, and this they did
because they said that he and his Irredentist party were to blame for
the War. These facts are now fairly well known, thanks to the Czech
doctor who was on the spot and tried to save him by assuring the
Austrians that it was not Battisti. The soldiers insisted, and in the
end the Austrians executed him.