t it
was high time to do something. Koch had always been one of the most
patriotically Slovene officers of the Austrian navy. On various
occasions during the War he had attempted to hand over his ships to the
Italians, and when some other Austrian commander signalled to ask him
why he was cruising so near to the Italian coast he invariably answered,
"I have my orders." He found it, however, impossible to give himself up,
as the Italians whom he sighted, no matter how numerous they were, would
never allow him to come within signalling range. Koch had frequently
spoken to his Slovene sailors, preparing them for the day of liberation,
and he was naturally very popular among them. Let us not forget that
such an officer, true to his own people, was in constant peril of being
shot.

WHAT WAS HAPPENING AT POLA

On the afternoon of that same day, October 26th, when the
Austro-Hungarian Empire, with its army and navy, was collapsing, Admiral
Horthy, an energetic, honest, if not brilliant Magyar, the Commander of
the Fleet at Pola, called to his flag-ship, the _Viribus Unitis_, one
officer representing each nationality of the Empire. Koch was there on
behalf of the Slovenes. The Admiral announced that a wholesale mutiny
had been planned for November 1st, during which the ships' treasuries
would be robbed, and he asked these officers to collaborate with him in
preventing it. Koch, at the Admiral's request, wrote out a speech that
he would deliver to the Slovenes, and this document, with one or two
notes in the Admiral's writing, is in Koch's possession. "If you will
not listen to your Admirals, then," so ran the speech, "you should
listen to our national leaders." He addressed himself to the men, of
course in the Slovene language, as a fellow-countryman. He begged them
to keep quiet. He deprecated all plundering, firstly in order that their
good name should not be sullied, and also pointing out that the
neighbouring population was overwhelmingly Slovene. Out of 45,000 men
only 2000 could leave by rail; he therefore asked them all to stay
peacefully at Pola. Meanwhile the local committee had been formed; Koch
was, secretly, a member of it, and on the 28th, Rear-Admiral Cicoli, a
kindly old gentleman who was port-commandant, advised Koch to join it as
liaison-officer. It was on the 28th at eight in the morning that the
officers who had been selected to calm the different nationalities
started to go round the fleet. That officer