onstituent Assembly. On February
16 the Anai (Assoziazione Nazionale fra gli Arditi d'Italia) sent out a
very urgent message from their headquarters in the Via Macchiavelli in
Triest. They informed the subsections that not only was Zanella
preparing to deliver Rieka to the Croats, but that the army of the
"globe-trotter" Wrangel was waiting in Su[vs]ak to seize the wretched
town. Therefore Gabriele d'Annunzio had commanded that every loyal
servant of the cause was to be mobilized. And after a few rhetorical
sentences it continued, "I will give the marching orders by telegram as
follows: 'Send the documents. Farina.' If only a small number of people
are needed I will telegraph, 'Send ... Quintal. Farina.'" The men were
to assemble at the Italian Labour Bureau, 9 Via Pozza Bianca in Triest.
They were to be clad in mufti, to be armed so far as it was possible and
to have with them three days' provender.... The subsections are asked to
telegraph the approximate number of those on whom they can rely. And
this memorandum should be acknowledged. It is signed, "With brotherly
greetings. Farina Salvatore." About ten days later--between February 26
and 28--there was a meeting at the Hotel Imperial in Vienna, under the
presidency of Vilim Stipeti['c], formerly a major of the Austrian
General Staff. Some dissident Croats--among them Dr. Emanuel Gagliardi,
Captains Cankl and Petri[vc]evi['c], Gjuro Kli[vs]uri['c], Josip Boldin
and Major-General I[vs]tvanovi['c]--two dissident Montenegrins, Jovo
Plamenac and Marko Petrovi['c], together with two Italian officers,
adherents of d'Annunzio, Colonel Finzi of Triest and Major Ventura of
Rome, ... assembled for the purpose of stirring up trouble for the
Yugoslavs in the spring. They referred with pleasure to the presence of
sundry Bulgarian komitadjis in Albania, Finzi declared that the Italian
Government would satisfy the Croats and give them Rieka as soon as
Croatia had achieved her independence and a less visionary promise was
made of disturbances in Rieka. On March 1 the two Italian officers left
for Triest and on March 3 Rieka was confronted with another _coup
d'etat_. The fascisti of Triest and of Gulia Venetia descended on the
town in two special trains of the Italian State Railway. They had not
the slightest confidence in Zanella, who was an honest man, working on
the basis of the Treaty of Rapallo, whereby Italy and Yugoslavia
recognized the Free State of Rieka. In their eyes it was