LIBRPRY OF CONGRESS 
 
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Ill 
 
 THE 
 
 JUGOSLAV- 
 ITALIAN 
 QUESTION 
 
 BY 
 JOSEPH GORICAR 
 
 1919 
 
 I venture to express the opinion 
 that unless full justice is accorded 
 to the Jugoslavs, and the Balkan 
 is left to the Balkan peoples, there 
 will never be a durable peace in 
 that part of the world; and that 
 the next war will be fought by the 
 Jugoslavs and all the peoples in- 
 terested in a free access to the 
 Adriatic sea against their exclu- 
 sion therefrom. 
 
 The Jugoslav Information Bureau 
 
 82 CORTLANDT STREET 
 NEW YORK, N. Y. 
 
n; of D* 
 
 ktH 23 ]9]3 
 
n^^^ 
 
 A SKETCH OF AUTHOR'S 
 BIOGRAPHY 
 
 Dr. Goricar has been for over 14 years 
 in the diplomatic service of Austria-Hun- 
 gary and has been for two years in the 
 Courts of Vienna. He was employed in 
 the following consular posts: Paris, Jassy, 
 Constantza, Bucharest, Berlin, Odessa, 
 Belgrade, Nish, Pittsburgh, Denver, San 
 Francisco- and again in Berlin. 
 
 He tendered his resignation from Rome 
 in December, 1914, which was accepted 
 by Emperor Jefeeph in January, 1915. He 
 came to America as immigrant in Feb- 
 ruary, 1915, and has taken out his first 
 papers on the 20th of March, 1915, in 
 Chicago. 
 
 Dr. Goricar left the diplomatic service 
 of Austria-Hungary because of his con- 
 flict with the Foreign Office in regard to 
 the war. Being a Slav, he has strongly 
 opposed making v/ar on the Slavs, and 
 was consequently accused by Count 
 Berchtold, the Foreign Minister, of being 
 a Russophile. He has asked to be placed 
 before a Court Martial, but was refused 
 justice on the ground that his trial would 
 make too much unpleasant stir because 
 he was too well known in many coun- 
 tries. At the first opportunity, he left 
 Berlin, his last post and has ever since 
 devoted nearly all his time to the cause 
 of the Allies, giving much important in- 
 formation to the Russian and French em- 
 
bassies in Rome, in 1914, and during his 
 stay in America to the French Embassy 
 in Washington; also helping to disclose 
 the Pan- German conspiracy in America 
 1915 and 1916, having been on the staff 
 of the Providence Journal in Providence, 
 R. I. 
 
 With the exception of the last year, 
 1917, v/hen he was employed as clerk and 
 later as laborer in the Carnegie Steel 
 Mills, in Pittsburg, Pa., he has given all 
 his time and thoughts to the Allies, mak- 
 ing his own living, and although offered 
 recompense for his services, has never 
 taken a single cent. He was offered a po- 
 sition in the diplomatic ser—'ce of two 
 allied powers. 
 
The Jugoslav-Italian 
 Question 
 
 By JOSEPH GORICAR. 
 
 Before speaking of how the trouble- 
 some Jugoslav question should be solved 
 to bring peace in the southern part of the 
 former empire of Austria-Hungary and in 
 the Balkans, I must say first what should 
 not be done. 
 
 The United States of America and her 
 Allies must take as the guiding principle 
 at the peace conference the axiom: *'The 
 Balkans to the B&lkanians"; that is, the 
 whole Balkan Peninsula, which is con- 
 sidered by the greatest authorities in 
 geography, as extending from the Moun- 
 tain crest of the Julian Alps east of the 
 Soca (Isonzo) River to the mouth of the 
 Danube, embracing all the territory 
 between the Adriatic and the Black Sea, 
 bounded on the north by the River Drava 
 and the Danube, — should be left to the 
 peoples who inhabit it. 
 
 As a logical consequence of the above, 
 it follows that the United States and 
 her Allies must establish as another 
 axiom that no great power shall be per- 
 mitted to annex any of the territories 
 included in the Balkan peninsula, especially 
 not a power which is neither by race nor 
 religion related to any of the peoples of 
 
that geografic unity. As Russia, Austria- 
 Hungary and Germeny are definitely out 
 of the long protracted diplomatic Balkan 
 struggle, it follows naturally that this 
 must apply also and especially to Italy 
 which is neither by race nor religion war- 
 ranted to annex any of the territories on 
 the eastern shores of the Adriatic. 
 
 According to the census of December 
 31st, 1910, the lands which Italy claims 
 as "Italia Irredenta" on the eastern 
 shores of the Adriatic are overwhelming- 
 ly Jugoslav with the exception of the so- 
 called "Littoral." But even in the "Lit- 
 toral" there is a Slav majority. 
 
 In the "Littoral" (comprising as it 
 does the counties of Gorica-Gradiska, 
 Trieste and Istria) there are 437,385 Jugo- 
 'slavs as against an Italian population of 
 356,495. 
 
 Specifying the above figures we find 
 there are in the counties of Gorica- 
 Gradiska 154,750 Jugoslavs as opposed to 
 90,119 Italians. 
 
 In Istria there are 220,232 Jugoslavs as 
 against an Italian population of 145,525. 
 
 In Trieste there are 60,074 Jugoslavs as 
 against an Italian majority of 118,959. ^ 
 
 In the city of Gorica there are 10,792 
 Slovenes as against 14,812 Italians. 
 
 The Austro - Hungarian census does 
 not take account of the mother-tongue or 
 "native tongue" but makes its calcula- 
 tions only on the basis of the "language 
 of daily intercourse." Every census is 
 therefore, calculated to underrate the 
 Slovenes. The Austrian ballot, which is 
 the most modern voting system in exis- 
 tence, is a most striking proof of the 
 
above contention, correcting the figures in 
 favor of the Slovenes both in Gorica and 
 Triest. 
 
 In the province of Carinthia, whose 
 Southern part is Slovene, there are no 
 Italians. 
 
 In Carniola there were only 369 Italians 
 as against a Slovene population of 490,978. 
 In Croatia, only the town of Rieka 
 (Fiume) has, according to the same cen- 
 sus, an Italian population of 28,678 as 
 against a Croat population of 18,128; these 
 figures having been compiled by the local 
 Italian Municipal Board. 
 
 In other towns of the Croatian "Lit- 
 toral" there is absolutely no Italian popu- 
 lation to speak of. 
 
 As for Dalmatia the figures of the above 
 census are as follows: 
 
 Serbo-Croats 610,669 
 
 Other Slavs about 2,000 
 
 As against an Italian popula- 
 tion of ._ 18,028 
 
 Yet, in spite of these facts Italy claims 
 not only the whole of the Austrian ''Lit- 
 toral" (Gorica-Gradiska, Trieste, Istria) 
 but also a part of Carinthia and a great 
 part of Carniola, a part of Croatia and 
 the greater part of Dalmatia and also the 
 whole Dalmatian Archipelago or the 
 Thousand Islands of Dalmatia. 
 
 These are the facts as far as the eth- 
 nology of these regions is concerned. 
 
 Has Italy historically and culturally 
 better rights to these regions or terri- 
 tories claimed by her as "Italia Irre- 
 denta?" 
 
 In the first place, it must be said that 
 according to the Wilson Doctrine his- 
 
 7 
 
torical rights cannot be considered. Pres- 
 ident Wilson himself has declared in one 
 of his latest peace utterances, that the 
 boundary line between Italy and the new- 
 ly to be created Jugoslavia will be drawn 
 along clearly recognizable ethnographic 
 lines. If historical rights would come 
 into operation, the Italia Irredenta would 
 have to be claimed by Austria, Hungary, 
 Turkey, Croatia and Serbia as well, as in 
 the long run of the last 2,000 years this 
 area was the most coveted prize of 
 European and Asiatic conquerors and 
 colonial exploiters (conquistadores). In 
 the early part of history these regions 
 belonged partly to the great Roman Em- 
 pire. The first recorded inhabitants were 
 the Illyrians, In the middle of the 7th 
 Century the Slavs settled in these coun- 
 tries and have been ever since in posses- 
 sion of them, although in the course of 
 time they passed under the domination of 
 different conquerors. 
 
 For six centuries, these regions were 
 'forming part of the Byzantine Empire, 
 from 530 to 1102 A. D. But the Byzant- 
 ine rule was only a nominal one. Con- 
 stantine Porphyrogenete states in his book 
 "De Administrando Imperio" that the Dal- 
 matians in 887 A. D. destroyed a fleet 
 dispatched against them by Venice, and 
 for a century exacted tribute from the 
 "Queen of the Adriatic." 
 
 Moreover, the Jugoslavs have occupied 
 in their migration the plains of Venice 
 up to the Tagliamento and even to this 
 day there are some 40,000 Slovenes living 
 in the Province of Venetia. Therefore 
 the Slavs would have just as much of a 
 
 8 
 
historical claim to Venetian territory 
 from Italy. 
 
 If Italy bases her claims on the his- 
 torical rights as derived from the Roman 
 Empire, then she will have to claim, in 
 addition to it, the greater part of Western 
 and Middle Europe. 
 
 Admitting for a moment, that the theory 
 of historical rights can be applied in the 
 present case — contrary to all proclama- 
 tions of President Wilson — has Italy a 
 better chance to base her claims to the 
 above mentioned Jugoslav territory on the 
 fact of the Venetian domination? 
 
 The Republic of Venice has always 
 coveted the Eastern shores of the Adri- 
 atic. Throughout the middle ages, she 
 was making attempts to conquer those 
 Slav lands. The Venetian domination was 
 an episode in the history of the Jugoslavs 
 just as was the Turkish domination. Also 
 the Turks could on the basis of historical 
 rights make similar claims to the Italians. 
 
 Italy, being a m^odern creation, never 
 owned a particle of any of the lands des- 
 cribed as Italia Irrendenta, and least of 
 all not a particle of the lands inhabited 
 for thirteen centuries by the Jugoslavs. 
 
 The best proof, that these Jugoslav 
 lands must be taken as a national entity 
 of their own was given by Napoleon the 
 Great who after the Peace of Schoen- 
 brunn founded the "pays Illyriens" — 
 (Illyria) out of the provinces claimed 
 now by Italy, that is Carniola, Carinthia, 
 (the Southern Slav part), Croatia, Triest, 
 Gorica-Gradiska, Dalmatia, Istria, and the 
 Republic of Ragusa. 
 
This "Terre-Irredente" Napoleon did not 
 include with Italy, 
 
 Can Italy claim possession of these 
 lands on the basis of cultural rights? — 
 Never. The mere fact that some coast 
 localities of Dalmatia have an "Italian 
 character" does not prove anything. That 
 the architecture of buildings looks like 
 Italian, does not give any right for an- 
 nexation of the whole territories inhabited 
 by peoples of Slav race. There was a time 
 when the whole architecture of New Eng- 
 land was Greek. Could the Greeks claim 
 possession of the New England states on 
 that ground? 
 
 The culture in these lands is Slav and 
 purely Slav. This Western Branch of the 
 great Slav race, living on the crossroads 
 of three cultures, Latin, German and Slav, 
 have developed a Slav culture of their own. 
 
 Even on religious grounds, Italy can 
 mske no claims to these lands. Though 
 the Slovenes and Croats are Koman 
 Catholics, it must nevertheless not be 
 forgotten that their conversion to Christ- 
 ianity was achieved not by Italian mis- 
 sionaries but by the two great Slav 
 apostles, Cyril and Methodius in the 9th 
 Century, who translated for the Slavs the 
 Bible and the first Liturgy into the old 
 Slav (Bulgarian) tongue. 
 
 Their first disciple on the Adriatic shores 
 was Clement. This Liturgy, under the 
 name of "Glagolica," is still preserved to 
 the present time. It has a special script 
 which has nothing to do with the Latin 
 or Gothic script. 
 
 Viewed from all angles, geographic, 
 ethnographic, historical, cultural, religious, 
 
 10 
 
the l^nds, coveted by Italy, are purely 
 Jugoslav, not excepting the Littoral where 
 the Jugoslavs are in majority. 
 
 It follows, therefore, that the Itahan 
 claims to annexation of these lands must 
 be by the peace conference emphaticaiiy 
 repudiated and Italy excluded from the 
 mainland of the Balkan peninsu a. 
 
 Fully conscious, that these lands are 
 Slav and have in the future to form an 
 absolutely independent unity m the 
 family of nations, the Jugoslavs (Slovenes, 
 Croats and Serbs of the Dual Monarchy) 
 started to struggle for unificEticn ana in- 
 dependence more than two generations ago 
 under the leadership of the imniortal 
 Croatian patriot and greatest Christian 
 orator of the 19th century, Bishop Stross- 
 mayer. The most momentous event m this 
 struggle for independence was the Resolu- 
 tion of Hieka (Fiume) of October 4, 1905, 
 adopting the principle that "every nation 
 has the right to decide its own dfstiny. 
 The soul of this movement was the Dal- 
 matian patriot, Franjo Supilo. 
 
 The Fiume platform was adopted two 
 months later at Zadar (Zara), Dalmatia, 
 by the Serbian deputies, and was con- 
 sequently adopted as the platform tor all 
 the Jugoslavs, Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. 
 The resolution aimed at the unification 
 of all the Southern Slavs in one compact 
 national entity. It became one of the 
 main causes for the Austrian and Hun- 
 garian statesmen, to go into war against 
 Serbia in order to destroy by the sword 
 what through 'peaceful' means they were 
 unable to prevent. 
 
 The proofs for this my contention, 1 
 
 11 
 
have compiled in a yet unpublished 
 manuscript. 
 
 It was the framers of the Fiume 
 Resolution, Franjo Supilo and others, 
 who managed to escape at the beginning 
 of the World War from Austria-Hungary, 
 that were to devote all their energies to 
 make the Allied Nations and their states- 
 men understand a just solution of the 
 Jugoslav problem. 
 
 I must admit that one of the reasons 
 why this great idea has not met with 
 more enthusiastic response among the 
 great masses of immigrants of Jugoslav 
 birth in the United States of America, is 
 very largely due to the fear of persecu- 
 tion by Austria which through its agents 
 and through Ambassador Dumba and 
 numerous consuls has constantly threat- 
 ened the immigrants to punish their 
 families at home, confiscate their prop- 
 erty, and in many other ways which are 
 well known to the American authorities. 
 
 The adoption of the Corfu Declaration, 
 in the middle of the year 1917, which 
 meant the substitution of the Kara- 
 georgevich Dynasty for the Habsburgs, 
 further embroiled the situation. The Jugo- 
 slavs of Austria-Hungary, especially the 
 Slovenes, who are intellectually and cul- 
 turally of higher standing, and are of 
 pacific and most democratic nature, have 
 naturally balked at embracing the above 
 Jugoslav idea and therefore have formed 
 a program of their own at the convention 
 in Chicago in August 11, 1917, aiming at 
 the unification of all the Southern Slavs 
 including Bulgars, under a Republican 
 form of Government. 
 
 12 
 
At a second convention in the middle 
 of September, 1918, at Springfield, Illi- 
 nois, of the Slovenian National Benevolent 
 Society, of Chicago, which numbers 18,000 
 members and was represented there 
 through 102 delegates, it was unanimously 
 voted for a Jugoslav Republic. 
 
 As for myself, I have advocated these 
 ideas as a most suitable platform for the 
 unification of the Jugoslavs from the be- 
 ginning of my second coming to America, 
 that is since February, 1915. I was al- 
 ways for a strong Federal State of all the 
 Jugoslavs including the Bulgars, and as 
 embracing all the territories inhabited by 
 them, between the Adriatic and the Black 
 Sea, with a common Diplomacy, Army and 
 Navy, and Customs. 
 
 As a cardinal point of the relations 
 among these Slav sister-nations, I pointed 
 out the following: 
 
 The place of every Slav nation inside 
 the Slav family must be the following: 
 "A Daughter in her mother's house, a 
 mistress in her own" — 
 
 Not being a politician and never having 
 associated with any of the contending 
 groups among the Jugoslavs, I would re- 
 commend the following solution of the 
 Jugoslav question: 
 
 1. — Withdrawal of all Italian troops 
 from all the territories inhabited by 
 Jugoslavs. 
 
 2.^ — The opening of communication 
 between the different groups existing in 
 America, working for the liberation of 
 their kinsmen in the old country, and the 
 de facto Jugoslav Government of Zagreb. 
 This would clarify at once the situation. 
 
 13 
 
3. — Inasmuch as three-fourths of the 
 Austrian Jugoslavs have at some time 
 or other been in the United States and 
 have full confidence in the principles and 
 doctrines of the Republican form of 
 Government, an International Commission 
 under the leadership of the United States 
 should be formed at once and should 
 proceed to the territories in dispute 
 between Italians and Jugoslavs to prepare 
 the preliminary work for the taking of 
 the plebiscite. 
 
 4. — The taking of a plebiscite under 
 American, British and French supervsion 
 with the assistance of Italian and Jugo- 
 slav delegates. 
 
 Being, through my long association 
 with the affairs of Austria-Hungary and 
 the Balkans, thoroughly conversant with 
 the problems confronting the Allies, and 
 having clearly foreseen many a great 
 event in this World War, I venture to 
 express the opinion that unless full jus- 
 tice is accorded to the Jugoslavs and the 
 Balkan is left to the Balkan peoples, 
 there never will be a durable peace in 
 that part of the world; and that the next 
 war will be fought by the Jugoslavs and 
 all the peoples interested in a free access 
 to the Adriatic sea against their exclusion 
 therefrom. 
 
 Italy entered the war avowedly for 
 principles of humanity. Now she turns 
 back to the Pact of London of 1915, 
 which was extracted from Russia and her 
 Allies in the hour of great stress. It 
 must not be forgotten that Italy sided 
 with the Allies because the latter have 
 
 14 
 
promised her a greater territorial ex- 
 pansion. It is not to safeguard herself 
 against possible future invasion, which 
 a contented Jugoslavia will never strive 
 for, but for purely imperialistc aims that 
 Itsly annexes to-day 1,000,000 Jugoslavs. 
 She annexes Carniola for the purpose 
 of obtaining possession of the mercury 
 mines of Idria, the greatest in the 
 world; of the grottos and caverns of Po- 
 stojna (Adelsberg), the world's greatest 
 subterranean marvels, and her great 
 forest areas; she annexes the Thousand 
 Isles of Dalmatia, and Dalmatia herself 
 for her famous fisheries and the scenic 
 beauty of the Adriatic coast. She pro- 
 poses to make of the Adriatic an Italian 
 Lake in the hope that according to the 
 principles established by Captain Mahan 
 in his famous work on Sea Power, she 
 will control by annexing the eastern 
 shores of the Adriatic, also their "hin- 
 terland." I am more than convinced 
 at this time that, in order to upset the 
 danger that is threatening the Jugoslavs 
 from this new direction, a new constella- 
 tion of powers will soon form itself 
 nolens volens. 
 
 The Jugoslavs will have to ally them- 
 selves with the peoples living to the 
 north that is, the Magyars and Germans. 
 For the Germans and Magyars it will be 
 an easy matter to play the old game of 
 'divide et impera' among the Jugoslavs. 
 Moreover Italy is economically a back- 
 ward country. It will mean absolute 
 economic ruin to the Jugoslavs of the an- 
 nexed territories, if Italy is there to stay. 
 Italy has had more than disastrous ex- 
 
 15 
 
Ill 
 
 015 809 634 1 ^ 
 
 perience in trying zo estaonsn nerseii m 
 Eryth^ea and Tripoli. 
 
 it is to the supreme interest of the 
 Italian people that a third attempt at 
 expansion, this time on the volcanic soil 
 of the Balkans, be prevented ere it_ is 
 too late. The group of men advocating 
 the annexation of the Jugoslav shores of 
 the Adriatic is a small one. They are the 
 imperialistic anl militaristic group of Italy 
 wishing to show their nation the fruits of 
 a military victory. 
 
 But was the Italian victory on the Piave 
 a military one or was it not the Wilson 
 doctrine that was victorious in the ranks 
 of the Austro-Hungarian Army? 
 
 It must not be forgotten that Italy 
 after her disastrous defeat by the 
 Austrian Army called the Jugoslav leaders 
 to Rome in April, 1918, and that an un- 
 derstanding was reached there which com- 
 pletely overthrew the Pact of London. 
 Moreover when the Jugoslavs heard of 
 the Wilson principle that the frontier 
 between Italy and the newly to be erected 
 Jugoslavia will be drawn along clearly 
 recognizable ethnographical lines, they 
 were fi aPy convinced that justice would 
 be done enough to prevent the forcible 
 seizure of their more than thirteen hun- 
 dred years old seats by a new conqueror. 
 
 It would be a serious blow to interna- 
 tional moral as represented by the Allies 
 if President Wilson's word would be over- 
 ruled by imperialistic tendencies of the 
 allies of the United States of America. 
 
 16 
 
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