fect;
far more injustice would have happened; far more Croats and Autonomists,
for instance, would have been deported if the Allies had not interceded.
It was now, of course, impossible for Yugoslavs to wear their colours;
nor could they prevent the C.N.I. from hanging vast Italian flags on
Croat houses. One of the largest flags, I should imagine, in the world
swayed to and fro between Rieka's chief hotel and the tall building on
the opposite side of the square--and both these houses, mark you, were
Croat property. But the Allied officers knew very well (and the C.N.I.
knew that they knew) that more than thirty of the large buildings on the
front belonged to Croats, whereas under half a dozen were the property
of Italians or Italianists. The ineffable Mr. Edoardo Susmel, in one of
his pro-Italian books, entreats certain French and British friends of
the Yugoslavs to come for one hour to Rieka and judge for themselves.
But twenty minutes would be ample for a man of average intelligence. In
many ways the presence of the Allies grieved the C.N.I. The Allies
looked without approval at the "Giovani Fiumani," an association of
young rowdies of whose valuable services the C.N.I. availed itself. But
if these hired bands could not be dispersed they could have limits
placed upon their zeal. One of their ordinary methods was to sit in
groups in cafes or in restaurants or other places where an orchestra was
playing, then to shout for the Italian National Anthem and to make
themselves as nasty as they dared to anyone who did not rise. If
everybody rose, then they would wait a quarter of an hour and have the
music played again. The Allied officers persuaded General Grazioli to
prohibit any National Anthem in a public place. It was distasteful to
the Allied officers when a local newspaper in French--_l'Echo de
l'Adriatique_--which had been established to present the Yugoslav point
of view, was continually being suppressed. For example, on December 14,
it printed a short greeting from the Croat National Council to President
Wilson. The most anti-Italian phrase in this that I could find was:
"Their fondest hope is to justify to the world, to history and to you
the great trust you have placed in them." This was refused publication.
It is unnecessary to say that Yugoslav newspapers were confiscated and
their sale forbidden--after all, one didn't buy German or Austrian
newspapers in England during the War, and the Italians now regarded the