ereignty
over the rest of the island of Minorca. The magnificent harbour of Vis,
perfectly protected against the bora, would have satisfied all the
demands of the Italian navy. Vis is to-day practically as much Slav as
Minorca was Spanish, and if the Slavs had been left in possession of the
remainder of that island it would have proved the reverse of a danger to
the Italians, since with a moderate amount of good sense the same
relations would have existed as was the case upon Minorca.... The
solution which was ultimately found in the Treaty of Rapallo was to
allocate to the Italians in complete sovereignty not the island of Vis,
but the smaller neighbouring island of Lastovo.

While the vast majority of Italians would not listen to Bissolati they
delighted in Gabriele d'Annunzio. The great poet Carducci[21] had his
heart full when he thought about the ragged, starving Croat soldiers,
pitiable victims of the Habsburgs, exploited by them all their lives and
fighting for them in a foreign land--and they fought bravely; but as
they were often clad in miserable garments, they were called by those
who wanted to revile them "Croat dirt." And that is what they are to
Gabriele d'Annunzio. When the controversies of to-day have long been
buried and when d'Annunzio's works are read, his lovers will be stabbed
by his _Lettera ai Dalmati_. And if the mob had to be told precisely
what the Allies are, it did not need a lord of language to dilate upon
"the thirty-two teeth of Wilson's undecipherable smile," to say that the
French "drunk with victory, again fly all their plumes in the wind, tune
up all their fanfares, quicken their pace in order to pass the most
resolute and speedy--and we step aside to let them pass." No laurel will
be added to his fame for having spoken of "the people of the five meals"
[the English] which, "its bloody work hardly ended, reopens its jaws to
devour as much as it can." All Italy resounded with the catchword that
the Croats had been Austria's most faithful servants, although some
Italians, such as Admiral Millo, as we shall see, when writing
confidentially, did not say anything so foolish. Very frequently,
however, as the Croats noticed, those who had been the most
uncompromising wielders of Austria's despotism were taken on by Italy,
the new despot. For example, at Split when the mayor and other Yugoslav
leaders were arrested at the beginning of the War, one Francis
Mandirazza was appointed as Government