D 520 .17 K7 Copy 1 Are Italy's Claims on Istria Dalmatia and O Islands Justified • >s THOU SHALL NOT STEAL NE KRADI On Great Serbia By the REVEREND M. D. KRMPOTIC KANSAS CITY, KANSAS NINETEEN FIFTEEN By transfer The White House. s*° -p^ I. ' ' Who overcomes by force, hath overcome but half his foe. ' ' Milton, Paradise Lost. Bk-IL. 648. TALY'S entry into the European conflict seriously affects the 3 successful and satisfactory adjustment of territorial rights among the Balkan Slavs, especially of these within the Aus- tro-Hungarian Monarchy. If Italy's ambitions materalize, this war, professed to be waged on the behalf of "liberty and justice,'' will be but a cruel mockery, when applied to Southern Slavs, especially to the Croats and Slovenes, that inhabit the eastern littoral of the Adria- tic, for instead of ''liberty and justice" they will feel the bonds of oppres- sion and wrong. Italy and, seemingly the whole world .considers, Istria, Dalmatia and the adjacent islands a part of "unredeemed Italy" (Italia irredenta), Italy's lawful heritage, whose moral title to those countries is not to be questioned. Historically and ethnografically, those are purely Croatian coun- tries, which were occupied and held by them since the middle of seventh century.* The Italians in Dalmatia and its islands constitute only three per centum of the total population, and in Istria less than one-third. Does this practically insignificant number of Italians justify Italy's de- sire and right of making these countries a part of its own body? It is the historic past that actuates Italy's ambition in this direction, and it points to this fact in a vague manner as a justification for its self- ish schemes. The salient historical points that have a bearing on this question are here briefly mentioned. Dalmatia was a part of the Byzantine em- pire for six centuries (530-1102). Byzantine rule over Dalmatia was practically nominal, especially towards its close. Constantine Porphhyro- genete, states in his book "De Administrando Imperio," the Dalma- tian in 887 completely destrowed a fleet dispatched against them by Venice, and for more than a century exacted tribute from the "Queen of Adriatic." In 998 they were finally subjugated by Doge Peter Or- seolo II., who assumed the title of Duke of Dalamatia. Later on the Croats dominated there. In 1389 the whole Adriatic littoral from Rije- ka (Fiume )to Kotor (Cattaro), except Zadar (Zara) and Dubrovnik (Ragusa) was annexed to the Bosnian kingdom by its founder, Stephen Tvrdko. Subsequent Turkish invasions shook the foundation of the Bosnian realm, and this rendered the Venetian conquest over Dalma- tia easy. After 1463 Turkish advance continued, and in 1540 Dalmatia became a Turkish province. Only maritime cities were left under * Anno ab incarnatione Domini nostri Jesu Christ! MLXXI, indictione VIII, die octava mensis Julii Ego Cresimir, rex Dalmatinorum ac Chroa- torum A. D. 1078 the 8th of July, I Cresimir the king of Dalmatians and Croatians (His official title on manifestos or ordinances.) Page Three Venetian control. To these the Christian Slavs thronged from the in- terior seeking refuge from the Turks and bringing with them their language and customs. They in time greatly outnumbered the Vene- tian population, thus blocking forcible Italian assimilation. The peace at Karlovci (Carlowitz) 1699, restored Venetian rule in Dalmatia, where it continued until 1797, when by the treaty of Campo Formio, between Austria and Napoleon, it bacame Austrian territory. From 1805 to 1814 it was under French control; when the Congress of Vienna in 1815 incorporated it in the Austrian monarchy, where it has remained since. Dalmatia by the Compromise of 1868 between Hungary and Croa- tia and according to the Diploma of Coronation or Inaugurale was to be reincorporated in Croatia as together with those other Croatian prov- inces, as soon as freed from Turkish rule. These solemn obligations were never fulfilled. The kingdom of Dalmatia, though de jure part of Triune kingdom of Croatia Slavonia and Dalmatia, has de facto been in the possession of Austria since the expulsion of the FYench, 1815. The Dalmatian Croats are one of the finest seafaring races in Europe, and the cream of the Austro-Hungarian navy is recruited from among them. In 1900 the total population amounted to 548,823, of whom only 15,279 were Italians; of the remaining 97 per cent (565,276) 80 per cent were Croats and 16 per cent Serbs. All the Croats and Slovenes in Istria, Dalmatia and the adjoining islands are Roman Catholics. The Bishoprics in Dalmatia are in Sibenik (Sebenico) Split (Spalato) Ffvar (Lesina) Makarska, Dubrovnik (Ragusa), and Kotor (Cattaro), Za- dar (Zara), the capital, is the see of an Archbishop as well as of a Greek orthodox Bishop. The ancient Slavic liturgy, known as the "Glagolitza," deriving the name of the word "glagol, glagolati, to speak," has been in general use among the Slavs of Dalmatia and Croatia from the earliest times since the Slavonic language became a liturgical language, under Pope John VIII. Its use was definitely set- tled by the Constitution of Urban VIII, dated April 29, 163 1. At pres- ent the Slavic language for the Roman rite, printed in G'lagolitic char- acters, is used in the Croatian churches of the Dioceses Senj (Zengg), Krk (Veglia), Zadar (Zara), Split (Spalato) and in several hundred churches and parishes along the Adriatic. The Croatian language is in official use in administration and in the courts of Dalmatia. Istria, now an Austrian province. After the fall of the Western Roman empire, Istria was annexed to the Frankish kingdom by Pip- pin in 787 ; in 828 it became a component part of Croatia.** From Istria the Slavs were a constant peril to Italy.*** About the middle of **Constantine Por De adm. imp. c. 30. ***Pope Gregory the Great in the summer A. D. 600 wrote to Maxim the Bishop of Dalmatia: Et quidem de Slavorum gente quae vobis valde iminet, affligor vehmenter et conturbor; affligor in his, quae jam in vobis patior, conturbor, quia per Istriae partem iam Italiam intrare coeperunt." Farlati, II. p. 287. They invaded A. D. 662, Apulia: Venientes Slavi cum multitudine navium longe a civitate Siponto castra posuerunt." Paulus diaconus, lib. 4 c. 4C. Page Four the Tenth century the Duke of Carinthia, "Koroski Knez," the Dukes of Meran, the Duke of Bavaria and the Patriarch of Aquileia success- ively ruled over it. In 1596 Emperor Rudolph separated Istria from Croatia, over which matter the Croatian Ban Thomas Bakatch, quar- relled with that ruler in Prague, and laid down his office as a protest against such an unjust proceeding. Thereafter Venice became and re- mained the mistress of the western part of Istria until 1797, the time of the peace of Campo Formio, when it reverted to Austria. Istria, containing 1,908 square miles, consists of a pear-shaped peninsula, extending from the suburbs of Trst (Trieste) to the suburbs of Rijeka (Fiume). Pula (l'ola), the capital is a strong naval base and dockyard. It possesses a local Diet of thirty-three members, sitting at Poretch (Parenzo). The western coastline from Trst to Pula is a mixed population, the majority being Italians. The uplands of the northwest are Slovenes, while the eastern half of the peninsula and the islands of Cres (Cherso) and Krk (Veglia) are Croats, almost to a man. When in 1870 Victor Emmanuel entered the Quirinal and said: "ci siamo, e ci restcremo," old Garribaldi and Mazzini, with their fol- lowers were not satisfied, for they considered the unification of Italy as vet incomplete. They demanded that Tyrol, Istria, Trieste, and possi- bly Dalmatia be added to the new unified Italy. These claims arose partly from over-ambition and ignorance regarding the true character of the peoples inhabiting the countries in question, and partly from the unjust policy shaped by German bureaucrats in Vienna of the Austrian rule in Istria and Dalmatia, which consisted in neglecting the Croatian and Slovenian element, and showing favoritism to the Italian party. "Divide and impera." Divide and rule. As a result of this agitation the irredentist party was born in Italy. Its activities have pushed Italy into the present war. Under the pres- sure of the irredentist, it was difficult for official Italy to ally herself with hated Austria, while the moderate party under the guidance of Cavour (consorteria) favored an alliance with France, as against Aus- tria. The Croatian Sabor (Parliament) on June 5, 1848, petitioned Fer- dinand V., the king of Croatia and emperor of Austria, to incorporate the provinces of Istria, Carniolia, Carinthia. Goricza and Styria with Croatia. The jealous activities of the Maygars defeated this just de- mand based upon the treaties and the laws of ethnography and nature for those provinces were peopled by the sturdy Slovenian race identical with the Croatians in history, culture and religion. This claim had a legal foundation in 1712 under Croatian Prragmatical Sanction, and in Electoral Diploma of 1527, when Croats unanimously elected Ferdinand of Austria as their king, and confirmed the succession to him and his heirs. In the intervals seperating these historic events manifold vicissi- Page Five tudes beset these countries, the Latin, the Turk and the Teuton alter- nately reached out rapacious tentacles of conquest. Each strived in turn to Latinize, to Germanize or to Mohamedanize the inhabitants. In spite of centuries of long effort, they all have failed. Can it be reasonably claimed that the fact, the Venetian republic at one time ruled those countries justifies Italy's pretensions to them now? But Istria and Dalmatia are the "pound of flesh" from the body of an inoffensive nation, promised to Italy by the Entente Powers as an inducement for its coming to their aid. Had Austria added these inducements to its original offer, Italy would no doubt have remained neutral. But since, as I have endeavored to show, Italy has no right to those countries wherein the justification can be made of its conquest of them. Austrian rule in Istria and Dalmatia does not, it is true, satisfy the people, but they would much rather remain loyal to Austria than suffer Italian mastery, for that would most certainly mean the revival of a painful and unseemly struggle for the preservation of the racial identity. Similar struggles in past centuries are still fresh in their memories, and these help to keep aglow the smoldering embers of ha- tred towards Italians. There is no nation on the globe more hated by the people of those countries than the Italians. Even under Hapsburg dominion, the Croats and Slovenes of Istria and Dalmatia have to maintain a bitter contest with Italophiles for the untrammeled use of their language, the preservation of their press and schools. They have always refused to allow their national conscious- ness to be effaced or Italianized. Only a few years ago in many Istrian towns it was not safe for Croats or Slovenes to use their language in public, for fear of being attacked and mercilessly beaten by the Italian fachini. Many newly made graves of such innocent victims attest the truth of the statement. Anyone familiar with the Istro-Dalmatian situation foresees the certainty of turmoil and unrest in the Western Balkans should Italy acquire possession of those countries. It will be evil seed planted in bloody soil, and will germinate rapine and bloodshhed. The Balkan question, far from being solved, will become still more complicated, and its ltimate solution made more troubled and uncertain. It is a part of the great Eastern question. The Croats and Slovenes as parts of Southern Slavs demand noth- ing but what is the birthrighht of every people ; that the lands inhabited by them be left to them ; that they have a voice in the solving of their destinies, and that they be not trampel down by a foreign invader, whose greed is the only motive of its action, and whose cant about "liberating" the oppressed people is a cynical mantle behind which lurks its callous and selfish aims. Page Six II. "Non opus verbis, credite rebus. " Ovid.Fastl.il. 734. At the inception and repeatedly during- the present war, the Entente Powers proclaimed among other things their aim and motive of liberat- ing the Southern Slavs from Hapsbnrg and Magyar bondage. This is indeed an exalted purpose. But they have already offered 1 stria and Dalmatia to Italy, whose rule there, let it be repeated, would be by far ?. greater evil than the preservation of the status quo under Austria. Vague rumors were circulated by various agents about a great South Slav State, to be named "Yougoslavia," after Austria should have been dismembered. These easily inflamed the vivid imagination of the Balkan Slavs. Through vistas of fancy they saw their country resur- rected from its dreamy, tried past, and under the name of Yougoslavia, ''Great Serbia/' rather than Croatia, should become a reality once more. The emissaries of Greater Serbia crossed the Atlantic and proclaimed it among the immigrants of their race. Their fiery words echoing throughout the hills and valleys of the whole world. The realization of these promises is a matter of serious difficulty, to understand which, it is necessary to consider certain historical and political phenomena of the peoples that would compose the proposed new bodv politic or political unit, composed of Croats and Slovenes, Serbians and Montenegrins. They all belong to the same branch of the Slav race, and except for slight differences in dialect, speak the same language. However, their sympathies, culture, religion and history are not common to the race, but sometimes are even a source of antagonism. These facts con- stitute the real difference among a people, otherwise almost identical. Religion with these people, besides its spiritual meaning, plays a certain national and political role. The Croats and Slovenes are Roman Catholics, while Serbians and Montenegrins are Greek Orthodox (Schismatics), identifying their denomination with their nationality. In- tolerance towards Catholicism in Serbian countries was a quite notice- able historical fact. Should a Catholic priest show himself on the streets of Belgrade, for example, the chances were that jibes and jeers would be flung at him, his vocation and religion. The reverse, however, did not hold true in Croat countries. The government there, in fact, sup- ports Orthodox churches wherever there is a Serbian community. It is not difficult to surmise that this religious intolerance will in future have a tendency to antagonize the people of the two creeds, as it has been in the past. The Catholics in Serbia are under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Djakovo in Slavonia, the see of famous Bishop Strossmayer of happy memory. He shared with Mr. Gladstone, as shown by correspondence between the two, and with many other leaders of thought and opinion, the pious wish for the reunion of the Christendom. But with him this Page Seven aspiration had a highly practical side, as demonstrated by his efforts to promote good feeling, and if possible, union between the Churches of Rome and the East. Realizing keenly the hindrances which religious rivalry placed in the way of national progress among Southern Slavs, he felt that their removal would be the surest means of realizing alike his national and his religious ideals. Unhappily, his efforts were not understood by the orthodox clergy, especially in Serbia and Russia. He was unjustly attacked as a mere agent of Vatican propagandism. And when in 1885 he proposed to pay a pastoral visit to the Catholics of Belgrade, the Serbian government declined to guarantee his per- sonal safety, and the visit had to be abandoned. Such is the intoler- ance of the Serbians towards Catholicism, that a Barnabite father sent by this great bishop to minister to the thousands of Italian workmen engaged in railway work in Serbia, was assaulted, injured, and obliged to leave the country. In Serbia the clergy are sunk in formalism and their influence is national, not religious. The Concordat with Holy See of the present Serbian government is the first one since the existence of the Serbian nation, and as such offers a broad field for various interpretations and applications, as it is shown by practice in the past. The Concordats are a detriment to the Church, give apparent legal sanction to the acts of the State against the Church as a party in agreement. Wherever separate religious parties live in the same land they must work together in harmony for the pub- lic weal. But this would be impossible if the State, instead of remain- ing above party, were to prefer or oppress one denomination as against others. Consequently freedom of religion and conscience is an indis- pensable necessity for the State. But in Serbia the only acknowledged true religion, and consequently the Church is the Greek Orthodox. The Serbian ministers of State, through their emissaries for political pur- poses, have proclaimed that they would confine the priests to the sacristy, when the new Sun of Freedom in Greater Serbia shall arise. How sublime is the address of Leo XIII in his brief of 1902 to the Ameri- can hierarchy, expressing his approval of a wise and patriotic adapta- tion of the Roman Catholic doctrines to the national and legal condi- tions of this great republic of United States in comparison with pyg- mean ideas of emissaries. Si licet magna componere parvis. The Croats, at the call of Byzantine Emperor Heraclius, drove out the Avars from the northwestern corner of the Balkan peninsula, and in 619 permanently settled what is today Croatia, Slavonia, Bosnia, Herczegovina, Dalmatia and Istria. The Slovenes settled Carniolia, the northern part of Istria, Goritcza, Carinthia and Styria in 595. In 924 Tomislav was crowned the first Croatian king of Duvno field in the Herczegovina of today. Since that time the people and State has never lost its continuity. The Turks were around Vienna, ruled from Buda- pest and Belgrade, but never in Zagreb (Agram), the capital of Croa- tia. After the Croats were settled the Serbs came and settled the Page Eight adjoining eastern territory. About 924 the Bulgarian Czar, Simeon the Great, invaded Serbia, utterly devastating the country, and the people found refuge in the neighboring Croatian countries. In course of time Serbia became a Turkish pashalic, great numbers of the Serbians under the leadership of Cernoyevich in 1690 fled from under the Turkish yoke, crossing over in Croatia and Slavonia, where they wore welcomed by grandees and potentates. These two facts, among others, explain the presence of the Serbians of today in Croatitan countries. There is artificially fabricated undercurrent of belief among Ser- bians that Croats and Slovenes are nothing but "Western Serbs," and Croatian countries provinces of Great Serbia. History is against it. In their dream of creating Great Serbia, Croat countries are included as a part of it. These untenable pretensions Croats naturally bitterly oppose, and would much rather remain under the sovereignty of the Austrian Emperor than become subject to the Pan-Serb illusions. The loyalty to the Hapsburgs of Serbs from Croat countries and Croats themselves in this war is an indication of their sympathies. Generals Boroevich de Bojna and Puhalo de Brlog in Uika in the Austrian army against Russia are Serbs. The historic past of Croatia and its coun- tries up to the present time, developed individually, distinctly from the outset on, apart from Serbian past. The Croats will not renounce their history, make blank glorious pages of past written in volumes of na- tional poems, parchments and pictures with blood and love for God and country and amalgamate with Pan-Serb idea. The Croats for centuries, being in contact with Western civiliza- tion, absorbed its culture, while the Serbs were influenced by the By- zantine atmosphere, and their culture has every earmark of the East. To quote a well known authority, Mr. Seton Watson" : "The Pan-Serb ideal may be briefly defined as the union of all members of the Serb and Croat race under the scepter of the K&rageorgevich dynasty, with Belgrade as the capital of the new State. That this ideal should appeal to the Chauvinists of the Serbian kingdom is natural enough ; but no one who has an opportunity of comparing Belgrade and Zagreb (Agram) need make the mistake of supposing that it could be greeted with enthusiasm by any Croat, or even by educated Serbs within the Monarchy. The triumph of the Pan-Serb idea would mean the triumph of Eastern over Western culture, and would be a fatal blow to progress and modern development throughout the Balkans." Opposed to this Pan-Serb idea is the "Great Croatia" program, which would compromise Croatia, Slavonia, Istria, Carniolia, Styria. Dalmatia, Bosnia and Herczegovina. Of late years a better under- standing has existed between Croats and Serbs in the Triune kingdom, although it is very doubtful whether that understanding will continue if it should ever happen that the Southern Slavs in the monarchy should * Southern Slav question p. 33G. Page Nine become in some measure independent. For twenty years of oppres- sion in Croatia by Ban Hedervary rested on the shoulders of Serbians born and brought up in the blook-soaked, martyred country named Croa- tia. If Serbia should ever carry out her Pan-Serb policy civil war is very likely to follow between Serbs and Croats on account of Serbian fanaticism reaching so far and insisting as to effect a complete sup- pression of the Croats. If after this war the Austro-Hungarian empire is dismembered, of which, so far, there is not the slightest indication, the only success- ful adjustment among the Southern Slavs would consist in a federaliza- tion of the states on the basis of equality, and in not allowing any one state to absorb any other. If, on the other hand, when the cloud of war has cleared, Austro- Hungarian sovereignty and monarchical integrity is not broken down, it is most certain that a new policy of federation must be carried out, which will give the Slavs in the monarchy full power in the government of their respective countries. This must be done if the monarchy ex- pects to have permanent peace at home. It is indeed a pity that Austria has not introduced this policy years ago, for then in all likelihood this war would not have burst over Europe, at any rate it would have been postponed indefinitely, and some means of definite understanding between the great powers now warring might perhaps have been found. At the worst, the present Armaghedon of Europe would not have been so titanic. Austria has every reason to, and in all probability does regret not to have in seasonable time vigorously acted on the question of Trialism (Austria-Hungary-Croatia), and thus solved the perplexing problem of satisfying partly her Slav population. This solution would have cemented loose joints of the monarchy and done away with the possi- bility of an internal disruption. The murdered Crown Prince foresaw the wisdom and necessity of such action, and would no doubt have carried it out on his ascen- sion to the throne had he not met a tragic death at Sarajevo. There are certain indications that his murder was a relict to the cliques at Vienna and Budapest opposed to Trialism. But Vienna was unfortunately influenced by the selfish and stub- born attitude of politicians from Budapest, who were loath to relin- quish this oppressive rule in Croatia-Slavonia. The Magyars found a ready ear for their objections, and indeed had as their advocates the bureaucrats whose intolerance of the Trialism idea is well known. The democracy is coming; she shall break the Magyar oligarchy. The price for the long existing oppression of Croats by the Magyars is to be paid. Page Ten HI, ISTRIA, TRIESTE, GORIZIA-GRADISCA AND RIJEKA (FIUME)* OF TODAY AND THE [MMEDIATE PAST. "In numbers warmly pure and sweetly strong. " Collins, Ode to Simplicity. The provinces of Istra (Istria) Trst (Trieste) and Goricza-Gra- diska (Gorizia-Gradisca) form the Austrian coast lands, so called. An imperial Governor is at the head of the administration, which is centered in Trst. Each of these provinces has its own Diet, which represents the provincial autonomy. The electoral system is based on the reactionary principle of votes according to property, and is so arranged that the Ital- ian element is assured of a majority in number of deputies. Istra (Istria) has an area of 4955.8 square kilometers. According to the official statistics of 1910 there are 220,382 Croats and Slovenes, and 145,525 Italians. In Austria the census is made by the municipal authorities. The population is not counted according to nationalities, but to the language mostly spoken ; and the councils of the various par- ties often misuse this method of reckoning for their own ends. The Croats and Slovenes make use of Italian as lingua franca. In Eastern and Central Istra, where the boroughs are Slav, the actions of the Borough Councils are under a strict Government control, but in Western Istra and on the Island of Cres (Cherso) and Lusinj (Lussino), where the boroughs are in the hands of Italian minority, this strict control does not exist. In Istra more than two thirds of the native population are Croats and Slovenes, not even Italianized as such. During her rule over Wes- tern Istra and the Islands, Central and Eastern Istra have never been under Venetian domination, the Venetian Republic artificially created an Italian majority in the coast towns of Western Istra in Buje (Buie) Motovun (Montona) and Labin (Albona). After the fall of the Venetian Republic, Austria created the "Illy- rian Government" by uniting Istra, Trst and Goricza ; in all which lands Austria has purposely neglected the Slav element and favored Italians. Till within the last thirty years Italian was the official language of the authorities, and with the exception of four or five elementary schools for Croats and Slovenes, the instruction in all other schools in Istra was carried on in Italian. When the National movement of the last decades caused the Croats and Slovenes to demand school instruction in their own language, the Italian school boards, supported by private Italian Socie- ties — such as the "'Lega Nationale," forced Italian schools upon the Croats and Slovenes and thus artificially created Italians out of the purely Slav population. On the island of Krk (Veglia) the native population is exclusively Croatian. However, during the rule of the Venetian Republic several Italian officials and their families settled in the town of Krk (Veglia) P.ige Eleven Cres (Cherso) and Lusinj (Lussino) and founded the Italian element there. Later on, the Austrian Government made use of the Italian schools to accelerate the process of denationalizing the Croatian popula- tion. According to the statistics of 1910, compiled by the Italian Mu- nicipal Board, there were nevertheless 29,623 Croats on the Island of Krk, as against 11,393 Italians, or rather Italianized Croats and Slovenes. Throughout Istra the bulk of Slav population is agricultural, where- as the Italians are settled only in the above mentioned towns. This ex- plains the fact that in the whole of Istra, taking into account the districts where the Slav element amounts to only 40 per cent or 50 per cent of the population, 902.12 square kilometers is occupied by Italians, while the remaining area of 4053.68 square kilometres is occupied by Slovenes and Croats. Therefore, only 18.22 per cent of the land in Istra belongs to Italians while 81.78 per cent is Croatian or Slovenian landed property. Trst (Trieste). The town province of Trst consists of the town proper and its environs. In the town the Italians are in the majority, but the Croats and Slovenes constitute the majority in the environs. The neighboring villages of Prosek, Kontovelj, Sveti Kriz, Opcine, Bane, Gropada, Trebici, Bazovice, Lonjer and Katinara are inhabited entirely by a native Slovenian population. The proportion of the two nationalities in the town and environs can be approximately estimated from the result of the political elections for the Vienna Parliament in 191 1, as these elections were made on the basis of universal suffrage. In the town proper, the Italian candidate received 13,145 votes (70 per cent) and the Slovenian 5,647 (30 per cent). In the environs of Trst the Slovenian candidate received 5,006 (81 per cent), and the Italian only 1,192 votes (19 per cent). According to this, the Italians had 13,373 (56 per cent) all told, and the Slovenes and Croats 10,650 (44.5 per cent) in Trst. However, this proportion of the votes does not fully correspond with the numerical proportion of the nationalities, because the municipal administration is in the hands of Italians, who are using it in order to oppress the Slavic element, from an economical, cultural and political point of view. We must not forget that the Borough of Trst persistently refuses to establish a school for Croatian and Slovenian children in the city. Therefore the Slovenians and Croats have been obliged to erect schools out of their own private resources. But these have proven insufficient ; and therefore a large number of their children are compelled to attend non-Slav schools. On municipal works the Municipal Board will only employ Italian clerks and workmen, man) of whom came from the Italian kingdom. Thus, a misused municipal authority is able to exert a strong pressure on the expression of the na- tional will during the elections. Thanks to this pressure and the elec- toral system, the town Council of Trst includes 69 Italians and only 12 Slovenian deputies. Trst is situated in territory which is geographically Slavic, because its hinterland is peopled entirely by Croats and Slovenes and the Coast Page Tr»elve from Trst up to Trzich (Monfalcone) is likewise Slovenian. Goricza*-Gradiska (Gorizia Gradisca). The name itself is Sloven- ian. As will be seen from the map the Italian element in this province only extends in the North as far as Cormons, and along the railway as far as Goricza ; in the East as far as the river Sotcha (Isonzo) and from Gradiska Goricza in an almost straight line to Trzich (Monfalcone). The rest of the whole province is inhabited entirely by Slovenes, as is also part of the Italian province of Udine, where more than 30,000 Slovenes have preserved their nationality from Italian assimilation. The provincial autonomy is in the hands of a Diet consisting of 30 members, who are elected on the basis of a compromise between the two nations. The Italian portion of the province (the valley of Friuli) elects 15 members and the Slovenian portion (Kras and Brda), 15 mem- bers, although the Slovene territory is far greater than the Italian, and the population far more numerous. The whole province has an area of 7,696 square kilometres, and a population of 249,893 inhabitants, of which 155,275 are Slovens and 90,110 Italians. Goricza, the capital, is a town of mixed nationality, where the statistics of the Italian Municipal Board, in spite of indescribable pressure brought to bear upon the Slovene population, could in 1910 enumerate only 14,812 Italians, as against 11,157 Slovenes. Included in the jurisdiction of the courts of Gradiska are yet another 2,734 Italians and 41,512 Slovenes, so that the whole jurisdiction of the courts includes 52,669 Slovenes and 17,546 Italians. Therefore it will be clearly seen that the town of Goricza itself lies, ethnographically speaking, on Slovene territory. Rijeka (Fiume). The town with its suburbs lies between Istra and the river Rijecina. Till the middle of the XIX century it was only a small harbor town; and the neighboring towns, Bakar and Senj, enjoyed for greater importance. From time immemorial the native population of Rijeka has been exclusively Croatian. It was never under Venetian rule, and at one time belonged to the Dukes of Croatia. Subsequently Rijeka came into the possession of the Habsburgs, and in 1776, Em- press Maria Therese reincorporated it with Croatia. Rijeka first began to develop commercially in the XIX century, soon after Hungary be- gan to cast about for a port on the Adriatic. Finally, in 1868, after many struggles between Hungary and Croatia, by an infamous falsification of a paragraph in the Compromise between Hungary and Croatia, Rijeka was declared "a special body connected with the Hungarian crown — "seperatum sacrae regni coronae adnexum corpus." The variant texts run as follows, Magyar text: "in the sense of the preceding paragraph there are recognized as belonging to the territory of Croatia Slavonia and Dalmatia : 1. That district which at present, together with the town and district of (Buccari) Bakar belongs to the county of Fiume, with the exception of the town and district of Fiume. The town, harbour, and * Gorica, forest, grove, vineyard. Page Thirteen district of Fiume form a special body connected with the Hungarian crown, concerning whose special autonomy and the legislative and ad- ministrative affairs relating thereto, an agreement will have to be reach- ed by means of negotiations between the Hungarian Parliament, the Diet of Croatia-Slavonia and Dalmatia and the town of Fiume in joint understanding. . . ."The Croatian text runs: "In the sense of the pre- ceding paragraph it is recognized that the territorial extent of the king- doms of Dalmatia, Croatia and Slavonia comprises : — i. The whole district which at present, together with the town of Bakar (Buccari) and its district, belongs to the county of Fiume, with the exception of the town of Fiume and its district, regarding which an agreement could not be reached between the two Regnicolar Deputa- tions" . ..." The two versions of the document were in due course sub- mitted to His Majesty, Francis Joseph, for signature; and a thin strip of paper, 22.7x9.8 centimeters in dimensions, bearing on it a translation of the Magyar version, as given above, was then stuck over the corres- ponding portion of the Croat text ! ! The original document is preserved in the Croatian Archives, where this singular falsification of an impor- tant State document may be verified. The interpolated passage is not even in the same handwriting as the rest of the document. By such pro- cedure Rijeka is included in the Magyar administration, with Italian jargon as official language. In 1910 the population of Rijeka numbered 46,806 of whom, accord- ing to the official statistics made by the Italian Municipal Board only 18,128 were Croats and Slovenes. That these statistics are biased is clearly demonstrated by the fact that the statistics of 1854 show only 3,700 Italians ; but in 1900 the Italian Municipal Board in their statis- tics counted 1,000 Croats less than in 1910. Now, as all along the coast the Croatian element appears far stronger in 1910 than in 1900, it is surely highly improbable that in Rijeka, where the national struggle has been so extremely fierce, the Croat element should have so markedly declined. Their birthrate is high ; family life moral. The town of Susak, separated from Rijeka only by the river Rijecina, lies on Croatian terri- tory, and in 1910 had a population of 13,214 Croats. Italian territorial aspirations. According to De Agostini's map "La regione Veneta e le Alpi nostre" (Novara 191 5) a line drawn from the Italian frontier across the Triglav, Crna prst, Javornik, Sneznik, and through the Croatian Gorski Kotar to the Gulf of Kvarner, indicates the extend of the Italian territorial aspirations on the shores of the Adriatic. Apart from Dalmatia and the Islands, which she arrogates to herself as far as Neretva (Narenta), Italy aspires "to complete her national unity" by taking from Croatian and Slovenian lands, the whole of county Goricza (population 155,275 Slovenes, against 90,119 Italians), where the Italian element lives only in the vallev of Furlana and the town of Goricza (Gorizia) with 14,812 Italians against 11,235 Slovenians; also the town of Trst (60,077 Slovenes and Croats), the whole of Istra Page Fourteen (226,306 Croats and Slovenes against 147,417 Ctalians), the Carniolian district of Logatec and Postojna (Adelsberg), with a purely Croatian and Slovenian population of 83,499 inhabitants, the town of Rijeka with a part of Croatian Gorski Kotar and a part of Carinthia lying near the Italian frontier. Bearing in mind the fact that the town of Rijeka with Susak has 31,342 Croats inhabitants, and adding to this the Slovenian population of those parts of Carinthia and Croatia, which cannot be yet defined, and to which Italy is trying to establish a claim, and further re- membering that the official statistics in the cities ruled by Italians are very much biased, and that in 1910 there were 66,892 foreigners in Carin- thia and the Croatian Littorale (except Rijeka and Susak) many of whom were from Croatia and Slavonia, Bosnia, Herczegovine, Styria and Carniolia, it is obvious that Italy is trying to annex at least 570,000 Slo- venians and Croats apart from the inhabitants of Dalmatia and adjoining islands. As apart of the Slovenian territotry of Goricza (the province of Udine with more than 30,000 Slovenes) already belongs to Italy, her fu- ture borders on her Northeast frontiers would include 600,000 Croats and Slovenes. These from time immemorial have formed a compact popu- lation on their own territory. And they have culturally, politically and economically progressed in such a degree, that they cannot, under any circumstances be expected to submit to any foreign yoke whatsoever, but will insist on being united as true brothers, and permitted free national development in the independent Croatian State. * See: Slav Committee report. London. July. 1915. 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