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."