Italians were interned
in 1915, as the Croats had been in 1914, but the council came again into
their hands. At the meetings they had been obliged, owing to the
council's composition, to talk Croatian; but their own predominance was
undisturbed. On their return to power during the War they displayed more
generosity, and admitted even educated Croats to the council. And if
such out-and-out Italians as the Signori Grossmann, Pegan, etc. of
Lovrana were kinder to the Yugoslavs than the Signori Grbac,
Koro[vs]a['c] and Codri['c] of Rieka it may be because the gentle spirit
of the place affected them. The leading families would even intermarry;
Signor Gelletich, Lovrana's Italian potentate, gave his sister to the
Croat chieftain. But, as we have said, idylls had to end when in
November 1918 the Italian army came upon the scene. Abbazia and Volosca
and Lovrana were painted thoroughly in the Italian colours. Public
buildings, private houses--irrespective of their inmates--had patches of
green, white and red bestowed upon them. Everything was painted--some
occupation had to be found for the military, who appeared to be more
numerous than the inhabitants. Meanwhile, their commanding officers had
other brilliant ideas: an Italian kindergarten was opened at Volosca,
and the peasant women of the hills around were promised that if they
came with their children to the opening ceremony, every one of them
would be rewarded with 1 lb. of sugar. So they came and were
photographed--it looked extremely well to have so many women seizing
this first opportunity of an Italian education for their babies. Some
one at Rieka most unfortunately had forgotten to consign the sugar. The
Italian officer who was appointed to discharge the functions of podesta,
that is, mayor, of Abbazia was a certain Lieut.-Colonel Stadler. He sent
to Rome and Paris various telegrams as to the people's ardent hope of
being joined to Italy. The people's own telegrams to Paris went by a
more circuitous route. But Stadler did not seem to care much for the
French, nor yet for the English. About a dozen of the educated people,
thinking that the French might also come to Abbazia and wishing to be
able to converse with them, took lessons in that language; another
dozen, with a similar motive, had a Mr. Po[vs]ci['c], a naturalized
American subject, to give them English lessons. Away with these baubles,
cried Stadler; on January 10 he stopped the lessons.

ITALY IS LED ASTRAY