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THE    SOUTHERN     SLAV    QUESTION 


BY  THE  SAME  AUTHOR 

RACIAL    PROBLEMS     IN   HUNGARY.     By  Scotus  Viator. 

1908.  1 6s.  net.     With  42  illustrations. 
(Bohemian   translation    1910-11    Piia,    Briinn.) 
(German  translation  in  preparation.) 

CORRUPTION  AND  REFORM  IN  HUNGARY  :  a  Study  of 

Electoral  Practice,     191 1.     4s.  6d.  net. 
(German  translation,   to  appear  shortly.) 
(Croatian  translation,  Spalato,  Dalmatia.) 
(Roumanian  translation  in  the  newspaper  Romanul  in  Arad.) 

THE  FUTURE  OF  AUSTRIA-HUNGARY,  AND  THE  ATTI- 
TUDE OF  THE  GREAT  POWERS.  By  Scotus  Viator. 
1907.     2s.  net. 

(German  translation  1907.     Deuticke,  Vienna.) 

POLITICAL  PERSECUTION  IN  HUNGARY.    1908.     is.  net. 
(German  and  French  translations   1908,    Vienna  and  Paris.) 

BRITISCHE  POLITIK  UND  BALKANKRISE.  Von  Scotus 
Viator.     1909.     C.  W.  Stern,  Vienna.     8oh. 

ABSOLUTISMUS     IN     KROATIEN.       Von     Scotus     Viator. 

1909.  C.  W.  Stern,     i  kr. 

MAXIMILIAN  I,  Holy  Roman  Emperor.     1902.     4s.  6d.  net. 

THE  TOMBS  OF  THE  POPES  :  from  the  German  of  Ferdi- 
nand Gregorovius.  With  Memoir  of  the  Author.  1903- 
3s.  6d.  net. 


THE 

SOUTHERN     SLAV 
QUESTION 

AND  THE 
HABSBURG    MONARCHY 


By 

R.    W.    SETON -WATSON 

D.Litt    (Oxon.) 


LONDON 

CONSTABLE    &    CO.     LTD. 

1911 


Butler  &  Tanner 

The  Selwood  Printing  Works 

Frome  and  London 


THAT  AUSTRIAN  STATESMAN 

WHO  SHALL  POSSESS  THE  GENIUS  AND  THE  COURAGE 

NECESSARY   TO    SOLVE 

THE    SOUTHERN    SLAV    QUESTION, 

THIS  BOOK  IS  RESPECTFULLY 

DEDICATED. 


DocH  ach !     Was  hilft  dem  Menschengeist  Verstand, 

Dem  Herzen  Gute,  Willigkeit  der  Hand, 

Wenn's  fieberhaft  durchaus  im  Staate  wiitet, 

Und  Ubel  sich  in  tJbeln  uberbriitet  ? 

Wer  schaut  hinab  von  diesem  hohen  Raum 

Ins  weite  Reich,  ihm  scheint's  ein  schwerer  Traum 

Wo  Missgestalt  in  Missgestalten  schaltet. 

Das  Ungesetz  gesetzlich  iibenvaltet, 

Und  eine  Welt  des  Irrtums  sich  entfaltet.     .     .     . 

Und  "  Schuldig  !  "  horst  du  ausgesprochen. 

Wo  Unschuld  nur  sich  selber  schiitzt. 

So  will  sich  alle  Welt  zerstuckeln, 

Vernichtigen,  was  sich  gebiihrt ; 

Wie  soil  sich  da  der  Sinn  entwickeln 

Der  einzig  uns  zum  Rechten  fiihrt  ?    .     .     . 

Ich  malte  schwarz — doch  dichtern  Flor 
Zog  ich  dem  Bilde  lieber  vor. 

Goethe,  Faust,  II. 


VI 


Preface 

No  country  in  Europe  presents  such  a  variety  of  compli- 
cated problems  for  solution  as  the  Austro-Hungarian 
Monarchy  ;  and  among  these,  none  is  more  important  and 
more  pressing  than  the  Southern  Slav  Question.  In  it  are 
involved  the  future  fortunes  of  the  whole  Croat  and  Serb  race, 
and  through  them  the  fate  of  the  Western  half  of  the  Balkan 
Peninsula — from  the  Gulf  of  Trieste  to  the  Bulgarian  frontier, 
from  the  plains  of  Southern  Hungary  to  the  mountains  of 
Albania.  On  it  depends  the  balance  of  power  on  the  Adriatic, 
with  all  its  bearings  upon  the  international  situation.  Above 
all,  the  Southern  Slav  Question  may  at  any  moment  exercise  a 
decisive  influence  upon  the  foreign  policy  of  Vienna,  and  upon 
the  internal  development  of  the  Dual  Monarchy.  For  on  the 
one  hand  Austria  cannot  hope  to  extend  her  influence  in  the 
Balkans,  unless  she  enlists  in  her  cause  the  sympathies  and 
support  of  her  eight  millions  of  Southern  Slav  subjects  ;  while 
on  the  other  hand,  the  Croato-Serb  race,  by  reason  of  its  geo- 
graphical and  strategic  position,  has  it  in  its  power  by  a  strict 
alliance  with  Austria  against  Hungary,  to  destroy  completely 
in  favour  of  the  former  the  balance  upon  which  the  Dual 
System  is  based,  and  so  to  play  havoc  with  the  entire  mechanism 
and  pave  the  way  for  that  compromise  between  federalism 
and  centralism  through  which  alone  the  acute  racial  problems 
of  the  Dual  Monarchy  can  be  solved. 

The  present  volume  attempts  to  trace  the  growth  of  national 
feeling  among  the  Croats  and  Serbs  of  the  Dual  Monarchy,  and 
to  describe  in  fuller  detail  the  more  recent  movement  in  favour 
of  Croato-Serb  Unity.  The  fact  that  the  English  language 
contains  no  book  devoted  to  the  history  of  this  movement, 
must  be  my  excuse  for  occasional  prolixity  ;  not  merely  the 
main  building,  but  even  the  substructure  had  to  be  created. 

The  second  portion  of  the  book  deals  with  the  Annexation 
of  Bosnia,  with  the  international  crisis  to  which  that  event 
gave  rise,  and  with  the  subsequent  exposure  of  the  methods 
which  underlay  Count  Aehrenthal's  whole  policy,  and  under 

vii 


PREFACE 

which  the  Southern  Slavs  were  the  chief  sufferers.  The  his- 
tory of  the  Fried] ung  Trial  and  of  the  Vasid  forgeries  sheds 
such  a  flood  of  light  upon  the  political  situation  alike  among 
the  Southern  Slavs  and  in  the  Dual  Monarchy  as  a  whole, 
that  I  make  no  apology  for  treating  it  in  detail — the  more  so, 
since  detailed  treatment  was  essential  to  a  fair  statement  of  the 
rival  views. 

It  was  inevitable  that  any  book  dealing  with  this  subject 
should  contain  an  open,  and  often  severe,  criticism  of  Count 
Aehrenthal's  diplomatic  methods.  The  interests  of  interna- 
tional decency  demand  that  theft,  forgery  and  espionage 
should  cease  to  be  the  main  pillars  of  foreign  policy  in  any  state 
which  deserves  the  title  of  a  Great  Power.  There  are  occa- 
sions when  the  surgeon's  knife  is  more  necessary  than  the 
nurse's  bandage  ;  and  in  the  same  way  I  should  be  neglecting 
the  elementary  canons  of  honest  criticism,  were  I  to  slur  over 
the  facts  of  this  monstrous  diplomatic  scandal.  It  is  Austria 
who  has  been  the  chief  sufferer,  alike  in  prestige  and  materially, 
and  thus  their  exposure,  so  far  from  being  inspired  by  hostility 
to  Austria,  is  a  pre-eminently  Austrian  interest.  Acting  in 
this  belief,  I  have  repeatedly  emphasized  the  contrast  between 
Austria's  true  political  mission  in  the  Balkans,  and  the  foul 
intrigues  which  have  brought  her  into  unmerited  disrepute. 
There  are  certain  things  in  the  Austria  of  to-day,  of  which  it 
is  impossible  to  approve  ;  but  to  the  impartial  observer  new 
life  and  the  desire  for  progress  are  everywhere  apparent,  and 
not  merely  this,  but  a  steady  growth  in  the  conception  of 
political  and  constitutional  liberty  and  an  increasing  distaste 
for  the  old  methods  which  still  linger  on  in  certain  departments 
of  public  life.  Hence  any  book  which  aims  at  the  elucidation 
of  the  truth  in  this  direction,  may  fairly  claim  to  be  credited 
with  friendly  intentions. 

The  official  press  of  Vienna  has  a  characteristic  habit  of 
treating  any  criticism  of  Austro-Hungarian  diplomatic  methods 
towards  Servia  as  an  apology  for  the  latter  state,  and  indeed  of 
treating  any  criticism  of  the  Foreign  Minister  as  a  proof  of 
hostility  towards  the  Dual  Monarchy.  The  very  contrary  is 
the  case  ;  if  I  were  hostile,  I  should  leave  the  canker  untouched, 
instead  of  trying  to  expose  it  to  view.  In  any  case,  no  one 
who  reads  my  book  will  be  able  to  charge  me  with  condoning 
the  corruption  and  abuses  which  disfigure  political  life  in  Servia 
and  make  it  impossible  to  sympathize  with  Pan-Serb  aspira- 
tions.   Their  triumph  would  indeed  be  a  disaster  to  European 


PREFACE 

culture,  which  it  is  the  mission  of  the  Dual  Monarchy,  with  its 
many  races,  to  represent  in  South-East  Europe. 

Incidentally  I  would  recommend  a  close  study  of  the  Aehren- 
thal  policy  to  all  believers  in  Disarmament ;  for  it  is  not  too 
much  to  assert  that  that  must  remain  a  mere  dream  so  long  as 
international  policy  is  conducted  on  such  lines. 

To  the  student  of  British  politics  the  Croatian  problem  should 
be  of  special  interest  at  the  present  time  ;  for  Croatia  supplies 
the  sole  genuine  analogy  upon  the  Continent  of  Europe  to  the 
position  which  Ireland  would  occupy  under  a  system  of  Home 
Rule.  A  careful  study  of  the  relations  of  Hungary  and  Croatia 
would  be  of  the  utmost  value  alike  to  the  convinced  Unionist 
and  to  the  thoughtful  advocate  of  devolution.  Federalism  or 
any  other  scheme  of  constitutional  readjustment  among  the 
four  sister  nations  of  these  islands.  Those  who  are  reluctant 
to  learn  from  the  past  history  of  Ireland  itself,  may  learn  from 
the  history  of  Hungary  and  Croatia,  how  Ireland  should  not 
be  treated,  and  how  ineffectual  are  repression  and  lack  of 
sympathy  in  the  solution  of  any  national  or  racial  question. 

For  a  long  time  past  I  have  regretfully  foreseen  that  I  should 
be  driven  to  criticize  Dr.  Friedjung,  for  whose  historical  writ- 
ings I  have  the  utmost  admiration  and  whose  personal  kindness 
I  greatly  valued  during  my  visits  to  Vienna.  Fate  assigned 
him  a  prominent  part  in  the  political  development  of  Croatia, 
and  it  was  therefore  inevitable  that  he  should  figure  prominently 
in  these  pages.  I  can  only  assure  him  that  I  have  done  my 
utmost  to  do  justice  to  his  motives,  and  that  while  I  have  not 
hesitated  to  criticize  his  attitude  where  criticism  seemed  neces- 
sary, nothing  has  shaken  my  high  estimate  of  his  character 
as  a  man  and  a  historian. 

I  have  resolved  to  ignore  the  personalities  in  which  my 
"  critics  "  in  Hungary  have  indulged  since  the  publication  of 
my  last  two  books.  Racial  Problems  in  Hungary  and  Corruption 
and  Reform  in  Hungary.  But  I  am  obliged  to  make  one  brief 
exception  in  favour  of  a  former  countryman  of  my  own. 
Professor  Arthur  Yolland,  of  Budapest  University,  has  seen  fit 
to  publish  an  article  in  the  April  number  of  Magyar  Figyelo 
(a  Hungarian  review  published  under  the  imprimatur  of  the 
ex-Premier  Count  Stephen  Tisza),  containing  long  winded 
insinuations  to  the  effect  that  I  was  paid  for  my  book  Racial 
Problems  in  Hungary  by  some  person  or  persons  unknown. 
If  this  lie  is  not  based  upon  sheer  ignorance  (and  Professor 
Yolland  has  had  ample  opportunity  of  informing  himself  through 


PREFACE 

mutual  acquaintances)  it  can  only  be  a  deliberate  slander  ; 
and  I  hereby  challenge  him  either  to  withdraw  his  insinuation 
or  to  justify  his  attitude  in  an  English  court  of  law. 

Finally,  I  must  express  my  deep  obligation  to  Mr.  Gladstone's 
Trustees,  who  have  kindly  permitted  me  to  publish  as  an  Appen- 
dix to  this  volume  the  interesting  series  of  letters  addressed  to 
Mr.  Gladstone  by  the  Croatian  patriot  Bishop  Strossmayer  ; 
and  also  to  Mr.  A.  Tilney  Bassett,  for  his  courteous  and  ready 
assistance  in  this  connexion.  I  have  also  been  fortunate 
enough  to  obtain,  through  friends  in  Croatia,  copies  of  the 
replies  written  by  Mr.  Gladstone  ;  and  these  have  been  included 
in  the  correspondence  in  their  proper  chronological  order. 

In  preparing  the  map,  I  have  been  materially  assisted  by 
my  friend  Dr.  Joseph  Smodlaka,  who  represents  Spalato 
(Dalmatia)  in  the  Austrian  Parliament.  It  may,  however,  be 
well  to  point  out  that  neither  he  nor  any  other  Croat  politician 
is  in  any  way  responsible  for  the  opinions  expressed  in  my 
book. 

R.  W.  Seton-Watson. 
Ayton  House,  Abernethy, 
July  20,  1911. 


Contents 


PAGE 

Preface vii 

Geographical  and  Statistical  Note    .....        i 

CHAPTER    I 
Croatia  from  the  Earliest  Times  till  1849        ...       15 

CHAPTER    II 
The  Serbs  of  Hungary  and  Croatia  .         .         .         .         -36 

CHAPTER    III 
The  Era  of  Experiment  (1849-1868)    .....       52 

CHAPTER    IV 
The  Compromise  between  Hungary  and  Croatia  (1868)      .       65 

CHAPTER    V 
Croatia  under  the  Dual  System  (1868-1905)      ...       85 

CHAPTER    VI 

Bishop   Strossmayer    and   the    Renaissance    of   Croatian 

Culture         .         .         .         .         .          .         .         .         .118 

CHAPTER    VII 
An  Outline  of  Croat  and  Serb  Literature       .         .         .     129 

CHAPTER    VIII 
The  Resolution  of  Fiume  and  its  Consequences  (1905-1908)   .     142 

CHAPTER    IX 
The  Annexation  of  Bosnia  and  the  Agram  High  Treason 

Trial — Absolutism  in  Croatia 174 

CHAPTER    X 
The  Friedjung  Trial  ........     209 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER    XI 
The  Supilo-Chlumecky  Incident 


PAGE 

.    288 


CHAPTER    XII 
The  Vasi(5  Forgeries  and  Count  Aehrenthal — a  Criticism 
AND  AN  Inquiry    ........ 


303 


CHAPTER    XIII 

Magyar  Railway  Policy 


329 


CHAPTER    XIV 
Croat  and  Serb — The  Problem  of  Unity 


335 


Appendices — 


(I 

(2 
(3 
(4 
(5 

(6 
(7 
(8 
(9 
(10 

(II 
(12 

(13 
(14 

(15 
(16 

(17 


The  Election  of  Ferdinand  I  as  King  of  Croatia  (1527) 
The  Croatian  Pragmatic  Sanction  (17 12) 
The  Address  of  the  Croatian  Diet,  June  5,  1848 
Article  XLII  (1861)  of  the  Croatian  Diet 
Instructions  to  the  Croatian    Delegates  during  the 

Negotiations  with  Hungary  {1867) 
The  Hungaro-Croatian  Compromise  (1868) 
The  Croatian  Government  (Act  II,  1869) 
The  Croatian  Diet   (Act  II,  1870). 
The  Croatian  Budget  .... 

Croatia's  Economic  Position 
The  Programme  of  the  Party  of  Pure  Right  (1893) 
The  Resolution  of  Fiume  (1905) 
The  Resolution  of  Zara  (1905)     . 
The  Forged  Report  of  Dr.  Spalajkovic     . 
The  Forged  Despatch  of  Dr.  Milovanovi^    . 
The  Condition  of  Dalmatia  (1910) 
The  Correspondence  of  Bishop  Strossmayer  and  Mr 

Gladstone        ...... 


Bibliography 
Map 
Index  . 


347 
349 
350 
357 

359 
361 

379 
383 
387 
388 
392 
393 
395 

397 
401 

406 

416 
445 


To  face     454 
•  455 


zu 


GEOGRAPHICAL  AND  STATISTICAL  NOTE 


THE  name  of  "  Southern  Slav  "  is  in  its  widest  sense  a  geographical 
term.  The  Slavonic  races  fall  naturally  into  two  groups — the 
northernmost,  comprising  the  Russians,  Ruthenes,  Poles,  Czechs, 
Slovaks  ;  the  southernmost,  the  Slovenes,  Croats,  Serbs  and  Bulgars. 
The  two  groups  are  completely  cut  off  from  each  other  by  three  non- 
Slav  races — the  Germans,  the  Magyars  and  Roumanians,  who  occupy 
a  continous  territory  from  the  Baltic  to  the  Black  Sea. 

Thus  from  a  purely  geographical  point  of  view,  it  is  correct  to  describe 
as  Southern  Slav  the  whole  tract  of  country  between  Gorz  Klagenfurt 
and  CUli  on  the  north-west,  and  Varna,  Drama  and  Salonica  on  the 
south-east,  between  Neusatz  and  Temesvar  on  the  north  and  Dulcigno, 
Ipek  and  Monastir  on  the  south.  The  Southern  Slav  population  of  this 
territory  may  be  estimated  in  round  figures  as  follows  : — 


I.  Slovenes 

1,400,000 

1,400,000 

II.  Serbo-Croats — 

\ 

A.  Croats  in  Dalmatia 

500,000 

in  Istria 

200,000 

in  Croatia-Slavonia 

1.750,000 

in  Bosnia-Herzego- 

vina .... 

400,000 

in  Hungary 

300,000 

3,550,000 

B.  Serbs    in  Dalmatia 

100,000 

in  Croatia-Slav. 

650,000 

'     9,600,000 

in  Bosnia-Herz. 

850,000 

in  Hungary 

500,000 

in  Montenegro. 

300,000 

in  Servia     . 

2,600,000 

in  Turkey   . 

300,000 

5,300,000 

C.  Mohammedan  Serbo-Croats 

in  Bosnia    . 

650,000 

in  Turkey    . 

100,000 

750,000 

[II    Bulgars  in  Bulgaria    .... 

3,000,000 

in  Turkey       .... 

1,600,000 

A    f\r\r\  r^riCi      -^   f\r\r\  r\r\r\ 

^.  y\J\J\J  y\J\J\J 

t"""^'^"" 

Total      .      .      15,600,000 

In  view  of  the  impossibility  of  obtaining  really  accurate  statistics  for 
S.S.Q.  I  B 


GEOGRAPHICAL  AND   STATISTICAL  NOTE 

the  whole  of  this  territory,  we  must  be  content  with  the  approximate 
total  of  15,600,000. 

The  political  problem  to  which  the  present  volume  is  devoted,  and 
which  has  come  to  be  widely  known  as  "  the  Southern  Slav  question," 
deals  with  a  more  limited  field. 

This  question  in  its  present-day  bearings,  may  be  defined  as  the 
problem  of  Serbo-Croatian  unity.  Its  centre  of  gravity  lay,  even  before 
the  annexation  of  Bosnia,  within  the  bounds  of  the  Habsburg  Monarchy  ; 
and  it  is  in  Croatia  and  Bosnia  that  it  must  reach  its  solution.  With 
this  Bulgaria  has  nothing  directly  to  do  ^  and  may  therefore  be  eliminated 
from  the  present  survey.  For  an  entirely  different  reason  the  Slovenes 
are  omitted.  They  have  no  distinct  history  of  their  own  :  their  voice 
cannot  be  decisive  in  any  solution  of  the  problem  ;  and  urgent  reasons 
of  strategy  and  geograplay  make  it  impossible  for  them  to  be  included 
in  any  unified  Southern  Slav  state  of  the  immediate  future. 

The  history  of  the  two  independent  Serb  states,  Servia  and  Mon- 
tenegro, requires  a  special  volume  to  itself.  It  has  hitherto  been  the 
fashion  abroad  to  regard  them  as  co-extensive  with  the  Southern  Slav 
question,  or  at  any  rate  as  the  decisive  factors  in  it,  and  to  omit  from 
the  calculation  those  Southern  Slav  countries  which  own  allegiance  to 
the  House  of  Habsburg.  In  the  present  volume  the  process  is  reversed. 
Its  whole  contention,  based  upon  a  reading  of  past  history,  is  that  Servia 
and  Montenegro  can  only  watch,  and  are  helpless  to  hinder,  the  process 
of  evolution  which  is  gradually  making  for  Serbo-Croat  Unity  under 
Habsburg  sway.  Their  gallant  struggles  for  independence  in  the  past 
may  kindle  regret  in  the  heart  of  the  sentimental  onlooker ;  but  it 
cannot  obscure  the  inexorable  lesson  of  history. 

The  Croats  and  Serbs  are  by  origin  two  kindred  Slavonic  tribes  who 
followed  the  Avars  to  the  territory  which  they  now  occupy,  in  the 
course  of  the  sixth  and  seventh  centuries.^  Living  on  the  frontier 
between  east  and  west,  they  have  for  centuries  been  exposed  to  the 
rival  influence  of  Rome  and  Byzantium  and  the  eternal  strife  of  these 
two  opposing  systems  of  thought  and  culture  has  given  to  the  Croato- 
Serb  race  its  dual  nature,  and  is  at  once  its  strength  and  its  weakness — 
its  weakness  in  long  centuries  of  seemingly  futile  strife  and  disunion, 
its  strength  in  a  still  distant  future  which  shall  have  attained  the 
higher  and  more  complex  "  Unitas  in  Diversitate."  Linguistic  unity 
has  already  been  achieved  ;  for  the  Croat  language  is  Serb  written  with 
Latin,  the  Serb  language,  Croat  written  with  Cyrillic  characters  :  other 
difference  there  is  none.  The  true  line  of  cleavage  is  religious,  every 
Croat  being  a  Roman  Catholic,  every  Serb  a  member  of  the  Orthodox 
Church.     To  this  there  are  virtually  no  exceptions. 

The  Croato-Serb  race  is  at  present  cut  up  into  eight  distinct  political 
entities.  Istria  and  Dalmatia  are  provinces  of  Austria,  each  possessing 
its  own  Diet  and  local  institutions.  Croatia-Slavonia  is  an  autonomous 
kingdom  ^  under  the  Crown  of  St.  Stephen,  but  in  all  matters  of  inter- 
national policy  must  be  reckoned  as  an  integral  portion  of  the  kingdom 

^  Though  indirectly  its  solution  and  the  consequent  increase  in  Austrian  prestige 
and  power  in  the  Balkans  would  of  course  vitally  affect  its  foreign  policy. 

*  Philologists  have  derived  the  name  "  Hrvat  "  (Croat)  and  "  Srb  "  (Serb)  from 
the  same  root.  They  base  their  argument  on  the  grammatical  rule  which  con- 
verts "h"  into  "s"  and  the  kinship  between  "v"  and  "b." 

3  Nominally  two  kingdoms. 

3 


'  CROATIA-SLAVONIA 

of  Hungary.  The  former  Serb  Voivody  forms  part  of  the  South 
Hungarian  counties  of  Bacs-Bodrog,  Torontal  and  Temes  ;  while  the 
city  of  Fiume  enjoys  a  special  autonomous  position,  under  a  Governor 
appointed  from  Budapest.  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina  are  administered 
in  the  name  of  Austria  and  Hungary  by  the  Joint  Minister  of  Finance, 
their  exact  constitutional  position  being  still  undefined  owing  to  the 
rival  claims  of  the  Dual  States.  Servia  and  Montenegro  form  indepen- 
dent Serb  states,  under  native  dynasties  ;  while  Old  Servia  as  the 
northernmost  vilayet  of  Macedonia,  still  acknowledges  the  Sultan's 
sway.  A  brief  survey  of  the  geographical  and  economic  conditions  of 
these  countries  will  show  how  untenable  the  present  situation  is. 

A.     CROATiA-SLAvoNrA  (16,423  Square  miles). 

The  secret  of  Croatia-Slavonia's  geographical  importance  lies  in  the 
fact  that  it  blocks  Hungary's  only  access  to  the  sea.  The  river  Drave, 
from  the  point  where  it  leaves  Austrian  territory,  to  the  point  where  it 
flows  into  the  Danube  forms  the  northern  boundary  between  Hungary 
and  Croatia,  which  is  continued  by  the  Danube  as  far  as  Semlin,  opposite 
Belgrad.  At  Semlin  the  southern  frontier  of  Slavonia,  towards  Bosnia, 
is  formed  by  the  Save,  which  joins  the  Danube  at  Belgrad.  Further 
west,  the  frontier  at  first  follows  the  River  Una  (a  tributary  of  the  Save) 
and  then  takes  an  irregular  course,  first  south,  then  north-west,  across 
the  Dinaric  Alps  to  the  Adriatic.  The  Croatian  coastline  extends  from 
Fiume  (outside  which  town  Istria  and  Croatia  meet),  for  some  ninety 
miles  in  a  south-easterly  direction  ;  but  the  large  islands  of  Veglia, 
Arbe  and  Pago,  which  adjoin  it,  belong  to  the  Austrian  provinces  of 
Istria  and  Dalmatia. 

Croatia-Slavonia  thus  falls  naturally  into  two  main  divisions  :  (i) 
the  broad  and  fertile  plains  which  lie  between  the  Drave  and  Save, 
interspersed  by  low  hills  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Pakrac  and  Pozega, 
and  (2)  the  lofty  and  barren  mountain  region  which  cuts  ofE  these  plains 
from  the  Adriatic,  and  whose  two  main  ranges  are  the  Kapela  and 
further  south  the  Velebit  Mountains. 

Zagreb  (Agram),  the  capital,  lies  above  the  River  Save,  on  the  last 
low  spurs  of  what  are  really  the  Styrian  Alps  ;  for  Zagreb  is  only 
sixteen  mUes  from  the  Austrian  frontier.  Zagreb  is  a  flourishing  town 
of  over  80,000  inhabitants  (61,002  in  1900),  with  a  fine  cathedral  and 
many  handsome  public  buildings  (the  National  Theatre,  the  Southern 
Slav  Academy,  the  University,  the  Art  Galleries,  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce, etc.).  Osijek  (Essek)  the  capital  of  Slavonia,  has  25,000  inhabit- 
ants ;  all  the  other  towns  are  small,  82  per  cent,  of  the  population  being 
engaged  in  agricultural  pursuits.*  For  administrative  purposes  Croatia 
is  divided  into  five  counties  (Zagreb,  Modrus-Fiume,  Lika-Krbava, 
Varazdin,  and  Bjelovar),  Slavonia  into  three  counties  (Virovitica 
(Verocze),  Pozega  and  Syrmia  (Srijem,  Szerem).  Zagreb  is  the  seat 
of  an  Archbishop  ;  the  two  remaining  dioceses  are  Zengg  (Senj)  and 
Djakovo,  in  the  latter  of  which  Bosnia  was  included  until  the  erection 
of  an  archiepiscopal  see  in  Sarajevo  (1882).  The  bishops  of  Zagreb  and 
Djakovo  dispose  over  enormous  revenues.  The  little  town  of  Karlovci 
(Karlowitz)  on  the  Danube  is  the  seat  of  the  Serb  Orthodox  Patriarch, 

*t According  to  census  of  1900.    See  Ung.  Stai  Jahrbuchlxii,  p.  21. 

3 


GEOGRAPHICAL  AND  STATISTICAL  NOTE 

who  is  metropolitan  of  all  the  Serbs  of  Transleithania,  and  has  under 
him  the  bishoprics  of  Pakrac  (Slavonia),  Karlovac  (Croatia),  Versecz, 
Temesvar,  Neusatz  and  Of  en  (Buda). 

Agriculture  is  the  main  occupation  of  the  people  ;  but  the  timber 
industry  is  also  of  importance,  there  being  3,734,000  acres  covered  by 
forest  in  the  year  1895.^     Factories  are  few  and  far  between. 

The  railways  of  Croatia  are  under  the  control  of  the  Hungarian  State, 
and  are  constructed  and  managed  in  the  interests  of  Budapest  and  in 
open  defiance  of  the  pressing  needs  of  Croatia.  The  sole  artery  of  any 
importance  is  that  which  runs  through  Zagreb,  Karlovac  (Karlstadt) 
and  Ogulin  to  Fiume.  To  this  everything  is  sacrificed.  Between  Fiume 
and  Agram  there  is  no  sideline  connecting  with  Austria.  On  the  line 
connecting  Agram  with  Steinbriick  on  the  Siidbahn,  there  are  no  ex- 
press trains  ;  while  through  Nagykanizsa  and  Steinamanger  (the  direct 
route  to  Vienna)  there  is  no  quick  service  during  the  daytime.  The 
direct  connexion  between  Agram  and  Graz  has  hitherto  been  prevented, 
despite  Croatia's  urgent  need  for  improved  access  to  the  markets  of  Styria. 
South  of  Ogulin  there  is  no  railway  at  all.  The  settled  policy  of  the 
Magyar  Government  has  hitherto  prevented  the  establishment  of  a 
railway  connexion  between  Croatia  and  Dalmatia,  between  Croatia 
and  Western  Bosnia,  between  Bosnia  and  Dalmatia.  The  connexion 
between  Zagreb  and  Belgrad  is  better,  but  everything  is  done  to  force 
all  commerce  and  traffic  between  Austria  and  Bosnia  to  go  by  Budapest 
to  Bosnisch-Brod  instead  of  by  the  much  shorter  and  more  natural  route 
through  Zagreb. 

The  total  population  of  Croatia-Slavonia  amounted  in  1900  to  2,400,766, 
an  increase  of  688,413  in  twenty  years.  Of  these,  1,482,353  were  Croats, 
607,381  Serbs — or  a  total  of  2,089,734  Serbo-Croats,  as  opposed  to 
311,032  of  other  races  (including  90,180  Magyars  and  134,000  Germans). 
By  religion,  1,710,425  were  Roman  Catholics,  612,604  Serb  Orthodox, 
43,628  Protestant  and  20,032  Jewish. 

B.     Southern  Hungary. 

According  to  the  census  of  1900  there  were  434,641  Serbs  in  Hungary 
proper.  The  mere  fact  that  this  involves  a  decrease  of  60,492  since 
1880  shows  that  these  statistics  must  be  treated  with  extreme  caution. 
The  Serbs  are  strongest  in  three  counties  :  Torontal  183,771  (or  31-2 
per  cent)  ;  Bacs-Bodrog  114,685  (or  19  per  cent.),  and  Temes  85,000 
(or  21-4  per  cent.).  Their  chief  centre  is  Neusatz  (Novi  Sad,  Ujvidek) 
on  the  Danube,  opposite  the  great  fortress  of  Peterwardein  ;  but  though 
the  home  of  the  Srpska  Matica  (Serb  literary  Academy),  a  Serb  gym- 
nasium and  two  Serb  newspapers,  this  town  has  lost  its  Serb  character, 
at  the  expense  of  the  Magyar  and  German  elements.  Other  South 
Hungarian  towns  where  there  is  a  considerable  Serb  element  are 
Zombor,  Temesvar,  Pancsova,  Versecz  and  Beckerek. 

The  Croats  in  Hungary  proper  amount  to  188,552,  or  only  i*i  of  the 
total  population.  Their  settlements  lie  for  the  most  part  along  the 
frontier  of  Croatia  and  Styria,  in  the  counties  of  Zala  (84,356)  and  Vas 
(17,847),  and  even  as  far  north  as  Oedenburg  (Sopron)  (30,342).  The 
former  county  includes  the  so-called  "  Medjumurje  " — the  district  lying 
between  the  Rivers  Drave  and  Mur  and  the  Styrian  frontier— -which  has 
5  Enc.  Brit.  p.  472. 

4 


DALMATIA 

been  a  continual  bone  of  contention  between  Hungary  and  Croatia. 
The  Magyar  Government,  while  steadily  erecting  fresh  Magyar  schools 
in  Croatia  and  Slavonia  through  the  medium  of  the  Julian  Society,  has 
on  the  other  hand,  succeeded  in  almost  entirely  rooting  out  the  Croat 
schools  of  Hungary.     At  present  only  four  are  left. 

C.     IsTRiA  (1,908  square  miles). 

Istria  is  after  Trieste,  Gorz  and  Vorarlberg,  the  smallest  of  the  seven- 
teen Austrian  provinces.  It  consists  of  a  pear-shaped  peninsula,  extend- 
ing from  the  suburbs  of  Trieste  to  the  suburbs  of  Fiume.  Its  northern 
boundary  adjoins  the  provinces  of  Trieste  (Kiistenland),  Gorz  and 
Carniola.  Pola,  the  capital,  a  strong  naval  base  and  dockyard,  with 
45,052  inhabitants,  lies  close  to  Cape  Promontore,  the  southernmost 
extremity  of  Istria.  It  possesses  a  local  Diet  of  thirty-three  members, 
sitting  at  Parenzo. 

Its  total  population  amounted  in  1900  to  335,965,  of  whom  38  per 
cent.  (136,191)  were  Italians,  15  per  cent.  (47,717)  Slovenes  and  45 
per  cent.  (143,057)  Croats.  All  are  Roman  Catholics.  The  western 
coastline  from  Trieste  to  Pola  is  almost  entirely  Italian  ;  the  uplands  of 
the  north-west  are  Slovene,  while  the  eastern  half  of  the  peninsula  and 
the  islands  of  Cherso  and  Veglia  are  Croat  almost  to  a  man.  There  is 
a  curious  little  enclave  of  Roumanians,  who  settled  in  Istria  during  the 
Middle  Ages  and  still  preserve  their  identity. 

D.     Dalmatia  (4,923  square  miles). 

The  kingdom  of  Dalmatia,  though  de  jure  ^?irt  of  the  Triune  kingdom  : 
of  Croatia-Slavonia-Dalmatia,  has  de  facto  been  in  the  possession  of 
Austria  since  the  expulsion  of  the  French  in  18 15.  Dalmatia  is  little 
more  than  a  strip  of  coastline,  flanked  by  innumerable  islands  ;  its 
greatest  breadth  is  forty  miles,  and  in  many  places  it  is  as  narrow  as 
one  to  ten  miles.  Its  greatest  length,  from  the  islands  of  the  Quarnero 
to  the  fortress  of  Spizza  on  the  Montenegrin  frontier,  is  210  miles.  It 
is  a  land  of  striking  contrasts,  from  the  barren  mountain  barriers  of 
Mosor  and  Orjen,  where  the  peasantry  live  under  the  most  adverse 
possible  circumstances  and  where  there  is  scarcely  any  soil  to  cultivate, 
to  the  fertile  vineyards  of  the  coast  and  the  larger  islands. 

Zara  (Zadar),  the  capital  (with  16,000  inhabitants),  is  the  seat  of  the 
Diet,  the  Governor,  and  the  Archbishop  and  is  an  important  garrison 
town  ;  its  chief  industry  is  the  production  of  maraschino.  Spalato 
(Split),  with  a  population  of  24,000,  is  already  the  chief  commercial  port 
between  Fiume  and  Patras,  and  is  growing  every  year.  It  is  the  natural 
outlet  for  the  trade  of  Bosnia,  and  has  an  important  future  before  it, 
when  once  the  sorely-needed  railway  connexion  has  been  established 
between  Dalmatia  and  the  outer  world.  Sebenico  (Sibenik)  with  11,000 
inhabitants,  is  an  important  naval  base,  whose  value  is  enhanced  by 
the  great  waterfalls  of  the  Krka  River.  Ragusa  (Dubrovnik,  10,000), 
with  its  harbour  of  Gravosa,  at  present  forms  the  Bosnian  railway's 
first  outlet  to  the  Adriatic,  and  attracts  by  its  beauty  and  antiquities  a 
growing  number  of  foreign  visitors.  The  Bocche,  or  narrows  ofCattaro, 
with  the  little  town  nestling  under  precipitous  crags,  is  one  of  the 
most  impregnable  natural  harbours  on  the   Mediterranean  and  serves 

5 


GEOGRAPHICAL  AND  STATISTICAL  NOTE 

as  a  strong  Austrian  naval  base.     The  principal  islands  are  Brazza  (170 
square  miles),  Lesina,  Lissa,  Curzola,  Meleda,  Pago  and  Arbe. 

At  two  separate  points — near  the  mouth  of  the  River  Narenta,  and 
at  Castelnuovo  in  the  Bocche — Herzegovina  reaches  the  sea  for  a  few 
miles,  thus  indicating  the  ancient  boundaries  between  Turkish  and  Vene- 
tian territory.  Neither  strip  possesses  a  harbour  of  any  consequence, 
though  Castelnuovo,  as  the  terminus  of  the  railway  which  links  Austria's 
southernmost  naval  base  with  the  rest  of  the  monarchy,  has  a  certain 
strategic  importance. 

The  Dalmatian  Croats  are  one  of  the  finest  seafaring  races  in  Europe, 
and  the  cream  of  the  Austro-Hungarian  navy  is  recruited  from  among 
them.  Owing  to  the  poverty  of  the  soil,  and  the  neglected  state  of  the 
province,  most  of  which  has  no  railway  connexions  with  the  rest  of 
Europe  and  at  whose  expense  the  last  Austro-Italian  commercial  treaty 
was  concluded,  emigration  is  widely  prevalent ;  and  there  are  certain 
districts,  notably  the  peninsula  of  Sabbioncello  and  the  island  of  Curzola, 
where  a  large  proportion  of  the  male  inhabitants  can  speak  English, 
having  either  served  on  British  ships  or  spent  some  years  in  America, 
New  Zealand,  Queensland  or  South  Africa. 

In  1900  the  total  population  amounted  to  584,823,  of  whom  only 
15,279  were  Italians  ;  of  the  remaining  97  per  cent.  (565,276),  80  per 
cent,  were  Croats  and  16  per  cent.  Serbs.  The  rapidity  with  which 
the  Italian  element  has  decayed  during  the  last  thirty  years  is  shown 
by  the  example  of  Lesina.  In  1880  as  many  as  314  per  1,000  of  the 
inhabitants  appeared  in  the  census  as  Italians ;  in  1890  there  were 
only  27  Italians  left.*  But  Italy  has  left  a  permanent  impress  upon 
the  culture,  the  architecture  and  the  commerce  of  Dalmatia  and  will 
long  remain  the  lingua  franca  of  the  coast  towns.  In  Dalmatia  as 
elsewhere  among  the  Serbo-Croats,  religion  is  the  only  real  distin- 
guishing feature  between  the  two  races  ;  the  Croats  are  Roman  Catholic, 
the  Serbs  are  Orthodox.  Zara  is  the  seat  of  a  Catholic  Archbishop,  and 
there  are  no  fewer  than  six  other  bishoprics — Sebenico,  Spalato,  Lesina, 
Makarska,  Ragusa  and  Cattaro.  The  ancient  Slavonic  liturgy  known  as 
the  Glagolitic  rite,  is  still  in  use  in  several  hundred  churches  along  the 
Adriatic  ;  but  the  recognition  which  Bishop  Strossmayer's  influence  had 
won  for  it  under  Leo  XIII,  was  partially  withdrawn  by  the  fanatical 
Jesuit  advisers  of  the  present  Pope.  At  present  the  controversy  is 
dormant ;  but  so  strong  is  the  affection  for  the  Slav  rite  that  among  the 
Dalmatian  peasantry  an  application  of  the  clumsy  tactics  for  which 
Vatican  diplomacy  has  become  a  byeword  in  the  last  eight  years,  might 
easily  provoke  a  movement  for  union  with  the  Orthodox  Church.  The 
Orthodox  Church  in  Dalmatia  has  bishops  at  Zara  and  Cattaro,  its 
membership  being  strongest  in  the  extreme  north  and  the  extreme  south. 
Strangely  enough,  it  is  in  connexion  with  the  Orthodox  Metropolitan  of 
Bukovina,  not  with  those  of  Bosnia  or  Servia.  The  language  of  the 
administration  and  of  education  is  Serbo-Croat ;  in  the  chief  towns  the 
Italian  language  enjoys  equal  rights. 

E.     Bosnia  and  Herzegovina  (19,696  square  miles). 

The  two  sister  provinces  of  Bosnia  and  Herzego\'ina  are  bounded  by 
Croatia-Slavonia  on  the  north,  by  Dalmatia  on  the  west,  by  Servia, 
*  Auerbach,  Les  Races  et  nationaliUs  en  Atilriche-Hongrie,  p.  221. 

6 


BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA 

Turkey  and  Montenegro  on  the  east,  and  are  roughly  shaped  Hke  a  heart, 
which  tapers  to  a  narrow  point  near  Castelnuovo  (Zelenikaj  on  the 
Bocche  di  Cattaro.  Though  both  are  mountainous  throughout — form- 
ing the  highlands  of  the  Dinaric  Alps,  they  still  show  considerable 
differences  of  soil  and  climate.  Bosnia,  which  is  more  than  twice  as 
large  as  Herzegovina,  belongs  entirely  to  the  central  European  system, 
its  chief  rivers,  the  Drina  (forming  the  frontier  with  Servia),  the  Bosna, 
the  Vrbas  and  the  Una,  all  flowing  northwards  into  the  Save.  Herze- 
govina, on  the  other  hand,  lies  to  the  south  of  the  high  watershed  formed 
by  the  peaks  of  Konjica  and  Prozor  ;  and  its  only  important  river,  the 
Narenta,  forces  its  way  through  a  splendid  defile  until  it  reaches  the 
Adriatic  beyond  the  wide  marshes  of  Metkovic  and  Fort  Opus. 

In  Bosnia  the  vegetation  is  later,  and  the  cold  in  winter  is  extreme  ; 
while  in  Herzego\dna  the  heat  of  summer  is  semi-tropical.  Eighty-eight 
per  cent,  of  the  population  are  engaged  in  agriculture  or  forestry.  The 
magnificent  forests,  entirely  neglected  under  the  Turks,  have  been  to  some 
extent  exploited  by  foreign  firms  since  the  Austrian  occupation.  The 
burning  agrarian  question  has  also  been  left  unsolved  for  thirty  years  ; 
but  the  first  step  was  taken  in  April  191 1,  when  the  new  Diet  sanctioned  a 
partial  scheme  of  land  purchase.  Before  criticising  the  Government  too 
severely  for  its  agrarian  and  educational  omissions,  it  must  be  remem- 
bered that  the  army  of  occupation  found  a  savage  wilderness,  where 
the  dreadful  blight  of  Ottoman  rule  had  lain  for  centuries,  and  a  begin- 
ning had  to  be  made  with  such  elementary  requirements  as  houses, 
roads  and  railways.  Too  little  effort  has  been  made  to  win  the  hearts 
of  the  people  ;  but  no  sane  critic  can  deny  the  enormous  advance  in 
material  prosperity  made  since  1877.  Nothing  can  be  more  striking 
than  the  contrast  between  Belgrade,  which  has  enjoyed  virtual  inde- 
pendence for  close  upon  100  years,  and  Sarajevo,  which  thirty  years  ago 
was  on  a  level  with  Broussa  or  Erzeroum.  To-day  Sarajevo,  with  its 
clean  streets  and  handsome  public  buildings,  entirely  eclipses  the  Servian 
capital.  In  1895  Sarajevo  had  41,543  inhabitants,  but  its  population 
is  now  estimated  at  60,000.  It  is  the  seat  of  the  Governor  (Landes- 
chef),  the  provincial  government  with  its  four  departments  of  the 
Interior,  Education,  Finance  and  Justice,  and  since  1910  of  the  pro- 
vincial Diet. 

Sarajevo  and  Mostar,  the  capital  of  Herzegovina  (with  over  17,000 
inhabitants),  are  important  garrison  towns,  as  also  are  the  frontier  for- 
tresses of  Trebinje,  Bilek,  Foca  and  Visegrad.  The  only  other  town  of 
any  size  is  Banjaluka,  in  the  northwest,  the  terminus  of  a  line  origin- 
ally designed  by  the  Turks  to  connect  Europe  with  Salonica,  but  soon 
abandoned  like  most  Turkish  designs. 

The  population  of  Bosnia-Herzegovina  amounted  at  the  census  of 
1895  "to  1,568,092,  and  is  now  estimated  at  1,800,000.  Of  these,  at 
least  96  per  cent,  are  Serbo-Croats. 

The  attempt  of  the  late  Baron  Kallay  to  create  an  artificial  "  Bosnian  ' 
language  was  merely  a  skilful  manoeuvre,  intended  to  hamper  the  pro- 
moters of  Serbo-Croat  Unity  ;  it  in  no  way  corresponds  to  the  true 
facts  of  the  case.  The  entire  native  population  of  the  two  provinces — • 
with  the  exception  of  the  8,000  Jews  of  the  capital — is  Serbo-Croat  by 
origin  and  by  language.  But  as  in  other  Balkan  countries,  the  line  of 
cleavage  has  hitherto  been  religious  rather  than  racial.  Thus  divided, 
the  population  is  as  follows  : 

7 


GEOGRAPHICAL  AND  STATISTICAL  NOTE 

Orthodox       .......      670,000 

Mohammedan         ......       550,000 

Roman  Catholics  ......      334,000 

All  the  Orthodox,  without  exception,  regard  themselves  as  Serbs,  all 
the  Roman  Catholics  as  Croats.  The  Mohammedans,  on  the  other 
hand, — the  descendants  of  the  old  Slav  nobility  which  foreswore  its 
faith  in  order  to  retain  its  lands — have  no  strong  national  consciousness, 
and  are  content  to  remain  merely  Bosnians.  But  for  the  unwise  and 
ineffective  proselytism  of  Archbishop  Stadler,  the  Moslems  might  ere 
now  have  joined  the  Croat  camp  ;  and  signs  are  not  wanting  that  such 
a  process  may  take  place  during  the  next  few  years. 

The  Serb  Orthodox  Church  is  under  a  metropolitan  in  Sarajevo  and 
three  bishops  in  Mostar,  Banjaluka  and  Tuzla.  The  Roman  Catholics 
also  have  an  Archbishop  in  Sarajevo  and  bishops  in  Mostar  and  Ban- 
jaluka ;  bnt  the  real  backbone  of  Catholicism  in  Bosnia  is  the 
Franciscan  Order,  which  always  identified  itself  with  the  popular 
cause  during  the  Turkish  occupation,  and  still  follows  with  effect  its 
democratic  methods.  The  Vakuf,  a  wealthy  fund,  from  which  the 
Moslem  clergy  are  paid,  has  its  central  offices  in  Sarajevo  ;  the  ecclesias- 
tical affairs  of  the  Moslems  are  controlled  by  the  central  committee 
(Medzlis)  of  four  members,  under  the  Reis-iil-Ulema,  all  of  whom  are 
nominated  by  the  Government. 

The  language  of  administration,  of  the  Courts,'  of  education  and  of 
the  Diet  is  Serbo-Croat. 

Sarajevo  contains  over  8,000  Spagnolan  or  Sephardic  Jews,  the  descen- 
dants of  refugees  from  Spanish  persecution  in  the  sixteenth  century, 
and  like  their  kinsmen  in  Salonica  still  speaking  a  mixed  Italo-Spanish 
dialect,  in  which  numerous  Slav  and  Turkish  words  occur. 

F.     Servia  (18,782  square  mUes). 

The  kingdom  of  Servia  is  bounded  on  the  north  by  the  Save  and  the 
Danube,  at  whose  junction  lies  the  capital,  Belgrad,  on  a  ridge  com- 
manding an  extensive  view  of  the  plains  of  Syrmia  and  the  Banat. 
The  Western,  or  Bosnian  frontier,  follows  the  winding  course  of  the 
River  Drina,  the  chief  tributary  of  the  Save.  On  the  south  and  south- 
east lies  Macedonia,  its  northern  division,  the  Sanjak  of  Novibazar, 
interposing  awedge  of  Turkish  territory  between  Servia  and  Montenegro. 
On  the  east  Servia  is  separated  from  Roumania  by  the  Danube,  from 
Bulgaria  by  the  little  river  Timok  and  then  by  an  irregular  mountain- 
ous boundary  to  a  point  south-east  of  Vranja  where  Turkey,  Servia 
and  Bulgaria  meet.  The  greater  part  of  Servia  is  mountainous,  but 
its  peaks  are  lower  and  less  barren  than  those  of  Bosnia  and  Montenegro. 
Its  main  artery,  the  river  Morava,  flows  from  Vranja  on  the  Turkish 
frontier,  into  the  Danube  east  of  Semendria,  and  forms  the  sole  link 
connecting  Europe  with  the  port  of  Salonica  and  the  Aegean. 

The  capital,  Belgrad,  had  69,097  inhabitants  in  1900,  and  to-day  over 
90,000  ;  but  despite  its  fine  situation,  it  has  no  fine  streets  or  public 
buildings,  and  cannot  be  compared  in  any  way  to  the  rival  Southern  Slav 
cities  of  Zagreb,  Sarajevo  and  Fiume.     There  are  no  large  towns  in 

''  Though  German  litigants  can  obtain  justice  in  their  own  tongue. 

8 


SERVIA 

Servia,  Nis  coming  second  with  24,451,  Kragujevac  third,  with 
14,160  inhabitants.*  The  great  mass  of  the  population  lives  upon  the 
son. 

While  in  Bosnia  the  Serb  nobles  accepted  Islam  in  order  to  save  their 
estates,  the  nobility  of  Servia  was  extirpated  by  the  Turks  ;  and  the 
modern  kingdom  is  composed  of  peasant  proprietors,  with  only  a  small 
middle  class.  Even  more  important  than  agriculture  is  the  pig-feeding 
industry,  to  which  the  chief  families  of  the  country  owe  their  rise,  and 
which  has  more  than  once  had  a  decisive  influence  upon  its  foreign  policy. 

After  350  years  of  Turkish  rule,  Servia  asserted  her  autonomous  posi- 
tion in  1 81 7,  and  thirteen  years  later  became  an  hereditary  principality 
under  the  Obrenovitch  dynasty.  Its  progress  has  been  seriously  ham- 
pered by  the  evil  rivalry  of  the  two  native  dynasties  of  Obrenovitch 
and  Karageorgevitch,  a  rivalry  which  has  been  marked  by  a  series  of 
atrocious  crimes.  In  1819  Kara  George  was  murdered  by  the  orders  of 
Milosch  Obrenovitch,  and  in  1867  the  murder  was  avenged  upon  the 
latter's  son.  Prince  Michael,  the  ablest  ruler  whom  modern  Servia  has 
produced.  Michael's  nephew  Milan  inherited  much  of  his  uncle's 
brilliancy  and  statesmanship  ;  but  though  he  set  the  seal  to  Servia's 
independenceand proclaimed  her  asa  kingdom,  the  erraticand  scandalous 
habits  of  his  private  life  undermined  his  position  and  finally  led  him  to  ab- 
dicate in  favour  of  his  only  son  Alexander  (March  3,  1889).  The  last  and 
most  unfortunateof  the  Obrenovitch  dynasty  was  also  by  no  means  devoid 
of  talent ;  but  a  faulty  education  and  the  evil  example  of  his  parents 
rendered  stability  of  character  impossible.  A  passion  for  coup  d'etats 
and  his  foolish  marriage  with  Draga  Masin  made  Servda  the  pariah  of 
European  royalty  and  led  to  the  inevitable  catastrophe.  On  June  11, 
1903,  a  gang  of  officers  in  uniform  brutally  murdered  the  King  and 
Queen  ;  and  a  few  days  later,  the  Pretender,  Prince  Peter  Karageorge- 
vic,  whom  scandal  accused  of  complicity  in  the  murder,  as  in  the 
death  of  Prince  Michael  thirty-six  years  before — was  proclaimed  King 
as  Peter  I. 

The  liberal  constitution  which  King  Milan  had  granted  in  1889  and 
which  his  son  arbitrarily  superseded  five  years  later,  was  now  restored  ; 
and  since  then,  whatever  may  be  said  of  Peter  Karageorgevic,  he  has 
fully  earned  the  title  of  Ser\'ia's  first  constitutional  sovereign.  Unhap- 
pily, the  corruption  which  had  already  deeply  infected  Servian  public 
life,  has  gathered  strength  from  the  rivalry  of  regicides  and  anti-regi- 
cides. The  Radical  party,  which  has  dominated  Servia  since  the  assas- 
sination, has  shown  leanings  for  an  adventurous  foreign  policy,  but  the 
country  entirely  lacks  either  the  resources  or  the  energy  to  carry  it 
into  effect.  The  megalomania  which  led  public  opinion  to  compare 
Servia  with  Austria-Hungary,  was  responsible  for  the  cruel  but  inevit- 
able disillusionment  of  March  1909.* 

Since  the  outbreak  of  the  tariff  war  (1907)  Servia  has  been  able 
to  emancipate  herself  to  some  extent  from  the  economic  thraldom 
of  the  Dual  Monarchy,  and  to  find  new  markets  for  her  produce.  But 
the  absence  of  direct  railway  connexions  with  the  West,  the  huge 
burdens  which  her  army  imposes  upon  her,  and  the  bad  state  of  her 
finances,  fatally  handicap  Servia  in    her  efforts  to    keep    abreast   of 

s  Po2arevac,  Leskovac,  Sabac,  Vranja,  Pirot  and  Krulevac  also  exceed  10,000 
inhabitants. 

^  See  Chapter  i.\. 

9 


GEOGRAPHICAL  AND  STATISTICAL  NOTE 

other  Balkan  states.  While  Bulgaria  and  Roumania  have  a  bright 
future  before  them,  and  have  progressed  during  the  last  generation 
by  leaps  and  bounds,  Servia,  on  the  other  hand,  has  been  at  the 
mercy  of  rival  dynastic  and  party  feuds  and  occupies  a  position  between 
the  upper  and  the  nether  millstone. 

The  population  of  Servia  amounted  in  1900  to  2,493,770,  and  is  calcu- 
lated at  2,750,000  in  1910.  Of  these,  over  90  per  cent,  are  Serbs  ;  but 
there  are  at  least  200,000  Roumanians  in  the  north-east  district  adjoin- 
ing Negotin,  and  no  fewer  than  47,000  gipsies.  Almost  the  entire  popu- 
lation belongs  to  the  Orthodox  Church,  which  has  a  Metropolitan  in 
Belgrad  and  four  bishops  at  NiS  (south),  Sabac  (north-west),  Uzice 
(west)  and  Negotin  (east).  Like  other  would-be  "  national  "  states, 
Servia  is  not  specially  tolerant  of  other  races  or  creeds.  The  Roumani- 
ans of  East  Servia  are  not  allowed  to  employ  their  own  language  in  the 
schools,  and  in  some  cases  not  even  in  the  churches.  Though  religious 
liberty  is  guaranteed  by  law,  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  is  virtually 
proscribed  in  Servia  ;  though  it  is  fair  to  add  that  this  is  a  form  of 
retaliation  against  the  Catholic  propaganda  in  Bosnia  and  other  Orthodox 
countries.  That  intolerance  does  exist  in  Servia,  is  best  proved  by  the 
treatment  of  the  great  Southern  Slav  patriot  Bishop  Strossmayer,  to 
whose  diocese  the  Catholics  of  Belgrad  belong. 

Education  in  Servia  is  also  extremely  backward.  Though  by  law 
primary  education  is  free  and  compulsory,  only  17  per  cent,  of  the 
population  could  read  and  write  in  1910.1°  In  such  circumstances 
the  outcry  raised  in  Belgrad  against  the  backward  state  of  Bosnian 
education,  would  appear  to  be  somewhat  uncalled  for. 

G.     Montenegro  (3,255  square  miles). 

The  other  independent  Serb  state  is  the  little  principality  of  Mon- 
tenegro, proclaimed  a  kingdom  in  19 10,  on  the  occasion  of  Prince 
Nicholas'  Jubilee.  Little  as  it  is,  it  was  even  smaller  before  the  year 
1880,  when  it  first  gained  access  to  the  sea  at  Dulcigno  and  Antivari. 
Its  natural  harbour,  Cattaro,  has  become  an  important  Austrian  naval 
base  :  the  roadstead  of  Antivari  is  commanded  by  the  Austrian  guns  at 
Spizza.  This  harbour,  of  which  so  much  is  vaguely  written  in  West 
Europe,  is  only  accessible  by  a  steep  mountain  railway  (built  by  an 
Italian  company)  which  climbs  up  3,000  feet  from  Virpazar  on  the  Lake 
of  Skutari,  merely  in  order  to  descend  still  more  abruptly  to  the  sea. 
Whatever  it  may  become  in  the  future,  its  present  traf&c,  both  by  sea 
and  by  rail,  is  far  less  important  than  that  of  Mallaig,  on  the  West 
Highland  Railway  !  Dulcigno  and  the  only  promising  connexion  be- 
tween the  coast  and  the  interior  would  appear  to  be  the  regulation  of  the 
River  Bojana,  which  connects  the  lake  and  town  of  Skutari  with  the  sea, 
and  forms  for  part  of  its  course  the  southern  frontier  of  Montenegro. 
For  this  the  co-operation  of  Turkey  is  required  ;  and  as  Turkey  has 
never  done  anything  for  Albania,  she  is  less  likely  than  ever  to  do  so  now. 
The  only  hope  is  that  the  present  movement  in  Albania  may  lead  to  an 
extension  of  Montenegrin  territory  to  the  south. 

The  existing  frontier,  after  leaving  the  Bojana,  crosses  the  centre  of 
the  Lake  of  Skutari,  and  then  follows  an  irregular  north-easterly  direc- 

10  Encycl.  Brit,  (nth  ed.)  xxiv.  p.  690. 
10 


MONTENEGRO 

tion  to  a  point  only  ten  miles  west  of  Ipek  (Pec  in  northern  Macedonia. 
From  here  it  proceeds  northwest,  bounding  with  the  Sandjak  of  No-vi- 
bazar,  until  it  reaches  Herzegovina  ;  for  nearly  fifty  miles  it  follows  the 
course  of  the  river  Tara.  On  the  west  it  is  bounded  by  Herzegovina  and 
Dalmatia,  the  latter  country  tapering  into  a  narrow  strip  of  land  thirty 
mUes  long  by  barely  four  miles  broad,  from  Cattaro  to  Spizza. 

Cetinje,  the  tiny  capital,  had  5,138  inhabitants  in  1907  (including  the 
foreign  residents).  Podgorica,  on  the  Moraca  river,  with  12,347  inhabit- 
ants, Niksic  with  6,872,  andDulcigno  with  5,166  are  the  chief  commercial 
centres. 

The  total  population  in  igoo  was  estimated  at  311,564,"  of  whom  all 
save  an  infinitesimal  number  are  Serb  by  nationality  and  Orthodox  by 
religion.  The  barren  nature  of  the  country — the  southern  half  is  a 
mere  rocky  wilderness,  though  round  Niksic  there  is  good  corn  land  ^^ — 
has  driven  increasing  numbers  to  emigrate  ;  and  the  return  of  such  as 
make  their  fortune,  is  naturally  effecting  the  same  transformation  of  the 
old  national  ideas  as  is  noticeable  in  Hungary,  Dalmatia  and  other 
primitive  countries  where  emigration  and  reimmigration  is  prevalent. 

The  Petrovic  d^Tiasty,  which  has  ruled  Montenegro  since  the  year 
1696,  was  originally  a  race  of  prince-bishops,  or  Vladikas,  in  which  the 
nephew  followed  the  uncle.  It  has  produced  more  than  one  remark- 
able figure — Peter  I  (i  782-1 830),  who  won  from  the  Turks  a  definite 
recognition  of  Montenegrin  independence  and  temporarily  occupied  the 
Bocche  di  Cattaro  ;  Peter  II  (1830-1851),  who  holds  a  foremost  place 
among  Servian  poets  ;  and  not  least  of  all.  Prince,  now  King,  Nicholas, 
who  has  reigned  since  i860.  As  a  mountain  fastness,  where  war  against 
the  Turks  has  for  centuries  been  the  main  business  of  life,  Montenegro 
had  no  need  for  a  prince  who  was  not  at  the  same  time  an  autocrat  ; 
and  it  was  not  till  1905  that  the  country  obtained  a  constitution.  Even 
since  then  the  old  methods  have  survived  in  a  thinly-disguised  form  ; 
and  since  the  notorious  Treason  Trial  of  1908,  ministers  have  been  mere 
creatures  of  the  Prince,  and  representative  government  little  better 
than  a  farce.  To  those  who  insist  upon  judging  Montenegro  by  the 
standards  of  the  twentieth  century  in  Paris  or  London,  King  Nicholas 
may  well  seem  a  monster  of  reaction.  In  reality  he  and  his  state  still 
belong  to  the  heroic  Middle  Ages,  and  need  not  fear  comparison  with 
the  warriors  of  Bruce,  Du  Guesclin  or  John  Hunyady.  Under  Nicholas' 
successors  an  era  of  transition  must  set  in  ;  Montenegro  will  be  adapted 
to  Western  conditions  and  will  doubtless  lose  in  the  process  many  of 
its  primitive  virtues. 

The  Orthodox  Church  of  Montenegro  consists  of  two  dioceses,  Cetinje 
and  Ostrog.  In  striking  contrast  to  Servia,  where  no  Catholic  hierarchy 
is  tolerated,  there  is  a  Catholic  Archbishop  at  Antivari  (Bar),  with  ten 
parishes  and  about  6,000  adherents. 

H.     Turkey. 

In  dealing  with  the  Serb  population,  we  are  confronted  by  the  com- 
plete absence  of  reliable  statistics.  The  Hamidian  regime  did  not  trouble 
about  censuses,  and  such  estimates  as  exist  are  almost  avowedly  based 

^^  Encycl.  Brit,  xviii.  p.  768. 

!•  Yet  Montenegro,  despite  its  small  population,  has  to  import  corn. 


GEOGRAPHICAL  AND  STATISTICAL    NOTE 

upon  the  wishes  of  their  compilers,  Greek,  Serb  or  Bulgar  as  the  case 
might  be,  rather  than  on  the  actual  facts  of  the  case.  The  Macedonian 
practice  of  the  forcible  conversion  of  villages  by  the  rival  bands,  has 
still  further  complicated  the  problem,  until  it  is  by  no  means  easy  to  form 
any  definite  judgment,  even  upon  seemingly  first-hand  evidence,  as  to 
the  true  nationality  of  many  districts.  Roughly  speaking,  the  territory 
inhabited  by  Serbs  comprises  the  whole  Sandjak  of  Novibazar  (which 
separates  Servia  from  Montenegro  and  was  from  1878  to  igo8  garri- 
soned by  Austrian  troops),  the  district  of  Ipek,  Jakova  and  Prisrend 
(from  the  Sandjak  as  far  south  as  the  river  Drin)  ;  and  the  plain  of 
Kossovo,  from  Mitrovica  on  the  north  extending  through  Pristina  and 
Uskiib  to  Istib  on  the  south.  South  and  east  of  this  point  there  may  be 
isolated  Serb  colonies  ;  but  if  so,  they  are  doomed  to  rapid  absorption 
by  the  Bulgar  element.  Even  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Prisrend  the 
Serbs  are  steadily  losing  ground  at  the  expense  of  the  Albanians.  Since 
the  accession  of  King  Peter,  Servia  has  made  more  desperate  efforts  than 
ever  to  arrest  the  fatal  process  in  Macedonia  which  is  destined  some  day 
to  decide  the  struggle  of  races  in  favour  of  Bulgar  and  Albanian,  and 
against  Serb  and  Greek.  But  the  efforts  of  the  Servian  bands  have  not 
as  a  rule  been  successful.  While  the  Serbs  talk  and  sentimentalize, 
the  Bulgars  act  and  the  Albanians  shoot. 

If  the  total  population  of  Macedonia  be  reckoned  at  2,500,000,  the 
most  liberal  allowance  cannot  assign  more  than  400,000  of  these  (includ- 
ing 100,000  Moslems)  to  the  Serb  element. 

A  general  survey  of  the  Croato-Serb  race  may  be  obtained  from  the 
following  table  : — 


Catholic. 


Orthodox.      Mohammedan. 


Istria       .... 

Dalmatia 

Croatia-Slavonia 

Bosnia-Herzegovina 

Hungary. 

Servia      .... 

Montenegro  . 

Turkey  .... 


200,000 
500,000 
1,750,000 
400,000 
250,000 

10,000 
10,000 


100,000 
650,000 
850,000 
500,000 
2,600,000 
280,000 
300,000 


650,000 


10,000 
100,000 


3,120,000 
(34P-C.) 


5,280,000 
(58  p.c.) 


760,000 
(8  p.c.) 


Croats  and  Serbs  in  Europe 9,160,000 

„  ,,        in  America 300,000 

9,460,000 


12 


Pronunciation. 


c  =ts  in  the  English 

«  =  ch 

d  -=t 

gj  =  J                >> 

"  lots  " 
"  church  " 
"  tune  " 
' June  " 

Ij 
nj 

S 

■=  gl  in  the  Italian 
=  gn 

■=  sh  in  the  English 
=  j  in  the  French 

"  meglio 
"  degno 
"  show  " 
"  jour 

J    -=7 

'  yet  " 

vj 

=  vi  in  the  EngUsh' 

view  " 

all  other  letters  as  in  English. 


13 


CHAPTER    I 

Croatia  from  the  Earliest  Times  till  1848 

Regnum  Regno  non  praescribit  leges. 

THE  modern  Croats,  although  they  occupy  the  ancient  terri- 
tory of  the  lUyrians,  trace  their  descent  not  from  these  re- 
doubtable opponents  of  Roman  rule  upon  the  Adriatic,  but  from 
one  of  the  Slavonic  tribes  which  followed  in  the  rear  of  the  ad- 
vancing Lombards  and  Avars.  From  the  scanty  records  which 
have  survived,  it  would  seem  probable  that  the  Chrobati  or 
Chorvati  were  invited  by  the  Emperor  Heraclius  to  free  Illyria 
from  the  Avars  (634)  and  that,  after  the  completion  of  their 
task,  they  remained  for  many  generations  as  the  nominal 
vassals  of  the  Eastern  Empire.  About  the  same  time  a  kin- 
dred Slavonic  tribe,  the  Serbs,  were  encouraged  to  settle 
further  to  the  east,  and  thus  became  masters  of  the  greater 
part  of  the  modern  Servia,  Bosnia  and  Montenegro,  with  a 
coastline  stretching  roughly  from  Almissa  to  Durazzo.  In  the 
maritime  towns  of  Dalmatia  Roman  institutions  and  Roman 
culture  survived  until  the  rise  of  Venice  as  a  sea-power  finally 
prevented  Dalmatia  from  drifting  out  of  the  sphere  of  Western 
civilization.  Had  it  not  been  for  Venice  there  can  be  little 
doubt  that  the  eastern  Adriatic  would  have  been  lost  to  Rome. 
For  when  the  Exarchate  of  Ravenna  was  conquered  by  the 
Lombards  (752),  Zara  had  become  the  Byzantine  headquarters 
on  the  Adriatic  ;  and,  although  the  civil  authority  of  the 
Emperor  grew  every  year  more  shadowy,  the  influence  of  the 
Eastern  Church  was  very  far  from  nominal.  The  final  schism 
between  east  and  west  coincides  with  the  first  mission  of  the 
great  Slav  apostles,  Cyril  and  Methodius,  (865-885),  and 
explains  the  readiness  with  which  Rome  recognized  their  intro- 
duction of  a  Slav  liturgy.  This  momentous  concession  was, 
it  is  true,  revoked  soon  after  the  death  of  Methodius  ;  but  a 
thousand  years  of  opposition  on  the  part  of  Rome  have  not 
availed    to    extirpate    the    Slav    liturgy.     The    mountainous 

15 


CROATIA   BEFORE   1849 

character  of  the  country,  the  vicinity  of  the  Serbs,  and  at  a 
later  date  the  rise  of  the  Bogumile  heresy  in  Bosnia,  kept  the 
ancient  traditions  ahve  ;  and  when  the  national  revival  of  the 
nineteenth  century  once  more  directed  attention  to  the  subject, 
the  Glagolitic  rite  was  still  in  use  in  several  hundred  parishes  in 
Dalmatia,  Istria  and  Southern  Croatia. 

Thus  from  the  very  outset  the  most  marked  feature  in 
Southern  Slav  history  is  its  dual  character.  The  struggle 
between  Latin  and  Slav  culture,  between  the  traditions  of 
Rome  and  Byzantium,  made  itself  continually  felt  alike  in 
Church  and  in  state,  and  led  to  an  estrangement  between  the 
kindred  races  of  Croat  and  Serb,  which  rendered  their  national 
consolidation  impossible  and  made  the  two  rivals  the  prey  of 
foreign  conquerors.  Not  till  the  nineteenth  century  did  they 
begin  to  comprehend  the  simple  truth  that  union  is  strength. 

The  conquests  of  Charles  the  Great  had  shown  the  Croats 
that  they  had  little  to  fear  from  Constantinople,  and  under  his 
degenerate  successors  they  felt  themselves  strong  enough  (or 
remote  enough)  to  defy  both  empires.  During  the  first  quarter 
of  the  t  mth  century  Duke  Tomislav  assumed  the  royal  title,^ 
recognizing,  like  St.  Stephen  of  Hungary  three  generations 
later,  the  suzerainty  of  the  Papal  See  ;  and  the  most  famous  of 
his  successors,  Zvonimir,  actually  received  the  crown  in  Spalato 
from  the  hands  of  the  Legate  of  Gregory  VII  (1076).  But 
Zvonimir's  greatness  died  with  him.  The  extinction  of  the 
national  dynasty  plunged  Croatia  into  civil  war,  and  in  1102 
the  Croat  nobles  recognized  Coloman  King  of  Hungary  as  their 
sovereign.  Coloman  asserted  the  triple  claims  of  conquest, 
inheritance  and  election.  His  own  armies  had  completed  the 
half-finished  work  of  his  uncle  Ladislas  I  :  the  widow  of  the 
childless  Zvonimir  had  been  a  Hungarian  princess,  and  Colo- 
man now  wisely  set  a  seal  to  these  doubtful  pretensions  by  his 
coronation  at  Zaravecchia  and  by  the  assumption  of  the  title 
"  Rex  Hungariae  Croatiae  at  que  Dalmatiae." 

It  would  be  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  the  mutual  relations  of 
Hungary  and  Croatia  had  already  been  closely  defined  under 
Coloman  ;  but  there  is  abundant  evidence  that  the  great  king, 
following  the  tolerant  traditions  of  the  House  of  Arpid,  re- 
spected the   privileges   and  independent   position  of  Croatia, 

1  In  the  decrees  of  a  council  held  at  Spalato  in  the  year  914,  in  the 
presence  of  the  Legate  of  Pope  John  X.,  Tomislav  already  bears  the 
title  of  Chroatorum  Rex.  Kukuljevic,  Jura  Regni  Croatiae  Dalmatiae 
et  Slavoniae,  i.  p.  8,  copied  from  Farlati,  Illyricum  Sacrum,  iii.  p.  93. 

16 


CROATIA  UNDER  LOUIS  THE  GREAT 

and  that  as  yet  the  sole  Hnk  between  the  two  kingdoms  was 
the  person  of  the  monarch.  During  the  two  centuries  follow- 
ing upon  the  Union,  more  than  one  Hungarian  sovereign  en- 
trusted his  son  with  the  government  of  Croatia.^  It  is  true 
that  the  practice  of  a  separate  coronation  as  King  of  Croatia 
was  gradually  allowed  to  fall  into  abeyance  ;  but  that  this  did 
not  involve  the  incorporation  of  Croatia  in  Hungary  is  shown 
by  the  fact  that  in  1301,  on  the  extinction  of  the  House  of 
Arpad,  the  Croatians  crowned  the  Angevin  prince  Charles 
Robert  as  their  king  in  the  Cathedral  of  Zagreb  (Agram) ,  while 
Hungary  elected  first  the  King  of  Bohemia  and  then  Otto  of 
Bavaria.  It  was  not  till  six  years  later  that  the  recognition  of 
Charles  Robert  by  the  Hungarians  restored  the  personal  union 
between  the  two  kingdoms.  But  under  Charles  Robert's  son 
Louis  the  Great,  Hungary  reached  the  zenith  of  her  power  and 
Croatia  sank,  in  fact,  if  perhaps  not  in  theory,  to  the  rank  of  a 
vassal  state.  Louis  showed  special  favour  to  Bosnia,  whose 
Ban  he  allowed  to  assume  the  royal  title  (1376),  partly,  no  doubt, 
from  family  reasons,  for  his  wife  was  a  cousin  of  the  Ban  Stephen 
Tvrtko,  but  probably  still  more  from  strategic  reasons,  since 
Bosnia  was  a  valuable  outpost  against  Servia,  which  under 
Stephen  Dushan  (1336-1356)  had  become  the  most  formidable 
Balkan  state.  On  the  other  hand  Louis  brought  nothing  but 
misery  upon  Croatia  and  DaLmatia,  by  his  ruthless  infringe- 
ment of  ancient  charters,  and  his  continual  wars  with  Venice 
and  Naples.  This  may  perhaps  account  for  the  zeal  with 
which  the  sister  kingdoms  abandoned  Louis'  daughter  Mary 
and  supported  the  candidature  of  Charles  of  Durazzo,  King  of 
Naples,  and  later  on  of  his  son  Ladislas,  whose  coronation  as 
King  of  Hungary  and  Croatia  took  place  at  Zara  in  1403. 

While  the  weak  successors  of  Louis  the  Great  became  in- 
volved in  internecine  war,   Stephen  Tvrtko  was  raising  the 

^  See  Farlati,  Illyricum  Sacntm,  T.  v.  p.  65,  cit.  Kukuljcvic, 
op.  cit.  vol.  i,  p.  35.  A  Spalatan  Charter  of  1194  contains  the  phrase, 
"  Regnante  Domino  nostro  Bela,  Serenissimo  Rege  Hungariae  Dal- 
matiae  Croatiae  atque  Ramae  et  Almerico  (Emerich)  filio  super 
Dalmatiam  et  Chroatiam."  Ibid,  ex  tabulario  Jadertino.  "Anno 
1 195.  Regnante  D.  N.  Bela  Ungariae  Dalmatiae  Ramae  Rege,  et 
Enrico  (i.e.  Emerich)  eius  filio,  bis  coronato,  Dalmatiam  et  Croatiam 
feliciter  gubernante.  .  .  ."  In  1198  and  1199  Bela  III.'s  other  son. 
Prince  Andrew,  as  Duke  of  Dalmatia  and  Croatia,  grants  charters  to 
the  Archbishop  of  Spalato.  ("  Ego  Andreas  tertii  Belae  Regis  filius, 
Dei  gratia  Dalmatiae  Croatiae  Ramae  Chulmaeque  Dux  in  per- 
petuum  ")  Kuknljcvnc,  i.  pp.  36-7. 

S.S.Q.  17  C 


CROATIA   BEFORE   1849 

Bosnian  kingdom  to  a  position  of  importance.  In  the  very 
year  when  Servia's  greatness  was  overthrown  by  the  Turks  on 
the  fatal  field  of  Kossovo  (1389)  Tvrtko,  intent  upon  his  own 
aggrandisement,  gained  possession  of  the  whole  Dalmatian 
littoral  from  Zara  to  Cattaro.  But  his  greatness  did  not  sur- 
vive his  death  in  1391.  The  Republic  of  Venice  and  the  King 
of  Naples  were  soon  the  only  serious  rivals  for  the  spoils  of 
Dalmatia.  The  Magyar  nobility's  opposition  to  a  foreign 
king,  the  decisive  advantage  which  Venice  derived  from  her 
navy,  and  the  first  mutterings  of  the  Turkish  storm,  gradually 
withdrew  Hungary  from  the  competition. 

The  failure  of  Ladislas  to  make  good  his  claims  marks  an  era 
in  Croatian  history  out  of  all  proportion  to  the  trivial  charac- 
ter of  the  Neapolitan  King.  For  in  1409  Venice  bought  from 
him  what  remained  of  his  Dalmatian  possessions,  and  by  1420 
practically  the  whole  Dalmatian  coast,  with  the  exception  of 
the  little  Republic  of  Ragusa,  was  in  her  hands.  Hencefor- 
ward Croatia  and  Dalmatia  remain  apart.  The  fringe  of  coast 
remained  for  almost  three  centuries  a  Venetian  colony,  systema- 
tically neglected  and  exploited  and  used  merely  as  a  stepping- 
stone  to  the  Levant.  The  whole  Hinterland  gradually  fell  into 
Turkish  hands,  until  the  Crescent  waved  over  the  fortress  of 
Clissa,  in  full  sight  of  Spalato.  By  comparison  with  the  rest 
of  the  Balkans,  Dalmatia  seemed  to  enjoy  a  high  level  of  cul- 
ture ;  but  in  reality  it  was  already  stagnant  and  living  upon 
its  past.  The  Republic  of  Ragusa  alone  shone  like  a  beacon 
amid  the  surrounding  gloom.  Its  poets,  satirists  and  dramatic 
writers — notably  Gundulic,  the  famous  author  of  Osman — 
prepared  the  way  for  a  renaissance  of  the  Croat  language  and 
of  Serbo-Croatian  national  feeling  in  the  nineteenth  century. 

Sigismund  of  Luxemburg,  the  successful  rival  of  Ladislas, 
showed  a  not  unnatural  resentment  towards  the  subjects  who 
had  so  long  disputed  his  title  to  the  throne.  From  his  reign 
dates  the  final  abandonment  of  a  separate  coronation  ceremony 
for  Croatia  ;  henceforth  the  Holy  Crown  of  St.  Stephen  was 
held  to  be  sufficient  for  the  two  kingdoms,  and  the  mystic  halo 
with  which  long  centuries  of  tradition  have  gradually  surrounded 
it,  seemed  in  the  eyes  of  the  Magyars  a  symbol  of  inviolable 
union  between  the  two  countries. 

But  while  Croatia  contented  herself  with  a  separate  diploma 
inaugurale  ^  at  each  fresh  accession,    she  had  by  no  means 

'  The  formal  document  embodying  the  King's  oath  and  his  subjects' 
fealty  and  privileges. 

1,8 


THE   BATTLE   OF  MOHACS 

renounced  her  ancient  independence,  and  reasserted  her  free- 
dom of  action  on  more  than  one  important  occasion.  In  1490 
the  estates  of  Croatia  declined  to  recognize  Vladislav  II  until 
he  had  taken  oath  to  respect  their  liberties,  and  insisted  upon 
his  erasing  from  the  diploma  certain  phrases  which  seemed  to 
reduce  Croatia  to  the  rank  of  a  mere  pro\dnce.* 

Far  more  conclusive,  however,  was  the  action  of  the  Croats 
after  the  battle  of  Mohacs  (1526),  where  the  Hungarian  army- 
was  annihilated  by  the  Turks  and  Louis  II  himself  perished. 
Central  Hungary — the  real  Magyar  kernel  of  the  country — 
became  a  Turkish  province,  Transylvania  secured  its  independ- 
ence by  owTiing  the  Sultan's  suzerainty,  while  the  north  and 
east  remained  for  fourteen  years  a  bone  of  contention  between 
John  Zapolya  and  Ferdinand  of  Habsburg.  But  Croatia  had 
not  shared  in  the  fatal  defeat  ;  for  the  incapable  Louis  and  his 
arrogant  nobles,  unwilling  to  share  with  others  the  glory  of 
certain  victory,  had  intentionally  given  battle  two  days  before 
the  arrival  of  the  Croatian  arm}^^  While  Hungary  fell  a  prey 
to  anarchy  and  a  contested  succession,  the  Croatian  Diet  sitting 
at  Cetin  on  January  i,  1527,  unanimously  elected  Ferdinand 
of  Austria  as  their  king,  and  confirmed  the  succession  to  him 
and  his  heirs.'  Thus  while  in  Hungary  the  Crown  remained 
elective  till  1687,  it  had  already  become  hereditary  in  Croatia 
160  years  earlier. 

*  See  Kukuljei-ic,  iii.  p.  9.  The  original  diploma  ran,? "  Regnum 
Ungariae  cum  ceteris  regnis  et  partibus  subjectis."  The  final  version, 
as  accepted  by  the  Croats  in  1492  and  inserted  in  the  Corpus  Juris 
Hungarici,  ran  as  follows  :  "  Regnum  Ungariae  cum  caeteris  regnis 
scilicet  Dalmatiae  Croatiae  et  Slavoniae  et  partibus  Transylvanis  ac 
provinciis  sibi  subjectis."' 

*  An  interesting  sidelight  is  thrown  upon  the  relations  between 
Magyars  and  Croats  in  the  sixteenth  century  by  the  letter  which  the 
Ban,  Krsto  Frankopan,  \\Tote  to  the  Bishop  of  Zengg  on  September  15, 
1526,  upon  the  first  (and  incomplete)  news  of  the  Battle  of  Mohacs 
"  Since  the  king  has  escaped,  God  Almighty  has  clearly  permitted  this 
defeat  of  the  king  and  the  Hungarians,  not  for  the  misfortune  and  ruin 
of  this  country,  but  on  the  contrary  for  its  lasting  salvation.  For  if 
the  Hungarians  had  now  defeated  the  emperor  (i.e.  Sultan)  where  would 
have  been  the  end  of  their  unworthy  aggression  (rezenju,  literally  the 
snarl  of  a  quarrelsome  dog),  and  who  could  have  continued  to  exist 
under  them  ?  "     Cit.  Klaic,  Povjest  Hrvata,  iii.  pp.  357-S. 

*  On  the  other  hand,  the  Estates  of  Slavonia  [Universitas  Begni 
Sclavoniae)  sitting  in  the  Castle  of  Dubrava,  elected  John  Zapolya 
as  their  King  (January  5,  1527)  ;  but  the  latter's  chief  supporter, 
Krsto  Frankopan  falling  in  battle  the  following  autumn,  Zapolya  soon 
lost  ground,  and  a  new  Diet  at  Krizevci  (Kreuz)  declared  for  Ferdinand. 

19 


CROATIA   BEFORE   1849 

The  Sultan's  overwhelming  victory  at  Mohacs  marked  a 
fresh  stage  in  the  westward  advance  of  the  Turks,  who  had  been 
a  standing  menace  to  Croatia  ever  since  the  conquest  of  Bosnia 
by  Mohammed  II  (1463).  In  1528  the  strong  garrison  town 
of  Jajce  fell  before  the  Turks  and  within  a  few  years  they 
had  captured  Banjaluka  and  occupied  the  whole  of  Syrmia  and 
what  is  now  known  as  Slavonia.  Finally  in  1537  the  Crescent 
gained  entrance  to  the  mountain  fortress  of  Clissa,  and  thus 
threatened  Spalato  and  the  coastline  of  mid-Dalmatia. 
Though  the  position  of  Croatia  was  never  so  desperate  as  that 
of  the  sister  kingdom  of  Hungary,  the  struggle  with  the  Turks 
rendered  all  progress  and  real  culture  impossible,  and  effect- 
ually undermined  the  prosperity  of  the  country.  The  natural 
result  was  a  desperate  Peasant  Rising  in  the  year  1573,  which 
still  further  weakened  Croatia  and  was  suppressed  with  the 
utmost  cruelty. 

The  Turkish  danger  and  the  increasingly  despotic  leanings 
of  the  later  Habsburgs  drew  Croatia  and  Hungary  once  more 
together.  Rudolf  II's  attempt  to  curtail  the  power  of  the 
Ban  '  induced  the  Sabor  (Diet)   to  send    its  representatives 

'  The  office  of  Ban  is  of  great  antiquity.  That  it  already  existed 
under  the  native  Croat  dynasty  is  proved  by  its  mention  in  a  Diploma 
of  King  Kresimir  in  1063  (quoted  by  Lucius,  the  Dalmatian  historian. 
See  Virozsil,  ii.  335  n.,  387).  After  the  union  in  1102  the  Ban  naturally 
acquired  greater  importance,  as  the  representative  of  the  Royal  power 
in  Croatia.  At  first  all  Croatia  and  Slavonia  (which  then  denoted  a 
somewhat  different  territory)  were  under  a  single  Ban  ;  but  from  time 
to  time,  when  special  causes,  such  as  Byzantine  and  Venetian  aggres- 
sion, impaired  the  authority  of  the  Hungarian  King,  we  meet  with  a 
special  Ban  of  Slavonia  (Banus  totius  Slavoniae)  and  even  a  Banus 
Maritimus  [see  Timon,  Ungarische  V erfassungsgeschichte,  pp.  244- 
50) ;  but  tlaese  dignities  were  merely  conferred  temporarily.  Pre- 
vious to  1848  the  Ban  was,  under  the  Crown,  supreme  alike  in 
the  political,  judicial  and  military  spheres.  He  presided  over  the 
Diets  :  he  sat  as  Croat  representative  in  the  Hungarian  Council 
of  Lieutenancy,  after  its  formation  ;  he  took  precedence  immedi- 
ately after  the  Palatine  and  the  Judex  Curiae,  and  held  the  golden 
apple  at  the  Coronation  ;  he  acted  as  President  of  the  Banal  Table, 
the  supreme  Croatian  Court,  (from  which  there  has  been  no  appeal  to 
any  Hungarian  court,  at  any  rate,  since  Louis  the  Great  in  1359  recog- 
nized Croatia's  full  judicial  autonomy)  and  as  such  appointed  the  Vice- 
Ban  ;  finally  he  commanded  the  military  levies  of  Croatia-Slavonia 
and  the  Croatian  Military  Frontiers.  In  accordance  with  the  Compro- 
mise of  1868,  the  Ban,  though  expressly  made  responsible  to  the  Diet 
of  Agram  (§§  50,  51),  became  the  nominee  of  the  Hungarian  Premier, 
and  as  such,  the  representative  of  Budapest  rather  than  of  Agram 
{see  pp.  78-9). 

20 


CROATS  AND   MAGYARS 

[sollemnes  oratores  et  nuntii  regni)  to  the  Hungarian  Diet,  there 
to  defend  the  rights  of  Croatia  (1591)  ;  and  under  Ferdinand 
II  the  Ban,  at  the  express  desire  of  the  Croats  themselves,  took 
his  seat  for  the  first  time  in  the  Hungarian  House  of  Magnates 
(1625).  That  this  did  not  involve  the  dependence  of  the  Croa- 
tian upon  the  Hungarian  Diet,  is  clearly  shown  by  the  fact  that 
the  former,  in  1608,  had  formally  ratified  and  accepted  the 
Treaty  of  Vienna,  concluded  between  Matthias  and  the  Magyars 
for  joint  action  against  the  Turks.  Indeed,  this  exercise  of 
sovereign  power  on  the  part  of  Croatia  seems  to  have  been 
treated  at  the  time  as  a  matter  of  course.^  Yet  another  striking 
proof  that  the  friendship  prevailing  between  the  Croats  and 
the  Magyars  did  not  in  any  way  involve  the  former's  subordin- 
ation to  the  latter,  is  supplied  by  the  action  of  the  Croatian 
Diet  in  the  year  1620,  in  entering  upon  "  a  mutual  bond  of 
union  and  confederation  "  with  the  Provinces  of  Styria,  Carin- 
thia  and  Carniola.^  The  Hungarian  Parliament  was  neither 
consulted,  nor  did  it  raise  any  protest  against  the  Croats' 
independent  attitude. 

This  period  of  unruffled  amity  between  the  two  races  is  per- 
sonified in  the  splendid  figure  of  Count  Nicholas  Zrinski  (known 
by  the  Magyars  as  Zrinyi)  (1620-1664),  who  though  a  patriotic 
Croat,  composed  the  first  great  epic  poem  in  the  Magyar  lan- 
guage,i°  and  left  to  the  Magyars  a  still  more  precious  legacy 
in  his  niece's  child,  Francis  Rakoczy,  the  now  half-legendary 
forerunner  of  Louis  Kossuth.     The  modern  Chauvinist  of  Buda- 


'  Kukuljevic,  op.  cit.  ii,  pp.  66-7.  Here  the  phrase  "  Regnum 
Hungariae  et  Provinciae  Confoederatae  "  is  employed,  the  latter,  of 
course,  to  describe  Croatia-Slavonia. 

*  Kukuljevic,  op.  cit.  ii,  p.  75.  Et  haec  Regna  cum  praenominatis 
Styxiae  Carynthiae  et  Carniolae  Provinciis  mutuam  unionis  et  certae 
confederationis  devinctionem  ineant  (always  saving  the  rights  and  pre- 
rogatives of  His  Imperial  Majesty,  of  the  King  of  Hungary  and  of 
"these  kingdoms"). 

^°  This  poem,  "  The  Siege  of  Sziget,"  celebrates  the  heroic  death  of 
the  poet's  grandfather,  Count  Nicholas  Zrinsky,  in  defending  the  castle 
of  Sziget  against  a  vast  Turkish  army  under  Suleiman  the  Magnificent 
(1566).  It  shows  the  influence  of  Virgil  and  Tasso.  The  poet's  brother, 
the  unfortunate  Peter  Zrinsky,  was  a  Croatian  poet  of  some  note.  He 
translated  "  The  Siege  of  Sziget  "  and  "  The  Siren  of  the  Adriatic  " 
from  the  Magyar  originals  into  "  our  Croatian  language  "  (to  quote  his 
own  words).  Wherever  the  Magyar  text  speaks  of  "  our  dear  home," 
(mi  edes  hazank),  he  rendered  the  phrase  as  "  obramba  harvatska," 
(the  defence  of  Croatia)  and  elsewhere  he  sought  to  emphasize  whatever 
of  Croat  sentiment  the  original  contains. 

21 


CROATIA   BEFORE   1849 

pest  is  wont  to  claim  him  as  a  Magyar,  despite  the  evident 
pride  with  which  he  referred  to  his  Croat  ancestry,"  and  he  will 
certainly  remain  the  type  of  the  old  fraternal  relations  of  two 
hostile  nations. 

By  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century  Croatia  and 
Slavonia  had  already  been  reduced  to  a  mere  fragment  of  their 
former  territory — reliquiae  reliquiarum  regni,  in  the  despond- 
ent, phrase  of  that  day.^^  The  frontier  extended  from  Zengg 
to  the  new  fortress  of  Karlovac  (Karlstadt)  ^^  and  Sisak,  and 
thence  through  the  county  of  Krizevci  (Kreuz)  to  the  river 
Drave.  The  wild  mountainous  district  of  the  Velebit  was  con- 
tested between  the  Venetians  whose  authority  was  confined  to 
the  coast  towns,  the  notorious  Uskok  pirates — Christian  refugees 
from  Turkish  territory,  whose  hand  was  against  every  man's, 
and  who  from  their  headquarters  at  Zengg,  kept  the  whole  Dal- 
matian coast  in  a  ferment — and  the  Turks,  who  held  the  whole  of 
Bosnia,  Herzegovina  and  Slavonia  and  certain  points  upon  the 
coast.  Defence  against  Turkish  aggression  formed  for  many 
generations  the  main  occupation  of  the  Croatian  population, 
which  deserved  in  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries  the 
title  of  propugnaculum  reipuUicae  christianae  as  truly  as  Hun- 
gary in  the  great  age  of  John  Hunyady.  In  the  first  period  of 
chaos  which  succeeded  Mohacs,  the  territory  between  Drave 
and  Save  was  guarded  by  an  army  supported  by  the  Styrian 
Estates,^*  while  the  districts  lying  between  the  river  Kulpa 
and  the  Adriatic  were  left  to  the  care  of  the  Estates  of  Carniola. 
In  the  course  of  time  a  special  province,  subject  to  the  direct 
authority  of  the  Emperor,  was  formed  under  the  title  of  "  the 
Military  Frontiers  "  (Vojna  Krajina).  It  was  divided  into  two 
"  generalates,"  the  "  Slavonian  "  and  the  "  Croatian,"  with 
their  headquarters  in  Varazdin  ^^  and  Karlovac  respectively, 

^^  In  1658  he  wrote,  in  a  Latin  letter  to  the  Vice-Sheriff  of  Agram, 
"  Ego  mihi  conscius  aliter  sum  ;  etenim  non  degenerem  me  Croatam 
at  quidem  Zrinium  esse  scio."  Cit.  Andric,  Kroatische  Literatur- 
geschichte.  [Die  osterreichischungarische  Monarchie  in  Wort  und  Bild, 
Croatian  volume,  pp.  128-9).  That  Zrinsky  was  in  his  own  age  gener- 
ally regarded  as  a  Croat  rather  than  a  Magyar,  is  shown  by  the 
writings  of  an  early  Croatian  poet,  Vitezovic,  who  devotes  an  inter- 
minable epic  (Odilenje  Sigetsko,  The  Siege  of  Sziget)  to  the  exploits 
of  Zrinsky  as  a  Croatian  hero. 

^^  Cit.  Bojnicic,  Kroatien  [Wort  und  Bild),  p.  70. 

13  Erected  in  1578  by  the  Archduke  Charles,  as  commander  of  the 
frontier  forces. 

"  Bojnicic,  pp.  68,  71. 

"  Afterwards  in  Koprejinica.     A  third  district,  "  The  Banal  Fron- 

22 


THE  CROATIAN   PRAGMATIC  SANCTION 

and  these  were  organized  and  governed  on  a  purely  military 
basis.  Every  Granitschar  or  Frontiersman  was  liable  to 
military  service  from  his  eighteenth  year,  and  must  at  all  times 
be  ready  to  bear  arms  against  the  invader  ;  but  in  return  for 
this  duty,  successive  emperors  granted  substantial  privileges, 
and  the  Granitschars  were  justly  famous  not  only  for  their 
military  prowess  but  also  for  their  sturdy  independence  of 
character.  Every  commune  elected  its  head,  and  all  the  com- 
munes of  a  capitanate,  their  joint  Judge,  the  election  in  each 
case  requiring  the  sanction  of  the  commanding  officer. ^^  The 
Orthodox  Church  enjoyed  the  same  privileges  as  Catholicism, 
in  striking  contrast  to  more  northerly  countries. 

Early  in  the  eighteenth  century  the  question  of  the  succes- 
sion again  became  acute,  owing  to  the  failure  of  male  heirs  in 
the  House  of  Habsburg  ;  and  once  more  Croatia  followed  an 
entirely  independent  course.  The  efforts  of  Charles  VI  (III) 
to  secure  the  Habsburg  inheritance  in  the  female  line,  met  with 
their  first  success  in  Croatia,  where  the  Diet  unanimously 
accepted  the  Pragmatic  Sanction  on  March  9,  1712.  Though 
the  Hungarian  Diet  withheld  its  consent  to  Charles'  proposals 
till  1723,  no  voice  of  protest  was  raised  against  the  action  of 
the  Croatian  estates,  no  attempt  was  made  to  assert  the 
suzerainty  of  Hungary."  Nor  is  it  easy  to  ascribe  this  silence 
to  a  careless  neglect ;  for  in  the  course  of  the  discussion  the 
estates  publicly  defined  their  position  in  the  following  momen- 
tous words.  "  Neither  force  nor  conquest  united  us  to  the 
Hungarians,  but  by  our  spontaneous  and  free  desire  we  sub- 
mitted ourselves  not  to  the  kingdom  [of  Hungary]  but  to  their 
king,  so  long  as  he  be  of  the  House  of  Austria.  .  .  .  We  are 
freemen,  not  slaves."  ^^    Nothmg  could  be  more  expHcit  than 

tier,"  or  the  district  of  the  Ban,  between  the  Kulpa  and  the  Una,  was 
subject  to  the  authority  of  the  Ban  and  of  the  Estates.  By  the  peace 
of  Karlovitz  (1699)  Slavonia  and  the  Lika  district  were  definitely  freed 
from  the  Turkish  yoke  ;  the  former  was  formed  into  a  third  ' '  General- 
ate,"  while  the  latter  was  incorporated  in  the  "  Croatian  Frontier." 
In  1745  the  three  Slavonian  counties  (Syrmia,  Virovitica  and  Pozega) 
were  cut  off  from  this,  and  restored  to  the  civU  administration. 

^*  See  Stare,  Die  Kroaten,  p.  44.     Sisic,  Povijest  Hrvatska,  ii,  p.  100. 

"  The  Croatian  Pragmatic  Sanction  differs  in  an  interesting  detail 
from  those  of  Hungary  and  Bohemia.  It  declares  that  in  default  of 
male  heirs,  Croatia  will  accept  that  Habsburg  princess  who  reigning  at 
Vienna  also  possesses  the  three  duchies  of  Austria,  Styria  and  Carniola 
(dum  simul  Austriam  Styriam  ac  Carniolam  possideat  atque  in  Austria 
resideat).     {See  Kukuljevic,  ii,  p.  no.) 

"  "  Partes  quidem  sumus,  uti  leges  loquuntur,  annexae  Hungariae, 

23 


CROATIA   BEFORE   1849 

this  ;  and  it  is  incredible  that  the  Hungarian  Diet  would  have 
left  such  a  challenge  unanswered,  if  its  tenour  had  not  been 
generally  recognized  as  justified  by  historic  usage  and  tradi- 
tion. 

But  this  vindication  of  Croatian  rights  was  a  barren  victory. 
The  Hungarian  Pragmatic  Sanction  of  1723,  which  has  been 
justly  regarded  as  the  real  basis  of  Duahsm/^  marks  the  opening 
of  a  new  era,  in  which  the  Hungarian  aristocracy  renewed  its 
strength  in  the  sunshine  of  court  favour,  and  then  employed  all 
the  weapons  which  a  subtle  policy  of  voluntary  Germanization 
had  placed  in  its  hands,  to  reverse  the  tolerant  pohcy  of  St. 
Stephen  and  to  transfuse  the  old  aristocratic  constitution  with 
the  virus  of  racial  monopoly.  The  exhaustion  which  followed 
upon  the  final  expulsion  of  the  Turks  may  account  for  the  im- 
punity with  which  Charles  HI  and  his  daughter  Maria  Theresa 
ignored  all  constitutional  forms  in  their  dominions ;  but  under 
the  old  constitution  the  real  centre  of  gravity  lay  not  so  much 
in  the  central  Diet  as  in  the  local  assemblies,  which  controlled 
their  delegates  with  the  utmost  jealousy  ;  and  for  the  present 
it  sufficed  that  the  old  local  autonomy  had  once  more  become 
a  reality.  Meanwhile  the  new  Council  of  Lieutenancy  which 
had  been  estabhshed  in  1729,  while  in  certain  respects  obsequious 
to  Vienna,  showed  by  its  attitude  towards  Croatia  that  it  was 
by  no  means  indifferent  to  the  interests  of  Hungary.  When 
in  1767  Maria  Theresa  erected  in  Zagreb  (Agram)  a  similar 
Council  for  Croatia,  depending  directly  from  the  Aulic  Chan- 
cellory in  Vienna,  the  Hungarians  skilfully  won  the  Croat 
nobility  to  their  side  and  induced  their  sovereign  not  merely 
to  abandon  this  scheme,  but  to  subject  Croatia  directly  to  the 
council  of  Lieutenancy  in  Pest  (1779).  The  power  of  the  Ban 
was  radically  curtailed,  and  Croatia-Slavonia  came  to  be  re- 
garded no  longer  as  regna  socia,  but  merely  as  partes  adnexae 
of  the  Crown  of  St.  Stephen. 

At  this  critical  period  of  her  history  Croatia,  like  Bohemia, 
was  at  a  fatal  disadvantage,  owing  to  the  disappearance  of 

non  autem  subditi ;  et  natives  olim  habebamus  non  Hungaros  Reges  ; 
nullaque  vis,  nulla  captivitas  nos  Hungaris  addixit,  sed  spontanea  nos- 
tra ultroneaque  voluntate  non  quidem  Regno  verum  eorundem  Regi 
nosmet  subjecimus  .  .  .  Liberi  sumus,  non  mancipia."  Kukuljevic 
ii.  pp.   105-7. 

1*  The  ablest  exponent  of  this  view  is  M.  Eisenmann,  whose  brilliant 
study,  Le  Compromis  Ausiro-Hongrois  is  an  indispensable  handbook 
for  the  student  of  constitutional  development  in  the  Dual  Monarchy. 

24 


THE   NATIONAL  AWAKENING 

her  ancient  nobility.  The  ruin  of  the  great  families  of  Zrinsky 
and  Frankopan  after  the  conspiracy  of  1670,  had  brought 
huge  tracts  of  Croatian  territory  into  the  hands  of  alien  famihes, 
whose  interests  speedily  became  identical  with  those  of  the 
Magyar  aristocracy .2°  Thus  the  reforms  of  Joseph  II  com- 
pleted this  bond  of  union  between  the  nobility  of  the  two 
kingdoms ;  in  the  struggle  against  Viennese  encroachment 
the  rights  of  the  Croatian  Sabor  were  neglected.  The  Diet  of 
1791,  it  is  true,  solemnly  reaffirmed  the  special  character  of 
Croatia,  as  the  sole  condition  of  the  union  with  Hungary  ^i ; 
but  its  delegates  received  the  fatal  instructions  to  acquiesce 
in  the  decisions  of  the  majority  in  all  matters  common  to  the 
two  countries,  and  only  to  resist  in  matters  of  local  concern. 
As  the  tiny  group  of  Croats  could  never  be  anything  save  an 
insignificant  minority  in  the  Diet,  these  instructions  were 
tantamount  to  a  complete  surrender  of  the  Croatian  position. 
The  folly  of  such  a  surrender  became  only  too  apparent  in  the 
course  of  the  next  fifty  years,  as  the  current  of  national  feeling 
grew  steadily  stronger  among  the  Magyars.  The  linguistic 
question  was  the  cause  of  ever  recurring  conflicts  in  the  joint 
Diet  between  Magyars  and  Croats.  While  the  former  sought 
to  Magyarize  the  whole  administration  and  to  introduce  Magyar 
as  the  language  of  parliamentary  debate,  the  Croats  as  yet 
clung  desperately  to  the  prevailing  Latin,  and  deprecated 
aU  change. 22  At  first  their  resistance  was  inspired  by  mere 
conservatism  and  the  reluctance  to  learn  a  foreign  tongue  ; 
but  in  1805  Croat  national  feeling  was  already  awake,  and 
Bishop  Vrhovac  of  Agram  openly  urged  the  Croats  to  retaUate 
by  introducing  the  "  lingua  lUyrica  "  into  the  public  life  of 
the  country.  The  higher  clergy  in  Croatia  enjoy  a  well- 
earned  reputation  for  patriotism  and  generosity,  and  Bishop 

2"  The  territory  recovered  from  the  Turks  was  also  granted  mainly 
to  foreign  families,  e.g.,  Odescalchi,  CoUoredo,  Trenck,  Caraffa,  Prandau, 
Ranch. 

^^  "  Cum  regna  haec  .  .  .  inde  ab  origine  propriam  habuerint  con- 
sistentiam  et  sub  hac  unice  propriae  consistentiae  conditione  semet 
regno  Hungariae  univerint."  Cit.  Pliveric,  Beiirdge  zuni  ungarisch- 
kroatischen  Bundesrechte,  p.  153  (from  Minutes  of  Sabor,  p.  173  in 
Archives) . 

^^  It  is  worth  noting  that  even  the  Croatian  delegates  of  1790 — the 
most  Magyarophil  whom  Croatia  has  ever  sent  to  the  joint  Hungaro- 
Croatian  Parliament — protested  vehemently  against  the  introduction 
of  the  Magyar  language,  and  made  it  clear  that  its  adoption  in  Hungary 
proper  (intra  recinctum  Regni  Hungariae)  would  not  have  any  binding 
effect  upon  Croatia. 

25 


CROATIA   BEFORE   1849 

Vrhovac  set  a  splendid  example  by  his  various  literary  enter- 
prises. 

Meanwhile  the  desperate  struggle  against  Napoleon,  in 
which  the  Habsburg  Monarchy  was  so  intimately  involved, 
tended  to  throw  all  else  into  the  background.  But  while  in 
Hungary  the  progress  of  the  national  movement  was  un- 
questionably arrested  for  a  time — or  at  least  driven  from 
political  into  literary  channels — in  Croatia  on  the  other  hand 
the  real  awakening  of  national  sentiment  dates  from  the 
Napoleonic  era.  Dalmatia,  which  on  the  fall  of  the  Venetian 
Republic  (1797)  had  for  the  first  time  become  an  Austrian 
possession,  was  ceded  to  the  French  after  the  defeat  of  Auster- 
litz  ;  and  the  genius  of  Napoleon  revived  the  name,  and  with 
it  perhaps  something  of  the  spirit,  of  ancient  Illyria.  The 
new  state  thus  suddenly  created,  comprised  the  provinces  of 
Carinthia,  Carniola,  Gorz  and  Istria,  the  seacoast  of  Croatia, 
Dalmatia  with  its  islands,  and  from  1808  onwards  the  republic 
of  Ragusa.^^  In  Napoleon's  own  words,  '  Illyria  is  the 
guard  set  before  the  gates  of  Vienna.'  ^^  Under  the  en- 
lightened if  despotic  rule  of  Marshal  Marmont  the  long 
stagnation  of  the  Middle  Ages  was  replaced  by  feverish 
activity  in  every  branch  of  life.  Administration  and  jus- 
tice were  reorganized,  the  Code  Napoleon  superseding  the 
effete  mediaeval  codes ;  schools,  primary  and  secondary, 
commercial  and  agricultural,  sprang  up  in  every  direction  : 
the  first  Croat  and  Slovene  newspapers  appeared  :  the  iold 
Guild  System  was  reformed  and  commercial  restrictions 
removed  :  peasant  proprietary  was  introduced  :  reafforesta- 
tion was  begun,  and  the  splendid  roads  were  constructed  which 
are  still  the  admiration  of  every  tourist.  Official  business 
was  conducted  in  French  and  Croatian,  with  the  addition  of 
Italian  along  the  coast.  A  well  known  story  relates  how  the 
Emperor  Francis,  during  his  visit  to  Dalmatia  in  1818,  plied 
his  suite  with  questions  as  to  the  origin  of  the  various  public 
works  which  struck  his  eye,  and  met  with  the  invariable 
answer,  "  The  French,  your  Majesty."  "  Wirklich  schad' 
dass  s'  nit  langer  blieben  sein  "  (It's  a  real  pity  they  didn't 
stop  longer),  exclaimed  the  astonished  Emperor  in  his  favourite 
Viennese  dialect,  and  there  the  matter  rested  for  eighty  years. 

'^^  French  Illyria  was  divided  into  seven  provinces,  including  Croatia 
Civile  (Karlovac,  Fiume  and  the  Quarnero  Islands  and  Croatie  Militaire 
(Gospic  and  the  Velebit),  see  BojniCic,  op.  cit.  p.  81. 

'*  Cit.  Smiciklas,  Poviest  Hrvatska,  ii,  p.  413. 

26 


NAPOLEON  AND   ILLYRIA 

It  was  not  till  the  twentieth  century  that  "  Vienna,"  under 
the  goad  of  Magyar  aggression,  again  remembered  the  existence 
of  Dalmatia. 

The  newborn  Illyrian  state  did  not  survive  the  French 
occupation  ;  Dalmatia  and  Croatia  reverted  to  their  former 
stagnant  condition. ^^  Francis  I"  and  Metternich,  while  uphold- 
ing abroad  the  dual  policy  of  legitimacy  and  reaction,  devoted 
all  their  efforts  to  the  suppression  of  liberal  feeling  within  the 
Monarchy  itself.  Not  merely  in  Cisleithania,  but  in  Hungary 
also  all  political  life  was  at  a  standstill.  The  Diet  which 
even  before  Austerlitz  had  become  a  mere  cipher,  summoned 
only  for  the  formal  sanction  of  war-subsidies  and  recruits, 
was  from  1811  to  1825  dispensed  with  altogether.  The  leaders 
of  opposition  were  reduced  to  silence  by  the  attractions  of 
title  and  office  :  strict  police  censorship  stifled  public  opinion  ; 
and  the  Hungarian  constitution  was  virtually  in  abeyance. 
In  Croatia,  where  the  middle  class  was  even  weaker  than  in 
Hungary,  the  triumph  of  reaction  was  proportionately  greater. 
But  the  Illyrian  idea  was  not  dead,  and  in  the  person  of  Ljudevit 
Gaj,  the  younger  generation  was  ere  long  to  find  its  inspiration 
and  its  hope. 

Austria  had  undertaken  the  impossible  task  of  blocking 
up  a  volcano  which  continually  found  new  vents  for  its  sub- 
terranean fires.  In  North  Italy,  in  Poland,  and  in  Hungary 
alike  the  popular  movement  smouldered,  but  never  died. 
That  it  ran  a  more  legal  course  in  Hungary  than  in  the  other 
provinces  was  due  to  the  county  assemblies,  which  at  once 
kept  constitutional  feeling  awake  and  provided  it  with  a 
safety  valve.  At  length  their  stubborn  resistance  to  arbitrary 
government  induced  Francis  to  convoke  the  Diet  in  1825, 
and  thus  unwittingly  to  open  the  era  of  constitutional  reform 
in  Hungary.  Unhappily  constitutional  reform  went  hand  in 
hand  with  linguistic  innovation  and  racial  intolerance  ;  and 
each  fresh  step  taken  by  the  Diet  towards  the  Magyarization 
of  Hungary  accentuated  the  opposition  of  the  Croats.  Voices 
began  to  be  heard  even  in  Parliament,  arguing  that  Croatia 
differed  in  no  way  from  the  northern  coimties  of  Hungary ; 
and  when  the  Croat  delegates  cited  the  Corpus  Juris,  they 
were  met  by  the  calm  rejoinder  that  the  Magyars  were  after 

^*  The  "  Military  Frontiers  "  were  revived,  but  the  remainder  of 
Napoleon's  new-formed  state  survived  as  "  Austrian  Illyria  "  till  the 
year  1822,  with  a  central  administration  in  Laibach.  In  that  year, 
however,  Croatia  recovered  her  old  boundaries  and  county  organization. 

27 


CROATIA  BEFORE   1849 

all  in  the  majority  and  would  vote  them  down.  Their  dignified 
retort  deserves  to  be  placed  on  record  ;  Croatia  and  Slavonia, 
they  said,  "  are  not  subject  but  associate  kingdoms,  which 
have  Hungary  not  as  mother  but  merely  as  sister,  and  existed 
long  before  Hungary."  ^^  The  Croatian  Diet  declared  with 
much  spirit,  "  We  are  resolved  not  to  degenerate  from  our 
fathers  and  will  preserve  our  nationality  at  all  costs  and  with 
every  possible  means.  Our  rights  of  local  government  can 
never  be  the  subject  of  negotiations,  our  internal  adminis- 
tration is  not  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  estates  of  Hungary, 
and  we  protest  most  solemnly  against  all  innovations."  In 
1832  the  Diet  expressed  itself  with  equal  clearness  against 
the  introduction  of  "  an  unknown  language  "  (ignota  lingua) 
and  instructed  its  delegates  to  the  Joint  Diet  to  do  all  in 
their  power  to  prevent  it. 

Croatian  national  feeling  found  its  first  faint  literary  expres- 
sion in  an  anonymous  German  pamphlet  published  at  Karlstadt 
in  the  year  1832,  under  the  title,  Are  we  to  become  Magyars  ? 
Six  Letters  from  PestP  Needless  to  say,  its  author  answered 
the  question  with  an  emphatic  negative.  This  little  book 
caused  a  sensation  out  of  all  proportion  to  its  merits  ;  for 
despite  its  spirited  style  and  singular  freedom  from  invective, 
its  sole  claim  to  originality  lies  in  the  fact  that  it  interpreted 
for  the  first  time  in  print  those  vague  sentiments  with  which 
the  atmosphere  of  Croatia  was  already  charged.  Within  a 
few  months  it  had  reached  a  third  edition  ;  and  its  object 
had  already  been  achieved,  when  the  Hungarian  authorities 
ordered  its  confiscation,  and  deprived  the  patriotic  Croatian 
censor.  Father  Hermann,  of  his  office. 

Neither  protest  nor  argument  could  avail  to  check  the  rising 
flood  of  Magyar  Chauvinism.  In  1840  Latin  was  finally  super- 
seded by  Magyar  as  the  language  of  the  Hungarian  Diet,  and 
in  1843  Magyar  became  the  exclusive  language  of  the  legisla- 
ture, the  government  and  official  business,  and  in  theory  even 
of  education.28  But  in  addition  to  all  this,  special  clauses 
were  directed  against  the  Croats.     The  three  Slavonian  coun- 

**  Non  subiecta  verum  regna  socia,  quae  Hungarian!  non  pro  matre 
sed  pro  sorore  solum  habent,  longeque  prius  steterunt  quam  Hungaria. 
Cit.  Pliveric,  op.  cit.  p.  163. 

^'  "  Sollen  wir  Magyaren  werden  ?  "  For  over  half  a  century  its 
authorship  was  attributed  to  the  poet  Kollar  ;  and  it  was  not  till  1894 
that  its  real  author  was  revealed,  in  the  person  of  Antony  Vakanovic, 
at  one  time  Vice-Ban  of  Croatia.     See  Tkalac,  Jugenderinnerungen.] 

^*  See  my  Racial  Problems  in  Hungary,  p.  42. 

28 


LOUIS  GAJ 

ties  and  the  Croatian  coastline  were  exempted  for  six  years, 
in  order  that  the  officials  if  not  the  population  might  during 
that  period  acquire  a  knowledge  of  Magyar  ;  but  after  that 
date  they  were  to  be  subject  to  the  same  regulations  as  Hungary 
proper.  In  Croatia,  though  Latin  was  to  remain  the  language 
of  the  courts  and  of  internal  administration,  Magyar  was  to 
be  the  sole  language  of  intercourse  under  all  circumstances 
with  the  Hungarian  authorities.  Magyar  became  an  obligatory 
subject  in  the  schools  of  Croatia,  and  as  a  final  insult  it  was 
declared  that  the  Latin  speeches  dehvered  by  the  Croat  dele- 
gates should  be  regarded  as  not  having  been  made. 

Such  intolerance  gave  a  powerful  incentive  to  the  lUyrian 
cause  in  Croatia,  and  Gaj  became  the  hero  of  the  hour.  A 
man  of  Western  culture  and  fiery  eloquence,  Gaj  owed  much 
of  his  inspiration  to  the  poet  Kollir,  whose  famous  epic  "  The 
Daughter  of  Slava,"  and  still  more  his  essay  on  the  literary 
reciprocity  of  all  Slav  nations,  had  been  the  pioneers  of  the 
Slav  revival  in  the  Habsburg  dominions.  The  reforms  intro- 
duced by  Gaj  into  Croatian  orthography  proved  to  be  the 
first  real  step  towards  an  approximation  between  the  various 
dialects  and  hence  towards  the  creation  of  the  modern  literary 
language.  A  happy  instinct  led  him  upon  lines  parallel  to 
the  great  Servian  linguistic  reformer,  Vuk  Karadzic,  whose 
collection  of  national  songs  and  proverbs  is  so  justly  famous. 
But  Gaj  was  essentially  a  politician  and  an  agitator  rather 
than  a  poet  ^^■,  and  the  great  influence  acquired  by  the  journals 
which  he  founded  in  1834  ^  was  due  not  to  literary  merits, 
but  to  the  daring  political  ideas  which  they  expounded.  Sur- 
rounded by  a  group  of  fiery  young  patriots,  he  opened  a  vigor- 
ous propaganda  in  favour  of  the  lUyrian  idea,  by  which  he 
understood  an  eventual  union  of  all  the  Southern  Slavs. 

Comparing  Europe  to  a  maiden  who  sits  with  a  three- 
cornered  lyre  in  her  hand,  Gaj  indulged  in  the  following  strange 
rhapsody.  "  In  ancient  times  this  lyre  resounded  naturally 
and  sweetly,  when  its  ordered  chords  were  as  yet  touched  by 
gentle  breezes.     But  suddenly  a  dreadful  storm  arose  from 

•9  His  famous  song,  "Jos  Hrvatska  ne  propala  "  (Croatia  is  not 
yet  lost,  so  long  as  we  live)  cannot  lay  claim  to  originality,  being  based 
on  a  similar  Polish  song.  Like  so  many  national  airs,  it  is  fine  patriot- 
ism, but  poor  poetry,  and  owes  its  great  popularity  in  large  measure 
to  Lisinsky's  haunting  melody. 

^°  N ovine  Hrvatske  {Croatian  Gazette)  and  Danica  [Daystar],  which  in 
1836  became  Ilirske  Narodne  N ovine  {Illyrian  National  Gazette)  and 
Danica  llirska. 

29 


CROATIA   BEFORE   1849 

south  and  west,  and  then  from  east  and  north  :  the  chords 
were  rent,  and  the  sweet  strains  were  heard  no  more.  This 
lyre  is  lUyria,  a  triangle  between  Skutari,  Varna  and  Villach. 
Its  strained  and  unharmonious  chords  are  Carinthia,  Gorz, 
Istria,  Styria,  Croatia,  Slavonia,  Dalmatia,  Ragusa,  Bosnia, 
Montenegro,  Herzegovina,  Servia,  Bulgaria  and  Lower  Hun- 
gary. What  more  can  we  wish  to-day,  when  all  long  for  con- 
cord, than  that  on  the  great  lyre  of  Europe  all  these  discordant 
strings  should  harmonize  once  more,  and  by  the  charm  of 
their  sweet  music  should  celebrate  the  eternal  youth  of  the 
sitting  maiden  ?  "  3i 

He  made  no  attempt  to  conceal  his  enmity  towards  the 
Magyars,  whom  he  rightly  regarded  as  the  main  obstacle 
to  the  realization  of  this  fantastic  dream.  "  The  Magyars," 
he  cried,  "  are  an  island  in  the  Slav  ocean,  I  did  not  create 
the  ocean  nor  excite  its  waves  ;  see  ye  to  it  that  they  do  not 
break  over  your  heads  and  engulf  you."  In  1840  he  flung 
at  his  opponents  the  confident  words  :  "  To-day  you  are  in 
the  majority  ;  but  the  child  as  it  is  born  is  mine."  The 
sanguinary  words  of  the  Illyrian  poetaster  ^^  were  doubtless 
inspired  by  a  mere  desire  for  rhetorical  effect ;  but  they  fore- 
cast none  the  less  clearly  the  inevitable  result  of  the  growing 
estrangement  between  Croats  and  Magyars. 

The  movement  inaugurated  by  Gaj  was  viewed  with  not 
unnatural  alarm  in  Pest,  and  Magyar  influence  prevailed 
upon  the  Sovereign  to  issue  a  decree  proscribing  the  Illyrian 
name  alike  in  the  press,  in  the  schools  and  in  public  debate  ! 
But  the  methods  of  repression  which  were  now  adopted  availed 
as  little  as  the  transparent  attempt  to  brand  as  Panslavism 
what  was  essentially  a  particularist  movement.  In  1847 
the  Chauvinism  of  the  Magyars  reached  white  heat  at  the 
Diet  of  Pressburg  and  national  enthusiasm  ran  no  less  high 
at  Agram.  The  pent-up  feelings  of  the  long  linguistic  struggle 
found  vent  when  the  Croatian  Diet  assembled  on  October  20, 
1847  ;  and  three  days  later  it  resolved  by  acclamation  that 
the  Croatian  language  should  be  introduced  in  every  office 

^*  Danica  of  December  6,  1835,  cit.  Wachsmuth,  Geschichie  des 
Illyrismus,  p.  30. 

^2  "  See  how  the  wild  black  Tartar  tramples  on  our  nation  and  lan- 
guage. But  before  he  crushes  us,  let  us  hurl  him  into  the  abyss  of  Hell. 
Forward,  brothers,  God  is  with  us.  Hell's  demons  are  against  us.  .  . 
Let  us  bathe  our  fame  in  the  blood  of  the  foe,  let  each  hew  off  a  head 
(svaki  jednu  glavu  skini)  and  the  end  of  our  woes  is  reached.  Forward, 
brothers,  etc.  ..."     Cit,  Wachsmuth,  op,  cit,  p,  81. 

30 


KOSSUTH'S   INTOLERANCE 

and  in  every  school.^^  An  open  breach  naturally  ensued 
between  the  Croat  delegates  and  the  intolerant  Magyar  majority 
at  Pressburg.  The  fresh  linguistic  claims  of  the  Magyars 
were  passionately  opposed  by  the  Croats  as  an  outrage  upon 
Croatian  nationality,  "  I  know  no  Croatian  nationality," 
retorted  Louis  Kossuth,^*  then  at  the  height  of  his  power  and 
arrogance.  The  words  with  which  Kossuth  met  a  Serb  deputa- 
tion from  the  Banat  in  the  early  days  of  April,  1848,  showed  the 
non-Magyar  races  what  they  had  to  expect.  After  refusing 
to  entertain  their  claims  for  the  revival  of  Serb  autonomy, 
he  declared  that  only  the  Magyar  language  could  bind  the 
different  nationalities  together.  "  Then,"  replied  the  fiery 
young  Stratimirovic,  a  member  of  the  deputation,  "  we  must 
look  for  recognition  elsewhere  than  at  Pressburg."  "  In  that 
case,"  was  Kossuth's  uncompromising  answer,  "  the  sword 
must  decide."  The  fulfilment  of  Kossuth's  racial  ideal  would 
have  involved  national  death  for  all  the  other  races  ;  and 
it  was  directly  due  to  his  intolerance  that  the  Magyars  found 
themselves  before  the  end  of  the  summer  ringed  round  by 
hostile  nationalities  in  arms. 

The  famous  March  laws  of  1848,  voted  by  the  Hungarian 
Parliament  with  an  enthusiasm  which  scorned  the  discussion 
of  details,  sought  to  transform  Hungary  at  one  stroke  of  the 
pen  from  a  mediaeval  to  a  modern  state.  But  by  one  of  the 
brutal  ironies  of  history,  the  two  principles  which  underlay 
the  great  awakening  of  1848  were  in  Hungary  enrolled  upon 
opposite  sides.  Constitutional  government  found  its  cham- 
pions in  the  Magyars,  the  idea  of  nationality  in  the  non- 
Magyar  races.  The  spirit  of  autocracy  and  reaction  was  thus 
enabled  to  recover  from  its  first  reverses  and  to  sow  discord 
among  the  forces  of  progress.  The  suicidal  intolerance  of 
Kossuth   and   his   followers   drove   Croat   and   Serb,   Slovak, 

'^  Rudolf  Horvat,  Najnovije  Doha  Hrvatska  Povjesii  (The  Latest 
Period  of  Croatian  History),  p.  161. 

3*  Memoirs  of  Oiegovic,  p.  46.  Cit.  Zagorsky,  Franfois  Racki  et 
la  Renaissance  de  la  Croatie,  p.  17.  On  another  occasion  he  ex- 
pressed himself  as  unable  to  find  Croatia  on  the  map.  {See  Smicik- 
las,  Poviest  Hrvatska,  ii,  p.  480.)  Kossuth's  Slavophobe  tenden- 
cies are  all  the  more  remarkable  considering  his  own  purely  Slovak 
origin.  His  uncle,  George  Kossuth,  was  a  Slovak  minor  poet,  and  Louis' 
knowledge  of  the  Slovak  language  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  in  his 
early  days  at  Pest  he  attended  the  sermons  of  the  Slovak  poet-pastor 
in  the  Lutheran  church .  See  Tkalac,  Jugenderinnerungen  aus  Kroatien, 
who  heard  this  from  Kossuth's  own  lips. 

31 


CROATIA   BEFORE   1849 

Roumanian  and  Saxon  alike  into  the  arms  of  Austria.  Nor 
was  it  surprising  that  these  races  should  turn  with  aversion 
from  the  Hungarian  Parliament,  with  its  fiery  zeal  for  the 
extension  of  the  Magyar  language,  and  rest  their  hopes  upon 
the  centralist  constitution  proclaimed  from  Vienna,  under 
which  the  equal  rights  of  all  nationalities  in  the  Habsburg 
Monarchy  were  solemnly  guaranteed.  Nothing  illustrates  so 
startlingly  the  Magyar  tendency  to  ride  roughshod  over  the 
.sister  nation,  as  the  fact  that  at  Kossuth's  instance,  the  very 
name  of  Croatia  was  omitted  from  the  new  electoral  law, 
while  the  counties  of  "  Koros,  Zagrab  and  Varasd  "  (=  Kri- 
zevci,  Zagreb  and  Varazdin)  figured  in  the  list  of  Hungarian 
counties,  as  though  there  were  no  such  thing  as  Croatian 
autonomy.  That  the  complete  destruction  of  this  autonomy 
was  the  Magyars'  objective,  became  apparent  from  the  approval 
which  greeted  Tamoczy,  the  delegate  for  Nyitra  county, 
when  he  openly  expressed  the  hope  that  the  Croatian  Diet 
would  cease  to  exist,  and  that  thus  the  distinction  between 
Hungary  and  Croatia  would  vanish.^^ 

More  especially  the  Croats  had  no  alternative  save  to  support 
Austria  ;  for  the  laws  of  1848  infringed  Croatian  autonomy 
at  every  turn.^^  Their  delegates  at  Pressburg  insisted  that 
many  of  the  most  serious  innovations  required  ratification 
by  the  Croatian  Diet  ;  but  their  protests  were  contemptuously 
ignored  by  the  majority,  and  the  close  of  the  session  sent 
them  home  to  Zagreb  full  of  the  bitterest  resentment  towards 
the  Magyars.^' 

At  this  critical  moment  fortune  provided  the  Croats  with 
a  national  leader  of  real  ability.  In  the  early  days  of  March 
Gaj  had  led  a  Croat  deputation  to  Vienna  to  plead  for  separa- 


^^  Pesty,  "Die'Ensteh.ungCroatiens"{Ungarische Revue,  1882,  p.  174). 

^*  Notably  Law  V  (Franchise),  XVII  (Local  Government),  XXII 
(National  Guard)  and  XXVII  (re-erection  of  the  special  "  seadistricts  "  of 
Fiiime  and  Buccari) .  The  electoral  law  treated  Croatia  as  an  integral  part 
of  Hungary,  not  entitled  to  any  special  treatment.  Eighteen  deputies 
were  assigned  to  Croatia,  nine  to  the  Slavonian  counties,  eleven  to  the 
Military  Frontiers  and  two  to  the  towns  of  Fiume  and  Osijek   (Esseg). 

2'  The  delegate  Ozegovic  had  boldly  declared  :  "I  feel  that  the  time 
for  convictions  is  over,  and  that  the  honourable  Estates  will  have  to 
do  with  the  firm  resolve  of  the  allied  kingdoms."  Soon  after,  during 
the  debate  on  the  conferring  of  citizenship,  Kossuth  used  the  same 
phrase  with  which  he  had  met  the  Serb  deputation,  "  Between  us  only 
the  sword  can  decide."  {See  Pliveric,  op.  cit.  p.  179.  Smiciklas,  op. 
cit.  p.  477). 

32 


jellaCiC 

tion  from  Hungary  and  for  the  formation  of  Southern  Slav 
state  under  the  direct  sovereignty  of  the  Emperor  ;  and  it 
seems  to  have  been  indirectly  upon  Gaj's  advice  that  the 
Court  acted  in  filling  the  vacant  post  of  Ban  of  Croatia  (March 
23),  on  the  very  day  when  Count  Batthyany  formed  the  first 
responsible  Hungarian  Cabinet  and  before  he  was  able  to 
exercise  any  influence  upon  the  selection.^^  The  appointment 
of  Baron  Joseph  Jellacic,  then  still  a  comparatively  obscure 
officer,  proved  to  be  one  of  the  decisive  events  of  the  revolution  ; 
for  it  rallied  the  whole  south  of  the  Monarchy  against  the 
Magyars  and  cut  off  the  latter  from  the  sea  and  hence  from 
all  direct  intercourse  with  liberal  Europe. 

Jellacic  in  his  proclamation  to  the  nation  openly  declared 
that  recent  events  "  had  shaken  and  destroyed  our  relation  to 
our  ancient  ally  Hungary,  and  the  necessity  arises  of  placing 
our  alliance  with  the  Hungarian  Crown  upon  a  new  basis, 
worthy  of  a  free  and  heroic  nation  ;  till  then  the  bond  between 
us  remains  dissolved  by  the  present  Government  of  Hungary." 
No  sooner  was  he  installed  in  Agram  than  he  set  the  Magyars 
at  defiance  and  opened  negotiations  with  the  Serb  National 
Assembly  which  the  Patriarch  Rajacic  had  already  convoked 
at  Karlowitz,  entirely  without  authorization  from  Pest.  Then 
himself  following  the  Serb  example,  Jellacic  opened  the  Croa- 
tian Diet  early  in  June,  welcomed  the  seventy  Serb  delegates 
in  an  impassioned  harangue,  and  closed  in  words  of  menace 
towards  the  Magyars.  "  The  fraternal  union  of  800  years," 
he  said,  "  promises  us  a  friendly  solution  of  the  prevailing 
dispute.  But  should  the  Magyars  assume  the  role  of  oppressors 
against  us  and  our  kinsmen  in  Hungary,  then  let  them  know 
that  we  are  determined  to  follow  the  sajdng  of  our  gallant 
Ban  John  Erdody — regnum  regno  non  praescribit  leges — and 
that  we  shall  prove  to  them  with  weapons  in  our  hands,  that 
the  time  is  long  past  when  one  nation  can  rule  over  another. 
Away,  then,  with  the  Magyar  regime  of  compulsion — ^we  did 
not  recognize  it  even  before  March  15,  but  after  the  March 

^^  It  appears  to  be  certain  that  Gaj  prevailed  upon  Baron  Francis 
Kulmer  to  use  his  strong  influence  at  Court  in  favour  of  Jellacic,  and 
that  Kulmer  won  over  the  Archduke  John.  See  Horvat,  Najnovije 
Doha,  pp.  111-113.  Dr.  Friedjung  in  his  Geschichte  Oesterreichs  (i,  p. 
45)  ascribes  the  appointment  to  the  advice  of  Baron  Josika,  the  Tran- 
sylvanian  Aulic  Chancellor  who,  as  a  Conservative  Magyar  statesman 
looked  upon  Croatia  as  a  possible  stronghold  against  the  Revolution. 
The  influence  of  the  Archduchess  Sophia  was  also  exerted  in  his  favour. 
(Cf.  C.  E.  Maurice,  Revolutionary  Movement  of  1848,  p.  288.) 

s.s.g.  33  D 


CROATIA   BEFORE    1849 

Revolution  we  broke  and  annihilated  it."  ^^  The  Diet  appointed 
a  committee  to  consider  its  relations  to  Hungary  and  by  Article 
XI  declared  all  actions  of  the  Hungarian  Ministry  to  be  null 
and  void,  in  so  far  as  they  were  at  variance  with  the  rights 
of  Croatia  or  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Ban.  The  vague  words 
of  friendship  for  the  ancient  alliance,  in  which  the  resolution 
was  clothed,  were  not  calculated  to  allay  the  anxiety  and 
resentment  of  the  Magyars  ;  and  Batthyany  obtained  from 
the  fugitive  monarch  in  Innsbruck  a  decree  depriving  Jellacic 
of  his  dignities  until  an  inquiry  could  be  instituted.  On 
his  return  to  Agram,  however  (June  28),  the  Diet,  so  far  from 
yielding  to  the  Magyar  claims,  invested  Jellacic  with  virtually 
dictatorial  powers,  and  laid  down  that  in  any  negotiations 
the  Magyars  must  recognize  the  Triune  Kingdom  and  its 
ally  the  Serb  Voivody  as  a  free  people  independent  of  Hungary.^ 
Such  a  concession  was  obviously  not  to  be  expected  save 
from  a  beaten  foe,  and  the  negotiations  were  a  complete  failure. 
At  length  the  news  of  Radetzky's  reconquest  of  Milan  placed 
the  party  of  reaction  completely  in  the  ascendant  at  court. 
It  was  decided  to  treat  the  Magyars  as  rebels,  and  to  take 
back  by  the  sword  those  concessions  which,  it  was  argued, 
had  only  been  extorted  by  headlong  revolution  and  could 
not  be  binding  on  the  sovereign.  In  September,  1848,  Jellacid, 
restored  to  Imperial  favour  and  invested  with  high  command, 
crossed  the  Drave  at  the  head  of  40,000  men.  The  motto 
"  What  God  brings  and  a  hero's  fate  "  (Sto  Bog  dade  i  sreca 
junacka)  rallied  round  him  all  the  Croats  and  Serbs  of  the 
Monarchy. 

This  is  not  the  place  to  describe  the  course  of  events  in 
the  revolutionary  war,  nor  even  the  great  services  rendered 
by  Jellacic  and  by  the  Serb  commander  Stratimirovic  to  the 
Habsburg  cause.  The  stubborn  heroism  displayed  by  the 
Magyars  throughout  the  struggle  was  worthy  of  a  better 
cause ;  but  independence  was  a  mere  fantastic  dream  so 
long  as  both  the  dynasty  and  the  nationalities  were  opposed 
to  them.  The  meteoric  Kossuth  completely  overshadowed 
the  more  moderate  and  really  far  abler  leaders  Deak  and 
Szechenyi,  and  popularity  only  served  to  increase  his  intoler- 
ance. Thus  the  Hungarian  revolution  bore  from  the  very 
first  the  character  of  a  furious  racial  war.     On  the  one  side 

^'  Pejakovic,  Aktenstiicke,  pp.  29-30. 
*"  See  Pliveric,  op.  cit.  p.  184. 

34 


THE   BACH  SYSTEM 

stood  the  Magyars,  aided  by  a  few  Polish  exiles  and  a  section 
of  the  German  bourgeoisie,  on  the  other  side  all  the  other 
races  of  the  Monarchy. 

On  April  14,  1849,  Kossuth  committed  the  crowning  error 
of  his  career,  by  solemnly  deposing  the  Habsburgs  and  himself 
accepting  the  Governorship  of  Hungary.  The  way  was  thus 
opened  for  Russian  intervention,  and  Nicholas  I,  in  the  name 
of  outraged  legitimacy,  poured  180,000  Russian  soldiers  across 
the  Hungarian  frontier.  Then  at  the  eleventh  hour,  when 
ruin  stared  him  in  the  face,  Kossuth  laid  before  the  revolu- 
tionary Diet  at  Szeged  a  law  guaranteeing  the  free  development 
of  all  nationalities  upon  Hungarian  soil.  Here  at  length 
were  genuine  linguistic  concessions — on  paper,  and  on  paper 
that  was  worthless.  A  law  which  if  voted  in  March  '48, 
might  perhaps  have  rallied  the  whole  of  Hungary  in  support 
of  Magyar  pretensions,  was  worse  than  useless  in  July  '49, 
when  the  country  was  bleeding  from  the  wounds  inflicted 
by  a  furious  racial  war  and  when  overwhelming  masses  of 
Russian  troops  were  closing  in  on  every  side.  On  August  11 
Kossuth  renounced  his  offtce  of  governor  and  fled  into  Turkish 
territory,  leaving  the  Magyar  army  to  make  what  terms  it 
could. 

The  Szeged  concessions  contain  no  allusion  to  Croatia ; 
and  in  any  case  it  can  hardly  be  doubted  that  at  that  moment 
nothing  short  of  complete  independence  under  the  Habsburg 
crown  would  have  satisfied  Jellacic  and  his  countrymen. 
Their  hopes  were  soon  dashed  to  the  ground.  Croatia  was, 
it  is  true,  spared  the  brutal  repression  of  which  Hungary  was 
the  scene  after  the  capitulation  of  Vilagos  (August,  1849). 
But  like  the  rest  of  the  Monarchy,  it  became  the  victim  of 
that  absolutist  system  which  will  always  bear  the  name  of 
Alexander  Bach.  As  has  been  well  said,  what  the  Magyars 
received  as  punishment  was  bestowed  upon  the  non-Magyars 
as  reward.  If  the  Magyars  before  1848  had  been  bent  upon 
restricting  Croatian  autonomy,  it  was  now  dispensed  with 
altogether  by  the  central  government.  German  became  the 
language  of  administration,  of  justice,  of  education,  and  as 
under  Joseph  H,  the  Germanization  of  the  entire  Monarchy 
was  the  avowed  object  of  the  authorities. 


35 


CHAPTER   II 

The  Serbs  of  Hungary  and  Croatia 

THE  golden  era  of  the  Serb  race  extends  from  the  twelfth 
to  the  fourteenth  century.  Although  they  made  their 
way  into  the  present  Servia  and  Bosnia  as  early  as  the  seventh 
century — at  about  the  same  time  when  the  Croats  displaced 
the  Avars  further  north — they  remained  a  loosely  knit  con- 
federation of  clans,  whose  chiefs  or  zupans  were  to  all  intents 
and  purposes  independent,  though  recognizing  the  sway  of  a 
shadowy  overlord. 

The  first  Bulgarian  Empire,  under  the  powerful  Simeon 
(893-927)  and  his  successors,  reduced  the  Serbs  from  time  to 
time  to  its  obedience,  and  after  its  overthrow  Serbs  and  Bulgars 
alike  acknowledged  the  suzerainty  of  Byzantium.  But  in 
1 15 9  the  Serbs  found  their  first  great  national  leader  in  the 
person  of  Stephen  Nemanja.  In  1169  he  gained  possession 
of  Southern  Dalmatia  and  what  is  now  Montenegro,  and  after 
the  death  of  the  Emperor  Manuel  greatly  extended  his  domin- 
ions at  the  expense  of  the  Eastern  Empire,  refused  to  pay 
tribute  and  treated  as  an  independent  sovereign  with  Bar- 
barossa,  the  Crusaders  and  the  Pope.  In  1195  he  withdrew 
to  one  of  the  monasteries  on  Mount  Athos,  leaving  to  his 
younger  son  Saint  Sava  the  task  of  introducing  the  same  order 
into  the  Church,  which  he  himself  established  in  the  state. 
Saint  Sava  crowned  his  brother  Stephen  Uros  as  the  "first- 
crowned  "  King  of  Servia  (1222)  and  became  himself  the  first 
Archbishop  of  the  Servian  Church,  with  his  residence  in  Uzice, 
"  the  Servian  Mecca,"  as  Ranke  has  called  it.  His  influence 
effectively  checked  the  overtures  made  by  Innocent  III  to 
the  Servian  King,  and  finally  identified  the  cause  of  the  na- 
tional Church  with  Constantinople  rather  than  with  Rome.^^ 

*^  In  12 1 7  Uros  had  actually  been  crowned  by  a  Papal  Legate  as 
King  of  Servia,  Diocletia,  Travunia,  Dalmatia  and  Chum.  The  title 
"  Prvencani,"  or  "  first-crowned  "  bestowed  upon  him  after  his  corona- 

36 


THE   RISE   OF  SERVIA 

A  later  sovereign,  Uros  II  "  the  Great  "  (1237-1272)  hus- 
banded the  resources  of  the  Servian  state  and  staved  it  over 
the  perilous  period  of  the  Mongol  invasions.  Thus  the  country 
had  already  enjoyed  a  century  of  comparative  peace,  when 
Uros's  second  son  Stephen  Milutin  succeeded  to  the  throne 
(1275).  Milutin  pursued  an  audacious  and  utterly  unscrupu- 
lous policy  of  marriage  alliances,  putting  away  wife  after 
wife,  according  as  it  suited  his  political  aims  to  coalesce  with 
Hungary,  with  Bulgaria  or  with  Byzantium.  The  proud  Em- 
perors, from  demanding  Servia's  homage,  were  reduced  to 
begging  for  its  military  aid  ;  and  the  armies  of  Milutin  twice 
helped  to  repel  the  Turkish  onslaughts  in  Asia  Minor.  Milu- 
tin's  successor,  Uros  III  (1321-1336),  waged  continual 
war  with  his  neighbours,  and  after  inflicting  a  crushing  defeat 
upon  the  Hungarians,  finally  destroyed  the  powder  of  mediaeval 
Bulgaria  at  the  battle  of  VelbuM  (1330).  The  fallen  Czar's 
family  continued  to  rule  Bulgaria,  but  merely  as  the  docile 
vassals  of  Servia. 

But  Uros'  greatness  was  shortlived  ;  for  in  1336  he  perished 
at  the  hands  of  his  own  son.  It  was  under  these  foul  circum- 
stances that  Stephen  Dusan,*^  the  greatest  figure  in  Servian 
history,  ascended  the  throne.  Equally  distinguished  for  his 
personal  bravery  and  for  his  gifts  as  a  ruler,  a  general  and  a 
lawgiver,  Dusan  introduced  many  much  needed  reforms  at 
home,  and  at  the  same  time  by  a  daring  foreign  policy  extended 
Servia  to  its  furthest  limits.  In  the  thirteen  campaigns  which 
he  waged  against  Byzantium,  he  reduced  the  greater  part  of 
the  modern  Macedonia,  Albania  and  Montenegro  to  his  sway, 
and  even  penetrated  as  far  as  the  Gulf  of  Corinth  on  the  south 
and  almost  to  the  gates  of  Adrianople  on  the  east.  The 
jealousy  of  the  Hungarian  King  was  aroused  by  Dusan's  suc- 
cesses, and  Louis  the  Great  took  the  field  against  him.  But 
so  far  from  turning  the  tide  of  Servian  prosperity,  this  only 
paved  the  way  to  further  triumphs.  Belgrad  and  its  terri- 
tory was  wrested  from  Hungary,  and  Bosnia  reduced  to  the 
condition  of  a  vassal  state  (1350).  But  Dusan  was  politic 
enough  not  to  offend  the  powerful  Republic  of  Venice,  which 
he  recognized  as  a  valuable  ally  against  Hungary.     He  there- 

tion  by  St.  Sava,  was  intended  to  show  that  the  earlier  ceremony  was 
invaUd  and  worthless. — Kallay,  Geschichte  der  Serben,  p.  47. 

*^  More  than  one  historian  has  derived  the  name  of  Dusan  from 
duUti,  "  to  strangle."  But  it  now  appears  to  be  generally  established 
that  the  true  derivation  is  from  du§a  (soul)  and  signifies  "  darling." 

37 


THE   SERBS   OF   HUNGARY   AND   CROATIA 

fore  contented  himself  v/ith  Cattaro  as  his  chief  port  on  the 
Adriatic,  and  left  the  other  Dalmatian  towns  undisturbed. 
This  was  the  less  hardship,  since  the  East  offered  a  wider  field 
for  his  ambitions  than  the  West.  In  1348  he  had  assumed  the 
title  of  Czar  of  Macedonia  and  ruler  of  Serbs,  Greeks  and  Bul- 
gars  and  wore  the  tiara  and  other  Imperial  insignia.*^  The 
crown  of  the  East  was  his  acknowledged  aim,  and  preparations 
for  the  conquest  of  Constantinople  were  pushed  forward  on 
a  vast  scale.  In  1356  the  Servian  army  occupied  Adrianople, 
and  encouraged  by  the  panic  and  dissension  which  prevailed 
among  the  Greeks,  its  advance  guard  was  already  within 
sight  of  the  Bosphorus,  when  the  great  Dusan  died  suddenly, 
in  the  full  vigour  of  his  manhood.  The  suspicions  of  poison 
were  more  than  justified  by  the  practice  of  the  Byzantine  court, 
but  no  proof  was  ever  forthcoming. 

The  death  of  Dusan  was  followed  by  a  rapid  decline  of  the 
Servian  power.  The  very  extent  of  his  conquests  was  a  source 
of  weakness  ;  when  his  strong  hand  was  removed,  the  empire 
suffered  from  the  diseases  natural  to  an  overgrown  child. 
The  power  of  the  nobles,  and  the  rivalry  of  the  older  families 
with  Dusan's  upstart  favourites,  led  to  dissensions  within  the 
state,  with  which  the  feeble  character  of  his  son  Uros  IV  was 
quite  unable  to  cope.  Above  all,  the  progress  of  the  Turks 
in  Europe  left  no  time  for  that  internal  consolidation  which 
alone  could  have  arrested  Servia's  decay.  Bosnia,  Thessaly 
and  Albania  asserted  their  independence  :  Belgrad  was  once 
more  occupied  by  Louis  of  Hungary  :  the  Bulgars  no  longer 
admitted  their  vassalage.  The  capture  of  Adrianople  by 
Murad  I  (1360)  even  drove  the  rival  empires  into  an  unavailing 
alliance  against  the  invader, 

Uros  was  murdered  in  1367  by  Vukasin,  his  father's  most 
trusted  adviser  ;  and  only  four  years  later  the  usurper  and 
his  army  were  overwhelmed  by  the  Turks  in  the  desperate 
night  battle  of  Cernomen  (1371).  The  Nemanja  dynasty 
had  perished  with  Uros  ;  Lazar  Grbljanovic,  a  kinsman  by 
marriage,  now  became  the  last  of  the  Servian  Czars. 

The  shortsighted  policy  of  the  Christian  states  still  further 
hastened  the  fall  of  Servia  and  rendered  the  advance  of  the 
Turks  more  easy.  While  Hungary  assailed  the  northern  fron- 
tier, the  ambitious  Tvrtko  of  Bosnia  affected  to  regard  him- 
self as  the  successor  of  Dusan,  and  assumed  the  title  of  "  Ste- 

"  At  the  same  time  the  Serb  Patriarch  was  declared  independent  of 
Constantinople. 

38 


THE  TURKISH  ADVANCE 

phen  Tvrtko  in  Christ  God  King  of  the  Serbs  and  of  Bosnia 
and  the  Coastland  "  (1376).^  That  this  extremely  able  ruler 
played  only  for  his  own  hand  and  utterly  failed  to  realize  the 
significance  of  the  Ottoman  advance,  is  clearly  shown  by  his 
intrigues  in  Dalmatia  and  Croatia  during  the  anarchy  which 
followed  Louis  the  Great's  death  in  1382.  These  intrigues 
ended  in  the  submission  of  the  Dalmatian  towns  and  even 
in  his  recognition  as  King  of  Croatia  and  Dalmatia  (1390). 
But  while  he  was  engaged  in  acquiring  Clissa  or  Traii,  the 
Turkish  hordes  were  surging  across  the  Balkans,  and  the 
unhappy  Lazar  was  left  to  his  fate. 

Even  in  1386  the  Sultan  had  captured  Nis  and  exacted 
tribute  from  the  Servian  Czar.  At  length  on  June  15,  1389, 
on  the  plain  of  Kossovo,  the  famous  "  field  of  blackbirds," 
Servian  independence  found  a  sad,  but  not  inglorious  end.  The 
incidents  of  the  battle  have  inspired  countless  national  ballads  : 
to  this  day  the  exploits  of  Czar  Lazar,  the  gallant  Milos  Obilic 
and  Vuk  Brankovic  the  traitor  are  chanted  by  the  gusla- 
players  of  the  Slavonic  south  and  find  an  echo  in  the  heart  of 
every  Serb  peasant.  Lazar  fell  in  the  heat  of  the  battle ; 
Sultan  Murad  shared  his  fate  when  the  victory  was  already 
won  :  but  his  death  did  not  affect  the  issue.  Servia  was 
reduced  to  the  level  of  a  tributary  state,  and  Lazar's  son 
Stephen,  though  recognized  as  "  Despot "  by  the  new  Sultan, 
was  subjected  to  continual  humiliation.  His  sister  entered 
the  harem  of  Bayezid,  and  his  armies  were  employed  as 
Turkish  auxiliaries  against  Mirtsea  of  Wallachia  and  the 
Crusaders  of  Sigismund.^ 

If  by  the  close  of  the  fourteenth  century  there  was  little  or 
no  trace  of  the  Greater  Servia  of  Dusan's  dreams,  the  Greater 
Croatia  to  which  Tvrtko  of  Bosnia  aspired  was  equally  short- 
lived. He  died  within  a  year  of  assuming  the  Croatian  king- 
ship ;  his  brother  and  successor,  Stephen  Dabisa,  soon  found 
it  impossible  to  compete  either  with  Sigismund  of  Hungary 
or  Ladislas  of  Naples,  and  by  1393  was  satisfied  with  the 
former's  recognition  of  his  title  to  Bosnia.  In  the  earlier  years 
of  the  fifteenth  century  Sigismund  saw  himself  strong  enough 
to  assert  Hungarian  suzerainty  over  Bosnia  ;  with  the  result 
that  while  King  Tvrtko  II  fell  into  his  hands,  the  rival  claimant 

**  Klaic,  Gesch.  Bosniens,  p.  201,  He  was  recognized  as  such  by 
Venice  and  Ragusa. 

*^  At  the  Battle  of  Nicopolis  (1396)  Stephen  turned  the  scale  against 
the  Christians.  * 

39 


THE  SERBS   OF  HUNGARY  AND   CROATIA 

allied  himself  with  the  advancing  Turks.  During  the  next 
fifty  years  Servia  and  Bosnia  may  be  compared  to  a  wall  from 
which  the  mortar  crumbles  piece  by  piece. 

In  1420  Cattaro  fell  into  the  hands  of  Venice.     In  1427  the 
new  Despot  of  Servia,  George  Brankovic,  was  driven  to  acknow- 
ledge  Hungarian  suzerainty.     In   1440   Bosnia    submitted  to 
an  annual  tribute  to  the  Turks.     For  the  next  twenty  years 
the  progress  of  the  Ottoman  arms  was  arrested  by  the  heroic 
John  Hunyady  ;    but  the  splendid  terms  which  his  prowess 
had  exacted  were  rendered  worthless  by  the  treachery  of  his 
own  sovereign,  Vladislav  of  Hungary  and  Poland,  who  refused 
to  respect  a  treaty  made  with  infidels.     King  Vladislav  ex- 
piated his  breach  of  faith  on  the  field  of  Varna  (1444)  ;    but 
the  issue  of  the  battle  sealed  the  fate  of  the  Balkan  Peninsula. 
The  perjured  states  were  marked  out  for  summary  vengeance; 
and  the  fall  of  Constantinople  (1453)  which  re-echoed  through 
the  Western  world,  only  marked  a  fresh  stage  in  the  victorious 
advance  of  Mohammed  II.     George  Brankovic  had  for  close 
upon  thirty  years  eked  out  a  precarious  existence  between 
Hunyady  and  the  Turks,  between  the  rival  suzerains  in  Pest 
and  Adrianople.     Evicted  from  the  wide  domains  which  had 
owned  the  sway  of  Dusan,  he  had  made  his   headquarters  at 
Semendria,  in  the  extreme  north  of  Servia,  and  found  even 
the  strong  defences  of  that  river  fortress  too  weak  to  protect 
him  from  the  invincible  Sultan.     His  death  in  1457  was  the 
signal  for  family  dissensions  ;    his  son  Lazar  purchased  the 
Sultan's  recognition  on  the  most  humiliating  terms.     Within 
a  year  he  too  was  dead  ;    and  Stephen  Thomas,   the  King  of 
Bosnia,  who  had  thrown  in  his  lot  with  Hungary  and  the  West, 
now  obtained  from  Hunyady 's  son.  King  Matthias  Corvinus, 
the  investiture  of  his  son  Stephen  as  Despot  of  Servia.     The 
sole  result  was  to  impose  upon  himself  the  task  of  defending 
Servia  and  thus  to  involve  his  own  kingdom  in  its  inevitable 
fate.     In  1459  Mohammed    II    captured    Semendria  and  de- 
stroyed the  last  vestiges  of  Servian  independence.     Stephen  of 
Bosnia,  whom  Matthias  and  the  Pope  denounced  as  a  traitor 
for  suffering  this  disaster  to   the  Christian  arms,   sought  to 
vindicate  his  reputation  by  accepting  the  crown  from  a  Papal 
Legate  and  by  refusing  his  annual  tribute  to  the  Sultan.     In 
1463  Mohammed  overran  Bosnia  and  ordered  the  unfortunate 
Stephen  to  be  beheaded  *^ :  and  though  Matthias  soon  recovered 

**  Stephen's  mother,  Queen  Catharine,  died  at  Rome  in  1478  ;  her 
tomb  is  in  the  Ara  Coeli. 

40 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  SERVIA 

the  fortress  and  district  of  Jajce,  the  rest  of  Bosnia  and  the 
Duchy  or  Herzegovina  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Turks. 

Henceforth,  for  over  three  centuries  and  a  half,  Servia  and 
Bosnia  formed  pashaliks  of  the  Ottoman  Empire,  with  their 
seats  of  government  in  Belgrad  and  Sarajevo.  But  while  both 
were  entirely  subject  to  orders  from  Stambul,  their  treatment 
was  not  entirely  uniform.  In  Bosnia  a  considerable  section  of 
the  native  nobility  accepted  Islam,  thus  saving  their  estates 
and  acquiring  a  certain  influence  upon  local  affairs.  In  Servia, 
on  the  other  hand,  the  old  nobility  had  been  decimated  in  the 
long  wars,  and  the  few  survivors  had  no  choice  save  between 
serfdom  and  exile.  The  conquered  Servians  were  rigorously 
disarmed  ;  and  the  presence  of  the  Turkish  armies,  on  their 
way  to  perennial  wars  against  Habsburg  and  the  West,  held 
them  in  the  bonds  of  helpless  despair.  The  terrible  tribute 
of  Christian  youths,  by  which  the  Sultans  replenished  the 
ranks  of  their  Janissaries,  broke  the  spirit  of  the  nation  and 
turned  its  own  native  strength  into  an  instrument  of  enslave- 
ment. 

Even  now  the  Turkish  state  had  not  yet  exhausted  its 
expansive  forces.  Hungary,  under  her  great  King  Matthias, 
undermined  her  strength  in  onslaughts  upon  her  western  neigh- 
bours, when  she  should  have  been  husbanding  her  resources 
for  the  coming  contest.  His  weak  successors  did  nothing  to 
arrest  the  decline  ;  and  the  battle  of  Mohacs  (1526)  in  which 
Louis  II  and  the  flower  of  his  nobility  perished,  destroyed  at 
one  blow  the  independence  of  Hungary,  thus  eclipsing  the 
disastrous  records  of  Kossovo. 

The  conquest  of  Hungary  rendered  Servia's  position  still 
more  forlorn  :  for  so  long  as  a  Turkish  pasha  held  sway  in 
Buda  deliverance  was  well-nigh  impossible.  Throughout  this 
gloomy  period  of  Servian  history,  the  sole  guardians  of  national 
feeling  were  to  be  found  among  the  clergy.  The  Patriarchate, 
with  its  seat  in  Ipek,*'  survived  the  general  ruin  ;  but  the  diffi- 
culties of  its  position  increased  from  year  to  year,  until  towards 
the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century  the  Patriarch  himself, 
with  thousands  of  his  compatriots,  accepted  the  protection 
of  the  Emperor  and  migrated  northwards.  During  the  eigh- 
teenth century  the  real  centre  of  Serb  national  life  lay  within 
the  Habsburg  dominions. 

Even  under  Sigismund  the  first  Serb  refugees  had  begun 

*'  Or  Pec,  in  what  is  now  known  as  Old  Servia. 
41 


THE  SERBS   OF   HUNGARY  AND  CROATIA 

to  settle  in  Hungary,  and  in  141 2  there  was  already  a  Serb 
colony  in  Of  en  (Buda).  In  1427  George  Brankovic,  in  return 
for  his  surrender  of  Belgrad  to  the  Hungarian  Crown,  received 
enormous  grants  of  land  in  Hungary  *^  and  settled  many  of 
his  Serb  vassals  in  the  lower  plain  of  the  Tisza  (Theiss) .  When 
Servia  had  fallen  a  prey  to  the  Turks,  Stephen  Brankovic,  a 
brother  of  the  last  Despot,  was  recognized  by  King  Matthias 
as  Voivode  of  the  Hungarian  Serbs,  and  in  1471  his  kinsman 
Vuk,  confirmed  in  this  dignity,  led  a  regiment  of  Serbs  in  the 
famous  "  Black  Legion  "  of  Matthias.  During  the  next  fifty 
years  other  Voivodes  were  appointed  at  irregular  intervals  ; 
and  their  importance  is  best  illustrated  by  an  enactment  of 
the  Hungarian  Diet,^^  by  which  the  Voivode,  as  a  Baron  of 
the  Kingdom,  was  bound  to  raise  a  banderium  of  1,000  hussars 
in  time  of  war  ;  in  other  words  to  make  the  same  contribution 
as  the  King  himself.  Fresh  settlers  were  established  in  Syrmia 
in  1481,  with  liberty  to  retain  the  Orthodox  faith  and  remission 
of  the  tithes  due  to  the  Catholic  clergy  ^"  ;  while  in  1496  sixteen 
villages  of  Syrmia  were  granted  by  charter  to  the  Orthodox 
cloister  of  Krusedol.^i  After  the  defeat  of  Mohacs,  the  last 
Voivode,  Ivan  Cemovic,  took  the  side  of  Ferdinand  of  Habs- 
burg,  and  two  years  later  was  captured  and  executed  by  the 
supporters  of  John  Zapolya,  the  rival  King  of  Hungary.  No 
successor  could  be  appointed  :  for  the  Serb  settlers,  like  their 
Magyar  neighbours  of  the  Alfold,  were  submerged  by  the  Turkish 
flood.  From  1541  to  1687  a  Turkish  pasha  ruled  in  Buda,  and 
Hungary  no  longer  offered  a  refuge  for  the  Balkan  Serbs. 
During  the  sixteenth  century,  however,  Serb  monks  obtained 
permission  to  settle  in  the  Croat  districts  of  Varazdin  and 
Krizevci  (Kreuz),  and  numerous  Serb  fugitives  from  Bosnia 
and  Old  Servia  acquired  land  round  the  monastery  of  Marca, 
where  an  Orthodox  bishop  was  not  merely  allowed  the  free 
exercise  of  his  religion,  but  was  in  receipt  of  an  annual  grant 
of  300  florins. 52 

It  lies  beyond  the  scope  of  this  volume  to  describe  the  long 
and  gradual  process  by  which  the  House  of  Habsburg  reclaimed 
Hungary  for  Europe  and  the  Christian  faith.  The  religious 
strife   of  an   intolerant  age   imposed  long   delays,  and  it   was 

*^  Among  other  concessions,  he  received  a  house  in  Of  en  "pro  descensu 
et  hospito."     Cit.  Helfert,  VadRdcz,  p.  119. 

**  Art  XXII  of  1498  cit.  Stojacskovics,  Aktenstucke ,  p.  8. 
^^  Helfert,  op.  cit.  p.  119.  ^^  Stojacskovics,  p.  9. 

^2  Stefanovi(!5,  Die  Serben,  p.  66. 

42 


SERB   IMMIGRATION 

not  till  the  close  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War  that  the 
Emperors  were  free  to  devote  their  whole  energies  to  the  ex- 
pulsion of  the  Turks.  Even  then,  despite  Montecuccoli's 
splendid  victory  at  St,  Gotthard  (1661),  almost  a  generation 
elapsed  before  the  task  was  taken  up  in  earnest.  The  in- 
centive of  a  Turkish  army  before  Vienna  (1683)  roused  the 
Imperial  armies  to  aggression,  and  in  a  series  of  glorious  cam- 
paigns the  Duke  of  Lorraine,  Stahremberg  and  Louis  of  Baden 
recovered  Buda  and  expelled  the  Turks  from  Central  Hungary. 
Prince  Eugene's  first  great  victory  at  Zenta  (1697)  set  the 
seal  to  these  operations,  and  the  treaty  of  Karlovitz  left  to  the 
Turks  nothing  of  Hungary  save  the  Banat   of  Temesvar, 

On  April  6,  1690,  Leopold  I  issued  a  memorable  proclama- 
tion to  the  Christian  population  of  the  Balkan  Peninsula,  urg- 
ing them  to  rise  against  their  oppressors  and  promising  them 
his  Imperial  protection,  the  free  exercise  of  their  religion  and 
the  privilege  of  electing  their  own  voivode.  As  a  result  of 
this  summons,  the  Patriarch  of  Ipek,  Arsen  Crnojevic,  with 
36,000  Serb  famihes  migrated  to  Hungary  and  occupied  the 
now  desolate  territory  between  the  Theiss  and  Danube. ^^  The 
Imperial  charters  of  August  21,  1690,  and  August  20,  1691, 
assured  to  Leopold's  new  subjects  their  full  recognition  as  a 
nation  ^^ :  the  free  exercise  of  their  religion,  national  customs 
and  Church  calendar  ;  the  right  to  elect  their  patriarch  and 
voivode,  and  to  control  their  own  administration.^^  But  Jesuit 
influences  at  Court  led  the  Emperor  to  restrict  these  generous 
concessions.  The  first  voivode,  George  Brankovic,  was  after 
a  few  years  arrested  and  confined  till  his  death  in  the  fortress 
of  Eger.  The  office  of  voivode  remained  unfilled,  while  Arsen's 
successor,  Isaias  Djakovic,  was  forbidden  to  assume  the  Patri- 
archal name  and  had  to  rest  contented  with  the  lesser  dignity 
of  archbishop.  The  charter  of  1690  was  repeatedly  con- 
firmed,^^ but  its  contents  remained  very  largely  a  dead  letter 

^^  The  modern  county  of  Bacs-Bodrog. 

5*  Toti  denique  communitati  eiusdem  graeci  Ritus  et  Nationis 
Rascianorum,"  so  runs  the  phase.  Charles  VI  also  calls  the  Serbs  the 
"  Natio  Rasciana." 

^'  (a)  Liceatque  vobis  inter  vos  ex  propria  facultate  ex  natione  et  lingua 
Rasciana  constituere  Archiepiscopum.  (6)  Promittimus  vobis  eligendi 
Vajvodae  libertatem.  (c)  Volumos  ut  sub  directione  et  dispositione 
proprii  magistratus  eadem  gens  Rasciana  perseverare  et  antiquis  privi- 
legiis,  eidem  a  Maj.  Nostra  benigne  concessis  eiusque  consuetudini- 
bus  imperturbate  frui  valeat.     {See  Stojacskovics,  op.  cit.  pp.  17-20). 

**  In  1695  by  Leopold  himself,  in  1706  by  Joseph  I,  inijisand  1715 

43 


THE  SERBS   OF   HUNGARY   AND   CROATIA 

Freedom  of  religious  observance  was  the  only  privilege  which 
was  fully  respected,  and  this  only  in  view  of  the  keen  discontent 
aroused  by  the  court's  efforts  to  promote  a  union  with  Rome." 

The  territory  thus  occupied  by  the  Serbs  comprised  the 
southern  portion  of  the  Bacska,  the  banks  of  the  Danube, 
and  parts  of  the  counties  of  Csongrad,  Arad,  Csanad  and 
Zarand.  As  Prince  Eugene  extended  his  conquests  southward, 
fresh  colonists  were  welcomed  in  the  Banat,  and  though  many 
of  them  were  Germans  from  Swabia  and  Alsace,  the  Serbs  soon 
formed  the  most  thriving  element  in  such  towns  as  Pancsova, 
Versecz,  Kikinda  and  Becskerek. 

The  discontent  of  the  Serbs  at  the  infringement  of  their 
charter  led  to  a  rising  in  1735  ;  the  leaders  were  executed, 
and  their  rights  still  further  curtailed.  Though  regarded  in 
Vienna  as  the  direct  vassals  of  the  Crown,  they  came  more 
and  more  under  the  control  of  the  Hungarian  county 
authorities,  whose  autonomy  had  never  been  wholly  extin- 
guished even  under  Turkish  rule  and  now  began  to  regain 
its  old  dimensions.  To  check  this,  Maria  Theresa  in  1752 
created  an  Illyrian  Aulic  Council  (Hofdeputation)  at  Essek, 
for  the  conduct  of  Serb  affairs,  but  as  not  a  single  one  of  its 
members  was  Serb,  it  was  greeted  with  indifference  by  the 
people  itself.  After  an  experiment  of  twenty-five  years,  this 
council  was  abolished,  and  its  powers  were  transferred  to  the 
Aulic  Chancellory  in  Vienna  (1777).  In  the  same  year  a  new 
constitution  was  granted  to  the  Serb  Orthodox  Church  (Regu- 
lamentum  Privilegiorum),  but  was  badly  received  by  both 
clergy  and  laity. 

The  year  1777  also  saw  a  re-organization  of  the  "  Military 
Frontiers,"  which  had  gradually  been  formed  along  the  Save 
and  Danube  as  a  barrier  against  the  Turks,  and  half  of  whose 
inhabitants  were  Serbs.  The  famous  race  of  Granitchars, 
or  Frontiersmen,  was  the  outcome  of  these  measures. ^^  Every 
male  inhabitant  was  at  once  a  peasant  and  a  soldier,  holding 

by  Charles  VI  (III  of  Hungary)  and  in  1743  by  Maria  Theresa.  {See 
Stojacskovics,   op.  cit.  p.   15. 

*'  From  this  period  date  the  two  Uniate  Churches  of  Hungary,  that  of 
the  Roumanians,  with  its  centre  in  Blaj  (Balazsfalva)  in  Transylvania 
and  that  of  the  Ruthenes  in  IMunkacs. 

5®  According  to  Fenyes,  Statistik  des  Konigreichs  Ungarn,  in  1843,  the 
eight  frontier  districts  of  Croatia  had  a  total  population  of  527,752, 
of  whom  246,687  were  Serbs  :  in  the  two  frontier  districts  of  Slavonia 
92,986  out  of  162,898  were  Serbs,  and  in  the  two  remaining  Hungarian 
frontier  districts  90,132  out  of  152,990, 

44 


SERB  DEMANDS 

his  lands  direct  from  the  Crown  and  subject  throughout  Hfe 
to  mihtary  discipHne.  Their  officers  formed  in  time  of  peace 
the  local  authorities,  under  the  generalates  of  Agram  and 
Peterwardein  ;  while  the  supreme  control  of  the  entire  system 
rested  with  the  Ministry  of  War  in  Vienna. 

One  consequence  of  the  collapse  of  Joseph  11 's  centralist 
experiments  was  the  re-establishment  of  the  Illyrian  Aulic 
Chancellory  at  Vienna  in  1790.  At  the  national  Serb 
congress  which  was  allowed  to  meet  at  Temesvar  in  Sep- 
tember of  that  year,  the  demand  of  an  autonomous  Serb 
Voivody  was  openly  expressed,  although  their  leader,  Sava 
Tokoly,  opposed  it  on  the  ground  that  the  Hungarian 
Estates  would  never  tolerate  the  erection  of  such  a  state 
within  the  state.  His  prophecy  was  only  too  well  founded. 
Yielding  to  the  pressure  of  the  Diet,  Leopold  H  abolished 
the  Illyrian  Chancellory  after  it  had  been  only  sixteen  months 
in  existence,  and  transferred  all  Serb  affairs  to  the  Hungarian 
Chancellory.  The  sole  compensation  for  this  infringement  of 
their  ancient  charters,  was  a  law  passed  by  the  Diet,  granting 
Hungarian  civil  rights  to  members  of  the  Orthodox  Church 
and  removing  all  the  religious  disqualifications  from  which  they 
had  hitherto  suffered. 

The  Serbs  thus  found  full  recognition  for  their  religion,  but 
not  for  their  nationality.  Their  former  claims  were  not  for- 
gotten, but  the  Napoleonic  wars  drove  politics  into  the  back- 
ground and  the  Serbs  sought  an  outlet  for  their  activity  in 
commercial  and  literary  enterprise.  During  the  first  half 
of  the  nineteenth  century  most  of  the  trade  of  Southern  Hun- 
gary was  in  their  hands,  and  they  still  possessed  a  relatively 
larger  middle  class  than  any  of  the  other  nationalities  of  the 
Banat  and  the  Bacska. 

During  the  eighteenth  century  Karlovci  (Karlovitz),  as 
the  seat  of  the  historic  though  dormant  Patriarchate,  became 
the  true  centre  of  Serb  culture  and  extended  its  influence  to 
the  provinces  still  subject  to  the  Turks.  The  connexion 
between  Servia  and  the  Serbs  under  Habsburg  rule  grew  more 
intimate.  The  first  liberator  of  modem  Servia,  Kara  George, 
had  served  in  an  Austrian  free  corps.  The  first  officials  of  the 
new  principality  were  largely  recruited  among  the  Serbs  of 
Syrmia  and  the  Banat.  The  first  books  and  newspapers  which 
penetrated  into  Servia,  came  from  the  Serb  printing  presses  of 
Buda  Karlovitz,  and  Vienna.  The  first  insurrection  in  Turkish 
Servia  (1805)  received  the  help  of  many  well-wishers  across 

45 


THE   SERBS   OF   HUNGARY   AND   CROATIA 

the  Danube  ;  and  when  Kara  George  and  his  supporters  were 
forced  to  fly  (1813)  it  was  in  Austrian  territory  ^^  that  they 
found  a  refuge. 

The  growth  of  national  feehng,  which  formed  so  conspicuous 
a  feature  of  the  nineteenth  century,  was  as  marked  among  the 
Serbs  of  Hungary  and  Croatia-Slavonia  as  among  the  Magyars 
themselves.^"  The  steady  encroachments  of  the  Magyar  lan- 
guage were  as  keenly  resented  in  the  Banat  as  in  Croatia  or 
among  the  Slovaks  of  the  northern  counties,  and  the  intoler- 
ance with  which  the  Croat  delegates  were  treated  by  the  Mag- 
yars at  the  famous  Diet  of  1847-8,  caused  great  excitement 
among  the  Serbs.  Soon  after  the  first  news  of  the  revolution 
had  reached  the  south,  the  town  councils  of  Neusatz,  Pancsova, 
Karlovitz  and  Semlin  introduced  Serb  as  the  language  of  their 
official  business.  A  meeting  in  Neusatz  drew  up  the  wishes 
of  the  Serb  people  under  seventeen  heads  :  and  it  was  decided 
to  send  a  deputation  to  Pressburg  to  lay  them  before  the  Diet. 
On  April  8  the  Serbs  were  admitted  to  the  floor  of  the  House, 
and  the  leader  of  the  deputation,  Alexander  Kostic,  declared 
that  his  compatriots  were  ready  to  risk  their  blood  for  the 
Crown  of  Hungary.  But  the  cheers  with  which  this  declara- 
tion was  greeted  were  outbalanced  by  the  uncompromising 
attitude  of  the  ministry.  In  their  private  audience  with  Kos- 
suth, they  insisted  that  the  Serb  nation  regarded  the  recognition 
of  its  language  as  essential.  "  What  do  you  understand  by 
'  nation  '  ?  "  inquired  Kossuth.  "  A  race  which  possesses  its 
own  language,  customs  and  culture,"  was  the  Serb  reply,  "  and 
enough  self-consciousness  to  preserve  them."  "  A  nation 
must  also  have  its  own  government,"  objected  Kossuth. 
"  We  do  not  go  so  far,"  Kostic  explained  ;  "  one  nation  can  live 
under  several  different  governments,  and  again  several  nations 
can  form  a  single  state."  To  this  the  minister  replied  that  the 
government  would  not  concern  itself  with  the  language  of  the 
home  and  would  not  even  object  to  minor  ofhces  being 
held  by  non-Magyars,  but  that  the  Magyar  interest  de- 
manded that  no  second  race  should  be  recognized  as  a  nation. 
Several  of  the  deputation  expressed  the  fear  that  open  resist- 
ance might  ensue  if  the  southern  Slavs  should  be  disappointed 

s'  The  Military  Frontiers,  being  under  the  direct  control  of  Vienna, 
may  be  accurately  described  as  Austrian  up  to  their  incorporation  in 
Croatia. 

«°  For  some  account  of  the  rise  of  Magyar  nationality  and  its  conflicts 
with  Slav  national  feeling,  see  my  Racial  Problems  in  Hungary. 

46 


"THE   SWORD   WILL  DECIDE" 

in  their  hope  that  the  new  situation  was  to  end  all  compulsion 
in  the  matter  of  language.  "  If  the  just  claims  of  the  Serb 
nation  are  not  regarded  by  the  Magyars,"  blurted  out  the  young 
Stratimirovic,  "  we  shoidd  be  compelled  to  seek  recognition 
elsewhere  than  at  Pressburg."  Kossuth's  famous  rejoinder, 
"  In  that  case  the  sword  will  decide,"  put  an  end  to  the  dis- 
cussion and  gave  the  first  signal  for  the  racial  war.^^ 

The  appointment  of  Jellacic  as  Ban  of  Croatia  was  hailed 
with  delight  among  the  Serbs.  Disturbances  broke  out  in 
the  Bacska  :  at  Szent  Tomas  and  elsewhere  the  hated  Magyar 
registers  were  publicly  burnt,  the  Orthodox  clergy  assisting 
at  the  bonfire.  An  irregular  committee  was  formed  at  Neusatz, 
and  its  members,  accompanied  by  a  large  crowd  chanting 
the  old  Serb  ballads  of  Marko  Kralje\dc,  made  its  way  to 
Karlovitz  and  summoned  the  Archbishop  to  convoke  a  national 
assembly.  On  May  13,  1848,  this  met  at  Karlovitz ;  the 
original  charters  of  Leopold  I  were  solemnly  read  aloud  before 
the  assembled  crowd,  and  amid  general  enthusiasm  Archbishop 
Rajacic  was  acclaimed  as  Serb  Patriarch,  and  Colonel  Suplikac 
as  Voivode.  The  ancient  dignities  of  the  race  having  thus 
been  restored,  the  assembly  passed  a  series  of  resolutions, 
declaring  the  Serb  nation  as  "  pohticaUy  free  and  autonomous 
under  the  House  of  Austria  and  Crown  of  Hungary,  and 
demanding  the  restoration  of  the  Voivody,  and  its  union  with 
the  Triune  Kingdom.  A  central  committee  (Glavni  Odbor) 
was  elected  to  devise  a  scheme  of  union,  and  deputations 
were  appointed  to  present  a  loyal  address  to  the  Emperor 
and  to  attend  both  the  Croatian  Diet  and  the  Slav  Congress 
in  Prague.^2  Next  day  the  committee  began  its  sittings  in 
presence  of  the  Patriarch.  Orders  from  Pest  forbidding  the 
assembly  had  only  arrived  after  it  was  over  :  a  summons  from 
the  Commissioner  of  Neusatz  to  the  Patriarch  to  renounce 
his  illegal  position,  was  committed  unanswered  to  the  flames. 
On  May  18,  George  Stratimirovic  was  elected  president  of 
the  committee,  which  took  the  name  of  "  provisional  adminis- 
tration."    The   youthful   president — he   was   only    26 — came 

"  Die  Serbische  Bewegung  in  Siid-Ungarn,  pp.  57-9.  Helfert,  Vad 
Rdcz,  p.  132. 

^^  A  notable  feature  of  these  resolutions  is  the  formal  expression  of 
sympathy  with  the  national  claims  of  the  Roumanians.  Soon  after 
the  Committee  issued  a  proclamation  to  the  Germans  of  South  Hungary, 
assuring  them  that  they  need  have  no  fear  for  their  nationality.  [See 
Serbische  Bewegung,  pp.  82  and  88.) 

47 


THE   SERBS   OF   HUNGARY   AND   CROATIA 

originally  of  a  Serb  family  settled  in  Albania  and  had  resigned 
his  commission  as  an  Austrian  hussar  officer,  in  order  to  make 
a  runaway  marriage.  But  though  fiery  and  erratic,  he  had 
already  shown  political  capacity  and  application,  and  he 
rapidly  became  the  life  of  the  movement  for  resistance  to 
the  Magyars. 

The  Magyar  Government  not  unnaturally  took  alarm  at 
the  course  of  events  ;  the  assembly  of  May  15  was  declared 
an  act  of  rebellion,  a  new  Serb  congress  was  convoked  at 
Temesvar  on  June  27,  and  General  Hrabowsky  and  the  local 
authorities  received  orders  to  suppress  the  movement  by 
force.  The  Vice-Sheriff  of  Temes,  a  renegade  Serb  named 
Saba  Vukovic,  was  specially  zealous  in  establishing  courts 
martial  and  in  arming  the  Magyar  population  as  a  national 
guard. 

The  Patriarch  Rajacic,  at  the  head  of  a  deputation,  was 
present  at  the  opening  of  the  Croatian  Diet  on  June  5  ;  he 
was  acclaimed  by  the  people  of  Zagreb,  and  actually  attended 
High  Mass  in  the  Cathedral,  where  the  Catholic  Bishop  Ozegovic 
sang  the  Te  Deum  in  Old  Slavonic.  The  following  week  he 
appeared  before  the  Emperor  at  Innsbruck,  but  Magyar 
influences  constrained  Ferdinand  to  receive  him  with  cold 
civility. 

During  the  absence  of  Rajacic,  all  control  rested  with  Strati- 
mirovic,  who  on  June  10  answered  the  Magyars  by  a  call  to 
arms.  Small  committees  sprang  up  in  every  district,  officers  were 
appointed,  and  a  kind  of  national  Serb  militia  was  formed 
which  attracted  hundreds  of  disciplined  fighters  from  the 
Military  Frontiers  and  even  volunteers  from  the  Principality 
of  Servia,  under  General  Knicanin.  Throughout  July  and 
August  there  was  desultory  fighting  between  Serbs  and  Magyars 
throughout  the  south  of  Hungary.  Hideous  excesses  were  com- 
mitted on  both  sides,  and  it  is  of  little  importance  to  discover 
where  they  originated.  Certain  it  is  that  the  Magyar  authorities 
displayed  extreme  severity  towards  the  non-Magyar  races  and 
virtually  challenged  all  who  had  any  spirit,  to  take  the  Austrian 
side.  Equally  certain  is  it  that  the  Serbs  took  a  ferocious 
vengeance  for  the  execution  of  their  leaders  ^^  and  the  illtreat- 
ment  of  their  peasantry.  Serious  Magyar  historians  accuse 
the  Serbs  of  burning  alive  and  even  impaling  some  of  their 

*3  On  July  17,  Stanimirovic  and  another  Serb  of&cer  were  hanged 
at  Temesvar.     {See  Serbische  Bewegung,  p.  1T4.) 

48 


THE  SERB   VOIVODY 

victims.**  On  the  other  hand,  the  Serb  apologists  describe  in 
plentiful  detail,  how  wounded  Serb  prisoners  and  even  old 
women  were  bound  to  the  stake  for  days  in  blazing  sunshine. 

Maurice  Perczel,  known  to  the  Serbs  as  "  the  hyaena  of 
Kovilj,"  ^  ordered  on  a  single  day  in  March,  1849,  the  execution 
of  45  Serb  prisoners,  including  several  women.**  As  many  as  299 
Serbs  were  thus  put  to  death  without  trial,*'  and  Kossuth  seems 
at  one  time  during  the  war  to  have  seriously  entertained  the 
idea  of  exterminating  the  Serbs  of  the  Banat  and  the  Bacska 
and  colonizing  the  vacant  territory  with  the  soldiers  of  his 
national  militia.  Over  the  horrors  of  this  racial  war  it  is 
well  to  draw  a  veil  of  silence. 

When  Jellacic  commenced  his  autumn  campaign  against 
the  Magyars,  the  Serbs  were  organized  under  Austrian  officers, 
and  proved  of  great  assistance  to  the  Imperial  cause.  But 
the  long  delay  in  the  recognition  of  their  national  claims  was 
not  without  a  depressing  effect  upon  the  Serbs  ;  and  it  was 
doubtless  this  consideration  which  prompted  the  Imperial 
manifesto  of  December  15,  1848.  "  Our  brave  and  loyal 
Serb  nation,"  said  the  Emperor,  "  has  at  all  times  gloriously 
distinguished  itself  by  its  devotion  to  our  Imperial  House 
and  by  heroic  resistance  to  all  enemies  of  our  Throne  and 
Empire.  In  recognition  of  these  services  and  as  a  special  mark 
of  our  Imperial  favour  and  regard  for  the  existence  and  well- 
being  of  the  Serb  nation,"  the  old  titles  of  Patriarch  and 
Voivode  are  revived  and  duly  confirmed  to  Archbishop  Rajacic 
and  General  Suplikac.  This  concession  is  to  be  regarded 
as  a  guarantee  of  Serb  national  autonomy,  whose  introduction 
will  be  one  of  the  monarch's  first  concerns  after  the  restoration 
of  peace.  Suplikac  scarcely  survived  the  news  of  his  recog- 
nition by  the  Emperor  :  the  Patriarch,  who  himself  conducted 
the  dead  Voivode's  body  to  its  last  resting  place  beside  the 
tomb  of  George  Brankovic,  found  himself  the  sole  official 
representative  of  Serb  national  claims.  The  military  duties 
of  Suplikac  were  assigned  provisionally  to  the  Austrian  Colonel 
Mayerhofer,  but  the  office  of  Voivode  remained  unfilled. 

When  Hungary  had  at  last  been  reduced  to  submission,! 

**  Iranyi  and  Chassin,  Histoire  politique  de  la  Revolution  en  Hongrie, 
ii,  p.  45. 

**  Helfert,  op.  cit.  p.   192. 

*'  At  the  Court  Martial  of  Szente, 

•'  See  Fried] ung,  Geschichte  Oesterreichs,  p.  231,  quoted  from  the 
of&cial  hst  in  the  Wiener  Zeitung,  of  August  28,  1850. 

S.S.Q.  49  z 


THE  SERBS   OF   HUNGARY   AND   CROATIA 

the  promises  of  the  December  Manifesto,  unUke  so  many 
others  exacted  during  the  Revolution,  were  carried  into  execu- 
tion. By  a  decree  of  November  i8,  1849,  the  Banat  and 
Bacska  were  separated  from  Hungary,  and  formed  into  an 
autonomous  Serb  Voivody,  with  its  seat  of  government  in 
Temesvar.  But  this  experiment  was  from  the  first  doomed 
to  failure.  Instead  of  restricting  the  new  province  to  Serb 
territory,  it  was  made  to  include  large  tracts  of  country  where 
no  Serb  was  to  be  found — the  county  of  Krasso,  where  75  in 
every  100  inhabitants  were  Roumanian  and  10  German,  the 
county  of  Torontal,  the  northern  half  of  which  was  peopled 
by  Magyars,  Germans  and  Roumanians.  Such  racial  boun- 
daries as  did  exist,  were  deliberately  ignored  :  one  race  was 
to  be  played  off  against  the  other,  according  to  the  foolish 
old  methods  of  Austrian  Absolutism.  The  attempts  of  Jellacic 
to  connect  the  new  province  with  Croatia  and  the  Military 
Frontiers,  merely  brought  him  into  collision  with  Haynau, 
as  commander-in-chief  in  Hungary.  All  that  he  could  effect 
was  that  the  three  Slavonian  counties  ^^  were  reunited  with 
Croatia.  The  seat  of  the  Serb  Patriarchate,  Karlovitz,  was 
thus  excluded  from  the  Voivody,  an  arrangement  which  was 
most  distasteful  to  Rajacic  and  the  Orthodox  Church.  The 
artificial  nature  of  the  new  province  and  its  reactionary  con- 
stitution created  universal  discontent,  alike  among  the  Serbs, 
the  Magyars,  the  Germans  and  the  Roumanians.  The  result 
was  continual  friction,  in  which  all  the  progressive  elements 
tended  to  range  themselves  on  the  side  of  the  constitutional 
movement  in  Hungary. 

With  the  collapse  of  the  Bach  System  in  i860,  the  sorry 
experiment  came  to  an  end.  The  Voivody  was  reincorporated 
with  Hungary.  Little  as  they  had  appreciated  the  previous 
ten  years,  the  Serbs  bitterly  resented  their  desertion  by  Vienna. 
The  National  Congress,  when  it  met  at  Karlovitz  in  April, 
1 861,  was  openly  hostile  to  Austria  and  to  Schmerling,  and 
eagerly  espoused  the  cause  of  the  Magyar  Liberals.  Svetozar 
Miletic,  already  the  recognized  leader  of  the  Hungarian  Serbs, 
pled  the  cause  of  union  in  his  newspaper  Srpski  Dnevnik  ®^  at 
Neusatz,  and  trusted  to  the  honour  and  generosity  of  Deak 
and  Eotvos  to  secure  free  recognition  for  the  Serb  nationality 
and  religion  within  the  bounds  of  the  Hungarian  state.  His 
trust  in  those  two  statesmen  was  not  misplaced,  but  unhappily 

*^  Excepting  the  districts  of  Ruma  and  Illok  in  Syrmia. 
**  Afterwards  Zastava. 

50 


SERB  CULTURE 

they  could  not  bind  their  successors,  and  the  law  guaranteeing 
the  equal  rights  of  the  nationalities,  which  was  so  prominent 
a  feature  of  the  settlement  of  1867-8,  remained  on  paper 
and  was  never  carried  into  effect. 

The  history  of  the  Serbs  in  Hungary  since  i860  is  one  of 
slow  decay.  Shut  out  from  all  political  influence,  they  found 
in  their  Church  autonomy  the  sole  outlet  for  the  expression 
of  national  individuality.  The  economic  changes  of  the  last 
fifty  years  have  not  been  to  their  advantage,  and  while  Magyariz- 
ation  has  thinned  their  ranks,  there  has  been  a  corresponding 
decline  in  the  birthrate  of  the  Serb  peasantry.  Meanwhile 
the  older  culture  of  Neusatz  and  Karlovitz  exercised  a  powerful 
influence  upon  the  neighbouring  principality  of  Servia.  The 
founder  of  Servian  education,  Dositej  Obradovic  (1739-1811) 
was  a  native  of  the  Banat,  and  only  crossed  the  Danube  on 
the  invitation  of  Kara  George,  the  insurgent  chief.  The  founder 
of  Servian  philology,  the  Southern  Slav  Grimm,  Vuk  Karadzic, 
though  born  in  Servia,  spent  the  greater  part  of  his  life  upon 
Austrian  soil  and  drew  his  inspiration  from  Dalmatia,  Bosnia 
and  Slavonia,  while  the  acknowledged  chief  among  Serb  poets, 
Zmaj  Jovan  Jovanovic,  was  a  native  of  Hungary  and  lived 
in  Agram.  The  pioneer  of  Serb  literary  societies,  the  Matica 
Srpska,  was  founded  at  Pest  in  the  year  1826,  and  remained 
for  many  years  the  only  institution  of  its  kind.  Even  since 
its  removal  from  Pest  to  Neusatz  (Ujvidek)  in  1864,  it  has 
fully  maintained  its  reputation  for  scientific  and  scholarly 
work. 

Neusatz  no  longer  retains  its  distinctively  Serb  character, 
the  Magyar  and  German  elements  in  the  town  having  increased 
rapidly  in  the  last  half  century.  Serb  culture  tends  to  con- 
centrate more  and  more  in  Belgrad  on  the  one  hand,  and  at 
Zagreb  and  Sarajevo  on  the  other,  and  such  lesser  centres  as 
Neusatz  and  Karlovitz  must  inevitably  suffer.  But  while 
the  triangular  rivalry  of  these  three  capitals  has  many  evil 
effects  in  the  field  of  politics,  its  influence  upon  literary  effort 
can  only  be  welcomed  ;  for  so  long  as  it  does  not  lead  to 
each  ignoring  the  products  of  the  other  two,  it  cannot  fail 
to  introduce  variety  and  contrast  into  literature  and  art,  and 
thus  tends  to  counteract  that  curse  of  Southern  Slavonic  life 
the  provincial  outlook. 


51 


CHAPTER   III 

The  Era  of  Experiment  (1849-18  6  8) 

Non  Regno,  verum  Regi. 

THE  name  of  Illyria  vanished  in  the  storms  of  revolution. 
It  had  from  the  first  made  its  appeal  to  the  educated 
classes  only ;  to  the  vast  mass  of  the  population  it  conveyed 
little  or  no  meaning.  Not  even  the  most  conservative  peasantry 
in  the  world  can  be  roused  to  enthusiasm  by  ideas  that  have 
lain  dormant  for  2,000  years  ;  and  to  the  Croat  peasant  Ill^Tia 
meant  no  more  than  Dalriada  to  the  Highland  crofter.  But 
the  idea  which  underlay  "  Illyrism  " — the  perception  of  the 
essential  unity  of  the  race,  despite  its  numerous  political 
barriers  and  despite  ecclesiastical  cleavage — this  idea  could 
not  be  suppressed  and  soon  found  a  new  and  more  hopeful 
expression  in  the  Yougo-Slav  movement.  The  Croatian 
clergy  has  always  been  in  the  forefront  of  the  battle  ;  but 
never  has  this  fact  been  so  nobly  exemplified  as  in  the  case 
of  Bishop  Strossmayer,  whose  whole  life  was  devoted  to  further- 
ing the  cause  of  Yougoslavism.  During  the  years  of  reaction 
and  change  which  preceded  the  constitutional  settlement  of 
1868,  Strossmayer  devoted  himself  tirelessly  to  the  task  of 
fostering  the  tender  plant  of  Croatian  culture  ;  and  though 
in  later  life  his  political  influence  waned,  his  striking  personality 
has  impressed  itself  indelibly  upon  the  life  of  the  nation. 
Almost  all  that  is  ideal  in  the  Croatia  of  to-day  is  his  work. 
For  ten  years  (1850-1860)  the  Bach  system  lay  like  an  evil 
nightmare  upon  the  Habsburg  Monarchy.  Militarism  unre- 
deemed by  leadership,  clericalism  in  the  undiluted  form  of 
an  all-embracing  Concordat,  Germanization  as  a  fatal  canker 
in  an  administration  which  not  even  the  most  hostile  critic 
would  dare  to  call  corrupt — such  were  the  main  features  of 
this  period  of  transition,  from  which  Croatia  suffered  at  least 
as  much  as  the  sister  kingdom.  Absolutism  thus  converted 
into  terms  of  bureaucracy,  was  from  the  first  morally  bank- 

52 


"GOD   AND   THE  CROATS" 

rupt ;  and  the  disastrous  Italian  campaign  of  1859  led  to  a 
complete  collapse  of  the  system.  But  with  the  dawn  of  con- 
stitutional government  in  the  Monarchy,  the  difficulties  of 
Croatia's  position  were  greatly  increased,  and  it  tended  to 
become  a  mere  pawn  in  the  political  game  between  Vienna 
and  Budapest.  The  October  Diploma  of  i860  offered  a 
reasonable  compromise  between  the  principles  of  federalism 
and  historic  tradition,  and  Strossmayer  and  his  party  were 
not  alone  in  welcoming  it.  The  new  Ban,  Sokcevic,  the  former 
adjutant  of  Jellacic,  one  of  whose  earliest  steps  had  been  to 
introduce  the  Croatian  language  into  the  administration  and  the 
schools,  now  summoned  a  conference  of  fifty-five  leading  politi- 
cians, to  discuss  the  electoral  law  and  to  give  voice  to  the 
wishes  of  the  nation.  To  its  three  chief  demands — the  recog- 
nition of  the  national  language,  the  union  of  Dalmatia  with 
Croatia,  and  the  establishment  of  a  Croatian  Chancellory  in 
Vienna — the  sovereign  sent  a  highly  favourable  reply ;  and 
preparations  were  already  being  made  in  Agram  for  the  recep- 
tion of  Dalmatian  delegates,  when  a  complete  reversal  of 
policy  took  place  at  Vienna.  The  February  Patent  of  1861 
represents  a  desperate  effort  to  reclothe  the  worn-out  centralist 
system  of  Bach  with  constitutional  forms,  to  establish  the 
German  hegemony  as  the  keystone  of  the  constitution.  The 
elections  to  the  Croatian  Sabor  took  place  under  the  impressions 
of  this  sudden  change.  The  strongest  group  in  the  new 
House,  the  National  Liberal  Party,  led  by  Bishop  Strossmayer 
and  the  historian  Racki,  viewed  Vienna  and  Budapest  with 
almost  equal  distrust  and  thus  held  the  balance  between  the 
Independents  (under  Cardinal  Haulik  and  the  poet  Mazuranic) 
who  adhered  to  the  centralist  programme,  and  the  Unionists 
or  "  Magyarones  "  under  Baron  Levin  Ranch.  The  resent- 
ment and  suspicion  which  the  long  years  of  the  Bach  regime 
had  aroused  against  Vienna  were  rekindled  into  flame  by 
the  disappointment  of  the  February  Patent ;  and  the  memories 
of  Jellacic's  exploits — perhaps  too  the  resounding  phrase  of 
those  days,  "  Italia  fara  da  se  " — led  the  Croat  leaders  to  over- 
estimate their  strength,  and  to  alienate  Austria  without  making 
any  special  effort  to  conciliate  Budapest.  This  tendency 
was  strikingly  illustrated  by  the  words  of  Antony  Starcevic, 
who  now  first  came  into  note  as  the  leader  of  the  ultra-Croat 
opposition :  "  To  exist,  Croatia  only  needs  God  and  the 
Croats  "  (Bog  i.  Hrvati).'°  It  is  the  tragedy  of  small  nations 
'"  Horvat,  op.  cit.  p.  205. 
53 


THE  ERA   OF  EXPERIMENT 

that  such  ideals  are  mere  will-o'-the-wisps,  leading  them  into 
the  quagmire  of  foreign  domination. 

Yet  the  historic  phrase  of  Starcevic,  with  its  superb  defiance 
of  practical  possibilities,  fired  the  imagination  of  the  nation 
and  still  figures  as  a  distant  ideal.  He  and  his  adherents 
founded  the  Stranka  Prava  (the  Party  of  Rights),  which 
upheld  an  unbending  theory  of  Croatian  independence  ;  and 
to-day  this  party,  despite  the  dissensions  and  the  lack  of 
talent  within  its  ranks,  still  occupies  a  position  of  great  impor- 
tance in  Croatian  politics,  and  might,  if  it  could  but  purge 
itself  of  fanatical  and  self-seeking  elements,  exercise  a  decisive 
influence  upon  the  future  of  the  Croato-Servian  race. 

Meanwhile  the  tactful  attitude  of  the  Magyars,  and  notably 
the  admission  of  the  great  Deak,'^^  that  Croatia  occupied  "  an 
altogether  special  position  and  had  never  been  incorporated 
in  Hungary,"  were  not  without  their  effect  upon  the  Croats, 
whose  foolish  policy  of  coquetting  alternately  with  Vienna 
and  Budapest  led  eventually  to  their  being  jilted  by  both 
suitors.  The  debate  on  the  Address  ended  in  the  unanimous 
refusal  of  the  Diet  to  send  delegates  to  the  Reichsrat ;  and 
the  central  government,  to  whom  the  appearance  of  the 
Croats   would    have   been   a   valuable    counterpoise    to   the 

'^  A  strange  myth  has  arisen,  that  Deak  offered  the  Croats  "  a  blank 
sheet,"  on  which  to  inscribe  their  wishes  and  demands.  Ferenczi  in  his 
Life  of  Dedk  (iii,  p.  350)  proves  that  he  never  used  the  expression. 
Paul  Somssich,  however,  in  the  Hungarian  debate  on  the  Address  (1861), 
used  the  phrase :  "I  am  of  opinion  that  we  shall  again  come  to  an  under- 
standing with  Croatia  ;  till  then  we  keep  for  it  a  blank  page  in  our  con- 
stitution, but  never  will  we  enter  the  sphere  of  reproaches  or  compul- 
sion." (Cit.  Pliveric,  p.  215.)  Deak's  views  upon  Croatia  may  be  best 
studied  in  his  German  pamphlet,  Denkschrift  iiber  das  Verhdliniss 
zwischen  Ungarn  und  Croatien  (Vienna,  1861).  In  the  first  address 
to  the  Throne,  drafted  by  Deak  and  submitted  to  the  Hungarian 
Parliament  on  May  13,  1861,  the  following  passage  occurs  :  "Croatia 
possesses  its  own  territory  and  has  a  special  position,  and  was  never 
incorporated  in  Hungary,  but  stood  in  a  relation  with  us  and  was 
our  ally,  who  shared  in  our  rights  and  our  duties,  our  good  fortune 
and  our  miseries.  If  then  Croatia  now  wishes  as  a  country  to  take 
part  in  our  legislation  ;  if  further  it  wishes  to  clear  up  with  us  those 
conditions  under  which  it  is  prepared  to  connect  its  constitutional  posi- 
tion with  Hungary ;  if  it  wishes  intercourse  with  us,  as  nation  with 
nation,  we  shall  not  rebuff  it.  We  only  wish  that  Croatia  should  not 
be  prevented  from  sending  its  delegates  to  our  Parliament,  and  that 
both  we  and  they  should  have  the  opportunity  of  commencing  negotia- 
tions on  a  constitutional  basis."  {See  Deak,  BeszSdei,  iii,  p.  47.) 
Nothing  could  be  more  conciliatory 

54 


THE   PERSONAL  UNION 

abstention  of  the  Magyars,  had  no  alternative  but  to  dis- 
solve the  Diet  (November  8,  1861).  The  only  real  fruit 
of  the  Diet  of  1861  was  Article  XLII,  which  gave  the 
Royal  sanction  to  the  assertion  "  that  every  bond,  whether 
it  be  legislative,  administrative  or  judicial,  between  the 
Triune  Kingdom  of  Dalmatia-Croatia-Slavonia  and  the 
Kingdom  of  Hungary  has  in  consequence  of  the  events 
of  1848  legally  ceased  to  exist."  '^^  The  sole  caveat  to  this 
weeping  declaration  is  that  one  and  the  same  coronation 
ceremony  shall  suffice  for  Hungary  and  Croatia.'^^  In  other 
words,  the  Personal  Union  in  its  extremest  form  was  upheld 
by  Croatia,  and  its  existence  was  admitted  by  the  sovereign. 
Those  patriots  to  whom  the  written  letter  of  the  law  signified 
more  than  its  practical  execution — and  this  class  of  patriot 
has  always  been  plentiful  in  the  Dual  Monarchy — were  doubt- 
less overjoyed  by  such  unreserved  recognition.  Far-sighted 
politicians  must,  however,  have  been  aware  that  such  recog- 
nition was  worthless,  unless  it  could  be  upheld  in  the  teeth 
of  Magyar  opposition,  and  that  this  was  only  possible  if  Croatia 
flung  itself  unreservedly  into  the  arms  of  Austria. 

Schmerling,  it  is  true,  under  the  stress  of  Magyar 
opposition,  did  in  so  far  court  the  favour  of  the  Southern 
Slavs  as  to  create  an  Aulic  Chancellory  for  Croatia  and 
Dalmatia,  and  to  erect  a  supreme  court  of  appeal  in  Agram. 
But  even  this  could  not  undo  the  bad  effect  of  his  earlier 
intrigues  in  Dalmatia,  where  he  had  encouraged  more  or 
less  openly  the  Italian,  or  Autonomist  Party  and  thus  virtually 
rendered  the  Unionist  movement  in  Dalmatia  ineffective  for 
another  generation.  This  unwise  policy,  following  upon  ten 
years  of  Absolutism  and  Germanization,  had  imbued  the 
Croats  with  a  mistrust  of  Vienna  so  deep  as  to  blind  them 
to  the  fact  that  the  sole  strategic  value  of  their  position  lay 
in  the  possibility  of  disturbing  the  balance  between  the  rival 
states  of  Austria  and  Hungary.  Southern  Slav  support  would, 
it  is  true,  immensely  strengthen  Hungary's  position  in  the 
struggle  for  the  restoration  of  constitutional  rights  ;  but  to 
Austria  this  support  would  prove  decisive,  since  it  would 
depress  the  balance  altogether  in  her  favour  and  enable  her, 
as  in  1848,  to  isolate  and  eventually  overcome  Magyar  recalci- 
trance. Unhappily  at  that  stage,  Austria  could  not  be  trusted, 
and  had  indeed  done  everything  in  her  power  to  deserve  dis- 

"  See  Appendix  IV. 

"  Pliveric,  p.  205;  WexiheirnQr,  Graf  Julius  Andvdssy,  if  p.  370, 

55 


THE  ERA   OF  EXPERIMENT 

trust ;  while  Hungary  possessed  in  Francis  Deak  a  statesman 
equally  distinguished  for  his  scrupulous  sense  of  honour  and 
for  his  tactful  and  conciliatory  mood  towards  Croatia.  There 
was  no  Jellacic  to  guide  events,  to  seize  occasion  by  the  hand 
and  assert  for  his  country  its  due  influence  upon  the  destiny 
of  the  Monarchy  ;  and  hence  the  Croats  rebuffed  the  advances 
of  Vienna  '^  and  tended  more  and  more  to  favour  an  alliance 
with  Budapest.  The  true  alternative  to  an  alliance  with 
Vienna  was  a  whole-hearted  and  active  co-operation  with 
the  Magyars  in  their  constitutional  demands.  But  this  was 
rendered  impossible  by  the  general  indignation  kindled  by 
the  news  of  two  encroachments  upon  Croatian  territory. 
Medjumurja — the  territory  lying  between  the  Drave,  the 
Mur  and  the  Styrian  frontier,  and  inhabited  almost  exclusively 
by  Croats — was  reunited  to  Hungary  ;  while  the  seaport  of 
Fiume,  which  had  since  1848  formed  an  integral  part  of  Croatia, 
was  now  restored  to  its  former  autonomous  position,  imder 
a  governor  appointed  from  Budapest  direct,''^  This  last  act 
was  largely  due  to  the  folly  of  the  Ban  Sokcevic,  who  had  taken 
vengeance  for  some  anti-Croat  riots,  by  placing  the  town  in  a 
state  of  siege,' ^  and  thus  played  into  the  hands  of  the  Italian 
party  and  the  Magyars. 

These  two  incidents  arrested  the  movement  in  Croatia  for 
renewed  friendship  with  Hungary  ;  and  for  the  four  years 
which   followed  the  dissolution  of  the  Croatian  Diet   (1861- 

'*  The  Croatian  Address  of  September  24, 1861,  roundly  declares  that 
it  cannot  see  in  the  Diploma  of  October  20,  i860,  anything  save  a  viola- 
tion of  the  public  law  and  the  constitution  of  the  Triune  Kingdom 
(Sulek,  Naie  Pravice,  p.  430)  and  therefore  denies  the  legality  of  the 
Reichsrat,  so  far  as  Croatia  is  concerned. 

'^  Fiume,  under  its  earlier  name  of  St.  Veit  von  Pfiaum,  had  been  a 
fief  of  the  powerful  Frankopan  family,  but  attained  to  an  autonomous 
position  towards  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century.  In  1746  Maria 
Theresa  imposed  upon  it  a  Captain  and  four  councillors,  and  assigned 
all  appeals  in  administrative  questions  to  Graz,  and  in  financial 
matters  to  Triest.  In  1776  it  was  formally  handed  over  to  Hungary, 
Count  Joseph  Mailath  being  appointed  Governor  and  High  Sheriff.  On 
October  27,  1777,  the  Croatian  Diet  entered  a  solemn  protest  against 
the  change,  but  without  effect.  Fiume's  formal  incorporation  with 
Hungary  was  at  length  carried  out  by  Article  IV  of  1807.  In  1809 
Fiume  formed  part  of  the  new  Illyria  and  after  the  expulsion  of  the 
French  it  was  not  restored  to  Hungary  till  1822.  In  1848  it  was  united 
to  Croatia.  On  this  controversy  see  Ladislas  von  Szalay,  Ziir  un- 
garisch-Kroatischen  Frage  and  Fr.  Racki,  Rieka  prenia  Hrvatskoj  (Fiume 
and  Croatia). 

"  Horvath,  p.  185. 

56 


DISPUTES   WITH   BUDAPEST 

November,  1865),  Croatian  opinion  held  suspiciously  aloof 
from  Vienna  and  Budapest  alike.  The  abstention  of  the 
Magyars  from  the  Central  Reichsrat  made  the  adherence  of 
Croatia  and  Transylvania  essential  to  the  success  of  Schmer- 
ling's  scheme.  Had  the  little  group  of  Saxon  deputies,  who 
alone  represented  the  lands  of  the  Crown  of  St.  Stephen  in 
the  Reichsrat,  been  reinforced  by  spokesmen  of  the  2,500,000 
Roumanians  of  Hungary  and  by  the  united  delegates  of  the 
soda  regna  of  Croatia-Slavonia-Dalmatia  ;  then  Schmerling 
might  with  some  plausibility  have  asserted  that  the  Reichsrat 
represented  a  large  section  of  opinion  in  Transleithania,  and 
its  description  as  a  mere  Rump  Parliament  would  have  lost 
much  of  its  force.  But  the  Croats  wasted  their  opportunity 
and  by  adopting  a  policy  of  inaction,  accustomed  the  decisive 
factors  in  the  Monarchy  to  omit  Croatia  from  their  calculations. 

The  elections  of  1865  returned  a  fresh  federalist  majority 
to  the  Sabor.  But  the  Royal  answer  to  the  Address  of  the 
new  House  was  already  tinged  by  Magyar  influence ;  it 
admitted  that  in  theory  the  Military  Frontiers  and  Dalmatia 
formed  part  of  the  Triune  Kingdom,  but  insisted  upon  the 
Sabor  regulating  its  relations  with  Hungary,  before  the  idea 
of  unity  could  be  realized.  In  conformity  with  the  Royal 
wishes,  a  committee  of  twelve  members  was  elected  by  the 
Sabor  to  negotiate  with  Hungary.  Its  president  was  Bishop 
Strossmayer,  and  one  of  its  most  prominent  members  was 
Francis  Racki  the  historian.  In  Budapest  it  met  with  a 
Magyar  commission  of  equal  numbers,  which  was  presided 
over  by  Count  George  Mailath,  but  whose  ruling  spirit  was 
Francis  Deak  (April  i6-June  22,  1866). 

From  the  first  there  prevailed  a  difference  of  opinion  between 
the  two  commissions,  the  Croats  maintaining  that  the  events  of 
1848  had  destroyed  the  legal  bond  between  the  two  countries," 
whereas  the  Magyars  would  only  admit  the  severance  de  facto, 
but  not  de  jure.  The  Croats  argued  that  "  the  Triime  Kingdom 
had  always  possessed  its  own  distinct  legislature  for  internal 
affairs,"  while  the  Magyars  merely  recognized  Croatia  as  possess- 
ing "  only  a  certain  statutory  right."  The  Hungarian  deputa- 
tion declined  to  admit  the  Croat  claim  that  "  all  laws  enacted 
by  the  Joint  Parliament  must  be  proclaimed  in  the  Croatian 
Sabor,  if  they  are  to  be  binding  upon  us  "  ;  nor  could  it  be 
induced  to  include  among  the  matters  under  discussion  the 
relationship  of  Hungary  with  Austria,  which  it  declared  to 
"  Cf.  Art.  XLII  of  1861. 
57 


THE  ERA  OF  EXPERIMENT 

be  a  matter  for  the  Budapest  Parliament.  Moreover  it 
refused  even  to  discuss  the  question  of  Medjumurje  and 
demanded  an  explicit  renunciation  of  Croatia's  claim  to  Fiume. 
Finally  Strossmayer  openly  exclaimed,  "  The  Magyars  do 
not  wish  to  have  us  beside  them  as  a  nation  with  equal  rights, 
but  under  them  as  a  subjected  nation.  The  Magyars  rely 
upon  their  friends  (the  Unionists)  in  Croatia  and  are  waiting 
for  events  abroad."  '^ 

After  two  months'  negotiations,  a  deadlock  had  been  reached, 
and  the  Croat  delegates  returned  to  Agram  without  having 
effected  anything.  Strossmayer's  view  was  accurate.  The 
imminence  of  war  with  Prussia  and  the  prospect  of  great 
changes  as  its  result,  had  rendered  the  Magyars  indifferent 
to  the  outcome  of  the  negotiations.  But  it  would  be  quite 
unfair  to  blame  them  for  this  ;  it  merely  showed  their  just 
appreciation  of  the  situation.  While  the  Croats  still  clung 
desperately  to  theory,  the  Magyar  statesmen  reckoned  with 
hard  fact  and  adjusted  their  theory  accordingly. 

The  eventful  war  of  1866  need  not  be  dealt  with  in  the  present 
volume.  The  rapid  defeat  of  Austria  by  the  Prussian  armies 
was  balanced  by  the  Archduke  Albert's  victory  at  Custozza 
and  the  still  more  brilliant  sea  action  off  Lissa,  in  which  Admiral 
Tegethoff  routed  a  superior  Italian  fleet  and  sank  his  incapable 
adversary's  flagship.  In  this  connexion  it  is  only  just  to 
point  to  the  part  played  by  the  Croat  seamen  of  Dahnatia 
and  Croatia,  upon  whom  Austria  is  more  and  more  dependent 
for  manning  her  navy. 

The  two  months  of  negotiation  in  Budapest  appear  to  have 
completely  disillusioned  the  Croat  delegates  and  to  have 
destroyed  their  belief  in  the  possibility  of  coming  to  terms  with 
the  Magyars.  The  Croatian  Diet,  when  it  met  in  November, 
1866,  boldly  assumed  the  attitude  which,  to  be  effective, 
should  have  been  adopted  at  least  four  years  earlier.  The 
Address  to  the  Throne  (December  19),  taking  as  its  point  of 
departure  Article  XLII  of  1861  {see  Appendix  IV),  expressed 
the  Diet's  readiness  "  to  enter  upon  negotiations  with  Your 
Majesty  independently  as  with  our  most  Gracious  King, 
regarding  the  relations  of  this  kingdom  with  the  Monarchy 
as  a  whole."  '^     It  furthermore  protested  against  the  attitude 

'^  Cepelic-Pavic,  /.  /,    Strossmayer,    p.   568,  cit.   Horvat,  op.   cit. 
p.  243.     See  also  Pliveric,  op   cit.  pp.  229-244. 
'*  Pliveric,  p.  425,  Sulek,  p.  400. 

58 


CROATIA  IGNORED 

of  the  Hungarian  Parliament  in  seeking  to  regulate  Hungary's 
relations  with  Austria,  without  consulting  Croatia.  The 
address  was  answered  by  a  cautious  Rescript  of  January  4, 
1867,  promising  that  the  wishes  and  demands  of  Croatia 
would  receive  careful  consideration,  but  postponing  all  decision 
till  the  result  of  negotiations  with  Hungary  had  been  sub- 
mitted.   The  Diet  was  therefore  prorogued  indefinitely. 

Croatia  was  completely  ignored  at  this  decisive  moment 
in  the  history  of  the  Dual  Monarchy.  In  February,  1867, 
Count  Belcredi's  scheme  of  Federalism  was  finally  abandoned 
and  that  statesman  was  replaced  by  Beust,  who  had"  recently 
transferred  his  services  from  the  Court  of  Dresden  to  that  of 
Vienna,  and  who  subordinated  all  matters  of  internal  poHtics 
in  the  Habsburg  Monarchy  to  the  one  absorbing  passion  of 
"  Revenge  for  Koniggratz."  Superficial  and  vain  to  a  degree, 
he  was  on  the  one  hand  childishly  susceptible  to  Magyar 
flattery  and  on  the  other  was  no  match  for  Magyar  statesman- 
ship, with  the  result  that  he  soon  persuaded  himself  that  the 
Magyars  were  the  most  suitable  instrument  for  humbling  Prus- 
sian pride  and  must  be  humoured  accordingly.  Not  possessing 
any  intimate  knowledge  of  Hungarian  problems  and  scorning 
the  details  of  racial  strife,  he  naturally  felt  no  scruples  in 
instituting  a  system  which  divided  the  spoils  of  power  between 
the  two  strongest  races  of  the  Monarchy,  at  the  expense  of 
all  the  others. 

On  February  17,  Count  Julius  Andrassy  became  the  first 
Premier  of  the  new  constitutional  regime  in  Hungary,  and 
on  March  30  the  famous  Ausgleich  or  Compromise  beween 
Austria  and  Hungary  obtained  the  sanction  of  the  Hungarian 
Parliament.^" 

Throughout  the  momentous  negotiations  which  ended  in 
the  restoration  of  harmony  between  Vienna  and  Budapest, 
Croatia  was  completely  ignored,  and  no  Croat  politician  had 
any  influence  upon  the  discussions  which  decided  the  fate  of 
the  Triune  Kingdom  as  well  as  that  of  Hungary.  Deak,  it 
is  true,  made  some  overtures  to  the  Croats,  with  the  object 
of  inducing  their  delegates  to  attend  the  so-called  "  Corona- 
tion "  Parliament ;  but,  so  far  from  showing  complaisance 
towards  Croat  demands,  he  appears  only  to  have  yielded  to 
the  persuasion  of  Andrassy,  in  offering  Croatia  more  favourable 

*"  It  cannot  be  said  to  have  acquired  full  validity  till  December, 
1867,  when  its  principles  were  also  sanctioned  by  the  Austrian  Parlia- 
ment. 

59 


THE  ERA   OF  EXPERIMENT 

terms  than  those  which  he  had  defined  during  the  negotiations 
before  Koniggratz.  The  Croats  seem  to  have  had  some  friends 
in  high  quarters,^i  though  not  in  the  highest  of  all.  But 
Beust  and  Andrassy  were  in  full  accord,  in  their  disapproval 
of  Croatian  claims  ;  and  the  Foreign  Minister,  within  a  week 
of  Andrassy's  appointment  as  Premier,  was  exliorting  the 
Ban,  Baron  Sokcevic  to  destroy  the  illusions  of  "  those  who 
aim  at  loosening  the  constitutional  link  which  has  hitherto 
existed  between  Croatia  and  the  Royal  Crown  of  Hungary, 
and  who  dream  of  the  foundation  of  a  Triune  Kingdom,  merely 
bound  loosely  to  the  Monarchy  as  a  whole."  ^^  But  for  the 
somewhat  threatening  nature  of  the  foreign  situation  and 
the  fear  of  Russian  propaganda  among  the  Southern  Slavs, 
it  is  probable  that  Croatia  would  have  received  still  scanter 
consideration.  As  it  was,  throughout  the  critical  period 
the  Croatian  Diet  was  denied  the  opportunity  of  expressing 
its  opinion  ;  having  been  prorogued  on  January  4,  1867,  it 
was  again  prorogued  on  April  11,  and  was  not  allowed  to 
meet  till  May  i,  when  it  was  already  faced  by  the  fait  accompli 
of  Dualism. 

Meanwhile  the  Hungarian  Parliament  had  defined  its  views 
upon  the  Croatian  question,  in  the  Resolution  drawn  up  and 
submitted  by  Deak  on  April  9.  It  laid  down  that  there  could 
only  be  a  single  act  of  coronation  for  the  two  countries,  and 
that  in  all  matters  at  issue  between  the  halves  of  the  recon- 
structed Dual  state  Croatia  must  ever  form  a  portion  of  the 
Hungarian  unit,  but  avoided  all  aggressive  phrases  and  con- 
cluded in  conciliatory  tones, ^^    The  Royal  Rescript  by  which 

*^  Deak  in  an  important  conversation  which  he  had  with  Beust  on 
December  20,  1866,  "  The  Ban  (Sokcevic)  rejected  contemptuously  the 
friendly  proposal  (of  Deak).  Letters  of  his,  which  had  fallen  into 
the  hands  of  a  high  personage,  showed  where  the  flames  of  discord  were 
being  fanned  from."     {See  Deak,  Beszedei,  iv,  p.   146.) 

*2  Beust  to  Sokcevic,  February  22,  1867.  Cit.  Wertheimer,  Graf 
Julius  Andrassy,  vol.  i,  p.  373).  This  booi: — one  of  the  most  import- 
ant political  biographies  of  recent  years — contains  a  valuable  account 
of  the  Hungaro-Croatian  settlement  (pp.  369-412).  Though  he  writes 
from  the  Magyar  point  of  view,  and  does  not  conceal  his  dislike  of  Stross- 
mayer  and  other  Croatian  leaders,  he  does  not  deserve  the  charges  of 
extreme  partisanship  which  have  been  made  against  him  by  the  Croatian 
Press.     Indeed,  he  generally  writes  with  admirable  moderation. 

^2  Deak,  Beszedei,  iv,  pp.  483-5.  "  The  Hungarian  Parliament  for 
its  own  part  will  ever  be  ready  both  now  and  in  the  further  course  of  the 
agreement,  to  give  to  Croatia,  Dalmatia  and  Slavonia  all  those  guarantees 
respecting  their  constitutional  and  national  claims,  which  they  can 
lawfully  and  fairly  desire." 

60 


ANDRASSY  AND  CROATIA 

the  Croatian  Diet  was  opened,  followed  similar  lines.  The 
sovereign  expressed  his  desire  "  to  preserve  undiminished 
the  historic  rights  of  our  dear  kingdoms  Croatia  and  Slavonia, 
to  secure  to  them  such  measure  of  independence  as  corre- 
sponds to  the  needs  of  their  national  development,  and  to 
offer  them  all  those  guarantees  for  their  autonomy  which 
we  deem  to  be  compatible  with  the  interests  of  our  Monarchy 
as  a  whole."  The  rescript  took  its  stand  upon  the  Pragmatic 
Sanction,  as  "  the  most  important  fundamental  law  of  the 
Monarchy,"  which  specially  emphasizes  the  integrity  of 
the  Hungarian  crown  and  the  essential  unity  of  all  its 
provinces.  The  wishes  revealed  in  the  Croatian  Address  of 
December  19,  1866 — in  other  words,  Croatia's  desire  to 
negotiate  with  the  monarch  direct,  and  to  have  a  voice  in 
the  arrangement  between  Hungary  and  Austria — are  char- 
acterized as  conflicting  with  the  Pragmatic  Sanction  ;  and 
the  hope  is  expressed  that  the  Diet  will  not  put  forward  "  such 
demands  as  would  be  apt  to  render  impossible  a  solution  " 
of  the  constitutional  difficulty.  The  Rescript  then  invites 
the  Diet  to  send  its  delegates  to  the  Hungarian  Parliament 
on  the  occasion  of  the  Coronation,  and  ends  with  the  some- 
what peremptory  command  that  they  "  should  so  hasten 
their  deliberations  that  their  delegates  could  reach  Buda- 
pest by  May  15  at  the  latest."  ^^  Count  Andrassy  made 
it  clear  that  any  officials  who,  as  members  of  the  Diet  of 
Agram,  ventured  to  oppose  the  Magyar  wishes,  as  expressed 
through  the  mouth  of  the  Sovereign,  would  be  instantly  dis- 
missed or  pensioned  .^^  Even  Strossmayer  was  threatened 
with  the  loss  of  his  Bishopric,  and  a  similar  pressure  was  put 
upon  other  leaders  of  the  Opposition.  But  although  Stross- 
mayer and  Mazuranic  absented  themselves  from  the  Diet's 
deliberations,  the  great  majority  of  its  members  passed  an 
Address  to  the  Throne  (May  18,  1867),  declining  in  respectful 
terms  to  send  any  representatives  to  Budapest,  until  an 
agreement  had  been  reached  upon  the  constitutional  relations 
between  Hungary  and  the  Triune  Kingdom.  Delegates 
were  appointed  for  the  purpose  of  meeting  a  similar  Hungarian 
delegation  and  drawing  up  conjointly  the  Coronation  Diploma, 
and  detailed  instructions  were  provided  for  their  guidance.^* 

*♦  Pliveric,  pp.  261-4  ;    Sulek,  p.  483  ;  Horvat,  pp.  238-42. 

"  His  telegram  to  the  Ban,  to  this  effect,  is  cited  by  Wertheimer, 

P-  374- 

"  See  Appendix  V. 

61 


THE  ERA   OF  EXPERIMENT 

A  week  later,  May  25,  the  Croatian  Diet  was  dissolved,  the 
Royal  Rescript  characterizing  the  demands  of  the  majority 
as  "  unrealizable,  some  of  them  altogether,  some  of  them 
owing  to  the  short  time,"  and  as  intended  to  make  all  con- 
stitutional agreement  impossible. 

On  June  8,  Francis  Joseph  was  crowned  King  of  Hungary 
with  more  than  the  usual  pomp  and  solemnity ;  but  neither 
the  Parliament  nor  the  nobility  of  Croatia  were  repre- 
sented at  the  ceremony.  Of  the  higher  Croat  clergy  only 
the  Bishop  of  Zengg  was  present,^'  while  deputations  were 
sent  by  the  towns  of  Fiume,  Osijek  (Essek)  and  Po^ega. 
The  Ban,  Baron  Sokcevic,  was  obliged  to  attend  the  Coro- 
nation, in  his  quality  of  "  Baro  Regni "  ;  but  he  was  not 
long  in  handing  in  his  resignation  (June  27). 

As  Sokcevic's  successor  Count  Andrassy,  with  whom  the 
nomination  of  the  Ban  now  really  lay,  appointed  Baron  Levin 
Ranch,  the  leader  of  the  Unionist,  or  Magyarone,  party  in 
Croatia.  His  mission  was  to  secure  the  passage  of  a  Hungaro- 
Croatian  Compromise  through  the  Diet  of  Agram.  His  repu- 
tation for  unscrupulous  energy  rendered  it  safe  to  entrust 
him  with  the  details  of  the  task.  A  majority  had  to  be 
found,  by  hook  or  by  crook ;  and  Ranch  was  anything 
but  nice  in  his  choice  of  methods.  The  most  approved 
methods  of  the  Police  State  were  revived.  All  officials, 
professors  or  schoolmasters  suspected  of  active  sympathy 
with  the  Opposition  were  transferred,  dismissed  or  pen- 
sioned.^^ The  clergy,  then  as  ever  enthusiasts  for  the 
national  cause,  were  subjected  to  intimidation  or  persecution. 
The  Opposition  Press  was  muzzled ;  and  on  August  19 
its  ablest  organ  Pozor  was  suppressed  altogether.^^  By  the 
autumn  the  ground  had  been  prepared  for  more  radical 
measures.  On  October  20  a  new  electoral  law  ^° — specially 
contrived  to  harass  and  handicap  the  Opposition — was  pro- 

"  Horvat,  op.  cit.  p.  269. 

*^  The  Slav  world  owes  Ranch  a  debt  of  gratitude,  in  that  among 
other  victims  of  his  illegal  regime,  a  young  Croat  scholar,  Vatroslav 
Jagic,  found  it  advisable  to  leave  his  native  country.  Under  happier 
circumstances  he  has  lived  to  be  acknowledged  as  the  foremost  Slavistic 
scholar  of  his  time  in  Europe.  But  he  has  also  lived  to  see  Croatia 
groaning  under  the  misrule  of  a  second  Baron  Ranch. 

*»  Horvat,  p.  274.  A  new  Croat  newspaper — Novi  Pozor — was  at 
once  founded  in  Vienna.  In  May,  1869,  Rauch  forbade  its  sale  in 
Croatia. 

*°  Sulek,  op.  cit.  pp.  cxxxvi-cxliii . 

62 


A   PACKED  DIET 

mulgated  by  arbitrary  decree  ;  and  it  was  upon  this  illegal 
basis  that  the  elections  to  the  new  Diet  took  place.  The 
whole  administrative  machine  was  of  course  enlisted  in  favour 
of  Ranch's  candidates,  the  elections  lasted  from  November 
19  to  December  23,  and  wholesale  bribery  and  corruption 
decimated  the  ranks  of  the  Opposition.  Out  of  sixty-six 
elected  deputies ^1  no  fewer  than  thirty-four  were  officials; 
the  National  Party  had  shrunk  to  a  tiny  group  of  fourteen 
members, ^2  while  Star ce vie  and  Mrazovic,  the  two  leaders  of 
the  Radical  and  anti-Magyar  wing  were  not  allowed  to  secure 
seats  in  the  new  House. 

The  Diet  met  in  Agram  on  January  8,  1868  :  and  the  Opposi- 
tion feeling  its  impotence  and  nettled  by  the  contempt  with 
which  the  majority  treated  its  protests  against  the  arbitrary 
change  in  the  franchise,  decided  to  adopt  the  fatal  policy  of 
abstention.  Its  spokesman  declared  in  the  opening  sitting, 
that  "  in  withdrawing  from  the  House,  we  protest  against  all 
the  decisions  of  this  Sabor,  composed  on  an  unconstitutional 
and  illegal  basis.  Standing  inalienably  upon  Article  XLII 
of  the  year  1861  (see  Appendix  IV)  and  upon  His  Majesty's 
Rescript  of  November  8,  1861,  we  protest  against  the  sub- 
ordination of  the  Triune  Kingdom  to  the  Kingdom  of 
Hungary."  93 

In  spite  of  Strossmayer's  disapproval,  the  whole  Opposition, 
with  the  exception  of  two  members,  withdrew  from  the  House  ; 
and  the  majority  was  left  in  undisputed  possession  of  the 
field.  The  deputation  elected  on  January  30  to  resume  the 
negotiations  with  Hungary,  consisted  exclusively  of  Unionists  ; 
and  though  they  still  took  the  much-cited  Article  XLII  of 
1861  as  their  point  of  departure,  their  acceptance  of  the  Magyar 
draft  of  the  proposed  Hungaro-Croatian  compromise  was  of 
course  from  the  first  a  foregone  conclusion.  A  minority 
among  the  Croat  delegates,  it  is  true,  held  out  for  financial 
autonomy,  and  Deak  was  not  indisposed  to  make  the  con- 
cession. But  a  majority  was  content  to  leave  the  draft 
virtually  unaltered,  and  its  reference  to  a  joint  committee 
was  very  largely  a  matter  of  form.  On  one  point  only  did 
the  Croat  delegates  stand  firm — the  question  whether  Fiume 

'^  As  opposed  to  the  hereditary  members. 

'^  Including  Racki  the  historian  and  Dr.  Michael  Polit,  then  a  young 
Serb  advocate,  now  the  veteran  champion  of  the  Serbs  of  Southern 
Hungary,  and  once  more  member  of  the  Hungarian  Parliament  from 
1906  to  1910. 

*^  Polic,  Parlam.  Povfest,  ii,  pp.  20-21. 

63 


THE  ERA  OF  EXPERIMENT 

should  belong  to  Croatia  or  to  Hungary ;  and  it  will  be  seen 
that  paragraph  66  of  the  Compromise  postponed  the  final 
settlement  of  this  vital  issue  till  a  subsequent  occasion.^^ 
On  September  24,  1868,  after  a  debate  lasting  three  days, 
the  measure  was  adopted  en  bloc  by  the  Croatian  Diet,  with- 
out going  into  committee,  and  by  69  votes  to  4.^^  Four  days 
later  it  received  the  unanimous  sanction  of  the  Hungarian 
Parliament. 

**  The  sinister  history  of  this  paragraph  is  narrated  on  page  81. 
»5  Horvat,  p.  276 ;  Zagorsky,  p.  96. 


64 


CHAPTER   IV 

The    Compromise     between    Hungary    and 
Croatia  (1868) 

IN  the  preceding  chapter  I  have  attempted  to  summarize 
the  main  incidents  of  Croatian  constitutional  develop- 
ment and  indirectly  to  prepare  the  reader  for  the  view  that 
the  claims  and  aspirations  of  Croatian  parties  at  the  present 
day  are  not  merely  based  upon  some  modem  theory  of  the 
rights  of  nationality,  but  upon  the  persistent  traditions  of 
eight  centuries.  It  may  be  objected  that  the  recital  of  ancient 
claims  and  privileges,  which  in  no  way  correspond  to  actual 
practice,  is  of  merely  academic  value.  Yet  in  a  country  of 
such  composite  character  and  mixed  races  as  Austria-Hungary, 
constitutional  law — best  referred  to  under  the  convenient 
German  name  of  Staatsrecht — exercises  a  powerful  influence 
upon  political  development ;  and  its  formulae,  even  when 
most  inaccurate  or  extravagant,  cannot  be  ignored  with 
impunity,  as  they  might  be  in  our  own  country,  where  public 
men  are  too  often  ignorant  even  of  such  fundamental  laws  as 
the  Scottish  or  Irish  Acts  of  Union. 

If  this  be  my  apology  for  the  preceding  chapter,  none  should 
be  required  for  its  successor,  in  the  course  of  which  I  propose 
to  analyse  the  Compromise  of  1868.  Whatever  may  be  its 
shortcomings  or  omissions,  this  document  has  for  over  forty 
years  formed  the  basis  of  Hungaro-Croatian  relations  and, 
as  an  essential  supplement  to  the  more  famous  Ausgleich 
between  Austria  and  Hungary,  forces  itself  upon  the  attention 
of  all  students  of  the  Dual  Monarchy  and  of  all  politicians 
who  are  interested  in  the  future  of  the  Southern  Slavs. 

In  reply  to  the  extremists  who  deny  the  validity  of  the 
Compromise,  it  must  at  once  be  conceded  that  it  rests  upon 
the  most  doubtful  legal  basis ;  for  the  assembly  which  sanc- 
tioned it  owed  its  existence  to  an  illegal  revision  of  the  fran- 

s.s.Q.  65  F 


COMPROMISE  BETWEEN  HUNGARY  AND  CROATIA 

chise  by  arbitrary  decree,  and  to  wholesale  electoral  corruption 
and  intimidation  of  the  very  grossest  kind.  On  the  other 
hand,  it  is  equally  true  that  the  franchise  upon  which  the 
earlier  Diets  of  1861  and  1865  were  elected  had  originally 
been  promulgated  by  Jellacic  in  1848,  even  if  they  subsequently 
received  the  unanimous  sanction  of  the  elected  body.  But 
whether  lawful  or  illegal,  the  Compromise  subsists  in  practice, 
and  must  be  seriously  reckoned  with,  so  long  as  the  short- 
sighted policy  of  Viennese  statesmen  permits  the  Dualist 
System  to  continue  in  its  present  form.  In  other  words,  the 
more  advanced  claims  of  Croatia  must  be  treated  as  tem- 
porarily in  abeyance  ;  and  for  the  present  our  attention  must 
be  confined  exclusively  to  the  strict  letter  of  the  law  which 
regulates  her  relationship  with  the  sister  kingdom  of  Hungary. 

The  exact  juridical  nature  of  the  Compromise  has  formed 
the  subject  of  much  lively  controversy.  Many  Magyar 
politicians  and  publicists  affect  to  regard  it  simply  as  one  of 
the  many  laws  upon  the  Hungarian  statute  book,  and  subject, 
like  them,  to  parliamentary  revision  when  occasion  arises ; 
while  the  Croats  are  practically  unanimous  in  treating  it  as 
a  solemn  contract  between  two  parties  enjoying  theoretical 
if  not  actual  equality.  In  view  of  the  explicit  terms  of  the 
preamble  to  the  Act,  it  is  difficult  to  understand  how  any  one 
can  venture  to  deny  the  theory  of  contract.  "  An  agreement 
having  been  reached,  by  joint  decision,  between  the  Parliament  ^* 
of  Hungary  on  the  one  hand  and  the  Parliament  of  Croatia- 
Slavonia  and  Dalmatia  on  the  other  hand  with  a  view  to 
composing  the  constitutional  questions  pending  between 
them,  this  agreement,  after  being  approved,  confirmed  and 
sanctioned  by  His  Imperial  and  Apostolic  Royal  Majesty,  is 
hereby  inarticulated  as  joint  fundamental  law  of  Hungary 
and  Croatia-Slavonia-Dalmatia."  So  runs  the  preamble  to 
Law  XXX  of  the  Hungarian  Parliament,  which  had  already 
received  the  sanction  of  the  Croatian  Diet,  as  Article  I  of 
the  same  year. 

The  preamble  is  carefully  worded  in  order  to  suggest  full 
parity  between  the  contracting  parties,  and  the  whole  pro- 

*»  The  latter  received  the  Royal  sanction  on  November  8,  the  former 
on  November  17,  1868.  It  should  be  noted  that  the  Magyar  text 
employs  the  same  word — orszaggyiiles — to  describe  both  assemblies. 
This  would  seem  effectively  to  dispose  of  the  modern  Magyar  Chauvinist 
argument,  that  the  Diet  of  Agram  is  no  Parliament  in  the  true  sense 
of  the  word.    In  Croat  the  word  "Sabor"  is  applied  to  both. 

66 


CROATIA'S   INTERNATIONAL  POSITION 

cedure  adopted  to  pass  the  Compromise  into  law,  confirms 
the  view  that  it  is,  in  the  words  of  the  concluding  paragraph, 
a  "joint  fundamental  law"  of  Hungary  and  the  Triune 
Kingdom,  duly  inscribed  as  such  upon  the  statute  books  of 
the  two  countries.  On  the  other  hand,  it  lays  down  equally 
clearly  that  Croatia  and  Slavonia  have  belonged  for  centuries, 
alike  de  jure  and  de  facto,  to  the  Crown  of  St.  Stephen,  and 
that  "  the  lands  of  the  Hungarian  Crown  are  inseparable 
from  one  another." 

A  large  section  of  Croatian  opinion  contests  this  view ; 
while  Magyar  opinion  declines  to  recognize  any  distinction 
between  the  Crown  of  St.  Stephen "  ^^  and  "Hungary"  in 
the  narrow  sense,  thus  arriving  at  the  conclusion  that  Croatia 
is  a  mere  province  of  Hungary.  The  contention  of  the  Croatian 
Diet,  upheld  firmly  for  centuries,  is  summed  up  in  the  brief 
phrase,  "  Regi,  non  Regno." 

This  pronouncement,  which  completely  ignores  the  Croatian 
Pragmatic  Sanction  of  1712  and  treats  the  Hungarian  Prag- 
matic Sanction  as  alone  binding  upon  the  two  countries, 
follows  closely  upon  the  lines  of  the  Austro-Hungarian  Aus- 
gleich,  which  employs  the  phrases  "  Hungary  and  its  annexes  " 
(Nebenlander) ,  and  "  the  lands  of  the  Hungarian  Crown  "  as 
identical  and  as  forming  a  single  unit  in  the  sense  of  the 
Pragmatic  Sanction.  The  preamble  may  thus  be  described 
as  a  compromise,  in  the  fullest  meaning  of  the  word,  between 
the  two  extreme  views  ;  for  while  assuming  the  parity  of 
the  two  parties  to  the  treaty,  it  at  the  same  time  pronounces 
their  union  to  be  indissoluble. 

This  unity  once  admitted,  it  must  naturally  follow  that, 
in  the  words  of  paragraph  i,  "  Hungary  and  Croatia-Slavonia 
and  Dalmatia  form  one  and  the  same  state-complex  {Staats- 
gemeinschajt)  ^^  alike  in  their  position  towards  the  other  terri- 
tories under  His  Majesty's  rule  and  towards  other  countries." 
Thus  so  far  as  international  affairs  are  concerned,  Hungary 
and  Croatia  form  a  single  unit ;  but  in  all  internal  matters 
each  of  the  two  states  preserves  its  identity,  Croatia  being 
expressly  recognized  as  a  "  political  nation  possessing  a  special 
territory  of  its  own  "  (§  59).  And  again  in  section  29  of  the 
Law  of  Nationalities  (1868,  XLIV)  as  "  a  separate  nation 
from  a  pohtical  point  of  view."     In  constitutional  questions 

*'  Despite  the  mystical  qualities  which  they  assign  to  the  CrowTi  in 
any  discussion  of  their  differences  with  Austria. 
*'  allamkozosseg  ;    drzavna  zajednica. 

67 


COMPROMISE  BETWEEN  HUNGARY  AND  CROATIA 

analogies  are  always  of  doubtful  value,  and  as  a  matter  of 
fact  there  is  no  real  analogy  among  the  existing  states  of 
Europe  to  the  relationship  between  Hungary  and  Croatia.®* 
Croatia  can  only  be  regarded  as  a  sovereign  state,  shorn  by 
its  own  act  of  certain  attributes  of  sovereignty.  Its  powers 
would  seem  to  distribute  themselves  under  three  heads  : — 

1.  Common  affairs  between  Hungary  and  Austria,  for 
which  Croatia  forms  an  integral  part  of  the  Transleithan  unit 
and  is  only  free  to  communicate  with  Austria  or  the  outer 
world  through  the  medium  of  Budapest — its  executive  control 
being  almost  nil  and  even  its  legislative  control  being  limited 
to  the  presence  of  three  Croat  members  in  the  Hungarian 
Delegation, 

2.  Common  affairs  between  Hungary  and  Croatia,  which 
lie  within  the  province  of  the  Joint  Parliament  of  Budapest, 

3.  Autonomous  affairs,  over  which  the  Diet  of  Agram 
enjoys  the  exclusive  control. 

I  now  propose  to  examine  the  Hungaro-Croatian  Com- 
promise from  these  three  points  of  view,  including  within 
my  survey  the  four  revisions  of  the  years  1873  (Art,  XXXIV), 
1881  (Art.  XV),  1889  (Art.  XL).  1891  (Art.  XXVII),  and 
the  three  Croatian  articles  of  1869  (II),  1870  (II)  and  1888 
(September  29),  which  deal  with  the  composition  and  powers 
of  the  autonomous  Government  and  Diet  of  Agram. 1°° 

A.      AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN   COMMON   AFFAIRS 

Under  §  4  Croatia  is  obliged  to  recognize  as  valid  and  binding 
the  Ausgleich  of  1867  (in  its  Hungarian  form,  as  Art.  XII  of 
the  Hungarian  Parliament),  and  also  the  three  Acts  (XV, 
XVI,  XVII,  1867)  regulating  the  commercial  and  financial 
relations  of  the  two  halves  of  the  Monarchy,  all  of  which  had 
been  concluded  between  Austria  and  Hungary  without  Croatia 
being  consulted.  In  return  for  this  recognition,  however, 
Hungary  inserted  the  explicit  pledge  that  "  in  the  future 
fundamental  laws  and  agreements  of  this  nature  can  only  be 
concluded  under  the  lawful  collaboration  of  Croatia-Slavonia 
and  Dalmatia."  i°i 

•*  With  the  possible  exception  of  Finland  and  Russia. 

"0  A  careful  English  translation  of  the  Compromise  will  be  found 
in  Appendix  VI. 

^»'  This  paragraph  contains  an  interesting  distinction  between  Common 
Affairs  (between  the  territories  of  the  Crown  of  St.  Stephen  and  the  other 
territories  of  His  Majesty)  and  "  afEairs  which  are  not  common  but  are 

68 


CROATIA'S  POSITION  IN  THE  MONARCHY 

As  an  interesting  example  of  the  manner  in  which  this 
pledge  has  been  fulfilled,  it  may  be  pointed  out  that  Croatia 
has  never  been  consulted  on  the  occasion  of  any  of  the  revisions 
of  the  Austro-Hungarian  Ausgleich,  and  that  during  the 
winter  of  1907,  when  the  commercial  Ausgleich  was  renewed, 
the  Croatian  constitution  was  actually  in  abeyance,  as  the 
result  of  a  quarrel  conjured  up  by  another  equally  flagrant 
violation  of  the  Hungaro-Croatian  Compromise  on  the  part 
of  the  Hungarian  Government. ^"^ 

This  enables  us  to  realize  the  disadvantages  from  which 
Croatia  suffers,  owing  to  the  fact  that  she  was  confronted 
with  a  fait  accompli  in  respect  of  the  joint  affairs  of  the  Mon- 
archy. There  is  absolutely  no  machinery  for  securing  to 
Croatia  even  the  means  of  approach  to  the  central  organs 
of  Government  in  the  Monarchy — the  Joint  Ministries  of 
Foreign  Affairs,  War  and  Finance — still  less  to  ensure  her 
being  consulted  even  when  matters  of  the  most  vital  interest 
to  all  Southern  Slavonic  countries  are  under  consideration. 
A  very  practical  illustration  was  afforded  by  the  crisis  of 
1908,  when  Croatian  interests  were  completely  ignored  at 
headquarters,  though  the  Croat  and  Serb  race  would  have 
been  the  main  sufferer  if  a  war  with  Servia  had  resulted  from 
Baron  Aehrenthal's  policy. 

The  joint  executive  is  responsible  to  those  clumsiest  and 
most  unreal  of  constitutional  machines,  the  Delegations,^"^ 
in  which  Croatia  is  only  represented  by  five  members  and 
can  therefore  exercise  no  real  influence  upon  their  legislative 
proceedings,  or  upon  those  executive  changes  on  which  the 
Delegations  may  insist. ^"^  From  the  Magyar  standpoint  this 
is  an  essentially  wise  and  desirable  arrangement  ;   but  it  is  of 

to  be  disposed  of  by  common  agreement."  This  was  undoubtedly- 
intended  by  its  framers  to  be  conciliatory,  but  since  then  conciliation 
has  given  place  to  compulsion. 

1"  See  Chapter  VIII. 

103  Xwo  Committees  of  sixty  members  each,  elected  annually  by 
the  Parliaments  of  Austria  and  Hungary,  and  meeting  alternately 
in  Vienna  and  Budapest  for  the  discussion  of  all  matters  pertaining 
to  the  three  Joint  Ministries.  They  sit  and  vote  separately,  and 
only  communicate  by  "  Nuntium  "  :  in  the  event  of  a  disagreement 
there  is  a  joint  vote. 

1"*  To  judge  by  a  dispute  which  arose  in  October,  19 10,  there  is 
nothing  to  prevent  the  Hungarian  Government  from  filling  all  five 
places  (four  from  the  Lower  and  one  from  the  Upper  House)  with  its  own 
nominees,  and  thus  excluding  Croat  opposition  opinion  from  the 
Delegations, 

69 


COMPROMISE  BETWEEN  HUNGARY  AND  CROATIA 

course  quite  irreconcilable  with  even  the  most  moderate 
Croat  theory  of  state. 

In  other  words,  Croatia,  though  recognized  as  "  a  political 
nation  possessing  a  special  territory  of  its  own,"  has  no  part 
in  the  Central  legislature  and  executive  of  the  Monarchy  and 
exercises  absolutely  no  control  over  it.  The  Joint  Ministers 
stand  or  fall  according  to  the  wishes  of  Vienna  or  Budapest. 
The  Monarchy  embarks  upon  a  momentous  Southern  Slav 
policy,  involving  European  issues  ;  but  the  Southern  Slavs 
are  not  consulted.  The  financial  and  commercial  interests 
of  this  "  special  territory  "  are  not  represented  at  headquarters. 
The  Ban  of  Croatia,  himself  a  nominee  of  the  Hungarian 
Premier  (§51),  is  only  entitled  to  communicate  with  the  Sovereign 
through  the  medium  of  the  Minister  for  Croatia,  who  of  course 
also  holds  his  seat  in  the  Hungarian  Cabinet  at  the  will  of 
the  Premier  (§  44).  Thus  a  Magyar  barrier  may  be  said  to 
exist,  shutting  off  Croatia  from  the  outer  world,  and  depriving 
her  of  the  very  slightest  influence  upon  the  councils  of  the 
Monarchy  as  a  whole. 

It  would  be  absurd  to  blame  the  Magyars  for  thus  limiting 
Croatian  independence.  According  to  their  reading  of  con- 
stitutional law,  Croatia  has  for  centuries  formed  an  integral 
part  of  the  Crown  of  St.  Stephen,  and  any  concessions  of 
autonomy  are  a  free  gift,  not  a  privilege  legally  exacted. 
The  interests  of  Hungary  are  paramount,  and  they  alone  are 
to  be  consulted.  But  it  would  be  still  more  absurd  to  expect 
the  Croats  to  regard  with  anything  but  extreme  aversion  an 
arrangement  which  places  them  at  the  mercy  of  a  country 
whose  economic  interests  are  diametrically  opposed  to  their 
own. 

II.    Hungaro-Croatian  Common  Affairs 

If  we  turn  from  Croatia's  share  in  the  affairs  of  the  Monarchy 
as  a  whole — a  share  which  can  hardly  even  be  said  to  exist 
at  all — to  her  share  in  affairs  common  to  the  whole  of  Trans- 
leithania,  it  will  be  found  that  the  framers  of  the  Compromise 
conceived  it  in  what  from  the  Magyar  standpoint  can  only 
be  described  as  exceedingly  liberal  terms,  and  that  it  con- 
tains all  the  elements  of  a  true  federal  union  of  two  equal 
sovereign  states. 

At  the  same  time  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  whole 
conception  of  "  terms  "  granted  by  one  party  to  the  other, 
infringes  the  theory  of  contract  and  is  therefore  highly  dis- 

70 


CROATIA'S   REPRESENTATION   IN   BUDAPEST 

tasteful  to  the  Croats.  In  their  view,  the  Compromise  ought  to 
embody  the  rights  which  they  have  enjoyed  (at  least  in  theory) 
for  centuries,  not  the  concessions  which  they  have  obtained 
from  an  allied  nation. 

Hungary  and  Croatia  possess  a  Joint  'Government  (ge- 
meinsame  Regierung)  (§  3),  and  in  all  joint  affairs  the  legis- 
lative power  belongs  to  the  Parliament  of  Budapest,  which 
therefore  should  in  strict  parlance  be  known  as  the  Hungaro- 
Croatian  Parliament.  In  it  Croatia  is  represented  by  forty 
delegates  from  the  Diet  of  Agram.^^^  who  only  sit  when  matters 
relating  to  the  whole  of  Transleithania  are  under  discussion  and 
retire  when  purely  Hungarian  measures  are  introduced  (§  31). 
These  forty  are  strictly  speaking  not  deputies  but  delegates, 
being  elected  by  the  Croatian  Diet  out  of  its  own  members, 
for  the  whole  period  of  the  Joint  Parliament. ^"^  If  meanwhile 
the  Sabor  should  be  dissolved,  the  elected  forty  continue  to 
be  members  of  the  Joint  Parliament,  until  the  new  Diet  has 
been  able  to  elect  new  delegates  (§  34).  This  provision, 
originally  inserted  merely  for  convenience'  sake,  has  become 
latterly  one  of  the  most  effective  constitutional  guarantees 
which  Croatia  possesses,  since  it  makes  it  impossible  for 
Hungary,  even  when  the  Croatian  Constitution  has  been 
entirely  suspended  (as  in  1908-1910),  to  stifle  the  free  expression 
of  Croatian  opinion  in  the  Joint  Parliament. 

All  joint  laws  are  published  both  in  Magyar  and  in  Croatian  ; 
and  the  Croat  delegates  have  the  right  to  employ  their  own 
language  in  debate  (§  59).  During  debates  on  joint  affairs, 
the  flag  of  Croatia  is  hoisted  above  the  Parliament  buildings, 
side  by  side  with  the  flag  of  Hungary  (§  62).  The  combined 
arms  of  Hungary  and  of  the  three  Southern  Slav  kingdoms 
form  the  emblem  of  the  Joint  Government  (§  61).     The  royal 


105  Article  XV,  1881,  §  2.  Under  §  22,  XXX,  1868,  the  number  had 
been  fixed  at  29  :  but  §  33  laid  down  that  in  the  event  of  either  the 
Military  Frontiers  or  Dalmatia  being  united  to  Croatia,  the  number  should 
be  increased,  in  proportion  to  the  increase  of  population.  When  there- 
fore the  Frontiers  were  united  in  i8Si,the  number  was  raised  from  29 
to  40.  On  a  basis  of  population,  there  should  then  have  been  51  de- 
puties for  Croatia-Slavonia,  which  in  1880  had  1,892,499  inhabitants 
out  of  a  total  of  15,642,102  for  Transleithania.  Ungarisches  Statistisches 
Jahrbuch  XII,  p.  18.  Forty  out  of  453  deputies  corresponds  to  8-8  in- 
stead of  11-4  per  cent. 

i"*  The  Diet  further  sends  three  of  its  members  as  delegates  to  the 
House  of  Magnates  (§  36,  modified  by  1881,  XV.  §  2). 

71 


COMPROMISE  BETWEEN  HUNGARY  AND  CROATIA 

title  "  King  of  Croatia,  Slavonia  and  Dalmatia,"  is  to  appear 
after  "  King  of  Hungary  "  on  all  Hungarian  coins  (§  64). 

The  Joint  Affairs  of  Hungary  and  Croatia  are  defined  as 
follows  (§§  6-9)  :— 

(i)  The  Civil  List. 

(2)  All  laws  relating  to  recruiting  and  military  service. 

(3)  The  financial  system. 

(4)  Coinage,  and  weights  and  measures. 

(5)  Commercial  treaties. 

(6)  All  Questions  of  Banking  and  Exchange. 

(7)  Patents,  Copyright,  etc. 

(8)  Maritime,  Commercial  and  Mining  Law. 

(9)  Customs  and  Trade. 

(10)  Post  Office  and  Telegraphs. 

(11)  Railways. 

(12)  Harbours  and  Shipping. 

The  executive  side  of  these  affairs  lies  partly  with  officials 
of  the  central  Government  and  partly  with  the  autonomous 
Croatian  authorities  (§  45)  ;  but  in  each  case,  Croatian  is  the 
official  language  for  all  officials  throughout  the  territory  of 
Croatia-Slavonia  (§  57). 

In  addition  to  the  above  affairs,  a  number  of  minor  matters 
— industrial  regulations,  passports,  citizenship  and  naturaliza- 
tion— are  placed  under  the  legislative  control  of  the  Joint 
Parliament,  but  their  supervision  lies  with  the  local  executive 

The  outward  and  visible  sign  of  union  between  Hungary 
and  Croatia  is  the  Coronation  ceremony,  which  is  to  be  a 
single  act  for  the  two  countries  (§  2).  The  Magyars  have 
always  assigned  a  peculiar  mystic  significance  to  the  Crown 
of  St.  Stephen,  and  regard  it  as  typifying  the  territorial  unity 
of  their  country.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  even  the  extremist 
Croat  politicians,  while  upholding  the  view  that  separate 
coronations  for  the  two  countries  took  place  for  many  reigns 
after  the  Union,  seem  to  raise  no  objection  to  a  joint  Corona- 
tion ceremony,  though  they  demand  Croatia's  independence 
in  all  else.  In  other  words  they  favour  the  Personal  Union, 
and  wish  the  person  of  the  Sovereign  to  be  the  sole  link  between 
Croatia  and  Hungary. 

III.    Croatian  Autonomy 
All  those  affairs  which  are  not  expressly  enumerated   fall 
under  the  sphere  of  Croatian  autonomy  (§  47).     In  efiect, 

72 


CROATIAN  AUTONOMY 

however,  this  autonomy  is  threefold — Administration,  Justice 
(with  which  Church  questions  are  combined)  and  Education 
(§  48),  each  of  which  has  a  Government  Department  of  its 
own  at  Agram,  bearing  the  character  though  not  the  name 
of  a  Ministry,  and  subject  to  the  three  sectional  chiefs,  who 
form,  under  the  Ban,  the  Croatian  equivalent  for  a  Cabinet. 
As  the  Ban  is  responsible  to  the  Diet  of  Agram  (XXX,  1868, 
§  50  and  Cro.  Art.  II,  1869,  §  9)  and  as  the  sectional  chiefs  are 
appointed  by  him  and  resign  when  he  resigns,  1°'  ministerial 
responsibility  may  be  admitted  to  form  an  essential  part  of 
Croatian  constitutional  theory  ;  but  for  reasons  which  will 
become  apparent  later,  this  responsibility  is  apt  to  become 
a  mere  farce  in  practice. 

Thus  in  three  directions  Croatia  enjoys  absolute  "  Home 
Rule,"  alike  legislative  and  administrative.  The  whole 
executive  is  organized  on  a  Croatian  basis,  in  the  national 
language  :  education,  partial  and  hampered  though  it  is  by 
lack  of  funds,  is  also  entirely  national  and  independent  of 
all  control  from  Budapest  ;  while  Croatia  has  for  centuries 
possessed  a  complete  judicial  system  of  its  own,  with  a  supreme 
Court  of  Appeal  located  in  Agram.  What  is  most  important 
of  all,  the  recognition  which  the  Compromise  secures  to  the 
Croatian  language  is  absolutely  unqualified.  Croatian  is 
recognized  as  the  sole  official  language  throughout  the  territory 
of  the  Triune  Kingdom,  and  must  be  employed  not  only  by 
all  organs  of  the  Central  Government  in  that  territory,  but 
also  in  all  communications  of  the  Central  Government  to 
any  of  the  autonomous  authorities  (§§  56,  57,  58).  The  Croatian 
delegates,  who  with  very  few  exceptions  are  quite  ignorant 
of  the  Magyar  language,  have  the  right  to  employ  their  own 
language  both  in  the  Joint  Parliament  of  Budapest  and  in 
the  Hungarian  Delegation  (§  59).  The  laws  must  be  published 
in  Croatian  as  well  as  Magyar  (§  60).  The  Militia  throughout 
Croatian  territory  employs  the  Croatian  flag  and  is  commanded 
in  the  Croatian  language. 

The  weakest  points  of  the  Compromise  are  the  financial 
relations  of  the  two  countries  and  the  position  of  the  Ban. 
As  both  have  led  to  repeated  misunderstandings  and  acrid 
controversy,  it  is  necessary  to  pass  them  under  review  before 
proceeding  any  further. 

*•"  The  law  does  not  expressly  assign  these  appointments  to  him, 
but  the  invariable  practice,  and  the  sense  of  Article  II,  1869,  §  16, 
leave  them  in  his  hands. 

7i 


COMPROMISE  BETWEEN  HUNGARY  AND  CROATIA 

{a)  Finance. 

The  general  principle  is  laid  down,  that  Croatia-Slavonia 
shall  contribute  to  the  Joint  Affairs  of  the  Monarchy,  in 
accordance  with  its  taxable  capacity  ;  and  in  pursuance  of 
this  aim,  the  proportion  of  contribution  was  so  fixed  that 
93  5  psr  cent,  of  the  total  expenses  of  Transleithania  should 
be  borne  by  Hungary,  and  only  64  per  cent,  by  Croatia. 
This  very  liberal  arrangement  was  modified  still  farther  in 
Croatia's  favour  in  1880  (Art.  LTV),  when  the  proportions 
were  changed  to  94-4  and  55  respectively.  But  it  was  again 
modified  in  1889  (Art.  XL),  when  Hungary  was  burdened 
with  92  per  cent,  and  Croatia  with  7  93  per  cent.,  and  again 
in  1906  (Art.  X),when  Hungary's  share  was  reduced  to  91-3 
and  Croatia's  share  increased  to  8-i  per  cent.  In  calculating 
the  proportion  to  be  paid  by  the  two  countries,  the  same 
procedure  was  adopted  as  that  of  the  Austro-Hungarian 
Ausgleich.  In  the  years  1 860-1865  the  average  net  revenue  of 
Austria  was  1,187,978,418  florins,  that  of  Hungary  484,687,394 
florins,  giving  a  percentage  of  7102  and  28-98  respectively; 
but  their  respective  contributions  were  fixed  at  70  and  30  per 
cent.  In  the  same  way  the  average  net  revenue  of  Croatia  for 
the  same  period  was  31,217,648  florins,  thus  giving  a  percent- 
age of  64  as  against  93 -6  for  Hungary. ^°^  Thus  it  appears  that 
Hungary's  treatment  of  Croatia  was  somewhat  more  generous 
than  Austria's  treatment  of  Transleithania.  Considering 
that  Croatia  formed  12  per  cent,  of  the  population  of  Trans- 
leithania in  1869,  and  12 -i  per  cent,  at  the  last  census  (1900), 
she  cannot  justly  describe  as  excessive  her  share  of  the  con- 
tribution, even  though  her  taxable  capacity  is  generally 
admitted  to  be  relatively  lower  than  that  of  Hungary.  More- 
over a  later  paragraph  lays  down  that  should  Croatian  revenue, 
by  reason  of  increased  taxable  strength,  exceed  the  proportion 
of  joint  expenditure  to  which  it  is  liable  (viz.  8-i  per  cent, 
to-day),  the  surplus  is  to  be  retained  by  Croatia,  and  that 
country  is  not  to  be  held  liable  for  the  deficits  of  former  years 
(§  27).  This  provision  may  reasonably  be  regarded  as  a 
further  proof  of  generous  intentions  on  the  part  of  the  Magyar 
framers  of  the  Compromise. 

Paragraph  13  goes  on  to  state  that  the  total  income  of 
Croatia-Slavonia  would  not  sufiice  for  the  payment  of  its 
share,  if  the  requisite  charges  for  internal  affairs  were  not 
greatly  curtailed,  and  that  therefore  Hungary,  "  in  view  of 

'"*  Horn,  op.  cit.  pp.  203-4. 
74 


CROATIA'S  FINANCIAL  POSITION 

the  renewal  of  the  brotherly'relation  which  has  subsisted  for 
centuries  between  it  and  Croatia-Slavonia,"  is  willing  to  agree 
that  a  fixed  proportion  ^°^  of  Croatia's  income  should  be  ear- 
marked for  autonomous  expenses,  and  only  the  remainder 
applied  to  joint  expenses. 

For  this  purpose,  45  per  cent,  (since  1889  44  per  cent.)  of 
all  Croatian  revenue  were  reserved  for  internal  affairs,  and 
the  remaining  55  per  cent,  (since  1889  56  per  cent.)  trans- 
ferred to  the  Central  Treasury. ^^^  The  annual  interest  on 
the  Croatian  Land  Redemption  Debt  is  to  be  paid  from  Croatian 
revenue  ;  but  any  excess  upon  the  sum  of  2,660,000  florins 
(£221,000)  is  covered  by  a  Joint  Guarantee. ^^^ 

A  special  Finance  Office  in  Agram,  subject  to  the  authority 
and  nominations  of  the  Joint  Finance  Minister,  controls  all 
taxation  of  what  we  should  call  an  "  Imperial  "  nature,  all 
stamps,  imposts,  dues  and  state  domains  (§  22).  Those 
departments  of  this  Office  which  deal  with  purely  autonomous 
affairs,  are  "  in  every  respect  at  the  disposal  "  of  the  autono- 
mous authorities,  but  strangely  enough  no  provision  is  made 
for  the  balances  being  submitted  to  the  Diet  but  only  to  the 
Joint  Finance  Minister  (§  23),  whom  the  Croatian  Government 
and  executive  are  expressly  enjoined  to  support  in  all  his 
requirements  (§  24).  The  object  of  the  omission  is  quite 
evident.  The  details  of  revenue  and  expenditure  for  Croatia- 
Slavonia  are  to  be  drawn  up  at  the  same  time  as  those  for 
Hungary,  and  both  are  to  be  laid  before  the  Joint  Parliament 
in  Budapest,  and  after  examination  by  that  body,  are  to  be 
"  communicated  "  to  the  Croatian  Diet  "  for  its  cognisance  " 
(§  28).  In  other  words  a  vital  distinction  is  tacitly  drawn 
between  the  financial  powers  of  the  Hungarian  and  Croatian 
parliaments,  however  carefully  the  latter's  equality  as  a  con- 
tracting party  may  have  been  safeguarded  in  other  sections 
of  the  document.  The  Compromise  makes  no  attempt  to 
define  the  Budgetary  rights  of  the  Croatian  Diet ;  and  indeed 
these  are  involved  in  great  ambiguity.  By  the  Croatian 
Article  II  of  1869  which  regulates  the  details  of  the  autonomous 
government,  the  latter  is  obliged  to  submit  an  annual  Budget 

"»  To  be  fixed  by  periodical  mutual  agreement.  For  the  first  ten 
years  this  sum  was  fixed  at  2,200,000  florins  (;^i83,ooo). 

"»  §  17.  modified  by  1873,  XXXIV,  §  3  and  1906,  X,  §  5).  Wine 
and  Meat  taxes,  and  Customs  Dues  on  the  Croatian  frontier,  are  specially 
excluded  from  the  sources  of  revenue  liable  to  such  division  (§  18  ; 
also  two  unimportant  additions  to  XL,   1889,  §  5). 

"1  §  21,  modified  by  XXVII,  1891,  §  21. 

75 


COMPROMISE  BETWEEN  HUNGARY  AND  CROATIA 

to  the  Diet  "  for  constitutional  deliberation  "  (§  13  II,  1869). 
But  this  of  course  merely  deals  with  the  income  and  expendi- 
ture connected  with  the  three  autonomous  Departments  of 
Local  Government,  Justice  and  Education  at  Agram  ;  and 
means  have  often  been  found  to  evade  any  effective  control, 
even  of  these,  by  the  Croatian  Diet.  There  can  be  no  question 
that  those  Magyar  statesmen  who  were  chiefly  responsible 
for  the  Compromise — Andrissy,  Dedk  and  Eotvos — were  not 
merely  actuated  by  the  most  honourable  motives  but  desired 
to  treat  Croatia  with  the  utmost  generosity  consistent  with 
their  views  of  constitutional  unity.  The  financial  arrange- 
ment faithfully  reflects  this  attitude  and  seems  at  first  sight 
to  be  highly  favourable  to  Croatia. ^^^  g^t  the  financial  side 
of  the  Compromise  was  ill  and  hastily  considered,  alike  on 
the  Magyar  and  on  the  Croatian  side  ;  and  while  the  Magyar 
delegates  genuinely  believed  themselves  to  be  making  substan- 
tial financial  concessions  (especially  in  §§  13,  17,  27)  the  Croat 
delegates  on  their  side  fully  accepted  the  view  that  they  were 
making  a  good  financial  bargain.  This  fact,  and  the  complete 
financial  ignorance  displayed  by  the  Croatian  representatives  on 
the  occasion  of  the  revision  of  1873,  may  be  considered  as 
robbing  Croatia  of  the  right  of  recriminations. 

The  true  test  of  the  financial  arrangement  is  its  practical 
working  ;  and  when  this  is  considered,  it  is  no  longer  possible 
to  deny  that  Croatia  has  a  great  and  crying  grievance.  On 
the  one  hand,  the  extreme  importance  of  the  clauses  which 
appropriate  45  per  cent,  of  Croatian  revenues  to  autonomous 
Croatian  expenditure  (under  §§  13  and  17)  must  not  be  lost 
sight  of  for  a  moment.  But  on  the  other  hand  it  must  be 
remembered  that  all  financial  control,  and  the  entire  manipu- 
lation and  interpretation  of  the  accounts  are  in  the  hands  of 
the  central  Government  at  Budapest.  The  Budgets  of  the 
Central  Parliament  are  voted  as  single  units,  and  no  clue 
whatever  is  given  as  to  the  respective  contributions  of  ^the 
two  countries  in  many  of  the  entries.  Indeed  there  is  not  the 
slightest  trace  of  any  attempt  to  distinguish  between  them,  al- 
though paragraph  29  expressly  provides  for  separate  budgetary 
entries.  There  is  little  or  nothing  in  the  Budget  itself  nor 
in  the  manner  in  which  it  is  introduced  and  discussed,  to 
suggest  that  it  differs  in  any  way  from  the  budgets  of  unitary 

"'  This  is  the  view  of  that  extremely  impartial  writer,  Mr.  Geoffrey 
Drage.     {See  his  Austria-Hungary,  pp.  470-74.) 

76 


FINANCIAL  GRIEVANCES 

national  states  such  as  France  or  Italy ;  and  the  Croatian 
members  have  no  effective  means  at  their  disposal  for  securing 
the  publication  of  the  missing  details.  In  the  words  of  Mr. 
Drage,  "  Croatia  is  in  the  position  of  a  firm  which  cannot 
examine  its  own  books  "  "^  •  ^nd  however  indisposed  we  may 
be  to  endorse  the  view,  unfortunately  widespread  in  Croatia, 
that  the  balances  are  systematically  "  cooked  "  to  the  advan- 
tage of  Hungary,  there  can  at  any  rate  be  no  question  that 
such  an  obscure  arrangement  engenders  an  atmosphere  of 
suspicion  and  strain  between  the  two  countries,  and  that  the 
full  light  of  publicity  ought  to  be  thrown  as  soon  as  possible 
upon  the  relative  financial  position  of  Hungary  and  Croatia.^^* 

The  stranger  who  consults  the  Hungarian  statute  book 
and  runs  his  eye  over  the  various  items  of  one  of  the  Annual 
Budgets  which  it  contains,  would  gain  the  impression  that 
Croatia,  as  some  dependent  provincial  annexe  to  the  Hungarian 
state,  had  received  a  freewill  offering  from  purely  Hungarian 
funds  for  the  behalf  of  purely  Croatian  internal  administration. 
This  erroneous  view  can  best  be  met  by  Pliverid's  succinct 
statement.  "  It  is  not  the  Joint  Treasury,"  he  points  out, 
"  which  hands  over  a  sum  of  money  to  Croatia,  that  it  may 
cover  its  autonomous  expenses  ;  but  on  the  contrary  it  is 
the  joint  financial  administration  which,  in  the  name  of  Croatia, 
makes  over  to  the  Joint  Treasury  a  sum  amounting  to  55 
per  cent,  of  the  special  revenues  of  Croatia,  for  the  purpose 
of  covering  the  Joint  Expenses."  ^^^ 

A  further  grievance  of  the  Croats  is  that,  since,  by  contribut- 
ing 55  per  cent,  of  her  revenue  to  Joint  Affairs,  Croatia 
absolves  herself  from  all  further  financial  obligations  towards 
Hungary,  she  ought  not  to  be  held  liable  for  any  share  in 
the  public  loans  carried  out  in  Budapest  for  purely  Hungarian 

^''  Op.  cit.  p.  472. 

"*  Ivan  Bartolovi^  in  a  Croatian  pamphlet  cited  by  Pliveric  (p.  457) 
argues  that  Croatia  with  a  net  revenue  of  15,700,000  florins,  would, 
after  fulfilment  of  all  its  obhgations  under  the  Compromise,  only  have 
a  deficit  of  722,000  florins  which  could  be  reduced  to  the  nominal  figure 
of  80,000  florins. 

"»  Pliveric,  op.  cit.  p.  445.  According  to  table  10  on  p.  505  of  vol. 
XV,  Ungarisches  Statistisches  Jahrbuch ;  in  1903  the  net  revenue  of  Croatia- 
Slavonia  (after  the  deduction  of  8,405,000  crowns  for  administrative 
expenses,  was  36,004,000  crowns.  Of  this  (under  §  3  XXXIV,  1873) 
20,162,000  fell  to  joint  expenditure  and  15,842,000  crowns  remained 
for  autonomous  expenses,  19,374,000  being  actually  assigned.  Accord- 
ing to  table  II  (same  page)  the  total  revenue  of  Croatia  amounted  to 
20,197,000,  the  total  expenditure  to  20,329,000  crowns. 

77 


COMPROMISE  BETWEEN  HUNGARY  AND  CROATIA 

objects."^  No  such  liability  is  imposed  by  the  terms  of  the 
Compromise,  or  even  indirectly  hinted  at  ;  and  yet  Croatia 
not  merely  has  to  contribute,  but  does  not  receive  her  fair 
share  of  the  public  moneys  expended  as  a  result  of  such  loans. 
This  grievance  would  presumably  disappear  if  the  relative 
budgetary  position  of  the  two  countries  could  once  be  ascer- 
tained in  detail  and  made  public  ;  for  these  facts,  once  elicited, 
would  obviously  form  the  basis  for  apportioning  all  subsequent 
loans.  Cavillers  would  then  no  longer  be  in  a  position  to 
assert  that  this  is  one  of  the  very  reasons  why  the  facts  are 
kept  private.  Though  this  would  seem  to  be  a  needlessly 
uncharitable  view,  there  can  be  no  question  that  at  present 
Croatia  has  no  effective  guarantee  against  being  burdened 
with  a  share  of  the  charges  upon  purely  Hungarian  financial 
operations. ^^' 

(&)     The  Position  of  the  Ban. 

The  position  of  the  Ban  is  full  of  irreconcilable"contradic- 
tions.  On  the  one  hand,  he  is  responsible,  as  head  of  the 
autonomous  Government,  to  the  Croatian  Diet  (§  50).  On 
the  other  hand,  he  is  appointed  by  His  Majesty  on  the  nomina- 
tion of  the  Hungarian  Premier  ("  the  Royal  Hungarian  Joint 
Premier,"  as  he  is  described  in  §  51).  He  may  not  hold  military 
rank  (§  52),  and  sits  ex  officio  in  the  House  of  Magnates  at 
Budapest  (§  53).  In  accordance  with  paragraph  54,  the 
organization  of  the  autonomous  Government  was  left  in  the 
hands  of  the  Croatian  Diet,  and  was  regulated  by  it  in  the 
Croatian  Article  II.  of  1869.     In  its  terms  it  is  the  duty  of 

"«  In  1907  the  interest  on  State  loans  was  288,089,000  crowns 
(;^i 2,000,000).  In  the  published  statistics  no  attempt  is  made  to 
apportion  this  between  the  two  countries  ;  in  this  case  nothing  is  heard 
of  Croatia's  "  taxable  capacity,"  upon  which  such  stress  is  laid  in  §§  13, 
27  of  the  Compromise.     {See  Appendix  IX). 

"'  The  Regnicolar  Deputation  sent  out  in  1886  by  the  Croatian  Diet 
to  negotiate  a  revision  of  the  Compromise,  put  forward,  among  others  the 
following  demands  : — that  the  Budget  Estimates  should  be  submitted 
in  three  separate  sections  (for  Joint  Austro-Hungarian,  Joint  Hungaro- 
Croatian  and  purely  Croatian  affairs)  ;  that  the  necessary  data  for 
ascertaining  the  details  of  revenue  should  be  supplied  by  the  Joint 
Government  not  merely  to  the  Croatian  Government  (as  is  at  present 
done  partially  and  informally)  but  also  to  the  Croatian  Diet  ;  that  the 
Croatian  delegates  should  henceforth  be  excluded  from  all  debates  relat- 
ing to  the  financial  affairs  of  Hungary  alone.  These  proposals  were  not 
accepted  by  Hungary.  See  ^ivkovic,  Zur  Saniering  der  Verletzungen 
des  kroatisch-ungarischen  Ausgleiches,  pp.  34-5. 

78 


THE   POSITION   OF  THE   BAN 

the  Ban  to  lay  before  His  Majesty,  through  the  medium  of 
the  Croatian  Minister,  all  proposals,  motions,  nominations 
and  decisions,  relative  to  Croatian  affairs  (§  ii,  1869),  He  has 
the  right  to  be  present  at  all  debates  of  the  Diet ;  as  he  has 
the  option  of  standing  as  a  deputy,  he  is  only  free  to  vote 
in  a  division  in  the  event  of  having  been  actually  elected  ; 
but  in  any  case  he  is  boimd  to  answer,  either  personally  or 
through  a  representative,  any  interpellations  which  may  be 
addressed  to  him  (§  12,  1869).  The  Government  is  bound 
to  submit  the  Budget  annually  to  the  Diet  "  for  constitutional 
debate  "  (§  13,  1869).  The  right  of  nomination  to  all  offices 
of  the  autonomous  Government  rests  in  the  hands  of  the  Ban 
(§  16,  1869). 

It  will  be  seen  that  though  the  Ban  is  legally  responsible 
to  the  Diet,  this  guarantee  is  worthless  in  the  event  of  any 
dispute  arising  between  Hungary  and  Croatia.  The  office 
can  only  be  held  by  a  nominee  of  the  Hungarian  Government, 
who  thus  can  be  selected  and  is  selected  for  the  post  because 
he  adheres  to  the  Hungarian  rather  than  to  the  Croatian  view. 
Under  the  existing  system,  the  Ban  must  inevitably  remain 
an  "  exponent  "  of  the  Hungarian  Premier,  to  use  the  blunt 
phrase  of  Dr.  Wekerle,  a  recent  holder  of  the  latter  office. 
He  can  only  communicate  with  the  sovereign  on  Croatian 
matters,  through  the  medium  of  the  Croatian  Minister,  who, 
being  a  member  of  the  Hungarian  Cabinet,  is  of  course  ap- 
pointed by  the  Premier.  Thus  Croatia  is  doubly  fenced  off 
from  the  Crown,  and  its  wishes  and  claims  reach  the  royal 
presence  by  the  mouth  of  two  Magyar  nominees.  In  such 
circumstances  it  is  difficult  to  see  how  the  Crown  can  form  a 
really  impartial  opinion  upon  Croatian  affairs. 

If  this  be  the  result  in  one  direction  of  the  Hungarian  Pre- 
mier's power,  in  another  direction  it  is  equally  injurious  to 
Croatian  interests.  Every  office  of  any  importance  in  Croatia 
is  in  the  gift  of  the  Ban,  and  thus  indirectly  exposed  to  Magyar- 
one  influence.  This  is  all  the  more  serious  because  the  adminis- 
trative officials  and  the  judicature  of  Croatia  do  not  in  any  way 
enjoy  an  independent  position,  but  are  liable  to  continual 
and  open  pressure  from  above.  Officials  who  do  not  follow 
the  political  guidance  of  their  superiors,  may  be  passed  over, 
transferred,  even  placed  upon  the  pension  list  or  dismissed 
altogether.  This  practice  has  been  almost  universal  in  Croatia 
for  the  last  thirty  years,  and  serves  to  explain  alike  the  stagna- 
tion of  public  life  under  Count  Khuen-Hedervary  and  the 

79 


COMPROMISE  BETWEEN  HUNGARY  AND  CROATIA 

emphasis  with  which  all  Croatian  reformers  have  demanded 
a  law  guaranteeing  the  independence  of  the  Bench  and  of 
officialdom  in  general.  It  is  equally  obvious  that  the  tendency 
in  Budapest  is  to  hinder  a  reform  which  would  purify  public 
life  in  Croatia  and  thus  rally  the  whole  nation  in  defence  of 
national  claims.  Stagnation  and  corruption  are  to-day  the 
only  supports  of  Magyar  domination  in  Croatia  ;  once  modern- 
ize the  prevailing  system,  and  that  domination  is  instantly 
at  an  end. 

Perhaps  the  most  serious  flaw  in  the  whole  document  is 
that  it  makes  no  provision  for  enforcing  its  observance  by  the 
two  contracting  parties.  There  has  never  been  any  great 
difficulty  in  enforcing  Croatia's  compliance  with  its  provisions. 
But  as  national  feeling  grew  more  violent  and  aggressive 
among  the  Magyars,  infringements  on  their  part  became 
more  and  more  frequent,  and  protests  were  unavailing.  The 
revisions  of  1880,  1881,  1889  and  1891,  were  the  result  of  a 
skilful  system  of  packing  the  Croatian  Diet  with  subservient 
elements  :  while  the  less  unfavourable  revision  of  1906  was 
accepted  by  the  Croats,  not  as  in  any  way  dispelling  their 
grievances,  but  as  the  price  which  they  had  to  pay  in  return 
for  a  free  hand  in  internal  reform. ^^^  The  really  vital  infringe- 
ments of  the  Compromise  continued  unabated,  and  were 
extended  still  further  in  the  summer  of  1907.  Thus  Hungary's 
position  has  for  some  years  been  that  of  the  chairman  of  a 
commercial  company,  who  met  the  indignant  protests  of 
shareholders  with  the  curt  remark,  "  Protest  away,  gentlemen  : 
it  will  make  no  difference  !  " 

Territorial  Questions. 

We  have  already  seen  that  Croatia-Slavonia  is  formally 
recognized  as  "  a  political  nation  possessing  a  special  territory 
of  its  own  "  (§  59).  But  paragraph  65  goes  still  further  and 
not  merely  recognizes,  in  the  name  of  Hungary,  "  Croatia's 
territorial  integrity,"  but  also  promises  Hungarian  help  in 
the  extension  of  that  territory  in  two  directions — the  Military 
Frontiers  and  Dalmatia.  The  reincorporation  of  the  former 
with  Croatia  did  actually  take  place  in  1881,  though  the  military 
authorities  in  Vienna  had  interposed  considerable  delays. 
"  The  reincorporation  of  Dalmatia  "  is  claimed  as  a  right  of 
"  the  Holy  Hungarian  Crown  "  (§  65),  which  had  held  sway 

"*  Of  course,  a  fresh  breach  occurred  before  they  had  had  time  to 
effect  these  reforms.     See  Chapter  VIII. 

80 


THE  POSITION   OF  FIUME 

over  that  kingdom  during  the  Middle  Ages.  "  Meanwhile, 
regarding  the  conditions  of  this  reincorporation  Dalmatia  is 
also  to  be  heard." 

In  other  words,  the  Compromise  recognizes  the  Triune 
Kingdom  as  comprising  Dalmatia,  and  tacitly  denies  the 
legality  of  its  occupation  by  Austria.  Indeed,  in  the  preamble 
and  elsewhere  the  document  is  treated  as  an  agreement  between 
Hungary  on  the  one  side  and  "  Croatia-Slavonia  and  Dalmatia  " 
on  the  other,  as  though  the  union  were  already  an  accomplished 
fact.  This  very  practical  concession  to  Southern  Slav  national 
sentiment,  has  had  its  share  in  reviving  the  old  Illyrian  ideal 
under  the  modern  name  of  Trialism,  But  Croatian  patriots 
base  their  aspirations  for  union  not  upon  Hungarian  con- 
stitutional law,  but  upon  the  rival  "  Staatsrecht  "  of  the 
Crown  of  Zvonimir  and  upon  the  idea  of  racial  unity.  The 
support  which  both  parties  were  wont  to  expect  from  the 
German  nationalists  in  Austria — on  the  ground  that  the  cession 
of  Dalmatia  to  Hungary  would  rid  Austria  of  600,000  Slavs 
— is  less  likely  to  be  accorded  to-day,  when  the  great  importance 
of  the  Southern  Slav  question  is  being  gradually  borne  in 
upon  the  minds  of  Austrian  politicians. 

Meanwhile  "  the  territorial  integrity  "  of  Croatia,  so  solemnly 
affirmed  in  the  Compromise,  was  violated  in  one  important 
particular.  The  town  and  harbour  of  Fiume  were  expressly 
excluded,  as  forming  "  a  special  body  attached  to  the  Hun- 
garian Crown  (separatum  sacrae  regni  coronae  adnexum 
corpus)  "  (§  66).  Its  autonomy  and  constitutional  position 
are  to  be  defined  later  as  the  result  of  a  joint  agreement  between 
the  Parliament  of  Hungary,  the  Croatian  Diet  and  the  town 
itself. 

This  paragraph  has  an  extraordinary  history.  Incredible 
as  it  may  seem,  the  Magyar  and  Croat  texts  are  completely 
at  variance,  and  in  the  explicit  form  summarized  above  it 
has  passed  into  operation  without  receiving  the  sanction  of 
the  Croatian  Diet.     The  variant  texts  run  as  follows  : — 

Magyar  text  (§  66).  Croat  text  (§  66). 

In  the  sense  of  the  preceding  In  the  sense  of  the  preceding 
paragraph  there  are  recognized  paragraph  it  is  recognized  that 
as  belonging  to  the  territory  of  the  territorial  extent  of  the  King- 
Croatia  Slavonia  and  Dalmatia  : —  doms   of   Dalmatia,    Croatia   and 

I.  That  district  which  at  pres-  Slavonia  comprises  : — 

ent  together  with  the  town  and  i.  The     whole     district    which 

district  of  Buccari  belongs  to  the  at  present,  together  with  the  town 

S.S.Q.  81  G 


COMPROMISE  BETWEEN  HUNGARY  AND  CROATIA 

Magyar  text  (§  66) .  Croat  text  (§  66) . 

County  of  Fiume,  with  the  excep-      of  Buccari  and  its  district,  belongs 
tion  of  the  town  and  district  of      to  the  County  of  Fiume,  with  the 
Fiume.     The  town,  harbour  and      exception  of  the  town  of  Fiume 
district  of  Fiume  form  a  special      and   its   district,    regarding  which 
body   connected    with    the    Hun-      an  agreement  could  not  be  reached 
garian   Crown    (separatum   sacrae      between  the  two  Regnicolar  Deputa- 
regni   coronae   adnexum   corpus),      iions.   .  .  . 
concerning    whose    special    auto- 
nomy   and    the    legislative    and 
administrative      affairs      relating 
thereto,    an   agreement  will  have 
to  be  reached  by  means  of  negotia- 
tions    between     the     Hungarian 
Parliament,    the   Diet   of   Croatia 
Slavonia   and   Dalmatia   and   the 
town    of    Fiume    in   joint   under- 
standing. .  .  . 

The  two  versions  of  the  document  were  in  due  course  sub- 
mitted to  His  Majesty  for  signature  ;  and  a  thin  strip  of 
paper  ^^^  bearing  on  it  a  translation  of  the  Magyar  version,  as 
given  above,  was  then  stuck  over  the  corresponding  portion 
of  the  Croat  text  !  !  The  original  document  is  preserved  in 
the  Croatian  Archives,  where  this  singular  falsification  of  an 
important  State  document  may  be  verified.  The  interpolated 
passage  is  not  even  in  the  same  handwriting  as  the  rest  of 
the  document.120 

It  thus  appears  that  the  definition  of  Fiume  as  "  separatum 
sacrae  regni  coronae  adnexum  corpus"  has  never  received 
the  sanction  of  the  Croatian  Diet,  and  is  a  one-sided  claim 
of  Hungary,  unproved  and  merely  upheld  by  superior  force. 
The  question  is  still  open.  In  reality,  however,  it  is  not  and 
will  not  be  decided  by  grounds  of  law  and  right,  but  by  its 
strategic  importance  as  Hungary's  only  possible  outlet  to 
the  sea  and  by  the  expenditure  lavished  upon  its  port  by 
the  Government  of  Budapest.  At  present  the  Magyars  are 
able  to  rely  upon  the  Italian  element  in  the  town,  owing  to 
its  fears  of  the  advancing  Croats  and  their  foolish  persistence 
in  regarding  Fiume  as  an  exclusively  Croat  town.  But  if  an 
understanding  between  Croat  and  Italian  could  once  be  reached, 
— a  contingency  likely  to  follow  the  approaching  truce  be- 
tween the  two  nationalities  in  Dalmatia — or  if  the  Croat  ele- 

119  22-7  X  9'8  centimeters  in  dimension. 

^20  Zakoni  0  Ugarsko-Hrvatskoj  Nagodi  {Laws  relative  to  the  Hungaro- 
Croatian  Compromise),  edited  by  Dr.  Ivan  Bojnicic,  Zagreb,  1907,  pp. 

33-34- 

82 


RIVAL  VIEWS 

ment  should  once  gain  the  upper  hand  (and  this  must  of  course 
be  a  far  longer  process),  Magyar  rule  will  have  no  basis  in 
Fiume  save  the  bayonet. 

Even  the  Magyar  version,  however,  contemplates  an  agree- 
ment regulating  what  is  avowedly  an  irregular  and  provisional 
situation.  But  no  negotiations  have  ever  taken  place  since 
1868  ;  Croatia  reasserts  from  time  to  time  its  theoretical  right 
to  the  possession  of  Fiume,  and  Hungary  continues  to  act 
upon  the  ancient  principle  of  Beati  possidentes. 

The  final  paragraph  (§  70)  declares  the  Hungaro-Croatian 
Compromise  to  be  a  "  joint  fundamental  law  "  of  the  two 
countries,  which  cannot  form  the  subject  of  debate  in  either 
legislature,  and  can  only  be  altered  by  a  procedure  similar  to 
that  adopted  in  1868,  in  other  words  by  an  agreement  between 
deputations  of  the  two  Parliaments. 

The  Hungaro-Croatian  Compromise  is  susceptible  to  very 
varied  interpretations.  The  extreme  Magyar  view  regards 
it  as  a  law  of  the  Hungarian  Parliament,  merely  registered  by 
the  Croatian  Diet  ^^i ;  while  the  extreme  Croat  view  declines 
even  to  recognize  its  binding  force,  and  even  many  of  those 
who  recognize  it,  maintain  that  Croatia  legally  enjoys  a 
position  of  absolute  equality  with  Hungary  and  a  distinct 
citizenship  of  its  own.  Each  of  these  views  is  equally  removed 
from  the  truth,  for  each  is  based  upon  what,  in  its  holders' 
opinion,  ought  to  be  the  relations  of  the  two  countries.  We 
may  hold  what  opinion  we  like  as  to  the  former  status  of 
Croatia — the  betrayals  which  have  robbed  her  of  her  ancient 
rights  (so  the  Croats  would  argue)  or  the  unwise  and  excessive 
concessions  which  enabled  a  mere  province  to  pose  as  a  kingdom 
(so  the  Magyars  would  argue).  But  if  we  consider  the  question 
with  an  exclusive  regard  to  the  document  of  1868,  only  one 
conclusion  is  possible.  Croatia  is  a  sovereign  state,  which 
by  a  voluntary  agreement  with  her  neighbour,  definitely 
surrendered  certain  attributes  of  sovereignty,  and  thus  can 
only  recover  its  full  freedom  of  action  by  the  permission  of 
that  neighbour  or  by  force  of  arms.  Thus  Croatia  cannot  be 
said  to  fall  under  any  known  category  of  states,  but  rather 
occupies  a  middle  position  of  its  own,  between  that  of  pure 
independence  and  that  of  pure  federalism.     That  its  relations 

*^i  Even  Prof.  Kmety,  the  constitutional  authority,  takes  this  view 
[Kozjog,  p.  397).  "Croatia  is  not  a  state,  but  the  Croatian  people 
is  a  nation."  So  writes  the  well-known  Magyar  publicist  Beksics 
in  his  book  Dualism  (p.  251).     This  is  mere  juggling  with  words. 


COMPROMISE   BETWEEN  HUNGARY  AND  CROATIA 

with  Hungary  are  the  result  of  a  solemn  contract  between  two 
theoretically  equal  contracting  parties,  cannot  be  denied  by 
any  one  who  reads  the  Compromise  of  1868  :  it  is  conclusively 
proved  by  the  manner  in  which  it  was  promulgated  by  the 
two  legislatures,  by  the  use  of  the  identical  word  to  describe 
them  both,  and  by  the  clause  which  makes  all  revisions  depend- 
ent upon  mutual  consent.  Nor  can  it  on  the  other  hand 
be  denied  that  the  first  four  paragraphs  impose  definite  restric- 
tions upon  the  sovereignty  of  the  Croatian  state.  The  question 
of  the  validity  of  the  Compromise  and  the  further  question, 
how  far  violations  on  the  one  side  dispense  the  other  side 
from  its  obligations,  are  two  entirely  separate  considerations 
with  which  we  are  not  at  present  concerned. 


84 


CHAPTER   V 

Croatia  under  the  Dual  System 
(1868-1905) 

"  My  coimtrymen  have  treated  Croatia  badly,  prevented  its  develop- 
ment, and  exploited  it  financially  ;  they  will  pay  for  this  one  day." — 
Baron  Kdllay  in  1903.  ^^^ 

WHATEVER  view  may  be  taken  of  the  provisions  of  the 
Hungaro-Croatian  Compromise,  there  can  be  no 
question  that  it  was  intensely  unpopular  in  Croatia.  The 
hasty  introduction  of  an  illegal  franchise  and  the  gross  electoral 
abuses  thus  rendered  possible,  the  casual  and  inadequate 
manner  in  which  a  "  packed  "  Diet  passed  so  fundamental  a 
law,  the  manipulation  of  the  clause  regulating  the  status  of 
Fiume — all  this  aroused  general  indignation  ;  and  but  for 
official  pressure  it  would  have  been  quite  impossible  to  obtain 
a  majority  in  the  Diet  ready  to  sanction  what  was  regarded  as 
a  betrayal  of  the  national  cause. 

Yet  questionable  as  were  the  means  employed,  an  open 
breach  between  Croatia  and  Hungary  such  as  must  inevitably 
have  resulted  if  the  former  country  had  been  truly  represented 
during  the  negotiations,  would  have  been  far  more  injurious 
to  Croatian  interests  than  the  acceptance  of  an  honourable, 
if  inadequate  Compromise.  The  political  constellation,  alike 
in  the  Habsburg  Monarchy  and  in  Europe  generally,  was 
highlj'  favourable  to  Hungary,  and  Croatia  suffered  the  inevit- 
able fate  of  a  weak  and  forgotten  nation.  ^^3  jsJqj-  ca.n  the 
Magyars  be  blamed  for  their  attitude  towards  Croatia.  The 
statesmen  who  framed  the  Compromise,  and    notably  De4k 

*'^  In  conversation  with  the  Vienna  Correspondent  of  the  Times  (see 
Times,  December  31,   1909). 

'^^  Mr.  Kadlec,  professor  of  constitutional  law  at  Prague  University, 
is  fully  entitled  to  say  :  "  The  Hungaro-Croatian  Compromise,  like 
all  political  questions,  is  a  question  of  power,"  Ustava,  p.  129,  cit. 
Zagorsky,  Frangois  Racki,  p.  100. 

85 


CROATIA  UNDER  THE  DUAL  SYSTEM 

and  Eotvos,  two  of  the  most  liberal-minded  men  that  ever 
lived,  were  genuinely  anxious  to  revive  the  former  friendly- 
relations  between  the  sister  countries  ;  and  indeed,  if  Magyar 
theories  of  State-Right  be  considered  and  if  due  allowance  be 
made  for  their  Imperialist  aspirations  in  the  Balkans  and  on 
the  Adriatic  and  for  the  embarrassments  afforded  by  a  Chauvin- 
ist opposition,  their  treatment  of  Croatia  must  seem  most 
liberal  and  conciliatory. 

Such  a  point  of  view,  however,  could  hardly  be  expected  to 
appeal  to  Croatian  public  opinion,  which  resented  the  arrange- 
ment all  the  more  on  account  of  the  apparent  unanimity  with 
which  it  had  been  concluded.  Strangely  enough,  the  National 
Liberal  Party,  whose  grave  tactical  error  in  adopting  the 
policy  of  political  abstention  had  rendered  this  unanimity 
possible,  did  not  thereby  lose  its  popularity  with  the  country. 
Round  it  centred  the  chief  opposition  against  Baron  Ranch  ; 
while  a  little  band  of  resolute  extremists  under  Antony  Star- 
cevic  continued  to  proclaim  the  impossible  ideal  of  a  purely 
Personal  Union  with  Hungary  and  Austria  on  equal  terms. 

Baron  Ranch  allowed  no  scruples  to  stand  in  the  way 
of  his  political  aims,  and  made  a  determined  effort  to  crush 
opposition  by  disciplinary  action  against  such  of  his  oppo- 
nents as  held  official  posts,  by  the  dismissal  of  professors 
and  others,  by  strict  muzzling  of  the  press  and  by  pro- 
hibition of  meetings  and  political  organization.  The 
struggle  was  waged  on  both  sides  with  the  utmost  vio- 
lence ;  and  an  evil  habit  which  has  so  often  envenomed  and 
disfigured  Southern  Slav  politics — the  tendency  to  indulge  in 
unmeasured  personalities — made  itself  only  too  apparent.  The 
leading  Opposition  newspaper,  Pozor,  which  had  been  suppressed 
in  Croatia  but  continued  to  appear  in  Vienna,  was  now  pro- 
hibited altogether  (May  6,  1869).  In  the  following  September, 
its  owners  founded  a  new  paper  in  Sisak,  under  the  title  of 
Zatocnik  (The  Champion)  and  opened  in  its  columns  a 
merciless  campaign  against  the  misdeeds  of  Ranch.  The  Ban 
was  openly  accused  of  using  his  position  as  member  of  a  Con- 
sortium for  draining  the  Lonjski  Polje  marshes,  in  order  to 
enrich  himself  at  the  expense  of  his  country.  Some  colour  was 
given  to  this  accusation  by  the  declaration  of  Count  Julius 
Jankovic  that  he  also  as  member  of  the  same  board  of  directors 
had  been  tempted  with  the  prospect  of  a  sum  of  40,000  florins 
(£3,330),  but  had  thereupon  resigned  his  position  on  the  Board. 
Rauch  prosecuted  the  authors  of  the  libel,  but  as  the  newspaper 

86 


REPRESSION  UNDER  R.\UCH 

was  published  on  the  territory  of  the  Mihtary  Frontiers,  the 
case  came  before  a  court  ^^^  which  was  entirely  free  from  the 
Ban's  influence  and  resulted  in  the  acquittal  of  the  accused 
(January  8,  1871). 

This  verdict  was,  of  course,  a  fatal  blow  to  Baron  Ranch's 
position.  He  resigned  almost  immediately,  and  was  succeeded 
as  Ban  by  Koloman  Bedekovic  (January  26,  1871),  a  moderate 
Croat  Unionist  who  had  till  then  held  the  position  of  Minister 
for  Croatia  and  was  generally  esteemed  as  an  honest  if  weak 
politician.  The  new  Government  dissolved  the  Diet  and 
ordered  fresh  elections,  but,  deprived  of  the  masterful  hand  of 
Ranch,  found  it  impossible  to  maintain  the  artificial  majority 
which  he  had  created.  The  elections  resulted  in  a  decisive 
victory  for  the  National  Party,  which  secured  fifty-one  out  of 
the  sixty-five  seats.  Only  thirteen  Unionists  were  returned, 
while  Starcevic  entered  Parliament  as  the  solitary  exponent  of 
the  Pan-Croat  idea. 

The  Government,  seemingly  unprepared  for  this  result  and 
perhaps  disheartened  by  the  prospect  of  a  collapse  of  Dualism, ^^s 
hesitated  as  to  what  policy  to  adopt,  and  prorogued  the  Sabor 
no  less  than  three  times.  This  evoked  a  counter  demonstration 
from  the  Opposition,  in  the  shape  of  the  so-called  "  September 
Manifesto  "  (September  20,  1871)  signed  by  fifty-four  out  of 
the  sixty-six  deputies.  This  document  boldly  denies  the  validity 
of  the  Compromise  of  1868,  declares  that  the  Diet  which  passed 
it  into  law  had  no  right  to  speak  in  the  name  of  the  nation,  and 
that  Croatia  could  not  submit  to  the  dependence  of  the  Ban 
upon  the  Hungarian  Premier.^^s 

The  general  discontent  found  open  expression  during  the 
autumn  of  1871,  when  two  adherents  of  the  Starcevic  idea, 
Eugene  Kvaternik  and  Louis  Bach  ^^  gathered  round  them 
several  hundred  armed  Frontiersmen,  and  incited  the  peasantry 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Ogulin  to  rebellion.  They  sought  to 
win  recruits  for  their  mad  project  by  announcing  the  prospect 
of  French  and  Turkish  support.  Martial  law  was  proclaimed  : 
the  insurgents  were  soon  dispersed  by  General  MoUinary  and 

124  In  Petrinja, 

"»  Under  Count  Hohenwart  as  Austrian  Premier,  the  Federal  idea 
seemed  on  the  point  of  triumphing  over  DuaHsm,  and  the  Emperor  had 
already  consented  to  be  crowned  in  Prague  as  King  of  Bohemia.  The 
Prussian  victories  over  France,  and  the  influence  of  Count  Andrassy, 
led  to  Hohenwart's  fall  and  the  abandonment  of  his  policy. 

'^  For  a  summary,  see  PoUc,  Parlam.  Povijest,  II,  p.  152,  sqq. 

'-'  Zagorsky,  p.  141. 

^7 


CROATIA  UNDER  THE  DUAL  SYSTEM 

the  garrison  of  Karlovac ;  and  the  two  leaders  were  shot  and 
other  severe  punishments  imposed. 

This  hare-brained  enterprise  sowed  discouragement  and 
alarm  among  the  ranks  of  the  National  Party,  for  on  the  one 
hand  it  aroused  the  suspicions  of  distant  Vienna  against  Croatia 
as  a  whole  and  on  the  other  hand  won  for  the  intrigues  of  Baron 
Rauch  the  waning  support  of  Budapest  and  of  the  Sovereign. 
The  result  was  the  formation  of  a  moderate  central  party  in 
Croatia,  under  the  influence  of  Archbishop  Mihalovi6  of  Zagreb  ; 
round  it  there  rallied  all  those  Unionists  who  though  eager  to 
maintain  friendship  with  Budapest,  were  not  inclined  to  pur- 
chase it  by  the  subserviency  and  corrupt  methods  of  Baron 
Rauch, 128  2jid  also  those  members  of  the  National  Party  who 
were  anxious  for  peace.  This  concentration  of  the  moderate 
elements  in  the  country  was  under  the  circumstances  the  wisest 
course  which  could  have  been  adopted,  and  had  been  ren- 
dered all  the  more  necessary  by  the  renewed  activity  of  Baron 
Rauch,  and  his  confederate  Vakanovi6,  who  on  the  resignation 
of  Bedekovic  (February  12,  1872)  discharged  the  duties  of 
the  Ban's  office,  pending  a  new  appointment. 

The  Sabor  was  dissolved  without  having  been  allowed  to 
transact  any  business,  and  Vakanovic  set  himself  to  create  an 
Unionist  majority.  But  despite  scandalous  electoral  abuses 
the  result  of  the  new  elections  was  a  decided  victory  for  the 
National  Party,  which  retained  forty-seven  seats,  eight  fall- 
ing to  the  Independent  Unionists  and  only  the  remaining  twenty 
to  Rauch  and  his  friends. ^^^  Vakanovi6  sought  to  counteract 
his  ill  success  at  the  polls  by  swamping  the  Sabor  with  forty- 
seven  Virilists,  drawn  from  the  ranks  of  the  nobles  and  the 
higher  clergy,  and  carefully  selected  because  of  their  Unionist 
views. 

Meanwhile,  Vakanovid  and  Rauch  had  inaugurated  a  violent 
campaign  of  calumny,  intended  to  compromise  the  National 
Party  in  the  eyes  of  Budapest  and  Vienna,  and  to  drive  its 
leaders  from  public  life.  To  this  end  the  charge  was  put  for- 
ward, that  two  emissaries  of  the  Bohemian  Opposition  parties, 
by  name  Oliva  and  Skrejsovsky,  had  held  political  conferences 
in  Agram,  at  which  the  National  Party  had  committed  itself 
to  negotiations  with  the  exiled  Kossuth  and  to  a  revolutionary 
movement  among  the  Southern  Slavs.     Minutes  of  these  alleged 

128  por  instance,  Count   Ladislas    Peja^evic,    afterwards   Ban,  and 
the  ex-Ban  Bedekovic. 
^=»  Horvat,  p.  284. 

88 


A  POLICY  OF  FORGERY 

meetings  were  forthcoming,  and  seemed  to  establish  the  con- 
nexion of  the  leading  Croat  politicians,  notably  the  poet  and 
future  Ban  Mazuranic,  Bishop  Strossmayer,  the  historian  Racki, 
Mrazovic  and  Voncina,  with  the  headquarters  of  Panslavism  in 
St.  Petersburg  and  Belgrad.  The  names  of  such  Russian 
statesmen  as  Miljutin  and  Tolstoi  are  repeatedly  mentioned  : 
an  emissary  of  the  latter  is  alleged  to  have  intrigued  in  Agram 
under  an  assumed  name.  Strossmayer  and  Racki  are  to  be 
sounded  as  to  their  acceptance  of  Russian  decorations.  Money 
is  promised  by  a  Slav  committee  of  action,  for  the  foundation  of 
a  revolutionary  paper  in  Croatia.  Plans  for  a  rising  in  the 
Military  Frontiers,  with  the  aid  of  Belgrad,  are  laid  before  the 
committee.  The  final  document  contains  a  statement  of  the 
electoral  funds  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  National  Party  by 
committees  in  St.  Petersburg,  Moscow  and  Odessa,  by  the 
2ivnostenska  Banka  in  Prague,  and  by  Jovan  Ristic,  the  Regent 
of  Servia.  It  subsequently  transpired  that  these  "  minutes  " 
were  forgeries  of  a  certain  Reichherzer,  who  himself  brought 
the  facts  to  light.  Though  Ranch  and  Vakanovic  were  directly 
and  openly  accused  of  inspiring  the  forger,  no  attempt  was  ever 
made  on  their  part  to  rebut  the  charges  ;  and  rightly  or  wrongly 
their  complicity  is  treated  in  Croatia  to-day  as  an  established 
fact.  Whatever  may  be  the  true  secret  history  of  the  docu- 
ments, their  purpose  is  too  self-evident  to  be  mistaken.  The 
Deak  Party  and  its  leader.  Count  Lonyay  were  to  be  deterred 
from  negotiating  with  the  National  Party  :  the  Sovereign  was 
to  be  persuaded  that  Strossmayer  and  the  chief  Croatian  patriots 
were  traitors  and  conspirators  ;  and  after  the  collapse  of  the 
only  party  capable  of  upholding  Croatian  claims,  Baron 
Ranch  was  to  return  to  power  as  the  satrap  of  a  submissive 
province.  The  use  of  forged  documents  as  a  political  weapon 
was  thus  introduced  into  Croatian  politics. ^^^  A  generation  later, 

^^  A  pamphlet  entitled  Croatia  on  the  Torture-Bench,  which  appeared 
at  the  end  of  1872  and  caused  a  profound  sensation  in  pohtical  circles, 
professed  to  expose  the  scandalous  intrigues  to  which  Ranch  and 
Vakanovic  resorted,  in  order  to  prevent  the  approaching  entente  be- 
tween the  National  Party  and  Count  Lonyay.  According  to  its  author. 
Ranch's  emissary  in  Vienna  conducted  the  intrigue  through  a  certain 
Frau  Goldmayer,  with  whom  Lonyay  was  intimate,  and  even  obtained 
the  indirect  support  of  Count  Andrassy  for  his  intrigue.  {See  Zagorsky, 
Franfois  Racki,  p.  143.)  For  the  facts  contained  in  this  paragraph, 
see  the  rare  pamphlet,  Enthiillungen  tiber  die  Kiinsie  der  Kroatischen 
Regierung  (Extraabdruck  aus  der  Prager  "  Politik,"  No.  121,  vom  2 
Mai  1872)  and  Iz  crnoga  list  a  nedavne  proslosti  (From  a  black  page 
of  the  Recent  Past),  Varazdin,  1904. 

89 


CROATIA   UNDER  THE  DUAL  SYSTEM 

under  Baron  Levin  Rauch's  own  son,  the  same  methods  ol 
forgery  were  made  the  groundwork  of  Austria's  foreign  poHcy, 
and  dragged  the  name  of  Croatia  into  the  forefront  of  a 
European  scandal. 

The  situation  was  saved  by  the  tact  and  conciliatory  attitude 
of  Count  Lonyay,  who  had  succeeded  Andrassy  as  Hungarian 
Premier  on  the  latter's  appointment  as  Austro-Hungarian 
Foreign  Minister.  Lonyay,  who  had  a  year  previously  con- 
ducted negotiations  with  the  leaders  of  the  National  Party, 
endeavoured  to  find  a  common  basis  of  action  between  it  and 
its  Unionist  rival ;  and  eventually  the  two  parties  agreed  to 
halve  between  them  the  Croatian  delegation  to  the  Joint  Parlia- 
ment, and  also  the  Regnicolar  deputation  ^^^  which  was  to  nego- 
tiate with  Hungary  a  revision  of  the  Compromise.  The  latter, 
which  included  Bishop  Strossmayer,  Mazuranic,  2ivkovic, 
Mrazovic,  appeared  in  Budapest,  and  on  November  6,  formu- 
lated its  demands  in  a  "  Nuntium  "  or  message  to  the  Hungarian 
delegation.     The  main  demands  were  five  in  number. 

(i)  The  five  Croat  members  of  the  Joint  Delegations  ^^'^  should 
be  elected  by  the  Croat  delegates  in  the  Parliament  of 
Budapest,  not  by  the  whole  House.  ^^^ 

(2)  The  Ban  should  be  nominated  by  the  King's  own  act  of 

authority,  and  not  on  the  proposal  of  the  Hungarian 
Premier — in  other  words,  the  Ban  should  be  released 
from  the  humiliating  position  of  an  "  exponent "  of 
Magyar  policy. 

(3)  The  Ban  should  receive  the  title  of  "  Minister  for  Dal- 

matia-Croatia-Slavonia,"  a  title  corresponding  to  that 
of  "  Landes-Minister  "  in  Austria.  This  would  serve 
to  lay  further  emphasis  upon  his  responsibility  to  the 
Croatian  Sabor. 

(4)  Croatia  should  acquire  full  control  over  its  own  revenues, 

paying  over  to  the  Joint  Treasury  the  regular  annual 
sum  due  as  its  contribution  to  Joint  Affairs   (cf.  p  74). 

^31  The  formal  name  given  to  the  committees  which  negotiate  any 
revision  of  the  Compromise. 

"2  §  41,  XXX,  1868. 

"3  The  object  of  this  demand  was  to  ensure  that  the  majority  among 
the  delegates  to  Budapest  should  obtain  a  majority  of  the  five  seats 
in  the  Joint  Delegations.  Under  the  present  system  the  Croats,  only 
numbering  40  out  of  453,  are  completely  at  the  mercy  of  the  Magyar 
majority  in  the  House  in  the  matter  of  the  selection  of  the  five  Croat 
delegates. 

90 


REVISION   OF  THE  COMPROMISE 

(5)  The  Croatian  Minister  in  Budapest  should  not  be  em- 
powered to  interfere  in  any  way  with  Croatian  autono- 
my, but  should  rather  fill  the  position  of  representative 
of  Croatian  interests  at  all  Cabinet  meetings. 

As  the^Hungarian  delegation  categorically  refused  its  assent 
to  these  demands,  Strossmayer  and  certain  other  delegates  who 
shared  his  views  withdrew  from  Budapest  ;  and  those  who 
remained  had  to  content  themselves  with  a  greatly  modified 
scheme  of  revision.  The  position  of  the  Croatian  Minister  was, 
it  is  true,  defined  more  clearly,  but  he  of  course  remained  as 
before  the  channel  of  communication  between  the  Croatian 
Government  and  the  Sovereign.  Henceforth  he  was  bound 
to  submit  "  unaltered  and  without  delay  "  all  the  reports  of  the 
Ban  to  His  Majesty,  and  was  only  at  liberty  to  add  his  own 
commentary,  or  that  of  the  Hungarian  Government,  "  if  doubts 
should  arise  respecting  the  state  connexion  established  by 
Article  XXX  of  1868." 

Croatia's  contribution  to  the  Joint  Treasury  was  definitely 
fixed  at  55  per  cent,  of  her  total  revenues.  ^^^  Finally,  as  a  con- 
stitutional guarantee  of  some  value,  it  was  laid  down  that  the 
Croatian  Sabor  must  be  convoked  within  three  months  of  its 
dissolution.  Thus  such  modifications  as  were  introduced  into 
the  Compromise  were  all  in  favour  of  Croatia,  but  most  of  the 
changes  which  its  representatives  held  to  be  indispensable,  fell 
before  the  veto  of  Hungary.  ^^^ 

None  the  less,  it  was  widely  felt  that  they  were  the  best  terms 
obtainable,  and  when  the  completed  bill  was  laid  before  the 
Sabor  in  the  summer  of  1873,  only  seven  deputies — among  them 
the  historian  Racki — could  be  found  to  vote  for  the  hostile 
motion  which  described  it  as  satisfying  "  neither  the  rights  nor 
the  requirements  "  of  the  Triune  Kingdom.  On  September  5, 
the  revision  was  adopted  by  seventy-nine  votes  to  ten,  and 
the  [conflict  between  Hungary  and  Croatia  seemed  at  length 
to  have  been  allayed. 

On  September  20, 1873,  the  office  of  Ban,  so  long  administered 
by  the  intriguing  Vakanovic,  was  at  length  filled  by  the  appoint- 
ment of  Ivan  Mazuranic,  who  had  presided  over  the  Croatian 
Aulic  Chancellory  until  its  dissolution  in  1869,  but  whose  emin- 
ent political  services  are  less  remembered  to-day  than  his 
authorship  of  the  famous  Croat  epic   "  CengiC  Aga."     The 

134  5ee  Appendix  VI,  modification  of  XXX,  §  17  by  1873,  XXXIV,  §3. 
136  Horvat,  p.  284  ;    Zagorsky,  p.   145. 

91 


CROATIA  UNDER  THE  DUAL  SYSTEM 

appointment  of  "  The  Peasant  Ban,"  as  Mazuranic  was  popu- 
larly called — being  the  first  Ban  ever  appointed  who  was  not 
of  noble  rank — was  hailed  with  general  enthusiasm  and  ushered 
in  a  period  of  important  administrative  and  educational  reforms. 
Numerous  public  institutions  were  founded,  the  prison  system 
reorganized,  a  Statistical  Office  established.  School  attend- 
ance was  made  obligatory,  and  although  lack  of  funds  and  of 
the  necessary  teaching  staff  rendered  the  enforcement  of  this 
measure  impossible,^'*  a  good  beginning,  at  any  rate, was  made. 
Liberty  of  the  Press  was  extended,  the  arbitrary  methods  of 
the  "  Bach  Patent  "  of  1852  (which  still  remained  in  force) 
being  superseded  by  Jury  Trial  for  all  Press  offences,  A 
fairly  liberal  law  was  introduced  guaranteeing  the  Right  ol 
Assembly,  while  another  law  assigned  to  the  Sabor  the  right 
of  holding  responsible,  or  even  impeaching,  the  Ban  "for  any 
act  or  omission  of  his "  such  as  might  injuriously  affect 
Croatia's  constitutional  position. 

An  act  of  May  31,  1875,  provided  for  the  complete  separa- 
tion of  the  executive  and  judicial  arms — a  separation  which 
was,  unhappily,  not  destined  to  maintain  itself  in  practice. ^^' 

Meanwhile,  the  seeds  of  future  trouble  were  sown  by  a  minor 
innovation  which  owed  its  origin  to  the  Ban's  enthusiasm  for 
Western  * '  liberal ' '  ideas .  A  bill  was  passed  excluding  the  clergy 
from  the  management  of  the  schools,  while  prescribing  certain 
prayers  and  recitation  of  the  Catechism  as  part  of  the  regular 
school  curriculum.  This  aroused  fierce  opposition  from  the 
Orthodox  clergy,  and  was  the  main  cause  of  the  formation  of 
a  Serb  party  in  Croatia  and  of  the  subsequent  dissensions 
between  Croats  and  Serbs  which  placed  the  country  for 
well-nigh  thirty  years  at  the  mercy  of  Budapest. 
'  Of  all  the  many  changes  which  took  place  in  Croatia  during 
Mazuranic's  term  of  office,  two  events  deserve  special  mention. 
On  October  ig,  1874,  the  University  of  Agram  was  inaugurated, 
and  the  untiring  efforts  of  Bishop  Strossmayer  in  the  course  of 
national  culture,  were  thus  after  thirteen  years  crowned  with 
success.  ^^^    At  first  a  number  of  its  professors  had  to  be  re- 

1'*  Even  to-day  in  Croatia,  as  in  Hungary,  the  number  of  children 
who  visit  no  school  is  very  great.  In  the  years  1 891-5  the  average 
number  of  children  actually  visiting  school  was  179,670,  or  64  per  cent.  ; 
in  the  years  1896-igoo,  196,920,  or  609  per  cent.  ;  in  1901,  199,292 
out  of  321,451  (i.e.,  62  per  cent.)  ;  in  1907,  241,262  out  of  370,725 
(65  per  cent.).     See  Ung.  Stat.  Jahrbuch,  xii,  p.  352,  and  xv,  p.  320. 

"'  Especially  under  Khuen  H6derv&ry  and  Rauch. 

138  5gg  pp^   123-4 

9a 


THE   MILITARY  FRONTIERS 

cruited  from  other  Slav  races,  especially  from  Bohemia  ^^  ;  but 
this  difficulty,  common  to  all  new  institutions,  was  success- 
fully overcome.  Though  lacking  a  medical  faculty  and  though 
hampered  by  the  refusal  of  reciprocity  of  degrees  with  the 
universities  of  Austria,  the  new  University  soon  became  a 
centre  of  learning  for  all  the  Croats,  Serbs  and  Slovenes  of  the 
Habsburg  dominions,  and  can  to-day  fairly  compete  with  the 
better  endowed  university  of  Belgrad. 

While  from  a  cultural  point  of  view  nothing  could  surpass  in 
importance  the  erection  of  the  first  Southern  Slav  University, 
the  re-incorporation  of  the  old  Military  Frontiers  at  length 
restored  Croatia-Slavonia  to  the  position  which  they  had  occu- 
pied before  the  Turkish  invasion.  The  first  step  had  already 
been  taken  by  a  Royal  Rescript  of  June  8,  1871,  granting  to 
the  "  Frontiers  "  constitutional  rights  corresponding  exactly 
to  those  enjoyed  by  Croatia.  The  perpetual  military  service 
to  which  the  Granitchars  had  hitherto  been  liable  was  replaced 
by  the  rules  of  Universal  Service  applicable  to  the  rest  of  the 
Monarchy  ^"^  ;  and  a  further  stage  in  the  change  from  a  military 
to  a  civil  regime  was  now  effected  by  an  Act  of  September  8, 
1873.  None  the  less,  despite  the  eagerness  displayed  by  Mazur- 
anic,  the  union  still  remained  very  largely  on  paper  and  its  con- 
summation was  not  reached  till  July  15,  1881,  when  the  old 
regime  in  the  "  Military  Frontiers  "  was  finally  swept  away. 

The  chief  merit  of  Mazuranic  as  Ban  was  the  perseverance 
with  which  he  devoted  himself  to  the  task  of  introducing  really 
modern  administrative  methods  in  Croatia.  In  addressing  the 
newly-appointed  High  Sheriffs  in  April,  1875,  he  had  roundly 
declared,  that  "  an  end  at  last  be  put  to  the  officials  regard- 
ing the  people  as  a  legacy,  whom  it  was  their  profession  to 
exploit,"  and  that  nothing  would  please  him  more  than  to  be 
remembered  as  the  founder  of  a  good  administration.  ^*i  If  his 
successors  in  office  succeeded  in  infecting  the  Croatian  execu- 
tive with  those  habits  of  intrigue,  favouritism  and  intimidation 
in  which  Magyar  administration  has  always  excelled,  it  is 
at  any  rate  impossible  to  blame  the  "  Peasant  Ban  "  for  this 
unhappy  state  of  affairs. 

The  Bosnian  insurrection,  which  broke  out  in  July,  1875,  and 
proved  far  too  formidable  for  the  Turks  to  quell,  placed  Mazur- 

"•  Contemporary  scoffers  nicknamed  Agram  University  "  the  Uni- 
versity of  St.  Wenceslas,"  an  allusion  to  the  national  Saint  of  Bohemia. 
"0  Horvat,  p.  286. 

^*^  Rogge,  Oesterreich  seii  der  Katastrophe  Hohenwari-Beust,  ii,  p.  54. 

93 


CROATIA   UNDER  THE   DUAL  SYSTEM 

ani6  in  a  most  equivocal  position,  which  eventually  proved 
altogether  fatal  to  his  popularity.  Croatian  national  senti- 
ment was  thoroughly  roused  by  the  sufferings  of  the  Bosnian 
population  and  the  endless  tales  of  Turkish  atrocities,  and 
clamoured  for  action  ;  while  in  Budapest,  on  the  other  hand, 
enthusiasm  for  the  Turks  ran  high  and  the  unrest  noticeable 
among  the  Croats  and  Serbs  of  the  Triune  Kingdom,  and  the 
southern  counties  of  Hungary  proper  ^^^  ■y^as  frowned  upon  by 
the  Magyar  Chauvinists  as  a  proof  of  Panslav  sympathies  and 
Russian  intrigue.  In  certain  districts  of  Bosnia  Francis  Joseph 
was  hailed  by  the  insurgents  as  the  "  Croat  King  "  (hrvatski 
kralj).  Volunteers  joined  them  from  all  the  Slav  races  of 
the  Monarchy.  Above  all,  crowds  of  refugees,  especially  women 
and  children,  found  their  way  into  Croatia  and  Dalmatia.  The 
maintenance  of  these  unfortunates  soon  became  a  serious  pro- 
blem, even  affecting  the  neutrality  of  the  Monarchy ;  and  it  was 
hardly  to  be  wondered  at  that,  when  the  new  Sabor  assembled  in 
August,  1875,  and  when'' the  Speech  from  the  Throne  carefully 
avoided  all  reference  to  ,.the  rising,  the  leader  of  the  extreme 
Opposition,  Makanec,  brought  an  interpellation,  urging  that  the 
Diet  should  provide  the  refugees  with  money  and  medical 
assistance.  The  Ban  in  his  reply  declared  such  matters  to  be 
outside  the  competence  of  the  Sabor,  and  warned  the  Opposi- 
tion that  a  continuance  of  its  tactics  might  easily  lead  to  a 
dissolution^'*^ ;  and  in  this  attitude  he  was  supported  by  the  great 
majority  of  the  Diet,  despite  the  sentiments  of  the  country  at 
large. 

In  the  following  year  (1876)  excitement  rose  to  fever  pitch  ; 
and  when  on  July  2  Servia  and  Montenegro  declared  war  upon 
the  Turks,  the  belief  in  the  re-establishment  of  a  Southern  Slav 
kingdom  was  already  widespread.  Meanwhile,  public  opinion 
in  Budapest  was  more  Turcophil  than  ever,  a  torchlight  pro- 
cession appeared  beneath  the  window  of  the  Ottoman  Consul ; 
wreaths  were  deposited  upon  the  half-forgotten  grave  of  Giil 
Baba,  the  Turkish  dervish  ;  and  in  the  late  autumn  a  sword 
of  honour,  bought  by  public  subscription,  was  carried  to  Con- 
stantinople by  a  special  deputation  of  Magyar  students,  and 
presented  to  Abdul  Kerim,  the  commander  of  the  Turkish 
armies  against  Servia.  The  Hungarian  Government — then 
under  the  guidance  of  that  masterful  and  unscrupulous  Chau- 
vinist, Coloman  Tisza — had  already  treated  the  Slovaks,  Rou- 

^*^  The  Voivodina  of  1851-60.  '"  Rogge,  op.  cit.  ii,  p.  66. 

94 


THE  EASTERN  CRISIS 

manians  and  Saxons  far  too  brutally  to  require  any  further 
prompting,  and  repressive  measures  were  now  adopted  against 
the  Serbs  of  the  Banat.  Dr.  Svetozar  Miletic,  the  Serb  leader, 
who  had  offered  to  raise  a  corps  of  Serb  volunteers  in  the 
cause  of  Christian  Slavdom,  was  thrown  into  prison,  in  defi- 
ance of  his  immunity  as  member  of  the  Hungarian  Parliament. 
Arrests  and  inquiries  were  made  throughout  the  Banat, 
sixty  persons  being  examined  in  Verseczalone.^^^  By  orders  of 
General  Mollinary,  the  commander  of  the  Agram  garrison  (who 
was  credited  with  being  in  secret  accord  with  Ranch,  Tisza 
and  Andrassy  in  the  Magyar  interest),  the  former  leader  of  the 
Serb  rising  in  1848,  General  Stratimirovic,  was  arrested  in 
Semlin  ;  but  the  absurdity  of  the  suspicions  directed  against 
him  was  clear  from  the  fact  that  he  had  just  been  expelled 
from  Belgrad  owing  to  his  bitter  hostility  to  Tschernajev,^^  and 
he  was  soon  afterwards  released.  Miletic's  colleague  Kas- 
pinovic  shared  his  fate,  and  both  were  put  on  trial  for  high 
treason,  on  the  ground  of  their  connexion  with  the  leaders  of 
the  Omladina  ^^^  in  Belgrad  and  their  efforts  to  raise  Serb  volun- 
teers for  Prince  Milan's  campaign  against  the  Turks.  The  fact 
that  Miletic  had  been  received  in  audience  by  Milan  and  had 
publicly  toasted  the  prince  as  "  King  of  the  Serbs  "  and  har- 
angued in  favour  of  "  the  liberation  of  the  Serbs  from  Magyar 
and  Mongol  yoke,"  was  pounced  upon  by  the  Public  Prosecutor. 
The  usual  methods  of  the  police  state  were  employed  to 
secure  his  conviction,  and  a  former  secretary  of  Stratimirovic 
was  induced  to  figure  as  informer.  Eventually,  Miletic  was 
sentenced  for  his  alleged  separatist  tendencies  to  five  years' 
imprisonment ;  in  prison  his  reason  left  him,  and  he  did  not 
long  survive  his  consequent  release. 

Meanwhile,  Mazuranic,  in  response  to  peremptory  orders 
from  Budapest,  joined  in  the  hunt  for  traitors,  and  numerous 
arrests  were  made  in  Croatia-Slavonia.  A  store  of  pamphlets 
and  flyleaves  for  the  people  were  found  in  the  possession  of  the 
Archpriest  Begovic  in  Karlovac.  The  editor  of  the  frontier 
newspaper  Granicar  was  found  to  be  in  correspondence 
with  the  Servian  statesman  Ristic.  Four  brewery  assistants 
were  caught  in  the  attempt  to  smuggle  cases  of  dynamite  into 
Servia.  Finally  Axentinovic,  the  President  of  the  Essek 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  was  arrested  as  an  agent  of  the  Belgrad 
Government.     The  most  childish  legends  were  circulated,  and 

1**  Ibid.  p.   1 08.  1^^  The  Russian  envoy  in  Servia. 

^*'  A  well-known  student  society.  A 

95 


CROATIA  UNDER  THE  DUAL  SYSTEM 

were  welcomed  by  a  still  more  childish  credulity  on  the  part  of 
the  authorities  ;  and  when  in  the  autumn  the  inevitable  fiasco 
arrived  and  most  of  the  prisoners  had  to  be  released,  no  end 
had  been  gained  save  that  the  Serbs  of  the  Triune  Kingdom 
were  thoroughly  exasperated  and  in  just  such  a  frame  of  mind 
as  rendered  it  easy  for  the  Magyars  to  play  off  Croat  and  Serb 
against  each  other  and  so  to  reduce  the  country  to  long  years 
of  impotence. 

The  outbreak  of  the  Russo-Turkish  War  transferred  the 
centre  of  interest  from  the  Western  to  the  Eastern  Balkans  ; 
but  the  Dual  Monarchy's  period  of  "  masterly  inactivity  " 
at  length  came  to  an  end,  when  on  July  4,  1878,  the  Congress  of 
Berlin  entrusted  her  with  a  mandate  to  occupy  Bosnia  and 
Herzegovina  in  the  interests  of  Western  civilization.  No  time 
was  wasted  in  acting  upon  the  suggestion,  but  the  two  preced- 
ing years  of  neutrality  and  intrigue  had  destroyed  all  sympathy 
for  Austria-Hungary  among  the  inhabitants  of  the  insurgent 
provinces,  who  were  wellnigh  unanimous  in  their  desire  for 
union  with  Servia  and  Montenegro.  The  mandate  of  Europe 
had  to  be  imposed  by  force  of  arms,  and  the  Austrian  troops 
met  with  a  prolonged  and  desperate  resistance.  As  on  so 
many  other  occasions,  Croat  soldiers  played  a  distinguished  part 
in  the  campaign,  and  the  supreme  command  was  entrusted  to 
two  Croat  generals,  Filipovic  and  Jovanovic.  In  spite  of  the 
large  number  of  troops  employed  to  quell  the  insurrection — 
not  less  than  150,000  in  all — a  guerilla  warfare  was  prolonged 
into  the  winter,  the  Austrian  losses  were  very  considerable, 
and  horrid  excesses — natural  to  a  people  which  had  endured  for 
four  centuries  the  atrocities  of  Turkish  rule — were  perpetrated 
against  the  invaders.^*'  It  was  not  till  January  i,  1879,  that  the 
new  Government  could  be  definitely  established  at  Sarajevo. 

The  bitter  disappointment  which  the  course  of  recent  events 
had  aroused  in  Croatia  was  reflected  in  the  Sabor's  Address  to  the 
Throne  on  September  28,  1878.  In  this,  not  content  with 
repeating  its  old  demands  for  the  reincorporation  of  Dalmatia, 
the  final  absorption  of  the  Military  Frontiers,  and  a  clear  defini- 
tion of  Flume's  constitutional  position,  the  Diet  expressed  the 
conviction  that  a  permanent  solution  of  the  task  now  assumed 
by  the  Monarchy  could  only  be  attained  if  in  the  course  of 
time  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina  were  annexed  to  the  Triune  King- 

*"  The  Bosnians  of  that  period  shared  with  the  Herreros  the  hideous 
practice  of  mutilating  their  wounded  enemies. 

96 


"THE  CAVALIER-BAN" 

dom.  The  Address  was  greeted  by  a  storm  of  abuse  from  the 
Magyar  press,  and  at  the  instance  of  his  Hungarian  advisers, 
Francis  Joseph  was  led  to  remark  that  "  the  Sabor  had  ex- 
ceeded its  sphere  of  action,  in  speaking  of  Bosnia  and  Herze- 
govina." 1*^  "  It  is  the  Duahst  poHcy,"  wrote  the  despondent 
Racki  to  a  friend,  "  which  has  prevented  the  incorporation  of 
Bosnia  and  Herzegovina  in  Croatia.  The  peace  of  San  Ste- 
fano  is,  in  my  opinion,  for  the  Balkan  Peninsula  what  the  peace 
of  Villafranca  was  for  Italy  and  that  of  Prague  for  German}^"  i** 

As  time  passed  and  the  final  incorporation  of  the  Military 
Frontiers  was  still  delayed,  Mazuranic  grew  more  and  more  im- 
patient, and  at  length  was  unwise  enough  to  threaten  to  resign 
unless  some  action  were  taken,  both  in  the  matter  of  the 
Frontiers  and  of  the  revision  of  the  financial  provisions  of  the 
Compromise.  The  Magyars,  who  were  only  too  glad  to  be 
rid  of  Mazuranic,  readily  accepted  his  resignation  (February 
21,  1880). 

He  was  succeeded  as  Ban  by  Count  Ladislas  Pejacevic,  a 
Croatian  nobleman  of  high  character  but  of  less  pronounced 
national  sjonpathies  than  his  predecessor.  His  term  of  office 
ushered  in  a  period  of  Magyar  aggression,  in  which  the  Com- 
promise of  1868  was  no  longer  strictly  observed  on  the  part 
of  the  Budapest  Government,  and  continual  infringements 
were  made  upon  Croatian  autonomy.  The  appointment  of 
a  Magyar  official,  Antony  David,  as  Director  of  the  Financial 
Department  in  Agram,  was  one  of  the  first  slight  indica- 
tions of  this  changed  attitude,  which  contrasted  so  unfavour- 
ably with  the  punctilious  care  with  which  Deak,  Andrassy  and 
Lonyay  had  always  fulfilled  their  obligations,  when  once  entered 
upon.  In  June,  1880,  David  introduced  the  seemingly  harmless 
innovation  of  courses  of  instruction  in  the  Magyar  language, 
for  the  benefit  of  the  financial  officials  in  Agram.  When,  how- 
ever, it  was  announced  that  promotion  would  be  made  depend- 
ent upon  proficiency  in  Magyar,  Croat  patriotic  sentiment  at 
once  took  alarm  ;  and  Dr.  Mrazovid,  one  of  the  leaders  of  the 
National  Party,  seceded  with  twenty-two  other  deputies  and 
formed  the  Independent  National  Party. 

The  final  incorporation  of  the  Military  Frontiers  (July  15, 
1881),  so  long  and  so  eagerly  awaited,  had  a  soothing  effect 
upon  Croatian  public  opinion  ;  and  as  the  foreign  situation 
was  comparatively  calm  once  more,  Count  Pejacevid  might  have 

»"  Horvat,  p.  288. 

^*»  Letter  of  Racki  to  Novakovic,  Ap.  3,  1878,  cit.  Zagorsky,  p.  150. 

S.S.Q.  97  H 


CROATIA   UNDER   THE   DUAL  SYSTEM 

long  continued  undisturbed  in  office,  but  for  an  apparently 
trifling  incident.  In  the  summer  of  1883  David  removed  the 
scutcheons  bearing  Croat  inscriptions,  which  had  hitherto 
hung  above  the  entrance  of  the  Finance  Office  and  certain 
other  public  buildings  in  Agram,  and  replaced  them  by  others 
bearing  inscriptions  in  both  Croat  and  Magyar.  This  innova- 
tion— insignificant  as  it  may  seem  to  those  who  are  not  aware 
of  the  enormous  importance  attached  throughout  Austria- 
Hungary  to  such  external  symbols  as  flags,  colours  and  in- 
scriptions 1^° — was  bitterly  resented  by  Croatian  opinion  as  a 
clear  infringement  of  the  Compromise. ^^^  As  paragraph  57 
expressly  makes  Croatian  the  official  language  throughout 
Croatia,  even  for  organs  of  the  Joint  Government,  it  is  cer- 
tainly difficult  to  realize  upon  what  grounds  the  Magyar 
authorities  could  justify  their  action.^^^  Qn  August  15  riots 
broke  out  in  Agram,  and  the  obnoxious  scutcheons  were  re- 
moved by  the  crowd.  The  excitement  spread  into  the  pro- 
vinces, and  troops  had  to  be  called  out  to  quell  the  disorders. 
The  Ban,  whom  David  had  not  consulted,  and  Bedekovic,  who 
was  now  Croatian  Minister,  laid  the  case  before  the  Hungarian 
Cabinet ;  but  when  it  decided  that  in  order  to  vindicate  the 
reputation  of  the  Joint  Government,  the  bilingual  scutcheons 
must  be  restored  wherever  they  had  been  forcibly  removed, 
Pejacevic  at  once  resigned  (August  24)  and  made  his  reasons 
public.  This  spirited  attitude  more  than  atoned,  in  the  eyes 
of  his  countrymen,  for  his  previous  inactivity,  and  earned  him 
the  name  of  the  "  Cavalier-Ban." 

Coloman  Tisza  adhered  rigidly  to  the  view  that  the  legal 
question  could  not  even  be  considered  until  reparation  had 
been  made  for  the  action  of  the  mob.  While  doubtless  unpre- 
pared for  so  violent  an  outbreak  in  Croatia,  he  was  not  averse 
to  giving  that  country  a  taste  of  the  habitual  brutality  with 
which  he  treated  the  Slovaks  and  Roumanians.     On  September 

1^°  It  is  sufi&cient  to  refer  to  such  incidents  as  the  Cilli  gymnasium, 
which  wrecked  an  Austrian  Government  (1886),  the  part  played  by 
the  night  watchman  of  Leitmeritz  and  the  postbags  of  the  Nordbahn 
in  the  rivalry  of  Czech  and  German.  In  Hungary  the  authorities 
have  time  after  time  resorted  to  bloodshed,  rather  than  allow  the 
Roumanian  peasantry  to  wear  its  national  colours. 

"1  See  Appendix  V. 

162  jhe  Magyar  argument  was  that  the  Compromise  nowhere  lays 
down  what  language  the  inscriptions  are  to  be  in,  and  that  therefore 
it  was  both  legal  and  reasonable  that  both  languages  should  be  employed 
on  buildings  which  served  both  countries. 

98 


THE  CONSTITUTION   SUSPENDED 

4,  1883,  the  Croatian  constitution  was  suspended  by  the  nomin- 
ation of  the  commanding  officer  in  Agram,  Baron  Hermann 
Ramberg,  as  Royal  Commissioner  for  Croatia.  Ramberg's 
firm  yet  tactful  behaviour  soon  restored  order.  Only  three 
days  after  his  appointment  the  bilingual  scutcheons  were  back 
in  their  places,  but  on  October  16  they  were  replaced  by  the 
so-called  "  dumb  shields,"  which  bore  the  arms  of  Hungary 
and  Croatia,  but  no  inscription  of  any  kind. 

But  though  actual  disturbances  were  soon  at  an  end,  the 
appointment  of  a  Royal  Commissioner  marks  an  eventful  and 
fatal  turning-point  in  Croatian  history.  It  dealt  the  death- 
blow to  the  Unionist  idea  in  Croatia.  In  the  succeeding  period 
Unionism  still  could  boast  prominent  adherents  and  a  major- 
ity in  Parliament,  since  for  opportunists,  placehunters  and 
arrivistes  there  were  more  openings  than  ever  before  and  since 
no  device  was  left  untried  to  thin  the  ranks  of  Opposition. 
But  the  soul  of  the  nation  had  finally  rejected  the  Hungarian 
partnership  and  longed  passionately  for  freedom  from  its 
irksome  bonds.  Save  for  a  few  brilliant  individual  exceptions 
the  party  of  convinced  adherents  of  the  union  ceased  to  exist. 
The  country  was  divided  between  Magyarophobes  and 
Mamelukes,  and  for  twenty-five  years  the  Mamelukes  were  to 
prevail,  for  reasons  which  will  soon  become  clear  to  the  reader. 

The  chief  gainer  from  the  Ramberg  interregnum  was  the 
Party  of  Right  (Stranka  Prava),  as  the  adherents  of  Antony 
Starcevic  were  called.  Its  uncompromising  negation  of  the 
Compromise  with  Hungary  seemed  to  be  justified,  if  the  funda- 
mental law  which  regulated  the  relations  of  the  two  countries 
could  be  lightly  set  aside  by  a  stroke  of  the  pen  from  the 
Hungarian  Premier. ^^^  With  the  restoration  of  order  Ram- 
berg's mission  was  at  an  end,  and  Tisza  looked  about  for  a 
suitable  candidate  for  the  office  of  Ban.  Overtures  were 
made  to  Baron  Filipovic,  who  as  a  Croat  general  was  popular 
and  respected,  yet  free  from  all  party  ties  ;  but  he  had  no  inclin- 
ation to  leave  his  retirement,  merely  to  play  the  part  of  a  Mag- 
yar exponent  in  his  native  land.  On  December  i,  1883,  the 
appointment  was  announced  of  Count  Charles  Khuen-Heder- 
vary,  a  cousin  of  Tisza  himself.  The  new  Ban  had  been  born 
in  Slavonia,  where  his  chief  estate  was  situated,  and  had  spent 
two  3'ears  at  the  former  Academy  of  Law  in  Agram,  before  he 
went  on  to  Vienna  and  Budapest  Universities.     For  the  three 

163  Polio,  Graf  Khuen-Hedervdry  und  seme  Zeil,  p.  7. 
99 


CROATIA   UNDER  THE   DUAL  SYSTEM 

years  previous  to  his  appointment  as  Ban,  he  had  occupied  the 
post  of  High  Sheriff  of  the  county  of  Gyor.  This  was  practi- 
cally all  that  the  Croatian  public  knew  of  the  man  who  was 
destined  to  rule  their  country  with  a  rod  of  iron  for  the  next 
twenty  years,  and  for  whom  history  will  reserve  a  special  niche 
as  the  most  successful  satrap  of  any  modern  European  pro- 
vince. The  young  Ban — he  was  only  thirty  years  of  age — 
was  looked  upon  by  many  as  a  political  cipher,  and  it  was 
prophesied  that  his  term  of  office  would  be  brief. 

Count  Khuen-Hedervary's  remarkable  career  is  only  too  open 
to  criticism  ;  but  no  one  can  deny  his  great  political  capacity. 
From  the  very  first  he  showed  a  calm  energy,  coupled  with  an 
iron  nerve  and  complete  self-restraint  such  as  are  strikingly 
alien  to  the  Croat  temperament,  and  for  that  very  reason  made 
a  deep  impression  upon  the  Croat  mind.  Above  all,  he  pos- 
sessed a  remarkable  gift  of  judging  character  and  estimating 
motives,  and  as  he  always  knew  the  weakest  spot  in  his 
enemy's  armour,  and  spared  no  pains  to  collect  his  informa- 
tion, he  gradually  succeeded  in  gathering  round  him  a  really 
able  band  of  fellow-workers  in  the  task  of  holding  down  Croatia. 
Unlike  so  many  men  in  such  a  position,  he  was  not  satisfied 
with  mere  opportunism  or  ambition  in  his  subordinates  ;  sub- 
servience he  never  exacted  from  them,  but  ability  and  energy  he 
regarded  as  indispensable.  While  this  explains  his  success, 
it  also  helps  to  explain  the  deep  hatred  which  his  name  still 
inspires  in  Croatia.  For  when  the  Croats  describe  Count 
Khuen  as  the  corrupter  of  a  whole  generation  of  their  coun- 
trymen, they  are  not  guilty  of  mere  exaggeration.  The  essence 
of  his  system  consisted  in  closing  every  public  career  to  men 
of  independent  views  or  strong  national  feeling  and  in  forcing 
all  who  had  a  career  to  make  or  a  salary  to  earn — and  in  so  poor 
a  country  as  Croatia  the  exceptions  to  this  class  are  unhappily 
rare — to  forswear  their  political  convictions  and  to  submit 
blindly  to  marching  orders  from  above. 

Count  Khuen  enjoyed  one  signal  advantage  which  had  been 
denied  to  all  his  predecessors  since  the  Compromise.  He  stood 
entirely  outside  and  above  the  parties,  no  personal  ties  bound 
him  to  this  politician  or  to  that.  He  could  pose  as  impartial, 
and,  it  is  only  fair  to  add,  he  often  justified  the  pose,  in  matter 
where  his  predecessors  could  hardly  have  failed  to  betray  their 
party  leanings.  His  very  detachment  made  it  the  more  difficult 
for  his  opponents  to  understand  him  or  to  calculate  his  prob- 
able course  of  action  ;   while  he  took  a  born  diplomat's  delight 

100 


COUNT   KHUEN-HEDERVARY 

m  watching  and  forestalling  their  designs,  from  behind  the 
mask  of  an  eternal  smile. 

Secured  in  his  post  by  Court  favour  and  the  confidence  of 
Colomon  Tisza,  Count  Khuen  set  himself  the  thorny  task  of 
reducing  Croatia  to  order  and  of  creating  a  pliant  and  docile 
majority,  pledged  to  the  Compromise  with  Hungary  and  inno- 
cuous from  the  standpoint  of  "  the  Magyar  State  idea  "  (a 
Magyar  allam  eszme)  which  now  formed  the  main  objective 
of  Hungarian  statesmen.  When  he  took  office,  the  old  National 
Party  was  already  in  the  last  stage  of  decay,  and  its  collapse 
was  regarded  on  all  sides  as  inevitable.  Khuen,  however, 
galvanized  the  corpse,  and  gave  it  a  new  lease  of  life  ;  the  name 
and  the  external  trappings  of  the  party  survived,  but  its  charac- 
ter underwent  a  complete  transformation,  and  it  richly  de- 
served the  epithet  of  "  Mameluke  "  bestowed  upon  it  by  stern 
critics  of  its  opportunist  views. 

At  this  period  the  moderate  Opposition,  represented  by  the 
Independent  National  Party  (which  had  seceded  from  the 
majority  in  1881)  was  overshadowed  by  those  uncompromis- 
ing and  turbulent  elements  which  followed  Antony  Starcevic. 
This  remarkable  man,  whose  retiring  idealistic  nature  con- 
trasted strongly  with  the  violence  of  his  political  opinions, 
based  the  programme  of  the  Party  of  Right  (or  the  Starcevic 
Party,  as  it  came  to  be  called  later)  upon  historic  right  and 
racial  fanaticism.  His  sterling  honesty  of  character  stands 
above  all  question  (though  the  evil  Croat  propensity  of  politi- 
cal slander  has  not  left  even  his  name  untouched)  ;  and  it  was 
above  all  this  quality  which  earned  him  such  an  unbounded 
influence  over  the  younger  generation  of  Croats.  Unhappily, 
he  carried  his  horror  of  compromise  to  extravagant  lengths, 
and  indeed  in  his  rigid  adherence  to  principles  often  sacrificed 
the  reality  which  underlay  them.  His  fanaticism  was  unrea- 
soning to  an  almost  unhealthy  degree,  and  degenerated  under 
his  successors  into  a  mere  policy  of  blind  hatred.  His  incapa- 
city to  learn  from  events  and  his  unmeasured  use  of  personalities 
rob  him  of  the  right  to  the  title  of  statesman  ;  but  his  influence 
in  rousing  the  youth  of  his  country  from  the  swamp  of  lethargy 
and  corruption  into  which  Magyar  rule  had  plunged  it,  cannot 
easily  be  exaggerated. 

The  appointment  of  Count  Khuen-Hedervary  was  of  course 
received  most  unfavourably  by  the  Party  of  Right,  which 
vented  its  ill-humour  in  stormy  outbursts  in  the  Sabor.  But 
from  the  very  first  Count  Khuen  showed  a  firm  hand,  and  as 

lOI 


CROATIA  UNDER  THE  DUAL  SYSTEM 

early  as  December  19,  1883,  several  Opposition  deputies  were 
excluded  from  the  sittings.  Feeling  ran  higher  than  ever 
before  in  Croatian  public  life  ;  the  fiercest  polemics  between 
the  parties  were  the  order  of  the  day.  The  Opposition  in- 
dulged in  unmeasured  abuse,  and  even  violence  :  the  majority 
retaliated  by  infringements  of  the  rules  of  the  House.  Finally, 
a  few  days  before  the  close  of  the  Session,  both  Opposition 
parties,  by  way  of  protest  against  such  illegal  proceedings, 
decided  to  absent  themselves  altogether  from  the  House. 

The  general  election  of  August,  1884,  was  contested  with  the 
utmost  violence,  which  sometimes  degenerated  into  blood- 
shed. Gross  official  pressure  on  the  one  hand  was  met  by 
terrorism  and  wild  invective  on  the  other.  In  spite  of  every 
obstacle  which  the  Government  could  throw  in  their  way, 
forty-one  members  of  the  Opposition  succeeded  in  running  the 
electoral  gauntlet  ;  of  these  thirteen  belonged  to  the  Inde- 
pendent National  Party  (including  Dr.  Joseph  Frank  ^^*), 
three  were  non-party,  while  the  remaining  twenty-five  were 
followers  of  Starcevic. 

Khuen  and  his  confidants,  having  met  with  a  very  partial 
success  at  the  polls,  resorted  to  even  more  drastic  measures  in 
the  new  Sabor  (October,  1884).  The  debate  on  the  Address  to 
the  Throne  gave  rise  to  the  usual  stormy  scenes,  the  Party  of 
Right  moving  a  rival  Address,  in  which  the  validity  of  the 
Compromise  was  denied,  as  created  by  "  an  illegal  assembly." 
Hereupon  the  new  President,  Mirko  Hrvat,  one  of  the  most 
energetic  and  masterful  members  of  the  Government  Party, 
threw  aspersions  upon  the  Starcevic  Address,  as  calculated 
to  arouse  doubts  regarding  "  the  innate  loyalty  of  this  Diet  and 
the  nation  which  it  represents,  towards  the  sacred  person  of 
His  Majesty,"  and  then  solemnly  protested  against  "  the  bare 
idea  "  that  the  Diet  could  ever  accept  such  an  address.  This 
grave  accusation  was  greeted  with  fierce  cries  of  "  Revoke," 
but  on  three  successive  days  the  President  closed  the  sitting 
without  allowing  the  members  of  the  Party  of  Right  any 
opportunity  of  defending  themselves.  On  October  24,  Hrvat 
opened  the  proceedings  by  a  fresh  statement,  in  which  he 
proposed  the  exclusion  of  fifteen  members  of  that  party  from 
eight  sittings  of  the  Sabor,  and  promptly  followed  this  up  by 
declaring  them  excluded  from  that  day's  sitting.  He  frankly 
admitted  that  he  was  acting  contrary  to  the  Standing  Orders 

^'*  See  below,  p.   no. 
102 


OBSTRUCTION   AND   ITS  REPRESSION 

of  the  House,  but  justified  his  action  on  the  plea  that  their 
framers  could  not  know  that  deputies  would  ever  find  their 
way  into  the  Diet  who  would  make  its  work  impossible  by 
noise  and  even  howling,  and  by  "  insults  such  as  cannot  be 
tolerated  even  in  the  lowest  grades  of  society."  ^^^  On  the 
motion  of  the  deputy  Loncaric  a  revision  of  the  Standing  Orders 
was  proposed  and  accepted  by  the  majority  without  alteration. 
When  the  fifteen  excluded  members  sought  to  gain  admission, 
their  way  was  blocked  by  gendarmes,  at  the  orders  of  the 
Government. 

This  drastic  reform  invested  the  President  of  the  Chamber 
with  well-nigh  absolute  discretionary  powers  over  the  deputies. 
It  introduced  a  sliding  scale  of  punishments  for  refractory 
members,  beginning  with  a  call  to  order  and  a  reproof,  and  then 
proceeding  to  exclusion  from  eight  to  thirty  sittings,  and  finally 
from  thirty  to  sixty  sittings,  with  loss  of  salary  during  the 
period  of  exclusion.  Above  all,  a  vigorous  form  of  closure 
was  adopted  ;  after  the  debate  on  any  subject  had  lasted 
three  days,  any  member  of  the  Sabor  who  could  obtain  the 
support  of  ten  others,  was  entitled  to  move  the  closing  of  the 
discussion,  and  "  on  such  a  motion  the  Sabor  decides  imme- 
diately without  any  debate,  merely  by  standing  up."  ^^^ 

Any  Croatian  verdict  upon  this  extraordinary  incident  must 
inevitably  be  determined  by  the  party  bias  of  the  individual. 
There  can  be  i  o  question  that  Hrvat's  action  was  arbitrary  to 
the  last  degree  and  involved  a  gross  infringement  of  the  Croa- 
tian Constitution.  But  unless  we  deny  the  principle  that 
"  the  King's  Government  must  be  carried  on,"  we  shall  be 
constrained  to  find  extenuating  circumstances  for  his  action. 
Under  the  circumstances  of  the  day,  the  Opposition  had  shown 
itself  to  be  a  destructive,  not  a  constructive,  force  ;  and  its 
triumph  must  inevitably  have  led  to  a  fresh  suspension  of 
the  Constitution.  Nothing  shows  more  clearly  Antony  Star- 
cevic's  complete  lack  of  statesmanship  than  his  adoption  of 
tactics  which  directly  challenged  an  adversary  whom  he  knew 
to  be  greatly  superior  in  strength,  to  resort  to  some  such 
drastic  measures.  No  statesman  worthy  of  the  name  sets 
himself  deliberately  to  ride  for  a  fall. 

With  the  revision  of  the  Standing  Orders,  the  power  of  the 
Opposition  was  broken  ;  and  the  Ban  was  free  to  extend  that 
notorious  system  of  repressive  Government  which  will  always 

165  Polic,  op.  cit.  p.  39.  "*  Horvat,  op.  cit.  p.  291. 

103 


CROATIA   UNDER   THE   DUAL  SYSTEM 

be  known  to  history  as  "  the  Khuen  Regime."  One  formid- 
able step  in  the  taming  of  Croatia  was  the  law  which  suspended 
for  a  period  of  three  years  trial  by  jury  for  all  press  actions. 
Public  opinion  had  favoured  the  defendants  in  political  cases, 
and  with  but  few  exceptions  the  juries  had  acquitted. i"  Now 
however  it  was  at  once  possible  to  muzzle  the  Opposition  press 
by  confiscation  and  by  legal  proceedings  and  to  ensure  that 
these  took  place  before  courts  which  were  amenable  to 
Government  influences. 

Meanwhile  the  Government,  by  its  administrative  "  re- 
forms," strengthened  its  hold  upon  the  officials  throughout 
the  country  and  made  them  more  than  ever  dependent  upon 
their  superiors.  The  High  Sheriffs  of  the  counties  were  invested 
with  fresh  powers,  in  certain  respects  even  over  the  local  town 
councils.  The  Ban,  it  is  true,  expressly  denied  the  exercise  of 
pressure  upon  the  officials  ;  but  perfunctory  denials  could 
deceive  nobody,  in  view  of  his  own  significant  phrase,  "  In 
a  country  where  two  parties  are  struggling,  one  for  the  legal 
status  quo,  the  other  against  it,  the  attitude  of  the  officials 
is  clearly  marked  out."  ^^^ 

The  Session  of  1885  was  still  marked  by  scenes  of  the  utmost 
violence  ;  but  the  Party  of  Right  was  fatally  handicapped 
by  the  new  Rules  of  Procedure,  and,  it  must  be  added,  was 
entirely  lacking  in  the  tactical  skill  and  adaptability  by  which 
a  Parnell  might  perhaps  have  continued  to  defy  the  Govern- 
ment. The  elections  of  1887,  conducted  on  the  most  approved 
Tammany  principles,  still  further  strengthened  the  "  National  " 
party  at  the  expense  of  the  Independents  and  the  Starce- 
vicians ;  and  Khuen  now  felt  himself  strong  enough  to 
adapt  the  franchise  to  his  own  requirements.  Croatia 
presents  an  example,  probably  unique  in  modern  Europe, 
of  perpetual  juggling  with  the  franchise,  and  Count  Khuen 
may  well  have  felt  that  one  more  addition  to  the  long  list  of 
electoral  "  reforms  "  might  be  ventured  upon  with  impunity. 1^9 

1"  Folic,  op.  cit.  p.  62.  ^5*  Ibid.  p.  42. 

"»  The  Diet  of  1848  was  elected  on  the  basis  of  an  electoral  law, 
hurriedly  drawn  up  under  Jellacic  by  representative  Croats  summoned 
for  the  purpose,  but  never  submitted  to  full  discussion  by  the  Sabor. 
The  Diets  of  1861  and  1866  (see  Sulek,  Nase  Pravice,  pp.  242-46)  were 
also  elected  on  this  rough  draft,  the  opportunity  not  arising  for  a 
thorough  measure  of  reform.  In  1866  a  new  franchise  bill  was  laid 
before  the  Sabor  {see  Sulek,  op.  cit.  pp.  cxxvii-cxxxv)  but  not  passed, 
and  the  elections  of  1867  were  conducted  upon  a  provisional  franchise, 
arbitrarily   promulgated    {see   Sulek,    pp.   cxxxvi-cxliii).     In    1870   at 

104. 


A   REACTIONARY   FRANCHISE 

The  new  electoral  law  did,  it  is  true,  reduce  the  number  of 
virilists  and  bring  the  constituencies  of  the  former  Military- 
Frontiers  into  line  with  those  of  the  rest  of  the  country.!^"  But 
otherwise  all  the  evil  features  of  the  old  franchise  were  retained 
or  accentuated.  Public  voting  and  a  tax  qualification  which 
was  extremely  high  for  so  poor  a  country,  made  "  freedom  of 
election  "  in  Croatia  a  mere  farce.  Less  than  2  per  cent,  of 
the  population  possessed  the  vote,  and  from  50  to  60  per  cent, 
of  the  electors  were  officials.^^^  The  Croatian  vote  was  now 
for  the  first  time  extended  to  the  joint  officials,  even  if  they 
possessed  a  vote  in  their  own  homes  in  Hungary.  This  pro- 
vision, which  would  have  been  a  mere  matter  of  justice  under 
a  wide  and  liberal  franchise,  was,  under  the  special  circum- 
stances of  the  case — and  was  of  course  intended  to  be — a  con- 
venient weapon  in  the  hands  of  the  Government.  The  official 
who  voted  for  an  Opposition  candidate,  or  even  absented  him- 
self from  the  poll,  risked,  and  often  lost,  his  position  ;  and  thus 
for  years  the  officials  were  the  pliant  tools  of  the  Government, 
turning  the  scale  in  a  large  number  of  constituencies.  A 
specially  valuable  asset  were  the  State  railway  employees — 
many  of  them  Magyars — who  could  always  be  relied  upon  to 
vote  as  their  superiors  ordered  ;  and  it  is  this  fact  which 
explains  the  fierce  opposition  of  the  Party  of  Right  to  the 
enfranchisement  of  the  joint  officials. ^^^ 

This  reactionary  franchise  formed  the  basis  for  a  complete 
system  of  electoral  corruption  and  intimidation.  No  trick 
or  quibble  was  neglected  to  cheat  the  Opposition  of  its  votes 
or  to  deter  its  supporters  from  voting.  The  registers  were 
consistently    "  doctored,"    names    were    omitted    or    falsely 

length  a  new  franchise  law  was  passed  by  the  Sabor.  It  was  specially- 
framed  to  give  the  Government  organs  great  power,  yet  Rauch's  Unionist 
party  was  twice  beaten  on  its  own  franchise.  In  1874  the  National 
Party,  now  in  power,  introduced  and  passed  a  much  more  liberal  mea- 
sure ;  but  in  1881,  after  the  split  in  the  governing  party,  a  fresh 
"  reform  "  was  carried,  again  extending  the  influence  of  the  authorities. 
This  remained  in  force  until  Khuen's  "reform"  in  1887. 

1'°  Till  then,  the  Frontiers  had  voted  on  a  special  franchise  promul- 
gated in  1883. 

^^^  In  igo6  there  were  45,381  electors  out  of  a  population  of  2,416,304, 
i.e.,   1-8  per  cent.'  (Horvat,  p.  292). 

"2  They  further  based  their  opposition  upon  the  view  that  Hungarian 
and  Croatian  citizenship  are  entirely  distinct  and  not  reciprocal.  Yet 
however  logical  such  a  distinction  might  seem  to  be,  it  is  quite  impos- 
sible to  interpret  the  Compromise  in  this  sense,  in  view  of  its  clear 
recognition  of  Croatia's  identity  as  a    distinct  state. 

105 


CROATIA  UNDER  THE  DUAL  SYSTEM 

inscribed,  while  strangers  were  allowed  to  vote  in  the  name  of 
dead  voters  or  to  impersonate  the  absent.  Bribery  was  prac- 
tised openly,  and  the  authorities  canvassed  actively  for  the 
Government  candidates.  The  right  of  assembly  and  freedom  of 
speech  were  suspended  without  scruple,  and  even  the  im- 
munity of  Opposition  deputies  was  not  respected.  In  some 
constituencies  the  electorate  numbered  less  than  a  hundred,^^^ 
and  here  the  task  of  the  Government  was  comparatively  simple. 
Elsewhere,  where  the  Opposition  was  more  formidable,  the 
electors  were  sometimes  in  the  last  resort  kept  back  for- 
cibly from  the  poll  by  detachments  of  gendarmerie  or  by 
military  cordons.  More  than  one  case  could  be  quoted  where 
electors  have  only  reached  the  poll  by  lying  flat  beneath  a 
load  of  hay  on  a  peasant's  cart ;  and  other  equally  strange 
devices  have  sometimes  been  required  before  a  Croat  citizen 
could  exercise  his  political  rights.  Nor  was  bloodshed  un- 
known at  the  Croatian  elections  of  the  Khuen  era.  Most 
notorious  of  all,  but  by  no  means  unique,  was  the  fusillade  by 
which  eight  peasants  were  killed  and  sixty  others  wounded  ; 
numerous  sentences  of  fines  or  imprisonment  being  imposed 
upon  those  who  had  dared  to  survive  the  massacre. ^^^ 

In  1888  the  Opposition  was  still  further  weakened  by  its 
own  intolerant  attitude.  On  the  occasion  of  Bishop  Stross- 
mayer's  jubilee,  when  the  entire  nation  should  have  united 
in  its  homage  to  one  of  its  greatest  sons,  a  discordant  note 
was  struck  by  Hrvatska,  the  organ  of  the  Starcevic  Party. 
So  violent  was  its  abuse  of  the  Apostle  of  Southern  Slav  unity 
that  three  members  of  the  Party  of  Right,  including  Erasmus 
Barcic — to-day  the  "  Father "  of  the  Croatian  House — 
seceded  and  formed  a  small  group  of  their  own,  until  seven 
years  later  they  were  reinforced  by  a  further  secession.  The 
fanaticism  of  the  Starcevic  party  at  this  period  knew  no 
bounds  ;  charges  of  atheism  and  infidelity  were  showered 
upon  their  opponents,  and  the  attempt  was  even  made  to 
discredit  such  priests  as  chose  to  adhere  to  the  National  Party. 
Nothing  could  better  illustrate  the  intellectual  poverty  of  the 
party  than  these  supremely  foolish  tactics.  The  inevitable 
result  was  to  strengthen  the  alliance  of  the  Serbs  with  the 
Government  and  to  swell  the  ranks  of  its  Croat  supporters 
who  owed  their  seats  to  artifice  and  trickery  of  the  grossest 

163  jn   PeruSic,  Srb,    Gracac,    Karlobag  and   Korenica  the   electors 
were  61,  74,  74,  75  and  81  respectively,  see  Horvat,  p.  292. 
i«4  Loiseau,  Le  Balkan  Slave,  p.   177. 

106 


FUTILE   OPPOSITION 

kind,  by  a  solid  phalanx  of  twenty  to  twenty-five  devoted 
Serb  adherents,  elected  in  accordance  with  the  real  wishes  of 
the  Orthodox  population.  So  long  as  the  only  serious  party 
of  opposition  denied  the  very  existence  of  the  Serbs  in  the 
Triune  Kingdom,  the  latter  had  no  choice  but  to  accept  Count 
Khuen's  friendly  overtures.  It  was  not  until  the  younger 
generation  of  Croats  assumed  a  more  enlightened  and  reason- 
able frame  of  mind  towards  their  Serb  kinsmen,  and  gave  ex- 
pression to  the  growing  idea  of  fellowship  in  a  new  political 
organization,  that  the  Serbs  ventured  to  leave  the  apron- 
strings  of  the  Government.  Divide  et  impera  was  the  secret 
motto  of  the  Khuen  regime.  He  realized  that  the  two  main 
principles  of  Antony  Starcevic  were  mutually  destructive, 
that  the  independence  of  Croatia  and  the  formation  of  a  Greater 
Croatia  were  only  practicable  with  the  aid  of  the  Serbs.  So 
long,  then,  as  he  could  retain  the  Serbs  upon  his  side,  the  nation 
must  remain  weak  and  divided ;  no  effort  was  spared  to  secure 
the  success  of  this  policy,  and  so  long  as  he  remained  Ban  that 
success  was  strikingly  complete. 

The  powerlessness  of  the  Opposition  became  more  than  ever 
apparent  in  1889,  when  the  financial  provisions  of  the  Compro- 
mise were  revised  in  a  sense  distinctly  unfavourable  to  Croatia, 
the  quota  (or  contribution  to  the  joint  affairs  of  the  Monarchy) 
being  raised  from  6-4  to  7-9  per  cent.,  and  the  proportion  of 
revenue  to  be  retained  for  autonomous  expenditure  being 
reduced  from  45  to  44  per  cent.  (1889,  XL,  §§  i  and  6a). 

The  elections  of  1892  reduced  the  Party  of  Right  to  eight 
members.  Its  unfruitful  policy  of  negation  had  kept  the 
country  in  a  state  of  feverish  exhaustion,  at  a  time  when  strong 
purgatives  were  needed.  The  urgent  need  of  new  tactics  had 
at  length  become  apparent  even  to  its  most  uncompromising 
adherents ;  and  in  the  autumn  of  1892  the  Independent 
National  Party  and  the  Party  of  Right  combined  to  form  the 
so-called  "  United  Opposition  "  (Sjedinjena  Opozicija).  But 
the  union  was  more  apparent  than  real.  The  broad  states- 
manship of  Strossmayer  might  have  supplied  what  was  lack- 
ing in  the  narrower  idealism  of  Starcevic,  but  it  could  not 
hope  to  assimilate  the  blind  fanaticism  of  the  latter's  followers. 
The  only  practical  fruit  of  this  temporary  union  was  the  re- 
vision of  the  Starcevician  programme  in  1894.  The  party 
abandoned  its  fiercely  anti-Austrian  attitude,  recognized  the 
existence  of  Joint  Affairs  between  Hungary  and  Croatia  on  the 
one  hand  and  Austria  on  the  other,  but  still  denied  the  legality 

107 


CROATIA   UNDER   THE   DUAL   SYSTEM 

of  the  Hungaro-Croatian  Compromise  and  demanded  its 
revision  on  such  a  basis  as  would  secure  absolute  parity  be- 
tween the  two  countries.  The  union  of  Croatia,  Slavonia,  Dal- 
matia,  Bosnia,  Herzegovina,  Fiume,  Istria  in  a  single  state 
— known  under  the  modern  name  of  Trialism — became  more 
than  ever  the  aspiration  of  all  true  Croat  and  Serb  patriots 
within  the  Habsburg  Monarchy. 

The  year  1895  witnessed  a  recrudescence  of  the  violent 
scenes  of  twelve  years  before.  During  the  official  visit  of  the 
Emperor-King  to  the  Croatian  capital,  the  anger  of  the  mob 
and  of  the  students  was  excited  by  the  prominence  of  the  Hun- 
garian tricolour  and  the  Serb  national  colours  in  the  street 
decorations.  An  attempt  was  first  made  to  tear  down  the 
latter  from  the  Orthodox  Church,  and  though  this  was  fortu- 
nately frustrated  by  the  pohce,  the  demonstrations  were 
renewed  the  following  day  (October  15,  1895)  before  the  great 
equestrian  statue  of  Jellacic,  which  occupies  the  centre  of  the 
principal  square  of  Agram  and  seems  to  menace  the  Magyars 
with  his  drawn  sword  pointing  in  the  direction  of  Budapest. 
Here  in  the  presence  of  a  huge  crowd,  four  students  soaked  a 
Hungarian  flag  in  alcohol  and  burnt  it  to  the  strains  of  the 
old  Illyrian  hymn,  "Yet  is  not  Croatia  fallen,  while  we  are  yet 
alive. "1^^  A  similar  outburst  of  feeling  marked  the  following 
year,  when  the  students  of  Belgrad  burnt  the  Hungarian  flag, 
in  protest  against  the  inclusion  of  the  Servian  arms  among  the 
symbols  of  the  partes  subjectae  of  the  Crown  of  St.  Stephen, ^^^ 
which  decorated  the  Millenary  Exhibition  in  Budapest.  The 
gradual  dawn  of  friendlier  feelings  between  Croat  and  Serb  was 
foreshadowed  by  the  reception  accorded  to  the  Croat  Sokols  1^' 
in  Belgrad,  by  the  mutual  compliments  paid  by  the  two  races 
at  the  translation  of  the  remains  of  Vuk  Karadzic,  the  great 
Serb  scholar,  and  by  the  cordial  declarations  of  Vaso  Gjurg- 
jevic,  who  had  succeeded  Hr vat  as  President  of  the  Sabor  and 
was  now  leader  of  the  Serb  faction.  "  The  Serbs  and  the 
Croats  in  the  Croatian  Kingdom  have  the  same  future,  the 
same  destiny,  the  same  political  aim." 

In  his  declining  years  Antony  Starcevic  showed  a  tendency 
to  modify  his  non  possumus  attitude  in  the  Serb  question  ; 
but  death  removed  him  in  1896,  at  the  very  period  when  the 

US  "Jos  Hrvatska  ne  propala,  Dok  mi  ^ivimo." 
1**  See  Loiseau,  op.  cit.  pp.   172-7. 

'*'  The  famous  gymnastic  societies,  originally  developed  in  Bohemia, 
but  since  copied  by  all  Slav  nations. 

108 


ANTONY   STARCEVIC 

first  signs  of  returning  sanity  showed  themselves  in  the  rela- 
tions of  the  "  hostile  brethren."  No  one  save  Bishop  Stross- 
mayer  has  exercised  so  deep  an  influence  upon  Croatia  during 
the  last  half  century  :  no  one  combined  such  noble  idealism 
and  such  simplicity  and  firmness  of  character  with  such  lack  of 
political  balance  and  scorn  for  the  practical  possibilities  of 
public  life.  His  exaggerated  praise  of  past  centuries  was 
redeemed  by  the  earnest  ambition  to  create  a  new  moral  basis 
for  a  society  which  he  regarded  as  corrupt  and  decaying  ;  but 
it  cannot  be  said  that  his  choice  of  tactics  was  calculated  to 
arrest  the  decay  which  he  lamented.  His  strange  contempt 
for  the  whole  existing  national  culture  and  literature  might 
have  been  admissible  in  one  who  was  steeped  in  the  great 
literatures  of  the  West ;  but  of  this  there  was  no  sign,  and  his 
programme,  despite  his  own  keen  critical  faculty,  was  sadly 
lacking  in  intellectual  background.  Hence  his  followers,  who 
did  not  possess  his  earnestness  and  reasoning  powers,  inevitably 
tended  to  lose  sight  of  cultural  aims,  in  the  vain  pursuit  of 
political  mirages.  Starcevic's  impossible  attitude  on  the  Serb 
question  was  largely  responsible  for  the  success  of  the  Khuen 
regime  and  the  complete  subordination  of  Croatia  to  the 
Magyars  ;  and  it  cannot  be  denied  that  by  his  policy  of  un- 
restrained fanaticism  he  showed  himself  lacking  in  the  most 
essential  qualities  of  statesmanship  and  played  into  the  hands 
of  his  enemies.  Yet  it  is  impossible  to  withhold  our  admira- 
tion from  his  passionate  consistency  and  rigid  patriotic  creed 
and  still  more  impossible  to  doubt  his  sincerity  and  honour. 
So  long  as  the  name  of  Cato  commands  the  respect  of  the 
modern  world,  so  long  must  Croatia  honour  the  memory  of 
Antony  Starcevic. 

The  death  of  Starcevic  deprived  the  Party  of  Right  of  its 
founder  and  its  most  outstanding  figure  ;  and  the  selection  of 
a  successor  was  influenced  by  those  intrigues  and  personahties 
which  are  unhappily  so  characteristic  of  Croatian  public  life. 
Within  the  next  year  the  party  split  into  two  sections.  One 
of  these  united  with  the  old  Independent  National  Party  and 
other  scattered  adherents  of  Strossmayer,  and  formed  the 
"  Croatian  Party  of  Right  "  ;  while  the  other,  under  the  title 
of  the  "  Party  of  Pure  Right,"  upheld  the  theories  of  Star- 
cevic in  their  most  uncompromising  form.  While  the  former 
gradually  formed  the  nucleus  of  a  new  political  group,  destined 
to  overthrow  the  Mamelukes  of  the  governing  party,  the  latter 
owed  whatever  influence  it  possessed  to  the  great  ability  and 

109 


CROATIA   UNDER  THE   DUAL   SYSTEM 

tactical  skill  of  its  leader,  Dr.  Joseph  Frank,  who  is  in  many 
respects  the  most  interesting  figure  in  Croatian  public  life 
during  the  last  fifteen  years. 

Dr.  Frank's  Jewish  birth  did  not  deter  him  from  becoming  the 
mouthpiece  of  Croat  nationalism  in  its  extremest  form,  and 
fanning  the  religious  and  racial  passions  of  the  mob.  In  this 
direction  his  influence  has  been  almost  wholly  evil  and  has  been 
mainly  responsible  for  the  violence  and  acrimony  of  political  and 
press  controversy  in  recent  years.  But  on  the  other  hand,  he 
rendered  great  services  to  Croatia  by  his  thorough  study  of  the 
economic  and  financial  situation  and  by  the  renewed  attention 
which  he  called  to  that  hitherto  neglected  subject.  His  chief 
claim  to  consideration,  however,  rests  upon  his  statesmanlike 
views  of  foreign  policy  and  of  the  place  which  the  Croat  race 
and  its  aspirations  should  fill  in  the  international  situation. 
He  was  the  first  politician  since  the  collapse  of  Haulik's  party 
in  the  sixties,  and  the  withdrawal  of  Strossmayer  from  active 
politics,  to  advocate  an  alliance  between  Austria  and  Croatia, 
to  realize  that  while  on  the  one  hand  Croatian  national  claims 
must  remain  a  mere  dream  without  the  support  of  Vienna 
and  the  dynasty,  so  on  the  other  hand  the  economic  needs  of 
the  two  countries  and  the  requirements  of  a  true  Imperial 
policy  should  lead  the  dynasty  to  favour  Croat  claims.  It 
is  a  further  merit  of  Dr.  Frank,  that  he  has  been  the  most  con- 
sistent advocate  of  the  union  of  Bosnia  with  Croatia.  Un- 
happily his  policy  has  been  obscured  by  a  blatant  clericalism, 
which  alienated  the  more  thoughtful  elements  of  public  opinion, 
and  had  as  demoralizing  an  influence  upon  the  peasantry  as 
the  equally  blatant  anti-clericalism  which  it  evoked  as  protest. 

The  elections  of  1897,  despite  gross  corruption  on  the  part 
of  the  authorities,  were  marked  by  a  fresh  rally  of  the  Oppo- 
sition, which  secured  twenty-five  out  of  eighty-eight  seats. 
But  Khuen  promptly  took  steps  to  unseat  seven  of  the  leading 
Opposition  deputies,  including  Professor  Vrbanic,  the  well- 
known  constitutional  writer,  and  Dr.  Pasaric,  who  had  been 
returned  unopposed.  Needless  to  say  the  usual  pliant  instru- 
ments and  legal  quibbles  were  found  to  execute  and  to  palliate 
this  high-handed  action.  In  the  terse  phrase  of  a  modern  his- 
torian, "  it  may  be  said  that  to  Khuen  as  a  rule  the  constitu- 
tion was  mere  padding  ;  he  governed  absolutely."  ^^^  It  is 
only  fair  to  add  that  agrarian  disturbances,  which  broke  out 
in  Slavonia  during  the  autumn  of  1897,  and  which  culminated 

**8  R.  Horvat,  op.  cit.  p.  293. 
no 


THE   NEW  GENERATION 

in  an  assault  upon  Count  Khuen's  own  country  house  at  Nustar, 
provided  the  Government  with  a  pretext  for  repressive 
measures. 

The  Opposition  was  still  too  weak  to  resist  Count  Khuen 
successfully  :  and  he,  on  his  side,  by  skilfully  fanning  the 
flame  of  discord  among  the  rival  factions,  soon  reduced  them 
once  more  to  impotence.  The  next  five  years  were  a  period 
of  stagnation,  in  which  the  nation  groaned  in  vain  under  the 
restraint  of  the  Khuen  regime. 

Never  before  had  the  agitation  against  the  Serbs  been  con- 
ducted with  such  violence  as  by  Dr.  Frank  and  his  followers 
in  the  closing  years  of  the  century  ;  while  the  favour  shown  to 
them  by  the  Government  not  unnaturally  served  to  enhance 
anti-Serb  feeling  among  wide  circles  of  the  Croat  population. 
In  igo2  serious  anti-Serb  riots  took  place  in  Agram,  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Starcevic  Party.  Spiteful  rumours  accused 
Dr.  Frank  a^nd  Count  Khuen  of  secretly  working  together  to 
maintain  unabated  that  waning  discord  of  Croat  and  Serb 
to  which  the  Government  owed  its  majority  and  the  Frank 
party  the  most  effective  point  in  its  programme. 

These  events,  however,  gave  the  first  impetus  to  a  change  in 
the  policy  of  the  Serbs  in  Croatia  and  to  the  formation  of  a 
new  political  organization,  the  Independent  Serb  Party,  which 
has  since  then  played  so  important  a  part  in  the  history  of  the 
country.  "  The  younger  generation  of  Serbs  came  to  the 
conclusion  that  the  Khuen  regime  merely  favourized  the  Serbs 
in  order  to  play  them  off  against  the  patriotic  Croat  parties 
which  were  engaged  in  a  struggle  for  the  political  rights  and 
liberties  of  the  country.  They  came  to  realize  that  the  Magyar 
onslaughts  upon  Croatia's  language  and  autonomous  position 
must  prove  equally  injurious  to  Serb  and  to  Croat  :  that  the 
Serbs  have  an  equal  interest  in  upholding  the  rights  guaran- 
teed by  the  Compromise,  and  should  therefore  unite  in  defence 
of  their  common  fatherland.  (In  a  Magyarized  Croatia  Serbs 
and  Croats  alike  would  be  Magyarized,  as  is  already  happen- 
ing to  the  Serbs  in  Hungary.  In  a  Croatia  which  was  flour- 
ishing politically  and  economically,  the  Serbs  would  share  all 
the  benefits."  )  169  \ 

The  stagnation  to  which  Khuen's  iron  rule  had  reduced 
Croatia,  had  rendered  the  great  majority  of  the  older  genera- 
tion impervious  to  all  ideas  of  progress  :  and  hence  it  was  from 
abroad  that  the  new  movement  was  forced  to  draw  its  inspira- 

169  Kroatien  und  dessen  Beziehungen  zu  Bosnien,  p.  82. 

Ill 


CROATIA  UNDER  THE  DUAL  SYSTEM 

tion.  Its  first  beginnings  may  be  traced  to  the  group  of  Croat 
students  who  had  been  impUcated  in  the  "  flag-riots  "  of  1895 
and  had  found  it  necessary  to  complete  their  education  at  the 
University  of  Prague.  Here  most  of  them  became  the  dis- 
ciples of  Professor  Thomas  Masaryk,  who  had  already  become 
an  ethical  force  throughout  the  whole  Slav  world  and  whose 
influence  upon  the  thought  and  outlook  of  so  many  leaders  of 
public  life  in  Slav  countries — alike  in  Bohemia,  Russia  and 
Hungary,  in  Servia,  Croatia  and  Bulgaria — ^has  since  then 
grown  steadily  from  year  to  year,  until  to-day  it  may  safely 
be  described  as  without  any  parallel. 

Two  publications,  Novo  Doha  (The  New  Age)  in  Prague  and 
Narodna  Misao  (National  Thought)  in  Agram,  preached  to  the 
younger  generation  the  idea  of  Croato-Serb  brotherhood  and 
unity  ;  and  their  staff  brought  new  ideals  and  enthusiasms  into 
the  cynicism  and  decay  of  Croatian  public  life.^'°  The  out- 
break, when  at  length  it  came,  was  sudden  and  spontaneous. 
In  February,  1903,  the  Hungarian  delegation  had  abruptly 
rejected  all  the  Croatian  proposals  for  a  revision  of  the  financial 
Compromise,  and  on  March  11  a  public  meeting  of  protest  against 
the  Magyar  attitude  was  held  in  Agram  by  the  Opposition 
parties.  Great  enthusiasm  prevailed,  and  similar  meetings 
were  organized  in  the  chief  provincial  towns,  while  the  press, 
led  by  Obzor,  the  chief  Croatian  newspaper,  opened  a  vigorous 
campaign  against  Count  Khuen  and  in  favour  of  Croatia's 
financial  autonomy. 

Almost  daily  confiscations  were  the  result,  and  Obzor  fre- 
quently appeared  with  ominous  blank  spaces  in  its  leading 
articles  and  sometimes  with  whole  columns  of  erasures.  A 
Magyar  inscription  over  the  new  railway  station  of  Agram 
led  to  fresh  demonstrations,  and  on  March  27  they  were  re- 
newed with  greater  violence  than  before.  A  general  feeling 
of  unrest  gained  possession  of  the  country.  Rioting  in  Agram 
was  followed  by  bloodshed  in  Zapresica,  where  a  peasant  died 
of  his  injuries.  The  troops  were  called  out,  sharp  measures 
were  adopted.  Meetings  were  prohibited  wholesale,  and  a 
large  number  of  arrests  were  made,  including  the  chief  mem- 
bers of  the  Obzor' s  staff.  The  press  was  gagged  more  merci- 
lessly than  ever  before  ;  confiscation  was  an  almost  daily 
occurrence,^''^  and  whole  columns  of  print — articles  and  news 

^'°  See  Marjanovic,  Hrvatski  Pokret,  pp.   15  seq. 
"1  Obzor,  in  its  Jubilee  number  (December,  19 10)  states  that  it  alone 
paid  about  60,000  crowns  in  fines,  etc.,  during  the  Khuen  regime. 

112 


THE  MOVEMENT  IN  DALMATIA 

alike — fell  victims  to  the  censor's  fury,  until  it  was  almost 
possible  to  speak  of  "  white  editions."  ^"^^ 

The  disturbances  of  the  spring  of  1903,  though  insignificant 
in  themselves,  showed  that  Croatia  was  at  length  shaking  off 
the  inertia  in  which  it  had  been  sunk  for  the  past  twenty  years, 
and  roused  men  to  the  idea  that  Count  Khuen's  position,  which 
they  had  come  to  regard  as  impregnable,  might  after  all  be 
shaken.  The  movement  was  greeted  with  equal  surprise  and 
enthusiasm  throughout  the  Southern  Slav  provinces,  and  no- 
where was  the  enthusiasm  so  marked  as  in  Dalmatia.  Here 
the  Croat  idea  had  during  the  past  generation  shown  a  steady 
growth  at  the  expense  of  the  Italian. ^^^  One  by  one  the  muni- 
cipalities of  the  Dalmatian  coast  towns — Spalato,  Sebenico, 
Trau,  Lesina,  Ragusa,  Cattaro — fell  into  Croat  or  Serb  hands, 
until  Zara  alone  remained  Italian.  The  Croat  language  gradu- 
ally rose  from  a  subordinate  to  a  predominant  position  in  the 
schools  and  in  the  law  courts,  while  the  same  tendency  was 
noticeable  in  the  provincial  press.  Enjoying  less  freedom 
than  the  other  provinces  of  Austria,  Dalmatia  might  complain 
that  its  economic  needs  were  ignored  or  neglected  by  the  cen- 
tral Government,  and  that  the  methods  of  bureaucracy  and 
espionage  which  have  been  allowed  to  survive  along  Austria's 
southern  frontier  were  not  merely  superfluous  but  clumsy  and 
insulting.  But  despite  all  its  pedantry  and  suspiciousness, 
the  Austrian  administration  in  Dalmatia  has  never  been  accused 
of  corruption  ;  and  if  it  cannot  compare  with  that  of  Tirol  or 
Bohemia,  it  has  never  led  even  its  bitterest  critic  to  regard 
with  envy  the  administrative  conditions  of  Croatia,  of  Servia 
or  of  Montenegro.  In  short,  neglected  as  it  was,  it  enjoyed  a 
privileged  position  among  Southern  Slav  countries,  a  fact  which 
is  in  itself  the  most  glaring  proof  of  the  intolerable  position 
of  the  Croato-Serb  race. 

The  movement  in  Croatia  found  a  lively  echo  in  Dalmatia, 
but  the  strict  censorship  imposed  by  Khuen  made  it  difficult 

"2  In  Hungary  and  Croatia,  a  newspaper  can  only  be  confiscated 
after  publication,  but  as  the  first  copy  must  be  submitted  to  the  pohce, 
confiscation  can  follow  very  speedily.  A  raid  is  then  made  upon  the 
postbags  and  the  cafes.  The  newspaper  then  reprints,  leaving  the 
incriminated  passages  blank,  save  for  the  word  zaplijen  ("  confiscated"). 
During  the  three  weeks  which  I  spent  in  Agram  at  the  time  of  the  High 
Treason  Trial,  a  policeman  used  sometimes  to  appear  at  the  door  of 
the  Cafe  Corso,  and  my  friends  would  greet  him  with  the  question, 
"  What  paper  is  it  to-day  ?  " 

"'  See  p.   10. 

S.S.Q.  113  I 


CROATIA   UNDER   THE   DUAL  SYSTEM 

for  accurate  news  to  find  its  way  across  the  frontier.    The 
wholesale  arrests  in  Agram  gave  rise  to  the  wild  rumour  that 
certain  Croat  leaders  were  to  be  hanged.     One  of  those  strange 
frenzies  which  at  rare  intervals  seize  upon  a  whole  nation,  ran 
through  the  Croat  population  of  Istria  and  Dalmatia.     Every- 
where public  meetings  of  protest  and  sympathy  were  held, 
wild  abuse  was  levelled  at  Count  Khuen  and  his  Government, 
and  public  collections  were  made  in  favour  of  their  victims, 
the  Italians  generously  contributing  side  by  side  with  their 
Croat  rivals.     Tales  of  massacre  circulated  among  the  pea- 
santry, and  until  their  falsity  became  apparent  many  houses 
were  draped  in  black.     The  "  black  days  "  still  form  a  vivid 
memory  of  the  Dalmatian  people.     Acting  under  the  stress  of 
national  excitement,  over  thirty  Croat  deputies  of  the  Diets  of 
Dalmatia  and  Istria  conceived  the  idea  of  seeking  an  audience 
with  the  Emperor  and  appealing  to  him  for  mercy  for  the 
victims    of    the    Khuen    regime.     But,    unfortunately,    their 
intention  had  become  known  in  Budapest,  and  the  Hungarian 
Government  exerted  all  its  influence  to  prevent  the  audience. 
Every     Minister — Austrian     and    Austro-Hungarian    alike — 
turned  a  deaf  ear  to  their  appeals  ;    and  the  thirty  deputies 
were  obliged  to  leave  the  Hungarian  capital — Francis  Joseph 
was  at  the  time  residing  in  the    palace  of    Buda — without 
being  admitted  to  the  presence  of  their  sovereign.     Whatever 
may  have  been  the  reasons  of  state  which  dictated  this  rebuff 
— whether  Francis  Joseph  yielded  reluctantly  to  the  insistence 
of  his  constitutional  advisers,  or  freely  followed  his  own  inclina- 
tions— it  is  a  notorious  fact  that  this  was  a  turning  point  in 
the  relations  of  the  Habsburg  dynasty  and  the  Southern  Slavs. 
The  Dalmatian  Croat  is  proud  and  sensitive,  and  still  regards  the 
Emperor  with  very  much  the  same  feelings  as  he  regarded  in 
former  centuries  some  powerful  voivode  in  the  Turkish  wars — 
as  his  natural  champion  and  vindicator  against  all  injustice. 
But  while  the  patriarchal  conception  of  kingship  is  part  and 
parcel  of  the  people's  nature,  the  monarchical  tradition  can 
hardly  be  said  to  exist  at  all,  and  thus  when  the  nation's  repre- 
sentatives were  refused  access  to  the  steps  of  the  throne,  the 
universal  sentiment  was  one  of  dismay,  resentment  and  dis- 
appointment.   The  southern  mind,   at  once  naive  and  pas- 
sionate, interpreted  it  as  a  clear  proof  of  hostility  on  the  part 
of  the  dynasty  towards  the  Southern  Slavs. ^'^^    A  great  revul- 

"*  The  Archduke  MaximiUan  (afterwards  Emperor  of  Mexico)  and 
Crown  Prince  Rudolf  had  enjoyed  enormous  popularity  among  the 

114 


THE    REJECTED   AUDIENCE 

sion  of  feeling  took  place.  In  the  Diet  of  Dalmatia  violent 
speeches  were  delivered  against  "  Vienna "  and  Austria. 
Khuen's  henchmen  and  the  instruments  of  Magyarization  in 
Croatia  were  openly  denounced  as  the  agents  of  Vienna.  The 
Dalmatian  politicians  became  the  moving  spirits  in  the  poli- 
tical revival.  Encouraged  by  the  S3rmpathy  which  the  events 
in  Croatia  aroused  in  the  Italian  press,  they  aimed  at  kindhng 
the  interest  of  Europe  in  their  cause.  The  natural  channels 
of  redress  being  resolutely  closed  to  them,  they  not  unnaturally 
sought  to  turn  the  international  situation  to  their  own 
advantage.  Brought  up  in  Italian  thought  and  under  the 
spell  of  the  Risorgimento,  they  modelled  their  dreams  of 
Southern  Slav  unity  upon  the  piecemeal  advance  of  Piedmont. 
Italy,  Hungary  and  the  new  Jougo-Slavia  were  to  form  the 
three  bulwarks  of  a  rejuvenated  Southern  Europe  against  the 
onslaughts  of  Teuton  and  Muscovite  alike.  The  steady 
growth  of  a  powerful  ultra-national  Opposition  in  the  Hun- 
garian Parliament  and  the  internal  crises  which  had  convulsed 
Austria  for  some  years  past,  encouraged  them  in  the  belief  that 
a  new  situation  was  at  hand,  when  Magyar  and  Croat  might 
reconcile  their  differences  and  unite  in  defence  of  a  common 
independence. 

Calm  reflection  should  have  told  the  incensed  Croats  that 
in  refusing  an  audience,  the  monarch  was  merely  acting  on  the 
advice  of  his  constitutional  advisers.  It  is  on  the  statesmen 
who  gave  His  Majesty  such  advice,  that  the  responsibility  for 
subsequent  events  must  rest.  They  were  presumably  aware 
of  the  intention  of  the  Dalmatian  leaders,  not  to  mince  their 
phrases,  but  to  lay  the  whole  unpalatable  truth  before  their 
sovereign  ;  and  they  were  determined  at  aU  costs  to  prevent 
him  from  hearing  the  Croat  point  of  view  in  so  outspoken  and 
convincing  a  form.  The  blame  rests  not  with  the  sovereign, 
but  with  the  political  system  which  compels  him  to  base  his 
estimate  of  one  race  upon  the  information  supplied  by  its 
bitterest  enemy. 

The  fall  of  the  Szell  Cabinet  in  June,  1903,  supplied  Count 
Khuen  Hedervary  with  a  convenient  means  of  retreat  from 
a  position  of  which  he  had  grown  tired.  On  June  27  he  was 
nominated  Hungarian  Premier,  and  in  the  words  of  a  modern 

Croats.  Long  after  the  latter's  death,  the  peasantry  in  remote  hill 
districts  of  Dalmatia  refused  to  believe  his  death  and  maintained  that 
he  would  come  again,  like  another  Barbarossa  or  Boabdil. 


CROATIA    UNDER   THE   DUAL  SYSTEM 

Croat  historian,  "  All  Croatia  took  a  deep  breath."  ^''^  But 
his  successor,  Count  Theodore  Pejacevic,  son  of  the  "  Cavalier 
Ban,"  though  averse  to  high-handed  measures,  was  at  first 
hampered  by  illness  and  delegated  the  conduct  of  affairs  to 
the  sectional  chief  for  Home  Affairs,  Dr.  Sumanovic,  one  of 
Khuen's  most  zealous  supporters.  The  removal  of  the  hated 
Ban  calmed  the  excitement  of  the  population  ;  but  in  its  essen- 
tials the  old  system  of  government  survived,  and  blind  sub- 
servience to  Budapest  took  the  place  of  Khuen's  consistent 
attitude  of  "  Thus  far  and  no  farther."  A  notable  example 
of  this  was  supplied  by  the  permission  granted  to  the  Mag- 
yarizing  "  Julian  Society  "  to  erect  its  schools  in  Croatia, 
ostensibly  for  the  benefit  of  Magyar  railway  employees  and 
agricultural  settlers,  but  in  reality  only  too  often  for  the 
Magyarization  of  Croat  and  Serb  children  in  places  where 
there  were  but  few  Magyar  residents. 

To  Western  minds  it  seems  monstrous  that  any  restriction 
whatever  should  be  placed  upon  the  erection  of  schools,  no 
matter  what  their  language  of  instruction  may  be.  In  Hun- 
gary, on  the  other  hand,  private  enterprise  in  education  is 
crippled  at  every  turn,  even  if  it  be  exercised  through  the 
medium  of  a  religious  body  ;  and  the  restrictions  imposed 
upon  the  mother-tongue  of  school  children  are  so  severe  that 
two  and  a  half  million  Slovaks  possess  only  247  primary  schools 
and  not  a  single  secondary  school  where  Slovak  is  the  language 
of  instruction.  The  linguistic  rights  of  racial  minorities  simply 
do  not  exist  except  on  paper.  Under  such  circumstances 
it  would  seem  to  be  a  positive  inversion  of  Magyar  principles 
to  insist  upon  the  maintenance  of  Magyar  schools  for  a  racial 
unit  which  only  forms  3-8  per  cent  of  the  population.  Nor 
can  we  be  astonished  that  Croat  public  opinion  should 
bitterly  resent  the  activity  of  the  Julian  Society  in  Croatia, 
when  we  realize  that  meanwhile  the  few  Croat  schools  in 
Hungary  are  being  steadily  Magyarized.^'^  It  is  to  be  feared 
that  many  years  will  elapse  before  each  race  is  free  to  build 
unhindered  as  many  schools  as  it  pleases  in  the  other's  country. 


^'5  Horvat,  op.  cit.  p.  295. 

I'e  In  1906-7  there  were  only  four  Croat  schools  among  a  Croat 
population  of  19-4  per  cent,  in  County  Zala,  and  nine  among  a  Croat 
population  of  i2"3  per  cent,  in  Co.  Sopron,  i.e.,  counting  one  school 
in  Vas,  a  total  of  fourteen  Croat  schools  for  a  Croat  population  of 
188,552.  {See  Ung.  Stat.  Jahrb.,  xv,  p.  322.)  By  the  winter  of  1910 
there  was  only  one  Croat  school  left  in  Hungary. 

116 


THE  END   OF  THE  KHUEN   ERA 

The  withdrawal  of  Count  Khuen  signified  a  change  of  per- 
sons rather  than  a  change  of  regime  ;  the  old  methods  were 
continued,  though  in  a  distinctly  milder  form.  The  new  Ban 
declared  the  Compromise  with  Hungary  to  be  the  basis  of 
his  policy,  and  talked  vaguely  of  further  guarantees  for  the 
Croatian  language.  But  the  best  commentary  on  this  barren 
programme  were  the  demands  put  forward  in  public  meetings, 
whenever  they  were  allowed  :  universal  suffrage,  secret  ballot, 
freedom  of  elections,  of  association  and  assembly,  liberty  of 
the  press,  financial  autonomy,  independence  of  judges,  guaran- 
tees of  personal  liberty.  These  demands  illustrate  better 
than  any  book  the  condition  of  Croatia  under  Count  Khuen 
Hedervary, 

Croatia  was  made  the  subject  of  debates  in  the  Hungarian 
Parhament.  The  Kossuthists  found  that  the  Khuen  regime 
in  Croatia  supplied  them  with  convenient  party  capital  against 
the  new  Khuen  Cabinet  in  Hungary,  and  exploited  it  accord- 
ingly ;  while  some  of  its  members  were  genuinely  indignant 
at  the  estrangement  of  Croat  and  Magyar  for  which  the 
"  Liberal  "  policy  was  responsible.  When  the  deputy  Visontai 
inveighed  against  the  repression  of  press  freedom  in  Croatia, 
the  Croatian  Minister  Dr.  Tomasic,  Count  Khuen's  ablest 
lieutenant,  roundly  declared  that  "  this  was  done  in  the  interest 
of  Hungary."  This  was  a  practical  illustration  of  Khuen's 
maxim,  that  Croatia's  policy  must  be  made  in  Hungary,  and 
of  the  elder  Andrassy's  oft-quoted  dictum  that  Croatia  can 
only  be  governed  by  alternate  doses  of  "  oats  and  whip."  ^^^ 

Under  Pejacevic  the  severity  of  the  old  regime  was  some- 
what relaxed  ;  but  repressive  measures  were  not  altogether 
abandoned.  On  July  4  Father  Jemersic  and  another  priest 
were  sentenced  to  six  months'  imprisonment  for  the  usual 
"  incitement  "  ;  and  on  the  19th  of  the  same  month  the  trial 
of  twenty-four  citizens  of  Karlovac  resulted  in  the  condemna- 
tion of  two  persons  to  eight  months,  eleven  others  to  six  months 
each,  in  addition  to  lesser  sentences,  for  demonstrations  against 
Khuen  and  the  Magyars.  On  August  14  Mr.  Stephen 
Radic,  the  peasant  leader,  and  Professor  Pasaric  were  sen- 
tenced to  two  and  four  months'  imprisonment,  on  a  charge  of 
incitement  against  the  Ban  and  the  Magyar  nation. 

"'  Cf.  Neue  Freie  Presse,  January  11,  1908. 


117 


CHAPTER  VI 

Bishop  Strossmayer  and  the   Renaissance 
of  Croatian  Culture 

Sve  za  vjeru  i  za  domovinu. 

(All  for  faith  and  fatherland). — Motto  of  Strossmayer. 

THE  well-known  Italian  statesman  Marco  Minghetti  once 
assured  the  Belgian  publicist  Emile  de  Laveleye  that 
he  had  had  the  opportunity  of  observing  at  close  quarters 
almost  all  the  eminent  men  of  his  time.  "  There  are  only  two," 
h^  added,  "  who  gave  me  the  impression  of  belonging  to  another 
species  than  ourselves.  These  two  were  Bismarck  and  Stross- 
mayer." The  man  of  whom  this  high  tribute  was  spoken 
arrested  the  attention  of  Western  Europe  on  the  memorable 
occasion  of  the  Vatican  Council,  when  his  eloquence  led  the 
opposition  to  the  doctrine  of  Infallibility  and  his  courage 
recorded  one  of  the  three  dissentient  votes.  But  Strossmayer's 
true  claim  to  immortality  rests,  not  upon  his  espousal  of 
liberalism  in  the  Church,  but  upon  his  services  to  the  cause 
of  Croatian  nationality  and  culture.  Rarely  has  any  patriot 
so  completely  justified  the  title  of  "  First  Son  of  the  Nation  " 
(Prvi  Sin  Naroda)  ;  and  Strossmayer  must  always  occupy  a 
prominent  place  in  any  account  of  Croatia. ^^^ 

Joseph  George  Strossmayer  was  born  on  February  4,  1815, 
at  Osijek  (Essek),  the  capital  of  Slavonia  ;  his  family  was  of 
German-Austrian  origin,  but  had  long  since  been  completely 
Croaticized.  After  studying  at  the  gymnasium  of  his  native 
town  and  the  seminary  of  Diakovo,  he  proceeded  to  the  Uni- 
versity of  Pest,  where  he  astonished  his  professors  by  his 
brilliant  powers  of  dialectic.     "  He  will  be  either  the  chief 

1"  The  standard  life  of  Bishop  Strossmayer  is  in  Croatian,  by  Mon- 
signor  Cepelic  and  Pavic.  But  it  is  out  of  print ;  I  have  failed  to  secure 
a  secondhand  copy  in  Agram,  and  it  is  not  in  any  library  which  I  have 
been  able  to  consult  during  the  last  twelve  months. 

118 


"FIRST  SON   OF  THE  NATION" 

heretic  of  the  century,"  exclaimed  the  president  of  the  ex- 
amining board,  "  or  the  chief  pillar  of  the  Catholic  Church  " 
{aut  primus  haereticus  saeculi  aut  prima  columna  catholicae 
ecclesiae)}"^^  After  three  years  as  chaplain  at  Peterwardein, 
he  was  in  1847  appointed  a  court  chaplain  and  director  of 
the  Augustineum  ^^°  in  Vienna. 

As  one  of  the  most  elegant  Latinists  of  his  time,^^^  he  was 
specially  acceptable  to  the  ecclesiastical  authorities,  while  his 
active  enthusiasm  for  the  cause  of  Croatian  nationality  and 
literature  brought  him  into  touch  with  Jellacic,  Kulmer  and 
Ozegovic.  It  was  their  influence  at  Court  which  secured  for 
him,  at  the  early  age  of  thirty-four,  the  vacant  Bishopric  of 
Djakovo,  to  which  he  was  nominated  on  November  18,  1849. 
This  ancient  see,  formed  out  of  the  united  dioceses  of  Bosnia 
and  Syrmia,^^2  is  one  of  the  largest  in  Europe,  not  only  embracing 
the  districts  named  but  also  exercising  a  nominal  sway  over 
the  Catholics  of  Servia.  For  close  upon  half  a  century  its 
enormous  revenues  ^^^  were  devoted  by  the  patriot  Bishop  to 
the  furtherance  of  national  traditions  and  culture.  The 
Croat  motto  which  he  adopted  at  his  consecration,  was 
realized  as  truly  in  a  financial  as  in  any  other  sense,  "  Sve  za 
vjeru  i  domovinu  " — "  All  for  faith  and  fatherland."  Com- 
mencing with  the  foundation  of  new  schools  in  his  immediate 
neighbourhood,  he  steadily  increased  the  endowments  of  almost 
all  the  secondary  schools  in  the  country.  A  fund  of  £4,000 
was  devoted  to  improving  the  condition  of  the  clergy  of 
Syrmia.  A  seminary,  with  Croat  language  of  instruction,  was 
founded  for  young  Bosnian  clerics.     Bulgarian  Uniate  students 


"*  As  M.  de  Laveleye  sarcastically  adds  :  "  It  was  not  the  fault  of 
Pius  IX  and  the  Vatican  Council  if  the  first  part  of  the  prophecy  was 
not  fulfilled."      {See  his  Balkan  Peninsula,  p.  32.) 

"0  One  of  the  most  important  theological  seminaries  in  Austria. 

"1  Long  afterwards,  at  the  Vatican  Council,  "he  earned  the  praise  of 
being  primus  orator  Chrislianitaiis."  He  told  Laveleye  that  Latin  was 
the  language  in  which  he  could  express  himself  most  clearly    (p.   47). 

"2  The  official  title  is  "  Episcopatus  bosnensis,  diacovensis  et  sir- 
miensis."  The  bishopric  of  Bosnia  was  originally  subject  to  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Salona,  but  in  the  thirteenth  century,  owing  to  troubles  with 
the  Bogomile  heretics,  was  transferred  to  Diakovo.  In  1773  Clement 
XIV  united  the  sees  of  Bosnia  and  Syrmia  under  the  Archbishop  of 
Agram.  In  1881,  however,  a  special  Archbishopric  of  Sarajevo  was 
erected,  which  has  since  then  been  occupied  by  Monsignor  Stadler. 

"3  According  to  Laveleye  (p.  46)  they  averaged  150,000  florins 
(=  ;^i2,ooo)  a  year. 

119 


STROSSMAYER  AND  CROATIAN  CULTURE 

were  educated  at  his  expense.  The  Slav  Chapter  of  St.  Jerome 
in  Rome  ^^*  was  restored  and  endowed. 

From  the  very  first  his  interest  centred  upon  hterary  and 
philological  studies.  Acting  from  the  conviction  that  historic 
research  and  accurate  knowledge  of  the  past  are  essential 
foundations  of  all  national  achievement,  he  sought  out  such 
students  as  would  be  ready  to  devote  themselves  to  literary 
and  historical  pursuits.  Francis  Racki,  the  pioneer  of  his- 
torical research  in  Croatia,  owed  his  training  and  leisure  to 
the  great  Bishop.  Theiner,  the  well-known  Vatican  librarian, 
received  his  support  in  the  collection  of  Southern  Slav  docu- 
ments.^^^  The  brothers  Miladinovic  edited  and  published  at  his 
expense  the  first  collection  of  Bulgarian  popular  songs.  Even 
the  great  Servian  philologists  Vuk  Karadzic  and  Danicic,  were 
under  deep  obligation  to  his  generosity.  Indeed  there  is  no 
learned  society  among  the  Southern  Slavs  which  has  not  at 
one  time  or  another  enjoyed  Bishop  Strossmayer's  benefac- 
tions. 

But  unquestionably  his  greatest  and  most  lasting  achieve- 
ment was  the  foundation  of  the  Southern  Slav  Academy  of 
Science  and  Art  at  Agram,  which  was  the  result  of  his  generous 
initiative.  In  i860  Strossmayer  and  Racki  discussed  the  idea, 
and  the  Bishop  offered  the  sum  of  £4,000  as  a  preliminary  sub- 
scription, which  he  afterwards  augmented  to  more  than  double 
that  amount.  The  letter  in  which  he  announced  his  intention 
to  Ban  Sokcevic  is  a  kind  of  national  manifesto,  ascribing  the 
backwardness  of  the  Serbo-Croat  language  and  literature  to 
lack  of  united  effort,  and  insisting  upon  Zagreb's  fitness  to 
become  the  centre  of  "  a  scientific  society  which  is  destined  to 
give  a  common  impulse  to  the  intellectual  movement  among 
the  Bulgars,  Serbs  and  Croats."  ^^^ 

Croatia  responded  to  Strossmayer's  appeal,  and  in  July, 
1861,  the  Diet  made  the  scheme  its  own.  Long  bureaucratic 
delays  ensued  before  the  royal  sanction  was  obtained  for  the 
statutes  of  the  new  institution,  which  naturally  awakened  no 
enthusiasm  among  the  Viennese  advocates  of  Centralism.  At 
length  on  July  28,  1867,  the  Southern  Slav  Academy  was 
formally  opened  by  its  founder  and  inspirer.  M.  Louis  Leger, 
who  attended  as  the  representative  of  the  Sorbonne,  has  put 

^**  S.  Girolamo  degli  Schiavoni. 

^*^  Vetera  Monumenta  Slavorum  Meridionalium  historiam  illustrantia 
(Rome,  1863). 

"*  December  10,  i860,  cit.  Zagorsky,  op.  cit.  pp.  107-8, 

120 


THE  SOUTHERN  SLAV  ACADEMY 

upon  record  that  he  had  "  rarely  met  with  so  touching  a 
popularity  "  ^^'^  as  that  which  the  ovation  accorded  to  Stross- 
mayer  revealed  ;  but  the  Government  ungraciously  forbade 
all  decorations  or  illuminations  in  the  streets  of  Zagreb.  The 
Bishop's  inaugural  address,  which  is  celebrated  as  a  classic 
example  of  Croat  oratory,  was  primarily  devoted  to  the 
relations  of  science  and  religion,  and  to  an  eulogy  of  great 
French  thinkers,  notably  Pascal  and  Bossuet,  Chateaubriand 
and  Montesquieu,  At  the  close,  he  referred  briefly  to  the 
hostile  charge  that  he  squandered  the  revenues  of  the  Church 
upon  mundane  objects.  "  Thanks  be  to  God,"  he  said,  "  I  am 
not  the  sole  culprit  :  I  have  as  my  accomplices  our  whole 
clergy,  to  the  very  last  man.  This  clergy  knows  that  all 
which  is  done  for  the  faith  is  profitable  to  science,  and  that  all 
which  is  done  for  science  is  to  the  advantage  of  the  faith. 
Let  the  whole  nation  realize  that  in  future  we  shall  not  allow 
ourselves  to  be  deterred  by  any  accusation  or  insult  from  the 
path  which  we  have  marked  out.  We  shall  discharge  con- 
scientiously the  duties  of  our  ministry,  but  we  shall  also 
develop  with  all  our  powers  all  those  interests  which  affect  the 
material  and  moral  progress  of  our  people,  its  existence  and 
its  future."  ^^^ 

The  academy  thus  constituted  consists  of  thirty-two  elected, 
sixty  corresponding  and  sixteen  honorary  members.  Its 
activity  is  divided  among  various  special  committees,  deal- 
ing with  antiquities,  ancient  manuscripts,  art,  folklore,  seis- 
mology and  zoology.  Its  publications  exceed  300  volumes 
and  include  scholarly  editions  of  the  earlier  Croat  poets,  col- 
lections of  documents  dealing  with  Southern  Slav  history,  and 
a  monumental  dictionary  modelled  on  that  of  Littre.  The 
Academy  buildings  contain  an  interesting  museum  of  antiqui- 
ties and  a  large  library.  ^^^  In  1884  Bishop  Strossmayer  added 
to  his  other  benefactions  by  presenting  a  gallery  of  over  300 
paintings,  collected  by  him  during  his  annual  visits  to  Italy. 
Though  hostile  critics  have  sometimes  accused  it  of  being 
swayed  by  political  passion,  it  is  beyond  dispute  that  the 
Academy  succeeded  from  the  first  moment  of  its  existence  in 
concentrating  within  its  walls  the  best  scholarship  and  scientific 
talent  of  which  the  country  was  possessed. 

1"  Leger,  p.   131.  "*  Cit.  Leger,  p.   182. 

^**  In  igo2  it  contained  over  1,800  manuscripts,  many  of  great  value 
for  the  history  of  Slav  literature,  and  25,000  charters  and  other  docu- 
ments.— Die  ost-ung.  Mon.  in  Wort  und  Bild  {Kroatien),  p.  178. 

121 


STROSSMAYER  AND  CROATIAN  CULTURE 

The  first  President  of  the  Academy  was  Don  Frane  Racki, 
the  real  founder  of  historical  criticism  among  the  Southern 
Slavs.  Born  in  1828  of  a  peasant  family  on  the  coast  of 
Croatia,  Racki  was  educated  for  the  priesthood.  Even  as  a 
young  seminarist  in  Vienna,  he  attracted  the  attention  of 
Strossmayer ;  the  enthusiasm  with  which  he  studied  the 
charters  and  the  Glagolitic  texts  of  his  native  diocese  won  him 
a  vacant  canonry  at  the  Illyrian  college  of  San  Girolamo  in 
Rome.  He  soon  became  a  recognized  authority  on  the  lan- 
guage and  liturgy  of  the  ancient  Slavs,  and  as  a  result  of 
his  researches  in  the  Secret  Archives  of  the  Vatican  and 
other  libraries,  published  in  1857  and  the  following  years  a 
work  dealing  with  the  Slav  apostles  C3n:il  and  Methodius 
and  the  old  Slav  alphabet  which  they  had  employed. 
Under  his  editorship  the  so-called  Codex  Assemanianus  in 
the  Vatican  was  published  in  its  original  alphabet ;  and  as 
Cardinal  Haulik  refused  to  accept  the  dedication  of  the  book, 
owing  to  its  bearing  upon  the  delicate  problem  of  the  Slav 
liturgy,  it  appeared  under  the  patronage  and  at  the  expense  of 
Bishop  Strossmayer.^^''  Racki's  latest  biographer  seeks,  not 
without  success,  to  prove  that  his  national  prejudices  in- 
fluenced his  judgment  to  a  far  less  degree  than  his  Catholic 
convictions  ^^^ ;  but  it  would  be  absurd  to  deny  that  in  all  his 
laborious  researches  the  historian  was  inspired  by  the  belief 
that  they  would  serve  to  kindle  the  flame  of  national  feeling. 

In  i860  Strossmayer  invited  Racki  to  take  up  his  residence 
at  Djakovo,  and  henceforth  he  became  the  adviser  and  col- 
laborator in  all  his  projects,  whether  literary  or  political. 
Four  years  later  he  began,  in  conjunction  with  Professor 
Jagic,^^^  to  publish  a  review  devoted  to  history  and  philology, 
and  as  the  zealous  advocate  of  Vuk  Karadzic's  reforms  in 
Croat  orthography,  was  exposed  to  violent  opposition  from 
the  conservative  school  of  writers  ;  nor  was  this  opposition 
diminished  when  he  organized  a  small  conference  of  com- 
petent students  to  discuss  the  publication  of  a  philological 
dictionary  of  the  Croat  language.  Spite  and  intrigue  secured 
Racki's  dismissal  from  the  post  of  inspector  of  secondary  schools 

^8"  Zagorsky,  p.  57. 

^*i  Zagorsky,  p.  62.  An  improved  edition  was  published  in  1878  at 
Rome,  by  Ivan  Crncic. 

192  Now  the  chief  living  Slavistic  scholar;  till  his  retirement  in  1908, 
professor  at  Vienna  University  and  editor  of  the  Archiv  fur  slavische 
Philologie  (Berlin). 

122 


THE  CROATIAN   UNIVERSITY 

which  he  had  held  since  his  return  from  Rome.  It  was  hoped 
that  the  material  loss  which  this  involved  would  compel  him 
to  resign  the  presidency  of  the  new  Academy  and  to  leave 
Zagreb,  where  his  presence  was  most  unwelcome  to  a  Mag- 
yarone  Government.  But  here  again  the  situation  was  saved 
by  the  Bishop's  generosity.  "  Brother  will  not  abandon 
brother,"  he  wrote  to  Racki.  "  I  guarantee  you  all  you  need 
till  you  find  another  post.  If  the  same  misfortune  occurred 
to  me,  we  would  live  together  and  share  between  us  all  we 
had.  On  no  account  abandon  the  presidency  of  the  Academy." 
Racki  remained  at  his  post,  and  did  much  to  give  the  Academy 
its  distinctive  note.  Above  all,  it  was  his  enthusiasm  for  the 
idea  of  Southern  Slav  unity  which  prevented  its  outlook  from 
becoming  exclusively  Croat  and  won  for  Agram  the  services 
of  George  Danicic,  the  most  brilliant  Serb  scholar  since  Vuk. 

Bishop  Strossmayer  did  not  rest  content  with  the  project  of 
an  academy.  On  April  29,  1861,  he  laid  before  the  Diet  a 
scheme  for  the  erection  of  a  national  Croatian  University. 
The  idea  was  received  with  acclamation  ;  statutes  were  drawn 
up  and  embodied  in  a  law,  but  thanks  to  the  opposition  of  the 
Centralists  in  Vienna  the  royal  sanction  was  withheld.  In 
October,  1866,  during  the  festivities  which  celebrated  the 
tercentenary  of  Zrinsky's  heroic  defence  against  the  Turks, 
Strossmayer  once  more  raised  the  question  of  an  university 
and  not  merely  started  a  public  fund  by  subscribing  £4,000, 
but  promised  his  annual  salary  as  High  Sheriff  as  a  further 
contribution.  Roused  by  his  example,  the  city  of  Agram 
subscribed  an  equal  amount,  and  Archbishop  Mihalovic 
£2,500  ;  and  within  a  short  period  of  time  over  £30,000  had 
been  collected — a  remarkable  achievement,  when  we  consider 
the  scanty  resources  at  Croatia's  disposal.  When  Francis 
Joseph  paid  his  state  visit  to  Agram  after  the  conclusion  of  the 
Compromise,  the  statutes  were  at  length  sanctioned  (1869)  ; 
but  the  political  differences  with  Hungary  interposed  a  further 
delay  of  five  years  before  the  final  obstacles  were  removed. 
In  October,  1874,  the  University  of  Agram  was  opened  by 
the  Ban  Mazuranic,  representing  the  Sovereign.  This  time  the 
city  was  free  to  don  festive  dress,  and  enthusiastic  crowds 
greeted  Bishop  Strossmayer  as  the  father  of  his  country. ^^^ 
The  imiversity,  though  small  and  lacking  a  medical  faculty, 
has  proved  a  credit  to  its  originators.  Though  at  first  obliged 
^'^  Laveleye,  p.  36. 
123 


STROSST^IAYER  AND   CROATIAN   CULTURE 

to  recruit  its  professors  from  other  Slav  countries,  notably 
from  Bohemia,  it  has  gradually  succeeded  in  filling  the  neces- 
sary posts  with  native  talents,  and  in  its  thirty  years  of  life 
can  show  the  names  of  many  scholars  of  repute,  i^* 

No  sketch  of  Bishop  Strossmayer  would  be  complete 
without  some  reference  to  the  Cathedral  of  Djakovo,  to 
whose  erection  he  devoted  for  many  years  a  considerable 
proportion  of  the  income  of  his  see.  It  was  in  the  truest 
sense  a  labour  of  love,  for  it  was  designed  to  be  an  apotheo- 
sis in  stone  of  all  the  ideas  which  its  creator  held  most 
sacred — a  vindication  of  Christianity  on  soil  once  profaned 
by  Turkish  rule,  an  outpost  of  the  Cross  on  the  frontier  of 
Moslem  Bosnia,  and  at  the  same  time  a  monument  of  Croatian 
art  and  architecture,  in  which  the  reviving  national  feeling 
should  find  its  full  expression.  The  Church  is  built  in  the 
ancient  Lombard  style,  with  lofty  towers  similar  to  those  of 
S.  Zeno  at  Verona. ^^^  The  chief  material  used  is  brick  of  a 
rich  red  colour ;  the  mouldings  and  cornices  are  of  Illyrian 
limestone.  The  interior  is  decorated  with  national  Croat 
designs  and  frescoes  from  the  Old  and  New  Testament  by  the 
painters  Seitz.  The  centre  of  the  apse  shows  the  Southern 
Slav  peoples,  guided  by  the  pious  founder  to  the  throne  of 
our  Lord  and  His  mother.  Other  scenes  represent  the  first 
preaching  of  the  Gospel  in  Slavonic  countries.  Apart  from  its 
rich  artistic  treasures,  the  interior  is  marked  by  a  severe  and 
medieval  simplicity,  worthy  of  that  purified  Catholicism  which 
filled  the  dreams  of  the  great  bishop. 

His  keen  opposition  to  the  dogma  of  Infallibility  at  the 
Vatican  Council  of  1869-1870  exposed  him  to  many  attacks, 
and  destroyed  all  hope  of  his  succeeding  Haulik  in  the  vacant 
archiepiscopal  see  of  Zagreb.  Incidentally  it  won  him  the 
close  friendship  of  such  champions  of  liberty  within  the  Church 
as  Acton  and  Dollinger,  who  were  equally  attracted  b}^  his 

1"*  It  may  be  worth  citing  the  following  names  :  in  history,  Smiciklas, 
Klaic,  Nodilo  and  SiSic  ;  in  constitutional  law,  Pliveric  (the  standard 
Croat  authority  on  the  Compromise),  Vrbanic  (a  specialist  on  the 
financial  relations  with  Hungary),  TomaSic  (the  present  Ban)  ;  in  civil 
law,  BogiSic  (author  of  the  Montenegrin  Civil  Code)  ;  in  criminal  law, 
Silovic  and  Rojc  ;  in  zoology,  Brusina  ;  in  art,  KrSnjavi  (the  trans- 
lator of  Dante  and  re-organizer  of  secondary  education)  ;  in  literature, 
Surmin  (author  of  a  standard  literary  history). 

^*5  Its  height  is  84  metres,  its  length  78,  its  greatest  breadth  60.  {See 
Wort  und  Bild  (Kroatien),  p.  500  ;  Laveleye,  op.  cit.  pp.  41-2  ;  W.  Hitter, 
Bveques  Artistes  (Gand,   1890).) 

124 


STROSSMAYER  AS  CHURCHMAN 

saintly  personality,  his  wide  culture  and  the  enthralling  charm 
of  his  Latin  oratory.  But  while  the  latter  carried  his  resistance 
to  the  point  of  secession,  Strossmayer,  after  gallantly  recording 
his  vote  in  a  minority  of  three,  submitted  to  the  superior 
verdict  of  the  Church,  and  henceforward  abstained  from  all 
criticism  of  the  obnoxious  dogma.  That  he  welcomed  the  fall 
of  the  Temporal  Power  as  a  scarcely  disguised  blessing,  was 
only  to  be  expected  from  a  man  of  his  wide  outlook  on  the 
frontier  between  Western  and  Eastern  culture ;  and  his 
interesting  correspondence  with  Gladstone  i^^  shows  that  he 
regarded  as  its  necessary  consequence  a  far-reaching  reform  of 
the  Roman  Curia,  such  as  would  curtail  the  undue  influence  of 
Italian  prelates  and  restore  to  it  its  former  universal  character. 

He  shared  with  Mr,  Gladstone  and  so  many  other  leaders  of 
thought  and  opinion  the  pious  wish  for  the  reunion  of  Christen- 
dom. But  with  him  this  aspiration  had  a  highly  practical 
side,  in  his  efforts  to  promote  good  feeling  and  if  possible  union 
between  the  Churches  of  Rome  and  the  East.  Realizing 
keenly  the  hindrances  which  religious  rivalry  placed  in  the 
way  of  national  progress  among  the  Southern  Slavs,  he  felt 
that  their  removal  would  be  the  surest  means  of  realizing  alike 
his  national  and  his  religious  ideals.  Unhappily,  his  efforts 
were  misunderstood  by  the  Orthodox  clergy,  especially  in 
Servia  and  Russia  :  he  was  unjustly  attacked  as  a  mere  agent 
of  Vatican  propagandism  ;  and  when  in  1885  he  proposed  to 
pay  a  pastoral  visit  to  the  Catholics  of  Belgrad,  the  Servian 
Government  declined  to  guarantee  his  personal  safety,  and  the 
visit  had  to  be  abandoned.  ^"^ 

While  his  schemes  of  reunion  were  foredoomed  to  failure, 
his  zealous  advocacy  of  the  neglected  Slav  Liturgy  known  as 
the  Glagolitic  rite  drew  upon  him  the  disapproval  of  the 
Ultramontane  party.  But  the  scholarly  Leo  XHI,  who  was 
keenly  interested  in  all  matters  concerning  the  Eastern  Church, 
was  fully  alive  to  the  important  part  which  the  "  Glagolitza  " 

i»6  See  Appendix  XVII. 

19'  Such  is  the  intolerance  of  the  Servians  towards  Catholicism,  that 
a  Barnabite  Father  sent  by  Strossmayer  to  minister  to  the  thousands 
of  Italian  workmen  engaged  in  railway  work  in  Servia,  was  assaulted, 
injured  and  obliged  to  leave  the  country.  In  Servia  the  clergy  are 
sunk  in  formalism,  and  their  influence  is  national,  not  religious.  In 
Bosnia,  on  the  other  hand,  the  Catholics,  under  Archbishop  Stadler, 
have  shown  distinct  leanings  to  aggression  and  proselytism,  but  mainly 
towards  the  Moslem  population,  among  whom  they  have  met  with 
scanty  success. 

125 


STROSSMAYER  AND  CROATIAN  CULTURE 

might  play  in  winning  the  peoples  of  the  Balkan  peninsula  to 
Catholicism.  Throughout  his  pontificate  the  ancient  liturgy 
was  tolerated,  and  within  certain  limits  actually  encouraged, 
and  the  publication  of  Slavonic  missals  and  their  distribution 
permitted.  It  was  only  under  his  less  statesmanlike  successor 
and  his  fanatical  advisers  that  the  Glagolitic  clergy  fell  once 
more  into  disfavour  at  Rome  and  their  rite  was  materially 
restricted. 

In  1885  the  thousandth  anniversary  of  the  Slav  apostle  St. 
Methodius  was  widely  celebrated  in  Russia,  and  on  this  occa- 
sion Strossmayer  sent  a  telegram  of  congratulation.  His 
enemies,  especially  in  Budapest,  made  much  capital  out  of 
the  incident,  and  represented  his  action — prompted  as  it  was 
by  a  lifelong  veneration  for  the  Slav  apostles — as  an  insult 
to  the  Holy  See  and  to  the  Dual  Monarchy  !  Once  more  Pope 
Leo  was  too  sagacious  to  be  misled  by  such  obvious  bias,  and 
received  him  graciously  when  he  appeared  in  Rome  in  1888 
at  the  head  of  a  large  Southern  Slav  pilgrimage.  But  the 
Emperor  Francis  Joseph,  misled  by  his  Magyar  entourage, ^^^ 
was  unhappily  prevailed  upon  to  administer  a  public  rebuke 
to  the  Bishop,  when  the  latter  came  to  pay  his  respects  on  the 
occasion  of  manoeuvres  in  Slavonia.  A  rejoinder  was  natur- 
ally impossible  ;  and  the  Bishop,  now  old  and  frail,  was  deeply 
wounded  by  the  unmerited  disfavour  of  his  Sovereign,  but 
henceforth  abstained  from  all  political  action.  The  most 
regrettable  feature  of  the  incident  was  that  it  lent  colour  to 
the  behef,  already  widely  current  among  the  Southern  Slavs, 
that  the  Monarch  showed  a  marked  preference  for  the  Magyars 
and  disliked  the  Croats.  This  unhappy  legend  will  meet  us 
on  a  later  occasion. 

A  lifelong  desire  of  Bishop  Strossmayer  was  to  survive  the 
expulsion  of  the  Turks  from  Europe,  and  thus  to  witness  what 
seemed  to  him  the  just  retribution  for  the  sufferings  inflicted 
upon  his  race  and  his  religion.  Hence  the  rising  in  Bosnia, 
which  formed  a  titular  dependency  of  his  diocese,  commanded 
his  whole  sympathies  and  interest.  He  never  lost  an  oppor- 
tunity of  pleading  the  cause  of  the  Southern  Slavs,  whether 
Bosnia,  Servia  or  Bulgaria  were  involved  ;  and  by  means  of 
his  numerous  connexions  with  eminent  Frenchmen,  he  was 
able  to  influence  very  materially  French  public  opinion  during 

i»8  xhe  Chauvinist  Coloman  Tisza,  notorious  for  his  constant  viola- 
tions of  the  Croatian  Compromise  and  the  Law  of  Nationalities,  was 
then  Premier  of  Hungary  (1875-90). 

126 


STROSSMAYER  AND  GLADSTONE 

the  Eastern  crisis.     Through  the  medium  of  Lord  Acton,  he 
entered  into  correspondence  with  Mr.   Gladstone,   and  in  a 
series  of  effective  if  rhetorical  letters  expressed  his  gratitude 
for   the   famous   pamphlet   on    "  Bulgarian   Atrocities "    and 
advocated    the    liberation    and    autonomy    of    the  Christian 
peoples  of  the  Balkans,  i^**     It  is  interesting  to  note  that  while 
in  1876  he  urged  upon  Gladstone  that  Bosnia  should  be  placed 
under  the  protection  of  Servia,  in  February,  1878  (soon  after 
the  Congress  had  been  decided  upon),  he  already  recognized 
this  solution  to  be  impracticable,  and  favoured  the  complete 
autonomy  of  Bosnia  and  the  cession  of  Old  Servia  to  Servia  by 
way  of  compensation.     It  is  impossible  not  to  regret  that 
nothing  ever  came  of  his  tentative  suggestion  that  he  should 
appear  before  the  Congress  to  plead  the  cause  of  his  Bosnian 
kinsmen.     The  sight  of  the  great  Christian  orator  before  that 
distinguished  gathering  of  diplomatic  freebooters  would  have 
afforded  equal  food  for  reflection  to  the  cynic  and  the  moralist. 
In  the  following  year  he  expresses  his  fears  lest  Austria  may 
introduce  into  the  occupied  provinces  her  old  superannuated 
system,  instead  of  fulfilling  her  natural  mission  as  the  bulwark 
between  Slav  and  Teuton.     Though  he  "  would  gladly  give 
his  life  to  save  this  splendid  state,"  he  considered  Austria 
under  present  conditions  less  likely  to  allay  complications  than 
to  introduce  into  every  question  the  seed  of  future  discord. 
In  his  view  the  real  evil  lay  in  Magyar  predominance  in  the 
counsels  of  the  state,  and  in  that  race's  policy  "  of  blind  hatred 
towards  the  Slavs  "  ;    and  he  had  therefore  openly  deplored 
the  influence  exerted  by  Andrassy  upon  Disraeli  during  the 
Eastern  Crisis.     In  December,   1878,  he  agreed  with  M.  de 
Laveleye  in  regarding  Austrian  rule  in  Bosnia  as  a  necessity  : 
"  but  whether  it  will  be  an  advantage  to  Austria  will  depend 
upon  the  policy  adopted.     If  Vienna,  or  rather  Pest,  means  to 
govern  the  new  provinces  by  Hungarians  or  Germans,  and  for 
their  profit,  the  Austrians  will  finish  by  being  more  hated  than 
the  Turks."  200     He  was  ready  to  re-echo  the  cry  of  the  Slovak 
patriot  Hodza  in  1848,  "  Rather  the  Russians  than  the  Mag- 
yars."    It  was  only  in  this  sense  that  Strossmayer  was  a  Pan- 
Slav.     In  the  true  political  significance  of  the  word,   he  was 
anything  but  Pan-Slav,     Like  Palacky  and  many  other  dis- 

"*  Strossmayer  and  Gladstone  never  met,  though  a  meeting  was 
more  than  once  arranged  by  their  mutual  friends,  and  thus  the  encoun- 
ter between  Bossuet  and  Leibnitz,  to  which  the  Bishop  playfully  alludes 
in  one  of  his  letters,  remained  a  dream. 

^°"  Laveleye,  op.  cit.  pp.  30-31. 

127 


STROSSMAYER  AND   CROATIAN   CULTURE 

tinguished  Slavs  in  the  Habsburg  Monarchy,  he  believed  it  the 
mission  of  Austria,  and  desired  to  see  her  great  and  prosperous. 
It  was  his  misfortune  that  his  faith  in  Austria  was  greater  than 
the  faith  of  those  who  controlled  her  destiny,  and  the  bitter 
disillusionments  of  his  political  career  would  have  amply 
excused  an  attitude  of  open  hostility  on  his  part.  If  he  still 
hoped  for  a  brighter  future,  this  was  due  not  to  any  signs 
of  statesmanship  in  Vienna — for  this  the  Magyars  monopolized 
till  the  close  of  Strossmayer's  long  life — but  solely  to  the 
unconquerable  optimism  of  the  Christian  prelate. 

We  may  conclude  this  sketch  of  Bishop  Strossmayer's  career 
by  quoting  the  personal  impressions  of  M.  de  Laveleye  on  the 
occasion  of  their  first  meeting.  "  He  appeared  to  me  like  a 
saint  of  the  Middle  Ages,  such  as  Era  Angelico  painted  on  the 
walls  of  the  cells  of  San  Marco  in  Florence.  His  face  was 
refined,  thin,  ascetic  ;  his  light  hair,  brushed  back,  surrounded 
his  head  like  a  halo  ;  his  grey  eyes  were  clear,  luminous, 
inspired.  A  sharp  yet  gentle  flame  beamed  from  them,  the 
reflection  of  a  great  intellect  and  a  noble  heart.  His  speech  is 
easy,  glowing,  full  of  imagery  ;  but  although  he  speaks  French, 
German,  Italian  and  Latin  besides  the  Slav  languages,  with 
equal  ease,  no  one  of  these  dialects  can  furnish  him  with  terms 
sufficiently  expressive  for  the  complete  rendering  of  his  thought, 
and  so  he  uses  them  by  turns.  He  takes  from  each  the  word, 
the  epithet,  he  needs,  or  he  even  uses  the  synonyms  that  come 
from  them  all.  It  is  when  he  finally  arrives  at  Latin  that  his 
sentences  flow  with  unequalled  breadth  and  power.  He  says 
precisely  what  he  thinks,  without  reticence,  without  diplomatic 
reserve,  with  the  abandon  of  a  child  and  the  insight  of  genius. 
Entirely  devoted  to  his  country,  desiring  nothing  for  himself, 
he  fears  no  one  here  below  ;  as  he  seeks  only  what  he  believes 
to  be  good,  just  and  true,  he  has  nothing  to  conceal."  201 

The  great  Bishop  died,  at  the  age  of  ninety,  on  April  10, 
1905,  on  the  eve  of  a  new  political  era  in  Croatia.  As  a  poli- 
tician, he  lacked  balance  and  restraint,  and  was  swayed  by 
sentiment  to  an  excessive  degree.  But  as  an  intellectual  and 
moral  force,  as  the  patron  and  inspirer  of  thought  and  culture, 
his  influence  upon  Croatia  and  the  Southern  Slav  world  cannot 
be  exaggerated.  As  Jellacic  typifies  the  military  prowess  and 
loyalty  of  the  Croat,  so  Strossmayer  stands  for  those  qualities 
of  faith  and  romantic  idealism  for  which  the  best  sons  of  the 
race  have  been  distinguished. 

201  Op.  cit.  p.  30. 
128 


CHAPTER  VII 

An  Outline  of  Croat  and  Serb  Literature 

Non  erunt  ultra  duae  gentes,  nee  dividentur  in  duo  regna  ;  sed 
fiet  unum  ovile  et  unus  pastor. — Kri^anic.^"^ 

BEFORE  we  return  to  the  less  congenial  atmosphere  of 
modern  politics,  it  may  be  well  to  lay  before  the  reader 
a  brief  outline  of  literary  development  among  the  Croats  and 
Serbs. 

In  striking  contrast  to  many  politicians,  who  seem  to  take 
a  malicious  delight  in  magnifying  imaginary  differences,  the 
whole  tendency  of  Southern  Slav  philologists  and  literary  his- 
torians has  been  directed  towards  a  unified  language  for  the 
Croat  and  Serb  race.  In  theory  this  has  already  been  attained, 
and  to-day  every  savant  whose  researches  and  opinions  carry 
the  slightest  weight  are  unanimous  in  regarding  "  the  Serbo- 
Croat  language,"  as  they  prefer  to  call  it,  as  a  literary  unit. 
Indeed,  in  the  field  of  literature  Croat  and  Serb  are  but  two 
names  for  one  and  the  same  language,  whose  divergences  of 
dialect  are  mainly  the  result  of  geography,  not  of  racial  or 
religious  distribution.  The  Croats  use  the  Latin  alphabet, 
modified  in  accordance  with  the  rules  of  modern  Bohemian 
orthography,  the  Serbs,  the  Cyrillic  alphabet  as  reformed  by 
Vuk  Karad^i6  ;  other  distinction  there  is  none.  But  the  arti- 
ficial barrier  of  the  rival  alphabets  has  prevented  the  con- 
sciousness of  their  essential  unity  from  extending  beyond  the 
small  educated  minority. 

As  there  lurks  behind  this  distinction  "  the  religious  Dualism 
(Catholicism,  Orthodoxy)  and  the  Dualism  of  name  (Croat, 
Serb)  with  divergent  ideals  for  the  future,  the  external  trap- 
pings assume  a  deeper  significance  than  the  parallel  use  of 
two  alphabets  in  the  German  language.  Indeed,  the  masses  of 
the  people  still  look  upon  the  literary  products  of  one  alphabet 

^"^  So  runs  the  prophecy  of  one  of  the  earliest  Croat  writers. 
S.S.Q.  129  K 


CROAT   AND   SERB   LITERATURE 

only  as  their  spiritual  possession,  thereby  reducing  by  half  not 
merely  the  circulation  but  also  the  capacity  for  production. ^"^ 
Instead  of  a  single  literature  possessed  by  a  race  of  seven  or 
eight  millions,  which  under  favourable  circumstances  could  do 
splendid  work,  there  really  still  exist  two  smaller  literatures, 
each  with  three  to  four  million  adherents."  ^o* 

The  Serbo-Croat  language  falls  into  three  main  dialects  which 
are  distinguished  by  the  varying  form  of  the  word  "  what," 
as  the  "la,"  the  "  sto,"  and  the  "  kaj."  The  last  of  these  is 
spoken  in  north-west  Croatia,  from  the  neighbourhood  of 
Karlstadt  to  the  river  Mur,  and  forms  the  link  between  Serbo- 
Croat  and  Slovene.  The  first  (ca)  is  confined  to  Istria,  North 
Dalmatia,  the  Croatian  seacoast,  the  Dalmatian  islands. 
The  central  or  sto-dialect  is  the  most  extensively  spoken — 
throughout  Slavonia,  South-east  Croatia,  South  Hungary, 
Servia,  Bosnia,  Herzegovina,  South  Dalmatia  and  Montenegro, 
and  now  occupies  a  dominant  position  in  the  literature  of  the 
race.     It  is  spoken  in  its  purest  form  in  Herzegovina,  ^"^  which 

203  Incredible  as  it  must  appear  to  any  foreigner,  there  is  no  Antho- 
logy in  existence  which  includes  both  Croat  and  Serb  poets  within  the 
same  covers.  The  admirable  Hrvatska  Antologija  contains  the  best 
work  of  Preradovic,  Mazuranic  and  other  Croat  poets  ;  for  the  Vladika 
Peter  and  Jovanovic  we  must  go  to  Serb  collections.  The  two  are  kept 
in  airtight  compartments  by  what  can  only  be  described  as  childishly 
provincial  bigotry. 

A  rednctio  ad  ahsurdum  of  this  artificial  barrier  is  supplied  by  an 
ostensibly  scientific  essay  published  by  the  "  Club  of  the  Starc^evic- 
ian  Academic  Youth,"  in  other  words,  by  a  group  of  school- 
boys, who  in  Croatia,  instead  of  rowing  and  playing  football,  are  en- 
couraged to  dabble  in  politics  and  to  waste  their  time  squabbhng  in 
cafes.  '  At  the  present  day  ' — so  runs  the  argument — '  almost  all 
savants  are  of  opinion  that  the  Croatian  language  should  be  called  '  Croat 
or  Serb,'  and  this  phrase  has  found  its  way  even  into  the  Croatian 
schools.  The  Club,  on  the  contrary,  being  of  opinion  that  such  a 
description  is  radically  false,  has  requested  Mr.  G.  to  treat  this  question 
in  detail,  and  this  pamphlet  is  the  result.'  Mr.  G.  argues  that  unity  of 
accent  is  the  best  test  of  unity  of  language,  and  as  the  "  §to  "  and  "  ca  " 
dialects  differ  greatly  in  accent,  they  are  two  different  languages ! 
The  name  "  Serb  "  is  just  as  false  as  the  name  "  Bosnian."  This  sort 
of  rubbish  is  seriously  encouraged  by  the  Frank  Party.  (See  Prilog 
poznavanja  akcenatske  teorije  Mazuraniceve  u  obziru  na  komentator- 
ska  domisljanja,  Zagreb,   1907.) 

2"*  Jagic,  Die  slavischen  Sprachen,  p.  22  (Kultur  der  Gegenwart,vol.  ix). 

^"5  Three  sub-dialects  can  be  distinguished,  according  to  pronuncia- 
tion, e.g.  the  word  for  "beautiful"  is  lijep  (lee-ape)  in  Herzegovina, 
Montenegro,  South  Dalmatia  ;  lep  (lape)  in  Servia  ;  lip  (leep)  in  Sla- 
vonia, Bosnia.  This  last  is  no  longer  written  at  all,  and  only  the  first 
is  regarded  as  literary.     Jagic,  p.  26. 

130 


THE   BALLADS   OF   KOSSOVO 

is  celebrated  as  the  Tuscany  of  the  Southern  Slavs,  and  this 
fact  is  admitted  by  all  sections  of  the  race.  But  the  com- 
parative ease  with  which  this  dialect  won  its  recognized 
position  was  due  at  least  in  part  to  the  proximity  of  Herzegovina 
to  the  Republic  of  Ragusa,  which  witnessed  the  first  important 
development  of  Croat  literature.  The  chief  characteristic  of 
the  language  is  its  close  adherence  to  the  speech  of  the  people  : 
the  purest  style  is  that  which  reflects  this  most  faithfully. 

The  earliest  literature  of  the  Southern  Slavs  is  liturgical  in 
character.  The  Glagolitic  manuscripts  of  the  Adriatic  coast- 
line, the  miraculous  lives  of  Servian  saints,  and  the  laws  of 
Stephen  Dusan  are  the  only  literary  landmarks  of  the  Middle 
Ages.  The  destruction  of  the  Slav  states  of  the  Balkans  by 
the  Turks  arrested  all  development  at  the  very  moment  when 
culture  and  education  were  beginning  to  flourish  ;  and  the 
ignorance  and  stagnation  of  the  Orthodox  Church  completed 
what  Turkish  barbarism  had  begun.  But  the  downfall  of 
Servian  independence  produced  a  splendid  crop  of  ballad 
poetry,  rude,  irregular,  but  spontaneous  and  inspired,  brim- 
ming over  from  the  heart  of  a  proud  and  unhappy  people, 
and  unequalled  in  Europe  save  by  the  Spanish  Cid  and  the 
bards  of  the  Scottish  Border.  The  whole  cycle  of  ballads  is 
dominated  by  the  fatal  defeat  of  Kossovo,  the  Flodden  of  the 
Balkans,  and  by  the  mythical  figures  of  its  heroes — Marko 
Kraljevic,  the  freux  chevalier  of  Southern  Slav  legend  ;  Milos 
Obilic,  unjustly  charged  with  treachery  and  sealing  his  loyalty 
with  the  Sultan's  blood  ;  Vuk  Brankovic,  the  real  traitor, 
trusted  and  deceiving,  branded  by  a  whole  nation's  curse. 
But  above  all  others  towers  Marko,  with  his  giant  frame  and 
charmed  life,  typifying  by  his  deeds  of  prowess  the  ideals  of  a 
primitive  people,  by  his  death  the  political  death  of  the  nation, 
by  his  enchanted  slumber  its  resurrection  and  future  freedom. 
Such  poetry,  as  an  English  poet  has  justly  observed,  has  its 
origin  "  not  in  the  heads  of  a  few,  but  in  the  hearts  of  all." 
"  It  is  the  sword  of  a  Crusader  in  the  scabbard  of  a  Turk."  -°^ 

The  situation  of  Dalmatia  on  the  border  line  between  Slav 
and  Latin  culture,  exposed  that  province  to  the  influence  of 
the  Italian  Renaissance  and  gave  it  a  natural  pre-eminence 
over  its  kinsmen  under'^Turkish  sw^y.  Marko  Marulic,  a  native 
of  Spalato,  whose  epic  poem  Judith  was  completed  in  1501 

208  "  Owen  Meredith  "  (Robert,  Earl  of  Lytton),  Serb  ski  Pesme,  p.  x 
(1861,  London). 

131 


CROAT  AND   SERB   LITERATURE 

and  first  printed  in  1521,  is  regarded  as  "  the  father  of  Croat 
Hterature,"  though  he  himself  speaks  of  earher  poets.  But 
the  real  cradle  of  Serbo-Croat  literature  is  the  tiny  Republic 
of  Ragusa,  which  by  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century  was 
the  only  fragment  of  Southern  Slav  territory  which  could  boast 
its  complete  freedom  from  foreign  rule.  Its  earlier  group  of 
poets,  whose  work  was  closely  modelled  on  the  Italian  lyrics  and 
dramas  of  the  late  Renaissance  from  Sannazaro  and  Politian  to 
Tasso,  does  not  call  for  comment  here.  But  Ivan  Gundulid 
(1588-1638)  demands  recognition  not  merely  as  the  eulogist 
of  that  miniature  Venice,  the  gem  of  medieval  Slav  towns,  but 
as  the  first  great  poet  of  the  Slavonic  world.  His  pastoral 
play  Duhravka  is  modelled  on  the  Aminta  of  Tasso  ;  but  so 
far  from  being  a  mere  slavish  imitation,  treats  in  a  highly 
■original  manner  the  congenial  theme  of  Ragusan  liberties. 
But  his  masterpiece  is  the  romantic  epic  Osman,  which  cele- 
brates the  struggle  of  the  Cross  against  the  Crescent  and  the 
services  rendered  by  the  Slav  nations  in  the  cause  of  Christen- 
dom. Here  again  the  analogy  with  Tasso 's  Gerusalenime 
Liberata  is  more  apparent  than  real.  Gunduli<5's  choice  of  the 
octosyllabic  metre  gives  the  poem  an  entirely  different  flavour, 
and  his  fervent,  not  to  say  fanatical,  Catholicism  deterred  him 
from  adapting  Tasso's  fantastic  device  of  a  Christian  hero  as 
the  lover  of  an  infidel.  Osman  is  more  modern  in  spirit  and 
construction,  and  shows  real  insight  into  the  Turkish  character. 
On  its  own  merits  as  a  work  of  imaginative  genius,  it  can  hardly 
be  compared  to  its  more  famous  Italian  rival ;  but  when  we 
consider  the  linguistic  difficulties  with  which  its  author  had  to 
contend  and  the  relative  positions  of  the  Italian  and  Croat 
languages  in  his  day,  we  must  admit  Osman  to  be  a  work  of 
extraordinary  merit. 

Gundulic  was  followed  in  Ragusa  by  numerous  minor  poets  ; 
but  the  dreadful  earthquake  of  1667  proved  as  fatal  to  the 
Republic's  literary  activity  as  to  its  commercial  prosperity. 
The  censorship  which  Venice  exercised  in  her  Dalmatian  do- 
minions and  the  absence  of  a  printing  press  on  the  eastern  side 
of  the  Adriatic,  207  checked  all  literary  progress  in  Dalmatia 

2"'  Even  Ragusa,  from  fear  of  the  Turks,  printed  its  books  in  Italy. 
Murko,  Die  siidslavische  Literatur  (Kultur  der  Gegenwart),  p.  216. 

Baron  John  Ungnad,  the  former  Governor  of  Stjnria,  established 
printing  presses  in  Tubingen  and  Urach  for  Southern  Slav  books,  especi- 
ally in   the   Glagolitic  and   Cyrilline   alphabets.     The   object  was  to 

132 


THE   POETS   OF  RAGUSA 

until  quite  modern  times.  To  this  statement  there  is  one 
brilhant  exception — the  Franciscan  friar,  Andrew  Kacic,  from 
the  neighbourhood  of  Makarska,  who  may  be  regarded  as  a 
hnk  between  the  poets  of  Ragusa  and  the  modern  popular 
school.  During  his  numerous  journeys  through  Bosnia  as  a 
Papal  legate,  he  gathered  ancient  manuscripts  and  charters, 
and  listened  to  the  recitations  of  peasant  bards.  In  1759  he 
published  a  collection  of  his  own  poems  entitled  Pleasant 
Sonversations  of  the  Slav  People  (Razgovor  Ugodni  naroda 
Slovinskoga),  afterwards  known  under  the  simpler  title  of  The 
Book  of  Songs  (Pjesmarica).  In  it  he  celebrates  the  exploits 
of  Croat,  Serb  and  Bulgar  heroes,  adhering  so  closely  to  popular 
lines  of  thought  and  expression.  His  book  enjoyed  immense 
popularity,  and  marked  out  the  lines  which  Vuk  Karadzic  was 
to  follow  sixty  years  later  in  his  linguistic  reforms.  The  folk- 
songs scattered  through  its  pages  came  under  the  notice  of 
Herder  when  he  was  preparing  his  "  Songs  of  the  Nations," 
and  so  introduced  the  popular  poetry  of  the  Serbs  for  the  first 
time  to  the  Western  world. 

Meanwhile  in  Croatia  there  was  no  favourable  field  for  literary 
effort  ;  the  whole  life  of  the  nation  was  absorbed  by  the 
struggle  against  the  Turks.  But  two  outstanding  figures  of 
Croatian  history  in  the  seventeenth  century  left  a  literary 
legacy  behind  them.  Francis  Frankopan  beguiled  the  last 
weeks  of  his  imprisonment  by  composing  songs,  and  his  kins- 
man and  fellow-conspirator  Count  Peter  Zrinjsky,  published 
Croat  paraphrases  of  the  Magyar  poems  of  his  brother  Nicholas 
— The  Siren  of  the  Adriatic  and  the  Siege  of  Sziget,  which  cele- 
brates the  exploits  and  death  of  their  heroic  ancestor.  The 
interest  which  these  versions  possess  is  chiefly  historical  and 
political. 

The  eighteenth  century  is  equally  barren  in  literary  achieve- 
ment. The  only  figure  which  deserves  mention  by  the  side 
of  Kacic  is  Matthew  Reljkovic,  an  officer  in  the  Military 
Frontiers,  who  was  captured  by  the  Prussians  during  the  Seven 
Years'  War  and  employed  his  captivity  in  comparing  the 
situation  of  his  own  country  to  that  of  the  civilized  West. 
The  result  of  his  observations  was  published  in  the  form  of  a 
lengthy  epic,  composed  in  decasyllabics  and  bearing  the  strange 
title  of  The  Satyr  or  the  Wild  Man  (Satir  ilidivljicovjek,  1761, 

Protestantize  the  Southern  Slavs  and  through  them  the  whole  Balkan 
Peninsula. — Murko,  p.  217. 

133 


CROAT  AND  SERB  LITERATURE 

Dresden).  In  spite  of  its  didactic  tone,  its  commonplace  ideas, 
and  the  depreciatory  terms  in  which  it  refers  to  many  popular 
customs,  Reljkovic's  work  enjoyed  a  popularity  almost  as  great 
as  that  of  the  Franciscan  friar. 

Napoleon's  Illyrian  experiment,  while  responsible  for  a  re- 
vival of  literary  effort  among  the  Slovenes,  produced  no  imme- 
diate effect  upon  the  Croats.  Nor  was  Servia's  recovery  of 
independence  accompanied  by  any  outburst  of  poetic  talent. 
The  vivifying  force  which  led  to  a  literary  revival  in  the 
nineteenth  century,  came  from  among  the  Serbs  ;  but  it  was 
the  Serbs  of  Hungary,  Slavonia  and  Bosnia,  not  those  of  the 
young  principality.  -  We  have  already  seen  that  Dositej 
Obradovic,  the  founder  of  education  in  Servia,  was  a  native 
of  the  Banat.  But  his  autobiography  and  other  didactic 
works,  despite  the  enormous  influence  which  they  undoubtedly 
exercised  in  so  barren  a  field  as  Turk-ridden  Servia,  do  not 
possess  a  high  literary  value  and  are  essentially  for  his  own 
age  rather  than  for  posterity. 

A  far  greater  figure  was  the  linguistic  reformer  Vuk  Stef anovic 
Karadzic,  best  known  as  Vuk.  Born  in  1787  at  a  small  village 
on  the  frontier  between  Servia  and  Bosnia,  he  acted  during  the 
first  rising  against  the  Turks  as  an  interpreter  of  letters  to  the 
illiterate  Serb  commander  of  his  district.  But  when  in  1813 
Kara  George  was  forced  for  a  time  to  abandon  the  struggle, 
Vuk  found  his  way  to  Vienna,  and  at  the  instance  of  Kopitar, 
the  foremost  Slavistic  scholar  of  his  day,  devoted  himself  to 
the  collection  and  study  of  Serb  popular  poetry  and  stories. 
In  1814  he  published  a  hundred  of  these  popular  lyrics  and  six 
of  the  "  Hero-Songs  "  (Junacke  Pesme)  which  fill  so  large  a 
place  in  the  imagination  of  the  Serb  and  Croat  people.  A  book 
of  such  marked  originality  could  not  fail  to  attract  attention, 
and  the  romantic  movement  in  the  West,  then  at  its  height, 
welcomed  the  popular  poetry  of  the  Serbs  and  made  it  possible 
to  publish  ten  years  later  in  Leipzig  a  greatly  enlarged  edition 
in  four  volumes.  Inspired  by  the  purit}?'  of  language  and  clas- 
sic turn  of  phrase  which  he  found  in  the  ballads  and  songs  of 
the  people,  Vuk  set  himself  the  task  of  elevating  the  vernacular 
to  the  position  of  the  literary  language  and  thus  superseding 
the  conventional  and  artificial  language  which  owed  its  sur- 
vival to  the  favour  of  the  Church  authorities.  To  this  end  he 
introduced  phonetic  reforms  into  the  old  Cyrillic  alphabet, 
consistently  following  the  principle  that  a  language  should  be 
written  as  it  is  spoken,  and  conversely  pronounced  as  it  is 

134 


THE   REFORMS   OF   VUK 

written.  His  first  grammar,  based  upon  the  Herzegovinian 
dialect,  appeared  in  1814.  But  the  most  decisive  influence  was 
exercised  by  his  great  Serb  dictionary  (Srpski  Rijecnik)  pub- 
lished four  years  later  at  Vienna.  The  first  edition  contained 
26,000  words,  the  second  edition  over  20,000  more,  and  is  a 
rich  mine  for  the  study  not  merely  of  literary  evolution,  but 
of  folklore  and  ethnography.  For  many  years  Vuk  travelled 
through  the  various  Serb  countries  gathering  fresh  material ; 
and  the  result  of  his  journeys  was  a  whole  series  of  popular 
tales,  proverbs,  anecdotes,  songs  and  ballads,  which  have  long 
since  become  models  of  Serbo-Croat  literary  style.  His  re- 
forming ideas  were  bitterly  resented  by  the  older  generation, 
especially  by  the  Orthodox  clergy,  who  until  very  recent  times 
have  always  opposed  every  form  of  innovation.  The  oppo- 
sition centred  round  the  Srpska  Matica,  the  earliest  Serb 
literary  society,  which  was  founded  at  Pest  in  1826  by  Hadzic- 
Svetic.^°^  Yet  despite  the  prestige  enjoyed  by  his  opponents 
and  the  violence  with  which  he  was  attacked,  Vuk  persevered 
in  his  course,  and  strong  in  the  support  of  all  the  chief  philo- 
logists from  Kopitar  and  Grimm  to  Dobrovsky  and  Safafik, 
he  gradually  won  over  to  his  side  the  whole  of  the  younger 
generation.  Some  idea  of  the  difficulties  with  which  he  had  to 
contend  may  be  gathered  from  the  fact  that  in  1832  his  ortho- 
graphy was  actually  forbidden  in  Servia  and  that  from  1852 
to  i860  even  his  works  were  not  allowed.^o^  But  long  before 
his  death  in  1864,  the  ideas  of  Vuk  had  triumphed  ;  the  final 
blow  to  the  old  theories  was  administered  by  his  brilliant  pupil, 
George  Danicic  in  his  Struggle  for  the  Serb  Language  (Rat  za 
srprski  jezik,  1847).  The  same  writer,  a  Serb  from  Slavonia, 
and  for  many  years  Secretary  of  the  Southern  Slav  Academy 
in  Agram,  gave  a  practical  form  to  his  advocacy  of  linguistic 
reform  by  his  eloquent  Serb  version  of  the  Bible. 

A  contemporary  of  Vuk,  Simon  Milutinovic  (1791-1847),  is 
the  first  Serb  poet  of  note  whom  Bosnia  has  produced.  Born 
in  Sarajevo,  he  studied  in  Belgrad  and  Karlovitz,  but  after- 
wards spent  a  number  of  years  in  Germany,  where  he  aroused 
the  interest  of  Goethe  for  Serb  ballad  poetry ,^^°  became  the 
friend  of  Grimm  and  Uhland,  and  supplied  considerable 
material  for  Therese  von  Jakob,  who  under  the  pseudonym  of 

2"8  In  1864  it  was  transferred  to  Neusatz  after  the  long  feud  had 
been  decided  in  Vuk's  favour. 
2o»  Murko,  p.  225. 
-'°  See  Geothes  Werke,  Band  xxxvii. 

135 


CROAT  AND   SERB   LITERATURE 

"  Talvj  "  won  a  high  reputation  as  the  pioneer  of  Slav  hterary 
history  in  western  lands.  His  epic  Srhijanka  is  an  attempt 
to  achieve  for  the  Servian  war  of  independence  what  the  heroic 
lays  of  Kossovo  had  achieved  for  that  gloomier  period  of  the 
nation's  history.  Despite  certain  obvious  faults  of  style  and 
expression,  it  was  the  first  poem  which  could  challenge  com- 
parison with  the  Osman  of  Gundulic.  The  influence  of  Milu- 
tinovic,  who  spent  five  years  in  Montenegro  before  finally 
settling  at  Belgrad,  inspired  his  pupil,  the  future  Vladika, 
Peter  II,  with  a  love  of  poetry,  which  was  soon  to  bear  splendid 
fruit.  This  prince,  one  of  the  most  talented  of  a  long  succes- 
sion of  able  rulers,  is  still  regarded  by  many  Servians  as  their 
foremost  poet.  His  first  important  poem,  which  bears  the 
unpromising  title  of  The  Light  of  the  Microcosm,  was  composed 
under  the  influence  of  Milton's  Paradise  Lost.  But  in  his  later 
epic  The  Mountain  Garland  (Gorski  Vijenac)  he  discards  philo- 
sophy for  action,  with  the  most  admirable  results.  Its  sub- 
ject is  the  Montenegrin  struggle  for  liberty,  which  culminated 
in  a  famous  massacre  of  the  Moslem  population  in  1702.^^^ 
The  poem  cannot  be  assigned  to  any  special  category  :  in  the 
strict  sense  it  is  neither  a  drama  nor  an  epic.  But  as  a  revela- 
tion of  Montenegrin  character,  as  a  glowing  panegyric  of  one 
of  the  few  primitive  peoples  of  the  West,  it  ranks  high  in  Serbo- 
Croat  literature.  How  unfavourable  the  conditions  of  Mon- 
tenegro were  to  poetic  talent,  can  best  be  realized  from  the 
fact  that  Peter  II  found  it  necessary  to  melt  down  the  type  of 
his  newly-erected  printing  press  as  bullets  for  the  Turkish  war. 
Yet  the  tradition  survived  in  his  own  family,  and  his  nephew, 
Prince  (now  King)  Nicholas,  achieved  wide  fame  by  his  patriotic 
drama.  The  Empress  of  the  Balkans  (Balkanska  Carica),  which 
has  sometimes  been  regarded  as  indicating  the  direction  of 
its  author's  ambition. 

While  Prince  Peter  celebrated  the  glories  of  the  Black  Moun- 
tain, Agram  became  the  centre  of  a  remarkable  literary  renais- 
sance, best  known  as  "  The  Illyrian  movement."  Its  founder, 
Ljudevit  Gaj  (1809-1872)  had  studied  law  in  Vienna,  Grazand 
Pest,  and  in  the  latter  capital  fell  under  the  influence  of 
the  Slovak  poet  John  Kollar,  the  apostle  of  "  literary  recipro- 
city   among   all   Slav  nations."  ^^^     Though  full  of  ideas  and 

211  Sometimes  known  as  the  "Montenegrin  Vespers,"  by  analogy 
with  the  Massacre  of  Sicilian  Vespers  in  1282. 

212  For  an  account  of  Kollar  and  his  works  see  my  Racial  Problems  in 
Hungary,  pp.  51-57. 

136 


THE  ILLYRIAN   MOVEMENT 

enthusiasm,  Gaj  had  no  great  Hterary  talent.  His  function 
was  that  of  the  agitator  and  journahstic  pioneer.  His  faculty 
for  catching  the  popular  fancy  is  illustrated  by  his  patriotic 
song,  "  Still  Croatia  is  not  fallen,  while  we  are  yet  alive  "  ; 
frankly  imitated  from  the  famous  Polish  hymn,  and  set  to  a 
peculiarly  haunting  melody,  it  became  the  "  Marseillaise  " 
of  lUyrism,  and  is  still  one  of  Croatia's  chief  national  airs.  But 
its  literary  value  is  very  slight  indeed,  and  his  other  writings 
are  in  no  way  superior.  In  the  field  of  orthography  and  gram- 
mar, however,  his  reforms  are  almost  as  important  for  the 
Croats  as  those  of  Vuk  for  the  Serbs.  Based  upon  the  sto- 
dialect  and  upon  the  rules  of  orthography  observed  among 
the  Czechs,  Gaj's  reforms  were  adopted  without  any  serious 
opposition.  His  efforts  to  attain  literary  unity  were  of  course 
inspired  by  the  dream  of  the  political  union  of  all  Southern 
Slavs.  He  was  in  many  respects  ahead  of  his  age,  and  though 
his  ultimate  aim  is  still  far  from  attainment,  the  immediate 
object  is  already  an  accomplished  fact,  and  his  ideal  seems  less 
fantastic  to-day  than  it  seemed  seventy  years  ago.  But  his 
spirit  is  more  needed  than  ever  in  the  past,  to  combat  the  petty 
forces  of  provincial  conceit  and  jealousy,  which  form  the  great 
hindrance  to  progress  among  the  Southern  Slavs. 

The  first  real  poet  of  Croat  romanticism  was  Stanko  Vraz 
(1810-1851),  who,  though  a  Slovene  by  birth,  wrote  all  his 
lyrics  in  the  Croat  language.  Though  an  enthusiast  for  popu- 
lar poetry,  he  was  under  the  influence  of  the  romantic  poets  of 
the  west,  and  endeavoured  to  introduce  foreign  forms  of  lyrical 
expression.  His  contemporary,  Ivan  Mazuranic  (1813-1890), 
afterwards  Ban  of  Croatia,  won  the  heart  of  the  nation  by  his 
noble  epic  The  Death  of  Cengic  Aga  (Smrt  Small- Aga  Cengic), 
which  in  a  highly  dramatic  form  depicts  an  incident  of  the  long 
struggle  between  Turk  and  Montenegrin.  The  poem  strangely 
blends  those  elements  of  grim  savagery  and  Christian  heroism 
which  the  desperate  nature  of  the  struggle  called  forth.  A 
splendid  sense  of  rhythm  and  a  dehght  in  onomatopeic  phrases, 
are  further  characteristics  of  the  poem.  Mazuranic  added  to 
his  reputation  by  supplying  the  two  missing  cantos  of  Gundu- 
lic's  Osnian — a  masterpiece  of  imitative  skill. 

The  primacy  among  Croat  poets,  however,  falls  to  Peter 
Preradovic  (18 18-1872),  an  Austrian  officer  who  had  originally 
dabbled  in  German  poetry  and  only  discovered  in  middle  life 
the  possibilities  of  his  native  tongue.  One  of  his  finest  lyrics. 
The    Wanderer    (Putnik)    describes   in    allegorical  phrases  his 

^37 


CROAT  AND   SERB   LITERATURE 

return  to  national  consciousness.  His  poetry  breathes  an 
atmosphere  of  calm  reflection  and  ripe  thought,  which  only 
render  the  more  impressive  his  passionate  belief  in  the  future  of 
the  race.  His  intimate  friend,  Ivan  Trnski  (1819-1909)  also 
enjoys  a  high  reputation  as  a  lyrical  poet  and  as  the  translator 
of  many  foreign  classics  ;  but  his  work  is  less  spontaneous  in 
tone  and  shows  traces  of  artificiality.  Meanwhile,  Fra  Grgo 
Martic  (1822-1902)  became  the  mouthpiece  of  national  feel- 
ing among  the  Croats  of  Bosnia.  His  pathetic  lyric  The  Tears 
of  Bosnia  (Plac  Bosne)  and  his  long — indeed,  well-nigh  inter- 
minable— epic  The  Avengers  (Ostvetnici),  make  him  a  worthy 
successor  of  that  earlier  Franciscan  Kacic.  But  his  work  is 
extremely  uneven  and  lends  itself  to  abridgment. 

Among  the  Serbs  the  most  brilliant  poet  of  the  last  half- 
century  has  been  Jovan  Jovanovic  (1833-1904),  christened 
Zmaj  (or  "  Dragon ")  by  his  admiring  countrymen.  Zmaj 
betrays  his  origin  as  a  Hungarian  Serb  ;  the  great  Magyar 
lyrist  Petofi  is  one  of  his  favourite  models,  though  it  would  be 
useless  to  pretend  that  he  attains  to  Petofi's  fiery  excellence. 
In  later  years  Zmaj  devoted  himself  to  writing  poems  for  chil- 
dren, and  did  much  to  encourage  literature  for  the  young  in 
Servia.  Other  Serb  poets  of  real  talent  are  George  Jaksic 
(1832-1878)  and  Laza  Kostic  (born  1841),  author  of  the  first 
Serb  drama  Maksim  Crnojevic  and  translator  of  several  plays 
of  Shakespeare. 

Dalmatia,  the  earliest  home  of  Serbo-Croat  literature,  was 
the  last  province  to  be  affected  by  the  revival  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  Count  Medo  Pucic  (1821-1882),  the  scion  of  an 
ancient  Ragusan  family,  and  a  poet  in  whom  the  Italian  influ- 
ences of  his  native  town  were  strongly  marked,  was  for  many 
years  a  solitary  figure  in  Dalmatian  literature.  But  he  is  not 
without  worthy  successors.  Count  Ivo  Vojnovic,  in  a  brilliant 
dramatic  trilogy  (Dubrovacka  Trilogija)  celebrated  the  dying 
glories  of  the  Republic  of  Ragusa,  while  his  brother  treated 
the  same  subject  from  the  standpoint  of  a  historian.  Antony 
Tresic-Pavicic  (born  1867)  ^^^  in  his  lyrical  poetry,  seeks  classic 
and  Italian  models,  and  shows  remarkable  rhythmic  gifts  and 
a  love  for  rich  effects  of  sound  and  colour.  He  has  attempted 
the  drama  with  considerable  success,  taking  for  his  theme  the 
fall  of  the  Roman  Republic.     In  Bosnia  Tugomir  Alaupovic 

213  Since  1907  member  of  the  Austrian  Reichsrath  for  his  native 
island  of  Lesina  (with  Brazza). 

i3« 


CROAT  NOVELISTS 

(born  1873)  has  attracted  attention  by  his  pessimistic  verse. 

The  revival  of  Croatian  poetry  was  followed  by  the  appear- 
ance of  a  number  of  prosewriters,  who  compare  favourably 
with  those  of  most  smaller  European  nations.  Their  leader, 
August  Senoa  (i 838-1 881)  may  not  unfairly  be  described 
as  the  Scott  of  Croatia,  his  historical  novels  illustrating 
with  great  force  the  romantic  vicissitudes  of  his  country's 
history.  The  Goldsmith's  Daughter,  The  Peasant's  War,  Be- 
ware of  Zengg,  and  many  others  reveal  Senoa  as  a  born  story- 
teller, whose  complete  mastery  of  plot  and  description  rivets 
the  attention  of  the  reader  and  assures  him  a  high  and  enduring 
place  among  modern  novelists.  A  shorter  story  entitled  The 
Flower  from  the  Poet's  Grave  (Karamfil  sa  pjesnikova  groba)  is 
a  charming  love  idyll  skilfully  contrived  to  honour  the  memory 
of  the  Slovene  poet  Preseren  ;  the  charming  style  and  breezy 
atmosphere  of  this  little  book  would  of  themselves  suffice  to 
win  him  a  niche  in  Croat  literature.  Unhappily  an  early  death 
carried  him  off  at  the  very  height  of  his  activity. 

An  equally  prolific  novelist  was  Joseph  Tomic  (1843-1906), 
whose  chief  works  are  The  Dragon  of  Bosnia  and  For  King  and 
Home,  and  who  completed  Genoa's  unfinished  novel  The  Curse. 
In  the  eighties  French  naturalism  found  its  way  into  Croatia  ; 
its  first  notable  exponent  was  Eugene  Kumicic  (1850-1904), 
who  after  publishing  a  number  of  novels  of  almost  Zolaesque 
brutality,  reverted  in  his  later  years  to  the  historical  romance 
{The  Conspiracy  and  Zrinski  and  Frankopan).  Ljubomir 
Babic-Gjalski  (born  1854),  whose  novels  have  been  translated 
into  several  languages,  is  in  certain  respects  the  Paul  Bourget  of 
Croatia.  His  love  of  psychological  problems  shows  to  best 
advantage  in  his  short  stories,  which  are  full  of  French  influ- 
ence, despite  their  national  character  [Janko  Borislavic, 
Dawn,  Mors,  Radmilovic).  Other  favourite  writers  are  the 
satirist  A.  Kovacic,  Joseph  Kozarac  (born  1858)  {Dead  Capital, 
Three  Loves)  and  the  realist  Janko  Leskovar  {Ruined  Courts). 
As  was  to  be  expected,  the  influence  of  the  modern  Russian 
novel  is  strong  and  increasing  among  the  Croats.  ^^"^ 

Unlike  the  Croats  and  the  Bulgars,  among  whom  Ivan  Vazov 
(born  1850)  ranks  very  high  as  a  story-teller,  the  Serbs  are 
weak  in  fiction.     Their  only  novelist  of  importance  is  Laza 

21*  An  excellent  idea  of  the  modern  Croatian  novel  can  be  obtained 
from  a  collection  of  stories  by  various  authors  {Hrvatski  Pripovjedaci, 
Zagreb,  1908)  well  edited  by  the  rising  dramatist,  Milan  Ogrizovic. 

139 


CROAT  AND  SERB   LITERATURE 

Lazarevic,  who  as  a  country  doctor  acquired  an  intimate  know- 
ledge of  the  patriarchal  peasant  life  which  still  prevails  in 
Servia,  and  depicted  it  in  a  number  of  admirable  short  stories, 
A  new  period  is  about  to  open  in  Serbo-Croat  literature. 
The  absurd  cleavage  which  owes  its  origin  to  the  misfortune  of 
a  dual  alphabet,  and  which  has  been  fostered  by  unfavourable 
political  conditions,  is  becoming  more  unreal  with  every  year. 
A  growing  perception  of  the  essential  unity  of  race  and  lan- 
guage is  spreading  among  Croat  and  Serb  alike,  and  the  old 
barriers  of  provincialism  and  prejudice  are  slowly  yielding  to 
a  wider  outlook  upon  life. 

Note  upon  Croatian  Music  and  Art 

The  Croats  have  a  music  of  their  own,  which  though  it  cannot  com- 
pare with  that  of  Bohemia,  is  not  without  charm  and  originality.  The 
first  composer  of  real  merit  was  Vatroslav  Lisinski  (1819-1846),  who 
harmonized  many  of  the  most  popular  folksongs,  and  wrote,  in 
addition  to  choral  music,  two  important  operas,  Porin  and  Ljubov  i 
zloba  (Love  and  Spite).  The  most  prolific  and  at  the  same  time  the 
most  popular  Croat  composer  was  Ivan  Zajc  (1834-1906),  who  in  1874 
became  Director  of  the  Croatian  Opera  in  Agram.  His  best  known 
operas  are  Nicholas  Zrinski,  Lizinka,  Zlatka,  Man  the  Decks  ;  but  his 
choral  compositions  are  quite  as  attractive  (e.g.  Evening  on  the  Save). 

Franjo  Kuhac  (b.  1834)  deserves  mention  as  an  untiring  collector  of 
Southern  Slav  and  Balkan  folksongs  and  dances.  In  recent  years  Felix 
Albini,  a  Croat  with  Italian  name,  has  won  popularity  by  the  charming 
operetta  Baron  Trenck,  which  was  well  received  abroad.  In  the  summer 
of  1 911  it  appeared  in  London  in  a  very  mangled  form,  charmingly 
staged,  but  with  the  characteristic  national  songs  and  dances  either 
omitted  or  consigned  to  the  background. 

The  fine  opera  house  and  theatre — probably  the  finest  in  Europe 
for  a  town  of  Agram's  size — was  completed  in  1896,  and  is  the  focus  of 
Serbo-Croat  music  and  drama. 

In  curious  contrast  to  Croatia,  the  Dalmatian  Croats  and  the  Serbs 
are  the  least  musical  of  the  Slav  races.  Their  national  instrument, 
the  gusla,  creates  an  atmosphere  of  its  own,  peculiarly  suited  to  the 
recitative  of  peasant  bards  ;  but  though  impressive,  it  is  in  no  sense 
musical.  An  exception  must  be  made  in  favour  of  the  Serb  Kolo,  one 
of  the  most  fascinating  dances  in  Europe. 

Croatian  Art  is  older  than  is  generally  realized  abroad.  Carpaccio 
and  Schiavone,  and  Michelangelo's  pupil,  the  miniature  painter 
Clovio,  were  Croats  by  birth,  though  of  course  their  genius  was  entirely 
merged  in  the  Italian  schools  of  art.  The  first  names  on  the 
roll  of  modern  Croat  artists  are  two  Dalmatians — Vlaho  Bukovac  (b. 
1855)  and  Celestine  Medovic  (b.  1851),  both  of  whom  have  won  recog- 
nition in  Paris  and  elsewhere  abroad.  Another  Dalmatian,  Ivan 
Rendic,  and  Robert  Franges,  are  popular  sculptors,  the  former  being 
best  known  for  his  sepulchral  monuments.  For  many  years  Bukovac 
occupied  a  dominant  position  in  Art  at  Agram  ;    and  a  number  of 

140 


ART   AND   MUSIC 

promising  pupils  owe  much  to  his  influence,  without  adhering  at  all 
closely  to  his  ideas — e.g.,  Ivan  Tisov  (decorative  frescoes),  Ferd.  Kova- 
£evic,  Robert  Auer  (nude  studies),  Ivekovic,  Crncic  (charming  landscapes 
of  the  Adriatic  coast),  Racki  (remarkable  Dantesque  studies).  The  annual 
exhibitions  in  the  Art  Salon  of  Agram  are  quite  worthy  of  attention. 
A  small  group  of  able  artists  has  established  itself  at  Spalato  in  Dalmatia 
(Vidovic,  Katunaric,  Meneghello)  and  publishes  a  comic  illustrated 
paper  Duje  Balavac.  The  most  remarkable  figure  in  modern  Croat  art 
is  the  young  Dalmatian  sculptor,  Ivan  Mestrovic,  who  bids  fair  to 
become  the  Rodin  of  the  Southern  Slav  world.  His  wonderful  series 
of  figures  for  a  Southern  Slav  Valhalla,  has  been  recognized  by  the 
Italian  Press  as  one  of  the  chief  features  of  the  Art  Section  at  this 
year's  Exhibition  in  Rome. 


141 


CHAPTER    VIII 

The    Resolution    of  Fiume   and    its 
Consequences  (1905-1908) 

THE  Hungarian  crisis,  which  was  directly  responsible  for 
Count  Khuen  Hedervary's  resignation  as  Ban,  now 
began  to  influence  very  materially  the  course  of  events  in  Croa- 
tia. Even  under  Baron  Banffy's  premiership  (1898)  the  Party 
of  Independence,  which  led  the  Opposition  in  the  Hungarian 
Parliament,  had  indulged  in  obstructive  tactics  and  provoked 
a  so-called  Ex-Lex  condition  in  Hungary  by  preventing  the 
passing  of  the  Budget.  As  personal  motives  played  an  im- 
portant part  in  the  struggle,  the  substitution  of  Mr.  Coloman 
Szell  for  Baron  Banffy  restored  peace  for  some  years.  But 
in  1902  Szell's  proposals  for  an  increase  in  the  number  of 
recruits  led  to  a  fresh  outburst  of  obstruction,  more  violent 
than  any  which  had  gone  before.  The  year  1903  saw  a  renewal 
of  the  ex-lex  condition.  For  six  months  obstruction  was  ram- 
pant, and  at  length  Szell,  disappointed  in  his  belief  that  the 
Opposition  would  "  talk  itself  quiet,"  saw  no  alternative  but 
to  resign  office.  Count  Khuen  Hedervary,  on  succeeding  to 
the  premiership,  made  a  provisional  arrangement  with  the 
Opposition  ;  but  within  a  few  weeks  the  truce  was  broken,  and 
the  implication  of  his  friend.  Count  Ladislas  Szapary,  then 
Governor  of  Fiume,  in  a  sordid  case  of  political  bribery,  ren- 
dered the  new  Premier's  position  untenable  and  led  to  his 
resignation  (August  10,  1903).  Meanwhile  the  demands 
put  forward  by  the  Party  of  Independence  for  ultra-Magyar 
"  national  "  concessions  in  the  Army,  had  thoroughly  alarmed 
the  dynasty,  and  were  met  on  September  16 — while  the  Khuen 
Cabinet  was  still  conducting  affairs,  pending  the  appointment 
of  a  successor — by  the  famous  Army  order  of  Chlopy,^^^  in 
which  His  Majesty  roundly  declared  that  he  would  never  sur- 
render the  military  powers  which  the  constitution  of  the  Dual 
Monarchy  assured  to  him.     The  excitement  aroused  in  Hun- 

'^^  So-called  from  the  small  Bohemian  village  at  which  the  Emperor 
dated  the  Order  during  the  autumn  manoeuvres  of  1903. 

142 


THE  HUNGARIAN   COALITION 

gary  by  this  emphatic  document  spurred  on  the  Opposition 
to  fresh  obstruction,  and  the  new  Cabinet,  which  was  formed 
in  November,  1903,  by  Count  Stephen  Tisza,  soon  found  itself 
obHged  to  attempt  a  revision  of  the  Standing  Orders  of  the 
House,  as  the  sole  means  of  checking  parliamentary  anarchy. 
It  was  not,  however,  till  October,  1904,  that  Tisza  proceeded 
in  earnest  to  this  revision  ;  but  when  his  proposals  were  at 
length  laid  before  the  House,  the  Opposition  attempted  to 
make  discussion  impossible.  On  November  17,  1904,  a  motion 
for  holding  two  sittings  daily  was  carried  by  a  bare  majority, 
and  Count  Albert  Apponyi,  speaking  in  the  name  of  the  whole 
Opposition,  declined  to  respect  this  decision  of  the  House. 
This  parliamentary  revolution  was  followed  next  day  by  a 
counter-revolution  of  the  majority,  the  motion  for  reform 
being  passed  on  an  improvised  vote. 

Parliament  was  at  once  prorogued,  and  when  it  met  again  on 
December  13,  the  Opposition  wrecked  the  House  and  rendered  all 
debate  impossible.  At  this  critical  moment  Count  Tisza,  who  had 
frankly  admitted  the  illegality  of  the  means  adopted  to  secure 
reform,  but  had  sought  to  justify  them  on  the  plea  of  necessity 
and  raison  d'etat,  now  suddenly  reverted  to  the  strict  constitu- 
tional view  and  appealed  to  the  country.  The  general  elections 
of  January,  1905,  resulted  in  the  overthrow  of  the  Liberal  Party, 
which  had  ruled  Hungary  since  1876.  The  Party  of  Indepen- 
dence secured  166  seats,the  minor  Opposition  groups  72,  ^^^  and  the 
Liberals  only  159  ;  Count  Tisza  was  therefore  faced  by  a  hostile 
Coalition^i'  of  231  deputies,  and  placed  his  resignation  in  the 
King's  hands.  For  some  months  negotiations  were  conducted 
between  the  Crown  and  the  Coalition,  but  as  the  latter  per- 
sisted in  dictating  terms  for  the  acceptance  of  office  while  the 
former  sought  to  curtail  the  programme  of  his  future  ministers, 
no  agreement  could  be  reached,  and  on  June  19,  1905,  Baron 
Geza  Fejervary,  an  old  soldier  who  had  held  the  portfolio  of 
National  Defence  in  several  Liberal  cabinets,  was  appointed 

^'^  The  so-called  Dissidents  27  ;  the  People's  Party  (Clerical)  25  ; 
the  New  Party  13.  There  were  also  10  Nationalists,  2  Democrats, 
2  Socialists  and  10  non-party. 

^"  In  November,  1904,  after  the  parliamentary  coup  d'etat  the  four 
Opposition  groups — the  Party  of  Independence  under  Mr.  Francis 
Kossuth  and  Count  Albert  Apponyi,  the  Dissidents  or  Constitutional 
Party  under  Count  Julius  Andrassy,  the  People's  Party  under  Count 
Aladar  Zichy,  and  the  New  Party  under  Baron  Desiderius  Banfiy 
formed  themselves  into  the  since  famous  Coalition. 

143 


THE    RESOLUTION   OF  FIUME 

Premier  with  a  number  of  little  known  permanent  officials  as 
his  ministers.  The  new  Cabinet,  being  without  a  majority  in 
Parliament,  could  only  govern  by  repeated  prorogations,  and 
the  political  situation  remained  obscure  and  precarious. 

This  brief  outline  of  the  course  of  events  in  Hungary  sup- 
plies the  clue  to  the  political  transformation  in  Croatia  which 
took  place  under  Count  Theodore  Pejacevic.  The  decay  of 
the  Liberal  party  in  Hungary  was  accompanied  by  a  corre- 
sponding decay  of  its  ally  the  "  National  "  party  in  Croatia. 
Their  principles,  or  rather  their  lack  of  principles,  were  similar, 
and  so  also  were  the  methods  which  they  employed.  In  each 
country  successive  governments  found  that  an  Opposition, 
tied  to  a  programme  so  extreme  as  to  be  utterly  impracticable, 
was  often  convenient  rather  than  embarrassing,  since  it  could 
be  used  by  the  authorities  in  Agram  and  Budapest  against 
Budapest  and  Vienna  respectively.  In  Croatia  a  skilful  policy 
of  playing  off  rival  races  and  party  factions  against  each  other 
and  of  enforcing  a  strict  political  discipline  upon  every  rank 
of  officialdom,  had  resulted  in  a  prolonged  period  of  stagna- 
tion ;  but  the  withdrawal  of  Count  Khuen  released  forces 
which  had  till  then  been  pent  up,  and  the  seething  cauldron 
at  once  emitted  steam. 

The  younger  generation  in  Croatia  showed  a  marked  revul- 
sion of  feeling  in  favour  of  Serbo-Croat  friendship,  and  this 
tendency  was  powerfully  supported  by  public  opinion  in  Dal- 
matia.  Mr.  Supilo's  organ,  Novi  List,  which  had  already  won 
the  ear  of  Croatian  patriots  by  its  onslaughts  upon  Khuen  at 
a  time  when  the  press  of  Agram  was  effectively  muzzled  ^i^ — 
a  Dalmatian  leader  once  not  inaptly  described  it  to  me  as 
"  a  dumping  place  for  all  new  and  modern  ideas  " — now 
became  the  chief  champion  in  the  press  of  the  idea  of  Croato-Serb 
unity.     After  preparing  the  ground  for  some  months  with  great 

'>'  Novi  List^  being  published  in  Fiume,  is  subject  to  the  Hungarian 
Press  law  which,  however  susceptible  of  reactionary  interpretation, 
is  at  any  rate  infinitely  more  liberal  than  the  Croatian  press  law.  Mr. 
Supilo  had  originally  been  editor  of  Crvena  Hrvatska,  a  small  weekly 
newspaper  published  at  Ragusa  in  the  interests  of  the  Party  of  Right. 
In  1900  he  left  Ragusa  for  Susak,  where  he  founded  a  daily  paper 
called  Nasa  Sloga.  Its  main  idea  was  opposition  to  the  Khuen  regime, 
its  owners  being  Ruzic,  Erasmus  Barcic  and  other  wealthy  Croats  in 
and  around  Fiume.  In  order  to  evade  the  muzzling  to  which  Count 
Khuen  subjected  the  Croatian  press,  the  paper  was  transferred  to  Fiume 
and  re-christened  Novi  List.  It  soon  became  the  leader  of  the  Oppo- 
sition Press. 

144 


ALLIANCE  WITH  THE  MAGYARS 

skill  and  caution,  it  then  began  to  blend  the  idea  of  unity  with 
attacks  upon  Austria  and  the  Viennese  "  Camarilla,"  and  to 
prepare  the  way  for  a  modus  vivendi  with  the  Magyars.  The 
Dalmatian  leaders,  who  represented  the  real  driving  force 
in  this  new  movement,  were  far-sighted  enough  to  realize  the 
advantages  which  Croatia  might  reap  from  Magyar  party 
dissensions.  Disillusioned  and  alienated  by  the  rebuff  which 
they  had  received  in  Vienna,  and  interpreting  it  in  the  light 
of  a  century  of  past  history,  they  drew  the  conclusion  that  no 
help  was  to  be  expected  from  Austria,  who  would  at  the  last 
moment  give  way  to  the  Magyars,  as  she  had  invariably  done 
at  every  crisis  of  the  past  fifty  years.^^^  \A^ith  a  strange  mix- 
ture of  naivete  and  '  slimness,'  of  lofty  idealism  and  political 
cjmicism,  they  dreamt  of  a  Southern  Slav  millennium,  as  the 
direct  consequence  of  their  alliance  with  the  Magyars,  and 
flattered  themselves  that  they  could  beat  that  race  of  bom 
politicians  at  its  own  game.  Better  at  any  rate,  they  argued, 
to  help  the  Magyars  at  their  need,  and  thus  win  the  right  to 
share  the  spoils  of  victory,  than  to  commit  themselves  on  the 
side  of  Austria  and  then  to  be  left  a  prey  to  the  incensed  Mag- 
yars,^^°  under  circumstances  even  more  unfavourable  to  Croatia 
than  those  of  the  years  1867,  1883  and  1903. 

Mr.  Supilo  and  his  friends  realized  clearly  that  they  need 
expect  nothing  from  the  Liberal  party,  already  on  its  death- 
bed, and  that  the  "  National  "  party  in  Croatia  was  so  closely 
linked  with  the  Liberals  and  so  impervious  to  new  ideas  that 
the  enterprise  must  be  undertaken  without  its  help  ;  they 
therefore  devoted  their  attention  to  the  Magyar  Opposition 
parties,  whom  they  knew  to  be  eagerly  searching  on  all  sides 
(both  at  home  and  abroad)  for  allies  in  their  struggle  against 
Vienna.  Meanwhile  in  order  to  prepare  public  opinion  lor  so 
striking  a  change  of  tactics,  they  publicly  mooted  in  Dalmatia 

2i»  About  this  time  a  mischievous  legend  found  its  way  from  mouth 
to  mouth  and  found  wide  belief  among  the  credulous  Southern  Slavs — 
to  the  effect  that  the  Emperor,  in  conversation  with  a  distinguished 
General,  had  remarked,  Die  Kroaten — das  sindFetzen.  This  phrase  has 
been  more  than  once  quoted  to  me  by  men  of  standing  in  Dalmatia  and 
Croatia,  where  the  belief  that  the  Dynasty  is  anti-Croat  has  unhappily 
been  widespread  since  the  rejected  audience.  Though  there  is  no 
ground  for  this  story,  I  think  it  well  to  refer  to  it,  for,  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  it  has  found  credence  and  helps  to  explain  the  revulsion  of 
Croat  feeling  in  favour  of  the  Magyars. 

^^^  Cf.  the  argumentation  in  Kroatien  und  dessen  Beziehungen  zu 
Bosnien  (p.  87)  by  a  deputy  of  the  Croato-Serb  Coalition. 

S.S.Q.  145  L 


THE   RESOLUTION   OF  FIUME 

during  the  summer  of  1905  the  idea  of  a  conference  to  be 
attended  by  all  the  Croat  deputies  in  the  Viennese  Reichsrath 
and  in  the  Croatian  Diet. 

Its  ostensible  aim  was  to  consider  the  steps  necessary  to 
secure  the  union  of  Dalmatia  with  Croatia  under  the  Crown 
of  St.  Stephen  ;  but  the  tacit  design  of  its  organizers  was  to 
frame  a  programme  such  as  would  be  acceptable  to  the  Magyar 
Opposition  as  the  basis  of  a  working  agreement.  A  prelim- 
inary meeting  of  twenty-four  deputies  was  held  at  Ragusa 
on  August  14,  and  Fiume  was  fixed  upon  as  the  place  of  the 
conference.  As  had  been  anticipated,  the  National  party 
declined  the  invitation  to  attend  and  Dr.  Frank's  party  also 
adopted  a  hostile  attitude,  partly  owing  to  personal  reasons, 
partly  from  religious  fanaticism  and  hostility  to  the  Serbs,  but 
also  because  despite  many  shortcomings  its  leader,  alone  of  all 
Croatian  politicians,  had  realized  the  vital  need  of  friendly 
relations  with  Austria,  and  had  too  clear  a  grasp  of  the  inter- 
national situation  to  be  seduced  into  dubious  adventures  by 
the  heroes  of  the  Budapest  Coalition.  Meanwhile  the  Serb 
parties  preserved  a  friendly  neutrality,  and  resolved  to  await 
the  issue  of  the  conference  before  committing  themselves  to 
any  public  expression  of  opinion. 

On  October  2,  1905,  forty  Croat  deputies  from  Croatia, 
Dalmatia  and  Istria  met  at  Fiume.  A  preliminary  motion 
greeting  with  sympathy  the  struggle  of  the  Hungarian  nation 
for  its  rights,  and  betraying  an  anti- Austrian  tendency,  was 
put  forward  by  Professor  Vrbanic,  the  well-known  Constitu- 
tional writer.  After  a  debate  lasting  several  days  in  which 
almost  all  the  Dalmatian  leaders  took  part.  Dr.  Antony  Trum- 
bic  who  had  been  till  recently  Mayor  of  Spalato  and  enjoyed  a 
wide  popularity  in  Dalmatia,  submitted  a  resolution  from  his 
own  pen,  containing  a  definite  statement  of  policy.  A  small 
minority  favoured  a  declaration  of  a  much  more  general  char- 
acter and  the  appointment  of  a  special  committee  to  "  sound  " 
official  opinion  both  in  Austria  and  in  Hungary  before  com- 
mitting themselves  to  a  new  policy.  The  great  majority, 
however,  was  anxious  to  commit  itself  openly  to  the  new 
policy,  and  on  October  4  the  famous  Resolution  of  Fiume  was 
adopted,  almost  unaltered.  A  sub-committee  consisting  of 
Dr.  Pero  Cingrija,^"  Dr.  Trumbic,  Vicko  Milic,^^^  Harambasic 

221  Mayor  of  Ragusa  and  one  of  the  most  distinguished  Croat  politi- 
cians in  Dalmatia. 

^^22  Till  his  death,  in  1910,  President  of  the  Croat  party  in  Dalmatia. 

146 


A  NEW   POLICY 

and  Father  Zagorac,^^^  was  appointed  to  carry  out  the  ideas 
which  it  embodied.2^^ 

The  Resolution  of  Fiume  lays  down  as  a  general  political 
axiom  the  view  that  "  every  nation  has  the  right  to  decide 
freely  and  independently  concerning  its  existence  and  its  fate," 
interprets  the  Hungarian  crisis  as  an  attempt  to  carry  this 
axiom  into  practice,  and  affirms  it  to  be  the  duty  and  interest 
of  the  Croats  "  to  fight  side  by  side  with  the  Hungarian  nation 
for  the  fulfilment  of  its  constitutional  rights  and  liberties." 
The  price  of  Croatian  support  is  then  defined  as  twofold — on 
the  one  hand  the  re-incorporation  of  Dalmatia,  which,  it  might 
be  presumed,  would  be  equally  attractive  to  Magyar  and  to 
Croat,  and  on  the  other  a  radical  change  in  "  the  present  intoler- 
able conditions  "  in  Croatia.  The  reforms  necessary  to  such 
a  change  were  summed  up  as  follows  :  Electoral  reform  and 
freedom  of  elections  ;  complete  freedom  of  the  press  ;  right 
of  assembly  and  association ;  judicial  independence,  and  irremov- 
ability of  judges,  and  the  formation  of  special  courts  to  protect 
the  citizen  against  political  tyranny,  and  to  punish  arbitrary 
officials.  The  compromise  of  1868  is  to  remain  the  basis  of  the 
relations  between  the  Hungarian  and  Croatian  nations,  but  such 
changes  are  to  be  made  as  shall  assure  to  the  latter  an  inde- 
pendent development,  alike  in  matters  "  political,  cultural, 
financial,  and  economic."  In  the  opinion  of  Ohzor  the  im- 
portance of  the  Resolution  consists  in  defining  the  minimum 
of  Croatian  national  claims — in  a  word,  the  execution  of  the 
compromise,  its  extension  in  an  autonomous  sense  and  the 
re-incorporation  of  Dalmatia.  Its  real  significance,  however, 
lies  far  deeper  than  any  mere  definition  of  claims.  It  marks 
an  entirely  new  departure  in  Southern  Slav  politics,  the  attain- 
ment of  its  majority  b}^  a  young  nation,  the  adoption  for  the 
first  time  of  an  independent  policy  of  construction.     That  this 

2^2  Afterwards  one  of  the  most  prominent  members  of  the  Croato-Serb 
Coalition  in  Croatia  {see  pp.  255-8  for  the  part  which  he  played  at 
the  Friedjung  Trial),  he  became  discontented  with  its  policy,  seceded 
early  in  1909  and  joined  the  so-called  Dissident  group  of  Dr.  Mile 
Starcevic,  of  which  he  is  to-day  the  mainstay. 

22*  The  real  initiative  had  come  from  Dalmatia  when  Mr.  V.  Mili^, 
the  President  of  the  Croatian  party,  had  strongly  backed  the  propagan- 
da of  a  Magyar  journalist,  Dr.  Rudolf  Havas,  for  the  Union  of  Dalmatia 
with  Hungary.  In  1903  the  Magyar  Deputy,  Paul  Hoitsy,  had  pub- 
lished a  pamphlet  in  favour  of  "  Greater  Hungary  " — a  league  of  Mag- 
yars, Roumanians,  Serbo-Croats  and  Greeks,  such  as  would  close  the 
gates  of  the  Balkans  to  Russian  aggression. 

147 


THE   RESOLUTION   OF  FIUME 

policy  was  based  upon  a  radical  misconception  of  their  allies' 
character  and  honesty  of  purpose,  does  not  really  detract  from 
the  boldness  of  its  design  or  from  the  energy  and  skill  with 
which  it  was  initiated  and  carried  through.  It  can  only  be 
understood  as  a  reaction  against  long  years  of  neglect  and  deser- 
tion on  the  part  of  Vienna,  ending  in  the  crowning  indignity 
of  the  rejected  audience.  Under  such  circumstances,  the  hope 
that  the  Magyars  would,  if  only  in  their  own  interests,  adopt 
a  more  generous  and  statesmanlike  attitude,  was  as  natural 
as  it  was  to  prove  unfounded.  Better,  it  was  argued,  endeavour 
to  make  terms  with  Budapest  direct  than  to  rely  upon  Vien- 
nese support  in  the  struggle  against  Budapest  and  then  invari- 
ably be  left  to  pay  the  piper. 

The  newly  appointed  committee  at  once  proceeded  to  Agram, 
where  negotiations  were  opened  with  delegates  from  the  Serb 
Independent,  the  Serb  Radical,  and  the  Peasant  parties  ;  the 
two  former  assented  to  the  new  policy,  but  Mr.  Stephen  Radic, 
the  leader  of  the  Peasant  party,  offended  by  the  anti-Austrian 
tinge  of  the  proceedings,  entered  a  strong  protest  and  withdrew. 
Meanwhile  a  majority  of  the  Dalmatian  members  of  the 
Reichsrat  also  defended  the  Austrophil  standpoint  and  de- 
clined to  sign  the  Resolution  ;  but  this  did  not  deter  the  pro- 
moters of  the  movement  from  despatching  a  telegram  to  Mr. 
Francis  Kossuth,  as  president  of  the  Hungarian  Party  of 
Independence  and  announcing  the  success  of  the  Resolution, 
"despite  the  efforts  of  agents  of  the  Viennese  Camarilla."  The 
publication  of  this  telegram  aroused  considerable  indignation, 
but  its  contents  were  quite  eclipsed  by  Mr.  Kossuth's  reply, 
which  ran  as  follows  :  "  We  greet  our  Croatian  and  Dalmatian 
brothers  and  remind  the  Croats  that  we  have  always  shared 
with  them  the  rights  which  we  had  won  for  ourselves,  and  that 
on  the  contrary  they  have  always  been  oppressed  by  Austria. 
May  God  bring  back  Dalmatia  through  Croatia  to  the  Crown  of 
St.  Stephen  !  We  await  you  in  love  and  full  hope.  Francis 
Kossuth."  ^^^  For  plain  speaking  this  left  nothing  to  be  desired, 
and  it  is  hardly  surprising  that  such  language  in  the  mouth 
of  a  man  who  aspired  to  the  rank  of  Hungarian  Premier, 
inspired  alarm  and  resentment,  not  merely  at  the  Ballplatz, 
but  also  in  the  Hofburg. 

Kossuth's  telegram  led  to  direct  negotiations  between  Supilo 

^-^  Milic,  Posianak,  p.  i6.  As  one  of  the  Resolutionist  leaders  said 
to  me,  "  We  were  naive  enough  in  those  days  to  regard  Francis  Kossuth 
as  a  real  Kossuthist." 

148 


THE   RESOLUTION  OF  ZARA 

and  Trumbic  on  the  one  hand  and  prominent  members  of  the 
Hungarian  Coahtion  on  the  other.  The  importance  which 
the  Magyar  Opposition  assigned  to  the  negotiations  is  shown 
by  the  fact  that  no  fewer  than  five  future  members  of  the 
Wekerle  Cabinet  sat  in  the  committee  which  the  Hungarian 
Coalition  deputed  to  meet  the  Croat  leaders,--^ 

Kossuth  himself,  writing  in  his  own  press  organ  Budapest 
on  October  15,  pled  the  cause  of  Magyar-Croat  friendship, 
and  argued  that  the  deeds  of  violence  which  had  made  the 
Magyar  name  detested  in  Croatia  during  the  past  twenty  years 
had  been  committed  by  the  instruments  of  the  Ban,  without 
the  approval  of  the  Hungarian  nation,  and  in  accordance 
with  the  Camarilla's  wishes.  Almost  at  the  same  time  Mr. 
Supilo's  newspaper  published  a  declaration  in  the  name  of  the 
executive  Committee  of  the  Hungarian  Coalition,  solemnly 
pledging  its  leaders  to  concede  the  Croat  language  of  command 
at  the  moment  the  Magyar  language  of  command  shall  have 
been  secured  for  Hungary,  and  in  return  for  this  stipulating 
for  Croatian  support  in  the  struggle  against  Austria. 

On  October  16,  twenty-six  Serb  deputies  met  at  Zara,  ex- 
pressed their  agreement  with  the  principles  embodied  in  the 
Resolution  of  Eiume  and  publicly  declared  themselves  in  favour 
of  joint  political  action  between  Croats  and  Serbs,  in  the  in- 
terest of  their  common  Fatherland.  The  Resolutions  of  Fiume 
and  Zara  mark  the  beginning  of  a  new  era  in  Southern  Slav 
politics.  Henceforth  the  old  rivalry  of  Croat  and  Serb  is  on 
the  wane,  and  with  each  succeeding  year  fresh  recruits  have 
been  won  for  the  doctrine  that  "  Croats  and  Serbs  are  one 
nation  by  blood  and  language." 

During  the  winter  of  1905  the  various  Opposition  parties  of 
Croatia — ^with  the  exception  of  Dr.  Frank's  adherents  and 
the  tiny  group  of   the  Peasants'    Party,  under  Stephen  and 

226  These  five  were  Count  Albert  Apponyi  (afterwards  IVIinister  of 
Education),  Count  Julius  Andrassy  (Minister  of  the  Interior  and  framer 
of  the  notorious  abortive  Franchise  Reform  Bill  of  November,  1908), 
Baron  Banffy  (the  Chauvinist  ex-premier  and  leader  of  the  short-lived 
New  Party),  Mr.  Geza  Polonyi  (Minister  of  Justice  until  driven  from 
of&ce  in  February,  1907,  by  the  scandalous  revelations  of  Mr.  Lengyel 
and  a  certain  Baroness  Schonberger) ,  Count  Theodore  Batthyany  (a 
prominent  Independent  and  to-day  Vice-President  of  the  Justh  party), 
and  Count  Zichy  (leader  of  the  People's  party  and  Minister  a  latere). 
Mr.  Francis  Kossuth  (afterwards  Minister  of  Commerce  and  author  of 
the  notorious  Railway  Bill  which  led  to  the  rupture  between 
Hungary  and  Croatia  in  the  summer  of  1907)  was  President  of  the 
Committee. 


THE   RESOLUTION   OF  FIUME 

Antony  Radi6 — organized  themselves,  as  the  Croato-Serb 
Coahtion,  and  conducted  an  active  anti-governmental  cam- 
paign on  parallel  lines  with  their  allies,  the  Hungarian  Coalition. 
The  leaders  of  the  "  National  party  "  in  Croatia  were  not 
slow  to  realize  the  importance  of  the  new  movement.  Ultra- 
clerical  circles  looked  with  disfavour  upon  the  recon- 
ciliation of  Catholic  Croat  and  Orthodox  Serb,  and  still  more 
upon  the  progressive  elements  to  whose  influence  it  was  so 
largely  due  ;  and  it  was  an  easy  task  to  persuade  the  Clericals 
of  Vienna,  and  even  higher  personages,  that  the  national  evolu- 
tion of  a  disunited  race  was  in  reality  a  dangerous  conspiracy 
against  the  Monarchy  and  the  Habsburg  Dynasty.  This  view 
was  rendered  plausible  by  the  distinct  anti-Austrian  tinge 
which  Croat  opinion  had  assumed  since  the  deputation's  fiasco 
in  1903,  and  by  the  open  language  employed  by  Mr.  Supilo 
in  discussing  the  dangers  of  the  Drang  nach  Osten.  The  Austro- 
Hungarian  Foreign  Office,  with  that  strange  blend  of  boundless 
credulity  and  childish  suspicion  which  characterizes  those  who 
rely  for  their  information  upon  the  methods  of  the  Police  State, 
lent  a  willing  ear  to  the  denunciations  of  party  fanatics  and 
to  the  inventions  of  spies,  informers  and  agents  provocateurs — 
a'class  of  reptile  which  Turkish  misrule  and  the  rival  intrigues 
of  Austria  and  Russia  have  bred  in  large  numbers  throughout 
the  Balkans  and  the  adjoining  provinces.  Subsequent  indis- 
cretions revealed  a  confidential  circular  issued  by  the  Ban 
of  Croatia,  by  order  of  the  Foreign  Office,  to  the  High  Sheriff 
of  every  county,  and  requesting  them  to  place  certain  pro- 
minent individuals  in  Agram  and  other  towns  under  secret 
observation,  to  tamper  with  their  correspondence  with  certain 
Croat  and  Serb  leaders  in  Dalmatia  and  Bosnia,  and  to  sub- 
mit detailed  reports  of  the  results  of  their  inquiries.  The 
ostensible  cause  for  such  action  was  the  alleged  formation  of  a 
Bosnian  Committee  for  smuggling  weapons  and  seditious 
literature  into  Bosnia  and  thus  provoking  a  general  rising  ^^'^ ; 
but  the  real  aim  was  to  obtain  insight  into  the  plans  of  the 
Opposition  leaders  and,  if  possible,  sow  discord  between  the 
allied  Coalitions.^^^ 

22'  The  absurdity  of  this  story  may  be  gathered  from  the  fact  that 
Professor  Cvijic,  the  well-known;  geographer  and  Rector  of  Belgrade 
University,  is  described  as  president  of  the  insurrectionary  committee. 

228  Karl  Hron  in  Die  Wahrheit  liber  die  Wiener  Orientpolitik  (p.  49) 
maintains  that  the  orders  for  the  arrest  of  the  alleged  conspirators  had 
already  been  signed;  and  that  execution  was  only  delayed. 

150 


THE   COALITION  MINISTRY 

It  may  be  that  the  BaUplatz  was  already  preparing  the  cam- 
paign of  forgery  and  intrigue  which  was  to  prepare  the  way  to 
annexation,  and  that  Baron  Aehrenthal  merely  took  over 
instead  of  initiating  the  "  policy  "  which  has  since  then  come 
to  be  associated  with  the  lofty  names  of  Nastic  and  Vasic.  Be 
this  as  it  may,  the  sudden  political  transformation  which  took 
place  in  Hungary  in  the  spring  of  1906  brought  the  suspects 
into  power  and  rendered  such  intrigues  temporarily  impossible. 

On  February  14,  1906,  the  gorgeous  Chamber  on  the  Buda- 
pest embankment  had  been  surrounded  by  troops,  and  a 
colonel  of  militia  had  read  the  decree  of  dissolution  to  an 
empty  House.  No  date  had  been  assigned  for  the  new  elec- 
tions, and  the  Opposition  had  foretold  a  whirlwind  of  indig- 
nation throughout  the  country,  as  a  response  to  these  wanton 
insults  to  the  Constitution.  But  the  country  remained  quiet 
and  indifferent ;  the  Government,  having  over-trumped  the 
Coalition  by  making  Universal  Suffrage  the  main  point  of  its 
programme,  could  afford  to  despise  the  latter's  patriotic  phrases 
and  appeals  to  "  State  Right."  The  working  classes  and  the 
nationalities — in  a  word  a  majority  of  the  nation,  though  a 
minority  of  the  electorate — favoured  the  "  unconstitutional  " 
government  of  Baron  Fejervary.  The  Coalition  saw  power 
shpping  from  its  hands,  and  at  the  eleventh  hour  capitulated 
to  the  Crown,  accepting  a  "  compact  "  which  has  since  become 
public  and  which  shelved  all  the  questions  which  had  evoked 
the  crisis,  until  a  radical  measure  of  electoral  reform  could  be 
adopted.  It  is  difficult  to  believe  that  the  Coalition  leaders  ever 
intended  to  fulfil  their  pledge  of  reform  ;  for  when  once  normal 
conditions  had  been  restored  they  devoted  themselves  to  pass- 
ing law  after  law  of  the  most  reactionary  nature,^^^  and  allowed 
two  years  and  a  half  to  elapse  without  even  laying  a  franchise 
bill  before  Parliament. 

The  appointment  of  the  CoaHtion  Cabinet,  under  Dr.  Wekerle 
as  Premier,  was  followed  by  general  elections  both  in  Hungary 
and  in  Croatia.  In  the  former  country  the  old  Liberal  party 
disappeared  altogether,  its  leader.  Count  Tisza,  withdrew 
from   political    life,   and    the  Coalition    parties  divided    the 

to  say,  though  no  arrests  were  made  the  rising  never  took  place  on  the 
day  mentioned  in  the  document. 

229  E.g.,  Count  Apponyi's  notorious  Education  Acts  {see  detailed 
analysis  in  my  Racial  Problems  in  Hungary,  pp.  227-233)  and  Mr.  Da- 
ranyis'  Agricultural  Labourers'  Act   {see  Times,  September  25,  1907). 

151 


THE   RESOLUTION   OF  FIUME 

parliamentary  spoils  between  themselves,^^**  the  little  group 
of  twenty-five  non-Magyar  deputies  forming  the  only  opposi- 
tion in  the  House.  In  Croatia,  for  the  first  time  for  a  genera- 
tion, the  Government  was  not  in  a  position  to  exercise  political 
pressure  upon  the  elections ;  and  as  a  natural  result,  the 
National  Party  suffered  a  decisive  reverse,  losing  all  but 
twenty-one  seats.  The  Croato-Serb  Coalition,  or  Resolutionists, 
as  they  were  at  first  called,  obtained  a  relative  majority  of 
forty-three  seats,^^^  while  twenty  fell  to  the  Starcevic  Party. 
It  would  be  absurd  to  pretend  that  the  Resolution  of  Fiume 
awakened  any  enthusiasm  among  the  Croatian  electors ;  the 
success  of  the  Coalition  was  won  not  by  reason  of  it,  but 
despite  it,  and  was  due  to  the  deep  relief  and  satisfaction  which 
had  greeted  the  entente  between  Croat  and  Serb. 

The  result  of  the  elections  sealed  the  bargain  which  the 
Croatian  leaders  had  concluded  with  Mr.  Kossuth  and  his 
friends.  The  new  Croatian  Government  was  formed  out  of 
members  of  the  Coalition  while  a  special  arrangement  retained 
Count  Theodore  Pejacevic  in  his  position  as  Ban,  aloof  from  all 
party  connexions.  The  Croato-Serb  Coalition,  not  possessing 
an  absolute  majority  in  the  Sabor,  found  itself  too  weak  to 
adopt  an  active  policy,  and  was  seriously  hampered  during 
the  winter  of  1906  by  the  obstruction  of  the  Starcevic  Party 
under  Dr.  Frank,  furious  at  the  increased  influence  which  the 
Resolution  of  Fiume  had  secured  to  the  Serbs,  and  still  more 
at  the  revival  of  friendship  between  Agram  and  Budapest. 
Thus  in  a  year  of  government  the  Coalition  practically 
achieved  nothing ;  of  all  the  wide  programme  of  reform  con- 
tained in  the  Resolution  of  Fiume  a  law  guaranteeing  the  inde- 
pendence of  judges  was  the  solitary  fruit,  and  even  this  was 
still  awaiting  the  royal  sanction,  when  a  grave  crisis  arose  in 
the  relations  of  Croatia  and  Hungary. 

In  May,  1907,  Mr.  Francis  Kossuth  laid  before  the  joint 
Parliament  in  Budapest  a  new  railway  bill  regulating  the 
status  of  the  railway  officials,  in  which  Magyar  is  expressly 
declared  to  be  the  official  language  of  the  entire  railway  system 
of  Transleithania,  and  thus  of  Croatia  also.  This  was  resented 
by  the  Croats  as  a  clear  violation  of  the  Hungaro-Croatian 
Compromise  of  1868,  §  9  of  which  declares  the  railway  system 

230  ]sro  fewer  than  189  seats  (or  45-7  per  cent.)  were  left  uncontested. 

231  Croatian    Party  of  Right,    19 ;     Independent    Serb    Party,    16  ; 
Progressive   Party,   3 ;     Autonomous  Club,   3 ;     Serb    Radicals,    3  ; 

Non-Party,  4. 

152 


MR.   KOSSUTH'S  RAILWAY  BILL 

to  be  one  of  the  affairs  common  to  the  two  countries,  while 
§57  prescribes  Croatian  as  the  official  language  for  all  organs 
of  the  joint  government  within  the  borders  of  Croatia-Slavonia 
and  hence  also  for  the  railways. 

The  Magyar  contention  was  that  in  practice  the  Magyar 
language  had  always  been  employed  on  all  the  railways,  and 
that  the  new  law  was  not  guilty  of  any  innovation.  To  this 
the  Croats  rejoined  that  an  abuse  which  had  long  been  reluc- 
tantly tolerated  was  greatly  aggravated  by  the  grant  of  legal 
sanction,  that  the  law  recognized  the  rights  of  the  Croatian 
language,  and  that  no  modification  of  any  kind  could  be  made 
in  the  Compromise,  save  by  consent  of  two  specially  convoked 
deputations  of  the  Hungarian  and  Croatian  legislative  assem- 
blies. Although  the  quarrel  would  seem  to  have  arisen  over 
a  very  ordinary  measure  for  the  regulation  of  traffic,  the  most 
far-reaching  constitutional  questions  between  Hungary  and 
Croatia  were  involved. 

Chauvinist  feeling  in  Hungary  which  ran  riot  under  the 
Coalition  regime,  insisted  upon  regarding  Croatia  as  an  integral 
part  of  the  Kingdom  of  Hungary,  and  her  autonomy  as  the 
outcome  of  generous  concessions  from  Budapest,  and  not  of  a 
solemn  contract  between  two  equals.  From  this  it  of  course 
followed  that  the  language  of  the  Hungarian  state  was  entitled 
to  a  special  position  even  on  Croatian  territory.  In  other 
words,  the  legal  recognition  of  the  Magyar  language  on  the 
railways  of  Croatia  was  but  the  first  step  in  the  Magyarization 
of  Croatia,  at  which  the  exaltados  of  the  Hungarian  Coalition 
aimed.  The  extreme  importance  to  Hungary  of  the  railway 
line  from  Agram  to  Fiume  and  the  designs  entertained  by  the 
Magyars  for  bringing  the  Coalition  coastline  under  their  imme- 
diate control,  no  doubt  help  to  explain  why  the  conflict  broke 
out  on  this  point,  and  why  the  Croats  resisted  so  stoutly. 
But  there  is  good  reason  to  believe  that  the  Magyar  Govern- 
ment wished  to  pick  a  quarrel  with  the  Croats,  and  that  if  the 
latter  had  tamely  submitted  to  one  violation  of  the  Compro- 
mise, they  would  soon  have  been  confronted  with  another. 
Nor  is  it  improbable  that  the  Foreign  Office  had  some  share  in 
this  result.  Even  at  this  date  the  annexation  of  Bosnia-Herze- 
govina was  in  contemplation,  and  the  existence  of  a  Pan-Serb 
conspiracy  in  those  provinces  had  become  an  idee  fixe  in  the 
official  mind.  Whether  the  idea  of  establishing  a  connexion 
between  Bosnian  intrigue  and  the  political  leaders  of  Croatia, 
first  came  from  Budapest  or  from  Vienna,  it  is  not  easy  to 

153 


THE   RESOLUTION   OF  FIUME 

determine.  But  the  strategic  convenience  of  having  an  abso- 
lutist regime  in  Croatia  at  a  time  of  complications  with 
Servia  such  as  might  be  evoked  by  the  annexation  seems 
to  have  already  commended  itself  in  influential  quarters. 
Clerical  and  military  interests  were  strangely  intermingled  ; 
some  highly  placed  officers  being  guided  almost  equally  by 
strategic  considerations  and  by  the  desire  to  overthrow  the 
Croato-Serb  Coalition,  as  a  refuge  of  anti-clerical  influences. 

From  the  very  first  the  Croato-Serb  Coalition  vehemently 
opposed  Mr.  Kossuth's  illegal  innovation  ;  and  as  all  redress  was 
uncompromisingly  refused,  its  delegates  in  the  Joint  Parlia- 
ment of  Budapest  resorted  to  obstruction  of  the  sharpest  and 
most  effectual  kind.  For  the  first  time  since  1868  full  use 
was  made  of  the  paragraph  of  the  Compromise  (§  59)  which 
entitled  the  Croatian  delegates  to  speak  in  Croatian.  Inter- 
minable Croatian  speeches  were  delivered,  minute  points  of 
order  were  raised  and  every  advantage  was  taken  of  the  some- 
what complicated  and  obsolete  Standing  Orders.  As  hardly 
any  of  the  Magyar  members  understood  a  word  of  Croatian, 
and  as  even  the  President  and  the  Vice-President,  from  ignor- 
ance of  the  language,  were  unable  to  enforce  a  proper  control 
of  the  proceedings,  it  can  easily  be  imagined  that  the 
tactics  of  the  Croats  infuriated  Magyar  public  opinion  and 
made  it  less  than  ever  disposed  to  compromise.  After 
parliamentary  business  had  been  at  a  standstill  for  a  whole 
month,  Mr.  Kossuth  introduced  a  Bill  consisting  of  a  single 
sentence — which  deserves  immortality,  if  only  for  its  gram- 
matical construction — and  empowering  the  Ministry  of  Com- 
merce to  enforce  the  provisions  of  the  obstructed  bill  until  such 
time  as  it  should  have  received  full  parliamentary  sanction  ! 

The  Croato-Serb  Coalition,  beaten  though  it  was,  consoled 
itself  with  the  thought  that  it  had  won  for  itself  in  Europe  a 
notoriety  equal  to  that  of  Mr.  Parnell  and  his  friends  in  1881, 
and  that  its  bold  resistance  to  Magyar  aggression  had  won  for 
it  great  popularity  among  the  electorate  of  Croatia.  On 
June  25,  Count  Pejacevic,  having  identified  himself  with  the 
attitude  of  the  majority,  sent  in  his  resignation,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded as  Ban  by  Dr.  Alexander  Rakodczay,  who  had  for 
some  yesar  past  occupied  the  position  of  President  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  Appeal  in  Agram. 

As  a  Magyar  by  birth  and  a  pronounced  Unionist  in  sentiment, 
Dr.  Rakodczay  completely  failed  to  rally  a  party  round  him 
or  to  allay  in  any  way  the  general  indignation.     In  the  autumn 

154 


BARON  PAUL  RAUCH 

session  at  Budapest  the  Premier,  Dr.  Wekerle,  threw  out  dark 
hints  of  treason  and  unrest  and  warned  the  Croats  of  the  dire 
results  to  which  their  obstinacy  might  lead,  if  they  dared  to 
look  across  the  frontier  for  their  political  guidance. ^^^  This 
hint  of  renewed  intrigues  between  Agram  and  Vienna  was 
occasioned  by  the  interest  which  the  Christian  Socialist  party 
displayed  in  Croatia.  But  this  interest  being  unhappily 
identified  with  narrow  clerical  influences,  did  not  lead  to  any 
positive  result. 

The  Croato-Serb  Coalition  remained  firm  in  its  opposition 
to  the  new  Ban,  and  was  even  taking  steps  for  his  impeachment 
when  the  Saborwas  dissolved  and  new  elections  ordered.  Dr. 
Rakodczay's  methods  proved  too  moderate — and  many  would 
add,  too  scrupulous — for  his  masters  in  Budapest,  and,  with 
the  best  will  in  the  world,  he  had  entirely  failed  to  win 
any  support,  save  from  the  small  group  of  discredited 
Magyarones,  who  alone  survived  from  the  old  National  party. 
He  was  therefore  thrown  overboard  after  the  electoral 
campaign  had  already  begun,  and  his  place  was  filled  by  Baron 
Paul  Ranch,  son  of  the  Ban  who  had  guided  the  Compromise 
of  1868  through  the  Croatian  Sabor  (January  6,  igo8).  From 
the  very  first  Baron  Ranch  attempted  to  rule  the  country  with 
a  rod  of  iron,  but  during  his  two  years  of  office  anarchy  and 
absolutism  went  hand  in  hand,  and  each  fresh  act  of  the  Ban 
merely  served  to  increase  the  detestation  in  which  he  and  his 
taskmasters  at  Budapest  were  held.  In  the  first  place  he  failed 
to  realize  that  the  days  of  Count  Khuen  were  over,  and  that 
no  human  power  can  force  a  grown  man  into  the  strait  jacket 
which  was  made  to  fit  a  child.^^^  Besides,  what  was  equally 
important,  he  was  as  incapable  and  unbalanced  as  Count 
Khuen  Hedervary  had  been  adroit  and  masterly.  Hitherto 
his  name  had  been  associated  with  two  clumsy  onslaughts 
upon  Count  Khuen,  conceived  with  the  transparent  object 
of  superseding  him  as  Ban,  but  ending  in  his  complete 
discomfiture. 234     It  is  only  fair   to  the  Hungarian  Premier, 

^^^  See  e.g.  his  speech  on  November  9,  1907. 

*33  A  high  Bosnian  ofi&cial  (one  who  is  anything  but  anti-Magyar) 
in  conversation  with  a  friend  of  mine,  once  characterized  the  Khuen 
regime  in  Croatia  as  a  "  strait  jacket,"  from  which  the  prisoner  was 
released  under  his  successor,  and  added  that  no  power  on  earth,  not 
even  Khuen  himself,  could  ever  succeed  in  forcing  the  victim's  body 
into  it  once  more. 

234  In  1892  he  had  compared  Khuen  to  Tanlongo.the  Director  of  the 
Banca  Romana,  but  withdrew  and  apologized.     His  second  attack  was 

155 


THE   RESOLUTION   OF  FIUME 

Dr.  Wekerle,  to  add  that  he  was  from  the  first  sceptical 
as  to  Ranch's  fitness  for  the  post,  but  that  the  latter  en- 
joyed the  support  of  high  clerical  and  military  circles  to 
whom  Dr.  Wekerle  thought  it  expedient  to  defer.  Within  a 
few  days  of  his  appointment,  even  before  he  had  arrived  in 
Agram,  Baron  Ranch  contrived  to  alienate  the  only  political 
group  upon  whose  open  support  he  could  count,  by  a  reference, 
all  the  more  offensive  because  of  its  truth,  to  "  exhuming  the 
mummies  of  the  National  party."  235 

Baron  Ranch's  arrival  at  Agram  (January  15)  was  made  the 
occasion  of  hostile  demonstrations  from  a  large  crowd,  and  he  was 
greeted  with  a  shower  of  rotten  eggs  in  the  streets  on  his  way 
to  the  Banal  Palace.  He  was  not  slow  to  revenge  himself  by 
publicly  insinuating  that  the  Coalition  was  guilty  of  "  anti- 
dynastic  and  treasonable "  tendencies ;  and  when  Father 
Zagorac  as  publicly  demanded  the  proofs  of  his  assertion,  23« 
he  remained  silent. 

Meanwhile  every  effort  was  made  by  Ranch's  Government 
to  influence  the  course  of  the  elections.  The  voting  registers 
were  tampered  with ;  pressure  was  brought  to  bear  upon  the 
officials  ;  troops  were  called  in  ostensibly  to  preserve  order 
but  in  reality  to  hamper  the  Opposition  in  its  exercise  of  the 
franchise.  The  officials  were  reminded  from  headquarters 
that  an  old  decree  from  the  Absolutist  regime  of  Alexander 
Bach  (1855)  enjoining  upon  the  officials  political  subservience 
was  still  in  force,  and  that  the  law  of  1907  dealing  with  elec- 
toral purity  did  not  entitle  officials  to  vote  for  Opposition  candi- 
dates !  Yet,  little  as  electoral  freedom  was  respected,  Ranch's 
action  ended  in  a  complete  fiasco.  The  Elections  of  February 
28  resulted  in  a  decisive  victory  of  the  Croato-Serb  Coalition, 
which  secured  fifty-seven  2^'  out  of  eighty-eight  seats,  while 
twenty-four  fell  to  the  Party  of  Pure  Right  under  Dr.  Frank. 
For  the  first  time  the  Croatian  officials  defied  the  pressure 
of  the  Government,  and  at  the  last  moment  the  Unionist  Ban 
was  reduced  to  issue  an  order  to  the  officials  to  vote  for  candi- 

on  the  occasion  of  a  difference  between  Khuen  and  Banffy  (then  Hun- 
garian Premier). 

235  Vaterland,  January  10,  1908,  cit.  Montbel,  La  Condition  Politique 
de  la  Croatie,  p.  271. 

236  In  an  open  letter  to  the  Hrvatska  of  January  21. 

23^  Divided  as  follows  :  Croatian  Party  of  Right,  26  ;  Autonomist 
Club  (under  Count  Pejacevic),  8  ;  Serb  Independent  Party,  19  ;  Pro- 
gressive Party,  4.  There  were  also  2  Peasants  Party,  2  Serb  Radicals, 
and  2  Non-party. 

156 


AN   ELECTORAL   FIASCO 

dates  of  the  Starcevic  party  against  Coalition  candidates, 
in  other  words,  to  support  the  party  whose  programme  denies 
the  legality  of  the  connexion  with  Hungary  which  it  was  the 
Ban's  duty  to  uphold  and  defend.  Not  merely  did  all  three 
sectional  chiefs  lose  their  seats,  but  Baron  Rauch  failed  to 
secure  the  election  of  a  single  adherent  ! 

Such  an  electoral  result  would  be  highly  remarkable  in 
any  country  in  Europe  ;  but,  when  it  is  remembered  that 
Croatia  possessed  the  narrowest  franchise  in  Europe — not 
excepting  even  that  of  Hungary  itself  ^^ — the  issue  of 
these  elections  may  fairly  be  described  as  unique.  Inci- 
dentally they  afforded  a  striking  proof  of  the  new  Ban's 
incapacity.  It  must  have  been  obvious  to  the  Hungarian 
Cabinet  that  a  Khuen  Hedervary  would  have  produced  a 
very  different  result  ;  and  the  fact  that  they  retained  Baron 
Rauch  in  office  and  that  Dr.  Wekerle  exerted  himself  in  his 
defence,  goes  some  way  towards  proving  that  no  great  anxiety 
prevailed  at  Budapest  to  restore  harmony  between  the  two 
countries,  and  that  a  state  of  absolutism  in  Croatia  would  be 
by  no  means  unwelcome.  As  will  become  abundantly  clear 
at  a  later  stage  of  the  narrative,  absolutism  upon  the  southern 
frontier  of  the  monarchy  formed  an  essential  part  of  the  schemes 
which  were  already  ripening  to  completion,  and  in  which  the 
leading  parts  were  assigned  to  Baron^^^  Aehrenthal,  Dr.  Wekerle 
and  Baron  Rauch.  The  motives  of  the  Hungarian  Government 
itself  were  threefold  ;  firstly,  the  boundless  racial  fanaticism 
of  its  followers,  which  it  felt  equally  unable  and  disinclined 
to  check  ;  secondly,  the  hope  that  compliance  with  the  views 
of  Vienna  might  be  rewarded  by  permission  to  evade  its  pledges 
of  electoral  reform  ;  and  thirdly,  the  desire  to  deprive  the  Croats 
of  all  possibility  of  intervening  in  the  negotiations  for  a  renewal 
of  the  Austro-Hungarian  Commercial  Ausgleich  and  thus  to 
escape  from  the  necessity  of  consulting  Croatian  as  well  as 
purely  Hungarian  economic  interests,  ^^^a  it  is  notorious  that 
the  fulfilment  of  the  Kossuthist  ideal — namely,  the  erection  of 
a  Customs-union  against  Austria  and  of  an  independent  Hun- 
garian Bank — would  have  seriously  endangered  Croatian 
interests  ;  and  the  stalwarts  of  the  Independent  Party  felt 
that  as  a  rupture  on  this  point  was  sooner  or  later  inevitable, 

23*  See  my  Corruption  and  Reform  in  Hungary  for  a  full  account  of 
the  Hungarian  Franchise. 

*3»  Became  Count  in  1909.  ^'sa  See  pp.  69-70. 

157 


THE   RESOLUTION   OF  FIUME 

it  would  be  better  to  pick  a  quarrel  at  the  time  most  con- 
venient to  themselves. 

Dr.  Joseph  Frank  in  an  interview  with  the  Hungarian 
Premier,  which  earned  him  much  unmerited  abuse  in  Croatia, 
assured  that  astute  statesman  that  twenty  years  of  absolutism 
under  a  Royal  Commissioner  would  be  required  in  order  to 
render  possible  the  formation  of  a  new  Magyarone  party  in 
Croatia.^^"  The  subsequent  course  of  events  has  borne  out 
this  opinion,  and  in  the  spring  of  1911  a  Magyarone  majority 
in  the  Sabor  seems  as  far  off  as  ever. 

The  new  Diet  was  opened  on  March  12.  Mr.  Barcic  ^^^  as 
"  Father  of  the  House,"  occupied  the  President's  chair,  and  in 
a  fiery  speech  urged  the  Diet  "  to  stand  firm  like  one  man 
against  the  oppressors  beyond  the  Drave  "  (i.e.  the  Magyars). 
"  In  this  difficult  moment,"  he  added,  "  we  must  be  united, 
and  must  act  as  the  Italians  when  they  were  struggling  for 
unity  and  chose  as  their  motto  '  Fuori  gli  Stranieri.'  .  .  . 
The  Government,  which  has  suffered  such  an  electoral  defeat, 
will  not  resign,  despite  the  will  of  the  people.  Hence  we  must 
call  out  to  the  Ban,  this  lackey  of  the  Magyars,  '  Down  with  the 
unworthy  one  !  Resign  ! '  "  The  Star ce vie  party  provoked  the 
most  scandalous  uproar  in  the  House,  one  of  its  most  notorious 
members,  a  certain  Mr.  Elegovic,  howling  down  the  Serb  mem- 
bers as  "Wallach  pigs,"  ^^^  and  all  vieing  with  each  other  in  their 
abuse  of  the  Magyars  and  the  Compromise.  So  hostile  a  recep- 
tion boded  ill  for  Baron  Rauch's  Parliamentary  prospects, 
and  on  March  14,  the  Sabor  was  prorogued  indefinitely, 
before    it    had  even  had    time  for  the  formal  preliminaries 

2*"  See  Dr.  Frank's  own  version  of  the  interview,  in  Pester  Lloyd, 
March  i,  igo8. 

241  A  veteran  Garibaldian,  the  life-long  champion  of  Flume's  reunion 
with  Croatia,  and  now  a  member  of  the  Croato-Serb  Coalition  and  an 
enthusiast  for  Croato-Serb  unity. 

2*2  The  terms  of  abuse  employed  by  this  individual  in  the  Croatian 
Sabor  during  the  years  1906-8  are  probably  a  parliamentary  record  in 
Europe  (see  e.g.  his  abuse  of  the  Ban  himself  in  the  Sabor  on  19  March, 
19 10)  ;  but  even  they  were  eclipsed  by  a  disgusting  encounter  be- 
tween him  and  Mr.  Stephen  Radic,  the  leader  of  the  Peasants'  Party,  in 
April,  1910.  It  would  be  unpardonable  on  my  part  to  reproduce  the 
scene.  I  must  refer  the  reader  to  the  Croatian  press  (e.g.  Agramer 
Taghlatt  of  that  date).  I  was  in  Dalmatia  at  the  time,  and  I  cannot  do 
better  than  quote  the  terse  comment  of  one  of  my  Dalmatian  friends, 
a  prominent  Deputy.  He  simply  quoted  the  well-known  Austrian 
proverb,  "  The  Orient  begins  at  Bruck  on  the  Leitha  "  (the  frontier 
station  between  Austria  and  Hungary). 

158 


ABSOLUTISM   IN  CROATIA 

of  the  session  or  for  the  election  of  delegates  to  the  joint 
Parliament.  The  Royal  Rescript  of  prorogation  was  dated 
March  3,  and  it  was  thus  apparent  that  the  Hungarian 
authorities  had  had  no  intention  of  giving  the  new  Diet  a 
fair  trial,  even  if  it  should  have  shown  itself  less  refractory 
than  it  actually  did.  It  is  possible  that  Baron  Ranch  enter- 
tained the  idea  of  an  immediate  fresh  appeal  to  the  country, 
but  after  so  decisive  a  result  this  would  have  reduced  the 
representative  principle  to  a  mere  farce,  and  was  speedily 
abandoned,  if  it  was  ever  entertained. 

Baron  Ranch  now  threw  off  all  pretence  of  constitutional 
government,  and  for  the  next  two  years  absolutism  prevailed 
in  Croatia.  Less  than  three  years  had  elapsed  since  the  Hun- 
garian Coalition — then  still  in  opposition — was  filling  Europe 
with  its  passionate  appeals  against  the  alleged  attempt  of 
Austria  to  introduce  absolutism  into  Hungary.  And  yet  this 
same  Coalition,  after  sacrificing  to  its  thirst  for  office  the  most 
vital  points  of  its  political  programme,  now  proceeded  to  en- 
force against  the  sister-nation  of  Croatia  an  absolutism  of  the 
most  stringent  and  oppressive  nature.  Seldom  has  the  irony 
of  history  been  so  strikingly  illustrated.^'*^ 

An  active  campaign  of  denunciation  and  slander  was  now 
opened  by  the  press  organs  of  the  Government  ^^^  against  the 
Croato-Serb  Coalition,  and  the  Starcevic  party,  in  its  blind 
hatred  of  the  Serbs,  was  shortsighted  enough  to  swell  the  chorus. 
The  Coalition  press,  when  it  replied  to  these  attacks,  was  re- 
peatedly confiscated.  Even  the  manifesto  to  the  nation,  which 
the  Coalition  members  issued  on  March  20,  was  subjected  to 
the  same  treatment.  A  month  later  the  eighteen  members  of 
the  Serb  Independent  Party  issued  an  open  letter  to  the  Ban, 
summoning  him  to  substantiate  the  charges  of  treasonable  and 
anti-dynastic  tendencies,  which  he  and  his  press  had  brought 
against  them.^*^     They  ascribed  his  slanders  to  the  desire  to 

**'  See  my  Absolutismus  in  Kroatien  (p.  i)  which  had  the  honour  of 
being  confiscated  by  Baron  Rauch's  Government  in  October,  1909. 

^**  Narodne  N ovine  (The  Official  Gazette),  Agramer Zeitung  (for  foreign 
consumption),  and  a  scurrilous  sheet  called  Ustavnost  which  ceased 
publication  within  a  week  of  Rauch's  fall. 

^**  His  first  charge  appeared  in  an  interview  in  ^  ^  Ujsdg  (of  Budapest) 
on  January  18,  and  it  was  repeated  in  Neue  Freie  Presse  of  19th  and  the 
Narodne  Novine  of  January  22.  After  the  elections  he  informed  a  re- 
porter of  the  Viennese  Zeit  that  the  threads  of  the  Coalition  extended 
not  only  to  Bosnia  but  also  to  Servia.  Soon  after  he  informed  the 
Hungarian  Cabinet  of  the  dangers  of  the  Croatian  situation,  owing  to 

159 


THE   RESOLUTION   OF  FIUME 

break  up  the  Coalition  by  ruining  the  Serb  party  and  so  to 
retain  his  hold  upon  the  office  of  Ban.^*^  They  then  pledged 
themselves  that  if  he  would  convoke  the  Sabor,  they  would 
themselves  demand  of  it  the  suspension  of  their  immunity, 
in  order  that  their  case  might  be  tried  before  the  public  courts, 
and  concluded  by  declaring  that,  if  the  Ban  refused  compliance 
with  their  just  demand,  they  would  be  entitled  to  assume  that 
he  had  "  from  his  lofty  position  consciously  and  maliciously 
lied,  slandered  and  denounced,"  To  this  fiery  document  Baron 
Ranch  replied  by  a  brief  statement,  repeating  his  former 
insinuations  and  declining  to  adduce  any  proofs  ^'^'^ ;  whereupon 
the  Independent  Serbs  issued  a  further  declaration  treating 
their  assumption  as  conclusively  proved.  Baron  Ranch's 
statement  acquired  added  significance  from  the  fact  that  it 
was  issued  immediately  after  his  audience  with  Dr.  Wekerle 
and  Baron  Aehrenthal  in  Budapest,  and  that  the  press  was 
allowed  to  assume  without  contradiction  that  he  was  acting 
with  the  full  approval  of  those  two  statesmen.^^^  Professor 
Manojlovic  as  a  member  of  the  Serb  Independent  party,  had 
of  course  signed  its  manifestoes  along  with  all  his  colleagues  ; 
and  Baron  Ranch  now  revenged  himself  by  placing  him  upon 
the  retired  list,  a  step  which  roused  intense  feeling  in  academic 
circles.  Professor  Surmin,  of  the  Progressive  party,  had 
already  been  deprived  of  his  chair,  because  he  had  watched  a 
student  demonstration  against  the  Ban  at  the  railway  station 
of  Agram,  without  making  any  attempt  to  intervene.  Thus 
in  the  one  case  Baron  Ranch  took  political  vengeance  for  an 

Pan-Serb  propaganda  ;  these  remarks  were  published  in  the  press  and 
were  met  by  no  dementi.  {See  Manifesto  of  Serb  Independent  Party 
in  Die  Ritterliche  Affaire  des  Baron  Paul  Ranch,  pp.  7-10.) 

246  "You  are  deliberately  and  systematically  working  to  represent  us 
as  dangerous  and  revolutionary  elements  and  you  are  doing  this  in 
order  to  convince  the  decisive  factors  of  the  necessity  for  your  remain- 
ing in  the  post  of  Ban,  and  of  the  danger  which  your  removal  might 
cause  to  the  Dynasty  and  the  Monarchy  "  (op.  cit.  p.  9). 

2*'  "  As  the  Independent  Serb  Party  has  seen  fit  to  transfer  a  purely 
political  matter  to  personal  ground,  I  hereby  declare  that  I  will  not 
follow  it  there,  the  more  so  as  it  did  not  find  it  advisable  to  disprove  its 
tendencies,  which  were  already  sufficiently  evident.  On  the  contrary, 
the  Independent  Serb  party  and  its  chief  organ  Srbohran  prove  by  their 
sympathies  for  the  Pan-Serb  dreams,  which  have  publicist  representa- 
tives outside  the  bounds  of  the  monarchy,  that  they  indulge  in  these 
dreams  with  pleasure.  My  remarks  referred  to  this  behaviour,  and  I 
will  not  enter  upon  further  polemics.  April  11,  1908.  Baron  Paul 
Ranch."     (See  op.  cit.  p.   11.) 

2*8  See  e.g.  Neue  Freie  Presse,  April  11,  1908  (Abendblatt). 

160 


AN  OFFICIAL  CAMPAIGN 

attitude  which  from  a  drawing-room  point  of  view  may  not 
have  been  above  criticism,  but  which  certainly  offended  against 
no  known  law  ;  in  the  other  case,  out  of  even  more  petty  feel- 
ings of  revenge,  he  punished  a  single  individual  for  the  sins  of 
eighteen  and  sheltered  his  personal  honour  behind  the  armour 
of  his  official  position.  The  University  of  Agram  rightly  re- 
garded Ranch's  actions  as  an  infringement  of  its  autonomy, 
and  as  a  result  of  the  ensuing  agitation,  the  great  majority  of 
students  withdrew  from  Agram  and  spent  the  summer  semester 
at  Vienna,  Prague  or  Graz. 

From  the  moment  of  Baron  Ranch's  arrival  in  Agram,  Dr. 
Joseph  Frank,  the  leader  of  the  Party  of  Pure  Right  and  his 
organ  Hrvatsko  Pravo,  had  entered  with  great  vigour  into  the 
campaign  against  the  Croato-Serb  Coalition,  and  had  rivalled 
even  the  official  press  in  the  charges  of  disloyalty  and  intrigue. 
Dr.  Frank's  tactics  did  much  to  accentuate  still  further  the 
extreme  bitterness  of  party  feeling  in  Croatia,  and  the  utterly 
reckless  personalities  exchanged  between  the  parties  had  a 
demoralizing  effect  upon  public  life.  The  attitude  adopted  by 
Dr.  Frank,  so  inconsistent  with  his  programme  of  uncompromis- 
ing opposition  to  the  Compromise  and  to  Hungary,  at  this  stage 
aroused  suspicions  among  his  own  followers  and  (personal  differ- 
ences as  usual  supervening)  led  to  an  open  secession  from  the 
party  (April  23, 1908).'*^  The  leader  of  the  Dissidents,  as  they 
came  to  be  called,  was  Dr.  Mile  Starcevic,  a  man  who  atones 
for  lack  of  ability  by  his  transparent  honesty  of  purpose,  and 
whose  most  valuable  asset  is  the  name  inherited  from  his 
famous  uncle. 

Throughout  the  spring  and  summer  of  igo8  an  elaborate 
campaign  was  waged  by  the  official  press  of  Agram,  Buda- 
pest and  Vienna  against  the  Croato-Serb  Coalition,  and  its 
"  treasonable  designs."  A  number  of  articles  began  to 
appear  as  early  as  April  in  the  Pester  Lloyd,  the  regular 
receptacle  of  statements  intended  by  the  Viennese  Foreign 
Office    for  the    consumption   of    the    foreign   public. ^^"^    The 

*"  Only  four  deputies  seceded,  but  they  were  joined  later  on  by  others, 
until  the  two  sections  were  roughly  in  the  proportion  of  five  to  two. 

2'°  It  may  be  worth  while  to  quote  at  length  from  one  of  the  earliest 
and  most  significant  of  these  inspired  press  onslaughts.  Readers  of  my 
later  chapters  will  find  a  great  deal  between  the  lines.  "  In  Agram 
especially  the  Serb  danger  has  become  serious,  for  .  .  .  the  Serbo-Croat 
Coalition  to-day  no  longer  makes  a  Croat  policy,  but  is  completely 
under  the  spell  of  the  irreconcilable  Pan-Serb  Radicalism,  which  seeks 

S.S.Q.  161  M 


THE   RESOLUTION   OF   FIUME 

Serb  danger  in  Croatia  is  gravely  discussed  by  those  who 
have  for  the  past  decades  favoured  the  Serbs  at  the  expense  of 
the  Croats.  The  Coahtion  is  accused  of  intimate  connexions 
with  the  Servian  Government.  The  situation  of  Bosnia  is 
depicted  in  the  gloomiest  colours  ;  the  old  paeans  in  praise  of 
Austrian  administrative  success  give  place  to  accounts  of 
sedition,  unrest,  and  Pan-Serb  propaganda.  Perhaps  the  most 
significant  feature  of  all  these  articles  is  the  author's  intimate 
knowledge  of  facts — ^perhaps  "  surmises  "  and  assertions  would 
be  more  accurate — ^which  could  only  be  elicited  through  secret 
service  methods.  The  movements  of  Servian  Government 
spies  in  Dalmatia  and  Bosnia,  their  relations  with  the  Serb  press 
in  Sarajevo,  the  intrigues  of  Belgrad  agents  among  the  Serb 
troops  of  the  Monarchy  ;  the  "  huge  sums  "  paid  by  Servia  to 
English  and  French  publicists,  the  reception  accorded  by  King 
Peter  to  Bosnian  deputations — all  these  details,  and  many 
more,  are  faithfully  recorded  now  by  [journals  of  the  first  rank, 
now  by  less  reputable  organs  of  opinion,  as  occasion  served. 
Most  sensational  of  all  was  the  so-called  "  Coronation  pro- 
gramme," revealed  by  the  Pester  Lloyd  on  April  28,  and  con- 
taining the  plan  of  action  which,  it  was  alleged.  Dr.  Pasid, 
the  Servian  Premier,  had  laid  before  King  Peter  in  March, 
1904,  and  which  had  formed  the  basis  of  Servian  policy  ever 
since.  Needless  to  say  no  indication  was  given  of  the  manner 
in  which  access  had  been  gained  to  so  highly  confidential 
a  document ;  and  we  shall  not  go  far  wrong  in  ascribing  it 
to  the  same  troubled  source  as  the  "  documents  "  upon  which 
Baron  Aehrenthal  relied  to  justify  his  annexation  policy.  This 
remarkable  programme  contained  the  following  eight  points, 

to  have  as  little  to  do  with  Budapest  as  with  Vienna,  and  sees  its  aim 
and  desire  in  a  great  Southern  Slav  State,  governed  from  Belgrade, 
If  none  the  less  various  politicians  of  the  Serbo-Croat  Coalition  have 
recently  wooed  the  help  of  Vienna,  this  was  solely  to  mobilise  the 
Viennese  Court  against  Budapest,  but,  by  no  means  out  of  love  for 
Austria  or  the  Dynasty.  The  overtures  of  the  Coalition,  which  were 
at  once  seen  through,  .  .  .  were  without  effect,  for  in  Vienna  one  has 
and  can  have  no  interest  in  the  establishment  at  Agram,  merely  out  of 
hatred  for  Hungary,  of  a  regime  in  which  Pan-Serbism  plays  first  fiddle, 
and  which  would  finally  turn  against  Austria  and  the  Djmasty  as  much 
as  against  Hungary.  The  net  which  the  Pan-Serb  Propaganda  seeks 
to  spread  over  the  whole  south  and  south-east  of  Austria-Hungary  must 
at  last  be  rent  asunder,  and  the  Pan-Serb  hydra's  head  must  be  hewn  oflE. 
That  can  certainly  only  be  achieved,  if  in  Agram  and  Budapest,  in 
Sarajevo  and  Vienna  a  common  plan  is  adopted  against  the  common 
foe."     Pester  Lloyd,  April  18,  1908. 

162 


THE  PAN-SERB   IDEA 

(i)  Alliance  of  Servia  with  Montenegro  and  a  joint  foreign 
policy  ;  (2)  an  agreement  with  Bulgaria  regarding  the  Mace- 
donian reforms  ;  (3)  furtherance  of  the  Coalition  idea  in  Croatia, 
and  encouragement  of  the  Hungarian  Party  of  Independence 
in  its  struggle  with  the  Crown  ;  (4)  economic  emancipation 
from  Austro-Hungarian  markets ;  (5)  revolutionary  agita- 
tion in  Bosnia,  and  publicist  propaganda  in  the  West,  with 
the  object  of  discrediting  the  Austrian  administration  ;  (6) 
agreement  with  Italy  regarding  the  Adriatic  and  agitation 
for  a  free  harbour  in  Dalmatia  ;  (7)  the  formation  of  a 
"  Wandering  "  Southern  Slav  Committee  for  the  purpose  of 
intrigue  with  Serb  politicians  in  the  monarchy ;  (8)  the  Coron- 
ation of  Peter  Karageorgevitch  as  King  of  all  the  Serbs.  A 
special  department,  it  was  alleged,  had  been  formed  in  the 
Servian  Foreign  Office,  for  the  purpose  of  organizing  a  revo- 
lutionary movement  in  Bosnia  ;  and  the  fact  that  Mr.  Spalaj- 
kovi6,  the  official  in  charge  of  the  so-called  "  Macedonian  " 
department,  was  related  by  marriage  to  one  of  the  Bosnian 
Serb  leaders,  lent  colour  to  the  allegation. 

As  a  statement  combining  the  actual  motives  of  Servia's 
policy  with  other  aims  which  she  ought  to  but  did  not  follow, 
and  with  others  again  whose  truth  would  tend  to  palliate 
measures  of  repression  in  Croatia  and  Bosnia,  this  document 
must  be  pronounced  to  be  highly  plausible.  That  every 
Servian  dreams  of  a  Pan-Serb  Empire,  no  one  will  be  con- 
cerned to  deny  ;  but  no  one  who  knows  anything  of  the 
wretched  organization  of  the  kingdom  and  of  the  glaring  con- 
trast between  ambitious  ideals  and  big  talk  on  the  one  hand 
and  on  the  other  complete  failure  to  translate  words  into 
action,  will  be  disposed  to  take  the  matter  seriously.  Servia, 
weakened  by  the  feuds  of  regicides  and  •  anti-regicides, 
demoralized  by  the  events  of  1903  and  its  aftermath  of  crime 
and  intrigue,  was  utterly  incapable  of  undertaking  any  action 
which  would  seriously  menace  the  Dual  Monarchy  ;  and 
such  surplus  energy  as  was  left  over  from  internal  party 
strife,  was  devoted  not  to  Bosnia,  but  to  Macedonia  and 
Old  Servia,  where  the  Servian  element  has  for  the  last  ten 
years  been  steadily  receding  before  Bulgar  and  Albanian 
aggression.  The  support  of  Servian  bands  in  Turkey  was 
a  sufficiently  severe  strain  upon  Belgrade,  without  its  indulging 
in  wild  and  unpromising  adventures  west  of  the  Drina.  That 
the  new  movement  for  Croato-Serb  unity  in  Croatia  was  wel- 
comed in  Belgrad  may  be  taken  for  granted,  and  it  is  equally 

163 


THE  RESOLUTION   OF  FIUME 

certain  that  Servian  exaltados  believed  that  the  work  of  the 
CoaHtion  would  redound  to  Servia's  advantage — a  belief 
due  partially  to  their  ignorance  of  their  kinsmen  across  the 
frontier,  and  partially  to  a  better  founded  perception  of  the 
shortsightedness  and  credulity  of  Vienna.  But  only  this  latter 
quality  ought  to  have  deluded  Austrian  public  opinion  into 
regarding  Serbo-Croat  national  feeling  as  in  any  way  different 
from  similar  manifestations  among  the  Germans  or  Italians 
of  the  Monarchy.  The  movement  in  Croatia  for  national 
unity  was  a  natural  development  which  any  student  of  historic 
evolution  might  have  foreseen.  It  was  entirely  independent 
of  similar  movements  across  the  frontier  ;  and  a  statesman 
of  real  genius  would  have  understood  how  to  use  the  movement 
as  a  powerful  instrument  in  furthering  Austrian  influence 
throughout  the  Balkans,  instead  of  stupidly  alienating  the 
race  upon  whose  good-will  the  ultimate  success  of  a  forward 
policy  must  depend. 

Meanwhile  Ranch  wreaked  his  vengeance  on  the  officials 
who  had  voted  for  the  Coalition  ;  many  were  suspended  or 
transferred,  some  even  sent  to  posts  in  Magyar  districts  of 
Hungary,  where  not  a  word  of  Croatian  was  spoken.  The 
usual  practices  of  withdrawing  licences,  or  orders,  and  inflicting 
vexatious  fines  were  employed  by  the  authorities.  In  Bosnia 
the  Serb  press  was  treated  with  extreme  severity  ;  and  virtu- 
ally the  entire  staff  of  Srpski  Rijec  was  sentenced  to  lengthy 
terms  of  imprisonment  on  charges  of  sedition. 

The  persistence  of  the  campaign  made  it  obvious  that  some 
important  political  design  was  on  foot,  but  during  the  summer 
of  1908  suspicion  was  not  yet  centred  upon  the  mainspring 
of  the  action.  The  determination  of  the  Magyars  to  restore 
discord  between  Croat  and  Serb  and  so  to  reduce  Croatia  once 
more  to  submission  seemed  at  first  to  be  a  sufficient  explana- 
tion ;  and  hardly  any  one  realized  that  a  carefully  prepared 
campaign  was  on  foot  for  the  annexation  of  Bosnia  and 
Herzegovina,  and  that  the  Viennese  authorities  were  in  search 
of  such  facts  and  material  as  would  render  the  plea  of  absolute 
necessity  convincing  in  the  eyes  of  Europe.  In  his  designs 
Baron  Aehrenthal  found  a  ready  accomplice  in  the  Budapest 
Government,  which  was  determined  to  crush  the  Croats  at 
all  costs.  The  Magyar  leaders  hoped,  by  a  complaisant  attitude 
towards  the  annexation,  to  purchase  from  the  Crown  a  free  hand 
in  the  matter  of  electoral  reform,  and  calculated  that  if  com- 
plications should  arise  reform  might  be  indefinitely  postponed. 

164 


TRAITOR-HUNTING 

The  ancient  claims  of  suzerainty  exercised  by  Hungary  over 
Bosnia,  also  seem  to  have  influenced  the  Coalition  Cabinet. ^^^ 

The  press  campaign  inaugurated  by  Ranch,  and  ably 
sustained  by  the  Frank  party,  increased  in  violence  as  the 
summer  began.     The  first  arrests  soon  followed. 

In  May,  1908,  Hrvatsko  Pravo,  the  organ  of  Dr.  Joseph 
Frank,  published  letters  from  Kostajnica  (a  small  town  on 
the  Bosnian  frontier) ,  which  were  intended  to  prove  the  exist- 
ence of  a  Pan-Serb  revolutionary  propaganda.  Proclama- 
tions, it  was  reported,  had  been  distributed  in  the  town  urging 
the  Croats  to  revolt  and  join  the  kingdom  of  Servia.  Sceptics 
wondered  why  a  place  from  which  Servia  is  almost  inaccessible, 
and  where  a  small  minority  of  300  Serbs  is  overawed  by  over 
1,500  enthusiastic  adherents  of  Dr.  Frank,  should  have  been 
selected  as  a  centre  of  Pan-Serb  propaganda. ^^^  None  the 
less  on  July  i  two  shoemaker's  assistants  and  an  old  woman 
of  seventy-three  were  arrested  on  a  charge  of  high  treason. 
The  Public  Prosecutor  hastened  down  from  Agram,  and  two 
further  victims  were  found,  in  a  village  schoolmaster  and  a 
clerk.  These  five  persons  remained  for  many  weeks  in  prison, 
and  were  at  last  released  when  the  absurdity  of  the  charge 
against  them  had  become  too  patent,  and  when  more  promising 
victims  had  been  obtained  elsewhere. 

On  July  9  Dusan  Mandic,  a  "  traveller  "  for  an  Agram 
friendly  society  called  Srpsko  Bratstvo  ^^^  (Serb  brotherhood) 
was  suddenly  arrested  at  Rakovica,^^*  and  handed  over  not 
to  the  local  court,  but  to  the  Mayor  of  Agram,  a  special  con- 
fident of  Rauch,  who  in  his  turn  consigned  him  to  prison. 
After  a  delay  of  nearly  three  weeks,  the  officials  who  had 
accused  him  declared  their  grounds  for  the  arrest  to  be  an 
official  secret,  and  Mandic  was  allowed  to  remain  in  prison. 
In  his  despair  he  refused  all  food,  and  after  six  days  of  this 
"  hungerstrike  "  was  sent  to  a  hospital,  where  he  was  shut 
up  for  two  days  in  a  cell  with  a  madman.  At  last  he  was 
released,  without  any  attempt  at  explanation  or  apology. 

The  Public  Prosecutor,  Mr.  Accurti,  who  had  only  recently 

251  See  Dr.  Wekerle's  speech  in  Parliament,  July  3,  1907. 

2"  In  other  words  Kostajnica  is  one  of  the  least  favourable  spots  in 
Croatia  for  Pan-Serb  propaganda,  but  one  of  the  most  favourable  for 
trumped-up  charges. 

^"  A  kind  of  Life  Assurance  Company.  Two  of  the  Serb  bishops  are 
its  members  and  the  present  Patriarch  Bogdanovic  formally  recom- 
mended it  to  the  lower  clergy. 

^**  In  the  County  of  ModruS-Fiume,  close  to  the  Bosnian  frontier. 

165 


THE   RESOLUTION  OF  FIUME 

been  appointed  over  the  heads  of  thirty-six  of  his  colleagues, 
had  meanwhile  decided  upon  his  line  of  action  ;  Mandic  and 
the  five  prisoners  from  Kostajnica  had  served  their  purpose 
as  "  blinds."  The  real  victims  were  now  to  be  selected  ; 
the  necessary  tools  were  also  forthcoming.  Baron  Ranch 
had  wished  to  proclaim  a  state  of  siege  in  Croatia  ^^^ ;  but 
Dr.  Wekerle  was  not  prepared  to  go  to  such  lengths,  and 
refused  to  allow  an  active  campaign  against  the  Serbs  until 
the  election  of  the  new  Serb  Patriarch  had  taken  place.^^^ 
This  election,  upon  the  result  of  which  the  Magyar  Govern- 
ment relied  to  detach  the  Serb  Radicals  from  the  Croato- 
Serb  Coalition,  actually  passed  off  without  incident  on  August 
I.  On  July  21,  however,  a  meeting  had  taken  place  between 
Dr.  Wekerle,  Baron  Ranch,  Mr.  Josipovic  (the  Minister  for 
Croatia)  and — Mr.  Accurti,  who  reported  upon  his  preparation 
for  the  coming  hunt  for  traitors.  The  train  was  now  laid  ; 
the  first  explosion  was  caused  by  the  notorious  pamphlet 
Finale,  published  by  George  Nastic  in  the  last  week  of  July. 
The  best  service  which  could  be  rendered  to  this  individual, 
is  to  consign  his  name  to  a  speedy  and  lasting  oblivion,  and 
it  is  not  the  wretched  puppet  himself,  but  the  wirepullers 
behind  him  that  compel  me  to  assign  to  his  pamphlets  and 
evidence  a  prominence  which  they  do  not  by  themselves  merit. 
George  Nastic  is  a  native  of  Sarajevo,  and  at  the  time  when 
he  first  acquired  notoriety,  was  a  student  at  Vienna  University, 
with  but  little  prospect  of  completing  his  studies.  It  has 
since  transpired — and  indeed  has  not  even  been  denied  by 
Nastic  himself — that  he  was  in  the  pay  of  the  Bosnian  police,^*' 

^^5  Masaryk,  DerAgramer  Hochverraisprozess,  p.  87.  Rauch's  inter- 
viewwith  Wekerle  was  on  April  25. 

2^^  The  Patriarch  is  elected  by  the  Church  Congress  at  Karlovitz, 
though  it  is  in  the  power  of  the  Hungarian  Government  to  withhold 
the  Royal  Sanction  and  order  a  new  election.  On  this  occasion,  active 
measures  against  the  Serbs  would  have  alienated  the  Serb  Radicals, 
who  were  playing  a  double  game  with  the  Government  in  order  to 
secure  the  acceptance  of  their  candidate  for  the  Patriarchate. 

^*'  E.g.,  Hron,  op.  cit.  (p.  49)  states  that  he  was  often  seen  in  the  ante- 
chamber of  the  Sectional  Chief  for  the  Interior,  in  Sarajevo,  in  com- 
pany with  a  well-known  Government  agent.  Srbobran,  the  organ  of 
the  Serb  Independent  party  in  Agram,  published  facsimiles  of  letters 
proving  this  connexion.  On  August  25,  1908,  there  appeared  in  Srbo- 
bran a  signed  statement  of  Risto  Radulovic,  editor  of  the  Serb  newspaper 
Narod  in  Mostar  (the  little  capital  of  Herzegovina),  charging  "  the  spy 
George  Nastic  "  in  the  most  explicit  terms  with  "  espionage,  theft  and 
swindle,"  on  various  occasions  (e.g.,  the  theft  of  opera  glasses  in  the 

166 


THE  SLOVENSKI  JUG 

and  acted  as  agent  provocateur  at  various  demonstrations 
in  the  Bosnian  capital.^^^  In  December,  1906,  he  was  nomi- 
nally expelled  from  Bosnia,  and  found  his  way  to  Belgrad, 
where  he  soon  ingratiated  himself  in  political  circles  by  the 
pubhcation  of  a  pamphlet  on  "  The  Jesuits  of  Bosnia."  This 
effusion,  which  is  devoted  to  an  attack  upon  Archbishop  Stadler 
of  Sarajevo  and  his  unwise  methods  of  Catholic  propaganda, 
is,  according  to  its  author,  based  upon  information  supplied 
by  a  land  agent  in  the  Archbishop's  own  service  ;  on  the 
other  hand,  Pokret,  the  organ  of  the  Croatian  Progressive 
party,  maintains  that  Nastic  did  not  write  a  word  of  it,  but 
merely  received  the  proofs  from  an  agent  of  the  Bosnian 
Government,  which  hoped  to  serve  its  own  ends  by  the  publi- 
cation of  such  a  pamphlet  in  Servia.  In  any  case  the  pamphlet 
appears  to  have  caused  some  sensation  in  Belgrad  and  secured 
Nastic  the  entree  into  the  Slovenski  Jug  {"  The  Slav  South  "), 
which,  according  to  his  own  account,  was  a  revolutionary 
club,  having  numerous  connexions  with  all  the  most  prominent 
Southern  Slav  leaders.  It  is  upon  his  alleged  experiences  in 
this  Club  that  Finale  is  based. 

One  of  its  most  prominent  members,  we  learn,  was  Captain 
Nenadovic,  a  cousin  of  King  Peter  ;  both  the  King  himself 
and  Prince  George  took  a  lively  interest  in  its  proceedings. 
A  Conference  was  held  in  Belgrad,  a  policy  of  active  terrorism 
was  approved,  arrangements  were  made  through  the  mediation 
of  the  Crown  Prince  ^^^  for  the  manufacture  of  bombs  at  the 
Servian  military  arsenal  in  Kragujevac,  and  money  was 
forthcoming  from  the  Court.  The  Club  meetings  were  attended 
by  Valerian  Pribicevic,  a  professor  of  theology  in  the  Orthodox 
Seminary  at  Karlovitz,  and  by  his  brother  Milan,  who,  though 
formerly  an  officer  of  the  Austrian  army,  had  deserted  it  for 
the  service  of  King  Peter.  These  two  had  secured  as  adherents 
of  their  designs  their  third  brother  Adam,  a  local  administra- 
tive official  at  Vrginmost  in  Croatia,  and  Bude  Budisavl- 
jevic,  a  deputy  of  the  Serb  Independent  party.  Nastic  himself 
was  deputed  to  superintend  the  bomb  making,  which  he 
describes   in   considerable   detail.     Finally   the   bombs   were 

Viennese  Burgtheater  !)  and  challenging  him  to  bring  an  action  for 
libel.  Cited  verbatim  in  Der  Hochverratsfrozess  (publication  of  the 
Defence),  p.  113.     Nastid  ignored  this. 

25S  For  calling  out  "  Long  live  King  Peter  "  in  the  streets  he  was  fined 
200  crowns,  which  were  never  paid.  While  he  was  left  unassailed  others 
who  had  joined  in  the  cry  at  his  instigation  were  put  into  prison. 

2B»  Finale,  p.   18. 

167 


THE  RESOLUTION   OF  FIUME 

packed,  brought  back  to  Belgrade  and  lodged  on  the  premises 
of  the  Slovenski  Jug.^^°  Up  to  this  stage,  the  bombs  were 
intended  for  use  upon  Austrian  soil  ;  but,  Nenadovic  now 
proposed  that  they  should  be  sent  to  Montenegro  and  justified 
the  suggestion  by  asserting  that  Prince  Nicholas  had  sold 
to  Austria-Hungary  the  Balkan  plans  of  Italy.  The  scheme 
met  with  some  opposition  from  the  members,  but  eventually 
these  very  bombs  were  discovered  in  Cetinje  !  Nastic  himself, 
disgusted  at  the  idea  of  a  plot  against  Montenegro,  returned  to 
Bosnia  in  September,  1907,  and  as  early  as  November  we  find 
him  in  Cetinje,  in  touch  with  the  Montenegrin  secret  police.^®^ 
In  the  spring  of  1908  he  appeared  as  a  witness  in  the  notorious 
High  Treason  Trial  at  Cetinje,  and  in  July  he  decided  "  out 
of  higher  humanitarian  and  patriotic  grounds  "  ^®^  to  unmask 
the  criminal  designs  of  his  former  associates.  It  is  worth 
noting  in  this  connexion  that  Nastid  admits  having  received 
over  4,000  crowns  from  Montenegro,  in  order  to  defend  him- 
self against  Press  attacks,  and  that  he  used  this  to  publish 
Finale. ^^^ 

As  proof  of  this  revolutionary  design  Nasti6  published  in 
an  Appendix  to  Finale  certain  documents  in  facsimile 
— firstly  some  postcards  written  to  Nastic  from  Brussels  by 
Ljubomir  Jovanovi<5,  one  of  the  chief  members  of  Slovenski 
Jug,  and  secondly,  as  piece  de  resistance,  a  "  provisional 
statute  of  organization  for  the  liberation  of  the  Southern 
Slavs  "  transcribed  in  the  handwriting  of  Milan  Pribicevic 
and  accepted  by  a  conference  of  Slovenski  Jug  in  December, 
1907.  According  to  Nastic  the  apparently  harmless  references 
on  these  postcards  to  a  "  library,"  to  Schiller's  Song  of  the 
Bell,  and  to  a  certain  "  degenerate  fellow  "  called  Nicholas  who 
"  seems  "  to  have  "  sealed  his  fate,"  must  be  interpreted  as 
allegorical  references,^ ^  to  a  collection  of  bombs,  to  revolution- 
ary propaganda  and  to  the  Prince  of  Montenegro. ^^^ 

260  Finale,  p.  29. 

2"  Masaryk,  p.  86.  The  Montenegrin  Premier,  Dr.  Tomanovic,  ad- 
mitted this  on  June  12,  1909,  in  an  interview  in  the  Narodni  Listy 
(Prague). 

'"  In  three  instalments  of  1,000,300  and  3,000  crowns.  See  his  evidence 
98th  day  of  Agram  Trial.  He  further  admitted  having  demanded  a 
larger  sum  later  on,  to  keep  himself  going. 

263  Finale,  p.  66. 

26*  In  reality  this  wicked  "  Nicholas  "  was  probably  Nicholas  Jovi- 
te\ii,  the  chief  of  police  in  Cetinje,  whom  Nastic  had  met  and  intrigued 
with  in  Semlin.     See  Masaryk,  op.  cit.  p.  57. 

168 


NASTIC'S   PAMPHLETS 

In  the  absence  of  all  proof,  Nastic's  bare  assertion  is  pre- 
sumably to  be  accepted  as  sufficient  guarantee  of  these  secret 
and  fantastic  meanings.  More  important,  however,  is  the 
statute,  which  subsequent  events  have  shown  to  be  really 
in  the  handwriting  of  Milan  Pribicevic.  This  long-winded 
and  ridiculous  document  aims  at  "  Southern  Slav  National 
Unity,"  to  achieve  which  a  "  Revolutionary  Organization  " 
is  to  be  founded.  Its  true  ideal  is  "  a  great  Southern  Slav 
federation  of  Republics,"  its  methods  should  be  revolutionary  ; 
but  as  "  active  terrorism,  .  .  .  the  so-called  Revolution  by 
outrages,  is,  under  our  conditions  almost  impossible  and 
fruitless,"  these  methods  resolve  themselves  into  "  a  question 
of  tactics,"  which  must  vary  according  to  the  country  and 
province.  The  sphere  of  action  is  limited  to  Servia,  Bosnia, 
Herzegovina,  Dalmatia,  Montenegro,  Croatia,  Slavonia,  Istria, 
the  Slovene  Country,  Hungary,  Old  Servia,  and  Macedonia  ; 
co-operation  with  the  Bulgarians  is  regarded  as  quite  impossible. 

An  elaborate  plan  of  revolution  is  to  be  concocted,  with 
"  political,  geographical,  topographical,  economic  and  statistical 
data  "  (!)  "  for  all  possible  eventualities."  ^^^  Agitation  is  to 
be  conducted  by  pamphlets  and  through  the  press  ;  foreign 
public  opinion  is  to  be  won  ;  connexions  are  to  be  formed 
with  "similar  organizations  abroad."  A  special  branch  is  to 
be  formed  in  America.  Propaganda  is  to  be  made  in  the 
Austro-Hungarian  Army.  Then  follows  a  kind  of  syllabus  of 
membership  and  organization  compiled  like  the  list  of  contents 
of  some  German  scientific  work  ;  everything  grouped  neatly 
under  such  headings  as  provincial,  communal,  individual 
organizations,  rights  and  duties  of  Committees,  division  of 
labour,  their  sphere  of  influence  and  relations  to  each  other. 
The  final  section  lays  down  the  tactics  to  be  observed  in  the 
various  countries.  In  Servia  "  where  freedom  and  popular 
government  prevails,"  these  are  to  consist  in  "  finding  means 
and  persons  " ;  in  Hungary,  where  "  a  revolution  is  not  possible," 
in  awakening  the  people's  consciousness  "  ;  in  Bosnia,  "  where 
the  people  has  no  rights,  and  in  Turkey,  where  it  is  in  physical 
slavery,"  in  an  extreme  democratic  struggle  against  the 
Government,  and  in  terrorist  action  ;  in  Croatia  and  in  Dal- 
matia, in  supporting  those  elements  which  are  for  Union 
and  Serbo-Croat  equality  ;  among  the  Slovenes,  in  supporting 
the  Progressives  against  Austrian  Clericalism  ;  in  Montenegro, 
in  "terrorist  action  against  the  old  regime." 

^^^  As  if  the  Slovenski  Jug  was  a  kind  of  Statistical  Office. 

169 


THE   RESOLUTION   OF   FIUME 

I  have  treated  this  fantastic  scheme  in  far  greater  detail 
than  it  deserves,  because  it  was  the  only  concrete  document 
which  was  produced  at  the  Agram  High  Treason  Trial,  and 
because  it  would  appear  to  have  contributed  materially 
towards  persuading  the  Viennese  authorities  of  the  existence 
of  a  Pan-Serb  conspiracy.  Yet  it  is  not  easy  to  understand 
how  any  serious  politician  could  take  the  "  Statute  "  of  Milan 
Pribicevic  seriously.  Its  glaringly  unpractical  nature  is 
patent  to  every  reader  :  for  it  is  obvious  that  really  dangerous 
conspirators,  so  far  from  compiling  for  their  own  guidance 
elaborate  rules  of  the  most  doctrinaire  type,  have  the  most 
wholesome  horror  of  pen  and  ink.  That  the  highest  circles 
in  Belgrad,  if  they  really  did  contemplate  the  murder  of 
Prince  Nicholas  and  a  revolution  in  Bosnia,  would  ever  have 
employed  such  a  garrulous  visionary  as  Milan  Pribicevic,  is 
ludicrously  improbable.  Certain  it  is  that  the  frequent 
successful  conspiracies  which  have  stained  the  annals  of 
modern  Servia,  were  conducted  on  very  different  lines,  or 
they  would  not  have  been  successful.  And  if  Milan  Pribicevic 
was  an  unlikely  instrument,  how  much  more  unlikely  is  it 
that  George  Nasti6  would  have  been  employed  in  any  capacity 
save  that  of  a  subordinate  spy.  Belgrade  contains,  relatively 
to  its  population,  more  secret  service  agents  than  any  European 
capital  save  St.  Petersburg  ;  and  Nastic's  antecedents  would 
have  been  sufficient  to  deter  the  Servian  Government  from 
entrusting  him  with  important  work,  even  if  it  had  not  had 
such  a  wide  and  varied  choice. 

Still  more  glaring  are  the  contradictions  in  which  Nastic 
involves  himself  in  the  course  of  his  pamphlet.  On  the  one 
hand  he  gives  his  readers  to  suppose  that  the  Slovenski 
Jug  had  important  connexions  everywhere ;  on  the  other 
he  poses  as  the  moving  spirit  of  the  conspiracy,  and  hints 
that  nothing  had  been  done  before  his  arrival  in  Belgrad  .^^' 
At  one  place  he  tells  how  the  statute  was  adopted  at  a  large 
conference  of  the  Slovenski  Jug,  headed  by  the  President ; 
at  another  he  admits  the  President  to  have  been  in  Brussels 
at  the  time.^^'  He  emphasizes  the  keen  interest  shown  by 
King  Peter  and  Prince  George  in  the  proceedings  of  the 
Slovenski  Jug  ^^^ ;  and  yet  the  statute  which  the  Club  (includ- 
ing  the    King's   alleged  kinsman  Nenadovic)  ^®^  unanimously 

^^^  Hron,  p.  51.  267  Masaryk,  p.  47.  ^es  Finale,  p.  15. 

2^*  The  relationship  was  denied  in  an  official  dementi  of  the  Servian 
Government. 

170 


THE   INFORMER  NASTiC 

adopts,  is  avowedly  anti-dynastic  and  republican .2'°  At 
one  point  he  describes  Milan  Pribicevic  as  the  author  of  the 
statute,  at  another,  he  speaks  of  its  "  authors  "  ;  in  his  evidence 
at  Agram  he  said  that  it  was  compiled  at  the  meetings  of  the 
Slovenski  Jug,  while  in  his  final  pamphlet  "  Where  is  the 
truth  ?  "  he  describes  it  as  the  work  of  the  Servian  Foreign 
Office.2'1  He  tells  us  how  he  returned  to  Bosnia  in  September, 
1907,  after  taking  a  leading  part  in  the  proceedings  of  the 
Slovenski  Jug  ;  and  apparently  expects  us  to  believe  that  the 
Bosnian  police  knev/  so  little  of  this  (according  to  his  own 
account)  dangerous  agitator  as  to  leave  him  undisturbed.^" 
Most  suspicious  of  all,  he  assures  us  that  he  is  acting  from 
the  loftiest  patriotic  motives  "^  in  the  interest  of  the  Southern 
Slav  nation,^"^  but  a  little  later  he  reveals  quite  another  motive, 
when  he  writes  that,  in  order  to  silence  the  attacks  made  upon 
him  in  connexion  with  the  Cetinje  Trial,  he  must  act  upon 
the  words,  "  An  eye,  for  an  eye,  a  tooth  for  a  tooth."  ^'^ 
Of  his  motives,  indeed,  the  less  said  the  better,  for  every 
line  of  his  pamphlets  tells  the  same  sordid  story,  and  reveals 
an  unhealthy  craving  for  notoriety,  a  weak  megalomania 
which  may  fairly  be  said  to  "  think  in  bombs."  ^'^ 

270  Pinale,  pp.  48-9. 

2"  Wo  ist  die  Wahrheit  ?  p.  14.  Masaryk,  pp.  45-6.  Nastic  in  his 
evidence  (95th  day  of  the  High  Treason  Trial)  again  affirmed  that  the 
ideas  underlying  the  statute  are  not  those  of  Pribicevic. 

^"  This  fact  is,  of  course,  one  of  the  best  proofs  of  Nastic's  connexions 
with  the  Bosnian  police.  A  stUl  more  decisive  proof  is  a  letter  addressed 
to  Nastic  from  Sarajevo  on  April  10,  1908,  by  Captain  INIichael  Vomer, 
a  member  of  the  Austrian  General  Staff,  and  showing  that  Nastic  sup- 
plied the  military  authorities  in  Bosnia  with  secret  information,  in 
return  for  money.  This  letter  was  published  by  Srbobran  and  its 
genuine  character  was  never  disputed. 

2"  Finale,  p.  7.  274  i^ij,  p_  g. 

2'^  Ibid.  p.  16.  In  his  evidence  at  the  High  Treason  Trial  (97th  day) 
he  gives  as  his  chief  motive  in  publishing  Finale,  the  desire  to  prevent 
the  bombs  being  discharged  into  Austro-Hungarian  territory. 

2'^  It  is  difficult  to  realize  how  Nastic  could  have  expected  any  sane 
reader  to  believe  the  contents  of  his  pamphlets.  For  instance,  after 
telling  us  of  his  reception  at  the  hands  of  prominent  politicians  in  Bel- 
grad,  and  of  the  keen  interest  aroused  in  him  as  a  Bosnian  political  re- 
fugee, he  asks  us  seriously  to  believe  that  he  went  to  the  little  pro\'incial 
town  of  Kragujevac,  under  the  assumed  name  of  "  Dr.  Kraus,  engineer 
from  Vienna,"  and  there  got  into  touch  with  the  chief  of  the  arsenal, 
without  the  Servian  police  having  any  notion  of  what  he  was  doing.  A 
still  more  flagrant  absurdity.  Nastic  tells  us  that  his  main  cause  of 
complaint  against  his  fellow-conspirators  was  that  they  were  sending 
bombs  against  Montenegro  instead  of  against  Austria  Hungary.     He 

171 


THE   RESOLUTION   OF  FIUME 

The  denunciations  of  Nastic  were  followed  during  the  first 
fortnight  of  August,  1908,  by  the  arrest,  on  a  charge  of  high 
treason,  of  two  of  Milan  Pribicevic's  brothers,  Adam,  an  official 
in  the  small  town  of  Vrginmost  and  Valerian,  a  Professor  in 
the  Serb  Orthodox  Theological  Seminary  in  Karlovitz.^" 
Nastic,  in  company  with  no  less  a  person  than  Mr.  Sporcic, 
the  head  of  the  Croatian  police,  went  from  Budapest,  where  his 
pamphlet  was  published,  to  Vienna  and  from  there  to  Agram.^^^ 
He  was  then  subjected  to  a  preliminary  examination,  and 
the  long  array  of  illegalities  on  the  part  of  the  authorities 
began.  According  to  his  own  avowal,  Nastic  was  not  merely 
guilty  of  high  treason,  but  was  actually  one  of  the  foremost 
conspirators  ;  in  such  cases  the  Criminal  Code  of  Croatia 
expressly  lays  down  that  no  suspect  can  either  be  put  on  oath 
or  allowed  to  remain  at  liberty  before  the  trial.^'^  Yet  Nastic 
was  not  arrested,  and  was  allowed  to  give  evidence  under 
oath  both  at  the  preliminary  inquiry  and  at  the  subsequent 
trial.  The  inference  drawn  from  this  by  many  acute  observers 
to  whom  the  above-mentioned  details  were  as  yet  inaccessible, 
was,  that  Nastic  was  a  spy  and  agent  provocateur. 

The  arrest  of  the  Pribicievic  brothers  was  the  signal  for  a 

therefore  returns  to  Bosnia  and  promptly  proceeds  to  denounce  to  the 
Austrian  police  as  "  traitors  "  those  persons  who  had  declined  to  con- 
spire against  the  Monarchy.  Hron  (op.  cit.  p.  53)  rightly  remarks  that 
this  fact  alone  would  suffice  to  prove  the  absurdity  of  the  whole  High 
Treason  trial. 

^"  The  fourth  brother  Svetozar,  is  editor  of  Srbobran  and  one  of  the 
chief  deputies  of  the  Serb  Independent  party. 

2"  See  p.  324  for  the  relations  of  Sporcic  with  Nastic  and  other  shady 
individuals.  In  Cetinje,  Nastic  had  according  to  his  own  account  {see 
94th  day  of  High  Treason  Trial)  made  the  acquaintance  of  Steinhardt, 
an  Austrian  Jewish  journalist  who  had  been  expelled  from  Servia  and 
lived  in  SemUn,  the  frontier  town  opposite  Belgrad,  as  correspondent 
of  Viennese  journals.  Not  long  after,  Steinhardt  introduced  Nastic  to 
Mr.  Leopold  Mandl,  the  editor  of  Baron  Aehrenthal's  semi-official 
organ  the  Wiener  Allegemeine  Zeitung  (author  of  Oesterreich-Ungarn 
and  Serbien,  a  well-written  apology  for  the  Aehrenthal  Policy),  who 
made  it  possible  for  him  to  publish  the  Croatian  and  Servian  editions 
of  Finale.  As  the  reader  will  realize,  we  are  now  in  very  troubled 
waters.  Nastic  maintains  that  he  placed  the  original  of  the  Statute 
for  safety  in  Steinhardt's  hands.     It  certainly  has  not  been  produced. 

^"  The  only  exception  made  is  in  favour  of  those  who  supply  secret 
information  calculated  to  frustrate  the  plot  at  a  time  when  the  authori- 
ties were  still  without  information.  As  Nastic,  so  far  from  this,  actu- 
ally published  his  information  (and  so,  it  might  be  argued,  publicly 
warned  the  conspirators  and  gave  them  time  to  efface  the  traces  of  their 
plot)  the  exemption  did  not  apply  to  his  case. 

172 


SERB   VICTIMS 

regular  campaign  against  the  Serbs  on  the  part  of  Baron  Ranch's 
Government.  By  October  i,  thirty-three  arrests  had  been  made, 
including  six  village  schoolmasters,  six  small  tradesmen,  two 
students,  a  mayor,  a  notary,  a  forester  and  two  priests,  Father 
Mili(^  and  the  Archpriest  Nicholas  Hercegovac.  Some  were 
placed  in  chains  on  their  way  to  Agram,  only  one  was  examined 
after  his  arrest,  none  were  allowed  to  communicate  with  their 
lawyers,  some  were  even  forced  to  share  cells  with  condemned 
criminals  of  the  worst  type. 

The  Government  having  dispensed  with  all  pretence  at  con- 
stitutional rule,  had  openly  reverted  to  the  old  anti-Serb  policy 
which  had  prevailed  under  Count  Khuen's  predecessors.  After 
twenty  years  of  subservience  to  Magyar  aims,  the  Serbs  had 
dared  to  unite  with  their  natural  allies,  the  Croats.  To  punish 
them  for  this  unwonted  self-assertion  and  to  restore  the  old 
enmity  between  the  two  races,  was  the  task  assigned  by  Buda- 
pest to  Baron  Ranch  and  his  creatures.  The  motives  which 
led  the  Ballplatz  to  associate  itself  with  the  anti-Serb  cam- 
paign, and  the  events  to  which  this  cynical  alliance  gave  rise 
will  be  explained  in  the  following  chapter. 


173 


CHAPTER    IX 

The  Annexation  of  Bosnia  and  the  Agram 
High   Treason  Trial 

THE  fall  of  Count  Goluchowski  in  October,  1906,  marks 
the  opening  of  a  new  era  in  Austro-Hungarian  foreign 
policy.  His  successor,  Baron  Aehrenthal,  showed  no  inclina- 
tion to  follow  in  the  old  paths  of  inaction  and  self-depreciation 
on  which  the  Ballplatz  had  walked  since  the  days  of  Andrassy. 
Ten  years  as  ambassador  in  St.  Petersburg  had  taught  him 
to  believe  in  Austria's  strength  and  mission,  and  in  that  essen- 
tial corollary,  Russia's  weakness.  While  fully  alive  to  the 
value  of  the  German  alliance,  he  understood  better  than  the 
world  at  large  the  essential  weakness  of  the  Triple  Entente 
for  purposes  of  aggression  ;  and  having  assigned  to  himself 
the  ambitious  role  of  an  Austrian  Bismarck,  he  flattered  him- 
self that  he  could  impose  his  wishes  upon  an  unwilling  and 
divided  Europe  and  deliberately  set  himself  to  evolve  an 
Eastern  policy  in  which  Germany  should  be  led  instead  of 
leading. 

After  a  year  spent  in  consolidating  his  position.  Baron 
Aehrenthal  inaugurated  the  new  forward  policy  in  January, 
1908,  by  his  scheme  for  a  railway  through  the  Sandjak  of 
Novibazar.  The  absurd  outcry  with  which  this  project  was 
greeted  in  the  European  Press  was  not  the  real  reason  for  its 
abandonment  some  months  later.  This  was  rather  caused 
by  grave  engineering  and  financial  difficulties  which  the  minis- 
ter had  strangely  overlooked  in  giving  his  project  to  the  world. 
A  further  important  factor  in  the  abandonment  was  the  new 
strategic  theory  put  forward  by  the  military  authorities,  that 
Austria's  true  line  of  advance  into  the  Balkans  lies  not  through 
the  barren  and  worthless  Sandjak,  but  along  the  valley  of 
the  Morava,  which  forms  the  backbone  of  the  kingdom  of 
Servia  and  offers  direct  access  to  Salonica  and  the  Aegean. 
For  some  years  past  this  secret  and  unavowed  theory  has 

174 


THE  TURKISH   REVOLUTION 

coloured  Austria-Hungary's  whole  attitude  towards  her  Balkan 
neighbours. 

The  Turkish  Revolution,  with  its  sequel  the  restoration 
of  the  short-lived  constitution  of  1876,  led  Baron  Aehrenthal 
to  hasten  his  pace.  The  difficulties  which  faced  the  Young 
Turkish  regime  seemed  to  offer  a  favourable  opportunity  for 
finally  legalizing  Austria-Hungary's  position  in  the  occupied 
provinces.  The  nominal  survival  of  the  Sultan's  suzerainty 
over  Bosnia  would,  it  was  argued,  inevitably  lead  to  complica- 
tions now  that  Turkey  had  shaken  off  its  long  lethargy  and 
showed  a  genuine  tendency  to  reform.  The  Bosnian  Moham- 
medans would  look  more  than  ever  towards  Stambul,  and 
might  even  claim  the  right  of  sending  deputies  to  the  Ottoman 
Parliament.  Whichever  turn  affairs  might  take,  prompt 
action  seemed  advisable.  If  the  new  regime  should  prove 
a  success,  there  was  a  real  danger  of  the  Chauvinists  of  Stambul 
reasserting  obsolete  claims  ;  and  it  would  be  well  to  forestall 
this  possibility.  If  on  the  other  hand  it  should  prove  a  failure, 
Austria-Hungary  was  but  accomplishing,  at  a  time  convenient 
to  itself,  what  was  sooner  or  later  inevitable.  Russia  was 
known  to  be  unprepared  for  war  since  her  defeat  in  the  Far 
East  :  Germany  was  at  the  worst  a  friendly  neutral ;  and 
it  was  calculated  that  the  Western  Powers,  even  if  they  opposed, 
would  not  push  their  opposition  to  extremes. 

At  the  time  of  the  Sandjak  scheme,  Baron  Aehrenthal 
appears  to  have  still  hoped  to  attain  his  ends  in  the  Near  East 
by  means  of  a  skilful  plan  of  "  compensations  all  round  "  ;  and 
there  is  good  reason  to  believe  that  the  opening  of  the  Dar- 
danelles to  Russian  warships  was  to  have  been  Russia's  share 
of  the  spoils.  Unfortunately  Russian  public  opinion  treated 
the  Sandjak  scheme  as  an  infringement  of  the  understanding 
which  had  been  concluded  between  Russia  and  Austria-Hun- 
gary at  Miirzsteg  in  1897  and  had  regulated  their  attitude  to 
Macedonia  ever  since  ;  while  the  Reval  meeting  between  King 
Edward  and  the  Czar  (June,  igo8)  was  regarded  in  Vienna 
as  a  fresh  stage  in  a  policy  of  Balkan  innovation,  inaugurated 
by  Sir  Edward  Grey's  proposals  of  Macedonian  financial 
reform. ^^^  Thus  on  both  sides  public  opinion  was  already 
nervous  and  suspicious,  when  the  international  crisis  broke 
out  in  the  autumn  of  1908. 

'^°  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  these  proposals  really  gave  an  impetus 
to  the  Young  Turk  movement,  and  thus  were  partially  responsible  for 
the  downfall  of  Hamidian  rule. 


THE  ANNEXATION   OF   BOSNIA 

It  seems  certain  that  the  annexation  of  Bosnia  and  Herze- 
govina was  already  being  contemplated  before  the  outbreak 
of  the  Turkish  revolution.  But  the  exact  method  by  which 
this  step  was  to  be  accomplished  had  not  yet  been  determined, 
when  on  October  5,  1908,  Prince  Ferdinand  of  Bulgaria  pro- 
claimed his  country's  independence  and  assumed  the  kingly 
title.  Baron  Aehrenthal's  hand  had  again  been  forced,  and 
immediate  action  was  decided  upon.  Two  days  later,  the 
annexation  of  Bosnia  was  formally  announced  in  a  manifesto 
of  the  Emperor  Francis  Joseph  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  two 
provinces. 

From  the  very  first  the  legal  aspect  of  the  question  was 
entirely  ignored,  and  the  idea  that  an  international  treaty 
could  be  binding  in  inconvenient  circumstances  does  not  appear 
to  have  occurred  to  public  opinion  in  the  Monarchy,  until  it 
was  emphasized  by  the  foreign  press.  That  the  action  of 
Austria-Hungary  and  of  Bulgaria  alike  constituted  a  clear 
violation  of  the  Treaty  of  Berlin  and  of  the  earlier  Treaty  of 
London,'^^^  is  beyond  all  dispute.  But  the  indignation  expressed 
abroad  was  quite  excessive. 

The  attitude  of  the  British  press  in  particular  was  not 
unnaturally  regarded  as  hypocritical,  in  view  of  the  position 
which  Disraeli's  Government  had  adopted  towards  the  question 
of  annexation  in  1878,  and  still  more  in  view  of  our  own  record 
in  respect  of  the  Cyprus  Convention  and  the  occupation  of 
Egypt.  The  British  Government  showed  itself  to  be  not  so 
much  hypocritical  as  doctrinaire  in  its  treatment  of  the  situa- 
tion. In  theory,  its  attitude  was  unimpeachable,  for  it  was 
based  upon  principles  of  international  law  such  as  no  amount 
of  sophistry  could  undermine.  But  in  practice  this  attitude 
was  open  to  the  gravest  objections,  since  the  annexation  was 
frankly  based  upon  the  rival  principle  of  brute  force.  Unless 
we  had  been  prepared  to  wage  war  in  defence  of  an  abstract 
theory  of  international  law,  we  should  have  done  better  to 
accept  the  new  situation  under  protest  but  without  reserve  or 
delay.  As  it  was,  our  attitude  exposed  the  Triple  Entente 
to  an  inevitable  rebuff,  and  in  the  meantime  led  Servia  to 
indulge  in  false  hopes  of  material  aid  and  thus  greatly  pro- 
longed the  crisis.     That    the    annexation    was   grossly    mis- 

2"  By  11(1871)  it  is  laid  down  that  "  no  Power  can  break  its  treaty 
engagements  or  modify  their  stipulations  except  by  friendly  agreement 
and  with  the  assent  of  the  other  contracting  parties. 

176 


OPPOSITION   IN  EUROPE 

managed  by  Baron  Aehrenthal  and  was  based  upon  forgery 
and  intrigue,  does  not  in  any  way  affect  the  fact  that  the  British 
Government  had  only  two  logical  alternatives — either  enforce- 
ment of  the  Treaty  of  Berlin  at  all  costs,  or  recognition  of  an 
act  which  Britain  had  eagerly  advocated  a  generation  earlier. 
Meanwhile,  there  can  be  no  question  that  Baron  Aehrenthal's 
action  dealt  a  fatal  blow  to  the  cause  of  public  law  among  the 
nations,  and  so  to  the  fabric  of  international  agreements  to 
whose  erection  the  reign  of  Edward  VII  had  been  devoted. 
It  was  resented  equally  by  British  Radicals,  who  saw  their 
dreams  of  international  disarmament  dispelled  for  an  indefinite 
period,  and  by  British  Conservatives,  who  wrongly  suspected 
German  influences.  But  in  many  quarters,  and  especially  in 
Russia,  the  real  motive  for  the  outcry  against  the  Annexation 
was  disappointment  and  alarm  at  the  sudden  resurrection  of 
Austria-Hungary  as  a  Great  Power,  after  many  years  of  impo- 
tence and  effacement.  Baron  Aehrenthal  and  his  methods 
are  only  too  open  to  criticism  ;  but  one  merit  cannot  be  denied 
to  him.  He  restored  the  Monarchy  to  her  place  in  the  counsels 
of  Europe,  and  finally  dispelled  the  absurd  myth  that  it  is 
a  weak  and  decadent  state,  ready  for  dismemberment  on  the 
death  of  its  present  sovereign.  Since  the  Bosnian  crisis, 
every  one  knows  that  Austria-Hungary  is  one  of  the  strongest 
powers  on  the  Continent,  and  likely  to  become  stronger,  not 
weaker,  in  the  immediate  future. 

The  disapproval,  not  to  say  hostility,  with  which  Europe 
greeted  Baron  Aehrenthal's  coup  d'etat,  could  not  be  overcome 
by  the  plea  that  Bulgaria  had  forced  his  hand.  The  less  dis- 
posed foreign  opinion  showed  itself  to  accept  the  explanations 
which  he  offered,  the  more  important  did  it  become  to  find 
proofs  of  the  urgent  necessity  of  annexation. 

Aehrenthal's  press  organs  set  themselves  with  praiseworthy 
zeal  to  denounce  and  expose  the  Pan-Serb  revolutionary  move- 
ment, which,  they  alleged,  was  spreading  from  its  headquarters 
in  Belgrad  all  over  Croatia,  Dalmatia  and  above  all  Bosnia- 
Herzegovina,  and  threatened  to  undermine  Habsburg  rule 
throughout  the  Southern  Slav  provinces.  It  was  at  this 
point  that  Baron  Aehrenthal  found  valuable  allies  in  the 
Hungarian  Coalition  Government,  and  in  its  exponent,  Baron 
Ranch,  the  Croatian  Ban.  The  complaisant  attitude  of  the 
Magyars — in  striking  contrast  to  their  keen  disapproval  in 
1878  of  the  occupation  policy — found  its  explanation  in  the 
internal    situation    of    Hungary.       Dr.     Wekerle    and    his 

S.S.Q.  177  N 


THE   ANNEXATION   OF  BOSNIA 

colleagues  hoped  to  mollify  their  sovereign  by  complete 
subservience  in  matters  of  foreign  policy,  and  thus  to  win  his 
consent  to  Count  Andrassy's  reactionary  scheme  of  plural 
voting,  which,  if  once  passed,  might  have  postponed  all  genuine 
reform  of  the  franchise  for  another  generation.  At  the  same 
time  the  Magyar  Chauvinists  had  their  eyes  upon  Bosnia, 
as  a  future  colony  of  Budapest.  To  them  the  chief  danger 
lay  in  the  new-found  harmony  of  Croat  and  Serb,  which  seemed 
to  be  the  precursor  of  that  political  unity  which,  under  the 
elusive  name  of  Trialism,  already  filled  the  dreams  of  so  many 
Southern  Slavs.  In  the  Magyar  interest,  the  Croato-Serb 
Coalition  must  be  shattered  at  all  costs.  Baron  Ranch's 
experiment  in  arbitrary  government  had  hitherto  failed  of 
the  desired  effect ;  and  it  may  be  that  so  ruse  a  statesman  as  Dr. 
Wekerle  would  have  dispensed  with  his  services,  but  for  the  in- 
trigues of  certain  high  officers  and  ecclesiastics,  whose  influence 
at  Court  was  exercised  in  his  favour.  ^^^  But  in  view  of  this 
secret  support  and  of  the  difficulty  of  finding  a  substitute,  it 
was  thought  wise  to  leave  him  at  his  post,  and  to  rely  upon 
his  lack  of  scruple  outbalancing  his  lack  of  tact.  The  most 
vulnerable  section  of  the  Croato-Serb  Coalition  was  the  Serb 
Independent  Party  :  against  it,  therefore,  Ranch  concentrated 
his  efforts,  acting  on  parallel  instructions  from  Budapest  and 
Vienna. 

The  ulterior  aims  were  different,  Budapest  seeking  to  sunder 
Croat  and  Serb  once  more,  and  so  to  reduce  Croatia  to  political 
impotence,  and  if  possible  the  Serbs  to  their  old  role  as  obedient 
"  Stimmvieh  "  for  the  Magyar  cause :  Vienna  being  desirous 
of  proving  the  existence  of  widespread  unrest  and  treasonable 
agitation,  such  as  could  only  be  effectively  checked  by  an 
energetic  foreign  policy.  But  while  the  aims  were  different, 
the  means  to  be  adopted  were  identical.  The  Serbs  must  be 
compromised  :  the  most  dangerous  leaders  of  the  Coalition 
must  be  rendered  politically  impossible  :  treasonable  pro- 
paganda on  a  large  scale  must  be  discovered,  or  if  necessary 
invented. 

We  have  seen  that  Baron  Ranch,  from  the  very  moment 
of  his  appointment  as  Ban,  publicly  accused  the  Coalition 
leaders  of  anti-dynastic  and  treasonable  dealings,  while  steadily 
declining  to  adduce  proofs  for  his  assertion.  Direct  proceed- 
ings against  them,  however,  were  impossible,  since  they  were 

'"*  Cf.  Masaryk,  op.  cit.  p.  73. 
178 


THE  AGRAM   HIGH  TREASON   TRIAL 

sheltered  by  their  parliamentary  immunity,  and  very  naturally 
declined  to  apply  for  its  suspension  so  long  as  the  Constitution 
was  suspended  and  the  Diet  prevented  from  meeting.  Even 
had  Rauch  been  disposed  to  override  their  Croatian  immunity, 
the  most  important  deputies  were  further  covered  by  their 
immunity  as  delegates  to  the  joint  Parliament  in  Budapest, 
and  its  violation  would  have  created  a  most  dangerous  pre- 
cedent, of  which  an  unconstitutional  Government  in  Hungary 
might  some  day  take  advantage  against  Magyar  extremist 
deputies.  The  leaders  being,  therefore,  for  the  moment 
beyond  his  reach,  Rauch  had  to  content  himself  with  smaller 
game. 

Even  before  October  i  twenty-four  persons  had  been  arrested 
on  a  charge  of  treason  :  on  that  date  eight  further  arrests 
were  made.  During  the  next  three  months  frequent  arrests 
and  domiciliary  visits  were  made  in  various  parts  of  Croatia, 
until  in  January,  1909,  no  fewer  than  fifty-eight  Serbs  were 
awaiting  their  trial  in  the  prison  of  Agram  ^ss — including  the 
Archpriest  of  Glina,  Nicholas  Hercegovac,  two  other  priests 
and  a  curate,  seven  school  teachers  and  two  country  doctors. 
The  remaining  prisoners  were  for  the  most  part  well-to-do 
tradesmen  or  petty  officials.  All  without  exception  were 
Serbs,  and  the  great  majority  open  adherents  of  the  Serb 
Independent  party.  The  arrests  and  the  inquisitions  which 
preceded  and  followed  them,  naturally  caused  the  greatest 
panic  throughout  the  country  ;  and  this  was  not  diminished 
by  the  treatment  meted  out  to  the  prisoners,  most  of  whom 
were  brought  in  chains  to  the  capital,  and  left  for  many  months 
untried.  Some  were  even  obliged  to  share  the  cells  of  con- 
demned criminals  ;  for  instance,  the  schoolmaster  Borojevic 
and  the  merchant  Gajic  were  confined  with  two  men  who 
were  under  sentence  of  death  for  murder  and  robbery.  Most 
of  the  prisoners  were  not  examined  and  remained  in  ignorance 
of  the  details  of  the  charge  against  them.  Finally,  in  their 
despair,  Father  Milic,  Valerian  Pribicevi6  and  several  others 
resorted  to  a  "  hungerstrike,"  not  in  the  hope  of  regaining 
their  liberty,  but  merely  in  order  to  be  confronted  with  their 
judges.2^ 

Needless  to  say,  the  whole  affair  awakened,  as  was  intended 

283  Five  were  eventually  discharged. 

^"  Father  Milic,  after  nine  days  without  food,  was  ordered  to  be 
transferred  to  the  hospital,  attempted  resistance  and  had  to  be  removed 
by  force. 

179 


THE  AGRAM   HIGH   TREASON  TRIAL 

by  its  promoters,  intense  resentment  and  indignation  in 
Belgrad,  and  fanned  to  white  heat  the  war  fever  into  which 
the  annexation  of  Bosnia  had  plunged  the  Servian  people. 
How  far  this  effect  was  calculated  beforehand  by  Baron  Aehren- 
thal  and  his  advisers,  is  a  matter  which  we  shall  have  to 
consider  later. 

At  length  on  January  15,  1909 — ^five  months  after  the  first 
arrests — the  indictment  against  the  fifty-three  Serbs  was  issued 
by  the  Public  Prosecutor,  Mr.  Accurti.^ss  This  astonishing 
document  filled  over  100  large  octavo  pages,  and  was  actually 
published  as  a  supplement  to  the  official  Croatian  Gazette, 
Narodne  Novine,  and  scattered  broadcast  in  thousands  of 
copies.  The  natural  result  of  this  manoeuvre  was  to  stereotype 
the  evidence  of  the  witnesses  and  to  lessen  immensely  the 
danger  of  conflicting  statements  for  the  prosecution.  At 
the  same  time  it  gave  rise  to  a  crop  of  blackmailing  inci- 
dents, ^^s 

The  indictment  is  an  unique  example  of  generalization, 
for  it  is  so  worded  that  if  a  specific  act  of  treason  were  proved 
against  a  single  one  of  the  prisoners,  all  the  others  would 
thereby  be  implicated  in  his  guilt .^^^  Its  main  charge  rests 
upon  the  existence  of  a  Pan-Serb  and  revolutionary  movement 
in  Croatia,  directed  from  the  Slovenski  Jug  in  Belgrad 
and  aiming  at  the  erection  of  a  Greater  Servia  at  the  expense 
of  the  Habsburg  Monarchy.  The  revolutionary  club  itself 
is  alleged  to  have  been  under  the  direct  patronage  of  King 
Peter  and  Prince  George.  Only  five  of  the  prisoners  are 
accused  of  direct  relations  with  Belgrad  :  ten  others  are  charged 
with  being  accomplices,  while  the  remaining  thirty-five  are 
only  indirectly  implicated. 

The  sole  documentary  proofs  brought  forward  were  the 
revolutionary  statute  and  letters  published  by  Nasti6  in  his 
Finale  ;    and  even  these  were  not  submitted  in  the  original. 

^^^  It  is  pleasant  to  be  able  to  record  a  detail  which  reveals  Dr.  Wekerle, 
the  Hungarian  Premier,  in  a  pleasant  light.  The  defending  counsel 
appealed  to  him,  and  it  was  as  a  result  of  his  personal  intervention 
that  the  opening  of  the  trial  was  not  still  further  delayed.  I  give 
this  fact  on  the  authority  of  Dr.  Popovic,  the  Serb  deputy,  and  one 
of  the  ablest  of  the  prisoners'  counsel. 

288  Srbobran  of  January  22,  1909,  published  two  such  letters  in  fac- 
simile. The  paper  was  promptly  confiscated  by  the  Public  Prose- 
cutor ! 

'*'  See  pp.  4-5  of  the  printed  indictment,  translated  on  pp.  31-32 
of  my  Absolutismus  in  Kroatien  (Vienna,   1909). 

180 


TREASONABLE  "SYMPTOMS" 

Nastic,  the  informer,  who  himself  admitted  only  knowing 
three  of  the  prisoners,  was  the  only  witness  cited  to  prove  a 
connexion  with  Belgrad.  The  rest  of  the  evidence  relied 
upon  consisted  of  "  phenomena  "  ^^^  of  a  general  kind.  The 
indictment  openly  expounds  the  ideas  of  Dr.  Frank  and  the 
Party  of  Pure  Right.  Just  as  the  Magyars  argue  that  in 
Hungary  there  is  but  one  nation,  the  Magyar,  and  regard 
every  reference  to  a  Slovak  or  Roumanian  nation  in  Hungary 
as  disloyalty  to  the  State,  so  Dr.  Frank  builds  all  his  theories 
upon  the  premiss  that  every  citizen  of  Croatia  can  only  be  a 
Croat  and  that  there  can  be  no  such  thing  as  a  Serb  nation  in 
Croatia,  The  Public  Prosecutor  made  this  line  of  argument 
his  own,  and  hence  throughout  the  document  the  "  Serbs  " 
are  referred  to  in  inverted  commas  !  It  treats  as  suspicious 
and  "  symptomatic  "  the  fact  that  the  "  Serbs  "  of  Croatia 
describe  their  Church  as  "  Serb  Orthodox  "  and  not  "  Greek 
Oriental  "  ^ss ;  yet  their  Metropolitan's  official  title  is  "  Serb 
Patriarch."  It  treats  as  symptomatic  the  use  of  theCyrilline 
alphabet ;  yet  a  law  of  1887,  passed  under  Count  Khuen 
Hedervary,  allows  its  official  use  in  every  commune  where 
there  is  a  Serb  majority,  and  in  that  case  makes  it  an  obligatory 
subject  in  the  school.  It  treats  as  symptomatic  the  use  of 
Serb  national  songs  ;  yet  these  songs,  most  of  which  celebrate 
the  great  Serb  emperor  Stephen  Dusan  and  the  fall  of  Serb 
independence  on  the  fatal  field  of  Kossovo  in  1389,  have  been 
sung  and  cherished  by  every  peasant  in  the  Slavonic  South 
during  five  centuries.  It  treats  as  symptomatic  the  use  of  the 
"  Serb  "  arms — the  cross  and  the  four  letters,  "  S  " — as  proving 
sympathy  for  the  Kingdom  of  Servia  ;  yet  it  is  a  notorious 
fact  that  these  arms  have  been  borne  by  the  Serb  Patriarch 
ever  since  he  took  refuge  in  Habsburg  territory  in  the  seven- 
teenth century,  that  they  have  been  universal  in  all  Serb 
lands  for  centuries,  and  that  Prince  Milosch  of  Servia  adopted 
them  as  the  arms  of  the  new  principality  in  its  struggle  against 
the  Turks.  It  puts  forward  the  brazen  assertion — surely 
one  of  the  most  monstrous  perversions  of  history  ever  uttered 
by  a  public  prosecutor — that  among  the  population  of  Croatia 
and  Slavonia  the  use  of  the  "  Serb  "  name  only  came  into 

2**  This  word  continually  recurs  in  the  original  document. 

^*»  The  nomenclature  still  employed  by  the  authorities  in  Austria- 
Hungary — an  anachronism  dating  from  the  period  when  all  Orthodox 
Churches  were  subject  to  the  Greek  Patriarch  in  Constantinople.  No 
Orthodox  ever  uses  the  phrase  himself. 

181 


THE  AGRAM  HIGH  TREASON  TRIAL 

vogue  since  the  year  1903,  and  at  once  proceeds  to  connect 
this  with  the  accession  of  the  Karageorgevic  dynasty  and 
the  growth  of  the  Pan-Serb  idea  under  King  Peter's  auspices.'^^" 
As  the  reader  is  already  well  aware,  the  year  1903  marks  a 
change  of  regime  in  Croatia  as  well  as  in  Servia.  The  murder 
of  King  Alexander,  and  the  resignation  of  Count  Khuen 
Hedervary  occurred  within  a  brief  space  of  each  other :  and 
the  latter  event  was  marked  by  a  distinct  growth  in  Serb 
national  feeling.  No  one  knew  better  than  Mr.  Accurti  or 
Dr.  Frank  ^^i  that  the  reaction  from  the  Khuen  regime,  when 
the  whole  country  breathed  again  after  twenty  years  of  the 
"  straight  jacket  "  {see  p.  155)  was  in  no  way  influenced  from 
Belgrad,  which  at  that  time  was  entirely  occupied  by  the 
dynastic  crisis  and  by  the  rising  in  Macedonia. 

A  further  proof  of  treasonable  intrigue  was  the  possession 
of  King  Peter's  portrait,  which  is  as  popular  among  the  Serb 
population  of  Croatia  aS  those  of  William  II  or  the  Bavarian 
Royal  Family  in  German  Bohemia  or  Tirol.  Several  prisoners 
were  accused  of  shouting  "  Long  live  King  Peter "  in  the 
streets  ;  and  one,  a  shopkeeper,  was  charged  with  keeping 
dynamite,  though  it  transpired  eventually  that  it  was  merely 
used  in  small  quantities  for  ordinary  purposes  of  trade.^^^ 
Still  more  incredible,  the  indictment  treats  as  "  sympto- 
matic "  the  assertion  of  an  ignorant  villager  that  the  Virgin 
Mary  was  a  Serb,  and  the  fact  that  a  certain  Servian  officer, 
a  habitue  in  the  small  bath  of  Lipik,  was  invariably  known 
as  "  Mr.  President."  ^93 

Above  all,  in  the  fact  that  the  prisoners  presume  to  call 
themselves  "  Serbs,"  and  not  "  Vlachs,"  ^94  the  Public  Prose- 

29"  Yet  though  this  forms  his  principal  argument,  Accurti  makes 
on  p.  14  of  the  indictment  the  astonishing  admission  that,  "  as  early 
as  the  year  1880  all  these  phenomena  were  visible  ;  it  was  known 
that  their  source  was  in  Belgrad,  but  the  Government  paid  no  attention 
to  them."  What  Khuen-Hedervary  had  tolerated  for  twenty  years 
suddenly  became  a  danger  to  the  State  in  1906. 

2*1  It  subsequently  transpired  {see  p.  307)  that  Mr.  Accurti,  in 
composing  the  indictment,  collaborated  with  the  leaders  of  the  Frank 
party  and  used  historical  notes  supplied  by  them. 

2»2  Blasting,  etc.,  in  a  country  district. 

293  Because  he  had  been  there  so  often.      Cf.  Masaryk,  p.  24. 

2**  The  word  "  Vlah  "  in  the  Croatian  or  Servian  language,  means 
"a  member  of  the  Orthodox  Church,"  but  has  the  same  offensive 
sound  about  it  as  the  word  "  Papist  "  as  applied  to  Catholics.  Need- 
less to  say,  no  Orthodox  would  dream  of  applying  it  to  himself  or  a 
co-religionist.     The  Frank  party,  who  deny  the  existence  of  Serbs 

182 


A  TRAVESTY  OF  JUSTICE 

cutor  pretended  to  find  a  proof  of  treasonable  leanings,  though 
in  so  doing,  he  calmly  ignores  the  fact  that  successive  Habs- 
burg  Emperors  conferred  special  national  privileges  upon 
the  Serb  immigrants,  and  that  even  the  present  Emperor 
has  addressed  more  than  one  proclamation  to  "  the  Serb 
nation."  ^^^  The  reader,  unfamiliar  with  political  conditions 
in  Hungary  and  Croatia,  may  marvel  that  such  argumentation 
could  be  put  forward  at  all ;  and  indeed  it  takes  some  time 
to  realize  that  juggling  with  such  phrases  as  "  nation  "  and 
"  nationality  "  is  habitual  among  all  races  of  the  Austro-Hun- 
garian  Monarchy.  Reduced  to  its  elements,  the  indictment 
is  a  political  tract,  launched  by  one  party  against  its  rival — 
an  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  Frank  party  to  ruin  the  Croato- 
Serb  Coalition. 

An  interval  of  six  weeks  elapsed  between  the  publication 
of  the  indictment  and  the  opening  of  the  Trial,  which  at  last 
began  on  March  3  in  Agram,  before  a  tribunal  of  seven  judges. 
Even  the  most  declared  opponents  of  the  prisoners  freely 
admitted  to  me  during  the  triaP^^  that  these  judges  were 
specially  selected  for  the  occasion  by  the  Ranch  Government, 
and  that  neither  as  judges  nor  as  private  individuals  did  they 
enjoy  sufficient  prestige  to  be  entrusted  with  the  most  impor- 
tant political  trial  in  Croatia  during  modern  times.  Indeed 
a  prominent  politicians^'  actually  assured  me  that  the  names 
of  the  seven  judges  were  proposed  to  Ranch  by  the  judicial 
department,  in  the  deliberate  belief  that  their  appointment 
would  lead  to  a  grave  scandal  and  fiasco.  WTiatever  truth 
there  may  be  in  this  almost  incredible  assertion,  there  is  no 
doubt  that  the  behaviour  of  the  President,  Mr.  Tarabocchia, 
and  of  the  second  judge,  Mr.  Pavesic  was  for  weeks  the  talk 

in  Croatia,  make  a  point  of  calling  all  Orthodox  "  Vlahi,"  meaning 
thereby  to  be  offensive  and  to  suggest  that  the  Serbs  of  Croatia  are 
really  Wallach  (i.e.  Roumanian)  immigrants.  The  fact  that  most 
Roumanians  are  also  Orthodox  did  lead  in  former  centuries  to  the 
two  races  being  confused  under  the  same  name  and  the  phrase  "  Wal- 
lach Church "  sometimes  occurred.  Philologists,  however,  are  of 
opinion  that  the  word  "  Vlah  "  is  derived  from  the  old  High  German 
word  "  wahla  "  (a  foreigner  speaking  another  tongue)  akin  to  "  walsch," 
"  Wales,"  "  Walloon." 

"^  E.g.  in  1848,  see  pp.  47-49. 

*»'  I  spent  over  three  weeks  at  Agram  during  the  High  Treason 
trial  and  my  impressions,  during  repeated  visits  to  the  court,  con- 
firmed all  that  I  heard  or  read  elsewhere. 

=^"  Who  was  not  and  is  not  an  adherent  of  the  Coalition. 


THE  AGRAM   HIGH  TREASON   TRIAL 

of  Agram.  Their  nocturnal  revels  in  the  wineshops  and  cafes 
of  the  capital  were  publicly  branded  by  Professor  Masaryk, 
in  his  well-known  speech  in  the  Austrian  Parliament.^^^ 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  inflict  upon  the  reader  the  inter- 
minable and  dreary  annals  of  the  Agram  High  Treason  Trial, 
which  dragged  on  from  March  5  till  October,  and  which  long 
before  its  close  had  become  fully  as  great  a  burden  to  its 
authors  as  to  its  victims.  From  the  very  first  it  showed  itself 
to  be  one  of  the  grossest  travesties  of  justice  in  modem  times  ; 
and  he  would  be  a  bold  man  who  would  to-day  attempt  an 
apology  for  the  manner  in  which  it  was  conducted.  Lest, 
however,  I  should  be  accused  of  taking  anything  for  granted 
without  abundant  proofs,  I  propose  to  summarize  a  few  (but 
only  a  few)  of  the  more  glaring  illegalities  of  the  Trial,  under 
four  main  headings. 

I.    The  Preliminary  Inquiry. 

The  juge  d'instruction  examined  no  fewer  than  276  witnesses 
for  the  prosecution,  but  not  a  single  one  out  of  the  300  pro- 
posed by  the  defence.  The  hearing  of  these  latter  was  refused, 
and  the  Court  informed  the  defence  that  they  might  renew 
their  application  during  the  course  of  the  trial.  Thus  the 
proceedings  had  aheady  lasted  six  months,  before  a  single 
witness  for  the  defence  had  been  admitted,  and  even  then 
only  twenty  were  allowed,  all  the  most  important  being  rejected. 

The  preliminary  inquiry  had  been  conducted  with  such 
carelessness,  that  at  the  main  proceedings  quite  a  number  ol 
witnesses  for  the  prosecution  denied  having  used  the  expressions 
ascribed  to  them. 

One  of  these,  Tanasija  Drpa,  having  obstinately  adhered 
to  his  denial  on  essential  points,  and  having  further  asserted 
that  he  had  been  examined  in  a  drunken  condition,  was  first 
browbeaten  by  Mr.  Tarabocchia  and  then  arrested  in  court 
on  a  charge  of  perjury.  The  President  made  no  secret  of  the 
fact  that  this  was  intended  "  pour  encourager  les  autres," 
and  warned  the  next  witness  that  the  same  fate  awaited  him, 
if  he  did  not  tell  the  truth. ^^^a 

298  See  Masaryk,  Der  Agramer  Hochverraisprozess,  p.  14.  This 
pamphlet  is  a  reprint,  with  slight  alterations,  of  the  speech  which 
Professor  Masaryk  delivered  in  the  Austrian  ParUament  on  May  17, 
1909. 

298\    43rd  day. 

184 


INTIMIDATION   OF  WITNESSES 

The  witness  Kriznjak  denied  having  ever  made  the  state- 
ment ascribed  to  him,  "  that  this  country  was  Serb  and  must 
fall  to  Servia,"  and  said  that  the  juge  d' instruction  had  simply 
ordered  him  to  put  his  sign  to  a  written  deposition.  When 
warned  by  the  Judge,  he  persisted  in  this  statement.  The  assis- 
tant juge  d' instruction  was  then  heard,  and  while  not  remember- 
ing the  details  of  Kriznjak's  evidence,  was  certain  that  he 
dictated  it  in  the  witness's  own  presence  to  the  clerk  Marijasevic. 
Counsel  for  the  defence  here  pointed  out  that  though  the  witness 
Kriznjak  can  neither  read  nor  write,  the  first  report  contains 
the  statement  that  he  saw  in  Gajic's  house  the  inscription 
"  Long  live  Peter  Karageorgevic."  When  the  defence  de- 
manded that  Marijasevic  should  also  be  heard,  the  presiding 
Judge  refused  this  as  "  superfluous,"  and  ordered  Kriznjak's 
arrest  on  a  charge  of  perjury.  ^^^  On  July  lo  he  was  actually 
sentenced  on  that  charge  to  ten  months'  imprisonment,  though 
absolutely  no  motive  could  be  adduced  for  his  perjury  and 
everything  went  to  show  that  he  was  telling  the  truth. 

The  innkeeper  Kordic  not  only  denied  having  said  what 
was  ascribed  to  him,  but  also  maintained  that  during  the 
examination  the  juge  d' instruction,  Mr.  Kosutic,  had  said  to 
him,  that  in  Croatia  there  are  no  Serbs.^o" 

Another  innkeeper,  named  Louis  Schmidt,  who  was  put 
on  oath  in  spite  of  having  been  convicted  of  fraud,  was  accused 
by  two  rival  witnesses  of  having  bragged  that  he  was  a  Govern- 
ment detective  and  would  get  1,200  crowns  for  his  services. 
Schmidt,  though  he  denied  this,  actually  admitted  having 
received  instructions  from  the  Public  Prosecutor  to  report 
on  events  in  the  district  of  Topusko.^"^  When  Dr.  Hinkovic 
inquired  what  Schmidt  was  living  upon  in  Agram,  Mr.  Accurti, 
in  great  excitement,  protested  against  this  question,  and  it 
was  disallowed  by  the  President. 

II.    Treatment  of  the  Defending  Counsel. 

At  every  turn  Dr.  Hinkovic  and  his  colleagues  were  hampered 
in  their  defence  of  the  unfortunate  Serbs.  Not  merely  were 
their  formal  applications  for  the  hearing  of  witnesses  over- 
ruled in  the  most  wholesale  manner,  and  their  efforts  to  obtain 
evidence  from  Belgrad — rendered  doubly  difficult  owing  to 
the  strained  relations  with  Servia — ^represented  in  the  "  in- 
spired "  press  as  savouring  of  treason.     Day  after  day  during 

"9  48th  day.  =">»  54th  day.         '"i  40th  day. 

185 


THE   AGRAM  HIGH  TREASON  TRIAL 

the  cross-examination  the  presiding  Judge  ruled  out  of  order 
the  most  essential  questions  to  the  witnesses  ;  and  counsel's 
protests  against  this  injustice  were  repeatedly  met  by  violent 
outbursts  of  the  Judge  and  the  imposition  of  heavy  fines. 

That  the  defending  counsel  sometimes  went  too  far  in  their 
expression  of  indignation,  is  undoubtedly  true ;  but  this 
was  almost  inevitable  in  view  of  the  restrictions  imposed  by 
the  President.  As  a  fair  specimen  of  the  questions  tabooed, 
the  following  may  be  quoted.  Nastic  was  asked  by  Dr. 
Popovic,  how  he  knew  that  the  brothers  Pribicevic  had  received 
money  from  Servia.^"^  This,  and  literally  scores  of  questions 
relative  to  the  crucial  subject  of  the  Slovenski  Jug,  were  dis- 
allowed by  the  President.  One  of  the  accused  ^"^  put  to  a 
hostile  witness  the  question  whether  it  was  not  true  that  he 
(accused)  had  worked  to  promote  Serbo-Croat  friendship. 
The  President  would  not  allow  an  answer. 

Dr.  Budisavljevic  was  fined  50  crowns  for  saying  that  it 
was  superfluous  to  draw  his  attention  to  a  certain  point. ^* 
Dr.  Popovic  was  fined  120  crowns  on  the  ground  that  he  was 
bringing  an  unnecessary  plea  of  nullity. ^°^  Dr.  Medakovic 
was  fined  200  crowns  for  contending  that  the  Judge  was  infring- 
ing the  Criminal  Code,  when  he  sentenced  a  prisoner  to  twenty- 
four  hours  in  a  dark  cell  for  refusing  to  answer  a  question.^"* 
Dr.  Mazzura  was  fined  100  crowns  for  clapping  his  hands  at 
a  sharp  sally  of  one  of  his  colleagues. 

Again  Dr.  Hinkovic,  having  elicited  from  Nasti6  the  interest- 
ing fact  that  he  had  not  been  put  on  oath  at  the  Cetinje  Treason 
trial,  was  anxious  to  learn  the  reason  for  this ;  but  the  Presi- 
dent would  not  allow  Nastic  to  answer. 

One  of  the  prisoners  asserted  that  the  juge  d' instruction  spoke 
to  him  of  King  Peter  as  "  a  robber  "  ;  but  the  President 
stopped  further  reference  to  this.  In  short,  while  showing 
no  desire  whatever  to  hasten  the  pace  of  the  trial,  and  often 
even  allowing  prolix  examination,  the  President  showed  a 
tendency  to  disallow  most  questions  dealing  with  any  really 
vital  points  at  issue,  above  all  with  the  relations  of  the  prisoners 
to  Belgrad  and  Servia. 

III.    Treatment  of  the  Prisoners. 

I  have  already  referred  to  the  grave  scandals  in  the  prison, 

3"  105th  day.  303  Borojevi(5,  35th  day.  ^o*  ^^th  day. 

2"^  15th  day.  3"^  32nd  day. 

186 


TREATMENT  OF  THE  PRISONERS 

where  a  number  of  the  accused  Serbs  were  forced  to  share 
the  cells  of  condemned  criminals.  After  the  trial  had  akeady 
begun,  the  second  Judge,  Mr.  Pavesic,  was  entrusted  with 
the  supervision  of  the  prison  :  in  other  words,  one  of  the 
Judges  received  discretionary  and  disciphnary  power  over 
the  prisoners  whom  he  was  trying.  It  was  not  tiU  aU  the 
counsel  for  the  defence  had  submitted  a  joint  protest  to  the 
presiding  Judge,  that  this  decision  was  revoked. 

Many  of  the  prisoners  had  spent  many  months  in  confine- 
ment before  the  trial  opened,  without  any  clear  idea  of  the 
charges  which  had  led  to  their  arrest.  The  long  restraint, 
the  horrible  uncertainty  and  their  apparent  abandonment 
to  their  fate — coupled  with  anxiety  as  to  the  fate  of  families 
whose  means  of  subsistence  had  been  removed — were  not 
without  their  effect.  Five  of  them  resorted  in  their  despair 
to  a  hunger  strike,  and  Adam  Pribicevic,  his  nerves  utterly 
unstrung,  even  made  an  unsuccessful  attempt  to  take  his 
own  hfe  in  prison.  None  the  less,  the  spirit  of  the  prisoners 
was  not  broken,  and  in  court  they  repelled  the  charges  with 
the  greatest  possible  vigour,  sometimes  interpolating  remarks 
when  a  witness  made  what  they  regarded  as  an  unfounded 
assertion.  Their  bold  protestations  of  innocence  were  highly 
distasteful  to  the  Court,  and  Mr.  Tarabocchia  raged  against 
them  like  a  veritable  Judge  Jeffreys.  The  accused,  who  it 
may  be  at  once  admitted,  behaved  in  a  childish  and  aggravating 
manner,  were  treated  from  the  first  as  naughty  children ; 
were  repeatedly  excluded  from  the  proceedings  in  court  on 
the  ground  of  "  refractory  behaviour,"  or  were  sentenced  to 
solitary  confinement,  to  the  dark  cell,  to  fasting  or  to  a  board 
bed.  For  instance,  on  the  19th  day  Adam  Pribicevic  inter- 
rupted the  Public  Prosecutor  with  the  remark,  "  The  Slovenes 
also  have  created  their  own  institutions."  He  was  promptly 
excluded  from  the  proceedings  for  a  whole  week.  On  the 
41st  day  the  same  prisoner  was  banished  from  the  court  for 
a  fortnight,  because  he  had  caUed  out  something.  On  the 
45th  day  Vukelic  was  shut  out  for  the  remainder  of  the  trial, 
on  account  of  his  noisy  interruptions. 

Once  when  I  myself  was  present  in  court,  one  of  the  prisoners, 
a  consumptive  whose  appearance  was  lamentable,  ventured 
to  protest  when  the  Judge  disallowed  a  very  important  question 
directed  by  his  counsel  to  the  witness.  Mr.  Tarabocchia 
sprang  from  his  seat  in  great  annoyance,  the  Bench  withdrew 
to  a  private  room,  and  after  a  few  minutes'  interval  the  unfor- 

187 


THE  AGRAM  HIGH  TREASON   TRIAL 

tunate  man  was  sentenced  for  the  third  time  to  twenty-four 
hours  without  food  in  a  dark  cell ! 

On  the  28th  day  the  Public  Prosecutor  charged  Dr.  Gjuric 
with  being  a  traitor,  whereupon  he  replied,  "  You  incriminate 
even  the  Servian  Saints  !  "  "  It  would  be  bad,"  retorted  Mr. 
Accurti,  "  if  all  Serbs  were  like  you  :  for  you  are  a  traitor." 
When  Dr.  Gjuric  violently  protested  against  this  offensive 
remark,  the  Court  sentenced  him  to  two  days'  fasting  in  a 
dark  cell. 

On  the  22nd  day  the  prisoner  Koncar  suddenly  called  out 
that  a  woman  in  the  gallery  was  taunting  him  with  mock  signs 
of  a  rope  being  placed  round  the  neck.  Instead  of  defending 
the  prisoners  against  such  insults,  the  Judge  sentenced  Koncar 
to  three  days'  exclusion  from  the  court  and  twenty-four 
hours'  dark  cell ;  and  it  was  only  when  the  woman  greeted 
Counsel's  protests  by  a  loud  cry  of  "  You  are  a  liar,"  that  Mr. 
Tarabocchia  requested  her  to  withdraw. 

On  one  occasion  the  prisoners  loudly  protested  against  the 
help  given  by  the  President  to  an  embarrassed  witness.  "  Be- 
have decently,"  cried  the  Public  Prosecutor  to  them.  "  Behave 
decently  yourself,"  shouted  back  one  of  the  prisoners.  "  Do 
you  think  you're  in  your  native  village  ?  "  said  the  President, 
and  sentenced  him  to  forty-eight  hours'  detention  in  a  dark 
cell,  with  fasting  and  without  a  mattress  to  the  bed,  and  to 
exclusion  from  the  proceedings  for  eight  days. 3°' 

Here  was  a  case  of  definite  impertinence,  and  it  is  clear 
that  a  Court  which  tolerated  such  outbursts  must  soon  cease 
to  command  respect.  Unhappily  the  outbursts  of  the  prisoners 
were  the  direct  result  of  outrageous  conduct  on  the  part  of 
the  Judge,  and  thus  won  the  sympathy  even  of  those  who 
would  have  been  loudest  in  condemning  such  behaviour  in  a 
properly  conducted  trial. 

IV.    The  Evidence  Allowed. 

As  we  have  seen,  almost  aU  the  witnesses  proposed  by  the 
defence  were  disallowed.  The  270  witnesses  brought  by  the 
prosecution  were  mainly  recruited  from  among  the  prisoners' 
bitterest  political  opponents.  Almost  all  were  men  who 
refused  to  recognize  the  existence  of  Serbs  in  Croatia,  and 
these  were  supposed  to  give  impartial  evidence  against  the 
fifty-three  Serbs  !    A  number  of  them  were  rival  tradesmen, 

50^  36th  day. 
188 


THE  EVIDENCE  ALLOWED 

who  had  suffered  from  the  prisoners'  successful  competition. 
With  certain  exceptions,  their  standard  of  education  was 
low,  some  being  entirely  illiterate.  Two  instances  suffice  to 
show  how  worthless  was  their  opinion  on  political  matters. 
One  witness,  when  asked  if  he  considered  the  accused  to  be 
loyal,  replied,  "  How  can  they  be  loyal  to  the  King,  when 
they're  against  the  Government  ?  "  308  ^  female  witness, 
who  convulsed  the  Court  by  her  evidence,  was  so  ignorant 
as  to  talk  of  "  Raf  "  instead  of  Ranch,  and  "  Daramit  "  instead 
of  dynamite. 2°^ 

Some  idea  of  the  childishness  and  absurdity  of  the  evidence 
brought  forward  in  proof  of  treasonable  agitation,  may  be 
obtained  from  the  following  instances. 

Great  stress  was  laid  upon  the  popularity  of  King  Peter's 
portrait.  A  witness  affirmed  on  oath  that  he  had  seen  in 
the  prisoner  2ivkovic's  house  a  picture  with  the  inscription 
"  Petar  Jurisic,  Kralj  Srbije" — "Peter  Jurisic,  King  of  Servia."3io 
Another  prisoner,  an  innkeeper,  explained  that  he  had  had 
in  the  taproom  a  portrait  of  Gambrinus,  whom  the  peasants 
mistook  for  King  Peter.^^^ 

Another  witness  who  spoke  of  King  Peter's  portrait,  ad- 
mitted having  seen  it  in  Hrvatski  Novosti,  the  farthing  news- 
sheet  of  the  anti-Serb  Party.  ^"  Mojo  Hrvacanin,  who 
during  the  campaign  of  1876  had  saved  the  life  of  Peter  Kara- 
georgevic,  was  treated  as  a  suspect  because  his  old  friend 
had  received  him  in  audience  after  his  accession  to  the  throne 
of  Servia. 

Ljubomir  Milic,  a  tailor  in  Glina,  was  examined  by  the 
President.  "  You  trod  on  a  dog's  tail,"  said  he,  "  and  when 
the  dog  howled,  you  said,  '  How  that  Croat  whines ! ' " 
Accused  :  "In  the  first  place  the  dog  had  no  tail !  Secondly 
it  is  untrue  that  I  called  the  dog  a  Croat."  President :  "  But 
the  witnesses  say  you  did."  Accused  :  "  I  only  asked,  '  Is 
the  dog  a  Croat,  I  wonder,  as  you  make  out  there  are  only 
Croats  in  Croatia  ?  '  The  question  was  a  joke."  Solvuntur 
tabulae  nsu. 

Dr.  Gjuric  was  seriously  asked  by  one  of  the  Bench  whether 
his  real  reason  for  not  wearing  a  collar  was  that  the  word 
"  cravat  "  was  derived  from  "  Croat."  The  accused  replied 
that  this  was  merely  ridiculous,  and  the  public  not  unnaturally 
agreed  with  him.    But  the  Public  Prosecutor  solemnly  declared, 

30*  57th  day.  ^o*  40th  day.  »io  38th  day. 

'"  33rd  and  39th  days.  "^  ^^^j^  ^jg^y^ 

189 


THE  AGRAM   HIGH  TREASON  TRIAL 

"  There's  nothing  to  laugh  at  there  !  It  is  proved  that  as  a 
student  you  objected  to  wearing  a  collar,  simply  out  of  hatred 
towards  the  Croatian  nation."  ^^^  When,  however,  one  of  the 
prisoners  suggested  that  the  witness  Rebraca  could  not  be 
a  good  Croat,  because  he  wore  no  collar,  the  President  threatened 
him  with  punishment. ^^^ 

V.    Behaviour  of  the  Presiding  Judge. 

It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  Mr.  Tarabocchia's  behaviour 
during  the  trial  baffles  description,  A  man  of  slight  build, 
highly  nervous  manner  and  unhealthy  complexion,  he  gives 
the  impression  of  an  excitable  avocat,  not  of  a  judge.  Where 
there  should  be  calm  and  dignity,  there  is  continuous  and 
spasmodic  movement.  No  one  who  watched  him  in  court 
could  fail  to  be  struck  with  the  open  manner  in  which  he 
espoused  the  side  of  the  prosecution. 

Not  content  with  excluding  or  punishing  the  prisoners,  he 
took  every  opportunity  of  threatening  them.  When  the 
prisoner  Oblakovic  replied  to  a  question  with  the  words,  "  I 
can't  help  laughing,"  the  President  replied,  "  I'll  impose  a 
disciplinary  punishment,  so  that  you  may  forget  how  to 
laugh."  315 

Another  day  he  called  out  to  the  accused,  "  Take  care 
that  you  don't  have  to  fast  at  Easter  !  "  si^  p^-^^  again,  "  If 
even  one  of  you  budges,  out  he  flies  !  "  si?  When  one  of  the 
witnesses  revoked  his  alleged  evidence  at  the  preliminary 
examination,  and  was  thrown  into  prison  for  perjury,  Mr. 
Tarabocchia  warned  the  next  witness  in  a  menacing  tone 
that  he  too  would  be  arrested,  if  he  failed  to  tell  the  truth. 
Often  enough  he  contrived  to  "  suggest  "  to  the  witnesses 
their  answers,  and  in  this  he  was  manfully  assisted  by  the 
second  Judge,  Mr.  Pavesic.  Prosecution  and  defence  were 
treated  in  an  entirely  different  manner.  While,  for  instance, 
he  forbade  the  defence  to  criticise  the  Public  Prosecutor,  ^is 
he  declared  that  it  was  inadmissible  "  to  emphasize  the  inno- 
cence of  the  accused  !  "  3i9  According  to  his  mood,  he  punished 
them  or  had  his  joke  at  their  expense.  He  ordered  Valerian 
Pribicevic  to  remove  a  rose  from  his  buttonhole  :  he  shouted 
the  word  "  Silence  "  across  the  Court ;  he  forbade  one  of  the 
defending  counsel,  Dr.  Solaric,  to  address  his  own  father,  who 
was  one  of  the  prisoners,  in  the  second  person  ^20 :  he  dismissed 

31'  28th  day.         31*  49th  day.  ^is  ^ist  day.  3i6  26th  day. 

3"  55th  day.         318  yth  day.  3i»  26th  day.  «»>  29th  day. 

190 


THE   JUDGES'   BEHAVIOUR 

Dr.  Hinkovic's  questions  as  "  gammon  "  321 .  j^g  forbade  counsel 
to  shake  hands  with  their  cHents  when  the  Court  rose.322  When 
Oblakovic  declared  that  his  conscience  was  clear,  the  President 
rejoined,  "  Very  well,  just  sit  down  with  your  clear  con- 
science !  "  ^3  "  You've  had  your  lunch,"  he  cried  one  day  : 
"  after  it  you're  always  obstreperous."  22^  One  day  another 
prisoner  protested  against  the  evidence  of  a  man  whose  father 
was  a  criminal  and  whose  two  uncles  had  been  hanged  ;  and 
when  ordered  to  be  silent,  announced  a  plea  of  nullity.  "  Put 
in  as  many  as  you  like,"  said  the  Judge.  "  You  look  like  a 
plea  of  nullity  yourself."  ^25  The  prisoner  Bekic  complained 
of  the  vague  reference  in  the  indictment  to  "  phenomena  " 
of  high  treason.  "  You're  a  phenomenon  yourself,"  said 
the  Judge.  "  Yes,"  cried  the  prisoner  plaintively,  "  and  this 
phenomenon  has  been  sitting  nine  months  in  preventive 
arrest  !  "  ^28 

The  President's  ready  wit  was  worthy  of  a  better  occasion : 
it  certainly  was  singularly  inappropriate  at  a  momentous 
political  trial.  The  other  judges,  selected  for  their  sub- 
servience, were  in  no  way  qualified  for  their  task,  and  made 
a  most  unfavourable  impression  upon  observers  in  court. 
The  Public  Prosecutor,  on  the  other  hand,  was  elegant  and 
cultured,  but  his  cynical  and  negligent  air  was  replaced 
from  time  to  time  by  menace  and  intimidation.  On  the  7th 
day  he  said  of  Adam  Pribicevic  :  "  If  he  had  a  clear 
conscience,  he  would  not  be  sitting  here."  On  the  23rd 
day  he  interrupted  the  prisoner  Kacar  with  the  words,  "  That 
is  a  lie."  On  the  46th  day  he  told  another  prisoner,  "  At  the 
end  of  the  trial,  you  will  see  how  serious  your  situation  is." 
The  best  that  can  be  said  of  him,  is  that  he  showed  far  more 
restraint  and  good  taste  than  any  of  the  judges. 

One  gross  scandal  has  still  to  be  added  to  this  plethora  of 
scandals.  During  the  course  of  the  trial.  Dr.  Hinkovic,  the 
leading  advocate  for  the  defence,  and  his  colleague.  Dr.  Budi- 
savljevic,  went  to  Belgrad  to  collect  material  in  their  clients' 
interest,  and  immediately  on  their  arrival  informed  the  Austro- 
Hungarian  Minister,  Count  Forgach,  of  their  business.  On 
the  way  home  to  Agram  Dr.  Budisavljevic  was  stopped,  at 
the  frontier  station  of  Semlin,  and  searched  by  the  police. 
All  his  papers  were  seized.     Later  on  the  Public  Prosecutor 


"1  39th  day.         322  14th  day.         "3   ^jg^  day.         224  29th  day. 
*"  57th  day.         "8  53th  day. 

191 


■  THE   AGRAM   HIGH  TREASON   TRIAL 

produced  Dr.  Budisavlj evil's  notes  as  evidence  against  the 
prisoners.  When  the  defence  protested,  the  Court  declared 
that  it  was  quite  immaterial  how  the  Public  Prosecutor  had 
come  into  possession  of  his  proofs  !  Needless  to  say,  whatever 
was  favourable  to  the  prisoners  in  these  notes  was  carefully 
suppressed,  only  such  things  were  used  as  could  be  twisted 
into  an  admission  of  their  guilt. 

The  main  object  was  to  prevent  any  assistance  reaching 
the  prisoners  from  Belgrad,  and  indirectly  to  warn  possible 
Servian  witnesses  of  the  dangers  to  which  they  would  expose 
themselves,  if  they  came  to  give  evidence  in  Agram.  This 
incident  in  itself  is  a  vivid  illustration  of  the  complete  absence 
of  constitutional  life  in  Croatia. 

***** 

The  grave  scandals  of  the  Agram  trial  found  an  echo  through- 
out the  European  Press,  and  Croatia,  so  long  forgotten  by  the 
outside  world,  acquired  an  unwelcome  notoriety.  On  May 
14, 1909,  the  distinguished  Bohemian  philosopher  and  politician. 
Professor  Masaryk,  brought  forward  an  interpellation  on  the 
subject  in  the  Austrian  Parliament,  and  in  a  powerful  speech 
exposed  the  misdeeds  of  Baron  Ranch  and  his  creatures,  and 
emphasized  their  evil  effects  upon  the  whole  policy  of  Austria- 
Hungary  upon  its  southern  frontier.  Professor  Masaryk  did 
not  mince  matters,  and  spoke  quite  openly  of  the  notorious 
misconduct  of  some  of  the  judges.  One  result  of  the  speech, 
which  naturally  caused  a  great  sensation,  was  that  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  High  Court  in  Agram  strictly  prohibited  Mr.  Tara- 
bocchia  and  his  colleagues  on  the  Bench  from  frequenting 
public  places  at  night,  so  long  as  the  trial  continued  !  !  ^27 

The  speech  was  received  by  a  chorus  of  the  most  virulent 
abuse  from  the  organs  of  Baron  Ranch  and  Dr.  Frank.  Narodne 
Novine,  the  official  Government  gazette,  described  Professor 
Masaryk  as  "a  vulgar  parrot."  Ustavnost,  calmly  ignoring 
his  European  reputation,  wrote  as  follows  in  an  article  entitled 
"  Pan  Masaryk."  "  A  certain  Masaryk,  of  whom  nothing 
is  known  in  Croatia  save  that  he  is  the  father  of  our  Pro- 
gressives .  .  .  this  Czech,  who  is  nothing  but  a  Pan-Slav  agent 
provocateur  in  Servian  sheepskin  .  .  .  had  the  boundless 
insolence  to  attack  our  judges  in  a  manner  which  baffles  criti- 
cism, for  no  dictionary  contains  the  right  expression  for  such 
behaviour."     The    juge   d' instruction,    Dr.    Kosutic,    actually 

3"  Masaryk,  op.  cit.  p.  37,  note. 
192 


BARON   RAUCH'S   OFFICIAL  PRESS 

published  the  following  statement :  "I  shall  not  have  your 
speech  in  my  hands  for  another  forty-eight  hours.  I  declare 
you  beforehand  to  be  a  blackguard,  a  ragamuffin,  a  man 
without  honour,  a  nobody,  the  refuse  of  human  society." 
On  May  24,  these  scurrilities  were  endorsed  by  the  Agramer 
Zeitung,  Baron  Ranch's  other  organ  !  I  do  not  apologize 
for  reproducing  them,  for  they  show  more  clearly  than  any- 
thing else  the  type  of  men  upon  whom  Baron  Rauch  found 
it  necessary  to  rely. 

Needless  to  say,  Baron  Rauch  spared  no  efforts  to  muzzle 
the  Croatian  press  during  the  course  of  the  trial.  While  all 
the  leading  newspapers  of  Europe  gave  great  prominence  to 
the  scandals  of  the  Rauch  regime  and  of  Mr.  Tarabocchia's 
conduct  of  the  trial,  the  official  organs  of  Baron  Rauch  were 
engaged  in  a  campaign  of  calumny  against  the  prisoners, 
the  defence  and  all  who  dared  to  espouse  its  cause,  and  "  the 
control  of  Europe  "  was  laughed  to  scorn  as  a  device  of  the 
Freemasons,  engineered  by  Dr.  Hinkovic,  the  prisoners' 
brilliant  advocate.  Confiscations  were  endless ;  Pokret 
and  Srbobran  alone  were  seized  close  upon  a  hundred 
times  under  Baron  Rauch.  On  June  26,  1909,  Obzor  was 
actually  confiscated  for  publishing  the  official  communique 
of  the  conference  of  the  Croato-Serb  Coalition  ;  and  all  the 
other  Agram  papers  were  obliged  to  omit  the  essential  portions 
of  this  document,  though  the  Budapest  papers  which  had 
reproduced  it  were  left  untouched  by  the  Croatian  Public 
Prosecutor.  This  was  a  little  too  strong  even  for  the  Magyars 
— ^who  in  their  own  relations  to  the  unhappy  non-Magyar 
races,  employ,  instead  of  confiscation,  the  less  sensational 
though  equally  effective  methods  of  fine  and  imprisonment. 
The  Pester  Lloyd  even  published  an  article  under  the  title  of 
"  Russian  Press  Censorship  in  Croatia  "  ;  but  this  naturally 
did  not  deter  Baron  Rauch  from  hindering  the  legal  majority 
of  the  Sabor  in  the  expression  of  its  views. 

We  have  already  seen  in  the  case  of  Professors  Surmin  and 
Manojlovic  how  readily  Baron  Rauch  vented  personal  grudges. 
A  less  important  but  still  more  characteristic  instance  of  this 
was  the  treatment  of  a  local  town  councillor,  who  was  sen- 
tenced to  three  days'  imprisonment,  because  at  a  meeting  of 
the  Council  he  had  referred  to  Rauch  as  an  "  exponent  "  of 
Magyar  policy,  in  other  words  because  he  had  employed  the 
very  phrase  used  by  the  Hungarian  Premier,  Dr.  Wekerle. 

How  little  personal  freedom  was  respected  under  Rauch, 

S.S.Q.  193  O 


THE   ANNEXATION   OF  BOSNIA  "   " 

was  illustrated  in  a  drastic  manner  by  the  arrest  of  Mr.  Schlegel, 
sub-editor  of  the  Progressive  organ  Pokret.  After  a  particu- 
larly outrageous  incident  in  the  High  Treason  trial,  Mr. 
Schlegel  handed  in  at  the  central  Post  Office  in  Agram  a  pri- 
vate telegram  to  Professor  Masaryk,  describing  briefly  what 
had  happened.  The  same  day  he  was  arrested  and  thrown 
into  prison,  on  a  charge  of  "  public  incitement  against  the 
authorities."  There  he  remained  for  a  fortnight,  until  the 
Higher  Court  ordered  his  release,  without  comment  or  apology. 
Even  more  notorious  was  the  treatment  of  Father  Mathew 
Novosel,  a  member  of  the  Croatian  Diet,  who  on  the  occasion 
of  the  Ban's  visit  to  Brod  on  June  15,  1909,  was  unwise  enough 
to  call  out  "  Down  with  Ranch."  For  this  "  treasonable  " 
action  he  was  promptly  arrested  by  gendarmes,  detained  for 
eight  hours,  and  eventually  sentenced  to  fourteen  days' 
imprisonment  without  the  option  of  a  fine,  his  parliamentary 
immunity  being  simply  ignored.  Twenty-six  other  persons 
were  sentenced  for  similar  equally  harmless  demonstrations. 


It  lies  beyond  the  scope  of  the  present  volume  to  describe 
the  course  of  events  during  the  protracted  Bosnian  Crisis  of 
1908-1909.  But  a  brief  summary  is  inevitable,  in  order  that 
the  reader  may  be  in  a  position  to  understand  the  intimate 
connexion  between  events  in  Croatia  and  the  annexation 
policy  of  Baron  Aehrenthal. 

The  annexation  of  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina,  following 
closely  upon  the  declaration  of  Bulgarian  independence,  had 
caused  intense  excitement  in  Servia,  where  political  phantasts 
had  fancied  themselves  to  possess  a  reversionary  interest  in 
the  two  provinces.  In  addition  to  their  other  misfortunes, 
the  Servians  of  the  Kingdom  have  an  unhappy  tendency  to 
exaggerate  their  own  capabilities,  and  to  underestimate  those 
of  their  opponents  ;  and  on  this  occasion  public  opinion  rashly 
favoured  a  challenge  to  the  second  military  power  of  the 
Continent. 

The  recruits  were  called  out,  and  loud  threats  of  war  were 
uttered ;  but  on  October  10  the  Skupstina  had  sufficient  self- 
restraint  and  sanity  to  decide  against  war  by  93  to  66  votes. 
The  friction  which  had  so  long  prevailed  between  Servia  and 
Montenegro  vanished  in  view  of  the  crisis,  and  General  Vukotid 
was  sent  to  Belgrad  as  a  special  envoy  of  Prince  Nicholas.  His 
detention  by  Baron  Ranch's  police  on  his  way  through  Agram 

194 


SERVIA'S   CLAIMS 

was  treated  by  Servian  public  opinion  as  a  deliberate  insult ; 
and  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  its  aim  was  provocative.  The 
Servian  claims  began  to  take  definite  shape  ;  much  was  heard 
of  an  "  irreducible  minimum,"  consisting  of  (a)  the  cession  of 
a  strip  of  territory  connecting  Servia  and  Montenegro  and  {b) 
the  grant  of  autonomy  to  Bosnia.  Crown  Prince  George 
went  to  St.  Petersburg,  in  the  hope  of  inducing  the  Czar  to 
take  up  the  cudgels  for  Servia  ;  and  a  leading  Belgrad  news- 
paper went  so  far  as  to  declare  that  "  now  or  never  is  the 
moment  for  trying  conclusions  with  a  mediaeval  state  on  the 
point  of  dissolution."  ^^^  Meanwhile  Russia  and  the  Western 
Powers  adopted  the  attitude  that  Austria-Hungary  and 
Bulgaria  had,  by  their  one-sided  action,  infringed  an  inter- 
national agreement,  and  that  only  an  European  conference 
could  ratify  the  changes  involved.  Baron  Aehrenthal,  while 
raising  no  objection  to  the  summons  of  a  Conference,  declined 
to  admit  that  "  the  accomplished  fact  could  be  questioned 
there  or  even  made  the  subject  of  discussion."  329 

The  press — alike  in  Belgrad,  Vienna,  Berlin,  Paris  and 
London — fanned  the  growing  irritation  ;  changes  of  perfidy, 
intrigue  and  illegality  were  bandied  about  between  the  various 
capitals.  Above  all,  Baron  Aehrenthal  succeeded  in  mobiliz- 
ing the  entire  press  of  Vienna  (with  one  exception)  in  favour 
of  his  policy.  A  notable  feature  of  this  press  campaign  were 
the  systematic  attacks  upon  Britain,  as  the  spiritus  movens 
of  the  whole  opposition.  As  a  single  instance  of  the  absurdities 
served  up  for  the  consumption  of  the  Austrian  public,  may 
be  quoted  the  statement  of  an  otherwise  sensible  newspaper 
that  Mr.  Noel  Buxton  had  paid  for  Servian  armaments,  by 
handing  over  £4,000  in  gold  !  ^so 

Serbophil  demonstrations  and  rioting  took  place  in  Prague, 
and  the  sixtieth  anniversary  of  the  Emperor's  accession 
(December  2)  was  celebrated  in  the  Bohemian  capital  by  the 
proclamation  of  martial  law.  Turkish  opinion  had  in  no 
way  been  mollified  by  the  cession  of  the  Sandjak ;    and  a 

328  Politika,  October  26,  1908. 

329  Speech  in  the  Austrian  Delegation,  Budapest,  October  27. 

330  As  The  Times  correspondent  caustically  remarked  (November 
30),  "the  comic  organs  will  soon  be  entitled  to  complain  of  unfair 
official  competition."  As  a  matter  of  fact,  this  yarn  was  outbid  by 
a  report  of  the  Zeit  (December  3),  said  to  be  current  in  Austrian  par- 
liamentary circles,  to  the  effect  that  "  during  the  last  few  weeks  a 
Viennese  bank  has  transmitted  ;^i, 500,000  of  English  money  in  checjueg 
to  Servia  !  " 

J95 


THE   ANNEXATION   OF   BOSNIA 

serious  boycott  of  Austrian  goods  was  organized  in  all  the 
ports  of  European  and  Asiatic  Turkey.  Baron  Aehrenthal 
held  resolutely  to  the  view  that  a  conference  could  only  register 
the  fait  accompli,  but  agreed  to  a  preliminary  exchange  of 
views  with  the  Powers  (December  lo),  and  found  it  necessay 
to  abandon  the  argument  that  Turkey  was  not  entitled  to 
any  further  compensation.  Negotiations  were  opened  between 
Vienna  and  Constantinople  on  the  basis  of  a  Turkish  demand 
for  money  compensation  (December  21). 

The  publication  of  the  Russian  Circular  Note  to  the  signa- 
tories of  the  Congress  of  Berlin  (December  24)  was  regarded 
in  Vienna  as  an  unfriendly  act.  It  certainly  marked  the 
adoption  of  a  more  aggressive  policy  by  Mr.  Isvolsky,  round 
whose  personal  duel  with  Baron  Aehrenthal  the  European 
crisis  tended  more  and  more  to  revolve.  His  speech  in  the 
Duma  on  Christmas  Day  (New  Style)  was  a  veiled  appeal  to 
the  rising  tide  of  Panslavism  in  Russia.  While  admitting 
Russia's  engagements  in  the  matter  of  Bosnia, ^^i  and  arguing 
that  a  protest  was  a  grave  political  blunder  unless  its  author 
was  prepared  if  necessary  to  resort  to  force,  he  laid  renewed 
emphasis  on  the  need  for  a  conference,  in  order  to  vindicate 
the  axiom  that  international  contracts  cannot  be  broken  save 
by  consent  of  all  parties.  He  concluded  by  openly  advocating 
a  league  between  Turkey  and  the  Christian  states  of  the  Balkans 

for  the  joint  defence  of  their  national  and  economic  develop- 
ment. ^22 

Mr.  Isvolsky's  speech  was  followed  a  week  later  by  the 
speech  of  Dr.  Milovanovic,  the  Servian  Foreign  Minister 
(January  2,  1909).  He  declared  the  fate  of  Bosnia  to  be  not 
merely  an  eminently  Servian,  but  also  an  European  question, 
and  argued  that  the  mission  of  Austria-Hungary  in  the  Balkan 
Peninsula  was  now  at  an  end.  "  The  freedom,"  he  added, 
"  which  the  Balkan  peoples  won  from  1812  to  1876,  they 
obtained  through  Russia,  while  Austria-Hungary's  first  step 
in  the  Balkans  consisted  in  subjecting  the  people  of  two  Serb 
lands,  .  .  ,  The  path  of  Austria-Hungary  to  the  Aegean 
Sea  must  be  blocked.  She  must  cease  to  be  a  Balkan  State." 
Becoming  more  conciliatory,  he  argued  that  it  was  not  neces- 
sary to  drive  Servia  into  a  struggle  of  despair  ;  for  "  if  Aus- 
tria-Hungary would    fulfil  her   mission  as  a  link  between  the 

331  Viz.  the  Budapest  Convention  of  1S77  ^^^  the  Berhn  Declaration 
of  T878. 

332  ximes    December  27. 

196 


AUSTRO-RUSSIAN   RIVALRY 

Germanic  Latin  and  Slav  peoples,"  Servia's  interests  could  be 
reconciled  with  her  own  and  all  the  Balkan  states  could  gather 
round  her.  But  the  Danube  and  the  Save  must  at  all  costs 
remain  the  legal  boundary  between  the  Habsburg  Monarchy 
and  the  Balkans.  The  following  day  the  Skupstina  passed 
an  unanimous  resolution,  which  formulated  as  the  sole  guaran- 
tees of  Servia's  political  and  economic  independence,  the 
erection  of  Bosnia  into  a  vassal  state  under  the  Sultan's  suze- 
rainty and  the  grant  of  a  territorial  link  between  Servia  and 
Montenegro. 

It  was  only  to  be  expected  that  such  language  should  be 
ill-received  in  Vienna,  where  from  the  first  there  had  been 
an  undue  tendency  to  ignore  Servia's  vital  stake  in  all  questions 
affecting  her  Western  frontier  and  to  deny  any  moral  claim 
arising  either  from  racial  aihnity  or  from  wars  which  she 
had  waged  in  defence  of  Bosnian  interests.  Nor  was  any 
allowance  made  for  the  difficult  situation  of  a  Minister 
who  had  to  interpret  the  national  sentiment  without  chal- 
lenging that  of  a  neighbouring  power.  The  bad  impression 
was  increased  by  a  misleading  translation  of  one  of  the 
crucial  phrases,  in  which  Milovanovic  was  represented  as 
having  said  that  Austria  had  "  enslaved,"  not  "  subjected," 
the  two  provinces.  Count  Forgach,  the  Austro-Hungarian 
Minister  at  Belgrad,  was  instructed  to  make  inquiries  as  to 
the  correct  version  ;  and  the  Foreign  Minister's  reply,  that 
his  speech  had  no  aggressive  tendency,  merely  increased  the 
difficulty  of  his  position  and  inflamed  still  further  the  warlike 
feeling  at  Belgrad. 

On  January  9  the  Austrian  offer  of  T.  £2,500,000  to  Turkey 
as  indemnity  for  the  annexation,  was  accepted  by  the  Grand 
Vizier,  and,  after  a  little  delay,  endorsed  by  the  Cabinet  and 
by  Parliament.  The  former  suzerain  had  thus  been  induced 
to  relinquish  his  rights,  and  Baron  Aehrenthal  scored  an 
important  point. 

On  February  2  Mr.  Isvolsky  parried  with  the  Russian  pro- 
posal for  a  Turko-Bulgarian  settlement,  by  which  Russia 
agreed  to  liquidate  the  Turkish  war  indemnity  of  1882  and 
Bulgaria  took  up  a  loan  of  82,000,000  francs,  paying  moderate 
interest  upon  it  to  the  Russian  Treasury.  This  ingenious 
arrangement  took  Vienna  by  surprise,  and  was  not  unnaturally 
regarded  there  as  a  Pan-Slavistic  device  for  attracting  Bulgaria 
once  more  into  the  orbit  of  St.  Petersburg.  It  also  encouraged 
Servia  to  fresh    exertions,  and   on   February  5    a   credit    of 

197 


THE   ANNEXATION   OF  BOSNIA 

33,500,000  francs  for  armaments  was  adopted  by  the  Skup- 
stina.  The  war  fever  in  Belgrad  continued.  The  Servian 
press  lost  all  self-restraint,  and  also  all  sense  of  proportion. 
"  Either  Europe  must  concede  our  demands,"  v^ioie  PoUtika,^^^ 
"or  it  will  come  to  a  fearful  and  bloody  war."  The  situation 
seemed  to  be  going  from  bad  to  worse.  On  the  part  of 
Austria-Hungary  a  powerful  and  obstinate  Minister,  unwUling 
to  admit  his  faulty  tactics  ;  an  "  inspired  "  press,  suffering 
from  a  severe  attack  of  Jingo  sentiment  ;  a  network  of  secret 
intrigues  at  Court,  clerical,  military,  political,  racial,  personal ; 
on  the  part  of  Russia,  an  irresponsible  desire  to  score  off  a 
detested  rival ;  on  the  part  of  the  Western  Powers,  a  doc- 
trinaire outlook,  combined  with  irresolution  and  laisser  faire  ; 
on  the  part  of  Servia  a  complete  lack  of  balance,  a  refusal  to 
reckon  with  the  realities  of  the  situation,  an  inclination  to 
stake  the  country's  future  upon  a  gambler's  throw.  Mean- 
while, clumsily  as  he  had  managed  the  actual  step  of  annexa- 
tion, it  must  be  admitted  that  Baron  Aehrenthal  himself 
showed  very  considerable  restraint,  even  when  his  organs 
in  the  press  were  most  aggressive.  Rival  diplomats  conceded 
his  faculty  for  "  sitting  tight  "  and  awaiting  developments. 
But  now  significant  ballons  d'essai  found  their  way  into  the 
Neue  Freie  Presse  and  other  important  newspapers.  The 
question  of  an  European  mandate  to  Austria-Hungary  for 
the  occupation  of  Servia  was,  it  was  alleged,  already  under 
consideration  :  for  the  growth  of  Servian  armaments  and 
the  impossibility  of  massing  troops  on  the  Bosnian  frontier 
for  an  indefinite  period,  rendered  some  such  step  inevitable. 
Samouprava,  the  official  organ  of  the  Servian  Government, 
retorted  with  a  long  communique, '^^'^  protesting  against  the 
attacks  of  the  Vienna  and  Budapest  press,  and  treating  as  a 
gross  insult  to  Servia  the  idea  of  a  punitory  expedition,  such, 
as  is  only  made  against  wild  robber  tribes."  It  appealed  to 
the  signatory  Powers  of  Berlin,  and  roundly  declared  that 
any  such  action  would  be  "  a  brutal  and  uncalled-for  onslaught 
upon  Servia,  meant  to  provide  a  cynical  pretext  for  realizing 
the  second  stage  in  Austria-Hungary's  scheme  of  Balkan 
conquest,  according  to  which  Servia  figures  as  the  next  object 
of  plunder  after  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina."  The  new  Servian 
Coalition  Cabinet,  under  Stojan  Novakovic  (February  23) 
continued  its  preparations,  and  an  open  rupture  seemed  in 

333  February  6,  igog.  ^^*  February  22.  j» 

198 


WAR  SEEMS   INEVITABLE 

sight,  when  the  Powers,  on  the  initiative  of  France,  made 
joint  representations  at  Belgrad,  urging  Servia  not  to  insist 
on  her  territorial  demands.  As  no  change  occurred  in  the 
situation,  Count  Forgach,  acting  on  instructions  from  Vienna, 
expressed  the  hope  that  Servia  was  prepared  to  follow  the 
advice  of  the  Powers  and  change  her  attitude  on  the  Bosnian 
question.  He  added  that  until  Servia  intimated  to  Vienna  her 
desire  for  friendly  relations,  no  steps  could  be  taken  to  lay 
the  Servian  commercial  treaty  before  the  Parliaments  of  the 
Dual  Monarchy  (March  6).  Servia  left  Count  Forgach's  note 
unanswered  for  ten  days,  but  meanwhile  (March  lo)  issued  a 
Circular  Note  to  the  Powers,  disclaiming  all  desire  to  provoke 
war  but  reaffirming  its  view  that  the  Bosnian  question  is 
European.  In  short,  Servia  placed  its  case  unreservedly  in 
the  hands  of  the  Powers  as  the  competent  tribunal,  "  and 
therefore  demands  from  Austria-Hungary  no  compensation, 
territorial,  political  or  economic."  The  Servian  reply  to 
Forgach,  when  it  did  come  (March  14),  was  politely  evasive, 
and  was  regarded  in  Vienna  as  inadequate.  On  March  17 
Russia  replied  to  the  official  intimation  of  the  Austro-Turkish 
agreement  by  insisting  that  this  in  no  way  averted  the  neces- 
sity for  a  Conference  :  and  despite  the  increasing  energy  with 
which  the  three  Western  Powers  urged  pacific  counsels  in 
Belgrad,  Mr.  Isvolsky's  step  was  widely  regarded  as  materially 
increasing  the  chances  of  war.  As  stronger  pressure  was 
brought  to  bear  upon  Servia,  and  as  the  latter's  statesmen 
showed  signs  of  yielding.  Baron  Aehrenthal's  manner  seemed 
to  become  stiff er  and  more  uncompromising.  The  Austrian 
Premier,  Baron  Bienerth,  spoke  of  the  untenable  situation 
on  the  frontier  :  the  Joint  Army  was  mobiUzed  and  over 
200,000  troops  were  poured  into  the  occupied  provinces.  The 
Austrian  press  was  not  unnaturally  full  of  articles  on  military 
and  strategic  subjects.  The  outbreak  of  war  appeared  to  be 
only  a  question  of  days. 

At  this  critical  moment  (March  24  and  25)  two  long  inter- 
views with  "  an  Austro-Hungarian  Politician  in  Belgrad," 
couched  in  language  of  thinly  veiled  menace,  appeared  in  the 
Neue  Freie  Presse.  Both  bore  many  signs  of  their  origin  in 
the  Belgrad  Legation,  and  supplied  the  first  public  clue  to  the 
campaign  of  calumny  and  forgery  associated  with  the  names 
of  Vasic  and  Swientochowski.  In  the  first  a  reference  was 
made  to  Servia's  intrigues  in  Budapest  and  to  her  "  suspicious 
connexions  with  the  Serbo-Croat  CoaUtion,  whose  intimacy 

199 


THE  ANNEXATION   OF   BOSNIA 

is  still  by  no  means  known  in  its  entirety."  Servian  money, 
it  was  alleged,  was  working  in  Laibach  and  Prague.  In  the 
second  it  was  made  clear  that  the  Monarchy  would  not  be 
satisfied  with  "  a  half-success,"  and  that  Servia's  "  Pater 
Peccavi  "  {sic)  must  be  said  direct  to  Vienna,  not  through 
any  intermediary. 

In  the  same  number  as  the  first  of  these  interviews  there 
appeared  an  article  entitled  "  Austria-Hungary  and  Servia," 
from  the  pen  of  Dr.  Henry  Friedjung,  the  well-known  Austrian 
historian,  written  in  a  most  uncompromising  style  and  full 
of  the  gravest  imputations  against  the  Servian  Government 
and  dynasty  and  their  alleged  accomplices  among  the  leading 
politicians  of  Croatia.  Based  as  it  was  upon  documentary 
evidence  which  could  only  have  been  supplied  by  the  Ballplatz 
at  its  chief's  express  orders,  the  article  naturally  made  a  deep 
impression  upon  the  public  for  which  it  was  intended,  and 
was  regarded  in  diplomatic  circles  as  indicating  the  lines  upon 
which  Baron  Aehrenthal  proposed  to  justify  the  impending 
occupation  of  Servia.  As  a  matter  of  fact  it  had  been  intended 
as  merely  the  first  of  a  series  of  articles,  in  which  a  long  array 
of  original  documents  should  have  proved  the  aggressive 
purpose  and  scandalous  intrigues  of  the  Servian  Government, 
thus  fatally  compromising  it  in  the  eyes  of  Europe.  Two 
days  previously  similar  charges  had  appeared  in  the  Reichspost, 
the  well-known  organ  of  the  Christian  Socialist  Party  in  Vienna. 

On  the  very  day  when  this  article  was  published,  two  events 
occurred  which  transformed  the  international  situation. 
Crown  Prince  George,  who  had  been  the  life  and  soul  of  the 
war  party  in  Servia,  abdicated  his  right  to  the  Throne,  in 
consequence  of  the  widespread  rumours  which  charged  him 
with  having  mortally  injured  his  valet  in  a  fit  of  passion. 
The  German  Ambassador  in  St.  Petersburg  asked  to  be  informed 
of  Russia's  intentions  ;  and  Mr.  Isvolsky,  faced  by  the  pros- 
pect of  Germany's  mobilization  in  aid  of  her  ally,  suddenly 
expressed  his  readiness  to  recognize  the  annexation  of  Bosnia. 
The  Servian  Government,  realizing  that  in  the  event  of  war 
Montenegro  would  be  its  only  ally,  saw  no  alternative  but  to 
submit.  On  March  27,  Servia  gave  a  definite  proof  of  pacific 
intentions  by  dismissing  the  reserves  :  and  three  days  later, 
acting  on  the  collective  advice  of  France,  Britain,  Italy  and 
Russia,  addressed  to  Austria-Hungary  a  Note,  in  which 
she  recognized  the  "  fait  accompli  created  in  Bosnia  "  as  "in 
no  way  affecting  her  rights,"  and  promised  to  abandon  the 

200 


THE  END  OF  THE  CRISIS 

attitude  of  protest  which  she  had  maintained  since  the  previous 
autumn,  to  resume  neighbourly  relations  with  the  Dual 
Monarchy,  and  to  restore  her  army  to  its  ordinary  peace  footing. 

The  international  crisis  was  thus  at  an  end,  and  on  April  9 
the  Great  Powers  intimated  at  Vienna  their  formal  recognition 
of  the  annexation.  The  last  mutterings  of  the  storm  died 
away  when  Austria-Hungary  consented  to  abrogate  Article 
XXIX  of  the  Treaty  of  Berlin  and  thus  to  remove  the  last 
trammels  upon  Montenegrin  sovereignty.  There  remained, 
however,  the  internal  crisis  in  Croatia,  which  owed  its  origin 
in  great  measure  to  what  unscrupulous  and  blundering  diplo- 
mats conceived  to  be  the  necessities  of  foreign  policy,  and 
whose  evil  influences  reacted  upon  all  the  provinces  of  the 
Slavonic  South.  So  far  as  Baron  Aehrenthal  was  concerned, 
the  hunt  for  traitors  had  ceased  to  have  an  object  on  the  day 
when  the  annexation  was  recognized.  The  real  value  of  the 
Agram  trial  had  been  calculated  for  the  period  when  the  army 
had  crossed  the  Servian  frontier,  when  the  existence  of  a  Pan- 
Serb  conspiracy  would  justify  the  proclamation  of  martial 
law  in  Croatia,  and  when  the  publication  of  highly  compromis- 
ing documents  would  destroy  all  sympathy  in  Europe  for 
"  the  nest  of  bandits  "  in  Belgrad.  But  the  evil  spirits  which 
he  had  invoked  could  not  be  so  easily  dispelled.  Though 
Baron  Aehrenthal's  motive  for  continuing  the  trial  was  now 
gone,  the  motives  of  the  Hungarian  Government  and  of 
Baron  Ranch  were  more  pressing  than  ever.  Persecution, 
instead  of  destroying,  seemed  to  be  cementing  Croato-Serb 
unity  and  rallying  all  Croatia  against  Magyar  pretensions. 
The  Hungarian  Coalition,  now  tottering  to  its  fall,  was  more 
than  ever  conscious  that  Croatia  formed  the  Achilles'  heel 
of  Hungary,  more  than  ever  determined  to  break  the  power 
of  the  rival  Coalition  in  Croatia.  Baron  Ranch,  furious  at 
his  own  failure  and  hopelessly  compromised  by  his  clumsy 
choice  of  tools,  saw  his  sole  hope  of  continuance  in  office  in 
the  triumph  of  the  Magyar  cause.  The  High  Treason  trial, 
with  all  its  attendant  scandals,  was  therefore  allowed  to  con- 
tinue at  Agram  :  indeed,  its  "  abolition,"  after  it  had  attained 
such  notoriety,  would  have  constituted  a  far  greater  scandal 
and  would  have  aroused  the  very  suspicions  which  it  was 
desired  to  avert. 

Had  Dr.  Friedjung's  article  never  appeared,  the  true  nature 
of  the  conspiracy  against  Croatia  might  never  have  trans- 
pired :    and  the  whole  affair  might  have  flickered  out  with 

201 


THE   ANNEXATION   OF   BOSNIA 

a  grave  miscarriage  of  justice  in  a  Croatian  court,  speedily 
to  be  forgotten  by  the  outside  world.  But  the  grave  nature 
of  the  charges,  the  deservedly  high  reputation  of  their  author 
as  a  historian  and  as  a  man  of  honour,  the  political  interests 
involved,  above  all  the  patent  fact  that  documents  and  infor- 
mation alike  had  been  placed  at  the  historian's  disposal  by 
the  Foreign  Office  itself — all  this  would  have  made  it  impossible 
for  the  matter  to  be  hushed  up,  even  if  Ranch's  official  press 
and  his  unofficial  supporters  in  the  Frank  party  had  not  made 
it  the  signal  for  a  fresh  campaign  of  calumny.  The  Coalition 
leaders  realized,  perhaps  for  the  first  time,  the  full  strength 
of  the  forces  arrayed  against  them,  and  for  that  very  reason 
felt  that  they  must  fight  to  the  bitter  end. 

Dr.  Friedjung's  article,  leading  as  it  did  to  the  famous 
trial  of  December,  1909,  and  to  the  exposure  of  Count 
Aehrenthal's  diplomatic  methods,  may  fairly  be  described 
as  one  of  the  most  important  landmarks  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  Southern  Slav  question  ;  and  therefore  I  make 
no  apology  for  analysing  it  in  considerable  detail. 

The  article  begins  by  describing  Servia's  insolent  attitude 
towards  the  Dual  Monarchy  as  unparalleled  in  modern  history, 
and  as  due  to  disappointment  at  the  failure  of  long  years  of 
intrigue  in  Bosnia.  In  view  of  the  outcry  raised  in  Belgrad, 
it  is  high  time  to  expose  the  conspiracy  "  against  us,"  which 
began  with  the  murder  of  King  Alexander  in  June,  1903. 
The  new  King  had  grown  up  in  an  atmosphere  of  plots  and 
had  pledged  himself  in  writing  to  the  leader  of  the  murderous 
gang.  This  document,  quoted  as  authentic  by  Dr.  Fried] ung, 
ran  as  follows  :  "I,  Prince  Peter  Karageorgevitch,  swear 
by  my  honour,  that  so  long  as  I  and  my  heirs  are  on  the  Servian 
throne,  the  conspirators  and  their  heirs  shall  not  only  not 
be  proceeded  against  before  the  law,  but  rather  that  the  highest 
positions  in  the  country  shall  be  assured  to  them."  The 
successful  conspirators  aimed  at  "  erecting  a  Great  Servian 
Empire  on  the  ruins  of  Austrian  and  Turkish  rule,"  and  in 
1905  conceived  the  idea  of  helping  the  Magyar  Party  of  Inde- 
pendence in  the  struggle  for  an  independent  Hungary.  Bosnia 
was  to  be  the  Servian  share  of  the  spoils.  "  Hence  from 
Belgrad  was  constituted  the  Serbo-Croatian  Coalition,  which 
was  intended  as  a  link  between  the  aspirations  for  the  separa- 
tion of  Hungary  and  of  Bosnia  from  the  Habsburg  Monarchy. 
These  fantasies  were  dissipated,  it  is  true,  in  consequence  of 
the  pact  concluded  by  the  Part}^  of  Independence  in  April, 

202 


DR.   FRIED  JUNG'S  ARTICLE 

1906,  with  the  Emperor  Francis  Joseph  ;  but  there  remained 
one  welcome  result  for  the  Pan-Serb  leaders.  For  the  kernel 
of  the  Serbo-Croatian  Coalition,  the  Serb  Independent  Party, 
remained  in  permanent  connexion  with  Belgrad,  took  its 
watchword  from  there  ;  and  large  presents  of  money  to  influ- 
ential Serbs  in  South  Hungary  and  Croatia  nourished  the 
alliance  thus  concluded."  As  a  proof  of  this  grave  charge, 
Dr.  Friedjung  adduces  a  confidential  Report,  written  in  1907 
by  Dr.  Spalajkovic,  under-secretary  in  the  Servian  Foreign 
Office,  to  his  chief,  describing  his  meeting  with  a  certain  Coali- 
tion deputy  ^^  at  Semlin.  "  The  noble  Serb  from  South  Hun- 
gary "  demanded  50,000  francs,  but  finally,  in  return  for  12,000 
in  cash,  agreed  to  place  five  newspapers  of  the  Serb  Inde- 
pendent party  at  the  disposal  of  the  Servian  Government ! 
The  report  contained  the  further  statement  that  Supilo  had 
advised  the  Servian  Premier,  Dr.  Pasic,  to  spend  his  summer 
holiday  on  the  Croatian  coast,  so  as  to  be  in  touch  with  "  poli- 
tical friends."  "  Should  the  sectional  chief  or  the  Servian 
Government  dispute  any  of  these  assertions,  they  would  be 
supplied  with  further  details,  and  the  names  of  bribed  deputies 
could  be  given,  as  also  the  sums  supplied  to  them  out  of 
the  money  of  the  Servian  state," 

One  of  the  chief  instruments  of  the  conspiracy  is  the  Club 
Slovenski  Jug  ^^^  in  Belgrad,  whose  dealings  with  bombs  and 
dynamite  were  partially  exposed  at  the  Cetinje  Treason  trial. 
The  bombs  seized  in  Montenegro  are  known  to  have  been 
manufactured  in  the  Servian  arsenal  of  Kragujevac,  under 
the  special  supervision  of  Nenadovic,  a  relative  of  King  Peter  ; 
and  Prince  Nicholas  at  any  rate  believed  his  grandson  George 
of  Servia  to  be  privy  to  the  plot  for  removing  a  rival  Serb 
dynasty.  A  letter  of  Spalajkovic  to  a  Montenegrin  friend 
is  then  cited,  lamenting  the  suspicion  with  which  Dr.  Pasic 
is  regarded  in  Cetinje  ;  and  that  statesman's  share  in  the  plot 
against  Montenegro  is  assumed  to  be  one  of  the  main  causes 
of  friction  between  the  two  Serb  states. 

"  Should  it  be  ordained,"  continues  Dr.  Friedjung,  "  that 
the  Austrian  arms  shall  thoroughly  purge  Belgrad  of  the  nest 
of  conspirators  and  help  the  healthy  elements  of  the  Servian 
people  to  triumph,  this  would  be  a  civilizing  deed  of  great 

^2*  Dr.  Friedjung  suppressed  the  name,  because  he  did  not  wish 
to  supply  proofs  for  the  Agram  trial.     See  infra,  p.  225. 
3'«  See  pp.  167-170. 

203 


THE  ANNEXATION   OF  BOSNIA 

value — not  merely  an  advantage  for  the  Austro-Hungarian 
Monarchy,  but  also  the  liberation  of  a  whole  people  from  a 
company  of  conspirators  divided  among  themselves  and  sowing 
evil  on  every  hand,  while  they  plunder  the  Servian  state  during 
the  purchase  of  armaments  and  the  preparations  for  war."  ^^^ 
"  Deep,  however,  as  is  the  rottenness  of  the  Servian  state,  it 
is  not  the  office  of  a  Great  Power  to  act  as  controller  of  morals 
(Sittenpolizei)  on  her  frontiers.  But  it  is  her  duty  to  assure 
the  safety  of  her  own  frontiers." 

The  article  then  deals  with  the  Slovenski  Jug's  agitation 
in  Bosnia  and  the  "  important  material  "  supplied  by  one  of 
its  emissaries  to  the  Austro-Hungarian  Government  in  August, 
1908.338  "  It  is  a  sorry  trade  which  this  Nastic  pursued,  and 
one  can  only  handle  the  fellow  with  gloves,  or  better  with  the 
tongs.  He  makes  no  secret  of  the  fact  that  the  Montenegrin 
Government  paid  money  for  his  treachery  towards  his  com- 
rades ;  and  if  he  denies  having  likewise  received  payment 
from  the  Ban  of  Croatia,  let  him  who  will,  believe  this.  But 
that  is  a  matter  of  indifference  in  judging  the  facts."  Dr. 
Fried jung  then  treats  the  existence  of  the  "  Revolutionary 
Statute  "  {see  p.  169)  in  Milan  Pribicevic's  own  handwriting, 
as  a  conclusive  proof  of  the  conspiracy  ;  but  while  emphasizing 
the  project  of  "  a  league  of  Southern  Slav  Republics,"  he 
seems  completely  to  forget  that  he  is  thereby  demolishing 
the  theory  that  the  Servian  dynasty  was  at  the  head  of  the 
movement.  He  condemns  the  onesided  attacks  made  at 
the  Agram  trial  "  upon  the  Serb  nationality  as  such,"  and 
admits  that  a  perusal  of  the  indictment  suggests  that  Ranch's 
government  is  using  its  opportunity  "  to  strike  a  deadly  blow 
at  the  Coalition."  But  while  not  blind  to  the  evil  side  of  the 
trial,  he  holds  that  stern  measures  were  necessary,  in  order 
to  sever  the  threads  with  Belgrad.  He  gives  further  details 
of  the  Pan-Serb  propaganda  in  Bosnia,  and  of  the  control 
exercised  by  Spalajkovic  over  the  Bosnian  press  ;  and  he 
asserts  that  the  accounts  of  Slovenski  Jug  show  15,000  francs 
to  have  been  sent  from  Belgrad  during  the  communal  elections 
at  Sarajevo  in  1908. 

The  remainder  of  the  article  deals  with  an  alleged  league 
between  the  Young  Turk  Committee  and  the  Slovenski  Jug, 


33*  This  and  othw  passages  show  signs  of  another  hand. 
33^  In  other  words,  after  the  publication  of  Finale  and  during  his 
visit  to  Agram  with  Sporcic. 

204 


INTRIGUES   OF  THE  BALLPLATZ 

for  the  contingency  of  war  with  Austria-Hungary.  When  the 
Austro-Hungarian  Consul-General  in  Salonica  was  instructed 
to  inform  the  Committee  of  the  intention  to  grant  a  constitu- 
tion to  Bosnia,  he  received  "  the  deeply  insulting  answer, 
that  Austro-Hungary  did  not  possess  the  right,  .  .  .  which 
lay  solely  in  the  hands  of  the  lawful  sovereign  the  Sultan." 
This  incident  and  the  danger  of  Bosnian  deputies  appearing 
in  Stambul,  combined  with  the  Pan-Serb  propaganda  to 
render  the  annexation  inevitable,  and  forced  Baron  Aehrenthal 
to  place  Turkey  before  a  fait  accompli.  Before  acting,  how- 
ever, he  broached  the  matter  with  Russia  and  Italy,  offering 
to  concede  to  the  former  the  free  passage  of  the  Dardanelles  ; 
and  at  his  meeting  with  Mr.  Isvolsky  in  Buchlau  (September  15, 
igo8)  it  had  been  arranged  to  the  two  statesmen's  mutual 
satisfaction.  The  attitude  of  the  Viennese  Cabinet  was  that 
of  a  rocher  de  bronze,  against  which  "  the  loosely-knit  Servian 
state  "  could  easily  be  shattered. 

This  singular  article,  from  the  pen  of  the  foremost  Austrian 
historian,  appeared  at  a  moment  when,  in  the  words  of  the 
leading  article, ^^a  "  the  decision  as  to  war  and  peace  is  on 
the  razor's  edge,"  and  when,  "  unless  to-morrow  or  at  latest 
on  the  day  after,"  Servia  abandons  her  mad  pretensions, 
"  disaster  can  hardly  be  averted."  The  real  significance  of 
the  article,  however,  lies  not  so  much  in  its  author's  high 
reputation  as  in  the  source  from  which  he  drew  his  documents 
and  other  information.  It  revealed  the  fact  that  the  collec- 
tion of  material  compromising  to  Servia  formed  a  definite 
part  of  the  plan  of  campaign  adopted  by  the  Ballplatz.  It 
revealed  the  further  fact  that  the  theft  of  important  documents 
formed  part  of  the  business  of  Austro-Hungarian  diplomats. 
How  many  scandalous  secrets  lay  behind  these  two  facts,  the 
future  course  of  events  was  to  reveal. 

On  March  27,  Mr.  Tuskan  and  Dr.  Medakovic,  in  the  name 
of  the  Croato-Serb  Coalition,  wired  to  the  Neue  Freie  Presse, 
declaring  all  Dr.  Friedjung's  charges  against  the  Coalition 
to  be  "  pure  inventions,"  and  summoning  him  to  name  the 
guilty  deputies,  so  ^  that  the  matter  might  be  laid  before  a 
court  of  law.  The  historian,  in  a  brief  reply,  declined  to  be 
more  explicit  and  encouraged  them  to  bring  the  threatened 
action,  since  he  was  always  ready  to  produce  his  proofs.  His 
reputation,  he  added,  proved  that  he  could  "  distinguish 
genuine  documents  and  historical  sources  from  false  ones," 
33»  Neue  Freie  Presse,  March  25,  1909. 
205 


THE   ANNEXATION   OF   BOSNIA 

and  that  in  testing  facts  he  was  "  not  swayed  by  political 
passion  or  personal  spite." 

The  Reichspost,  whose  sources  of  information  were  the 
same  as  Dr.  Friedjimg's,  had  already  published  the  names  of 
the  three  deputies  alluded  to  in  the  Spalajkovic  report ;  and 
these  three,  Messrs.  Supilo,  Pribicevic  and  Lukinic,  lost  little 
time  in  suing  the  editor  for  libel.  The  other  chief  incriminated 
person,  Dr.  Spalajkovic,  as  a  high  official  in  the  Servian  Foreign 
Office,  had  naturally  been  tongue-tied  so  long  as  the  crisis 
lasted  :  and  it  was  not  until  after  the  Montenegrin  Note  (April 
9)  and  the  formal  recognition  by  the  Powers  (April  10)  that 
he  was  in  a  position  to  vindicate  himself  against  Dr.  Friedjung's 
charges.  On  April  10,  however,  he  published  an  answer  in 
the  Neue  Freie  Presse,  repudiating  in  the  most  explicit  and 
detailed  manner  all  the  charges  levelled  against  him  by  Dr. 
Fried]  ung.  Not  merely  did  he  deny  the  very  existence  of 
the  alleged  Report,  but  he  denied  having  ever  written  any 
of  the  phrases  ascribed  to  him  or  having  ever  met  any  member 
of  the  Croato-Serb  Coalition.  But  a  denial,  however  emphatic, 
would  only  convince  his  own  friends  and  leave  his  enemies 
to  believe  the  opposite.  "  My  '  No  '  balances  his  '  Yes  '  ;  one 
syllable,  the  other."  Hence  the  sole  remedy  for  this  unsatis- 
factory position  is  a  court  conducted  by  "scientific  experts  " 
(sachkundige  Experte), 

Dr.  Friedjung's  rejoinder,  printed  in  the  same  issue  of  the 
Neue  Freie  Presse,  declines  this  proposal,  on  the  ground  that 
legal  proceedings  are  already  pending,  and  that  it  would  be 
too  much  to  expect  him  to  submit  to  two  tribunals.  Though 
it  might  be  safer  to  consent  to  arbitration,  he  prefers  to  go 
before  a  jury.  As  for  Dr.  Spalajkovic's  "  No,"  he  somewhat 
arrogantly  concludes,  "it  is  an  error  to  suppose  that  any 
critical  reader  would  assign  the  same  weight  "  to  the 
words  of  one  who  was  "  the  soul  of  the  war  party  against 
Austria-Hungary "  and  to  "  the  historian  whose  quest  is 
truth."  Dr.  Friedjung's  colleagues  may  regret  the  tone  of 
this  reply  and  his  refusal  to  submit  to  an  inquiry  by  a  court 
of  impartial  foreign  savants.  But  it  is  quite  impossible  to 
blame  him  for  deciding  in  favour  of  an  ordinary  trial.  Dr. 
Spalajkovic's  delay — inevitable  though  it  may  have  been — 
had  left  the  choice  of  tactics  entirely  in  the  hands  of  the 
Coalition  leaders  ;  and  they  had  adopted  the  only  course  open 
to  them,  namely  a  libel  action  before  the  Viennese  courts.  Be- 
fore the  Servian  Under-Secretary  intervened,  they  had  already 

206 


THE   VERDICT   IN   THE   AGRAM   TRIAL 

entrusted  Dr.  Harpner,  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  Austrian 
Bar,  with  the  conduct  of  their  case.  In  these  circumstances 
Dr.  Friedjung's  attitude  was  most  natural.  His  researches 
in  the  Foreign  Office  had  led  him  to  regard  Dr.  Spalajkovic 
as  the  ringleader  in  a  dangerous  conspiracy  for  the  overthrow 
of  Austrian  rule  among  the  Southern  Slavs  ;  and  so  far  from 
showing  him  any  consideration,  he  hoped  to  ruin  his  political 
career.  Dr.  Spalajkovid  thus  had  no  alternative  but  to  await 
the  issue  of  the  libel  action,  and  to  watch  his  opportunity  for 
intervening. 

The  date  of  Dr.  Friedjung's  trial  was  fixed  for  the  autumn, 
but  for  various  reasons  it  was  not  till  December  that  the  pro- 
ceedings actually  opened.  By  that  time  the  whole  subject 
had  become  highly  distasteful  to  Baron,  now  Count,  Aehrenthal 
and  his  admirers  ;  and  various  efforts  were  made  to  secure 
a  settlement.  But  on  the  one  hand.  Dr.  Friedjung,  firmly 
convinced  that  he  was  fighting  in  a  righteous  cause,  felt  his 
reputation  as  a  historian  to  be  at  stake  :  on  the  other  hand, 
the  Coalition  was  determined  to  put  an  end  to  the  campaign 
of  calumny  directed  against  it,  and  could  have  accepted  no 
compromise  which  left  the  falsity  of  the  documents  in  doubt. 

Count  Aehrenthal,  whose  estimate  of  journalists  and  pub- 
licists as  a  class  is  said  to  be  low,  found  that  he  must  pay 
dearly  for  having  entrusted  an  eminent  historian  with  the 
press  onslaught  upon  Servia.  An  ordinary  scribbler  might 
perhaps  have  been  "  squared  "  ;  a  man  of  Dr.  Friedjung's 
calibre  was  immovable  in  matters  which  concerned  his  personal 
honour. 

Meanwhile  the  High  Treason  trial  dragged  on  at  Agram 
till  at  length,  after  the  proceedings  had  already  lasted  over 
150  days,  the  verdict  was  announced  on  October  5,  1909. 
Adam  and  Valerian  Pribicevic  were  sentenced  to  twelve  years' 
imprisonment,  Pero  Bekic  to  eight  years,  three  others  to 
seven  years  each,  six  others  to  six  years  each,  and  finally 
nineteen  others  to  five  years.  The  twenty -two  other  prisoners 
were  acquitted.  The  total  sentences  imposed  amounted  to 
184  years  ! 

The  verdict  was  worthy  of  such  a  trial :  and  it  is  sufficient 
to  point  out  two  of  its  most  flagrant  absurdities,  (i)  The 
accused  were  found  guilty  of  conspiring  to  form  a  Pan-Serb 
state  under  the  sceptre  of  King  Peter,  and  the  brothers  Pri- 
bicevic of  direct  relations  with  the  revolutionary  society  in 
Belgrad.     Yet  the  Court  affirmed  with  special  emphasis,  that 

207 


THE   ANNEXATION   OF   BOSNIA 

it  had  "  relied  upon  the  evidence  of  the  so-called  Crown  witness 
Nastic  only  in  so  far  as  ...  it  was  supported  by  other  unex- 
ceptionable evidence  or  documentary  proofs.  The  rest  of 
his  evidence  the  Court  has  rejected  as  irrelevant."  In  other 
words,  the  only  witness  who  even  pretended  to  prove  a  direct 
connexion  of  the  prisoners  with  Belgrad,  is  put  on  one  side,  and 
yet  that  connexion  is  treated  as  proved  !  (2)  If  the  prisoners' 
guilt  was  so  clearly  established,  sentence  of  death  was  the 
only  adequate  punishment  for  so  grave  a  charge  as  treason 
and  revolutionary  intrigue.  In  the  case  of  conspiracy  against 
the  State  there  can  be  no  extenuating  circumstances — at  least 
in  a  country  where  High  Treason  has  not  yet  been  consigned 
to  the  lumber-room  of  mediaeval  phrases.  Either  they  are 
guilty,  in  which  case  the  full  severity  of  the  law  should  be 
imposed  :  or  they  are  innocent,  in  which  case  they  should  be 
acquitted.  Sentences  of  five  or  six  years'  imprisonment  for 
such  an  offence  are  obviously  inadequate,  except  as  the  result 
of  royal  clemency.  It  is  always  open  to  the  Sovereign  to 
commute  the  death  sentence,  and  there  was  no  reason  why 
this  should  not  have  been  done  in  the  case  of  the  Serb  prisoners. 

Thus  ended  one  of  the  most  scandalous  trials  of  modern 
times,  one  which  in  its  own  country  rivalled  even  the  Dreyfus 
trial  for  the  fierceness  of  the  party  passion  which  it  aroused. 
Long  before  its  close,  it  had  become  obvious  to  all  impartial 
observers  that  a  gross  travesty  of  justice  was  being  committed. 

Dr.  Hinkovic  and  his  colleagues,  who  had  already  entered 
countless  pleas  of  nullity  against  the  rulings  of  the  Court, 
lodged  an  appeal  against  the  verdict ;  and  the  monster  case 
was  referred  to  the  Septemviral  Court.  The  next  scene  of 
the  Croatian  drama  was  to  be  enacted  before  a  Viennese  jury  ; 
upon  its  issue  depended  the  fate  of  the  Ranch  regime. 


208 


CHAPTER    X 

The  Friedjung  Trial  ^*" 

"  My  defence  takes  the  form  of  a  chapter  in  the  history  of  the  Balkan 
problem." — Dr.  Friedjung,  December  g,   1909. 

I.  Dr.  Friedjung's  Defence  (p.  211) — II.  Dr.  Friedjung's  "  Docu- 
ments "  (p.  216) — III.  The  Evidence  of  Dr.  Funder  (p.  228) — 
IV.  The  Reichspost  Documents  (p.  230) — V.  The  Evidence  of 
Baron  Chlumecky  (p.  235) — VI.  The  Attitude  of  the  Court  (p. 
240) — VII.  The  Evidence  of  Professor  Markovic  (p.  245) — VIII. 
The  Evidence  of  Professor  Masaryk  (p.  250) — IX.  The  Evidence 
of  Father  Zagorac  (p.  255) — X.  Dr.  Polit  and  the  Servian  Wit- 
nesses (p.  259) — XI.  The  Evidence  of  Dr.  Spalajkovic  (p.  263) — 
XII.  CoaUtion  Witnesses   (p.   271) — XIII.  Compromise   (p.   277). 

ON  December  9  the  long-expected  trial  opened  before  a 
Viennese  jury.  Three  separate  actions  had  been 
brought  :  by  the  fifty-two  deputies  of  the  Croato-Serb  Coali- 
tion against  Dr.  Friedjung  ;  by  Mr.  Supilo  alone  against  Dr. 
Friedjung ;  and  by  Messrs.  Supilo  Pribicevic  and  Lukinic 
against  the  editor  of  the  Reichspost ;  but  being  based  in  each 
case  upon  the  same  material,  all  three  charges  were  by  common 
consent  made  the  subject  of  a  single  trial. 

The  proceedings  were  conducted  before  a  court  of  three 
judges,  their  president  being  Dr.  Wach,  a  counsellor  of  the 
Supreme  Court  (Oberlandesgerichtsrat) .  Two  of  the  leading 
members  of  the  Austrian  Bar  held  briefs  for  the  contending 
parties  :  Dr.  Edmund  Benedikt  for  the  defence,  Dr.  Harpner 
for  the  prosecution.  Of  the  two  defendants,  Mr.  Ambros 
was  a  mere  figurehead,  behind  whom  stood  the  chief  editor, 
Dr.  Friedrich  Funder,  and  the  Christian  Socialist  party,  whose 
chief  organ  the  Reichspost  is. 

2*"  All  quotations  in  this  chapter  are  from  the  very  full  reports  of  the 
trial  given  in  the  Neue  Freie  Presse.  I  was  myself  present  at  the  pro- 
ceedings on  the  seventh  and  following  days  (six  days  in  all)  and  was 
thus  enabled  on  certain  points  to  form  my  own  impressions,  being  per- 
sonally acquainted  with  the  defendants,  a  number  of  the  plaintiffs  and 
even  several  of  the  witnesses. 

S.S.Q.  209  P 


THE   FRIEDJUNG  TRIAL 

The  figure  of  Dr.  Fried]  ung  deserves  very  different  treat- 
ment. Born  in  185 1  of  Jewish  parents  in  a  small  Mora- 
vian town,  he  was  educated  in  Vienna  and  Prague  and 
in  1873  became  professor  of  history  at  the  Vienna 
Academy  of  Commerce.  His  first  book  was  an  admirable 
monograph  on  the  Emperor  Charles  IV  and  his  influence 
upon  the  culture  of  Mediaeval  Bohemia.  In  1877,  however, 
he  entered  the  political  arena  with  a  pamphlet  on  "  The  Com- 
promise with  Austria."  The  sharp  criticisms  of  the  Taaffe 
Cabinet  which  this  book  contained,  led  to  its  author's  dis- 
missal from  his  post  ;  the  Minister  of  Education  was  unjust 
enough  to  refuse  a  disciplinary  inquiry.  Young  Fried]  ung 
joined  the  staff  of  the  Deutsche  Zeitung,  the  leading  German 
National  organ  of  those  days,  and  was  for  many  years  an 
active  exponent  of  what  are  now  known  as  Pan-German 
doctrines. 3*1  Indeed  the  famous  Linz  Programme  of  1885, 
containing  the  political  credo  of  the  German  extremists  in 
Austria,  was  from  his  pen.  Amid  all  his  activity  as  a  journalist, 
he  still  found  time  for  historical  research  ;  but  time  had  already 
mellowed  his  political  opinions,  when  in  1896  he  published  a 
larger  work  on  The  Struggle  for  the  Supremacy  in  Germany. 
With  him  as  with  so  many  of  his  contemporaries  the  Pan- 
German  gradually  gave  place  to  the  Austrian  patriot.  The 
old  conception  of  Austria  as  a  German  state  fought  with  the 
growing  perception  of  Austria's  great  mission  as  a  Volkerbund  ^^^ 
a  league  of  races  bound  together  by  indissoluble  ties  of  necessity 
and  interest.  This  new  Austrian  patriotism — marred,  it  is 
true,  at  times  by  something  of  the  old  German-Austrian  narrow- 
ness— is  the  leitmotif  of  all  his  books,  alike  of  his  brilliant 
study  of  Austro-Prussian  rivalry,  and  of  the  later  volumes 
dealing  with  Austrian  Policy ;  during  the  Crimean  War  and 
Austria  since  1848.^^3  'The  broad  perspective  and  sober  judg- 
ment which  characterise  all  his  writings,  won  him  general 
recognition  alike  in  Austria  and  in  Germany,  and  a  lucid  and 
attractive  style  rendered  them  accessible  to  a  wide  pubhc. 

2*^  He  was  also  for  many  years  correspondent  of  the  Munich  Allge- 
meine  Zeitung,  the  Grazer  Tagespost  and  the  Vossische  Zeitung  of 
Berlin,  to  which  he  still  frequently  contributes. 

2*2  See  article  on  Dr.  Friedj  ung,  by  Dr.  A.  Bettelheim,  in  Oesterreichische 
Rundschau,   January,   15,   191 1. 

3"  Dr.  Friedj  ung  has  also  shown  himself  to  be  a  very  able  military 
critic,  notably  in  his  accounts  of  Koniggratz,  Custozza  and  the  seafight 
off  Lissa.  He  edited  the  Papers  of^Benedek,  the  unfortunate  commander 
of  the  Austrian  Army  in  the  war  of  1866. 

210 


DR.   FRIEDJUNG'S   DEFENCE 

Despite  his  acknowledged  rank  as  the  most  brilliant  his- 
torian of  modern  Austria,  Dr.  Fried] ung  had  been  for  years 
consistently  ignored  by  the  Neue  Freie  Presse,'^^'^  the  leading 
German  paper  of  the  Monarchy  ;  and  hence  the  publication 
of  his  article  by  that  journal  gave  rise  to  much  comment. 
There  is  good  reason  to  believe  that  Baron  Aehrenthal,  who 
had  during  the  summer  of  1908  entered  into  friendly  relations 
with  the  chief  editor  and  proprietor  of  the  Neue  Freie  Presse 
(at  about  the  same  time  when  he  first  made  Dr.  Friedjung's 
acquaintance)  arranged  the  publication  of  the  manuscript  with- 
out ever  consulting  its  author. ^^^  At  the  trial  now  opening 
it  was  not  merely  the  reputation  of  Dr.  Fried]  ung  that  was 
on  trial,  but  no  less  a  personage  than  Count  Aehrenthal  and 
his  diplomatic  methods.  Despite  the  transparent  disclaimers 
of  the  Fremdenhlatt  and  other  official  organs,  the  whole  atmo- 
sphere of  the  case  was  purely  political,  and  an  issue  of  European 
importance  was  at  stake. 

I.    Dr.  Friedjung's  Defence. 

Almost  the  entire  course  of  the  first  day's  proceedings  was 
occupied  by  Dr.  Friedjung's  speech  in  his  own  defence.  It 
was  couched  in  the  same  grandiloquent  strain  as  the  incrimi- 
nated article,  and  no  one  who  reads  it  could  pretend  that  it 
was  worthy  of  the  gifted  author  of  Der  Kampf  um  die  Vor- 
herrschaft.  His  article,  he  said,  was  written  at  a  moment 
when  the  Emperor  "  called  to  arms  thousands  and  ten  thou- 
sands of  our  brothers  and  sons,"  and  reflected  the  feelings  of 
that  exciting  time.  Not  being  in  a  position  to  defend  his 
fatherland  sword  in  hand,  he  conceived  it  to  be  his  plain  duty 
as  a  historian  and  publicist,  to  place  his  pen  at  the  service 
of  Austria,  and  in  so  doing  he  was  only  continuing  his  lifework 
of  strengthening  the  consciousness  of  his  fellow-citizens,  by 
an  interpretation  of  their  past  history. 

The  main  portion  of  the  article  was  aimed  at  a  foreign  foe, 
with  whom  at  the  moment  war  seemed  to  be  imminent  ;  its 
purpose  was  to  expose  the  threads  of  Pan-Serb  conspiracy, 
and  thus  to   demonstrate  the  necessity  of  the   annexation. 

2**  As  the  main  journalistic  bulwark  of  the  Dual  System,  and  organ  of 
the  Jewish  Liberals,  it  regarded  the  Pan-Germans  with  hostility,  partly 
owing  to  their  anti-Semite  tinge. 

^*5  It  is  said  that  when  the  sudden  change  from  war  to  peace  occurred 
(March  24),  an  effort  was  made  at  the  last  moment  to  withdraw  the 
article,  but  that  it  was  already  too  late. 

211 


THE   FRTEDJUNG  TRIAL 

Only  in  passing  did  it  deal  a  blow  at  certain  parties  and 
politicians  of  Transleithania. 

Dr.  Fried]  ung  went  on  to  admit  that  the  Croats  and  Serbs 
of  the  Monarchy  are  at  bottom  loyally  devoted  to  the  State 
and  to  the  dynasty,  and  impervious  to  the  intrigues  of  Belgrad, 
and  that  these  loyal  sentiments  explain  the  unusual  phenome- 
non of  a  whole  party  of  fifty-two  members  appearing  as  plain- 
tiffs on  the  present  occasion.  But  his  opponents  must  be 
divided  into  two  very  unequal  halves — on  the  one  hand  certain 
individuals  whom  he  would  name  and  would  prove  guilty  of 
treasonable  practices  and  the  acceptance  of  foreign  bribes, 
and  on  the  other  hand  the  great  majority  of  the  party,  whose 
honour  was  in  no  way  affected  by  these  charges  and  who  only 
took  action  "  for  the  honour  of  the  flag."  He  rejoiced  to 
think  that  the  whole  Southern  Slav  question  had  thus  been 
raised,  and  that  the  result  of  the  trial  would  be  to  effect  "  a 
separation  between  the  loyal  elements  and  certain  political 
desperadoes." 

Dr.  Fried] ung  then  indulged  in  a  sharp  attack  upon  Dr. 
Tuskan  and  Mr.  Francis  Supilo,  the  president  and  the  real 
leader  of  the  Coalition,  whom  he  charged  with  "  an  incom- 
prehensible, a  pitiless  hatred  towards  our  Austrian  fatherland." 
The  best  proof  of  this  was  supplied  by  the  words  uttered  by 
the  former  during  a  heated  debate  in  the  Croatian  Diet — 
November  30,  1905 — that  he  was  ready  to  go  to  war  with  gun 
in  hand  and  fire  upon  Vienna.  And  here,  after  another 
patriotic  outburst  in  defence  of  "  this  glorious  city,"  "  this 
ancient  seat  of  culture  and  education,"  "  against  foreign 
brutality,"  Dr.  Fried] ung  mildly  affirmed  that  he  had  no  idea 
of  urging  the  ]ury  to  form  straight  away  a  damning  opinion 
of  his  opponents.  Alas  !  the  "  Don't  put  him  under  the 
pump  "  argument  in  the  mouth  of  the  Austrian  Froude  ! 

Far  worse,  however,  was  the  famous  speech  delivered  by 
Supilo  on  February  25,  1907,  in  which  he  spoke  as  follows  : — 
"  If  we  are  conscious  that  our  task  consists  in  forming  a  wall 
of  defence  for  the  Balkans  against  the  foreigner,  and  not  a 
bridge  for  his  advance,  then,  gentlemen,  we  must  before  all 
reckon  with  our  brethren  the  Serbs."  Austria,  then,  cries 
the  horrified  historian,  is  a  foreigner  !  Strange  words  in  the 
mouth  of  a  Croat,  who  remembers  the  long  centuries  in  which 
Austrian  and  Croat  bled  together  in  the  Turkish  wars.  "  Were 
the  verdict  of  Mr.  Supilo  not  influenced  by  bribery,  then  he 
would  never  have  exposed  himself  so  far,  he  would  never 

212 


DR.   FRIEDJUNG'S   DEFENCE 

have  expressed  himself  so  impudently  against  Austria-Hungary 
and  for  Servia."  Are  these,  one  involuntarily  exclaims,  the 
words  of  an  accused  man  defending  himself  against  a  grave 
charge  of  political  libel,  or  the  words  of  a  public  prosecutor 
fulminating  against  a  prisoner  in  the  dock  ?  ^*^ 

Dr.  Friedjung  then  proceeded  to  fence  in  the  ground  :  he 
had  charged  the  plaintiffs  ^^^  with  "shady  and  dishonourable, 
but  not  with  treasonable  relations  "  [wohl  unlauterer  und 
illoyaler  nicht  aber  hochveyrdterischer  Verbindungen),  and  he 
denied  the  insinuation  that  his  action  made  him  an  accomplice 
in  the  oppression  of  the  non-Magyar  races  of  Hungary.  He 
then  passed  in  review  Supilo's  journalistic  activity  and  affected 
to  discover  in  him  an  abrupt  change  from  an  Austrophil  to  a 
violently  Austrophobe  policy,  from  the  moment  when  in  1901 
he  settled  in  Fiume  as  editor  of  Novi  List.  After  rightly 
placing  at  Supilo's  door  the  chief  responsibility  for  the  Fiume 
Resolution,  he  emphasized  its  anti-Austrian  character  for  the 
benefit  of  the  jury,  and  pictured  the  delight  with  which  Louis 
Kossuth,  "  the  irreconcilable  enemy  of  the  House  of  Habs- 
burg,"  would  have  welcomed  this  unholy  pact  and  still  more 
the  wicked  words  of  Dr.  Tuskan.  The  Fiume  and  Zara  Reso- 
lutions he  depicted  as  a  conspiracy  for  the  partition  of  the 
Monarchy,  in  accordance  with  which  Hungary  would  have 
separated  from  Austria,  Dalmatia  would  have  fallen  to  Croatia, 
and  Bosnia  would  have  been  surrendered  to  King  Peter.  He 
admitted  the  services  rendered  by  the  Croato-Serb  Coalition 
to  the  cause  of  racial  harmony  between  Croat  and  Serb,  but 
his  sympathy  with  this  cause  was  clouded  by  the  anti-Austrian 
tinge  which  it  had  assumed  ;  and  he  recounted  with  indigna- 
tion the  incidents  of  the  short-lived  Magyar-Servian  entente 
of  1906,  when  the  fire-eating  Kossuthist  deputy  Zoltan  Lengyel, 
in  his  speech  at  Semendria,  urged  the  Servians  to  perfect  their 
armaments  and  so  increase  their  value  as  allies,  and  when 
Magyar  and  Servian  sabres  were  bound  together  beneath  the 
Hungarian  tricolour. 

^*^  Even  the  Neue  Freie  Presse,  which  throughout  the  trial  openly  took 
sides  for  the  defendants,  printed  in  italics  what  was  favourable  to  them 
and  in  its  comments  slurred  over  and  sometimes  even  ignored  what  was 
unfavourable,  wrote  of  this  speech  as  follows  :  "  His  finely  conceived 
remarks,  though  in  form  a  defence,  formed  in  reality  the  sharpest  and 
most  unsparing  attacks  upon  the  Croato-Serb  Coalition."  [N.F.P. 
December  10,  1909.) 

347  "Meine  Prozessgegner."  Here  then  would  seem  to  be  no  question 
of  individual  members,  but  rather  of  the  whole  Coalition. 

213 


THE   FRIEDJUNG   TRIAL 

After  a  moderate  survey  of  party  conditions  in  Croatia  under 
Pejacevic  and  Rauch,  Dr.  Friedjung  turned  to  a  discussion 
of  the  revolutionary  and  Panserb  propaganda  in  Belgrad. 
The  Servian  Budget  provides  a  fund  of  £55,000  a  year  "  for 
the  worthy  defence  of  national  interests,"  in  other  words  for 
agitation  abroad  ;  and  from  this  fund  not  merely  are  the 
churches  and  schools  in  Old  Servia  and  Macedonia  supported, 
but  also  large  sums  are  distributed  in  the  southern  districts 
of  the  Habsburg  Monarchy,  through  the  medium  of  Servian 
Government  officials  and  also  the  Belgrad  society  Slovenski 
Jug  (The  Slav  South).  In  directly  charging  the  Coalition 
deputies,  Messrs.  Supilo,  Medakovic,  Pribicevic,  Budisavljevi<5 
and  Lukinic  with  receiving  bribes  from  Servia,  he  declared 
that  his  evidence  was  based  not  upon  Austrian  or  Hungarian 
reports  but  exclusively  upon  documents  drawn  from  the 
Servian  camp.  Of  these  the  majority  came  from  the  archives 
of  the  Slovenski  Jug.  An  important  link  in  the  relations 
between  the  Croat  deputies  and  Belgrad  was  the  Servian 
Consul-General  in  Budapest,  Mr.  Petkovic,^*^  who  was  especi- 
ally active  during  the  sessions  of  the  Hungarian  Parliament, 
and  whose  agents  repeatedly  travelled  through  Hungary. 
Even  the  Belgrad  press,  added  Dr.  Friedjung,  wrote  quite 
openly  of  "  certain  Serb  politicians  of  Hungary,"  especially 
members  of  the  Serb  Radical  party,  as  pensioners  of  Servia. 

After  analysing  the  contents  of  a  number  of  his  "  docu- 
ments," Dr.  Friedjung  referred  to  the  continual  praise  of 
Servia  sung  by  the  newspapers  of  Supilo  and  Pribicevic  2*^ 
and  quoted — as  it  subsequently  transpired,  in  a  grossly  inac- 
curate form  2^° — a  speech  delivered  by  Supilo  in  the  Croatian 
Diet  early  in  1907,  describing  Bosnia's  severance  from  the 
Monarchy  as  a  piece  of  good  fortune  and  urging  Croat  and 
Serb  to  unite  against  the  stranger,  in  other  words  against 
Austria-Hungary  and  its  German  ally. 

Dr.  Friedjung,  when  initiated  into  these  details  of  the  pan- 
Serb  conspiracy,  felt  it  to  be  his  patriotic  duty  to  combat  it 
by  every  means  in  his  power.  Its  existence  rendered  the 
annexation  of  Bosnia  absolutely  necessary.  But  Austria- 
Hungary  would  merely  have  placed  itself  in  a  false  position 
by  demanding  the  dissolution  of  the  Slovenski  Jug  ;  for  Belgrad 
was  capable  of  denying  that  the  sky  is  blue,  and  in  place  of 

^*8  Now  Servian  Minister  in  Cetinje. 
319  }^ovi  List  and  Syhobyan.  ^so  5^^  page  280. 

214 


DR.   FRIED  JUNG'S    DEFENCE  , 

one  secret  society  three  or  four  new  ones  would  have  sprung 
up.  No,  the  only  course  for  the  Monarchy  was  action  so 
energetic  as  to  make  the  restless  little  Balkan  states  tremble 
and  give  the  required  satisfaction.  The  news  of  the  annexation 
roused  the  Slovenski  Jug  to  fresh  activity,  and  according  to 
the  minutes  of  its  central  committee,  an  attempt  was  made 
to  win  the  friendly  leaders  of  the  Croato-Serb  Coalition  for  a 
general  rising.  "  I  hasten  to  add,"  continued  Dr.  Friedjung, 
"  that  this  summons  to  treachery  and  armed  revolt  was  not 
complied  with ;  but  how  far  must  these  relations  have 
gone,  if  the  Slovenski  Jug  could  dare  to  address  to  these  deputies 
so  mad  or  infamous  a  summons  ?  "  Further,  the  leaders  of 
the  Coalition  were  largely  responsible  for  the  improved  relations 
between  the  Courts  of  Belgrad  and  Cetinje,  though  the  con- 
spirators in  Belgrad  soon  found  that  all  the  money  devoted 
by  them  to  intrigues  in  Bosnia  and  Croatia  was  merely  thrown 
away,  and  that  its  recipients  had  no  intention  of  risking  their 
skins  for  "  the  Southern  Slav  King." 

Summarizing  his  results.  Dr.  Friedjung  argued  that  since 
the  accession  of  the  Karageorgevic  dynasty  in  1903  the  Servian 
state  has  been  the  prey  of  a  crowd  of  Macedonian,  Bosnian 
and  Croatian  adventurers  and  political  speculators,  who 
fought  for  the  Secret  Fund  and  for  pickings  from  the  Army 
Estimates ;  while  the  agents  of  the  pan-Serb  propaganda 
within  the  Monarchy  were  above  all  else  political  swindlers, 
even  if  they  were  not  traitors.  "  It  is  no  business  of  the 
historian,"  he  concluded,  "  to  reduce  men's  words  and  deeds 
to  the  provisions  of  a  penal  code  ;  his  task  is  to  examine 
documents,  to  establish  facts  and  illustrate  characters.  I 
have  not  charged  my  opponents  with  treason,  but  with  an 
action  which  is  really  more  disgraceful,  even  if  its  consequences 
are  less  serious.  For  there  are  circumstances  in  which  it  is 
valorous  and  high-spirited  to  risk  one's  head  in  a  conspiracy 
for  the  achievement  of  political  and  national  dreams.  But 
it  is  utterly  contemptible  to  enter  into  relations  with  the 
enemy  of  one's  country,  to  ask  and  to  accept  money  for  oneself, 
for  newspapers  and  for  political  trials,  and  then  to  proclaim 
oneself  as  a  model  of  loyalty,  and  those  who  say  the  contrary 
as  slanderers.  My  lifework  has  been  historic  research,  and 
thus  my  defence  takes  the  form  of  a  chapter  in  a  historical 
book,  the  history  of  the  Balkan  problem.  I  have  spoken  to 
you,  gentlemen,  as  my  judges,  but  at  the  same  time  I  address 
my  fellow-historians,  who  will  also  give  their  vferdict  as  to 

215 


THE   FRIEDJUNG   TRIAL 

whether  in  examining  these  documents  I  have  acted  critically 
and  conscientiously,  sifting  the  true  from  the  false.  Every 
impartial  person  will,  I  am  sure,  admit  that  I  have  built  upon 
the  sure  foundation  of  reliable  documents,  and  hence  I  await 
with  complete  calm  the  final  verdict  of  the  jury." 

II.    Dr.  Friedjung's  "  Documents." 

The  "  documents  "  upon  which  Dr.  Friedjung  based  his 
defence,  were  laid  before  the  Court  in  a  printed  German  trans- 
lation, generally  referred  to  as  the  Green  Book.  They  are 
twenty-four  in  number,  and  are  preceded  by  a  brief  preface 
giving  Dr.  Friedjung's  idea  of  the  Slovenski  Jug  society.  The 
reader  of  the  Green  Book  cannot  fail  to  be  struck  by  the  fact 
that  the  majority  of  the  "  documents  "  have  been  very  exten- 
sively "  cut,"  and  are  in  many  cases  mere  fragments.  Whether 
the  omitted  portions  would  have  thrown  much  additional 
light  upon  the  question  at  issue,  it  is  of  course  impossible  to 
say  without  a  study  of  the  original  forgeries ;  but  from  a 
significant  admission  made  by  Dr.  Friedjung  in  the  coiuse 
of  the  trial  {see  p.  260)  it  would  appear  that  the  selection  was 
not  carried  out  on  strictly  scientific  lines. 

Nineteen  of  the  "  documents  "  relate  to  the  Slovenski  Jug, 
notably  the  minutes  of  a  number  of  its  ordinary  meetings  and 
of  its  central  committee,  the  very  existence  of  which  was  denied 
by  the  prosecution.  In  these  minutes  Professor  Bozidar 
Markovic,  a  young  professor  of  criminal  law  at  Belgrad  Univer- 
sity, appears  as  president  of  the  club  ;  the  vice-presidents  were 
Ljubomir  Jovanovic,  fomerly  President  of  the  Skupshtina, 
and  since  1909  Servian  Minister  of  the  Interior,  and  Ljubomir 
Davidovic,  a  former  Minister  of  Education.  In  No.  I  the 
names  of  Glavincic  and  Gjorgevic  appear  as  members,  but 
in  all  subsequent  documents  only  six  names  occur,  namely 
the  president,  the  two  vice-presidents,  Michael  Jovanovic — 
of  whom  nothing  is  known — Rista  Odavic  and  Mile  Pavlovic, 
the  two  latter  being  professors  in  Belgrad  gymnasia. 

I.  Minutes  of  Slovenski  Jug,  February  i-(i4),  1908. ^^^ 
(2  "  cuts  ".) 

The  president  of  the  club.  Professor  Markovic,  reports  a 
conversation  with  the  Servian  Premier,  Dr.  Pasic,  who  wished 

^^'  In  this  and  most  of  the  other  "  documents  "  both  Old  and  New 
Style  are  given  ;  but  it  is  obvious  that  no  Servian  (least  of  all  in  a 
revolutionary  club)  would  ever  dream  of  adding  the  New  Style. 

216 


DR.   FRIEDJUNG'S   "DOCUMENTS" 

the  club's  statutes  to  be  altered  in  such  a  way  that  any  item 
of  expenditure  exceeding  i,ooo  francs  must  be  referred  to  the 
Foreign  Minister.  The  Premier  expressed  doubts  as  to  Slo- 
venski  Jug's  agents  in  Bosnia,  and  declined  to  assist  the  club 
any  farther  until  he  had  reliable  information.  Several  mem- 
bers criticized  Pasic's  attitude  very  outspokenly,  and  Davi- 
dovic  used  the  following  words  -.^^  "  It  is  know^n  to  the  Premier, 
and  I  declare  to  you,  that  we  must  help  our  friend  Supilo. 
I  therefore  beg  you  to  send  him  at  once  4,000  crowns."  An- 
other member  argued  that  Bosnia  was  in  greater  need  of  help 
than  Croatia,  which  had  neither  a  Burian^^  nor  a  Horman^^ 
to  torment  them.^^s  After  an  hour's  debate,  3,000  crowns 
were  voted  in  aid  of  Supilo. 

II.  Slovenski  Jug,  Central  Committee,  eighth  meeting, 
minutes  of  February  26  (March  10),  1908.     (2  "  cuts  ".) 

The  ex-Minister  of  Education,  Davidovic,  reported  upon 
Supilo's  plan  of  campaign,  and  the  advantages  which  would 
accrue  to  the  Serbs  from  their  joint  action  with  the  Croats. 
Above  all  the  Starcevic  party  must  be  defeated,  Serb  interests 
must  be  defended  against  Ranch,  "  the  servant  of  Vienna," 
and  the  pledge  breakers  of  Pest  must  be  shown  that  the  Serbs 
are  formidable  foes.  Davidovic  therefore  proposed  that 
"  material  aid  "  should  be  sent  to  Supilo,  in  view  of  "  the 
impending  elections  to  the  Diet  of  the  Triune  Kingdom."  For 
this  purpose  it  was  decided  to  convey  6,000  dinars  (£240)  to 
Supilo  through  the  club's  confidential  agent. 

III.  Confidential  order  of  the  Servian  Foreign  Office  to 
assign  the  sum  of  "  6,000  francs  in  gold  from  the  Treasury  to 
the  committee  of  Slovenski  Jug,  to  be  paid  by  them  to  Mr. 
Supilo."  Signed  "  Dr.  Stefanovic,"  dated  February  29 
(March  13),  1908. 

IV.  Payment  of  6,000  dinars  to  Supilo.  Order  to  pay, 
signed  by  Markovic,  as  president  of  the  central  committee 
of  Slovenski  Jug,  issued  to  the  treasurer  of  the  club.  Dated 
March  2,  1908. 

^^2  Throughout  the  following  analysis  all  quotations  are  translated 
quite  literally  from  the  German  text  so  that  the  reader  may  have  some 
idea  of  its  extreme  crudity  of  phrase. 

25'  Austro-Hungarian  Finance  Minister  and  hence  Minister  for  Bosnia, 

'5*  A  prominent  official  in  Sarajevo,  a  patriotic  Austrian  Croat. 

^^*  Only  a  supporter  of  Baron  Rauch  could  have  written  thus,  for  it 
is  obvious  that  not  even  a  Belgrad  Chauvinist  would  have  described 
Burian  and  Horman  as  worse  than  Rauch. 

217 


THE  FRIEDJUNG  TRIAL 

V.  Minutes  of  Slovenski  Jug,  March  9  (22),  1908. 
Markovic  announced  that  the  Premier  had  approved  a  grant 

of  10,000  francs  for  the  foundation  of  agricultural  societies 
in  Bosnia.  It  was  then  decided  to  request  the  Foreign  Minister 
to  grant  "  15,000  francs  in  gold  "  in  aid  of  the  Serb  opposition 
at  the  Sarajevo  municipal  elections,  the  meeting  "  being  unani- 
mously inspired  by  the  conviction  that  a  contribution  is  neces- 
sary for  the  preservation  of  the  Serb  name  and  the  Serb  pride." 
Markovic  pointed  out  that  the  Premier  was  not  disposed  to 
continue  his  grants,  if  their  efforts  in  Sarajevo  should  prove 
a  failure  ;  and  hence  defeat  must  at  least  be  followed  by  some 
protest  more  effective  than  a  mere  deputation  to  Vienna,  or 
lamentations  in  the  press.  The  Orthodox  and  Mohammedan 
Serbs  of  Bosnia  must  unite  in  circulating  a  memorandum 
throughout  the  European  press.  Four  thousand  francs  were 
assigned  to  Srpska  Rijec,  the  leading  Serb  newspaper  in  Bosnia, 
and  to  another  local  journal.  (A  "  cut  "  here  suggests  that 
further  names  are  given.) 

VI.  Report  of  the  central  committee  of  Slovenski  Jug  to 
Prince  George  of  Servia.     March  17  (30),  1908. 

The  report  submits  the  minutes  and  accounts  of  the  last 
month,  which  showed  an  expenditure  of  37,890  francs.  Its 
main  tenour  is  a  complaint  of  inadequate  financial  support 
by  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs.  One  passage  is  worth 
quoting,  as  an  illustration  of  the  naivete  of  author  and  recipient 
alike.  "  Your  Royal  Highness  must  be  well  aware  that  public 
opinion  in  Servia  is  devoting  its  special  attention  to  the  move- 
ment among  our  brethren  in  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina,  and  it 
is  equally  well  known  to  you  that  the  Servian  people,  with 
respect  to  Macedonia,  Old  Servia,  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina, 
possesses  its  {sic)  unquestionable  historic  and  traditional  rights. 
Even  though  the  committee  has  no  idea  of  exceeding  the  limits 
of  that  policy  which  is  suitable  for  the  preservation  of  peace 
in  the  Balkan  peninsula,  and  though  the  Servian  people  ad- 
heres loyally  and  honestly  to  this  policy,  the  committee  in  its 
activity  cannot  be  indifferent  to  eventualities  which  threaten 
Serb  national  interests  "...  etc. 

VII.  Minutes  of  Slovenski  Jug,  March  30,  1908.  (Only 
"  the  most  important  passage  "  is  reproduced,  and  even  in  it 
there  are  3  "  cuts  ".) 

Jovanovic  reports  a  conversation  with  the  Premier,  whose 
first  words  were,  "  Ljuba,  brother,  stop  a  little  .  .  .  with 
your  propaganda."     Pasic  feared  evil  results  from  Slovenski 

218 


DR.   FRIEDJUNG'S   "DOCUMENTS" 

Jug's  activity,  both  "  because  the  Austrian,  Hungarian  and 
Bosnian  Governments  keep  up  an  extensive  system  of  spies, 
and  might  discover  everything,  and  also  because  railway  com- 
munications with  Italy  are  at  stake."  "  Besides,"  added 
Jovanovic,  "  the  minister  informed  me  confidentially  as  to 
the  disappearance  of  certain  important  documents,  among 
them  also  one  of  ours,  regarding  Supilo.  Vice-consul  Vintrovic 
sent  this  document  by  a  courier  to  the  minister,  who,  however, 
did  not  come  into  possession  of  it.  .  .  .  If  our  document  has 
fallen  into  wrong  hands,  then  we  must  certainly  suspend  our 
activity  for  a  certain  time."  ^^ 

VIII.  Extract  from  minutes  of  central  committee  of  Slo- 
venski  Jug,  July  29,  1908. 

Reference  is  made  to  the  services  of  Messrs.  Supilo  and 
Budisavljevic,  and  as  "  matters  are  now  approaching  the 
decision  whether  our  Coalition  or  Ranch  in  league  with  Vienna 
is  finally  to  win  the  victory,"  it  is  decided  to  assign  3,000 
dinars  to  Mr.  Supilo,  5,000  to  the  newspaper  Srbobran,  and 
2,000  to  Mr.  Budisavljevic. 

Villa.  Balance  of  accounts  of  Slovenski  Jug  for  August, 
1908,  showing  expenditure  as  above. 

IX.  Minutes  of  Slovenski  Jug,  August  21,  1908. 

Here  Dr.  Friedjung,  instead  of  supplying  translated  extracts, 
merely  summarizes  the  contents  of  the  minutes  in  question. 
In  them  Professor  Mar ko vie  reported  upon  his  journey  to 
Salonica,  and  his  negotiations  with  the  Young  Turk  Com- 
mittee. Their  result  was  an  arrangement  for  joint  action  on 
the  part  of  the  Orthodox  and  Mohammedan  Serbs  of  Bosnia 
for  agitation  in  favour  of  the  extension  to  Bosnia  of  the  new 
Turkish  constitution,  and  for  the  publication  of  a  newspaper 
in  Constantinople  to  propagate  this  idea.  Jovanovic  then 
reported  a  conversation  which  he  had  had  with  the  Foreign 
Minister,  Dr.  Milovanovic,  who  expressed  the  fear  that  lack 
of  caution  on  the  part  of  the  Slovenski  Jug  might  involve 
Servia  in  difficulties  abroad.  "  I  convinced  him,  gentlemen," 
continued  Jovanovic,  that  even  if  he  should  meet  with  diffi- 
culties and  unpleasantnesses,  he  only  had  to  contest  and  deny 
everything,  like  Mr.  Pasic."  ^s? 

^^^  Thiis  passage  is  a  very  obvious  trick,  to  render  more  plausible 
the  wholesale  methods  of  theft  by  which  all  these  "minutes"  were 
ostensibly  stolen  from  the  Slovenski  Jug.  In  reality,  as  will  be  seen 
later  (Chapter  XII),  they  were  manufactured  in  the  Belgrad  Legation. 

387  What  better  proof  of  the  forgery  could  be  supplied  than  this 
astounding  extract  ? 

219 


THE   FRIEDJUNG  TRIAL 

Finally  a  manifesto  intended  by  Supilo  for  the  use  of  the 
Croato-Serb  Coalition  was  submitted  to  the  meeting,  and 
approved  on  condition  that  it  should  be  signed  jointly  by 
Serbs  and  Croats. 

X.  Minutes  of  Slovenski  Jug,  September  22  (October  5), 
1908,  the  very  day  of  the  annexation,   (i  "  cut".) 

The  president  refers  to  the  possibility  of  annexation  and 
moves  that  their  Bosnian  friends,  Damjanovic  and  Krulj, 
should  be  speedily  advised  "  to  work  with  greater  energy, 
and  be  ready  at  any  moment."  Supilo,  Medakovic  ^^  and 
Babic-Djalski  ^^^  must  also  be  warned,  and  every  effort  made 
to  win  over  the  Bosnian  Mohammedans.  After  an  adjourn- 
ment Markovic,  who  had  been  summoned  by  a  minister, 
announced  the  fait  accompli  of  the  annexation,  and  passed 
the  minutes  with  the  words,  "  Our  action  must  now  begin, 
and  I  therefore  beg  you,  gentlemen,  to  be  here  to-morrow, 
that  we  may  consider  what  we  can  do  to  liberate  our  oppressed 
brothers." 

XI.  Resolutions,  etc.,  passed  at  the  twenty-seventh  meeting 
of  the  central  committee  of  Slovenski  Jug,  September  22,  1908. 
In  this  document,  then,  we  have  the  central  committee,  whereas 
in  the  previous  document,  which  refers  to  the  same  resolutions, 
only  the  ordinary  meeting  is  referred  to. 

{a)  The  president  communicates  the  telegram  of  the  Buda- 
pest consulate,  announcing  the  annexation.  "  I  have  already 
informed  Hadzi  Risto  (Damjanovic)  and  Krulj  of  this  barbar- 
ous action."  The  vice-president  announces  that  the  minister 
gives  the  committee  a  free  hand  in  its  efforts  "  to  fan  the  dis- 
content of  the  people  in  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina,  and  incite 
them  to  armed  resistance."  A  member  proposes  sending  a 
supply  of  bombs  to  the  Bosnian  frontier. 

{b)  Petition  to  the  minister  for  a  supply  of  bombs  and  poison 
"  to  poison  the  springs,"  1,000  rifles  with  ammunition,  and  a 
sum  of  20,000  francs. 

(c)  Appeal  to  the  Town  Council  of  Belgrad  for  the  support 
of  the  club  in  its  efforts  "  to  save  Bosnia." 

(d)  A  communication  to  be  sent  to  Babic-Djalski,  Supilo 
and  Medakovic,  urging  upon  them,  in  view  of  the  dangers  in 
which  the  Serb  race  is  placed,  to  arrange  a  general  rising  in 
Croatia-Slavonia. 

(e)  A  similar  appeal  to  be  sent  to  three  Bosnian  leaders. 

^**  President  of  the  Croatian  Sabor. 

'*•  A  well-known  Croatian  novelist  and  poet,  member  of  the  Coalition. 

220 


■    "  DR.   FRIEDJUNG'S   "DOCUMENTS" 

(/)  Captain  Manojlovic  entrusted  with  the  care  of  the  bombs. 

XII.  Minutes  of  Slovenski  Jug,  October  5  (18),  1908.  (3 
"  cuts  ".) 

An  exalted  harangue  by  Markovic  on  the  dangers  brought 
by  the  annexation  upon  the  Servian  Fatherland.  "  In  this 
sacred  room  {sic)  a  year  ago  momentous  words  were  heard, 
that  the  young  son  of  the  old  Prince,  Prince  Mirko,  is  working 
with  certain  individuals  against  our  reigning  house,  that  he 
is  chiefly  responsible  for  preventing  every  attempt  to  liberate 
the  Serbs  from  Austrian  slavery."  Mirko  and  his  father  have 
fortunately  renounced  this  policy,  "  for  he  realizes  that  he 
was  on  false  paths,  on  paths  where  the  fate  of  Alexander 
Obrenovic  would  have  reached  him."  Servia  and  Montenegro 
must  at  length  unite  in  defence  of  the  national  idea  and  shake 
off  the  chains  of  "  Swabian-Magyar  "  culture.  "  The  Swabian  ^^^ 
bloodsucker  already  has  our  brothers  by  the  throat,  but  he 
has  not  yet  strangled  them." 

Davidovic  then  pled  the  cause  of  friendship  between  Servia 
and  Montenegro,  argued  that  Jovanovic's  policy  of  intrigue 
with  the  Progressive  Party  in  Montenegro  had  caused  great 
mischief,  and  pointed  out  that  "  Medakovic,  Lorkovic  and 
Supilo  with  Djalski  describe  this  as  the  basis  for  our  further 
work."  To  this  Jovanovic  rejoined  that  the  policy  adopted 
by  him  towards  Montenegro  was  not  his  own,  but  that  of  "  our 
insulted  Crown  Prince."  It  was  finally  agreed  that  Markovic 
and  Davidovic  should  confer  with  the  Young  Turks,  and 
Jovanovic  with  the  Montenegrin  Voivode  Vukotic.  The  com- 
mittee would  then  draw  up  a  plan  for  the  equipment  of  the 
"  Bands." 

XIII.  Minutes  of  Slovenski  Jug,  thirty-first  meeting,  Octo- 
ber 21  (November  3),  1908  (4  "  cuts  ".) 

Markovic  announces  the  result  of  his  conference  with  the 
Servian  Premier  Velimirovic,  regarding  the  club's  activity 
in  Bosnia.  The  Premier  had  expressed  the  wish  that  the 
smuggling  of  arms,  ammunition  and  bombs  across  the  frontier 
should  no  longer  be  carried  on  by  natives  of  the  kingdom,  but  by 
the  Bosnians  themselves.  But  this  roused  opposition  from 
Jovanovic  and  Davidovic,  and  Markovic,  admitting  the  diffi- 
culties involved  in  a  change  of  tactics,  agreed  that  the  old 
method  of  smuggling  must  be  retained. 

^6"  "  Svab  "  is  the  usual  name  for  the  German  throughout  the  Western 
Balkans.     It  is  sometimes  used  to  denote  any  foreigner. 

221 


THE    FRTEDJUNG   TRIAL 

XIV.  Telegram  of  Mr.  Popovic,  Servian  Minister  in  St. 
Petersburg. 

[The  composition  and  origin  of  this  "  document  "  is  so 
obscure  and  suspicious,  that  I  prefer  to  give  an  exact  transla- 
tion rather  than  to  offer  any  comment.] 

From  the  Ministry  of  Foreign  Affairs 

13/XI  Petersburg, 

Ljubomir  Jovanovic,  Professor,  President  of  the  Skupshtina, 

Here  (="  Local,"  i.e.  Belgrad). 

Mr.  M.  Popovic  announces  to  you  :  Messrs.  Miljukov,  Kora- 
bljev,  Stohovitch  and  others  have  handed  me  2,000  roubles, 
in  the  desire  that  you  should  buy  and  procure  with  the  money 
rifles  and  lead  (Blei)  against  the  Austrians.  These  gentle- 
men send  great  greetings,  and  exhort  you  not  to  yield.  For 
the  present  I  can  tell  you  nothing  personally  from  my  side. 
Through  the  post  I  send  you  2,000  roubles. 

M.    POPOVK^. 

It  is  not  clear  whether  this  "  document  "  is  a  telegram  to 
the  President  of  the  Skupshtina,  as  Dr.  Fried] ung  describes 
it,  or  a  mere  summary  of  the  contents  of  a  telegram  received 
by  the  Servian  Foreign  Office.  In  the  latter  case  it  is  obvious, 
from  the  wording,  that  something  has  been  suppressed.  School- 
boys sometimes  begin  letters  in  the  third  person,  and  end  in 
the  first  ;  but  not  even  in  Servia  or  in  Russia  is  that  customary 
among  diplomats.     Dr.  Friedjung  should  have  known  this. 

XV.  Extract  from  minutes  of  Slovenski  Jug,  central  com- 
mittee, November  16  (29),  igo8.  (Beginning  and  end  missing  ; 
3  "  cuts  ".) 

Markovic  reports  a  further  conversation  with  the  Foreign 
Minister,  Dr.  Milovanovic,  who  informed  him  that  Berlin 
and  London,  to  say  nothing  of  Vienna,  were  fully  aware  that 
Servia's  propaganda  was  far  more  active  in  Bosnia  than  in 
Old  Servia,  Macedonia  and  the  Triune  Kingdom.  The  Minister 
urged  great  caution,  and  insisted  that  the  minutes  of  Slovenski 
Jug  should  be  submitted  to  no  one  in  the  Foreign  Office  save 
Dr.  Spalajkovic.  Jovanovic  endorsed  the  view  that  no  junior 
officials  should  be  allowed  to  see  them  ;  for  "  that  must  be 
the  source  from  which  news  of  the  pan-Serb  propaganda  get 
abroad.  After  all,  what  else  can  be  expected  of  officials  with 
a  monthly  salary  of  80  francs,  than  that  if  our  minutes  fall 
into  their  hands,  they  should  trumpet  them  abroad  in  all 

222 


DR.  FRIEDJUNG'S  "DOCUMENTS" 

directions."  361  A  contribution  from  "  our  Russian  brothers" 
was  then  thankfully  acknowledged.  Jovanovic  then  an- 
nounced that  Messrs.  Lorkovic,  Supilo  and  Medakovic,  with 
other  members  of  the  Coalition,  decided  at  their  last  meeting 
to  act  so  as  to  convince  the  central  committee  of  the  Slovenski 
Jug  that  they  know  how  to  adapt  their  attitude  in  the  Bosnian 
question,  and  that  Belgrad  need  not  believe  the  lies  of  the 
Viennese  slaves.  Only  in  view  of  the  uncertainty  of  the 
present  time  they  cannot  develop  their  activity  in  detail,  but 
they  will  do  this  to  the  Servian  agent  [presumably  the  Budapest 
consul],  since  Francis  Supilo  is  authorized  to  do  so.  The 
meeting  then  decided  to  postpone  its  decision  until  it  heard 
from  this  agent. 

XVL  Telegram  of  the  Servian  Consul  in  Budapest  to  the 
Servian  Foreign  Minister,  December  29,  1908  (January  11, 
1909). 

"  In  their  conference  of  yesterday  they  accepted  Supilo's 
demand.  Inform  Professor  Pavlovic  that  demonstrations  will 
take  place.     I  have  disbursed  the  money." 

XVII.  Minutes  of  Slovenski  Jug,  central  committee,  Jan- 
uary 9  (22),  1909.     (i  "  cut  "  :    end  missing). 

Present :  Markovic,  Lj.  Jovanovic,  Davidovic,  Michael  Jova- 
novic and  the  Russian  deputy  Maklakov  as  guest.  Markovic 
declares  that  in  entering  upon  its  fourth  year  of  existence, 
Slovenski  Jug  realizes  that  its  patriotic  hopes  are  not  in  vain. 
This  is  best  proved  by  the  attitude  of  "  our  brothers  in  the 
Triune  Kingdom,"  who,  despite  Ranch's  pressure,  remain 
true  to  "  the  sacred  idea  of  united  and  fraternizing  Serbdom." 
The  Bosnians  only  asked  for  arms,  in  order  to  be  at  their 
enemy's  throat. 

XVIII.  Minutes  of  Slovenski  Jug,  central  committee,  Jan- 
uary 22  (February  4),  1909.     (3  "  cuts  "  :  end  missing.) 

Davidovic  reported  that  his  relations  with  the  Croato-Serb 
Coalition  had  suffered  interruption,  "  because  Baron  Ranch 
accidentally  is  in  possession  of  certain  written  proofs  as  also 
insinuations  of  some  dishonest  people  about  the  connexion 
with  us.  The  written  proofs  with  which  the  servant  of  the 
Viennese  and  Pest  hussars  hopes  to  annihilate  the  Coalition, 
are  not  of  a  kind  which  could  compromise  us  or  the  leaders 
of  the  Coalition.     None  the  less,  our  brothers  Supilo  and  Meda- 

*^^  Here  again  it  is  absolutely  incredible  that  any  Servian  could 
have  written  thus. 

223 


THE   FRIEDJUNG  TRIAL 

kovic,  have  requested  our  Consul-general  in  Budapest,  Mr. 
Petkovic,  to  inform  the  minister  of  their  wish  that  our  club 
Slovenski  Jug  and  its  reading-room  should  remain  closed  so 
long  as  that  Ranch  comedy  remains  unfinished.  The  deputies 
in  question  will  do  all  in  their  power,  so  that  the  whole  affair 
may  end  in  a  blamage  of  the  Ban  Ranch."  Pavlovic  stated 
that  during  his  recent  visit  to  Agram,  Medakovic  had  expressed 
the  wish  that  the  Slovenski  Jug  should  be  closed  until  after 
the  High  Treason  trial,  since  Baron  Ranch  used  the  existence 
of  the  club  as  one  of  his  chief  arguments. 

The  committee  decided  to  appeal  to  the  Foreign  Minister 
for  a  grant  of  6,000  francs  in  aid  of  the  defence  of  the  Serb 
prisoners  in  the  Agram  High  Treason  Trial,  as  requested  by 
Messrs.  Supilo  and  Medakovic.  It  was  then  announced 
that  the  Guerilla  Bands  Committee  had  assigned  5,000  francs 
to  the  Slovenski  Jug  in  support  of  the  rising  in  Bosnia. 

XIX.  Extract  from  minutes  of  Slovenski  Jug,  central 
committee,  February  15  (28),  1908. 

Markovic  reports  that  the  Foreign  Minister  is  not  disposed 
to  grant  the  6,000  francs  requested,  or  to  take  any  action  in 
Croatia  so  long  as  the  Ranch  regime  lasts.  The  committee 
resolved  to  renew  its  application  for  this  money. 

XX.  Circular  of  Count  Pejacevic,  as  Ban  of  Croatia,  to  all 
the  High  Sheriffs  (February  21,  1906).  The  only  genuine 
document  in  the  Green  Book  {see  p.  272). 

This  confidential  report  states  that  a  Bosnian  committee 
in  Belgrad,  under  the  chairmanship  of  Professor  Cvijic,  is 
intriguing  for  a  rising  in  Bosnia,  acquiring  confidential  agents, 
spreading  pamphlets  and  proclamations,  and  smuggling  arms. 
It  then  names  seventeen  persons  in  Agram  and  six  other 
Croatian  towns — notably  Dr.  Medakovic  and  Mr.  Pribicevic — 
as  agents  of  this  committee,  and  instructs  the  High  Sheriffs, 
acting  in  strict  secrecy,  to  place  them  under  observation  and 
submit  a  detailed  report  on  the  result  of  their  inquiries.  "  In 
the  interest  of  a  more  effective  control,  I  draw  your  attention 
to  the  correspondence  carried  on  between  the  above-named 
persons  and  the  following  persons  living  outside  the  bounds 
of  Croatia-Slavonia  "  (here  follow  the  names  of  fourteen 
Dalmatians  and  Bosnians,  including  Mr.  Supilo,  and  also 
four  residents  in  Belgrad) .  In  the  report  Dr.  Franko  Potocnjak^^^ 
is    assumed    to    be  the    intermediary    between  the  various 

382    5gg    p,    276. 


DR.   FRIEDJUNG'S   "DOCUMENTS" 

groups  of  conspirators.  It  concludes  by  emphasizing  the  need 
for  special  watchfulness  in  regard  to  "  political  and  pub- 
licistic  movements  and  also  foreign  travellers." 

In  a  footnote  Dr.  Friedjung  points  out  that  this  circular 
was  sent  out  at  a  time  when  Count  Pejacevic,  as  head  of  a 
Unionist  Government,  had  to  contend  with  the  opposition 
of  the  Croato-Serb  Coalition.  He  is  however  quite  in  error 
in  stating  that  Count  Pejacevic  went  over  to  the  Coalition 
after  the  latter's  victory  at  the  elections  of  1906.  The  true 
facts  are  that  the  Wekerle  Coalition  Cabinet,  two  of  whose 
chief  members,  Kossuth  and  Polonyi,  had  been  the  Magyar 
representatives  at  the  Resolution  of  Fiume,  gave  its  Croatian 
allies  a  free  hand  at  the  elections  and  the  latter  having  failed 
to  secure  an  absolute  majority  in  the  Diet,  Count  Pejacevid 
remained  Ban  as  a  neutral  statesman  who  belonged  to  neither 
Coalition.  He  did  not  join  the  Croato-Serb  Coalition  until 
the  elections  of  February  1908,  eight  months  after  he  had 
ceased  to  be  Ban. 

XXI.  Report  of  Dr.  Spalajkovic,  Under-Secretary  of  State 
for  Foreign  Affairs,  to  the  Servian  Premier,  Dr.  Pasic,  June  4, 
1907.3^2 

This  longwinded  "  document  "  purports  to  be  an  account 
of  a  meeting  at  Semlin  between  Dr.  Spalajkovic  and  Mr. 
Svetozar  Pribicevic.  The  latter  expressed  his  gratitude 
for  the  assurance  that  "  so  long  as  the  present  Cabinet  remains 
in  power,  Servia  would  scrupulously  fulfil  those  pledges  which 
it  had  given  in  the  sense  of  the  Fiume  Resolution."  Spalaj- 
kovic pointed  out  that  owing  to  internal  difficulties  Servia 
would  be  unable  to  increase  the  suffi  hitherto  supplied  to 
"  the  Croato-Serb  Party  "  {sic !),  but  would  make  a  special 
grant  in  the  event  of  new  elections  in  Croatia,  "  for  the  Ser- 
vian Government  is  firmly  convinced  that  no  other  combi- 
nation could  assure  to  the  aims  of  Southern  Slav  solidarity 
a  more  certain  support  than  that  which  has  acquired  its  basis 
in  the  Fiume  Resolution,  and  which  by  means  of  the  under- 
standing arrived  at  in  Fiume  on  the  part  of  Your  Excellency 
and  Mr.  Protic  with  Messrs.  Supilo  and  Medakovic,  was  also 
extended  to  Servia."  Servia,  however,  owing  to  its  relations 
with  Bulgaria,  its  unreadiness  for  war  and  other  reasons,  was 
obliged  to  aim  at  improved  relations  with  Austria-Hungary 

3  63  See  Appendix  XIV. 
S.S.Q.  225  Q 


THE   FRIEDJUNG   TRIAL 

and  consequently  to  adopt  "  a  certain  reserve  "  towards 
its  friends  in  the  Monarchy.  After  March,  1908,  however, 
the  situation  would  be  different  ;  the  Servian  army  would 
be  then  well  armed,  and  above  all  the  new  loan,  "  regarding 
which  the  preliminary  negotiations  are  already  ended  and 
which  the  Skupshtina  will  vote  in  the  autumn,"  will  place  in- 
creased funds  at  the  disposal  of  the  state.  PribiSevic  ad- 
mitted the  strength  of  Spalajkovic's  arguments,  but  urged 
the  grant  of  50,000  francs  in  aid  of  his  party  and  its  action 
in  the  Hungarian  Parliament.  Finally  he  reduced  his  demands 
first  to  20,000  and  then  to  12,000  francs,  which  were  to  be 
consigned  within  two  days  to  Peter  Jelovac,  a  merchant  in 
Semlin.  In  return  for  this  sum  the  Serb  Independent  party 
would  place  at  the  disposal  of  the  Servian  Press  Bureau  no 
fewer  than  five  newspapers — Srbobran  and  Srpsko  Kolo  in 
Agram  and  three  in  the  provinces.  It  was  agreed  that  all 
Bosnian  news  should  so  far  as  possible  be  first  of  all  submitted 
to  the  press  bureau  to  avoid  suspicion  on  the  part  of  the 
Bosnian  authorities.  "  The  foreign  publicistic  action  "  was 
to  remain  as  hitherto  in  the  hands  of  Dr.  Polit,^®*  who  had 
already  made  several  "  disbursements  for  certain  persons 
in  the  entourage  of  Mr.  Josipovic.^^^ 

Finally  Mr.  Pribicevic  suggested  that  the  Servian  Minister 
in  Vienna  should  induce  the  Russian  ambassador  to  employ 
his  intimate  relations  with  the  German  ambassador  to  induce 
the  latter  to  influence  the  entourage  of  the  Emperor  in  favour 
of  the  Croato-Serb  Coalition  and  against  the  Hungarian  Govern- 
ment. In  reply  to  this  suggestion,  Spalajkovic  explained 
that  the  Servian  Government  would  regard  it  as  a  great  mis- 
take if  the  Coalition  in  return  for  such  services  should  suc- 
cumb to  the  influence  of  Vienna  and  the  Habsburg  policy. 
For  even  if  such  action  might  commend  itself  to  the  Croat 
deputies,  their  Serb  colleagues  could  not  fail  to  realize  that 
the  aims  of  the  Serb  race  in  regard  to  Bosnia  would  be  finally 
compromised,  if  once  Vienna  acquired  unlimited  power  to 
regulate  according  to  its  pleasure  the  fate  of  the  occupied 
provinces.  In  this  connexion  the  continuance  of  a  parlia- 
mentary government  in  Budapest  such  as  the  present,  forms  a 

384  The  well-known  leader  of  the  Serb  Liberal  party  in  South  Hungary, 
whose  integrity  is  a  household  word,  and  who  for  many  years  has  been 
a  conspicuous  opponent  of  the  very  regime  in  whose  interests  he  is  here 
represented  as  acting. 

3  6*  Minister  for  Croatia  in  the  Wekerle  Cabinet. 

226 


DR.   FRIEDJUNG'S   "DOCUMENTS" 

guarantee  of  decisive  and  unquestionable  value  for  the  Serb 
race." 

After  a  general  disquisition  on  Servian  policy,  Spalajkovid 
concluded  by  informing  Pribicevid  that  "  the  chief  of  the 
Servian  Government  "  had  decided  to  follow  Supilo's  advice 
and  spend  his  summer  holidays  on  the  Croatian  coast, 
"where  he  will  await  his  political  friends  with  a  view  to  closer 
contact."  The  report  is  signed  "  Dr.  Miroslav  Spalajkovi(^, 
Bozovi6,"  the  latter  being  ostensibly  cashier  in  the  Foreign 
Office. 

XXII,  XXIII,  XXIV.  Minutes  of  three  joint  meetings  of 
the  central  committee  of  Slovenski  Jug  and  of  the  Guerilla 
Bands  Committee,  October  6  (ig)  :  October  20  (November  2), 
1908  :  and  January  7  (20),  1909. 

Professor  Markovi6  as  chairman.  General  Nicholas  Ste- 
fanovid  gives  his  views  as  to  the  organization  of  bands  for 
the  inroad  into  Bosnia,  and  states  that  he  has  received  750 
rifles  with  87,000  rounds  for  their  equipment. 

At  the  end  of  the  Green  Book  there  is  a  map,  apparently 
drawn  up  by  the  military  authorities  in  Vienna  to  illustrate 
the  movements  of  the  various  guerilla  bands  referred  to  in 
the  last  three  "  documents." 


Of  all  the  twenty-four  "  documents  "  not  a  single  original 
was  forthcoming  ;  and  Dr.  Friedjung  himself  only  saw  the 
original  of  one  (No.  II),  and  being  ignorant  of  the  Servian 
language,  could  not  in  any  case  have  tested  their  authenticity. 
Counsel  for  the  defence.  Dr.  Benedikt,  did  however  produce 
original  photographs  of  three  "  documents,"  namely  the 
Slovenski  Jug  minutes  of  February  26, 1908  (II)  and  of  January 
22,  1909  (XVIII)  and  the  money  order  of  6000  francs  for  Mr. 
Supilo  (III).  Dr.  Benedikt  also  claimed  that  the  handwriting 
of  these  minutes  was  identical  and  was  that  of  Milan  Stefanovi6, 
the  secretary  of  Slovenski  Jug  ;  and  as  a  further  proof  of  this 
he  produced  an  original  draft  of  the  minutes  of  August  30, 
1909,  which  had  no  direct  bearing  on  the  questions  at  issue 
but  would  assist  the  experts  in  their  comparison  of  the  hand- 
writing. 

Counsel  for  the  prosecution,  Dr.  Harpner,  at  once  contested 
the  very  existence  of  this  Milan  Stefanovi6,  and  summoned 
the  defence  to  supply  information  as  to  his  identity,  in  order 
that  he  might  be  called  as  a  witness,  like  the  other  persons 

227 


THE  FRIEDJUNG  TRIAL 

whose  names  figured  prominently  in  the  documents.  Dr. 
Benedikt  showed  a  marked  reluctance  to  comply  with  this 
request,  and  argued  that  it  is  extremely  difficult  to  prove  the 
existence  of  any  one  !  He  promised,  however,  to  endeavour 
to  find  out  about  Stefanovic  in  Belgrad.  Three  days  later 
(December  i6)  during  the  cross-examination  of  Professor 
Masaryk,  Dr.  Harpner  reverted  to  this  promise,  and  elicited 
from  Dr.  Friedjung  the  statement  that  Stefanovic  is  "  very 
closely  known  by  those  to  whom  these  minutes  were  delivered," 
and  that  he  himself  had  read  detailed  descriptions  of  the 
man's  appearance.  He  had  also  written  to  the  Austro-Hun- 
garian  Legation  in  Belgrad — in  other  words,  to  the  receivers 
of  the  "  stolen  documents  " — asking  if  they  could  supply 
the  man's  address.  On  December  i8.  Dr.  Friedjung  announced 
the  Legation's  reply  that  Milan  Stefanovic  is  a  student,  and 
secretary  of  Slovenski  Jug,  and  that  though  his  address  is 
not  known,  he  can  be  found  daily  at  the  Cafe  Slavia.  The 
Legation  also  reported  that  there  are  seventy-nine  persons  of 
that  name  in  Belgrad,  five  of  them  being  students.  Dr. 
Harpner 's  further  attempts  to  clear  up  this  mysterious  per- 
sonality led  the  defence  to  shelter  itself  behind  the  dangers 
which  the  purveyor  of  documents  would  incur  if  his  identity 
were  made  public. 

in.    The  Evidence  of  Dr.  Funder. 

After  Dr.  Friedjung,  Mr.  Ambros,  the  responsible  editor 
of  the  Reichspost,  had  the  opportunity  of  defending  himself  ; 
but  as  he  was  universally  recognized  as  a  mere  "  straw-man," 
Dr.  Friedrich  Funder,  the  principal  editor,  was  allowed  to 
give  evidence  on  Ambros'  behalf,  and  indeed  not  merely  to 
give  evidence  but  to  follow  Dr.  Friedjung's  example  by  a 
scarcely  veiled  plaidoyer. 

Dr.  Funder  began  by  referring  to  the  keen  interest  with 
which  the  Reichspost  had  followed  the  Southern  Slav  question 
for  some  years  past.  In  attacking  individual  politicians  of 
Croatia,  he  and  his  paper  had  acted  as  Great  Austrians  and 
as  friends  of  the  Croats,  in  the  conviction  that  unworthy 
elements  were  leading  astray  a  brave  and  deserving  nation. 
As  to  the  documents  on  which  his  charges  were  based,  he 
said,  "  I  have  seen  them  in  places  where  only  the  most  serious 
documents  are  employed  :  I  know  their  origin ;  in  most  cases 
I  know  how  they  were  obtained  and  how  carefully  their  authen- 

228 


THE   EVIDENCE   OF   DR.   FUNDER 

ticity  was  tested."  As  early  as  1905  the  i^e^c/is^os^  published 
letters  from  Croatia  charging  Supilo  with  accepting  money 
from  Servia  ;  and  on  that  occasion  he  contented  himself 
with  an  apology  from  Hrvatsko  Pravo,^^  which  had  published 
similar  charges,  and  the  Reichsposf  was  left  unassailed.  The 
later  articles  which  appeared  in  the  Reichsposi  in  October 
and  November,  1908,  were  in  the  main  based  upon  the  Report 
of  Dr.  Spalajkovic  to  the  Servian  Premier  Dr.  Pasic,^^^  the 
genuineness  of  which  he  and  Dr.  Fried] ung  had  been  able 
to  test  from  original  photographs.  "  Moreover  the  genuine- 
ness of  our  documents  results  not  merely  from  the  character 
of  a  single  document  but  far  more  from  their  mutual  connex- 
ion ;  and  as  soon  as  one  part  of  these  documents,  and  indeed 
the  very  part  which  contains  the  most  serious  charges,  is 
proved  to  be  unquestionably  genuine,  then  the  whole  chain 
of  evidence  is  complete."  Dr.  Funder  might  well  have  added 
that  if  once  this  all-important  document  could  be  proved 
to  be  unquestionably  false,  the  whole  chain  of  evidence  would 
fall  to  pieces.     Doubtless  that  is  his  private  opinion  to-day. 

Dr.  Funder  treated  the  Fiume  Resolution  not  unfairly  as 
an  act  of  anti-Austrian  policy,  but  proceeded  to  draw  from 
this  the  altogether  unwarrantable  conclusion  that  its  silence 
as  to  the  fate  of  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina  proved  that  its 
authors  had  promised  those  provinces  to  their  allies  in  Belgrad  ! 
He  then  cited  Mr.  Francis  Kossuth's  telegram  of  greeting 
to  the  authors  of  the  Resolution,  Lengyel's  speech  in  the 
Hungarian  Parliament  on  the  possibilities  of  the  Magyar- 
Servian  entente  (December  12,  1907)  and  the  advances  made 
by  a  Magyar  deputation  to  the  Turkish  Minister  in  Belgrad 
for  Turkey's  co-operation  in  the  war  against  Austria.  In 
reply  to  counsel  for  the  defence.  Dr.  Funder  was  obliged  to 
admit  that  no  member  of  the  Croato-Serb  Coalition  had  been 
present  at  the  incidents  to  which  he  took  exception,  and  that 
he  only  wished  to  pourtray  the  milieu  in  which  the  Coali- 
tion worked.  As  Dr.  Harpner  very  rightly  pointed  out,  it  is 
hardly  fair  to  describe  as  a  person's  milieu  incidents  and  places 
in  which  he  had  never  been. 

After  illustrating  by  various  extracts  from  Novi  List  Supilo's 
anti-Austrian  motives  in  bringing  about  the  Resolution  of 
Fiume,  and  his  paramount  share  in  its  success.  Dr.  Funder 

366  Organ  of  Dr.  Joseph  Frank  and  his  party. 
*«'  See  Appendix  XIV  and  p.  225. 
229 


THE   FRIEDJUNG  TRIAL 

criticised  the  cringing  attitude  at  first  adopted  towards  the 
illegal  Railway  Bill  of  Kossuth  and  Szterenyi.  Not  content 
with  drawing  up  an  absurdly  mild  peace  formula  Supilo  made 
a  speech  in  the  Hungarian  Parliament — June  2, 1907 — in  which 
he  refused  to  renounce  his  belief  in  the  reliability  of  the 
Magyars  and  implored  them  to  reconsider  the  proposed 
measure. 3^^  But,  Dr.  Funder  argued,  the  enigmatic  attitude 
of  Supilo,  Pribicevid  and  their  friends  at  that  moment,  is 
explained  by  instructions  which  they  had  received  from  Bel- 
grad,  to  preserve  at  all  costs  the  entente  with  the  Kossuthists 
against  Vienna. 

IV.    The  Reichsposi  "  Documents." 

Dr.  Funder  then  laid  before  the  Court  the  "  documents  " 
upon  which  the  Reichsposi  had  based  its  articles.  They  were 
five  in  number,  and  were  also  submitted  in  a  printed  German 
translation. 26»  Of  the  five,  two  are  identical  with  two  of  Dr. 
Friedjung's  "  documents,"  namely  A.  the  Spalajkovid  Report 
and  C.  the  order  of  payment  of  6,000  francs  to  Mr.  Supilo. 
There  remain  the  three  following  : — 

B.  Instructions  of  the  Servian  Premier  Dr.  Pasic  to  Mr.  J. 
Tomic,  librarian  of  the  National  Library  in  Belgrad, 
in  view  of  his  secret  mission  to  Agram.  Dated  from 
the  Servian  Foreign  Office,  January  19  (Feb.  i),  1908 
(both  Old  and  New  Style  are  given). 

The  Servian  Government  has  intentionally  selected  a  non- 
political  personage  for  this  mission  on  the  eve  of  the  Croatian 
elections.  Though  entirely  approving  of  the  Fiume  and  Zara 
Resolutions,  "  it  looks  with  suspicion  upon  the  attitude  and 
expressions  of  opinion  of  the  leading  Croatian  politicians  and 
their  newspapers,  especially  those  of  the  Croatian  Party  of 
Right,   as  the  strongest  element   in  the  Coalition."     Tomic 

'*^  It  is  not  easy  for  a  foreigner  to  realize  what  else  Mr.  Supilo  could 
have  done  under  the  circumstances.  Would  Dr.  Funder  have  had  him 
announce  to  his  Chauvinist  audience  that  he  had  never  trusted;  the  Mag- 
yar leaders  and  was  therefore  not  in  the  least  surprised  at  their  breach 
of  faith  ?  Such  action  might  perhaps  have  brought  water  to  the  Great 
Austrian  mill,  but  it  would  hardly  have  been  worthy  of  so  wary  a 
politican  as  Mr.  Supilo. 

***  Aktenstiicke  zur  grosserbischen  Propaganda  in  Oesterreich-Ungarn. 
Den  Wiener  Geschworenen  unterbreitet  von  Dr.  Friedrich  Funder, 
chefredakteur  der  Reichspost. 

230 


THE  REICHSPOST  "DOCUMENTS" 

is  to  speak  with  Tuskan,^''"  Surmin,  Lorkovic,^'^  Magdic  and 
others,  but  not  in  the  presence  of  persons  connected  with 
Srbobran,^'"^  and  to  test  their  adherence  to  the  ideas  of  the  Fiume 
Resolution.  He  is  to  reveal  himself  as  an  agent  of  the  Servian 
Government,  and  to  explain  that  the  latter,  "  as  the  most 
important  factor  among  the  Southern  Slavs  to-day,  not  merely 
wishes  to  be  informed  beforehand  of  the  intentions  and  steps 
undertaken  by  the  Croats,  but  also  that  they  should  profit 
by  the  opinion  and  advice  of  the  Royal  Government,"  which 
is  in  a  better  position  to  judge  matters  from  an  international 
point  of  view.  Servia,  as  an  independent  state  with  a  dynasty 
of  its  own,  has  the  first  word  among  the  Southern  Slavs  ; 
solidarity  must  be  attained,  irrespective  of  political  boun- 
daries. Servia  has  been  of  great  assistance  to  the  Croat  politi- 
cians of  Croatia  and  Dalmatia,  "  has  won  over  the  Slovene 
and  Czech  leaders  in  Austria,"  "  has  placed  almost  all  Southern 
Slav  newspapers  of  importance  at  the  service  of  the  Coalition's 
aims,  and  finally  has  contributed  materially  to  the  Coalition's 
electoral  campaign."  It  has  even  induced  the  Serb  Radicals 
at  the  second  ballots  to  back  the  candidates  of  the  Coalition, 
"  though  this  party's  good  relations  with  Budapest  form  an 
important  factor  in  the  special  policy  of  the  Kingdom  of  Ser- 
via." Tomic  is  then  to  emphasize  the  advantages  accruing 
to  the  Coalition  from  Serb  support  and  to  claim  increased 
influence  for  the  Serbs.  An  understanding  with  Budapest 
lies  in  the  interest  of  Servia  and  the  Serb  race,  and  would  be 
a  guarantee  for  the  position  of  the  Serbs  in  Bosnia.  Servia 
requires  friends  and  kinsmen  in  the  Government  of  Croatia, 
who  might  "  help  to  prevent  the  fate  of  Bosnia  being  decided 
by  foreigners."  "  Bosnia  must  be  reserved  politically  to  the 
Orthodox  and  Moslem  elements,  and  in  this  there  can  be  no 
compromise.  .  .  .  This  is  a  conditio  sine  qua  non,  without 
which  Servia  and  the  Serbs  will  go  their  own  way."  Friend- 
ship with  the  Magyars  is  of  great  importance  to  the  Serb 
race. 

Tomic  is  to  induce  the  Croat  politicians  to  agree  upon  joint 
principles  of  action,  to  be  embodied  in  a  formal  document. 
Servia  intends  to  send  a  retired  diplomat  to  live  in  Agram, 
ostensibly  for  private  study,  but  really  as  a  go-between  with 
Servia. 

*'°  President  of  the  party  mentioned. 
*"  The  two  leaders  of  the  Croat  Progressives. 
"2  Organ  of  the  Serb  Independent  Party. 
231 


THE  FRIEDJUNG  TRIAL 

D.  Memorial  of  the  Slovenski  Jug  to  the  Foreign  Minister, 
Dr.  Milovanovic.  Dated  17  (30)  January,  1909. 
Signed  by  Professor  Ljub.  Jovanovic,  President  of  the 
Skupstina,  as  Vice-President  of  Slovenski  Jug. 

This  long-winded  memorial  proclaims  "  the  national  salva- 
tion of  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina  "  to  be  the  club's  first  duty. 
Servia's  efforts  to  prevent  an  understanding  between  Austria 
a  nd  Turkey  would  be  materially  assisted,  if  the  Moslems  of 
Bosnia  could  be  induced  to  abandon  their  passive  attitude. 
The  two  provinces  must  be  claimed  by  Servia.  Even  the 
most  extensive  autonomy  "  under  the  Viennese  Emperor  " 
would  merely  "  mean  the  creation  of  a  new  miserable  Croatia 
where  there  is  no  place  for  the  Serbs."  The  Narodna  Obrana, 
or  Committee  of  Defence,  will  be  ready  for  action  within  forty 
days  and  "  our  bloody  protest  "  will  force  Servia  to  move. 

No  one  in  Servia  would  consent  to  Montenegro  receiving 
part  of  Herzegovina.  "  The  Bocche,  Spizza  and  Albania 
are  there,  and  the  Prince  can  get  his  son-in-law  to  help  him 
to  an  increase  of  territory  in  that  direction."  All  the  Slovenski 
Jug's  endeavours  to  win  Russian  and  Italian  support  "  for 
the  Serb  cause  are  hampered  by  "  the  gentleman  in  Cetinje." 
Dr.  Milovanovic's  admissions  of  decreasing  support  from 
Europe  had  exercised  a  depressing  effect  upon  the  Bosnian 
Serb  leaders.  The  memorial  goes  on  to  criticize  the  Foreign 
Minister's  policy  in  a  highly  argumentative  and  depreciatory 
tone,  and  declines  in  the  name  of  Slovenski  Jug  and  the  Narodna 
Obrana  to  continue  the  tactics  by  which  the  Ministry  has 
attained  "  these  wretched  results."  The  two  societies  cannot 
contribute  one  farthing  to  the  Srpska  Rijec  nor  "  to  the  Bos- 
nian advocates  in  Budapest,  especially  as  the  Serbs  of  Sara- 
jevo are  rich  enough  to  maintain  their  newspaper  without  aid 
from  Belgrad.  "  The  two  committees  are  confronted  just  at 
present  by  great  tasks,  caused  by  Bosnian  affairs."  Mean- 
while they  have  contributed  as  much  as  54,000  francs  in  aid 
of  the  victims  of  the  Agram  trial,  and  in  order  to  assure  their 
proper  defence  have  "  since  the  date  when  this  matter  was 
entrusted  to  them  by  the  Ministry,  paid  over  a  further  sum 
of  7,000  dinars  to  advocates  in  the  Triune  Kingdom  through 
Mr.  Lukinic.  We  have  subventioned  the  press  of  the  Triune 
Kingdom  with  close  on  30,000  dinars,  without  counting  the 
28,000  crowns  which  we  sent  in  two  instalments  to  Budapest 
and  which  were  employed  by  Messrs.  Supilo  and  Banjanin 

232 


THE   REICHSPOST  "DOCUMENTS" 

according  to  their  approval,  for  the  Hungarian  papers."  The 
Slovenski  Jug  further  urges  the  Foreign  Office  to  advance 
money  for  action  in  the  Hungarian  Press,  through  Mr.  Tomic 
or  Dr.  Poht.3"3  It  has  already  agreed  to  print  pamphlets  for 
the  defence  in  the  Agram  trial,  and  has  "  ensured  the  appear- 
ance at  the  proceedings  in  Agram  of  a  large  number  of  editors 
and  correspondents  of  the  fraternal  Russian  and  Czech  Press 
and  also  from  England." 

E.  Instructions  of  the  Servian  Foreign  Minister  Dr.  Milo- 
vanovic  to  the  Servian  Minister  in  Vienna.  4  (17) 
April  1909. 

This  "  document  "  consists  of  a  lengthy  disquisition  upon 
Servian  foreign  policy,  the  attitude  of  "  the  Cabinet  of  St. 
James,"  and  other  matters  of  international  policy.  I  have 
translated  it  in  extenso  in  Appendix  XV,  so  that  the  reader 
may  judge  for  himself  how  far  the  Ballplatz  is  likely  to  have 
been  the  dupe,  rather  than  the  inspirer,  of  such  crude  forgeries. 

After  the  documents  had  been  read,  Dr.  Funder's 
examination  was  resumed.  When  pressed  as  to  whether 
he  had  seen  the  originals,  he  pleaded  official  secrecy  as  a  reason 
for  not  answering,  and  in  this  he  was  supported  by  the  Court. 
When  pressed  by  the  plaintiff's  counsel,  however,  he  admitted 
that  he  had  received  the  documents  "  from  such  a  source 
that  I,  and  with  me  every  journalist  in  Austria,  could  not  fail 
to  be  convinced,  '  here  I  am  certain  to  get  something  good  '," 
Not  knowing  the  Cyrilline  alphabet,  he  could  not  in  any  case 
have  read  the  originals,  but  they  were  regarded  in  the  highest 
circles — an  leitender  Stelle — as  unquestionably  genuine,  and 
this  was  enough  for  him.  "  The  work  of  Messrs.  Supilo,  Lukinic 
and  Pribicevic,"  he  concluded,  "  are  the  destruction  of  the 
consciousness  of  the  state  among  their  own  people,  conspiracy 
and  plotting  with  the  enemies  of  the  Monarchy.  It  was  our 
patriotic  duty  to  oppose  such  intrigues.  I  can  only  hope  most 
earnestly  that  the  Croat  and  Serb  people  of  the  Monarchy, 
freed  from  individuals  who  have  poisoned  its  present,  are 
on  the  eve  of  a  happier  future." 

Cross-examined  by  Dr.  Popovic,  Dr.  Funder  was  obliged 
to  admit  that  he  had  no  proof  whatever  that  the  sum  of  12,000 
francs  alleged  to  have  been  paid  by  the  Servian  Government 
to   Svetozar   Pribicevic,    had   actually  been   paid   over.     He 

'"  The  leaders  of  two  rival  sections  of  Serb  opinion  in  Hungary,  and 
bitter  enemies  of  each  other. 

233 


THE  FRIED]  UNG  TRIAL 

had  assumed  that  it  had  been  paid  because  the  "  minutes  " 
stated  that  it  would  be  paid. 

In  reply  to  a  further  question  of  Dr.  Popovic,  he  claimed 
to  have  carefully  verified  the  facts  referred  to  in  the  various 
documents  on  which  he  based  his  charges.  Great  then  was 
his  embarrassment,  and  that  of  Dr.  Friedjung,  when  the  able 
Serb  advocate  pointed  out  that  in  the  "  minutes  "  of  Slovenski 
Jug  of  March  lo  (February  26  O.S.),  1908,  6,000  dinars  are 
alleged  to  have  been  voted  in  aid  of  "  the  impending  elections  " 
in  Croatia,  whereas  in  reality  the  elections  had  already  taken 
place  on  February  26.  Dr.  Funder  was  reduced  to  silence, 
and  Dr.  Friedjung  was  constrained  to  make  an  admission 
peculiarly  galling  for  a  historian  of  European  reputation  : — 
"  Knowing  that  the  elections  took  place  early  in  the  year — 
im  FrUhjahre — I  can  say  with  a  calm  mind,  that  I  did  not 
inquire  more  closely  into  the  date  of  the  elections."  The 
feeble  effort  of  defending  counsel  to  throw  doubt  upon  the 
accuracy  of  the  printed  German  translation  published  by 
their  client,  was  promptly  silenced  by  the  sworn  translator 
referring  to  the  photograph  of  the  "  original."  To  the  plea 
of  the  Judge  that  a  forger  would  have  taken  care  not  to  put 
an  obviously  wrong  date  upon  the  documents.  Dr.  Harpner 
retorted  that  he  would  prove  in  the  course  of  the  proceedings 
that  the  forger  had  reckoned  with  very  stupid  people  ! 

In  order  to  obtain  an  authoritative  statement  as  to  the 
date  of  the  elections,  the  Judge  sent  an  official  telegram 
to  the  Croatian  Government,  and  on  Monday,  13th,  he 
read  out  the  reply  in  court.  Although  Baron  Ranch's 
Government  was  straining  every  nerve  to  ruin  the  Coalition 
and  was  actually  at  the  very  moment  scattering  flyleaves 
broadcast  in  the  streets  of  Agram,  announcing  the  plaintiffs 
in  the  trial  to  be  fatally  compromised,  it  might  still  have 
been  expected  that  it  would  adhere  strictly  to  the  facts  in 
its  answer  to  Dr.  Wach's  inquiry.  But  the  telegram  after 
correctly  stating  that  the  elections  took  place  on  February 
27  and  28,  and  that  the  Diet  was  opened  on  March  12 
and  prorogued  on  March  14,  continued  as  follows  :  "  Since 
this  Diet  has  not  yet  formally  constituted  itself,  the  second 
ballots  could  not  take  place  as  yet."  As  Dr.  Harpner  at 
once  pointed  out,  this  statement  was  flagrantly  untrue, 
as  at  least  five  of  the  plaintiffs  had  been  actually  elected 
at  second  ballots.     A  second  telegram  finally  elicited  an 

234 


THE  EVIDENCE   OF   BARON   CHLUMECKY 

accurate  reply  ;  the  second  ballots  in  those  constituencies 
where  no  candidate  had  obtained  an  absolute  majority, 
took  place  on  February  27  and  28  and  March  5  and  10 : 
certain  deputies  however  had  been  elected  in  more  than 
one  constituency,  and  as  the  prorogation  had  left  them  no 
time  to  state  formally  which  they  had  selected,  certain 
bye-elections  were  still  necessary. 

The  defence  tried  to  argue  that  the  contested  passage  in 
the  "  document  "  referred  to  a  second  general  election 
which  Ranch  was  contemplating  within  a  few  days  of  the 
result  of  the  first  !  Dr.  Harpner  brushed  this  quibble 
aside  by  citing  the  phrase,  "  The  Frank  and  Starcevic  Party 
must  be  defeated."  On  March  10 — the  date  of  the 
document — this  party  was  already  defeated,  and  hence 
the  phrase  could  not  possibly  refer  to  a  second  election.^'* 

At  the  conclusion  of  Dr.  Funder's  examination,  the  Court 
dealt  with  a  number  of  proposals  for  the  hearing  of  fresh 
witnesses,  and  a  lengthy  discussion  arose  as  to  the  appointment 
of  experts  to  deal  with  the  handwriting  of  Dr.  Friedjung's 
photographs.  The  names  suggested  were  Professor  von  Jagic, 
the  foremost  Slavistic  scholar  of  the  present  day,  and  Dr. 
Uebersberger,  lecturer  in  East  European  history  at  Vienna. 
The  Judge,  however,  took  the  strange  view  that  the  court 
interpreter  would  be  able  to  do  all  that  was  required  and  that 
no  special  expert  was  needed.  His  reasons  for  such  an  attitude 
were  soon  to  become  apparent. 

V.    The  Evidence  of  Baron  Chlumecky. 

The  first  witness  for  the  defence  was  now  called,  in  the 
person  of  Baron  Leopold  Chlumecky,  son  of  the  distinguished 
financier  and  railway  director. 

Baron  Chlumecky,  who  is  35  years  of  age,  is  at  present  a 
member  of  the  Moravian  Diet,  a  director  of  the  Austrian  Lloyd, 
political  editor  of  the  well-known  review  0 ester reichische 
Rundschau,  and  author  of  an  extremely  able  and  interesting 
but  violent  book  on  Austria-Hungary  and  Italy.  He  began 
his  career  as  a  junior  official  in  the  Bezirkshauptmannschaft 
— Prefecture — of  Ragusa,  and  in  this  post  one  of  his  most  im- 
portant duties  was  the  supervision  of  the  elaborate  system  of 

"*  It  is  probable  that  the  forgers,  in  concocting  this  "  document," 
confused  the  Old  and  New  Styles. 

235 


THE   FRIEDJUNG  TRIAL 

espionage  maintained  by  Austria  in  the  former  Republic 
of  Ragusa  and  along  the  Montenegrin  frontier. ^'^  At  that 
period  the  Serb  and  Italian  parties  jointly  held  the  commune 
of  Ragusa  in  their  power  and  enjoyed  the  support  of  the  local 
Dalmatian  Government.  The  Croats  conducted  a  bitter 
opposition  against  the  Serbs,  and  the  local  organ  of  the  Croat 
party,  the  Crvena  Hrvatska,  was  edited  by  Mr.  Supilo,  then 
an  unknown  journalist.  Baron  Chlumecky  at  first  inclined 
towards  the  Serbs,  but  confessed  to  having  been  greatly 
influenced  by  a  conversation  with  Baron  Kallay,  the  adminis- 
trator of  Bosnia,  who  exposed  to  him  the  secret  aims  of  the 
Serb  parties  and  called  out  to  him  as  he  left,  "  Le  serbisme, 
voila  I'ennemi."  Henceforward  Chlumecky  leant  more  and 
more  towards  the  Croat  party,  and  even  went  so  far  as  to 
admit  that  the  policy  of  Vienna  towards  the  Croats  was  un- 
just. This  attitude  earned  him  the  disapproval  of  his  superiors, 
and  he  was  transferred  to  the  small  Dalmatian  port  of  Makar- 
ska.  In  Ragusa  he  had  made  the  acquaintance  of  Mr.  Supilo, 
and  even  after  his  return  to  Vienna  they  corresponded  from 
time  to  time. 

Such  are  the  circumstances  which  would  appear  to  have 
induced  the  defence  to  summon  Baron  Chlumecky  as  a  wit- 
ness, though  it  is  not  easy  to  understand  the  grounds  upon 
which  the  Judge  allowed  him  to  be  called  at  this  stage  of  the 
proceedings.  As  will  appear  presently,  his  evidence  had  abso- 
lutely no  bearing  upon  the  libel,  and  took  the  form  of  an 
attempt  to  smirch  the  private  honour  of  Mr.  Supilo. 

"  One  thing  I  know,"  he  assured  the  Court,  "  that  Mr.  Supilo 
received  supplies  from  private  Austrian  sources,  which  were 
certainly  not  large  sums  of  money  but  none  the  less  were 
calculated  to  assist  him  in  the  precarious  monetary  circum- 

'"^  "  Dr.  Harpner  :    What  were  you  there  ? 

Witness  :  I  was  secretary — Konzipist — at  the  Prefecture.  In  a 
frontier  country  where  a  movement  known  to  be  dangerous  to  the  State 
exists,  it  is  a  matter  of  course  that  the  authorities  do  not  confine  them- 
selves to  documentary  information,  but  draw  their  information  as 
thoroughly  as  possible  from  real  life.  That  happens  all  over  the  world. 
Everywhere  the  authorities  have  ways  and  means  of  getting  informa- 
tion otherwise  than  by  documents.  In  this  extraordinary  caution  is 
observed.  First  of  all  the  individuals  and  their  reliability  are  tested, 
and  then  their  information  is  accepted  by  no  means  readily.  Traps  are 
laid  for  them,  in  order  to  prove  their  trustworthiness.  It  is  clear  that 
the  authorities  deny  their  relations  to  such  spies,  for  they  can  never 
reveal  their  sources,  otherwise  they  would  learn  nothing.  K&llay  con- 
sidered it  necessary  also  to  have  a  spy  in  Ragusa." 

236 


THE  EVIDENCE   OF   BARON   CHLUMECKY 

stances  in  which  he  then  found  himself.  In  the  same  way 
Kallay's  agent  informed  me  that  he  also  made  material  grants 
to  Mr.  Supilo."  As  an  illustration  of  Mr.  Supilo's  attitude  on 
the  Servian  question,  Baron  Chlumecky  then  proceeded  to 
read  aloud  the  following  extract  from  a  letter  written  to  him 
by  Supilo  on  August  13,  igoi.  "I have  in  my  hands  the  draft 
of  a  conspiracy  between  Mohammedans  and  Greek  Orientals 
devised  against  the  existing  order  of  things  in  Bosnia.  The 
draft  is  printed  in  Belgrad."  Needless  to  say,  this  letter 
served  to  increase  the  growing  sensation  in  court  and  to  con- 
firm the  impression  that  Supilo,  as  a  venal  agent  of  the  Austrian 
Government,  was  in  the  habit  of  transmitting  to  Chlumecky 
secret  denunciations  of  his  Serb  enemies.  It  was  not  till  the 
following  Monday — December  13 — when  Baron  Chlumecky' s 
version  of  the  facts  had  held  the  field  for  forty-eight  hours 
and  the  entire  Viennese  press  had  employed  the  Sunday 
interval  in  heaping  abuse  upon  Supilo's  defenceless  head — 
that  the  full  text  of  the  letter  was  read  aloud  in  court.  The 
correct  version  of  the  passage  quoted  by  Chlumecky  runs  as 
follows  : — "  I  have  in  my  hands  the  draft  of  a  conspiracy 
between  Mohammedans  and  Greek  Orientals  devised  against 
the  existing  order  of  things  in  Bosnia.  /  shall  publish  it  with 
comments  in  an  article  in  Novi  List,  and  think  that  it  will  be  an 
interesting  matter.  The  draft  is  printed  in  Belgrad."  Thus 
it  appears  that  Baron  Chlumecky  deliberately  suppressed  a 
sentence  which  would  have  given  the  affair  a  wholly  different 
complexion — ^behaviour  which  seems  all  the  more  inexcusable 
in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  draft  of  which  Supilo  wrote  had 
already  become  the  public  property  of  the  entire  Agram 
press,  before  its  contents  were  published  in  Novi  List. 

Questioned  as  to  the  sources  from  which  Mr.  Supilo  received 
money,  Baron  Chlumecky  stated  that  sums  of  20  to  30  crowns 
had  been  paid  over  by  the  Bosnian  agent,  and  also  that  on  one 
occasion  a  private  individual  had  paid  Supilo  200  crowns  {£^), 
as  an  earnest  of  his  maintaining  his  anti-Serb  attitude.  At 
this  point  Mr.  Supilo  rose  and  said  :  "  I  declare  solemnly  on 
my  word  of  honour  that  up  till  1903  I  was  an  enemy  of  the 
Serbs."     (Cries  from  the  plaintiffs  :    "  We  know  that  !  ") 

The  Judge  :  "Is  it  true  that  you  took  money  for  pursuing 
this  policy  ?  " 

Supilo  (in  great  excitement)  :  "I  declare  that  I  have  never 
in  my  life  taken  a  kreuzer  from  any  one,  neither  for  my  policy 
nor  for  altering  it  .  .  .  neither  as  subvention  nor  as  charity." 

237 


THE   FRTEDJUNG  TRIAL 

In  answer  to  further  questions  of  Judge  and  counsel,  Supilo 
denied  the  charge  more  emphatically  than  ever.  "  Then," 
said  the  Judge,  "  the  witness  must  be  lying.  ...  I  call  upon 
the  witness  to  name  the  person  who  gave  Mr.  Supilo  the  200 
crowns."  Whereupon  Baron  Chlumecky  replied,  "  If  it  must 
be  so,  well  and  good,"  adding  '  with  a  dramatic  gesture,'  ^78  "  i 
myself  gave  him  them." 

The  sensation  in  court  was  profound,  but  a  few  incredulous 
laughs  were  heard  from  among  the  plaintiffs.  And  here  the 
Judge,  yielding  completely  to  the  excitement  of  the  moment, 
exclaimed,  "  Gentlemen,  there  is  nothing  to  laugh  at.  We 
have  just  heard  that  Mr.  Supilo  here  in  open  court  has  broken 
his  word  of  honour,  and  you  will  have  to  consider  carefully 
whether  you  wish  to  have  further  intercourse  with  such  a 
man."  (Turning  to  the  witness.)  "  So  you  can  testify  under 
oath  that  you  gave  Mr.  Supilo  at  least  200  crowns  in  view  of 
his  political  attitude  ?  " 

Witness  :    "  Solely  with  a  view  to  his  political  attitude." 

Judge  :  "  Then  there  is  no  more  to  be  said.  Mr.  Supilo 
has  given  his  word  of  honour  and  has  broken  it.  (Turning 
to  Supilo)  I  have  no  further  question  to  put  to  you." 

When  Dr.  Harpner  asked  Supilo  what  he  had  to  say,  he 
could  only  vaguely  stammer,  "  I  can  find  no  words."  "  That 
I  can  believe,"  cried  the  Judge.  "  Now  I  can  easily  under- 
stand the  letter  too.  When  you  write  to  the  Baron  that  a 
conspiracy  is  on  foot  in  Bosnia,  it  can  only  mean  that  you 
simply  want  more  money.     That  is  the  whole  explanation." 

This  exciting  scene  continued.  Asked  by  Supilo  where  he 
had  handed  over  the  money,  Chlumecky  stated  that  he  had 
done  so  on  the  open  street  in  Ragusa,  on  leaving  a  political 
conference  at  the  house  of  Kallay's  agent,  and  when  Supilo 
persisted  in  his  denial,  the  witness  raised  his  voice  and  repeated 
his  accusation  more  emphatically  than  ever,  the  Judge  promptly 
backing  him  up  with  the  words,  "  Nothing  could  be  clearer  : 
there  can  be  no  challenging  that." 

But  Supilo,  dazed  as  he  was  and  intimidated  by  the  violence 
of  the  Judge,  stood  his  ground  and  continued  in  his  stubborn 
peasant's  way  to  deny  his  guilt.  He  had  once  visited  Chlu- 
mecky in  Vienna,  he  said,  and  the  latter  had  requested  him  to 
keep  him  informed  on  political  conditions  in  Dalmatia.  On 
the  same  occasion  Baron  Chlumecky  had  spoken  of  being  a 
subscriber  to  Novi  List ;  but  though  the  paper  was  sent  to 
3' 8  Times,  December  13,  1909. 
238 


THE  EVIDENCE   OF   BARON   CHLUMECKY 

him  for  years,  he  never  paid  his  subscription  in  spite  of  some- 
thing like  twenty  formal  reminders.  Here  the  Judge  again 
broke  in  :  "  You  would  really  do  better  to  keep  a  little  more 
closely  to  the  truth."  "  What  I  say,"  rejoined  Supilo,  "  is 
the  pure  truth."  "  What  interest,"  cried  the  Judge,  "  could 
the  witness  have  in  committing  the  offence  of  perjury  ?  " 

"  In  order  to  annihilate  him  politically,"  came  in  chorus 
from  the  Croatian  deputies,  who  had  followed  the  whole  scene 
with  pardonable  excitement.  Baron  Chlumecky  indignantly 
protested,  "  Perhaps  you  fight  with  such  arguments,  but  not 
I."  And  the  Judge,  red  with  anger,  rose  from  the  Bench  and 
shouted  at  the  plaintiffs  ^"  the  now  famous  words,  "  I  must 
request  you,  gentlemen.  We  are  here  in  Vienna.  I  need  say 
no  more  ;  but  I  can't  allow  such  things  here.  In  this  country — 
hei  uns — that  is  out  of  the  question." 

When  the  various  parties  had  recovered  their  calm,  Baron 
Chlumecky's  place  as  witness  was  taken  by  Mr.  William 
Dorotka,  editor  of  Ustavnost,  Baron  Ranch's  most  venomous 
organ,  and  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  campaign  of  calumny 
directed  for  the  previous  two  years  against  the  Croat  o-Serb 
Coalition.  If  there  is  one  man  whom  every  native  Dalmatian 
would  decline  to  accept  as  an  impartial  witness  on  Dalmatian 
affairs,  that  man  is  Baron  Chlumecky.  If  there  is  one  man 
whom  every  native  of  Croatia  would  decline  to  accept  as  an 
impartial  witness  on  Croatian  politics,that  man  is  Mr.  Dorotka.^'^ 
This,  of  course,  accounts  for  their  being  summoned  as  witnesses 
in  atrial  whose  whole  mise-en-scene  wa.s  inspired  by  the  motto 
Divide  et  imp  era. 

-  Dorotka  related  a  conversation  which  he  had  had  in  1903  with 
Count  Ladislas  Szapary,  then  Governor  of  Fiume.  According 
to  the  latter,  Supilo  came  regularly  to  him  for  orders,  with  the 

^"  I  quote  the  very  words  of  the  reporter  of  the  Neue  Freie  Presse, 
who  certainly  cannot  be  accused  of  partiality  for  the  plaintiffs  [Riift 
schreiend  und  hochangerotet  den  Ankldgern  zu). 

^"  Every  Croat  will  admit  this  to  be  an  understatement  of  the  facts. 
But  for  the  benefit  of  British  readers  I  may  mention  that  within  a 
couple  of  days  of  Ranch's  fall  Ustavnost  ceased  to  appear. 

In  the  course  of  conversation  with  a  Dalmatian  official  some  nine 
months  before  the  trial,  I  happened  to  ask  him  his  opinion  upon  a 
recent  article  of  Baron  Chlumecky  on  Dalmatia — Oesterreichische 
Rundschau — whose  violence  had  caused  some  stir.  My  friend,  an 
Austrian  of  the  Austrians,  avoided  a  direct  expression  of  opinion,  but 
significantly  remarked,  "  Why,  Chlumecky  is  the  best  hated  man  in 
Dalmatia." 

239 


THE   FRIEDJUNG   TRIAL 

obsequious  phrase,  "  Che  commanda  Eccelenza,  Che  io  sc.riva." 
"  I  gave  him  the  information,"  added  Szapary,  "  and  every  time 
put  my  hand  to  my  pocket-book  and  gave  him  5  gulden  " 
(8s.). 

Once  more  Mr.  Supilo  was  at  a  loss  for  words  and  fell  a  victim 
to  the  Judge's  sarcasm  ;  but  he  explicitly  denied  having  ever 
spoken  with  Count  Szapary  or  having  ever  been  at  his  house. 
At  this  point  the  proceedings  were  broken  off,  and  as  it  was 
Saturday  afternoon,  the  general  public  was  left  for  forty-eight 
hours  under  the  impression  of  the  charges  against  Mr,  Supilo, 
which  were  none  the  less  damaging  because  entirely  irrelevant 
to  the  question  at  issue  ;  and  the  defence  had  scored  a  tactical 
success,  thanks  to  the  skill  with  which  the  course  of  the  pro- 
ceedings had  been  adjusted  to  the  week-end  pause.  Next 
morning  the  entire  Viennese  press  fell  upon  Mr.  Supilo  with  all 
the  violence  of  inspiration  ;  and  the  Neue  Freie  Presse,  the 
foremost  advocate  of  Count  Aehrenthal's  policy,  outbid  all  its 
rivals  in  treating  the  Croatian  leader's  guilt  as  a  chose  jugee. 
"  To-day  in  court  the  spine  of  the  deputy  Supilo  was  broken. 
A  political  corpse  hangs  with  shattered  bones  upon  the  gal- 
lows "  .  .  . — such  are  merely  the  opening  words  of  a  leading 
article  which  is  a  monument  of  bad  taste  and  political  bias. 
But  the  mot  d'ordre  which  had  inspired  this  general  press 
onslaught  failed  to  produce  the  desired  intimidation.  On  the 
one  hand  Mr.  Supilo,  anxious  that  the  charges  against  his 
person  should  not  confuse  the  real  issues  of  the  trial,  loyally 
announced  his  withdrawal  from  the  Coalition  ;  and  on  the 
other  hand  his  colleagues,  realizing  the  deep-laid  intrigues  with 
which  they  had  to  deal,  and  strengthened  in  their  resolve  by 
such  courageous  champions  as  Professor  Masaryk,  showed  them- 
selves more  determined  than  ever  to  establish  their  innocence 
in  the  teeth  of  a  hostile  court. 

Mr.  Supilo  vigorously  organized  the  defence  of  his  own  cause, 
and  was  fortunate  in  securing  the  services  of  an  able  advocate, 
Dr.  Walter  Rode.  Henceforth  the  Supilo-Chlumecky  feud 
runs  like  an  uneven  thread  through  the  main  texture  of  the 
trial ;  but  as  it  does  not  in  any  way  affect  the  main  issues 
involved,  I  have  thought  it  better  to  treat  it  as  an  entirely 
separate  incident  and  to  assign  to  it  a  separate  chapter  of  its 
own. 

VI.    The  Attitude  of  the  Court. 

Monday's  proceedings  were  taken  up  by  a  large  number  of 

240 


THE   ATTITUDE   OF  THE   COURT 

miscellaneous  incidents — proposals  and  counter  proposals  by 
the  rival  counsel  and  the  discussion  of  various  points  which  I 
have  preferred  to  treat  in  their  proper  context  rather  than  in 
the  accidental  order  in  which  they  were  brought  before  the 
court.  More  than  one  sharp  passage  of  arms  occurred,  and  Dr. 
Harpner  took  his  revenge  for  the  opening  polemics  of  the  defend- 
ants by  asserting  that  he  would  prove  "  that  all  these  docu- 
ments produced  by  Dr.  Friedjung  are  a  clumsy  forgery,  which 
any  person  of  any  perception  could  detect  at  the  first 
glance." 

Before  the  Court  rose,  General  Tomicic,  one  of  the  plaintiffs, 
was  called  as  witness  and  cross-examined  by  the  Judge  as  to  a 
Report  of  the  Austro-Hungarian  military  attache  in  Belgrad 
describing  the  movements  of  Servian  guerilla  bands  along  the 
Bosnian  frontier.  The  General  expressed  his  belief  that  such 
a  report  deserved  to  be  taken  seriously,  as  the  result  of  careful 
inquiries  ;  but  urged  that  the  Chief  of  the  General  Staff,  General 
von  Hotzendorf,  was  the  most  competent  person  to  express  an 
opinion  and  should  therefore  be  called  as  witness. 

Dr.  Friedjung  in  laying  before  the  Court  the  alleged  report 
of  Dr.  Spalajkovic,  indulged  in  a  violent  attack  upon  its 
"  author."  Referring  to  Spalajkovic's  reported  intention  of 
giving  evidence  in  person,  he  said,  "  We  shall  see  whether  Dr. 
Spalajkovic  possesses  the  courage  to  fulfil  this  announcement. 
I  shall  then  have  the  opportunity  of  proving  that  this  gentleman 
held  in  his  hands  the  threads  of  Pan-Serb  agitation  in  Bosnia 
and  Croatia  ;  and  while  I  would  fain  conduct  my  lawsuit  with 
the  Serb  and  Croat  subjects  of  our  Monarchy  calmly  and  with  a 
certain  restraint,  shall  proceed  mercilessly  against  this  Mr. 
Spalajkovic  as  the  foreign  instigator  of  treasonable  intrigues, 
and  shall  give  him  a  passport  {Geleithrief)  for  his  diplomatic 
career  which  he  will  not  be  anxious  to  produce."  Such  a  dia- 
tribe, obviously  inspired  by  a  fervent  if  somewhat  narrow 
patriotism,  came  naturally  enough  from  the  mouth  of  Dr. 
Friedjung.  But  while  we  may  find  excuses  for  a  defendant  in 
a  political  trial  indulging  in  threats  against  a  witness,  none  can 
be  found  for  the  omission  of  the  Court  to  repress  such  excesses, 
for  such  an  omission  is  dangerously  akin  to  intimidation,  especi- 
ally when  the  object  of  the  attack  is  a  foreigner. 

The  attitude  of  the  Court  became  still  clearer  on  the  fourth 
day  when  the  prosecution  submitted  telegrams  received  by 
Professor  Masaryk,  the  well-known  leader  of  the  Czech  Realists, 
from  Dr.  Milovanovid,  the  Servian  Foreign  Minister,  and  from 

S.S.Q.  241  R 


THE   FRIEDJUNG  TRIAL 

Dr.  Simic,  the  Servian  Minister  in  Vienna. ^''^  Though  bearing 
directly  upon  the  most  weighty  of  all  the  "  documents  "  and 
proceeding  from  the  foremost  person  affected  by  the  charge — 
Dr.  Milovanovic — they  were  not  admitted  as  evidence,  the 
Judge  curtly  remarking,  "  It  has  been  said  to  be  a  matter  of 
course  that  official  circles  must  always  deny  such  things." 
This  decision  betrays  the  tendency  of  both  the  defence  and  the 
Judge  himself  to  throw  discredit  upon  declarations  coming 
from  Servia.  It  was,  moreover,  a  challenge  none  the  less 
evident  because  not  expressed  in  words  ;  for  it  placed  Messrs. 
Milovanovic  and  Simic  before  the  difficult  alternative  of  defy- 
ing all  diplomatic  precedents  by  giving  evidence  in  person,  or 
of  seeming  to  shrink  guiltily  from  a  course  to  which  interna- 
tional not  personal  considerations  offered  the  real  obstacle. 
Dr.  Benedikt  was  not  slow  to  follow  up  this  advantage,  and 
proceeded  to  expatiate  on  the  dangers  involved  for  the  Servian 
witnesses  in  their  appearance  before  the  Court.  If  the  docu- 
ments are  genuine,  he  argued,  then  all  the  persons  mentioned 
in  them,  even  though  foreigners,  are  by  Austrian  law  guilty 
of  high  treason  and  liable  to  the  penalties  which  that  offence 
involves.  Notably  the  Servian  Minister  of  the  Interior,  Dr. 
Jovanovic,  is  believed  to  be  a  fugitive  Austrian  subject  and 
might  consequently  have  an  unpleasant  reception  :  still  more 
so  then  Mr.  Godjevac,  who  as  President  of  the  Servian  Bands 
Committee  arranged  the  despatch  of  bombs  to  Austria. 2^° 
"  I  am  far  from  protesting  against  these  gentlemen  coming," 
added  Dr.  Benedikt.  "  In  my  private  capacity  there  is  noth- 
ing I  would  do  more  reluctantly  than  help  to  create  a  trial  for 
treason.  If  it  be  said  that  the  documents  are  false,  then  all 
danger  is  averted — that  is  :  if  this  finds  belief."  Dr.  Funder's 
counsel  expressed  the  same  view  even  more  strongly.     "  Let 

379  <'jjj  reply  to  your  telegram  I  can  categorically  declare  that  the 
Fried jung  documents,  in  so  far  as  they  concern  the  Servian  Government 
and  Servian  diplomacy,  are  not  only  false,  but  that  no  veritable  docu- 
ment of  this  kind  can  exist,  because  neither  Supilo  nor  Pribicevic  nor 
Medakovic  nor  any  one  of  those  whom  Fried  jung  has  drawn  into  the 
affair,  has  ever,  on  any  score  whatever,  directly  or  indirectly,  received 
money  from  the  Servian  Government,  and  because  the  Servian  Govern- 
ment has  never  organized  nor  subsidized,  nor  had  any  knowledge 
whatever  of  such  intrigues  as  are  laid  by  Fried]  ung  to  the  charge  of  the 
Serbo-Croatian  Coalition.  I  add  that  my  alleged  instructions  to  the 
Servian  Minister  at  Vienna  and  to  the  Servian  Consul  at  Budapest  are 
gross  inventions  of  a  forger  equally  ignorant  of  the  form  of  our  written 
intercourse  and  of  the  fundamental  lines  of  our  policy  " — translation  as 
given  in  Times  of  December  14,  1909. 

""  According  to  No.  23,  see  p.  227. 

242 


THE  ATTITUDE  OF  THE  COURT 

the  gentlemen  from  Servia  come  if  they  want  to.  But  every 
one  will  be  prepared  to  draw  the  consequences.  This  building 
contains  another  authority  also, ^^^  and  I  don't  know  what  con- 
sequences that  authority  will  draw  from  false  evidence." 

All  this  was  hardly  encouraging,  and  all  that  Dr.  Harpner 
could  do  was  to  emphasize  the  fact  that  despite  all  these  thinly- 
veiled  threats  nothing  could  happen  to  any  one  in  a  legal  state 
like  Austria,  on  the  basis  of  forged  documents.  He  therefore 
appealed  to  those  who  were  in  a  position  to  prove  the  forgery 
to  trust  themselves  to  the  Court. 

Next  day  Dr.  Benedikt  returned  to  the  charge.  He  pro- 
tested against  Professor  Masaryk's  action  in  publishing  Dr. 
Milovanovic's  telegram  in  the  Viennese  press  and  argued 
that  in  other  countries  this  would  amount  to  grave  contempt 
of  court.  Then,  by  way  of  illustrating  the  view  that  no  Ser- 
vian can  be  trusted  to  tell  the  truth,  he  proceeded  to  cite 
statistics  of  the  political  murders  which  had  taken  place  in  Ser- 
via previous  to  the  year  1895  !  !  As  1,200  murders  were  com- 
mitted on  an  average  every  year  in  Servia,  and  as  there  were 
only  2,000  persons  actually  in  prison,  it  followed  that  ten  or 
twenty  thousand  murderers  are  at  large  in  the  country — the 
tacit  inference  from  this  being  that  the  witnesses  proposed 
by  prosecuting  counsel  belonged  to  this  numerous  army  of 
criminals.  This  was  too  much  for  the  Judge,  who  aptly  pointed 
out  that  the  Kingdom  of  Servia  was  not  the  subject  of  the 
present  trial. ^^^  The  defence  had,  however,  secured  its 
object,  which  was  to  prejudice  the  jury  still  further  against  the 
Servians. 

Hereupon  the  Judge  announced  the  decision  of  the  Court  not 
to  cite  the  Servian  witnesses,  first  because  it  had  no  means  of 
enforcing  compliance,  second  because  it  seemed  inadmissible 
to  demand  the  presence  of  persons  who  would  incur  serious 
dangers  under  the  terms  of  the  Austrian  Penal  Code  (§§  38 
and  58c),  and  thirdly  because  in  giving  evidence  they  might  be 
hampered  by  their  duty  as  citizens  and  by  pledges  of  official 
secrecy.  If,  however,  any  of  them  chose  to  present  themselves 
voluntarily  within  the  next  four  days,  the  Court  would  be 
willing  to  hear  their  evidence. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  after  all  these  amiable  prelimin- 
aries, it  required  considerable  courage  on  the  part  of  the  impli- 

"'  Viz.,  the  police. 

**-  Needless  to  say,  I  do  not  guarantee  the  accuracy  of  Dr.  Benedikt's 
statistics. 

243 


THE   FRIEDJUNG  TRIAL 

cated  Servians  to  appear  before  the  Court.  None  the  less, 
Professor  Bozidar  Markovic,  the  President  of  the  Slovenski 
Jug  and  the  alleged  leader  of  the  terrorist  organization  in 
Belgrad,  had  already  arrived  in  Vienna,  and  was  now  sum- 
moned as  a  witness. 

Before,  however,  this  important  witness  was  heard,  Dr. 
Fried jung  made  an  interesting  statement  as  to  the  origin  of 
his  documents.  His  informants  had  since  November,  1907, 
been  in  a  position  to  secure  the  minutes  of  each  meeting  of 
Slovenski  Jug  soon  after  they  were  drawn  up.  The  originals 
were  brought  each  time  by  a  paid  agent,  "  who  was  naturally 
regarded  with  suspicion,  since  he  plied  an  ugly  trade."  (Dr. 
Fried] ung  did  not  stop  to  inquire  how  far  the  receiver  of  stolen 
goods  is  superior  to  the  thief.)  They  were  then  either  copied  or 
at  once  translated  or  photographed,  and  the  originals  were  then 
handed  back  to  the  agent,  who  restored  them  to  their  proper 
place.  That  photographs  could  not  be  supplied  in  every  case, 
was  due  to  the  fact  that  no  libel  action  was  in  view  at  the  time. 
The  main  object  of  this  traffic  in  stolen  documents — or  as.  Dr. 
Friedjung  more  elegantly  put  it,  "  this  watchfulness  of  the 
factors  in  question  " — was  to  secure  information  as  to  military 
movements  on  the  southern  frontier  and  as  to  possible  intrigues 
in  Bosnia  ;  Croatia  was  only  a  secondary  consideration.  A 
regular  archive  was  placed  at  Dr.  Friedjung's  disposal,  and  for 
weeks  he  studied  "  hundreds  and  hundreds  "  of  these  docu- 
ments, including  at  least  as  many  documents  from  Slovenski 
Jug  as  those  which  he  had  laid  before  the  Court.^^^  When  war 
with  Servia  seemed  inevitable,  he  held  it  to  be  his  duty  to 
make  use  of  this  material  and  wrote  the  article  in  the  Neue 
Freie  Presse,  which  was  to  be  the  first  of  a  series.  During  the 
advance  of  the  Austrian  army  across  the  Save,  he  had 
intended  to  publish  the  various  documents,  and  thus  to  prove 
to  Europe,  "  that  Austria-Hungary  had  been  compelled  by 
Servia's  perfidious  relations  to  dishonest  elements  in  our 
Monarchy,  to  resort  to  arms."  On  the  very  day  of  publication, 
however,  Crown  Prince  George  was  obliged  to  resign  his  rights 
to  the  throne,  and  the  danger  of  war  gradually  diminished. 
When  Dr.  Harpner  pressed  for  the  name  of  the  man  who  sup- 
plied the  documents,  Dr.  Friedjung  rejoined,  "  I  must  confess 
I  was  not  prepared  for  such  naivete  on  the  part  of  Dr.  Harpner. 
I  know  the  man.     But  do  you  believe  that  in  a  country  where 

383  j^Q  vvronder  that  spies  like  Nastic  are  able  to  save  enough  money  in 
a  couple  of  years,  to  open  a  cafe  in  Vienna. 

244 


THE   EVIDENCE   OF   PROFESSOR   MARKOViC 

so  many  political  murders  take  place,  this  man  would  be 
spared  if  what  he  has  done  became  known  ?  .  .  .  I  hand  over 
nobody  to  the  gallows,"  he  added,  "  I  regard  the  question  as 
ridiculous."  Needless  to  say,  the  real  reason  for  not  revealing 
his  name  lay  in  the  natural  fear  of  Count  Aehrenthal  that  his 
principal  spy  might  indulge  in  awkward  revelations  concerning 
the  methods  of  the  Ballplatz. 

Asked  by  his  own  counsel  whether  he  would  characterize 
more  closely  the  source  from  which  he  had  received  the  docu- 
ments, Dr.  Friedjung  pointed  out  that  this  was  immaterial  to 
the  question  of  their  authenticity.  Dr.  Funder,  as  a  busy 
journalist,  was  perfectly  entitled  if  he  received  a  document 
from  "  leading  circles,"  to  regard  it  as  genuine  and  make  use  of 
it  without  further  examination.  "  But  /  am  not  in  this  agree- 
able situation.  For  scientific  investigations  there  is  no  author- 
ity ..  .  for  science  knows  no  authority,  but  only  reasons." 
In  other  words,  he  once  more  staked  his  reputation  as  a 
historian  of  scientific  methods  upon  the  issue  of  the  trial. 

VII.    The  Evidence  of  Professor  Markovic. 

Mr.  Markovic,  Professor  of  Criminal  Law  at  Belgrad  Univer- 
sity, is  a  pleasant  type  of  young  Servian  "  Gelehrte  "  and  cer- 
tainly does  not  convey  the  impression  of  a  secret  terrorist  or 
an  organizer  of  bomb  conspiracies.  At  the  request  of  the  Judge 
he  began  by  describing  the  activity  of  the  Slovenski  Jug,  which 
had  originally  been  founded  in  1902 — not  in  1904  as  Dr.  Fried- 
jung had  asserted — by  twenty  or  thirty  young  enthusiasts,  as 
a  students'  club.  The  columns  of  their  organ,  Slovenski  Jug, 
which  began  to  appear  in  November,  1903,  give  the  best  idea  of 
the  aims  of  the  club.  It  organized  a  Southern  Slav  art  exhibi- 
tion in  Belgrad  in  1903,  a  congress  of  Bulgarian  and  Servian 
students  at  Sofia  in  1904,  and  took  an  active  interest  in  all 
cultural  affairs  of  the  Southern  Slavs.  In  1906  it  was  trans- 
formed into  an  ordinary  citizens'  club  ;  and  on  March  11  of 
that  year  a  mixed  committee  drew  up  the  statutes.  It  never 
had  any  relations  to  the  Servian  Government,  but  received  a 
subsidy  of  400  francs  a  month  from  the  Belgrad  Town  Council, 
to  enable  it  to  maintain  a  public  reading-room.  Markovic 
was  elected  President  of  the  club  in  July,  1907,  but  he  had 
spoken  with  the  Servian  Premier,  Dr.  Pasic,  for  the  first  and 
last  time  in  the  autumn  of  1909.38^ 

^"^  Not  in  February,  1908,  as  Document  I   states    {See  p.  216). 

245 


THE  FRIED]  UNG  TRIAL 

Professor  Markovic  next  proceeded  to  deny  wholesale  the 
authenticity  of  the  alleged  minutes  of  the  Slovenski  Jug.     No 
central     committee — Zentralleitung — had    ever    existed  :     no 
report  had  ever  been  submitted  by  the  club  to  Prince  George. 
No  one  of  the  name  of  Jovanovic  was  ever  vice-president. 
He  himself  had  never  been  in  Salonica,  though  he  was  repre- 
sented as  conferring  with  the  Young  Turk  Committee  there. 
More  than  one  of  the  alleged  meetings  had  never  taken  place 
at  all.     Above  all,  the  minutes  of  October  21  (November  3), 
1908,  were  an  obvious  forgery,  for  so  far  from  presiding  over 
a  meeting  in  Belgrad  on  that  date,  he  had  actually  been  in  Ber- 
lin since  early  in  October,  attending  lectures  on  penal  law  and 
making  the  acquaintance  of  eminent  German  jurists  such  as 
Professor  von  Liszt.     Both  his  arrival  and  departure  were  duly 
intimated  to  the  police,  and  his  statements  could  be  verified, 
as  also  the  fact  that  he  had  stopped  en  route  at  certain  hotels 
in  Vienna  and  Budapest  which  he  indicated  by  name.     On 
November  i,  1908,  the  club  almost  ceased  to  exist,  because  the 
Town  Council  discontinued  its  subsidy  ;  and  the  reading-room 
had  to  be  closed  until  November,   1909.     Markovi6  further 
denied  having  ever  met  General  Stefanovic  and  Dr.  Godjevac, 
whose  presence  is  recorded  in  the  minutes  of  October  6,  1908 
(No.  xxii).     The  Slovenski  Jug  had  never  held  joint  sittings 
with  the  Bands  Committee  ;  a  committee  of  National  Defence 
(Narodna  Obrana)  did  indeed  exist  in  Belgrad,  and  still  exists, 
but  he  had  no  knowledge  of  its  proceedings  and  had  never 
belonged  to  it.     He  had  never  heard  of  bombs  being  prepared, 
or  even  kept  on  the  premises  of  the  Slovenski  Jug.     The  minutes 
of  the  meetings  of  the  society  were  kept  by  the  secretary  ;  this 
post  was  held  during  Markovic's  time  as  President,  by  three 
different  men,  but  no  one  of  the  name  of  Milan  Stefanovic  had 
ever  been  secretary,  and  Markovic  knew  no  such  person  either 
in  Belgrad  or  in  the  rest  of  Servia.     When  shown  Dr.  Fried- 
jung's  photographs,  he  was  unable  to  recognize  either  them  or 
their  handwriting. 

The  explicit  nature  of  Markovic's  denials  and  his  determined 
bearing  were  not  without  their  effect  even  upon  the  supporters 
of  the  defendants,  and  by  way  of  redressing  the  balance,  coun- 
sel for  the  Reichspost  in  a  loud  voice  demanded  of  the  witness 
whether  he  regarded  regicide  as  justifiable.  When  the  excited 
protests  of  the  plaintiffs  had  died  down — voices  were  heard 
repeating  the  Judge's  already  famous  phrase,  "  We  are  here  in 
Vienna  " — Professor  Markovic  declined  to  answer ;    and  Dr. 

246 


THE  EVIDENCE  OF   PROFESSOR  MARKOVIC 

Kienbock  added  the  still  more  offensive  comment,  "  That  also 
is  an  answer."  Even  this  was  surpassed  next  day  by  Dr. 
Benedikt,  who  inquired,  "  Is  it  usual  in  Belgrad  to  fabricate 
bombs  in  the  reading-rooms,  in  order  to  blow  up  the  Prince  of 
Montenegro  ?  " 

Witness  (excitedly).     I  won't  answer  that  question. 

Dr.  Benedikt  :   Even  that  answer  is  quite  enough  for  us. 

Dr.  Harpner  :  I  beg  to  point  out  that  the  defendants,  but 
no  one  else,  call  your  veracity  in  question. 

The  witness  was  now  subjected  by  Dr.  Fried] ung  and  the 
defending  counsel  to  a  minute  and  vigorous  cross-examination, 
in  the  course  of  which,  while  remaining  absolutely  consistent 
on  every  point,  he  showed  an  occasional  tendency  to  quibble 
and  a  rather  too  marked  disinclination  to  furnish  his  opponent 
with  even  the  most  trifling  facts.  For  instance,  he  had 
previously  stated  the  perfectly  correct  fact  that  there  is  no 
"  Doctor  Stefanovic  "  in  the  Servian  Foreign  Office.  He  now 
admitted  that  there  is  an  official  called  Dragomir  Stefanovic  in 
that  office,  and  that  "  Dr.  Stefanovic  "  might  in  Servian  stand 
either  for  "  Doctor  "  or  for  "  Dragomir,"  but  that  the  Dragomir 
in  question  did  not  possess  the  degree  of  doctor,  and  had  in- 
formed the  witness  before  he  left  Belgrad  that  on  principle  he 
never  signed  himself  "Dr.,"  lest  he  should  appear  to  be  sailing 
under  false  colours. ^^^  The  defence,  not  without  some  show  of 
reason,  complained  that  Professor  Markovic  might  at  least  have 
volunteered  this  information,  without  waiting  for  it  to  be  wrung 
from  him ;  but  in  roundly  charging  him  with  suppression  and 
distortion  of  the  facts — eine  riickhdltige  hinterhdltige  Aussage — 
Dr.  Benedikt  was  guilty  of  gross  exaggeration  and  failed  to 
allow  for  the  resentment  of  a  man  whose  name  had  been  mis- 
used upon  a  colossal  scale  and  whose  country  had  been  grossly 
insulted — ^whether  with  or  without  provocation,  is  immaterial — 
by  the  defendants. 

The  defence  next  tried  to  press  home  the  argument  that  it  was 
well-nigh  incredible  that  a  man  engaged  in  politics  like  Markovic, 
should  be  unacquainted  with  so  many  of  the  chief  political 
figures  in  Belgrad,  all  the  more  so  as  the  Servian  capital  still 
has  barely  100,000  inhabitants.  In  reply,  Markovi6  pointed 
out  that  he  was  an  university  professor,  and  his  first  occupa- 

^*^  It  is  by  no  means  unusual  in  continental  countries  for  persons  with 
the  degree  of  doctor,  to  prefix  that  title  to  their  signature  in  more  or 
less  formal  letters  or  in  documents. 

247 


THE   FRIED]  UNG  TRIAL 

tion  was  scientific  study  (Wissenschaft) ;  he  could  naturally 
give  more  information  about  the  academic  and  legal  world  than 
about  the  generals  or  medical  men  of  Belgrad.  Dr.  Friedjung 
was  unwise  enough  to  express  astonishment  that  Markovic 
should  have  selected  for  a  three  weeks'  visit  to  Berlin  "  the 
most  exciting  period  which  the  Kingdom  of  Servia  had  gone 
through  for  years  " — forgetting  that  this  very  fact,  if  proved, 
supplied  a  very  strong  presumptive  proof  against  Professor 
Markovic's  activity  as  the  leader  of  a  revolutionary  committee. 
How  was  it  that  one  of  the  most  fervent  patriots,  one  of  the 
most  decided  politicians  in  the  country,  went  abroad  just  at 
this  very  moment  ?  The  obvious  reply  came  that  he  was 
neither  a  determined  nor  an  active  politician  and  that  for  him 
"Wissenschaft"  really  was  more  important  than  politics. 

Here  Dr.  Benedikt,  promptly  changing  his  ground,  inquired 
whether  it  was  not  considered  more  politic  that  the  president 
of  the  insurrection  committee  and  of  the  Slovenski  Jug  should 
not  be  in  Parliament  ? 

Witness  :  "  But  according  to  this  account,  the  President 
of  the  Skupshtina  is  my  Vice-president. 

Dr.  Benedikt  :  It  is  a  curious  thing,  that  at  the  joint  meeting 
of  the  central  direction  of  Slovenski  Jug  and  the  Bands  Com- 
mitee,  Jovanovic  was  not  present."  This  is  a  distinctly  unfair 
quibble  on  the  part  of  Dr.  Benedikt,  for  the  "  minutes  "  of 
the  previous  meeting  of  the  "  central  direction  "  do  contain  the 
name  of  Mr.  Jovanovic.^^^ 

Next  day  (December  14)  the  cross-examination'  was  re- 
newed. Markovic  stoutly  denied  all  knowledge  of  bombs 
having  found  their  way  into  the  premises  of  Slovenski  Jug,  as 
the  informer  Nastic  had  asserted  in  the  Agram  High  Treason 
trial,  and  insisted  that  Nastic's  evidence  was  false  from  begin- 
ning to  end.  A  little  later  he  admitted  that  the  newspaper 
Slovenski  Jug  was  since  June  3,  1907 — ^the  date  of  his  own 
election  as  President — the  organ  of  the  club.  This  admission 
formed  a  pretext  for  fresh  tirades  on  the  part  of  the  defendants, 
who  argued  that  he  was  deliberately  suppressing  the  true  facts. 
But  Markovic  adhered  stubbornly  to  his  original  standpoint. 
"  To  definite  questions  I  answer  truly  with  Yes  or  No,  But  to 
questions  which  are  not  put,  I  do  not  give  any  answer.  ...  I 
stake  my  life  that  no  one  can  prove  me  to  have  spoken  falsely." 

Intimidation  was  of  no  avail ;  and  the  defence  made  a  final 

»^8  See  Green  Book,  p,  55. 
248 


THE   EVIDENCE   OF   PROFESSOR  MARKOViC 

attempt  to  prejudice  the  jury  against  this  imperturbable  young 
foreigner,  by  laying  before  the  Court  a  pamphlet  which  he  had 
written  at  the  height  of  the  Bosnian  crisis.  "  The  Servian 
View  of  the  Bosnian  Question  "  reflects  pretty  accurately 
the  attitude  of  the  vast  mass  of  educated  Servians  towards  the 
Aehrenthal  policy.  It  contains  the  usual  exaggerations  as  to 
Austrian  rule  in  Bosnia,  but  also  a  summary  of  the  genuine 
grievances  of  those  provinces.  Above  all,  it  deals  with  the 
effects  of  the  annexation  upon  Servia's  economic  position  and 
concludes  with  an  expression  of  the  opinion — at  that  time  en- 
dorsed by  the  entire  Servian  Press — that  a  recognition  of  the 
annexation  would  be  a  national  catastrophe,  to  which  Servia 
could  never  submit,  even  at  the  risk  of  war  with  Austria- 
Hungary. 

It  was  now  the  turn  of  the  jurymen  ;  and  their  questions, 
while  obviously  inspired  by  an  honest  desire  to  be  fair  to  both 
parties,  strikingly  illustrate  the  provincial  outlook  of  the 
average  Viennese  tradesman.  The  most  characteristic  ques- 
tion ran  as  follows  : — "  As  you  do  not  know  the  plaintiffs  in 
this  trial,  as  moreover  you  are  a  Servian  citizen  and  a  foreigner 
here,  I  really  can't  make  out  properly  what  led  you  to  the 
journey  hither  which  costs  so  much  money  and  time,^^'  in  order 
to  give  evidence  in  a  private  libel  action.  In  my  opinion  the 
minutes  laid  before  us  by  Dr.  Friedjung  are  in  no  way  insulting 
to  you  as  a  Servian  citizen  {sic  !),  indeed  I  think  you  have  in  this 
way  done  some  service  to  your  country.  I  can't  then  make 
out  why  you  have  come."  The  answer  of  Professor  Markovic, 
that  he  had  come  firstly  to  clear  his  own  person  from  the 
allegations  made  against  him,  and  secondly  to  defend  his  own 
country,  was  so  obvious  that  a  distinct  effort  is  required  in 
order  to  grasp  the  mentality  of  the  questioner.  As  Dr.  Harp- 
ner  said,  "  If  I  were  to  hear  some  one  was  charged  with  treason- 
able relations  with  Austria  by  an  Italian  who  alleged  that  I 
had  plotted  treason  with  him,  and  if  I  knew  it  to  be  untrue, 
then  I  too  would  go  off  at  my  own  expense  and  say  that  it 
is  a  lie."  In  other  countries  such  a  statement  would  have 
been  regarded  as  a  ludicrously  superfluous  commonplace ; 
but  in  view  of  the  jury's  attitude  it  became  one  of  sheer 
necessity. 

Markovic  might  well  have  added  that  non-appearance  would 

387  'j'l^ig  shows  how  Httle  the  Viennese  tradesman  travels  ;  for  it 
is  not  farther  from  Belgrad  to  Vienna  than  from  Inverness  to  London. 

249 


THE  FRIEDJUNG  TRIAL 

have  been  the  best  proof  of  guilt. ^^^  That  the  defence  were 
fully  conscious  of  this,  and  for  that  very  reason  made  a  desper- 
ate effort  to  frighten  the  Servians  into  remaining  away,  be- 
came apparent  from  Dr.  Benedikt's  concluding  questions. 
Why,  he  argued,  had  Markovic  not  put  in  an  appearance  at 
the  High  Treason  trial  in  Agram,  in  which  the  relations  of 
the  accused  to  the  Slovenski  Jug  played  so  prominent  a  part, 
and  in  which  Nastic  brought  such  grave  charges  against  the 
club.  But  here  Dr.  Benedikt's  attack  failed  ;  for  it  was  pointed 
out  that  Nastic's  statements  referred  to  incidents  previous 
to  Markovic's  election  as  president  :  that  Markovic's  name 
was  not  implicated  until  Friedjung's  Green  Book  appeared  : 
that  the  Agram  court  not  merely  refrained  from  citing  wit- 
nesses from  Servia,  but  also  expressly  declined  to  examine 
even  those  who  might  appear  voluntarily  :  and  that,  though 
his  name  was  among  those  proposed  as  witnesses  by  the  defence 
in  Agram,  he  was  at  that  time  at  a  German  watering  place, 
and  did  not  know  that  his  testimony  had  been  invoked.^^^ 

The  attitude  of  Dr.  Fried] ung  and  his  counsel  towards 
Professor  Markovic  was  unworthy  of  so  distinguished  an  his- 
torian, and  The  Times  was  well  within  the  mark  in  describing 
his  criticism  as  "  pettifogging,"  and  in  declaring  that  the 
adoption  of  these  tactics  by  a  man  hitherto  regarded  as  "of 
considerable  mental  elevation,"  produced  a  painful  impression 
upon  the  public  in  court.^^'' 

Vni.    The  Evidence  of  Professor  Masaryk. 

The  first  witness  at  the  next  day's  proceedings  was  Professor 
Thomas  Masaryk,  the  well-known  Bohemian  savant  and 
politician.  The  important  part  which  he  had  already  played, 
and  was  still  to  play,  in  the  cause  of  Croatian  liberties,  entitles 

^^^  And  who  is  so  naive  as  to  suppose  that  this  would  not  have  been 
the  line  adopted  by  the  defence  if  the  Servians  had  really  remained 
away  ? 

3^8  This  is  by  no  means  as  improbable  as  it  might  seem  at  first  sight. 
Under  the  Rauch  regime,  and  especially  during  the  whole  course  of  the 
Agram  trial,  communication  between  Agram  and  Belgrad  had  its  dan- 
gers. It  was  not  till  June,  1909,  that  the  representatives  of  the  accused 
dared  to  go  to  Belgrad  with  a  view  of  collecting  urgently  necessary  in- 
formation for  the  defence  ;  and  on  their  way  home  the  private  papers 
of  one  of  their  number.  Dr.  Budisavljevic,  were  arbitrarily  seized  by 
Ranch's  officials  in  Semlin,  and  handed  over  to  the  Public  Prosecutor 
for  use  in  the  trial. 

3»o  Times,  December  16,  1909. 

250 


THE  EVIDENCE   OF   PROFESSOR  MASARYK 

the  reader  to  expect  some  estimate  of  the  man  and  his  career. 
By  birth  a  Moravian  Slovak  from  the  Httle  frontier  town  of 
Goding  (Hodonin),^^^  he  had  been  intended  for  the  career  of  a 
village  schoolmaster,  but  found  his  way  to  Vienna,  and  devoted 
himself  there  and  in  Leipzig  to  philosophical  studies.  In 
1879  he  won  his  spurs  with  a  remarkable  essay  on  "  Suicide  as  a 
Social  Phenomenon,"  and  in  1882  he  was  appointed  professor 
at  the  new  Czech  University  in  Prague.  A  year  later  he 
founded  a  literary  review  of  his  own,  and  it  was  here  that  he 
waged  pitiless  warfare  against  one  of  the  chief  literary  trea- 
sui:es  of  his  nation,  the  famous  Koniginhof  MS.  In  spite  of 
fierce  attacks  upon  his  scholarship  and  patriotism,  Masaryk 
never  faltered  until  he  had  established  beyond  all  question 
that  the  manuscript  was  from  beginning  to  end  an  impudent 
forgery.  "  It  was  not  merely  a  matter  of  the  genuine  or  false 
character  of  the  MS.,"  he  declared,  "  but  of  vindicating  the 
liberty  of  every  man  to  give  expression  at  all  times  and  places 
to  his  scientific  convictions."  He  had  proved  the  old  Hussite 
spirit  to  be  still  alive  ;  and  when  in  1891  he  turned  to  politics, 
he  showed  the  same  uncompromising  tendencies,  though 
careful  to  limit  his  programme  to  the  realm  of  possibilities. 
He  might  well  have  taken  for  his  motto,  "  The  truth  shall 
make  you  free!"  In  1900,  dissatisfied  with  the  barrenness 
of  Czech  politics,  he  formed  a  party  of  his  own,  the  so-called 
Progressives,  or  Czech  Realists.  In  the  new  Parliament  of 
Universal  Suffrage,  he  offered  a  crowning  proof  of  his  originality 
and  courage,  by  expounding  the  grounds  of  his  religious  belief 
before  a  House  of  ultramontanes  and  agnostics.  Freedom 
of  conscience  is  to  him  much  more  than  a  mere  phrase,  and 
in  its  defence  he  has  incurred  much  obloquy. ^^^ 

Some  idea  of  the  wide  field  which  his  studies  cover,  may 
be  obtained  by  looking  up  his  name  in  a  library  catalogue. 
In  addition  to  endless  smaller  essays,  we  find  monographs  on 
John  Hus  and  Havlicek,  the  O'Connell  of  Bohemia,  on  Hume, 
Pascal  and  Buckle,  a  treatise  on  Logic,  essays  on  Suicide  and 
Hypnotism,  The  Philosophical  Basis  of  Marxism,  Palacky's 
Idea  of  the  Bohemian  People,  The  Russian  Revolution.     Too 

''^  Born  March  7,  1850.  See  an  interesting  article  by  J.  Vancura, 
"  Unsere  Gotzenzertriimmerer  "  (Our  Idolhvea.'kexs),  in  Cechische  Revue, 
April,   1910,  pp.  201-223. 

''2  Notably  when  he  fought  for  a  revision  of  the  Polna  Ritual  Murder 
Trial  (1899),  and  when  he  defended  Professor  Wahrmund's  aggressive 
anti-clerical  pamphlet,  Katholische  Weltanschauung  (igo8). 

251 


THE  FRIEDJUNG  TRIAL 

liberal  to  be  a  Pan-Slav  in  the  Russian  sense,  he  believes  in 
Austria's  mission  and  in  a  great  future  for  the  Slavs  under 
Habsburg  rule,  and  he  regards  Prague,  not  St.  Petersburg, 
as  the  focussing  point  of  Slavonic  culture. 

Impatient  of  forms  and  phrases,  cold  and  unexpansive  in 
manner,  he  goes  to  essentials,  and  when  he  holds  the  kernel, 
despises  the  outer  shell.  Almost  Spartan  in  his  private  life, 
an  enemy  of  alcohol  and  tobacco,  he  is  no  lover  of  effect  or 
ceremony,  and  relies  upon  reason  rather  than  sentiment.  In- 
deed, he  is  free,  almost  to  brusqueness,  from  the  exaggerated 
sentimentalism  of  the  Slav.  In  any  country  such  a  man  could 
not  fail  to  exercise  a  deep  influence  upon  his  students  :  in 
Bohemia,  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  he  has  become  one 
of  the  chief  moral  forces  of  the  country.  Moreover  Prague, 
as  a  brilliant  centre  of  national  culture,  and  as  the  most  untram- 
melled of  all  the  Slavonic  universities,  attracts  students  from 
every  Slav  country  :  and  all  those  who  showed  sympathy  for 
liberal  and  progressive  principles,  fell  under  the  thrall  of 
Masaryk.  Thus  we  are  faced  by  the  remarkable  fact  that 
not  merely  in  Bohemia  itself,  but  among  the  Slovenes  and  the 
Slovaks,  in  Croatia,  Dalmatia,  Bosnia,  Servia,  Bulgaria,  even 
to  some  extent  in  Russia  and  Poland,  the  younger  politicians, 
under  the  age  of  forty,  have  been  largely  recruited  from  among 
his  stvdents.  The  idealism  of  the  younger  generation  of 
Southern  Slavs,  the  incentive  to  shake  off  the  corrupt  past, 
were  the  direct  fruit  of  his  teaching.  In  Croatia  especially, 
the  Progressive  Party  was  founded  by  his  pupils.  Dr.  Lorkovic 
and  Professor  Surmin,  on  the  lines  of  his  own  party.  Mr. 
Supilo,  the  peasant  Cato,  was  a  man  after  his  own  heart.  The 
Serb  Independent  leaders,  Messrs.  Pribicevic,  Budisavljevic 
and  Popovic,  were  equally  under  his  influence.  In  Belgrad 
more  than  one  of  the  men  whose  names  occurred  in  Dr.  Fried- 
jung's  "  documents,"  had  held  a  high  place  among  his  pupils 
and  in  his  own  estimation.  "  For  Supilo,  Pribicevic  and 
Lukinic,"  he  had  declared  in  the  Austrian  Parliament,  "  I 
would  lay  both  my  hands  in  the  fire."  ^93  How  was  it  possible 
that  the  very  cream  of  those  who  had  been  through  his  hands, 
should  be  accused  of  actions  which  ran  counter  to  his  whole 
teaching  ?  Inevitably  he  was  led  to  investigate  the  charges  : 
for  the  slur  upon  the  pupils  reflected  upon  the  master  too. 
And  with  each  step  in  the  inquiry,  the  conviction  ripened  in 

^•^  See  Masaryk,  op,  cit.  p.   loi. 
252 


THE  EVIDENCE   OF  PROFESSOR  MASARYK 

him  that  their  very  excellence  had  exposed  them  to  a  shameful 
plot,  which  aimed  at  robbing  Croatia  of  her  ablest  sons.  Once 
more  he  was  involved  in  a  momentous  dispute  as  to  the  authen- 
ticity of  documents,  and  in  challenging  Dr.  Friedjung's  thesis, 
he  had  one  obvious  point  in  his  favour.  Professor  Masaryk  was 
a  recognized  authority  on  Slavonic  languages  :  Dr.  Fried jung 
could  not  read  a  word  of  Servian  or  any  other  Slav  language. 
In  other  words,  the  one  was  qualified  to  criticise  the  "  docu- 
ments "  :  the  other  was  not.^^^ 

Professor  Masaryk  gave  a  long  and  conscientious  account 
of  his  visits  to  Belgrad,  and  the  methods  which  he  employed 
to  investigate  the  allegations  brought  forward  by  the  Public 
Prosecutor  in  Agram,  and  by  Dr.  Friedjung's  article.  In  some 
respects,  he  argued,  he  could  say  more  than  Markovic.  On 
his  second  visit  to  Belgrad  in  July,  1909,  he  had  spoken  with 
Markovic,  the  main  object  of  his  inquiry  being  to  discover 
whether  the  Slovenski  Jug  was  the  central  committee  of  a 
secret  society,  or  had  intimate  relations  with  the  Servian 
Government.  He  satisfied  himself  that  this  was  not  the  case, 
and  was  confirmed  in  this  view  by  the  discovery  that  Slovenski 
Jug  had  been  in  serious  financial  difficulties  and  could  scarcely 
have  existed  but  for  the  Town  Council's  subsidy.  The  judge 
here  not  unfairly  suggested  that  if  a  secret  society  had  existed, 
it  was  hardly  likely  that  Professor  Masaryk,  as  a  foreigner  and 
an  Austrian,  would  have  been  let  into  its  secrets  ;  and  the 
fact  that  on  his  second  visit  to  Belgrad,  several  Servian  news- 
papers denounced  him  as  an  Austrian  spy,  seemed  to  confirm 
the  Judge's  scepticism.  But  Professor  Masaryk  maintained 
confidently  that  he,  who  had  so  many  intimate  friends  and 
former  pupils  in  Servia,  could  not  have  failed  to  detect  the 
existence  of  revolutionary  designs  among  them.  Some  of 
them  he  knew  so  well,  that  they  would  have  told  him  every- 

''*  In  writing  thus  of  Professor  Masaryk,  I  feel  that,  like  Balaam,  I 
came  to  curse  and  stayed  to  bless.  The  attitude  of  his  more  prominent 
followers,  who  have  degraded  his  liberal  views  into  mere  anti-clerical- 
ism, had  prejudiced  me  against  him  also  ;  and  even  at  the  time  of  the 
Agram  Trial,  I  could  not  approve  of  his  tactics  or  his  speech  in  Parlia- 
ment. But  his  attitude  at  the  Friedjung  Trial,  and  still  more  his  coura- 
geous exposure  of  Count  Aehrenthal  and  his  methods  {see  Chapter 
XII)  completely  converted  me.  He  had  nothing  to  gain  and  has 
actually  gained  nothing  but  insult  and  abuse.  No  one  can  withhold  his 
admiration  from  his  unselfish  and  loyal  defence  of  his  old  pupils — or  at 
least  none  save  those  who  think  that  the  sole  lesson  to  be  learnt  from  a 
scandal  is  the  best  method  of  avoiding  detection  on  the  next  occasion. 

253 


THE   FRIEDJUNG  TRIAL 

thing,  everything  ;  nor  would  he  hesitate  for  a  moment  to 
brand  Milovanovic  or  Jovanovic  as  Hars,  if  he  found  their 
assertions  to  be  untrue.  Asked  whether  he  believed  that  a 
Foreign  Minister  would  admit  the  existence  of  such  a  con- 
spiracy, he  replied,  "  A  small-minded  politician  would  not 
admit  it ;  a  Bismarck  would."  Nor  was  it  only  to  him  that 
Milovanovic  had  expressly  denied  the  charges.  He  had  dis- 
cussed the  matter  publicly  in  the  Skupshtina,  where  he  had 
many  enemies.  And  when  during  strained  relations  with 
Austria  a  Servian  Minister  publicly  speaks  of  these  things  in 
the  Skupshtina,  in  discussing  a  universal  question — for  the 
Servian  question  is  a  universal  question  in  which  Austria, 
Russia,  Britain,  Italy  and  Germany  are  interested — and 
Count  Aehrenthal  does  not  disavow  him  in  the  official  press, 
then  I  must  assume  that  Milovanovic  is  speaking  the  truth." 

Professor  Masaryk,  in  passing  to  a  criticism  of  Dr.  Fried- 
jung's  "  documents,"  pointed  out  that  he  had  devoted  four 
years  to  the  study  of  documents  during  the  famous  literary 
feud  of  the  Koniginhof  MS.;  and  on  the  present  occasion  he 
had  employed  similar  methods.  To  begin  with,  the  phrase- 
ology of  the  documents  was  incredible.  Not  even  a  school- 
boy would  write  as  Pasic,  Servia's  foremost  Realpolitiker ,  is 
represented  as  writing  in  the  secret  instructions  to  Tomic. 
And  how  could  a  man  like  Milovanovic,  in  a  confidential 
document  dealing  with  high  politics,  write  of  "  Golden  Prague  " 
or  of  "the  Czech  Kingdom"? 

In  reply  to  Dr.  Friedjung,  he  admitted  that  on  his  first 
visit  to  Belgrad  he  only  remained  two  nights,  having  previously 
made  appointments  by  letter  with  those  whom  he  wanted  to 
see.  His  chief  reason  for  going  was  that  no  one  in  Agram  dared 
to  go, ^^^  and  even  he  as  a  politician  was  laying  himself  open  to 
suspicion,  and  therefore  stopped  as  short  a  time  as  possible.  He 
had  not  spoken  with  Markovic  on  that  occasion,  because  the 
object  of  his  enquiries  related  to  a  period  previous  to  the  latter 's 
connexion  with  the  club.  His  interest  was  concentrated  on 
Milan  Pribicevic,  as  the  author  of  the  revolutionary  statute,  and 
Ljuba  Jovanovic,  as  former  president  of  Slovenski  Jug.  At  the 
Agram  trial  the  statute  played  the  principal  part,  while  the 
Markovic  "  minutes  "  had  not  yet  been  produced  ;  and  it 
was  therefore  only  natural  that  he  should  concern  himself 
with  the  former  and  not  the  latter.     An  amusing  incident 

"*  Owing  to  the  attitude  of  Rauch's  absolutist  government. 

254 


THE   EVIDENCE   OF  FATHER   ZAGORAC 

occurred  when  Dr.  Friedjung  asked  who  had  told  him  that 
the  statute  had  reached  Austria  from  Montenegro.  Professor 
Masaryk  repHed  that  he  had  learnt  this  fact  from  several 
sources  which  he  was  not  at  liberty  to  mention,  and  also  from 
no  other  than  George  Nastic,  who  for  once  in  a  way  appeared 
to  have  spoken  the  truth.  Here  Dr.  Friedjung  threw  doubt 
upon  Nastic's  veracity,  though  he  had  not  scrupled  to  cite  him 
in  his  article  in  the  Neue  Freie  Presse — see  p.  204.  When 
Masaryk  rejoined  that  this  fact  was  also  published  in  the 
Wiener  Allgemeine  Zeitung,  one  of  Count  Aehrenthal's  organs, 
Friedjung  poured  contempt  upon  the  scientific  methods  of 
that  newspaper.  "  Then,"  said  Masaryk,  "  Count  Aehrenthal 
should  have  published  a  dementi,  if  the  statement  was 
inaccurate."  ^se 

Strangely  enough,  this  and  the  fact  that  the  Servian  Pre- 
mier's telegram  was  published  without  contradiction  in  the 
Fremdenblatt,  the  chief  official  organ  of  the  Ballplatz,  seem 
to  have  impressed  the  Court  and  the  jury  far  more  than  any- 
thing that  Professor  Masaryk  could  say.  They  were  openly 
sceptical  "  when  he  assured  them  that  the  word  of  a  Foreign 
Minister  had  some  claim  to  consideration,  and  that  a  large- 
minded  politician  would  give  an  honest  answer  to  an  honest 
question  from  an  intimate  friend,  or  at  least  would  not  wilfully 
mislead  him."  ^^^ 

Professor  Masaryk's  evidence  was  not  impressive  :  like 
himself,  it  was  not  calculated  for  effect,  and  indeed,  in  the 
hostile  court,  created  an  atmosphere  of  frigid  scepticism.  The 
extreme  conviction  with  which  he  spoke,  the  evidences  of 
careful  and  minute  investigation  which  he  was  able  to  adduce, 
were  wasted  upon  a  judge  and  jury  with  whom  it  seemed  to 
be  an  axiom  that  all  Serbs  are  naturally  liars  and  conspirators. 

IX.     The  Evidence  of  Father  Zagorac. 

The  next  witness  presented  a  complete  contrast  to  Professor 
Masaryk.  Father  Stephen  Zagorac  has  been  for  the  last  eight 
years  a  member  of  the  Croatian  Diet.  As  one  of  the  chief 
representatives  of  Croatia  at  the  Resolution  of  Fiume,  he  held 
an  influential  position  in  the  Croato-Serb  Coalition,  and  was 

^'8  It  is  highly  significant  that  the  Neue  Freie  Presse,  in  its  ostensibly 
verbatim  reports  of  the  trial,  omits  all  reference  to  this  little  incident — 
doubtless  as  a  result  of  a  hint  from  the  proper  quarter.  I  am  relying 
here  upon  my  own  notes  taken  in  court. 

"'  Times,  December  17,   1909. 


THE   FRIEDJUNG   TRIAL 

one  of  its  most  active  members  in  Budapest.  Despite  his 
natural  leanings  to  the  Clericals  of  Vienna,  he  showed  extreme 
reluctance  to  abandon  the  cause  of  Magyar-Croat  friendship, 
and  in  the  summer  of  1908  he  exposed  himself  to  much  criti- 
cism by  attempting  to  negotiate  singlehanded  with  Budapest. 
As  a  result  of  this  incident  and  of  friction  with  other  Coalition 
leaders,  Father  Zagorac  seceded  in  the  autumn  of  the  same 
year,  and  threw  in  his  lot  with  the  small  group  of  Dr.  Mile 
Starcevic.  Renouncing  all  hope  of  an  entente  with  Hungary, 
he  pinned  his  whole  faith  upon  Austria,  the  Heir- Apparent, 
and  the  Christian  Socialist  Party,  with  members  of  which 
he  was  on  friendly  terms.  Thus  it  was  Dr.  Funder,  the  Chris- 
tian Socialist  editor,  who  cited  him  as  a  witness,  to  report  on 
his  former  relations  with  the  Croato-Serb  Coalition. 

Father  Zagorac  at  once  admitted  that  he  had  heard  talk  of 
relations  between  the  Coalition  and  the  Servian  Government, 
but  all  his  information  came  from  Vienna.  "  Over  two  years  ago 
certain  exalted  persons  in  Vienna  are  said  to  have  repeatedly 
affirmed  that  the  Coalition  contains  antimonarchical  and 
antidynastic  elements."  He  at  once  discussed  the  matter 
with  Supilo  and  other  leaders,  and  regarded  their  replies  as 
entirely  satisfactory.  Questioned  as  to  his  informant,  Father 
Zagorac  declined  to  give  his  name,  but  added,  "  None  the 
less  I  learnt  that  the  Archduke  Francis  Ferdinand  stated 
before  various  political  personages,  that  the  Coalition  was 
connectted  with  treasonable  intrigues."  Mr.  Laginja  ^^^  had 
repeated  to  him  a  similar  remark  of  the  Austrian  Premier, 
Baron  Beck  ;  and  documents  were  believed  to  exist,  proving 
Supilo  to  be  an  enemy  of  the  d3masty.  From  another  abso- 
lutely authentic  source  he  had  heard  that  Count  Aehrenthal 
had  also  spoken  of  anti-monarchical  elements  in  the  Coalition. 
About  the  same  time  he  himself  had  an  interview  with  Dr. 
Gessmann — the  well-known  Christian  Socialist  leader  in 
Austria — and  found  it  necessary  to  defend  the  Coalition  from 
the  charge  of  being  unpatriotic  and  hostile  to  the  Monarchy. 
In  reply  to  Dr.  Kienbock,  he  stated  that  not  long  before  he 
seceded  from  the  Coalition,  he  had  applied  for  an  audience 
with  the  Heir-Apparent,  but  it  was  refused  without  reason 
stated,  and  he  was  merely  informed  "  At  present  it  is  impos- 
sible." Soon  afterwards,  however,  he  met  a  politician  who 
had  actually  been  received  in  audience,  and  it  was  then  that 
he  learnt  of  the  Archduke's  remark. 

«»*  Member  of  the  Reichsrath  for  a  Croat  district  in  Istria. 

256 


THE  EVIDENCE   OF  FATHER  ZAGORAC 

Father  Zagorac  then  stated  the  reasons  which  had  prompted 
him  to  secede  from  the  Coalition.  First,  he  could  no  longer 
submit  to  the  leadership  of  Supilo.  Second,  he  was  dissatis- 
fied with  the  Coalition's  attitude  in  the  Bosnian  question. 
Third,  he  was  no  longer  willing  to  accept  the  Ausgleich  with 
Hungary  as  the  basis  of  Croatia's  policy.  And,  finally,  what 
he  had  heard  in  Vienna  had  not  been  without  its  effect  upon 
him,  and  he  felt  that  Croatia  must  in  the  future  at  all  costs 
avoid  the  enmity  of  Austria.  Supilo  he  described  as  an 
intolerably  autocratic  leader — from  this  view  the  plaintiffs 
at  once  dissented  ;  any  one  who  differed  from  him  was  at 
once  either  a  fool  or  an  agent  of  Austria  or  Hungary.  Under 
his  guidance  the  Coalition  had  made  endless  tactical  blunders, 
chiefly  owing  to  the  rapidity  with  which  he  veered  round 
from  Serbophobe  to  Serbophil,  from  Magyarophobe  to  Kossuth- 
ist,  from  an  opponent  of  Austria  to  an  admirer  of  the  "  Great 
Austrian "  idea.  But  though  all  this  made  it  impossible 
for  him  to  continue  to  work  with  Supilo,  he  emphatically 
asserted  that  he  had  never  doubted  Supilo's  personal  honour, 
and  to-day  he  was  still  convinced  that  Supilo  had  never  ac- 
cepted a  kreuzer  from  any  one.  Though  up  till  December, 
rgoS,  a  member  of  the  executive  committee  of  the  Coalition, 
he  had  never  heard  a  syllable  as  to  relations  with  Servia  on 
the  part  of  any  of  its  members.  While  admitting  that  he 
had  at  the  time  expressed  open  disapproval  of  Supilo's  occa- 
sional visits  to  Italy  and  Servia,  and  had  even  described  the 
latter  as  a  "  pilgrimage,"  he  vigorously  denied  that  there  had 
ever  been  any  talk  of  treason  inside  the  Coalition.  There 
have  been  traitors  in  the  Monarchy,  but  they  are  to  be  sought 
not  in  the  ranks  of  the  Coalition,  but  in  Budapest  and  in  the 
Serb-Radical  party.  He  had  once  asked  the  deputy  Budisav- 
Ijevic  his  opinion  of  the  Slovenski  Jug,  and  had  received  the 
answer,  "  That  is  tomfoolery  "{Das  sind  Dummheiten).  "  And 
I  replied,"  added  Father  Zagorac,  with  surprising  vigour, 
"  that  we  too  could  do  with  a  Slovenski  Jug  against  the 
Magyars,"  A  chance  conversation  of  his  with  the  deputy 
Dr.  Magdic  had  been  falsely  reported  as  conveying  a  slur 
upon  the  patriotism  of  the  Coalition,  and  he  now  corrected  it 
amid  loud  laughter  from  all  parts  of  the  court.  He  himself 
had  said  that  a  time  might  come  when  bombs  would  be  re- 
quired ;  for  when  a  man  is  attacked  by  a  robber  with  the 
words  "  Your  money  or  your  life  " — and  this  was  the  attitude 
of  the  Magyars  towards  Croatia — weapons  are  the  only  resort, 

s.s.Q.  257  s 


THE  FRIED]  UNG  TRIAL  ;' 

and  in  that  case  it  matters  very  little  where  the  bombs  come 
from.  "  Perhaps,"  replied  Magdic,  "  and  I'll  be  the  first  to 
blow  up  a  bridge."  "  And  I  the  second,"  added  this  represen- 
tative of  the  Church  militant.  As  he  had  taken  care  to  warn 
the  Court,  the  whole  affair  smacked  strongly  of  an  inn  parlour 
(ein  Wirtshausgesprdch).  The  whole  campaign  against  the 
Coalition,  he  added,  was  in  his  opinion,  even  after  reading 
the  "  documents,"  a  mere  political  intrigue,  whose  object 
was  the  revival  of  the  old  "  Magyarone  "  regime  in  Croatia. 
"  And  what  impression  did  these  documents  make  upon  you  ?  " 
asked  counsel  for  the  prosecution.  "  I  have  read  carefully 
every  day  the  reports  in  the  Reichspost,"  replied  Father 
Zagorac,  "  and  one  day  I  said  to  my  curates,  '  Gentlemen,  I 
have  read  the  documents  of  which  Dr.  Funder  told  me,  but 
I'm  afraid  he  will  be  dreadfully  let  in  '  [Er  wird  sich  schrecklich 
blamiren)." 

The  evidence  of  Father  Zagorac  created  a  profound  sensa- 
tion. The  source  of  the  defendants'  information  had  from  the 
first  been  sufficiently  obvious  ;  but  the  fact  that  forged  docu- 
ments had  played  a  decisive  part  in  winning  the  consent  of 
the  d3masty  and  of  the  A.ustrian  Government  to  the  Aehrenthal 
policy,  had  hitherto  been  kept  discreetly  in  the  background. 
Father  Zagorac's  extremely  outspoken  language  tore  away 
the  veil  for  the  first  time,  and  the  scene  which  it  revealed  was 
far  from  edifying.  Dr.  Friedjung  rightly  felt  that  such  revela- 
tions could  not  be  passed  over  in  silence,  and  standing  up  in 
court  he  made  the  following  statement : — 

"  Hitherto  I  have  said  not  a  word  as  to  whether  His  Imperial 
and  Royal  Highness,  Archduke  Francis  Ferdinand,  or  Count 
Aehrenthal,  or  the  Premier  Baron  Beck  have  seen  these  docu- 
ments. But  as  the  witness  stated  here  that  he  knew  that 
these  documents  have  been  for  years  in  the  possession  of, 
and  known  to,  these  highly-placed  personages,  I  am  obliged 
and  entitled  to  declare  that  these  documents  were  certainly 
brought  to  the  knowledge  of  all  the  authoritative  quarters 
[leitende  Stellen)  which  had  to  conduct  the  government  of 
the  Monarchy.  I  content  myself  with  pointing  out  that  I 
was  not  naive  in  producing  the  documents,  for  otherwise  I 
should  have  shared  this  naivete  with  all  the  authoritative 
quarters  that  have  been  mentioned." 

This  statement  effectively  demolished  the  assurances  of 
Count  Aehrenthal's  official  press,  that  the  Friedjung  Trial  was 
in  no  sense  a  political  affair  and  that  its  issue  was  of  no  concern 

258 


DR.   POLIT  AND  THE  SERVIAN   WITNESSES 

to  the  Foreign  Minister.  Its  eminently  political  character 
was  now  apparent  to  all  the  world.  The  Fried] ung  Trial  was 
already  threatening  to  compromise  the  diplomatic  methods 
of  the  Monarchy,  and  to  become  a  grave  European  scandal. 

A  new  witness  was  now  produced  in  the  person  of  Father 
Zajnko,  who  gave  a  confused  account  of  a  conversation  which 
he  had  had  with  Zagorac  as  recently  as  the  autumn  of  1909. 
The  latter  had  confided  to  him  the  reasons  for  which  his 
audience  had  been  refused,  and  also  the  account  which  Supilo 
had  given  of  his  visits  to  Belgrad  ;  "I  believed  him,"  said 
Zagorac,  "  but  afterwards,  when  I  heard  Spalajkovic  speak, 
I  was  convinced  that  the  matter  was  quite  different."  Zagorac 
had  further  repeated  the  phrase  of  Supilo,  that  he  had  visited 
Belgrad  "  only  in  the  interests  of  the  Coalition." 

But  Father  Zagorac  yielded  not  an  inch,  and  boldly  con- 
fronting the  witness,  he  denied  having  ever  even  mentioned 
to  him  the  name  of  Spalajkovic,  or  having  ever  used  the 
phrase  "  in  the  interests  of  the  Coalition."  "  Either  you 
have  made  a  mistake,"  he  cried  with  his  accustomed  verve, 
"  Either  you  have  made  a  mistake,  or  you  are  lying."  And 
here  the  matter  rested,  though  not  before  it  had  transpired 
that  Supilo  could  not  possibly  have  made  the  remark  attri- 
buted to  him  by  Zajnko,  since  his  visit  to  Belgrad  had  taken 
place  in  the  first  days  of  April,  1905,  at  a  time  when  the 
Coalition  had  not  yet  come  into  being. 

X.    Dr.  Polit  and  the  Servian  Witnesses. 

The  next  witness  was  Dr.  Michael  Polit-Desancic,  a  man 
of  seventy-seven,  who  had  for  many  years  been  the  recognized 
leader   of    the    Serbs    in    Southern    Hungary.      Originally    a 
member  of  the  Croatian  Diet  in  the  sixties,  he  had  been  settled 
for  forty  years  in  Neusatz  (Ujvidek),  the  home  of  the  Serb 
Academy  (Srpska  Matica).     During  the  Bosnian  insurrection 
of  1876-77,  he  had  as  a  young  advocate  gallantly  defended 
Svetozar  Miletic,  when  arraigned  by  the  Magyar  Government 
for  his  Serbophil  tendencies.     When  in  1906  he  re-entered 
the  Hungarian  Parliament,  after  an  absence  of  over  twenty 
years,  he  was  able  to  remind  the  House  of  his  farewell  phrase 
a  generation   before,  "  W^e  meet  again  at  Philippi."     As    an 
old-world  Liberal,  he  was  bitterly  opposed  to  Dr.  Pasic,  and  the 
Radical  party,  which  had  dominated  ^Servia  since  King  Alex " 
ander's  murder ;  and  hence  his  association  with  the  Pasic  Govern 

259 


THE   FRIED  JUNG  TRIAL  '         ^ 

inent,  as  the  minutes  of  the  Slovenski  Jug  alleged,  had 
considerably  mystified  even  Dr.  Fried]  ung    himself. 

In  the  course  of  his  evidence,  Dr.  Polit  stated  that  as  a  young 
man  he  had  written  regularly  on  Balkan  affairs  in  the  Augs- 
burger  Allgemeine  Zeitung,  and  his  articles  had  actually  been 
described  as  inspired  by  Bismarck's  press  bureau  !  But  for  the 
past  twenty  years  he  had  not  written  a  single  article  in  the 
foreign  press  ;  and  as  for  conducting  a  foreign  press  propa- 
ganda in  favour  of  Pasic,  it  was  only  necessary  to  point  out 
that  both  his  party  and  his  newspaper  had  been  for  twenty 
years  at  enmity  with  the  Radicals  both  in  Servia  and  in  the 
Banat,  that  he  had  repeatedly  written  articles  attacking  Pasic 
and  demanding  the  trial  of  the  regicides.  Nor  could  any  one 
acquainted  with  his  relations  to  the  Magyars  fail  to  realize  the 
sheer  absurdity  of  the  charge  that  he  had  received  money  on 
behalf  of  the  Hungarian  press.  Here  Dr.  Fried] ung  freel}- 
admitted  that  he  knew  Dr.  Polit's  high  reputation  and  had 
consequently  been  puzzled  by  the  passage  referring  to  him  in 
Spalajkovic's  secret  report. 399  Indeed,  he  had  at  first  been  dis- 
posed to  omit  the  passage,  and  had  only  reluctantly  decided 
to  print  it  in  full.  As  Dr.  Harpner  afterwards  (December  i8), 
pointed  out  with  crushing  irony,  it  would  be  far  better  if  they 
had  the  complete  documents  before  them  ;  so  many  more 
absurdities  might  then  become  apparent.  He  admitted  Dr. 
Fried] ung's  bona  fides  but  claimed  that  from  the  point  of  view 
of  an  effective  control,  these  omissions  were  distinctly  unfor- 
tunate. A  barren  dispute  followed  between  the  witness  and 
Dr.  Fried] ung  on  the  academic  question  whether  it  was  per- 
missible for  a  newspaper  to  accept  subventions  from  abroad. 
Both  parties  played  with  the  words  "  criminal  "  and  "  natural," 
until  their  hearers  were  genuinely  bewildered  ;  the  witness 
apparently  held  that  to  accept  a  subsidy  where  there  was  clearly 
no  treason  involved,  was  not  penal,  while  the  defendant  re- 
garded all  subsidies  from  abroad  as  un]ustifiable,  and  un- 
patriotic. For  obvious  reasons  the  discussion  must  have  been 
followed  with  some  anxiety  by  numerous  representatives  of  the 
Viennese  and  Budapest  press. 

Mr.  Peter  Jelovac,  the  merchant  in  whose  house  at  Semlin — 
according  to  the  Spala]kovic  report — the  Servian  money  was 
paid  over  to  the  deputy  Pribicevic,  next  categorically  denied 
the  allegation  and  gave  details  as  to  the  four  occasions  on  which 
he  had  met  Pribicevic. 

39»  See  Appendix  XIV. 
260 


DR.   POLIT  AND   THE   SERVIAN   WITNESSES 

After  Mr.  Toncic,  the  Vice-Governor  of  Dalmatia,  had  been 
examined  regarding  Mr.  Supilo's  activity  in  Ragusa  {see  p.  292) 
fresh  witnesses  from  Servia  were  allowed  to  run  the  gauntlet 
of  a  hostile  court. 

Mr.  Davidovic,  a  former  Servian  Minister  of  Education, 
and  Vice-President  of  the  Skupshtina,  whose  name  occurs 
repeatedly  as  member  and  even  vice-president  of  the  Slovenski 
Jug,  declared  that  he  had  never  belonged  to  the  club  and  denied 
having  ever  attended  any  of  the  meetings  reported  in  the  alleged 
"  minutes."  He  described  the  Slovenski  Jug  as  a  students' 
society,  which  pursued  objects  of  general  culture  and  also 
sought  connexions  with  similar  organizations  abroad,  Though 
not  intimate  with  Markovic,  he  belonged  to  the  same  party, 
and  was  therefore  in  a  position  to  state  that  Markovic  took 
no  active  part  in  politics,  except  in  so  far  as  he  voted  at  elec- 
tions. When  the  Judge  pointed  out  that  the  relations  alleged 
to  have  subsisted  between  the  witness  and  Austrian  politicians 
constituted  a  penal  offence,  Davidovic  replied  that  he  was  fully 
aware  of  this  and  that  it  was  hardly  likely  that  he  would  have 
appeared  before  the  Court  if  he  had  felt  himself  to  be  guilty. 
After  the  Judge  had  put  a  number  of  minor  questions.  Dr. 
Benedikt,  assuming  his  most  offensive  manner,  stated  that  in 
view  of  such  wholesale  denials  he  had  nothing  to  ask  the  wit- 
ness, and  Dr.  Fried] ung  tersely  added  that  a  cross-examination 
was  superfluous. 

Mr.  Davidovic  was  replaced  by  Mr.  Mile  Pavlovic,  a  professor 
in  one  of  the  Belgrad  gymnasia.  A  little  man  with  pointed  beard 
and  bushy  moustache,  speaking  fluent  but  highly  original 
German,  and  accompanying  his  quaint  phrases  with  excitable 
gestures,  he  introduced,  it  must  be  confessed,  an  irresistibly 
comic  element  into  the  trial.  But  unhappily  a  sense  of  humour 
is  not  Dr.  Friedjung's  strong  point :  his  counsel  was  thoroughl}^ 
nettled  by  the  unfavourable  turn  which  the  trial  had  taken  ; 
and  even  the  Judge,  who  as  the  author  of  light  dramas  from  the 
life  of  the  people  ought  to  have  known  better,  took  the  good 
man  more  seriously  with  every  fresh  sally.  Hence  the  Servians 
were  received  with  an  icy  condescension  and  suspicion  which 
was  far  more  provocative  than  the  vigorous  but  not  unnatural 
onslaught  of  the  defence  upon  Professor  Markovid.*"" 

*"*>  Personally  I  had  from  the  very  first  had  strong  reason  to  doubt  the 
accuracy  of  Dr.  Fried jung's  information  ;  otherwise  I  should  naturally 
not  have  written  in  defence  of  the  Croato-Servian  Coalition  in  my  pam- 
phlet Absolutismus  in  Kroatieri — published  in  Vienna  in  September, 

261 


THE  FRIEDJUNG  TRIAL 

The  very  first  words  of  Mr.  Pavlovic  convulsed  his  audience ; 
to  the  Judge's  formal  question  whether  he  was  married,  he 
replied,  "  Unfortunately  a  bachelor."  "  Do  you  belong  to  a 
party  ?  "  asked  the  Judge  a  little  later.  "  I  might  say," 
answered  the  good  man,  "  I  am  myself  a  party.  I  was  once 
editor  of  a  newspaper,  but  left  it  eight  years  ago  and  am  now, 
so  to  speak,  a  widow  at  large  !  "  Solvuntur  tabulae  risu :  but 
the  defence  maintained  a  portentous  dignity  ;  and  when  Pav- 
lovic had  declared  that  though  a  member  of  the  Slovenski  Jug 
he  had  never  belonged  to  a  committee  of  any  kind  and  had 
never  signed  the  minutes,  that  the  club  pursued  literary  and 
artistic  aims,  that  neither  it  nor  its  president  Markovic  had 
taken  an  active  share  in  politics,  and  that  he  knew  nothing  of 
the  existence  of  bombs  on  its  premises,^"^  Dr.  Benedikt  roundly 
declared  that  he  was  not  so  simple  as  to  ask  further  questions 
about  the  Slovenski  Jug,  since  he  was  convinced  that  this 
witness  would  not  tell  the  truth  !  This  exhibition  of  temper 
seems  to  have  been  due  to  Pavlovic's  awkward  request  to  be 
allowed  to  see  the  original  of  the  "  minutes  "  bearing  his  signa- 
ture, and  to  the  sarcasm  with  which  he  received  the  reply  that 
the  originals  were  not  before  the  Court. 

Dr.  Friedjung  contented  himself  with  a  single  question  :  Do 
you  often  travel  in  Austria-Hungary  ?  Hereupon  this  chatty 
"  conspirator  "  plunged  into  a  highly  characteristic  account 
of  his  last  visit  to  Bosnia  in  the  summer  of  1908.  He  had  been 
commissioned  by  the  Minister  of  Education  to  proceed  to 
Ragusa  and  arrange  for  the  erection  of  a  monument  over  the 
grave  of  Milan  Kristic,  a  well-known  Belgrad  dramatist  who 
had  died  during  a  visit  to  Ragusa.  On  the  way  he  decided  to 
stop  in  Sarajevo,  and  here  he  at  once  called  upon  Mr.  Horman, 
one  of  the  highest  officials  of  the  Bosnian  Government,  and 

1909.  But  none  the  less  I  entered  court  full  of  prejudice  and  hostility 
towards  the  witnesses  from  Servia,  and  inclined  to  suspect  the  Slovenski 
Jug  of  evil  practices,  even  while  convinced  that  it  had  no  accomplices 
in  Croatia.  Despite  this  prejudice  (which — as  the  result  of  information 
received  in  Vienna — was  especially  strong  against  Dr.  Spalajko vie)  my 
indignation  was  roused  by  the  attitude  of  the  Court  towards  the  Ser- 
vian witnesses  ;  and  it  passes  my  understanding  how  any  sane  observer 
of  the  proceedings  could  regard  persons  like  Pavlovic,  Odavic  and  Mark- 
ovic— three  radically  different  characters — as  dangerous  plotters  of 
murder  and  revolution. 

*"i  He  admitted  having  written  two  articles  in  Slovenski  Jug,  one  an 
attack  upon  Montenegro,  the  other  on  a  literary  subject.  He  also 
stated  that  certain  newspapers  had  affected  to  detect  revolutionary  aims 
in  the  fact  that  the  society  organized  a  Southern  Slav  art  exhibition ! 

262 


I 


THE   EVIDENCE   OF   DR.   SPALAJKOVIC 

explained  the  object  of  his  journey.  He  was  however  neither 
allowed  to  remain  nor  to  proceed  upon  his  journey  ;  gendarmes 
and  detectives  promptly  fetched  him  from  his  hotel  and 
escorted  him  back  across  the  Bosnian  frontier.  His  explana- 
tion of  the  expulsion  was  that  being  an  unmarried  man  he 
kept  a  spare  room  in  his  house  in  Belgrad  specially  for  poor 
students  and  workmen  who  came  from  Bosnia,  and  that  this  had 
made  his  name  known  in  Bosnia  and  specially  obnoxious  to  the 
police  authorities.  Ashe  remarked — in  a  phrase  of  more  than 
questionable  taste,  but  unhappily  not  wholly  devoid  of  truth — 
"  the  nose  of  the  Bosnian  police  is  no  mere  ordinary  nose."  But 
however  deserving  of  criticism  and  reform  the  Bosnian  police- 
state  may  be,  Mr.  Pavlovic's  choice  of  time  and  place  was 
singularly  inopportune.  At  the  same  time  Dr.  Friedjung  was 
merely  la5dng  himself  open  to  criticism  when  he  persisted  in 
regarding  such  a  man  as  Pavlovic  as  one  of  the  ringleaders  of  a 
Pan-Serb  conspiracy  ;  for  no  one  who  listened  to  his  evidence 
could  fail  to  realize  that  he  would  within  a  fortnight  have 
proved  fatal  to  the  existence  of  any  secret  society. 

The  next  witness  was  Mr.  Rista  Odavic,  formerly  professor 
in  a  gymnasium,  but  now  playwright  and  regisseur  of  the  Royal 
Theatre  in  Belgrad.  His  evidence  contained  few  points  of 
interest.  While  admitting  that  he  had  been  and  still  was  a 
member  of  the  Slovenski  Jug,  he  denied  all  other  allegations 
as  explicitly  as  the  other  witnesses.  He  helped  to  smooth  the 
somewhat  ruffled  dignity  of  the  Court  by  his  mild  and  concilia- 
tory replies,  and  concluded  by  expressing  the  pious  hope  that 
if  by  his  evidence  he  had  contributed  to  expose  the  forgeries. 
Dr.  Friedjung,  for  whom  as  a  historian  he  had  the  highest 
respect,  would  not  fail  to  be  grateful  to  him. 

Vni.    The  Evidence  of  Dr.  Spalajkovi(5. 

Saturday's  sitting  brought  the  crowning  sensation  of  this 
eventful  trial,  and  ruthlessly  demolished  the  last  outworks 
behind  v/hich  the  defence  had  taken  refuge.  The  notorious  Dr. 
Spalajkovic,  against  whom  Dr.  Friedjung  had  fulminated  in 
his  opening  piaidoyer,  at  length  confronted  his  traducer.  But 
instead  of  the  bespectacled  bureaucrat  of  sinister  and  intriguing 
aspect  whom  we  had  been  led  to  expect,  there  appeared  a  tall, 
elegant  figure,  of  military  carriage,  whose  courteous  and  digni- 
fied demeanour  presented  a  striking  contrast  to  the  studied 
impertinence  with  which  he  was  received.     Under  extraordin- 

263 


THE  FRIEDJUNG  TRIAL 

ary  provocation,  he  invariably  kept  his  temper,  and  showed 
himself  to  be  a  worthy  representative  of  Servian  diplomacy. 

Dr.  Spalajkovic  began  his  evidence  with  a  slightly  long- 
winded  declaration  of  the  motives  which  had  induced  him  to 
appear  before  the  Court.  In  the  first  place  he  held  it  to  be  a 
duty  of  which  neither  his  diplomatic  position  nor  the  fact  that 
he  was  a  foreigner  could  absolve  him  ;  and  secondly,  he  was 
prompted  by  the  desire  to  promote  good  relations  between  Servia 
and  Austria-Hungary,  which  were  impeded  by  these  "menda- 
cious documents."  He  could  not  help  regretting  that  the  pro- 
posal which  he  had  made  when  Dr.  Friedjung's  article  appeared 
— that  the  whole  question  should  be  submitted  to  the  arbitra- 
tion of  a  court  of  savants — ^had  not  found  acceptance  with  his 
opponents.  As  it  was,  he  appeared  to-day,  full  of  confidence 
in  the  impartiality  of  the  Viennese  jury  and  in  the  firm  con- 
viction that  these  lying  documents  were  "  a  colossal  mystifi- 
cation," intended  to  throw  suspicion  upon  Servia,  the  Servian 
Government,  the  Slovenski  Jug,  himself  and  the  Croato-Serb 
Coalition.  This  view  was  also  shared  by  his  chief,  Dr.  Milo- 
vanovic,  with  whose  permission  he  now  proposed  to  lay  his 
proofs  before  the  Court.  "  Gentlemen,"  he  continued,  "there 
are  clever  forgeries  and  stupid  forgeries.  The  forgeries  contained 
in  this  pamphlet  (Dr.  Friedjung's  Green  Book)  do  not  belong  to 
the  former  category.  That  one  can  see  at  first  glance."  He 
then  offered  to  submit  to  a  technical  cross-examination  on 
the  handwriting  of  his  alleged  secret  report,  and  suggested  a 
comparison  of  his  handwriting  with  either  the  original  or  its 
photograph.  When  the  Judge  explained  that  the  Court  had 
nothing  at  its  disposal  save  a  mere  printed  copy  of  the  Servian 
text.  Dr.  Spalajkovic  expressed  his  readiness  to  prove  the  for- 
gery even  on  this  inadequate  basis.  The  Judge  sought  to 
smooth  over  the  absence  of  originals  by  the  remark  that  the 
document  might  perhaps  have  been  abstracted  from  the  Servian 
Foreign  Office  for  a  brief  space  of  time  and  then  returned 
before  any  one  had  noticed  its  absence.  But  this  suggestion 
the  witness  politely  brushed  aside  by  affirming  that  if  such  a 
document,  or  even  anything  resembling  it,  had  ever  existed,  he 
would  scarcely  have  found  courage  to  appear  before  the  Court. 

Dr.  Spalajkovic,  with  the  Judge's  permission,  then  entered 
upon  a  detailed  criticism  of  the  forged  report,  (i)  Confining 
himself  at  first  to  matters  of  external  form,  he  contrasted  the 
extreme  prolixity  of  the  report  with  the  statement  contained 
in  Document  XV   (Slovenski  Jug  Minutes  of  November  i6, 

264 


THE  EVIDENCE  OF  DR.  SPALAJKOViC 

1908),  that  he  (Spalajkovic)  would  "  report  briefly  to  the  Minis- 
ter." The  document  was  headed,  "  Ministry  of  Foreign  Affairs, 
political  department,  Belgrad,  June  4,  1907.  Confidential  No. 
3,027  "  ;  but  on  referring  to  the  official  records  it  appeared 
that  the  total  number  of  numbered  documents  in  that  depart- 
ment during  1907  amounted  to  1991,  the  numbers  on  June  i 
and  30  respectively  being  832  and  1,040,  (2)  In  the  same  way, 
Dr.  Funder's  chief  document — the  instructions  of  Dr.  Milovan- 
ovic  to  the  Servian  Minister  in  Vienna — ^bears  the  number 
5.703,  whereas  in  reality  the  first  document  drawn  up  on  that 
date  by  the  department  in  question  is  numbered  367,  and  even 
as  late  as  December  i,  1909,  the  total  only  amounted  to  2,748. 

(3)  The  Servian  text  contains  a  word  which  he  could  never 
possibly  have  employed  either  in  an  official  or  a  private  letter, 
and  which  was  not  in  use  in  Servia.^"^  As  a  proof  that  the  style 
of  the  text  bore  no  resemblance  to  his,  he  ventured  to  lay  before 
the  Court  a  treatise  of  his  which  had  appeared  in  1906  in  the 
Archiv  filr  Rechts-  und  Socialwissenschaft. 

(4)  The  report  is  signed  by  "  Miroslav  Spalajkovic,"  whereas 
he  invariably  signed  all  official  documents  with  "  Dr.  M.  Spalaj- 
kovic "  and  never  with  his  full  Christian  name. 

(5)  It  is  also  signed  by  Bozovic  as  cashier,  whereas  in  realit}^ 
no  cashier  in  the  Servian  Foreign  Office  had  ever  signed  a  poli- 
tical report  or  had  the  slightest  connexion  with  the  political 
department. 

Passing  to  the  contents  of  the  report,  Dr.  Spalajkovic  next 
pointed  out  that  he  had  never  in  his  life  visited  Semlin  in  com- 
pany with  the  cashier  Bozovic  and  had  never  met  Mr.  Svetozar 
Pribicevic.  The  absurdity  and  Utopian  folly  of  the  report  were 
well  illustrated  by  two  striking  instances :  (i)  The  report  con- 
tains the  following  passage  :  "  Besides  the  Government  will 
have  control  over  a  new  extended  Budget,  and  what  is  the  main 
thing,  over  larger  contributions  from  the  new  State  Loan, 
regarding  which  the  preliminary  negotiations  are  already 
ended,  and  which  the  Skupshtina  will  vote  in  the  autumn." 
"  I  would  ask  you,  gentlemen,"  added  Dr.  Spalajkovic,  "  to 
note  specially  that  the  document  is  dated  June  4,  1907,  and 
speaks  of  a  loan  which  Parliament  will  vote  in  the  autumn. 
But,  gentlemen,  this  whole  matter  of  the  loan  was  already 

*°2  Urucin — "  handed  in  " — a  literal  translation  of  the  German  phrase 
"  eingehandigt."  This  Germanism,  though  unknown  in  Servia,  is 
quite  usual  in  Croatia,  of  which  the  forger  is  probably  a  native. 

265 


THE   FRIEDJUNG  TRIAL 

settled,  both  with  regard  to  the  prehminary  negotiations  and 
also  with  regard  to  the  Skupshtina — a  year  previously  !  "  The 
negotiations  had  been  finally  completed  in  Geneva  in  1906  by 
Dr:  Pacu  and  Dr.  Spalajkovic  himself,  and  soon  afterwards  the 
Servian  Parliament  had  voted  the  loan,  which  amounted  to 
90,000,000  francs,  not  93,000,000,  as  Dr.  Friedjung  had 
erroneously  stated. 

When  the  loud  applause  which  greeted  this  conclusive  proof  of 
the  forger's  ignorance  had  been  sternly  repressed  by  the  Judge, 
Dr.  Spalajkovic  turned  to  the  concluding  passage  of  the  Report, 
which  contains  the  request  that  the  Minister  should  sanction 
the  disbursement  of  12,000  dinars,  "  to  debit  of  No.  190  of 
Item  xxxviiiB.  of  the  fifth  Chapter  of  the  Budget."  Never, 
he  assured  the  Court,  had  any  document  of  the  Servian  Foreign 
Office  employed  such  a  formula  in  its  references  to  the  Budget. 
After  pointing  to  the  formal  phrases  and  technicalities  which 
would  be  used  under  such  circumstances,  he  produced  a  copy 
of  the  Servian  Budget  for  1906,  an  examination  of  which  would 
confirm  his  statements. 

In  case,  however,  doubts  should  still  be  entertained  as  to  the 
authenticity  of  his  facts,  he  had  the  following  statement  to 
make :  "  Should  it  be  necessary,  the  Servian  Government  will 
resort  to  a  final  measure,  in  order  to  repel  and  rebut  such  charges 
as  are  contained  in  this  document.  It  will,  namely,  if  necessary, 
approach  all  the  Great  Powers  with  the  request  that  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  Great  Powers  at  Belgrad  may  convince  them- 
selves of  the  accuracy  of  all  these  statements  and  .proofs  which 
have  been  laid  before  the  Court."  And  then  turning  to  the 
alleged  Instructions  of  Dr.  Milovanovic  to  the  Servian  Minister 
in  Vienna,  he  characterized  the  document  as  "  not  only  an 
idiotic  and  clumsy  forgery,  but  also  a  feeble  attempt  to  sully 
the  honour  of  the  Minister.  His  personality,  his  ability,  his 
Realismus,  and  his  services  in  the  cause  of  European  peace 
are  so  well  known  to  all  authoritative  quarters  that  every 
one  of  them  before  whom  this  document  was  placed,  would 
indignantly  throw  it  aside  as  I  myself  do." 

"  So  you  have  nothing  more  to  say  on  this  point,"  remarked 
the  Judge,  who  perhaps  wished  to  heighten  the  impression  by 
a  humorous  sally.  Most  people  will  agree  with  the  plaintiffs 
that  Dr.  Spalajkovic  had  already  said  a  good  deal  !  Finally, 
he  stated  that  the  Servian  Foreign  Minister  was  not  merely 
willing,  but  anxious,  that  the  Austro-Hungarian  Minister  in  Bel- 
grad should  test  the  accuracy  of  his  statements  and  that  in 

266 


THE   EVIDENCE   OF  DR.   SPALAJKOViC 

response  to  a  telegram  the  necessary  books  of  the  Foreign  Office 
would  be  immediately  placed  at  Count  Forgach's  disposal. 

In  reply  to  Dr.  Harpner,  the  witness  declared,  both  in  his  own 
name  and  in  that  of  Dr.  Milovanovic,  that  the  Servian  Govern- 
ment had  never  had  any  relations  with  the  Coalition,  either 
through  the  Slovenski  Jug  or  other  channels.  Asked  by  the 
Judge  whether  he  had  been  relieved  of  his  pledge  of  official 
secrecy,  he  replied  that  he  was  authorized  to  speak  freely  upon 
everything  relating  to  the  Coalition  and  the  issue  involved  in  this 
trial.  Owing  to  his  position  in  the  Foreign  Office  no  inter- 
course could  have  taken  place  without  his  knowledge  ;  but, 
"  Gentlemen,"  he  declared,  "  my  conscience  is  clear,  and  I  here 
swear  that  I  do  not  shelter  myself  behind  any  form  of  immunity, 
whether  legal  or  conventional ;  for  me  a  clear  conscience  is  the 
best  guarantee." 

The  Judge  stubbornly  pressed  the  witness  to  explain  why 
the  Servian  Government  had  made  no  diplomatic  representa- 
tions on  the  subject  of  these  charges ;  but  Spalajkovic,  who 
showed  a  marked  reluctance  to  say  anything  which  might  offend 
Austrian  susceptibilities,  at  last  reduced  him  to  silence  by 
suggesting  that  it  might  be  well  to  institute  an  inquiry,  and 
both  parties  could  then  publish  their  versions  of  the  reasons 
which  prevented  the  matter  from  being  settled  by  diplomacy. 
The  haste  with  which  Dr.  Wach  relinquished  the  subject,  showed 
that  there  was  more  behind  it  than  the  politely  cryptic  phrase 
of  the  Servian  official  seemed  to  suggest. 

Further  questions  of  the  Judge  made  a  still  more  painful 
impression.  The  cross-examination  of  a  high  diplomatic 
official  as  to  the  possibility  of  documents  under  his  care  having 
been  purloined  by  spies  or  hirelings  employed  by  the  questioner's 
own  Foreign  Minister,  was  one  of  the  most  repulsive  incidents 
in  the  whole  trial.  Nor  was  it  necessary  to  treat  as  suspicious 
the  assertion  of  Dr.  Spalajkovic,  that  he  had  other  more  im- 
portant things  to  do  during  the  Bosnian  crisis  than  to  read  the 
"  red  number  "  of  the  Slovenski  Jug  newspaper.  Sir  Edward 
Grey  might  well  be  excused  for  not  reading  the  Isis  or  the 
Granta  at  a  moment  of  acute  international  danger  ;  and  Sloven- 
ski Jug  appears  only  to  have  differed  from  those  well-known 
publications,  in  that  it  was  more  ambitious,  less  influential, 
and  far  worse  edited. 

At  this  stage  in  the  proceedings  Dr.  Friedjung  sought  to 
bolster  up  his  tottering  cause  by  reading  out  a  declaration  of 
the  Hungarian  Premier,  Dr.  Wekerle,  to  the  effect  that  he  knew 

267 


THE   FRIEDJUNG  TRIAL 

"  not  only  from  the  Report  of  Dr.  Spalajkovic  but  also  from 
numerous  other  documents,  that  illicit  relations  subsisted 
between  Belgrad  and  the  leaders  of  the  Pan-Serb  movement  in 
the  lands  of  the  Crown  of  St.  Stephen."  ^"^  "  j  have  read  this," 
continued  Dr.  Friedjung,  "  because  the  gentlemen  from  Servia 
seem  to  me  to  assert  rather  too  much.  They  have  the  right  to 
deny  everything.  But  in  my  opinion  they  exceed  the  limits 
of  their  right  of  denial,  when  they  describe  the  documents 
which  were  used  by  the  leading  authorities — leitende  Stellen — 
of  the  Monarchy  as  the  basis  of  their  foreign  policy,  and  by  the 
leading  authorities  entrusted  with  the  Monarchy's  defence  as 
the  basis  of  their  measures  for  the  defence  of  our  country, 
when  they  say  of  these  that  they  are  stupid  and  ridiculous 
forgeries."  Nothing  could  have  shown  more  clearly  the  his- 
torian's desperate  plight  than  this  strange  attempt  to  restrict 
his  adversaries'  right  of  defence  ;  at  the  best  Dr.  Wekerle's 
statement  merely  proved  that  the  forger  had  made  one  more 
dupe  in  the  high  places  of  the  Monarchy,  and  at  the  worst  it 
might  be  objected  that  the  man  who  was  responsible  for  Baron 
Ranch's  absolutist  regime  and  who  for  the  past  two  years  had 
done  all  in  his  power  to  destroy  the  Croato-Serb  Coalition  in  the 
interests  of  the  Magyar  hegemony,  was  the  last  man  in  the 
Monarchy  from  whom  an  impartial  statement  could  be  ex- 
pected. Dr.  Harpner,  moreover,  was  able  to  cite  Dr.  Wekerle's 
answer  to  an  interpellation  in  the  Hungarian  Parliament, 
which  showed  that  he  had  not  always  professed  the  opinion 
quoted  by  Dr.  Friedjung. 

The  time  had  at  length  come  for  the  "  merciless  "  exposure 
with  which  Dr.  Friedjung  had  threatened  this  "  foreign  agita- 
tor "  ;  but  the  historian's  big  guns  proved  as  innocuous  as 
any    schoolboy's    peashooter.     While    treating    the  Servian, 

^"3  Those  who  knew  Dr.  Fried  Jung's  private  opinion  of  the  Wekeiic 
administration  and  its  policy,  alike  internal  and  external,  could  only 
regard  his  appeal  to  the  authority  of  Dr.  Wekerle  as  an  admission  of 
weakness  and  also  as  an  indirect  sign  that  the  rats  of  the  Foreign  Office 
were  already  leaving  the  sinking  ship.  Dr.  Wekerle's  statement  is  all 
the  more  remarkable,  when  compared  with  his  answer  to  an  interpella- 
tion in  the  Hungarian  Parliament  on  March  30,  1908,  regarding  Dr. 
Friedjung's  charges.  On  that  occasion  he  said  that  he  had  had  the 
opportunity  of  examining  the  document  (viz.,  the  Spalajkovic  Report), 
and  that  while  it  might  be  a  sufficient  basis  for  a  publicist's  charges  it  did 
not,  for  a  minister,  constitute  documentary  proof !  {See  Pester  Lloyd, 
March  30.)  These  two  statements  are  highly  characteristic  of  Dr. 
Wekerle's  methods. 

268 


THE   EVIDENCE   OF  DR.   SPALAJKOViC 

Secretary  of  State  throughout  the  examination  with  a  studied 
rudeness  ^°^  which  was  far  more  painful  to  his  own  friends  than 
to  his  opponents,  Dr.  Friedjung  could  adduce  no  more  damn- 
ing evidence  than  a  report  of  the  Bosnian  police  regarding  Dr. 
Spalajkovic's  visit  to  his  father-in-law  in  Sarajevo,  based  on 
information  supplied  by  one  of  the  numerous  spies  who  fre- 
quent the  Bosnian  capital.^"^  Dr.  Spalajkovichad  in  Septem- 
ber, 1907,  spent  a  month's  leave  with  his  wife  at  the  house  of 
her  father,  Mr.  Jeftanovic,  and  on  that  occasion  had  met  Mr. 
Damjanovic,  a  leader  of  the  Orthodox  Serb  Opposition  in  Bosnia 
and  Dr.  Gavrila,  a  well-known  Serb  advocate  resident  in  Buda- 
pest, who  was  expelled  from  Bosnia  after  his  meeting  with 
Spalajkovic.  Both  men  were  admittedly  intimate  friends  of 
the  Jeftanovic  family  and  two  of  the  most  honoured  guests  at 
the  Spalajkovic  wedding  in  1906.  But  Dr.  Friedjung  argued 
that  their  presence  in  the  house  was  a  proof  of  political  intrigue, 
and  maintained  that  it  was  Dr.  Gavrila  who  drew  up  the  dis- 
loyal Bosnian  appeals  to  the  Great  Powers,  after  they  had  been 
drafted  in  Dr.  Spalajkovic's  office  in  Belgrad.  As  a  last  resort, 
Dr.  Friedjung  cited  from  an  article  by  M.  Rene  Pinon  in  the 
Revue  des  Deux  Monies,  where  Dr.  Spalajkovic  is  spoken  of  as 

*"*  He  did  not  even  take  the  trouble  to  stand  up  while  putting  his 
questions,  as  he  had  invariably  done  in  all  other  cases  ;  and  the  Judge 
made  no  attempt  to  protect  the  witness  from  the  defendant's  sallies. 

At  a  certain  point  witness  begged  the  Judge  not  to  allow  questions 
which  were  quite  irrelevant  and  only  wearied  him.  Dr.  Friedjung  : 
"  I  shall  go  on  wearying  you,  Herr  Sektionschef.  I  shall  weary  you 
very,  very  much.  Do  you  know  Dr.  Gavrila's  position  in  the  poUtical 
struggles  of  the  Mohammedan  and  Serb  opposition  ?  "  Witness  : 
"  What  do  you  understand  by  Serb  opposition?"  Dr.  Friedjung  : 
"  '  What  is  a  lieutenant  ?  '  asks  the  simple  maiden." 

*"*  This  report — dated  September  15,  1909 — contains  the  following 
highly  instructive  passage  : — "  A  spy  announces  that  Spalajkovic 
brought  with  him  a  considerable  sum  of  money  from  the  Servian  secret 
fund  for  the  Serb  society  '  Pros vj  eta  '  here,  and  carried  on  negotiations 
with  Dr.  Milan  Skrskic,  lawyer's  clerk  here.  The  subject  of  these  is 
said  to  have  been  the  well-known  May  Resolution  of  the  Serb  ultras  and 
the  assembly  of  the  Serb  organization,  which  took  place  in  November, 
1907,  that  is  after  Spalajkovic's  departure.  Moreover  he  is  said  to  have 
{ferner  soil  er) — acquired  influence  over  the  editors  of  Srpska  Rijeo  and 
to  have  written  the  articles  '  Dogogjaje  '  and  '  Srbiji  '  in  praise  of 
Panic's  policy."  These  hearsay  denunciations  of  a  badly-paid  Bosnian 
spy — for  with  the  exception  of  George  Nastic  all  the  Bosnian  spies  seem 
to  be  badly  paid — were  eagerly  swallowed  by  the  credulous  historian. 
Even  if  he  failed  to  realize  the  worthlessness  of  such  evidence,  he  might 
surely  have  shrunk  from  thus  exposing  the  contemptible  and  underhand 
methods  of  thel^Bosnian  police. 

269 


THE  FRIEDJUNG   TRIAL 

holding  in  his  hands  the  threads  of  Pan-Serb  propaganda  in  Old 
Servia,  the  Banat,  Bosnia  and  Dalmatia.  The  witness  mildly 
hinted  that  he  was  not  responsible  for  the  sources  of  information 
of  M.  Pinon,  who  had  been  in  Constantinople  and  Vienna  as 
well  as  Belgrad.  He  regretted  that  he  himself  had  become  the 
bogey  of  the  Viennese  Press,  but  this  was  not  the  occasion  for 
clearing  himself  from  all  its  vague  assertions. 

But  Dr.  Friedjung  excelled  himself  when  he  suggested  that 
the  12,000  francs  which  the  "  Report  "  represents  Dr.  Spalaj- 
kovic  as  having  paid  over  to  Messrs.  Pribicevic  and  Supilo  might 
in  reality  have  found  their  way  into  his  own  private  pocket. 
This  supposition  he  based  upon  a  misinterpretation  of  Professor 
Masaryk's  speech  in  the  Reichsrat  in  May,  1909,  criticising  the 
conduct  of  the  Agram  High  Treason  Trial.^"^  Even  here  Dr. 
Spalajkovic's  self-possession  did  not  desert  him.  Immedi- 
ately after  the  speech,  he  said,  he  had  telegraphed  to  Professor 
Masaryk  for  an  explanation,  and  had  received  the  answer  that 
Masaryk,  after  expressing  his  firm  conviction  that  the  document 
was  false,  had  drawn  the  entirely  "  hypothetical  conclusion  " 
that  if  genuine  it  must  be  regarded  as  a  kind  of  promissory  note 
for  12,000  francs.  "  Only  if  this  impossibility  were  possible," 
such  was  Masaryk's  process  of  argument. 

After  a  few  more  futile  questions  the  long  examination  was 
at  an  end,  and  Dr.  Spalajkovic  as  he  withdrew  heaped  coals  of 
fire  upon  the  Judge  by  thanking  him  for  his  "  impartial  atti- 
tude." It  is  unhappily  impossible  to  congratulate  the  Judge 
upon  his  attitude  towards  the  Servian  witnesses,  and  as  I  do 
not  belong  to  the  diplomatic  corps  I  am  under  no  obligation 
to  slur  over  unwelcome  facts.  It  is  true  that  Dr.  Wach  did  not 
show  the  same  lack  of  restraint  as  during  the  Supilo-Chlumecky 
incident ;  but  he  none  the  less  openly  placed  himself  upon  the 
side  of  the  defendants,  asking  the  Servian  witnesses  questions 
which  can  only  be  described  as  unpardonable,  aud  more  than 
once  assuming  the  manner  of  a  schoolmaster  towards  his  pupils. 
In  view  of  the  eccentric — his  enemies  would  call  it  offensive — 
behaviour  of  Mr.  Pavlovic,  some  excuse  might  be  found  for  the 
Judge's  sharp  command,  "  Will  you  be  kind  enough  to  stand 
still  ?  " — though,  as  I  have  already  suggested,  it  would  have 
been  wiser  to  refuse  to  take  the  witness  seriously.  But  what 
can  be  said  of  a  little  incident  which  the  Viennese  press  unani- 
mously suppressed  ?  When  towards  the  end  of  the  cross- 
examination  Dr.  Spalajkovic,  nettled  by  the  insults  of  Dr. 
^""^  Masaryk,  Dev  Agramer  Hochverratsprozess,  p.  105. 
270 


COALITION  WITNESSES 

Friedjung,  showed  an  apparent  disinclination  to  answer  one  of 
the  many  questions  about  the  Slovenski  Jug,  and  turned  for  a 
moment  in  mute  appeal  to  the  jury,  the  Judge,  throwing  all 
politeness  to  the  winds,  curtly  exclaimed,  "  Kindly  look  a 
little  this  way  "  {Bitte  ein  bisschen  hieher  zu  sehen).  A  forger 
in  the  dock  might  well  have  complained  of  the  unfriendly  tone. 
The  Servian  Secretary  of  State  proved  his  diplomatic  training 
by  swallowing  in  silence  so  petty  an  insult. 

In  justice  to  Dr.  Wach,  it  must  be  added  that  the  conduct  of 
such  a  trial  would  have  taxed  the  powers  of  the  most  experi- 
enced judge  in  Europe,  and  that  however  little  trouble  he  took 
to  conceal  his  own  personal  sympathies,  he  at  any  rate  allowed 
the  fullest  freedom  of  speech  to  both  sides  and  practically 
never  ruled  a  question  out  of  order.  How  far  the  legal  pro- 
fession would  count  this  to  him  for  righteousness  is  a  question 
which  need  not  concern  us. 

XII.    Coalition  Witnesses. 

When  the  court  opened  on  the  following  Monday,  the  Judge 
announced  the  rejection  of  the  proposal  that  the  Austro-Hun- 
garian  Minister  in  Belgrad  should  verify  Dr.  Spalajkovic's 
statements,  and  based  his  decision  on  the  argument — if  argu- 
ment it  can  be  called — that  the  proposal  had  no  bearing  upon 
the  authenticity  of  the  "  documents  !  "  Needless  to  say,  the 
true  reason  was  to  be  sought  elsewhere. 

He  then  read  aloud  a  declaration  of  Dr.  Gavrila,  who  offered 
to  depose  on  oath,  that  his  intercourse  with  Dr.  Spalajkovic 
in  Sarajevo  was  in  no  way  connected  with  politics  :  that  as 
lawyer  to  the  latter's  father-in-law  he  was  continually  in  the 
house  on  business  :  that  Dr.  Spalajkovic  not  only  avoided 
political  discussions  on  principle,  but  was  also  busily  engaged  at 
the  time  on  a  work  dealing  with  the  Hague  Conference,  which 
held  the  foremost  place  in  all  their  conversations. 

The  question  of  the  Servian  Loan  led  to  a  long  argument 
between  the  rival  counsel,  which  ended  in  the  confirmation  of 
Dr.  Spalajkovic's  facts.  The  last  Servian  Loan  was  actually 
voted  in  igo6  and  was  aheady  being  quoted  on  the  Paris  Stock 
Exchange  before  the  end  of  that  year  ;  and  Dr.  Friedjung,  with 
a  frankness  which  did  him  honour,  now  brushed  aside  the 
quibbles  of  his  counsel,  and  admitted  that  the  loan  of  1906  was 
the  last  of  which  there  could  be  any  question  here.  As  Dr. 
Harpner  pointed  out,  it  was  incredible  that  Dr.  Spalajkovic, 

271 


THE   FRIEDJUNG  TRIAL 

one  of  the  men  who  arranged  this  very  loan  at  Geneva,,  could 
less  than  a  year  later  in  a  private  statement  to  his  chief  have 
placed  the  negotiations  in  the  future  instead  of  in  the  past. 

After  an  amusing  passage  of  arms  between  Dr.  Harpner 
and  Dr.  Kienbock,  in  which  as  usual  the  former  scored  bril- 
liantly, a  witness  from  Bosnia  was  heard,  in  the  person  of 
Mr.  Damjanovic,  an  intimate  friend  of  Dr.  Spalajkovic's  father- 
in-law.  He  denied  Dr.  Fried] ung's  description  of  him  as 
the  leader  of  the  Serb  Opposition  in  Bosnia,  but  admitted 
that  he  was  chairman  of  the  committee  which  published 
Srpska  Rijec.  He  denied  the  assertion  of  the  Bosnian  Govern- 
ment that  Spalajkovi6  influenced  the  articles  published  by 
this  newspaper,  and  added,  "  Its  information  comes  from 
one  of  its  spies,  who  can  be  had  for  five  crowns."  The  Srpska 
Rijec  was,  it  is  true,  in  low  water  and  owed  the  S,erb  Savings 
Bank  in  Bosnia  £1,300  ;  but  it  had  never  received  subven- 
tions from  abroad,  as  the  forged  minutes  of  the  Slovenski 
Jug  suggested.  The  most  it  had  received  from  Servia  was 
1,000  francs  "  from  a  wellwisher  "  and  500  francs  from  guests 
assembled  at  a  wedding  ;  and  both  contributions  were  pub- 
licly acknowledged  at  the  time.  When  asked  by  Dr.  Fried- 
jung  to  explain  the  cause  of  his  party's  failure  at  the  Sara- 
jevo communal  elections  in  1908,  Mr.  Damjanovic  stated 
that  the  former  Town  Council  had  been  dissolved  because 
it  had  ventured  to  draw  up  statutes  restricting  the  franchise 
to  Bosnian  subjects,  and  thus  affecting  those  officials  who 
preferred  Austrian  or  Hungarian  to  Bosnian  citizenship. 
As  a  result,  the  Bosnian  Government  exercised  strong  pressure  ; 
and  the  fact  that  there  were  over  800  officials  in  Sarajevo 
who  had  to  record  their  vote  in  presence  of  their  superiors, 
sufficiently  explained  the  failure  of  the  Serb  Opposition.  Mr. 
Damjanovic's  evidence  throws  many  interesting  sidelights 
upon  the  situation  in  Bosnia  on  the  eve  of  the  annexation, 
but  to  discuss  it  at  all  adequately  would  lead  far  too  far  afield. 

It  was  now  the  turn  of  the  plaintiffs  to  be  called  as  wit- 
nesses. Above  all,  Count  Pejacevi(5  was  questioned  regarding 
Document  XX  of  Dr.  Friedjung's  Green  Book,  the  only  genuine 
article  in  the  collection.  Count  Theodore  Pejacevid,  who 
succeeded  Count  Khuen  Hedervary  in  1903  as  Ban  of  Croatia, 
continued  to  hold  office  under  the  Wekerle  Cabinet,  and  eight 
months  after  the  conflict  provoked  between  Hungary  and 
Croatia  by  Mr.  Kossuth's  Railway  Bill  had  led  to  his  resig- 
nation,  joined  the  ranks  of  the  Croato-Serb  Coalition.     In 

272 


COALITION   WITNESSES 

February,  1906,  when  still  Ban  but  not  as  yet  member  of  the 
Coalition,  he  had,  in  accordance  with  instructions  from  high 
quarters,  issued  to  the  various  High  Sheriffs  of  Croatia-Slavonia 
a  confidential  circular  instructing  them  to  keep  under  obser- 
vation a  number  of  political  leaders  in  the  various  towns  of 
Croatia  and  Dalmatia — among  others,  Messrs.  Medakovic, 
PribiSevi6  and  Supilo — and  even  to  control  their  correspon- 
dence. Owing  to  an  indiscretion  the  contents  of  this  circular 
became  public ;  and  on  November  27,  1906,  Count  Pejacevic 
made  a  statement  on  the  subject  in  the  Croatian  Diet.  In 
assuming  fuU  responsibility  for  the  circular,  he  hinted  some- 
what vaguely  that  he  had  not  himself  shared  the  doubts 
which  had  prompted  the  order  for  such  an  inquiry,  admitted 
that  the  wording  of  the  circular  was  calculated  to  convey 
the  erroneous  idea  that  not  merely  an  inquiry  but  definite 
action  against  the  persons  named  was  intended,  and  declared 
that  it  had  been  recalled  not  m^erely  owing  to  his  personal 
conviction  but  also  because  not  a  shadow  of  a  suspicion  had 
arisen,  such  as  could  justify  the  enquiry.  Dr.  Friedjung 
included  the  circular  in  his  Green  Book  and  treated  Count 
PejaCevic's  change  of  front,  as  revealed  in  his  statement  in 
the  Diet,  as  highly  suspicious.  Count  Pejacevic  under  cross- 
examination  now  emphasized  the  fact  that  the  inquiry  had 
yielded  entirely  negative  results,  not  one  of  the  High  Sheriffs 
having  discovered  anything  of  a  compromising  nature.  He 
reminded  the  Court  that  Dr.  Benedikt  was  wrong  in  asserting 
that  he  had  recalled  the  circular  because  he  was  a  member 
of  the  Coalition  ;  the  Coalition  at  that  time  did  not  possess 
the  majority  in  the  Diet,  and  he  himself,  standing  outside 
the  parties,  governed  by  means  of  an  understanding  between 
the  moribund  "  National "  party  and  the  Coalition,  and 
did  not  join  the  latter  till  after  the  elections  of  1908.  He 
reaffirmed  his  statement  in  the  Diet,  and  insisted  that  the 
Coalition  could  not  possibly  have  intrigued  with  Servia  without 
his  knowledge. 

Dr.  Friedjung  pointed  out  that  when  in  November,  1905, 
Dr.  Tuskan — now  President  of  the  Coalition — made  his  notorious 
attack  upon  "  Vienna  "  in  the  Croatian  Diet,  Count  Pejacevic 
had  been  the  first  to  raise  an  indignant  protest ;  how  then 
was  it  possible  for  him,  as  privy  councillor  and  former  Ban, 
to  join  a  party  whose  leader  had  employed  such  language  ? 
"  Political  convictions  and  personal  opinions,"  replied  Count 
Pejacevic,    "  change   often   enough.     There   have   been   men 

s.s.Q.  273  T 


THE  FRIED]  UNG  TRIAL 

who  were  condemned  to  death  for  high  treason  and  afterwards 
became  Hungarian  Premiers."  This  reference  to  the  great 
Andrassy  did  not  satisfy  Dr.  Friedjung,  who  remarked  that 
eighteen  years  had  elapsed  between  the  day  when  Andrassy's 
effigy  was  burnt  by  the  hangman  and  the  date  of  his  nomina- 
tion as  the  first  Premier  of  the  new  era  in  Hungary  (1849- 
1867),  while  less  than  three  years  separated  Tuskan's  speech 
from  Pejacevic's  entrance  into  the  Coalition.  "  There  are 
people  in  Hungary,"  retorted  the  witness,  "  who  were  involved 
in  the  Resolution  of  Fiume  and  immediately  afterwards 
became  ministers  in  Hungary."  He  might  have  fortified 
this  reference  to  Francis  Kossuth  and  Polonyi  by  pointing 
out  that  proceedings  for  Use  majeste  were  actually  pending 
against  the  latter  at  the  very  moment  when  he  was  appointed 
Minister  of  Justice. 

When  further  asked  whether  it  was  possible  to  maintain 
a  control  over  the  correspondence  of  private  individuals  and 
whether  such  action  was  not  a  felony.  Count  Pejacevic, 
with  a  curious  smile,  replied,  "  Oh,  yes,  it  is  possible  !  "  This 
little  incident  lifts  the  curtain  for  a  moment  from  one  of  the 
most  unsavoury  features  of  Hungarian  public  life — the 
violation  of  postal  secrecy  for  political  purposes. 


The  report  of  the  experts.  Professor  von  Resetar  ^"^  and 
Dr.  Kraus,  upon  the  Servian  text  of  Dr.  Spalajkovic's  "  Re- 
port," was  next  submitted  to  the  Court.  Referring  first  to 
the  style,  they  remarked  upon  the  length  of  the  sentences, 
the  bureaucratic  mannerisms,  and  the  frequent  Germanisms, 
of  which  some  might  have  been  used  by  any  educated  Servian 
or  Croatian  but  others  only  became  intelligible  when  trans- 
lated literally  into  German.  They  then  indicated  certain 
crass  grammatical  errors  and  expressed  the  opinion  that  the 
report  had  been  written  "  by  someone  who  is  not  completely 
versed  either  in  Servian  grammar  or  in  Servian  orthography." 
Not  having  the  original  before  them,  they  could  not  estab- 
lish with  absolute  certainty  whether  some  of  the  worst  errors 
were  not  those  of  the  printers  ;  they  were  at  any  rate  of  a 
kind  such  as  no  Servian  with  the  slightest  pretence  to  real 
culture  could  have  committed.  The  Judge  interpreting  this 
to  mean  that  the  "  Report  "  might  have  been  written  by  a 

*"'  The  son-in-law  and  successor  of  the  famous  Slavistic  scholar  Pro- 
fessor Vatroslav  von  Jagic. 

274 


COALITION   WITNESSES 

diplomat,  but  not  a  man  who  could  write  good  and  correct 
Servian,  drew  from  Professor  Resetar  the  following  striking 
opinion.  "  Whether  a  diplomat  wrote  it  or  not,  I  cannot 
say.  But  if  a  diplomat  wrote  it,  then  he  was  no  Servian." 
Nothing  could  be  more  explicit  than  this.  Dr.  Kraus,  it  is 
true,  sought  to  weaken  the  impression  produced  in  court 
by  a  reference  to  critics  who  argued  that  Goethe  and  Lessing 
had  not  fully  mastered  the  German  language  and  that  Napo- 
leon could  not  write  French  !  Professor  Resetar  however 
under  cross-examination  adhered  to  the  view  that  no  Servian 
or  Croat  of  any  education  could  have  made  such  gross  mis- 
takes, and  that  after  listening  to  Dr.  Spalajkovic's  evidence — 
which  was  delivered  in  Servian  and  took  up  the  whole  of 
Saturday's  proceedings — ^he  felt  it  to  be  incredible  that  such 
a  report  could  ever  have  been  written  by  a  man  who  spoke 
such  admirable  Servian. 

The  plaintiff  Mr.  Budisavljevic  now  plied  the  experts  with 
numerous  questions  on  technical  points  of  style  and  phraseo- 
logy. It  thus  transpired  that  the  printed  Servian  version 
of  the  Spalajkovic  report  which  had  been  supplied  to  the  ex- 
perts, and i\from  which  Document  XXI  of  the  Green  Book 
was  translated,  was  based  upon  a  Cyrilline  copy,  specially 
transcribed  for  Dr.  Friedjung  by  a  Croatian  lady  doctor 
"  from  the  copy  at  my  disposal,"  in  other  words  from  the 
copy  placed  at  Dr.  Fried]  ung's  disposal  by  the  Ballplatz 
authorities.  The  historian  was  also  constrained  to  admit 
that  the  proof  sheets  of  this  all-important  "  document  "  went 
back  to  the  printer  without  having  even  been  submitted 
for  correction  to  the  lady  copyist  !  "  The  matter  naturally 
went|through  several  hands,  and  in  this  way  of  course  errors 
of  style  or  grammar  may  have  crept  in."  The  course  of  the 
proceedings  had  already  shown  that  the  historian  had  not 
verified  the  facts  which  his  documents  contained — even  on 
such  important  details  as  the  Croatian  elections  and  the 
Servian  Loan  ;  but  it  now  became  evident  that  he  had  also 
neglected  the  elementary  precautions  enjoined  by  the  study 
of  documents,  precautions  which  in  this  case  were  rendered 
all  the  more  necessary  by  his  ignorance  of  the  Servian  language. 

Professor  Resetar  and  Dr.  Uebersberger  then  submitted 
their  opinion  upon  the  photographs  of  the  Slovenski  Jug 
"  minutes,"  and  explained  in  great  detail  the  reasons  which 
led  them  to  different  conclusions.  The  former  held  not  only 
that  the  handwriting  of  two  of  the  chief  minutes  differed 

275 


'    "  THE  FRIED  JUNG  TRIAL 

but  that  one  was  a  deliberate  imitation  of  the  other  ;  while 
the  latter  confirmed  Dr.  Friedjung's  assertion  that  the  hand- 
writing of  all  the  minutes  was  identical.  Subsequent  develop- 
ments have  confirmed  the  former's  view.  But  it  is  obvious 
that  to  accept  Dr.  Friedjung's  own  view  on  the  matter  involved 
even  more  fatal  consequences  :  for  it  would  then  suffice  to 
prove  the  falsity  of  one  "  document  "  in  order  to  invalidate  all 
the  others. 


After  Dr.  Cingrija  had  given  evidence  regarding  Supilo's 
activity  in  Ragusa  *°^  Count  Kulmer  was  asked  to  describe 
the  situation  in  Croatia,  in  the  name  and  from  the  standpoint 
of  the  Croat  deputies  of  the  Coalition.  He  frankly  admitted 
that  he  had  never  approved  of  the  Fiume  Resolution,  but 
none  the  less  held  its  underlying  idea — the  reconciliation  of 
Croat  and  Serb — to  be  essentially  sound,  since  no  Government 
in  Croatia  could  hope  for  a  majority  so  long  as  the  Serbs 
were  in  opposition.  At  the  elections  he  himself  had  stood 
as  an  independent  candidate,  but  had  afterwards  entered 
the  Coalition  in  answer  to  a  personal  appeal  from  Mr.  Supilo, 
who  had  succeeded  in  convincing  him  that  the  Fiume  Resolu- 
tion offered  guarantees  for  a  genuine  constitutional  regime 
in  Croatia.  He  could  affirm  upon  oath  that  the  influence 
of  Servia  had  never  been  noticeable  within  the  Coalition,  and 
he  declined  to  take  Dr.  Tuskan's  abuse  of  "  Vienna  "seriously, 
or  to  regard  it  otherwise  than  as  an  outburst  provoked  b}^ 
the  unwise  policy  which  was  then  being  pursued  towards 
Croatia. 

Dr.  Lukinic  was  next  allowed  to  defend  himself  against 
the  specific  charges  made  against  his  person.  Early  in  the 
notorious  Spalajkovic  Report  reference  is  made  to  a  letter 
addressed  to  the  Servian  Consul-General  in  Budapest  by 
the  four  deputies  Supilo,  Potocnjak,  Pribicevic  and  Lukinic, 
offering  their  services  to  Servia.  In  denying  emphatically 
the  existence  of  any  such  letter.  Dr.  Lukinic  pointed  out 
that  at  the  period  when  it  was  supposed  to  have  been  written, 
PribiSevic  and  Supilo  were  at  open  feud  with  Potocnjak,  a 
man  who  after  belonging  to  and  quarrelling  with  almost  all 
the  many  parties  in  Croatia  has  found  it  necessary  to  retire 
altogether  from  politics.  In  the  "  memorial  "  of  the  Slo- 
venski    Jug   to  Dr.  Milovanovic — No    IV   in   the    Rcichsposl 

*"^  See  page  293. 
276 


COMPROMISE 

brochure — Dr.  Kukinic  is  again  referred  to,  as  the  recipient 
of  7,000  francs  from  Belgrad  in  aid  of  the  defence  of  the  fifty- 
three  Serb  prisoners  in  the  Agram  High  Treason  trial.  As 
he  now  pointed  out,  both  he  and  close  upon  thirty  other  Croa- 
tian advocates  had  voluntarily  undertaken  the  defence,  and 
though  the  trial  lasted  nearly  seven  months,  not  one  of  them 
received  a  penny  for  their  trouble,  either  from  Servia  or  from 
any  other  source.  On  the  contrary  they  had  all  contributed 
from  their  private  means  towards  the  support  of  the  families 
of  the  persecuted  Serbs. 

XIII.    Compromise. 

The  crushing  nature  of  Dr.  Spalajkovic's  evidence,  following 
upon  so  many  other  unpleasant  surprises,  had  not  been  lost 
upon  the  defendants,  and  above  all  Count  Aehrenthal  and 
the  Ballplatz  officials  watched  with  growing  anxiety  the 
interest  displayed  by  the  European  press  in  these  scandalous 
revelations  of  their  incapacity  and  lack  of  scruple.  When 
then  the  official  confirmation  of  Professor  Markovic's  alibi 
was  at  length  received  from  the  Berlin  police  authorities, 
negotiations  were  opened  with  the  plaintiffs  with  a  view 
to  a  compromise.  The  whole  morning  of  the  21st  was  occu- 
pied by  the  fruitless  endeavour  to  find  a  formula  acceptable 
to  both  parties.  Dr.  Friedjung,  while  prepared  to  admit 
the  questionable  origin  of  Documents  XII  and  XIII — the 
minutes  of  the  Slovenski  Jug  of  October  5  and  21  (O.S.),  1908, 
which  are  directly  disqualified  by  the  Berlin  alibi — as  yet 
failed  to  realize  that  the  demolition  of  two  "  documents  " 
seriously  affected  the  authenticity  of  the  others  also. 

As  no  agreement  could  be  reached.  Dr.  Wach  reopened 
the  proceedings  at  four  o'clock  and  called  as  witness  Dr. 
Vladimir  von  Nikolic,  formerly  head  of  the  Croatian  Depart- 
ment of  Justice  under  Count  Pejacevic,  and  since  the  elections 
of  1908  chairman  of  the  executive  committee  of  the  Croato- 
Serb  Coalition.  As  he  pointed  out  with  evey  natural  emphasis, 
this  committee  controlled  every  detail  of  the  Coalition's 
policy,  and  he  had  never  missed  a  single  meeting  ;  he  was 
thus  in  a  position  to  take  oath  that  there  had  never  been 
the  faintest  trace  of  treasonable  tendencies  among  its  mem- 
bers. The  great  aim  of  the  Coalition  had  been  to  revive 
constitutional  government  in  Croatia,  to  introduce  modern 
institutions  such  as  freedom  of  elections,  right  of  assembly, 
postal  secrecy  and  judicial  independence,  and  to  settle  amicably 

277 


THE   FRIEDJUNG  TRIAL 

with  the  Magyars  the  numerous  violations  of  the  Hungaro- 
Croatian  Compromise  which  had  occurred  since  the  year  1868. 
When  Kossuth's  Railway  Bill  and  the  Croatian  obstruction 
in  Budapest  led  to  an  open  breach  between  the  two  nations, 
the  Hungarian  Government  resolved  at  all  costs  to  break  up 
the  Croato-Serb  Coalition,  and  hoped  to  attain  this  end  by 
casting  suspicion  upon  its  individual  members.  The  sur- 
vival of  the  Coalition  and  the  maintenance  of  an  entente 
between  Croats  and  Serbs  formed  the  sole  guarantee  for  the 
success   of   Croatia's   struggle   against   Hungary. 

In  Croatia,  continued  Dr.  Nikolic,  it  is  nothing  new  for  a 
Government  to  brand  its  opponents  as  traitors  and  enemies 
of  the  dynasty.  In  1872  under  Baron  Levin  Ranch — ^the 
father  of  the  notorious  Baron  Paul  Ranch — similar  forgeries 
played  a  great  part  in  Croatian  politics,  and  an  attempt  was 
made  to  implicate  the  poet  Mazuranic  and  Bishop  Stross- 
mayer  in  treasonable  intrigues.^"^  On  that  occasion  also  the 
forged  "  minutes  "  of  revolutionary  meetings  found  credence 
in  authoritative  quarters,  until  in  1879  the  forger  himself,  a 
certain  Reicherzer,  published  a  pamphlet  confessing  the 
whole  fraud.  In  short  what  is  impossible  in  Vienna  is  only 
too  possible  in  the  south  of  the  Monarchy,  where  there  exist 
persons  who  make  a  living  by  the  fabrication  of  similar  slan- 
ders. So  far  as  the  alleged  money  subsidies  were  concerned, 
Dr.  Nikolic  regretfully  admitted  that  he  had  himself  con- 
tributed from  his  own  pocket  a  larger  sum  to  the  electoral 
fund  than  had,  according  to  Dr.  Friedjung's  "  documents," 
been  sent  by  the  Servian  Government  !  As  chairman  of  the 
executive  committee,  he  was  naturally  familiar  with  the 
details  of  electoral  expenditure  and  the  sources  from  which 
their  funds  were  derived.  Dr.  Fried jung  drew  attention  to 
the  fact  that  Agram,  a  town  of  90,000  inhabitants,  had  no 
fewer  than  twelve  daily  papers — as  many  as  Vienna  with  its 
two  millions — and  asked  whether  it  was  not  the  case  that 
only  three  or  four  of  these  were  self-supporting.  The  witness, 
while  admitting  a  certain  amount  of  truth  in  this  suggestion, 
added  that  the  Agram  newspapers  served  the  whole  country, 
with  its  2,600,000  inhabitants,  and  most  of  them  were  supported 
at  great  sacrifice  by  their  respective  parties. 


The  evidence  of  Dr.  Nikolic  produced  a  distinct  effect  upon 
the  jury.     But  the  final  breach  in  their  armour  of  suspicion 

^"fl  See  p.  89. 
278 


COMPROMISE 

against  every  Serb  was  made  by  Dr.  Dusan  Popovic,  the 
able  Serb  criminal  lawyer,  one  of  the  youngest  but  most 
popular  and  influential  members  of  the  Croato-Serb  Coalition. 
As  one  of  the  defending  counsel  in  the  infamous  Agram  trial, 
he  naturally  had  a  complete  mastery  of  his  subject ;  and 
his  gift  for  ready  and  humorous  repartee  showed  to  especial 
advantage  on  the  present  occasion. 

Dr.  Popovic  explained  that  he  had  been  chosen  as  the 
spokesman  of  the  Serb  members  of  the  Coalition,  partly  be- 
cause he  had  been  in  Belgrad  more  than  any  of  them  and 
yet  had  never  been  accused  of  disloyal  practices.  He  then 
described  the  activity  of  the  Serb  Independent  party  since 
its  formation  in  1883,  its  support  of  the  Khuen  regime  and 
the  growing  discontent  of  the  new  generation.  "  Till  1905 
there  were  no  constitutional  guarantees  in  Croatia,  and  even 
to-day  there  is  no  law  asserting  the  independence  of  the  judges, 
the  freedom  of  the  press  or  the  right  of  public  assembly  !  " 
The  Fiume  Resolution  was  the  natural  result  of  such  a  situa- 
tion, and  was  essentially  the  work  of  the  Croats,  not  of  the 
Serbs,  and  least  of  all  of  the  Kingdom  of  Servia  ;  for  while 
thirty  Croat  deputies  took  part  in  the  negotiations,  no  Serb 
was  present,  and  the  Serbs  waited  till  the  pact  had  been  com- 
pleted between  Magyars  and  Croats,  before  they  too  declared 
their  adherence  in  the  Resolution  of  Zara.  The  real  motive 
which  prompted  the  Croats  to  come  to  terms  with  Budapest, 
must  be  sought  in  their  recollection  of  Vienna's  ingratitude 
after  1848,  when  despite  all  their  sacrifices  in  the  Habsburg 
cause,  the  Croats — to  quote  again  from  Dr.  Friedjung's  own 
History  of  Austria — received  as  reward  what  the  Hungarians 
received  as  punishment, ^^°  Above  all  they  were  prompted  by 
the  fear  of  "  Vienna,"  by  which  must  not  be  understood  the 
city  of  Vienna,  the  Sovereign  or  the  Monarchy,  but  "  certain 
powerful  political  personages  who  are  not  eternal  but  change 
from  time  to  time,  and  who  .  .  .  wish  to  give  the  Magyars  carte 
blanche  in  internal  politics  (viz.  of  Transleithania)  simply 
in  order  that  the  latter  may  abandon  their  military  demands." 
Moreover  Dr.  Friedjung  and  Dr.  Funder  were  quite  mistaken 
in  regarding  the  Resolution  of  Fiume  as  a  mere  conspiracy 
of  Budapest  and  Agram  against  Vienna  ;  for  the  Croats  its 
most  important  provisions  were  those  relating  to  internal 
reforms — electoral,  judicial,  administrative — and  to  the  union 

^i"  In  reality  this  famous  phrase  is  merely  cited  by  Dr.  Friedjung  from 
an  older  work. 

279 


THE   FRIEDJUNG   TRIAL 

of  Dalmatia  with  Croatia.*^^  In  short,  the  Resolution  had 
nothing  whatever  to  do  with  Pan-Serb  propaganda,  and  the 
defendants  might  learn  this  fact  from  the  organizer  of  the 
present  anti-Serb  campaign.  Baron  Paul  Rauch,  who  on  Novem- 
ber 13,  1905,  spoke  as  follows  : — "  It  seems  to  me  that  the 
honourable  name  of  a  '  National '  party  is  far  better  deserved 
by  those  men  who  have  adhered  to  the  Fiume  Resolution 
and  broken  away  from  Vienna,  whence  we  have  never  experi- 
enced anything  save  bitter  disappointments."  Since  then 
unhappily  political  slander  and  vituperation  had  grown  com- 
moner in  Croatia,  accusations  of  Pan-Serbism  began  to  be 
heard,  and  in  the  notorious  "  Argus  "  affair  (see  p.  300)  the 
identical  charges  were  formulated  which  form  the  basis  of 
the  present  trial.  "To-day  in  Croatia,"  added  Dr.  Popovi6, 
"  they  adduce  as  proofs  of  this  (Pan-Serb)  propaganda,  the 
very  emblems  which  in  the  history  of  the  Monarchy  have 
been  rendered  so  famous  and  so  sacred  by  the  blood  of  our 
fathers  in  1848."  ^12 

t  Dr.  Popovic  next  confessed  that  during  the  campaign  of 
calumny  directed  against  members  of  his  party,  he  had  more 
than  once  made  inquiries  through  various  relations  and 
friends  in  Belgrad,  and  that  possibly  his  southern  tempera- 
ment had  engendered  temporary  suspicions  which  his  confi- 
dence in  his  colleagues  should  have  rendered  impossible.  His 
inquiries  of  course  convinced  him  that  the  charges  were 
utterly  groundless.  Perhaps  the  most  interesting  feature  in 
Dr.  Popovid's  long  and  impressive  speech  was  his  correction 
of  the  misleading  extracts  quoted  by  Dr.  Friedjung  from  the 
speeches  of  the  Coalition  leaders. 

1.  For  instance.  Dr.  Tuskan's  famous  threat  of  marching 
rifle  in  hand  against  Vienna,  was  not  part  of  a  speech  at  all, 
but  a  wild  interjection  uttered  during  the  most  disorderly 
scene  which  the  Croatian  Parliament  had  witnessed  in  recent 
years,  and  from  the  context  it  was  obvious  that  his  anger 
was  directed  against  the  Dual  system,  not  against  Austria 
or  the  dynasty. 

2.  According  to  Dr.  Friedjung,  Mr.  Budisavljevi6  had 
declared  in  the  Diet  that  he  would  accept  money  from  Servia. 

^ "  *"  In  accordance  with  §  65  of  the  Ausgleich. 

*^2  A  reference  to  the  Serb  national  arms  and  colours,  under  which 
Stratimirovic  led  the  Serbs  of  the  Banat  in  1848  against  the  Magyars, 
but  wliich  were  treated  by  the  Public  Prosecutor  in  the  Agram  High 
Treason  trial  as  "  symptomatic  "  of  treason. 

280 


COMPROMISE 

The  true  facts  were  as  follows.  In  reply  to  a  deputy  who 
accused  Srbobran  of  receiving  30,000  francs  from  Belgrad 
Budisavljevic  answered  :  "I  declare  openly  before  the  Croatian 
Sabor  that  if  Servia  had  given  even  one  halfpenny  in  the 
interests  of  the  Southern  Slavs,  the  Croat-Servian  and  Bulgarian 
race,  I  would  like  Wolf  '^^^  openly  acknowledge  it  in  the  Diet. 
Permit  me  to  say  frankly  that  society  in  Servia  has  not 
realized  the  mission  which  it  has  to  fulfil  towards  the  Croat 
Slovene  and  Bulgarian  race  as  well  as  towards  itself.  ...  I 
know  that  my  words  will  perhaps  be  published  to-morrow 
in  the  foreign  press,  but  that  does  not  disturb  me."  To  Dr. 
Fried] ung's  remark,  "  That  means,  '  If  Servia  were  to  give 
money,  I  would  take  it,'  "  Dr.  Popovic  neatly  retorted,  "  No, 
that  means,  '  If  I  had  received  money,  I  would  admit  it '." 
To  those  of  us  who  read  continually  in  the  newspapers 
of  the  relations  of  the  Irish  party  with  Mr.  Patrick  Ford  and 
the  Irish  Americans,  Dr.  Friedj ung's  point  of  view  is,  if 
not  absolutely  incomprehensible,  at  any  rate  doctrinaire 
in  the  highest  degree. 

3.  Dr.  Friedj ung  had  charged  Supilo  with  declaring  that 
it  would  be  a  blessing  for  Bosnia  if  it  were  detached  from 
the  Monarchy.  Dr.  Popovic  now  read  aloud  the  exact  words 
of  Supilo,  which  ran  as  follows  : — "  And  if  fortune  should 
have  it,  that  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina  leave  the  complex  of 
the  Monarchy,  then  it  is  natural  that  every  true  and  honour- 
able Croat  should  prefer  that  if  Bosnia  cannot  be  Croatian 
it  should  faU  to  the  Servian  brother  rather  than  to  a  stranger. 
But  if  fortune  decides  that  Bosnia  should  enter  that  organism 
in  which  Croatia  now  is,  then  it  is  the  duty  of  every  true  patriot 
to  strive  with  fiery  zeal,  in  order  that  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina 
may  fall  into  the  hands  not  of  strangers  but  of  their  Croatian 
brothers," 

4.  Finally  Dr.  Popovic  referred  to  the  much  quoted  article 
of  Srbobran,  in  which  the  Kingdom  of  Servia  was  treated 
as  decisive  for  the  attitude  of  the  Serbs  in  Croatia-Slavo- 
nia.  He  reminded  the  defendants  that  when  the  breach 
between  Agram  and  Budapest  led  to  the  appointment  of 
Baron  Ranch  as  Ban  of  Croatia,  the  Serb  Radical  party  seceded 
from  the  Croato-Serb  Coalition  and  coquetted  with  Ranch 
and  Wekerle.  But  while  almost  every  newspaper  in  Belgrad 
espoused  the  side  of  the  Coalition,  Samouprava,  the  official 

'    *^3  A  reference  to  Karl  Hermann  Wolf,  the  notorious  Pan-German 
deputy  in  the  Austrian  Reichsrat. 

281 


THE   FRIEDJUNG   TRIAL 

organ  of  the  Servian  Government,  wrote  in  favour  of  Ranch 
and  approved  the  attitude  of  the  Serb  Radicals.  The  latter's 
chief  organ  Zastava,  so  far  from  accusing  the  Coahtion  of 
being  under  the  influence  of  Belgrad,  actually  argued  that 
the  Belgrad  press  was  inspired  from  Agram.^^^  It  was  under 
such  circumstances  that  Srbobran  wrote  as  follows  : — "  Servia 
as  an  independent  state  is  in  a  position  to  judge  what  policy 
best  corresponds  to  general  Servian  interests.  For  the  Serbs — 
i.e.  of  Croatia — it  cannot  be  a  matter  of  indifference  what 
policy  the  Servian  people  outside  the  Monarchy  pursues." 

"  What  have  you  to  say  to  that,  Doctor  ?  "  exclaimed 
the  witness,  turning  to  Dr.  Friedjung. 

"  Just  as  Berlin  must  not  be  the  standard  for  the  policy 
of  the  German  Austrians,"  replied  Dr.  Friedjung,  "  in  exactly 
the  same  way  Belgrad  must  not  be  the  standard  for  the  Serbs 
of  Austria." 

"  Were  you  always  of  this  opinion,  Dr.  Friedjung  ?  I 
have  been  told  that  you  once  belonged  to  the  Pan-Germans." 

"  A  Pan-German  in  the  sense  that  all  Germans  are  one  in 
spirit  and  in  culture — geistig  und  kuUurell  zusammengehoren — 
a  Pan-German  in  this  sense  I  still  am  to-day." 

"  Well,  Dr.  Friedjung,  we  Serbs  are  just  the  same." 


No  sooner  had  the  Court  risen,  than  negotiations  between 
the  parties  were  resumed  ;  but  many  hours  were  required 
that  night  and  the  following  morning — Wednesday,  December 
22 — before  an  understanding  could  be  reached.  Dr.  J.  M. 
Baernreither,  one  of  the  most  prominent  German  Austrian  poli- 
ticians and  a  man  who  enjoyed  the  confidence  alike  of  Count 
Aehrenthal  and  the  Heir-Apparent,  appeared  upon  the  scene 
and  made  every  effort  to  bring  matters  to  a  successful  issue. 
After  urging  upon  Mr.  Supilo  and  his  colleagues  the  grave 
issues  at  stake — the  reputation  of  Austrian  diplomacy  and 
the  honour  of  the  Monarchy — he  offered  positive  assurances 
that  an  end  would  be  put  to  the  prevailing  absolutist  system 
in  Croatia.  Their  consent  could  however  only  be  obtained 
to  a  compromise  whose  terms  should  be  explicit  enough  to 
preclude  the  subsequent  use  against  them  of  any  of  the  famous 
"  documents."  Dr.  Friedjung,  on  the  other  hand,  showed 
extreme  reluctance  to  admit  the  falsification  of  any  save  the 

*'^  This  additional  proof  of  the  relations  between  Dr.  PaSic,  the  Servian 
Premier  and  Zastava — in  Neusatz  (Ujvidek)  in  South  Hungary — only 
serves  to  confirm  the  evidence  of  Dr.  Polit  {see  p.  260). 

282 


COMPROMISE 

two  "|documents  "  directly  affected  by  the  Berlin  alibi,  and 
seemed  to  consider  that  lus  reputation  as  a  historian  would 
suffer  less"  from  this  unbending  attitude  than  from  a  frank 
admission  of  his  error. 

It  is  an  open  secret  that  the  compromise  was  due  to  direct 
pressure  from  the  Foreign  Office,  which  on  the  one  hand 
realized  that  a  condemnation  of  the  defendants  would  be 
equivalent  to  a  public  vote  of  non-confidence  in  itself,  but 
on  the  other  hand  feared  the  bad  effect  which  would  have 
Been  created  abroad,  if  the  jury  had  acquitted  on  patriotic 
grounds.  In  that  event  the  Servian  Government  was  pre- 
pared to  appear  before  the  Hague  Convention  and  there  to 
claim  the  assistance  of  the  Great  Powers  in  exposing  the 
forgeries  and  in  vindicating  the  good  name  of  Dr.  Milovanovic. 

At  last  complete  agreement  was  reached ;  and  a  careful 
programme  was  drawn  up  for  the  concluding  scene  of  the 
trial.  When  the  court  opened,  Mr.  Supilo  was  invited  to 
give  evidence  as  to  the  charges  of  bribery  from  Servia  con- 
tained in  the  forged  documents,  and  as  to  the  visits  to  Belgrad 
which  had  drawn  on  him  so  much  suspicion.^^^  After  polite 
expressions  of  regret  from  Dr.  Benedikt  and  Professor  Masaryk 
for  a  fierce  passage  of  arms  which  had  taken  place  between 
them  during  the  latter's  cross-examination,  the  Judge  read 
aloud  the  official  statement  of  the  Berlin  police,  proving 
beyond  all  possibility  of  doubt  that  Professor  Markovic  was 
actually  in  Berlin  on  the  very  day  when  he  was  alleged  to 
have  presided  over  a  meeting  of  the  Slovenski  Jug  in  Belgrad. 
Counsel  for  the  prosecution  hereupon  asked  Dr.  Fried]  ung 
what  he  had  to  say  in  view  of  so  clear  an  alibi ;  and  the  his- 
torian then  read  aloud  the  following  declaration  : — "  I  made 
all  the  assertions  of  my  article  after  thorough  examination, 
and  only  reached  the  fundamental  view  expressed  in  my. 
article  after  conscientious  consideration  of  all  the  circum- 
stances before  me.  I  am  no  swashbuckler — Klopffechter — 
and  know  how  to  appreciate  the  importance  as  evidence  of 
Professor  Markovic's  stay  in  Berlin  now  officially  confirmed. 
I  therefore  declare  loyally  that  the  two  documents  of  October 
20  and  21  must  be  eliminated,  and  that  I  should  no  longer 
like  to  base  any  claim  upon  {in  Anspruch  nehmen)  the  remain- 
ing documents.  Having  made  this  declaration,  I  can  say 
with  a  calm  conscience  that  in  my  whole  attitude  in  the  affair 

"5  See  page  295 
283 


THE  FRIEDJUNG  TRIAL 

and  also  in  to-day's  declaration  I  had  in  view  the  welfare  of 
our  common  fatherland." 

A  brief  statement  followed  on  behalf  of  the  responsible 
editor  of  the  Reichspost ;  and  Dr.  Harpner  then  withdrew 
the  prosecution,  after  briefly  stating  the  motives  which  had 
prompted  his  clients  to  appeal  to  the  arbitrament  of  a  Viennese 
court.  Unable  to  trust  themselves  to  an  Agram  court,  they 
came  before  a  civilized  court  in  a  constitutional  country,  in 
order  that  all  the  world  might  learn  the  policy  of  which  they 
were  the  victims.  No  one  had  ever  questioned  the  good 
faith  of  Dr.  Fried] ung,  and  after  his  declaration  the  Coalition 
could  fairly  regard  the  trial  as  at  an  end,  since  they  were 
convinced  that  the  opinion  of  the  world  and  the  verdict  of 
history  would  be  upon  their  side.  After  a  similar  declaration 
from  Mr.  Supilo's  counsel,  the  Judge  pronounced  the  formal 
verdict  of  acquittal,  and  the  Court  broke  up  amid  general 
congratulations.  Dr.  Wach  was  only  voicing  the  universal 
sentiment  when  he  expressed  the  hope  that  the  trial  would 
bear  good  fruit  for  Austria.  Rarely  if  ever  has  so  much  dirty 
linen  been  washed  before  the  Austrian  public  ;  and  few  states- 
men will  envy  Count  Aehrenthal  his  laundry  bill. 

The  manner  in  which  the  origin  of  the  forgeries  came  to 
light,  will  be  described  in  a  subsequent  chapter.  Meanwhile 
it  will  suffice  to  summarize  in  the  briefest  possible  manner 
the  points  at  which  the  prosecution  successfully  effected  a 
breach  in  the  "  documents." 

Out  of  the  seventeen  "  minutes  "  of  the  Slovenski  Jug, 
two  (Nos.  XIII  and  XXIII)  were  annihilated  by  the  alibi  of 
Professor  Markovic,  which  proved  beyond  all  question  that 
at  the  moment  when  he  was  supposed  to  be  presiding  over 
a  revolutionary  society  in  Belgrad,  he  was  actually  studying 
law  at  Berlin  University.  The  defence  had  specially  empha- 
sized the  fact  that  all  the"  minutes  "were  in  the  same  hand- 
writing ;  and  in  that  case,  when  two  had  been  invalidated,  all 
the  rest  must  also  be  regarded  as  worthless.  The  falsity  of 
another  of  the  "  minutes  "  (No.  II)  was  clearly  shown  by  its 
reference  to  the  "  ensuing  elections  in  Croatia,"  at  a  date 
when  they  were  already  over.  A  hundred  other  details  com- 
bined to  render  the  "  minutes  "  extremely  suspicious — the 
numerous  Croaticisms  and  Germanisms  in  ostensibly  Serb 
documents  :  the  use  of  New  Style  dates,  incredible  in  an 
Orthodox  country  Hke  Servia  :   the  fact  that  the  author  some- 

284 


COMPROMISE 

times  thinks  in  "  crowns,"  instead  of  dinars  or  francs  :  the 
variations  in  the  signatures  of  the  president  and  officials  of 
the  Club  *i^ :  the  confusion  regarding  the  office-bearers  *"  :  the 
fact  that  a  secret  central  committee  was  formed,  and  none 
the  less  the  really  secret  business  was  discussed  at  the  ordinary 
meetings.*^^  Of  course  the  bare  idea  that  a  revolutionary 
committee,  above  all  one  composed  of  Servian  students,  should 
have  kept  minutes  at  all  was  highly  suspicious,  and  of  itself 
suggested  the  bureaucratic  origin  of  the  "  documents." 

The  notorious  Report  of  Dr.  Spalajkovic  (No.  XXI)  was  not 
merely  headed  by  imaginary  numbers  and  signed  in  an  im- 
possible manner,  but  was,  in  the  opinion  of  the  experts,  written 
in  a  style  so  ungrammatical  and  so  essentially  un-Serb,  as  to 
preclude  its  author  from  being  an  educated  Servian,  still 
less  a  Servian  diplomat.  Its  references  to  the  Servian  Budget 
were  incorrect.  Its  use  of  Dr.  Polit's  name  betrayed  the 
forger's  ignorance.  Above  all,  it  contained  a  reference  to  a 
State  Loan  which  Parliament  was  to  sanction  next  autumn, 
whereas  this  loan  had  actually  been  sanctioned  a  year  previ- 
ously. As  the  alleged  author  of  the  Report  had  himself  con- 
cluded the  negotiations  for  the  loan,  it  was  impossible  to 
argue  that  he  could  have  made  so  crude  an  error.  The  instruc- 
tions of  Dr.  Pasic  to  the  librarian  Mr.  Tomic  (No.  B  of  the 
Reichspost  "  documents  ")  were  such  as  no  serious  statesman 
could  have  written.  The  instructions  of  Dr.  Milovanovic  to 
the  Servian  Minister  in  Vienna  (No.  E.,  do.),  the  most  impos- 
sible "  document  "  of  all,  could  not  survive  their  perusal  in 
cold  blood,  and  indeed  no  diplomat  in  Europe  could  ever  have 
credited  a  colleague,  however  incapable — and  Dr.  Milovanovic 
is  the  very  reverse  of  incapable — with  writing  such  an  effusion. 
Its  absurd  references  to  the  Cabinet  of  St.  James,  to  "  Golden 
Prague  "  and  "  the  Czech  Kingdom  "  amply  sufficed  to  prove 
its  falsity,  quite  apart  from  its  wretched  literary  style.  In 
short,  the  diplomatic  "  documents  "  were  palpable  forgeries, 
but  were  as  palpably  not  written  by  a  mere  spy. 

The  compromise  in  which  the  trial  ended  for  the  moment 
saved  the  real  culprits  from  well-merited  exposure,  but  left  the 

**^  The  former  sometimes  appears  as  B.  Markovic,  sometimes  as 
Bozidar,  sometimes  as  the  more  famihar  Bozo. 

*!'  E.g.  in  No.  VI  Ljuba  Jovanovic  is  given  as  Vice-president :  in 
No.  X  Lj.  Davidovic  ;    in  No.  XII  again  Ljubomir  Jovanovic. 

«i8  Cf.  No.  VII. 

285 


THE   FRIEDJUNG  TRIAL 

world  in  no  doubt  as  to  their  identity.  The  Zeity^d^s  merely 
voicing  the  general  opinion,  when  it  described  the  Friedjung 
trial  as  "  a  cleansing  storm  "  and  as  "  a  fiasco  of  our  methods  of 
obtaining  diplomatic  intelligence,"  since  the  documents  were 
not  good,  but  clumsy,  forgeries.  The  Neues  Wiener  Journal 
was  still  more  outspoken,  and  called  the  issue  of  the  trial  "  a 
verdict  of  '  Guilty  '  against  the  Foreign  Office,"  neatly  adding 
that  "  the  leading  authorities  "  {Leitende  Stellen)  of  the  Mon- 
archy in  reality  deserved  the  title  of  "  misleading  "  ;  while 
the  well-known  military  journal,  Danzers  Armee  Zeitung, 
concluded  a  scathing  article  with  the  words,  "  To  the  devil 
with  the  Police  Spy  System."  The  Vaterland,  the  organ  of 
the  Conservative  clericals,  argued  that  the  trial  had  proved 
that  "  Vienna  wished  the  Croats  well."  The  "  triumph " 
of  the  Coalition  would,  it  added,  have  good  results,  "  if  the 
Croats  are  now  given  something  more  than  mere  words  and 
friendly  phrases." 

Perhaps  the  most  effective  criticism  of  the  trial  is  to  be  found 
in  Die  Fackel,^^^  from  the  pen  of  that  brilliant  and  characteris- 
tically Viennese  satirist,  Karl  Kraus.  "  In  Court  were  heard 
the  words  :  '  These  documents  were  to  have  supplied  Europe 
with  the  proof  that  Austria-Hungary  had  been  compelled  to 
resort  to  arms  by  Servia's  perfidious  connexion  with  shady 
elements  in  our  Monarchy.'  Thus  spoke  a  misused  historian  : 
the  documents,  which  might  have  deceived  the  penetration  of 
a  public  schoolboy,  are  proved  to  be  forgeries,  and  the  man 
who  misused  the  good  faith  of  a  historian,  of  a  whole  popula- 
tion, of  Europe,  without  being  able  to  excuse  himself  with  the 
plea  that  he  himself  was  not  misused,  the  statesman  who  is 
the  victim  of  a  forger  of  operetta  standard — Count  Aehrenthal, 
who  has  not  stinted  our  money  over  preparations  for  war  and 
proofs  of  its  necessity,  who  has  misused  our  faith  in  order  to 
sacrifice  our  blood,  he  does  not  leave  us  in  the  hours  of  doubt, 
he  does  not  go  into  exile  among  the  Eskimos,  he,  the  condemned 
of  this  trial,  gives  us  no  public  apology  [Ehrenerkldrung)  and 
we  shall  pay  the  costs." 

Of  the  two  defendants,  Dr.  Friedjung  had  to  bear  the  brunt 
of  criticism.  Dr.  Funder  had  merely  acted  as  any  journalist 
would  have  acted  in  his  place  :  he  had  naturally  assumed  that 
the  Foreign  Office  dealt  only  in  genuine  documents,  and  the 
mere  fact  that  he  received  them  from  such  a  quarter,  absolved 
him  from  all  need  of  inquiry  into  their  general  character. 
"*  No.  293,  January  4,  1910. 
286 


COMPROMISE 

Dr.  Friedjung,  on  the  other  hand,  had  expressly  debarred 
himself  from  the  privilege  of  this  argument,  and  had  insisted 
that  he  had  applied  to  the  "  documents  "  all  the  canons  of 
historical  research  and  the  strictest  documentary  tests.  In 
view  of  his  ignorance  of  the  Serb  language  and  alphabet,  it  is 
unfortunately  impossible  to  allow  his  claim.  But  it  is  equally 
impossible  to  avoid  sympathizing  keenly  with  him  ;  for  never 
has  the  confidence  of  a  historian  in  those  who  control  his 
country's  foreign  policy,  been  more  shamefully  abused,  and 
there  is  good  reason  to  believe  that  Dr.  Friedjung,  when  he 
at  last  realized  his  position,  made  it  a  point  of  honour  to  adhere 
to  a  standpoint  from  which  many  a  man  would  have  considered 
himself  absolved,  in  view  of  the  deception  practised  upon  him. 

Dr.  Friedjung's  real  fault  consisted  in  yielding  to  the  flatter- 
ing attentions  of  the  Foreign  Minister.  His  journalistic 
instincts  tempted  him  to  aspire  to  the  position  of  a  new  Gentz 
to  the  modern  Metternich.  He,  too,  like  more  exalted  per- 
sonages, seems  to  have  assumed  that  Count  Aehrenthal  would 
not  work  with  impudent  forgeries  as  the  groundwork  of  his 
policy,  and  hence  accepted  without  further  question  a  series 
of  "  documents  "  in  a  language  which  he  did  not  know  and 
therefore  could  not  control.  The  trial  utterly  demolished  his 
claim  to  be  regarded  as  a  politician  of  judgment  or  acumen  ; 
but  it  need  not  affect  our  verdict  upon  him  as  a  historian. 
In  writing  the  fatal  article  of  March  25,  1909,  and  in  all  that 
he  said  in  court,  he  gave  free  rein  to  the  somewhat  blatant 
patriotism  which  the  Bosnian  crisis  had  evoked  ;  in  the  books 
which  have  won  him  so  wide  and  solid  a  reputation,  this  note 
is  happily  wanting.  In  short,  the  Friedjung  Trial  has  supplied 
us  with  yet  another  proof  that  "  a  great  historian  may  also  be 
a  naive  politician." 


287 


CHAPTER   XI 

The  Supilo-Chlumecky   Incident 

BEFORE  attempting  an  analysis  of  the  documents  or 
discussing  the  results  of  this  momentous  trial,  it  is 
necessary  to  bring  the  Supilo-Chlumecky  incident  to  a  con- 
clusion. Much  as  I  should  have  liked  to  avoid  discussing  an 
incident  which  would  appear  to  involve  the  grossest  perjury 
on  the  one  side  or  the  other,  I  cannot  unhappily  shut  my 
eyes  to  its  extreme  importance,  both  in  its  bearing  upon  the 
political  situation  in  Croatia  and  Dalmatia  and  upon  the 
future  career  of  a  man  who  is  beyond  all  question  the  ablest 
living  Croat  politician.  The  necessity  for  treating  the  affair 
in  special  detail  will,  I  am  persuaded,  have  already  become 
apparent  to  the  reader ;  and  I  can  only  hope  that  he  will 
acquit  me  of  laying  needless  stress  upon  the  personal  element 
in  the  case. 

During  Monday's  proceedings  Mr.  Supilo  moved  that  the 
following  witnesses  be  heard — Mr.  Toncic,  now  Vice-Governor 
of  Dalmatia,  but  at  the  time  of  the  alleged  bribery  Baron 
Chlumecky's  superior  in  the  prefecture  of  Ragusa,  who  could 
affirm  that  Supilo  had  never  written  in  favour  of  the  Austrian 
Government  as  Chlumecky  had  alleged ;  Mr.  Kar(^anski, 
Kdllay's  agent  in  Ragusa,  who  could  affirm  that  he  had  never 
given  Supilo  a  farthing  and  that  Supilo  and  Chlumecky  had 
never  met  in  his  house ;  and  Count  Szapdry,  the  former 
Governor  of  Fiume,  who  could  affirm  that  he  had  never  spoken 
with  Supilo  and  had  never  given  him  money,  and  that  at  the 
time  of  his  alleged  remark  to  Dorotka  Supilo 's  newspaper 
was  being  confiscated  almost  every  other  day  owing  to  its 
violent   attacks  upon  the  Hungarian   Government. 

The  letter  which  played  so  important  a  part  in  Baron 
Chlumecky's  evidence,  was  at  last  read  aloud  in  court  ^^o  and  Mr, 

*2o  See  page  237. 

288 


PERSONALITIES 

Supilo  was  able  to  point  out  that  it  contained  no  trace  of 
secret  denunciation,  but  simply  related  a  fact  which  he  was 
about  to  publish  in  Novi  List. 

On  Tuesday  Dr.  Rode,  appearing  for  the  first  time,  pro- 
posed as  witnesses  the  Governor  of  Dalmatia,  Baron  Nardelli, 
the   Mayor   of   Ragusa,  Dr.    Pero  Cingrija,   and  the    ex-Ban 
Count   Theodore  Pejacevid,  and  sought  to  justify  their  sum- 
mons   by    the    following    arguments,     "  The    witness    Baron 
Chlumecky  was  described  by  the  Judge  as  a  specialist  in  Bos- 
nian matters,  and  he  himself  gave  himself  out  as  one  who 
has  clear  insight  into  Bosnian  chaos  and  into  Servian  con- 
ditions.    I  wish  to  prove  through  the  Governor  of  Dalmatia 
what  political  role  Chlumecky  played  in  the  Governor's  office 
at  Zara  and  in  the  prefecture  of  Ragusa  :    that  he  was  not 
entrusted   with   any   special   political   mission  :     that   owing 
to  his  attitude  in  society  and  owing  to  certain  intrigues  he 
was  disciplinarily  transferred   to    Makarska,  a  circumstance 
which  the  witness    deliberately    suppressed    (here   Dr.  Rode 
was  in  error  :  Baron  Chlumecky  did  not  suppress  the    fact) ; 
that  he  had  to  employ  the  whole  influence  of  himself  and  his 
family  in  order  to  get  back  to  Ragusa.     The  Mayor  of  Ragusa 
will  give  evidence  that  Chlumecky  during  his  stay  at  Ragusa 
took  very  little  share  in  politics,  had  the  reputation  of  a  man 
who  was  impossible  in  Ragusa  and  was  the    laughing-stock 
of  the  town,  run  after  by  the  street-arabs  (another  needless 
exaggeration).     In  Hermann  Bahr's  recently  published  book 
Dalmatinische  Reise  ^^^  it  is  said  of  Baron  Chlumecky,  '  I  know 
too  well  how  he  spent  his  time  in  Ragusa,  what  is  thought 
of  him  in  Dalmatia.'      I  have  no  intention  of  bringing  up 
the  private  affairs  of  an  incriminating  witness.     But  it  seems 
to  me  important  whether  this  man  who  pretends  to  have 
played  a  great  political  role  in  Bosnia  and  claims  to  have 
been  drawn  into  conversation  by  so  important  a  person  as 
Supilo — whether  Supilo  ever  spoke  with  him  about  politics 
at  that  period  or  not."     Here  again  Dr.  Rode  indulged  in 
needless  exaggeration  ;   for  at  the  time  of  the  alleged  bribery 
Supilo  was  still  an  unknown  journalist,   and  Chlumecky  a 
young  man  of  high  social  standing.    The  Judge  then  was  only 
within  his  rights  in  insisting  that  counsel  should  moderate 
his  attacks  upon  an  absent  witness.     Dr.  Rode  then  urged 
that  the  Mayor  of  Ragusa  could  bear  witness  to  the  Catonic 

*^i  One  of  the  best  books  on  Modern  Dalmatia. 
S.S.Q.  289  U 


THE   SUPILO-CHLUMECKY   INCIDENT 

habits  of  life  of  Supilo,  who  although  his  party  would  at  any 
time  have  placed  money  at  his  disposal,  had  always  lived  as 
a  poor  man — ein  armer  Teufel — and  was  still  one  to-day.  In 
the  same  way  Count  Pejacevic,  the  former  Ban,  could  give 
evidence  that  though  he  and  other  members  of  the  party 
could  have  assisted  Supilo  materially,  Supilo  had  never  dreamt 
of  asking  their  help. 

Dr.  Benedikt  opposed  the  summons  of  these  witnesses 
and  argued  that  Baron  Chlumecky  counted  as  one  of  the 
most  serious  political  writers  in  Austria,  and  that  in  any  case 
the  discussion  on  this  point  was  irrelevant,  since  any  person 
was  capable  of  judging  whether  he  had  or  had  not  given  200 
crowns  to  another  man.  Supilo  was  again  treated  with  scant 
courtesy  by  the  Judge,  but  had  perhaps  laid  himself  open  to  a 
rebuff  by  repeating  what  his  counsel  had  already  said  for  him. 

It  was  not  till  Wednesday  that  the  first  real  step  was  taken 
towards  Supilo 's  rehabilitation.  A  letter  from  Count  Ladislas 
Szap^ry  was  read  out  by  the  Judge,  in  which  the  ex-Governor 
of  Fiume  declared  that  he  had  never  been  personally  acquainted 
with  Mr.  Supilo.  He  admitted  having  once  discussed  Supilo 
with  Dorotka,  but  so  far  as  he  could  remember,  "  Dorotka's 
evidence  certainly  did  not  entirely  correspond  with  my  words. 
It  is  certain  that  I  was  then  and  still  am  of  the  opinion — so 
far  as  I  can  recollect  such  trifles  after  ten  years — that  the 
Gubemium  often  helped  Supilo 's  paper  with  small  contribu- 
tions. I  naturally  can  neither  remember  the  sum  nor  the 
particular  instances  nor  the  officials  who  acted  as  go-betweens." 
Mr.  Supilo,  after  pointing  out  that  his  disclaimer  of  personal 
acquaintance  with  Count  Sgapary  was  thus  confirmed,  insisted 
that  the  latter's  reference  to  payments  made  to  Novi  List 
must  rest  on  a  misunderstanding.  There  are,  he  said,  in 
Fiume  certain  proscribed  individuals,  who  are  under  police 
supervision  and  give  themselves  out  as  journalists,  even  of 
big  papers.  One  of  these  men  pretends  to  be  on  the  staff 
of  the  Novoje  Vremja.  It  is  by  no  means  impossible  that 
one  of  these  scoundrels,  who  wheedled  sums  of  five  and  six 
florins  out  of  Count  Szapary  and  his  successor  Count  Nako, 
has  also  got  money  in  the  name  of  Novi  List."  Supilo  closed 
his  statement  with  the  remark  that  as  a  journalist  he  had  been 
repeatedly  slandered  by  his  enemies  ;  but  one  of  the  leaders 
of  the  Dalmatian  Serbs  had  shortly  before  his  death  begged 
forgiveness  for  these  unjust  slanders. 

Next  day  Mr.  Rode  returned  to  the  charge  with  still  greater 

290 


ALLEGED   BRIBERY 

vigour.  He  begged  the  Court  to  summon  as  a  witness  Dr.  Julius 
Mogan,  advocate  in  Fiume,  who  could  give  evidence  on  the 
following  point.  "  Baron  Chlumecky  affirmed  that  he  had 
not  subscribed  to  Novi  List  and  would  have  sent  it  back  if 
it  had  been  sent  to  him."  (Counsel  for  the  defence  :  "  That 
he  didn't  say.")  "  Of  course.  He  made  this  deposition,  and 
it  is  from  A  to  Z  contrary  to  the  facts.  For  I  can  prove  that 
this  newspaper  was  sent  regularly  to  Baron  Chlumecky  from 
1901  to  1907,  that  he  did  not  send  it  back,  that  he  did  not 
pay  the  subscription  for  it,  and  that  no  less  than  about  twenty 
reminders  urging  payment  of  arrears  of  subscription  were 
sent  to  him,  and  that  he  did  not  see  fit  to  pay  his  subscription 
until  the  Fiume  advocate  Dr.  Mogan  in  the  name  of  the  pub- 
lishers sent  him  a  sharp  lawyer's  letter."  This  point  Dr. 
Rode  regarded  as  important,  as  tending  to  prove  his  client's 
contention,  that  Baron  Chlumecky's  evidence  was  false  from 
beginning  to  end. 

Dr.  Rode  next  proposed  the  summons  of  Mr.  Pavic  von 
Frauenthal,  formerly  Vice-Governor  of  Dalmatia,  to  prove 
that  Baron  Chlumecky  had  spread  the  rumour  that  Baron 
David,  at  that  time  Governor  of  Dalmatia,  and  his  wife  stood 
in  treasonable  relations  with  the  Prince  of  Montenegro.  Baron 
David,  said  Dr.  Rode,  had  expressed  the  desire  not  to  be 
summoned  as  a  witness,  since  he  considered  it  beneath  his 
dignity  to  refute  Chlumecky,  but  had  added  that  Mr.  Pavic 
could  supply  the  desired  information. 

Finally  Dr.  Rode  urged  the  summons  of  Mr.  Ruzic,  one  of 
the  group  of  wealthy  Croats  to  whom  Novi  List  belonged. 
Mr.  Ruzic  was  in  a  position  to  prove  not  only  the  integrity 
of  Supilo's  character,  but  also  the  absurdity  of  the  accusation 
that  Novi  List  could  ever  have  been  subsidized,  directly  or 
indirectly,  by  the  Hungarian  Government,  to  which  it  had 
always  been  so  bitterly  hostile  until  the  eve  of  the  Resolution 
of  Fiume. 

Dr.  Benedikt  opposed  the  hearing  of  these  witnesses,  on 
the  ground  that  Dr.  Rode  was  following  the  old  Roman  custom 
of  calling  in  Laudatores  ;  but  Dr.  Rode  was  ready  with  the 
crushing  retort  that  the  latest  methods  of  Viennese  procedure 
seemed  to  be  the  introduction  of  Calumniatores.  "  When 
counsel  for  the  defence  speaks  of  the  despairing  flap  of  Supilo's 
wings,  I  would  beg  to  remark  that  Supilo  is  to-day  more  alive 
than  ever."  Objectionable  as  all  these  personalities  are,  it 
must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  defence  set  the  example  by 

291 


THE  SUPILO-CHLUMECKY   INCIDENT 

summoning  Chlumecky,  whose  evidence  was  in  its  essence 
an  attempt  to  rake  up  Supilo's  past  and  so  discredit  his  present. 

Two  days  later  Dr.  Rode  proposed  the  examination  of  a 
high  official  in  the  Hungarian  Ministry  of  the  Interior,  who 
had  been  Count  Szapary's  right  hand  in  Fiume  and  would 
therefore  know  all  about  the  alleged  subsidies  to  Novi  List, 
and  also  of  the  chairman  of  the  limited  company  to  which 
that  newspaper  belongs,  who  could  prove  that  Supilo  as  editor 
could  not  have  accepted  subsidies  for  the  newspaper,  while 
the  company  was  financially  independent  and  obviously  not 
likely  to  be  paid  by  its  bitterest  political  opponents.  Search 
should  also  be  made  among  the  postal  receipts  of  May  to 
August  1907  in  order  to  prove  that  Baron  Chlumecky  did 
actually  send  to  Novi  List  a  postal  order  of  137  kr.  85  h. 

Almost  all  these  motions  were  rejected  by  the  Judge,  who 
showed  a  marked  reluctance  to  revive  the  dispute  between 
Supilo  and  Chlumecky.  He  had  very  probably  arrived  at 
the  conviction  that  the  whole  incident  would  form  the  subject 
of  a  separate  action  and  need  not  therefore  be  mixed  up  with 
the  present  trial. 

Of  all  the  witnesses  proposed,  only  two  were  allowed — 
Mr.  Toncic  and  Dr.  Cingrija.  The  former,  who  appeared  be- 
fore the  Court  on  Friday  afternoon,  was  now  Vice-Governor 
of  Dalmatia,  but  at  the  period  in  question  had  been  formerly 
Baron  Chlumecky's  superior  in  the  prefecture  of  Ragusa. 
In  the  course  of  his  evidence  he  indicated  the  modest  role 
played  by  Supilo  as  journalist  and  politician  at  the  period 
in  question  ;  his  newspaper  had  not  merely  been  violently 
anti-Serb  but  had  criticised  so  openly  certain  of  the  Govern- 
ment officials,  "  that  it  had  to  be  confiscated."  He  inferred 
rather  than  stated  in  so  many  words,  that  the  paper  had  not 
been  actually  anti-Austrian,  since  "  of  course  a  pronouncedly 
anti-Austrian  attitude  would  also  have  been  confiscated," — 
a  phrase  which  charmingly  illustrates  the  blend  of  naivete 
and  reactionary  sentiment  for  which  the  Dalmatian  bureaucrat 
is  justly  famous.  Supilo,  he  said,  had  often  lamented  to  him 
his  own  lack  of  means  and  the  small  circulation  of  his  paper, 
but  had  never  asked  or  received  any  material  support  from 
the  local  authorities,  nor  had  he — the  witness — ever  heard 
of  the  alleged  bribe  until  he  read  the  newspaper  accounts  of 
the  present  trial.  Mr.  Toncic,  who  under  examination  showed 
a  marked  but  not  unnatural  disinclination  to  commit  himself 
by  a  straight  answer  to  a  straight  question,  skilfully  avoided 

292 


DALMATIAN   BACKWATERS 

expressing  any  opinion  upon  Supilo's  private  character,  but 
assured  the  Court  that  Baron  Chlumecky  had  unquestionably 
been  taken  seriously  in  Ragusa  and  had  filled  a  position  far 
superior  to  his  office. 

Only  one  concrete  fact  emerged  from  Mr.  Toncic's  evidence, 
but  this  was  not  without  importance  and  tended  to  bear 
down  again  the  balance  as  it  was  rising  in  Supilo's  favour. 
Mr.  Toncic  stated  that  a  former  official  of  the  Ragusan  prefec- 
ture had  once  told  him  of  a  conference  held  between  him, 
Baron  Kallay's  agent  Karcanski,  Baron  Chlumecky  and  Mr. 
Supilo,  the  aim  of  which  was  the  formation  of  an  Austrophil 
and  Serbophobe  club  under  the  name  of  "  Austria."  Supilo's 
presence  at  this  conference,  Mr.  Toncic  added,  had  earned  for 
him  attacks  in  the  local  Serb  newspaper,  which  also  accused 
him  of  repeatedly  accepting  money  from  Karcanski.  Mr. 
Toncic  denied  all  personal  knowledge  as  to  the  truth  of  these 
charges  ;  the  most  he  could  say  was  that  Chlumecky  had 
once  asked  him  whether  Supilo  was  worthy  of  support  and 
that  he  had  understood  the  question  as  an  inquiry  whether 
Supilo's  political  attitude  justified  material  support  from 
the  Austrian  side. 

Mr.  Supilo  once  more  had  appearances  against  him.  He 
denied  having  ever  taken  part  in  any  such  conference,  and 
affirmed  that  he  had  only  once  been  in  Karcanski's  house, 
and  on  that  occasion  the  only  other  persons  present  had  been 
the  latter  and  his  sister.  These  disclaimers  were  received 
by  the  Court  with  scarcely  veiled  scepticism,  but  were  confirmed 
at  a  later  stage  of  the  trial  by  a  telegram  from  Mr.  Karcanski, 
who  offered  to  give  evidence  under  oath  that  throughout  his 
stay  at  Ragusa  Supilo  had  only  once  been  in  his  house  and 
had  met  no  one  there  save  himself  and  his  sister  :  that  he, 
Supilo  and  Chlumecky  had  never  in  their  lives  all  been  to- 
gether, and  that  he  had  never  given  or  even  offered  money 
to  Supilo. 

Finally  another  witness  was  heard,  whose  evidence  threw 
new  and  interesting  light  upon  the  incident.  This  was  Dr. 
Melko  Cingrija,  a  prominent  Dalmatian  lawyer  and  politician, 
and  son  of  the  veteran  Mayor  of  Ragusa  Dr.  Pero  Cingrija, 
who  did  so  much  to  bring  about  the  Resolution  of  Fiume. 
He  stated  that  he  himself  had  been  present  at  the  conference 
with  Karcanski,  Chlumecky  and  several  other  Ragusan  poli- 
ticians ;  but  he  had  no  recollection  of  Supilo  having  been 
there,  though  he  declined  to  give  a  positive  assurance  after 

293 


THE  SUPILO-CHLUMECKY   INCIDENT 

the  lapse  of  so  many  years.  He  was  however  positive  that 
the  conference  referred  to  was  the  only  one  which  ever  took 
place,  not  merely  because  his  position  in  the  party  made  it 
impossible  for  such  a  meeting  to  be  held  without  his  know- 
ledge, but  also  because  the  Serbs,  who  at  that  time  controlled 
the  movements  of  their  rivals  by  a  regular  service  of  private 
spies,  would  unquestionably  have  reported  the  fact  in  their 
newspapers.  "  I  remember,"  he  added,  "  that  on  that  occa- 
sion, when  we  left  Karcanski's  late  at  night,  a  (Serb)  vedette 
was  still  there." 

Cross-examined  as  to  Supilo's  financial  circumstances.  Dr. 
Cingrija  stated  that  Supilo,  whom  he  had  known  almost  since 
they  were  children,  lived  in  a  very  modest  way,  worked  very 
hard,  and  had  practically  no  requirements  ;  he  had  always 
acted  from  conviction  or  from  sentiment  and  had  never  allowed 
any  one  to  influence  him.  He  had  more  than  once  found 
friends  who  were  only  too  ready  to  lend  him  money,  but  had 
invariably  paid  them  back.  Supilo's  policy  of  hostility  to 
the  Serbs  had  reached  its  climax  at  the  very  period  in  question, 
and  hence  any  such  incentive  as  Baron  Chlumecky's  alleged 
bribe  would  have  been  entirely  superfluous.  Hence  the 
witness    was    profoundly    convinced    of    Supilo's    innocence. 

The  morning  following  Dr.  Cingrija's  evidence  was  devoted 
to  fruitless  negotiations  between  the  two  parties,  and  when 
the  proceedings  were  resumed  that  afternoon,  the  evidence 
of  Dr.  Nikolic  and  Dr.  Popovic,  full  of  interest  as  it  was,  was 
already  regarded  on  both  sides  as  something  in  the  nature  of 
a  stopgap,  pending  the  resumption  of  negotiations.  When 
at  last  on  Wednesday  morning  complete  agreement  was  reached 
and  the  proceedings  were  wound  up  in  accordance  with  a  care- 
fully concerted  programme,  it  was  felt  that  above  all  full 
opportunity  should  be  offered  to  Mr.  Supilo  to  rebut  the  charges 
directed  against  him  by  the  forgers,  the  more  so  as  the  Chlu- 
mecky  incident  had  diverted  attention  from  the  real  issues 
of  the  trial.  No  sooner  had  the  court  opened  than  the  Judge, 
with  a  courtesy  which  offered  a  striking  contrast  to  his  former 
demeanour,  invited  Mr.  Supilo  to  defend  himself  against 
the  accusation  of  bribery  by  foreign  powers. 

"  Perhaps  there  is  no  one  in  Croatia,"  began  Mr.  Supilo, 
"  who  has  been  slandered  so  much  as  I,  as  having  received 
money  from  every  conceivable  country  and  Government." 
As  an  illustration  of  this,  he  pointed  out  how  he  had  been 
charged  with  receiving  100,000  crowns — ^£4,160 — for  his  ser- 

294 


MR.   SUPILO'S   DEFENCE 

vices  in  bringing  about  the  Resolution  of  Fiume.  In  an  inter- 
view with  Dr.  Lueger,  the  latter  had  frankly  apologised  for 
believing  this  story,  adding  that  if  Supilo  had  received  even 
ten  crowns  from  the  Magyars,  the  famous  Croatian  obstruction 
in   Budapest  would  never  have  taken  place. 

"  I  am  very  poor  and  have  done  a  lot  of  political  work.  .  .  . 
I  did  not  create  the  situation  in  which  our  nation  was,  but 
as  a  young  man  found  it  so.  For  some  years  I  went  with  the 
stream  and  thought  it  my  sacred  duty  to  fight  for  the  Croat 
idea  against  the  Serbs.  Later  on  I  came  to  see  that  we  are  a 
single  natioji  speaking  a  single  language,  and  that  it  is  mere 
folly  for  us  to  fight  against  each  other.  And  I  had  the  courage 
to  say  this  to  my  countrymen  and  to  preach  another  policy 
of  unity  between  Croats  and  Serbs,  and  this  unity  has  borne 
good  fruits."  Mr.  Supilo  then  explained  that  despite  his 
limited  income  he  had  managed  to  save  a  little,  and  that 
whenever  he  had  laid  by  £5  or  £10,  he  had  been  in  the  habit 
of  making  short  journeys  abroad,  for  instance  to  Italy  and 
Switzerland,  as  also  inside  the  Monarchy,  in  order  to  study 
on  the  spot  social  linguistic  or  political  conditions.  In  this 
way  he  had  twice  been  in  Belgrad.  During  his  first  visit,  in 
March,  1902,  he  did  not  meet  any  Servian  politician,  and  the 
dominant  topic  of  the  day  was  the  relation  of  Alexander  to 
the  unhappy  Draga.  His  second  visit  took  place  in  April, 
1905,  when  there  were  rumours  of  war  between  Servia  and 
Bulgaria  and  of  a  counter  revolution  against  the  regicide 
regime ;  and  on  this  occasion,  with  the  aid  of  a  Hungarian 
acquaintance  in  Belgrad,  he  managed  to  obtain  an  audience 
with  the  Premier,  Dr.  Pasic.  Mr.  Supilo  gave  a  humorous 
description  of  how  that  wily  old  statesman  evaded  all  ques- 
tions of  the  still  unknown  journalist  and  bowed  him  out  with 
meaningless  compliments.  His  concluding  words  deserve  to 
be  quoted  verbatim  : — "  I  would  like  to  add  that  all  these 
documents  which  write  of  me  as  receiving  money  or  the  value 
of  money  from  Servia,  are  a  maUcious  invention.  Were  I  to 
fall  into  the  bitterest  poverty  and  had  not  even  a  crust  of 
bread,  I  would  rather  accept  support  from  my  worst  enemy 
than  from  Servia.  Do  you  know  why  ?  In  order  that  no 
one  can  reproach  me,  the  former  anti-Serb,  of  having  followed 
for  money  a  Serbophil  policy.  I  wanted  to  make  peace  with 
the  Serbs  because  the  struggle  between  Serbs  and  Croats  would 
have  worn  us  both  out.  I  succeeded  in  concluding  peace,  and 
no  power  on  earth  will  avail  to  destroy  the  unity  between  us." 

295 


THE  SUPILO-CHLUMECKY   INCIDENT 

Mr.  Supilo's  evidence  was  succeeded  by  the  reading  of 
Professor  Markovic's  Berlin  alibi  and  by  Dr.  Friedjung's 
declaration.  Dr.  Harpner  then  withdrew  the  prosecution 
on  behalf  of  the  Coalition,  and  Dr.  Rode  followed  suit  on  behalf 
of  Mr.  Supilo,  after  pointing  out  that  much  had  transpired  in 
the  course  of  the  proceedings  to  rehabilitate  his  client,  and  that 
Croatian  public  opinion,  which  alone  is  qualified  to  pass  judg- 
ment upon  him,  had  never  for  an  instant  doubted  his  innocence. 

On  this  note  the  trial  ended,  leaving  the  Coalition  as  a  whole 
completely  victorious.  But  Mr.  Supilo,  despite  the  favour- 
able turn  taken  by  the  proceedings,  left  the  court  under  a 
cloud,  and  it  is  difficult  to  resist  the  conclusion  that  he  was 
mistaken  in  deciding  not  to  prosecute  Baron  Chlumecky  on 
a  charge  of  perjury.  In  most  countries  such  mutual  mud 
throwing  would  have  led  inevitably  to  a  special  libel  action, 
and  this  would  certainly  seem  to  be  the  proper  means  of  reha- 
bilitation. But  in  Croatia  charges  of  bribery  are  more  frequent 
than  in  Britain,  and  the  law  does  not  visit  them  with  the  same 
severity.  Baron  Chlumecky  for  his  part  has  also  seen  fit  to 
ignore  all  the  grave  charges  brought  against  him  both  in  court 
and  in  the  public  press.^^ 

The  historian  of  the  trial  is  unhappily  confronted  by  certain 
questions  which  force  him  to  deal  with  the  credibility  of  these 
repulsive  details.  In  the  first  place,  how  did  it  happen  that 
Baron  Chlumecky  was  allowed  to  give  evidence^at  all  at  so  early 
a  stage  of  the  trial  ?  The  point  at  issue,  so  far  as  Mr.  Supilo 
was  concerned,  was  whether  or  no  he  had  been  bribed  by 
Servia  in  the  years  1907-8  ;  the  fact — assuming  it  to  be  cor- 
rect— that  he  had  been  bribed  by  Austria  ten  years  previously, 
was  therefore   quite  irrelevant   even  as  presumptive  proof. 

*22  The  well-known  Croatian  novelist,  Lisicar,  published  a  signed  article 
in  Pokret — December  13,  1909 — the  organ  of  the  Progressive  party  in 
Croatia,  in  which  he  brought  terrible  personal  charges  against  Baron 
Chlumecky.  I  naturally  have  no  intention  of  reproducing  them,  but  I 
wish  the  reader  to  realize  that  they  are  of  such  a  nature  that  no  punish- 
ment could  be  too  severe  for  their  author,  if  he  should  fail  to  prove  his 
case.     {See  Agramer  Tagblatt,  December  14,  1909.) 

II.  Mr.  Supilo  in  his  open  letter  to  his  electors — Lettre  de  Frano 
Supilo  a  ses  electeurs,  French  translation,  Fiume  1910,  p.  33 — charges 
Baron  Chlumecky  with  having  received  a  present  {mandoletta)  of 
30,000  crowns  for  recommending  to  his  father  a  group  of  Dalmatian  con- 
tractors for  the  construction  of  the  railway  between  Gravosa  and  Castel- 
nuovo,  and  adds  that  Mr.  Antonio  Meneghello,  a  member  of  the  firm  in 
question,  and  other  witnesses,  are  prepared  to  testify  to  this  effect. 
The  responsibility  for  this  charge  must  rest  with  Mr.  Supilo. 

296 


A   DEEP-LAID   INTRIGUE 

When  once  the  authenticity  of  the  documents  had  been  estab- 
lished, such  a  fact  might  no  doubt  fairly  be  adduced  as  yet 
another  proof  of  Mr.  Supilo's  bad  character  ;  but  to  give  it 
this  strange  precedence  was  equivalent  to  an  open  pronounce- 
ment in  favour  of  the  defence.  No  one  who  has  studied  with 
any  attention  the  policy  inaugurated  by  Count  Aehrenthal, 
Dr.  Wekerle  and  Baron  Ranch  in  the  south  of  the  Monarchy, 
and  the  methods  by  which  that  policy  was  furthered  alike 
in  Vienna  and  in  Agram,  can  fail  to  realize  that  the  sum- 
mons of  Baron  Chlumecky  as  a  witness  was  a  carefully  precon- 
certed move,  in  which  the  defendants  were  but  the  innocent 
dupes  of  sinning  diplomats.  As  editor  of  the  Oesterreichische 
Rundschau,  Chlumecky  was  one  of  the  most  effective  supporters 
of  Aehrenthal's  whole  policy  and  had  openly  espoused  the 
cause  of  the  Coalition's  deadliest  enemies,  the  party  of  Dr. 
Joseph  Frank,  in  whose  organ  the  first  public  charges  of 
bribery  had  been  made  against  Mr.  Supilo.  During  his  three 
years  as  a  "  political  "  official  in  Dalmatia,  he  had  learnt 
the  methods  of  espionage  and  denunciation  encouraged  by 
the  Ballplatz  upon  the  southern  frontier  ;  and  hence  his  evi- 
dence accorded  with  the  best  traditions  of  the  Police  State  of 
Metternich.  The  mise-en-scine  was  admirable ;  the  guilty 
wirepullers  were  as  yet  discreetly  veiled  from  the  public  gaze. 
It  was  calculated  that  the  plaintiffs  would  lose  their  nerve  in 
face  of  Baron  Chlumecky's  disconcerting  coup  de  theatre, 
backed  by  the  marked  hostility  of  the  Court  and  the  jury  and 
by  Ranch's  renewed  activity  in  Agram  :  that  the  inspired 
chorus  of  abuse  in  the  Viennese  press  would  complete  their 
discomfiture  :  and  that  dissensions  within  the  Coalition  would 
lead  to  a  collapse  of  the  prosecution.^^^  Count  Aehrenthal's 
natural  wish  to  prevent  the  triumph  of  his  victims,  and 
the  fear  lest  the  exposure  of  his  methods  might  lose  him  the 
confidence  of  the  Emperor  and  the  Heir  Apparent  and  'discredit 
him  in  the  eyes  of  Europe,  supply  an  ample  explanation  for 
these  intrigues. 

If  we  regard  the  incident  from  its  psychological  side  we 
must  endeavour  to  banish  from  our  minds  the  actual  course 
of  events,  and  assuming  for  the  moment  Mr.  Supilo's  guilt, 

*^'  The  Neue  Freie  Presse,  on  Sunday  morning,  gave  prominence  to  the 
idle  rumour  that  Count  Pejacevic,  General  Tomicic  and  Dr.  von  Nikolic, 
three  of  the  most  distinguished  members  of  the  Coalition,  had  left  its 
ranks.  It  at  once  added  a  dementi  of  the  rumour  !  The  origin  of  this 
ballon  d'essai  is  pretty  obvious. 

297 


THE  SUPILO-CHLUMECKY   INCIDENT 

we  must  ask  ourselves  how  he  might  reasonably  be  expected 
to  act  under  such  damning  circumstances.  Trained  in  a 
rough  school  where  political  calumny  was  an  almost  daily 
occurrence,  combining  the  caution  of  the  peasant  with  the 
suspicion  inherent  in  every  Ragusan,  Mr.  Supilo  had  been 
taught  by  bitter  necessity  the  lessons  of  perseverance  and  self- 
reliance.  Sheer  force  of  character  had  won  him  the  position 
of  the  most  influential,  and  at  the  same  time  the  most  "  dan- 
gerous "  Croat  politician  ;  and  his  success  inevitably  earned 
him  the  enmity  of  influential  quarters.  If  there  was  one  man 
in  all  the  Slavonic  South  whom  it  was  difficult  to  find  napping, 
that  man  was  Mr.  Supilo.  For  a  whole  week  beforehand  he 
had  known  that  Baron  Chlumecky  was  to  be  one  of  the  fore- 
most witnesses  against  him,  and  he  therefore  had  a  whole  week 
to  prepare  his  line  of  action.  If  guilty,  he  must  have  known 
only  too  well  what  Chlumecky  was  coming  to  say,  and  under 
such  circumstances  only  a  lunatic  could  have  been  taken  by 
surprise.  For  a  guilty  man  who  was  not  prepared  to  confess 
his  guilt,  only  two  courses  were  possible.  On  the  one  hand 
he  might  forestall  the  coming  disclosure  by  a  personal  state- 
ment— to  the  effect  that,  while  he  had  never  accepted  money 
from  abroad,  he  had  early  in  his  career  under  the  stress  of 
great  poverty  accepted  small  loans  from  various  political 
friends  in  Ragusa,  and  among  others  a  sum  of  £8  from  Baron 
Chlumecky  :  that  this  sum  was  in  the  nature  of  an  acknow- 
ledgment of  former  work  from  an  acquaintance  with  whose 
political  opinions  he  fully  agreed.  If  entirely  unscrupulous, 
he  might  even  have  safely  asserted  that  the  money  had  been 
repaid  long  ago.  Such  an  admission  might  have  been  galling 
to  a  man  who  had  since  come  to  play  so  important  a  part  in 
Southern  Slav  politics,  but  at  least  it  could  not  be  regarded 
as  in  any  way  dishonourable  or  as  having  even  the  remotest 
bearing  upon  the  present  trial. 

On  the  other  hand,  he  might  boldly  await  Baron  Chlumecky 's 
appearance  as  a  witness  and  thunder  him  down  in  righteous 
indignation,  or  even,  in  true  Southern  Slav  fashion,  threaten 
him  with  personal  violence.  Such  a  part,  if  skilfully  played, 
might  have  thrown  dust  in  the  eyes  of  the  court  and  nullified 
the  effect  of  Chlumecky 's  evidence.  And  what  do  we  actually 
see  ?  The  most  ruse  of  Southern  Slav  politicians,  the  only 
man  of  whom  "  Vienna  "  is  really  afraid,  stands  before  his 
accuser  in  mute  astonishment,  helpless  as  a  child.  His  whole 
behaviour  was  that  of  a  man  staggered  by  an  incredible  charge, 
not  of  a  man  overwhelmed  with  guilt. 

298 


THE  PSYCHOLOGICAL  SIDE 

The  whole  problem  is  one  of  extreme  delicacy  ;  for  the 
charge  of  bribery  is  based  upon  an  incident  at  which  no  third 
party  was  present,  and  hence  it  is  a  question  of  one  man's 
word  against  another's.  Thus  despite  ourselves  we  are  driven 
back  upon  two  indirect  forms  of  evidence — the  sworn  state- 
ments of  the  two  men,  and  their  character  and  reputation 
in  public  and  private  life.  Unlike  the  judge,  who  did  not  seem  to 
regard  bribery  as  a  dishonourable  occupation,?we  must  inevit- 
ably start  from  the  axiom  that  the  trade  of  a  briber  is  at  least 
as  disreputable  as  that  of  an  accepter  of  bribes.  So  far  as 
the  actual  incident  of  the  200  crowns  is  concerned,  Chlumecky's 
positive  assertion  is  met  by  Supilo's  equally  positive  denial, 
and  there  is  no  external  proof  in  one  direction  or  the  other. 
But  if  we  consider  the  statements  of  the  two  men  in  court  we 
find  that  Chlumecky,  whose  hostile  attitude  to  Supilo,  to  the 
Coalition  and  to  Dalmatia  w^as  notorious,  deliberately  sup- 
pressed a  vital  phrase  in  a  letter  which  he  cited  as  compro- 
mising Supilo,  and  that  he  was  proved  to  be  in  error  on  more 
than  one  point  of  fact ;  while  every  assertion  of  Supilo  was 
subsequently  borne  out  by  those  to  whom  he  appealed.  Des- 
pite countless  libels  and  the  violence  of  local  party  strife,  I 
am  not  aware  that  any  one  has  thrown  a  stone  at  Supilo's 
private  character  ;  while  numerous  charges  of  the  gravest 
nature  have  been  publicly  made  against  Chlumecky,  charges 
which  may  be  absolutely  without  foundation  but  which  he 
has  taken  no  steps  to  disprove.  Thus  there  is  not  the  slightest 
reason  why  the  impartial  observer  should  regard  the  latter's 
word  as  more  reliable  than  the  former's.  Baron  Chlumecky 
may  in  the  course  of  time  have  succeeded  in  convincing  him- 
self that  he  actually  gave  money  to  Supilo  ;  similar  delusions 
are  by  no  means  rare,  and  it  is  a  more  charitable  supposition 
than  the  sole  alternative.  JVIeanwhile  it  is  a  remarkable  fact 
that  the  very  men  who  know  Supilo  most  intimately  and  are 
best  qualified  to  judge,  are  most  firmly  convinced  of  his  inno- 
cence. And  here  I  do  not  merely  refer  to  the  evidence  of 
Professor  Masaryk  and  Father  Zagorac  but  to  the  opinion 
of  his  Dalmatian  friends.^^*  It  is  at  least  significant  that  Dr. 
Baernreither,  the  preux  chevalier  of  German-Austrian  politi- 

*2*  All  the  best  men  in  Dalmatia — e.g.,  Dr.  Cingrija,  the  well-known 
Mayor  of  Ragusa,  Dr.  Trumbic,  the  ex-Mayor  of  Spalato,  Dr.  Smodlaka, 
the  leader  of  the  Democratic  Party,  the  poets  Mr.  Tresic  and  Count 
Vojnovic,  Father  Biankini,  the  deputy,  and  Monsignor  Bulic,  the  arch- 
aeologist— are  firmly  convinced  of  his  innocence. 

299 


THE   SUPILO-CHLUMECKY   INCIDENT 

cians,  publicly  shook  hands  with  Mr,  Supilo  at  the  close  of  the 
trial. 

It  may  be  regretted  that  Mr.  Supilo  did  not  follow  up  the 
Fried]  ung  Trial  by  a  libel  action  against  Baron  Chlumecky  ; 
but  unhappily  his  treatment  in  court  had  not  encouraged  him 
to  appear  once  more  before  a  Viennese  tribunal.  For  him  it 
was  sufficient  that  public  opinion  throughout  the  Southern 
Slav  world  was  practically  unanimous  in  acquitting  him.  If 
I  do  not  re-echo  the  gallant  words  of  Professor  Masaryk  in 
the  Austrian  Parliament — "  For  Supilo  I  would  lay  both 
hands  in  the  fire  " — it  [is  only  because  as  a  foreigner  I  do  not 
feel  called  upon  to  express  so  outspoken  an  opinion.^ 

The  whole  incident  is  repulsive  in  the  extreme,  and  I  would 
gladly  have  avoided  it,  were  not  such  important  issues  in- 
volved. The  deliberate  aim  of  Supilo's  enemies  has  been  to  rid 
themselves  of  the  ablest,  most  farsighted  and  most  dangerous 
champion  of  Southern  Slav  unity  and  progress  ;  and  it  was 
therefore  inevitable  that  any  account  of  the  Fried j  ung  Trial 
should  treat  fully  of  the  Supilo-Chlumecky  incident.  That  they 
should  have  raked  up  a  story  which  even  if  true  would  have 
been  discreditable  but  entirely  irrelevant  to  the  question  at 
issue  in  the  trial,  shows  that  they  were  at  their  wits'  end  to 
find  any  evidence  such  as  would  supplement  the  forgeries. 

The  plot  has  failed  ;  and  the  time  will  come; once  more  for 
Mr.  Supilo  to  play  a  decisive  part  in  Southern  Slav  politics. 
But  the  supine  incapacity  which  the  Croato-Serb  Coalition 
has  displayed  ever  since  intrigue  robbed  it  of  its  natural  leader, 
is  an  eloquent  proof  that  the  wirepullers  of  the  Friedjung  Trial 
were  right  in  concentrating  their  efforts  against  Mr.  Supilo. 

Note  on  the  Origin  of  the  Charges  against  Mr.  Supilo. 

In  August  and  September,  1905,  the  chief  organ  of  the  Frank  Party, 
Hrvatsko  Pravo,  published  a  series  of  articles  under  the  pseudonym  of 
"  Argus."  These  contain  the  germ  of  the  subsequent  charges  of  trea- 
son directed  against  Mr.  Supilo,  who  had  become  obnoxious  to  the 
Frank  party  owing  to  his  advocacy  of  Croato-Serb  friendship.  Supilo 
brought  an  action  in  Agram  against  the  paper,  and  Dr.  Joseph  Frank 
was  obliged  to  admit  in  court  that  he  had  no  proof  of  the  allegations. 
The  Christian  Socialist  organ,  Reichspost,  reproduced  them  from 
Hrvatsko  Pravo,  but  Mr.  Supilo,  having  won  his  action  in  Agram, 
ignored  the  Viennese  organ,  perhaps  unwisely. 

In  April,  1905,  when  rumours  of  war  between  Servia  and  Bulgaria 
were  in  the  air,  Supilo  paid  a  brief  visit  to  Belgrad.     Here  he  met  a 

Hungarian  official.  Dr.  E H ,  whom  he  had  known  in  Fiume. 

The  latter  drew  his  attention  to  the  comments  of  Budapesti  Hirlap 

300 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  CHARGES 

on  a  recent  article  of  Supilo  advocating  a  Magyar-Croat  entente.     At 

H 's    urgent   suggestion,  Supilo    agreed    to  write  an    answer,  said 

that  it  would  appear  about  a  fortnight  later  in  his  own  paper  Novi  List, 
and  sketched  out  the  lines  of  argument  which  it  would  follow.     Through 

the  medium  of   H ,  Supilo   obtained   an   audience  with  Pa§ic   the 

Servian  Premier,  but  failed  to  "  draw  "  him  as  he  had  hoped.  On 
his  return  home  he  duly  wrote  the  promised  article,  and  thought  no 
more  of  the  incident  until  it  was  recalled  to  him  in  the  following  manner. 
In  July,  1907,  a  prominent  Croatian  politician  of  the  older  genera- 
tion was  invited  by  telephone  to  visit  one  of  the  former  leaders  of  the 
Magyarone  party  in  Croatia.  (My  informant  did  not  bind  me  to 
secrecy  ;  indeed  his  omission  to  do  so  was  rather  marked.  But  I  prefer 
to  mention  no  names,  in  view  of  the  position  of  the  two  men  in  question.) 
The  latter  then  produced  a  document  proving  treasonable  acts  on  the 
part  of  Supilo.  He  had  pledged  himself  not  to  show  it,  but  read  aloud 
certain  portions,  suppressing  the  names  of  the  writer  and  the  addressee, 
and  holding  his  fingers  over  what  was  evidently  the  stamp  of  a  Govern- 
ment office  in  the  upper  corner.  The  document  described  Supilo's 
visit  to  Belgrad,  his  interview  and  treasonable  discussions  with  PaSic, 
and  then  gave  the  gist  of  an  article  which  was  shortly  to  appear  in 
the  Novi  List.  He  then  produced  a  copy  of  Novi  List  of  the  period  in 
question,  and  pointed  to  a  certain  article,  which  the  visitor,  to  his 
consternation,  found  to  be  almost  identical  with  that  which  was  pro- 
phesied in  the  mysterious  document.  His  informant  then  begged  him 
to  admit  that  the  matter  was  not  quite  clean,  and  to  take  no  further 
action  in  favour  of  Supilo.  The  visitor,  however,  drew  a  different 
conclusion  from  the  incident,  and  the  reader  may  be  left  to  do  the 
same.     The  names  would  of  course  give  added  point  to  the  story. 

Three  Anecdotes. 

The  political  phantasy  of  the  Serb  has  no  bounds  ;  lack  of  balance 
and  proportion  is  combined  with  inordinate  belief  in  his  own  destiny, 
and  a  corresponding  disinclination  to  work  it  out  for  himself.  Let 
me  give  three  illustrations  of  this  from  my  own  experience. 

(i)  In  the  spring  of  1908  I  was  talking  in  Belgrad  to  a  Servian 
who  held  a  minor  diplomatic  post.  We  discussed  the  short-lived 
entente  between  Magyars  and  Serbs  two  years  previously.  My  acquain- 
tance lamented  over  the  folly  of  the  Magyars  in  ruining  so  promising 
an  alliance  ;  and  when  I  asked  him  what  he  had  hoped  to  achieve, 
he  assured  me  with  enthusiasm,  "  By  this  time,  my  dear  sir,  we  should 
have  had  a  million  bayonets  (sic  !)  mobilized  against  Vienna."  After 
all,  this  state  of  mind  does  not  differ  essentially  from  that  of  the  well- 
known  Servian  newspaper  Politika,  which  on  October  27,  1908,  after 
the  annexation  of  Bosnia,  wrote,  "  Now  or  never  is  the  moment  for 
trying  conclusions  with  a  mediaeval  state  on  the  point  of  the  dissolu- 
tion." The  Serbs  foolishly  imagined  that  Austria-Hungary  was  about 
to  break  up,  and  it  was  only  the  Bosnian  crisis  which  taught  them 
the  bitter  lesson  that  the  Monarchy  is  far  stronger  than  ever  before. 

(2)  Among  the  Serb  politicians  of  Bosnia  I  found  the  belief  wide- 
spread that  the  Army,  the  administration  and  the  judicial  system  of 
Servia  are  all  greatly  superior  to  those  of  Austria  !  In  my  opinion 
this  truly  comic  belief  deprives  its  holders  of  all  claim  to  be  regarded 

301 


THE   SUPILO-CHLUMECKY   INCIDENT 

as  serious  politicians.  In  their  fanaticism,  some  even  went  so  far  as 
to  defend,  not  merely  the  murder  of  Alexander  and  Draga — for  which 
some  kind  of  a  case  can  be  made  out — but  actually  the  manner  in 
which  it  was  committed  ! 

(3)  A  prominent  Montenegrin  politician,  with  whom  I  had  a  conversa- 
tion in  April,  1909,  defined  the  future  relations  of  the  two  Serb  states 
to  Austria-Hungary  in  the  emphatic  phrase  "  aut-aut "  (either-or). 
Either,  he  held,  the  Monarchy  must  fall  in  pieces,  or  Servia  and  Mon- 
tenegro must  lose  their  independence.  In  that  case,  I  felt  inclined 
to  reply,   "  The  Serb  states  must  make  their  will." 

The  idea  that  they  are  quite  able  to  cope  with  Austria-Hungary 
is  widespread  in  the  Northern  Balkans,  and  is  of  course  largely  due  to 
the  weak  policy  of  Vienna  during  the  long  interval  between  Count 
Andrassy's    resignation  and  Baron  Aehrenthal's  accession  to  power. 


302 


CHAPTER    XII 

The  Vasic  Forgeries  and  Count  Aehrenthal 
— A   Criticism  and  an   Inquiry 

"It  is  the  duty  of  History,  not  only  to  crown  with  glory  him  to 
whom  glory  is  due,  but  also  when  it  is  necessary,  to  use  the  branding 
iron." 

Baron  Alfred  Berger,  Buck  der  Heimat,  I,  p.  66. 

THE  issue  of  the  Fried] ung  Trial  vindicated  the  Croato- 
Serb  CoaHtion  from  the  slanders  of  its  enemies  and 
gravely  compromised  the  Austro-Hungarian  Foreign  Office  in 
the  eyes  of  Europe.  It  also  completed  the  discredit  into 
which  Baron  Ranch's  regime  had  fallen  and  rendered  his 
position  well-nigh  untenable.  His  fall  was  still  further 
hastened  by  events  in  Hungary. 

The  collapse  of  the  Hungarian  Coalition  in  the  autumn  of 
1909  had  led  to  the  final  resignation  of  the  Wekerle  Cabinet 
shortly  before  Christmas,  after  it  had  lingered  for  many  months 
in  statu  demissionis.  Dr.  Lukacs  having  failed  to  form  a 
cabinet,  the  King  on  January  19,  1910,  appointed  Count 
Khuen-Hedervary  as  Hungarian  Premier.  Not  the  least  of 
his  qualifications  in  the  eyes  of  his  admirers  were  his  intimate 
knowledge  of  Croatian  affairs  and  the  extreme  awe  in  which 
his  name  was  held  throughout  the  Triune  Kingdom  ;  nor 
indeed  did  he  lose  any  time  in  justifying  his  reputation.  The 
charges  brought  forward  by  Baron  Chlumecky  had  forced  Mr. 
Supilo  to  withdraw  from  the  Croato-Serb  Coalition,  and  although 
his  colleagues  rallied  round  him  most  gallantly  and  showed 
their  firm  belief  in  his  personal  honour,  the  partnership  was 
thus  dissolved  at  a  highly  critical  moment.  The  Coalition, 
once  deprived  of  its  natural  leader,  showed  a  strange  lethargy 
and  indecision,  of  which  Count  Khuen-Hedervary  made  full 
use.  The  men  who  filled  Supilo 's  place  had  lost  their  nerve 
during  the  trial,  and  but  for  Professor  Masaryk's  insistence, 

303 


THE  VASIC  FORGERIES 

might  have  been  beguiled  into  dangerous  concessions.  When 
after  the  trial  Viennese  statesmen  were  prepared  to  treat 
with  them  for  a  remedy  of  their  just  grievances,  they  had 
preferred  a  night  at  the  theatre  to  a  conference  with  the  most 
influential  German  politician  in  Austria  ;  and  "  Vienna  "  had 
drawn  the  natural  conclusion  that  they  were  impossible  allies. 
Now,  like  a  flock  of  frightened  sheep,  they  allowed  Count 
Khuen  to  dictate  his  own  terms  for  the  "  pacification  "  of 
Croatia.  In  their  anxiety  to  be  rid  of  the  obnoxious  person 
of  Baron  Ranch,  they  forgot  that  the  new  Premier  would 
under  no  circumstances  retain  as  Ban  a  man  with  whom  his 
personal  relations  were  so  strained.  Hence  in  the  "  compact  " 
which  they  concluded  on  January  25,  they  bartered  away 
most  of  the  principles  for  which  they  had  fought,  in  return 
for  their  enemy's  head  upon  a  charger.  Ranch's  successor 
as  Ban  was  Dr.  Nicholas  Tomasi(5,  for  many  years  Count 
Khuen's  trusted  lieutenant  in  Croatia  and  by  far  the  ablest 
exponent  of  the  Union  with  Hungary.  During  his  retirement 
from  public  life  since  the  collapse  of  the  "  National  "  Party, 
Dr.  Tomasi6  had  written  a  very  brilliant  monograph  on  the 
early  constitution  of  Croatia,  and  its  publication  in  the  autumn 
of  1909  had  done  much  to  dispel  his  former  unpopularity. 

Croatia  gained  nothing  save  a  change  of  Ban  ;  instead  of 
one  who  had  proved  his  glaring  incapacity  to  coerce  the  country, 
it  now  had  a  past  master  in  the  art  of  political  diplomacy. 
The  Ranch  regime  had  become  an  European  scandal ;  in 
coming  to  terms  with  Tomasi<^,  the  Coalition  renounced  what- 
ever advantage  this  fact  conferred,  and  reduced  the  Croatian 
question  once  more  to  the  same  level  of  provincial  interest 
as  the  question  of  an  Italian  University  in  Trieste  or  the  griev- 
ances of  Ruthene  peasants  in  Galicia.  The  new  Government, 
it  is  true,  admitted  in  theory  that  Mr.  Kossuth's  Railway  Bill 
had  infringed  the  Compromise,  but  the  date  at  which  this 
illegality  was  to  be  removed  was  left  absolutely  vague. 

In  adopting  a  compliant  attitude  so  different  from  its  former 
bold  vindication  of  Croatian  rights,  the  Coalition  was  influenced 
by  two  important  considerations,  quite  distinct  from  fear 
and  sloth.  Baron  Ranch  had  during  his  two  years  of  office 
devoted  a  strict  attention  to  the  electoral  rolls,  and  had 
succeeded  in  reducing  the  number  of  voters  from  49,000  to 
little  over  40,000.  The  independent  voters  were  thus  in  a 
decisive  minority  ;  and  it  was  feared  that  the  exercise  of 
governmental  pressure  upon  the  officials  who  now  formed  the 

304 


DR.   TOMASIC   AS   BAN 

bulk  of  the  electorate,  might  enable  the  Ban,  in  the  event  of 
new  elections,  to  annihilate  the  Coalition  and  restore  the  old 
Mameluke  system  of  the  Khuen  era.  Meanwhile  the  Frank 
party  had  definitely  offered  itself  as  a  candidate  for  office, 
and  set  itself  to  underbid  the  Coalition  at  Budapest  ;  its 
object  of  course  being  to  secure  control  of  electoral  reform 
and  to  enforce  it  in  a  manner  unfavourable  to  the  Serbs.^^ 
It  is  scarcely  credible  that  Count  Khuen  ever  seriously  thought 
of  accepting  the  alliance  of  a  party  whose  programme  does 
not  recognize  the  Hungarian  connexion  ;  and  Mr.  Supilo  had 
good  grounds  for  holding  that  the  nation  was  ready  to  support 
a  brave  and  determined  opposition  and  could  defy  and  defeat 
the  old  method  of  a  "  packed  "  Diet.  Yet  the  bogey  of  Dr. 
Frank  at  the  head  of  affairs  in  Agram,  was  sufficient  to  unnerve 
the  national  resistance  ;  and  the  bitter  press  feud  between 
the  Coalition  and  Supilo,  which  resulted  from  his  criticisms  of 
the  "  pact,"  still  further  confused  the  situation. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  express  any  definite  opinion 
upon  the  present  Ban  and  his  political  methods.  I  merely 
wish  to  lay  before  the  reader  in  brief  outline  the  events  of  the 
past  year  in  Croatia,  and  then  to  pass  on  to  the  next  act  in 
the  drama  of  forgery  which  characterized  Count  Aehrenthal's 
Southern  Slav  policy. 

On  February  7,  1910,  Dr.  Tomasic's  appointment  as  Ban 
of  Croatia  was  officially  announced.  In  accordance  with  the 
pact,  the  so-called  "  mummies  "  of  the  old  National  Party 
were  admitted  to  membership  in  the  Coalition,  and  were 
adopted  as  Coalition  candidates  for  the  vacant  mandates  to 
the  Diet.  On  March  18  the  Diet  met  once  more,  after  the 
Constitution  had  been  entirely  suspended  for  25  months  ; 
but  this  time  the  majority  showed  an  unwonted  docility. 
The  Budget  indemnity  was  meekly  passed  at  the  Ban's  request, 
and  the  proceedings  were  merely  formal,  until  the  new  Fran- 
chise Bill  was  laid  before  the  Sabor  on  May  4.  Even  then 
its  discussion  was  entirely  perfunctory,  though  the  deputies 

425  "  You  drove  us  into  the  pact,"  cried  Svetozar  Pribicevic,  the 
Serb  Independent  leader,  to  the  members  of  the  Party  of  Pure  Right, 
during  a  sitting  of  the  Sabor  in  the  Spring  of  1910.  How  different 
was  his  attitude  in  June  1907,  when  Dr.  Wekerle  said  to  Professor 
Surmin,  "  If  you  won't  cease  your  resistance,  I  will  take  the  man  who 
will  accept  our  standpoint — Dr.  Joseph  Frank  "  (see  Surmin's  speech 
in  Sabor,  April  20,  1910).  The  Croats  did  not  cease  their  resistance, 
and  Dr.  Wekerle  did  not  "  take  "  Dr.  Frank. 

S.S.Q.  305  X 


THE  VASIC   FORGERIES 

were  fully  alive  to  its  inadequacy  and  shortcomings.  The 
only  criticism  came  from  the  Frank  Party,  which  opposed  it 
as  being  too  favourable  to  the  Serbs.  By  the  third  week  of 
May  the  reform  had  been  hurried  through,  and  on  the  24th 
the  Sabor  was  prorogued.  The  new  reform  bears  the  character 
of  an  obvious  stopgap.  The  Hungarian  Government  had 
vetoed  the  introduction  of  Universal  Suffrage,  ostensibly  on 
the  ground  that  Croatia  must  not  anticipate  the  march  of 
events  in  the  sister  state.  The  old  faulty  distribution  of 
seats  was  retained  ;  schoolmasters  were  made  ineligible  for 
the  Diet ;  and  the  solitary  improvement  was  the  reduction 
of  the  property  qualification,  with  the  result  that  the  franchise 
was  enjoyed  by  over  250,000  individuals,  instead  of  less  than 
50,000  as  hitherto. 

When  this  bill  had  received  the  royal  sanction,  the  Coalition 
fancied  itself  to  be  secure,  and  showed  some  inclination  to 
hold  Dr.  Tomasic  to  his  promises.  But  here  again  the  personal 
equation  took  precedence  of  national  claims.  A  serious 
dispute  arose  between  Ban  and  Coalition,  because  the  former 
declined  to  dismiss  Mr.  Aranicky  from  the  department  of 
Justice.  On  July  18  Dr.  Tomasic  resigned,  but  his  resigna- 
tion was  not  accepted  by  the  sovereign  ;  and  henceforth  the 
Ban  played  with  his  opponents,  avoiding  the  tactical  errors 
of  his  predecessor,  but  adopting  a  less  conciliatory  attitude 
than  he  had  shown  on  his  accession  to  power.^^  Moving 
cautiously  in  a  valley  of  dead  bones,  he  regarded  it  as  his 
mission  to  undermine  the  unity  of  the  Coalition,  and  to  restore 
the  old  discord  upon  which  Magyar  rule  in  Croatia  was  based. 
To  him  Croatia's  sole  hope  for  the  future  depends  upon  the 
connexion  with  Hungary,  and  towards  the  maintenance  of 
that  connexion  in  its  present  form  his  efforts  are  honestly  if 
mistakenly  directed:  On  August  22  the  Sabor  was  dissolved, 
and  the  new  elections,  which  took  place  in  the  last  week  of 
October,  led  to  a  situation  which  has  condemned  Croatia  to  poli- 
tical stagnation  ever  since.  Dr.  Tomasic  succeeded  in  de- 
taching the  so-called  "  Slavonian  Group  "  from  the  Coalition 
and  secured  the  election  of  17  supporters  ;  while  the  Coalition 
lost  its  absolute  majority,  being  reduced  from  53  to  35.  The 
rival  factions  of  the  Party  of  Right  divided  24  seats  between 

*26  In  this  he  was  encouraged  by  the  astonishing  victory  of  his  friend 
and  master  Count  Khuen  at  the  elections  of  June,  1910,  a  victory 
due  to  corruption  on  a  scale  hitherto  unequalled.  (See  my  Corruption 
and  Reform  in  Hungary.) 

306 


A  STRANGE  SEQUEL  TO  THE  AGRAM  TRIAL 

them,  15  falling  to  Dr.  Frank,  9  to  Dr.  Starcevic.  The  Peasants' 
Party,  hitherto  represented  by  three  members,  trebled  the 
number  of  its  seats.  Mr.  Supilo  remained  outside  the  parties, 
while  the  Socialists  lost  their  only  seat,  and  a  German  National- 
ist was  elected  in  Syrmia.  Thus  no  party  obtained  a  workable 
majority,  and  a  majority  friendly  to  the  Compromise  with 
Hungary  seems  definitely  unattainable.  Dr.  Tomasic,  while 
careful  not  to  dispense  absolutely  with  constitutional  forms, 
has  governed,  so  to  speak,  from  hand  to  mouth,  by  conferences 
and  prorogations.  Croatian  politics  beat  time,  and  wait 
uneasily  for  the  march  of  events  in  Hungary  and  Austria. 


One  of  the  earliest  acts  of  the  Tomasic  Government  had 
been  to  secure  a  revision  of  the  High  Treason  trial.  On 
April  2,  1910,  the  Septemviral  Table  (the  Croatian  Court  of 
Appeal)  quashed  the  verdict  of  Mr.  Tarabocchia  and  his  col- 
leagues, on  the  remarkable  ground  that  the  facts  adduced  in 
the  Public  Prosecutor's  indictment  do  not  prove  the  alleged 
high  treason  and  that  the  case  against  the  prisoners  had  not 
been  sufficiently  elucidated.  Yet  it  seems  quite  incredible 
that  after  a  trial  lasting  seven  months  there  could  be  any  real 
doubt  upon  the  matter  :  either  the  guilt  or  the  innocence  of 
the  prisoners  had  been  clearly  established. 

On  April  30  a  strange  incident  of  the  trial  was  brought  to 
light  in  the  Croatian  Diet.  Dr.  Mile  Starcevic  laid  before 
the  House  the  manuscript  notes  of  an  article  dealing  with  the 
history  of  the  Serbs  in  Croatia,  in  the  handwriting  of  a  promi- 
nent member  of  the  Frank  party.  These  notes,  it  was  alleged, 
had  been  specially  written  for  the  use  of  the  Public  Prosecutor, 
Mr.  Accurti,  and  it  was  thus  sought  to  establish  a  direct  influ- 
ence of  the  Frank  party  on  the  course  of  the  trial  of  its  political 
enemies.  A  comparison  of  the  notes  with  the  actual  text  of 
the  indictment  was  found  to  lend  colour  to  the  charge,  for 
certain  portions  would  appear  to  have  been  copied  by  Accurti 
almost  word  for  word.  Their  author  did  not  deny  their 
authenticity,  but  argued  that  they  merely  contained  the 
answers  to  specific  questions  of  a  historic  nature  addressed 
to  him  as  an  authority  on  Croatian  history.  On  the  other 
hand  no  indication  was  given  as  to  the  means  by  which  these 
stolen  goods  fell  into  the  hands  of  their  present  possessor. 

307 


THE   VASIC   FORGERIES 

The  incident,  while  by  no  means  as  discreditable  as  Dr.  Star- 
cevic  maintained,  simply  proved  what  was  already  notorious, 
that  the  Public  Prosecutor  framed  his  indictment  in  accordance 
with  the  tenets  of  an  extremist  party,  and  accepted  his  history 
ready-made,  without  in  any  way  troubling  to  investigate  for 
himself. 

Throughout  the  summer  of  1910  the  questions  raised  in 
the  Agram  and  Vienna  trials  remained  in  abeyance.  But  in 
the  autumn  new  developments  occurred,  which  raised  the 
controversy  once  more  in  a  highly  dramatic  form. 

It  will  already  have  struck  the  English  reader  as  remarkable 
that  Count  Aehrenthal  should  not  have  been  immediately 
called  to  account  in  Parliament  for  the  grave  scandals  revealed 
in  the  Fried] ung  trial.  That  he  was  able  to  evade  parliamen- 
tary criticism  for  ten  whole  months  after  the  trial,  was  due 
solely  to  the  peculiarities  of  the  Dual  System  in  Austria- 
Hungary.  The  Delegations,  which  are  alone  competent  to 
discuss  matters  affecting  foreign  policy,  are  two  entirely 
distinct  bodies,  recruited  from  the  Austrian  and  from  the 
Hungarian  Parliament.  While  the  Austrian  delegation  had 
been  elected  in  the  ordinary  way,  the  Hungarian  Government, 
being  without  a  majority  or  even  a  party  in  the  Hungarian 
Parliament,  was  unable  to  procure  the  election  of  a  Hungarian 
Delegation.  Thus  it  was  not  till  after  Count  Khuen-Heder- 
vary's  great  victory  at  the  polls  in  June  1910,  that  the  neces- 
sary election  of  delegates  could  take  place  :  and  it  was  then 
already  too  late  for  a  summer  session,  owing  to  the  pressure 
of  parliamentary  business.  When  the  Delegations  did  at 
length  meet  on  November  8,  1910,  the  Premier  and  the  Ban 
by  a  skilful  manoeuvre  contrived  to  eliminate  the  Croats 
from  the  Hungarian  Delegation  ^^'  and  thus  saved  Count 
Aehrenthal  from  the  criticism  of  the  men  whom  he  had  wronged. 
But  although  the  Croats  were  thus  reduced  to  silence,  the 
Austrian  delegation  contained  their  most  formidable  champion 
in  the  person  of  Professor  Masaryk,  who  had  since  the  Fried- 
jung  trial  devoted  a  great  deal  of  time  to  careful  investigation 
of  the  forgeries  and  their  origin. 

In  the  autumn  Mr.  Supilo  had  received  a  letter  from  a  certain 

*-'  They  selected  three  excellent  but  colourless  Croat  deputies,  without 
even  consulting  the  forty  Croat  members  in  Budapest,  from  among 
whom  the  selection  had  to  be  made :  then  when  the  three  indignantly 
laid  down  their  mandates,  three  Magyar  substitutes  were  declared 
elected  to  the  vacant  places  ! 

308 


PROFESSOR  MASARYK'S   CHARGES 

Vasic  in  Belgrad,  declaring  himself  to  be  identical  with  the 
mysterious  Milan  Stefanovic  (see  p.  246)  and  asserting  that 
the  forgeries  were  fabricated  in  the  Belgrad  Legation  with 
Count  Forgach's  knowledge,  and  that  one  copy  of  the  photo- 
graphs that  were  made  there,  was  sent  to  Count  Aehrenthal 
and  a  second  to  the  Archduke  Francis  Ferdinand.  The 
originals,  he  added,  were  now  in  Servian  hands,  and  the  material 
against  the  Legation  was  overwhelming.  Mr.  Supilo  at  once 
communicated  with  Professor  Masaryk,  who  then  paid  visits 
to  Agram  and  Belgrad  to  investigate  the  matter.  It 
was  the  outcome  of  these  inquiries  that  finally  decided  him 
to  raise  the  whole  question  of  the  forgeries  at  the  Delega- 
tion.^8 

In  his  speech  on  November  8,  Professor  Masaryk  addressed 
two  direct  questions  to  Count  Aehrenthal.  How  was  it 
possible  that  the  forgeries  were  not  recognized  as  such  by  the 
Austro-Hungarian  Legation  in  Belgrad,  by  the  Foreign  Office 
in  Vienna,  and  by  the  Ministry  of  War  which  based  its  plans 
upon  them  ?  And  did  Count  ehrenthal  and  his  press  bureau 
know  the  contents  of  Dr.  Fried]  ung's  article  before  it  appeared, 
and  even  prompt  its  publication  ?  It  was  no  mere  case  of  a 
duped  Minister,  he  continued  ;  "  the  forgeries  proceed  from 
the  Austro-Hungarian  Legation  in  Belgrad."  Mr.  von  Svien- 
tochovski,  secr'etary  of  that  legation,  engaged  in  February, 
1909,  a  young  journalist  named  Vladimir  Vasic  to  teach  his 
children  Servian.  Soon  afterwards  a  number  of  documents 
purporting  to  be  "  minutes  "  of  the  Slovenski  Jug  were 
placed  before  him,  and  he  was  entrusted  with  the  task  of 
removing  the  "  Croaticisms  "  with  which  they  were  replete. 
Finally  in  November,  1909,  on  the  eve  of  the  Fried]  ung  Trial, 
he  had  to  copy  them  out  in  the  name  of  the  mysterious  "  Milan 
Stefanovic."  ^^^  The  work  was  done  in  Svientochovski's  study 
and  in  the  house  of  another  member  of  the  legation.  Vasic 
himself  retained  some  of  these  "  documents  "  in  his  own  hands, 
and  though  pressed  to  return  them,  evaded  doing  so.  Count 
Forgach,  who  knew  of  the  work,  had  promised  Vasic  a  career 

*2^  The  reader  will  find  an  admirable  siunmary  of  events  relating  to 
the  Vcisic  forgeries  in  the  telegrams  of  The  Times  correspondent  in 
Vienna.  (See  Times  of  November  g,  10,  11,  14,  17,  ig,  December  7, 
8,  23,  24,  30,  31,  igio.)  I  take  this  opportunity  of  drawing  attention 
to  the  important  part  which  he  has  played  in  elucidating  the  truth 
on  matters  of  Austrian  and  Hungarian  politics. 

*-*  See  p.  246. 

309 


THE  VASIC   FORGERIES 

in  Vienna,  and  in  April,  1910,  he  was  at  last  enticed  as  far  as 
Agram,  where  he  lived  some  weeks  in  the  house  of  an  Austrian 
officer  called  Captain  Cvitas.  Finally  he  took  alarm  and  fled 
back  to  Belgrad,  still  without  having  disgorged  the  documents. 

It  would  be  the  simplest  thing  in  the  world,  added  Professor 
Masaryk,  to  prove  the  truth  of  these  assertions.  "  Count 
Aehrenthal  only  has  to  lay  the  forgeries  before  the  House. 
I  have  here  some  of  these  false  minutes,  which  he  was  to  have 
got,  but  did  not  get.  Let  us  compare  the  handwriting,  and 
instantly  the  matter  is  cleared  up."  After  stating  that  he 
had  been  refused  access  to  the  "  documents  "  and  photographs 
which  had  figured  in  the  Fried] ung  trial,  he  concluded  with 
the  following  words  :  "  After  this  accusation  of  mine  Count 
Aehrenthal  can  only  state  that  neither  he  himself  nor  any 
of  his  officials  in  the  Foreign  Office  knew  of  or  assisted  these 
machinations  of  Count  '  Azev  '  ^^^  in  Belgrad." 

Count  Aehrenthal  allowed  twenty-four  hours  to  elapse 
before  he  replied,  and  then  carefully  avoided  a  direct  answer, 
fter  calmly  affirming  that  the  documents  which  formed  the 
basis  of  Dr.  Fried] ung's  article  had  had  "  no  influence  what- 
ever "  upon  his  decisions  "  either  before  or  after  the  annexa- 
tion," he  repudiated  the  aspersions  upon  Count  Forgach, 
"  one  of  the  most  estimable  of  our  diplomats,"  and  tried  to 
discredit  Professor  Masaryk's  sources  of  information  on  the 
ground  that  they  were  foreign.  "  If  Count  Forgach  had  really 
done  all  that  is  imputed  to  him,  he  would  not  en]oy  in  serious 
leading  circles  in  Belgrade  his  present  excellent  position,"  nor 
would  the  Servian  Government,  when  rumours  of  his  trans- 
ference to  another  post  arose,  have  expressed  the  wish  that  he 
should  remain,  as  "  a  friend  of  Servia  "  (November  9). 

Needless  to  say,  these  vague  phrases  satisfied  no  one,  and 
the  Young  Czech  leader.  Dr.  Kramarz,  was  voicing  the  opinion 
of  many  even  among  his  political  opponents,  when  next  day 
he  summoned  Count  Aehrenthal  to  publish  the  facts  regarding 
the  forgeries.  The  vigorous  criticism  of  the  whole  annexation 
policy  with  which  he  accompanied  this  summons  does  not 
concern  us  here.  On  November  11  Professor  Masaryk  returned 
to  the  charge,  and  after  rebutting  the  personalities  in  which 
Count  Aehrenthal  had    indulged    two  days  earlier,  declared 

*^°  A  reference  to  the  infamous  Russian  agent-pvovocateur  and  spy 
who  played  a  leading  part  in  the  counsels  of  the  revolutionaries,  but 
was  at  last  detected  and  made  away  with. 

310 


1 


COUNT  AEHRENTHAL'S  EVASION 

with  renewed  emphasis,  "  that  Count  Forgach  knew  of  the 
forging  of  the  documents."  Count  Aehrenthal,  in  reply, 
referred  to  the  charge  against  Forgach  as  "  insinuations  of  a 
general  nature  "  {sic  !),  and  treated  the  whole  matter  as  an 
intrigue  of  foreign  journals  against  Austro-Hungarian  diplo- 
macy and  as  an  attempt  to  disturb  the  relations  of  the  Monarchy 
with  Servia.  To  this  Professor  Masaryk  rejoined,  amid  a 
scene  of  great  tension,  "  Count  Aehrenthal  dares  not  and 
cannot  say  that  his  officials  had  no  relations  with  Vasic,  he 
cannot  deny  that  Count  Forgach  knew  of  these  forgeries.  .  .  . 
I  ask  His  Excellency  to  say  in  so  many  words  :  Had  Count 
Forgach  relations  with  this  individual  Vasic  ?  Is  Count 
Aehrenthal  aware  that  Count  Forgach  knew  of  these  forgeries 
and  wittingly  had  relations  with  their  forger  ?  In  other 
words.  Count  Forgach  is  the  forger.     I  await  an  answer." 

To  the  general  astonishment  Count  Aehrenthal  remained 
seated,  and  the  President  of  the  Delegation  announced  that,  as 
no  one  else  desired  to  speak,  he  would  put  the  Foreign  Estimates 
to  the  vote.  At  the  last  moment  an  official  of  the  Foreign 
Office  whispered  something  to  his  chief,  and  it  was  only  then 
that  Count  Aehrenthal  rose  in  great  excitement  and  made 
the  following  brief  statement : — "  In  answer  to  the  direct 
question  addressed  to  me  by  Professor  Masaryk,  I  have  to 
declare  that  Count  Forgach  has  never  had  dealings  with  this 
man  "  {mit  diesem  Manne  nie  in  Verkehr  gestanden  ist).  As 
his  opponent  took  care  to  point  out  on  a  later  occasion,  this 
was  not  an  answer  to  the  question  asked.  That  Count  For- 
gach was  on  terms  of  personal  friendship  with  an  individual 
like  Vasic,  no  sane  person  would  maintain  :  that  under  given 
circumstances  an  ambassador  may  have  to  meet  a  spy  or  a 
forger,  is  not  necessarily  discreditable.  But  that  an  embassy 
should  deal  in  forged  documents  on  a  large  scale,  in  a  matter 
which  might  involve  Europe  in  war,  is  a  crime  for  which  no 
adequate  words  of  condemnation  can  be  found  ;  and  that  a 
Foreign  Minister  should  meet  such  a  charge  with  evasion  and 
silence,  is  suspicious  in  the  highest  degree. 

On  November  15  the  Servian  Foreign  Minister,  Dr.  Milo- 
vanovid,  answered  an  interpellation  in  the  Skupstina,  regard- 
ing Aehrenthal's  statement  that  Servia  had  wished  to  retain 
Forgach  in  Belgrad.  His  statement  put  a  new  complexion 
on  the  matter  :  all  that  had  happened  was  that  Servia  had 
formally  dissociated  itself  from  a  campaign  against  Forgdch 
which  was  then  raging  in  the  Servian  press,  and  had  denied 

311 


THE   VASIC   FORGERIES 

that  it  was  dissatisfied  with  the  Minister.  Meanwhile  Vasic 
himself  had  surrendered  himself  to  the  police  in  Belgrad  and 
confessed  his  share  in  the  forgeries  :  pending  trial,  he  was 
kept  in  prison,  and  absolute  reticence  was  shown  by  those 
entrusted  with  his  examination.  Towards  the  end  of  Novem- 
ber Count  Forgach  gave  direct  official  assurances  to  the  Servian 
Government,  that  neither  he  nor  Count  Aehrenthal  had  had 
any  connexion  with  Vasic  or  his  forgeries.  On  December  6 
a  skilfully  worded  communique  appeared  in  Samouprava, 
the  Servian  official  gazette,  stating  that  Servia  "  must  attach 
credence  to  these  assurances,  so  long  as  no  facts  arise  to  change 
the  standpoint  of  one  or  other  of  the  two  Governments." 

To  this  communique  and  to  further  details  published  by 
Masaryk  in  the  Zeit  (December  4),  Aehrenthal  published  a 
rejoinder  in  the  official  Fremdenblatt  (December  6)  which 
contains  the  first  definite  admission  of  relations  between  Vasic 
and  the  Belgrad  Legation.  "  It  must  be  clear  to  every  one," 
it  says,  "  that  he  (Vasic)  belongs  to  a  category  of  individuals 
which  ...  in  critical  times  presses  its  information  on  diplo- 
matic agents.  His  statements  were  received  by  a  subordinate 
clerk  of  the  Legation  in  Belgrad,  until  their  worthlessness 
became  apparent.  If  the  article  of  the  Samouprava  neglects 
to  mention  the  assurances  which  the  Servian  Government 
gave  to  Count  Forgach — to  the  effect  that  authoritative  circles  in 
Belgrad  never  gave  the  slightest  credence  to  the  absurd  slanders 
of  a  Vasic,  according  to  which  Count  Forgach  or  one  of  his 
subordinates  committed  forgery  or  had  forgeries  prepared — 
we  fill  in  this  gap  in  the  Belgrad  statements  all  the  more  readily, 
because  we  are  convinced  that  we  are  thus  complying  with 
the  Servian  Government's  intention  to  maintain  friendly 
relations."  Three  days  later  Dr.  Milovanovic  repudiated  this 
version  of  the  case  ^^i ;  and  Count  Aehrenthal,  who  eighteen 
months  before  had  dictated  to  the  Servian  Government  the 
most  humiliating  admissions,  now  saw  himself  constrained  to 
swallow  this  rebuff  in  silence,  thus  supplying  a  fresh  presump- 
tion in  favour  of  Professor  Masaryk's  contention.  His  official 
press  sought  to  veil  its  discomfiture  by  attacks  upon  Masaryk  ; 
typical  of  its  tactics  was  the  publication  ^of  extracts  from  an 
article  against  Masaryk  in  the  Belgrad  "  Stampa  " — an  article 
which  had  never  appeared  in  that  newspaper  !  *^^ 

^=•1  Samouprava,  December  9,   1910. 

**^  Masaryk,  Vasic-Forgdch- Aehrenthal,  p.  31.  It  had  presumably 
been  written  in  Vienna  for  publication  in  the  Stampa,  but  for  some 

312 


THE  VASIC   TRIAL 

On  December  22,  1910,  the  trial  of  Vasid  opened  at  Belgrad. 
By  orders  of  the  Government,  it  was  conducted  behind  closed 
doors,  and  the  Belgrad  press  was  not  allowed  to  publish  the 
evidence,  lest  public  opinion  in  Servia  should  be  still  further 
inflamed  against  Austria-Hungary.  But  reporters  of  the 
foreign  press,  and  interested  parties  were  admitted  on  special 
application  ;  and  among  those  who  availed  themselves  of 
this  permission,  were  Professor  Masaryk  and  Dr.  Hinkovic, 
who  watched  the  case  in  the  interests  of  the  victims  of  the 
Agram  trial.  Vasic  was  charged  with  treason  and  injury  to 
State  interests,  on  the  ground  that  "  he  helped  to  prepare 
reports  referring  to  an  imaginary  revolutionary  activity  of 
the  Slovenski  Jug  in  Southern  Slav  territories  outside  the 
Kingdom  of  Servia  and  a  connexion  of  this  club  with  the 
Servian  authorities,  which  reports  were  made  over  to  the 
Austro-Hungarian  Legation  and  afterwards  figured  in  the 
well-known  Fried]  ung  trial  as  proofs  of  Servia's  dishonourable 
attitude  to  the  neighbouring  Monarchy."  After  a  two  days' 
trial  Vasic  was  condemned  to  five  years'  imprisonment.  The 
main  foundation  for  this  verdict  was  the  full  confession  of 
Vasic  himself.  But  while  Count  Aehrenthal  and  his  supporters 
were  fully  justified  in  treating  Vasic's  bare  assertions  as  far 
from  reliable,*33  it  is  obvious  that  the  fellow,  when  once  in 
court,  had  no  inducement  whatever  to  tell  lies  which  would 
compromise  him  still  more  deeply.  The  chief  interest  in  his 
confession  lies  in  the  fact  that  it  proved  possible  to  control 
his  statements  on  seventeen  points  of  detail,*^*  and  in  each 
case  he  was  found  to  have  spoken  the  truth.  A  forged  tele- 
gram which  Vasic  produced  and  which  he  alleged  to  have  been 
written  by  the  Austrian  Secretary  of  Legation,  Svientochovski, 
was  compared  with  the  latter's  handwriting  and  found  to 
correspond.  A  man  living  in  the  same  house  as  Svientochovski 
was  able  to  confirm  Vasic's  assertion  that  he  had  been  busy 
working  there  in  February,  1909,  and  had  been  alarmed  by 
the  appearance  of  a  police  official  on  some  errand  in  the  house. 
Above  all,  the  houseowner  confirmed  the  assertion  that  the 
documents  had  been  photographed  against  the  study  door  : 

reason  refused  by  the  editor  at  the  last  moment,  before  a  reference 
to  it  elsewhere  could  be  suppressed. 

*^*  On  the  other  hand,  the  bare  assertions  of  Nastic  were  treated  as 
amply  sufficient  and  Nastic  had  about  as  much  right  to  the  name 
of  "journalist"  as  the  wretched  Vasic. 

*^*  See  Maaaryk,  op.  cit.  pp.  35-9  (translation  of  the  indictment). 

3^5 


THE  VASIC   FORGERIES 

for  he  had  himself  seen  small  holes  on  the  inside  of  the  door, 
such  as  are  made  by  drawing  pins.  Vasic  had  further  alleged 
that  Svientochovski  supplied  him  with  a  key  to  the  study 
door,  so  that  he  could  enter  at  any  time  during  the  owner's 
absence,  without  attracting  notice.  The  proprietor  now 
deposed  that  he  had  been  requested  by  Svientochovski  to  add 
a'second  outer  door  at  the  very  entrance  to  which  the  missing 
key  gave  admission — presumably  to  prevent  its  possessor  from 
continuing  to  gain  access.  The  Court  in  passing  judgment 
argued  that  various  proofs  quite  independent  of  the  prisoner's 
confession  established  "  his  connexion  with  the  organs  of  a 
foreign  Legation,"  though  his  accomplices  could  not  be  called 
to  account  before  the  law. 

If  the  matter  of  the  forgeries  had  rested  at  this  point,  it 
might  have  been  possible  to  treat  Professor  Masaryk's  charges 
as  not  proven,  and  to  give  Count  Aehrenthal  the  benefit  of 
the  doubt,  on  the  ground  that  the  Belgrad  Court  acted  under 
pressure  from  a  government  which  had  an  eminent  interest 
in  throwing  discredit  upon  Austro-Hungarian  diplomatic 
methods.  At  this  stage,  however,  Count  Aehrenthal  com- 
mitted a  grave  tactical  error,  of  which  Professor  Masaryk 
naturally  took  full  advantage.  An  official  communique 
appeared  in  the  Neue  Freie  Presse  of  December  24,  admitting 
the  forged  telegram  produced  at  the  Vasic  Trial  to  be  really 
in  Svientochovski's  handwriting,  but  maintaining  it  to  be  a 
mere  copy  of  a  document  which  Vasic  had  palmed  off  upon 
him  as  genuine. ^^     This  admission  supplied  the  solitary  link 

*^5  Lest  I  shoiild  be  accused  of  putting  a  wrong  interpretation  upon 
it  I  quote  it  in  extenso. 

"Vasic  brought  the  alleged  original  documents  of  the  Slovenski 
Jug  only  on  the  condition  that  they  must  be  returned  to  him  soon, 
so  that  their  abstraction  should  not  be  noticed  by  the  officials  of  the 
Slovenski  Jug.  The  result  of  this  condition  was  that  the  Legation 
Secretary  (dragoman)  copied  the  documents.  Obviously  Vasic  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  hold  of  one  of  these  copies,  which  he  has  now  used 
before  the  Court.  To  speak  of  the  share  of  a  legation  official  in  Vasic's 
forgeries,  will,  as  may  be  seen,  hardly  be  possible.  The  simple  and 
easily  transparent  facts  invalidate  Vasic's  assertions  on  this  point. 

"  Meanwhile  the  Servian  Government  is  aware  that  Vasic,  even  after 
the  Legation  had  broken  off  relations  with  him  owing  to  the  discovery 
of  the  worthlessness  of  his  assertions,  made  renewed  offers  to  the  Austro- 
Hungarian  Legation,  but  was  this  time  refused  and  therefore  threatened 
revelations.  Vasic  then  employed  the  same  threats  at  our  Belgrad 
Consulate,  in  Semhn  and  in  Agram,  each  time  without  result.  It  is 
the  excessive  cunning  of  a  half-educated  person,  who  finally  lost  control 

314 


A  FORGED  TELEGRAM 

which  had  been  missing  in  the  chain  of  evidence  at  the  Vasic 
trial.  Hitherto  it  had  been  allowable  to  doubt  whether  the 
experts  had  established  the  identity  of  Svientochovski's 
writing  :    now  this  doubt  was  dispelled. 

Even  Count  Aehrenthal's  admirers  could  not  fail  to  be 
unfavourably  impressed  with  his  behaviour.  When  Professor 
Masaryk  first  put  forward  his  charges,  the  Minister  had  cate- 
gorically denied  all  connexion  between  Vasic  and  the  Legation. 
On  December  6  he  admitted  Vasic's  relations  with  "  a  sub- 
ordinate clerk  "  ;  after  the  [Belgrad  trial,  the  "  clerk  "  became 
a  secretary  of  legation,  who  had  actually  copied  with  his  own 
hand  all  that  Vasic  brought  him.  How  were  such  conflicting 
statements  to  be  reconciled  on  any  other  hypothesis  than 
that  of  a  gradual  surrender  of  an  untenable  position  ? 

On  December  29  the  duel  between  Aehrenthal  and  Masaryk 
was  renewed  in  the  Austrian  Delegation,  when  the  latter 
produced  a  photograph  of  the  fatal  telegram,  showing 
that  it  was  not  a  "  copy  "  at  all,  but  an  original  forgery  of 
Svientochovski.  It  purported  to  be  despatched  from  Loznica, 
a  small  place  on  the  Servian  frontier,  by  the  leader  of  an 
irregular  Serb  "  band  "  to  Professor  Markovig,  the  president 
of  the  Slovenski  Jug  in  Belgrad  ;  it  stated  that  money  had 
been  sent  to  Sarajevo,  and  made  somewhat  cryptic  references 
to  frontier  villages  and  the  Bosnian  garrison  of  Bjelina.  If 
genuine,  it  would  naturally  have  established  a  strong  pre- 
sumption that  Markovic  had  the  supervision  of  guerilla 
bands  operating  against  Austria. 

By  producing  this  photograph,  Masaryk  annihilated  Aehren- 
thal's theory  of  a  "  copy  "  ;  for  this  "  copy  "  was  written 
in  Cyxilline  characters,  on  an  official  Servian  telegram  form, 
and  at  the  foot  had  been  added  an  imitation  of  the  official 
postmark,  purposely  rendered  half  illegible  !  ^^6  As  Professor 
Masaryk  was  able  to  point  out,  even  the  phraseology  of  this 
brief  telegram  of  thirty-four  words  betrays  its  author  as  a 
foreigner :  no  Servian  could  conceivably  have  employed 
phrases  which  at  once  suggest  having  been  translated  from 
German  into  Serb,  like  most  of  theFriedjung  "  documents."  *^^ 
"  But  the  telegram  form  itself,"  says  the  inexorable  Professor, 

of  his  own  plans  and  affairs,  that  has  now  led  Vasic  to  destruction." 
A  very  similar  communique  appeared  on  December  25  in  Pester  Lloyd. 

*^6  See  Appendix  I  (facsimile)  of  Masaryk's  Vasic-Forgdch- Aehrenthal. 

*"  One  phrase,  "  na  "  sigumo.  Professor  Masaryk  claims  as  a"  Polon- 
ism,"  and  Svientochovski  is  a  Germanized  Pole 

315 


THE   VASIC   FORGERIES 

"  also  betrays  the  forger.  The  Servain  Telegraph  Office,  like 
all  others,  uses  two  kinds  of  form,  one  for  handing  in  telegrams 
(these  the  public  can  have  gratis),  and  one  on  which  telegrams 
are  written  at  the  office  and  which  are  sent  to  the  addressees. 
The  Loznica  telegram,  if  Vasic  had  brought  it  from  the  Slo- 
venski  Jug,  must  have  been  a  telegram  handed  in  at  Loznica 
and  received  in  Belgrad,  but  it  is  really  written  on  a  handing-in 
form  !  (Imagine  our  getting  a  telegram  from  the  office  on 
one  of  our  green  forms  !)  Mr.  Svientochovski  very  easily  got 
the  forms  laid  out  for  the  public,  and  on  one  of  them  he  forged 
the  telegram  which  was  supposed  to  have  been  officially 
received  and  delivered.  That  Vasic  could  not  have  brought 
to  our  Legation  Secretary  an  official  telegraph  form  from 
Loznica,  is  obvious.  Mr.  Svientochovski  simply  reckoned 
on  the  Servian  telegraph  forms  being  unknown  in  Vienna." 

The  telegraph  form  was  in  itself  sufficiently  damning  evidence. 
But  Professor  Masaryk,  wishing  to  prove  his  charges  up  to 
the  very  hilt,  produced  further  "  documents  "  from  the  forgers' 
laboratory.  The  first  of  these  was  one  of  the  notorious  minutes 
of  the  Slovenski  Jug — a  gigantic  sheet  of  paper  whose  exact 
dimensions  were  977  by  34-6  centimetres  !  ^^s  That  no  society 
in  Europe,  least  of  all  a  band  of  revolutionaries,  would  write 
its  minutes  on  paper  of  this  size,  is  abundantly  clear,  and 
effectively  disposes  of  the  argument  that  these  "  documents  " 
were  brought  by  Vasic  from  the  Slovenski  Jug  to  the  Legation. 
Not  even  the  veriest  tyro  in  diplomacy  would  have  accepted 
such  a  document  from  the  most  plausible  of  spies  or  robbers. 
Only  one  explanation  is  possible — that  the  size  of  these  monster- 
documents  was  chosen  to  facilitate  photography  :  and  here 
again,  without  accepting  the  evidence  of  Vasic  himself,  we 
are  confirmed  in  the  belief  by  the  incident  of  the  drawing  pins, 
which  transpired  at  the  Belgrad  trial. 

The  next  "  document  "  produced  by  the  Professor  was  the 
notorious  balance-sheet  of  the  Slovenski  Jug,  which  played 
its  part  at  the  Friedjung  trian^g  ^nd  seemed  to  convict  Mr, 
Supilo  of  having  received  6,000  francs  from  Servia.     Here 

***  See  Appendix  II  (life-size  facsimile)  in  Masaryk's  pamphlet; 
already  cited. 

*^*  Strictly  speaking  the  Friedjung  "  document  "  in  question  was 
the  minutes  of  the  Slovenski  Jug  in  which  the  payment  of  the  6,000 
francs  was  approved  (see  p.  217,  see  also  Friedjung,  Aktenstiicke,  No. 
II,  pp.  9-10),  while  the  "  document  "  now  Jproduced  was  the  balance 
sheet  showing  actual  payment. 

316 


USQUE  AD   FINEM 

again  its  absurd  size*^  makes  it  quite  impossible  to  believe 
in  its  genuine  character. 

Finally  Professor  Masaryk  produced  a  sheet  of  paper  con- 
taining three  signatures  of  Davidovic,  alleged  to  be  a  leading 
member  of  the  Slovenski  Jug  (see  pp.  217,  261)  and  establish- 
ing beyond  the  possibility  of  doubt  that  some  person  unknown 
had  been  practising  the  imitation  of  Davidovic's  signature.^*^ 
According  to  Vasic  this  person  was  Svientochovski,  and  even 
if  we  refuse  to  accept  the  evidence  of  such  a  man,  the  circum- 
stantial evidence  is  very  strong. 

Professor  Masaryk  concluded  his  speech  before  the  Delega- 
tion by  a  scathing  comparison  of  Count  Aehrenthal's  methods 
with  those  of  Napoleon,  Metternich  and  Bismarck,  and  declared 
that  as  Count  Aehrenthal  had  challenged  him,  he  would  carry 
the  matter  usque  ad  fiiiem  when  the  session  was  resumed  in 
January.  He  had  not  said  all  he  knew  nor  the  worst  of  what 
he  knew,  and  he  would  prove  Count  Aehrenthal's  own  com- 
plicity. Count  Aehrenthal  contented  himself  with  repeating 
the  denial  that  Count  Forgach  had  ever  had  dealings  with 
Vasic,  "  who  had  forced  himself  upon  the  Legation  and  offered 
documents  for  sale  at  a  critical  moment  when  no  Legation 
would  have  taken  the  responsibility  of  refusing  to  receive 
them.  As  soon  as  their  entire  worthlessness  had  been  recog- 
nized— Count  Aehrenthal  did  not  say  whether  this  was  before 
or  after  the  Fried]  ung  trial — all  further  communications 
with  Vasic  were  broken  off."  *^  He  tried  to  minimise  the 
effect  of  the  Belgrad  trial  by  arguing  that  the  only  information 
about  it  came  from  the  newspapers,  and  went  so  far  as  to 
insinuate  that  Professor  Masaryk's  attendance  at  the  trial 
had  been  unpatriotic. ^^^  In  short,  he  clung  desperately  to 
the  old  tale,  which  no  longer  deceived  any  one.  But  anything 
that  he  might  say,  or  any  further  onslaught  upon  him,  were 
now  of  comparatively  minor  interest.  By  his  rash  communique 
of  December  24,  he  had  himself  exploded  the  idea  that  the 
forgeries  depended  on  Vasic's  mere  word  ;  and  the  production 
of  the  forgeries  in  the  Delegation  and  their  publication  in 
pamphlet  form  in  February,  1911,  finally  dispelled  all  doubt 

**°  See  Masaryk,  op.  cit.,  Appendix.  Ill  (life-size  facsimile). 

**^  See  facsimile  on  p.  60  of  Masaryk,  op.    cit. 

442  Times,  December  30,    1910. 

**^  Count  Aehrenthal  has  always  taken  the  hne  that  opposition  to 
his  person  is  unpatriotic,  just  as  his  ally  Baron  Ranch  argued  that 
demonstrations  against  his  person  were  anti-dynastic  (cf.  p.  156). 

317 


THE  VASIC  FORGERIES 

as  to  their  real  authorship^  The  guilt  of  the  Austro-Hungarian 
Legation  in  Belgrad  had  been  fully  established,  and  the  fact 
that  the  incriminating  "  documents "  had  been  stolen  by 
Vasic,  does  not  really  affect  the  question.  Theft  with  a  view 
to  blackmail,  was  an  action  such  as  might  be  expected  from 
such  an  individual ;  though  as  Professor  Masaryk  caustically 
remarks  in  his  pamphlet,  "  compared  with  the  forgers  of  the 
Embassy,  Vasic  is  a  man  of  honour  !  "  ^*  The  real  point  in 
this  connexion  is  that  Vasic  could  not  have  had  an  opportunity 
of  stealing  such  precious  papers,  unless  he  had  reached  a 
considerable  degree  of  intimacy  with  the  Legation  staff :  and 
an  independent  proof  of  this  intimacy  is  actually  supplied  by 
the  incident  of  the  study  door  key,  authenticated  by  the  house 
proprietor's  evidence  at  the  Vasic  trial. 

Count  Aehrenthal's  attempt  to  invalidate  all  the  evidence 
of  Vasic,  is  far  from  convincing.  Two  years  ago,  he  and  his 
officials,  according  to  his  own  version,  accepted  "  documents  " 
en  masse  ^*^  from  Vasic,  knowing  him  to  be  a  thief  and  a  spy, 
yet  basing  a  whole  policy  upon  the  authenticity  of  what  Vasic 
brought ;  but  none  the  less  he  claims  the  right  to  rule  out  all 
the  evidence  of  Vasic,  as  soon  as  it  becomes  inconvenient. 
Yet  nothing  has  occurred  to  render  Vasic's  words  either  less 
or  more  reliable.  The  statements  of  a  thief  and  a  spy  are 
already  tainted  ;  confession  of  his  crimes  may  not  make  him 
worthier,  but  most  certainly  does  not  make  him  less  worthy. 
We  have  the  right  to  reject  Vasic's  evidence  as  tainted  :  Count 
Aehrenthal,  whose  tool  he  was,  does  not  possess  that  right. 
None  the  less,  we  have  endeavoured  to  allow  Count  Aehren- 
thal's contention,  and  have  not  accepted  the  statements  of 
Vasic  except  where  they  are  confirmed  by  other  evidence. 
On  these  lines,  it  is  still  possible  to  regard  it  as  not  proven, 
that  Count  Forgach  had  personal  relations  with  Vasic,  since 
the  sole  definite  proofs  are  the  evidence  of  Vasic  himself  and 
of  a  park-keeper  in  Belgrad.  But  that  Count  Forgach  was 
in  ignorance  of  the  tactics  of  his  subordinates,  that  Vasic's 
salary  was  paid  out  of  Svientochovski's  private  purse  and 

«"  Op.  cit.  p.  63. 

445  Prof.  Masaryk  writes  of  80  to  100  Slovenski  Jug  minutes,  20  to 
30  secret  "  resolutions,"  20  more  minutes  of  the  combined  Slovenski 
Jug  and  Bands  Committee,  5  or  6  balance  sheets  and  about  20 
telegrams  (see  Masaryk,  op.  cit.  p.  67).  We  need  not  accept  this  merely 
on  Vasic's  word.  Dr.  Fried] ung  laid  great  stress  on  the  fact  that  his 
"  documents  "  were  only  quite  a  small  selection. 

318 


THE  BELGRAD  LEGATION 

not  out  of  Embassy  money,  that  the  "  documents  "  and  photo- 
graphs were  sent  wholesale  to  Vienna  without  Count  Forgach's 
knowledge  and  approval,  and  that  he  entertained  no  doubts 
as  to  the  genuine  character  even  of  "  the  three-foot  minutes  " 
— all  this  is  absolutely  incredible.  We  need  not  accept, 
unless  we  please,  Vasic's  story  of  his  reception  by  Count  For- 
gach  in  the  house  of  the  Legation  usher  Tiefenbach  :  that 
is  quite  immaterial.  Even  if  he  never  set  eyes  upon  Vasic, 
Count  Forgach  cannot  be  acquitted  of  moral  responsibility 
for  the  forgeries. 

Count  Forgach's  position  in  Belgrad  had  become  really 
pitiable.  On  all  sides  he  was  regarded  with  amused  suspicion, 
and  most  embassies  in  the  little  capital  knew  the  inner  history 
of  the  forgeries,  and  were  reporting  it  to  their  respective  head- 
quarters. But  Count  Forgach  is  not  a  man  to  submit  tamely 
to  such  treatment,  and  he  apparently  took  no  pains  to  conceal 
his  opinion  that  the  moral  responsibility  for  the  whole  affair 
lay  with  Count  Aehrenthal.  Indeed  he  is  said  to  have  openly 
declared  that  he  had  not  carried  out  nearly  all  that  had  been 
demanded  of  him.  His  growing  resentment  was  soothed  by 
the  title  of  a  Privy  Councillor,  and  at  length,  amid  the  inspired 
eulogies  of  the  Aehrenthal  press,  he  was  transferred  to  the 
less  frigid  atmosphere  of  Dresden,  where  opportunities  for 
diplomatic  forgery  are  scarcely  likely  to  present  themselves. 
His  successor  is  placed  before  the  unpleasant  alternative  of 
cleaning  up  the  Augean  stable  at  the  Belgrad  Legation,  or 
of  continuing  to  act  upon  the  principles  of  Bomba's  Neapolitan 
police. 

If  it  is  incredible  that  the  members  of  the  Belgrad  Legation 
should  have  supplied  the  Foreign  Office  with  masses  of  docu- 
ments, whether  forged  or  genuine,  without  the  knowledge  of 
their  chief,  then  still  more  incredible  is  it  that  the  Foreign 
Office  should  have  dealt  with  stolen  articles  on  so  large  a  scale, 
without  Count  Aehrenthal's  knowledge  and  approval.  It  is 
glaringly  obvious  that  unless  the  Belgrad  Legation  had  acted 
upon  direct  instructions  from  Vienna,  Count  Aehrenthal  would 
at  once  have  disavowed  not  merely  Svientochovski  and  Tiefen- 
bach, but  Forgach  himself,  and  not  content  with  a  disavowal, 
would  have  instituted  the  strictest  possible  inquiry  into  the 
whole  affair.  Instead  of  this,  Count  Aehrenthal  resorted  to 
prevarication  and  legal  quibbles,  answered  dii'ect  questions 
by  evasion  and  personal  innuendos,  and  deliberately  blocked 
all  inquiry.     The  jealous  care  with  which  the  forgeries  have 

319 


THE  VASIC   FORGERIES 

always  been  guarded  from  the  public  eye,  in  itself  suggests 
most  strongly  that  they  cannot  bear  inspection.  From  the 
very  first  Count  Aehrenthal  has  done  everything  in  his  power 
to  suppress,  not  to  further,  the  truth.  Indeed  from  his  attitude 
throughout  this  sordid  affair,  only  two  conclusions  can  be 
drawn.  Either  he  has  been  deluded  by  the  clumsiest  of 
methods,  or  he  has  not  been  deluded  at  all ;  either  he  is  naive 
to  the  point  of  incapacity,  or  unscrupulous  to  an  alarming 
degree.  The  reader  who  has  studied  the  evidence  of  the 
preceding  chapters,  should  have  no  difficulty  in  forming  his 
own  opinion  on  this  point. 

It  may  be  added,  as  a  final  comment  on  this  aspect  of  the 
case,  that  two  prominent  officials,  one  at  the  Ballplatz,  one 
in  Bosnia,  who  received  the  "  documents  "  with  scepticism, 
were  placed  on  the  retired  list  in  a  manner  which  caused  the 
general  public  no  little  surprise. 

Dr.  Fried]  ung  said  of  the  informer  Nastic,  that  decent  people 
can  only  touch  him  with  the  tongs.  But  Nastic  and  Vasic 
have  been  proved  to  be  mere  tools  ;  and  the  patriotic  efforts 
of  Professor  Masaryk  have  fixed  the  responsibility  in  the 
proper  quarter.  In  seeking  to  hush  up  the  scandal  and  shield 
the  real  culprit,  Austrian  politicians  are  not  acting  in  the  true 
interests  of  their  country,  but  are  merely  saddling  ustria 
with  the  discredit  which  is  really  due  to  a  single  individual. 
The  man  whose  foreign  policy  was  based  upon  the  forgeries  of 
the  Agram  and  Friedjung  trials,  has  become  an  European 
danger.  Cordial  diplomatic  relations  with  Austria-Hungary 
are  impossible  for  any  Power,  so  long  as  he  remains  at  the 
head  of  affairs  ;  for  so  long  as  such  methods  remain  unpunished, 
there  is  no  guarantee  that  they  will  not  be  employed  again, 
perhaps  against  some  other  Power  than  Servia.  So  far  as 
Great  Britain  is  concerned,  it  must  be  remembered  that  the 
imaginary  relations  of  Servia  and  Great  Britain  played  an  im- 
portant part  in  the  forged  Report  of  Dr.  Milovanovic.^^^  In 
no  other  country  could  a  Foreign  Minister  have  survived  for 
twenty-four  hours  such  revelations  as  those  of  the  Friedjung  trial, 
still  less  the  surgical  demonstration  of  Professor  Masaryk  ; 
and  the  fact  that  such  a  survival  is  possible  for  eighteen  months 
in  Austria-Hungary,  proves  conclusively  how  inimical  the 
existing  Dual  System  is  to  all  parliamentary  control  of  foreign 
affairs. 

**6  pp.  28-29  in  Dr.  Funder's  dossier.     See  Appendix  XIV. 

320 


DECEIVING  THE  DYNASTY 

In  this  connexion  it  is  no  longer  possible  to  ignore  a  further 
aspect  of  the  whole  scandal,  whose  importance  is  only  equalled 
by  its  delicate  nature.  The  forged  documents  upon  which 
Count  Aehrenthal  relied  to  justify  his  Balkan  policy  in  the 
eyes  of  Europe,  had  a  still  more  sinister  surpose.  It  was 
necessary  to  win  the  approval  of  the  Emperor  and  the  Heir 
Apparent ;  and  no  better  means  could  be  devised  for  winning 
it.  The  venerable  Emperor's  sincere  devotion  to  the  cause 
of  peace  naturally  rendered  him  reluctant  to  sanction  anything 
in  the  nature  of  aggression  and  adventure ;  but  if  it  could  be 
proved  to  him  that  disaffection  and  treachery  were  rife  among 
large  sections  of  his  subjects,  then  he  might  be  induced  to 
consent  to  the  adoption  of  drastic  measures.  Not  a  shadow 
of  blame  can  fall  upon  Francis  Joseph.  A  monarch  may 
surely  be  excused  for  assuming  that  the  documents  submitted 
by  his  ministers  for  his  perusal,  are  genuine.  It  is  not  his 
function  to  test  them,  but  to  draw  from  them  the  necessary 
deductions  and  to  base  upon  them  his  future  course  of  action. 
There  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  Emperor  was  won  over  to 
Count  Aehrenthal's  policy  by  the  tales  of  Pan-Serb  propaganda 
with  which  he  was  primed  ;  just  as  it  is  well  known  that  when 
he  once  realized  the  direction  in  which  matters  were  drifting, 
his  whole  personal  influence  was  exerted  to  repair  blunders 
and  to  preserve  peace. 

Other  tactics  had  to  be  adopted  to  win  the  Archduke  Francis 
Ferdinand.  As  a  younger  and  more  energetic  man,  he  was 
naturally  less  averse  than  his  uncle  to  a  forward  policy,  and 
consequently  more  ready  to  take  the  risks  which  it  involved. 
But  Count  Aehrenthal  and  the  Magyar  statesmen  with  whom 
he  was  in  touch  were  well  aware  that  the  Archduke  regarded 
the  Southern  Slavs  with  sympathy,  as  the  natural  bulwark 
of  Austrian  power  in  the  Balkans.  A  determined  effort  had 
to  be  made  to  undermine  those  sympathies  by  proving  them 
to  be  ill-placed,  to  alienate  the  future  Emperor  from  the  idea 
of  Trialism  by  convicting  the  Southern  Slavs  of  anti-dynastic 
tendencies.  Just  as  the  refusal  of  an  audience  to  the  Dal- 
matian deputies  in  1903  had  rendered  the  Southern  Slavs 
suspicious  of  the  dynasty,  so  the  Heir  Apparent 's  cold  recep- 
tion at  Ragusa  in  1906  **'  had  aroused  in  his  mind  the  first 

**^  On  the  occasion  of  Jthe  Austro-Hungarian  manoeuvres  in  Dalmatia 
in  September,  1906,  the  Heir  Apparent  visited  Ragusa.  Through 
some  muddle,  he  did  not  arrive  at  the  time  arranged,  and  the  ofi&cial 
reception  at  the  harbour  of  Gravosa  consequently  fell  through.     Those 

S.S-Q-  321  Y 


THE  VASIC   FORGERIES  -  . 

doubts  as  to  their  loyalty  and  reliability.  When  we  consider 
how  much  more  formidable  are  the  barriers  which  separate 
members  of  the  House  of  Habsburg  from  their  people  than 
are  those  which  surround  our  own  Royal  family,  we  shall 
easily  realize  that  despite  his  ability  and  political  acumen, 
the  task  of  misleading  the  Archduke  Francis  Ferdinand  was 
by  no  means  hopeless.  Indeed,  nothing  was  better  calculated 
to  succeed  than  the  production  of  a  dossier  of  documents 
proving  treason  and  conspiracy  to  be  rife  among  the  very  race 
in  whom  he  was  disposed  to  trust .*^ 

In  this  connexion  it  is  necessary  to  point  out  that  strategic 
considerations  had  their  influence  upon  the  development  of 
affairs.  The  General  Staff  had  finally  rejected  the  Sandjak 
as  useless,  and  regarded  the  valley  of  the  Morava,  through 
the  heart  of  Servia,  as  the  true  strategic  line  of  advance  upon 
Salonica  ;  and  the  proclamation  of  martial  law  in  Croatia 
would  of  course  have  greatly  simplified  the  task  of  the  military 
authorities  in  the  event  of  complications  with  Servia.  This 
was  also  favoured  by  the  Magyar  Government,  who  would 
have  profited  by  the  opportunity  to  bring  Croatia  to  heel ; 
and  it  is  an  open  secret  that  the  proclamation  would  have 
been  followed  by  the  most  summary  measures  against  the 
most  obnoxious  leaders  of  the  alleged  Pan-Serb  movement. 

In  effect,  Count  Aehrenthal  invited  the  Sovereign  and  the 
Heir  Apparent  to  build  up  their  whole  policy  on  a  substructure 
of  lies  and  gross  fraud.  In  the  Middle  Ages  ministers  have 
lost  their  heads  for  far  less  grave  offences  ;  and  even  to-day, 
if  anything  is  to  be  heard  of  the  mediaeval  charge  of  treason, 

who  had  charge  of  the  programme  made  no  apology  to  the  Mayor  of 
Ragusa,  and  next  day  a  special  audience  was  provided  for  the  head 
of  the  Trieste  police,  but  the  mayor  was  not  received  at  all.  This 
caused  general  offence,  and  the  Heir  Apparent,  who  was  doubtless 
never  informed  of  the  muddle,  was  received  in  dead  silence  by  the 
crowd,  when  he  drove  down  the  Stradone  (the  chief  street  of  Ragusa). 
On  the  other  hand.  Prince  Danilo  of  Montenegro,  who  was  in  Ragusa 
at  the  time,  was  received  with  deafening  cheers.  The  difficulties 
raised  by  the  Hungarian  Government  as  to  the  appointments  of  the 
three  sectional  chiefs  in  Agram  had  already  caused  wide  discontent, 
and  Mr.  Supilo,  in  the  name  of  the  Coalition,  had  warned  Dr.  Wekerle 
that  "  unless  tlie  appointments  were  made  forthwith,  the  reception  of 
the  Imperial  visitor  in  Dalmatia  might  lack  enthusiasm,"  All  this 
is  well  described  in  an  article  entitled  "  Austria- Hungary  and  the 
Southern  Slavs  "  by  the  Vienna  correspondent  of  the  Times  {Times, 
December  31,   1909). 

**^  That  he  also  took  the  authenticity  of  the  "  documents  "  for 
granted,  is  only  natural,  and  cannot  expose  him  to  any  criticism. 

322 


MORALITY  AND  PRESTIGE 

it  should  be  directed,  not  against  the  fifty-three  unhappy 
Serbs  who  languished  so  long  in  the  prisons  of  Agram,  nor 
against  the  much-maligned  leaders  of  the  Croato-Serb  Coalition, 
but  against  the  statesmen  who  deliberately  set  themselves  to 
alienate  the  dynasty  from  one  of  the  chief  races  of  the  Empire, 
and  created  a  situation  in  which  all  constitutional  government 
was  suspended,  and  even  liberty  became  a  mere  farce. 

The  venerable  Emperor  may  be  excused  if  at  the  age  of 
eighty  he  is  satisfied  with  the  aversion  of  a  catastrophe,  and 
if  amid  the  dearth  of  outstanding  statesmen  he  leaves  the 
culprit  at  his  post.  But  the  Heir  Apparent  is  scarcely  likely 
to  forget  the  gross  manner  in  which  he  has  been  imposed  upon. 
He  is  far  too  acute  a  statesman  to  air  his  opinions  on  the 
subject,  and  for  action  he  must  still  wait  ;  but  the  lessons  of 
the  Agram,  Fried]  ung  and  Vasic  trials  can  hardly  have  been 
lost  upon  him,  and  there  is  little  danger  of  his  again  permit- 
ting unscrupulous  statesmen  to  exploit  his  person  for  their  own 
aims.  By  cultivating  a  closer  contact  with  the  people,  he 
will  doubtless  be  able  to  prevent  the  recurrence  of  such 
deception. 

"  Count  Aehrenthal,"  wrote  an  able  Southern  Slav  news- 
paper, "  has  been  forgiven  for  excluding  morality  from  politics. 
Will  he  also  be  forgiven  for  destroying  by  his  tricks  the  repu- 
tation of  the  Monarchy  ?  "  *^^  This  must  not  be  taken  too 
literally.  The  prestige  of  a  great  Empire  cannot  be  destroyed 
by  the  misdeeds  of  a  single  individual ;  but  it  can  indeed 
suffer  temporary  eclipse,  and  so  long  as  its  foreign  policy  is 
conducted  by  Count  Aehrenthal's  method,  this  eclipse  is 
likely  to  continue.  It  is  Austria's  misfortune,  that  despite 
the  enormous  progress  which  she  has  made  during  the  last 
five  years  in  every  department  of  public  life — and  especially 
in  her  conception  of  political  liberty — she  is  still  gravely  handi- 
capped by  the  reactionary  influences  of  the  ruling  oligarchy 
in  Hungary.  These  influences,  more  than  anything  else, 
hamper  the  much-needed  diplomatic  reforms  and  prevent 
the  infusion  of  a  more  healthy  and  modern  spirit  into  the 
realm  of  foreign  politics.  The  introduction  of  Universal 
Suffrage  in  Hungary,  which  is  the  essential  preliminary  to  all 
true  progress  in  the  Habsburg  Monarchy,  cannot  now  be 
delayed  indefinitely,  and  is  likely  to  lead  to  a  revision  of  the 
obsolete  Dual  System.     Meanwhile  the  shortcomings  of  Austro- 

449  jigramer  Taghlatt,  November  lo,   1910. 
323 


THE   VASIC   FORGERIES 

Hungarian  diplomacy  and  the  anachronous  principles  which 
underlie  it,  must  not  blind  us  to  the  fact  that  Austria  is  a 
genuinely  progressive  state,  full  of  new  and  promising  hfe, 
and  that  the  inevitable  changes  of  the  immediate  future  will 
usher  in  a  new  era  in  which  such  events  as  have  been  the 
subject  of  the  present  volume  will  speedily  become  utterly 
impossible. 

The  complete  secret  history  of  the  "  documents "  may 
perhaps  never  be  known.  The  original  charges  against  Mr. 
Supilo  had,  as  we  have  already  seen,  appeared  in  the  organ 
of  the  Frank  party,  under  the  pseudonym  of  Argus,  as  early 
as  the  autumn  of  1905.  In  Agram  their  authorship  is  generally 
credited  to  a  certain  individual  named  Pj  erotic,  who  has  for 
some  years  past  played  a  mysterious  part  behind  the  scenes 
of  Southern  Slav  politics,  and  with  whom  the  leaders  of  the 
Frank  party  have  latterly  broken  off  all  relations.'*^''  That 
the  forgers  of  the  Friedjung  "  documents  "  used  the  articles 
of  Argus  as  a  groundwork,  is  hardly  open  to  doubt,  especially 
to  those  who  have  compared  the  latter  with  the  former.  That 
even  a  considerable  time  before  the  Annexation  mysterious 
forces  were  at  work  in  Budapest,  in  Agram,  in  Vienna,  to 
undermine  Mr.  Supilo's  influence,  will  be  obvious  to  those 
who  remember  the  ominous  incident  which  I  have  related 
on  page  301.  This  view  is  strikingly  confirmed  by  the  admis- 
sion of  Lieutenant-Field-Marshal  Steeb,  that  the  nature  of 
the  charges  against  Mr.  Supilo  had  been  known  to  the  Emperor 
himself  before  the  beginning  of  1908.*^'- 

The  direct  influence  of  the  Ranch  Government  on  the  High 
Treason  trial  and  also  upon  the  intrigues  which  preceded 
the  Friedjung   trial,   has   also   been   established   beyond   all 

*^°  Their  enemies  of  course  assert  that  they  acted  mala  fide  ;  but 
there  is  no  reason  why  they  should  not  have  been  the  victims  of  an 
imposture.  They  at  any  rate  recognized  the  Friedjung  documents 
to  be  forgeries,  from  the  first  day  on  which  they  became  known  in 
Agram.  One  of  their  leaders  has  described  to  me  how  one  editor  of 
Hrvatsho  Pravo,  on  reading  through  the  "  documents,"  at  once  pointed 
out  to  his  colleagues  the  impossible  nature  of  their  contents.  My 
informant  told  me  that  he  had  himself  warned  Dr.  Friedjung  that 
he  was  the  victim  of  a  Balkan  gang. 

*^i  This  officer  made  the  statement  to  Mirko  v.  Pisacic  in  August, 
1908  ;  the  latter  published  the  information  in  a  pamphlet  which  has 
never  been  contradicted.  Steeb's  relationship  to  Baron  Rauch  makes 
the  incident  all  the  more  significant. 

324 


POLICE  INTRIGUES 

question.  We  have  already  had  occasion  to  refer  to  the 
relations  which  existed  between  the  Croatian  Chief  of  Police, 
Mr.  Sporcic  and  the  informer  Nastic — relations  which  went 
far  beyond  the  precautions  demanded  by  interests  of  state, 
and  indeed,  according  to  Professor  Masaryk's  positive  asser- 
tion,*^ ^  actually  went  so  far  as  an  order  to  the  juge  d' instruction 
for  a  modification  of  the  evidence  given  by  Nastic  at  the  pre- 
liminary inquiry.  These  relations,  however,  are  best  summed 
up  in  the  words  of  a  leading  article  in  Agramer  Taghlatt  (March 
15,  1911),  entitled  "  Anarchy  from  Above  " — an  article  which 
Mr.  Sporcid  has  not  dared  to  challenge.  "  He  (Sporcic),"  it 
says,  "  has  sent  them  (i.e.  Nastic  and  other  kindred  spirits) 
thousands  of  crowns  in  order  to  get  articles  into  Austrian,  Hun- 
garian and  German  papers,  articles  of  political  bearing,  in 
closest  connexion  with  the  High  Treason  trial.  He  has  gone 
still  further.  He  has  had  meetings  with  the  Crown  witness 
Nastic  before  his  examination  in  that  trial ;  he  informed 
him  when  to  come  to  Agram  and  gave  him  advice  how  to  con- 
duct himself  there ;  he  sent  him  the  Public  Prosecutor's 
indictment  and  wrote  him  a  letter  in  which  he  says  that  he — 
the  Chief  of  Police — has  made  inquiries  *  at  the  Court '  {heim 
Gerichte),  whether  it  would  be  well  if  Nastic  in  a  forthcoming 
pamphlet  (which  however  did  not  appear)  were  to  reply  to 
the  speech  made  by  Professor  Masaryk  during  the  High  Treason 
trial  in  the  Austrian  Parliament ;  and  that  he — the  Chief  of 
Police — was  informed  '  at  the  Court  '  that  it  would  be  better 
if  Nastic  kept  what  he  had  to  say  of  Masaryk's  speech,  for 
his  cross-examination  at  the  trial." 

There  were  the  very  best  of  reasons  why  Sporcic  could  take 
no  action  against  such  an  article  ;  for  it  was  merely  based 
upon  the  original  correspondence  of  Sporcic,  Nastic  and  the 
journalists  Steinhardt  and  Mandl,  which  had  been  laid  before 
the  Croatian  Diet  by  Dr.  Srgjan  Budisavljevic  the  day  before, 
and  which  caused  a  profound  sensation  throughout  Croatia. ^^^ 


*"  Masaryk,  op.  cit.  p.  88  [Ich  weiss  sehr  genau).  It  is  hardly  neces- 
sary to  point  out  that  Professor  Masaryk  still  has  a  good  many  reve- 
lations in  reserve. 

*^^  How  Dr.  Budisavljevic  obtained  possession  of  these  docu- 
ments I  have  no  idea  ;  can  they  have  been  bought  from  Nastic 
after  he  had  been  cast  off  by  the  authorities  in  Vienna  and  Agram  ? 
Their  contents  throw  a  hideous  light  upon  the  dark  corners  of  the 
stage.  In  one  letter,  dated  February  28,  igog  (the  week  before  the 
Agram  trial  opened),  Sporcic  tells  Nastic  that  he  is  sending  him  150 

325 


THE  VASIC  FORGERIES 

(Needless  to  say,  Count  Aehrenthal's  inspired  press  took  care 
that  little  was  heard  of  them  in  Austria.)  That  Sporcic 
simply  acted  upon  superior  orders  in  distributing  money  to 
spies  and  "  journalists,"  was  abundantly  clear  ;  and  Baron 
Ranch  was  openly  accused  in  the  Sabor  of  having  inspired 
the  whole  intrigue.  That  Baron  Ranch's  policy  was  directly 
inspired  from  Vienna  and  Budapest,  he  himself  would  not 
be  concerned  to  deny. 

A  further  proof  of  Rauch's  connexion  with  the  forgeries 
was  the  Kandt  incident,  exposed  by  the  Croat  Progressive 
deputy  Professor  Surmin,  on  March  6,  1909,  in  the  Hungarian 
Parliament.  Baron  Ranch  had  from  the  moment  of  his 
appointment  as  Ban,  laboured  to  compromise  the  Croato- 
Serb  Coalition,  and  one  of  the  methods  which  he  employed 
was  to  commission  a  self-styled  "  journalist  "  named  Max 
Kandt  to  collect  material  against  the  Coalition  leaders.  In 
the  year  following  February,  1908,  this  individual  is  believed 
to  have  received  7,000  crowns  for  the  "  documents  "  which 
he  supplied,  to  say  nothing  of  payments  from  Mr.  Accurti, 
the  Public  Prosecutor.  Professor  Surmin  was  able  to  put  a 
stop   to   the   intrigue,   by  sketching   in  his  interpellation,  ^* 

crowns  and  a  copy  of  the  indictment,  bids  him  talk  over  with  Steinhardt 
the  matter  of  newspaper  articles  and  to  try  "  to  get  Mandl  also,"  and 
says  that  he  (the  Chief  of  Police)  will  come  to  Vienna  if  necessary  for  a 
talk  (with  Nastic  the  Crown  witness)  !  A  letter  dated  April  21,  1909, 
to  Carl  Langer  in  Vienna,  says  that  he  already  has  the  money,  but 
cannot  send  it  through  the  Agram  post  without  arousing  suspicion  ! 
and  asks  Mandl  not  to  publish  any  article  without  previous  intimation. 
Another  letter,  dated  April  20,  1909,  and  signed  "  Nikola,"  refers  with 
visible  annoyance  to  the  statement  just  published  by  the  Croatian 
Press,  that  the  writer  had  "  conferred  with  you  in  Pest,  and  that  we 
went  together  with  His  Excellency  to  Vienna."  "  Tell  me  if  these 
lies  come  from  Mandl.  Or  did  Steinhardt  blab  ?"  (cf.  p.  172).  In 
a  letter  of  May  23,  Sporcic  says  that  as  he  cannot  write  all  he  has  to 
say,  he  will  arrive  in  Vienna  on  the  26th,  and  stop  at  Ronacher's  under 
the  name  of  Stefanovic.  He  sends  100  crowns  for  Steinhardt's  railway 
expenses.  In  an  unsigned  letter  of  May  29,  the  same  writer  refers 
to  Nastic's  projected  pamphlet,  and  the  idea  of  mentioning  in  it  their 
journey  together  from  Pest  to  Vienna  and  Agram.  "  I  have  inquired 
at  the  Court,  whether  it  would  be  well  to  write  about  this  just  now 
and  I  was  told  that  it  would  not  be  good,  for  it  would  be  best  that  it 
should  come  up  first  in  court."  Most  of  the  other  letters  are  from 
Steinhardt  to  Nastic  or  to  Mandl — some  being  signed  under  false 
names — and  deal  with  cash  payments. 

*"  See  report  of  interpellation,  March  7,  1909.  See  also  Leopold 
Mandl,  Oesterreich-Ungarn  und  Serbien,  p.  46  (the  official  apologist 
for  Aehrenthal).     He  states  as  a  fact,  that  Ranch  bought  a  secret 

326 


"A  MORAL  MORASS" 

the  methods  adopted  by  Kandt,  in  conjunction  with  a  certain 
Kukic  and  a  photographer  called  Simic.  He  actually  pro- 
duced Kandt's  money  receipts,  and  certain  letters  of  Kukic 
reporting  to  Kandt  the  result  of  his  journeys  of  inquiry. 

Yet  another  intrigue  in  Agram  came  to  light  at  the  time 
of  Professor  Masaryk's  Delegation  speeches.  Just  as  a  con- 
nexion had  been  established  between  Nastic  and  the  military 
authorities  in  Bosnia  (see  note  272),  so  now  a  connexion  was 
established  between  the  forger  Vasic  and  the  General-Com- 
mando in  Agram.  Vasic,  when  sent  to  Agram  in  February, 
1910,  at  the  instance  of  the  Belgrad  Legation,  went  to  Captain 
Cvitas,  an  officer  of  the  Agram  garrison,  visited  the  theatre 
in  his  company,  and  actually  lodged  with  him  during  part 
of  his  stay.  Captain  Cvitas,  so  far  from  denying  this,  admitted 
that  he  had  placed  Vasic  under  observation  from  the  moment 
of  his  arrival  in  Agram  (in  other  words,  before  the  fellow 
announced  himself)  and  that  in  doing  so  he  merely  acted  on 
the  orders  of  his  superiors.  The  only  possible  inference  is 
that  the  military  authorities  in  Croatia  had  their  share  in  the 
game  of  intrigue,  and  were  acting  in  collusion  with  the  Belgrad 
Legation.  It  had  already  transpired  that  the  General  Staff 
in  Vienna  was  basing  its  plans  upon  the  information  of  Vasic 
and  other  spies,  the  genuine  portions  of  which  were  calculated 
as  a  bait  to  secure  acceptance  of  the  false.  In  short,  it  is 
virtually  certain  that  Vasic  was  playing  fast  and  loose  with 
both  the  Austro-Hungarian  and  Servian  authorities,  and 
betraying  each  according  to  his  fancy.  Such  a  game  would 
not  have  lasted  very  long,  even  if  Vasic  had  been  a  genius 
instead  of  a  man  of  very  limited  intelligence.  Yet  at  a  critical 
moment  in  the  relations  of  the  two  countries,  he  definitely 
succeeded  in  leading  the  Austrian  General  Staff  upon  a  false 
trail ;  and  in  the  event  of  war,  the  result  might  have  been  very 
serious. 

It  seemed  advisable  to  describe  in  considerable  detail  the 
odious  methods  which  underlay  Count  Aehrenthal's  policy 
of  annexation ;  for  without  detailed  treatment  the  whole 
story  might  well  seem  to  be  incredible.  The  reader  is  now 
in  a  position  to  understand  the  heartfelt  exclamation  of  the 
Christian  Socialist  deputy  Hrvoj  in  the  Croatian  Diet,  "  We 
do  not  want  to  live  any  longer  in  a  moral  morass."  *^^     For- 

dossier  of  documents  from  "  Kandt  alias  Kohn."    On  the  same  page  he 
describes  Ranch  as  "an  honourable  cavaher." 

*"  See  Agramer  TagblaU,  March  14,  191 1.    A  Southern  Slav  politician 

327 


THE  VASIC  FORGERIES 

tunately  the  bankruptcy  of  the  PoUce  State  has  been  pro- 
claimed before  the  eyes  of  Europe  :  organized  diplomatic 
theft  is  recognized  to  be  an  anachronism  in  the  twentieth 
century  ;  and  all  honest  men  will  echo  the  words  of  the  ultra- 
loyal  Austrian  Armee-Zeiiung,  "  Zum  Teufel  mit  dem  Spitzel- 
system  "  (To  the  devil  with  the  pohce  spies). 

in  conversation  with  the  present  writer,  used  a  still  more  drastic  expres- 
sion, reproaching  Count  Aehrenthal  for  his  "  dunghill  policy." 


32« 


CHAPTER    XIII 

Magyar   Railway   Policy 

THE  desperate  quarrels  so  frequently  kindled  in  Austria- 
Hungary  by  such  apparent  trifles  as  the  inscription 
over  an  office,  the  address  of  a  post-bag,  or  the  coloured  ribbons 
worn  by  a  child,  seem  merely  ludicrous  to  the  foreigner,  who 
is  unaware  of  the  importance  of  external  trappings  in  a  country 
where  each  race  upholds  a  rival  theory  of  constitutional  law. 
But  that  the  quarrel  between  the  Magyar  and  Croato-Serb 
Coalitions  originated  over  the  provisions  of  a  Railway  Bill, 
was  no  mere  accident ;  for  underlying  the  whole  struggle  is 
the  fact  that  the  Railway  Policy  which  Budapest  has  advo- 
cated and  enforced  for  many  years  past,  is  the  chief  factor  in 
checking  Croatia's  natural  economic  development,  and  hence 
also  the  political  development  of  the  Southern  Slavs. 

The  whole  railway  system  of  Croatia-Slavonia  is  exploited 
in  the  selfish  interests  of  Budapest,  to  which  the  most  crying 
needs  of  the  country  itself  are  deliberately  sacrificed.  A  glance 
at  any  railway  map  of  Europe  will  show  that  Croatia  only  con- 
tains two  railways  which  can  be  described  as  main  lines — that 
from  Gyekenyes  via  Agram  to  Fiume,  and  that  from  Zombor 
via  Dalja  to  Bosnisch-Brod.  The  former  links  Budapest  with 
the  sea,  the  latter  links  Budapest  with  Bosnia.  Everything 
has  been  done  to  connect  agricultural  Croatia  with  its  most 
formidable  agricultural  rival,  Hungary,  and  to  hamper  its 
connexions  with  its  best  customers  in  Carniola,  Carinthia  and 
Styria. 

The  connexions  between  Agram  and  Budapest  are  excellent, 
because  Agram  of  necessity  lies  on  the  main  line  from  the 
Hungarian  capital  to  Fiume.  The  connexions  between  Agram 
and  Vienna  are  wretched,  every  effort  being  made  to  keep 
Croatia  and  Austria  apart.  Between  Fiume  and  Agram — a 
distance  of  142  miles — there  is  no  branch  line  of  any  kind 
leading  towards  Austria.     Yet  a  connexion  is  badly  needed 

329 


MAGYAR  RAILWAY   POLICY 

between  Laibach,  the  capital  of  Carniola,  and  the  town  of 
Karlovac  (Karlstadt),  on  this  very  line  ;  and  though  Karlovac  is 
the  chief  market  of  Western  Croatia  and  a  centre  for  agricultural 
produce,  and  though  Austria  has  built  her  share  of  the  neces- 
sary line  as  far  as  Rudolfswerth,  work  has  not  even  been  com- 
menced on  the  Croatian  side  of  the  frontier.  The  explanation 
is  very  simple  :  the  Hungarian  Ministry  of  Commerce  does  not 
wish  to  encourage  trade  and  intercourse  between  Croatia  and 
the  Slovene  districts. 

From  Agram  itself  a  branch  railway  connects  with  Stein- 
briick,  a  junction  of  the  Austian  Siidbahn  situated  in  the  upper 
valley  of  the  Save  between  Cilli  and  Laibach.  But  though 
trains  do  run  on  this  line  in  connexion  with  the  most  import- 
ant express  trains  between  Vienna  and  Trieste,  they  are 
wretchedly  slow,  taking  two  hours  and  a  half  where  less  than 
two-thirds  of  the  time  would  not  be  rapid  travelling. 

A  more  direct  route  from  Agram  to  Graz,  Vienna  and  the 
chief  Austrian  towns  is  that  via  Zapresic  and  Krapina  to 
Pragerhof  on  the  main  Siidbahn  south  of  Marburg.  On  the 
Austrian  side  of  the  frontier  the  line  has  been  carried  as  far  as 
the  growing  watering-place  of  Rohitsch  ;  but  the  nine  miles 
of  line  still  necessary  to  connect  Rohitsch  with  Krapina,  have 
purposely  not  been  built  by  the  Hungarian  Ministry  of 
Commerce. 

Until,  then,  this  much-needed  route  is  completed,  the  sole 
alternative  routes  from  Agram  to  Vienna  are  that  via  Stein- 
briick  and  that  via  Gyekenyes,  Nagy-Kanizsa,  Szombathely 
(Steinamanger),  Sopron  (Oedenburg),  Wiener  -  Neustadt. 
Yet  incredible  as  it  may  seem,  there  is  no  express  train  con- 
nexion on  this  line  during  the  daytime  ;  it  is  necessary  either 
to  leave  Agram  after  midnight,  or  to  start  early  in  the  morning 
by  an  extremely  slow  train,  which  crawls  until  it  reaches 
Magyar  territory.  Even  then  there  is  a  delay  of  over  an  hour 
at  Nagy-Kanizsa  before  a  quick  train  can  be  had  ;  with  the 
result  that  the  tiresome  journey  to  Vienna  has  been  prolonged 
three  or  four  hours  longer  than  need  have  been  the  case. 

Meanwhile  the  direct  route,  which  would  materially  shorten 
the  journey  from  Agram  to  Vienna,  is  also  awaiting  Magyar 
pleasure.  In  Austrian  territory  from  Wiener  Neustadt  to 
Aspang,  Friedberg,  Fehring  the  line  already  exists  ;  but  from 
Fehring  southwards  to  Varazdin  no  pretence  has  been  made  at 
building  it. 

In  short,  the  settled  policy  of  Budapest  is  to  discourage  inter- 

330 


CROATIA  AND  A  NEW  ROUTE  TO  THE  EAST 

course  between  Croatia  and  Austria,  and  to  tempt  those  travel- 
lers to  whom  ease  and  comfort  appeal,  to  make  the  long  detour 
through  Budapest,  rather  than  follow  the  direct  and  natural 
route. 

The  connexions  of  Agram  eastwards  to  Belgrad  are  somewhat 
better  :  there  are  at  least  quick  trains  and  through-carriages. 
But  Magyar  opposition  has  hitherto  prevented  one  of  the  great 
international  routes  from  passing  through  Agram.  Since  the 
opening  of  the  Simplon  tunnel,  the  shortest  route  from  Paris 
to  Belgrade  and  Constantinople  would  be  via  Lausanne,  Milan, 
Verona,  Venice,  Trieste,  Laibach,  Agram.  Over  loo  kilo- 
meters would  thus  be  saved.  The  Paris-Lyon-Mediterranee 
had  already  accepted  the  scheme,  when  it  was  blocked  by  the 
Magyar  authorities  insisting  upon  the  new  route  touching 
Fiume.  It  is  true  that  this  modification  while  excluding 
Laibach  from  the  benefits  of  the  scheme  would  not  affect 
Agram  and  would  not  increase  the  mileage  of  the  route.  But 
on  the  other  hand  the  configuration  of  the  country  between 
Trieste  and  Agram  supplies  a  fatal  objection.  From  Trieste 
the  new  express  would  have  to  climb  steadily  as  far  as  St. 
Peter-in-Karst,  from  which  point  via  Laibach  and  Steinbriick 
to  Agram  the  gradients  present  no  difficulty  whatever.  In 
order  to  go  by  Fiume,  however,  the  express  would  still  have  to 
climb  to  St.  Peter,  but  would  then  be  compelled  to  descend 
again  steadily  to  the  level  of  the  Adriatic  at  Fiume  and  then 
to  mount  once  more  to  a  height  of  several  thousand  feet  to 
Ogulin,  before  it  could  descend  from  the  mountainous  Karst 
to  Agram  and  the  plain  of  the  Save.  From  a  financial  point 
of  view  the  diversion  of  the  route  to  Fiume  was  a  fatal  objection 
to  the  whole  scheme  :  and  when  the  Magyars  suggested  that 
the  passengers  should  be  shipped  from  Trieste  to  Fiume,  it 
became  obvious  that  they  were  trifling  with  the  idea,  and  it 
collapsed  altogether. 

But  it  is  when  we  turn  to  consider  the  connexions  of  Croatia 
with  Dalmatia  and  Bosnia,  that  the  full  enormity  of  the  situa- 
tion becomes  apparent.  The  Magyars  have  consistently 
opposed  the  building  of  any  railway  into  Dalmatia,  and  thus 
to  this  day  the  greater  part  of  the  latter  province  is  inaccessi- 
ble to  the  rest  of  Europe  by  rail  and  can  only  be  reached  by 
steamer.  Austria  is  cut  off  from  her  southernmost  province 
by  the  Western  half  of  Croatia,  and  for  many  years  supinely 
tolerated  this  situation,  despite  the  repeated  protests  of  the 
Dalmatians    themselves.     When    the    commercial  I"  Ausgleich 

331 


MAGYAR   RAILWAY   POLICY 

between  Austria  and  Hungary  was  renewed  in  the  winter  of 
1907,  a  special  clause  was  inserted,  binding  Hungary  to  push 
on  the  necessary  work  for  a  railway  extension  from  Ogulin,  on 
the  main  line  between  Fiume  and  Agram,  and  Knin,  the  most 
northerly  point  of  the  local  Dalmatian  railway.  But  since 
then,  Hungary  has  made  no  effort  to  execute  its  pledges  ;  the 
railway  is  no  nearer  completion  than  it  was  four  years  ago,  and 
the  Austrian  Government,  in  spite  of  speeches  and  official 
statements  in  the  Reichsrat,  has  been  too  weak-kneed  to  hold 
Hungary  to  its  bargain.  Dalmatia  remains  isolated  from 
Europe,  and  suffers  accordingly ;  a  vital  link  in  the  chain 
of  Croato-Serb  unity  remains  unforged,  and  Southern  Croatia  is 
stagnant  and  neglected. 

At  present  only  two  railway  lines  enter  Bosnia  from  the 
north.  The  older  route,  crossing  the  frontier  at  Doberlin, 
connects  Agram  with  Banjaluka,  the  third  largest  town  in  the 
annexed  provinces.  It  was  originally  constructed  by  the 
Turks,  as  the  commencement  of  a  strategic  line  connecting  the 
Bosnian  frontier  with  the  Aegean.  Like  so  many  Turkish 
projects,  it  was  abandoned  long  before  its  completion,  and 
Banjaluka  remained  a  terminus.  Though  the  distance  by  rail 
from  Agram  to  Banjaluka  is  only  133  miles,  it  involves  a  jour- 
ney of  eight  or  nine  hours  !  The  direct  route  from  Agram  and 
Austria  to  Sarajevo  thus  rem^ains  incomplete,  owing  to  the 
absence  of  a  railway  connexion  along  the  defile  of  the  River 
Vrbas,  from  Banjaluka  to  Jajce  ;  and  this  is  mainly  due  to  the 
influence  of  the  Hungarian  Government,  which  has  known  how 
to  prevent  the  erection  of  a  line  which  would  tend  to  direct 
Bosnian  traffic  away  from  Budapest. 

The  other  entrance  to  Bosnia  is  by  Bosnisch-Brod,  on  the 
River  Save,  and  on  the  main  line  between  Agram  and  Belgrad. 
Here  passengers  must  change  onto  the  narrow-gauge  railway 
which  leads  to  the  Bosnian  capital,  Sarajevo.  Travellers  from 
Vienna  and  the  West  find  it  easier  and  quicker  to  go  to  Bosnia 
through  Budapest,  though  that  is  far  from  being  the  shortest 
route  in  mere  mileage  :  both  trains  and  tariffs  are  arranged  in 
such  a  way  as  to  divert  as  much  traffic  as  possible  through 
Budapest,  and  in  this  case  Croatia  suffers  very  materially. 
Not  long  ago  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  in  Agram  urged  the 
Siidbahn  and  the  Bosnian  railways  to  arrange  a  new  express 
train  service  to  connect  Graz  with  Sarajevo,  via  Steinbriick, 
Agram  and  Brod,  on  the  ground  that  under  present  conditions 
it  is  virtually  necessary  to  go   from  Graz  to  Sarajevo   via 

332 


BOSNIA  AND  DALMATIA  ISOLATED  BY  THE  MAGYARS 

Budapest,  a  detour  of  about  200  miles.  Both  railways  readily 
entertained  the  idea,  but  the  Hungarian  Ministry  of  Commerce 
withheld  its  consent,  on  the  ground  of  special  interests. 
This  incident  helps  to  explain  the  badness  of  the  railway 
connexions  between  Agram  and  Vienna. 

Meanwhile,  the  most  pressing  railway  connexions  between 
Bosnia  and  Dalmatia  have  hitherto  been  frustrated  in  the  same 
manner.  The  Bosnian  railway  runs  southwards  from  Sara- 
jevo to  Mostar  and  then  through  the  defile  of  the  Narenta  to  the 
fever-swamps  of  Metkovic  ;  but  it  does  not  reach  a  port  worthy 
of  the  name  until  it  arrives  at  Gravosa,  the  harbour  of  Ragusa. 
Meanwhile,  the  rising  seaport  of  Spalato,  in  Central  Dalmatia, 
has  no  railway  connexion  with  its  natural  Hinterland  in 
Bosnia  :  and  indeed,  with  the  exception  of  Ragusa  and  Cattaro, 
the  situation  of  Dalmatia  in  respect  of  trade-routes  with  the 
interior  is  relatively  far  more  unfavourable  than  it  was  in  the 
Middle  Ages.  Then  it  could  boast  as  good  highroads  of  com- 
munication as  the  rest  of  South-East  Europe  :  now  it  is  fatally 
handicapped  by  the  lack  of  what  all  its  neighbours  enjoy. 
The  need  for  an  extension  of  the  Spalato-Sinj  railway  across 
the  Bosnian  frontier  via  Arzano-Livno  to  the  present  terminus 
in  Bugojno,  has  long  been  apparent  to  the  Dalmatians,  but  the 
supine  attitude  of  the  Austrian  and  Bosnian  Governments  has 
hitherto  allowed  them  to  clamour  for  it  in  vain.  But  we  shall 
not  go  far  wrong  in  ascribing  this  delay  at  least  in  part  to  the 
influence  of  the  Magyars,  who  know  that  Spalato-Sinj -Bugojno 
would  inevitably  lead  to  Spalato-Knin-Ogulin  and  are  anxious 
to  maintain  Dalmatia  and  Croatia  in  their  present  isolation. 
Good  railway  connexions  would  naturally  involve  closer  inter- 
course between  the  various  Southern  Slav  provinces,  and  would 
thus  foster  the  movement  in  favour  of  political  union.  Hence 
it  is  considered  necessary  in  Budapest  to  maintain  as  long  as 
possible  the  present  anomalous  position,  by  which  the  journey 
from  Spalato  to  Banjaluka  actually  takes  44  hours,  although 
the  distance  could  be  covered  by  a  quick  train  in  3  or  4  hours. 

The  tariff  system  is  conducted  on  similar  principles.  Every 
effort  is  made  to  concentrate  trade  and  commerce  in  Budapest 
and  to  hinder  Croatia's  commercial  progress  towards  the  East 
and  still  more  towards  the  West.  The  unfair  results  of  this 
essentially  Magyar  tariff  are  best  illustrated  by  a  comparison 
of  the  situation  of  Agram  and  Fiume — the  Croatian  capital 
and  the  Magyar  seaport.  A  few  examples  will  suffice.  From 
the  station  of  Novska  the  transport  of  a  truck  containing  food- 

333 


'   "  MAGYAR  RAILWAY   POLICY 

stuffs  to  the  amount  of  10,000  kilograms,  costs  331  crowns  as 
far  as  Fiume — a  distance  of  347  kilometers,  whereas  to  Agram, 
a  distance  of  only  220  kilometers,  it  costs  348  crowns,  or  17 
crowns  more  for  the  shorter  distance.  The  tariff  for  a  similar 
truck  between  Osijek  (Essek)  and  Agram — a  distance  of  317 
kilometers — is  365  crowns,  but  between  Osijek  and  Fiume — a 
distance  of  534  kilometers — it  is  only  341  crowns,  or  24  crowns 
less  for  the  longer  distance. 

In  order  to  divert  Croatian  timber  to  Budapest,  instead  of  the 
sawmills  of  Croatia,  the  tariff  has  been  manipulated  in  the  most 
incredible  manner.  For  example,  the  distance  from  Brod  (an 
important  timber-centre)  to  Dugoselo  (a  large  Croatian  saw- 
mill) is  recorded  in  the  tariff  as  330  kilometers  and  the  distance 
from  Brod  to  Budapest  as  366  kilometers.  In  reality  Brod  is 
only  171  kilometers  from  Dugoselo  ;  but  the  compilers  have 
reckoned  the  distance  by  all  kinds  of  roundabout  side-routes. 
Obviously  the  wood  merchants  of  Brod  are  driven  by  this  trick 
to  send  their  wood  to  Budapest  rather  than  select  a  route  which 
is  so  unnaturally  expensive.  Similar  examples  could  be  given 
of  the  devices  by  which  goods  from  Budapest  are  placed  at  an 
advantage  over  Croatian  goods  in  Croatia  itself  ;  while  in 
Herzegovina  it  is  sometimes  cheaper  to  send  goods  from  Bosnia 
by  way  of  Budapest  than  by  the  direct  route  !  The  railway 
tariff  has  been  drawn  up  with  the  deliberate  intention  of 
hampering  Croatian  exports  and  leaving  a  free  field  to  Hungarian 
industry. 

Croatian  public  opinion  has  gradually  become  alive  to  the 
fact  that  the  country  is  exploited  economically  by  Hungary  and 
prevented  from  developing  its  natural  export  trade  with  Austria 
and  Italy.  This  exploitation  renders  still  more  imperative  the 
need  for  Croato-Serb  Unity,  for  joint  action  against  Magyar 
aggression.  By  helping  the  Southern  Slavs  in  their  economic 
struggle,  Austria  would  be  helping  those  with  whom  her  own 
economic  interests  are  identical,  and  would  be  paving  the  way 
for  Austrian  economic  influence  throughout  the  Balkans.  The 
whole  Southern  Slav  world  is  at  present  the  victim  of  a  selfish 
policy  of  monopoly  and  favouritism  directed  from  Budapest. 
It  rests  with  Austria  to  put  an  end  to  this  economic  thraldom. 


334 


CHAPTER    XIV 

Croat   and    Serb  —  The   Problem   of  Unity 

"Er  sah   (die  Besten  Oesterreichs)    verdorren    am    Felsgnind    des 
Unglaubens  an  eine  bessere  Zeit." — 

Rudolf  Hans  Bartsch. 

IN  the  present  volume  I  have  attempted  to  summarize,  for 
the  first  time  in  English,  the  history  of  the  Croat  and  Serb 
race  under  the  sway  of  the  House  of  Habsburg,  and  to  treat  in 
greater  detail  the  constitutional  position  of  the  Triune  King- 
dom of  Croatia-Slavonia-Dalmatia,  its  theoretical  relations  to 
the  Crown  of  St.  Stephen  and  its  practical  relations  to  the 
Hungarian  Government.  The  fulfilment  of  this  task  led 
inevitably  to  an  account  of  the  part  played  by  Croatia  in  the 
Bosnian  Crisis  and  the  political  scandals  which  followed  in  its 
train.  The  reader  is  thus  in  a  position  to  judge  of  the  import- 
ance of  the  Southern  Slav  question  in  its  bearings  upon  Aus- 
trian policy  in  the  Balkans  and  upon  the  balance  of  power 
within  the  Monarchy  itself.  In  the  following  pages,  therefore, 
I  shall  confine  myself  to  a  general  survey  of  the  problem,  leav- 
ing it  as  far  as  possible  to  the  reader  himself  to  point  the  moral 
and  adorn  the  tale. 

The  problem  of  Croato-Serb  Unity  may  be  described  without 
exaggeration  as  the  decisive  problem  of  the  Habsburg  Monar- 
chy ;  for  it  supplies  the  eventual  key  alike  to  external  and  to 
internal  policy.  On  the  one  hand,  no  forward  policy  on  the 
part  of  Austria  can  succeed,  which  ignores  the  wishes  and 
aspirations  of  the  eight  million  Southern  Slavs  who  now  own 
Habsburg  sway ;  while  on  the  other  hand,  they  occupy  a 
position  which  would  enable  them,  under  certain  circum- 
stances, to  destroy  the  internal  balance  upon  which  the  Dual 
System  rests,  by  throwing  their  whole  influence  upon  the  side 
of  Austria  or  of  Hungary. 

The  situation  of  the  Southern  Slavs  illustrates  in  a  striking 
manner  the  old  conflict  between  history  and  geography.     A 

335 


CROAT  AND  SERB— THE  PROBLEM  OF  UNITY 

wide  territory  which  forms  a  natural  geographical  unit  and  is 
peopled   by   a   homogeneous   population,   speaking   a   single 
language,  has  been  split  up  by  an  unkindly  fate  into  a  large 
number  of  purely  artificial  fragments.     Passing  these    frag- 
ments in  brief  review,  we  find  that  Croatia-Slavonia  forms  an 
autonomous  kingdom  under  the  Crown  of  Hungary  :  Dalmatia 
and  Istria  are  two  provinces  of  the  Austrian  Empire,  each  with 
its  separate  Diet  and  administration  ;  the  town  of  Fiume  forms 
an  unit  of  its  own,  under  a  Governor  appointed  direct  from 
Budapest ;    close  upon  500,000  Serbs  inhabit  the  three  most 
southerly  counties  of  Hungary  proper  :  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina 
are  administered  jointly  by  Austria  and  Hungary  with  a  pro- 
vincial Government  and  Diet  in  Sarajevo  :   Servia  and  Monte- 
negro form  two  independent  kingdoms,  while  Old  Servia  is 
the  most  northerly  vilayet  of  European  Turkey.     This  intoler- 
able situation  has  naturally  been  rendered  more  acute  than 
ever  by  economic  developments  and  by  the  changed  conditions 
of  life  in  the  twentieth  century.     Political  boundaries  hamper 
the  progress  of  the  race  at  every  turn,  and  serve  as  a  handicap 
in  favour  of  its  rivals,  notably  the  Magyars,  the  Bulgarians  and 
even  the  more  backward  Albanians.     Thus  for  purely  economic 
reasons  the  ground  was  ready  for  a  movement  towards  national 
unity,  even  if  national  feeling  had  been  entirely  dead,  and  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  so  far  from  being  dead,  it  is  growing  in  intensity. 
The  movement  in  favour  of  Croato-Serb  Unity  has  many 
obstacles  to  surmount,  and  the  backward  state  of  the  country 
and  the  people  may  delay  its  achievement.     But  as  surely  as 
Germany  and  Italy  have  won  their  liberty  and  unity,  so  surely 
will  it  be  won  by  the  Croato-Serb  race.     The  real  problem  is  the 
manner  of  its  achievement ;  and  here  we  are  at  once  faced  by 
two  alternatives.     Unity  can  be  attained  either  inside  or  out- 
side the  Habsburg  Monarchy,  either  by  the  latter's  aid  and 
under  its  auspice^,  or  in  defiance  of  its  opposition.     Let  us 
consider  the  latter  alternative  first. 

The  Pan-Serb  ideal  may  be  briefly  defined  as  the  union  of  all 
members  of  the  Serb  and  Croat  race  under  the  sceptre  of  the 
Karageorgevitch  dynasty,  with  Belgrad  as  the  capital  of  the 
new  state.  That  this  ideal  should  appeal  to  the  Chauvinists 
of  the  Servian  Kingdom  is  natural  enough  ;  but  no  one  who 
has  had  an  opportunity  of  comparing  Belgrad  and  Agram  need 
make  the  mistake  of  supposing  that  it  could  be  greeted  with 
enthusiasm  by  any  Croat,  or  even  by  educated  Serbs  within  the 
Monarchy.     The  triumph  of  the  Pan-Serb  idea  would  mean  the 

336 


THE  PAN-SERB   IDEA 

triumph  of  Eastern  over  Western  culture,  and  would  be  a  fatal 
blow  to  progress  and  modern  development  throughout  the 
Balkans, 

But  even  if  for  the  moment  we  assume  that  the  fulfilment  of 
Pan-Serb  dreams  is  desirable,  we  must  consider  the  steps  by 
which  it  could  be  attained.  It  is  obvious  that  Servia  cannot 
hope  to  obtain  by  peaceful  means  the  cession  of  Bosnia,  still 
less  of  Croatia  and  Dalmatia,  by  Austria-Hungary.  Such  a 
surrender  can  only  follow  the  break-up  of  the  Habsburg  Monar- 
chy and  the  European  conflagration  which  such  an  event  would 
inevitably  produce.  It  has  long  been  an  axiom  of  European 
diplomacy  that  if  Austria-Hungary  did  not  exist,  it  would  be 
necessary  to  create  it ;  and  the  maintenance  of  its  territorial 
integrity  has  justly  been  regarded  as  a  pressing  European 
interest.  Until  the  international  crisis  of  1908  many  superficial 
observers  believed  Austria-Hungary  to  be  a  decadent  state, 
which  would  fall  to  pieces  on  the  death  of  the  present  Emperor, 
or  as  the  result  of  any  determined  onslaught  from  outside.'^^ 
But  the  action  of  Count  Aehrenthal  during  that  eventful  win- 
ter, however  open  to  criticism  from  other  points  of  view,  has 
at  least  this  sterling  merit,  that  it  has  for  ever  dispelled  the 
myth  of  Austrian  decadence.  Now  that  foreign  publicists 
have  recovered  from  the  rude  shock  administered  to  their  pet 
theories  and  can  see  the  general  situation  in  better  perspective, 
it  is  widely  recognized  that  Austria-Hungary,  so  far  from  being 
decadent,  is  a  powerful  and  progressive  state,  with  one  of  the 
finest  and  best-prepared  armies  in  the  world — 3.  state  which 
would  be  even  more  powerful  and  progressive  were  it  not 
hampered  by  the  reactionary  influences  of  the  Magyar  oli- 
garchy and  its  racial  and  class  policy  in  Hungary.  That 
Servia  and  Montenegro,  even  if  the  former's  army  were  as  per- 
fect as  it  is  known  to  be  defective,  could  measure  forces  with 
the  Monarchy,  is  utterly  out  of  the  question  ;  war  could  only 
end  in  the  fall  of  their  independence. 

Thus  the  Pan-Serb  solution  may  be  dismissed  as  altogether 
outside  the  realm  of  practical  politics.  The  corruption  of 
public  life  in  Servia,  the  stagnation  caused  by  embittered  party 
factions  and  by  crushing  armaments  (which  overburden  the 
Budget,  without  producing  the  desired  effect)  and  the  interests 

*"  In  a  small  volume  published  in  1907  {The  Future  of  Austria- 
Hungary  and  the  Attitude  of  the  Great  Powers),  I  endeavoured  to 
demonstrate  the  absurdity  of  this  belief. 

s.s.Q.  237  z 


CROAT  AND   SERB—THE   PROBLEM  OF  UNITY 

of  European  peace  combine  to  render  such  a  solution  highly 
undesirable. 

Even  among  those  Austrians  who  fully  realize  that  Pan-Serb- 
ism  need  not  be  taken  too  seriously,  there  are  many  who  are 
easily  frightened  by  the  bogey  of  Pan-Slavism,  and  who  seri- 
ously suspect  Russia  of  designs  for  uniting  the  entire  Slav  race 
under  the  sceptre  of  the  Czar.  So  far  as  the  Southern  Slavs,  at 
any  rate,  are  concerned,  this  fear  can  only  be  described  as 
fantastic.  Their  union  to  Russia  presupposes  the  conquest  of 
Hungary,  and  its  corollaries,  the  destruction  of  Austrian  mili- 
tary power  and  the  defeat  of  the  allied  German  armies.  But 
in  any  case,  before  she  could  turn  to  so  formidable  a  task, 
Russia  is  faced  by  enough  internal  problems  of  a  racial  charac- 
ter, to  occupy  her  for  many  years.  Her  intolerant  attitude  to 
the  Polish  and  Ukraine  questions  makes  it  wellnigh  impossible 
for  Russia  to  pose  as  the  champion  of  Pan-Slavism  ;  for  the 
Pan-Slav  movement,  in  any  save  a  mere  Pan-Muscovite  sense, 
is  in  direct  conflict  with  the  oppressive  Chauvinism  which  the 
governing  classes  in  Russia  at  present  favour.  The  Bosnian 
crisis  revealed  the  fact  that  Russia  is  not  yet  strong  enough  for 
a  genuine  Pan-Slav  policy,  or  at  least  that  she  must  for  the 
present  be  content  with  a  policy  of  peaceful  intrigue  in  Sofia 
and  Constantinople. 

As  we  have  seen,  Croato-Serb  Unity  outside  the  Habsburg 
Monarchy  can  only  be  attained  through  universal  war  and  a 
thorough  revision  of  the  map  of  Europe.  The  achievement  of 
that  unity  inside  the  Habsburg  Monarchy  is  a  far  more  practi- 
cal policy.  Pan-Serbism  is  faced  by  a  rival  Pan-Croat  theory, 
which  aims  at  the  erection,  on  a  strictly  Croat  and  Catholic 
basis,  of  a  Croatian  kingdom  under  Habsburg  sway,  as  a  third 
state  on  equal  terms  with  Austria  and  Hungary.  This  state 
would  comprise  Croatia,  Slavonia,  Dalmatia,  Istria,  Bosnia  and 
Herzegovina,  and  its  natural  capital  would  be  in  Agram.  The 
policy  of  Trialism,  as  it  has  come  to  be  called,  has  been  widely 
advocated,  not  merely  among  the  Southern  Slavs  themselves, 
but  even  in  German  Austria  ;  and  if  rumour  may  be  trusted, 
it  is  favoured  in  the  highest  quarters.  While  the  Christian 
Socialists  regard  Croatia  as  a  valuable  ally  against  the  Magyar 
oligarchy  and  in  the  cause  of  the  Austrian  Imperial  idea,  the 
Czechs  look  upon  Trialism  as  a  step  towards  Federalism,  and 
many  Germans  are  inclined  to  approve  of  any  scheme  which 
would  reduce  the  Slav  element  in  the  Austrian  Parliament. 
The  desire  of  the  Pan-Croats  that  Carniola,  and  even  parts  of 

338 


CROAT  AND  SERB   EQUALITY 

Carinthia  and  Styria,  should  be  incorporated  with  the  new  state 
need  not  concern  us  further  here  ;  for  it  is  obvious  that  no 
Austrian  party  could  sanction  an  arrangement  which  would  cut 
off  Vienna  from  its  direct  connexion  with  the  sea.  Even  the 
extremists  are  wise  enough  to  realize  the  impracticable  nature 
of  this  demand  ;  and  it  is  certain  that  even  were  Trialism  to  be 
realized  in  the  near  future,  the  Slovene  districts  would  not  be 
included  in  the  new  complex. 

The  most  zealous  exponents  of  the  Pan-Croat  ideal  are  to  be 
found  in  the  Party  of  Pure  Right,  led  by  Dr.  Joseph  Frank. 
This  politician  has  the  great  merit  of  having  clearly  perceived 
and  consistently  advocated  an  Austro-Croatian  alliance  at  a 
time  when  public  opinion  in  Croatia  was  hostile  to  Vienna. 
But  on  the  other  hand  his  policy  is  marred  by  the  absurd 
theory — equally  untenable  from  a  historic  and  an  ethnographic 
standpoint — that  the  Serbs  of  Croatia  are  no  true  Serbs,  but 
merely  Orthodox  Croats,  and  by  an  absolute  refusal  to  recog- 
nize their  racial  and  national  identity  within  the  bounds  of 
the  Triune  Kingdom.  In  a  Southern  Slav  state  created  in 
accordance  with  such  views,  the  Serbs  would  at  best  be  toler- 
ated, but  would  in  no  case  be  accorded  equal  rights  ;  and  thus 
to  enforce  such  a  policy  (even  if  it  were  practicable)  would 
merely  be  equivalent  to  driving  the  Serbs  into  alliance  with 
the  Magyars. 

The  theories  of  the  Party  of  Right  are  merely  those  of  the 
Magyar  Party  of  Independence,  translated  into  Croatian  terms  ; 
the  same  juggling  with  high-sounding  constitutional  phrases, 
the  same  narrow  racial  intolerance,  characterize  the  adherents 
of  Kossuth  and  of  Frank.  A  state  which  took  such  theories 
for  its  foundation  would  be  as  little  deserving  of  sympathy,  and 
as  unstable,  as  a  state  based  upon  the  rival  Pan-Serb  theory  of 
which  Belgrad  politicians  dream.  The  only  true  basis  for  such 
a  state  is  the  recognition  of  the  absolute  equality  of  Croat  and 
Serb,  and  of  their  essential  unity  as  two  inseparable  elements  in 
the  life  of  a  single  nation.  Fortunately,  a  growing  body  of 
opinion  throughout  the  Southern  Slav  world,  is  adopting  this 
view  ;  and  the  linguistic  unity  which  has  been  wrought  by 
philologists  and  men  of  letters,  may  be  regarded  as  a  happy 
omen  for  the  achievement  of  that  wider  unity  upon  which  the 
future  of  the  race  depends.  That  a  Southern  Slav  should  pre- 
fer to  call  himself  Croat  rather  than  Serb,  or  Serb  rather  than 
Croat,  ought  to  be  a  matter  with  which  the  State  or  society  are 
in  no  way  concerned.     The  larger  Southern^Slav  patriotism 

339 


CROAT  AND  SERB— THE  PROBLEM  OF  UNITY 

should  include  and  transcend  the  sense  of  racial  individuality, 
just  as  Southern  Slav  patriotism  is  in  no  way  inconsistent  with 
a  loyal  pride  in  the  possession  of  Austrian  Imperial  citizenship. 
The  brutally  narrow  conception  of  the  state  advocated  by 
Magyar  statesmen,  the  desire  to  absorb  and  assimilate  all  rival 
elements  and  to  enforce  a  dull  uniformity  of  type,  must  be 
replaced  by  the  British  conception  of  citizenship,  which  takes 
a  delight  in  creating  new  nations  and  combining  an  endless 
diversity  of  race  and  type  with  the  essential  unity  which 
encourages  rather  than  hampers  individuality. 

The  chief  obstacles  to  Trialism  are  the  hostility  of  the  Mag- 
yars, and  the  absence  of  any  statesman  in  Austria  capable  of 
guiding  the  movement  to  a  successful  issue.  Yet  a  firm  and 
active  alliance  between  Vienna  and  Agram  would  bear  down 
the  opposition  of  the  Magyars,  hampered  as  they  are  by  the 
presence  of  a  strong  non-Magyar  minority  and  a  discontented 
and  neglected  proletariat.  For  over  forty  years  the  Magyars 
have  monopolized  all  political  power  in  Hungary  and  have 
arrested  all  development  in  Croatia  ;  but  to-day  they  have  little 
or  nothing  to  show  for  this  monopoly.  The  nationalities  are 
embittered  and  alienated,  but  not  assimilated  ;  a  Magyarophil 
party  has  become  a  virtual  impossibility  in  the  Croatia  of  to- 
day ;  in  Hungary  the  Jews  alone  are  triumphant,  in  politics, 
in  the  Press,  in  finance,  in  commerce.  Dr.  Lueger's  offensive 
gibes  at  the  "  Judaeo-Magyars  "  contain  a  painful  element  of 
truth  ;  for  Hungary  is  in  danger  of  becoming  a  Zionist  rather 
than  a  Magyar  national  state. 

The  policy  of  a  whole  generation  has  resulted  in  the  bank- 
ruptcy of  Unionism  in  Croatia.  The  Compromise  has  been 
violated  time  after  time  by  the  Hungarian  Government ;  the 
financial  and  commercial  relations  of  the  two  countries  have 
become  intolerable  to  Croatia  :  the  legal  position  of  Fiume  is 
still  in  suspense.  To-day  the  Hungaro-Croatian  Compromise 
must  be  pronounced  a  lamentable  failure,  for  two  main  reasons. 
On  the  one  hand,  the  Magyars  have  not  kept  their  side  of  the 
bargain  ;  on  the  other  hand,  all  such  bargains,  to  be  success- 
ful, must  rest  on  common  interests,  and  the  interests  of 
Hungary  and  Croatia  are  diametrically  opposed. 

Thus  the  present  situation  has  no  solid  foundations  ;  rest- 
ing as  it  does  upon  force,  not  upon  inclination,  it  might  collapse 
in  a  moment.  It  is  bolstered  up  by  the  power  of  the  Magyar 
oligarchy,  which  does  not'even  represent  the  wishes  and  interests 
of  the  Magyar  race,  stillfless  of  the  polyglot  Hungarian  nation 

340 


TRIALISM 

as  a  whole,  and  by  the  support  of  the  Sovereign,  who  has  earned 
nothing  but  ingratitude  for  his  wonderful  loyalty  alike  to  the 
letter  and  to  the  spirit  of  that  Dual  System  which  he  and  his 
advisers  created.  But  it  is  scarcely  conceivable  that  that 
system,  which  after  fulfilling  a  useful  part  in  the  evolution  of 
the  Monarchy,  is  to-day  effete  and  anachronous,  will  long  sur- 
vive the  accession  of  a  new  sovereign.  Without  in  the  faintest 
degree  detracting  from  the  splendid  services  of  the  present 
Emperor-King  in  the  political  development  of  his  dominions, 
it  is  allowable  to  point  out  that  an  equally  splendid  task  awaits 
his  successor — the  destruction  of  political  and  racial  monopoly 
in  Hungary  and  the  erection  of  a  free  community  of  equal 
nations,  bound  by  indissoluble  ties  to  a  central  Throne  and 
Parliament. 

It  was  the  short-sighted  folly  of  Austrian  statesmen  that 
drove  the  Croats  into  the  arms  of  their  enemies  in  Budapest. 
The  alliance  was  brief  and  ended  in  disillusionment ;  it  now  rests 
with  "  Vienna  "  to  prevent  the  Croats  in  their  despair  from 
appealing  once  more  for  Magyar  help.  At  present  Magyar 
Chauvinism  renders  such  a  solution  impossible  ;  but  if  Vienna 
delays  too  long,  and  wastes  the  psychological  moment,  a  Mag- 
yar statesman  might  arise  who,  commencing  with  a  bold  and 
thorough  advocacy  of  electoral  and  administrative  reform, 
might  make  peace  with  the  non-Magyar  nationalities  and  carry 
into  practical  effect  that  Balkan  confederation  under  Magyar 
leadership,  of  which  Louis  Kossuth  dreamed  when  exile  had 
taught  him  the  folly  of  racial  aggression. 

Unquestionably  the  ideal  solution  lies  in  the  direction  of  a 
moderate  form  of  Trialism,  under  the  auspices  of  Austria. 
But  so  long  as  Count  Aehrenthal  remains  in  office,  no  such 
development  can  be  expected.  His  well-known  reactionary 
sentiments  render  him  averse  to  political  change  :  cordial 
relations  between  him  and  the  Southern  Slavs  are  obviously 
impossible  after  the  Nastic  and  Vasic  scandals  ;  and  he  is 
already  giving  fresh  proof  of  his  cynical  view  of  all  national 
aspirations  by  his  attitude  in  the  Albanian  question,  A 
radical  revision  of  diplomatic  and  secret  service  methods  in  the 
Balkans  can  hardly  be  expected  from  a  statesman  with  Count 
Aehrenthal's  antecedents  :  and  until  such  a  revision  occurs, 
no  Southern  Slav  can  regard  official  circles  in  Vienna  with 
anything  but  extreme  suspicion  and  reserve. 

In  Vienna  the  Christian  Socialist  party  is  not  unconscious  of 
the  task  which  awaits  Austria  in  the  South ;  but  its  extreme 

341 


CROAT  AND  SERB— THE  PROBLEM  OF  UNITY 

clerical  leanings  have  unhappily  obscured  its  very  genuine 
sense  of  Austrian  Imperial  patriotism,  and  the  bluff  genius  of 
its  founder,  Dr.  Lueger,  is  sadly  lacking  to  his  divided  party. 
On  the  other  hand,  a  growth  of  statesmanlike  feeling  is  notice- 
able among  the  German  Liberals  of  Austria,  who  for  so  many 
years  were  content  to  regard  their  country  merely  as  an  inferior 
imitation  of  Germany,  and  who  by  their  offensive  attitude  to  all 
the  other  races  of  the  Monarchy  did  so  much  to  arrest  the 
growth  of  "  Austrian  "  patriotic  feeling. 

The  triangular  game  between  Vienna,  Budapest  and  Agram 
will  inevitably  have  fresh  developments  to  show  in  the  course 
of  the  next  few  years.  Perhaps  the  key  to  the  whole  situation 
lies  in  the  fact  that  the  two  provinces  of  Bosnia  and  Herze- 
govina have  been  definitely  annexed,  without  any  clear 
arrangement  having  been  made  as  to  their  future  status  and 
ownership.  Sooner  or  later  a  conflict  must  arise  between 
Austria  and  Hungary  for  their  possession — if  only  because  by 
their  new  constitution  no  legislation  of  the  Diet  can  pass  into 
effect  without  the  sanction  of  both  Vienna  and  Budapest ! 
Count  Andrassy's  aim  in  occupying  Bosnia  in  1878  was  to  pre- 
vent in  the  narrow  interest  of  the  Magyars,  the  formation  of  a 
Serb  national  state.  But  in  reality  his  action  laid  the  seeds  of  a 
Croato-Serb  state,  far  more  dangerous  to  Hungary  than  any 
purely  Serb  state  could  be.  The  annexation  brings  the  aspira- 
tions of  Croato-Serb  Unity  within  the  range  of  practical 
politics,  by  transferring  the  centre  of  gravity  among  the 
Southern  Slavs  from  the  Serbs  to  the  Croats,  from  Belgrad 
to  Agram.  Henceforth  Agram  must  tend  more  and  more  to 
become  the  centre  of  Southern  Slav  life ;  its  culture  is 
already  greatly  superior  to  that  of  Belgrad,  and  the  removal 
of  political  restraint  would  be  the  signal  for  a  fresh  national 
revival. 

The  Serbs  in  Bosnia  are  as  yet  impervious  to  the  new  idea. 
Skilfully  encouraged  by  Baron  Kallay  for  many  years  to  remain 
in  narrow  provincial  grooves,  but  accustomed,  in  their  ignorance 
of  the  world  at  large,  to  regard  Belgrad  with  blind  admiration, 
their  leaders  in  the  new  Diet  are  intransigeant  to  a  degree  ; 
and  nothing  illustrates  better  their  complete  lack  of  perspec- 
tive, than  the  impossible  demands  which  they  put  forward  in 
the  land  question  and  the  futile  obstruction  to  which  they 
resorted  when  they  saw  those  demands  to  be  unattainable. 
But  this  slavish  and  unfounded  belief  in  Belgrad  is  already  on 
the  wane  in  Bosnia.    The  influence  of  the  Serbs  of  Croatia  and 

342 


AUSTRIA'S   MISSION 

Slavonia  is  growing  steadily  stronger,  and  already  a  new  Serb 
party,  with  capable  leaders,  has  been  founded  in  Bosnia  to 
promote  the  idea  of  Croato-Serb  brotherhood  and  union  under 
the  Habsburg  sceptre. 

The  formation  of  a  Trialist  state  would  enormously  strengthen 
Austria's  prestige  in  the  Western  Balkans,  and  might  well  pro- 
duce a  reaction  of  feeling  in  Servia,  where  the  barrenness  of 
a  Russophil  policy  has  long  been  evident  to  far-sighted  ob- 
servers. In  such  an  event,  it  is  by  no  means  impossible  that 
Servia  and  Montenegro  might  be  ready  to  conclude  a  military 
convention  and  Customs  Union  with  the  reconstructed 
Monarchy.  The  true  obstacle  to  cordial  relations  between 
Austria  and  the  Southern  Slav  world  lies  in  the  pretensions 
of  the  Magyar  oligarchy. 

For  Austria  the  advantages  from  such  a  solution  are  very 
great ;  and  her  future  as  a  great  Power  depends  upon  it.  Her 
permanent  retention  of  Dalmatia  depends  upon  her  treatment 
oJ  the  Dalmatian  Hinterland,  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina.  The 
population  of  Dalmatia,  Istria  and  Croatia  form  the  best 
recruiting  ground  for  the  Navy  and  the  merchant  service,  and 
must  therefore  be  propitiated  by  a  Power  which  seeks  to  retain 
canmand  of  the  Adriatic,  and  so  paralyse  any  efforts  of  Italian 
Iredentism.  Above  all,  Croatia  and  Dalmatia  control  Hun- 
gary's sole  means  of  access  to  the  sea,  and  thus  from  a  strategic 
ard  geographical  point  of  view,  are  of  the  first  importance  in 
Ajstria's  struggle  against  Hungary — a  struggle  which  cannot 
be  averted  in  the  near  future. 

The  whole  Eastern  coast  of  the  Adriatic  stiU  remains  an 
unsolved  equation  in  the  arithmetic  of  Europe,  and  its  solution 
depends  upon  the  course  of  events  among  the  Southern  Slavs. 
[f  Vienna  has  at  last  realized  her  Imperial  mission,  if  her  states- 
nien  have  the  courage  and  ability  to  identify  the  movement  for 
Croato-Serb  Unity  with  the  requirements  of  Austrian  patriot- 
ism, then  the  situation  along  the  Adriatic  and  throughout  the 
Western  and  Northern  Balkans  may  undergo  a  speedy  and 
beneficial  change.  By  abandoning  the  old  motto  of  "  Divide 
et  Impera  "  and  by  directing  into  her  own  channels  a  move- 
ment which  is  already  too  formidable  to  be  permanently 
repressed,  Austria  will  go  far  towards  finding  a  solution  for 
:he  complicated  problem  of  nationality. 

Croato-Serb  Unity  must  and  will  come.  It  rests  with 
Austria  to  delay  its  attainment  for  another  generation  and  reap 
the  disastrous  fruits  of  such  a  policy,  or  by  resolutely  encourag- 

343 


CROAT  AND  SERB— THE  PROBLEM  OF  UNITY 

ing  Southern  Slav  aspirations,  to  establish  Austrian  influence 
in  the  Northern  Balkans  by  lasting  bands  of  sympathy  and 
interest.  Upon  Austria's  choice  of  alternative  depends  the 
future  of  the  Habsburg  Monarchy. 


344 


Appendices 


APPENDIX   I 

THE  ELECTION  OF  FERDINAND  I  AS  KING  OF  CROATIA 

This  document,  drawn  up  by  the  Croatian  Estates  at  Cetin  on 
January  i,  1527,  has  been  extracted  from  Kukutjevic,  Jura  Regni 
Croatiae  Dalmatiae  et  Slavoniae,  Pars  ii,  vol.   i,  pp.  20-22. 

Nos  Andreas  dei  et  Apostolice  Sedis  gratia  Episcopus  Tiieensis 
et  Abbas  Toplicenses,  Joannes  Torquatus  Corbavie,  NicolausZrinij, 
Christophorus  et  Wolfgangus  fratres  ac  Georgius  de  Frangepanibus 
Segnie,  Veglie  et  Modrusie  .  .  .  (here  follow  the  names  of  fifteen 
Croatian  nobles)  ceterique  universi  Nobiles  et  proceres  nee  non 
Nobilium  Comitatuum,  civitatum  et  districtuum,  populorum, 
universitas  Regni  Croatie,  ad  perpetuam  rei  memoriam  fatemur  et 
recognoscimus,  notumque  facimus  tenore  presentium  universis. 
Cum  Serenissimus  et  potentissimus  Princeps  et  Dominus  Ferdi- 
nandus,  Dei  gratia  Bohemie  et  Croatie  Rex,  Infans  Hispaniarum 
sacri  Romani  Imperii  Princeps  Elector.  Archidux  Austrie,  .  .  . 
(here  foUow  his  other  titles,  but  no  reference  is  made  to  Hungary), 
Princeps  et  Dominus  noster  gratiosissimus,  miserit  his  diebus  ad 
nos  sacre  sue  Regie  Majestatis  consiHarios  et  oratores,  Reverendum 
in  Christo  patrem  et  Dominum  Do.  Paulum  de  Oberstain,  dei 
gratia  Prepositum  Viennensem,  artium  Philosophic  et  utriusque 
Juris  Doctorem,  Nicolaum  Juritschiz  Supremum  Capitaneum, 
Joannem  Caczianer  et  Joannem  Puchler  arcis  Mechou  Prefectum, 
Capitaneos,  Dominos  et  Amicos  nostros  singulares  ;  et  ipsi  pre- 
fate  Regie  Majestatis  nomine,  tanquam  pleno  et  sufhcienti  Mandate 
ab  ea  suffulti,  nos  requisierint,  ut  suam  Majestatem  pro  nostro 
legittimo  et  naturali  Rege  et  Domino,  et  Serenissimam  Principem 
et  Dominam  Dominam  Annam  Hungarie,  Bohemie  et  Croatie 
Reginam  Principem  et  Dominum  nostram  gratiosiossimam  pro 
nostra  legitima  et  naturali  Regina  et  Domina  recognoseremus, 
illisque  desuper  debitum  fidehtatis  et  homagii  Juramentum  pres- 
taremus,  quod  nos  exacte  perpensis  et  diligenter  consideratis  Juribus, 
quibus  idem  Rex  noster  Serenissimus,  una  cum  dicta  Serenissima 
Domina  Regina  sua  consorte,  etc.,  pro  sacro  Regno  Hungarie  Jure 
hereditario  obtinendo  ad  plenum  et  sufficienter  fulcitus  et  pro- 

347 


APPENDIX   I 

visus  est,  precipue  vigore  plurium  inconvincibilium  tractatuum, 
quos  nos  ex  fundamento  vidimus,  legimus  et  relegimus,  et  pos- 
tremo  vigore  electionis  juxta  Decreta  et  Sanctiones  Regni  Hun- 
garie,  in  generali  Statuum  et  ordinum  illius  Regni  Conventu  die 
xvi  Mensis  Decembris  proxime  elapsi  in  Oppido  Posoniensi  rite  et 
legittime  facte  et  publicate,  nee  non  attentis  pariter  tot  gratiis, 
opibus  et  emolumentis,  quibus  nos  (et)  Croatie  Regnum  sua  Sacra 
Regina  Majestas  sola  inter  tot  Christianos  Principes  pluribus  annis 
contra  immanissimos  Thurcas,  ne  nos  illorum  seva  tyrannide  a 
fide  orthodoxa  et  Christiana  republica  deficere  compelleremur, 
benigne  conservavit,  ac  infinitis  aliis  beneficentiis  et  nos  et  uni- 
versas  res  nostras  pro  singulari  sua  dementia  et  liberalitate  sibi 
continue  commendatas  habuit :  idcirco  prefatorum  Dominorum 
Oratorum  juste  et  honeste  requisitioni,  tam  devote  quam  reverenter 
annuimus,  et  hodie  ante  sumptum  prandium,  quum  adhuc  jejuni 
essemus,  omnes  et  singuli  unanimitate  una  voce  et  proclamatione 
nobis  in  generali  nostro  Conventu  existentibus,  prenominatum 
Serenissimum  Dominum  Regem  Ferdinandum,  in  verum  legittimum 
indubitatum  et  naturalem  nostrum  et  tocius  hujus  inclyti  Regni 
Croatie  Regem  et  Dominum,  nee  non  prefatam  Serenissimam 
Dominam  Reginam  Annam  in  veram  legittimam  indubitatam  et 
naturalem  nostram  et  tocius  Regni  Croatie  Reginam  et  Dominam, 
felici  omine  elegimus  et  recognovimus,  assumpsimus,  publica- 
vimus,  fecimus,  constituimus  et  proclamavimus,  proclamarique 
fecimus  per  vicos  et  plateas,  prout  tenore  presentium  eligimus, 
recognoscimus,  assumimus,  facimus,  constituimus  proclamamus 
et  veneramur  ambas  suas  Maj  estates  in  nostrum  (ut  premittitur) 
Regem  et  Domimmi,  Reginam  et  Dominam,  omni  meliori  et  alacriori 
via  forma  jure  consuetudine  et  solenitate,  quibus  melius  et  ef&cacius 
facere  potuimus  (et)  possumus,  debuimus  et  debemus,  una  cum 
prestatione  debiti  fidelitatis  et  homagii  juramenti,  quod  similiter 
publice  alta  et  intelligibili  voce,  ut  nobis  dictus  Reverendus  D. 
Viennensis  Prepositus  sua  quoque  voce  preibat,  elevatis  in  altum 
digitis  et  manibus,  cum  summo  gaudio  prestitimus  in  forma,  ut 
de  verbo  ad  verbum  sequitur,  et  est  tale,  videlicet :  "  Juramus  et 
promittimus,  quod  ex  nunc  in  antea  erimus  fideles  semper  et  obe- 
dientes  Serenissimo  Principi  et  Domino  Domino  Ferdinando  Bohe- 
morum  Regi,  ejusque  Consorti  Serenissime  Domine  Anne,  Nate 
Regine  Hungarie  et  Bohemie,  etc.,  Dominis  nostris  clementissimis  J 
et  gratiosissimis,  tanquam  veris  legittimis  et  naturalibus  heredibus,  * 
ac  Regi  et  Regine  Regni  Croatie,  eorumque  heredibus  et  locum- 
tenentibus  sive  gubernatoribus,  bonumque  et  commodum  ac  salu- 
tem  eorum  cogitabimus  et  pro  virili  nostra  promovebimus,  damna 
vero  et  prejudicia  eorum  pro  posse  nostro  avertemus  et  precavebimus, 
aliaque  omnia  et  singula  faciemus,  que  bonis  subditis  et  fidelibus 
servitoribus  erga  Dominum  suum  conveniunt,  et  ad  que  tenentur 
et  astringuntur,  quodque  nullo  unquam  tempore  deinceps  aliquem 

348 


THE  CROATIAN   PRAGMATIC  SANCTION     (1712) 

alium  in  Dominum  aut  Regem  nostrum  acceptare  vel  recognoscere 
velimus  preter  Majestates  suas  earumque  heredes.  Quodsi  vero 
conjunctim  vel  divisim  comperiremus  unam  aut  plures  personas, 
sive  ecclesiastici  sive  secularis  status  et  conditionis,  que  in  preju- 
dicium  Majestatum  suarum  vel  verbo  aut  facto  alii  vel  aliis  in 
bonum  eorundem  adherere  vellent,  Nos,  ubi  tales  resciremus, 
continuo  Majestates  suas,  vel  superioritatem  nobis  per  eas  datam, 
admonebimus  et  avisabimus,  juvabimusque  omnes  tales  sic  inobe- 
dientes  ad  debitam  obedientiam  reducere,  omni  penitus  dolo  et 
fraude  remotis.  Ita  nos  Deus  adjuvet  et  sancta  ejus  evangelia." 
Decantato  desuper  solemniter  in  Ecclesia  hie  Monasterii  S.  Marie 
visitationis  fratrum  minorum  de  observantia  ad  omnipotentis 
Dei  laudem  honorem  et  gratiarum  actionem  Cantico  Te  Deum 
laudamus,  etc.  cum  campanarum  frequenti  sonitu  et  pulsatione. 
Quo  fit  inter  cetera,  quod  nos  omnes  et  singuli,  una  cum  Heredibus 
posteris  et  successoribus  nostris  in  infinitum,  sumusfactiveri  natu- 
rales  legittimi  et  indubitati  subditi  prefati  Serenissimi  Domini  Regis 
et  Serenissime  Domine  Regine  nostre  ac  suorum  Heredum  in  infini- 
tum ex  lumbis  eorum  descendentium.  In  quorum  omnium  supra- 
dictorum  inconcussam  et  integram  fidem  et  sufficiens  testimonium, 
has  literas  fieri  fecimus  et  ereximus,  quas  sigillis  nostris  solitis 
partim  propriis  partim  communibus  perpetuo  valituras  munimine 
roboravimus.  Datum  in  Oppido  Cetinensi  in  general!  nostro  Con- 
ventu  in  supranominato  Monasterio  celebrato  die  prima  Mensis 
Januarii  a  Nativitate  Domini  Jesu  Christi  Salvatoris  nostri  Millesimo 
quingentesimo  Vicesimo  septimo. 

APPENDIX   II 

THE    CROATIAN    PRAGMATIC    SANCTION    (1712) «' 

Acta  et  Articuli  Dominorum  Statuum  et  Ordinum  Regnorum 
Croatiae  et  Sclavoniae,  in  generali  eorunc  em  congregatione,  Zagra- 
biae,  in  Arce  Episcopali,  Praesidente  Illuitrissimo  et  reverendissimo 
Domino  Comite  Emerico  Eszterhazy  de  Galantha,  Episcopo  Zagra- 
biensi,  Abbate  B.  Mariae  Virginis  de  Thopuszka,  Sacrae  Caesareae 
Regiaeque  Maiestatis  Consiliario,  et  officii  Banalis  in  Politicis 
Locumtenente,  pro  Die  9  et  sequentibus  Mensis  Martii  Anni  1712 
celebrata,  conclusi. 

DC  :(:  «  *  Xi 

Articulus  Septimus. 

Solicitudine  atque  zelo,  quo  Domini  Status  et  Ordines  ad  asse- 
curandam  Patriam  suam,  consideratis  tot  et  tantis  eiusdem  prae- 
teritis  periculis,  et  periculosis,  evenibili  quo  casu  Interregni  tem- 
pore, revolutionibus,  et  praeterea  ad  promerendam  ampliorem  hoc 
suo  facto  Benignitatem  atque  benignum  Regimen  Augustissimae 

^^'  Extracted  from  Kukuljcvic,  Jura  Regni  Croatiae,  Dalmatiae  et  Slavoniae  , 
Pars  II,  pp.  101-2. 

349 


APPENDIX   III 

Domus  Austriacae,  cuius  deficiente  Masculino  (quem  ut  Divina 
bonitas  in  omne  aevum  superesse  et  florere  admitat,  optant) 
foeminini  etiam  Sexus  retinendum,  in  eosdem  Regium  Jus,  praero- 
gativa,  et  Jure  Regis  et  Regni  exercendum  subire  cupient,  eidem- 
que  se  confidere,  illius  nimirum  et  talis  foeminini  Sexus,  August- 
issimi  sanguinis  Austriaci,  qui  videlicet  non  modo  Austriae  sed 
Provinciarum  etiam  Styriae  Carinthiae  et  Carniolae  possessionem 
habebit,  et  in  modo  fata  Austria  residebit :  sinceris  et  unanimibus 
votis  moti  et  dispositi,  statuunt,  declarant  et  resolvunt,  suosque 
Dominos  Ablegatos  ad  suam  Sacratissimam  Maiestatem  Caesaream 
et  Regiam  exmittendos,  in  eo  etiam  et  principaliter  se  instructuros 
decernunt,  imo  protinus  instruunt ;  ut  nimirum  banc  eandem 
praefatorum  Dominorum  Statuum  et  Ordinum,  motu  eorum  proprio, 
atque  liheri  arhitrii  sensu,  expressam  et  manifestatam  resolutionem 
ac  fiduciam  Sacratissimae  Caesareae  et  Regiae  Maiestati,  nomine 
Dominorum  Statuum  et  Ordinum  praesentent  et  offerant ;  et 
vicissim  Sacratissimae  Caesareae  et  Regiae  Maiestatis,  suorumque 
Augustissimorum  Haeredum  Gratiam,  et  pro  tenore  Clementissi- 
marum  resolutionum  promissionum  et  assecurationum,  Augustae 
reminiscentiae  Austriacorum  Principum  et  Regum  Hungariae, 
publicis  Diaetalibus  Regni  Hungariae  et  Partium  eidem  annexarum 
Actis,  et  privatis  quoque,  pro  parte  mentionatorum  Dominorum 
Statuum  et  Ordinum  emanatis  Testimoniis  insertis,  benignam 
effectuationem,  cum  assecuratione  Diplomatica,  manutenendorum 
et  conservandorum  horum  omnium,  et  quae  praeterea  pro  bono 
et  emolumento,  atque  Interesse  securitatis,  petenda  ipsis  occur- 
rerint,  petere  et  obtinere  non  intermittant. 


APPENDIX   III 

ADDRESS   OF  THE  CROATIAN  DIET  TO  HIS  MAJESTY, 

JUNE,  1848  458 

Your  Majesty, — 

It  is  a  well-known  fact,  that  the  three  united  kingdoms  of  Dal- 
matia,  Croatia  and  Slavonia,  though  united  with  Hungary  during 
seven  and  a  half  centuries  in  good  and  bad  fortune,  have  yet  always 
preserved  their  former  rights  and  national  liberty,  and  up  to  the 
present  day  have  never  recognized  the  usurped  hegemony  of  Hun- 
gary. For  even  at  the  very  beginning  of  their  momentous  union 
with  Hungary,  Coloman,  the  first  joint  King  of  Hungary  and 
Croatia,  was  specially  crowned  with  the  crown  of  Croatia,  and  in 
later  times  the  three  united  kingdoms  elevated  to  the  Hungarian 
throne  several  kings  whom  they  had  elected  of  their  own  accord, 
notably  Charles  Robert  and  Charles  the  Less.     In  Zara  the  nation 

^5^  Translated  from  Pejakovic,  AktenstUcke,  p.  79  sqq. ;  Sulek,  Nase  Pravice 
pp.  300-334. 


ADDRESS   OF  THE  CROATIAN   DIET  (1848) 

of  these  kingdoms,  assembled  in  the  Diet,  elected  as  Kings  Ladislas 
of  Naples  and  Tvrtko  I  of  Bosnia,  and  in  that  decisive  epoch  when 
the  House  of  Habsburg  began  to  assert  its  rights  to  Hungary's 
throne,  the  Croats  in  the  year  1527  at  Cetin  elected  Ferdinand  I 
as  their  King  (after  the  Hungarians  and  Bohemians  had  already 
done  this),  and  thereby  of  themselves  estabhshed  the  fortune  and 
fame  of  the  present  glorious  dynasty.  In  the  same  way  our  nation 
proved  our  national  and  parliamentary  independence,  when,  under 
Charles  VI, it  adopted  the  Pragmatic  Sanction  several  years  earlier 
than  the  Hungarians  or  any  other  people  of  the  Austria  of  to-day  ; 
for  which  it  was  loaded  with  praise  by  that  monarch.  It  also 
signed  quite  independently  of  Hungary,  the  so-called  Pacification 
of  Vienna  and  the  document  of  the  Pragmatic  Sanction.  Thus 
these  kingdoms  were  governed  in  every  way  as  a  free  nation,  abso- 
lutely equal  to  the  Hungarian,  as  is  proved  not  only  by  the  above 
facts  but  also  by  the  circumstance  that  these  kingdoms  received 
from  several  kings  special  Coronation  diplomas,  and  that  our  Kings 
pledged  themselves  on  oath,  to  protect  not  merely  Hungary  but 
also  these  three  kingdoms  in  their  rights  and  liberties. 

The  independent  position  of  these  three  kingdoms  is  proved  still 
more  clearly  by  their  own  Diet,  which  has  survived  up  to  the  present 
day  quite  independent  of  the  Hungarian  (Diet)  ;  in  which  up  to 
the  days  of  Ferdinand  I  the  Kings  themselves  presided,  and  where 
they  were  generally  elected  and  proclaimed  also  as  Kings  of  Croatia 
and  Dalmatia.  In  this  Diet  these  kingdoms  still  possess  their 
own  legislature  and  preserved  into  recent  times  their  own  govern- 
ment, which  was  formerly  entrusted  to  Voivodes  of  royal  blood  and 
later  to  Bans  depending  from  the  King.  Envoys  of  these  kingdoms 
often  did  not  appear  at  all  at  the  Hungarian  Diet,  and  when  they 
did,  were  regarded  there  as  representatives  of  these  kingdoms 
solely  in  respect  of  our  joint  Hungaro-Croatian  state  affairs,  while 
the  laws  passed  there  were  regarded  as  not  binding  within  the 
boundaries  of  these  Kingdoms,  until  they  were  recognized  as  binding 
in  a  special  Diet  of  these  Kingdoms.  Consequently  it  often  hap- 
pened that  such  laws  for  our  countries  were  drawn  up  in  the  Hun- 
garian Diet  solely  by  the  representatives  of  these  Kingdoms  with 
their  protonotary,  and  then  submitted  to  the  King  for  sanction. 
From  this  one  can  easily  see  the  reason  why  those  laws  which  relate 
exclusively  to  these  Kingdoms  are  always  entered  separately  in 
the  Corpus  Juris.  In  the  same  way  resolutions  of  our  own  Diet 
were  not  seldom  recognized  as  laws,  though  they  had  been  neither 
drawn  up  nor  debated  in  the  Hungarian  Diet  ;  as  is  sufficiently 
proved  by  our  laws  of  1492  and  1538,  which  occur  in  the  Corpus 
Juris  under  the  name  "  constitutiones  et  articuli  Slavoniae." 

The  dignity  of  Ban,  as  is  proved  by  countless  charters  and  laws, 
extended  from  the  Drave  and  Danube  to  the  Adriatic  Sea,  and  was 
always  exercised,  independently  of  the  Kingdom  of  Hungary  and 

351 


APPENDIX  III 

its  dignitaries,  by  Bans  who  were  subject  to  the  King  alone.  In- 
deed it  is  an  uncontested  fact  that  while  Hungarian  judges  were 
forbidden  to  exercise  their  office  on  this  side  of  the  Drave,  our 
Voivodes  and  Bans  coined  money  distinct  from  the  Hungarian. 
The  political  administration  of  the  internal  affairs  of  these  coun- 
tries, though  the  Council  of  Lieutenancy  was  introduced  in  Hungary 
much  earlier,  was  none  the  less  never  subject  to  Hungary  up  to 
the  year  1779  (when  the  specially  introduced  Royal  Council  for 
these  countries  was  abolished),  but  was  until  the  institution  of 
this  Croato-Slavonian  Council,  exclusively  subject  to  the  Ban 
with  the  Diet.  It  was  only  under  Maria  Theresa  and  Joseph  II 
that  the  office  of  Ban  and  the  Diet  of  these  Kingdoms  began  gra- 
dually to  lose  their  old  glamour  and  their  former  power.  But 
even  then,  when  in  the  year  1790-1,  by  Law  Iviii,  the  powers  of 
the  now  dissolved  Hungarian  Council  of  Lieutenancy  were  extended 
to  these  Kingdoms,  such  affairs  as  specially  concerned  these  King- 
doms, were  none  the  less  reserved  to  our  Diet,  and  thus  the  auto- 
nomy of  these  Kingdoms  was  recognized  and  transmitted  to  pos- 
terity, on  the  basis  of  the  conditions  of  mutual  union  and  of  several 
fundamental  laws,  especially  that  of  1715  (Article  cxx). 

We  have  always  been  accustomed  to  see  the  best  guarantee  for 
the  national  independence  of  these  Kingdoms  in  our  noble  Kings, 
whose  innate  sense  of  justice,  as  well  as  their  solemn  coronation 
oath  imposed  on  them  the  duty  of  maintaining  not  only  the  King- 
dom of  Hungary  but  also  these  united  Kingdoms  in  their  rights 
and  liberties.  And  so  it  happened  that  this  unimpaired  Royal 
power,  which  seemed  threatening  to  the  Magyars'  desire  for  separa- 
tion, was  for  us  a  sacred  refuge,  to  which  we  could  always  appeal 
for  help  against  our  oppressors.  Moreover  these  benefits  of  the 
Royal  power  were  always  repaid  by  our  loyal  nation  with  heroic 
self-sacrifice,  when  the  rights  and  glory  of  the  dynasty  had  to  be 
defended ;  as  is  sufficiently  proved  by  countless  charters  in  our 
archives. 

But  Your  Majesty !  the  days  of  last  March  have  robbed  us 
loyal  Croats,  Slavonians  and  Dalmatians  even  of  this  our  sole  though 
powerful  support.  Our  former  oppressors  have  also  become  oppres- 
sors of  your  Majesty's  Royal  power.  The  old  Hungary  is  falling 
to  dust  before  the  breath  of  the  new  age,  and  with  it  goes  the  old 
bond  between  Austria  and  Hungary.  Austria  and  Hungary  are 
no  longer  one  State,  but  there  is  between  the  two  states  only  the 
ephemeral  bond,  that  one  Monarch  might  rule  over  Austria  and 
Hungary,  if  it  were  physically  possible  for  him  to  be  enthroned 
at  one  and  the  same  time  in  Vienna  and  in  Buda-Pest.  Hungary's 
trade,  her  finances  and  Army,  after  being  administered  for  centuries 
by  the  irresponsible  Austrian  government,  have  at  present  by  a 
strange  contrast  their  own  ministers  quite  distinct  from  the  Austrian 
(ministers),  governmental  responsibility  being  a  fundamental  law 

352 


ADDRESS   OF  THE   CROATIAN   DIET   (1848) 

in  Austria.  And  as  it  is  physically  impossible  to  be  in  two  different 
places  at  the  same  time,  Hungary  has  in  its  Palatine  a  real  ruler, 
but  in  its  hereditary  sovereign — if  we  call  things  by  their  real 
names — merely  a  titular  shadow- King,  with  whom  it  has  intercourse 
through  a  Foreign  Minister,  who  is  in  reality  only  in  attendance 
upon  Your  Majesty's  sacred  person,  in  order  to  prevent  any  wish 
of  the  loyal  Slav  peoples  of  Austria  which  may  diverge  from  the 
intentions  of  the  Magyars,  from  gaining  access  to  Your  Majesty's 
fatherly  heart. 

Your  Majesty  !  The  Croat  clings  stubbornly  to  that  freedom 
which  has  been  transmitted  to  him  by  his  ancestors  for  so  many 
centuries,  and  he  understands  too  well  the  requirements  of  modern 
times,  not  to  be  heartily  grateful  to  his  sovereign  for  the  ever 
memorable  concessions  made  during  the  March  days  to  the  peoples 
of  the  unitary  state  {Gesammtstaat) .  But  we  confess  that  a  cold 
shudder  ran  through  our  veins,  and  a  dull  foreboding  came  over 
us,  when  towards  the  end  of  last  March  we  unexpectedly  learnt 
that  Hungary's  new  position  towards  Austria,  instead  of  being 
complete  amalgamation  in  the  unitary  state  (as  we  could  not  but 
expect  in  view  of  the  prevailing  constitutional  regime  in  Austria) 
is  that  of  a  state  which  is  entirely  independent  and  separate  from 
Austria.  This  our  alarm  is  easily  explained,  for  if  Austria  be  com- 
pared to  a  strong  rock  towering  above  the  seashore,  Hungary 
and  our  Kingdoms  linked  to  it  may  be  regarded  as  two  different 
ships  of  unequal  tonnage  but  under  separate  commands,  which  are 
bound  by  a  strong  cable  to  each  other  and  also  to  the  rock,  which 
by  its  strength  offers  equal  protection  and  safety  to  them  both. 
If  then  while  the  sea  runs  high  the  larger  ship  unexpectedly  attempts 
to  slip  its  cable  and  put  out  onto  the  stormy  ocean,  it  is  clear  that 
the  smaller  vessel,  even  though  quite  different,  is  in  danger,  if  the 
towing  cable  is  stronger  than  the  shore  cable,  of  being  dragged 
out  into  the  foaming  sea,  or  if  both  cables  are  equally  strong  and 
the  axe  is  not  used,  of  being  torn  asunder.  In  such  a  dangerous 
position  it  is  the  duty  of  the  smaller  vessel  to  summon  the  larger 
to  stop,  and  if  that  is  of  no  avail,  self-preservation  bids  it  seize 
the  axe  and  sever  the  cable,  in  order  to  let  its  dangerous  neighbour 
go  and  so  secure  the  safety  it  desires  from  the  landward  side. 

This,  Your  Majesty,  is  the  menacing  situation  of  these  three 
Kingdoms. 

We  loyal  Croatians,  Slavonians  and  Dalmatians  neither  can 
nor  will  recognize  for  these  countries  any  Ministry  which  seeks 
to  loosen  the  bands  which  have  hitherto  connected  us  with  the  State 
as  a  whole  {Gesammtstaat).  Let  Hungary  separate  from  the  Mon- 
archy, and  consequently  from  these  Kingdoms,  if  it  has  the  inclin- 
ation and  the  strength  ;  but  Croatia,  Slavonia  and  Dalmatia 
are  independent  countries,  and  as  such  they  not  merely  do  not 
wish  to  loosen  the  existing  bond  with  Austria,  but  far  rather  declare 

s.s.Q.  353  A  A 


APPENDIX  III 

openly  and  unreservedly  that  they  wish  to  enter  into  a  still  closer 
connexion  with  the  now  constitutional  Empire  of  Austria,  on  the 
basis  of  complete  equality  of  all  nationalities.  For  if  we  and  our 
fathers  were  only  deterred  from  a  similar  step  by  the  fact  that 
the  old  Austria  was  governed  absolutely,  we  for  our  part  no  longer 
see  any  obstacle  to  such  a  rapprochement,  in  view  of  (Austria's) 
metamorphosis  to-day.  We  therefore  submit  in  all  humility  for 
Your  Majesty's  sanction  the  following  resolutions  of  our  Diet,  com- 
posed of  elected  representatives  and  meeting  on  June  5, 
1848  :— 

1.  Since  for  the  above  reasons  we  do  not  recognize  the  present 
Hungarian  Government  for  these  countries,  we  regard  all  decrees, 
issued  by  the  Hungarian  Ministry  in  violation  of  our  rights  and 
with  insult  to  the  dignity  of  Ban,  as  unlawful  and  illegal,  and 
at  the  same  time  would  beg  Your  Majesty  to  declare  invalid  all 
such  actions  of  the  Hungarian  Ministry  as  are  injurious  to  us, 
and  to  shield  and  protect  us  in  future  from  its  fatal  influences. 
Consequently  the  present  provisional  Government — augmented  by 
certain  individuals,  especially  from  Lower  Slavonia — should  con- 
tinue its  present  activity  for  which  we  confidently  await  your 
Majesty's  approval,  and  for  the  future  requests,  that  a  Government 
may  be  formed  for  these  Kingdoms,  under  the  presidency  of  the 
Ban,  consisting  of  several  councillors,  secretaries  and  other  indivi- 
duals, and  responsible  to  the  Diet  of  these  Kingdoms,  the  coun- 
cillors to  be  nominated  by  Your  Majesty  on  the  recommendation 
of  the  Ban,  the  others  to  be  appointed  by  the  Ban  himself.  But 
in  order  to  better  ensure  the  unity  of  the  Monarchy  as  a  whole, 
we  are  ready  to  subordinate  even  this  our  own  provincial  Govern- 
ment, in  matters  affecting  the  whole  State,  to  the  responsible 
Central  Government  of  the  Monarchy  as  a  whole.  These  King- 
doms have  all  the  more  reason  to  hope  that  this  resolution  will  be 
sanctioned,  since  it  can  be  gathered  from  the  above  that  they  were 
administered  since  remote  times  independently  of  Hungary,  and 
indeed  from  1767  to  1779  possessed  their  own  Chancellory,  whose 
restoration  they  expressly  reserved  in  1791,  when  the  Hungarian 
Council's  sphere  of  action  was  extended  to  these  countries.  This 
shows  that  these  Kingdoms  do  not  aspire  to  anything  new,  but 
simply  wish  to  revive  their  former  inalienable  rights,  the  more 
so  as  now  the  old  joint  Hungaro-Croatian  Dicasteries,  through 
which  Your  Majesty  governed  the  so-called  Hungarian  territorial 
complex,  have  ceased  to  exist. 

2.  The  conduct  of  finance  and  matters  of  defence  and  trade  are 
to  be  assigned  to  the  responsible  Joint  Ministry  of  the  whole  Empire. 
But  that  our  provincial  interests  may  be  duly  represented  there, 
a  Council  of  State  responsible  to  the  Diet  of  these  Kingdoms  and 
supplied  with  the  necessary  staff,  should  be  appointed  by  Your 
Majesty  in  connexion  with  the  central  power,  and  should  counter- 

354 


ADDRESS   OF  THE  CROATIAN   DIET  (1848) 

sign  every  measure  of  the  Central  Government  relative  to  these 
Kingdoms. 

3.  The  entire  Military  Frontier  of  these  Kingdoms  should  also 
be  subordinated,  in  the  spirit  of  complete  constitutional  freedom, 
to  the  proposed  provincial  Government  in  all  matters  other  than 
purely  military,  and  only  in  purely  military  matters  should  be 
left  under  the  Central  War  Ministry.  The  chief  command  over 
the  entire  military  forces  of  these  Kingdoms  should,  however,  in 
accordance  mth  ancient  rights,  be  entrusted  to  the  Ban  of  these 
countries. 

4.  The  official  language  in  the  entire  public  hfe  without  any 
exception  shall  be  the  national  Slav  language  (spoken)  in  these 
countries  ;  and  in  such  a  way  that  even  the  decrees  of  the  Central 
Government  relative  to  these  countries  shall  be  published  exclu- 
sively in  this  language. 

5.  All  matters  relating  to  internal  administration  will  fall  within 
the  sphere  of  the  Diet  of  these  Kingdoms.  But  in  respect  of  those 
affairs  which  proceed  from  the  mutual  relation  of  these  Kingdoms 
to  the  State  as  a  whole,  these  Kingdoms  submit  to  the  decisions 
of  the  Central  Parhament,  to  which  also  the  Central  Ministry  will 
be  responsible  for  its  actions. 

But  in  order  to  prove  that  they  definitely  adhere  to  the  Unitary 
State,  these  Kingdoms  have  already  elected  their  deputies  for  the 
Central  Parliament  of  the  whole  Monarchy,  which  is  to  be  held 
on'^June  26  ;  and  these  (deputies)  are  to  convey,  in  the  name  of  the 
whole  nation,  to  the  representatives  of  the  other  alhed  peoples  of 
Austria,  our  just  and  earnest  wishes  of  support  and  greeting. 

6.  Since  it  is  natural  that  kindred  nationalities  should  exercise 
a  mutual  attraction  on  each  other,  and  since  the  Kingdom  of  Dal- 
matia,  both  in  view  of  ancient  chartered  rights  and  the  coronation 
oath  and  solemn  promises  of  Your  Majesty,  forms  an  integral  part 
of  these  Kingdoms,  the  said  Kingdom  of  Dalmatia  shall,  both  in 
respect  of  legislation  and  administration,  be  completely  reunited 
to  these  Kingdoms,  while  the  remaining  Southern  Slav  portions 
of  the  Monarchy — namely  the  restored  Serb  Voivody,  which  we 
desire  to  see  confirmed  by  Your  Majesty  in  accordance  with  the 
old  rights  conferred  upon  the  Serb  nation,  and  then  Lower  Styria, 
Carinthia,  Carniola,  Istria  and  Gorz — shall  be  brought  into  closer 
connexion  with  these  Kingdoms. 

7.  These  Kingdoms  wish  to  maintain  still  further  their  friendly 
relation  with  the  peoples  inhabiting  the  Kingdom  of  Hungary  in 
the  sense  of  the  Pragmatic  Sanction  and  on  the  basis  of  the  liberty, 
equahty  and  fraternity  of  all  nationahties  living  under  the  Crown 
of  Hungary.  But  how  this  is  to  be  carried  out,  the  nation  of  these 
Kingdoms  will  decide  when  these  its  just  wishes  have  been  fulfilled 

355 


APPENDIX  III 

by  Your  Majesty,   and  when  the  true  situation  of  Hungary  in 
relation  to  the  state  as  a  whole,  has  become  clearer. 

8.  All  political  and  judicial  officials,  whose  appointment  lies 
with  Your  Majesty  alone,  are  to  be  only  provisionally  appointed 
by  the  Ban,  and  such  appointments  are  to  be  submitted  to  Your 
Majesty  for  approval. 

9.  Until  a  new  legal  procedure  is  introduced,  appeal  cases  from 
these  Kingdoms  to  the  high  courts  in  Hungary  are  not  to  be  allowed. 

10.  With  a  view  of  furthering  a  fulfilment  of  our  nation's  wishes, 
Baron  Francis  Kulmer  has  been  unanimously  elected  as  represen- 
tative of  these  Kingdoms  at  Your  Majesty's  Throne,  which  election 
we   beg  your  Majesty  graciously  to   confirm. 

11.  Finally  we  most  solemnly  declare  that  since  under  Article 
XI  of  1608  the  power  of  the  Ban  extends  from  the  Drave  to  the 
Adriatic  Sea,  we  regard  as  integral  parts  of  these  Kingdoms  the 
counties  of  Pozega,  Virovitica  and  Syrmia,  as  also  the  regiments 
of  Gradiska,  Brod  and  Peterwardein,  which  are  known  legally 
and  historically  under  the  name  of  Lower  Slavonia — further  the 
districts  of  Fiume,  Buccari  and  Vinodol,  which  according  to  Royal 
privileges,  history  and  so  many  laws,  belong  to  Croatia :  and  we 
shall  manfully  defend  and  protect  all  these  as  our  lawful  inheritance, 
against  every  hostile  attack. 

These  are  the  just  resolutions  hitherto  passed  in  our  Diet,  and 
the  wishes  expressed  by  our  nation,  which  we  desire  to  see 
sanctioned  and  fulfilled  by  Your  Majesty. 

Your  Majesty  !  More  than  once  since  the  memorable  days  of 
March  we  sent  our  deputies  to  Your  Majesty  with  wishes  and  griev- 
ances, but  Your  Majesty  always  saw  fit  to  console  us  by  referring 
them  graciously  to  the  Diet  of  these  three  united  Kingdoms  and 
bidding  us  in  this  Diet  lay  bare  our  wounds  to  the  fatherly  heart 
of  Your  Majesty,  where  we  might  certainly  expect  them  to  be 
healed.  It  is  this  which  now  happens  in  this  our  most  dutiful 
representation,  and  we  confidently  hope,  that  Your  Majesty  will 
not  withhold  your  royal  sanction  from  the  urgent  and  just  reso- 
lutions of  a  loyal  and  brave  people.  For  even  though  it  be  assumed 
that  Your  Majesty  as  King  of  Hungary  felt  prompted  to  various 
generous  concessions,  and  hence  as  such  could  not  make  any  dis- 
position without  the  Hungarian  nation,  yet  this  very  true  though 
sad  assumption  does  not  in  any  way  exist  in  respect  to  our  three 
united  Kingdoms  :  for  the  Kingdoms  of  Dalmatia,  Croatia  and 
Slavonia  also  have  their  own  King,  who  has  by  a  solemn  oath 
pledged  himself  to  defend  unimpaired  their  rights  and  liberties, 
just  as  those  of  the  Kingdom  of  Hungary,  and  who,  having  nowhere 
and  never  nor  through  our  action  been  deprived  of  his  traditional 
Royal  authority,  also  enjoys  the  full  power,  in  accordance  with 
his  oath  and  at  the  wish  of  his  Kingdoms,  to  grant  them  his  fatherly 
support  where  and  as  he  pleases.     And  this  King  of  Dalmatia, 

356 


ARTICLE    XLII   OF   THE   CROATIAN    DIET 

Croatia  and  Slavonia  we  honour  and  appeal  to  for  help,  in  the 
crowned  and  exalted  person  of  Your  Majesty. 
We  respectfully  remain  Your  Majesty's  loyal  subjects, 

The  Ban  and  Deputies  of  the  Kingdoms  of  Dalmatia,  Croatia 

AND  Slavonia. 

Agram,  Sth  and  following  days  of  June,  1848. 


APPENDIX   IV 
ARTICLE  XLII  (1861)  OF  THE  CROATIAN  DIET  *59 

On  the  ground  of  the  Royal  proposition  (predlog)  of  February  26, 
1861,  No.  152,  and  on  the  basis  of  the  proposals  accepted  in  the 
Central  Committee,  after  several  weeks'  deliberation  and  in  con- 
sideration of  the  relations  of  the  Triune  Kingdom  towards  the 
Crown  and  Kingdom  of  Hungary,  and  after  a  provisional  resolu- 
tion passed  in  defence  of  its  national  liberty.  .  .  . 

The  Sabor  of  the  Triune  Kingdom  resolves  as  follows  : — 
§  I.  The  Triune  Kingdom  of  Dalmatia,  Croatia  and  Slavonia 
in  its  present  territorial  extent — counting  in  this  the  counties  of 
Firmie  (with  the  town  of  Fiume,  its  district  and  the  rest  of  the  coast), 
Zagreb,  Varazdin,  Krizevci,  Pozega,  Virovitica  and  Syrmia,  and 
the  existing  Military  Frontiers,  viz.,  eight  Croatian  and  three 
Slavonian  regiments,  namely,  those  of  Lika,  Otocak,  Ogulin,  Slunj, 
the  first  and  second  Banal,  and  those  of  Krizevci  and  St.  George, 
then  those  of  Gradiska,  Brod  and  Peterwardein  :  likewise  under- 
standing as  included  in  this  the  right  to  Medjumurje  and  the  remain- 
ing \'irtual  and  territorial  rights  of  these  kingdoms — declares  and 
announces,  by  way  of  its  Sabor  sitting  in  the  capital  Zagreb,  that 
since  the  events  of  the  year  1848  every  other  link,  whether  legisla- 
tive or  administrative  or  judicial,  between  the  Triune  Kingdom 
of  Dalmatia-Croatia-Slavonia  and  the  Kingdom  of  Hungary  has 
legally  entirely  ceased  ;  except  that  His  Majesty,  their  joint  King, 
in  accordance  with  their  joint  laws  up  to  1848,  has,  after  the  con- 
clusion of  a  special  Coronation  diploma  for  the  Triune  Kingdom  and 
the  Kingdom  of  Hungary,  to  be  crowned  as  King  of  Dalmatia- 
Croatia-Slavonia,  and  that  by  the  free  wish  of  the  nation  of  the 
Triune  Kingdom,  with  the  identical  crown  and  coronation  cere- 
mony by  which  he  is  crowned  as  King  of  Hungary  ;  and  that  to  the 
Triune  Kingdom,  apart  from  its  special  fundamental  status  and  con- 
stitutional rights,  there  also  still  belong  all  those  public  rights  which 
belonged  to  the  Kingdom  of  Hungary  till  the  end  of  the  year  1847, 
and  in  so  far  as  these  do  not  conflict  indirectly  or  directly  with  their 
autonomy  and  independence  as  proclaimed  above. 

*^'  Translated  from  B.  Sulek,  Na^e  Pravice  (Our  Rights),  pp.  400-403. 

357 


APPENDIX  IV 

§  2.  But  bearing  in  mind  its  joint  past  history  with  the  Hun- 
garian Kingdom  and  its  former  joint  constitutional  hfe  with  it, 
and  likewise  bearing  in  mind  the  community  of  interests  in  respect 
of  the  maintenance  and  development  of  constitutional  freedom  : 
the  Triune  Kingdom  of  Dalmatia,  Croatia  and  Slavonia,  bringing 
under  discussion  His  Majesty's  Royal  Proposition  [predlog)  of 
February  28,  1861  (No.  152),  by  which  it  is  invited  to  express  its 
wishes  and  ideas  regarding  its  relations  with  the  Kingdom  of  Hun- 
gary, declares  valid  the  resolution  of  its  Sabor,  to  the  effect  that 
the  latter  is  ready,  in  view  of  the  advantage  and  requirements  which 
it  has  in  common  with  the  Kingdom  of  Hungary,  to  enter  upon  a 
still  closer  constitutional  {staatsrechtliche :  drzavo-pravan)  con- 
nexion, as  soon  as  on  the  part  of  the  Kingdom  of  Hungary  the 
above-mentioned  independence  and  autonomy,  as  also  the  above- 
cited  real  and  theoretical  territorial  extent  of  the  Triune  Kingdom, 
shall  have  been  legally  recognized. 

§  3.  The  above-mentioned  constitutional  bond  between  the 
Triune  Kingdom  of  Dalmatia,  Croatia  and  Slavonia  would  have  to 
be — on  the  basis  of  their  (i.e.  the  Triune  Kingdom's)  complete 
traditional  constitution  and  the  already  mentioned  independence 
of  the  Triune  Kingdom  and  its  equal  rights  as  a  state  {drzavne 
ravno  pravnosti) — founded  on  the  joint  legislature  and  the  adminis- 
tration created  by  it,  limited  to  those  affairs  of  state  which  shall  be 
specified  more  precisely  by  the  terms  of  the  aUiance  {savez  *^°). 

§  4.  The  legislature  and  supreme  executive  in  political  affairs, 
and  in  matters  of  education,  rehgion,  and  justice,  as  also  the  juris- 
diction over  all  petitions,  cannot  be  the  subject  of  closer  connexion 
between  the  Triune  Kingdom  and  the  Kingdom  of  Hungary,  and, 
in  the  question  of  the  mutual  relations  of  these  kingdoms,  does  not 
come  into  the  discussion. 

§  5.  As  soon  as  the  Parliament  of  the  Kingdom  of  Hungary  ex- 
presses itself  on  the  principles  of  this  resolution,  committees  shall 
be  delegated  by  both  sides,  containing  equal  numbers  and  consist- 
ing of  members  of  parhament ;  for  the  purpose  of  meeting  at  the 
place  fixed  for  special  mutual  discussion,  and  working  out  the  details 
regarding  this  constitutional  contract,  and  then  submitting  it  to 
the  said  Sabor  for  approval. 

§  6.  With  regard  to  His  Majesty's  Royal  Rescript  of  October  20, 
i860,  to  the  Ban,  Baron  SokceviS,  as  also  in  view  of  the  mutual  inter- 
course of  700  years,  this  resolution  will  have  to  be  communicated 
to  the  Hungarian  Parhament  for  its  information,  and  hkewise  laid 
before  His  Majesty  on  the  occasion  of  the  presentation  of  the  Sabor 's 
address,  with  the  request  that  he  may  deign  to  send  it,  like  a  Royal 
proposition,  to  the  Hungarian  Parliament  for  dehberation,  or  if 
that  Parliament  should  exercise  its  own  power  of  initiative,  that  he 
may  submit  the  latter's  proposals  to  this  Parliament  for  further 

deliberation. 

*«"  i.e.  the  agreement  with  Hungary, 


NEGOTIATIONS   WITH   HUNGARY   (1867) 

APPENDIX    V 

THE    INSTRUCTIONS    OF    THE    CROATIAN    DELEGATES 
DURING  THE  NEGOTIATIONS  WITH  HUNGARY  (1867) 

(Translated  from  Pliveri6,  Beitrdge  zum  ungarisch-kroatischen 
Bundesrechte,  pp.  265-269.) 

As  soon  as  legal  conditions  such^as  prevailed  up  to  April,  1867, 
shall  have  been  restored  in  the  town  of  Fiume  and  its  district  and 
in  the  remainder  of  the  Croatian  coast  lands,  and  as  soon  as 
the  Hungarian  Parliament  declares  its  willingness  to  elect  on  its 
side  a  Regnicolar  Deputation  which  would  have  to  enter  into  nego- 
tiations with  the  delegates  of  the  Diet  of  the  Triune  Kingdom, 
and  as  soon  also  as  His  Majesty,  on  the  removal  of  those  hindrances 
which  disturb  confidence  towards  the  present  Government,  shall 
have  commissioned  his  Government  to  enter  into  negotiations 
respecting  the  contents  of  the  Coronation  Diploma ;  a  deputation 
is  to  be  elected  from  the  Diet  of  the  Triune  Kingdom  of  Dalmatia, 
Croatia  and  Slavonia,  according  to  the  wording  of  the  Diet's 
Address  of  May  18,  1867,  and  is  to  be  sent  to  Pest,  in  order  to 
attend  the  Coronation  ceremony. 

This  Deputation  has  to  adhere  to  the  following  Instructions  : — 

Article  I.  Since  the  constitutional  relations  between  the 
Triune  Kingdom  and  the  Kingdom  of  Hungary  have  up  till  now 
not  been  regulated,  the  Deputation  of  the  Triune  Kingdom  has, 
after  its  arrival  in  Pest,  to  enter  into  relations  with  that  Deputa- 
tion of  the  Hungarian  Diet  to  which  the  composition  of  the  Coro- 
nation Diploma  has  been  entrusted,  as  with  a  Deputation  enjoying 
equal  position  and  equal  rights  with  itself  ; 

Article  II.  The  Deputation  of  the  Diet  of  the  Triune  Kingdom 
of  Dalmatia,  Croatia  and  Slavonia  has  above  all  to  declare  to  the 
Deputation  of  the  Hungarian  Diet,  that  it  has  been  appointed 
in  order  to  negotiate  with  the  latter  as  representing  the  Hungarian 
Diet,  respecting  the  contents  of  the  Coronation  Diploma,  and  to 
lay  the  result  of  this  negotiation  before  the  Diet  of  the  Triune 
Kingdom  from  whom  it  received  its  commission,  for  definite 
decision ; 

Article  III.  So  long  as  the  relations  between  the  Triune  King- 
dom and  the  Kingdom  of  Hungary  are  not  regulated,  the  Triune 
Kingdom  of  Dalmatia,  Croatia  and  Slavonia  stands  on  a  con- 
stitutional basis  of  its  own,  differing  from  the  constitutional  basis 
of  the  Kingdom  of  Hungary.  The  Joint  Relations  between  these 
two  Kingdoms,  based  upon  the  Pragmatic  Sanction,  find  their 
expression  in  the  fact  of  their  having  a  common  Crown  and  Coro- 
nation. But  since  by  Article  XLII  of  1861  the  mode  and  form  in 
which  these  Joint  Relations  were  to  be  expressed  has  been  left  to 
further  negotiations,  the  Deputation  of  the  Triune  Kingdom  has 

359 


APPENDIX  V 

to  inform  the  Deputation  of  the  Hungarian  Diet  beforehand  : 
that  the  Triune  Kingdom  can  take  part  in  the  Coronation  ceremony 
in  no  other  way  save  by  guarding  itself  against  all  legal  conse- 
quences which  might  follow  to  its  disadvantage,  in  regulating 
its  future  relations  to  the  Kingdom  of  Hungary,  and  at  the  same 
time  by  demanding  that  as  a  legal  guarantee  the  following  clause 
should  be  inserted  in  the  Coronation  Diploma  ;  {a)  that  the  Triune 
Kingdom  even  after  the  Coronation  remains  unimpaired  in  its 
present  constitutional  position,  as  laid  down  by  its  Diet  in  the 
year  1861  in  Article  XLII  with  His  Majesty's  consent ;  and  this 
until  the  relations  between  the  one  Kingdom  and  the  other  shall  be 
definitely  regulated  by  a  free  agreement  between  the  two  equal 
Diets.  (6)  That  also  neither  in  this  manner  nor  in  this  case  can 
the  constitutional  bond  between  the  two  Kingdoms  be  extended  to 
the  legislation  and  administration  of  such  affairs  (with  their  re- 
spective Budgets)  as  are  under  all  circumstances  reserved  by  §  4, 
Article  XLII,  1861  to  the  autonomy  of  the  Triune  Kingdom  as  the 
minimum  of  independence  necessary  for  the  national  development 
of  this  Kingdom  ;  and  further  that  the  territorial  extent  defined  in 
§  I,  Article  XLII,  1861 — including  the  town  and  district  of  Fiume — 
is  to  be  regarded  unquestionably  as  the  indivisible  and  inalienable 
basis  and  condition  of  this  Kingdom's  existence  and  position  as 
a  state. 

Therefore  our  Deputation  will  distinctly  indicate  to  the  Depu- 
tation of  the  Hungarian  Diet,  that  these  points  are  regarded  as 
preliminary  conditions,  upon  which  even  the  possibiUty  of  any 
negotiation  between  one  Kingdom  and  the  other  is  made  entirely 
dependent. 

Article  IV.  As  a  consequence  of  the  preceding  articles,  the 
Deputation  of  the  Triune  Kingdom  will  demand  of  the  Deputation 
of  the  Kingdom  of  Hungary,  its  equal,  that  as  a  legal  guarantee 
and  assurance  there  be  included  in  the  Coronation  Oath  (a  clause 
to  the  effect)  that  the  Hungarian  Laws  of  the  year  1848  cannot  even 
after  the  Coronation  has  taken  place,  be  extended  to  the  Triune 
Kingdom. 

Article  V.  Since  the  Coronation  is  not  a  mere  ceremony, 
but  the  legal  and  sworn  guarantee  for  the  accurate  observance 
of  mutual  rights  and  duties,  our  Deputation  will  regard  the  pre- 
parations for  the  Coronation  as  incomplete  and  unfinished  until, 
in  agreement  with  the  Crown  or  with  His  Majesty's  Government, 
there  be  included  in  the  Coronation  diploma  a  guarantee  possessing 
the  validity  and  importance  of  a  fundamental  law,  to  the  effect : 

(a)  that  in  the  Triune  Kingdoms  of  Dalmatia,  Croatia,  Slavonia 
henceforward  the  Government  shall  be  conducted  solely 
by  such  organs  as  are  responsible  to  the  Diet  of  this 
Kingdom. 

360 


THE  HUNGARO-CROATION  COMPROMISE 

(b)  that    the    Croatian-Slavonian    Frontier,    as    an    exclusively 

military  institution,  is  regarded  as  at  an  end,  and  is  united 
with  the  Motherland — viz.  the  Kingdom  of  Dalmatia, 
Croatia,  Slavonia — in  the  legislation  and  administration 
of  pohtical  affairs  and  matters  of  rehgion  and  instruction. 

(c)  that  Dalmatia  in  accordance  with  the  constitutional  law  of 

the  Triune  Kingdom  of  Dalmatia,  Croatia,  Slavonia  is 
united  with  the  sister  lands  of  Croatia  and  Slavonia. 
{d)  that  the  responsible  Government  of  His  Majesty  is  bound 
to  introduce  in  the  next  session  of  the  Diet  of  the  Triune 
Kingdom  a  bill  relating  to  the  immediate  execution  of 
the  provisions  recited  under  a,  b,  c,  and  relating  to  the 
manner  in  which,  in  harmony  with  the  loyal  repre- 
sentation of  Dalmatia  the  union  referred  to  under  d  (?c) 
is  to  be  carried  out. 

Article  VI.  The  Deputation  will  in  the  name  of  this  Diet 
decline  to  associate  itself  with  the  Resolution  laid  down  between 
His  Majesty's  Government  and  the  Hungarian  Diet  respecting 
Joint  affairs  and  their  management ;  and  it  will  on  the  contrary 
issue  the  declaration  that  the  Triune  Kingdom  of  Dalmatia,  Croatia, 
Slavonia  is  a  Kingdom  of  the  Hungarian  Crown  enjo3dng  in 
every  respect  equal  rights  with  the  Kingdom  of  Hungary,  and 
that  the  above  mentioned  Resolution  cannot  possibly  be  appHed 
to  it  in  a  legal  manner  without  its  consent  ;  and  in  this  respect  the 
Deputation  will  have  to  adhere  to  the  views  expressed  in  the 
Address  of  May  i8,  1867,  both  in  deaUng  with  His  Majesty's 
Government  and  also  with  the  Hungarian  Regnicolar  Deputation. 

V  Article  VII.  In  general  the  Deputation  has  to  adhere  to  the 
principles  and  tendency  expressed  in  the  Address  of  May  18,  1867, 
and  to  put  forward  the  demand  that  the  Coronation  Diploma 
shall  be  drawn  up  for  the  Triune  Kingdom  in  a  special  original 
copy  in  the  Croato-Serb  language. 

APPENDIX    VI 

THE    HUNGARO-CROATIAN    COMPROMISE    (1868) 

Article  XXX   of  1868. 

An  agreement  having  been  reached  between  the  Parliament  of 
Hungary  on  the  one  hand  and  the  Parliament  of  Croatia,  Slavonia 
and  Dalmatia  on  the  other  hand,  with  regard  to  composing  by  a 
joint  enactment  the  constitutional  questions  at  issue  between  them  : 
this  agreement,  after  being  also  confirmed,  enforced  and  sanctioned 
by  His  Imperial  and  Apostolic  Royal  Majesty,  is  hereby  inarticu- 
lated  as  a  joint  fundamental  law  of  Hungary  and  of  Croatia,  Slavonia 
and  Dalmatia,  in  the  following  terms  : 

361 


APPENDIX   VI 

Since  Croatia  and  Slavonia  have  alike  de  [jttre  and  de  facto 
belonged  for  centuries  to  the  Crown  of  St.  Stephen,  and  since  it  is 
laid  down  in  the  Pragmatic  Sanction  also,  that  the  lands  of  the 
Hungarian  Crown  are  indivisible  from  one  another :  Hungary 
on  the  one  hand,  and  Croatia  and  Slavonia  on  the  other  hand 
have  upon  this  basis  concluded  the  following  agreement  with  a 
view  to  composing  the  constitutional  questions  at  issue  between 
them  : — 

§  I.  Hungary  and  Croatia,  Slavonia  and  Dabnatia  form  one 
and  the  same  state  complexity,  aUke  towards  the  other  territories 
under  His   Majesty's  rule   and  towards   other  countries. 

§  2.  From  this  unity  and  coherence  as  a  state  it  foUows  that 
the  King  of  Hungary  and  of  Croatia,  Slavonia  and  Dalmatia  is 
crowned  with  one  and  the  same  Crown  and  with  one  and  the  same 
Coronation  ceremony,  and  that  for  all  territories  under  the  Crown  of 
St.  Stephen  a  joint  Coronation  Diploma  is  drawn  up  and  published 
in  the  joint  Parliament  of  these  territories. 

The  original  of  this  Coronation  diploma,  meanwhile,  is  in  addi- 
tion to  the  Magyar  text  to  be  drawn  up  in  the  Croat  language 
also,  and  in  it  also  the  integrity  and  provincial  constitution  of 
Croatia,   Slavonia  and  Dalmatia  are  to  be  guaranteed. 

The  Coronation  Diploma  of  the  year  1867  is  also  to  be  drawn 
up  (now  after  the  event)  in  the  original  Croat  text  and  to  be  sent 
as  soon  as  possible  to  the  Sabor  ^^^  of  Croatia,  Slavonia  and  Dalmatia. 

§  3.  From  the  above  mentioned  indivisible  unity  of  state  it 
further  follows  that — in  respect  of  all  affairs  wliich  are  common  to  all 
the  territories  of  the  Hungarian  Crown  and  to  the  other  territories 
of  His  Majesty,  or  which  are  disposed  of  by  joint  agreement — Hun- 
gary and  Croatia,  Slavonia  and  Dalmatia  must  possess  one  and 
the  same  representation  and  legislature,  as  also,  as  regards  the 
executive  power,  a  Joint  Government. 

§  4.  Croatia,  Slavonia  and  Dalmatia  recognize  as  valid  and 
binding  Article  XII  of  the  Hungarian  Parliament  of  1867,  which 
defines  the  Joint  Affairs  existing  between  the  territories  of  the 
Crown  of  St.  Stephen  and  the  other  territories  of  His  Majesty,  or 
the  affairs  which  are  not  actually  Joint,  but  are  to  be  disposed  of 
by  joint  agreement,  and  also  the  manner  in  which  such  affairs  are 
to  be  administered  :  and  in  the  same  way  the  agreements  which 
have  already  come  into  effect  on  the  basis  of  this  law,  especially 
Articles  XIV,  XV  and  XVI  of  1867  ;  but  under  the  express  con- 
dition that  in  future  similar  fundamental  laws  and  agreements 
can  only  come  into  effect  subject  to  the  legal  participation  of  Croatia, 
Slavonia  and  Dalmatia. 

The  fundamental  law  mentioned  in  this  paragraph,  as  also  the 

*^^  For  the  sake  of  clearness,  I  use  the  word  "  Sabor  "  to  denote  the  Croatian 
Diet,  the  word  "  PafUament  "  to  denote  the  Hungarian  Parhament ;  in  the 
original,  the  same  word  is  used  for  both. 

362 


THE  HUNGARO-CROATIAN  COMPROMISE 

Articles  quoted,  are  to  be  now  after  the  event  drawn  up  in  Croat 
original  text  and  to  be  sent  as  soon  as  possible  to  the  Croatian- 
Slavonian-Dalmatian  Sabor  for  promulgation. 

§  5.  Apart  from  those  subjects  which  are  common  to  the  ter- 
ritories of  the  Crown  of  St.  Stephen  and  to  the  other  territories 
of  His  Majesty,  there  are  also  other  affairs  which  are  of  common 
interest  to  Hungary  and  to  Croatia,  Slavonia  and  Dalmatia,  and 
regarding  which  the  joint  character  of  legislature  and  government 
is  by  this  agreement  recognized  as  necessary  for  all  territories  of 
the  Hungarian  Crown. 

§  6.  Such  a  Joint  Affair  of  all  territories  of  the  Crown  of  St. 
Stephen  is  above  all  the  adoption  of  the  expenses  of  the  Civil  List. 

§  7.  A  further  Joint  Affair  is  the  sanction  of  recruiting,  the 
legislation  on  the  Army  system  and  liabihty  to  military  service, 
and  control  of  the  quartering  and  victualling  of  the  Army.  In 
these  respects  however  the  following  provision  is  made  for  Croatia, 
Slavonia  and  Dalmatia  : — 

(fl)  Out  of  the  contingent  of  recruits  which  has  to  be  sanctioned 
jointly,  the  portion  falling  to  Croatia,  Slavonia  and  Dal- 
matia is  fixed  according  to  the  proportion  of  the  total 
population  :  but  it  goes  without  saying  that  if  the  pre- 
vaihng  system  of  defence  be  revised,  the  details  of  the 
new  system  wliich  is  to  be  enforced  will  be  applied  to 
Croatia,  Slavonia  and  Dalmatia  also  ; 

(6)  The  recruits  falling  to  the  share  of  Croatia,  Slavonia  and 
Daknatia  will  be  enlisted  in  the  regiments  of  these  terri- 
tories ; 

(c)  At  the  enUstment  consideration  will  be  had  for  the  category 
to  which  the  recruits  are  best  suited,  and  the  recruits  of 
the  sea  coast  will  be  for  the  most  part  assigned  to  the  Navy. 

§  8.  The  financial  system  is  a  Joint  Affair  between  Hungary 
and  Croatia,  Slavonia  and  Dalmatia,  alike  in  respect  to  legislation 
and  administration,  in  the  manner  described  below.  Consequently 
the  Joint  Parliament  for  all  territories  of  the  Crown  of  St.  Stephen 
is  entrusted  with  the  regulation  of  the  whole  system  of  taxation ; 
the  ratification  of  direct  and  indirect  taxes,  both  with  respect  to 
the  categories  of  taxation  and  to  tax-assessments ;  similarly 
the  calculation,  manipulation  and  collection  of  taxes  ;  the  intro- 
duction of  new  taxes ;  the  ratification  of  the  Joint  Budget 
Proposals,  as  also  the  examination  of  balances  respecting  the  Joint 
expenditure  :  the  contracting  of  new  State  debts  or  the  conversion 
of  already  existing  debts  :  the  administration,  conversion,  bur- 
dening or  sale  of  immovable  State  property ;  control  over  mono- 
polies and  royalties  [jura  regalia  majora)  and  generally  all  provi- 
sions relating  to  any  financial  matter  common  to  all  territories 
of  the  Crown  of  St.  Stephen,     This  holds  good  in  respect  to  the 

363 


APPENDIX   VI 

sale  of  Croatian-Slavonian  state  lands  (under  which  State  forests 
are  also  included,  §  2  Article  XXXIV  1873),  with  the  limitation 
that  the  Diet  of  Croatia,  Slavonia  and  Dalmatia  is  also  to  be  heard 
on  this  point,  and  that  without  its  approval  such  a  sale  may  not 
take  place.  With  regard  to  all  these  affairs  the  Joint  Financial 
executive — which  is  exercised  by  the  Royal  Hungarian  Minister 
of  Finance,  responsible  to  the  Joint  Parliament — extends  to  Croatia, 
Slavonia  and  Dalmatia  also. 

§  g.  Joint  Affairs  of  all  territories  of  the  Hungarian  Crown 
are  coinage — metal  currency — and  the  banknote  system  :  further, 
decisions  as  to  minting  and  the  general  monetary  standard  ;  examin- 
ation and  approval  of  commercial  and  State  treaties,  such  as  equally 
affect  the  territories  of  the  Crown  of  St.  Stephen  :  provisions  res- 
pecting banks,  institutions  of  credit  and  insurance  ;  concessions  : 
weights  and  measures  :  the  protection  of  patents  and  trademarks, 
ofhcial  stamps, *^^  the  rights  of  literary  and  artistic  property  :  Sea 
Law,  Commercial  Law,  the  law  of  Bills  of  Exchange  and  Mining 
Law,  and  generally  matters  of  commerce,  customs,  telegraphs,  Post 
Office,  railways,  harbours,  shipping,  and  those  roads  and  rivers  which 
jointly  concern  Hungary  and  Croatia,  Slavonia  and  Dalmatia. 

§  10.  With  regard  to  the  regulation  of  Trade  matters,  including 
hawking,  likewise  with  regard  to  societies  which  do  not  exist  for 
public  gain,  and  also  with  regard  to  passports,  frontier  police, 
citizenship  and  naturalization,  the  legislation  is  Joint,  but  the 
executive  in  respect  of  these  affairs  is  reserved  to  Croatia,  Slavonia 
and  Dalmatia. 

§  II.  Croatia,  Slavonia  and  Dalmatia  recognize  that  they  are 
bound  to  contribute  in  proportion  to  their  taxable  capacity,  to 
those  expenses  which  are  involved  on  the  one  hand  by  those  affairs 
which  are  recognized  as  Common  between  the  territories  of  the 
Hungarian  Crown  and  the  other  territories  of  His  Majesty,  and  on 
the  other  hand  by  the  affairs  described  above  as  Common  between 
all  territories  of  the  Hungarian  Crown  themselves. 

§  12.  This  proportion  is — according  to  the  same  data,  on  the  basis  of  which 
the  proportion  to  be  contributed  by  the  territories  of  the  Hungarian  Crown  to 
the  expenses  of  the  affairs  common  to  them  and  the  other  territories  of  His 
Majesty  was  fixed  for  10  years — for  the  like  period 

for  Hungary  93-5,592,201  per  cent. 

for  Croatia  and  Slavonia  6 '4407799  per  cent. 

(for  revision  of  this,  see  p.  374). 

§  13.  Since  however  the  total  net  income  of  Croatia  and  Slavonia  could  at 
present  only  cover  the  sum  which  according  to  the  standard  of  taxable  capacity 
contained  in  the  preceding  paragraph,  would  fall  to  the  share  of  these  countries 
out  of  the  expenditure  for  Joint  Affairs,  only  in  the  event  of  these  countries 
making  over  the  greater  part  of  the  sum  required  for  their  internal  adminis- 
tration ;  Hungary,  having  regard  to  the  renewal  of  the  fraternal  relation  which 
subsisted  for  centuries  between  it  and  Croatia  and  Slavonia,  willingly  agrees 
that  at  the  verj'  beginning  a  fixed  sum,  which  is  to  be  fixed  from  time  to  time 

^^^  I.e.  the  stamping  of  hallmarks,  etc. 
364 


THE  HUNGARO-CROATIAN  COMPROMISE 

by  an  agreement  for  the  costs  of  internal  administration  of  these  countries , 
shall  be  deducted  and  that  the  sum  which  remains  over  after  satisfying  the 
needs  of  the  internal  administration,  shall  be  employed  for  the  expenses 
involved  by  Joint  Affairs. 

§  14.  On  the  basis  of  the  principle  laid  down  in  the  preceding  paragraphs 
the  following  financial  arrangement  has  been  reached  between  Hungary  on 
the  one  hand  and  Croatia  and  Slavonia  on  the  other  hand  : — 

§  15.  The  needs  of  internal  administration  of  Croatia  and  Slavonia  are 
fixed  at  2,200,000  florins  for  these  ten  years  during  which  the  existing  agree- 
ment between  the  territories  of  the  Hungarian  Crown  and  the  other  territories 
of  His  Majesty  lasts. 

§  16.  This  sum  is  above  all  covered  by  45  per  cent,  of  the  direct  and  in- 
direct taxes  and  other  public  sources  of  income  of  Croatia  and  Slavonia  ; 
that  is,  out  of  the  total  income  of  those  countries  45  per  cent,  are  paid  over 
to  whatever  provincial  or  municipal  bank  the  legislature  or  government 
of  these  countries  *>^^  shall  request. 

§  17.  Fifty-five  per  cent,  of  the  total  income  of  Croatia  and  Slavonia  are 
assigned  to  the  Joint  Treasury  to  cover  the  Joint  expenses. 

By  §  3  of  Article  XXXIV,  1873,  these  paragraphs  (15,  16,  17)  and  also  §§  25 
and  26  (see  below)  were  repealed  and  superseded  by  the  following  provision  : — 

The  needs  of  the  internal  administration  of  Croatia-Slavonia,  from  January 
I,  1873,  for  the  period  during  which  the  agreement  concluded  between  the 
territories  of  the  Hungarian  Crown  and  the  other  kingdoms  and  terri- 
tories of  His  Majesty  concerning  the  proportional  contribution  to  the  cost 
of  Joint  Affairs  lasts,  are  in  the  first  place  covered  by  45  per  cent,  of  the  direct 
and  indirect  taxes  and  other  public  sources  of  income  of  Croatia  and  Slavonia  ; 
that  is,  out  of  the  net  public  income  of  these  countries  45  per  cent,  are 
paid  over  to  whatever  Croatian  Slavonian  provincial  or  municipal  bank  the 
Legislature  or  Government  of  these  provinces  shall  request. 

Fifty-five  per  cent,  of  the  total  income  of  Croatia  and  Slavonia  are  assigned 
to  the  Joint  Treasury  to  cover  the  Joint  expenses. 

The  45  per  cent,  of  the  total  income  of  Croatia  and  Slavonia  are  reckoned  in 
this  manner,  that  from  the  total  direct  and  indirect  taxes  of  Croatia  and  Sla- 
vonia, from  the  income  of  the  State  lands  in  Croatia  and  Slavonia  and  from 
other  public  sources  of  revenue  only  such  disbursements  are  deducted,  as  are 
connected  with  the  calculation  and  collection  of  taxes — in  which  the  cost  of  the 
Joint  financial  adminstration  is  not  included — with  the  administration  of 
State  lands,  with  the  collection  and  direct  manipulation  of  indirect  taxes, 
monopolies  and  other  public  sources  of  revenue. 
[For  the  modification  of  §  3,  XXXIV,  1873,  see  §  4,  XL,  1889  (p.  374).] 

§  18.  From  those  sources  of  income  which  are,  in  accordance  with  §§  16 
and  17,  to  be  divided  between  the  demands  of  Croatia  and  Slavonia's  internal 
administration  and  the  Joint  Expenses,  are  excluded  the  following  : — 

(a)  Octroi  taxes  on  wine  and  meat,  which  can  in  future  also  be  used  in  Croa- 

tia-Slavonia to  cover  communal  expenses,  according  to  the  practice 
which  has  hitherto  prevailed. 

(b)  The  income  from  frontier  Custom  dues,  in  accordance  with  Article  XII 

of  1867. 

[See  §  5  of  Article  XL,  1889,  p.  375,  and  also  Article  X,  igo6,  p.375-8.] 

§  19.  Should  the  administrative  territory  of  Croatia  and  Sla- 
vonia be  increased  by  the  actual  reincorporation  of  Dalmatia  or 
by  the  administrative  union  of  the  Mihtary  Frontiers,  the  revenues 
of  the  territories  united  to  Croatia-Slavonia  will  similarly  be  divided 
between    the    requirements    of    the    Croatian-Slavonian    internal 

*^2  In  the  Croat  text  sdruzenih  kraljevinah  {united  Kingdoms). 

365 


APPENDIX   VI 

administration  and  those  of  Joint  Affairs,  according  to  the  scale 
fixed  in  §§  i6  and  17. 

§  20.  The  "  additional  tax  "  which  at  present  exists  both  in  Hun- 
gary and  in  Croatia-Slavonia,  will  be  added  to  the  State  taxes. 

§  21.  The  Mortgage  Redemption  charge,  however,  will  so  far  as  Croatia- 
Slavonia  are  concerned  continue  to  be  administered  by  the  Mortgage  Redemp- 
tion office  of  these  countries  until  the  Land  Tax  Redemption  Debt  has  been 
entirely  paid  off,  and  will  be  paid  by  the  Department  of  Finance  to  the  account 
of  that  office.  The  joint  guarantee  of  the  territories  of  the  Hungarian 
Crown  for  this  Redemption  Debt  continues  in  future  also,  and  any  help 
which  may  be  required  for  this  purpose  will  be  advanced  from  the  Joint 
Treasury  according  to  the  practice  adopted  hitherto. 

By  Law  XXVII  of  1891  (only  one  paragraph)  this  was  modified 
as  follows  : — 

The  annual  requirement  for  the  amortisation,  payment  of  interest 
and  administration  of  the  Croatian-Slavonian  Mortgage  Redemp- 
tion Debt  is,  until  this  Debt  has  been  completely  wiped  out,  to 
be  met  from  the  income  of  the  combined  direct  taxes  and  Land 
Redemption  charges  of  Croatia  and  Slavonia,  and  the  sums  corre- 
sponding to  this  requirement  are  to  be  paid  over  to  the  account 
of  the  Croatian-Slavonian  Land  Redemption  Office.  This  pro- 
vision has  also  to  be  followed  in  the  reckoning  which  has  to  be 
made  with  Croatia-Slavonia  for  the  year  1890.  A  special  law, 
in  the  sense  of  subsections  i  and  2  of  §  5  of  Article  LIV  of  1890, 
deals  with  the  surpluses  which  have  accrued  up  to  December  31, 
1889,  out  of  the  proceeds  of  the  Croatian-Slavonian  Land  Redemp- 
tion charges,  and  whose  amount  was  fixed  by  joint  agreement  at 
2,660,000  florins. 

The  joint  guarantee  of  the  territories  of  the  Hungarian  Crown 
for  this   Land   Redemption   Debt  remains  in   force. 

§  22.  The  Royal  Hungarian  Minister  of  Finance  exercises  the 
executive  in  Croatia-Slavonia  in  respect  of  direct  and  indirect 
taxes,  monopolies,  stamps,  dues  and  charges  and  also  of  the  State 
lands  through  the  Finance  Department  in  Agram,  which  is  to  be 
appointed  by  him. 

§  23.  Those  sections  of  the  Provincial  Treasury  in  Agram, 
which  deal  with  matters  belonging  to  Croatia  and  Slavonia's  auto- 
nomous sphere  of  influence,  are  in  every  respect  subject  to  the 
control  of  the  said  countries.  The  balances  drawn  up  by  the  said 
Provincial  Treasury  sections  are  however  to  be  communicated 
to  the  Joint  Finance  Minister,  in  order  that  the  financial  data  of 
all  the  territories  of  the  Hungarian  Crown  may  be  compiled  in 
their  entirety. 

§  24.  The  autonomous  Provincial  Government  and  the  execu- 
tive authorities  of  Croatia-Slavonia  are  entirely  ready  to  assist 
the  organs  of  the  Joint  Finance  Minister  in  securing  and  collecting 
the  revenues  of  State,  and  carefuUy  comply  with  the  legal  decrees 
of  the  Finance  Minister,  as  responsible  to  the  Joint  Parliament. 

366 


THE  HUNGARO-CROATIAN  COMPROMISE 

§  25.  Should  the  45  per  cent,  of  the  total  income  in  certain  years  not 
sufl&ce  to  cover  the  requirements  of  the  internal  administration  of  Croatia- 
Slavonia,  as  laid  do\\Ti  above  (§  15),  then  Hungary  advances  the  balance. 

§  26.  If,  on  the  contrary  the  said  45  per  cent,  amount  to  a  larger  sum 
than  that  which  was  fixed  by  agreement  for  the  requirements  of  Croatia- 
Slavonia's  internal  administration,  then  the  surplus  is  employed  to  cover 
Joint  expenses. 

[§§  25  and  26  were  superseded  by  §  3,  XXXIV,  1873,  see  above,  p.365.] 

§  27.  Should  however  the  revenues  of  Croatia  and  Slavonia, 
in  consequence  of  increase  in  taxable  strength,  exceed  that  portion 
of  the  Joint  expenses  which  would  fall  upon  them  according  to  the 
standard  of  taxable  strength  contained  in  §  12,  then  the  surplus 
is  at  the  disposal  of  Croatia-Slavonia,  without  Croatia  and  Slavonia 
being  bound  to  cover  those  sums  with  which  they  have  fallen  into 
arrears  in  previous  years  in  respect  to  the  Joint  expenses. 

§  27  was  repealed  by  Article  X,  1906  (quem  vide). 

§  28.  The  statement  of  the  revenues  of  Croatia  and  Slavonia 
is  drawn  up  on  the  basis  of  the  principles  contained  in  the  above 
paragraphs,  and  is  submitted  to  the  Joint  Legislature  of  the  terri- 
tories of  the  Hungarian  Crown  at  the  same  time  as  the  statement 
of  accounts  of  all  the  territories  of  the  Hungarian  Crown. 

The  statements,  after  being  examined  there  are  also  commu- 
nicated to  the  Diet  of  Croatia  and  Slavonia  for  its  cognizance. 

[See  §  6,  XL,  1889,  revised  by  X,  1906,  see  p.  375]. 

§  29.  The  keeping  of  special  returns  as  to  the  revenues  of  Croatia 
and  Slavonia  can  only  come  into  effect  after  the  agreement  has  been 
reached,  viz.,  from  January  i,  1869.  Until  the  agreement  has  been 
accepted  by  both  legislatures  and  sanctioned  by  His  Majesty,  the 
Estimates  for  1867  are  authoritative  so  far  as  Croatia  and  Slavonia 
are  concerned,  in  assigning  the  expenses  of  internal  administration. 

§  30.  Of  Croatia  and  Slavonia's  arrears  of  taxation  up  to 
the  end  of  1867  inclusive  and  stiU  claimable,  63  per  cent,  are  to  be 
apphed  for  the  requirements  of  the  said  countries,  while  37  per 
cent,  fall  to  the  Joint  Treasury. 

§  31.  With  regard  to  those  affairs  which  are  Common  between 
the  territories  of  the  Hungarian  Crown  and  the  other  territories 
of  His  Majesty,  as  also  with  regard  to  those  which  have  been  des- 
cribed in  the  above  paragraphs  as  common  for  the  territories  of 
the  Hungarian  Crown  themselves,  the  legislative  right  belongs  to 
the  Joint  Parliament  of  a]l  the  territories  of  the  Hungarian  Crown, 
which  is  to  be  summoned  annually  to  Pest. 

§  32.  In  this  Joint  Parliament  Croatia  and  Slavonia  are  represented,  in 
proportion  to  the  number  of  their  population,  by  twenty-nine  deputies.  The 
town  of  Fiume  and  the  coast  district  are  not  included  in  this,  in  consideration 
of  the  reason  mentioned  in  §  66.  Should  the  number  of  the  Hungarian 
deputies  alter  in  course  of  time,  the  number  of  the  deputies  of  Croatia  -Slavonia 
■wall  be  fixed  according  to  the  same  principles  as  are  followed  in  fixing  the 
number  of  the  Hungarian  deputies,  the  proportion  to  the  population  being 
retained. 

367 


APPENDIX  VI 

§  33.  If  the  population  of  Croatia-Slavonia  should  be  increased,  whether 
by  the  administrative  union  of  the  Military  Frontiers,  or  by  the  reincor- 
poration of  Dalmatia,  then  the  number  of  deputies  of  the  said  countries 
will  likewise  be  increased  in  proportion  to  the  increase  of  the  population. 

By  §  2  of  Article  XV,  1881,  these  §§  32  and  33  were  repealed,  and 
the  following  clause  was  substituted  : — 

§  2.  The  number  of  the  deputies  to  be  sent  by  Croatia-Slavonia 
to  the  House  of  Deputies  of  the  Joint  Hungarian  Parliament  is  for 
the  future — beginning  at  the  date  when  the  population  of  the 
Military  Frontiers,  after  their  administrative  union  with  the  said 
countries,  shall  actually  take  its  place  in  constitutional  life — fixed 
at  the  definite  number  of  40,  irrespective  of  the  proportion  of 
population.  In  this  the  town  of  Fiume  and  the  Coast  district  are 
not  included,  in  accordance  with  the  reason  adduced  in  §  66  of  Article 
XXX  of  1868.  Should  the  number  of  members  of  the  House  of 
Deputies  of  the  Joint  Hungarian  Parliament  in  general  be  altered 
by  a  subsequent  law,  then  the  above  mentioned  number  of  Croatian- 
Slavonian  members  of  the  Hungarian  House  of  Deputies  will  be 
altered  in  the  same  proportion  in  which  the  total  number  of  mem- 
bers to  be  fixed  by  the  new  law  will  stand  towards  the  present 
total  number  of  members. 

§  34.  Croatia,  Slavonia  and  Dalmatia  elect  their  deputies  to 
the  Joint  Parliament  from  the  midst  of  their  own  Sabor,  for  the 
whole  period  for  which  the  mandate  of  the  Joint  House  of  Deputies 
is  valid. 

In  the  event  of  the  Croatian-Slavonian  Dalmatian-Sabor  being 
dissolved  in  the  interval,  the  deputies  of  Croatia,  Slavonia  and 
Dalmatia  remain  members  of  the  Joint  Parliament  until  the  newly 
summoned  Croatian-Slavonian-Dalmatian  Sabor  elects  new  deputies. 

[To  this  clause  the  following  addition  was  made  by  §  4,  XXXIV, 
1873  :— 

In  the  said  event  the  Diet  of  Croatia,  Slavonia  and  Dalmatia 
is  to  be  convoked  within  three  months  reckoned  from  the 
dissolution.] 

§  35.  The  deputies  of  Croatia,  Slavonia  and  Dalmatia  exercise 
their  right  of  personal  expression  of  opinion  and  voting  during  the 
debating  of  those  affairs  which  have  been  declared  as  common 
in  the  above  paragraphs,  and  further  they  do  so  independently, 
without  instructions,  in  exactly  the  same  way  as  the  other  members 
of  the  Joint  Parliament. 

§  36.  Croatia,  Slavonia  and  Dalmatia  also  send  to  the  Upper  House  of 
the  Joint  Parliament  two  deputies  from  their  midst. 

[This  paragraph  was  repealed  by  §  3  of  Article  XV,  1881,  which 
runs  as  follows  : — ] 

Beginning  from  the  date  indicated  in  §  2  of  the  present  law  (see 
above,  §  33),  Croatia  and  Slavonia  send  to  the  Upper  House  of  the 

368 


THE  HUNGARO-CROATIAN   COMPROMISE 

Joint  Parliament  three  deputies  from  the  midst  of  their  own  Diet. 

§  37.  The  Magnates,  as  also  those  temporal  and  ecclesiastical 
dignitaries  of  Croatia,  Slavonia  and  Dalmatia  who  possessed  seats 
and  votes  in  the  Upper  House  of  the  Hungarian  Parliament  pre- 
vious to  1848,  will  in  future  also  be  members  of  the  Upper  House 
with  equal  rights,  for  so  long  as  this  House  is  not  organized  on  a 
different  basis. 

[This  reorganization  was  carried  out  by  Article  VH  of  1885]. 

§  38.  The  Joint  Affairs  will,  so  far  as  possible,  be  discussed  in 
the  Joint  Parhament  first  of  all  and  one  after  the  other  ;  in  any  case 
care  will  be  taken  that  the  deputies  of  Croatia,  Slavonia  and  Dal- 
matia shall  be  left  at  least  three  months'  time  annually  for  the 
treatment  of  their  internal  affairs  in  their  own  Diet. 

§  39.  The  total  costs  of  the  Joint  Parliament  and  consequently 
also  the  salaries  and  board  allowance  of  the  deputies  of  Croatia, 
Slavonia  and  Dalmatia  are  to  be  covered  from  the  Joint  Treasury. 

§  40.  Since  the  Joint  Parliament  of  the  territories  of  the  Hun- 
garian Crown  exercises  one  part  of  its  functions,  namely  the  fixing  of 
the  estimates  for  those  Joint  Affairs  which  are  recognized  as  origin- 
ating from  the  Pragmatic  Sanction,  through  a  Delegation  sent  from  its 
midst,  there  shall  be  elected  to  the  Hungarian  Delegation  by  the  Joint 
Parliament  out  of  the  deputies  of  Croatia,  Slavonia  and  Dalmatia  as 
many  members  as  fall  to  their  share  according  to  the  standard  by 
which  the  said  countries  are  represented  in  the  Joint  Parliament. 

[§  40  was  repealed  by  Article  XV  of  1881.] 
§  41,     It   is   consequently   estabhshed   that   from    among    the 
deputies  of  Croatia-Slavonia  four  members  are  to  be  elected  to  the 
Delegation  from  the  House  of  Deputies,  and  one  member  from  the 
Upper  House. 

§  42.  Should  the  number  of  the  deputies  of  the  Croatian-Sla- 
vonian-Dalmatian Diet  increase  as  a  result  of  the  extension  of 
territory  mentioned  in  §  33,  then  the  number  of  those  members 
who  are  elected  to  the  Delegation  from  among  the  deputies  of 
Croatia,  Slavonia  and  Dalmatia  will  be  increased  in  corresponding 
proportion. 

[Repealed  by  Article  XV  of  1881.]- 

§  43,  With  regard  to  all  those  affairs  which  in  Article  XII  of 
1867  and  in  the  present  agreement  have  been  declared  as  common 
for  all  territories  of  the  Hungarian  Crown — with  the  exception  of 
the  affairs  contained  in  §  10 — the  executive  power  is  exercised  in 
Croatia,  Slavonia  and  Dalmatia  also,  by  the  Central  Government 
residing  in  Budapest,  through  its  own  organs. 

§  44.  From  the  standpoint  of  the  representation  of  Croatia, 
Slavonia  and  Daknatia's  interests,  a  special  Croatian-Slavonian- 
Dalmatian  Minister  without  portfolio  is  nominated  for  these  coun- 
tries as  part  of  the  Central  Government  residing  in  Budapost.     This 

s.s.Q.  369  B  B 


APPENDIX  VI 

Minister  is  a  member  of  the  Joint  Cabinet  Council,  with  the  right 
to  vote  in  it,  and  is  responsible  to  the  Joint  Parliament.  He  like- 
wise forms  the  connexion  between  His  Majesty  and  the  Provincial 
Government  of  Croatia,  Slavonia  and  Dalmatia. 

[To  this  paragraph  the  following  addition  was  made  by  §  5  of 
Article  XXXIV,  1873  :— 

In  this  capacity  he  submits  to  His  Majesty  unaltered  and  with- 
out delay  the  reports  of  the  Ban  ;  and  only  in  the  event  of  doubts 
arising  from  the  standpoint  of  the  State  community  or  community 
of  interests  laid  down  by  Article  XXX.  of  1868,  and  in  case  it 
should  not  be  possible  to  remove  these  doubts  after  the  Ban  has 
been  consulted,  he  submits,  simultaneously  but  separately,  to  His 
Majesty  his  own  remarks  regarding  them,  or  as  the  case  may  be  the 
remarks  of  the  Joint  Hungarian  Government. 

§  45.  The  Central  Government  makes  a  point  of  acting  on  the 
territory  of  Croatia,  Slavonia  and  Dalmatia  in  harmony  with  the 
special  Government  of  these  countries  ;  as,  however,  it  is  responsi- 
ble for  its  action  to  the  Joint  Parliament,  in  which  Croatia,  Slavonia 
and  Dalmatia  are  also  represented,  its  measures  must  consequently 
be  supported  by  the  Croatian-Slavonian-Dalmatian  Provincial 
Government  and  Courts,  and  indeed  must  be  directly  carried  into 
execution  by  them,  in  so  far  as  the  Central  Government  possesses 
no  organs  of  its  own. 

§  46.  At  the  request  of  Croatia-Slavonia  and  Dalmatia  an  assur- 
ance is  given  to  these  countries,  that  the  Central  Government  shall 
appoint  natives  of  Croatia-Slavonia-Dalmatia  alike  to  the  Croatian- 
Slavonian  departments  of  the  central  offices,  and  to  their  organs 
in  the  territory  of  the  said  countries,  so  far  as  is  at  all  possible,  in 
consideration  of  the  necessary  technical  training. 

§  47.  With  regard  to  all  those  subjects  which  are  not  reserved 
in  this  agreement  to  the  Joint  Parliament  and  the  Central  Govern- 
ment, Croatia-Slavonia  and  Dalmatia  enjoy  full  autonomy  ahke  in 
the  legislative  and  the  executive  domain. 

§  48.  Consequently  the  autonomy  of  Croatia,  Slavonia  and  Dal- 
matia extends,  alike  in  respect  of  legislature  and  administration, 
to  matters  of  Administration,  Religion  and  Instruction  in  these 
countries,  as  also  to  (matters  of)  Justice,  under  which  is  also  to  be 
understood  the  administration  of  justice  in  every  instance,  with  the 
exception  of  Admiralty  courts. 

§  49.  With  regard  to  the  requirements  of  the  Fund  for  Religion 
and  Schools,  the  debts  will  be  disposed  of,  so  far  as  the  past  is 
concerned,  by  mutual  agreement. 

[To  which  the  following  addition  was  made  by  §  6  of  Article 
XXXIV,  1873.] 

After  this  mutual  agreement  has  been  reached,  the  part  relating 
to  Croatia  and  Slavonia  will  be  separated  from  the  jointly  adminis- 

370 


THE  HUNGARO-CROATIAN  COMPROMISE 

tered  funds  and  paid  over  to  the  Autonomous  Government  of  the 
said  countries. 

§  50.  At  the  head  of  the  Autonomous  Provincial  Government 
in  Croatia-Slavonia  and  Dalmatia  stands  the  Ban,  who  is  responsi- 
ble to  the  Croatian-Slavonian-Dalmatian  Diet. 

§  51.  The  Ban  of  Croatia,  Slavonia  and  Dalmatia  is  appointed 
by  His  Imperial  and  Apostohc  Royal  Majesty,  on  the  proposal  and 
under  the  signature  of  the  Royal  Hungarian  Joint  Premier. 

§  52.  The  civil  dignity  of  the  Ban,  however,  is  in  future  separated  from 
the  miUtary,  and  it  is  estabhshed  as  a  rule,  that  for  the  future  a  mUitary 
person  may  not  exercise  any  influence  upon  the  civil  affairs  of  Croatia,  Slavonia 
and  Dalmatia. 

[§  52  was  superseded  by  §  7  of  Article  XXXIV,  1873,  as  foUows  : — 
The  Ban  may  not  possess  any  military  position  (sphere  of  interest).] 

§  53.  The  Ban  in  his  civil  position  bears  in  future  also  the  title  "  Ban  of 
Croatia,  Slavonia  and  Dalmatia,"  and  enjoys  all  privileges  and  dignities  of 
the  Banal  office,  which  are  compatible  with  his  new  position.  Consequently 
he  remains  in  future  also  a  member  of  the  Upper  House  of  the  Joint  Parlia- 
ment. 

[§  53  was  repealed  by  §  8  of  Article  XXXIV,  1873,  and  replaced 
by  the  following  provision  : — 

The  Ban  bears  in  future  also  the  title  "  Ban  of  Croatia,  Slavonia 
and  Dalmatia,"  and  remains  a  member  of  the  Upper  House  of  the 
Joint  Pariiament.] 

§  54.  The  future  organization  of  the  autonomous  Provincial 
Government  is  to  be  fixed  by  the  Croatian-Slavonian  and  Dalma- 
tian Diet,  on  the  proposal  of  the  Ban  and  with  the  sanction  of  His 
Imperial  and  Apostolic  Royal  Majesty. 

§  55.  After  this  agreement  has  been  sanctioned,  the  Croatian- 
Slavonian  Aulic  Chancellory  will  be  at  once  dissolved. 

§  56.  In  the  whole  territory  of  Croatia-Slavonia  the  Croatian 
language  is  the  language  ahke  of  the  Legislature,  the  Administration 
and  the  Judicature. 

§  57.  Inside  the  frontiers  of  Croatia-Slavonia  the  Croatian 
language  is  prescribed  as  the  official  language  for  the  organs  of  the 
Joint  Government  also. 

§  58.  Croatian-Slavonian  applications  and  petitions  from  Croatia- 
Slavonia  are  to  be  accepted  by  the  Joint  Government  also,  and  the 
decision  respecting  them  is  to  be  issued  in  the  same  language. 

§  59.  It  is  further  declared  that  the  deputies  of  Croatia-Slavonia, 
as  the  deputies  of  a  pohtical  nation  posssessing  a  special  terri- 
tory of  its  own,  and  of  a  country  which  in  its  internal  affairs 
possesses  a  Legislature  and  Government  of  its  own,  may  use  the 
Croatian  language  also,  ahke  in  the  Joint  Parliament  and  in  its 
Delegation. 

§  60.  The  laws  enacted  by  the  Joint  Legislature  for  Croatia- 
Slavonia  and  Dalmatia  are  to  be  drawn  up  also  in  a  Croatian  original 


APPENDIX  VI 

text,  signed  by  His  Majesty,  and  are  to  be  sent  to  the  Diet  of  the 
said  countries. 

§  6i.  Croatia,  Slavonia  and  Dalmatia  can,  within  their  own 
frontiers,  in  their  internal  affairs,  use  their  own  combined  colours 
and  coat  of  arms,  the  latter,  however,  being  surmounted  by  the 
Crown  of  St,  Stephen. 

§  62.  The  emblem  of  the  Joint  Affairs  of  the  territories  of  the 
Hungarian  Crown  is  formed  by  the  combined  arms  of  Hungary  and 
of  Croatia,  Slavonia  and  Dalmatia. 

§  63.  At  times  when  Joint  Affairs  are  being  debated,  the  com- 
bined Croatian-Slavonian-Dalmatian  flag  is  to  be  hoisted  beside 
the  Hungarian  flag,  upon  the  building  in  which  the  Joint  Parha- 
ment  of  the  territories  of  the  Hungarian  Crown  is  being  held. 

§  64.  On  the  coinage  which  is  struck  by  the  territories  of  the 
Hungarian  Crown,  the  title  "  King  of  Croatia,  Slavonia  and  Dalmatia 
is  also  to  be  included  in  the  Royal  title. 

§  65.  Hungary  recognizes  the  territorial  integrity  of  Croatia, 
and  promises  to  promote  its  completion.  It  will  in  future  be  speci- 
ally insistent  that  that  portion  of  the  Mihtary  Frontiers  which 
belongs  to  Croatia-Slavonia  and  the  mihtary  communes  situated 
therein  shall  be  united  with  these  countries  alike  in  legislative,  ad- 
ministrative and  judicial  matters  ;  and  just  as  Hungary  has  hitherto 
made  representations  with  regard  to  this  matter  on  repeated  occa- 
sions, so  in  future  also  it  will  demand  the  reincorporation  of  Dalma- 
tia, on  the  ground  of  the  rights  of  the  Holy  Hungarian  Crown,  and 
will  promote  its  union  with  Croatia.  Regarding  the  conditions 
of  this  reincorporation,  however,  Dalmatia  also  is  to  be  consulted. 

§  66.  In  the  sense  of  the  preceding  paragraph  the  following 
are  recognized  as  belonging  to  the  territory  of  Croatia,  Slavonia  and 
Dalmatia  : — 

1.  That  territory  which  together  with  the  town  and  district  of 

Buccari,  at  present  belongs  to  the  County  of  Fiume,  with 
the  exception  of  the  town  and  district  of  Fiume.  The 
town,  harbour  and  district  of  Fiume  form  a  separate 
body  attached  to  the  Hungarian  Crown  {separatum  sacrae 
regni  coronae  adnexum  corpus),  with  regard  to  whose 
special  autonomy  and  the  legislative  and  administrative 
conditions  relating  thereto,  an  agreement  is  to  be  reached 
by  means  of  negotiations  between  the  Hungarian  Par- 
liament, the  Diet  of  Croatia-Slavonia  and  Dalmatia  and 
the  town  of  Fiume  in  joint  understanding. 

2.  The  County  of  Agram  with  the  towns  of  Agram  and  Karlovac 

(Karlstadt)  and  the  free  district  of  Turopolje. 

3.  The  County  of  Varazdin  with  the  town  of  Varazdin. 

4.  The  County  of  Krizevci  (Kreuz),  with  the  town  of  Krizevci. 

5.  The  County  of  Pozega  with  the  town  of  Pozega. 

6.  The  County  of  Virovitica  with  the  town  of  Virovitica. 

372 


THE  HUNGARO-CROATIAN  COMPROMISE 

7.  The  County  of  Syrmia. 

8.  The  County  of  Bjelovar. 

[Point  8  was  added  by  §  9  of  Article  XXXIV,  1873.] 
Further  the  following  frontier  regiments  : — 

1.  That  of  the  Lika. 

2.  That  of  Otocak. 

3.  That  of  OguHn. 

4.  That  of  Slunj. 

5.  The  first  Banal  Regiment. 

6.  The  Second  Banal  Regiment. 

7.  That  of  Varazdin-Krizevci. 

8.  That  of  Varazdin-St.  George. 

9.  That  of  Gradiska. 

10.  That  of  Brod. 

11.  That  of  Peterwardein. 
finally  the  present  Dalmatia. 

[Points  7  and  8  drop  off,  under  §  8,  XXXIV.,  1873.) 

§  67.  Until  the  territorial  integrity  of  Croatia,  Slavonia  and 
Daknatia,  as  described  in  the  preceding  paragraphs,  has  been  res- 
tored, Hungary  consents  that  the  Customs  Offices  in  Semlin,  Mitro- 
vica,  Raca,  Klenak  and  Jakova  be  separated  from  their  present 
direct  administrative  control  and  subordinated  to  the  Agram 
Finance  Department,  as  recognition  of  the  territorial  fink. 

§  68.  After  this  agreement  has  been  sanctioned,  those  laws  and 
existing  resolutions  which  conflict  with  it,  cease  to  be  vahd. 

§  69.  On  the  contrary  all  those  constitutional  rights  and  funda- 
mental laws,  whose  enjoyment  and  protection  have  in  the  past 
extended  equally  to  Hungary  and  Croatia-Slavonia,  and  which  do 
not  conflict  with  this  agreement,  are  regarded  in  future  also  as 
joint  rights  and  fundamental  laws  of  the  territories  of  the  Hungarian 
Crown. 

§  70.  This  agreement  is,  after  receiving  the  Royal  sanction, 
to  be  inarticulated  as  a  Joint  Fundamental  Law  of  Hungary  and 
Croatia,  Slavonia  and  Dalmatia. 


The  financial  provisions  of  the  Compromise  were  revised  by  Law 
XL  of  1889,  which  ran  as  follows  : — 

Since  the  period  of  duration  of  the  financial  portion  of  the  Agree- 
ment contained  in  Article  XXX  of  1868  (as  laid  down  in§  12  of  this 
law),  and  also  the  period  of  its  provisional  extension  under  Articles 
XLIII  of  1887  and  XXXIV  of  1888  have  expired  ;  a  new  financial 
agreement  has  been  reached  by  joint  consent,  between  the  Hungarian 
Parliament  on  the  one  hand  and  the  Diet  of  Croatia,  Slavonia  and 
Dalmatia  on  the  other  hand,  in  the  manner  prescribed  in  §  70  of 
Article  XXX  of  1868.     This  agreement,  having  also  been  confirmed, 

373 


APPENDIX  VI 

enforced  and  sanctioned  by  His  Imperial  and  Apostolic  Royal 
Majesty,  it  is  hereby  inarticulated  as  a  Joint  Fundamental  Law  of 
Hungary  and  of  Croatia,  Slavonia  and  Daknatia,  as  follows  : — 

§  I.  According  to  the  principle  recognized  on  the  part  of  Croatia, 
Slavonia  and  Daknatia  in  §  ii  of  Article  XXX  of  1868,  that  these 
countries  are  bound  to  contribute,  in  proportion  to  their  taxable 
capacity,  to  those  costs  which  on  the  one  hand  the  territories  of  the 
Hungarian  Crown  and  the  other  territories  of  His  Majesty  have 
recognized  as  Common,  and  on  the  other  hand  to  those  which  are 
involved  by  the  Affairs  declared  as  Common  by  all  the  territories 
of  the  Hungarian  Crown  in  the  said  Article  XXX  of  1868  ;  this 
proportion  of  taxable  capacity  has — according  to  the  same  data 
on  the  basis  of  which  the  quota  to  be  contributed  by  the  territories 
of  the  Hungarian  Crown  towards  the  expenses  incurred  jointly 
with  the  other  territories  of  His  Majesty  was  fixed  by  Article  XXIII 
of  1887  up  to  the  end  of  1897 — been  fixed  for  the  same  period  at 

92*064805  for  Hungary. 
7 '935 1 95  for  Croatia  and  Slavonia. 

§  2.  Since,  however,  the  considerations  indicated  in  §  13  of 
Article  XXX  of  1868  still  hold  good,  Hungary  hereby  willingly  con- 
sents, that  out  of  the  revenues  of  Croatia  and  Slavonia  there  shall 
first  of  all  be  deducted  a  certain  portion  which  is  fixed  in  this  Agree- 
ment for  the  period  of  its  validity  for  the  expenses  of  internal 
administration  of  these  countries,  and  that  the  sum  which  remains 
after  the  requirements  of  internal  administration  have  been  satis- 
fied shall  be  employed  for  the  expenses  of  Joint  Affairs. 

§  3.  On  the  basis  of  the  principles  laid  down  in  the  preceding 
paragraphs,  the  following  financial  agreement  has  been  reached 
between  Hungary  on  the  one  hand  and  Croatia  and  Slavonia  on  the 
other  hand. 

§  4.  From  January  i,  1890,  up  to  the  date  till  which  the  agree- 
ment regarding  the  quota  to  be  contributed  to  the  expenses  of  the 
Joint  Affairs  of  the  territories  of  the  Hungarian  Crown  and  of  the 
other  kingdoms  and  territories  of  His  Majesty  lasts,  the  requirements 
of  the  internal  administration  of  Croatia-Slavonia  is  to  be  covered 
first  of  all  by  44  per  cent,  of  the  direct  and  indirect  taxes,  as  also 
of  the  other  public  income  of  Croatia  and  Slavonia,  in  so  far  as  these 
do  not  fall  under  the  provisions  of  §  5  of  the  present  law ;  that  is, 
45  per  cent,  of  the  net  public  income  of  these  territories  are  to  be 
paid  over  to  whichever  provincial  or  local  treasury  the  legislature 
or  government  of  these  territories  shall  request. 

56  per  cent,  of  the  total  revenue  of  Croatia  and  Slavonia  are  to 
be  paid  over  to  the  Joint  Treasury,  to  cover  the  joint  expenses. 

The  44  per  cent,  of  net  public  revenue  of  Croatia  and  Slavonia 
are  calculated  in  such  a  way  that  from  the  total  direct  and  indirect 
taxes  of  Croatia  and  Slavonia,  from  the  revenue  of  the  statelands 

374 


THE   HUNGARO-CROATIAN   COMPROMISE 

situated  in  Croatia  and  Slavonia  and  from  the  other  public  sources 
of  revenue  (so  far  as  these  do  not  fall  under  §  5  of  the  present  law) 
only  such  expenses  are  to  be  deducted  as  are  connected  with  the 
calculation  and  collection  of  taxes  (under  which  the  cost  of  the  joint 
financial  administration  is  not  included),  with  the  administration 
of  statelands,  with  the  collection  and  direct  administration  of 
indirect  taxes,  dues  and  other  public  sources  of  income. 

Arrears  of  taxes  due  up  to  the  end  of  1867  and  collected  since 
January  i,  1890,  are  to  be  dealt  with  in  future  under  §  30,  XXX, 
1868. 

Paragraphs  5  and  6,  having  been  subsequently  repealed,  need  not 
be  given  here.  The  latest  Financial  Compromise  between  Hungary 
and  Croatia  was  concluded  in  1906  and  runs  as  follows  : — 

Article  X,  1906. 

The  period  of  the  financial  Compromise  as  laid  down  in  Article  XL 
of  the  year  1899  and  also  the  period  for  which  this  was  extended  by 
Articles  XLH,  1897,  V,  1899,  XLVH,  1899,  XXXH,  1900,  XXIX, 
1901,  and  XXV.,  1902,  having  lapsed,  a  new  Financial  Compromise 
has  been  concluded  by  joint  agreement,  in  accordance  with  §  70, 
XXX,  1868,  between  the  Parliament  of  the  kingdom  of  Hungary 
on  the  one  hand  and  the  Parliament  of  the  kingdom  of  Croatia- 
Slavonia  and  Dalmatia  on  the  other  hand.  This  agreement  having 
been  approved,  confirmed  and  sanctioned  by  His  Imperial  and 
Royal  Apostolic  Majesty,  is  hereby  enacted  as  a  joint  fundamental 
law  of  the  Kingdom  of  Hungary  and  the  kingdoms  of  Croatia- 
Slavonia  and  Dalmatia,  as  follows  : — 

§  I.  All  claims  or  debts  of  Hungary  towards  Croatia  and  Slav- 
onia or  of  Croatia  and  Slavonia  towards  Hungary  in  the  past — 
including  the  year  1903,  up  to  December  31 — are  to  be  regarded  as 
mutually  cancelled,  so  that  from  the  period  previous  to  January  i, 
1904,  no  debt  of  any  kind  exists  any  longer  between  Hungary  and 
Croatia  and  Slavonia, 

§  2.  According  to  the  principle  recognized  by  the  Kingdom  of 
Croatia-Slavonia  and  Dalmatia  in  §  11,  XXX,  1868,  that  these 
territories  are  bound  to  contribute,  according  to  their  taxable 
capacity,  to  those  expenses  which  are  necessitated  on  the  one  hand 
by  the  affairs  recognized  as  common  between  the  territories  of  the 
Hungarian  Crown  and  the  other  territories  of  His  Majesty  and  on 
the  other  hand  by  the  affairs  described  in  the  aforesaid  Article  XXX, 
1868,  as  common  to  all  the  territories  of  the  Hungarian  Crown  ;  this 
proportion  of  taxable  capacity  is  fixed  for  the  period  from  January 
I,  1904,  to  December  31,  1913,  on  the  basis  of  the  total  revenues  of 
Hungary  on  the  one  hand  and  Croatia-Slavonia  on  the  other  hand 
during  the  years  1893  to  1902,  from  the  direct  taxes — excluding  the 
military  exemption  tax  and  the  transport  tax — from  the  stamp  and 

375 


APPENDIX  VI 

law   duties   and  from   the  tobacco  and  salt  monopolies,  in   the 
proportion  of 

91  "873  per  cent,  for  Hungary. 
8'i27  per  cent,  for  Croatia  and  Slavonia. 

§  3.  Since,  however,  the  considerations  laid  down  in  §  13,  XXX, 
1868,  are  still  in  force,  the  Kingdom  of  Hungary  gladly  consents 
now  also,  that  first  of  all  a  fixed  amount — which  will  be  fixed  in  this 
Compromise  for  the  period  of  its  duration,  for  the  internal  adminis- 
tration of  these  territories — shall  be  deducted  from  the  revenues 
of  Croatia  and  Slavonia  and  that  what  remains  over  after  the 
requirements  of  internal  administration,  shall  be  devoted  to  the 
expenditure  involved  by  Joint  affairs. 

§  4.  On  the  basis  of  the  principles  stated  in  the  above  paragraphs 
the  following  financial  compromise  has  been  concluded  between 
Hungary  on  the  one  side  and  Croatia  and  Slavonia  on  the  other. 

§  5.  From  January  i,  1904,  to  the  end  of  1913,  the  requirements 
of  the  internal  administration  of  Croatia  are  met  out  of  the  public 
revenues  of  Croatia  and  Slavonia  as  defined  below — in  so  far  as  these 
revenues  do  not  fall  under  §  6  of  this  law — namely,  out  of  the  pubUc 
revenues  of  these  territories  the  portion  fixed  below  is  to  be  paid  over 
to  whatever  Croatian-Slavonian  provincial  or  municipal  treasury 
the  legislature  or  government  of  these  territories  ^^^  shall  prescribe. 

The  remainder  of  the  net  public  revenue  of  Croatia  and  Slavonia 
is  to  be  paid  into  the  Joint  Treasury  (§§  12  and  27,  XXX,  1868)  in 
payment  of  the  proportion  due  for  Joint  Expenses. 

In  order  to  render  it  possible  to  calculate  the  net  pubUc  revenue 
of  the  kingdom  of  Croatia  and  Slavonia,  a  distinction  must  be 
drawn  ' 

(i)  between  those  sources  of  revenue  in  respect  of  which  the  joint 
pubhc  revenue  drawn  from  them  can  be  fixed  as  undoubt- 
edly belonging  to  Croatia  and  Slavonia,  and 

(2)  those  sources  of  revenue,  in  respect  of  which  the  joint  public 
revenue  drawn  from  them  cannot  be  fixed  as  undoubtedly 
belonging  to  Croatia  and  Slavonia. 

The  net  pubhc  revenue  of  Croatia  and  Slavonia  derived  from 
sources  of  income  which  fall  under  (i)  is  calculated  in  such  a  manner 
that  from  the  income  of  state  lands  situated  in  Croatia  and  Sla- 
vonia and  from  other  pubhc  revenue  (such  as  does  not  fall  under  §  6 
of  this  law)  only  such  expenses  are  to  be  deducted  as  are  connected 
with  the  calculation  and  collection  of  taxes  (in  which  the  expense 
of  the ; joint  financial  administration  is  not  included),  with  the 
administration  of  state  lands,  and  with  the  collection  and  direct 
manipulation  of  the  remaining  public  revenue. 

The  revenue  of  Croatia  and  Slavonia  derived  from  sources  of 
income  which  fall  under  (2) — especially  from  the  transport  duty 

*^*  In  the  Croat  text,   "sister-kingdoms." 
376 


THE  HUNGARO-CROATIAN   COMPROMISE 

(under  Law  XX,  1875),  from  the  existing  octroi  duties  on  wine  and 
meat,  from  lotteries  and  from  such  revenue  as,  accruing  in  the 
future,  would  fall  under  the  sources  of  income  mentioned  in  (2) — 
is  calculated  in  such  a  manner  that  from  the  joint  gross  revenue  of 
the  territories  of  the  Hungarian  Crown  falUng  under  these  heads, 
the  expenses  of  collection  and  direct  administration  of  this  revenue — 
in  which  the  expense  of  the  joint  financial  administration  is  not 
included — are  deducted  ;  and  out  of  the  net  yearly  revenue  of  the 
territories  of  the  Hungarian  Crown  S'lzy  per  cent,  is  reckoned 
as  the  revenue  which  Croatia  and  Slavonia  derives  from  these 
sources,  in  proportion  to  taxable  capacity. 

Forty-four  per  cent,  form  that  portion  of  the  net  pubhc  revenue 
of  Croatia  and  Slavonia  which  (by  aUnea  i  of  this  §)  is  to  be  appUed 
to  the  requirements  of  internal  administration  ;  but  with  this  limi- 
tation, that  the  44  per  cent,  quota  of  the  net  revenue  falling  under 
(2)  may  not  exceed  that  sum  which  would  be  realized,  if  this  revenue 
had  exceeded  the  revenue  of  the  previous  year  (beginning  with  1905) 
by  5  per  cent.  The  surplus  over  that  sum  is  to  be  employed  firstly 
in  meeting  a  deficit,  if  the  net  revenue  from  the  state  forests  situate 
in  Croatia  and  Slavonia  should  fall  below  the  net  revenue  of  1902, 
or  if  the  revenue  from  one  of  the  sources  specified  under  (i)  should 
cease  as  the  result  of  legislation,  or  be  so  affected  thereby  as  to  fall 
beyond  the  net  revenue  of  1902.  But  the  sum  which  is  not  required 
for  this  purpose  is  to  be  paid  into  the  Joint  Treasury,  together  with 
56  per  cent,  of  the  net  revenue  of  Croatia  and  Slavonia  calculated  on 
the  above  basis. 

§  6.     Paragraph  18,  XXX,  1868  is  amended  in  such  a  way  that 
the  following  are  excluded  from  the  revenue  which  under  §  5  has  to 
be  divided  between  the  requirements  of  the  internal  administration 
of  Croatia  and  Slavonia  and  the  expenditure  for  Joint  Affairs  : — 
(a)  revenue  from  frontier  Customs,  which  in  future  also  are  to  be 
calculated  as  contributing  towards  the  payment  of  the 
affairs  recognized  as  Common  between  the  territories  of 
the  Crown  of  St.  Stephen  and  the  other  territories  of  His 
Majesty. 
(&)  excise  duties  on  wine  and  meat,  which  are  in  future  also  to  be 
appHed  to  meeting  communal  expenditure. 

(c)  The  clergy  tithes  paid  by  the  CathoUc  population  of  the  county 

of  Bjelovar,  which  can  also  be    applied  to  meeting  the 
autonomous  expenditure  of  Croatia  and  Slavonia. 

(d)  The  mihtary  exemption  tax  (under  Art.  XXVH,  1880)  which 

as  revenue  devoted  to  a  particular  purpose,  cannot  be  a 

subject  for  division. 
§  7.     The  annual  settlement  of  accounts  between  the  kingdom 
of  Hungary  and  the  kingdom  of   Croatia  and  Slavonia  is  to  be 
made  in  the  manner  developed  by  §  5,  XL,  1889,  with  the  following 
alterations  : — 

377 


APPENDIX  VI 

I.  The  actual  revenue  derived  by  Croatia  and  Slavonia  from 
transport  duty  (under  XX,  1875),  excise  duties  on  wine  and  meat, 
and  lottery  monopolies,  and  the  expenses  incurred  in  connexion 
with  them,  are  to  be  omitted  from  this  settlement ;  in  their 
place,  the  net  revenue  of  Croatia  and  Slavonia  derived  from  such 
sources  of  income  as  are  subject  to  dispute,  is  fixed  in  such  a  way 
that,  when  the  transport  duty  (under  XX,  1875)  excise  duties  on 
wine  and  meat  and  lottery  monopoly  have  been  finally  calcu- 
lated, the  actual  joint  revenue  of  the  territories  of  the  Hungarian 
Crown  are  reckoned  up,  the  following  deductions  being  made  in  the 
particular  year  : — 

(i)  The  joint  expenses  connected  with  the  administration  of  the 
transport  duty  (under  XX,  1875)  and  those  specified  in  the  final 
settlement  as  direct  taxes  and  Land  Redemption  charges  for  all  the 
territories  of  the  Hungarian  Crown. 

(2)  The  joint  expenses  connected  with  the  administration  of 
the  excise  duties  on  wine  and  meat,  for  all  the  territories  of  the 
Hungarian  Crown,  with  the  exception  of 

[a)  the  actual  expenses  incurred  on  the  basis  of  §  i,  VI,  1899  ^"d 

§  I,  XVIII,  1901,  in  towns  with  municipal  rights  and  open 
communes  throughout  the  territories  of  the  Hungarian  Crown. 

(b)  the  actual  expenses  incurred  on  the  basis  of   XXXV,  1888, 

in  redemption  of  and  interest  on  the  Indemnity  Fund  for 
Croatian  and  Slavonian  inn  licences. 

(3)  the  joint  actual  revenue  obtained  on  the  basis  of  excise  duties 
imposed  in  Hungary  upon  meat. 

(4)  that  part  of  the  actual  revenue  obtained  by  taxes  imposed 
in  Hungary  upon  wine,  coming  under  the  taxes  on  wine  regulated 
by  XL VII,  1887. 

(5)  the  actual  expenses  incurred  by  the  administration  of  lotteries 
throughout  the  territories  of  the  Hungarian  Crown,  described  in  the 
final  state  settlement  as  lottery  dues.  Of  the  revenue  obtained  on 
this  basis  in  the  territories  of  the  Hungarian  Crown,  8"i27  per  cent, 
is  to  be  regarded  as  the  revenue  which  Croatia  and  Slavonia  derive 
from  these  sources  (i.e.  from  disputable  sources).  On  the  basis 
of  §50,  XXXV,  1888,  Croatia  and  Slavonia  have  to  meet  out  of  this 
revenue  the  expenses  of  amortization  and  interest  on  the  indemnity 
fund  for  Croatian-Slavonian  inn  Hcences,  in  such  a  way  that  the  sum 
remaining  after  these  expenses  have  been  met  forms  the  net  revenue 
of  the  kingdom  of  Croatia  and  Slavonia  from  the  sources  specified 
above. 

II.  As  the  public  revenue  of  Croatia  and  Slavonia  from  stamp 
dues  obtained  (under  Art.  XXIII,  1868)  from  railway  and 
steamer  enterprises,  is  to  be  reckoned  that  sum  which  has  actually 
flown  into  the  Croatian- Slavonian  State  treasury  and  revenue  office 
under  this  title. 

III.  As  Joint  Expenses  between  Hungary  and  Croatia  and  Slav- 

378 


THE   CROATIAN   GOVERNMENT 

onia  are  to  be  reckoned  those  expenses  which  are  applied  to  such 
affairs  as  are  recognized  by  §§  5-10,  XXX,  1868  as  common  between 
Hungary  and  Croatia-Slavonia  and  Dahnatia.  Accordingly,  depart- 
ing from  the  method  hitherto  adopted  in  the  annual  settlement  of 
accounts, 

(i)  the  following  are  not  to  be  regarded  as  Joint  Expenses  : — 

(a)  the  costs  of  industrial  and  commercial  technical  education. 

(b)  the  costs  of    agricultural  and  economic   statistics  for   the 

Ministry  of  Agriculture. 

(c)  the  expenditure  in  interest  on,  and  amortization  of  those  capital 

sums  raised  on  the  basis  of  Art.  XIV,  1904,  or  of  any  state 
loans  which  may  be  raised  in  the  future,  and  these  capital 
sums  are  to  be  apphed  to  such  pubhc  works  as  cannot  be 
regarded  as  Joint  within  the  meaning  of  §§  5-10,  XXX,  1868. 
(2)  Only  that  percentage  of  the  expenses  of  the  central  adminis- 
tration of  the  Ministry  of  Agriculture  is  to  be  regarded  as  joint 
expenses  of  Hungary  and  Croatia  and  Slavonia,  which  is  formed  by 
the  expenses  faUing  jointly  upon  Hungary  and  Croatia  and  Slavonia, 
in  proportion  to  the  total  expenses  of  the  Ministry  of  Agriculture. 
§  8.      Those  sections  of  Articles  XXX,  1868  and  XXXIV,  1873, 
which  are  not    repealed    by  the  present  statute  are  maintained 
unaltered. 


APPENDIX    VII 

THE  CROATIAN  GOVERNMENT  ^^s 

Law  II  (1869)  of  the  Croatian  Diet,  regulating  the  organization  of 
the  autonomous  Croatian  Government,  runs  as  follows  : — 

§  I.  On  the  basis  of  §§  47,  48,  50  and  54  of  Article  I  (1868)  of  the 
Croatian-Slavonian-Dalmatian  Diet  and  Article  XXX  (1868)  of 
the  Hungarian  Parhament,  relative  to  the  constitutional  compromise 
with  the|Kingdom  of  Hungary,  a  supreme  administrative  authority 
for  the  kingdoms  of  Croatia  and  Slavonia,  for  the  sphere  of  consti- 
tutional autonomy,  is  erected  with  its  seat  in  the  capital  Agram, 
under  the  name  "  Royal  Croatian-Slavonian-Dalmatian  Provincial 
Government." 

§  2.  To  the  Provincial  Government's  sphere  of  action  belong  all 
those  a.ffairs  of  the  above-mentioned  kingdoms,  which  are  not 
expressly  assigned,  under  the  Law  of  Compromise  referred  to  in  §  i , 
to  the  competence  of  the  joint  Hungaro-Croatian- Slavonian- 
Dalmatian  Ministry. 

§  3.     In  all  affairs  alluded  to  in  the  preceding  §  2,  the  executive 
power  is  exercised  by  His  Imperial  and  Royal  Apostolic  Majesty, 
through  the  responsible  Provincial  Government. 
^65  Translated  from  Steinbach.  Die  Unganschen  Verfassungsgesetze,  pp  126-31. 

379 


APPENDIX  VII 

§  4.  The  Provincial  Government  is  divided  into  three  depart- 
ments : — 

I.    The  Department  of  Home  Affairs  and  affairs  of  the  Pro- 
vincial Estimates. 

II.     The  Department  for  Religion  and  Instruction. 

III.     The  Department  of  Justice. 

Each  of  these  three  departments  bears  the  title  :  "  Royal  Croatian- 
Slavonian-Dalmatian  Government  Department,"  its  special  com- 
petence being  also  indicated. 

§  5.  At  the  head  of  the  Provincial  Government  stands  the  Ban, 
and  the  departments  under  him  are  in  their  sphere  of  action 
independent  of  each  other. 

§  6.  To  the  sphere  of  action  of  the  department  for  Home  Affairs 
and  Finance  belong  all  those  matters  which  refer  to  the  internal 
administration  of  the  country,  with  the  exception  of  those  which 
fall  under  the  competence  of  other  departments,  and  especially  all 
matters  of  the  public  security  and  of  those  institutions  whose  aim 
is  the  defence  and  maintenance  of  public  security  :  the  supervision 
of  societies,  theatres  and  all  public  institutions  devoted  to  comfort 
and  amusement ;  affairs  of  the  Press,  matters  relating  to  passports, 
the  administration  and  supervision  of  public  law  as  a  whole,  but 
especially  the  control  and  supervision  of  subordinate  organs  and 
the  State  executive,  the  county  and  communal  authorities ;  the 
control  of  the  civil  rights  of  the  individual ;  the  control  of  the  laws 
relating  to  elections  to  the  Diet  and  to  autonomous  representation  ; 
the  preserving  the  frontier  inviolate  ;  the  supreme  management  of 
sanitation,  including  medical  matters,  of  the  Poor  system  and  public 
charitable  institutions  ;  of  industry  and  trade,  in  so  far  as  matters 
of  the  latter  kind  do  not  belong  to  the  category  of  Joint  Affairs  : 
credit  institutions,  land  cultivation,  settlements  on  the  land  and  the 
control  of  water  rights  ;  the  supreme  administration  of  agricultural 
instruction,  as  also  matters  relating  to  credit  on  landed  property,  agri- 
cultural insurance  and  agricultural  societies  ;  mining  matters  and 
matters  relating  to  the  conversion  of  mortgages,  as  also  land  valuation 
matters  in  so  far  as  these  are  all  to  be  decided  through  the  medium  of 
the  administration  ;  collaboration  in  carrying  out  the  legallpro visions 
for  the  recruiting,  catering,  loan  of  spare  horses  and  quartering 
both  of  the  army  and  the  militia  ;  collaboration  in  the  enforcement 
of  the  law  relative  to  Chambers  of  Commerce  and  Industry  ; 
census  statistics  ;  public  works,  including  also  public  roads  and 
canals,  so  far  as  they  do  not  belong  to  the  category  of  Joint  Affairs, 
the  preparation  of  bills  relative  to  subjects  of  legislation  belonging 
to  the  above  categories — especially  the  drafting  of  agrarian  laws, 
so  far  as  concerns  the  regulation  of  peasant  conditions,  of  bills  for 
the  amelioration,  draining  and  improvement  of  the  land,  and  of 
bills  concerning  water  rights,  colonization,  regulation  of  woods  and 
forests,  game  regulations  and  fishing  ;    prisons,  archives. 

380 


i 


THE  CROATIAN   GOVERNMENT 

Moreover,  there  is  further  combined  with  this  department  the 
administration  of  the  Estimates  as  sanctioned  by  the  Diet, 
including  all  those  matters,  whether  of  receipts  or  expenditure, 
which  refer  to  the  provincial  Budget  existing  under  the  legal  au- 
tonomy of  these  kingdoms  ;  and  especially  as  regards  receipts,  the 
administration  of  the  annual  sum  of  2,200,000  florins  ^^®  assigned 
under  §§  13,  14,  15  and  16  of  the  Compromise  Law  to  cover  the  needs 
of  the  autonomous  Provincial  administration — which  sum  is  made 
over  by  the  Joint  financial  administration  out  of  the  public  receipts 
of  the  country.  Finally,  there  also  falls  under  the  competence  of 
this  Department  the  compilation  of  annual  accounts  relative  to  this 
administration  :  the  administration  of  all  provincial  funds  and  also 
the  supreme  control  of  money  payments  and  book  balances. 

§  7.  To  the  sphere  of  action  of  the  provincial  Government 
Department  for  Religion  and  Instruction  belong  :  matters  relating 
to  all  legally  recognized  Churches  and  religious  societies,  the  supreme 
administration  and  control  of  the  entire  educational  system,  in- 
struction, and  aU  institutions  of  learned  societies,  of  societies  and 
institutions  for  art  and  science,  as  also  generally  of  all  institutions 
which  have  influence  upon  general  culture  :  the  administration  of 
the  properties  of  rehgious  bodies  and  schools,  in  so  far  as  other  pro- 
visions have  not  been  made  in  respect  of  the  Greek  Oriental  Church  : 
control  over  the  administration  of  the  funds  and  pious  legacies 
which  deal  with  matters  of  religion  and  instruction  :  and  the  pre- 
paration of  bills  relating  to  this  Department. 

§  8.  To  the  sphere  of  action  of  the  provincial  Government  De- 
partment for  Justice  belong  the  administration  and  supervision  of 
the  entire  judicial  system,  the  supreme  supervision  of  all  courts 
and  Crown  attorneyships,  the  supreme  control  of  the  enforcement 
of  criminal  sentences  ;  care  for  the  uninterrupted  legal  exercise  of 
justice,  proposals  and  reports  to  the  Crown  in  matters  relating  to 
the  right  of  pardon  :  the  preparation  of  bills  deaUng  with  judicial 
matters,  and  the  editing  of  the  laws. 

§  9.  The  Ban,  who  stands  at  the  head  of  the  provincial  govern- 
ment (§  5),  is  responsible  to  the  Diet  for  the  constitutional  nature 
of  the  governmental  acts  falHng  under  his  competence  and  of  his 
official  actions. 

This  responsibihty,  as  also  the  composition  of  the  Court  which 
shall  have  to  decide  upon  the  impeachment  of  the  Ban  or  his  deputy, 
as  also  the  proceedings  at  this  court,  are  to  be  fixed  by  a  special 
law. 

§  10.  If  the  Ban  is  absent  or  is  in  any  other  way  prevented,  or 
if  the  dignity  of  Ban  is  vacant,  his  functions  in  the  provincial  govern- 
ment are  performed  by  the  Chief  of  the  Department  for  Home 
Affairs,  under  his  own  responsibility. 

§  II.  All  proposals  and  motions,  which  refer  to  the  above  men- 
««  This  sum  was  modified  by  Art.  XXXIV,   1873. 


APPENDIX  VII 

tioned  affairs,  the  Ban  has  to  lay  before  His  Majesty  through  the 
medium  of  the  Dalmatian-Croatian-Slavonian  Minister  (§  44  Art. 
I  of  the  Croatian-Slavonian-Dalmatian  Diet,  or  Art.  XXX  of  the 
Hungarian  Parliament  of  1868)  and  the  decisions  issued  upon  them 
by  His  Majesty  or  other  orders,  including  appointments,  have  to 
be  signed  by  the  Minister  named  and  by  the  Ban. 

§  12.  The  Ban  is  authorized  to  attend,  either  personally  or 
through  his  deputy,  all  debates  of  the  Diet,  including  debates  in 
committees  and  departments,  but  only  to  vote  if  he  is  member  of 
the  Diet.  He  is  bound,  whether  personally  or  through  his  deputy, 
to  answer  interpellations  of  the  Diet,  to  supply  the  information 
demanded  and  to  produce  the  documents  relative  to  them. 

§  13.  The  Provincial  Government  lays  annually  before  the  Diet 
for  constitutional  discussion,  the  annual  Budget  deahng  with  the 
demands  of  the  whole  administration  of  the  country,  which  is 
covered  by  the  grant  mentioned  in  §  6  and  by  the  provincial  funds. 

These  estimates,  however,  are  to  be  introduced  sufficiently  early 
and  in  such  a  manner,  as  to  make  it  possible  for  them  to  be 
examined  and  finally  fixed  at  any  rate  before  the  beginning  of 
the  year  for  which  it  holds  good. 

In  the  same  way  the  Provincial  Government  annually  lays  before 
the  Diet  for  examination  and  sanction  the  final  accounts  and  the 
results  of  the  annual  financial  position. 

§  14.  The  Ban  is  nominated  and  appointed  in  the  manner 
prescribed  in  the  Law  upon  the  constitutional  Compromise. 

§15.  With  a  view  to  covering  the  needs  of  offices  and  bureaux, 
the  costs  of  travelling  and  transference  and  office  disbursements, 
a  suitable  contribution  is  to  be  assigned  with  the  Diet's  approval 
to  the  individual  Departments  and  to  the  Ban,  and  the  accounts 
of  this  are  to  be  laid  before  the  Diet  with  the  remaining  adminis- 
trative expenses. 

§  16.  The  Ban  enjoys  the  right  of  filling  all  official  posts  in  all 
branches  of  the  Provincial  Government,  in  so  far  as  it  is  not  a 
question  of  such  posts  as  are  reserved  to  His  Majesty  in  the 
sense  of  existing  regulations,  or  such  as  are  to  be  filled  in  any  other 
manner  in  accordance  with  existing  legal  practice. 

§  17.  The  internal  regulations  in  the  various  Governmental 
Departments  are  fixed  by  the  Ban. 

§  18.  The  officials  and  servants  of  the  former  Croatian-Slavonian- 
Dalmatian  Aulic  Chancellory  and  of  the  Royal  Council  of  Lieuten- 
ancy, which  is  to  be  dissolved  when  this  law  receives  the  Royal 
Sanction,  are,  in  so  far  as  places  are  not  found  for  them  at  this 
reorganization,  to  remain  for  a  year  in  undiminished  enjoyment 
of  their  salaries,  and  they  are  then  to  be  treated  according  to 
existing  regulations. 

If  meanwhile  they  are  appointed  to  a  position,  which  is  con- 
nected with  a  smaller  salary  and  a  lower  class  of  allowance  than 

382 


THE   CROATIAN   DIET 

was  their  former  post,  then  they  are  to  be  left  with  their  former 
salary  and  in  their  former  class. 

§  19.  The  existing  Courts  in  the  country,  and  also  the  county 
and  town  assemblies,  retain  their  present  organization  and  activity 
until  other   provisions  are  made  by  law. 

§  20.  The  activity  of  the  newly-formed  Provincial  Government 
has  to  begin  within  the  space  of  one  month  after  this  law  has  received 
the  Royal  sanction. 

§  21.     The  Ban  is  entrusted  with  the  execution  of  this  law. 

APPENDIX    VIII 

THE  CROATIAN  DIET 

Article  II,  1870  (of  the  Croatian  Diet),  on  the  organization  of 
the  Diet  of  the  Kingdoms  of  Croatia,  Slavonia  and  Dalmatia.^^' 

§  I.  The  Diet  of  the  Kingdoms  of  Croatia,  Slavonia  and  Dal- 
matia  is  summoned  by  His  Majesty  the  King  to  the  capital,  Agram, 

§  2.     The  legal  duration  of  the  Diet  is  fixed  at  five  years. 
(See  further  §  i  of  April  24,  1887.) 

§  3.  The  Diet's  session  is  closed  by  His  Majesty  the  King,  who 
possesses  the  right  to  prorogue  the  Diet  or  to  dissolve  it  before  the 
legislative  period  has  elapsed.  But  in  this  case  new  elections  must 
be  ordered  at  once,  and  the  new  Diet  must  meet  not  later  than 
three  months  after  the  Dissolution  of  the  last. 

§  4.  The  mandate  of  a  deputy  lasts  as  long  as  the  period  of 
legislation.  If  a  deputy's  seat  become  vacant  before  the  close  of 
this  period,  at  a  time  when  the  Diet  is  not  sitting,  then  the  new 
election  is  to  be  carried  out  before  the  Diet  resumes  its  sittings. 
If  the  vacancy  occurs  during  its  sittings,  the  new  election  is  to  take 
place  within  three  weeks  at  latest. 

§  5  (was  superseded  by  the  Law  of  September  29, 1888.  See  p.  384.) 

§  6.  The  Diet  is  opened  and  closed  by  His  Majesty  or  by  His 
Majesty's  representative  specially  nominated  for  thiis  act ;  but  the 
presidency  is  held  by  the  President  whom  the  Diet  elects  or  by  one 
of  the  two  Vice-presidents  of  the  Diet. 

§  7.  The  term  of  office  of  the  President  and  Vice-presidents, 
whose  election  is  to  be  brought  to  His  Majesty's  knowledge,  lasts 
for  the  whole  period  of  a  Diet. 

§  8.  The  Diet  elects  every  year  the  Clerks  and  Usher  of  the 
House. 

§  9.  The  deputies  receive  in  addition  to  travelUng  expenses  a 
salary  of  five  florins  and  a  further  sum  of  one  florin  a  day  for  lodgings. 

§  10.  As  a  deputy  of  the  Diet  is  ehgible  any  one  who  was  born 
in  the  Kingdom  of  Croatia  or  Slavonia,  or  who  has  been  admitted 

*^'  Translated  from  Steinbach,  Die  ungarischen  Verfassungsgesetze,  pp. 
120-125. 

383 


APPENDIX  VIII 

into  a  commune  of  these  kingdoms  as  domiciled  resident,  provided 
that  he  enjoys  the  franchise,  has  reached  the  age  of  twenty-four 
and  can  read  and  write  ;  but  no  one  is  eligible  who  is  under  guai/- 
dians  or  in  bankruptcy,  or  who  is  the  object  of  a  special  inquiry  or 
has  been  sentenced  for  any  crime  or  punishable  offence  committed 
for  love  of  gain. 

§  II.  The  deputies  receive  no  instructions  and  exercise  their 
rights  in  person. 

§  12.  Under  the  competence  of  the  Diet  there  fall  all  affairs, 
which  directly  and  exclusively  affect  the  Kingdoms  of  Croatia  and 
Slavonia  and  whose  extent  is  defined  by  the  Compromise  Law 
of  November  5,  1868. 

§  13.     The  right  of  initiative  belongs  to  the  Crown  and  the  Diet. 

§  14.  The  activity  of  the  Diet  is  to  be  regulated  by  special  stand- 
ing orders,  in  so  far  as  these  do  not  conflict  with  the  provisions  of 
this  law. 

§  15.  The  Government  has  the  right  and  the  duty  to  send  its 
representatives  to  the  Diet,  and  they  are  at  all  times  free  to  speak, 
but  only  to  vote  if  they  are  members  of  the  Diet. 

§  16.  For  the  Diet  to  be  duly  constituted,  a  majority  of  more 
than  half  the  duly  verified  members  of  the  Diet  is  necessary. 

For  the  validity  of  any  decision  the  presence  of  thirty-five  duly 
verified  members  of  the  Diet  is  necessary. 


The  Croatian  Article  of  September  29,  1888,  introduced  the 
following  modifications  into  the  above  law  : — 

§  I.  The  Diet  of  the  Kingdoms  of  Croatia,  Slavonia  and  Dal- 
matia  consists  of  ninety  elected  representatives  and  of  members 
who  enjoy  personal  votes  in  the  Diet. 

§  2.     Personal  votes  in  the  Diet  are  enjoyed  by — 

(a)  The  Archbishop  of  Agram,  the  Serb  Patriarch  and  Metro- 
politan in  Karlovitz,  the  diocesan  Bishops,  and  the  Prior  of 
Aurana ; 

{b)  The  High  Sheriffs  standing  at  the  head  of  the  counties,  and 
the  Count  of  Turopolje  ; 

(c)  Male  members  of  those  princely,  countly  and  baronial  fami- 
lies which  have  hitherto  through  their  members  enjoyed 
personal  votes  in  the  Diet.  These  members  must  have 
completed  their  twenty-fourth  year,  be  able  to  speak  the 
Croatian  language,  and  be  in  possession  of  estates  within 
the  territory  of  the  Kingdoms  of  Croatia  and  Slavonia  or  of 
a  family  entaiH"^  {fidei  commissum)  in  the  same  kingdoms, 
of  such  an  extent  that  its  state  ground  taxes,  as  fixed  on 
the  basis  of  the  new  Ground  Tax  Valuation,  in  addition 

*^^  I.e.  a  property  held  under  a  joint  entail  by  all  members  of  a  family. 


THE  CROATIAN   DIET 

to  the  House  Taxes  due  for  its  dwelling  houses  and  farm 
buildings,  amount  to  not  less  than  i,ooo  florins  for  the 
year  1885. 

§  3.  With  regard  to  such  members  of  the  families  mentioned  in 
§  2  c,  as  do  not  possess  the  property  qualification  thus  fixed,  or 
subsequently  lose  it,  their  personal  vote  in  the  Diet  falls  into 
abeyance  from  that  date  onwards,  but  it  is  revived  if  they  sub- 
sequently attain  to  this  qualification. 

§  4,  Those  Hungaro-Croatian  Magnate  famiHes,  or  such  of  their 
members  as  are,  after  this  law  comes  into  force,  settled  on  the  terri- 
tory of  the  Kingdoms  of  Croatia  and  Slavonia,  as  also  those  who 
shall  in  future  be  made  magnates  by  His  Majesty  the  King,  enjoy 
votes  in  the  Croatian-Slavonian-Dahnatian  Diet,  in  so  far  as  they 
possess  the  other  qualifications  fixed  by  this  law. 

They  can,  however,  only  exercise  this  right,  if  the  total  number 
of  members  fixed  by  §  5,  who  possess  personal  votes  in  the  Diet,  is 
not  exceeded  by  the  number  of  those  in  possession  of  this  right  at 
the  time. 

§  5.  The  total  number  of  members  enjoying  personal  votes  in 
the  Diet  may  not  exceed  the  half  of  the  elected  representatives. 
If  this  mmiber  is  exceeded,  then  the  number  of  ViriUsts  mentioned 
in  §  2  c  is  to  be  reduced  to  the  extent  necessary  to  restore  the  pro- 
portion mentioned.  In  this  event  precedence  for  the  exercise  of 
personal  votes  in  the  Diet  is  decided  by  the  tax-contribution,  and 
if  two  or  several  pay  the  same  amount  in  taxation,  the  precedence 
falls  to  the  eldest  among  them. 

§  6.  Neither  military  nor  civil  service,  nor  a  Church  office  forms 
a  hindrance  to  the  exercise  of  the  personal  vote  in  the  Diet. 

§  7.     The  personal  vote  in  the  Diet  is  forfeited  by — 

(i)  any  member  who  has  been  sentenced  to  hard  labour  or  for 
any  crime  or  offence  due  to  love  of  gain  ; 

(2)  any  one  who  loses  his  citizenship  ; 

(3)  any  one  exercising  this  right  by  reason  of  his  dignity  or  office, 

if  he  no  longer  possesses  such  dignity  or  office. 
§  8.    The  personal  vote  is  in  abeyance — 
(i)  in  respect  of  those  members  who  have  been  sentenced  for 

any  such  punishable  offence  as  does  not  come  under  point 

I  of  §  7,  for  the  whole  period  prescribed  by  the  Criminal  Code. 
(2)  in  respect  of  those  who  are  under  guardians  or  in  bankruptcy. 
§  9,     After  this  law  has  been  proclaimed  the  Diet  is  to  elect  a 
committee  consisting  of  eleven  members,  who,  on  the  basis  of  infor- 
mation submitted  by  the  Provincial  Government, 

{a)  is  to  draw  up  the  list  of  those  families,  whose  members  have 

hitherto  enjoyed  the  personal  vote  in  the  Diet ; 
{b)  is  to  draw  up  a  special  register  of  all  those  members  of  these 

families,  to  whom  the  personal  vote  in  the  Diet  falls  under 

§  2.  c. 
s.s.Q.  385  c  c 


APPENDIX  VIII 

The  list  of  names  drawn  up  under  §  9,  and  approved  by  the  Diet, 
is  to  be  published,  and  the  Royal  Provincial  Government  then  has 
to  submit  to  the  Diet  a  Bill  for  the  inarticulation  of  this  hst,  while 
taking  into  account  such  complaints  as  may  be  brought  against  it. 

§  10.  The  list  drawn  up  under  §  9  is  to  be  published  as  soon  as  it 
receives  the  sanction  of  the  Diet,  those  who  regard  themselves  as 
illegally  omitted  being  at  the  same  time  summoned  to  submit  with- 
in three  months  from  the  day  of  this  publication  the  documents 
calculated  to  prove  their  right,  to  the  President  of  the  Diet,  if  it  be 
sitting,  and  otherwise  to  the  Ban. 

§  II.  The  Diet  decides  as  to  whether  the  individual  in  question 
is  to  be  placed  on  the  list. 

§  12.  Those  members  of  the  Diet  who  enjoy  the  personal  vote, 
will,  in  future  also,  receive  writs  of  summons  from  the  Ban,  which 
will  serve  as  the  basis  of  their  verification  by  the  Diet. 

§  13.  The  provision  of  §  5  of  Article  II  (1870)  on  the  organization 
of  the  Diet  of  the  Kingdoms  of  Croatia,  Slavonia  and  Dalmatia,  is 
hereby  placed  out  of  force. 

§  14.  This  law  comes  into  force  with  the  commencement  of  the 
next  legislative  period. 

§  15.    The  Ban  is  entrusted  with  the  execution  of  this  law. 


386 


THE  CROATIAN   BUDGET 


APPENDIX   IX 
THE  CROATIAN  BUDGET  *«9 

Main  Groups  of  Expenditure,  1907 


Total. 

Of  this,  there  fell  to 

Hungary. 

Croatia. 

Civil  List 

Parliament 

Joint  Expenses  (ordinary)   . 
Do.  (extraordinary)    . 

State  Debt 

RaOway  Guaranteed  Interest    . 

Internal  Admin 

Finance  Admin 

Internal  Admin,  of  Croatia. 

Pensions 

Education 

Justice 

Militia 

Commercial  Admin 

Agricultural  Admin 

Roads,  Canals,  Bridges,  Harboiurs 

Monopolies  (Tobacco,  Salt,  Lot- 
teries)      

Post  Office  and  Telegraph   . 

Miscellaneous 

11,477,000 
4,113,000 
69,193,000 
40,278,000 
288,089,000 
1,748,000 
74,239,000 
82,082,000 
23,925,000 
27,592,000 
73,119,000 
54,474,000 
42,668,000 
26,536,000 
29,082,000 
27,589,000 

73,583,000 
60,673,000 
14,051,000 

(In  cro 

11,477, 

4,113, 

69,193, 

40,278, 

288,089, 

1,748, 

74,239,000 

75,535,000 

26,066,000 
73,119,000 
54,474,000 

42,668, 
26,434,000 

29,082, 
26,410,000 

72,489,000 
55,729,000 
14,051, 

wns.) 

000 

000 

000 

000 

000 

000 

6,547,000     7-9  p.c. 
23,925,000 
1,526,000     5-4  p.c. 

000 

102,000     0-3  p.c. 
000 

1,179,000     4-0  p.c. 

1,094,000     1-3  p.c. 
4,944,000    8-o8p.c. 
000 

State  Expenditure  proper   . 
Expenses  of  Collection,  etc. 

1,024,511,000 
374,962,000 

1,024,511, 
373,617,000 

000 

1,345,000     3-4  p.c. 

1,399,473,000 

1,358,811,000 

40,662,000     2-9  p.c. 

From  Ungarisches  Statistisches  Jahrbuch,  xv  (1907),  p.  498. 


387 


APPENDIX  X 


APPENDIX    X 
CROATIA'S  ECONOMIC  POSITION 

Croatia  is  above  all  an  agricultural  country.  The  value  of  its 
agricultural  products  has  been  estimated  for  the  year  1908  at 
381,900,000  crowns.     This  was  divided  as  follows  : — 


Cereals 

Vegetables  . 

Flax,  tobacco,  chicory,  etc. 

Meal,  etc.    . 

Hay  .... 


11,172,547  quintals. 

4.085,037 
448,871 

1,763,942 
11.743.051 


29,213,448 


Live  Stock. — In  1908  the  total  number  of  fairs  was  5,566. 
sales  for  three  years  totalled  as  follows  : — 


The 


Bulls 

Cows  . 
Heifers 
Oxen  . 
Calves . 
Sheep  . 
Pigs  . 
Horses 


17,184 
102,982 

60,222 
193.318 

80,003 
129,458 
539.844 

72.741 


1907. 

18,145 
108,429 

58,995 
192,451 

70,261 
113.372 
560.655 

63.555 


1906. 
18,707 

151.429 
78.425 

164,681 
76,271 

123,310 

547.801 
84,240 


The  value  of  the  horses  sold,  as  above,  amounted  in  1908  to 
8,900,000  crowns. 

The  export  of  live  stock  is  almost  entirely  to  Austria — to  a  large 
extent  en  route  for  Italy,  Switzerland  and  Germany.  Its  value 
reached  in  1908  the  sum  of  36,700,000  crowns. 

The  exportation  of  chickens  and  eggs  was  as  follows  : — 


Chickens. 

Quantity  in 

kilogrammes  and 

_Eggs^ 

Quantity  in 

Value  in 

value  in  crowns. 

kilogrammes. 

crowns. 

1907     . 

.       1,879,996 

5,693.469 

3.415,698 

1906 

.       1,915.213 

6,309,226 

3.785.533 

1905 

.       3.326,033 

7,109,271 

4.265,551 

1904     . 

.       1,685,706 

3,419,204 

2,051,526 

The  total  production  of  wine  was  27,000,000  crowns  in  1907,  as 
compared  with  20,000,000  in  1906  and  22,000,000  in  1905.*"' 

Industry. — How  insignificant  a  part  industry  plays  in  Croatia, 
compared  with  agriculture,  may  be  gathered  from  the  two  fol- 
lowing tables,  which  show  the  number  of  persons  engaged  in  each. 

*"•  All  the  above  statistics  are  drawn  from  Rapport  de  la  Chambre  de  Com- 
merce et  d' Industrie  d,  Zagreb  pour  1908  (Zagreb,  1909).  There  are  three 
Chambers  of  Commerce  in  Croatia,  in  Agram,  Osijek,  and  Senj  (Zengg). 


388 


I 


CROATIA'S  ECONOMIC   POSITION 

A.     Occupations  of  the  Population.^'^ 


Agriculture     . 

Industry 

Trade  and  Finance. 

Public  Service  and  Private 

Day  Labourers 

Capitalists,  etc. 


Earning. 
1,095.223 
89,052 
15.876 
19,361 
15.036 
10,241 


Dependent. 

886,053 

113,106 

19.784 

28,368 

18,812 

9.719 


Total. 
1,981,276 
202,158 
35.660 
47.729 
33.848 
19,960 


Total       .         .         .     1,299,244     ..   1,117,060     ..     2,416,304 
B.     Percentage  of  Population  engaged  in  Agrictdture.^'^^ 


County  of  Bjelovar 

,,  ,,   Lika. 

,,  ,„  Modrus 

,,  ,,    Pozega 

„  „   Synnia 

,,  ,,   Varazdin 

„  ,,    Virovitica 

„  ,,    Zagreb 


All  Croatia 


88'9  p.c. 

92*6  ,, 

76-8  „ 

82'7  „ 

77-2  ,, 

93-8  „ 

80.2  „ 

90*1  .. 

82-0  ,, 


Wood  is  an  important  industry  ;  145,870  cubic  metres  of  oak 
were  sold  for  4,759,587  crowns  in  1908.  Walking  sticks  to  the 
number  of  8,100,000  were  exported  (especially  the  so-called  Congo- 
wood  sticks).  In  the  tanning  trade,  one  factory  employs  770 
workmen.  Brewing  and  distilling  are  very  backward,  though 
"  slivovitz  "  (plum  brandy)  is  exported  to  a  considerable  extent. 
There  is  a  small  chemical  trade  ;  three  soap  factories  producing 
42,768  quintals. 

Textiles  were  produced  of  a  total  value  in — 


1908 
1907 
1906 


8,573,407  crowns, 
7,500,000       ,, 
6,250,000       ,, 


The  state  of  Croatian  industries  may  be  gathered  from  table  C 
on  the  following  page.^^^ 

4'i  Ungarisches  Statistiches  Jahrhuch,  xv  p.  30. 
*'2  Ibid.,  p.  32.  «'3  Ibid.,  pp.  176-7. 


389 


APPENDIX   X 


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390 


CROATIA'S    ECONOMIC    POSITION 


The  progress  made  by  Croatian  banking  institutions  is  shown  as 
follows  :— 4'* 

D.     Croatian  Finance. 


Agricultural 

Savings 

Co-oper. 

Banks.    Credit  Institutions 

Banks. 

Societies. 

Total. 

1899     . 

.       18 

75 

IIO 

204 

1 901 

.       19 

77 

257 

354 

1903     . 

•      23 

86 

.    526 

.        636 

1905     . 

•      32 

97       • 

642 

772 

1907     . 

•      42 

125        • 

674 

842 

In  igo6  there  were  38,583  deposits  in  the  Savings  Banks,  totalling 
7,693,214  crowns. 


E. 

The  Croatian  Press 

(1904-1907).* 

75 

Newspapers. 

1904.              1905. 

1906. 

1907 

PoUtical     . 

.34        ••        29 

33 

46 

I/)cal 

.11        ..        13 

18 

12 

Belletristic 

.     19        . .        18 

18 

19 

Technical  . 

.64        ..        56 

67 

74 

Comic 

I        . .         2 

I 

I 

Total. 


129 


118 


137 


152 


These  newspapers  were  written  in  the  following  languages  : — 


Croat 
Serb . 

German     . 
Croat  and  Latin 
Other 


1904. 

1905. 

1906. 

1907.        ] 

104 

•     97 

.      108 

.      124      .. 

14 

10 

.        15 

15      •• 

9 

9 

12 

II 

I 

I 

I 

I 

I 

I 

I 

I      . . 

p.c.  in  1907. 

8i-5 

9.8 

7.2 

•6 

•6 


F.  Croatian  Primary  Eduoation.^'^^ 
In  the  school  year  1906-7  the  elementary  schools  were  distributed 


as  foUows  : — 

Number  of 

Language  of  Instruction. 

Teachers. 

Schools. 

Serbo-Croat 

Magyar. 

Total. 

with  diploma 

State. 

24      • 

24 

— 

146 

III 

Communal  . 

1,405      • 

.      1,381 

4 

.     2,608      . 

•     2,430 

Catholic 

2 

I 

I 

7      • 

7 

Orthodox    . 

24       . 

24 

— 

47      • 

45 

Protestant  . 

17        • 

9 

21 

21 

Jewish 

4     • 

4 

16       . 

16 

Private 

57     . 

19 

30        . 

.           187        . 

168 

Total    .  .    1,533     ..    1,453     ..       43 

The  attendances  were  as  foUows  : — *^' 


3.032 


2,798 


I896-I900. 

1901-1905. 

(Average.) 

(Average). 

1906. 

1907. 

Children  liable  to  attend      323,025 

.       338,766       . 

•        355.093        • 

.    370,725 

Children  actually  attend-  (196,926 
ing  .          .          .          .  "i    61  p.c.     . 

.       210,474       . 

•        232,993        . 

.     241,262 

62  p.c. 

.      65-6  p.c.    . 

.    65*1  p.c. 

"*  Ungarisches  Statistiches  Jahrbuch,  p.  269.  *'*  Ibid.,  p.  386. 

"•  Ibid.,  p.  336.  *"  Ibid.,  p.  320. 


APPENDIX   XI 

G.     Croatian  Secondary  Education.^'^^ 
(i.)  Number  of  pupils  in  secondary  schools : — 


1901-2. 

1903-4, 

1905-6, 

Catholic 

4,419 

4,474 

4.365 

Orthodox 

1,232 

1,182 

1,103 

Protestant 

63 

65 

73 

Jewish   . 

580 

583          . 

555 

Total       .  .  .        6,294         . .         6,304         . .         6,096 

(ii.)  Number  of  schools  and  professors  in  1906-7. 


Schools. 

Professors, 

With  diplomas. 

Total. 

Upper  Gymnasia. 

9 

116 

188 

Upper  Real-Gymnasia 

6 

loi 

173 

Lower  Real-Gymnasia. 

4 

16 

49 

Girls  Lycee. 

I 

17 

23 

Total.         .         .         ,20  . .  250  . .  433 

In  igoo  63  per  cent,  of  the  population  {1,512,888  out  of  2,400,766) 
were  still  illiterates,  as  compared  to  73*3  per  cent,  in  1890.^'^ 


APPENDIX   XI 

PROGRAMME  OF  THE  PARTY  OF  PURE  RIGHT  (see  p.  109) 

The  Party  of  Right  aims  at  the  reahzation  of  Croatian  constitu- 
tional law,  and  of  the  natural  rights  of  the  Croatian  nation,  in  the 
sense  of  the  following  Articles  : —  ,; 

Art.  I.  I.  Erection  of  the  Unified  Kingdom  of  Croatia,  by  the 
incorporation  of  Slavonia,  Dalmatia,  the  town  of  Fiume  and  its 
territory,  the  Littoral,  Bosnia,  Herzegovina,  Istria,  Carniola, 
Carinthia  and  Styria,  within  the  bounds  of  the  Habsburg  Monarchy. 

2,  Constitutional  guarantee  of  the  freedom  and  independence 
of  this  unified  Croatian  Kingdom. 

Art,  II.  The  constitution,  liberty  and  independence  of  the 
unified  Croatian  Kingdom  is  to  be  secured  by  special  fundamental 
laws,  to  be  passed  by  the  Croatian  Parliament  and  sanctioned  by 
His  Majesty. 

Art.  III.  The  legislation  for  this  unified  Croatian  Kingdom  is 
to  be  carried  out  for  all  branches  of  the  life  of  the  State,  by  the 
Croatian  Parliament,  in  direct  agreement  with  His  Majesty. 

Art.  IV.  The  affairs  which  result  from  the  Pragmatic  Sanction 
and  the  unity  of  the  Monarchy,  shall  be  treated  by  the  Croatian 
Kingdom  on  equal  terms  with  the  Kingdom  of  Hungary  and  with 
the  other  lands  of  His  Majesty. 

478  Ungarisches  Statistiches  Jakrbuch,  p.  363.         *"  Ibid.,  p.  306. 


THE   RESOLUTION   OF   FIUME   (1905) 

Art.  V.  The  executive  power  shall  be  exercised  by  the  Govern- 
ment responsible  to  the  Croatian  ParHament  and  at  its  head  shall 
stand  the  Ban,  who  is  to  be  appointed  by  His  Majesty  on  the 
proposal  of  this  Parliament. 

Agram, 

November  3,  1893. 


APPENDIX   XII 

THE  RESOLUTION  OF  FIUME  (October  4.  1905)  (see  p.  147) 

In  view  of  the  political  position  into  which  the  Monarchy  has 
fallen  as  a  consequence  of  the  crisis  in  Hungary,  the  Croat  de- 
puties met  together  for  the  purpose  of  defining  their  attitude 
towards  this  situation  and  determining  the  direction  of  the  political 
work  of  the  Croat  nation  in  the  questions  which  are  undisputed 
and  common  to  all,  and  which  do  not  prejudice  the  theoretical 
standpoint  which  they  uphold  in  parhamentary  Hfe,  whether  as 
members  of  the  Club  or  as  individuals. 

The  Croat  deputies  hold  that  the  public  events  of  to-day  in  Hun- 
gary arose  in  consequence  of  the  struggle  which  aimed  at  gradually 
securing  for  the  Kingdom  of  Hungary  complete  State  independence. 

The  Croat  deputies  regard  these  efforts  as  justified  by  the  very 
fact  that  every  nation  has  the  right  to  decide  freely  and  indepen- 
dently concerning  its  existence  and  its  fate. 

The  Croat  deputies  are  convinced  that  the  two  nations,  the 
Croatian  and  the  Hungarian,  not  only  in  view  of  their  historic 
relations,  but  stiU  more  in  view  of  the  fact  of  direct  neighbourhood 
and  the  real  needs  of  their  life  and  mutual  aid  are  thrown 
upon  each  other,  and  that  therefore  they  must  avoid  every  cause 
and  ground  for  mutual  friction. 

Starting  from  these  premisses,  the  Croat  deputies  consider  it 
to  be  their  duty  to  fight  side  by  side  with  the  Hungarian  nation 
for  the  fulfilment  of  all  constitutional  rights  and  Hberties,  in  the 
conviction  that  the  said  rights  and  Hberties  will  be  of  advantage 
to  the  Croatian  and  Hungarian  nations  :  and  thus  will  be  laid  the 
basis  of  a  lasting  understanding  between  the  two  nations. 

These  aims — namely  the  mutual  advantages  defined  above — 
having  been  attained,  there  is  laid  down  as  a  condition  the  speediest 
reincorporation  of  Dalmatia  in  the  Kingdoms  of  Croatia,  Slavonia 
and  Dalmatia,  to  whom  it  already  falls  both  virtually  and  lawfully. 

With  a  view  to  approaching  to  the  realization  of  the  reincor- 
poration of  Dalmatia,  it  is  necessary  that  an  end  shall  be  put  as 
soon  as  possible  to  the  present  intolerable  parliamentary  and  constitu- 
tional political  conditions  in   Croatia  and  Slavonia,  and  that  such 

393 


APPENDIX  XII 

conditions  shall  be  introduced  as  shall  correspond  to  the  needs 
of  civilized  countries  and  to  the  claims  of  constitution  and  liberty, 
to  the  guaranteed  liberal  constitutional  institutions,  such  as,  for 
example  : 
An  electoral  law  such  as  will  render  possible  and  assure  the 
election  of  such  national  representatives  as  shall  be  the 
true  expression  of  the  unhindered  and  free  national  will ; 
Complete  press   freedom,  with   the   abolition  of  objective   pro- 
ceedings and  the  introduction  of  juries  for  political  and  press 
offences  ; 
Freedom  of  Assembly  and  Association  and  free  expression  of 

opinion  ; 
Realization  of  judicial  independence,   the  guarantee  to  every 
judge  that  he  cannot  be  removed  or  held  responsible  for 
his  judicial  acts  ; 
.  Organization  of  the  special  institution  of  a  court  of  constitu- 
tional law  for  the  protection  of  the  interests  and  political 
rights  of  the  citizens  against  the  arbitrary  action  of  the 
authorities  ; 
Organization  of  a  special  court  for  the  criminal  responsibility  of 

all  public  officials  for  violation  of  the  law. 
The  Croat  deputies  are  convinced  that  a  lasting  understanding 
between  the  Croat  and  Hungarian  nations  can  be  most  speedily 
attained  by  the  punctual  and  strict  fulfilment  of  the  rights  of  the 
Croatian  nation,  as  contained  in  the  existing  Croato-Hungarian 
Compromise,  and  by  the  alteration  of  the  relation  which  belongs 
to  the  sphere  of  affairs  which  are  to-day  common  alike  to  Croatia 
and  Hungary,  and  to  the  Western  half  of  the  Monarchy — in  such 
a  way  that  an  independent  political,  cultural,  financial  and  general 
economic  existence  and  development  may  be  assured  to  the 
Croatian  nation. 

As  a  natural  consequence  of  events,  every  advance  made  by 
the  people  of  Croatia,  Slavonia  and  DaLmatia  will  exercise  a  favour- 
able influence  upon  the  condition  of  those  of  our  race  who  live  in 
other  lands,  particularly  at  the  most  exposed  point,  namely  in  the 
sisterland  of  Istria. 

With  a  view  to  examining  and,  previous  to  realisation,  revising 
the  principles,  aims  and  demands  here  enunciated,  a  committee 
of  five  deputies  has  been  elected,  who  will  have  the  further  task 
of  advancing  and  preparing  for  decision  those  questions  which  are 
common  to  all  our  countries  or  are  of  advantage  to  the  general 
national  wellbeing. 
From  the  meeting  of  Croatian  National  deputies 

FiUME,  October  3,  1905 
(Translated  from  V.  Milic,    Posianak  Rijecki  Resolucije).' 


394 


I 


THE   RESOLUTION   OF  ZARA   (1905) 

APPENDIX    XIII 

THE  RESOLUTION  OF  ZARA  (Oct.  17,  1905) 

The  aspiration  of  every  nation  to  dispose  over  its  own  existence 
and  destinies,  must  arouse  the  S5mipathies  of  every  one  who  himself 
aspires  to  liberty ;  and  we  greet  all  the  more  heartily  the  present 
struggle  of  the  Magyar  nation,  because  the  structure  of  the  very 
State  against  which  that  struggle  is  aimed,  has  obstructed  and 
still  obstructs  to-day  the  development  of  our  fatherland,  of  the 
Croat  and  Serb  people.  Moreover,  the  autonomy  of  Hungary, 
which  would  then  live  its  own  life  and  dispose  of  its  own  forces, 
would  create  political  conditions  in  which  the  Magyar  nation  would 
tend  to  seek,  in  its  own  interest,  an  agreement  with  the  non-Magyar 
nations  of  Hungary,  to  see  in  the  strength  of  these  nations  their 
own  strength,  and  then,  with  the  support  of  the  Triune  Kingdom 
of  Dalmatia,  Croatia  and  Slavonia,  to  take  steps  to  ensure  their 
national  future  and  safety. 

Therefore,  the  undersigned  Serb  deputies  and  delegates  of  Serb 
parties,  conscious  of  the  importance  of  the  present  general  political 
situation  in  the  Monarchy,  and  bearing  in  mind  the  attitude  adopted 
by  the  Croatian  deputies  at  the  Conference  of  Fiume,  hereby  de- 
clare :  that  they  will  support  the  present  movement  of  the  Magyar 
nation,  and  would  even  offer  it  active  assistance,  if  real  guarantees 
could  be  given  on  the  part  of  the  Magyar  Coalition  parties,  that 
side  by  side  with  their  own  just  claims,  effect  will  also  be  given 
to  the  aspirations  of  Croatia  and  Slavonia  towards  a  widening 
of  their  autonomy,  so  that  they  may  be  guaranteed  a  more  inde- 
pendent political,  cultural,  economic  and  financial  existence  and 
development. 

At  the  same  time  the  undersigned  deputies  and  delegates  demand, 
and  will  work  to  secure,  the  introduction  of  democratic  institutions 
in  Croatia  and  Slavonia,  such  as  should  guarantee  their  constitu- 
tional life  and  development  and  remove  the  present  intolerable 
parliamentary  administrative  and  social  conditions. 

Standing  upon  this  basis,  they  expect  that  the  Magyar  CoaHtion 
parties  will  in  their  turn  place  their  relations  with  the  non-Magyar 
nations  of  Hungary  upon  a  just  basis,  with  a  view  to  guaranteeing 
the  latter's  national  cultural  existence  and  development. 

With  regard  to  the  demand  of  our  Croat  brethren  for  the  rein- 
corporation of  Dalmatia  with  Croatia  and  Slavonia,  which  is  actually 
guaranteed  by  the  existing  law,*^°  the  Serb  parties  are  also  ready 
to  use  their  influence  for  the  realization  of  this  demand,  if  the 
Croats  on  their  part  remove  the  obstacle  which  has  hitherto  pre- 

""  See  Appendix  VI,  Article  XXX,  1868,  §  65. 
395 


APPENDIX  XIII 

vented  the  Serb  party  of  the  Littoral  from  declaring  itself  in  favour 
of  annexation — if,  namely,  the  Croats  give  a  binding  recognition 
of  the  equality  of  the  Serb  and  Croat  peoples.  With  a  view  then 
to  reaching  an  agreement  for  joint  action  with  our  Croat  brethren, 
a  committee  of  three,  with  three  proxies,  is  (hereby)  elected ; 
and  they  will  communicate  this  decision  to  the  executive  com- 
mittee of  the  Conference  of  Fiume,  and  enter  into  negotiations  with 
them  in  the  sense  of  this  decision. 


As  a  sequel  to  the  Resolutions  of  Fiume  and  Zara,  the  Croatian 
Party  (for  many  years  the  dominant  factor  in  Dalmatian  pohtics) 
and  the  National  Serb  Party  of  Dalmatia,  met  at  a  conference 
in  Zara  on  November  14,  1905,  during  the  sittings  of  the  Dalmatian 
Diet.  The  following  declaration  was  drawn  up  between  them  ; 
and  in  order  to  give  it  added  weight,  it  was  read  in  the  Diet  on 
November  18,  by  Dr.  Pero  Cingrija.the  Mayor  of  Ragusa,  as  Presi- 
dent of  the  Croatian  party. 

"  The  Clubs  of  the  Croatian  Party  and  the  Serb  National  Party 
rest  upon  the  principle  that  the  Croats  and  Serbs  are  one  nation, 
that  each  enjoys  equal  rights  with  the  other,  and  that  especially 
to-day,  when  in  the  world  at  large  and  still  more  so  in  the  Mon- 
archy momentous  events  directly  affecting  their  vital  interests 
are  looming  large  on  the  horizon,  they  must  summon  up  their 
strength  and  national  resources,  lest  events  should  take  them 
unawares. 

Therefore  the  Croats  and  Serbs  of  Dalmatia  will  work  shoulder 
to  shoulder,  as  brethren  enjoying  equal  rights  in  national  political 
questions,  and  especially  they  will  endeavour  with  united  forces 
to  achieve  at  the  earliest  possible  date  the  annexation  of  Dalmatia 
to  Croatia  and  Slavonia,  as  the  principal  condition  for  assuring  a 
better  national  future  to  those  countries. 

In  order  that  the  principles  of  brotherly  union  and  equality 
between  the  Croats  and  Serbs  of  Dalmatia  may  be  apphed  in  a 
durable  form  not  only  among  the  national  representatives,  but  also 
within  the  sphere  of  the  Government's  activity,  I  have  the  honour 
in  the  name  of  both  Clubs  to  propose  to  the  Diet  for  acceptance 
the  following  resolutions  : — 

I.  The  Imperial  and  Royal  Government  is  invited,  in  accord- 
ance with  this  Diet's  resolution  of  July  21,  1883,  to  use  its  influence, 
that  all  Government  authorities  and  offices,  in  their  references  to 
the  national  language,  should  always  employ  the  term  '  Croat 
or  Serb '  ;  that  in  the  schools  of  Dalmatia  the  Croat  and 
Serb  name  should  be  assigned  an  honourable  position,  and  that 
in  school  textbooks  account  should  be  taken  of  Croat  and 
Serb  history,  so  that  the  pupils  may  learn  its  principal  events  ; 
and  that  the  Latin  and  Cyrilline  alphabets  should  both  be  studied 

396 


THE    FORGED    REPORT    OF    DR.    SPALAJKOViC 

in  such  a  way  that  the  pupils  may  be  able  to  read  and  write  both 
characters, 

II.  The  Provincial  Committee  (Zemaljski  Odbor  of  Dalmatia) 
is  invited  to  use  its  influence  to  ensure  that  all  written  decisions 
be  issued  in  the  same  characters  in  which  the  (original)  application 
was  presented." 


APPENDIX    XIV 
THE    FORGED    REPORT    OF    DR.    SPALAJKOViC  ^^i 

Ministry  of  Foreign  Affairs  (Political  Department) 

Belgrade,  June  4,  1907  (i.e.  June  17,  N.S.). 

Confidential,  No.  3027. 
Sir,*82 

In  accordance  with  orders  received,  the  undersigned,  with  the 
cashier  of  this  Ministry,  Mr.  Bozovic,  was  in  Semlin,  where  we 
visited  the  Croatian  deputy  Svetozar  PribiSevic  with  a  view  to 
coming  to  terms  for  the  purpose  of  agreement  about  the  Letter 
which  reached  us  through  Mr.  Petkovic  ^^^  from  Budapest  from 
the  Croatian  delegates  in  the  Hungarian  Parliament,  Messrs.  Supilo, 
Poto^njak,  Pribicevic,  Lukinic^  and  others. 

Mr.  Pribi6evi6,  who  on  this  day  was  engaged  with  his  comrades 
upon  the  organization  of  his  party  in  Semlin,  declared  that  it  was 
this  time  unfortunately  impossible  for  him  to  come  to  Belgrad, 
thankfully  received  our  intimation  that  Servia  will  punctually  fulfil 
those  obligations  which  it  took  over  in  the  sense  of  the  Fiume 
Resolution,  so  long  as  the  present  Cabinet  is  in  power  in  Servia  ; 
but  that  the  proposed  subsidy  is  determined  by  the  height  (extent) 
of  those  means  which  can  be  separated  from  the  budgetary  contri- 
butions, without  other  needs  of  the  State  being  thereby  impaired. 

This  motive,  as  also  the  circumstance  that  there  is  for  this  year  as 
yet  no  sanctioned  Budget  at  the  disposal  of  the  Servian  Government,*^^ 
impose  on  the  Servian  Government  certain  limits  respecting  dis- 
bursements for  foreign  political  action  ;  and  as  further  the  Govern- 
ment is  also  faced  by  the  burning  necessity  of  proceeding  without 
delay  to  the  organization  of  the  army  and  the  supplementing  of  the 
armaments  of  the  Servian  Army,  which  will  in  any  case  have  to 
take  place  under  control  of  a  Committee  of  the  Skupstina,  the 
Servian  Government  will  probably  for  some  time  to  come  find  it 

*^^  See  pp.  46-52.  Aktenstiicke  zur  grossserbischen  Bewegung  in  Oesterreich- 
Ungarn.  Vorgelegt  von  Dr.  Heinrich  Friedjung.  N.B.  The  clumsy  gram- 
matical constructions  are  as  in  the  German  version. 

*^^  The  German  version,  "  Herr  Minister,"  is  untranslatable. 

*^^  Servian  Consul-General  in  Budapest. 

"*  See  p.  265. 

397 


APPENDIX   XIV 

impossible  to  increase  the  pecuniary  support  which  it  hitherto  put 
at  the  disposal  of  the  Croato-Serb  Party. 

All  this  I  explained  to  Mr.  PribiSevic  in  the  name  of  the  Minister, 
but  at  the  same  time  assured  him  that  in  the  event  of  new  elections 
being  ordered  for  the  Croatian  Diet,  the  Servian  Government  was 
ready  to  let  the  Coalition  have  a  considerable  contribution  ;  for 
the  Servian  Government  is  firmly  convinced  that  no  other  political 
combination  could  assure  a  more  certain  support  to  the  aims  of 
Southern  Slav  joint  action  (Gemeinschaft)  than  that  which  acquired 
its  basis  in  the  Resolution  of  Fiume,  and  which  through  the  agree- 
ment reached  in  Fiume  by  the  Minister  and  Mr.  Proti6  with  Messrs. 
Supilo  and  MedakoviS,  was  extended  to  Servia  also. 

I  have  not  neglected  the  opportunity  of  pointing  out  also  to  Mr. 
PribiSevi^  that  in  view  to  the  unfavourable  relations  in  which  Servia 
at  present  stands  to  Bulgaria,  and  which  are  proved  to  be  the  fruit 
of  Viennese  diplomacy's  systematic  action,  further  in  view  of  the 
Servian  State's  insufficient  readiness  for  war,  and  finally  in  view  of 
Servia's  important  need  of  reducing  its  internal  poHtical  and  econo- 
mic difficulties,  the  Servian  Government  is  compelled  to  aim  above 
all  else  at  the  restoration  of  treaty  conditions  with  the  Hahshurg 
Monarchy  and  thereby  to  attain  once  again  more  confidential  and 
better  political  conditions  with  Vienna.  For  this  very  reason 
Servia  is  compelled  to  assume  for  a  time  a  certain  reserve  in  all 
matters  which  could  rouse  the  susceptibihties  of  Viennese  circles, 
and  above  all  to  advise  its  friends  in  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina,  to  be 
more  moderate  in  their  poHtical  work,  so  that  they  should  not  make 
difficulties  for  Servia  or  involve  it  against  its  will  at  a  time  when 
Servia  is  gathering  itself  together  in  mihtary,  poHtical  and  financial 
respects,  in  order  to  be  able  to  take  up  the  more  strongly  the  inter- 
ests of  the  Bosnian-Herzegovinian  people  and  of  the  remaining 
elements  of  Pan  Slav  kinship  in  the  south. 

The  poHtical  friends  and  compatriots  must  keep  in  view  in  their 
poHtical  work  the  present  wretched  situation  of  Servia,  as  also  its 
momentary  great  lack  of  unappropriated  means.  This  situation 
will  not  last  long,  this  will  change  radically  by  March  of  next  year. 
For  by  then  the  Servian  Army  will  be  fully  equipped  with  all  war 
material,  cannon,  rifles  and  ammunition,  besides  the  Government 
will  dispose  over  a  new  extended  Budget,  and  what  is  the  main 
thing,  over  large  contributions  from  the  new  State  Loan,  regarding 
which  the  preliminary  negotiations  are  already  closed  and  which  the 
Skupstina  i&ill  vote  in  the  autumn.^^^ 

Mr.  PribiSevic  deferred  to  the  line  of  argument  which  at  present 
fixes  the  decisions  of  the  Servian  Government,  but  he  noted  with 
discontent,  that  the  Servian  Government  is  at  present  unable  to 
comply  with  his  and  his  political  friends'  demand  and  to  place  at 
their  disposal  50,000  francs  from  Servia's  resources  for  the  mainten- 

"5  See  p.  265. 
398 


THE  FORGED  REPORT  OF  DR.  SPALAJKOViC 

ance  of  their  political  position  in  the  Triune  Kingdom  and  for  the 
support  of  their  action  in  the  Hungarian  Parhament.*^^  But  as  I 
informed  him,  according  to  my  instructions,  that  the  Servian  Govern- 
ment was  ready,  despite  its  lack  of  money,  to  help  his  political 
friends  and  allies  in  the  most  necessary  needs  {sic)  so  far  as  possible, 
Mr.  Pribi6evi6  reduced  the  present  demand  of  his  comrades  to  20,000, 
and  in  the  course  of  further  negotiations  to  12,000.  In  discussing 
the  treatment  of  this  money,  Mr.  BohviS  and  I  came  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  this  payment  should  be  made  now,  in  case  the  state  of  the 
funds  at  this  moment  permits.  As  the  need  and  hence  also  the 
decision  in  this  matter  is  urgent,  we  have  given  the  assurance  through 
Mr.  Pribicevic  to  his  friends  in  the  Diet,  that  the  money,  so  far  as  it 
is  sanctioned,  will  be  paid  over,  in  return  for  a  receipt,  and  accord- 
ing to  Mr.  Pribicevic's  request,  into  the  hands  of  Peter  Jelovac,  a 
SemHn  merchant  of  good  standing,  within  two  days  at  latest. 

On  the  ground  of  the  authorization  received,  we  have  at  the  same 
time  informed  Mr.  Pribicevic  that  the  subvention  promised  to  the 
Serbo-Croat  organs  was  assigned  till  further  notice  for  the  current 
year  in  the  secret  credit  of  the  Servian  Foreign  Office,  and  that  the 
sums  still  outstanding  will  be  paid  as  soon  as  the  Budget  is  sanctioned. 
In  view  of  the  fact  that  an  increase  of  this  subvention  is  impossible, 
the  number  of  subsidized  papers  cannot  be  increased.  The  Inde- 
pendent Serb  Party  places  at  the  disposal  of  our  Press  bureau  the 
following  newspapers  :  Srhohran  and Srpsko  Koloin  Agra.m,  Srbin  in 
Gospi^,  Slohoda  in  Mitrovica  and  Srpska  Misao  in  Karlovitz. 

We  have  arranged  that  all  Bosnian  news  and  correspondence 
shall  be  so  far  as  possible  sent  first  to  our  Press  bureau  for  perusal — 
so  that  no  traces  of  our  connexions  with  the  poHtical  action  there 
(sic)  may  appear  and  the  reprisals  of  the  Bosnian  authorities,  which 
the  political  workers  here  draw  on  themselves  through  lack  of 
caution,  may  be  avoided. 

Mr.  Pribicevic  has  demanded  in  his  own  name  and  in  that  of  his 
colleagues,  that  the  Servian  Press  bureau  and  the  Servian  Ministers 
abroad  should  support  in  the  large  foreign  newspapers  the  action 
carried  on  in  the  Hungarian  Parhament  by  the  Coahtion  deputies. 

It  was,  however,  pointed  out  to  him  that  Servia  had  need  of 
correct  relations  to  the  Hungarian  Parliament,  mainly  owing  to 
our  delicate  complicated  relations  to  the  Viennese  Ballplatz,  and 
that  consequently  the  foreign  pubHcist  campaign  must  still  continue 
in  the  hands  of  Mr.  Polit-DezanUc,  who  has  for  this  purpose  definite 
means  at  his  disposal,  and  to  whom  the  deputies  of  the  Coalition 
should  turn  in  this  connexion.  At  the  same  time  Mr.  Pribicevic 
was  informed,  that  Mr.  PoHt  had  already  made  certain  disbursements 
in  their  interest  out  of  our  means,  mainly  for  certain  persons  in  the 
entourage  of  the  Minister  Josipovich. 

Finally,  Mr.  Pribicevic  inquired  of  us,  whether  it  would  not  be 
^"^  See  p.   154  re  obstruction. 
399 


APPENDIX  XIV 

possible  to  manage  through  our  Viennese  Minister,  that  through 
the  medium  of  the  Russian  ambassador  in  Vienna,  who  in  his  turn 
has  intimate  relations  with  the  German  ambassador  there,  the  latter 
should  secure  help  for  the  Serbo-Croat  Coalition  in  the  entourage 
of  the  Emperor  against  the  Hungarian  Government. 

In  accordance  with  the  orders  received  from  the  Minister,  the 
first  undersigned  pointed  out  to  Mr.  Pribicevic^,  that  the  Servian 
Government  considers  it  to  be  a  great  political  error  if  the  Serbo- 
Croatian  Coalition  should  succumb  to  the  influence  of  Vienna,  and 
if  in  return  for  services  received  it  should  submit  to  the  policy  of 
the  Monarch's  entourage.  Even  if  this  could  he  justified  on  the  part 
of  the  deputies  of  Croat  nationality,  the  Serb  deputies  at  any  rate 
must  bear  in  mind  that  the  realization  of  the  aims  of  Serbdom  in 
regard  to  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina  would  be  finally  compromised, 
as  soon  as  Viennese  circles  acquire  unlimited  power  to  regulate  the 
fate  of  the  occupied  provinces  definitely  according  to  their  wish. 
In  this  connexion  the  existence  of  a  parhamentary  government  in 
Budapest  such  as  the  present,  forms  for  Serbdom  a  guarantee  of 
decisive  and  undoubted  value. 

The  Servian  Government  also  counts  upon  the  Serb  deputies  in 
the  Serbo-Croat  Coalition  always  taking  care  not  to  undermine  the 
interest  which  Servia,  as  such,  and  with  its  resources  by  reason  of  its 
purely  national  interests,  {sic)  through  which  the  interests  of  all  the 
Southern  Slavs  are  best  guaranteed,  takes  in  remaining  in  connexion 
with  the  Croato-Serh  Coalition. 

In  view  of  the  fact  that  latterly  events  have  taken  another  turn, 
on  the  one  hand  owing  to  the  clouding  over  of  Croato-Hungarian 
relations,  on  the  other  owing  to  the  still  unsettled  Hungarian  rela- 
tions to  Austria,  and  equally  in  view  of  the  whole  international 
situation,  which  offers  Servia  absolutely  no  guarantee  regarding  the 
national  tasks  of  its  pohcy ;  the  Servian  Government  takes  up  the 
attitude  that  it  would  certainly  be  best  if  the  parhamentary  parties 
in  Croatia  could  come  to  an  agreement  as  to  their  special  interests 
with  the  leading  persons  of  the  Hungarian  Parhament. 

The  Servian  Government  leaves  its  political  friends  in  Croatia  an 
entirely  free  hand,  but  it  cannot  suppress  the  fear  that  such  a  further 
development  of  events  might  lead  up  to  the  decisive  influence  of 
Stadler*^^  and  his  Viennese  aUies  upon  the  fate  of  Bosnia  and 
Herzegovina. 

But  the  whole  complex  of  these  questions  is  so  comprehensive 
that,  in  order  to  draw  the  necessary  consequences,  it  seems  absolutely 
essential  to  clear  up  all  this  by  means  of  a  personal  conversation. 

An  opportunity  is  offered  for  this  during  the  time  which  the 
Servian  Premier  is  to  spend  on  the  Hungarian  Riviera  from  July  2 
of  this  year  for  several  weeks. 

*^'  The  ultra-Clerical  Archbishop  of  Sarajevo. 
400 


THE   FORGED   DESPATCH   OF  DR.   MILOVANOVIC 

On  ground  of  orders  received,  we  informed  Mr.  Pribicevi6  for 
further  use,  that  the  head  of  the  Servian  Government  has  fixed  upon 
Crkvenica  for  his  hohday,  as  recommended  by  Mr.  Supilo  ;  where 
he  will  await  his  political  friends  with  a  view  to  closer  agreement. 

While  submitting  this  report  upon  the  mission  entrusted  to  us, 
with  the  request  that  on  the  above  grounds  the  payment  of  12,000 
dinars  may  be  made  to  the  credit  of  No.  190  of  point  xxxviii.  B  of 
Chapter  V  of  the  Budget,  we  remain  most  obediently, 

Dr.  Miroslav  Spalajkovic. 
Bozovid. 


APPENDIX   XV 

THE  FORGED  INSTRUCTIONS  OF  DR.  MILOVANOVIC  ^^^ 

Royal  Servian  Ministry  of  Foreign  Affairs. 
Political  Department,  P.  No.  5,703. 

Belgrad,  April  4  (17),  1909. 
To  the  Royal  Servian  Minister  Extraordinary  and  Plenipotentiary 

in  Vienna. 
SiR,*89 

At  yesterday's  meeting  of  the  Cabinet  Council  held  under  the 
presidency  of  His  Majesty,  on  the  written  wish  of  the  Skupstina 
the  resolution,  approved  by  the  Cro  vn  also,  was  adopted,  that 
the  continuance  of  the  business  of  State  should  be  left  in  the  hands 
of  the  present  Coalition  Cabinet,  until  certain  legisla:tive  work  is 
completed,  such  as  shall  serve  for  the  reorganization  of  the  State 
administration,  the  fitting  combination  of  constitutional  principles 
and  the  organization  of  the  army,  which  in  its  present  form  does 
not  give  complete  expression  to  the  strength  of  the  nation,  and 
therefore  forms  the  obstacle  for  the  foreign  policy  of  every  govern- 
ment which  sees  in  a  vigorous  foreign  policy  of  Servia  the  sole  guar- 
antee for  the  future  of  the  Servian  people.  In  taking  over  the  con- 
duct of  the  Servian  State  for  a  further  period  with  a  programme  of 
this  kind,  the  Cabinet  Council  in  this  meeting  turned  to  the  general 
consideration  of  those  principles  according  to  which  Servia's  policy 
is  to  be  conducted  in  relation  to  the  neighbouring  Austro-Hungarian 
Monarchy,  to  which  you  are  accredited.  In  order  that  you  may 
be  in  a  position  to  adjust  your  action  strictly  to  the  policy  adopted 
by  the  Royal  Government,  I  shall  in  the  following  mention  all  that 
you  require  for  your  knowledge  and  guidance. 

An  important  point  in  our  foreign  relations  is  the  hearty  agree- 
ment of  the  Servian  Government  with  the  Cabinet  of  St.  James,  which 

"^  (See  pp.  28-35,  of  Dr.  FriedrichFunder's.(4A/eMs/McAe  zur  grossserbischen 
Propaganda  in  O ester reich-Ungarn.) 
***  Herr  Gcsandter. 
S.S.Q.  401  D  D 


APPENDIX   XV  '  '    

already  dates  back  to  two  Treaties  (Traktate)  from  the  years  1906  and 
1908,  which  are  known  to  you.  From  this  the  direction  of  our  future 
foreign  poHcy  receives  its  definition,  but  also  the  support  of  the 
Kingdom  of  Great  Britain  and  the  Cabinets  of  Petersburg  and 
Paris,  which  are  in  agreement  with  it.  This  support  at  present 
best  protects  our  State  and  national  interests  in  the  Balkans,  and 
assures  us  a  great  vital  guarantee  against  the  policy  of  the  Central 
European  bloc  with  its  economic  and  political  aggression  towards 
the  Slavonic  South. 

Through  this  support  economic  and  financial  aid  was  afforded  us, 
such  as  seems  to  us  beneficial  for  the  strengthening  and  further 
development  of  the  Servian  kingdom.  The  Royal  Government  is 
firmly  resolved  not  only  to  hold  out  in  this  policy,  but  in  it  to  await 
the  moment  at  which  Servia  will  be  able  with  the  best  prospects  of 
success,  to  proceed  to  the  reahzation  of  its  legitimate  interests  in 
the  Balkans  and  in  the  whole  Slavonic  South. 

The  Royal  Government  has  already  at  its  formation,  said  clearly 
enough  in  the  declaration  addressed  to  the  Skupstina,  that  Servia's 
policy  embraces  the  interests  of  the  whole  Serb  race.  This  axiom 
rules  out  all  possibiUty  of  any  political  combination  with  Vienna, 
which  would  restrict  this  our  purpose. 

The  Royal  Government  is  resolved  to  give  a  definite  form  to  this 
axiom  for  a  longer  period  of  time,  as  soon  as  conditions  in  the  kingdom 
have  definitely  calmed  down  and  the  political  conditions  in  Peters- 
burg show  a  favourable  terrain  for  such  action.  In  this  connexion 
the  Cabinet  of  St.  James  has  assumed  the  role  of  initiator,  to  whom 
we  have  completely  subordinated  ourselves.  The  knowledge  of 
these  connexonis  and  actions  of  ours  will  render  easy  your  relations 
and  possibly  combined  action  with  the  ambassadors  of  the  friendly 
Powers  in  Vienna.  In  proportion  as  these  connexions  assume  a 
concrete  form  or  provisional  business  measures,  the  Ministry  will 
not  fail  to  have  further  information  sent  to  you  in  its  instructions. 

Hence  the  Royal  Government  wishes  purely  business  relations 
with  Vienna,  scrupulously  correct,  attentive,  even  friendly,  but 
without  political  engagements  of  any  kind.  As  little  diplomatic 
activity  as  possible,  as  little  cause  as  possible  for  diplomatic  steps — 
that  would  best  correspond  to  the  intentions  of  the  Royal  Govern- 
ment, so  that  it  may  not  be  exposed  to  the  necessity  of  unmasking 
by  its  denials  or  unfavourable  answers  the  main  direction  of  our, 
poHcy. 

In  accordance  with  this  standpoint  of  principle,  the  Royal  Govern- 
ment will  endeavour  by  no  steps  on  its  part  to  regulate  by  a  fresl 
contract  its  disturbed  commercial  relations  with  Austria-Hungary^ 
so  long  as  conditions  in  the  neighbouring  Monarchy  do  not  undergc 
change,  so  that  Servia  might  be  offered  such  a  basis  for  a  commercial 
treaty,  as  offers  {sic)  distinct  advantages  to  Servia's  economic  anc 
financial  interests.     The  Royal  Government  finds  for  this  its  decisioi^ 

402 


THE   FORGED   DESPATCH   OF  DR.   MILOVANOViC 

— even  though  it  demands  certain  sacrifices  from  the  State  and  the 
nation — a  further  excuse  in  the  fact  that  in  this  way — so  far  as  Servia 
is  concerned — a  barrier  is  erected  at  least  against  the  economic  advance 
of  Austria-Hungary  in  the  Balkans.  This  ground  too  dictated  the 
termination  of  all  conventions  which  Servaa  possessed  with  Austria- 
Hungary.  And  in  so  far  as  we  shall  gain  time  until  the  develop- 
ment of  conditions,  of  affairs  and  of  relations  {sic)  shall  lead  anew 
to  treaty  obligations  to  the  neighbouring  Monarchy,  we  are  in  the 
position,  on  the  one  hand  to  decline  the  proposals  for  railway  con- 
nexions through  Austro- Hungarian  territories,  and  on  the  other  hand, 
to  engage  the  friendly  Powers  more  actively  in  favour  of  those  rail- 
way projects,  which  would  lead  us  to  the  sea  while  avoiding  Austria- 
Hungary,  whereby  we  should  not  only  realize  the  guarantees  for 
our  economic  independence,  but  also  should  materially  further  the 
interests  of  those  Powers,  whose  interests  {sic)  ^^°  are  directly  opposed 
to  the  advance  of  Austria-Hungary  in  the  Balkans. 

After  all  that  has  been  adduced  here,  you  will  without  diffi- 
culty be  able  to  regulate  the  activity  of  the  Legation  under  you,  and 
of  the  Servian  consulates  assigned  to  you,  which  we  shall  place  under 
your  immediate  control,  under  new  instructions  which  are  at  present 
being  drawn  up. 

Fundamental  reverse  in  all  undertaken  by  the  Viennese  Govern- 
ment, and  furtherance  of  those  tendencies  and  incitement  of  those 
social  and  poHtical  factors  in  the  Monarchy  which  completely  sub- 
ordinate to  their  particularist  and  entirely  one-sided  interests  the 
question  of  the  contractual  relations  of  the  Monarchy  with  Servia — 
this  should  form  the  best  guide  to  your  activity. 

The  axiom  that  we  demand  nothing  from  Austria-Hungary, 
must  be  upheld,  since  this  forms  an  obligation  which  we  have  taken 
over  by  the  policy  which  will  only  appear  justified  by  the  ripeness 
of  the  results  which  are  to  be  prepared  in  the  course  of  time — this  is 
being  steadily  worked^at — and  which  obhgation  we  have  unreservedly 
fulfilled  up  to  the  last  consequence.^^^  The  Legation  under  you 
has  in  this  poHcy  an  eminently  important  task.  Any  error  might 
react  fatally  upon  the  final  aims. 

So  much  on  the  question  of  our  poHtical  and  commercial  relations 
to  the  Monarchy.  In  the  question  of  our  national  acti-vdty  in  the 
territory  of  the  Habsburg  Crown  lands,  the  Cabinet  has  laid  down  the 
following  lines  which  find  their  explanation  in  all  the  above. 

All  official  circles  of  the  Kingdom  of  Servia,  as  also  all  political 
collaborators  of  our  legations  and  consulates,  have  to  hold  aloof 
from  all  objective  and  personal  share  in  this  activity,  which  does 
not   however  exclude  the  obligation  to  record  conscientiously  in 

*'°  These  verbal  repetitions  and  obscure  and  clumsy  pljrases  are  carefully 
translated  from  the  German  "original." 

**^  How  could  any  serious  diplomat  have  taken  this  dreadful  jargon  for 
a  genuine  State  document  ? 

403 


APPENDIX   XV 

their  periodical  reports  all  that  might  contribute  to  a  knowledge  of 
those  events  and  conditions  which  might  be  made  at  all  useful  for 
Southern  Slav  interests.  The  Royal  Government  has  decided  to 
suppress  every  trace  of  relations  and  connexions  of  the  political 
department  of  the  Foreign  Ofhce  on  the  territory  of  the  Habsburg 
Crownlands,  and  for  this  purpose  to  break  off  all  direct  relations 
with  persons,  politicians  and  party  organizations  in  Austria-Hun- 
gary, including  those  in  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina,  in  such  a  way  that 
the  entire  correspondence  hitherto  conducted  shall  be  definitely 
suspended  and  that  even  private  letters  shall  in  future  not  be  treated 
in  any  official  form.'*^^ 

Consequently  all  subventions  and  payments  are  to  be  stopped 
from  the  15  (28)  inst.,  both  in  the  Foreign  Office  and  also  in  the 
Legation  under  you  and  in  consulates  which  we  maintain  on  the 
territory  of  the  Austro-Hungarian  Monarchy.  This  suspension 
is  to  be  carried  out  absolutely  and  without  regard  to  previously 
existing  engagements.  In  so  far,  however,  as  it  is  inevitable  to 
make  sacrifices  in  order  that  Servia  should  free  itself  honourably 
from  these  engagements,  the  Cabinet  has  authorized  25,000  crowns  *^^ 
from  the  credit  for  confidential  purposes  authorized  by  the  Skup- 
stina  ;  with  the  help  of  which  you  will  carry  out  this  liquidation 
in  accordance  with  the  documents  and  instructions  which  a  special 
courier  of  the  Ministry  will  bring  you,  and  observing  so  far  as  possible 
the  State  interests  and  finances  of  our  country.  From  the  extent 
of  this  credit  you  will  see  that  the  Royal  Government  is  very  anxious 
so  far  as  possible  to  allay  those  wounds  and  misfortune  which  have 
been  caused  or  may  still  be  caused  by  the  High  Treason  trial  in 
Agram. 

It  of  course  goes  without  saying  that  the  credit  assigned  to  your 
Legation  for  confidential  purposes  will  not  thereby  be  suspended, 
but  this  will  now  be  rounded  off  at  30,000  dinars.  The  Legation 
will  not  have  to  make  the  payments  for  military  news  out  of  this 
credit ;  since  for  them  the  necessary  sum  will  be  placed  by  the  War 
Office  at  the  disposal  of  the  military  representative  in  question. 
Since  in  all  probabiHty  it  will  soon  prove  possible  to  replace 
those  gentlemen  who  hitherto  did  this  work  without  being  accredited, 
by  an  officially  accredited  officer,  this  branch  of  our  relations  will 
then  receive  its  normal  correct  form. 

With  reference  to  the  fact  that  the  development  of  political  con- 
ditions in  Hungary  and  the  condition  of  constraint  (Zwangslage) 
in  which  the  disturbed  connexions  and  relations  with  the  Monarchy 

**2  This,  if  genuine,  could  only  have  one  meaning — that  the  Austro-Hun- 
garian Foreign  Office  is  in  the  habit  of  tampering  with  the  correspondence 
of  foreign  embassies.  That  such  a  phrase  should  have  passed  muster  at 
Vienna,  if  that  practice  does  not  exist,  is  obviously  incredible. 

*'^  The  Austrian  word  "crowns"  slips  out  instead  of  the  Servian  dinar  or 
franc. 

404 


THE  FORGED  DESPATCH   OF   DR.    MILOVANOViC 

place  us,  render  peremptory  our  unabated  influence  upon  the  press 
in  both  halves  of  the  Monarchy,  the  Ministry  has  placed  at  your  dis- 
posal, in  addition  to  the  credit  for  confidential  purposes,  4,000  dinars 
more,  which  you  will  receive  regularly  after  the  15th  inst.  in  four 
quarterly  instalments  paid  in  advance. 

The  Royal  Government  has  subordinated  Servia's  national 
propaganda  in  the  Slavonic  South  to  the  Pan  Slav  national  propa- 
ganda, which  with  our  eager  co-operation  is  being  organized  just 
at  present  in  brotherly  Russia,  and  whose  organization  will 
receive  its  definite  shape  before  July  15.  This  organization 
will  be  in  a  position  to  unfold  its  activity  with  dispropor- 
tionate strength,  and  to  protect  its  collaborators,  apart  from  the 
fact  that  it  will  control  far  more  important  means  than  the 
little  Servia  could  save  from  its  modest  income.  If  in  this 
activity  we  have  assured  to  Servia  a  far  reaching  influence  and  a 
stronger  share,  in  such  a  way  that  the  aims  of  the  Serb  race  as  a 
whole  will  be  powerfully  furthered  by  this  activity,  the  official 
Servia  will  not  always  require  to  enter  upon  any  direct  engagements 
such  as  might  lead  to  conflicts.  In  the  brother  Czech  Kingdom, 
a  new  focussing  point  is  projected,  far  more  powerful  than  that  which 
was  formed  in  Servia,  and  round  which  all  can  gather  who  wish  to 
or  have  to  seek  in  the  victory  of  the  Pan  Slav  idea  the  preservation 
of  their  national  individuahty.  May  then  the  means,  the  political 
solutions  and  actions,  come  from  henceforth  and  from  there,  behind 
which  will  stand  all  classes  of  society  in  Russia,  with  the  members 
of  the  Duma  at  their  head.^^*  The  more  active  all  Slavs  are,  wher- 
ever their  fate  may  chain  them,  the  more  will  our  organization  in 
Russia  promote  a  lively  committal  of  official  Russian  policy  in  the 
Slavonic  South,  where  we  lost  the  first  battle  merely  because  Slav 
solidarity  is  really  only  maintained  in  the  South,  This  organiza- 
tion, with  its  headquarters  in  Russia,  we  shall  do  all  we  can  to  chain 
to  all  those  interests  which  hitherto  we  alone  have  championed  ; 
this  organization  will  dispose  over  considerable  means,  both  for  the 
national  press  and  also  for  the  intellectual  fife  of  the  Southern  Slavs, 
which  if  prosperous  and  flourishing  forms  the  strongest  barrier 
against  the  plotting  designs  of  Austrian  ImperiaHsm.  To  Belgrad, 
as  intellectual  centre  of  the  Slavonic  South,  important  sums  of  money 
are  assured,  in  order  to  combat  by  this  influence  all  separatist  or 
foreign  aspirations  and  actions,  such  as  might  estrange  the  official 
Agram,  Ragusa,  Neusatz  or  Sarajevo  from  intellectual  community 
with  Servia. 

With  these  means  we  shall  proceed  to  the  strengthening  and 
organization  of  the  liveliest  activity  of  all  our  cultural  and  social 
institutions  and  organizations,  which  may  be  capable  of  binding 
the  broad  masses  of  the  people  in  all  Serb  territories  to  itself.*^^ 

*'*  This  sentence  is  more  than  usually  clumsy  and  ungrammatical. 

*''  Here  again  the  construction  and  the  style  are  not  mine,  but  the  forger's. 

405 


APPENDIX  XVI 

In  this  domain  our  action  will,  even  if  visible,  be  unexceptionable. 
In  so  far,  however,  as  side  by  side  with  it  -political  revolutionary  pro- 
paganda should  seem  necessary,  it  should  henceforth  be  managed 
from  Petersburg  or  from  golden  Prague.  We  also  wish  to  further 
this  activity  through  the  relations  which  the  Servian  General  Staff 
will  in  future  make  it  its  business  to  maintain. 

The  sketch  of  our  plans  drafted  above  will  give  you  a  sufficiently 
clear  picture  of  all  you  require  to  know  in  order,  when  opportunity 
offers,  to  convince  most  emphatically,  whether  directly  or  indirectly, 
every  such  friend  of  Servia,  the  Serb  race  and  Slavdom  as  a  whole, 
as  seems  worthy  of  our  confidence,  that  the  Government  of  the  King- 
dom of  Servia,  under  the  irresistible  pressure  of  power  has  received 
Austro-Hungarian  dictations  (?)  (and  ?)  is  more  than  ever  resolved 
not  to  leave  one  inch  of  Servian  national  territory  which  is  in  the 
forcible  possession  of  the  Habsburg  Crown,  under  the  latter's 
permanent  sway. 

In  accordance  with  this  action  our  Legation  has  a  further  field  of 
action,  but  one  which  is  in  the  highest  degree  delicate.  While 
recommending  this  activity  to  your  care,  I  take  this  opportunity  of 
assuring  Your  Excellency  of  my  high  consideration. 

The  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs, 

Dr.  M.  G,  MiLOVANOvid. 


APPENDIX   XVI 
THE  CONDITION  OF  DALMATIA 

In  alien  Wipfeln  spiirest  du 

Kaum  einen  Hauch.  .  .  . 
Warte  nur.     Balde.  .  .  . 

Goethe. 

It  was  my  original  intention  to  include  in  this  volume  a  separate 
account  of  the  political  situation  in  Dalmatia,  instead  of  treating 
it  in  close  relation  with  Croatia.  But  I  have  decided  to  leave  this 
task  to  a  more  eloquent  and  competent  spokesman  than  myself. 
The  following  speech  was  delivered  in  the  Austrian  Parliament  on 
December  3, 1910.^^^  The  speaker,  Dr.  Joseph  Smodlaka,  the  founder 
of  the  Croat  Democratic  Party  in  Dalmatia,  and  member  of  Parlia- 
ment for  Spalato,  is  one  of  the  ablest  and  most  attractive  Southern 
Slav  politicians,  and  what  is  still  better,  "  a  modern  of  the  moderns  " 
in  the  midst  of  medieval  conditions. 

The  well-known  Austrian  novelist,  Hermann  Bahr,  in  his  Dalma- 
finische  Reise  (pp.  109-117),  gives  an  admirable  character  sketch  of 
Dr.  Smodlaka.     He  tells  us  how  he  had  learnt  of  Dr.  Smodlaka  as 

*•'  Translated  from  the  Stenographische  Protokolle  of  that  date. 

406 


THE  CONDITION   OF  DALMATIA 

"the  general  pride  of  Daknatia,  the  new  St.  Blaise^^'  of  the  Dahnatian 
youth,"  and  how  he  expected  to  find  a  kind  of  miniature  Croat 
Gambetta.  "  And  here  in  front  of  me  sits  a  kind  of  Roosevelt,  a 
lover  of  fresh  air,  an  engineer,  showing  in  his  ideas  strong  traces  of 
the  peasant,  one  who  wastes  no  words,  but  sets  his  hand  to  the  work, 
one  who  does  not  dream  but  calculate,  who  cares  less  for  phrases 
than  for  real  needs,  who  listens  to  no  programme  save  distress,  a 
road-builder  who  begins  before  his  own  front  door,  one  who  is  bent 
on  cutting  down  and  letting  in  hght  and  air." 

Dr.  Smodlaka  is  no  lover  of  panegyrics,  and  I  must  apologize  to 
him  for  thus  revealing  him  to  the  reader.  I  value  Dr.  Smodlaka's 
friendship  too  highly  to  add  words  of  my  own,  such  as  would  be 
superfluous  to  all  who  know  him. 

"  Vox  damantis  in  deserto,  I  am  tempted  to  exclaim,  as  I  look  upon 
the  empty  benches.  If  it  were  a  question  of  my  private  affairs,  I 
would  naturally  withdraw ;  but  as  my  duty  as  a  patriot,  and  the 
defence  of  my  country  are  at  stake,  I  must  remain  and  speak,  .  .  . 

I  may  say  at  once  that  I  shall  vote  against  the  Budget,  not  from 
tactical  reasons,  but  on  purely  practical  grounds,  irrespective  of  the 
Government  which  may  chance  to  be  in  power.  For  just  as  I  feel 
bound  now  to  vote  against  this  Budget  of  the  Bienerth  Cabinet,  so 
I  would  have  to  do  the  same,  as  representative  of  Dalmatia,  if  a 
similar  budget  were  introduced  by  Bienerth's  bitterest  enemy. 

My  reason  ...  is  the  neglect  of  Dalmatia,  on  the  part  of  all 
Austrian  Governments,  including  the  present,  the  way  in  which^my 
native  land's  most  vital  needs  are  ignored.  .  .  .  The  crumbs 
thrown  to  Dalmatia  are  stiU  scantier  in  this  Budget.  But  even 
were  they  larger,  and  even  if  Dalmatia  received  richer  alms  I  should 
still  have  to  vote  against  the  Budget  :  for  in  Dalmatia's  present 
serious  condition  neither  crumbs  nor  alms  can  help.  Besides,  I 
am  firmly  convinced,  and  with  me,  I  believe  all  Dalmatia,  that  the 
policy  of  Crumbs  cannot  help  us  materially,  while  it  kills  us  morally. 

Since  the  desperate  condition  of  Dalmatia  forces  me  to  treat  this 
important  matter  of  State  from  the  standpoint  of  Dalmatian  interests, 
I  can  hardly  expect  to  succeed  in  arousing  general  interest  in  this 
cause.  .  .  .  One  request  only  I  make  :  let  me  not  be  reproached  with 
a  narrow  local  patriotism  or  '  Campanilism.'  ^^^  Let  it  not  be  said 
that  we  Dalmatians  are  petty  egotists,  without  comprehension  for 
the  general  well-being.  Apart  from  the  fact  that  exceptional  con- 
ditions prevail  in  our  country,  unlike  those  in  any  Austrian  Crown 
land,*^^  Dalmatia  occupies,  thanks  to  its  geograpliical,  pohtical 
and  strategic  position  an  exceptional  place  in  the  State,  so  that  we 
can  fairly  say  that  the  Dalmatian  question  is  not  local  but  Imperial, 
and  should  be  so  regarded  both  by  Government  and  Parhament. 

"^  The  patron  saint  of  the  Republic  of  Ragusa. 

*'*  The  Campanile  or  Church  tower  is  the  Southern  equivalent  of  our 
"  village  pump." 

*"  Dalmatia  is  only  one  of  seventeen  Austrian  provinces  or  Kronlandcr. 

407 


APPENDIX   XVI 

To  return  to  the  Budget,  which  this  year  is  far  more  unfavourable 
and  meagre  for  Dalmatia  than  last  year's.  .  .  .  Let  me  quote  a 
few  figures  and  add  comments  upon  them. 

While  the  total  State  expenditure  shows  an  increase  of  over 
37,000,000  (=  £1,155,000),  Dalmatia  not  only  receives  no  increase 
of  contribution  in  favour  of  its  cultural  and  economic  progress,  but 
on  the  contrary  the  balance  is  restored  to  the  Budget  largely  at  the 
expense  of  my  poor  and  neglected  country.  In  order  to  cover  the 
increased  demands  for  police,  gendarmerie,  reorganization,  etc., 
almost  all  the  items  from  which  Dalmatia  might  have  gained  some- 
thing have  been  cut  down.  For  instance,  for  harbour  works  we  are 
to  get  728,000  crowns  instead  of  856,000  in  1910,  or  127,900  less.  .  . . 
For  the  encouragement  of  fishery  we  get  barely  a  third  of  last  year's 
sum,  only  25,000  instead  of  82,000  crowns.  For  lighthouses  and 
signalling  stations  only  a  quarter,  or  75,000  instead  of  300,000  crowns. 
For  roads  Dalmatia  gets  a  clear  £4,000  less  than  last  year.  In  short, 
not  to  be  wearisome,  almost  all  expenses  in  favour  of  Dalmatia  have 
been  cut  down,  even  the  sum  for  agricultural  improvements,  for 
combating  phylloxera,  for  nautical  education — and  that  in  a  budget 
which  shows  an  increased  grant  for  all  other  schools  in  the  country, 
and  in  a  state  which  aims  at  seapower,  at  least  on  a  small  scale. 

I  may  be  told  that  other  provinces  are  also  cut  down,  under  Mr. 
Bilinski's  proposals. ^°°  But  I  answer  :  no  other  province  is  in  such  a 
condition  as  Dalmatia.  The  others  lack  many  things,  we  lack  every 
thing  .  .  .  indeed,  all  the  conditions  of  life.  Have  you  noticed,  gentle- 
men, that  at  the  debate  on  the  increased  cost  of  living,  four  out  of 
the  five  Dalmatian  deputies  present  voted  for  the  unlimited  import 
of  Argentine  meat  ?  And  do  you  know  what  it  means  when  the 
representatives  of  a  peasantry  vote  on  this  question  with  the  Social 
Democrats  and  the  town  representatives  ?  (Deputy  .Gostincar  : 
In  Carniola  we  have  not  even  enough  potatoes,  far  less  meat !) 
Potatoes  are  in  Dalmatia  a  luxury,  they  are  only  eaten  by  the  better 
classes.  I  invite  you  to  come  to  Spalato,  and  you  will  be  able  to 
convince  yourself  that  we  have  no  meat,  no  potatoes  and  no  bread. 
If  the  question  of  the  free  importation  of  corn  should  be  raised  in  the 
House,  you  will  find  that  all  Dalmatian  deputies  will  vote  in  favour 
of  it,  and  yet  Dalmatia  is  ahnost  exclusively  inhabited  by  peasants 
and  has  no  industry.  But  we  not  only  have  no  bread,  but  no 
drinking  water  ;  out  of  600  Dalmatian  villages  more  than  half  have 
none.     The  people  drink  what  you  might  call  mud. 

But  we  also  have  no  wood.  If  our  peasants  are  not  to  die  of  cold, 
they  have  to  steal  wood  in  the  woods  of  their  own  commune,  and 
the  townspeople,  not  only  workmen  but  officials  .  .  .  have  to  shiver 
with  cold  in  winter,  for  with  us  a  stove  is  a  luxury. 

But  we  not  only  have  no  wood,  no  water  and  no  bread,  we  also 
have  no  land  for  agriculture.     The  whole  surface  of  productive  land 
^o"  The  Austrian  Finance  Minister  in  the  late  Bienerth  Cabinet. 

408 


THE  CONDITION   OF  DALMATIA 

is  flooded — the  plains  of  the  Narenta,  of  Vrgorac,  Sinj,  Imotski, 
the  so-called  poljes.  .  .  .  We  could  even  export  corn,  but  our  only 
fertile  land  lies  under  water. 

We  have  no  roads,  no  communications.  The  health  of  the  popu- 
lation is  being  ruined.  While  the  Dalmatians  under  French  rule 
a  century  ago  were  a  remarkably  healthy  and  powerful  race  of  men, 
the  population  is  to-day  decaying — especially  in  the  north,  where 
there  is  malaria — and  is  dying  out. 

We  also  have  no  education.  Over  300  Dalmatian  villages  have 
no  school  at  all ;  in  half  the  country  the  number  of  iUiterates  is 
not  50  or  60,  not  80  or  90  per  cent.,  but  99  and  100  per  cent. 

I  have  the  honour  to  represent  the  central  district  of  Dalmatia, 
relatively  the  richest  and  most  progressive  of  all ;  and  in  my  con- 
stituency, gentlemen,  there  are  forty-eight  villages,  of  which  twenty- 
eight  have  no  school  and  no  teacher,  and  only  twenty  a  school  with 
one  class,  and  two  or  three  a  school  with  two  classes.  If  that  is 
the  case  in  what  is  called  the  richest  and  most  progressive  district, 
you  can  imagine  what  it  is  hke  on  the  edge  of  the  mountains,  on  the 
Bosnian  frontier. 

We  also  have  other  speciahties  such  as  the  system  of  Coloni  or 
Kmets,  according  to  which  the  peasant,  without  getting  anything 
from  the  owner  of  the  land,  has  to  see  to  all  improvements  and  ex- 
penses and  yet  to  pay  the  proprietor  half  or  a  third  of  his  annual 
income.  How  can  these  people  Uve  anything  but  a  wretched  exist- 
ence under  such  circumstances  ?  The  year  1848  freed  the  peasants 
of  Austria,  but  the  Austrian  Government  of  that  day  forgot  that 
Dalmatia  also  belongs  to  Austria.  With  us  medieval  conditions 
have  survived  to  the  present  day.  .  .  . 

Besides  aU  this  there  is  the  isolation  of  Dalmatia,  which  is  not 
natural,  since  it  is  not  an  island,  but  part  of  the  Continent  of  Europe, 
belonging  to  a  Great  Power.  And  yet  we  have  been  artificially  made 
into  an  island.  Not  only  Dalmatia,  but  also  the  neighbouring  dis- 
tricts of  South  Croatia  and  West  Bosnia  have  no  railway  connexion 
with  the  Monarchy  or  with  the  rest  of  Europe. 

It  is  not  a  question  of  a  tiny  piece  of  land,  but  of  territories  larger 
than  the  kingdom  of  Wiirttemberg,  with  more  inhabitants  than 
Istria,  Carniola  and  South  Styria.  And  the  communications  in  this 
forgotten  land  are  such,  that  if,  for  instance,  we  want  to  go  from 
Spalato  to  Banjaluka,  which  could  be  reached  in  a  quick  train  in 
three  or  four  hours,  we  require  forty-four  hours,  and  can  get  quicker 
to  St.  Petersburg  than  to  the  immediate  Hinterland  on  which  our 
poor  country  depends  for  nourishment.  It  is  just  as  if  we  were  to  go 
from  Trieste  to  Laibach  and  were  obhged  to  go  first  by  steamer  to 
Ancona,  in  order  to  reach  Laibach  via  Bologna,  Padua  and  Tarvis.^"^ 
Just  look  at  the  map,  and  you  will  see  that  this  is  so. 

^"1  As  if  in  order  to  get  from  Newcastle  to  Hull,  it  were  necessary  to  take  a 
steamer  to  Leith,  and  then  go  via  Glasgow,  Carlisle,  Crewe,  Rugby  across 
to  Hull,  but  taking  twice  as  long  as  such  a  journey  would  actually  take. 

409 


APPENDIX  XVI 

Under  such  circumstances,  I  ask,  is  it  just,  is  it  human,  to  save 
in  the  way  in  which  this  Budget  saves  ?  Was  this  to  be  expected 
from  the  Government  which  recognized  that  Austria  has  great  duties 
towards  Dalmatia,  and  that  as  it  has  been  neglected  by  the  State  for 
a  whole  century,  something  must  be  done  to  help  it  ?  Will  it  be 
helped  by  reducing  still  further  the  crumbs  and  alms  which  it 
receives  ?  In  the  programme  of  this  Government  and  of  the  last, 
is  included  the  Reconquest  of  Dalmatia.  I  must  remind  the  House 
that  one  cannot  speak  of  a  reconquest,  since  Dalmatia  was  never 
conquered  by  Austria.  After  the  collapse  of  the  Venetian  RepubHc 
our  fathers  voluntarily  recognized  the  Emperor  Francis  I  as  their 
sovereign,  and  invited  him  to  send  his  officials  and  his  soldiers.  We 
were  not  conquered,  then.  But  even  if  one  talks  of  a  reconquest 
in  a  good  sense,  everything  remains  merely  in  words  ;  in  practice 
programmes  and  promises  are  laid  aside.  .  .  .  What  does  the 
State  or  Government  do  to  help  the  country  ?  .  .  .  I  must  admit 
that  of  late  years  there  has  been  a  lively  interest  for  Dalmatia,  and 
ways  of  helping  it  have  been  sought,  but  the  right  way  is  still  not 
found.  Committees  sit  for  months  and  years,  but  there  is  no  result. 
They  make  excursions  to  Dalmatia  at  Easter,  and  the  best  season 
of  the  year.  New  bureaucratic  posts  are  created,  and  a  few  new 
sinecures,  but  Dalmatia  gains  nothing.  I  will  not  deny  that  money 
has  been  spent  on  the  country  in  recent  years.  It  has,  but  how  ! 
The  agricultural  school  at  Spalato  may  serve  as  an  example  :  it 
has  cost  the  State  400,000  crowns,  but  it  has  no  land  for  agricultural 
instruction  and  only  twenty  pupils.  Instead  of  building  it  in  an 
agricultural  district  like  Sinj  or  Knin,  it  is  built  in  a  town.  .  .  . 

In  years  of  distress  the  Government  buys  hay  and  sells  it  to  poor 
people,  but  not  to  the  poor  peasantry,  but  to  the  poor  money- 
lenders, who  buy  at  8  heller,  in  order  to  sell  to  the  peasants  at  16.  .  .  . 

We  have  agricultural  teachers,  who,  to  put  it  mildly,  act  as  clerks 
in  the  Prefectures ;  we  have  eight  secondary  schools,  but  in  over 
300  villages  not  a  single  elementary  school.  Every  year  200  to  400 
more  youths  from  Gymnasia  and  Realschulen,  and  100  per  cent,  of 
illiterates  in  hundreds  of  villages.  Are  those  not  unhealthy  con- 
ditions ?  In  the  httle  town  of  Zara,  with  hardly  18,000  inhabit- 
ants, two  upper  Gymnasia  and  one  Upper  Reahchule — two  Italian 
and  one  Croat ;  and  in  all  Dalmatia,  only  two  industrial  schools, 
and  a  single  lower  commercial  school.  .  .  . 

Not  merely  is  the  Diet  refused  the  means  for  improving  the  coun- 
try, but  the  system  is  also  bad.  There  is  no  plan,  no  organization, 
the  needs  of  the  country  are  not  put  first  or  are  not  understood. 

Here  is  a  classical  example.  In  Spalato  a  private  company  has 
been  founded,  to  build  an  electric  tramway  line  from  Spalato  to  the 
little  town  of  Trau.  The  Government  also  wants  to  build  a  useless 
railway  from  Kastel-Sucurac  to  Trau,  which  will  cost  2,000,000 
crowns.    The  two  towns  hold  together  economically  as  mutatis 

410 


II 


THE   CONDITION   OF  DALMATIA 

mutandis  Vienna  and  Klosterneuburg.^"^  _  _  _  j^ig  private  company 
applied  to  the  Government  for  the  concession.  The  railway  would, 
it  said,  only  run  twice  a  day  at  the  most,  and  this  is  no  use  for  the 
people,  who  want  a  proper  service.  .  .  .  Besides,  the  railway  does 
not  run  along  the  shore,  where  the  villages  are,  but  high  up  on  the 
side  of  the  hill.  .  .  .  What  happened  in  Vienna  ?  The  company 
(who  do  not  belong  to  my  party,  but  are  business  men  in  the  town) 
were  told  they  would  not  get  the  concession  even  for  prospecting  ! 
In  astonishment  they  asked  why,  and  were  told, '  because  it  would 
compete  with  the  future  State  railway '  ! 

At  this  rate,  gentlemen,  all  the  trams  running  from  Vienna  to 
the  suburbs  would  have  to  be  done  away  with,  because  they  all 
compete  with  the  State  railways.  .  .  .  The  real  reason  is,  if  we 
get  the  tram  connexion  the  railway  is  superfluous  ;  therefore,  they 
won't  grant  the  concession,  because  they  want  to  build  the  railway. 
It  is  not  a  question  of  State  money  ;  we  have  the  money,  the  com- 
mune would  join  the  company,  and  the  small  local  banks  would  do 
so  too.  We  don't  ask  a  farthing  from  the  State,  only  the  concession, 
but  we  cannot  get  even  this.  .  .  . 

Near  Spalato  we  have  a  waterfall,  which  apart  from  Scandinavia, 
is  the  highest  in  Europe — over  loo  meters  high,  with  75,000  horse- 
power. Here  a  company  formed  mainly  of  Italian  capitalists  has 
built  water-works  and  invested  millions.  PVom  this  not  only  Spala- 
to but  the  whole  province  expects  a  great  future  ;  it  might  supply 
tramways,  aqueducts  and  so  on,  with  electricity.  What  happens  ? 
All  at  once  the  work  is  stopped.  Spalato,  my  native  town,  is  greatly 
embarrassed  ;  for  our  contract  with  the  Augsburg  Gas  Company 
runs  out  next  year,  and  we  don't  know  what  to  do.  From  these 
water-works  we  might  get  the  necessary  power  for  hghting  the  town, 
but  the  work  is  suspended  for  months.  .  .  .  Why  ?  Once  more 
there  are  reasons  of  high  politics.  The  capitalists  are  Italians.  I 
repeat,  we  do  not  mind  ;  we  are  not  in  love  with  Itahan  capital, 
we  would  certainly  prefer  our  own  capital  or  help  from  other  Crown- 
lands.  But  it  does  not  come,  and  the  help  of  foreign  capital  has 
come.   And  for  Dalmatia  a  question  of  life  and  death  is  at  stake.  .  .  . 

A  further  point  must  be  considered.  From  so  great  a  distance 
Dalmatia  cannot  be  governed  on  centralist  lines.  I  do  not  wish  to 
speak  from  a  constitutional  standpoint  or  to  break  a  lance  for  Feder- 
alism. I  merely  refer  to  the  administration  in  its  economic  aspect. 
...  I  can  understand  that  Linz  and  Upper  Austria  can  easily  be 
governed  from  Vienna  on  the  same  principles.  But  we  are  too  far 
off.  In  this  Empire  there  is  a  complete  difference  between  the  North 
and  this  little  province  which  has  not  even  a  geographical  connexion 
with  this  state — chmate,  people,  needs,  etc.  (Deputy  Dr.  Bartoli : 
'  Away  from  Vienna,  then  ?  ')    I  shall  not  draw  that  conclusion. 

^"2  Cf.  Southampton  and  Portsmouth. 
411 


APPENDIX  XVI 

...  I  do  not  say  '  Away  from  Vienna,'  but  I  am  of  opinion  that 
the  organization  and  plan  of  work  in  this  state  are  wrong,  and  that 
their  centre  must  be  not  in  Vienna  but  in  Dahnatia  itself.  I  do  not 
ask  that  the  State  should  give  us  money  and  that  we  Dalmatians 
should  manage  it  as  we  please.  No,  gentlemen,  unfortunately  we 
are  not  ripe  for  that.  Let  Dalmatia  still  be  administered  by  men 
from  Vienna.  Give  us  one  of  your  best,  a  capable,  modern,  energetic 
man,  and  he  need  not  be  a  Dalmatian,  we  shall  not  mind  if  he  is  a 
German  Austrian.  Give  us  what  the  great  Napoleon  gave  us,  a 
Dandolo,  who  in  five  years  did  more  for  the  country  than  Austria 
in  105  years.  I  repeat  .  .  .  without  regard  for  nationality  :  that 
is  a  matter  of  indifference.  ...  In  our  towns  during  the  Middle 
Ages,  the  head  of  the  town  might  never  be  a  native,  but  always 
had  to  be  a  stranger.  Gentlemen,  the  Government  which  seeks  to 
further  the  interests  of  the  State,  should  take  an  example  from  the 
English.  England  does  not  send  to  its  important  colonies  its  most 
incapable  men,  does  not  ask  whether  the  man  belongs  to  an  old 
aristocratic  family.  .  .  .  Have  you  an  Austrian  Cecil  Rhodes,  a 
Cromer,  a  Curzon  ?  If  you  have,  or  even  men  of  lesser  calibre, 
then  send  them  to  Dalmatia.  But  give  the  man  to  whom  you  en- 
trust the  fate  of  the  province  and  the  task  of  its  regeneration,  also 
the  power  to  effect  something  :  do  not  make  him  a  mere  marionette 
of  the  central  authorities,  who  has  not  even  £4  at  his  disposal  if  a 
village  is  burnt  down.  I  am  not  speaking  against  Vienna.  But 
do  you  know,  gentlemen,  the  methods  of  procedure  in  Vienna  ?  In 
1835  ^  small  road  was  planned  from  Alrnissa  eastwards,  and  after 
sixty-five  years  this  road  was  at  last  built.  If  one  wants  to  build  a 
church  or  a  harbour  in  some  tiny  village,  it  takes  twenty,  thirty, 
forty  years,  till  the  plans  come  back  from  Vienna,  and  one  is  at  last 
free  to  build.  ...  I  repeat,  the  only  way  to  help  Dalmatia,  is  to 
give  a  wider  sphere  of  action  to  the  Statthalter — call  him  Governor 
or  what  you  will — and  to  surround  him  with  practical  men  who 
know  the  life  of  the  people.  Let  the  Central  Government  appoint 
half  these  men,  and  the  Diet  the  other  half.  Some  of  them  need  not 
be  natives  ;  we  shall  be  glad  if  you  send  us  some  of  your  cap- 
able men.  ...  It  is  not  a  matter  of  federalism,  but  of  a  healthy 
decentralization,  which  not  only  Dalmatia  but  I  believe  all  the 
Crown  lands  want.  .  .  .  Just  make  the  experiment  with  us,  and 
if  it  succeeds,  all  the  others  will  be  grateful.  If  you  do  not  care  to 
learn  from  the  English,  let  us  look  into  the  past  .  .  .  give  us  Pro- 
consuls, propraetors,  like  those  of  the  ancient  Romans,  men  with 
initiative  who  were  petty  rulers.  To-day  no  one  can  be  jealous  of  the 
ancient  Romans. 

It  is  absolutely  necessary  to  fulfil  what  has  been  promised,  to  give 
out  of  State  money  the  sums  for  Dalmatia's  barest  needs.  It  may 
be  objected  that  it  might  help  itself,  that  something  could  be  done 
with  provincial  funds.  Gentlemen,  we  are  not  able  for  this.  ...  Give 

412 


THE  CONDITION   OF  DALMATIA 

us  land,  schools,  means  of  communication,  bring  us  out  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  and  then  we  shall  do  the  rest.  It  is  the  State's  duty  to  do  this 
much.  To-day — I  am  ashamed  to  admit  it,  but  it  is  the  sad  truth — 
Dalmatia  has  become  a  land  of  beggars,  through  no  fault  of  its  own. 
For  centuries  it  has  been  systematically  plundered  and  ruined,  both 
by  Turks  and  Venetians,  merely  to  prevent  the  Turks  from  reaching 
the  Adriatic  coast,  which  would  have  been  equivalent  to  the  conquest 
of  Italy  and  other  countries  too.  In  our  coast  towns  the  Venetian 
Republic  allowed  no  industry,  lest  it  should  compete  with  Venice  ; 
our  Hinterland  was  turned  to  a  desert,  lest  the  Turks  should  settle 
there.  Our  national  nobility  .  .  .  was  rooted  out  by  foreign  govern- 
ments. But  the  country  was  not  always  in  so  lamentable  a  condi- 
tion. I  need  only  remind  you  of  the  greatness  of  Roman  Illyria 
when  Salona  was  one  of  the  greatest  industrial  towns  of  the  Roman 
Empire,  when  the  country  was  intersected  by  trade  roads,  when 
Illyria  was  a  centre  of  culture  for  the  whole  Balkan  Peninsula.  I 
need  only  remind  you  of  the  little  republic  of  Ragusa,  and  of  the 
fact  that  this  country,  to-day  poor  and  abandoned,  gave  to  the 
Roman  Empire  its  wisest  organizer,  the  Emperor  Diocletian,  to  the 
Church  its  greatest  father,  St.  Jerome,  to  the  Southern  Slav  litera- 
ture its  first  poet,  Gundulic,  to  Italian  literature  the  best  master  of 
the  language,  Tomaseo.  .  .  .  Our  past,  our  contributions  to  general 
culture,  are  the  titles  on  the  basis  of  which  we  demand  of  a  Kultvr- 
staat,  that  it  should  do  its  duty  towards  us.  We  ask  it  too,  because 
Austrian  Governments  have  dealt  us  the  last  blow.  Our  fields  have 
decayed  in  recent  years,  our  cattle  industry  has  gone  back  compared 
to  the  French  period,  public  health  is  far  worse  than  then.  Our  little 
towns,  which  had  no  industry  but  at  least  a  lively  trade  \^ith 
Bosnia  and  Herzegovina,  are  to-day  ruined,  because  these  countries 
are  only  connected  by  railway  with  distant  Hungary,  and  thus 
the  main  arteries  of  our  towns  are  severed.  Remember  too  the 
wine  duty  on  the  commercial  treaty  with  Italy,  by  which  we  were 
sacrificed  to  the  interests  of  the  other  Crown  lands  and  lost 
millions. 

What  we  ask  of  the  state  to-day,  is  not  alms,  not  a  present, 
but  compensation  for  the  damage  which  this  state  has  done  us. 
Above  all,  we  demand  the  necessary  railway  connexion :  without 
which  we  cannot  live  or  develop  economically.  They  say,  Hungary 
does  not  allow  that.  But  if  Austria  only  chooses,  she  has  means  to 
compel  Hungary  to  agree  to  Daknatia's  railway  connexion.  Hun- 
gary is  surrounded  by  Austria,  has  no  other  way  to  West  and  North 
Europe  ;  and  there  lies  Austria's  strength  and  Hungary's  weak- 
ness, which  we  can  use  for  our  purposes,  which  are  not  provincial, 
but  state  aims.  But  we  see  that  the  state  has  not  the  serious  will  to 
help  us  in  this  way.  Formerly  our  good  people  thought  the  Magyars 
were  responsible  for  everything  ;  the  poor  Austrian  Government 
would  build  the  railways,  but  Hungary  will  not  allow  it.     To-day 

413 


APPENDIX  XVI 

no  one  is  so  naive  as  to  believe  that.  For  we  see  that  Austria  can 
carry  through  more  difficult  and  important  things  when  she  chooses, 
even  against  the  will  of  an  overwhelming  majority  in  the  Magyar 
Parliament.  If  that  is  not  done  in  Dalmatia's  favour,  we  must  draw 
the  logical  conclusion,  that  there  is  no  serious  intention,  but  merely 
sweet  words  and  fine  promises. 

They  say  :  '  After  all,  we  need  Hungary.'  But  we  Dalmatians 
ask  the  state,  '  Does  Austria  not  need  Dalmatia,  or  the  ten  million 
Serbo-Croats  ?  '  I  think  this  state  needs  Dalmatia,  that  without 
a  province  whose  coast  is  500  kilometres  long  and  dominates  the 
Adriatic  with  its  hundred  harbours,  it  cannot  maintain  its  present 
position.  Without  Dalmatia,  we  say,  you  have  no  sea  and  no 
sailors  ;  for  of  the  Austrian  sailors,  but  for  the  Croats  of  Istria 
and  Croatia,  two-thirds  are  Dalmatians,  who  serve  two  years  longer 
than  other  men,  and  even  in  future  will  have  to  serve  longer  than 
the  others,  because  in  Austria  there  are  not  many  such  smart  re- 
cruits. If  then  thousands  of  our  young  people  must  serve  two 
years  extra,  in  order  to  defend  the  coast  and  this  state's  highest 
interests,  it  is  only  just  that  the  state  should  give  something  as 
compensation.  .  .  . 

Gentlemen,  it  is  not  enough  to  be  able  to  exercise  material  brutal 
force  over  a  country.  A  state  must  endeavour  to  win  over  all 
peoples  and  provinces  in  its  territory  ;  is  it  possible  then,  that  the 
Dalmatian  population  should  be  grateful  and  devoted  to  this  Govern- 
ment, and  even  (I  say  it  quite  openly)  to  this  state,  when  we  are 
left  100  years  in  this  sad  condition  ?  There  is  no  Irredentism  in 
Dalmatia,  neither  on  Serbo-Croat  nor  on  Italian  side,  and  this  last 
you  will  surely  believe  from  me  as  a  Slav.  But  it  is  not  the  Servian 
nor  the  ItaUan  Governments  which  work  against  the  interests  of 
this  state  but  .  .  .  the  Austrian  Government,  which  by  neglecting 
the  country  directly  produces  discontent  against  it.  Our  peasants 
emigrate  to  America,  to  Australia,  to  New  Zealand,  to  Canada, 
and  some  return,  after  seeing  in  the  great  world  how  one  lives  in 
modern  states.  It  is  these  people  who  create,  and  inevitably  create, 
a  permanent  discontent  with  present  conditions.  What  can  be 
the  feelings  of  these  thousands  who,  in  order  not  to  starve,  have 
had  to  leave  homes  and  famihes,  and  seek  their  living  abroad.  . 

This  discontent  cannot  be  cured  by  '  Flogging  Patents,'  ^"^  nor 
by  review  articles, ^*^^  least  of  all  by  High  Treason  trials  (applause), 
but  the  state  must  at  last  do  its  duty  in  matters  of  culture  and  in 
its  own  interests  remove  discontent.  Millions  will  now  be  expended 
on  Dreadnoughts,  but  it  might  perhaps  be  better  for  the  defence, 
of  the  state  to  expend  these  millions,  I  will  not  say  on  Dalmatia, 

^"^  A  phrase  invented  to  describe  the  Imperial  Patent  which  inaugurated  the  ■ 
absolutist  Bach  regime  (i  850-1 859). 

s"*  Probably  a  reference  to  the  Oesterreichische  Rundschau' s  fierce  attacks  upon 
Dalmatia. 

414 


THE  CONDITION   OF  DALMATIA 

but  on  the  future  sailors  of  these  Dreadnoughts.  It  is  certainly 
more  useful  to  the  state,  to  satisfy  the  country  and  to  give  it  means 
of  existence,  than,  as  still  happens,  to  disburse  money  from  various 
secret  sources  for  mihtary  spies,  who  watch  for  years  for  the  alleged 
smuggle  of  weapons  from  Italy,  merely  to  elicit  the  fact  that  no 
weapons  are  imported,  but  that  there  is  a  lively  export  trade  in 
human  flesh,  Dalmatia's  sole  article  of  export  to-day.  .  .  .  Dal- 
matia  is  getting  depopulated.  Quite  close  to  its  chief  town  Spalato 
lies  the  island  of  Brazza,  Austria's  largest  island.  On  it  the  fields 
are  already  lying  fallow,  a  large  section  of  the  population  is  already 
missing.  ...  In  the  interests  of  the  state  it  is  regrettable  that 
this  population,  so  smart,  so  honest,  so  hard-working  and  saving, 
cannot  live  at  home,  but  has  to  emigrate  and  help  other  states,  as, 
for  instance,  in  the  case  of  Punta  Arena,  the  southernmost  town  in 
the  world,  where  the  inhabitants  of  Brazza  form  a  relative  majority 
of  the  population  and  are  the  smartest  workmen,  as  has  been  re- 
peatedly admitted  by  the  Chilian  Government.  It  is  a  pity  that 
the  state  does  nothing  to  check  this  misery.  We  cannot  be  satis- 
fied at  the  state  regulating  two  or  three  torrents  a  year,  if  hundreds 
of  other  torrents  do  a  hundred  times  greater  damage.  .  .  .  One 
cannot  wait  one  or  two  centuries  until  the  300  or  400  villages  which 
have  no  schools  get  one  new  school  a  year.  .  .  ,  We  hear  recently 
of  sympathy  felt  in  various  quarters  for  Dalmatia.  We  are  thank- 
ful for  the  sympathy  extended  to  us  by  Government  organs  and  by 
members  of  this  House  ;  but  we  cannot  live  on  sympathy  alone. 
Besides,  these  are  dangerous  sympathies.  Dalmatia  is  regarded  as 
something  exotic,  it  is  only  regarded  from  the  standpoint  of  archae- 
ology and  tourist  traffic.  We  have  no  wish  to  play  the  part  of  an 
archaeological  cemetery  or  an  "  Indian  reservation  "  with  the  authen- 
tic Dalmatian  Red  Indians  in  their  gay  costume.  No,  gentlemen, 
we  want  to  be  able  to  live  and  work,  to  earn  our  Uving  honestly  by 
agriculture,  trade  and  industry  and  thus  serve  the  interests  of  the 
state  as  a  whole.  The  necessary  conditions  are  there  ;  for  if  the 
torrents  are  regulated  and  the  swamps  drained,  we  could  not  only 
have  enough  corn  and  bread  for  our  own  use,  but  could  even  export 
it.  We  have  a  splendid  situation  on  the  sea,  with  so  many  hundred 
harbours,  only  five  or  six  hours  by  steamer  from  Italy  ;  a  rich  Hinter- 
land— Bosnia,  Herzegovina,  Servia  ;  admirable  trade  conditions  ; 
the  biggest  and  strongest  water  power  in  Europe,  so  that  industry 
might  be  promoted  as  nowhere  else.  Just  consider  all  these  branches 
of  economic  life,  the  rich  supplies  of  minerals,  the  sea  with  its  fisher- 
ies, and  you  might  say,  that  could  be  the  richest  land  in  Europe. 
And  this  might  be  attained  at  a  relatively  small  expense,  by  invest- 
ments which  would  bear  a  hundredfold  to  the  state. 

Gentlemen,  in  fulfilment  of  my  duty,  I  have  endeavoured  to 
show  the  Government  the  means  of  helping  Dalmatia.  Not  only 
capital  and  investments  are  needed,  but  also  organization  and  a 

415 


APPENDIX   XVII 

sensible  plan  .  .  .  not  made  in  Vienna,  but  transplanted  to  the 
country  itself.  And  so  long  as  the  Government  and  every  future 
Government  fails  to  fulfil  this  duty  towards  my  native  country,  I 
shall  vote  against  the  Budget  proposals  .  .  .  just  as  I  shall  gladly 
acknowledge  the  Government,  if  it  helps  us  with  deeds,  instead,  of 
words  and  promises.  ...  In  my  opinion  we  (Dalmatian  deputies) 
shall  best  serve  our  country,  if  we  follow  the  hues  I  have  indicated, 
with  all  possible  energy  and  without  regard  to  the  Government  or 
any  one  at  all.  I  believe  that  we  shall  thus  also  best  serve  the 
national  cause  of  the  Serbo-Croats,  to  whom  Dalmatia  belongs  as 
one  of  their  noblest  provinces,  and  who  will  certainly  be  stronger  if 
Dalmatia  is  freed  from  its  present  wretched  conditions."  (Loud 
applause.) 


APPENDIX   XVII 

THE  CORRESPONDENCE  OF  BISHOP  STROSSMAYER  AND 
MR.  GLADSTONE  505 

I  AM  indebted  to  the  great  kindness  of  the  Trustees  of  Mr.  Gladstone 
for  permission  to  publish  the  following  letters  which  he  received 
from  Bishop  Strossmayer  during  the  Eastern  crisis  of  1876-8  and 
the  years  that  followed.  I  have  also  been  fortunate  enough  to 
obtain  copies  of  Mr.  Gladstone's  replies,  and  these  are  included  in 
their  proper  place  in  the  correspondence. 

The  connecting  link  between  the  Bishop  and  the  statesman  was 
Lord  Acton,  who  had  become  intimate  with  Strossmayer  during 
their  memorable  opposition  to  the  dogma  of  Papal  Infallibility, 
at  the  Vatican  Council  of  1869-70.  Lord  Acton  knew  Strossmayer 
and  Gladstone  to  be  spiritually  akin,  and  made  more  than  one  effort 
to  arrange  a  meeting  between  them.  But  some  obstacle  invariably 
arose,  and  the  modern  Bossuet  never  met  the  modern  Leibniz 
{see  page  431).  As  late  as  1886  there  appears  to  have  been  some 
idea  of  the  Bishop  paying  a  visit  to  Hawarden,  in  company  with 
Lord  Acton,  but  the  Bishop's  advanced  age  made  the  journey 
impossible  {see  Lord  Morley's  Life  of  Gladstone,  vol.  II). 

The  correspondence  reveals  one  of  Mr.  Gladstone's  sources  of 
information  during  the  Eastern  crisis,  but  it  is  no  less  interesting 
for  its  references  to  Church  affairs.  It  throws  an  equally  attractive 
hght  upon  two  of  the  most  striking  personalities  of  their  time. 

From  Professor  Krsnjavi,  of  Agram — whose  father-in-law  enter- 
tained Bishop  Strossmayer  for  some  weeks  at  his  house  in  Modling 

^"5  Where  an  asterisk  occurs,  the  particular  sentence  in  the  original  letter 
has  been  specially  marked  in  pencil,  presumably  by  Mr.  Gladstone  himself. 
We  thus  have  an  indication  of  what  specially  interested  the  receiver  of 
Strossmayer's  communications. 

416 


BISHOP  STROSSMAYER  AND   MR.   GLADSTONE 

near  Vienna  at  the  time  of  the  Bosnian  rising — I  learn  that  the 
Bishop  set  great  store  upon  his  communications  with  Mr.  Gladstone, 
and  hoped  that  they  would  not  be  without  influence  upon  the  fate 
of  the  Balkans. 

I  have  preferred  to  print  the  letters  so  far  as  possible  without 
comment,  leaving  the  reader  to  pass  his  own  verdict  upon  their 
contents. 

I.     Bishop    Strossmayer    to    Mr.    Gladstone.     October    i,    1876. 
(Written  in  German.) 

[All  the  other  letters  I  have  myself  translated  from  the  originals, 
but  this  version  is  transcribed  from  a  MS.,  on  the  back  of  which 
are  the  words,  "  Translation  in  Lord  Acton's  hand."  Needless  to 
say,  Lord  Acton's  version  is  at  once  scholarly  and  accurate. 
R.W.S.W.] 

Allow  me  to  thank  you  from  my  inmost  soul  for  the  generous 
initiative  you  have  taken, ^°®  before  your  own  glorious  nation  and  the 
whole  civilized  world,  for  the  rights  of  humanity  and  freedom,  for 
which  the  unfortunate  Southern  Slavs  are  suffering  so  much  and  are 
pouring  forth  their  blood  in  an  unequal  conflict.  We  have  rejoiced 
at  it  the  more,  because  of  our  sincere  admiration  for  your  country, 
which  has  succeeded  so  well  in  reconciling  order  and  stability  with 
liberty  and  with  every  description  of  progress,  and  the  noble  move- 
ment which  has  recently  taken  possession  of  a  part  of  the  English 
people '"'  fills  us  with  hope,  because  the  force  of  public  opinion  is 
irresistible  when  it  is  directed  towards  noble  ends,  and  is  guided  by 
men  of  your  services  and  reputation.  Therefore  I  thank  you  again 
heartily,  and  will  add  a  few  words,  not  to  say  anything  that  is  new, 
but  to  relieve  the  pressure  that  is  on  my  heart. 

The  Koran  has  manifested  before  God  and  man  its  absolute  in- 
capacity to  govern  Christian  nations,  by  making  itself  the  basis  not 
only  of  religious  but  of  social  and  political  life.  Its  fatal  purpose 
is  either  to  force  Islamism  upon  them,  or  to  deprive  them  for  ever 
of  political  rights,  and  to  plunge  them  into  an  intolerable  oppression. 
No  power  in  the  world  can  change  this  inherent  mission  of  the 
Koran,  for  it  comes,  in  the  beHef  of  the  Moslem,  from  God  Himself. 
To  rule  and  aggrandise,  and  to  indulge  undisturbed  in  all  those 
unnatural  vices  which,  before  they  bring  about  the  death  of  nations, 
are  always  the  source  of  dreadful  cruelties,  that  is  the  appointed 
mission  which  the  Mussulman  has  received  from  God.  Between  the 
slavery  of  the  Koran  and  all  other  slavery  there  is  this  difference, 
that  the  one  is  commonly  the  result  of  evil  custom,  of  vice  and  passion, 
of  causes  that  are  destitute  of  divine  sanction,  whilst  the  other  claims 

^'**  Mr.  Gladstone's  famous  pamphlet  on  The  Bulgarian  Horrors  and  the 
Question  of  the  East,  appeared  on  September  5,  1876. 

^'"  Through  the  correspondence  both  Strossmayer  and  Gladstone  invariably 
use  the  words  "  England  "  and  "  English  "  for  "  Britain  "  and  "  British." 

S.S.Q,  417  E  E 


APPENDIX   XVII 

to  be  directly  sanctioned  by  God  Himself,  and  must  therefore 
be  unchangeable  and  perpetual.  Hence  the  evident  truth,  that 
all  attempted  reforms  are  fruitful  of  nothing  but  increase  of  suffer- 
ing to  the  Christian.  The  Turks  have  the  right  to  say  that  they 
must  obey  the  voice  of  God  rather  than  the  precepts  of  human  policy. 
They  regard  compulsory  reforms  as  sacrilegious  follies,  calculated  to 
disturb  the  rights  and  enjo5mients  assured  to  them  by  Heaven,  and 
take  their  revenge  on  the  Christians  who  occasion  the  demand  for  re- 
form. They  are  cunning  enough  to  abound  with  treacherous  promises 
in  the  hour  of  trouble ;  but  we  can  truly  say  of  such  hollow  pledges — 
"  mentita  est  iniquitassibi "  and  "  quae  societas  lucis  cum  tenebris  aut 
Christi  cum  Belial."  It  is  impossible  that  their  promises  should  ever 
be  sincere.*  It  is  pitiful  that  there  should  be  men  who  have  the 
courage  to  allow  themselves  to  be  so  openly  deceived  ;  and  it  is 
sad  especially  that  the  European  diplomacy  should  be  among  them. 
Diplomacy  ought  to  be  the  highest  and  safest  tribunal,  full  of  wis- 
dom and  experience  ;  but  it  exhibits  itself  now  in  a  light  that  does 
not  deserve  the  confidence  of  the  world.  Instead  of  simplifjnng 
problems  it  makes  them  obscure,  and  supplies  solutions  which 
instead  of  peace  and  tranquilHty  produce  new  complications,  new 
delusions,  new  animosities  and  new  conflicts.  Of  this  kind  are 
assuredly  all  the  reforms  now  spoken  of. 

To  make  the  situation  of  the  Christians  in  some  measure  bearable, 
it  is  requisite  that  the  Turkish  Government  should  be  able  to  give 
them  securities  for  their  personal  safety,  for  intellectual  progress, 
and  for  a  decently  upright  administration.  Turkey  is  manifestly 
unable  to  satisfy  any  one  of  these  requirements.  Not  the  first,  for 
Turkey  cannot  grant  to  Christians  the  right  of  serving  with  Moham- 
medans in  the  regular  army.*  The  Christian  cannot  remain  a  slave 
whose  liberty,  property  and  life  are  at  the  disposal  of  his  Turkish 
master.  He  must  be  unarmed,  because  he  is  not  his  own  master, 
and  has  no  country  of  his  own.  In  consequence  of  the  undeserved 
protection  it  enjoys,  and  perhaps  of  secret  suggestions,  Turkey  in- 
tends to  create  an  universal  mihtia  or  Landwehr,  to  dehver  it  once  and 
for  all  from  European  influence  and  from  proposals  of  reform.  If, 
to  the  disgrace  of  Europe,  this  should  be  accomphshed,  then  woe  to 
the  Christians  !  God  knows  whether  in  that  event  the  self-con- 
stituted protectors  and  advisers  would  not  afterwards  suffer  for  it 
themselves. 

Turkey  cannot  satisfy  the  second  requirement,  because  it  abso- 
lutely contradicts  its  nature  and  its  divinely  appointed  mission  to 
pay  for  Christian  schools  and  institutions.  Islam  regards  this  as  the 
greatest  crime,  whereas  the  destruction  of  the  Alexandrian  hbrary 
was  a  holy  and  religious  work.  Lastly,  the  Turkish  administra- 
tion is  the  incurable  spot  in  the  Turkish  State.  We  know  by  our 
own  experience,  the  character  of  the  Asiatic  bureaucracy  which  the 
Turks  have,  for  many  years,  sent  into  our  Slavonic  provinces.     The] 

418 


BISHOP  STROSSMAYER  AND   MR.   GLADSTONE 

have  not  an  atom  of  the  laboriousness  and  integrity  necessary  to  a 
decent  administrative  system.  They  are  so  covetous  and  so  vicious 
that  they  can  only  be  compared  to  swarms  of  locusts  that  devastate 
a  country,  and  leave  nothing  but  desolation  and  disease  behind  ; 
and  I  cannot  help  observing  the  contrast  between  the  Arabs,  who 
left  splendid  traces  of  their  mental  activity  in  Europe,  and  the  Turk- 
ish race,  which  is  utterly  incapable  of  creating  anything  and  is  only 
skilful  to  destroy.  They  will  leave  nothing  behind  them  in  the  fair- 
est regions  of  Europe,  after  four  centuries  of  occupation,  but  desti- 
tution and  misery,  without  a  sign  of  any  loftier  or  better  purpose.* 
All  that  is  spoken  about  reform  is  an  illusion,  founded  very  often  on 
bad  faith.  For  there  are  men  who  foolishly  conceive  that  the  resur- 
rection of  the  Slavonic  race  in  these  parts  would  be  the  ruin  of  their 
own  people. ^'^'^  Hence  the  cry,  that  the  Slavonians  must  not  be  free, 
that  the  germs  of  an  independent  commonwealth  must  not  be  suffered 
to  take  root  in  that  country.  These  men  are  Wind  to  the  truth  that, 
by  a  providential  law,  the  deliverance  and  revival  of  an  oppressed 
nation  is  a  pledge  of  future  benefit  for  others.*  That  is  the  true 
secret  of  the  soUdarity  of  nations.  That  must  be  a  truly  wretched 
and  intolerable  existence,  which  requires  as  its  condition,  that  a 
neighbouring  people  should  be  crushed  and  enslaved.  There  is  a 
process  of  union  going  on  among  the  Slavonian  people,  which,  in 
spite  of  many  obstacles  and  errors,  God  seems  to  have  taken  in  His 
hands.  The  issue  is  a  secret  of  Providence.  But  I  hope  with  my 
whole  heart  that  it  will  be  for  the  advantage  of  the  state  to  which 
I  belong,  and  which  seems  to  have  the  exalted  mission  of  interponing 
between  great  nations,  to  prevent  conflict  and  to  bring  about  a  solu- 
tion of  the  most  intricate  questions,  that  shall  be  for  the  advantage 
and  happiness  of  Europe.  The  result  depends  on  this  :  whether 
that  Power  remains  true  without  swerving  to  that  law  of  Justice 
which  is  the  daily  bread  of  the  nations  that  live  for  the  achievement 
of  great  ends.  We  Croats  can  truly  say,  that  in  this  little  group  of 
Slavonian  brethren,  we  represent  the  Tuscan  element.  Under 
great  difficulties  and  in  a  short  course  of  years,  we  have  called  into 
existence  institutions  which  justify  us  in  claiming  the  lead  in  the 
path  of  intellectual  progress  and  of  high  ideals.  We  have  a  great 
duty  to  perform,  and  we  are  conscious  of  our  function  in  this  region, 
and  in  the  questions  which  are  stirring  the  world.  It  is  in  the  power 
of  others  either  to  frustrate  our  action,  or  to  free  and  consoHdate  us. 
The  Bulgarians  are  an  extremely  quiet,  sensible  and  hard- 
working people,  rich  in  domestic  virtues.  A  moral  and  hard- 
working people  is  eo  ipso  fit  for  self-government.*  An  independent 
administration,  if  it  was  granted  to  this  fine  Slavonian  race,  would 
set  free  forces  that  would  soon  do  much  for  material  and  for  moral 
civilization  ;  and  ecclesiastical  self-government,  partially  introduced, 
would  serve  them  as  a  school  for  political  self-govermnent.* 

608  A  reference^to  the  popular  view  prevalent  among  the  Magyars. 

419 


APPENDIX   XVII 

The  Servians  are  a  warlike  and  very  enterprising  race,  full  of 
vitality.  It  would  be  a  just  reward  of  their  sanguinary  sacrifices 
in  a  sacred  cause,  to  put  the  autonomy  of  Bosnia  under  the  protec- 
tion of  their  energy  and  their  fifty  years'  experience.  A  valuable 
security  for  the  success  of  Bosnian  self-government  would  be  due 
provision  for  the  moral  influences  which  are  never  more  important 
than  in  a  primitive  condition  of  society.  A  good  Catholic  and 
Orthodox  Bishop  could  do  a  great  work  in  that  country. 

Such  a  system  of  self-government  in  its  European  provinces  would 
suit  the  true  interest  of  Turkey  far  better  than  the  continual  inter- 
vention of  Europe  in  its  internal  affairs,  which  is  injurious  to  its 
honour  and  reputation.  I  am  thoroughly  convinced  that  any  solu- 
tion of  the  Eastern  question  which  does  not  include  full  administra- 
tive autonomy  in  the  European  provinces  of  Turkey  will  increase 
the  confusion  and  the  danger. 

j^*  Once  more  I  thank  you  most  sincerely,  and  hope  that  I  shall  soon  be 
able  to  thank  you  personally  and  to  shake  you  warmly  by  the  hand. 
Two  distinguished  Englishmen,  Dr.  Liddon  and  Mr.  Malcolm  Mac- 
Coll,  visited  me  lately,  and  gave  me  courage  to  write  to  you.  I  need 
not  say  that  if  you  should  ever  visit  this  country,  you  will  find  the 
heartiest  and  most  fraternal  reception  at  my  house. 

Strossmayer,  Bishop  of  Bosnia. 

DiAKovo,  October  i,  1876. 

II.     Bishop  Strossmayer  to  Mr.  Gladstone,  October  24,  1876. 
(In  German.) 

Most  esteemed  sir,  and  permit  me  to  add,  my  very  dear  friend  ! 
for  all  those  who  champion  truth  and  justice  in  this  world,  are 
united  by  the  bands  of  a  truly  sacred  union  in  a  higher  friendship 
and  alliance,  with  the  task  of  using  every  effort  that  poor  humanity 
may  never  lack  the  daily  bread  of  truth  and  justice,  for  on  this 
depends  their  moral  life  just  as  their  physical  hfe  on  material  bread. 

Your  letter  greatly  honoured,  rejoiced  and  encouraged  me.  You 
have  done  well  in  leaving  your  retirement,  for,  my  dear  friend,  God 
has  placed  you  on  such  a  height,  that  even  the  evening  of  your  hfe 
belongs  not  to  yourself,  but  to  your  distinguished  nation  and  to  all 
mankind.  Let  me  now  give  you  my  opinion  upon  the  events  which 
have  occurred  since  my  first  letter. 

The  truce  has  been  caused  by  Russia's  energetic  intervention. 
It  seems  to  me  that  your  Premier  ^"^  did  not  act  in  a  wise  and  states- 
manhke  manner  in  making  his  last  speech.  All  those  who  are 
anxious  that  great  questions  should  not  be  confused,  but  decided 
by  reason  and  peaceful  agreement  rather  than  by  arms,  should  surely 
avoid  prematurely  making  warlike  speeches,  which  are  calculated 
to  kindle  passions  and  to  awake  vain  hopes.     The    opinion    is 

"9  Disraeli. 
420 


BISHOP   STROSSMAYER   AND   MR.   GLADSTONE 

general  that  the  speech  of  your  Premier   provoked    that   of   the 
Russian    Emperor   in   Moscow.      Both  speeches  have  contributed 
nothing  towards  calming  opinion.     It  is  my  conviction,  then,  that 
the  preservation  of  peace  and  the  attainment  of  the  great  aim  which 
all  friends  of  mankind  have  before  their  eyes,  mainly  depends  upon 
England's  attitude.     But  to  this  end  England  would  have  to  lay 
aside  all  petty  scruples,  and  support  honestly  and  whole-heartedly 
the  efforts  of  Russia.     No  doubt  it  is  said  that  Russia,  apart  from 
its  openly  acknowledged  aims,  also  follows  certain  special  aims  in  the 
Eastern  Question,  such  as  are  injurious  to  the  common  weal.     I  do 
not  know  whether  there  is  any  truth  in  this  ;  but  I  do  know  that  by 
an  ill-timed  opposition  one  does  not  counteract  such  injurious  aims. 
Only  if  England  with  complete  devotion  espouses  the  cause  of  suffer- 
ing Christendom,  does  she  acquire  before  God  and  the  world  the 
right  to  watch  Russia  and  in  case  of  need  to  call  to  her,  "  Thus  far 
and  no  farther  "  ;  while  in  the  contrary  case  she  will  be  responsible 
before  God  and  the  world  for  war  and  for  the  shattering  of  those 
hopes  which  the  Eastern  Christians  cherish.     England  is  in  this 
respect  on  a  dangerous  path  to-day.     She  has  probably  already 
allied  herself  too  closely  with  a  state,  whose  fortunes   unhappily 
rest    in   the   hands   of   a   nation   which    is  full  of  conceit    and 
which    by   emphasizing  in   the   most   foolish   and    presumptuous 
manner  its  kinship  with  the  Turks  ^^^  and  by  approving  all  Turkish 
atrocities  simply  because  they  are    committed  against  the    poor 
Slav  Christians,  is  steering  towards  a  war  against  Russia  in  alhance 
with  England  and  Turkey.     If  as  seems  to  be  the  case  England  really 
listens  unduly  to  this  nation,  then  war  in  the  direction  indicated 
above  is  inevitable.     The  consequences  of  such  a  war  no  one  to-day 
can  calculate  :  but  one  thing  seems  to  be  certain — that  England  in 
that  case  will  have  for  ever  sacrificed  its  moral  authority  and  influ- 
ence among  the  Southern  Slavs.^^^     It  is  equally  clear  that  in  this 
case  the  Southern  Slavs  will  but  attach  themselves  to  Russia  more 
closely  and  unreservedly  than  ever.     It  is  England's  natural  mission 
to  introduce  for  the  future  the  most  far-reaching  improvements  in 
the  lot  of  the  Christians  in  Turkey,  and  if  possible  to  overtrump 
Russia   in  this   respect.     The  matter,  it   is   true,    involves   great 
difficulties,  but  only  weaklings  shrink  from  difficulties  ;    to  a  truly 
enhghtened  reason,  if  accompanied  by  honest  intentions,  the  solu- 
tion of  every  difficulty  is  possible.     It  is  said  that  the  Christians 
have  sunk  too  low  to  be  capable  of  any  wide  autonomy.      Yes,  the 
Christians  in  Turkey  indeed  have  sunk  low,  but  whose  doing  is  that  ? 
It  is  a  most  inverted  logic,  to  deduce  from  the  decayed  condition  of 
the  Christians  the  right  of  the  Koran,  which  by  its  rule  of  four 

^'o  Here  of  course  Strossmayer  refers  to  the  Magyars,  who  through  Count 
Andrassy  dominated  the  whole  foreign  pohcy  of  Austria-Hungary. 

^1^  Strossmayer  invariably  uses  the  word  Southern  Slav  in  its  widest  sense 
to  include   all   the   Slavs  of  the   Southern  group. 

421 


APPENDIX   XVII 

centuries  is  responsible  for  their  low  estate,  to  continue  still  further 
its  work  of  humiliation  and  desolation.  Europe's  first  duty  is  to 
free  the  poor  Christians  as  speedily  and  completely  as  possible  from 
that  nightmare  which  weighs  upon  their  breast.  The  Christians 
have  sunk  low,  but  have  happily  not  yet  died  out ;  while  the  Koran 
is  by  its  inmost  nature  tyrannical  and  quite  incapable  of  showing 
justice  towards  Christians.  Latterly  a  comedy  is  being  played, 
called  "  the  Turkish  Constitution."  But  every  serious  person  knows 
what  to  think  of  that !  Where  in  Turkey  are  those  social  and  moral 
seeds  which  might  be  capable  of  life  and  of  those  beneficial  functions, 
which  a  constitution  performs  in  England,  for  instance.  As  every 
innovation  hitherto,  so  also  this  newly-devised  constitution  would 
merely  render  the  lot  of  the  Christians  still  worse.  We  see  this 
already  before  our  eyes.  At  present  in  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina, 
probably  in  Bulgaria  also,  papers  are  being  carried  round  by  the 
Turks  and  given  for  signature  to  the  heads  of  both  Christian  con- 
fessions ;  these  contain  the  assertion  that  the  Turks  are  entirely 
satisfied  with  the  Rayah,  and  the  poor  Rayah  with  the  Turks,  and 
that  they  protest  against  any  other  modus  vivendi  than  the  present. 
You  can  easily  imagine  the  position  of  the  poor  clergy  of  both  con- 
fessions towards  the  Turkish  proposal.  They  are  not  even  allowed 
to  see  the  contents  of  the  papers  which  they  are  to  subscribe,  for 
that  would  be  an  insult  to  the  haughty  Ottomans.  If  the  poor 
priest  signs,  he  has  for  ever  confirmed  his  own  and  his  people's  servi- 
tude. But  if  he  does  not,  he  has  exposed  their  lives  to  obvious 
danger,  if  not  now,  when  the  Turks  are  somewhat  more  cautious,  at 
any  rate  for  the  future.  The  Turks,  like  all  Oriental  races,  are 
wily  and  cunning.  Everything  in  a  constitution  that  guaran- 
tees the  rights  of  the  population,  they  will  contrive  to  evade  and 
make  illusory  ;  while  all  that  can  serve  as  a  handle  to  human  wicked- 
ness and  arrogance  towards  the  poor  Christians,  will  be  exploited 
to  the  full. 

A  further  remark  is,  that  a  real  and  wide  autonomy  is  the  begin- 
ning of  the  end.  Strengthen  the  Christian  peoples  in  their  autonomy 
and  the  Turks  in  Europe  are  done  for.  I  answer,  Yes,  that  is  so  ! 
As  a  statesman,  I  would  never  deny  this  aim  in  granting  the  autono- 
my of  the  Christian  provinces  of  Turkey.  Turkey  is  clearly  a  rot- 
ting Lazarus,  with  the  difference  that  the  Turkish  Lazarus,  while 
bodily  he  merely  vegetates,  is  in  spirit  already  in  the  tomb  and  spreads 
an  odour  of  death  in  all  directions.  There  is  no  power  which  can 
waken  this  Lazarus  to  life.  Europe's  problem  simply  consists  in 
making  the  Turks  disappear  from  Europe,  if  possible  without  blood- 
shed and  great  upheavals.  The  sole  means  is  to  grant  Autonomy 
to  the  Christian  Provinces.  My  dear  friend  !  If  Christian  Europe 
were  conscious  of  its  higher  mission,  it  would  not  for  a  moment 
tolerate  those  atrocities,  whose  saddened  witnesses  we  are.  Humane 
Europe  has  by  international  obhgations  ensured  that  instruments  of 

422 


BISHOP   STROSSMAYER   AND    MR.   GLADSTONE 

war  which  mangle  and  annihilate  may  not  be  used  in  modern  war, 
but  it  has  forgotten  to  note  that  Man,  the  savage  and  fanatic,  is  the 
most  cruel  and  fearful  engine  of  war.  Otherwise  it  could  not  allow 
the  fiercest  and  most  savage  peoples  of  Asia  and  Africa  to  be  let 
loose  on  unhappy  Christian  peoples.  These  are  more  cruel  than 
hyaenas,  more  pitiless  than  the  most  dread  instrument  of  war.  No 
child,  no  old  man,  no  woman  is  spared  by  them.  They  know  noth- 
ing of  consideration  towards  prisoners,  wounded  and  unarmed 
men.  To  them  the  Red  Cross  on  ambulances  and  hospitals  is  a 
sign  not  of  mercy,  but  of  hate  and  loathing,  which  goads  him  to 
cruelty  and  bestiaUty.  Either  Europe  will  at  last  do  its  duty,  or 
God  will  employ  the  dying  Ottoman  race  as  a  fearful  scourge  to 
Europe,  which  has  sunk  in  discord  and  petty  disputes  and  needs  a 
bloody  rejuvenation.  On  England  to-day  rests  a  great  responsi- 
biUty.  Either  it  will  be  a  blessing  to  the  world,  by  its  cahn  and  its 
genuine  devotion  to  Christendom,  or  by  unchaining  the  fury  of  war 
it  will  be  a  misfortune  to  the  world.  As  the  world  stands  to-day 
the  bibhcal  phrase  apphes  to  England,  "  positus  hie  in  resurrectionem 
vel  ruinam  multorum  in  Israel."  But  above  all,  if  it  preserves  its 
calm  and  judgment  and  bewares  of  ill-timed  suggestions,  England 
will  render  my  dear  Austria  a  great  service. 

The  fear  that  England's  road  to  India  might  be  blocked  is,  accord- 
ing to  my  deep  conviction,  childish.  My  friend  !  God  has  obviously 
placed  in  the  hands  of  proud  Albion  the  keys  to  those  splendid  sea- 
paths  which  connect  Europe  with  the  rest  of  the  world,  and  no  power 
on  earth  can  snatch  these  keys  from  England's  hands.  England's 
Primacy  on  the  sea  is  a  disposition  of  God,  to  which  in  the  general 
interest  all  must  submit.  The  EngUsh  are  the  natural  protectors 
of  the  freedom  of  the  sea,  which  is  necessary  to  promote  that  unity 
of  the  human  race  which  clearly  hes  in  God's  design.  If  any  one 
should  presume  to  try  to  block  England's  road  to  India,  he  would  be 
crushed  by  the  weight  of  England's  power  amid  the  applause  of  all 
civilized  peoples.  I  regard  this  fear  for  India  as  groundless  and 
artificial.  England  and  Russia  have  great  aims  to  fulfil  in  Asia. 
The  period  to  which  this  providential  mission  extends,  is  reckoned 
not  by  hundreds  but  by  thousands  of  years.  During  all  this  time 
both  Empires  should  live  in  peace  and  mutual  esteem.  So  far 
as  Europe  is  concerned,  a  new  order  of  things  seems  to^  be 
in  birth-throes.  God  has  so  placed  England  in  Europe,  that  it  is 
bound  to  it  by  a  thousand  ties,  but  at  the  same  time  by  its  insular 
position  is  set  apart  from  Europe's  petty  passions  and  disputes, 
and  is  best  quahfied  to  play  the  part  of  arbiter  in  all  difficult  ques- 
tions. Resurrectio  multorum  !  Such  a  part  is  splendid,  but  also 
very  dehcate  and  responsible.  In  this  great  Eastern  question  also 
the  eyes  of  all  are  turned  towards  England.  AU  feel  that  almost  all 
depends  on  England's  attitude.  From  my  very  soul  I  wish  that 
England  may  realize  and  fulfil  its  lofty  task.     This  requires  firm- 

423 


APPENDIX  XVII 

ness  and  entire  devotion  to  the  Christian  principle.  Especially 
England  has  in  my  opinion  to  guard  against  foreign  suggestions, 
which  assail  every  Power  on  such  an  occasion,  as  once  the  infernal 
suggester  assailed  Our  Lord. 

I  shall  be  immensely  delighted  if  I  should  be  privileged  to  enter- 
tain you  in  my  house,  with  the  distinguished  Lord  Acton,  who  is 
my  friend  and  with  whom  I  shared  joy  and  sorrow  during  the  Vatican 
Council.  .  .  . 


III.     Mr.  Gladstone  to  Bishop  Strossmayer.    Hawarden,  November 
5,  1876.     (Written  in  French.) 

It  is  more  than  three  weeks  since  I  received  the  letter  which  your 
Grace  *  was  good  enough  to  address  to  me.  Neither  indifference 
nor  laziness  was  the  cause  of  my  silence.  At  the  moment  when  this 
letter  arrived,  the  Turkish  Press  (as  it  has  been  very  justly  named) 
of  London  was  endeavouring  to  poison  the  public  mind  by  means 
of  a  quantity  of  lies  (nothing  less)  on  the  subject  of  Russian  "  atroci- 
ties "  in  Turkestan.  It  was  not  a  question  of  humanity  ;  it  was  a 
very  skilful  attempt  to  diminish  the  pubhc  feeling  which  had  been 
so  keenly  aroused,  by  suggesting,  "  Russian  and  Turk  are  a  couple 
of  scoundrels  {pendards)  :  don't  take  away  from  the  one,  to  give 
to  the  other."  At  the  present  moment,  when  the  English  Govern- 
ment has  strayed  so  deplorably  from  its  duty  and  the  Russians  almost 
alone  championed  the  cause  of  the  afflicted  provinces,  that  seemed 
to  me  a  sufhciently  serious  matter.  Consequently — though  against 
my  will — I  devoted  myself  to  examining  the  question,  and  the 
result  of  my  work  has  been  pubhshed  a  few  days  ago  in  the  Con- 
temporary Review.  I  send  you  a  copy  of  this  ;  but  it  is  really  a 
brochure  d' occasion,  and  is  not  worth  reading  on  your  part : 
although  I  think  it  ought  to  be  of  some  use  for  the  English  public. 

My  first  idea,  after  the  arrival  of  your  letter,  was  this.  I  was 
greatly  desirous  of  the  permission  to  give  to  the  public  so  interesting 
a  document :  even  anonymously,  in  case  its  publication  under  your 
name,  which  would  carry  such  weight  with  my  countrymen,  should 
not  be  possible. 

I  cannot  teU  you  how  much  I  associate  myself  with  the  internal 
feeling  [sentiment  intime)  of  that  letter.  The  question  of  the  suffer- 
ing provinces  of  Turkey  is  for  me  a  question  of  the  first  rank.  It 
has  dragged  me  from  my  retirement,  which  to  some  extent  I  was 
beginning  to  enjoy,  after  forty-four  years  of  continual  struggle  in 
English  political  life,  and  after  almost  reaching  the  term  of  sixty- 
seven  years  of  age.  I  can  indeed  assure  you  that  in  many  respects 
it  is  for  me  a  sacrifice,  thus  to  change  the  current  of  my  ideas  and  of 
my  daily  work,  and  to  trust  myself  once  more  to  a  stormy  sea. 

Nunc  agilis  fio,  et  mersor  civilibus  undis.     It  is  a  sacrifice  which 

424 


BISHOP  STROSSMAYER  AND   MR.   GLADSTONE 

I  gladly  make,  and  which  one  ought  not  to  make  by  halves.  I  must 
then  follow  the  question  through  all  its  detours,  up  to  the  point 
where  by  God's  grace  it  shall  have  reached  its  port,  its  adequate 
solution. 

And  I  hope,  I  can  almost  say,  I  believe  that  henceforth  this  great 
question  is  going  to  have  a  prosperous  journey.  Not  that  the  Eng- 
lish Government  has  definitely  been  converted.  But  it  seems  to  me 
that  this  Government — though  perhaps  unwittingly — has  taken  a 
definite  and  very  important  step  at  the  moment  when  it  submitted 
to  the  other  Powers  a  project  for  the  administrative  autonomy  of  the 
Provinces,  however  inadequate  this  may  be.  For  every  project  of 
this  kind  is  essentially  based  on  the  principle  of  foreign  interference 
in  the  internal  affairs  of  Turkey.  In  my  opinion  there  can  be  no 
question  that  once  the  six  Powers  have  committed  themselves  to 
this  interference  by  a  solemn  act,  they  are  bound  in  honour,  and 
according  to  the  elementary  idea  of  their  office  as  preservers  of 
European  peace  and  order,  to  follow  their  own  path  to  the  very  end, 
and  to  find  effective  means  to  secure  its  success.  Hope  then  out- 
weighs fear  in  my  mind,  and  I  give  thanks  to  God  {au  bon  Dieu) 
for  what  He  has  done  up  to  to-day,  amid  a  crowd  of  dangers  and 
difficulties,  of  folly  and  meanness. 

Do  not  imagine,  Monseigneur,  that  the  English  people  has 
repented,  either  wholly  or  partially,  of  what  it  has  said  and  done 
during  the  past  two  months.  If  at  the  present  moment  there  is  less 
noise,  the  two  chief  causes  are  these  ;  first  of  all,  almost  all  the  towns 
{communautes)  in  the  country  have  expressed  their  opinion,  and 
they  do  not  wish  to  say  the  same  thing  twice  :  in  the  second  place, 
it  is  thought  that  the  Government,  nolens  volens,  has  felt  the  impulse 
from  outside,  and  does  not  dare  now,  e-.-en  if  it  wishes,  to  persevere 
in  the  false  course  which  it  has  so  long  followed.  However,  what 
is  needed  is  still  far  from  being  accomplished.  Without  doubt,  our 
Anglo-Turks  (and  there  are  only  too  many  of  them)  count,  not  alto- 
gether without  reason,  upon  the  lassitude,  rather  than  upon  any 
possible  changes,  of  the  public  mind.  But  on  the  one  hand,  I 
beUeve  that  they  are  mistaken,  and  on  the  other  hand,  that  we  have 
gained  ground  enormously,  in  the  manner  I  have  explained  above. 
No,  this  national  movement,  so  fresh,  so  simple,  and,  I  venture  to 
say,  so  noble,  has  not  been  without  fruit. 

What  we  always  have  to  fear,  are  the  mutual  jealousies  of  the 
Powers.  It  is  the  strangest  of  all  queer  things  [hizarreries)  ;  but 
among  us  English  those  who  complain  incessantly  of  the  aggressive 
behaviour,  whether  real  or  supposed,  of  Russia,  always  have  an 
arriere  pensee  themselves,  and  sometimes  are  very  near  suggesting 
{la  tiennent  sur  leur  langues  that  England  must  seize  Egypt,  per- 
haps also  Crete,  in  order  to  safeguard  the  route  to  the  East  Indies. 
In  present  circumstances,  this  would,  in  my  opinion,  be  a  crime  and 
a  piece  of  folly.      It  is  the  English  Navy  which  ought,  and  will  long 

425 


APPENDIX   XVII 

be  able,  to  safeguard  the  route  to  India  ;  and  the  British  Empire 
has  neither  the  right  nor  the  need  to  injure  the  hberty  of  any  one. 

I  have  written  too  late,  and  at  too  great  length.  It  is  in  your 
indulgence  and  sympathies  that  I  find  my  excuse.  I  do  not  wish  to 
close  without  begging  you  to  help  me  in  my  search  for  better  infor- 
mation as  to  the  capacity  for  and  methods  of  securing  local  autonomy 
in  the  provinces  of  Bosnia,  Herzegovina  and  Bulgaria. 

As  I  grow  old,  I  feel  lazier  or  less  capable  of  travelling.  Besides, 
I  believe  that  your  Grace  is  younger  than  I  ;  and  I  hope  that  you 
will  pay  a  visit  to  England,  where  you  will  find  all  the  sympathy  and 
respect  which  we  owe  you.  None  the  less,  I  cannot  renounce  the 
hope  of  coming  to  see  you  in  your  own  home.  I  have  even  discussed 
the  matter  with  my  friend  Lord  Acton.  We  have  the  idea  of  travel- 
ling together  at  some  favourable  time  to  *  *  *.^^^  Perhaps  it  is'a 
dream,  but  it  is  a  charming  dream,  which  I  shall  not  willingly  dispel. 
I  remain,  with  every  sentiment  of  respect  and  affection, 

Your  Grace's  devoted  servant, 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 

P.S.  One  more  small  request :  please  to  write  German  in  Italian 
characters.     I  cannot  read  German  characters  very  easily. 

IV.     Mr.  Gladstone  to  Bishop  Strossmayer.     Hawarden,  December 
15,  1876.     (In  French.) 

Illustrious   Monseigneur   and   Dear   Friend  ! 

Since  the  arrival  of  your  warmly  appreciated  letter,  we  have  not 
slept  over  our  work.  In  the  month  of  October,  when  the  popular 
meetings  had  almost  come  to  an  end  in  all  parts  of  the  country,  the 
nucleus  of  an  association  was  formed  ;  and  this  body  having  reached 
the  point  of  a  sufficient  organization,  we  met  last  Friday,  to  the 
number  of  2,500  persons,  at  St.  James's  Hall,  Westminster. 

As  for  the  idea  of  a  supposed  reaction,  I  think  that  we  are  done 
with  it.  In  all  respects  this  assembly  has  been  most  satisfactory. 
We  have  not  altogether  reached  the  point  of  governing  the  Govern- 
ment. We  still  have  to  fear  from  day  to  day  some  evil  step  {de- 
marche). It  is  more  than  difficult  to  make  ill-disposed  persons  act 
as  though  they  were  well-disposed,  and  up  to  the  present  we  are 
uncertain  as  to  whether  the  Ministers  are  prompted  by  their  best  or 
worst  inspiration.  It  is  the  strangest  and  most  incredible  of  all  the 
political  situations  which  I  have  known  in  all  my  life.  Individuals, 
numerous  it  is  true,  but  still  only  individuals,  dissatisfied  with  the 
proceedings  of  the  existing  Government,  have  contrived  to  fashion 
ab  intra  the  foreign  policy  of  the  country,  in  the  most  difficult  of  all 
questions.     God  grant  that  in  the  future  we  may  not  see  a  similar 

^12  Here  a  word  is  missing.  The  appearance  of  the  original  suggests  that 
Mr.  Gladstone  had  for  the  moment  forgotten  the  name  of  Djakovo,  lefta  blank 
space,  and  then  forgot  to  fill  it  in. 

426 


BISHOP  STROSSMAYER  AND  MR.   GLADSTONE 

evil  nor  a  similar  remedy !  They  have  succeeded  up  to  a  certain 
point  ;  they  have  prevented  a  great  deal  of  positive  evil,  by  frighten- 
ing the  Ministers,  above  all  Disraeli,  and  by  strengthening  a  little 
the  feebleness  of  those  colleagues  of  his  who  did  not  whole-heart- 
edly share  his  ideas.  But  as  for  the  negative  evil,  that  is  another 
matter.  It  is  said  that  Lord  Salisbury  and  General  Ignatieff  are  in 
agreement,  but  it  is  not  known  whether  they  are  co-operating  frankly 
or  are  bargaining  with  each  other  nor  whether  they  have  come  to 
essential  points.  Hence  we  still  have  uncertainty  instead  of  light  ; 
and  in  such  circumstances  one  must  speak  and  act,  and  not  trust  to 
accidents.  That  is  in  outline  the  present  situation  ot  EngUsh  opinion 
and  of  the  movement  in  England. 

As  for  the  object  to  be  attained,  the  essential  in  my  opinion  is, 
that  a  new  regime  and  a  new  source  of  pubhc  authority  should  succeed 
the  Ottoman.  Without  a  substitution  of  this  kind,  all  reforms 
even  the  most  radical,  are  null  and  indeed  mere  talk  {des  niiUites  et 
des  precheries)  :  but  on  the  other  hand,  when  it  has  been  accom- 
plished, it  will  be  possible  to  hope  great  things  even  from  plans  which 
are  imperfect  in  themselves.  Once  expelled,  the  Turk  will  never  be 
able  to  return.  After  the  expulsion,  there  will  be  either  autonomy, 
or  the  intermediary  and  provisional  state  of  a  foreign  regime.  In 
this  I  see  much  evil  and  much  danger.  If  Russia  is  to  be  feared,  it 
is  then  that  she  will  have  her  opportunity.  However,  we  may  hope 
that  all,  or  almost  all,  the  European  world  will  make  an  effort  to 
save  itself  from  so  troublesome  a  situation,  and  to  hasten  on  as  far 
as  possible  the  final  and  perfected  autonomy,  whose  task  it  will  be 
to  lay  the  foundations  of  a  better  future. 

I  do  not  know  whether  Your  Grace,  master  of  so  many  lan- 
guages, includes  among  them  English  also,  and  I  do  not  wish  to  load 
your  library  with  what  might  be  totally  useless.  This  is  the  only 
reason  why  I  do  not  send  you  a  pamphlet  on  Hellenism  and  its  func- 
tion in  the  Eastern  Question,  which  I  wrote  for  the  last  number  of 
the  Contemporary  Review. 

One  more  word  on  what  you  said  regarding  my  age  and  my  occu- 
pations. It  was  not  distaste,  nor  laziness  which  has  led  me  to 
covet  the  faculty  of  slightly  changing  my  trade,  at  a  time  when  I  can 
scarcely  cope  with  the  labour  of  political  life  pure  and  simple,  in  the 
House  of  Commons.  I  should  like  to  serve  my  country  and  human- 
ity till  death.  But  this  service  can  be  rendered  in  more  than  one 
way.  If  I  ask  myself  w^here  in  our  day  most  is  done  for  the  good  of 
humanity,  I  answer  that  it  is  not  in  the  sphere  of  ordinary  politics  ; 
these  struggles  may  be  serious,  but  there  is  another  far  graver 
struggle,  the  struggle  of  Credo  and  Non  Credo,  which  in  my  country 
sounds  continually  like  thunder  in  our  ears.  The  question  of  the 
Christian  faith  and  of  its  relations  to  Reason,  to  Liberty,  to  the 
Sciences,  to  Human  Life,  is  the  question,  equally  menacing  and 
fruitful,  alike  of  the  present  day  and  of  the  future.    What  a  joy  and 

427 


APPENDIX  XVn 

an  honour  it  would  be  for  me,  if,  by  returning  to  the  studies  which 
I  have  always  loved  and  never  entirely  abandoned,  God  might  help 
me  to  say,  were  it  but  a  few  words,  which  might  advance  even  the 
smallest  of  these  questions  towards  its  necessary  and  desired  solu- 
tion. That  is  my  last  hope.  None  the  less  for  the  moment,  and 
for  as  many  moments  as  may  be  needed,  I  take  the  Eastern 
Question  as  an  imperious  mot  d'ordre. 
I  beg  to  remain,  with  profound  respect, 

Your  Grace's  very  affectionate 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 

V,     Bishop   Strossmayer   to   Mr.    Gladstone,   February   lo,    1877, 
Djakovo.     (In  German.) 

Above  all  pardon  me  for  answering  so  late.  Partly  a  prolonged 
indisposition,  partly  endless  work  which  accumulates  before  Lent, 
prevented  me.  Believe  me,  each  of  your  letters  is  a  new  consola- 
tion to  me  and  a  further  ground  for  deeply  revering  and  loving  you. 

Many  thanks  for  the  lucid  exposition  of  the  situation  of  your 
country  towards  the  Eastern  Question.  To  be  honest  :  I  have  not 
been  at  all  satisfied  by  the  conferences  in  Constantinople.  They 
were  too  temporizing  and  not  decided  enough,  in  view  of  the  wily 
and  malicious  subterfuges  of  Turkey.  It  seems  to  me  that  the 
result  of  the  conferences  is  not  such  as  to  fill  the  world  with  great 
respect  for  the  wisdom  and  firmness  of  European  diplomacy.  The 
most  essential  fault  of  this  conference  seems  to  me  to  have  been  the 
latent  disunion  of  the  Powers,  which  the  wily  Orientals  contrived  to 
exploit  to  the  full.  There  are  unhappily  in  Europe  white  Turks, 
who  in  their  dislike  for  the  Slav  Christians,  emulate  the  "  black  " 
Turks.  I  do  not  know  whether  I  take  the  right  view,  but  it  seems  to 
me  that  more  agreement  prevailed  between  the  Enghsh  and  Russian 
ambassadors  than  could  have  been  hoped.  This  is  mainly  your 
doing,  my  dear  friend.  At  any  rate,  it  seems  to  me  most  desirable 
that  agreement,  and  if  possible  intimacy,  should  be  restored  between 
England  and  Russia,  respecting  the  aims  to  be  reached  in  Turkey. 
You  are  a  thousand  times  right ;  nothing  can  be  made  of  the  Turk- 
ish element.  Only  the  grant  of  autonomy  to  the  Turkish  provinces 
and  a  Christian  Government,  however  incomplete  at  first,  can  pro- 
duce seed  leading  to  the  rebirth  of  the  Turkish  territories.  We 
have  here  been  immensely  pleased  by  the  idea  recently  developed 
by  you,  that  Turkey,  by  refusing  to  accept  the  unanimous  resolu- 
tions of  Europe,  has  forfeited  the  advantages  secured  to  her  by  the 
Paris  Convention.*  Cessante  ratione,  cessat  rationatum.  Turkey 
was  only  included  in  the  European  Concert,  on  condition  that  it 
would  enforce  in  its  own  house  those  principles  of  state  upon  which 
humanity  and  culture  largely  rest.*  If  it  remains  savage  and  bar- 
barous, and  behaves  contemptuously  and  repulsively  towards  the 

428 


i 


BISHOP  STROSSMAYER  AND  MR.   GLADSTONE 

public  opinion  of  Europe,  then  it  is  unworthy  of  European  protec- 
tion and  good- will.  Europe  would  be  forgetful  of  her  higher  mission 
and  would  deserve  the  divine  chastisement,  if  in  this  case  she 
did  not  use  absolute  force,  to  quench  for  ever  the  inflammable 
material  which  threatens  a  general  conflagration. 

Only  one  more  point  in  this  direction.  When  a  few  months  ago 
I  told  my  kind  EngUsh  guests  something  of  the  unheard  of  cruelties 
committed  by  the  Turks  in  Bosnia,  and  when  what  I  said  found  its 
echo  in  the  papers,  the  English  and  Austrian  Consuls  in  Sarajevo 
saw  fit  virtually  to  call  me  to  question  for  this.*  The  Austrian 
Consul-General,  who  is  a  Slav,  I  answered  in  Slav.  Now  according 
to  our  papers  the  English  Red  Book  has  published  a  greatly  watered 
down  extract  of  my  letter.  I  now  venture  to  give  you  a  correct 
extract,  so  that  you,  and  if  necessary  the  Enghsh  public  also,  may 
know  exactly  what  I  have  written.  I  wrote  to  the  Austrian  Consul, 
that  I  had  learned  of  those  cruelties  from  many  absolutely  reliable 
witnesses,  especially  from  my  priests,  who  have  parishes  on  the 
banks  of  the  Save  and  were  eyewitnesses  of  such  cruelties.  I  then 
added  the  remark  :  "  The  representatives  of  foreign  powers  always 
serve  a  certain  tendency,  and  among  us  it  is  believed  that  they  do 
not  always  possess  the  capacity  of  preserving  towards  their  chiefs 
that  independence  which  is  necessary  in  order  to  reveal  events  in 
their  true  light.  Besides,  it  is  not  a  question  whether  this  or  that 
event  took  place  in  this  or  that  form,  but  mainly  whether  it  is  possi- 
ble that  Christians  should  remain  under  the  riile  of  the  Koran  and 
its  fanatical  followers  free  from  tyranny  and  every  kind  of  cruelty. 
Every  thinking  man  must  answer  this  question  with  a  decided  '  No.' 
The  Koran  orders  in  God's  name  that  the  Christian  dogs  should  be 
exterminated  by  the  sword  ;  where  this  is  quite  impossible,  it  con- 
demns them,  once  more  in  God's  name,  to  shameful  servitude,  and 
excludes  them  for  ever  from  every  right  and  power  and  property. 
The  whole  history  of  the  Christians  among  the  Turks  is  written  in 
three  dreadful  words  :  stupid  arrogance  and  laziness  ;  shameless 
and  often  unnatural  lust,  and  finally  the  horrible  cruelty  and 
tyranny  which  go  with  it.*  All  that  Europe  has  done  hitherto  to 
improve  the  lot  of  the  Christians,  has  not  merely  remained  ineffec- 
tive but  has  made  it  worse,  because  the  Turks,  and  rightly  from 
their  standpoint,  are  angry  at  their  Christians  giving  cause  for 
Europe  to  interfere  in  their  internal  affairs,  to  disturb  them  in  their 
enjoyment  and  to  seek  impiously  to  impose  on  them  her  own  will 
instead  of  the  divine  and  unalterable  law.  I  cited,  for  example, 
the  little  town  of  Brod,  which  Hes  on  the  banks  of  the  Save  in  our 
immediate  neighbourhood,  where  the  poor  rayah  in  the  presence  of 
our  authorities  hurled  thousands  of  reproaches  in  the  face  of  the 
Turks  who  urged  them  to  return,  regarding  incredible  cruelties  such  as 
the  murder  of  innocent  children  and  old  men,  and  the  most  infamous 
violation^of  "girls,  boys  and  women,  as  was  related  to  me  by  a  reliable 

429 


APPENDIX   XVII 

and  learned  witness.  I  added  ;  if  to  these  cruelties  of  a  single  place 
and  a  single  occasion  be  added  the  whole  extensive  Turkish  empire 
and  four  whole  centuries,  then  every  Christian  heart  will  be  con- 
vinced that  the  bitter  cup  of  suffering  of  the  poor  Christians  in 
Turkey  is  already  overfull  and  that  we  are  justified  in  at  last  expect- 
ing from  the  justice  and  wisdom  of  Europe  that  it  should  take  pity 
on  them  and  hasten  to  their  aid,  the  more  so  as  their  own  interest 
demands  this,  in  order  that  the  inflammable  material  in  Turkey 
may  not  produce  an  universal  European  conflagration."  This  is 
the  true  sense  of  my  letter,  which  I  send  you  with  the  request  that 
if  your  "  Red  Book  "  shall  have  given  a  false  extract,  you  will  be 
kind  enough  to  correct  it. 

Unhappily,  I  do  not  speak  English,  but  I  shall  be  most  grateful 
if  you  send  me  something  for  my  hbrary.  I  have  a  niece,  my  sister's 
daughter,  seventeen  years  old,  who  knows  English  well.  I  am  also 
anxious  that  my  young  clergy  should  learn  English  for  the  sake  of 
its  rich  and  splendid  literature. 

The  final  remark  in  your  letter  has  made  you  still  dearer  to  me  and 
still  more  worthy  of  respect.  It  is  the  privilege  of  great  minds  to  deal 
with  those  religious  questions  which  touch  the  whole  world's  deep- 
est interests.  Christianity  is  the  innermost  principle  of  human  life. 
Only  the  grace  of  Him  Who  died  for  us  all  and  by  His  death  opened  for 
us  the  unquenchable  sources  of  higher  life,  can  renew  mankind  and 
fit  it  for  the  attainment  not  only  of  its  immortal  but  also  of  its  earthly 
destiny.  The  question  of  "  credo  "  or  "  non  credo  "  is  for  every 
nation  a  question  of  life  and  death.  You  are  right,  my  friend,  the 
relations  of  belief  and  grace  to  reason  and  science,  to  liberty  and 
the  whole  complex  of  earthly  life  are  the  most  important  questions, 
at  once  fearful  and  fruitful.  Such  questions  very  often  form  the 
subject  of  my  thought,  but  my  weak  health  and  the  burdens  of  my 
practical  calling  leave  me  little  leisure  for  it.  If  God  some  day  grants 
that  I  should  see  you,  and  prove  to  you  my  respect  and  admiration, 
then  we  will  exchange  our  views  on  this  subject  in  all  love  and  open- 
ness. The  human  mind  can  achieve  much  in  such  questions.  But 
just  as  the  last  word  of  the  secret  of  the  Union  of  Divine  and  human 
nature  in  one  Divine  Person  will  only  be  clear  to  us  when  we  are 
ripe  to  look  upon  God,  so  also  the  whole  secret  of  those  holy  and 
tender  relations  which  subsist  between  Faith  and  Reason  and 
Science,  between  Grace  and  Freedom  and  the  moral  value  of  practi- 
cal life,  will  only  be  clear  to  us  when  we  have  thrown  off  our  earthly 
shell  and  have  attained  to  a  higher  outlook.  Faith  stands  clearly 
and  firmly  enough  before  our  spiritual  vision,  to  bend  our  reason 
beneath  the  yoke  of  divine  Truth  ;  but  so  long  as  we  wander  in  this 
life,  there  will  always  be  some  dark  places  in  Faith,  that  with  our 
zeal  in  the  recognition  of  divine  truth  and  with  the  humility  of  the 
heart  the  merit  of  our  faith  may  increase.  For  some  time  my  mind 
has  specially  busied  itself  with  that  Unity  of  Faith  and  of  the  Church, 

430 


BISHOP  STROSSMAYER  AND  MR.   GLADSTONE 

which  is  at  once  the  most  precious  fruit  of  our  redemption  and  its 
final  aim.  I  have  indeed  chosen  this  as  the  subject  of  this  year's 
pastoral  address  to  my  clergy.  It  seems  to  me  that  mankind,  des- 
pite its  errors  and  numerous  frailties,  is  tending  towards  this  unity. 
God  formerly  converted  the  great  Roman  Empire  into  a  preface 
and  a  true  introduction  to  Christianity  ;  to-day  I  think  that  God 
wishes  to  make  those  wonderful  instruments  of  communication  and 
traffic  between  the  most  distant  parts  of  our  globe,  which  steam  and 
electricity  offer,  into  a  preface  and  introduction  to  that  ideal  unity 
which  Our  Lord  made  the  subject  of  His  noblest  prayer  to  His 
Eternal  Father  before  His  death  (St.  John  xvii.).  How  gladly  I 
shall  some  day  discuss  these  lofty  subjects  with  you,  if  God  will ! 
It  is  true  that  for  this  to  be  done  successfully,  Bossuet  would  have 
to  arise  in  the  Bishop,  just  as  the  famous  Leibnitz  has  arisen  in  my 
dear  and  valued  friend.  Forgive  my  verbosity.  Ex  abundantia 
cordis  OS  loquitur.  In  deep  respect  and  esteem,  I  embrace  you  and 
am  proud  to  call  you  my  friend, 

Strossmayer, 

BisJiop. 

VI.    Bishop  Strossmayer  to  Mr  Gladstone.     Djakovo,  September  3, 
1877.     (In  German.) 

'  I  know  very  weU  that  there  are  many  claims  on  your  time.  I 
watch  with  great  care  your  splendid  activity,  and  assure  you  that 
I  admire  you  more  and  more.  You  may  be  convinced  that  I  shall 
bless  the  day  when  I  am  permitted  to  see  you  face  to  face. 

I  was  absent  about  three  months,  partly  in  Italy,  partly  at  a 
bath  for  my  health.  In  Florence  I  visited  my  friend,  the  Duke  of 
Sermoneta,  whose  wife  is  a  distinguished  Englishwoman.  In  his 
house  we  also  spoke  of  you.  As  everj^vhere,  so  also  in  the  Duke's 
house  you  are  admired  and  respected.     He  sent  you  his  kind  regards. 

How  matters  stand  at  the  seat  of  war  in  Europe  and  in  Asia,  you 
know  as  well  as  and  perhaps  better  than  I.  No  one  could  have 
thought  that  the  Turks  would  have  defended  themselves  so  bravely 
and  heroically.  None  the  less  they  remain  a  wild  horde,  not  worthy 
of  consideration,  because  they  possess  no  qualities  such  as  might 
found  a  commonwealth  worthy  of  existence.  They  regard  them- 
selves as  the  tormentors  of  Christian  peoples,  and  Christian  Europe 
certainly  has  the  duty  of  at  length  freeing  the  Christian  peoples  from 
centuries  of  pain  and  torture.  Those  men  who  contribute  to  this, 
cover  themselves  with  eternal  fame. 

You  were  good  enough  to  promise  to  send  me  one  of  your  works 
for  my  library.  I  apphed  to  my  Vienna  bookseller,  Braumiiller, 
in  the  matter  ;  in  his  answer  he  mentions  the  London  agent  who 
will  send  the  book  to  Vienna,  so  that  it  may  be  sent  me  from  there. 
I  send  my  kindest  regards  to  your  family  and  bless  you  from  the 

431 


APPENDIX   XVII 

bottom  of  my  heart.  If  you  have  the  opportunity,  please  greet 
my  friend  Lord  Acton  from  me.  With  my  most  distinguished 
regards,  etc. 

Strossmayer, 

Bishop, 

VII.     Bishop  Strossmayer  to  Mr.  Gladstone,  October  28,  1877. 
(In  German.) 

A  thousand  thanks  for  the  beautiful  gifts  which  you  have  sent 
me.  I  cannot  understand  how  you  can  find  time  to  be  so  unceas- 
ingly active,  and  also  to  write  so  much.  God  bless  you  henceforth 
and  spare  you  for  many  years  to  your  nation  and  to  humanity. 
This  winter  I  shall  read  some  of  your  works.  Your  high  ideals  and 
generous  disposition  lead  you  habitually  to  interest  yourself  in  the 
suffering  and  oppesrsed.  Your  German  biographer,  in  a  translation 
of  your  work  on  Homer,  says  with  entire  truth  that  in  future  the 
neglected  Slavs  will  also  be  under  the  obligation  of  haihng  you  as 
their  supporter,  defender  and  saviour.  BeHeve  me,  my  dearest 
friend,  the  Southern  Slavs  will  never  forget  what  you  have  done  for 
them  under  the  most  difficult  circumstances.  Your  name  will  be 
blessed  and  praised  among  us  from  generation  to  generation. 

According  to  the  papers  you  are  now  in  Ireland.  I  hope  that  the 
Irish  will  show  to  the  whole  world  on  this  occasion,  what  they  owe 
to  their  greatest  benefactor. 

The  unexpected  course  of  the  war  in  Europe  makes  us  somewhat 
anxious,  and  yet  the  more  difficult  the  Russian  position  and  the 
greater  the  resisting  power  of  the  Turks,  the  more  necessary  it  is 
that  the  Russians  should  win,  and  that  the  Christians  should  once  and 
for  all  be  free  of  the  rough  and  brutal  domination  of  the  Turks.  If 
the  poor  Christian  peoples  are  not  to  go  under  altogether,  their  fate 
must  be  put  into  their  own  hands  through  a  full  and  comprehensive 
autonomy.  The  highly  industrious  Bulgar,  who  is  thoroughly 
amenable  to  any  civihzed  discipline,  the  noble  and  highly  gifted 
Bosniak  and  Herzegovinian,  will  certainly  convert  their  country, 
which  has  lain  waste  for  centuries,  but  is  beautiful  and  fertile  by 
nature,  into  smiling  and  fruitful  fields,  in  a  short  space  of  time,  to 
their  own  benefit  and  to  the  advantage  of  such  civilized  nations  as 
come  into  contact  with  them.  It  is  an  unavoidable  postulate  of 
humanity  and  Christianity  that  these  countries  should  at  last  be 
set  free  from  the  intolerable  burden  which  presses  on  them.  It 
seems  to  me  to  be  the  Voice  of  God  wliich  is  speaking  through  these 
events,  and  at  the  same  time  warning  the  Russians  to  put  many 
things  in  order  in  their  own  house,  if  they  wish  to  remain  worthy 
of  the  favour  of  the  best  European  nations  and  able  to  fulfil  the 
ends  of  Providence  in  Europe  and  Asia  ahke. 

In  India,  as  the  papers  report,  rages  a  terrible  famine.  Would 
it  not  be   possible  to  anticipate  such  calamities,  or,  at  any  rate, 

432 


BISHOP  STROSSMAYER  AND  MR.   GLADSTONE 

where  they  are  unavoidable,  greatly  to  mitigate  them  ?  This 
would  be  a  work  worthy  of  the  great  English  nation.  Has  the 
Government  of  England  always  done  her  duty  in  this  respect  ? 

My  dear  friend  !  Again  a  thousand  thanks  for  the  gifts  which 
will  always  be  the  chief  ornaments  of  the  episcopal  library  and  of 
my  own.  God  bless  you  abundantly  in  all  your  works  and  ways. 
Please  give  my  kind  regards  to  your  distinguished  family,  and 
remember  me  in  your  prayers.     With  distinguished  affection,  etc, 

Strossmayer, 

Bishop. 
October  28,  1877. 

Vin.    Bishop  Strossmayer  to  Mr.  Gladstone,  February  13,  1878. 
(In  German.) 

Forgive  me  for  writing  to  you  once  more  and  taking  up  your  valu- 
able time.  First  of  all  I  thank  you  again  and  again  for  the  splendid 
proofs  of  your  courage  and  devotion  to  the  cause  of  the  unhappy 
Christians  of  the  Illyrian  Peninsula.  God  will  reward  you  and  your 
family  for  it.  By  your  noble  conduct  you  have  done  a  great  service 
to  your  own  nation  also,  and  even  to  your  Government.  To-day 
the  Congress  is  accepted  by  all  the  Powers,  the  work  of  peace  and 
pacification  begins.     Let  me  make  a  few  observations. 

(i)  I  think  it  would  be  worthy  not  only  of  this  or  that  party  in 
England,  but  of  the  whole  great  and  glorious  English  nation,  to 
represent  at  the  Congress  the  principles  of  humanity  and  liberty  and 
to  allow  no  petty  considerations  to  divert  one  from  this.  I  must  con- 
fess that  in  this  respect  I  am  not  without  anxiety.  When  there  was 
a  talk  in  the  English  Parliament  of  liberating  all  North  and  South 
Bulgaria,  your  Premier  spoke  in  a  very  frivolous  and  unwise  manner. 
He  exclaimed  in  a  somewhat  threatening  and  mocking  tone,  "  So 
far  as  the  liberation  of  Bulgaria  is  concerned  there  are  others  there, 
who  will  also  have  a  say  in  the  matter  in  their  own  interests."  Every 
one  among  us  knows  what  that  means  ;  but  every  one  asks  if  this  is 
the  language  of  the  great  England,  which  seeks  to  pass  in  the  whole 
world  as  the  school  and  stronghold  of  freedom,  morahty,  humanity 
and  noble  activity.  Every  individual  and  community  lives  not 
merely  from  material  but  far  more  from  spiritual  bread.  Truth 
and  justice  is  the  best  poHcy  which  peoples  and  states  can  follow  ; 
this  policy  triumphs  even  when  it  is  apparently  defeated  ;  while 
falsehood  and  injustice  lead  peoples  and  states  to  ruin,  even  when 
they  seem  to  triumph.  That  is  what  we  call  Divine  Providence,  the 
final  hope  and  often  the  sole  support  of  oppressed  and  unhappy 
peoples.  Great  peoples  possessing  culture  and  the  Divine  favour 
(and  to  these  England  especially  belongs)  are  called  before  all  others 
to  represent  truth,  justice  and  hberty  in  the  world  :  otherwise  they 
are  untrue  to  themselves  and  to  God.  If  then  I  compare  this  with 
the  statement  of  your  Premier,  he  seems  to  me  to  say  :  the  liberation 
of  the  Bulgarian  nation  is  a  just  cause,  and  England  as  a  free  nation 

s.s.Q.  433  "    "     FF 


APPENDIX   XVII 

has  nothing  against  it ;  but  for  other  considerations  England  will  be 
glad,  if  others  do  so.  That  is  surely,  to  some  extent,  imitating 
Pilate,  who  thought  that  it  is  as  easy  to  cleanse  one's  guilty 
conscience  as  to  cleanse  one's  dirty  hands  with  water. 

I  know,  in  this  country  there  are  people  who  think  it  is  in  the 
interest  of  their  own  freedom  and  culture,  not  to  permit  the  free- 
dom and  culture  of  their  neighbours  to  flourish.*  But  my  God, 
does  this  principle,  or  better  said,  this  absurdity,  deserve  to  be 
supported  ?  Freedom  and  culture  can  never  be  injurious  to  free- 
dom and  culture.  What  is  injurious  to  them,  is  slavery  and  bar- 
barism. Hence  all  really  noble  men  and  all  truly  free  peoples  must 
endeavour  that  every  trace  of  slavery  and  barbarism  may  disappear 
as  soon  as  possible  from  the  Continent  of  Europe.  The  sooner  the 
poor  and  unhappy  peoples  of  European  Turkey  are  freed  from  their 
yoke  and  restored  to  liberty  and  culture,  the  better  for  all  European 
peoples  without  exception.  Hence  England  will  not  only  act  in 
conformity  with  its  natural  destiny,  if  at  the  Congress  it  represents 
to  the  full  the  interests  of  the  oppressed  peoples  ;  but  also  will  do 
a  material  service  to  those  who  to-day  from  blindness  and  passion 
oppose  the  liberation  of  the  peoples  of  the  Thracian  Peninsula. 
England  will  win  morally  in  the  eyes  of  the  whole  world,  but  especi- 
ally of  the  oppressed  peoples,  whose  liberation  is  in  question.  More- 
over, I  think  that  England  by  representing  openly  and  unreservedly 
the  oppressed  peoples,  will  lend  fresh  weight  to  every  argument  for 
the  protection  of  its  own  interests.  A  contrary  attitude  on  Eng- 
land's part  might  obviously  cause  a  general  conflagration,  whose 
ravages  none  can  foresee.  I  beg  you  then,  if  possible,  to  work  upon 
your  Government  in  this  direction.  This  will  be  the  crown  of  your 
activity  hitherto.  There  are,  as  you  well  know,  moments  in  human 
life  when  one  earns  scant  recognition  in  defence  of  the  great  princi- 
ples of  truth  and  justice  ;  but  very  often  it  is  just  such  moments 
which  are  the  loveHest  wreath  for  the  memory  of  the  man  who  did 
not  shrink  from  staking  his  own  popularity  in  the  service  of  truth 
and  justice  and  exposing  himself  to  much  abuse. 

If  I  am  eager  for  the  liberation  of  the  oppressed  peoples  of  Euro- 
pean Turkey,  I  mean  by  that  not  only  the  Slavs  but  also  the  Greeks.  ■, 
This  time,  it  is  true,  they  have  behaved  most  unworthily  ;  just  as* 
their  behaviour  was  truly  unworthy  and  shameful  when  like  cowards 
they  lost  their  capital  Constantinople  to  the  advancing  Turks. 
None[the  less,  their  liberation  also  should  be  achieved  to-day,  in  the 
interest  of  humanity  and  the  permanent  pacification  of  these  parts 
of  Europe. 

Secondly,  my  noble  friend,  I  have  to  recommend  to  you  the  Serbs  - 
and  the  Montenegrins.     So  far  as  the  former  are  concerned,  it  would] 
be  very  desirable  that  all  Old  Servia  should  be  handed  over  to  them. 
I  do  not  know  how  far  at  present  they  have  victoriously  penetrated  I 
by  force  of  arms  ;   but  this  I  know  for  certain,  that  the  Serbs  will] 

434 


BISHOP  STROSSMAYER  AND   MR.   GLADSTONE 

only  be  permanently  pacified  and  deprived  'of  every  excuse  for 
revolting,  when  they  are  assigned  Pristina  in  the  south,  then  Ipek 
(or  Petsch)  in  a  westerly  direction,  then  further  south  Prizren,  or 
"  Prisrendt  "  as  is  written  to-day.  Each  of  these  towns  has  for  the 
Serbs  a  dear  and  sacred  memory.  For  instance,  Prizren  was  long 
the  residence  of  their  kings.  Ipek  was  long  the  seat  of  their  supreme 
Church  authority,  their  Patriarch  and  a  famous  monastery.  No 
people  on  earth  easily  forgets  such  precious  traditions.  Every 
Serb  carries  them  in  his  heart  and  also  in  his  mouth,  in  the  shape  of 
splendid  popular  songs.  In  the  present  excited  state  of  feeling 
quiet  could  hardly  be  reckoned  on  for  a  week,  if  these  places  so 
sacred  to  every  Serb  were  stiU  left  in  the  hands  of  the  Turks. 

The  Montenegrins  with  their  splendid  and  truly  heroic  prince,  I 
hardly  need  to  recommend  to  you.  If  any  little  people  deserves  the 
world's  admiration,  it  is  this  splendid  Montenegrin  people,  which 
has  taken  up  its  abode  like  an  eagle  on  a  lofty  and  barren 
crag,  in  order  to  buy  its  freedom  and  independence  by  a  thousand 
sacrifices  and  renunciations  for  centuries. 

Thirdly,  I  recommend  to  you,  and  to  your  Government  if  you 
have  any  influence  in  this  direction,  the  Bosnians  and  Herzegovin- 
ians.  I  am  lawfully  Bishop  of  Bosnia,  and  am  therefore  in  some 
ways  a  Di\dnely  appointed  defender  of  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina. 
How  happy  I  should  be,  if  it  were  possible  to  grant  me  a  place,  how- 
ever modest,  at  the  Congress,  so  that  I  might  represent  the  interests 
of  this  very  worthy,  but  also  much  neglected,  people.*  Since,  how- 
ever, this  is  impossible,  I  venture  to  recommend  them  most  earn- 
estly to  you  and  if  possible  to  your  Government.  What  is  just  and 
fair  for  the  Bulgarians,  Roumanians  and  Greeks,  is  equally  just  and 
fair  for  the  poor  Bosnians  and  Herzegovinians,  since  it  was  from 
them  that  the  first  impetus  came  for  the  present  movement  and 
liberation  of  these  peoples.  These  districts  deserve  to  be  freed 
from  their  present  yoke  and  to  be  entrusted  with  adequate  autonomy. 
In  present  conditions  it  would  be  impossible  to  entrust  the  adminis- 
tration of  these  countries  to  the  hands  of  the  Serbs,  with  reserva- 
tion of  the  Turkish  suzerainty — a  course  which  I  regard  as  the 
most  practical ;  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  not  easy  to  imagine  any 
other  suzerainty  or  influence  on  an  international  basis,  without  great 
confusion.  There  is  then  nothing  left,  in  my  opinion,  but  to  make 
these  countries  quite  autonomous  and  to  retain  Turkish  suzerainty, 
perhaps  defined  by  international  law.  What  I  consider  to  be  ex- 
tremely important  for  these  countries,  is  that  the  Eastern  Orthodox 
Church  should  be  freed  as  soon  as  possible  from  the  shameful  yoke 
of  Phanariotism.  Till  now  the  Bishops  here  have  been  Phanariots, 
who  bought  their  office  for  hard  cash  from  the  Patriarch  in  Constan- 
tinople, in  order  to  compensate  themselves  a  hundredfold  for  this 
price  by  more  than  Turkish  exactions.*  That  such  Bishops  did  not 
understand  the  language  of  the  people,  and  that  they  kept  the 

435 


APPENDIX   XVII 

Orthodox  clergy  in  ghastly  ignorance,  and  entirely  neglected  all  the 
duties  of  their  calling,  goes  without  saying.*  Henceforth  this  people 
ought  to  have  a  Bishop  from  among  itself,  who,  knowing  its  lan- 
guage and  customs  and  loving  it,  will  attend  to  its  spiritual  interests 
better  than  before.*  So  far  as  the  CathoHc  Church  is  concerned,  it 
has  been  hitherto  far  better  served,  but  even  in  this  respect  changes 
are  absolutely  necessary,  and  these  I  shall  discuss  with  Rome  quite 
openly.  I  know  you  are  too  much  occupied  to  reply  :  I  only  ask 
you  to  see  that  some  one  acknowledges  the  due  receipt  of  this  letter. 
With  true  respect  and  admiration,  I  remain  your  admirer  and 
friend, 

Strossmayer 

IX.     Bishop  Strossmayer  to  Mr.  Gladstone,  April  ii,  1878. 
(In  German.) 

I  thank  you  most  heartily  for  your  last  letter.  It  was  a  great 
comfort  to  me.  Since  then  things  have  grown  so  much  worse  that 
we  seem  to  stand  on  the  verge  of  a  terrible  conflagration.  God  be 
merciful  to  poor  humanity  !  According  to  my  most  sincere  convic- 
tion, England  is  about  to  commit  a  gigantic  crime.  Before  the  war, 
during  the  war,  England  could  have  made  a  peaceful  compact  with 
Russia ;  she  could  do  so  even  now,  if  she  really  wished  it,  and  so 
safeguard  her  own  interests  as  well  as  those  of  Europe.  Instead  of 
that  she  prefers  to  ally  herself  with  the  Hungarians,  who  know  no 
policy  save  that  of  blind  hate  and  aversion  towards  the  Slavs.  A 
strange  business  !  The  words  of  your  new  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs 
come  straight  from  the  soul  of  every  true  Magyar,  from  the  very 
mouth  of  Count  Andrassy.  In  the  Austrian  monarchy  the  Slavs  are 
oppressed  by  the  Magyars  and  the  Germans  ;  in  the  Balkan  penin- 
sula the  Greeks  are  to  take  over  the  task  of  subjugating  and  oppress- 
ing the  Slavs.  That  is  the  gist  of  your  Minister's  pronouncements. 
What  a  monstrosity  ;  and  how  unworthy  of  a  great  and  free  nation  ! 

You  know  that  we  Slavs  wish  the  Greeks  every  happiness  and 
every  freedom.     If  it  depended  on  us  Greek  aspirations  would  soon : 
be  fulfilled,  within  their  just  limits  ;   but  one  thing  strikes  me  forci-j 
bly.     The  Greeks  exist  rather  by  virtue  of  the  fame  of  their  ancestors  i 
than  by  their  own  deserts.     I  cannot  but  hold  them  very  largely  to  i 
blame  that  the  Turkish  hordes  have  penetrated  so  far  into  Europe. 
The  fall  of  Constantinople  is  an  eternal  and  irreparable  disgrace  toj 
the  Greeks.  Foreign  peoples  had  to  defend  Constantinople  against 
the  attacks  of  the  Turks,  while  the  Greeks  busied  themselves  withj 
senseless  religious  hair-splittings,  and  while  they  in  their  churches 
were  prajdng  God,  in  stupid  and  indolent  fashion,  to  save  them  by! 
a  miracle,  the  Turks  were  ^breaking  into  Constantinople,   massa- 
cring thc'degenerate  inhabitants,  and  turning  the  Christian  churches! 
into  mosques.     Hardly^even  did  the  heroic  death  of  their  emperor, 
Constantine^XIV.,  atone  for  the  stupidity  and  degeneracy  of  his 

436 


BISHOP  STROSSMAYER  AND   MR.   GLADSTONE 

people.  A  second  crime  committed  by  the  Greeks  is,  in  my  opinion, 
this  :  that  they  very  easily  became  accompHces  in  every  way  of  the 
Turkish  tyranny.  The  attitude  of  the  Greek  Church  and  the  Greek 
Patriarch  towards  the  Bulgars  and  Bosniaks  has  been  until  quite 
lately  a  horrible  one.  The  Phanariot  Bishops  ^^^  and  priests  with  their 
simony  and  their  corruption  were  during  centuries  a  far  worse 
plague  and  tyranny  for  the  poor  Bulgars  and  Bosniaks  than  the 
Turks  themselves.*  Finally,  their  behaviour  even  latterly  has  been 
senseless.  While  the  Turks  had  the  Russians,  Roumanians  and 
Serbs  by  the  throat,  they  did  not  stir ;  now  they  begin  to  make 
war.  All  this,  of  course,  does  not  prove  that  one  should  not  grant 
them  their  freedom,  witliin  just  limits,  but  it  does  indubitably  prove 
that  it  would  positively  be  a  crime  to  make  use  of  them  to  hinder 
the  freedom  and  independent  development  of  the  Slav  nation  in 
the  Balkan  peninsula.  An  idea  fostered  by  the  Magyars,  and  pressed 
by  them  on  the  Government  of  the  great,  free  and  famous  English 
nation.  At  such  critical  moments  only  one  comfort  remains  to 
any  enlightened  friend  of  justice  and  humanity,  that  under  a  just 
God  every  injustice  is  sooner  or  later  avenged  upon  its  perpetrator. 
To  you  and  your  friends  will  always  remain  the  glory  of  having 
defended  the  cause  of  truth,  justice  and  humanity  with  the  utmost 
self-sacrifice  in  circumstances  of  the  greatest  difficulty. 

I  can  assure  you  that  you  have  secured  our  eternal  gratitude. 
As  to  your  comment,  my  most  honoured  friend,  that  often  the  most 
pious  people  work  against  you,  while  other  less  pious  support  you, 
let  me  remark  this  :  that,  as  the  Apostle  Paul  complains,  in  every 
man  there  are,  in  our  present  state,  two  opposing  laws,  the  "  anima 
naturaliter  Christiana,"  as  TertulUan  calls  it,  and  the  "  anima 
pagana."  Unfortunately,  even  in  the  best  and  noblest  souls  the 
"  anima  pagana  "  often  triumphs. 

As  to  the  new  Pope,  my  dear  friend,  I  know  nothing  of  him.  In 
the  last  Council  he  remained  absolutely  silent.  It  seems  to  me, 
nevertheless,  that  he  is  a  learned  and  moderate  man.  His  Secretary 
of  State  I  know  well.  He  certainly  is  a  fair-minded,  cultivated  and 
moderate  man.  As  to  the  necessary  reforms  in  the  Catholic  Church 
we  must  have  patience.  It  seems  to  me  that  Divine  Providence  has 
already  begun  those  reforms,  through  the  suspension  of  the  Temporal 
Power  of  the  Popes,  which  at  any  rate  in  its  later  developments  I  held 
to  be  harmful  rather  than  useful  to  the  eternal  and  imperishable 
caUing  of  the  Church.  The  necessary  consequence  of  this  will  be, 
sooner  or  later,  the  universalization  of  the  Roman  Church,  not  only 
in  the  College  of  Cardinals,  but  also  in  the  various  Congregations, 
and  the  whole  apparatus  called  "  Curia  Romana."  The  further  logical 
consequence  will  be  the  more  frequent,  and  perhaps  periodical, 
meeting  of  the  oecumenical  councils,  and  their  re-organization,  which 

^1'  So  called,  because  appointed  from  the  Phanar,  the  residence  of  the  Greek 
Patriarch  in  Stambul. 

437 


APPENDIX   XVII 

is  absolutely  necessary  in  order  that  they  may  become  the  true  ex- 
pression of  the  motto  :  ' '  Quod  semper,  quod  ubique,  quod  ab  omni- 
bus." I  cannot  relinquish  the  hope  that  God  will  grant  to  this 
ancient  Church  the  power,  so  sorely  needed  in  the  present  day,  to 
bring  about  that  unity  in  the  human  race  which  lay  so  close  to  the 
heart  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  (John  xiv.)  for  which  every  noble 
soul  here  below  already  longs  so  ardently,  and  which  is  the  necessary 
prelude  to  that  peaceful  accord  and  brotherly  feeling  which  is  so 
sadly  lacking  in  the  world  to-day  ;  as  also  to  that  blessed  unity  with 
God  in  eternity  to  which  we  are  called.  I  am  but  a  weak  man, 
belonging  to  an  obscure  nation  which  I  love  greatly  ;  but  so  long  as 
there  is  life  left  in  me  I  will  devote  all  my  poor  powers  to  the  attain- 
ment of  this  end.  I  have  kept  you  too  long  already  with  my  talk. 
With  sincerest  respect,  etc. 

Strossmayer, 

Bishop. 
April  II,  1878. 

X.    Bishop  Strossmayer  to  Mr.   Gladstone,  March  13,  1879. 
(In  German.) 

I  thank  you  greatly  for  the  friendly  letter  you  have  just  sent  me. 
Certainly  England  has  not  realized  her  task  in  the  least  with  regard 
to  recent  events,  A  great  people  like  the  English,  who  have  been 
free  for  centuries,fshould  never  be  unfaithful  to  its  task  ofdefending 
freedom,  truth,  justice  and  culture  throughout  the  world.  Eng- 
land is  chiefly  to  blame  that  the  Turco-European  question  has  not 
been  solved,  at  any  rate,  not  entirely,  and  that  its  present  solution 
holds  many  seeds  of  anxiety,  of  unrest,  and  unavoidable  war. 
Meanwhile  you,  my!  most  honoured  friend,  and  your  noble  and  en- 
lightened friends  have  saved  the  honour  and  the  flag  of  England. 
Every  one  over  here  is  convinced  that  you  and  your  friends  have 
on  this  occasion  represented  the  true  England  and  her  natural  and 
glorious  vocation.  We  are  all,  therefore,  eternally  grateful  to  you, 
and  hope  with  all  our  hearts  that  your  noble  intentions  and  efforts 
will  very  shortly  become  the  intentions  and  efforts  of  your  Parlia- 
ment and  Government.  We  also  put  our  cause  into  your  hands  for 
the  future,  and  undertake  most  solemnly  to  prove  ourselves  always 
worthy  of  our  English  friends  and  protectors  by  our  truth,  justice, 
love  and  good- will  towards  all  men.  In  my  pastoral  letters  I  preach 
(the  doctrine)  over  and  over  again  that  we  can  only  become  worthy 
of  freedom  and  culture  by  extending  the  same  freedom  to  all  with 
whom  we  come  into  contact,  of  whatever  faith  or  race  they  may  be, 
and  by  letting  them  partake  equally  with  ourselves  of  the  benefits 
of  freedom  and  civilization.  This  is  the  teaching  of  the  Cross  and 
the  law  of  every  community  which  wishes  to  be  worthy  of  the  fruits 
of  the  Redemption. 

I  also  am  of  the  opinion  that  the  Slavs  should  remain  quiet,  and 

438 


BISHOP  STROSSMAYER  AND   MR.   GLADSTONE 

take  full  advantage  of  their  newly-won  position  in  developing 
themselves  {zu  ihrer  Aushildung.)  This  is  the  best  way  to  prove 
themselves  worthy  of  those  aspirations  for  the  future  which  they 
very  rightly  carry  in  their  hearts.  I  am  pleased  to  note  that 
the  very  noble  Prince  of  Montenegro,  with  whom  I  am  in 
correspondence,  is  of  the  same  opinion.  What  in  the  mean- 
while is  going  to  happen  in  Roumelia,  God  alone  knows.  Things 
there  are  built  upon  so  unnatural  a  foundation  that  any  un- 
lucky chance  may  cause  a  conflagration.  In  that  country  not 
only  are  the  Turks  and  Bulgars  in  opposition  to  each  other,  but 
there  are  also  all  kinds  of  external  .  .  .  influences,  so  that  it  looks  as 
though  things  had  to  a  certain  extent  been  purposely  so  arranged 
that  the  peace  and  quiet  of  the  world  might  at  any  moment  be 
disturbed.  Ah,  how  weak  and  shortsighted  is  human  wisdom, 
when  it  strays  from  the  path  of  justice  and  love  !  Your  estimate  of 
Austria  is  quite  correct,  and  it  is  much  to  be  feared  that  she  wiU  not 
maintain  her  internal  system  in  the  newly-acquired  provinces. 
My  dear  friend !  I  would  give  my  life  to  save  that  great  country. 
She  has  a  magnificent  task  to  perform  in  the  new  situation  of  the 
world.  Austria  should  be  a  great  neutral  state  between  the  German 
and  Slav  empires,  whose  mission  is  eventually  to  prevent  conflict 
between  these  two  states,  and  to  help  on  the  peaceful  solution  of  the 
Eastern  complications.  But  as  this  state  stands  at  present,  it  is 
becoming  daily  weaker,  and  less  able  to  solve  any  large  question 
happily.  The  latest  events  have  shown,  and  future  events  will  show 
still  more  plainly,  that  the  Austria  of  to-day,  instead  of  assisting 
through  her  mediation  in  the  settlement  of  the  European  confusion, 
is  much  more  inclined  to  add  to  it,  and  to  sow  the  seeds  of  future 
dissension  and  unavoidable  fresh  complications  in  every  question 
which  she  touches.  You  know  that  Count  Andrassy,  before  the  out- 
break of  the  war,  considered  far-reaching  agrarian  reforms  necessary, 
in  order  to  deprive  the  insurrection  of  incentive  and  support 
[Halt  und  Nahrung).  Now  he  is  master  in  the  land,  and  not  only 
is  there  no  further  talk  of  improvements,  but  the  Christians  com- 
plain more  than  ever.  It  seems  that  the  new  regime  wishes  to  play 
off  the  Turkish  element  against  the  Slavonic,  Orthodox  as  wefl  as 
Catholic.  A  truly  petty  poHcy,  dictated  by  an  unreasonable  fear 
of  the  Slavs,  which  can  benefit  no  one,  but  must  be  harmful  in  all 
quarters.  Although  I  am  Bishop  of  Bosnia,  no  influence  over 
Bosnia  is  granted  me.  On  the  contrary,  they  fear  me,  and  say  a 
thousand  damaging  things  against  me.  Nevertheless,  I  have  a 
moral  influence  in  Bosnia,  of  which  no  one  can  deprive  me,  and  I 
shall  make  it  felt  in  the  sense  which  you  indicate  in  your  letter. 

The  Pope  is  reaUy  a  learned  and  distinguished  man.  His  chief 
task  is,  in  my  opinion,  the  reformation  of  the  Roman  Church,  that 
is,  its  universalization.  The  Church  of  Rome  should  become  an 
universal  Church,  not  only^  by  nature  and  vocation,  but  also  in  her 

439 


APPENDIX   XVII 

outer  form.  This  applies  not  only  to  the  College  of  Cardinals,  but 
to  all  Congregations  and  courts.  Only  thus  will  the  Papacy  and  the 
Roman  Church  attain  their  immortal  destination,  and  fulfil  the 
expectations  and  the  needs  of  the  whole  world.  Among  other 
abuses  to  which  the  present  system  leads  is  the  following  :  When 
one  has  to  choose  men  for  purposes  of  an  universal  nature  always 
from  one  and  the  same  nation,  for  the  most  part  at  any  rate  (as 
in  this  case,  from  the  Italian  nation)  the  supply  soon  becomes  ex- 
hausted, and  one  ends  by  getting  men  who  are  able  and  well-drilled, 
but  who  are  quite  unequal  to  their  high  destination.  But  the  ques- 
tions which  the  Roman  prelacy  have  to  deal  with  are  of  so  import- 
ant a  nature  that  they  demand  quite  exceptional  men,  in  whom 
natural  genius  is  so  harmoniously  alUed  with  the  inspiration  given 
from  above,  that  the  most  delicate  and  important  questions  which 
touch  the  universal  conscience  of  mankind  may  be  happily  solved, 
in  accordance  with  the  true  needs  of  society.  God  grant  that  the 
present  Pope,  who  undoubtedly  is  inspired  by  holy  intentions,  may 
fully  grasp  this,  and  have  the  courage  to  carry  it  out.  Moreover, 
it  seems  as  though  Providence  had  already  taken  the  matter  into 
His  hands  and  will  sooner  or  later  find  a  suitable  instrument  for  its 
fulfilment.  .  .  . 

Strossmayer, 
Bishop  of  Bosnia  and  Syrmia, 
DiAKOVO,  March  13,  1879. 

XI,    Bishop  Strossmayer  to  Mr.  Gladstone,  April  11,  1879. 
(In  French.) 

A  certain  artist  named  Kaiser  asks  me  to  recommend  him  to 
you.  I  do  it  willingly,  as  I  know  that  he  is  really  an  artist  of  great 
merit.  He  has  already  worked  a  great  deal  for  England,  especially 
for  the  Arundel  Society,  which  occupies  itself  with  the  reproduction 
of  old  masterpieces.  The  best  water-colour  paintings  done  for 
this  Society  are  the  work  of  Kaiser.  Therefore,  you  would  oblige 
me  greatly  if  you  could  in  any  way  be  of  service  to  him. 

The  state  of  Bosnia  is  now  worse  under  the  Magyars  than  it  was 
formerly  under  the  Turks.*    Allow  me  to  sign  myself,  etc.,  etc. 

Strossmayer,  Bishop. 

April  II,  1879. 

P.S. — The  alliance  of  England  and  Austria,  celebrated  by  M. 
Karolyi  ^^'*  a  few  days  ago,  aims  at  hindering  the  freedom  and  progress 
of  the  Slavs.  This  alliance  is,  in  my  opinion,  unworthy  of  a  great  and 
free  nation.  The  vocation  and  the  glory  of  England  should  be,  as 
I  think,  always  to  protect  the  feeble  against  their  oppressors. 
611  Austro- Hungarian  ambassador  in  London. 
440 


BISHOP  STROSSMAYER  AND   MR.   GLADSTONE 

XII.  Bishop  Strossmayer  to  Mr.  Gladstone. ^^^     (Written  in  French.) 

My  dear  and  Venerable  Friend, — 

I  have  a  most  ardent  desire  to  see  you  on  the  occasion  of  your 
journey  to  Germany  and  Italy  ;  but,  unhappily,  in  present  circum- 
stances it  is  almost  impossible.  If  I  could  have  foreseen  your  very 
kind  and  flattering  invitation,  I  should  willingly  have  arranged 
my  affairs  in  such  a  way  as  to  be  able  to  be  absent  for  a  time.  At 
present  I  am  already  engaged  upon  enterprises  which  cannot  be 
deferred.  None  the  less,  I  do  not  despair  of  some  day  having  the 
honour  of  seeing  and  venerating  you  in  your  home  in  England.  At 
present  I  am  extremely  busy  with  the  building  of  my  Cathedral 
church,  which  will  be  finished  and  probably  consecrated  in  1882 
at  the  feast  of  St.  Peter.^^^  If  God  preserves  my  life,  I  shall  then  be 
freer.  Either  before  or  immediately  after  the  dedication  of  my 
church,  I  shall  visit  Germany  and  France,  and  England  expressly 
to  have  the  good  fortune  to  see  you. 

I  quite  realize  that  your  presence  will  soon  be  necessary  in  Eng- 
land, because  the  electoral  struggle  which  is  about  to  commence, 
wiU  be  decisive  for  England's  prestige,  in  my  opinion  gravely  com- 
promised by  the  present  Government.  j\Iay  God  help  you  and  give 
you  the  victory  you  deserve  !  Your  victory  will  be  that  of  your 
glorious  country.  We  shall  aU  rejoice,  who  love  liberty  and  pro- 
gress and  who  were  accustomed  from  childhood  to  see  England  foster- 
ing hberty  and  defending  the  fate  of  oppressed  peoples. 

As  to  the  state  [etat)  of  which  you  would  Hke  to  talk  with  me  more 
intimately,^^'  it  has,  I  am  convinced,  a  providential  destiny.  It  must 
become,  amid  the  events  which  have  already  come  to  pass  and  which 
win  still  occur  towards  the  end  of  our  century,  a  great  neutral  state, 
strictly  based  upon  truth  and  justice,  to  prevent  in  Europe  the 
clash  between  the  German  element  and  the  Slav  element :  to  form 
the  guarantee  of  a  durable  peace  :  to  assist  sincerely  and  efficaciously 
the  peoples  of  the  Balkans  in  their  just  and  meritorious  aims.  If  it 
were  possible,  I  would  secure  for  it  at  the  cost  of  my  life  a  juster 
organization,  and  one  more  suited  to  its  eternal  destiny.  Let  us 
hope  that  the  force  of  its  pressing  needs  and  the  course  of  nature  will 
prove  stronger  than  the  blindness  of  the  men  who  have  guided  it 
hitherto.  From  what  is  being  done  to-day  and  from  what  is  not 
being  done  at  aU  in  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina,  one  cannot  as  yet  be- 
lieve in  the  aptitude  of  this  state  ^'^  to  win  a  moral  influence  over  new 
peoples,  and  to  penetrate  by  wisdom  and  by  studying  their  needs, 

^1^  This  letter  bears  no  exact  date,  but  various  internal  references  would  seem 
to  place  it  in  the  summer  of  1879.  Mr.  Gladstone  visited  Munich  and  Italy 
in  September  and  October  of  that  year,  and  on  his  return  plunged  into  the 
great  electoral  campaign,  which  ended  with  his  return  to  power  in  April,  i8.5o. 

*^^  See  page  124. 

^1'  This  of  course  refers  to  Austria. 

441 


APPENDIX   XVII 

their  hearts  and  consciences.     Give  my  cordial  greetings  to  your 
family,  and  my  blessing  to  your  children. 

Your  friend  always, 

Strossmayer,  Bishop. 

XIII.     Bishop  Strossmayer  to  Mr.  Gladstone,  April  17,  1880.^^^ 
(In  German.) 

You  have  won  the  victory.  God  bless  you  !  My  best  and  warm- 
est good  wishes  go  with  you.  Your  victory  stands,  in  my  eyes,  for 
truth,  justice,  true  freedom,  and  magnanimous  good- will  towards 
suffering  and  oppressed  nationalities.  You  are  quite  right ;  the 
Austrian  Slavs  and  the  Slavs  of  the  Thracian  peninsula  are  most 
sincerely  glad  that  you  have  won.  But  I  am  also  convinced  that 
the  empire  to  which  I  belong  must  also  rejoice,  for  otherwise  that 
feverishly-restless  man  in  Berlin  {der  krankhaft-unruhige  Mann  in 
Berlin)  ^^^  whose  ambition  and  arbitrary  temper  know  no  bounds, 
might  easily  have  plunged  into  a  war  which  might  have  proved  fatal 
to  the  state.  Your  victory  means  :  Peace  in  the  world,  and  a  good 
understanding  with  the  great  Slav  power  in  Europe  and  Asia  alike. 
Your  opinion  regarding  the  nationalities  of  Turkey-in-Europe  is 
entirely  correct.  They  should  be  left  quite  free  to  win  and  establish 
such  forms  as  seem  to  them  best  adapted  for  securing  and  develop- 
ing their  freedom  and  their  culture.  Allow  me  to  add  one  more 
thought.  The  glorious  victory  which  you  have  just  won  seems  to 
me  a  sign  that  Providence  has  reserved  one  more  special  honour  for 
you  at  the  end  of  your  career,  namely,  to  make  an  end  of  the  brutal 
domination  of  the  Turks  in  Europe,  and  moreover,  to  do  it  in  a 
manner  which  causes  no  general  conflagration,  and  involves  no  real 
injury  to  any  Christian  power  whatever.  I  can  hardly  tell  you  how 
happy  I  should  be  if  I  ever  lived  to  see  Christian  worship  celebrated 
in   the  magnificent  Aga  Sofia.^^'' 

Forgive  me,  my  distinguished  friend,  that  I  was  not  able  to  see 
you  and  pay  my  respects  to  you  in  Venice.  You  know  that  I  am 
tied  by  quite  special  considerations.  Please  make  my  excuses  also 
to  my  old  friend  Lord  Acton.  I  still  hope  to  see  you  in  England  in 
the  course  of  this  year,  or  the  next.  It  is  the  dearest  wish  of  my 
heart  to  be  able  to  express  to  you  in  person  my  respect,  gratitude, 
and  admiration.  Once  more,  God  bless  you  !  May  He  grant  you 
the  realization  of  all  your  just  and  noble  aspirations,  to  the  eternal 
glory  of  your  great  country  and  distinguished  name,  and  to  the 

^1*  The  original  of  this  letter  is  marked  "  Secret,"  in  Mr.  Gladstone's  hand- 
writing. 

^1*  An  allusion  to  Bismarck,  against  whom  Strossmayer  had  a  natural  Slav 
prejudice. 

^-o  The  Church  of  St.  Sofia  in  Constantinople,  which  has  been  a  Turkish 
mosque  since  the  Conquest  in  1453- 

442 


BISHOP  STROSSMAYER  AND  MR.   GLADSTONE 

advantage  and  comfort  of  the  nations  who  are  still  striving  after 
freedom  and  civilization. 

Strossmayer, 
DiAKOVO,  April  17,  1880.  Bishop. 

XIV.     Bishop  Strossmayer  to  Mr.  Gladstone,  Sept.  19, 1882, 
(In  French.) 

(Congratulates  him  on  the  "  great  and  decisive  victory  "  of  the 
British  army  in  Egypt.  British  policy  "  guided  by  your  consum- 
mate wisdom  "  signifies  "truth,  justice,  freedom  and  progress  all 
the  world  over.") 

..."  You  wield  a  great  and  well  deserved  authority  in  Europe  ; 
therefore,  allow  me,  my  dear  and  venerable  friend,  to  recommend  to 
you  the  great  and  just  cause  of  the  Southern  Slavs.  They  will 
assuredly  prove  themselves  worthy  in  future  of  the  eminent  ser- 
vices which  you  may  render  them  in  the  Areopagus  of  Europe. 
They  have  already,  though  living  under  very  difficult  circumstances, 
given  indubitable  proofs  of  their  love  for  true  hberty  and  progress." 

(Announces  that  he  has  finished  his  Cathedral  church  after  six- 
teen years  of  uninterrupted  labour,  and  would  greatly  like  to  show  it 
to  Mr.  Gladstone.) 

September  19,  1882.     Diakovo. 

XV.     Mr.  Gladstone  to  Bishop  Strossmayer.     Hawarden,  October  12, 

1882.     (In  French.) 
Venerable  Bishop  and  Dear  Friend, — 

I  thank  you  with  all  my  heart  for  your  very  kind  letter,  and  regret 
as  keenly  as  possible  that  the  daily  burden  of  public  affairs,  which  is 
always  growing  and  threatening  to  overwhelm  my  poor  powers, 
prevents  me  from  replying  to  it  as  I  should  like  to.  In  a  few  words, 
I  do  not  say  that  I  shall  discharge  my  debt,  but  at  least  I  shall 
acknowledge  it. 

It  is  by  the  inexpressible  goodness  of  God  that  the  English  opera- 
tions in  Egypt  have  succeeded  in  a  manner  more  than  satisfactory 
in  every  respect.  It  remains  to  be  seen  whether  we  are  faithful  not 
only  to  the  Protocole  de  Desinteressement  drawn  up  at  Constantin- 
ople, but  also  to  all  our  professions  and  declarations  which  accord 
with  it.  What  we  desire  in  Egypt,  is  security  without,  liberty  and 
prosperity  within.  A  Mohammedan  people,  it  is  not  far  advanced  : 
but  it  is  neither  ill  to  govern  nor  incapable  of  learning  the  practical 
exercise  of  a  reasonable  and  growing  autonomy.  Let  us  then  do  our 
best :  the  civilized  and  Christian  world  will  give  us  encouragement 
and  support. 

As  for  the  Southern  Slavs,  we  may  hope  for  much  progress  in  the 
future,  and  may  congratulate  ourselves  upon  the  great  work  of 
emancipation  which  has  to  a  great  extent  been  accomplished. 

And  the  Cathedral,  magnificent  in  the  opinion  of  all  who  have 
seen  it,  which  Your  Grace  has  built  and  dedicated,  to  the  honour  of 

443 


APPENDIX   XVII 

God  and  the  salvation  of  souls,  and  perhaps  to  inspire  in  others  a 
noble  emulation,  by  showing  that  the  lofty  spirit  of  past  cen- 
turies is  not  yet  entirely  extinguished.  How  I  should  have  liked 
to  profit  by  your  gracious  invitation  ;  but  it  was  impossible.  In 
one  way  or  another,  in  what  place  I  know  not,  I  still  hope  to  meet 
you  before  I  die, 

I  remain,  always  your  friend  and  most  devoted  servant, 

W.  Gladstone. 

XVI.     Bishop  Strossmayer  to  Mr.  Gladstone,  September  26,  1886. 

(In  French.) 

I  regret  infinitely  that  I  should  have  missed  the  chance  of  meet- 
ing you  at  our  mutual  friend,  Lord  Acton's  house  at  S.  Martin  ; 
but  you  were  right  to  hasten  your  return  to  England.  The  causes 
to  which  you  have  devoted  your  illustrious  and  immortal  energies 
are  the  best  and  holiest  of  causes  ;  they  touch  the  welfare  and  inter- 
ests of  all  humanity.  This  last  one,  touching  unhappy  Ireland, 
oppressed  for  centuries,  is  the  most  glorious  of  all.  It  is  the  cause 
of  justice,  intimately  alHed  to  justice  triumphant  in  the  passion  and 
death  of  our  Saviour.  Such  a  cause  cannot  die  ;  it  triumphs  usually 
at  the  very  moment  when  the  unjust  and  bUnd  world  believes  it 
about  to  be  lost  and  buried.  The  triumph  of  the  Irish  cause  will, 
I  am  firmly  convinced,  be  the  crown  of  your  glorious  career.  I 
appreciate  most  keenly  all  the  nobility  of  your  devotion,  because  the 
present  condition  of  my  nation  is  almost  analogous  to  that  of  Ire- 
land. Although  I  am  very  old  and  my  health  very  frail,  I  still 
hope  some  day  perhaps  to  see  and  pay  you  my  homage  in  England. 

Strossmayer,  Bishop. 

September  2,  1886. 

The  correspondence  is  concluded  by  three  further  letters  from 
Bishop  Strossmayer,  which  need  not  be  quoted  in  extenso.  The 
first  (dated  September  26,  1886)  merely  introduces  Madame  Marlet, 
a  Bulgarian  authoress,  who  is  anxious  for  a  letter  to  the  French 
President,  M.  Grevy.  The  second  (dated  1888,  month  unreadable) 
is  a  letter  of  praise  and  congratulation  to  Mr.  Gladstone  on  his 
Jubilee  ;  it  contains  comphments  which  are  unquestionably  heart- 
felt and  genuine,  but  it  contains  nothing  else  save  compliments. 

The  last  letter,  written  on  July  25,  1892  (at  the  height  of  the 
Kliuen  regime),  in  shaky  handwriting,  is  devoted  to  congratulations 
on  the  Liberal  victory  at  the  polls.  It  contains  the  following 
interesting  passage  : — 

..."  The  Hungarians  are  a  proud,  egotistical  and  in  the  high- 
est degree  tyrannical  race,  and  my  poor  nation  is  persecuted, 
oppressed  and  ill-treated,  but  I  hope  that  the  cause  of  the  Slavs  in 
general,  restored  by  providential  events  to  its  natural  destiny,  to 
the  advantage  of  universal  culture  and  Uberty,  will  also  dehver  my 
own  nation,  which  is  worthy  of  all  the  favour  of  God  and  men."  It, 
is  signed,  "  Your  servant  and  admirer,  Joseph  George  Strossmayer, 
Bishop." 

444 


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The  following  bibliography  makes  no  pretence  to  be  complete,  but 
it  to  some  extent  supplies  a  want  in  English.  Here  and  there  I  have 
added  brief  comments,  which  are  only  intended  for  the  guidance  of 
any  reader  who  may  be  approaching  the  subject  for  the  first  time. 
Only  books  of  the  first  importance  have  been  marked  with  an  asterisk. 

I.  HISTORICAL 

*Smit$iklas,   T.     Codex  Diplomaticus  (7  vols.,   up  to  1300).     Zagreb, 

1904-8. 
Poviest  Hrvatska  (History  of  Croatia),  2  vols.     Zagreb,  1S82 

(up  to  1848). 
Rac^ki,  Don  Franjo.     Documenta  historiae  chroaticae  periodam  anti- 

quam  illustrantia.     Zagreb,   1877. 
*Klaic,  Prof.  Vjekoslav.     Povjest  Hrvata  (History  of  the  Croats),  5 

vols.     Zagreb,    1899,    seq.     The   standard   modern   history,    with 

numerous  original  documents  and  illustrations. 
Sisic,   Prof.   Ferdo.     Hrvatska  Povijest   (History  of  Croatia),   2   vols. 

(to  1790).     Zagreb,   1906,   1908.     An  ideal  textbook. 
Horvat,  Dr.  Rudolf.     Najnovije  Doba  Hrvatske  Povjesti  (The  Latest 

Period  of  Croatian  History).     Zagreb,   1906. 
Pauler.     A  Magyar  Nemzet  tortenete  Arpadhazi  Kiralyok  alatt  (His- 
tory of  the  Hungarian  Nation  under  the  Kings  of  the  House  of 

Arpad),  2  vols.     Budapest,   1899. 
Theiner,     Aug.     Vetera     Monumenta     Slavorum     meridionalium.     I. 

Romae,   1843. 
Chmel.     Aktenstiicke  zur  Geschichte  Croatiens.     Vienna,    1846. 
Szalay.     Geschichte  Ungarns.     3  Bde.     Pest,   1866-74. 
Helfert,    Jos.    Alex.    Freiherr   von.     Geschichte    der     osterreichischon 

Revolution.     2  Bde.     Freiburg  i.  B.,   1907-1909. 
Friedjung,  Heinrich.     Oesterreich  von  1848  bis  i860.     Bd.  I.  (1848- 

51).     Stuttgart,   1908. 
MarczaU,    Henrik.     A   legujabb   kor   tortenete    (History   of  the   Most 

Recent  Times).     Budapest,   1892. 

2.  CONSTITUTIONAL 

Andrassy,  Grof  Gyula  (Count  JuHus).  Beszedei  (Speeches).  Ed. 
Lederer,  2  vols.     Budapest. 

Beksics,  Gusztav.     A  Dualismus.     Budapest,   1892. 

Bojnicic,  Dr.  Ivan.  Zakoni  o  ugarsko-hrvatskoj  Nagodi  (Laws  relat- 
ing to  the  Hungaro-Croatian  Compromise).     Zagreb,  1907. 

*Corpus  Juris  Hungarici.  Editio  Millenaria.  Ed.  Markus.  7  vols. 
Leipzig,  igo2. 

445 


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Deak,    Ferencz.     Denkschrift   iiber   das   Verhaltnis   zwischen   Ungarn 

und  Croatien,     Vienna,   1861. 
* Beszedei  (Speeches).     Ed,  Konyi.     6  vols.     Budapest,  1886- 

98. 
Eisenmann,  Louis.     Le  Compromis  Austro-Hongrois  de  1867.       Paris 

1904.  Indispensable  :  but  does  not  treat  Croatia  in  any  detail. 
Farlati,  Daniele.  Illyricum  Sacrum.  7  vols.  Venetiis,  1751-1819. 
Horn,  M.     Le  Compromis  de  1868  entre  la  Hongrie  et  la  Croatie.     Paris, 

1907.     A  useful  analysis  of  the  Compromise,  from  the  Croat  stand- 
point. 
Kmety.     A  Magyar  Kozjog  Tankonyve  (Manual  of  Hungarian  Public 

Law).     2nd  ed.     Budapest,   1902. 
*Kukuljevic,  Joannes.     Jura  Regni  Croatiae  Dalmatiae  et  Slavoniae. 

3  vols.     Zagrabiae,    1862.     The  best  collection  of    Croatian  his- 
torical documents. 
Montbel,  Guy  de.     La  Condition  Politique  de  la  Croatie-Slavonie  dans 

la  Monarchic  Austro-Hongroise.     Paris,    1910.     Useful  for  those 

who  only  know  French. 
*Pejakovic,    Stephan.     Aktenstiicke    zur   Geschichte   des     Kroatisch- 

Slavonischen     Landtages.     Vienna,     1861.     A    useful     collection 

of  Croatian  documents,  from  1848  to  i860. 
Pesty,  Fr.     Die  Entstehimg  Croatiens  (Ungarische  Revue,  vol.  i.  1882). 

The  Magyar  view  in  its  most  imcompromising  and  unreasoning 

form  ;    for  that  very  reason,  worth  reading. 
*Pliveric,   Prof.    Joseph,     Beitrage  zum    ungarisch-kroatischen  Bun- 

desrechte.     Agram,    1886.     The  best  available  book,   despite  its 

faulty  form. 

Der  kroatische  Staat.     1887. 

Das    rechtliche    Verhaltniss    Kroatiens    zu    Ungarn.     Agram, 

1885.     (With  the  answers  of  Professor  Jellinek,  who  took  a  dif- 
ferent view.) 

Folic,  Martin.  Parlamentarna  Povjest  Kraljevina  Hrvatske-Sla- 
vonije  i  Dalmacije  (Parliamentary  History  of  the  Kingdoms  of 
Croatia,  Slavonia  and  Dalmatia,  18  60-1 880).  2  vols,  Zagreb, 
1899,   1900. 

*Sulek,  Bogoslav.  Nase  Pravice  (Our  Rights).  Zagreb,  1868,  Sup- 
plements Kukuljevic  and  Pejakovic. 

Szalay,  Ladislaus  von.  Zur  ungarisch-Kroatischen  Frage.  Pest,  1863, 
A  sane  and  thorough  statement  of  the  Magyar  standpoint. 

Timon,  Prof.  Akos  von.  Ungarische  Verfassungs  und  Rechtsge- 
schichte.  Berlin,  1904.  A  standard  Magyar  work,  in  which 
Croatia  is  assigned  a  very  subordinate  place. 

Tomasic,  Dr.  Nikola.  Temelji  Drzavnoga  Prava  Hrvatskoga  Kral- 
jevstva  (Fundamenta  Juris  PubHci  Regni  Croatiae).  Zagreb,  1910. 
An  able  study  of  Croatian  Staatsrecht,  pubUshed  by  the  present 
Ban  just  before  his  accession  to  office. 

*Verfassungsgesetze,  Ungarische.  Ed.  by  Gustav  Steinbach,  Vienna 
(Manz),   1900.     Useful  pocket  edition. 

Virozsil,  Dr.  Anton  von.  Das  Staatsrecht  des  Konigreichs  Ungarn, 
3  vols.     Pest,   1865. 

Vrbanic,  Prof.  Fran.  Financijalna  Nagoda  izmedju  Hrvatskoj  i 
Ugarskoj  (The  Financial  Compromise  between  Croatia  and  Hun- 
gary).    Agram,  1897.     The  standard  Croat  work. 

446 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

2ivkovic,  Baron  Ivan.  Zur  Sanirung  der  Verletzungen  des  kroatisch- 
iingarischen     Ausgleiches.     Vienna.     Important. 

3.  PAMPHLETS 

BoSkovic.     La    mission    du    peuple    Serbe.     Paris,    1886. 

Cvijic,  Prof.  J.  L'annexion  de  la  Bosnie  et  la  Question  Serbe.  Paris, 
1909.     The  Belgrade  standpoint  at  its  best. 

*Fournier,  Prof.  August.  Wie  wir  zu  Bosnien  kamen.  Vienna,  1909. 
An  historical  sketch  by  one  of  Austria's  best  historians. 

Gentilizza,  Giuseppe.  II  Mare  Adriatico  e  la  Questione  Balcanica. 
Rome,  1909.     Written  from  a  somewhat  original  standpoint. 

Georgevic,  Dr.  Vladan.  Die  Serbische  Frage.  Stuttgart,  1909.  A  state- 
ment of  the  Servian  view,  by  a  former  Premier  of  Servia,  the 
friend  of  King  Milan  and  the  Austrian  alliance. 

Horvat,  Stephan.  Ueber  Croatien  als  eine  durch  Unterjochung  er- 
worbene  ungarische  Provinz  imd  des  Kon.  Ungarn]  wirklichen 
Theil.     Leipzig,  1844.     Typical  of  the  Magyar  attitude  in  1848. 

Hron,    Karl.     Die  Wahrheit   iiber    die    Wiener    Orientpolitik.     Graz, 

1909.  Though  intended  as  an  exposure  of  Jesuit  misdeeds,  and 
hopelessly  overstated,  it  contains  an  interesting  review  of  the 
Ranch  era  in  Croatia. 

Klaic,    Prof.    V.     Hrvati   i   Hrvatska   (Croats  and   Croatia).     Zagreb, 

1890.     An  historical  account  of  the  name  and  its  origin,  by  the 

leading  Croat  historian. 
Kvaternik,     Eugen.     Das     historisch-diplomatische     Verhaltniss     des 

Konigreichs    Kroatien    zu    der    ungarischen    St.  Stephans-Krone. 

Agram,   1861.     Ultra-Croat. 
Lupis,  J.  F.     O  Iseljivanju  naSega  naroda  i  o  Americi  (The  Emigration 

of  our  Nation,  and  America).     Zadar  (Zara),  1910. 
Mandl,    Leopold.     Oesterreich-Ungarn    und    Serbien.     Vienna,    191 1. 

\  defence  of  Count  Aehrenthal,  by  the  editor  of  the  semi-ofiScial 

Wiener  Allgemeine  Zeitiing. 
Marjanovic,   Milan.     Hrvatski   Pokret    (The   Croatian   Movement).     2 

vols.     Dubrovnik  (Ragusa),   1903-4. 
Markovic,    Prof.    Bozidar.     Die   serbische  Auffassung   der  bosnischen 

Frage.     BerUn,   1908. 
*Masaryk,  Prof.  T.  G.     Vasic-Forgach- Aehrenthal.     Einiges  Material 

zur  Charakteristik  unserer Diplomatic  (5  facsimiles),  Prag,  191 1. 
MiUc,   Vicko.     Postanak  Riecke  Resolucije  e  njezine  Posljedice   (The 

Genesis  of  the  Fiume  Resolution  and  its  Consequences). 
Nastic,  Georg.     Finale.     Budapest  and  Sarajevo,  1908. 

Wo  ist  die  Wahrheit  ?     do.         1908. 

Potocnjak,    Dr.    Franko.     Aus    dem    Lande    der    Rechtlosigkeit  und 

Demoralisation     (SchmachvoUe     Justizzustande     in     Kroatien). 

Fiume,   1905.     Violent. 
Rapport   de  la   Chambre   de  Commerce   et   de  ITndustrie   a   Zagreb. 

Zagreb,   1909. 
Riedl,     Richard.     Sandschakbahn     und     Transversallinie     (Vortrag). 

Vienna,  1908.     By  one  of  the  ablest  Austrian  permanent  officials, 

a  recognized  authority  on  Balkan  questions. 
*Samassa,     Paul.     Der    Volkerstreit    im    Habsburgerstaat.     Leipzig, 

1910.  Perhaps  the  ablest  summary  of  Austro-Hungarian  problems 
in  any  language.     Good  chapter  on  the  Southern  Slavs. 

447 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Sax,  Carl  Ritter  von.  Die  Wahrheit  iiber  die  serbische  Frage  und 
das  Serbentum  in  Bosnien.  Vienna,  1909.  An  answer  to  Geor- 
gevic  (see  above),  by  a  high  Austrian  official,  author  of  a  good  book 
on   "  the  Decline  of  Turkey." 

Scotus  Viator.  Absolutismus  in  Kroatien.  Vienna,  1909.  Confis- 
cated by  the  Rauch  Government. 

SiSic,  Prof.  Ferd.  Nach  der  Annexion.  Erorterungen  geogr.  eth- 
nogr.  histor.  u.  staatsrechtlicher  Fragen,  Herzeg-Bosnien  bc- 
treffend.     Zagreb,   1909. 

Anonymous  : — 

Die  "  Ritterliche  Affaire  "  des  Baron  Paul  Rauch  (Aktenmaterial). 
Zagreb,   1908. 

*Enthiillungen  iiber  die  Kiinste  der  Kroatischen  Regierung.  (Extraab- 
druck  aus  der  Prager  "  Politik."     No.  121  vom  2  Mai  1872). 

Iz  crnoga  Lista  nedavne  Proslosti  (Iz  dobe  Barona  Levina  Raucha). 
"  From  a  Black  Page  of  the  Recent  Past  (From  the  time  of 
Baron  Levin  Rauch)."     Reprint.     Varazdin,   1904. 

*Kroatien  und  dessen  Beziehungen  zu  Bosnien.  Von  einem  Kroat- 
ischen   Abgeordneten.     Vienna,     1909.     A  very    able    summary. 

Veridicus.  Kroatien  im  Jahre  1907-1908.  Budapest,  1909.  Inspired 
by  Baron  Rauch. 


4.  PAMPHLETS  DEALING  WITH  THE  AGRAM  TRIAL 

*Masaryk,  Prof.  T.  G.  Der  Agramer  Hochverratsprozess  und  die 
Annexion  von  Bosnien  und  Herzegovina.     Vienna,  1909. 

Der  Agramer  Hochverratsprozess  :  Die  Verteidiger  iiber  den  Prozess. 
Budapest,  1909.  Published  by  the  defence,  owing  to  the  cam- 
paign of  calumny  in  the  Rauch  press  and  its  sympathisers  abroad. 

Die  Serbenfrage  und  der  Hochverratsprozess  in  Agram.  Von  A-Z, 
Vienna,   1909. 

Lasst  die  Kroaten  reiten  !  Was  uns  der  Agramer  Hochverratspro- 
zess lehrt.  Vienna,  1909.  These  two  are  worthless,  except 
from  the  psychological  point  of  view. 

Supilo,  Frano.  Le  Proces  de  Friedjung — "  Reichspost  "  et  de  la  Coali- 
tion Croato-Serbe  (Lettre  a,  ses  Electeurs).     Fiume,  1910. 

5.  CROAT  AND  SERB  LITERATURE 

Safarik,  P.  J.     Geschichte  der  siidslawischen  Literatur.     3  Bde.     Prag, 

1864. 
*Murko,  Matthias.     Die  siidslavischen  Literaturen  (in  Die  Kultur  der 

Gegenwart,  Teil  I.,     Abteilung  ix.,  pp.   194-244).     Berlin,   1908. 
*Jagic,  Vatroslav  von.     Die  slavischen  Sprachen  (ibid.  pp.  1-40). 
Talvj  (Mrs.  Robinson,  nee  Theresa  von  Jacob).     Historical  View  of  the 

Languages  and  Literature  of  the  Slavic  Nations.      New  York  and 

London,   1850.     Now  rather  out  of  date. 
Andric,    Nikola.     Kroatische  Literaturgeschichte    (Die  osterreichisch- 

ungarische  Monarchie    in  Wort  und    Bild,  vol.  on    Croatia,   pp. 

125-148). 
Kuaar,  Marccll.     Die  scrbischkroatische  Sprache  und  Literatur  (ibid, 

vol.  on  Dalmatia,  pp.  231-252). 

448 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Hermann,   Konstantin.     Literatur  in  Bosnien  (ibid.  vol.  on  Bosnia, 

pp.  391-412). 
*§urmin,  Dr.  Gjuro.     Povjest  Knjizevnosti  hrvatske  i  srpske  (History 

of  Croat  and  Serb  Literature).     Agram,   1898. 
Novakovic,    Stojan.     Istorija    Srpske    Knjizevnosti  (History  of    Serb 

Literature).     Belgrad,   1871. 
Bowring,  Sir  John.     Servian  Popular  Poetry.     London,  1827. 
Meredith,  Owen  (Robert,  Earl  of  Lytton).     Serbski  Pesme  :  or  National 

Songs  of  Servia.     London,   1861. 
Hrvatske  Narodne  Pjesme  (Croat  National  Songs).     Published  by  the 

Matica  Hrvatska.     5  vols.     Agram.  .  .  . 
Mijatovic,  Elodie  Lawson.     Kossovo  :    an  Attempt  to  bring    Serbian 

National  Songs  about  the  Fall  of  the  Serbian  Empire  at  the  Battle 

of  Kossovo  into  one  Poem.     London,   1881. 
Kapper,  Siegfried.     Die  Gesange  der  Serben.     2  Bde.     Leipzig,  1852. 

Translations. 
Goethe.     Serbische  Lieder  (Schriften  zur  Literatur,  iii.  Theil,  pp.  1-15). 

Jubilaums-Ausgabe,    Bd.   xxxviii.     See   also   his   fine   version   of 

"  Hassan  Aga's  Wife." 
Minns,  E.  H.    Article  "  Slavs  "  in  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  nth  edition, 

vol.  XXX.  (pp.  228-237). 

6.  MISCELLANEOUS 

Auerbach,  Bertrand.    Les  Races  et  les  Nationalites  en  Autriche-Hon- 

grie.     Paris,  1898. 
Balch,  Emily  G.     Our  Slavic  Fellow-Citizens,     New  York,  1910.     An 

extremely    interesting   study    of    Slav    immigrants    in    America ; 

good  chapters  on  the  Croats. 
Cepelic,    Monsignor,  and   Pa  vie.     Josip   Juraj    Strossmayer.     Zagreb, 

1904.     The  standard  biography. 
Chlumecky,  Leopold  Freiherr  von.     Oesterreich-Ungarn  und  Italien  : 

Das  westbalkanische  Problem  und  Italiens  Kampf  um  die  Vor- 

herrschaft  in  der  Adria.     Leipzig,  1907. 
Drage,  Geoffrey.     Austria-Hungary.     London,  1909. 
Henry,   Ren6.     Questions  d'Autriche-Hongrie  et  Question   d'Orient. 

Paris,  1903. 

Des  Monts  de  Boheme  au  Golfe  Persique.     Paris,  1908. 

Hirtenfeld,  J.     Ban  Jellacic.     Vienna,  1 861,     Short  sketch. 
Knatchbull-Hugessen,   Hon,   C.  M.     The  Political  Evolution  of    the 

Hungarian  Nation.  2  vols,  London,  1908,  An  able  exposition 
of  the  extreme  Magyar  view, 

Laveleye,  Emile  de.  The  Balkan  Peninsula.  Preface  by  W.  E.  Glad- 
stone,    London,  1886. 

Leger,  Louis.     Le  Monde  Slave.     Paris,  1885. 

La  Save,  le  Danube  et  le  Balkan.    Paris,  1884. 

Etudes  Slaves. 

Loiseau,  Charles.  Le  Balkan  Slave  et  la  Crise  Autrichienne.  Paris, 
1898.     Few  foreigners  know  so  much  of  Croatia  as  M.  Loiseau. 

L'Equilibre  Adriatique.     Paris,  190 1. 

La  Hongrie  et  I'Opposition  Create  {Revue  des  2  Mondes,  cxxxi., 

pp.  101-129).     1895. 

Strossmayer  (article  in  Le  Conespondant,  1905). 


S.S.Q.  449  G  G 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Maurice,  C,  E.  The  Revolutionary  Movement  of  1848-g.  London, 
1887. 

Pinon,  Rene.  L'Europe  et  I'Empire  Ottoman.  Paris,  1909.  An 
able  monograph  by  the  editor  of  the  Revue  des  2  Mondes. 

Polic,  Martin.  Banus  Graf  Karl  Khuen-Hedervary  und  seine  Zeit. 
Essek,   1 90 1.     A  hymn  of  praise. 

Ritter,  W.     Eveques  Artistes.     1890. 

Stare,  Joseph.  Die  Kroaten  (Die  Volker  Oesterreich-Ungarns) . 
Vienna,   1881. 

Tkalac,  Dr.  E.  I.  von.  Jugenderinnerungen  aus  Kroatien  (to  1843). 
Leipzig,   1894. 

Wachsmuth,  W.     Geschichte  des  Illyrismus.     Leipzig,   1849. 

Zagorsky,  Vladimir.  Francois  Racki  et  la  Renaissance  Scientifique 
et  politique  de  la  Croatie  (i  828-1 894).  Paris,  1909.  An  ad- 
mirable monograph,  with  a  very  full  bibliography. 

7.  DALMATIA 

♦Jackson,  T,  G.     Dalmatia,  the  Quarnero  and  Istria.     3  vols.     Oxford, 

1887. 
Freeman,  E.  A.     Subject  and  Neighbour  Lands  of  Venice.    London, 

1881. 
Neale,   Rev.   J.   M.     Dalmatia.     London,   1850.     Not  very  accurate. 
Wilkinson,  Sir  Gardner.     Dalmatia  and  Montenegro.     2  vols.     London, 

1840. 
Paton,  A.  A.     The  Highlands  and  Islands  of  the  Adriatic.    London, 

1849. 
Lucius.     De  Regno  Dalmatiae  et  Croatiae  a  gentis  origine  ad  an.  1480. 

Amsterdam,   1666. 
Erber,  TuUio.     Storia  della  Dalmazia.     Zara,  1886. 
Pisani,  P.     La  Dalmatie  de  1797  a  1815.     Paris,  1893. 
Villari,  Luigi.     The  Republic  of  Ragusa.     London,  1904. 
Bahr,    Hermann.     Dalmatinische    Reise.     Berlin,    1909.     Treats    the 

Croat  race  with  great  sympathy  and  insight. 
Marczali,  Prof.  H.     Les  Relations  de  la  Dahnatie  et  de  la  Hongrie  du 

XI«  au  Xni«  siecle.     Paris,   1899. 
Bulat,  G.     Die  Sprachenfrage  in  K.  Dalmatien.     Vienna,  1900. 
Studien   iiber  Dalmatien  und  Oesterreichs  Politik :    von  einem  ost. 

0£fi.zier.     Graz,   1869. 
Der  Aufstand  in  der  Herzegovina,  Siid-Bosnien   und  Siid-Dalmatien, 

1881-2.     Vienna  (Kriegsarchiv),   1883. 
Denkschrift  der  Bauern  von  Spalato  an  die  K.  K.  Regierung.     Spalato, 

1899. 
Die  Wahl  in  Spalato,  14  und  23  Mai,  1907.     Wiedergabe  des  Protestes 

der  Wahler.     Vienna,  1907. 

8.  BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA 

*Klaic,  Vj.  Geschichte  Bosniens.     Leipzig,  1885. 

Komlossy,  Dr.  Franz  von.     Das   Rechtsverhaltnis   Bosniens  und  der 

Herzegovina  zu  Ungarn.     Budapest,  1909.     Historical.     Moderate. 
Jirecek,  Const.     Die  Handelsstrassen  und  Bergwerke  von  Serbien  und 

Bosnien  wahrend  des  Mittelalters.     1853. 

450 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Spalajkovic,  M.     La  Bosnie  et  I'Herzegovine.     Paris,  1899. 

The  best  treatment  of  Bosnia  from  the  standpoint  of  Belgrad. 

Vasiljevic,  DuSan.  O  Bosni  i  Hercegovini.  Belgrad,  igog.  Austro- 
phobe. 

Barre,  Andre.  La  Bosnie-Herzegovine  (Administration  Autrichienne 
de  1878  a  igo3).  Paris,  igo4.  Violently  anti-Austrian ;  its 
facts  are  far  from  trustworthy.  Preface  is  an  open  letter  to  the 
Emperor  Francis  Joseph,  in  the  worst  possible  taste. 

Petrinjensis.     Bosnien  und  das  Kroatische  Staatsrecht.     Vienna,  1898. 

Baernreither,  Dr.  J.  M.     Bosnische  Eindriicke.     Vienna,  igo8. 

Evans,  A.  J.     Through  Bosnia  on  Foot.     2nd  ed.     London,  1877. 

Illyrian  Letters.     London,   1878. 

Muir-Mackenzie,  G.,  and  Irby,  A.  P.  Travels  in  the  Slavonic  Provinces 
of  Turkey  in  Europe.  Preface  by  W.  E.  Gladstone.  2  vols. 
London,   1877. 

Somogyi,  Oskar  von.  Das  bosnische  Kreditwesen  (lecture  16  Feb. 
1909). 

Juristisches  aus  Bosnien  (lecture,  printed  1909). 

9.  THE  SERBS  OF  HUNGARY 
*Picot,  Emile.     Les  Serbes  de  la  Hongrie.     Prague,  1873. 
Bartenstein,  Freih.  von.     Kurzer  Bericht  von  der  Beschaffenheit  der 

illyrischen  Nation  in  den  kk.  Erblanden. 
Stefanovic    Vilovsky.     Die    Serben    in    Ungarn,    Dalmatien,    Bosnien 

und  Herzegovina  (Die  Volker  Oesterreich-Ungarns).     Vienna,  1884, 
Stojacskovics,    Alex.     Ueber    die    staatsrechtlichen    Verhaltnisse    der 

Serben  in  der  Wojwodina  und   iiberhaupt  in   den  Landern  der 

imgarischen  Krone.     Temesvar,   i860. 
Die  serbische  Bewegung  in  Siid-Ungarn.     Berlin,   1851. 
Helfert,  Freiherr  J.  A.  von.     Vad  Racz.     Geschichte  der    siid-ungar- 

ischen  Bewegung  und  Kampfe  gegen  die  Zumuthungen  des  Pan- 

Magyarismus.     (Oesterr.  Jahrbuch,  1907-8). 
Schlesinger,   Max.      The  War  in  Himgary   1848-9.     Preface  by  Fr. 

Pulszky.     London,   1850. 
Schwicker,  J.  H.     PoUtische  Geschichte  der  Serben  in  Ungarn.     Buda- 
pest, 1880. 
Szentklaray,  Jeno.     100  Years  of  the  History  of  South  Hungary  (in 

Magyar).     Budapest,  1880. 

10.  SERVIA,  MONTENEGRO 
Chiudina,  G,     Storia  del  Montenero  da  tempi  autichi  fine  ai  nostri. 

Spalato,  1880. 
Coquelle,  F.     Histoire  du  Montenegro  et  de  la  Bosnia.     Paris,  1895. 
Denton,  W,     Montenegro,  its  People  and  their  History.     London,  1877. 
Georgewitsch,   Dr.   Wladan.     Die  serbische   Frage.     Stuttgart,    1909. 

Das    Ende    der    Obrenovitch.     Leipzig,    1905.     The    author, 

formerly  Premier  of  Servia,  was  imprisoned  on  a  charge  of  revealing 
State  secrets  in  this  book. 

Gopcevic,   Spiridion.     Montenegro.     Leipzig,    1877. 

Serbien   imd   die   Serben.     Leipzig,    1888. 

*Kallay,  Benjamin  von.  Geschichte  der  Serben.  Budapest,  1878. 
Written  by  the  famous  administrator  of  Bosnia,  in  his  younger 
days. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

♦Kanitz,  F.     Das  Konigreich  Serbien.     2  Bde.     Leipzig,  1904-9. 
Mallat,  J.     La  Serbie  contemporaine.     Paris,  1902. 
Mijatovich,  Chedo.     Servia  and  the  Servians.     London,   1908. 
Mijatovich,  E.  L.     History  of  Modern  Servia.     London,  1872. 
Miller,    W.     The   Balkans.     London,    1896.     An   admirable  historical 

survey. 
*Ranke,  Leopold  von.     History  of  Servia  and  the  Servian  Revolution. 

London,   1853.     Still  valuable. 
Vivian,  Herbert.     Servia,  the  Poor  Man's  Paradise.     London,   1897. 

II.  THE  SERBS  OF  TURKEY 

Berard,  Victor.     Pro  Macedonia.     Paris,   1903. 

♦Brailsford,  H.  N.     Macedonia,  its  Races  and  their  Future.     London, 

1906. 
Cvijic,  Prof.  J.     Grundlinien  der  Geographic  und  Geologic  von  Maze- 

donien  und  Alt-Serbien.     Gotha,   1908. 
*Odysseus  (Sir  C.  N.  Elliot).     Turkey-in-Europe.     London,  1900. 
♦Villari,  Luigi  (editor).     The  Balkan  Question.     London,  1905. 


45a 


THE   SOUTHERN  SLAVS 

{red)  — — —     Frontier  between  Austria-Hungary  and  other  states. 

red) Frontier    between    Austria,    Hungary,    Croatia    and 

Bosnia. 

(red)  Frontier  between  various  provinces  of  Austria. 

(blue)  Boundary  of  the  Croato-Serb  race. 

(blue) Boundary   between   Roman   Catholic   and   Orthodox 

population.  (This  cannot  of  course  be  drawn 
with  absolute  accuracy  ;  but  with  trifling  excep- 
tions, there  are  no  Orthodox  Serbs  west  of  this 
line,  though  there  are  a  considerable  number  of 
Catholic  Croats  east  of  the  line,  in  Bosnia.  It  has 
been  found  impossible  to  indicate  the  position 
of  the  Mohammedan  population  of  Bosnia,  which 
is  not  geographically  separate  from  its  Catholic 
and  Orthodox  neighbours  and  varies  in  density 
according  to  the  district, 

{blue)  {blue) 

G  =  German      I  =  Italian  \    These  letters  indicate  the  presence  of 

M  =  Magyar       R  =  Roumanian  [  racial   minorities,  amounting   to 

S  =  Slovak         A  =  Albanian       f  not  less  than  lo  per  cent,  of  the 

/  total  population  of  the  district. 


454 


N. 


^ 


.  Szabadka 

■s  (riinnircheny     - — /Subotrca) 


n 


Zenta  )       iHikinda        .  Temesvir 


s  °[n 


Zombor 


•k'«S, 


*Ka 


B  3  n  a  t 
Beckerek       °^ 

Te  m  esvar 


v 


u%"J^/°  ,     'BijelaCrkva     . 


INDEX 


Abdul  Kerim,  94 
Absolutism,  Austrian,  50,  52 

in  Croatia,  no,  159 

Academy,  Southern  Slav,  120,  121 
Accurti,  Mr.,  165,  180,  307,  326 
Acton,  Lord,  127,  416 
Adrianople,  38,  40 

Adriatic,  331,  332,  343,  351,  356 
Aehrenthal,  Baron  (then  Count), 
151,  157,  164,  174,  17s,  177,  195, 
196,  199,  201,  207,  211,  240,  253, 
256,  276,  282,  287,  297,  308,  310- 
328,  337,  341 
Agram  (Zagreb),  3,  30,  33,  45,  48, 
51,  55,  88,  III,  120,  123,  140,  144, 
150,  153,  161,  165,  278,  329-34,  336, 
340 

University  of,  92,  123 

Treason  Trial,    170,    179—192, 

201,   207,  224,  233,  270,  277,  324, 
325,  329,  330,  332,  404 

Agriculture,  Croatian,  388 
Albania,  10,  37,  341 
Albert,  Archduke,  58 
Albini,  Felix,  140 

Alexander  of  Servia,  9,  202,  259,  302 
Alfold,  42 

Ambros,  Mr.,  209,  228 
Andrassy,  Count  Julius,  59,  60,  61, 
7^y  89,   90,  97.  "7.  127,   274,  342 
Anthologies,  130 
Antivari,  10 
Apponyi,    Count    Albert,    143,    149, 

151 
Aranicky,  Mr.,  306 
"  Argus,"  280,  300,  324 
Article  XLII  of  1861,  58,  63,  357-9 
Arzano,  333 
Athos,  Mount,  36 
Audience,    the    rejected    Dalmatian, 

114,  115,  321 
Aulic  Chancellory,  24,  44,  91 

Council,  Illyrian,  44,  352 

Austerlitz,  26 

Austria-Hungary    as    Great    Power, 

^77,  337 


Austria  versus  Hungary,  343 
Autonomy,  Croatian,  68,  72—21,  366, 

371,  379-86 
Avars,  15 
Axentinovic,  95 


Bacska,  the,  44,  45,  50 

Bach,  Alexander,  35,  50,  52,  156 

,  Louis,  87 

Baemreither,  Dr.  J.  M.,  282,  299 

Bahr,  Hermann,  289,  406 

Balkan  pohcy  of  Austria,   174,  343, 

403 
Ballads,  Serb,  131,  135 
Ballplatz,  149,  150,  153,  161,  173,  202, 

205,  245,  297,  303,  319,  399 
Ban,  office  of,  20,  24,  ^iZ,  70,  Jl,  78— 

80,  351,  371,  381,  382 
Banal  Table,  20 

Banat  of  Temesvar,  31,  43,  49,  134 
Banff y.  Baron,  142 
Banjaluka,  20,  409 
Banks,  Croatian,  391 
Barcic,  Mr.  Erasmus,  106,  158 
Batthyany,  Count  Louis,  33,  35 
Becskerek,  44 

Bedekovic,  Coloman,  87,  98 
Belcredi,  Count,  59 
Belgrad,  8,   37,  41,   51,  89,  95.   125, 

13s,   170,  202,  203,  215,  245,  295, 

300,  319,  336,  337,  342,  405 
Belgrad  Legation,  Austro-Hungarian, 

219,  228,  310-20 
Benedikt,    Dr.,    209,    227,    242,    243, 

247,  250,  261,  283,  291 
Berlin,  Congress  and  Treaty  of,  96, 

127,  176,  177,  201 
Beust,  Count,  59 
Bienerth,  Baron,  199,  407 
"  Black  Days,"  114 
Black  Legion,  42 
Bogomile  heresy,  16 
Bosnia,  6-8,   17,  38,  40,  93,  94,  96, 

no,  119,  126,  150,  153,  162,  165, 

17s.  196-202,  217,  220,  231,  241, 

261,  262,  331,  340,  342,  413 


455 


INDEX 


Bosnia,  annexation  of,  194—201,  342 
Bosnian  police,  171,  262 
Bosnian  Railways,  330—34 
Brankovic,  George,  40,  42,  49 

,  Stephen,  42 

,  Vuk,  39,  131 

Brazza,  415 
Brod,  194,  332,  429 
Buchlau,  205 
Buda,  41,  42 

Budapest,  59,  yz,  94,  178,  329,  330 
Budget,  Croatian,  75,  79,  387 
Budisavljevic,  Bude,   167,  214,  219, 
252,  257,  275,  281 

Dr.  Srgjan,  186,  191,  325 

Bugojno,  332 

Bukovac,  140 

Bukowina,  6 

Bulgaria,  Z7,  I7S.  "^-n,  I94,  I97 

Bulgarian  Horrors,  Mr.  Gladstone  on, 

417 
Bulgars,  i,  36,  419 
Burian,  Baron,  217 
Buxton,  Mr.  Noel,  195 
Byzantium,  16,  36 


Carinthia,  26,  239 

Camiola,  26,  329,  338 

Carpaccio,  140 

Catherine,  Queen  of  Bosnia,  40 

Catholics  in  Servia,  125 

Cattaro,  5,  18,  38,  113 

Cengic  Aga,  91,  137 

Cemomen,  battle  of,  38 

Cemovic,  Ivan,  42 

Cetin,  Diet  of,  19,  347,  351 

Cetinje  Treason  Trial,  168,  171,  203 

Charles  the  Great,  16 

Charles  Robert,  17,  350 

Charles  of  Durazzo,  17,  350 

Charles  III  (VI),  23,  43 

Chlopy  Army  Order,  142 

Chlumecky,  Baron  Leopold,  235-40, 

288-300,  303 
Christian  SociaUst  Party,    155,   200, 

209,  256,  338,  341 
Cingrija,  Dr.  Melko,  293 

Dr.  Pero,  146,  289 

Clissa,  20,  39 

Coalition,  Croato-Serb,  152,  154,  155, 
156,  159,  162,  178,  183,  199,  202, 
205,  206,  209,  223,  226,  229,  239, 
256,  300,  303,  400 

Hungarian,  143,  146,  201 

CoUar,  Dr.  Gjuric's,  189 
Coloman  of  Hungary,  16 
Commissioner,  Royal,  99 


Common  Affairs,  Austro-Hungarian, 

68-70 

Hungaro-Croatian,  70-72 

Compromise,  Austro-Hungarian,   59, 

65.  68,  IS7,  331 

Hungaro-Croatian,  62,  64,  65- 

84,  98,  108  ;    violation  of,  80,  98, 
152,  340,  361-79 

Concordat,  52 
Confiscation,  113,  193 
Coronation,  20,  59,  61,  359,  360 
Corruption,    Electoral,   66,   88,    102, 

104,  no 
Court  of  Appeal,  73 
Cmojevic,  Arsen,  43 
Croatia-Slavonia,  3-4 

economic  position  of,  388-92 

Croats,  total  number  of,  i,  12 
Croat  dialects,  130 

language,  2,  jz,  154,  371,  372 

and  Serb  literature,  129—40 

Croatian  Art,  124 

Music,  124 

Press,  391 

Croato-Serb    Unity,    144,    163,    178, 

201,  334,  336-43 
Crown  of  St.  Stephen,  67,  72,  146 
Crvena  Hrvatska,  236 
Customs,  373,  377 
Cvijic,  Professor,  224 
Cvitas,  Captain,  327 
Cyprus  Convention,  176 
Cyril,  St.,  15 

CyriUine  alphabet,  2,  129,  233 
"  Czech  Kingdom,  the  brother,"  405 
Czech  Realists,  241,  251 


D 


Dalmatia,   3,  4-5,  18,  26,  53,  55,  58, 
81,   113,   131,   144,   146,   147,   162, 

213,  331-34,  355,  361 

present  condition  of,  406—16 

emigration  from,  6,  415 

"  reconquest  of,"   410 

reincorporation  of,  80 

Damjanovic,  Mr.,  220,  269,  272 
Danicic,  George,  120,  123,  135 
Danilo,  Prince,  322 

Danzers  Armee  Zeitung,  286,  328 
David,  Antony,  97,  98 

Baron,  291 

Davidovic,  Ljubomir,  216,  217,  223, 

261,  317 
Dedk,  Francis,  50,  54,  56,  59,  63,  76, 

85.97 
Delegates  at  Budapest,  Croat,  71,  369 
Delegations,  69,  308 
Despots  of  Servia,  39 


456 


INDEX 


Diploma  Inaugurale,  i8 

Disraeli,  127,  176 

Dissidents,  161 

Djakovic,  Isaias,  43 

Djakovo,  Bishopric  of,  3,   118,   122, 

124 
Dog,  a  Croat,  189 
Dorotka,  Mr.,  239,  288,  290 
Draga,  Queen,  9,  295 
Drave  river,  3 

Dualism,  24,  60,  66,  308,  320,  340 
Dugoselo,  334 
Dulcigno,  10 


Education  in  Croatia,  92,  116,  391, 

392 
Edward  VII,  177 
Electorcil  Law,  104,  105,  156 
Elegovic,  Mr.,  158 
Eotvos,  Baron,  50,  76 
Erdody,  Ban  John,  $$ 
Essek  (Osijek),  3,  44 
Eugene,  Prince,  43 
"  Exponent "  of  Budapest,  the  Ban 

as,  79 


Fachel,  Die,  286 

February  Patent  of  1 861,  53 

Federahsm,  338 

Fejervary,  Baron  Geza,  144,  151 

Ferdinand  I  of   Austria,  19,  42,  347, 

351 

II,  21 

V,  48 

of  Bulgaria,  175 

Filipovic,  General,  96,  99 
Finale,  167,  204 

Finance,    Croatian,  74-78,     363-67, 
373-78,  391 

Office  in  Agram,  75,  98 

Fiume,  3,  32,  56,  81,  82,   142,   144, 

146,  153,  213,  331,  333,  356,  359, 

372 
Resolution    of,     146-50,     213, 

225,  229,  255,  276,  279,  393-94 
Foreign     Office,     Austro-Hungarian, 

see  Ballplatz 
Forgdch,  Count,  191,  197,  198,  309, 

310-19 
Forgeries,  under  Baron  Levin  Ranch, 

89 

the   Vasid,    304-28 

Franchise,  Croatian,  66 
Francis  I,  27 


Francis  Joseph,  Emperor-King,  62, 
94,  97,  "4,  123,  126,  14s,  176,  321, 
337,  340 

Franciscans  in  Bosnia,  8 

Frank  Party,  see  Right,  Party  of 

Frank,  Dr.  Joseph,  102,  110,  ill, 
146,   149,  152,  161,  165,  181,  297, 

305,  339 
Frankopan  family,  25,  133 

Krsto,  19 

Fremdenblatt,  255,  312 
French  in  Illyria,  26,  409 
Friedjung,    Dr.    Heinrich,    33,    200, 

202-6,  209-87,  318 
Friedjung  Trial,  209-87 
Frontiers,  Croatian  Military,  20,  23, 

27,  44,  86,  93,  96,  97,  355,  372 
Funder,  Dr.  Friedrich,  209,  228,  230, 

233,  245,  256,  279 


Gaj,  Ljudevit,  27,   29,   30,  32,   136, 

137 

Gavrila,  Dr.,  269,  271 

George  of  Servia,  Prince,  167,  170, 
195,  200,  218,  221,  244 

Germanization,  24,  35,  52,  55 

Gessmann,  Dr.,  256 

Gjalski,  L.  Babic,  139,  220 

Gjurgjevic,  Vaso,   108 

Gjuric,  Dr.,  188,  189 

Gladstone,  Mr.,  125,  127  ;  corre- 
spondence with  Bishop  Stross- 
mayer,  416-44 

Glagolitic  rite,  6,  13,  122,  126,  131 

Glavni  Odbor,  47 

Goethe,  135 

"  Golden  Prague,"  406 

Goluchowski,  Count,  174 

G6rz,  I 

Granitschars,  44,  93 

Graz,  4,  330,  332 

Great  Britain,  201 

Gregory  VII,  16 

Grey,  Sir  Edward,  175 

Giil  Baba,  94 

Gundulic,  Ivan,  18,  132,  413 


H 

Habsburg,  House  of,  34,  41,  42,  45, 

335 
Haramba§i6,  Mr.,  146 
Harpner,    Dr.,    207,    209,    228,    235, 

238,  243,  244,  247,  260,  263,   283, 

296 
Haulik,  Cardinal,  53,  no,  122 


457 


INDEX 


Havas,  Dr.  Rudolf,  147 

Haynau,  50 

Heir     Apparent,   (Archduke  Francis 

Ferdinand)  256,  258,  282,  297,  309, 

321 
Heraclius,  15 
Herder,  133 

Herzegovac,  Father,  179 
Herzegovina,  7,  41,  131 
Hinkovic,    Dr.,    185,    191,   193,    208, 

313 
Hodza,  M.  M.,  127 
Hohenwart,  Count,  87 
Hoitsy,  Paul,  147 
Hormann,  Father,  28 
Sectional  Chief  in  Bosnia,  217, 

262 
Hotzendorf,  Gen.  Conrad  von,  241 
Hrabowsky,  General,  48 
Hrvat,  Mirko,  102,  103 
Hrvatska,  106 

Hrvatsko  Pravo,  161,  165,  229,  300 
Hrvoj,  Mr.,  327 
Hungary,  conquest  of,  41 
Hunyddy,  John,  40 


Illiterates,  392 

Illyria,  15,  26,  29,  52,  134,  136 

Illyrian  Aulic  Council,  44,  45 

Illyrica  lingua,  25 

Imperial  mission  of  Austria,  343 

Independence,   Hungarian   Party  of, 

142,  143,  148,  157,  163,  202 
Independent  National  Party,  97,  loi 
Industries,  Croatian,  390 
Innocent  III,  36. 
Innsbruck,  34,  48 
Ipek,  I,  41,  43 
Istria,  2,  4,  26,  114 
Isvolsky,  M.,  196,  197,  200,  205 
Italians  in  Dalmatia,  5,  6,  55,  82 
Italy,  200 


Jagic,  Professor  von,  62,  122,  235 

Jajce,  20,  40,  41 

Jaksic,  George,  138 

Jankovic,  Count  Julius,  86 

Jeftanovic,  Mr.,  269 

Jellacic,  Baron  Joseph,  33,  34,  35.  49, 

56,  108 
Jelovac,  Peter,  226,  260 
Jemersic,  Father,  117 
Jerome,  St.,  College  of,  in  Rome,  120 
Jesuits  in  Bosnia,  167 
John,  Archduke,  33 


Joint  Affairs,  72,  351,  359,  362-67 

Ministries,  69,  70 

Joseph  II,  25,  45,  352 
Josika,  Baron,  33 
Josipovich,  Mr.,  166,  226,  399 
Jovanovic,  General,  96 

Ljubomir,   162,  216,  221,  242, 

254 

Zmaj  Jovan,  51,  138 

Julian  Society,  5,  116 

K 

Kacic,  Andrew,  133 

Kallay,  Baron,  7,  85,  236,  342 

Kandt,  Max,  326 

Karadzic,  see  Vuk 

Kara  George,  45,  134 

Karageorgevitch  dynasty,  9,  182,  215 

Karcanski,  288,  293,  294 

Karlovac,  22,  28,  330 

Karlowitz,  3,  33,  45,  47,  50,  51 

Kaspinovic,  95 

Khuen-Hedervary,     Count     Charles, 

79,  99,  100,  loi,  104,  109,  no.  III, 

114,  115,  117,  142,  15s,  303,  308 
Kikinda,  44 
Knicanin,  Gen.,  48 
Knin,  332,  410 
Kollar,  Slovak  poet,  28 
Koniggratz,  59 
Koniginhof  MS.,  251 
Kopitar,  134 
Koran,  the,  417 
Kossovo,  battle  of,   12,  39,  41,   131, 

136,  181 
Kossuth,  Mr.  Francis,  148,  149,  152, 

223,  229,  274 
Kossuth,  Louis,   31,   35,  47,  49,  88, 

341  ;   and  the  Croats,  31 
Kostajnica,  165 
Kostic,  Alexander,  46 
Kosutic,  Mr.,  185,  192 
Kragujevac  arsenal,  203 
Kraljevic,  Marko,  47,  131 
Kramarz,  Dr.,  310 
Kraus,  Karl,  286 
Krizevci  (Kreuz),  19,  22 
Krka  river,  5 
Krsnjavi,  Professor,  416 
Kuhac,  Fran  jo,  140 
Kiilmer,  Baron  Francis,  33 

Count,  276 

Kulpa  river,  22 
Kumicic,  Eugene,  139 
Kvaternik,  Eugene,  87 


Ladislas  I,  16 


458 


INDEX 


Laginja,  Mr.,  256 

Laibach,  27,  330,  331 

Language  Question,  25,  31 

Latin  in  Hungarian  Parliament,  28 

Laveleye,  Emile  de,  127 

Lazar  Brankovic,  40 

Grbljanovic,  38 

Lazarevic,  Laza,  140 
Leger,  M.  Louis,  120 
Lengyel,  Mr.  Zoltan,  213 
Leo  XIII,  6,  126 
Leopold  I,  43,  47 

n,  45 

Lesina,  6 

Liberal  Party  in  Hungary,  143,  144 

Linz  Programme,  210 

Lisinsky,  29,  140 

Lissa,  battle  off,  58 

Liszt,  Professor  von,  246 

Loan,  Servian,  398 

Loans,  public,  78 

London,  Treaty  of,  176 

Lonjski  Polje  marshes,  86 

Lonyay,  Count,  89,  90,  97 

Lorkovic,  Dr.,  221,  252 

Lorraine,  Duke  of,  43 

Louis  the  Great,  17,  n 

II,  19,  41 

of  Baden,  43 

Lueger,  Dr.,  295,  340 

Lukacs,  Dr.  Ladislas,  303 

Lukinic,  Dr.,  206,  209,  214,  232,  397 


M 

Macedonia,  12 
Magdic,  Dr.,  231,  257 
Magnates,  Croatian,  369 
Magyar  language,  29,  "j}, 

Railway  Policy,  328-34,  409 

State  idea,  10 1 

tariffs,  334 

Magyars,  25,  27,  33,  34,  55,  57,  58, 
70,   126,   145,   153,   164,   340,   352 

A  re  we  to  become  ?  28 

Magyarones,  53,  62,  99,  158 
Mailath,  Count  George,  57 
Makanec,  94 

Makarska,  132,  236 
Maklakov,  223 
Mamelukes,  99,  10 1,  109 
Mandic,  Dusan,  165 
Mandl,  Leopold,  172 
Mandl,  journalist  in  Semlin,  326 
Manuel,  Emperor,  36 
March  Laws,  31 
Maria  Theresa,  24,  43,  56 
Markovic, Professor  Bozidar,  216  sqq., 
244-48,  277,283,296,315 


Marmont,  Marshal,  26 

Martic,  Fra  Grga,  138 

Marulic,  Marko,  131 

Masaryk,  Professor  T.  G.,  112,  192, 

240,  241,    243,  250-55,  270,  283, 
299,  300,  303,  308-28 

Matica  Srpska,  5 1 
Matthias  Corvinus  40,  42, 
Mazuranic,  Ivan,  53,  61,  89,  90,  93, 

95,  122,  137,  278 
Medjumurje,  4,  56,  58,  357 
Medovic,  140 
Mestrovic,  Ivan,  141 
Methodius,  St.,  15,  126 
Mettemich,  27 
Michael  of  Servia,  Prince,  9 
aiihalovic,  Archbishop,  86,  123 
Miladinovic,  120 
Milan,  King,  9,  95 
Miletic,  Svetozar,  50,  95,  259 
Milic,  Vicko,  146 
Militia,  73 
Miljutin,  89 
Milosch,  Obilic,  39,  131 
Milovanovic,  Dr.,   196,  219,  222,  232, 

241,  242,  254,  264,  276,  283,  285, 
311,  320 

Forged  Instructions  of,  401-6 

Minghetti,  Marco,  118 

Mirko,  Prince,  221 

Mirtsea  of  Wallachia,  39 

Mogan,  Dr.  Julius,  291 

Mohacs,  battle  of,  19,  41 

Mohammed  II,  20,  40 

Mollinary,  General,  87,  95 

Monastir,  i 

Montecuccoli,  43 

Montenegro,    2,    10— 11,    36,    94,    96, 

162,  171,  195,  197,  215,  302,  337, 

342 
Montenegrin  police,  168,  170 
Morava  river,  8,  174 
Mostar,  7 

Mrazovic,  63,  90,  97 
Murad  I,  38 
Miirzsteg  programme,  175 


N 


Napoleon,  26,  134,  317,  412 

Nardelli,  Baron,  289 

Narodna  Misao,  112 

Narodna  Obrana,  232,  246 

Nastic,    George,    151,     166,     168-72, 

204,  248,  255,  320,  325 
National  Liberal  (afterwards  National) 

Party,  53,  63,  86,  87,  88,  97,  I45, 

156,  280,  304 
Nemanja  dynasty,  38 


459 


INDEX 


Nenadovic,  Captain,  167,  203 

Neue  Freie  Presse,  198-99,  205,  206, 

211,  213,  240,  255,  314 
Neusatz  (Ujvidek),  4,  46,  47,  51,  259 
Nicholas  I,  Czar,  35. 
Nicholas,    King  of  Montenegro,    11, 

136,  168,  203,  291 
Nikolid,  Dr.  Vladimir,  277 
Ni§,  9,  39 

Novakovid,  Stojan,  198 
Novibazar,  174 
Novi  List,   144,  213,  229,  237,  289, 

292,  301 
Novo  Doha,  112 
Novosel,  Father,  194 
Nuntium,  69 

O 

Obilic,  Milos,  39,  131  • 

Obradovic,  Dositej,  51,  134 

Obrenovic  dynasty,  9 

Obstruction,  Croatian,  154 

Obzor,  112,  147,  193 

October  Diploma  (i860),  53 

Odavic,  Rista,  216,  263 

Offices  in  Croatia,  79 

Ogulin,  87,  331 

Oliva,  88 

Omladina,  95 

Orthodox  Church,  in  Bosnia,  8  ;    in 

Croatia,  3,  45,  92,   125,   181  ;    in 

Servia,  10 
Ostnan  of  Gundulic,  132,  137 
Ozegovic,  32 
Bishop,  48 


Pejacevic,  Count  Ladislas,  88,  97 

Count  Theodore,  116,  144,  152, 

154,  214,  224,  225,  272,  274,  277, 
297 

Pester  Lloyd,  official  campaign  in,  162 
Peter  II  of  Montenegro,  11,  136 
Peter,  King  of  Servia,  9,  162,  170, 186, 

202,  207,  213 
Petkovic,  Mr.,  214,  224,  397 
Petrovic  dynasty,  11 
Pinon,  M.  Rene,  269 
Pokret,  167,  193 
Pola,  5 
PoUt,  Dr.  Michael,  63,  226,  233,  259, 

260,  281,  285,  399 
Politika,  198,  301 
Popovic,  Dr.  Dusan,  186,  233,  280 

M.,  222 

Potocnjak,  Dr.  F.,  224,  276,  397 
Pragmatic  Sanction,  Croatian,  23,  67, 

349-50,  359 

Hungarian,  24,  61,  67 

Prague  University,  112 
Premier,  Hungarian,  78 
Preradovic,  Peter,  137 
Press,  liberty  of,  92 
Pressburg,  Diet  of,  30,  32,  46 
Pribicevic,  Adam,  167,  187,  207 

Milan,  167,  168,  204 

Svetozar,   206,   209,   214,   219, 

233,  252,  260,  265,  305,  397-400 

Valerian,    167,    179,   190,  207 

Progressive  Party,  Croat,  252 
Protic,  Mr.,  398 

Pucic,  Count  Medo,  138 
Punta  Arena,  415 


Pacu,  Dr.,  266 
Palacky,  Francis,  127 
Pan-Croat  ideal,  the,  339 
Pancsova,  44,  46 
Pan-Germans,  210,  282 
Pan-Serbism,     153,    161,     162,    163, 

165,  170,  177,  181,  200,  203,  205, 
215,  241,  268,  280,  321,  336,  337 

Pan-Slavism,   30,  89,   94,    126,    127, 

196,  253,  338,  398,  405 
Parliament,  see  Sabor 
Partes  Adnexae,  24 
Pa§aric,  Professor,  no,  117 
Pa§ic,  Dr.,  162,  203,  216,  218,  229, 

230,  245,  254,  259,  281,  295,  400 
Patriarch,  Serb  Orthodox,  3,  41,  43, 

166,  181 
PaveCid,  Mr.  183 
Pavi(5,  Mr.,  291 

Pavlovic,  Mile,  216,  223,  224,  261 


Quamero,  the,  5 

Quota,  the,  74,  364,  366,  374,  376 


R 


91,  97, 


Racki,  Fr.,  53,   57,  6^, 

120,  122 
Radetzky,  34 

Radic,  Mr.  Stephen,  117,  150,  158 
Ragusa,  5,  18,  26,  113,  131,  235,  288, 

298,  321,  413 
RaUway  BiU  of  Mr.   Kossuth,   152, 

230,  272,  304 

Policy,  Magyar,  329-34,  409-12 

Railways  of  Croatia,  4,  152 
Rajacic,  Patriarch,  33,  47,  48,  49 
Rdkoczy,  Francis,  21 
Rakodczay,  Dr.  Alexander,  154,  155 
Ramberg,  I3aron  Hermann,  99 
Rasciana,  Natio,  43 


460 


INDEX 


Rauch,  Baron  Levin,  53,  62,  86,  88, 
95,  278 

Baron  Paul,  155,  157,  159,  160, 

166,  173,   177,   179,   192,  193.  201, 
214,  223,  234,  280,  304,  326 

Ravenna,  Exarchate  of,  15 

Reichherzer,  89,  278 

Reichspost,  200,  206,  209,  228,  258, 

283,  300 
Reichsrath,  Austrian,  54,  57,  145,  192 
Reljkovic,  Matthew,  133 
Resetar,  Professor,  275 
Reval  meeting,  175 
Revolution  of  1848,  32 
Revolutionary  Statute,  169,  204 
Right,   Party  of,    54,  99,    loi,    103, 

104,  107,  109,  152,  156,  165,  181, 

182,  306,  324,  339 

programme,  392 

Ristic,  Regent  of  Servia,  89 
Rode,    Dr.  Walter,  240,  289,  291 
Rohitsch,  330 

Rudolf  II,  20 

Russia,  17s,  196,  197,  199,  200,  338, 

405 
Ruzic,  Dr.,  291 


Saber  (Parliament)  of  Croatia,  25, 
28,  30,  32,  34,  S3,  58,  61,  63,  66,  71, 
90, loi, 102, 103, 15s, 158,  212,  305, 
306,  362,  383-86 

Address  of  (June  1848),  350-57 

(Appendix  III) 

St,  James,  Cabinet  of,  401—2 

St.  Gotthard,  battle  of,  43 

Salonica,  205 

Samouprava,  198,  282,  312 

Sandjak  of  Novibazar,   8,    12,    174, 

195 
Sarajevo,  3,  7,  41,  51,  96,  135,  204, 

269,  272,  315,  332 
Sava,  St.,  36 
Save  river,  3 
Schiavone,  140 
Schlegel,  Mr.,  193 
Schmerling,  50,  55,  57 
Sebenico,  5 
Seitz,  frescoes  of,  124 
Semendria,  40 
Semlin,  46,  191,  203 
September  Manifesto  (1871),  87 
Serb  dictionary,  135 

Independent  Party,    iii,    156, 

159,  178,  203,  252,  279 

Radicals,  166,  256,  281 

Serbs  and  Khuen  Regime,  107 


Serbs  of  Bosnia,  301,  342 

of    Hungary,    42,    43,    45,    48, 

94,  95,  181,  203 

Serb  Voivody,  3,  31,  34,  45,  50 
Servia,  2,  8-10,  36-40,  45-6,  89,  94, 
96,   125,   127,   134,   162,    185,    195, 
196-204,  215,  216  sqq,.  243,  313,  337, 
397  sqq.,  401  sqq. 

Old,  14,  127,  163,  214,  218 

Servian  Loan,  269,  271,  398 

Sigismund,  Emperor,  18,  39,  41 

Simeon,  Czar,  36 

Simic,  Dr.,  242 

Sinj,  332,  410 

Skrejsovsky,  88 

Skup§tina,  194,  197,  226,  397 

Slav  Congress  in  Prague,  47 

Slavonia,  3 

Slavonian  Group,  306 

Slovenes,  S,  134 

Slovenski  Jug,   167,   168,    170,   186, 

203,    204,    214,    216-27,    244-49, 

264,  284-86,  317 
Smodlaka,  Dr.  Joseph,  406 
Sokcevic,  Ban,  53,  56,  60,  358 
Sokol  Societies,  108 
Somssich,  Baron  Paul,  54 
Southern  Slavs,  definition,  i 
SpEilajkovic,  Dr.  M.,   163,  203,  204, 

206,    222,    225,    229,    241,    259, 

263-71 
Spalajkovic,  the  Forged  Report  of, 

206,   225,  260,  263-71,   275,   285, 

297-401 
Spalato,     s,     16,     18,     113,  330-33. 

408-12  ;    art  in,  141 
Sporcic,  Mr.,  172,  204,  325 
Srbobran,  166,  193,  219,  226,  281,  399 
Srpska  Matica,  135,  259 
Srpski  Rijec,  164,  218,  232,  269,  272 
Staatsrecht,  65,  87 
Stadler,  Archbishop,  8,  167,  400 
Stampa,  312 
Standing   Orders,  Revision    of,   102, 

103 
Stahremberg,  43 
Starcevic,   Axitony,    53,   63,   87,   99, 

loi,  103,  107,  109 

Dr.  Mile,  147,  161,  256 

Stefanovic,   General   Nicholsis,    227, 

247 

Milan,  227,  228,  246,  308 

Steeb,  Lieut.  F.  Marshal,  324 

Steinhardt,  172,  326 

Stephen  Dusan,  17,  37  ;  laws  of,  131 

Dabisa,  39 

Milutin,  37 

Nemanja,  36 

Saint,  of  Hungary,  16 

461 


INDEX 


Stephen  Thomas  of  Bosnia,  40 

Uro§,  36 

Strathnirovic,  General,  31,  34,  47, 
95,  290 

Strossmayer,  Bishop,  6,  10,  52,  53, 
57,  60,  61,  63,  88,  91,  106,  118-28, 
278  ;  description,  128  ;  corre- 
spondence with  Mr.  Gladstone, 
416-44 

Sumanovic,  Dr.,  116 

Supilo,  Mr.  Francis,  144,  145,  150, 
206,  209,  212,  214,  223,  229,  235- 
40,  252,257,  280-82,303,  309,  317, 
322 

Supilo-Chlumecky  Incident,  235-40, 
288-300 

Suplikac,  Voivode,  47,  49 

Surmin,  Professor,  160,  193,  231, 
252,  305,  326 

Svientochowski,  199,  309,  310-20 

Syxmia,  3,  20,  42,  45,  119,  307 

Szapary,  Count  Ladislas,  142 

Szeged,  35 

Szell-Cabinet,  115,  142 

Szterenyi,  Dr.,  230 


Tarabocchia,  Mr.,  182,  187,  190-91, 

307 

Tariffs  in  Croatia,  Magyar,  333-34 

Tamoczy,  32 

Tasso,  132 

Telegram,  Forged,  314-17 

Temporal  Power,  125,  437 

Territorial  Questions  between  Hun- 
gary and  Croatia,  80-82 

Theiner,  August,  120 

Tiefenbach,  319 

Tisza,  Coloman,  94,  98,  99,  126,  143 

Count  Stephen,  143,  151 

Tokoly,  Sava,  45 

Toman ovic.  Dr.,  168 
Tomic,  J.,  280,  285 

Joseph,  139 

Tomislav,  D.,  16 

Toncic,  Mr.,  261,  288,  292 

Trail,  39 

Treason  Trial  in  Agram,  179—92,  207 
Treasury,  Hungaro-Croatian,  "]"],  91, 

365-75 
Tresic-Pavicic,  Antony,  138 
Trialism,  81,  108,  338,   339,  342,  353 
Trieste,  5 

Triple  Entente,  174,  176 
Triune  Kingdom,  34,  47,  55,  57,  60, 

67,  81,  94,  335,  350-57,  359,  399 
Trumbic,  Dr.  Antony,  146,  149 
Tschemajev,  95 


Turkey,  Serbs  in,  12 

Turkish  Revolution,  175 

Turks,  94,  95,  126,  195,  197,  412,  418 

conquer  Hungary,  19 

Tuskan,  Dr.,  205,  212,  231,  276 
Tvrtko  I  of  Bosnia,  17,  38,  351 

II,  39 


U 


Uebersberger,  Dr.,  235,  275 
Uniate  Churches  in  Hungary,  44 
Unionist   Party   in   Croatia,    53,   87, 

88,  99 
"  United  Opposition,"  107 
Uros  the  Great,  37 

Ill,  Z7 

IV,  38 

Uskok  Pirates,  22 
Usiavnost,  159,  192,  239 


Vakanovic,  Antony,  28,  88,  91 
Vakuf,  the,  8 
Varazdin,  42 
Varna,  battle  of,  40 
Vasic,  151,  199,  303-328 

Trial,  312,  314 

Vatican  CouncU,  124,  416 

Vazov,  Ivan,  139 

Velbuzd,  battle  of,  37 

Velebit  Mountains,  3 

Velimirovic,  Servian  Premier,  221 

Venice,  18,  26,  37,  132,  413 

Versecz,  44 

Vilagos,  capitiilation  of,  35 

Virihsts,  88 

Virpazar,  10 

Vladislav,  I,  40  ;  II,  18 

"  Vlah,"  182 

Voivody,  see  Serb 

Vojnovic,  Count  Ivo,  138 

Voncina,  89 

Vraz,  Stanko,  137 

Vrbanic,  Professor,  no,  146 

Vrhovac,  Bishop,  25 

Vomer,  Captain,  171 

Vuk  Karadzic,  29,  51,  108,  120,  127, 

129,  133,  134,  135 
Vukasin,  38 

Vukotic,  General,  194,  220 
Vukovic,  Saba,  48 

W 

Water  power  in  Dalmatia,  41 1 
Wach,  Dr.,  209,  234,  239,  267,  270, 
277,  283 


462 


INDEX 

Wekerle,  Dr.,  79,  149,  151,  155,  157,      Zara,  5,  15,  350,  410 

166,  177,  193,  225,  267,  303,  305,       Zara,    Resolution  of,   149,  213,    279, 
322  395-97 

Wolf,  Karl  Hermann,  281  Zastava,  50,  281,  282 

Zatocnik,  86 
2  Zengg,  22 

Zenta,  43 
Zagorac,  Father,  147,  255,  299  Zichy,  Count  Aladar,  143 

Zajc,  Ivan,  140  2ivkovic,  Baron,  90 

Zajnko,  Father,  258  ^rinski,  Count  Nicholas,  21,  123 

Zapolya,  John,  19,  42  Count  Peter,  21,  25,  133 

Zapresica  riot,  112  Zvonimir,  King  of  Croatia,  16,  81 


Butlei  and  Tannet  The  Selwood  Printing  Works  Frome  and  London 


BY    THE    SAME    AUTHOR. 

RACIAL   PROBLEMS   IN 
HUNGARY 

With  42  Illustrations  of  Peasant  Art  and  Costume, 

Including  Six  in   Colour  and  a  Map. 

Demy  8vo.     540  pages.     Price    16/=  net. 


PRESS  OPINIONS. 
Edinburgh  Review — "A  serious,   and  we  must  at  once  admit,  a    con- 
vincing indictment  of  the  whole  pohcy  of  the  dominant  Magyars 
towards  the  subordinate  races." 

Quarterly  Review — "His  method  is  to  leave  nothing  unproved  but 
to  give  chapter  and  verse  for  every  assertion,  so  far  as  possible 
from  Hungarian  and  of&cial  sources." 

Spectator — "  Extraordinarily  documente." 

Nation — "  His  book  will  at  once  take  rank  as  the  standard  authority 
on  this  immensely  important  subject." 

Times — "The  book  is  a  sincere  and  courageous  attempt  to  illuminate 
an  obscure  comer  of  Europe  and  to  do  justice  to  one  of  the  most 
gifted  and  interesting  of  Slav  races.  No  student  of  Hungarian 
poUtics,  and  no  writer  on  Austro-Hungarian  affairs,  can  afford 
to  ignore  it,  for  it  rests  on  soimd  historical  knowledge  such  as  is 
rarely  acquired  by  foreigners.  ..." 

Morning  Post — "An  indictment  of  the  Magyar  oligarchy  so  heavy 
and  so  circumstantial  as  to  form  an  important  historic  document. 
When  the  history  of  the  nineteenth  and  twentieth  centuries  comes 
to  be  written,  this  book  must  form  a  source  of  reference  for  infor- 
mation on  a  dark  and  little  known  side  of  the  political  evolu- 
tion of  Middle  Europe." 

Westminster  Gazette — "  A  complete  answer  to  [a)  .  .  .  recent  work  on 
the  same  subject,  and  one  exceedingly  difficult  to  refute." 

Pall  Mall  Gazette — "  One  of  the  strongest,  most  reasoned  and  most 
impressive  indictments  of  Magyar  policy  that  has  ever  appeared 
from  the  pen  of  an  English  writer." 

Morning  Leader — "  Not  only  the  best  book  in  English  about  Hungar}^, 
but  .  .  .  likely  to  be  for  long  the  standard  authority  on  its 
subject.  To  every  serious  student  of  European  politics  it  is 
indispensable." 

H  H 


RACIAL   PROBLEMS   IN   HUNGARY  (continued),— 

Glasgow  Herald — "A  work  of  distinction  and  power,  which  no  student 
of  Hungarian  politics  or  of  the  racial  question  in  Europe  can 
afford  to  neglect." 

Freeman's  Journal — "A  most  interesting  book." 

Dundee  Advertiser — "Of  first  importance  as  a  fresh  and  illuminating 
study  of  the  racial  question." 

Northern  Whig — "  A  most  striking  and  original  contribution  to  the 
study  of  South-Eastern  Europe  and  its  urgent  problems." 

Scottish  Historical  Review — "The  sober  judgment, the  orderly  arrange- 
ment and  the  skill  in  marshalling  complicated  facts,  for  which 
chapter  and  verse  is  everywhere  given,  either  in  footnotes  or 
appendices,  are  beyond  all  praise." 

Bookman — "  Mr.  Seton-Watson  is  already  known  as  a  sound  and  inter- 
esting historian,  and  his  work  all  through  shows  the  same  evident 
marks  of  careful  study  and  scholarship." 

Mr.  Hermann  Bahr  in  Mdrz — "  The  condition  of  Hungary,  of  which 
httle  or  nothing  is  known  in  Austria,  still  less  abroad,  may  be 
gathered  from  two  books.  .  .  .  The  second  is  Racial  Problems 
in  Hungary." 

Mr.  Oszkar  Jaszi  in  Huszadik  Szdzad  (the  Hungarian  Sociological  Re- 
view) in  an  article  of  twelve  pages — "The  picture  which  it 
paints  of  modem  Hungary,  though  here  and  there  exaggerated 
and  not  always  in  good  perspective,  is  on  the  whole  a  repre- 
sentation of  the  racial  question  in  Hungary,  so  deep,  thorough, 
and  complete  that  it  can  only  be  compared  to  the  works  of 
Eotvos  1  .  .  ." 

Mr.  Jozsef  Sachse  in  NSpszava — "A  book  treating  of  the  racial  ques- 
tion in  Hungary  with  such  thoroughness  and  detail  and  in  so 
modern  a  spirit,  as  this  book,  has  not  yet  appeared  in  any 
language." 

"  Verax  "  in  Die  Wage  (Vienna) — "A  positively  stupendous  mastery 
of  the  material  of  the  subject." 


1  Baron  Joseph  Eotvos,  the  friend  of  Deik  and  Andrissy,  Minister  of  Education  in  1848  and  1867, 
the  founder  of  the  modem  educational  system  in  Hungary,  and  the  chief  Hungarian  authority  on  the 
racial  question  (see  his  books,  The  Question  of  the  Nationalities,  The  Leading  Ideas  of  the  Nineteenth 
Century.) 


BY    THE    SAME    AUTHOR. 

CORRUPTION    AND 
REFORM     IN    HUNGARY 

A  STUDY  OF  ELECTORAL  PRACTICE. 
Demy  8vo.     198  pages.     Price  4/6  net.     191 1. 


PRESS  OPINIONS. 


Morning  Post — "The  author  has  employed  a  very  simple  and  effective 
method  of  stating  his  case.  He  does  not  theorize  or  dogmatize. 
He  simply  cites  facts  on  unimpeachable  authority  and  he  is 
content  to  allow  these  to  speak  for  themselves." 

Westminster  Gazette — "It will  be  suf&cient  if  the  reader  will  absorb  the 
proved  facts  here  set  out." 

Manchester  Guardian — "  The  full  extent  of  the  intimidation,  corruption, 
and  violence  exercised  can  only  be  appreciated  after  reading  Mr. 
Seton- Watson's  profoundly  interesting  experiences." 

Glasgow  Herald — "  Contains  nothing  that  is  vague  or  shadowy,  and 
nothing  that  depends  merely  on  vmsubstantiated  statements." 

Northern  Whig — "  Profoundly  interesting  .  .  .  well  and  thoroughly 
done, — courageously  also,  as  the  reader  will  discover.  The 
student  of  poUtics  in  the  Middle  East  will  find  it  invaluable  for 
reference." 

Freeman's  Journal — "  A  very  able  study." 

Reichspost  (Vieima) — "  Will  cause  no  slight  sensation  and  surprise  in 
Europe.  For  outside  a  few  organs  of  the  daily  press,  the  veil 
has  never  been  drawn  so  boldly  aside  from  the  famous  constitu- 
tion of  Hungary.  ...  All  friends  of  truth  and  of  the  interests 
of  the  Monarchy  have  reason  to  rejoice  that  Himgary's  political 
conditions  should  be  so  admirably  depicted  abroad." 

Preussische  Jahrbiicher  (Berlin) — "  His  Racial  Problems  caused  a  well- 
warranted  sensation.  His  latest  study  is  a  weighty  indictment." 


CORRUPTION     AND     REFORM     IN     HUNGARY 

(continued), — 

Neue  ZiXvchev  Zeiiung  (Zurich) — *'  Recalls  Zola's  '  J 'accuse  '  and  Bjorn- 
son's  crushing  articles.  .  .  .  Written  with  astonishing  know- 
ledge of  the  subject." 

Pilsner  Tagblatt  (Pilsen) — "  Uncommonly  instructive  for  us  Aus- 
trians.  .  .  .  Seton -Watson's  first  work  had  its  share  in  up- 
setting the  Coalition  regime.  May  his  new  book  still  further 
enlighten  Austrian  public  opinion  and  convince  it  that  the 
present  system  really  cannot  continue." 

Die  Wage  (Vienna) — "  We  in  Austria  have  long  known  what  to  think  of 
the  liberal  views  of  the  ruling  classes  in  Hungary.  .  .  .  But  to 
have  pitilessly  exposed  the  great  lie  before  all  Europe,  and  especi- 
ally before  the  English  public,  is  the  service  of  Seton- Watson — a 
service  which  the  best  sons  of  the  Magyar  people  itself  also 
recognize  ungrudgingly." 


THE   FUTURE  OF  AUSTRIA- 
HUNGARY 

AND   THE   ATTITUDE   OF   THE 
GREAT   POWERS. 

Demy  8vo.     Cloth.     2/=  net.     1907. 


Saturday  Review — "  The  best  epitome  we  know  in  English  of  the  compli- 
cated problem  of  Austria-Hungary." 

Manchester  Guardian — "  We  know  of  no  book  upon  the  same  subject, 
which  is  as  sane,  laborious  and  dispassionate." 

Die  Zeit  (Vienna)—"  To  all  pessimists  within  the  Dual  Monarchy  we 
recommend  the  careful  study  of  this  book." 

Reichspost  (Vienna) — "  Executed  with  great  knowledge  and  warm  sym- 
pathy for  the  Habsburg  Empire." 

Kolnische  Zeitung  (Cologne) — "  An  altogether  admirable  work." 


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