tenacity and of splendid Italian spirit and of suffering which the
town had lived through." Most of the electors remembered the suffering.
The fascisti seized a number of urns and made a bonfire of them; there
was presented the spectacle of Signor Gigante, d'Annunzio's obedient
mayor, bursting with armed companions into that room of the Palace of
Justice where the votes were being scrutinized. "I yield to violence,"
said the presiding official; and twenty minutes afterwards the contents
of the urns were burning merrily. But these measures did not help the
cause of the fascisti, no more than did their screams that they had been
betrayed. And if Zanella had to fly from Rieka because, as the
Nationalist paper put it, he could not stand up against the vehement
indignation of so many of the citizens, yet he and his party have
triumphed. "Fiume or Death," used to be the device dear to d'Annunzio.
He placarded the long-suffering walls with it, and it was on the lapels
of the coats of his adherents. "Fiume must belong to Italy or be blown
up," cried the poet. But, strange to say, a majority of the inhabitants
prefer that their town should continue to exist, and this it can only do
if, in accordance with the Treaty of Rapallo, it becomes a neutral State
on friendly terms with both its neighbours, Italy and Yugoslavia. The
Italian Government desires, of course, to execute its Treaty
obligations,[66] and if it finds too painful the task of moderating the
ardours of its own super-patriots, it will no doubt be glad to have this
done by an International force. That method, which was only prevented by
d'Annunzio's arrival in 1919, offers the speediest and most efficacious
solution of Rieka's troubles.

THE STRICKEN TOWN

If anyone imagined that they would be ended with the installation of
Zanella he was wrong. At the municipal elections 90 per cent. voted for
the Autonomist party, the Yugoslavs having had the good sense to join
them. But the Italian Nationalists were not going to yield to
moderation, and immediately after the elections Zanella was obliged to
flee for his life, so that he was not installed in office until October
5. He struggled manfully to clear away the chaos and to make such
economic arrangements as would eventually convert Rieka into a
prosperous port. This the fascisti of Triest and Venice could by no
means tolerate, and on January 31 an unsuccessful attempt was made by
them on his life as he was leaving the C