Mr. Gay informs me that he feels
sure this memorandum referring to the strained relations between
Italians and Jugo Slavs in the City of Fiume will be of immediate
interest to you.
[Enclosure]
Memorandum Supplied by Mr. H. Nelson
Gay
Part I.—Italian Claims
section
a).—completion of
nationality
Chapter 3) .—Fiume
Treaty of London. The question of the future
of Fiume is one of the most complex and most delicate which will be
presented at the Peace Conference. The population of the city in an
overwhelming majority is Italian by blood, language, character and
sentiment. But out of regard for the economic necessities of another
proposed nationality, Italy renounced her rights to Fiume in the
Treaty of London of 1915.23 At that time Russia advocated the creation of two
nationalities of Slavs which would each require an economic outlet
on the Adriatic Sea; one of these was to have consisted, roughly
speaking, of the catholic Slavs, of which Croatia would have
furnished the major region with Fiume as its port; the other,
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consisting of southern
Slavs including Servia, was to have its ports in the Southern
Adriatic.
Changed Situation. Today, however, the
readjustment of European nationalities is proposed in quite a
different combination, providing for the creation of a united
Jugo-Slav state, to which the possession of Fiume is no longer
essential as an outlet in the Adriatic; the proposed Jugo-Slav
state, which will include Croatia, will possess an abundance of
other ports in this same sea, notably Spalato and Cattaro, which
will be more than sufficient to care for all the commercial needs
toward which the most sanguine Jugo-Slav can aspire. It would seem,
therefore, to be no longer necessary to violate the great national
principle of ethnography in the case of Fiume. This is the point of
view of the vast majority of the inhabitants of Fiume, who protest
against being sacrificed without reason to what they claim can now
be considered only as Jugo-Slav imperialism. Their spokesman is the
delegate plenipotentiary of the city of Fiume, Doctor Gino
Antoni, who after an interview with the Italian Prime
Minister Orlando has sent out
through him the following note to the Governments of the Allies:
“I beg Your Excellency to communicate and explain to the
Governments of the Allies the following declarations.
At this moment of its liberation from the Hungarian
Government the City of Fiume with its territory, which for
centuries by statutory right has constituted a corpus separatum of the crown of
Santo Stefano, declares through its legitimate
representatives—the municipality and the national
council—its own autonomy and independence.
And under the protection of that principle by which the
future settlement of peoples must be made, according to the
articles of the programme set forth by the President of the
United States of America, namely the principle that each
people is free to dispose of its own destinies, Fiume has
determined to unite herself to her Mother Country,
Italy.
At the same time she demands from the Italian Government that
during the present period of transition there be afforded to
Fiume the protection necessary to effectively safeguard her
institutions and her national rights.”
Doctor Antoni received his mandate as
plenipotentiary of Fiume by solemn vote of the municipality and of
the national council of the city, and his credentials have been
accepted by the Italian Prime Minister Orlando. Subsequently on November 13, in company
with Doctor Antonio Vio, mayor of Fiume,
Andrea Bellen, ex-vice-mayor of Fiume, and
several other notabilities of the city he has been officially
received in Campidoglio by Prince Colonna, mayor of Rome. On this
occasion Mayor Vio made the following declaration—referring to the
Roman origin of Fiume:
“Mr. Mayor. The Wolf which nursed Romulus and Remus gave life
also to our Fiume, now reborn to liberty. Upon the
Campidoglio
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I
repeat our oath: Fiume shall be
Italian. Let this oath sworn by us before the Mayor
of Rome be our oath sworn before Italy and before the
World.”
Mayor Colonna replied: “Your oath solemnly pronounced here in
Campidoglio, before Rome and before Italy, I receive with
the heart and faith of an Italian and a Roman, confident in
the justice of the rights of nationality, which the blood
shed on the fields of battle render[s] today sacred and
inviolable for all civilized nations.”
Juridical Position of Fiume. These firm and
passionate declarations of the population of Fiume at this critical
hour gain additional significance when viewed in the light of the
city’s history. The origin of Fiume (the ancient Tarsatica) dates
from the times of the Roman Empire and marks the eastern boundary of
Roman Italy, as is shown by a vallum of which the ruins still
remain. The city and its territory have never belonged integrally to
Croatia, and only for nineteen years, from 1848 to 1867, were they
subjected forcibly against their will to Croatian domination. In
1766 Fiume, which was always a libero comune
italiano (from 1526 a free port) was annexed by the Empress
Maria Theresa to Hungary through Croatia; but only three years
later, in consequence of fiery protests from the inhabitants of
Fiume, the imperial diploma of annexation was modified to the effect
that Fiume be annexed directly to Hungary as corpus separatum; and as such, almost as a state within a
state, the city has remained until this present day,* when at last it has been able to break every connection with
Hungary, and declare itself entirely independent (October 30,
1918).
Revolution. The events of the past few days
have been rapid and dramatic. During the night of October 28 the
Hungarian authorities fled from Fiume. On the morning of the 30th. a
Croatian government established itself at Fiume taking possession of
the city in the name of the National Council of Zagabria which three
days before had arbitrarily declared Fiume an inalienable part of
the new Jugo-Slav state (without Fiume’s consent). On that same day
the Italians of Fiume in open revolt against the Croatian government
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that had been imposed
upon them, issued the following Proclamation announcing the
voluntary annexation of the city to the Kingdom of Italy. This
Proclamation was prepared on the 29th. by a National Italian
Committee consisting of 250 citizens representing all parties and
all classes; on the 30th. it was approved in solemn session by the
municipality and that afternoon acclaimed by a monster procession
(estimated at 20,000 people) which paraded the streets carrying
Italian banners:
Proclamation: “The Italian National
Council of Fiume, assembled this day in full session,
declares that by that right through the exercise of which
all peoples have risen to national independence and liberty,
the City of Fiume which has hitherto been a corpus separatum constituting a
national Italian commune, now assumes the peoples’ right of
auto-decision.
Basing its action upon this right the National Council hereby
proclaims Fiume united to the Mother Country, Italy.
The Italian Council considers as provisional the condition of
affairs which dates from October 29, 1918, and places its
decision under the protection of America, mother of liberty,
awaiting the sanction of Fiume’s action by the Peace
Congress.
For the National Council of Fiume
Fiume, October 30, 1918.
The Executive Committee:
Dott. Antonio Grossich, Dott.
Silvino Gigante, Giovanni
Schittar, Dott. Elpidio
Springhetti, Adolfo
Gotthardi, Dott. Salvatore
Bellasich, Annibale
Blau, Francesco Codrich,
Dott. Lionello Lenaz, Dott.
Isidoro Garofolo. [”]
This Proclamation was issued, it should be borne in mind, before the
completion of Italy’s great victories over the armies of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire. It was carried to Trieste overland by
patriots of Fiume at great personal risk, and from Trieste to Venice
by these same men by sea under cannon fire.
At the urgent request brought by these Fiumani a small Italian naval
squadron under Admiral Renier left Venice at once for Fiume with
orders to “protect Italians and the interests of Italy”. This
squadron has since remained in the port of Fiume, while Jugo-Slav
troops occupy the city. The situation is very strained; the Italian
flag has been insulted by the Slavs, but afterward saluted by them
under pressure from the Italian admiral; the Jugo-Slav flag has been
torn down by the Fiumani, and then raised again with proper honors.
Both Italians and Slavs, conscious of the fact that the eyes of the
world are fixed upon all such delicate international situations as
theirs, and that acts of violence and indiscretion will prejudice
the future claims of those who commit them, are both making
strenuous efforts at moderation—efforts for the continuation of
which every care should be exercised.
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Population. Twenty years ago eighty per cent,
of the population of Fiume and its territory was Italian. In 1912,
according to Hungarian statistics, which certainly do not err in
favor of Italy, fifty-eight per cent, of the population was Italian,
namely 30,000 in a population of 52,000; of the remaining forty-two
per cent. 7,000 were Hungarians, 13,000 Slavs (namely Croatians,
Servians, Slovenes and Slovaks) and 2,000 of miscellaneous
nationalities.
In 1880 the Hungarians numbered but 379; the recent rapid increase in
their numbers has been largely due to the importation of government
employees, and to the adoption of various other artificial means to
which the Hungarian government had recourse in its efforts to
Hungarianize the city. The Hungarians in Fiume are not a stable but
a shifting population.
The Slav population is also in very considerable part a growth of
recent years, particularly of the last ten years. The Slavs are
employed largely in the menial occupations, being longshore-men,
cab-drivers, servants, unskilled workmen, etc. But very few of them
vote in the elections (perhaps one hundred in all); many of them
have not taken out papers of citizenship; hardly any have an
interest in civic affairs; the Slavs feel and represent little
indeed of the civic life of Fiume.
Language. The language generally spoken in
the city is Italian—the accent resembling the Venetian. Both
Hungarian and Slav inhabitants of Fiume are for the most part
bilinguists and speak Italian.
Economic Considerations. The economic life of
Fiume is vigorous and rapidly increasing: in 1911 its port imports
amounted to 184,928,228 crowns in value, and its exports to
185,884,954 crowns. Of the exports a value of 25,945,751 crowns went
to Italy, that is an amount more than double that sent to any other
country. In imports Italy stood third on Fiume’s list, being
surpassed by the East Indies and the United States.
In contrast with these figures are those of Croatia’s portion of the
total commercial transactions of Fiume—imports and exports together;
in 1912 Croatia’s portion amounted to only four per cent. of the
total.
A very important commercial consideration in the future destiny of
Fiume is that of its rivalry with Trieste. If both cities are held
by the same country this rivalry can be justly regulated to the
advantage of the two ports themselves and to the hinterland which
they both serve, namely to German Austria, Bohemia, Hungary and the
Jugo-Slavs. But if they are held by two different states, a
commercial war between them, with differential railway rates etc.
will be inevitable and permanent, and will be a source of future
international
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irritation.
The two cities have been well described as being from an economic
point of view, one and indivisible.
Island of Veglia. With the destiny of Fiume
is bound up that of the Island of Veglia, with which its local
commerce is closely associated, and of which the population is 86
per cent. Italian.
