leman--and was apparently
believed--that with the consent and approval of the C.N.I. he had had
the whole place mined, city and harbour, and was prepared to blow it up
at a moment's notice. The means by which d'Annunzio, according to his
interviewer, worked on those who were depressed with gazing at the empty
shops, the silent warehouses, the grass-grown wharves, so that the
overwhelming majority of the town supported him, was by simply making to
them an eloquent speech. D'Annunzio would indeed be the master of his
job if with some rounded periods in Italian he could cause the very
numerous hostile business men to forget so blissfully that they were
men of business. Under his dispensation the town is said to have been
turned into a place of debauchery. Accusations were brought against his
sexual code, and with regard to men of commerce: "those who are not
partisans of d'Annunzio are expelled, and their establishments handed
over to friends of the ruling power.... Woe to him who dares to condemn
the transactions of the poet's adherents. There and then he is
pronounced to be a Yugoslav, is placed under surveillance and is
persecuted." These Italian critics of the poet do not in the least
exaggerate. One instance of his conduct towards a British firm will be
sufficient. The "Anglo-Near East Trading Company" shipped sixty-seven
cases (5292 pairs) of boots to private traders in Belgrade, and on the
way they reached Rieka just before d'Annunzio. In March 1920 they were
still detained there, and on the 13th of that month a certain Alcesde di
Ambris, who described himself as the Chief of the Cabinet, wrote a
letter saying that the boots were requisitioned, and that they would be
paid for within thirty days at a price fixed on March 5 by experts of
the local Chamber of Commerce. The company was offered forty lire a
pair, but they declined to accept so inadequate a sum. Senor Meynia, the
Spanish Consul, who was also representing Great Britain, attempted in
various ways to help the firm; he was finally told by an officer that
the "exceptional situation of Rieka compels the Authority to suspend the
exportation or transport of such goods as are thoroughly needed here."
And the Consul could do no more than protest. One might presume, from
this officer's reply, that d'Annunzio required the boots for his army.
As a matter of fact, they were simply sold to a couple of dealers, one
Levy of Triest and Mailaender of Rieka. It is alleged that