t their keen wits and their long training in the wiles of
the civilized world, their old traditions and their prestige give them a
considerable advantage over the Yugoslav diplomat, so that this kind of
Italian despises the Yugoslav. He knows very well that the French or
British statesmen do not, amid the smoke of after-dinner cigars, esteem
his case by the same standard as that which they apply to the case which
the ordinary Yugoslav diplomat presents to them in office hours. As for
the wider Italian circles, one must fear that the old hatred of Germany,
because the Germans seemed to despise them, will henceforward colour the
sentiments with which they regard the Yugoslavs. It is a state of things
between these neighbours which other people cannot but view with
apprehension.

AN UNFORTUNATE NAVAL AFFAIR

There was in Yugoslav naval circles no very cordial feeling for the
Italians. The Austrian dreadnought, _Viribus Unitis_, was torpedoed in a
most ingenious fashion by two resolute officers, Lieutenant Raffaele
Paolucci, a doctor, and Major Raffaele Rossetti. In October 1917 they
independently invented a very small and light compressed-air motor which
could be used to propel a mine into an enemy harbour. They submitted
their schemes to the Naval Inventions Board, were given an opportunity
of meeting, and after three months had brought their invention into a
practical form. The naval authorities, however, refused to allow them to
go on any expedition till they both were skilled long-distance swimmers.
Six months had thus to be dedicated entirely to swimming. At the end of
that time they were supplied with a motor-boat and two bombs of a
suitable size for blowing up large airships. To these bombs were fixed
the small motors by means of which they were to be propelled into the
port of Pola, while the two men, swimming by their side, would control
and guide them. Just after nightfall on October 31, 1918, the raiders
arrived outside Pola.

Were they aware that anything had happened in the Austro-Hungarian navy?
On October 26 there appeared in the _Hrvatski List_ of Pola a summons to
the Yugoslavs, made by the Executive Committee of Zagreb, which had been
elected on the 23rd. This notice in the newspaper recommended the
formation of local committees, and asked the Yugoslavs in the meantime
to eschew all violence. When Rear-Admiral (then Captain) Methodius
Koch--whose mother was an Englishwoman--read this at noon he though