Part 9

Crowns. 1. March 22, 1919. Bogdan Babovi['c], son of Radovan, of Montenegro, was robbed of 1,348 2. " 22, " Peter Luki['c], son of Stephen of Spi['c], " " 1,800 3. " 30, " Marijan evelj, of Tuepa, " " 3,530 4. " 31, " Frano Franki['c] and Ivanica Petrievi['c], " " 12,000 5. April 8, " Stephen Vukui['c], son of Peter, of Katuna, " " 4,758 6. " 8, " Nikola Cike, son of Mate, of eevice, " " 3,071 7. " 8, " Martinis Jozo, son of the late Nikola, of Komia, " " 6,332 8. " 8, " Jure Rubi['c], son of the late Peter, of Zadvarje " " 6,030 9. " 8, " Mato karii['c], son of Stephen, of Podgrazza, " " 500 10. April 8, 1919. Mihovil arac, son of the late Crowns. Marko, of Split, was robbed of 300 11. " 11, " Ilika Kutljaa, son of the late Peter, of ista, " " 600 12. " 13, " Marko aljkui['c], son of the late Ante, of estanova, " " 11,000 13. " 14, " Damjan Udovii['c], son of Jakov, of Imotski, " " 3,200 14. " 16, " Antun Radi['c], son of Peter, of Trogir, " " 62,000 15. " 16, " Madalena Kugmi['c], widow of Nikola, of Split, " " 1,000 16. " 17, " Pero Juri['c], son of Abram, of Ostrozac, " " 2,285 17. " 19, " Jakov Jurkovi['c], son of Miko " "} 18. " 19, " Mate Raji['c], son of Ilija, " "} 8,140 19. " 19, " Jerko Reji['c], son of Luke, " "} 20. " 19, " Josip Kolumbur, son of Marko, of Livno, " " 25,000 21. " 25, " Zorka Aljinovi['c], of Split, " " 600 22. " 28, " Ana iak, of Split, " " 1,900 23. " 29, " Nikolina Rastor, of Split, " " 1,800 24. " 30, " Antica Mili['c], of Split, " " 5,000 25. " 24, " Tomislav Novak, son of Mate, of Hvar, " " 3,000 26. " 24, " Gjuran Arif, of Livno, " " 2,200 -------- Total 136,794 --------

These were the complaints over a period of a month, which were received by the Provincial (Yugoslav) Government at Split. One has to take their word for it that the list is not fictitious. I did not investigate any of the cases; the Italian officers to whom I showed the list said that they were persuaded I would find that in every case the person culpable was an officious, ignorant N.C.O. The list is, of course, no more than a fragment. At Starigrad, on the island of Hvar, I was told that from the people, who were searched both on landing and on leaving, 40,000 crowns had been confiscated, and at first they had been told that the money should be stamped. A merchant whom I happened to meet during the few hours I was at Metkovi['c] told me that he had gone to the island of Korula to his brother and, on landing, had been relieved of 34,000 crowns.

AND HARSHNESS AND BRIBERY

In Asia Minor we have another disastrous example of the Allied policy of allowing a disputed zone to be occupied ad interim solely by the troops of one interested country. The chronic state of war which followed the landing of the Greeks at Smyrna, the atrocities, the charges and the counter-charges, were investigated by an Inter-Allied Commission of Inquiry; and their report, which was issued early in 1920 and was signed by an American Admiral and French, Italian and British Generals, laid the responsibility at the door of the Greek Higher Command. The Commission considered that an inter-Allied occupation was necessary, because the Greeks, instead of maintaining order, had given their position all the characteristics of a permanent occupation, the Turkish authorities being powerless. They also considered that order should be maintained by inter-Allied troops other than Greek.... No such Commission visited Dalmatia, chiefly because the Yugoslavs, in spite of endless provocations, displayed greater self-control than the Turks. But an Inter-Allied Inquiry would have reported that the Italian régime had not the marks of a permanent occupation simply because such methods could never be permanent: everywhere in the occupied territory it was forbidden, under severe penalties, to have any Serbo-Croat newspaper. On one island I found about fifteen gentlemen gathered round a table in a sort of dungeon, reading the newspapers which had been smuggled into their possession. This they had been doing for more than six months. Every letter was censored, all telegraphic and telephonic communication between the occupied territory and the outside world was prohibited. All flags, of course, except that of Italy, were vetoed. Admiral Millo told us that this prohibition did not extend to the flags of France, Great Britain and the United States; considering that it is on record when and where the flags of these nations were, if flown by civilians, ordered to be taken down at Rieka, despite the presence of Allied contingents, it seems scarcely worth saying that, as we were often told, the Admiral's permission, which was in accordance with the Armistice, was disregarded by his subordinates. Another thing that was very rigorously forbidden, especially on the islands, was for any Yugoslav to go down to the harbour, if a boat came in, and carry on a conversation with somebody on board. It would be tedious to enter into all the questionable and tyrannical Italian methods, such as the requisitioning of Yugoslav clubs, schools, etc., sometimes leaving them empty because they found they did not want them, the requisitioning of private houses, with no consideration for their owners, the wholesale cutting-down of forests, the closing of law-courts, the demand that other courts should pronounce no judgment before first submitting it to them. But, above all, what the Yugoslav Government at Split complained of were the methods they employed in the gratuitous or semi-gratuitous distribution of food, clothing and money:

GOVERNMENT OF DALMATIA AND OF THE DALMATIAN ISLANDS AND OF THE CURZOLA ISLANDS

SUBJECT: Question of Food Supplies for the Civil Population.

No. 43. March 18, 1919.

To all subject authorities:

I have heard that several commanding officers who have to distribute food to the civilian population have, by virtue of an authorization that they may save part of the entered amounts for the purpose of using that sum for propaganda, saved a conspicuous quantity without having the possibility of using it later. As it has been ascertained that the only effective means of propaganda is the distribution of food supplies ... amounts which are useless [for other purposes] and absolutely necessary for purposes of propaganda.

THE VICE-ADMIRAL THE GOVERNOR, E. MILLO.

ROYAL GOVERNMENT OF DALMATIA AND OF THE DALMATIAN ISLANDS AND OF THE CURZOLA ISLANDS

STAFF. SECTION OF PROPAGANDA, No. Prot. "P." SEBENICO, April 18, 1919.

The section of propaganda of the Government of Dalmatia, whose object is the rapid diffusion of Italianity in this noble region which gives at last to Italy the complete dominion over the most bitter Adriatic, has set before itself a vast programme of truly Italian action ... it is therefore necessary to give these latter certain advantages ... it has been suggested that Italian schools be favoured ... that offices be opened for the gratuitous or semi-gratuitous distribution of food, that presents be given to the indigent population, that fêtes and spectacles be organized.

These two documents give some indication of the plan of campaign. One might mention, by the bye, that during this period there was a great shortage of food-stuffs in Italy; large quantities were being sent from the United States. The Yugoslav Government at Split complained of the disastrous social and moral results of these proceedings. It gave rise to many abuses and to a clandestine trade. On the young it had, for example, at Split a most unhealthy influence; all they had to do was to go on board the Puglia, the Italian flagship, whether their parents allowed them or not, and there they were given both provisions and cash. As elsewhere in the world there are at Split a number of idlers and scamps, who seized this opportunity; another class of person, who had erstwhile been regarded as Austrian spies, did not hesitate a moment to proclaim that they were the most ardent Italian patriots. All these people were ready enough to give their signatures to anything in return for the Italian bounty, and to endeavour to persuade others to do so; in that way the Italians collected 6000 signatures, whereas the Italianists of Split were, at the outside, 1800; at Trogir, where the Italianists numbered 80 to 100, they collected more than 1000 signatures.

THE ITALIANS IN DALMATIA BEFORE AND DURING THE WAR

To grasp the conditions at Split we must go back to the years just before the War. From the reports of the Austrian Intelligence Officer, Captain Bukvich, we shall see what was the attitude of the Slavs and the Italianists respectively towards the Government, and hence towards each other. It may be that the very loyal, some would call it cringing, attitude of the Italianists was forced upon them by the great inferiority of their numbers. What they were aiming at, with very few exceptions, were the benefits of the moment, rather than those others of which here and there an isolated Italianist would dream, when between the smoke of his cigarette he saw the Italian tricolour flying over Dalmatia. If this lonely dreamer had gone to Italy before the War with the purpose of awakening in people an interest in what some day might happen, he would have found that most of the Italians had never heard of Dalmatia. But among those who had heard were the officials of the "Liga Nazionale," which assisted the Dalmatian Italians to support those famous schools. In a report (Information No. 668) which Padouch, the successor of Bukvich as Intelligence Officer, sent from Split on September 25, 1915, to the Headquarters at Mostar, we are told that "an Italian of this place, with whom I confidentially spoke on the subject before the outbreak of the War, openly and candidly told me that in their Liga school one-third of the children, at the most, have parents whose nationality has always been Italian. The others are children of the people, of that class which on account of its humble social position has lost its national consciousness. He told me that the parents received subsidies and the children clothes, school-books, etc., gratuitously."

The reports of Captain Bukvich were sent to his superiors at Mostar. No doubt a great many documents were destroyed just before the Austrian collapse, as the Government had ordered to be done--three boxes, presumably containing copies, are known to have been committed to the flames at Split, while at Zadar there was a wholesale destruction on October 31. Yet a fair number of interesting papers survived, principally at Mostar, Castelnuovo, Metkovi['c] and Dubrovnik. In 1913 Captain Bukvich sent many reports to the effect that Split was completely anti-Austrian and that the Italian party were the only loyal people. On September 16 he said that the inhabitants believe in the coming of a great Serbia, and he substantiates this with numerous instances. "The students over thirteen years of age," he says, "are all Serbophil, and most of the masters, professors and State clerks.... The chief paper in Split is Serbophil and has been confiscated twenty-seven times between October 1912 and September 1913." He reported on August 19, 1913 (Information No. 211), to the General Staff of the Imperial and Royal 16th Corps at Dubrovnik with reference to the Francis Joseph celebrations of the previous day: "... only the public buildings and a few other houses were beflagged. One must notice the satisfactory conduct and the finely decorated houses of the autonomous Italian party." On February 27, 1914 (Information No. 62), he narrates that a big dinner was given at the bishop's palace to celebrate the centenary of the incorporation of Dalmatia into the Habsburg monarchy; all the chief citizens were invited to this dinner, but the Croat deputies, Dr. Trumbi['c], Dr. Smodlaka and other Croats declined with thanks. Dr. Salvi, however, of the autonomous Italian party, put in an appearance. On July 31 (Information No. 267) he refers to the mobilized men who marched through the town and were put on board ship. "The attitude," he says, "of the Slav intelligentsia was quite passive. The Italian band waited for the troops, a procession was improvised, great ovations took place, and enthusiasm was shown by the Autonomous party, who called: 'Hoch Austria! Hoch the Emperor! Hoch the War! Down with Serbia! Down with the Serbian municipality!'" A certain Demeter, an Austrian naval lieutenant, was a spectator of these scenes. He made some notes for the typist, afterwards embodied in a report to the Military Command at Mostar and marked "Secret No. 147." He relates, with unconcealed fury, how the Slavs not merely displayed no raptures when the War proclamation was read, but walked away in the midst of the recital and refrained from following the band, which later on paraded the town. Only the Italians, he said, exhibited the proper feeling. They did more than that; for with the same date, July 31, one finds an interesting letter from the "Società del Tiro al Bersaglio" of Split, which called itself a shooting club, but was not in possession of arms; it was, as a matter of fact, a gymnastic society with a political object. The secretary, Luigi Puisina, wrote on the 31st to the authorities, to say that they had determined to offer themselves in uniform for any service of a military nature ("per quei qualsiasi servizi di carattere militare"). Bukvich reported on August 3 (Information No. 268) that for the present these gymnasts will be used as special constables, and he adds, to one's astonishment, that this has caused the Slav intelligentsia to be still more profoundly depressed. Nothing could elude the eagle eye of Bukvich: on December 17, 1914, he noted that the small boys in the streets were winking and smiling at each other in consequence of the news that the Austrians had been driven out of Belgrade.

When Italy entered the War a handful of Dalmatian Italians--I believe six from Zadar and two from Split--went to serve in the Italian army. Five others, four of them from Zadar, were interned at Graz; with these exceptions the Italians and Italianists were very much more faithful to the Austrian Empire than were the Croats, hundreds of whom were hanged or shot or lodged in fortresses. The Italians, however, persist in charging the Croats with unbounded fidelity; in fact, it is one of their most powerful arguments. They themselves in Split continued to do what the Austrians expected of them: those who were of military age became units of the army, while the rest of them, with one exception, were not incommoded. The President of their club, the "Cabinetto di Lettura," that Dr. Salvi of whom we have heard, was not only most assiduous in addressing letters of devotion and fidelity to the Emperor, in promoting all kinds of patriotic Austrian manifestations, but as the particular friend of Mr. Tszilvas, the Austrian sub-prefect, he was wont to go down with him to the harbour and watch the embarkation, in chains, of the Slav intelligentsia. The only Italian who suffered this fate was a Mr. Tocigl, with whom Dr. Salvi had had a personal difference.

CONSEQUENT SUSPICION OF THIS MINORITY

One cannot therefore be surprised if the Slavs, on the collapse of Austria, regarded the Italian party, and especially Dr. Salvi, with some suspicion. Since they had always placed themselves at Austria's disposal, it would be most natural if they attempted by a coup d'état to save the Empire. Yet this was the moment when they joined the Slavs and helped to turn the Austrians out. There was no notion then that the Italian army would succeed the Austrian; and it was not until Christmas that this army tried to enter Split. When they proposed to come ashore they were prevented by the French, Americans and British; thereupon they threatened to come overland--although the town was not included in the London Treaty--but again they were prevented. In February, on the occasion of a conference between the four Admirals, there was a demonstration against Italy, the commandant of the Puglia being struck and Admiral Rombo's chief of staff insulted. There was a widespread feeling of resentment at the way in which the Puglia was, as we have seen, availing herself of the baser elements in the town for the furtherance of her propaganda; but what put the match to the bonfire was the omission of certain Italians in uniform to salute the Serbian National Anthem. The Admirals held an inquiry, found that "officers belonging to an Allied nation have been molested." They announced that they would not tolerate a repetition of such acts, and that inter-Allied patrols, acting with Serbian troops and the local police force, would take measures to prevent them. On March 8, however, there was a renewal of the troubles; and again the Admirals made an inquiry. The Italian member of the Commission added to his signature that he disapproved of the findings and that he would present a special report.

ALLIED CENSURE OF THE ITALIAN NAVY

"By general conviction," says the Admirals' summing up, "there exist at Split two political parties which are in sharp contradiction as to the future status of Dalmatia. The presence of Allied ships, and especially the Italian ones, has increased this contradiction rather than diminished it. On the day when disorders broke out at Split a few Italian sailors had made a small demonstration a little before the incidents. Certain movements and words on the part of youths, sympathizers with Yugoslavia, offended the Italian sailors. They were bold enough to arrest two of these youths.... This procedure of arresting them naturally and inevitably moved the great majority of the bystanders and was the actual cause of outrages. This act was approved by the Italian Naval Authorities, who accordingly are to be considered responsible for these disorders.... Several civilians and Serbian soldiers were wounded." The report adds that some Italian sailors were armed with knives and revolvers, contrary to the regulations of the Italian Naval Authorities, and concludes with these words: "By arresting some citizens the Italian sailors have committed an illegal act, which they carried out according to instructions that were given them by the Italian Naval Authorities. Accordingly the Commission considers these authorities responsible for the injuries inflicted on the Serbian soldiers."

NEVERTHELESS THE TYRANNY CONTINUES

But in many parts of Dalmatia and the islands the Italians had no fear of such a Commission. Let us see what they had been doing in the neighbourhood of Zadar, the old capital. Apart from the usual prohibitions with respect to newspapers and so forth, the municipalities were dissolved and an Italian commissary installed. Their first task was to introduce the Italian language and make it obligatory, although the commissary's own employees would often be not more acquainted with it than with Hindustani. Eighty-five per cent. of the civil servants in the occupied territory were Yugoslavs; during March and April 1919 they were deprived of their salaries because they had declined, in accordance with the existing laws and particularly in accordance with the terms of the Armistice, to make a request in Italian to the Provisional Government that they should be confirmed in their posts. This outrageous order, which left hundreds of families without the means of subsistence, was not merely illegal--let alone inhumane--but was in contradiction with an earlier order issued by Admiral Millo, which was placarded throughout the territory and which confirmed in their posts all the civil employees. However, the Italians were unsuccessful in their efforts to obtain these signatures, though they did not abandon their watchword: "Either Italy or starvation!" They never ceased to persecute the peasants of the surrounding country and islands. Commands, menaces, blows inflicted by carabinieri and officers, houses searched night after night, and so on.... In the second half of February it was intended to conduct a number of peasants, accompanied by Italian flags, to Zadar, so that they might thank the Admiral, who chanced to be there, for the benefits which Italy had bestowed upon them. An officer who in this branch achieved particular distinction was Lieutenant de Sanctis, the Commandant of Preko, a village opposite Zadar. Bread and Italian promises were dangled before these poverty-stricken fisherfolk and peasants; they refused to take part in the ridiculous demonstration, and in order to avoid being made to go they concealed themselves and even went to the length of sinking their boats. In the possession of a peasant at Preko, ime ari['c] Mazi['c], were found some banknotes with a Yugoslav stamp on them and a very small French flag; for these transgressions de Sanctis ordered first that he should receive a box on the ears, after which he was bound, thrown into prison, and there flogged by carabinieri who, as two doctors afterwards certified, inflicted serious injuries upon his hands, which they beat with chains. For the same reasons and at the same place a peasant called Mate Lonar was imprisoned and wounded with a bayonet. On March 2 at Preko the Italians, enraged because the people had not come to their demonstration, dispersed with sticks all those who were assembled in front of the church, and prevented the Mass from being celebrated. On March 29 the aforementioned Lonar was condemned to three years' imprisonment because 11,780 crowns, unstamped notes, had been found on him; the notes, of course, were confiscated. Such notes, by the way, were given or received in payment by Italian merchants at a discount of 10 per cent., 15 per cent. or 20 per cent. Even the military used these forbidden notes, and compelled the peasants at the market to accept them. In the night of March 15-16 six of the leading Yugoslavs of Zadar, who had not ceased to advise the people to bear their present misfortunes in patience, were suddenly arrested and deported to Italy; they included Mr. Joseph de Toni['c], President of the Yugoslav Club and formerly the Deputy-Governor of Dalmatia; he was a man seventy-two years of age and in precarious health. During this same night forty persons were deported from Knin, three from Drni, three from Obrovac, four from Skradin, nine from ibenik and four from Benkovac.... On the populous island of Olib (Ulbo) the abuses connected with the distribution of food were exceptionally flagrant; here the Italian officers compelled everyone to stand still, bare-headed, when they passed; they would not allow anyone to leave the island, and forbade the peasants to speak Croatian! On the opposite island of Silba (Selve) the schoolmaster, Matulina, and the priest, an old man of seventy-five, called Lovrovi['c], were imprisoned. The latter had told his parishioners, in the course of a sermon, to behave well during Lent and keep away from the Italian sailors. He was thereupon shipped to Zadar and thrust into a moist and dirty dungeon, where for two days and nights he was at the mercy of six criminals.... After having seen at Zadar a number of persons belonging to each party, I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Boxich. It was indeed a pleasure, because this thin, highly-strung Italianized Slav, the former chief of the Radical Italian party, was full of the most fraternal sentiments towards the Slavs. If, he said, their peasants lacked education, one ought to assist them; not to do so was a sin against humanity. It had been the desire, he said, of his party, both before and during the War, to work openly against the Austrian Government, unlike the Moderate Italian party, of Ziliotto, which feigned to be very pro-Austrian. While Ziliotto was receiving high Austrian decorations, he was an object of persecution, and was obliged to go away and live for two and a half years in Rome. Ziliotto, he said, was Zadar's evil spirit, seeing that he had thoroughly deceived and betrayed Italy--so many of those who now called themselves good Italians had been very good Austrians, and would as readily have turned into good Americans or Frenchmen. So petty and local was Ziliotto's party, with no idea of the world or of freedom. In fact, I thought that if a Yugoslav had listened to the doctor's eloquence he would have overlooked a recent lapse or two, when Boxich, in order to prove to Admiral Millo that he was a much better Italian than Ziliotto, was alleged by the Yugoslavs to have committed various dark deeds in connection with a hunt for hidden arms. The Admiral also had told me that he was not pleased with Dr. Boxich. "At present," said the doctor to me, "I am isolated, and I am proud of it. This is not the time to found a party of ideas; the atmosphere is too morbid, too passionate. This is the time," he said, "for an honourable man to remain isolated and to stay at home." ... Several weeks after this at Sarajevo, I read in a Zagreb newspaper, the Rije['c] S.H.S., that Dr. Boxich, on account of having--exceptionally, the paper said--spoken the truth to a passing foreigner, had been deported to Italy.

A VISIT TO SOME OF THE ISLANDS

It was impossible to be at Split without meeting people who had fled from the occupied islands. It was also, in consequence of what they told one, impossible to set out with an unprejudiced mind. But, after all, we have our preconceived ideas on Heaven and Hell, and that will be no reason for us not to go there. I had become acquainted at Split with Captain Pommerol, of the British Army, a Mauritian of imposing physique and, as I was to see, of a lofty sense of justice. He had recently been spending several months in Hungary on a mission from the War Office. They had now dispatched him to Dalmatia and Bosnia with a very comprehensive programme; and, as I secured a little steamer, he came with me to the islands. [We hesitated to embark on this expedition, since the islanders whose national desires had been choked for so many months would probably display their sentiments in such a way as to bring down grave penalties upon themselves. But the Yugoslavs, both on the mainland and on the islands, were anxious that we should go; they doubted whether Western Europe had any knowledge of the Italian methods of administration. And if the immediate result of our journey would be to call down upon themselves--as indeed it did--a savage wind, they were optimistic enough to feel that it would eventually produce a whirlwind for their oppressors.] ... The S.S. Porer, 130 tons, was flying at the stern the temporary flag of white, blue, white in horizontal stripes which had been invented for the ships of the former Austro-Hungarian mercantile marine; on the second mast they displayed the flag of one of the Allies, and the Porer happened to be sailing under the red ensign. She had a Dalmatian crew of eight, including the weather-beaten old captain and the still older and equally benevolent gentleman who combined the functions of cook and steward. In addition to Serbo-Croat, they had among them some knowledge of Italian, German and even English. The scholar was the mate who, having had his headquarters at Pola during the War, spoke Viennese-German. His wife had died at Split after an illness of several months, brought on by the idea that her husband had been killed at Pola in an air-raid.

The large, rather waterless island of Bra['c], which is nearest to the mainland, seems to be chiefly remarkable on account of its chrysanthemums, from which an insect-powder is produced; and the number of changes, no less than twenty, that occurred in the ownership of the island from the beginning of the Middle Ages down to the Congress of Vienna. During that period it was sometimes under the Byzantines, sometimes the Venetians, the Holy Roman Empire, its own autonomous Government, the Hungarians, the Bosnians, the French, the Russians (one year, in 1806) and the Austrians. It was not occupied by Italy after the end of this War, and Baron Sonnino did not ask for it when he was negotiating, before the War, with Austria.

WHICH THE ITALIANS HAD TRIED TO OBTAIN BEFORE, BUT NOT DURING, THE WAR