ural boundaries of Italy." As for the
argument that the flora of Dalmatia resembles that of Italy, this can
equally well be employed by those who would annex Italy to Dalmatia.
Historically, we have seen that Venice, which held for many years the
seacoast and the islands, did not alter the Slav character of the
country. It is not now the question as to whether Venice deserved or did
not deserve well of Dalmatia, but "the truth is," says M. Emile
Haumant,[23] the learned and impartial French historian, "the truth is
that when Marmont's Frenchmen arrived they found the Slav language
everywhere, the Italian by its side on the islands and the coast,
Italian customs and culture in the towns, and also the lively and
sometimes affectionate remembrance of Venice; but nowhere did a
Dalmatian tell them that he was an Italian. On the contrary, they all
affirmed that they were brothers of the Slav beyond, in whose
misfortunes they shared and whose successes they celebrated." The
Italians themselves, in achieving their unity, were very right to set
aside the undoubted historical claims of the Kingdom of the Two
Sicilies, those of the House of Este and those of the Vatican, seeing
that they were in opposition to the principle of nationality and the
right of a people to determine its own political status. With regard to
the ethnical reasons, we are flogging another dead horse, as the
statistics--even those taken during the Italian occupation--prove to the
meanest intellect; and now the pro-Italians, despairing to make anyone
believe that the 97.5 per cent. of the people of Dalmatia are truly
Italians who by some kink in their nature persist in calling themselves
Slavs, have invented a brand new nationality, the Dalmatian, after the
classic style of the late Professor Jagi['c] who at Vienna, under the
pressure of the Austrian Government, began talking of the Bosnian
language in order not to say that it is Serbo-Croat. He was drowned in
laughter. With respect to the military reasons, the Dalmatian littoral
cannot be defended by a State which is not in possession of the
hinterland. In time of peace a very strong army would be needed; Italy
would, in fact, have to double her army for the defence of a frontier
700 kilometres long. And in the event of war it would be necessary
either to abandon Dalmatia or to form two armies of operation, one on
the frontiers of Julian Venetia, the other in Dalmatia, and without any
liaison between them. Fro