The Honourable Gino Antoni was born in Fiume and for the last twenty years has had but one purpose in life: to aid his fellow Italians in restoring their city to its motherland. In 1914 and the following year a goodly number of impetuous, daring Fiumans, with loyalty in their hearts and the glorious vision of union with Italy before their minds, braved the dangers of crossing the frontiers, for the joy of fighting beside the Italians. On the Isonzo and in the Alps they fought and died, happy in a death that found them on their own soil at last. Volcanic feeling was not only finding expression on the battle-fields, but among the civilian Fiumans who had succeeded in escaping from Magyar tyranny, and among those of their fellow-citizens who were in Italy before the War broke out. To be ready for the long-prayed-for hour, they formed a National Committee for Fiume and the Quarnaro. The cup for which they had bravely lived and bravely died was at their very lips, but it proved to be filled with the waters of Tantalus. But the bitterness of disappointment only whetted their determination, leaving their spirit uncrushed, undaunted. Doctor Antoni speaks for himself and his fellow-citizens.
– The Editors.
FIUME
By Doctor Gino Antoni
Vice-Mayor of Fiume and Member of the National Council of the City
For the last twenty years my fellow-citizens and I have been fighting for the cause of the redemption of Fiume. During the War, I was one of those put on trial for implacable Irredentism. How I escaped the gallows only adds another to the list of unexplained miracles. Now I have come to America to make the true voice of my city heard, and to make it clear in my official capacity that Fiume craves to be united to Italy. Fiume is Italian by the blood that flows in her veins, the words of her mouth, and the burning desire of her heart!
Fiume has always fought against foreign oppression. She was a part of Hungary, but as a “separate body”. Hungary was composed of three states: Hungary proper, Croatia, and Fiume. The victory of the Italian Army severed this union and Fiume regained her independence. On the 30th of October, 1918, four days before Austria signed the Armistice, Fiume unanimously declared her union with Italy, thus repeating her own history. For in 1779 she fought against the proposed annexation to Croatia, and in 1868 obtained recognition of her peculiar position as a free and independent city, united to Hungary in a temporary way, but a state in herself.
In so far as her self-determination is concerned, she counts on the sympathetic encouragement of America. In Fiume all the Mayors, all the Deputies, the Members of the Municipal Council, of the Chamber of Commerce, and of the Courts, have always been Italian. This being the case, they think themselves free to dispose of their own fate and who can deny them the right of joining their Mother-Country?
We hear people say that if Fiume is united to Italy, the populations of the interior will not have an outlet to the sea. This is not true. Jugo-Slavia has excellent natural harbors between Buccari and Carlopago. It is not at all necessary to sacrifice the purely Italian character of Fiume in order to give an outlet to the interior. It is interesting to recall that before the War the commerce of Croatia at Fiume was only 7% of the total commercial output, the rest of the traffic belonging to Hungary. We are not enemies of the Jugo-Slavs, unless they invade our territory. Near Fiume they have the beautiful city of Susak which they may easily and naturally develop and enlarge. If we can each live within our own boundaries, peace and friendship will naturally follow.
The Mayor, the President of the National Council, and the Deputy of Fiume to the Hungarian Parliament were received in Paris by President Wilson, to whom the situation was clearly explained and the justice of our national aspirations demonstrated. President Wilson and the American delegates expressed themselves as profoundly impressed with their significance: it was even triumphantly reported that the silent Colonel House lifted his voice in their favor.
Fiume has a population of 35,000 native Italians. This population rules its own city, and the will of the citizens of Fiume must be seriously considered. We want to be Italians and Italy wants us to be Italians. We are like brothers who are at last reunited after centuries of suffering and struggles.
See also:
