to send private telegrams in Italian, let them hold
their peace. At any rate, said Vice-Admiral Cagni, we will not encourage
the Croatian language, and on November 16, 1918, he commanded the
Yugoslav schools to be shut at eleven places in the district and also
two schools in the town. The Austrians had allowed these schools to
remain open during the War; but of course if you wish to prevent people
from learning a language this is one of the first steps you would take.
Thirteen Yugoslav schoolmasters at Pola were thus deprived of their
means of livelihood. The Admiral said that he really did not want to let
matters remain in this condition, but all these schools had been at the
expense of the State; let the Yugoslavs support their own schools. They
were, as a matter of fact, entitled by reason of their numbers to have
State-supported schools. Yet that was, of course, in the time of
Austria; and why should Italy be bound by Austrian laws? Italy would do
what she saw fit. In various places the teachers were, in the presence
of Italian officers, compelled to use Italian for the instruction of
purely Yugoslav children. Slav schoolmistresses were, in several cases,
taken out of bed in the middle of the night and conducted on board
Italian ships. The clergy were ordered to preach in Italian in churches,
such as that of Veprinac, where the congregation is almost entirely
Slav[13]--and so on, and so on. Well, there are several ways of
governing a mixed population, and this is one of them.... "Zadar and
Rieka," said Pribi[vc]evi['c] in November to an Italian interviewer at
Zagreb--"Zadar and Rieka will enjoy all liberty of culture and municipal
autonomy. And we are convinced that an equal treatment will be accorded
to the Slav minorities who will be included in your territory. We
understand and perfectly recognize your right to Triest and to Pola, and
we would that in Italy our right to Rieka and Dalmatia were recognized
with the same justice."[14]

THE FAMOUS TOWN OF RIEKA

Rieka is a place concerning which a good deal has been written, but I
doubt if there have been two words more striking than the phrase which
the Consiglio Nazionale Italiano applies in a pamphlet to the last
Hungarian Governor. This official, appreciating that his presence in the
town would serve no useful end, dissolved the State police on October
28, 1918, and departed. "Hote insalue, il disparut...." says the
pamphlet. After all the years of kindness, a