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Triest; his book has been withdrawn from circulation by the Italian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.