tus
as a free city having been definitely established by Ferdinand I in
1530, recognized by Maria Theresa in 1776 when she proclaimed it "a
separate body annexed to the crown of Hungary," and by the Hungarian
Government finally confirmed in 1868. Louis Kossuth admitted its
extraterritorial character when he said that, even though the Magyar
tongue should be enforced elsewhere as the medium of official
communication, he considered that an exception "should be made in favor
of a maritime city whose vocation was to welcome all nations led thither
by commerce."

Though the Italian element of the population vociferously asserts its
adherence to the slogan "_Italia o Morte_!" I am convinced that many of
the more substantial and far-seeing citizens, if they dared freely to
express their opinions, would be found to favor the restoration of the
city's ancient autonomy under the aegis of the League of Nations. The
Italians of Flume are at bottom, beneath their excitable and mercurial
temperaments, a shrewd business people who have the commercial future of
their city at heart. And they are intelligent enough to realize that,
unless there be established some stable form of government which will
propitiate the Slav minority as well as the Italian majority, the Slav
nations of the hinterland will almost certainly divert their trade, on
which Fiume's commercial importance entirely depends, to some
non-Italian port, in which event the city would inevitably retrograde to
the obscure fishing village which it was less than half a century ago.

In order that you may have before you a clear and comprehensive picture
of this most perplexing and dangerous situation, which is so fraught
with peril for the future peace of the world, suppose that I sketch for
you, in the fewest word-strokes possible, the arguments of the rival
claimants for fair Fiume's hand. Italy's claims may be classified under
three heads: sentimental, commercial, and political. Her sentimental
claims are based on the ground that the city's population, character,
and history are overwhelmingly Italian. I have already stated that the
Italians constitute about three-fourths of the total population of
Fiume, the latest figures, as quoted in the United States Senate, giving
29,569 inhabitants to the Italians and 14,798 to the Slavs. There is no
denying that the city has a distinctively Italian atmosphere, for its
architecture is Italian, that Venetian trademark, the Lion of St.