(Written by Roberto Ghiglianovich, taken from “The Journal of American History”, Vol. 13, No. 1, 1919.)
The Honorable Roberto Ghiglianovich is the representative of the Italians of Dalmatia. For the last thirty years he has been a Member of the Dalmatian Diet; he is a former President of the Political Association of the Italians of Dalmatia and of the Board of Directors of the National League for their Italian schools. During the War he was a Member of the Board of Directors of the Political Society of Unredeemed Italians in Rome. A man of his calibre would naturally be a shining target for the Austrian police, who hounded him ceaselessly and finally triumphed in an order for his arrest. This he forestalled by his escape to Italy in March, 1915.
It is a constant source of grief to the Italian Dalmatians to recall how near they had come to attaining their goal of unity with Italy when Garibaldi, in 1866, had actually planned the expedition for their liberation, in which he was supported by Premier Ricasoli. Garibaldi conceived of this as a continuation of the general programme of Italian unity and freedom. The unfortunate events that followed cut short the cherished hopes of Garibaldi and his Dalmatian brothers. The latter always assumed that, in any martial activities for liberation and Italian unity, they were to take their share of dangers and hardships equally with the Italians of the Kingdom. They proved this gloriously in 1848, in 1859, and 1866. The following clear statement of Dr. Ghiglianovich is full of inevitable suggestion.
– The Editors.
DALMATIA
By Doctor Roberto Ghiglianovich
Member of the Dalmatian Diet
After making my escape to Italy in March, 1915, I had the joy of returning to my native country with Admiral Millo, the hero of the Dardanelles, whom the Italian Government had named Governor of Dalmatia. I landed with him first at Sebenico and then at Zara. The two cities, and the Dalmatian Islands, had been occupied a few days before by the Italian land and sea forces. When we landed, the Italians at Sebenico received us with manifestations of joy. I found my native city, Zara, in ecstasy after the signing of the Armistice in November, 1918. Its streets were all bedecked with thousands of Italian flags. When the Italian battleship arrived, with the Commander who had occupied Zara several hours before the signing of the Armistice, the entire population of the city gathered along the shore. Young and old, women and children, knelt devoutly, blessing Italy, their liberator!
When Admiral Millo spoke to the crowd from the balcony of the Municipal Palace of Zara, public demonstration knew no bounds. The entire population swore eternal allegiance to the Mother-Country, Italy, and to her glorious and victorious King. The Italians of the Dalmation Islands received the Italian forces of occupation with the same joyful acclaim. Thanks to the provisions made by the Italian Governor, after the first difficulties of feeding the population were overcome, and after dealing with Bolsheviki soldiers and prisoners whom Austria scattered through the interior of the country, life assumed its normal aspect. Food is plentiful there, and land and sea communications are being reestablished. Public administration and schools have resumed their regular work. The conduct of the troops of occupation is correct in every respect. Even the rural Slavs of the interior are receptive and appreciative.
But the joy of all the liberated Italians is far from unalloyed. The chief city of Dalmatia, Spalato — the city which bears so long and sad a history of struggles for the triumph of Italian sentiment in Dalmatia — has not been occupied by the Italian Army and Navy. It was not included in the line of the occupation of Dalmatia as traced by the conditions of the Treaty of Armistice between Italy and Austria-Hungary. At Spalato there is now a provisional Croatian government, acting under directions from the National Committee of Sagabria [Zagreb]. With unheard-of violence, they suppress every demonstration on the part of the large and important Italian element of the city. Italian and foreign newspapers have published for American and Allied public opinion news of the outrages committed against the Italians at Spalato. Their tragic fate can easily be foreseen if their city should not be reunited to Italy as Zara, Sebenico, and the Dalmatian Islands will be.
As an evidence of the persistently Italian character of Spalato, and of the ardent longing of the Italians at Spalato to have their city joined to Italy, the following incident will be enlightening. Only two days after the signing of the Armistice, about 5,000 Italians in Spalato became members of the National Association of the “Dante Alighieri” of Rome, which, since its foundation about thirty years ago, has been ceaseless in its efforts to uphold the sacred Italian aspirations among which, just like the Trentino, Venezia Giulia, Trieste, and Fiume, Dalmatia has always largely figured.
Dalmatia has been as Italian as Rome and Venice for 2,000 years. It was Roman up to the time of the fall of the Roman Empire; then it constituted itself into free communities, thoroughly Latin and Italian in character. It belonged to the Republic of Venice from 1409 to 1797, in which year it was given by Napoleon to Austria, together with Venice and Istria.
In spite of the barbarous methods employed by Austria from 1866 to the day of her disruption, in order to bring about forcibly a preponderance of Croatian population in Dalmatia, the Italian sentiment there is very much alive. This fact should be recognized and given serious consideration. Dalmatia has nothing of the Balkan and Eastern character. One has only to see its cities and be genuinely in touch with its populations in order to be convinced that Rome and Venice did not influence them externally only, but left indelible marks of Italian thought and culture upon them. Italy, therefore, has not only a legal claim, but a spiritual hold over the country.
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