Chapter VIII: The Southern Slavs of the Dual Monarchy

I. A Homogeneous People—A Militant Past—The Bogumili—National
Bondage—Napoleon—Illyrism—Agreement with Hungary—Count
Khuen-Hedervary.

II. The greatest representative of the Southern
Slavs—Strossmayer’s generosity and courage—Fall of
Count Khuen-Hedervary—Death of Strossmayer.

III. False Dawn—Conference of Fiume—Ban Paul Rauch—Monster
Trial in Zagreb—The Friedjung Case—Cuvaj—Frano Supilo.

IV. Dalmatia, Istria, Carniola—The Italian
Element—Bosnia-Hercegovina—Conclusion.

I.

The whole south of the Dual Monarchy is inhabited by Slavs. The Kingdoms of Croatia, Slavonia, and Dalmatia, with the Duchy of Carniola, Istria, and Bosnia-Hercegovina—these, comprising a population of about seven millions, belong almost exclusively to one race. Whereas in all other countries of the Monarchy (especially in Hungary and Bohemia) the different races are represented in varying percentages, the non-Slav population in Croatia, Slavonia, Bosnia and Hercegovina amounts only to about 5-1/2 per cent., in Carniola and Istria to 4 per cent., and in Dalmatia only to 2 per cent. The considerable number of Croats and Slovenes (750,000) living in Southern Hungary (in Torontal, Bacs-Bodrog and Temes) must be added to the above-mentioned seven millions.

Ethnologically speaking, the inhabitants of all these countries form one people, and are a brother nation to the Serbs in the Kingdoms of Serbia and Montenegro. Their language, customs, historical past and achievements in art, science and literature, are identical. The sole difference between them is that the Croats and Slovenes are Catholics, while part of the inhabitants of Bosnia are Mohammedans. Those confessing the Serbo-Orthodox faith (more than a third of the population) also own to the national name and call themselves Serbs. This compact and homogeneous national body would certainly have become a most important factor in the Monarchy had they not been cut in two by administrative policy. Here as elsewhere throughout all her dominions Austria has applied her principle of dividing and dismembering, and the Southern Slav provinces were shared between two spheres of power. Croatia and Slavonia were allotted to the Hungarian; Carniola, Dalmatia and Istria to the Austrian sphere, and a mixed Austrian and Hungarian administration was introduced in Bosnia and Hercegovina. This system made a unanimous political rally of the Southern Slavs quite impossible, and provided German and Magyar propaganda with a more manageable field of operations. In both spheres unremitting efforts were devoted to the task of eliminating the Southern Slav element, stifling Slav thought, and transforming the Slavs into _slaves_. But the Southern Slav is endowed with unusual tenacity; the most zealous efforts on the part of the Government were frustrated by his dogged resistance, and they merely defeated their own ends. German “kultur” and Magyar _lack_ of culture were held in equal abomination by the Slav nations upon whom they were to be inflicted, and the ruthless spoliation to which they were likewise subjected engendered a deep-seated animosity. The Northern Slavs, who possess more practical business capacity than the Southern, did not allow themselves to be economically strangled, and even contrived to hold their own in this respect; whereas the Southern Slavs, being mainly an agricultural people, found themselves the helpless victims of Austrian and Hungarian rapacity. Dalmatia, one of the loveliest spots in Europe, has for the last century known no privilege except that of paying taxes, and Austria’s mal-administration of that country has become proverbial. Croatia and Slavonia fare little better. They have to pay 56 per cent. of their revenues to Hungary. This tax figures under the head of “contributions to mutual interests,” chiefly represented by the railways and the postal system. The net annual income from these two sources amounts to 250 million Kr., but of this Croatia never receives a penny! The net profit _all_ goes to Hungary who brazenly employs it to subvention the Magyar propaganda in Croatia. The condition of Carniola and Istria is almost as deplorable as that of Dalmatia, and in Bosnia and Hercegovina the Austro-Hungarian Government has for thirty-five years built villages “after the pattern of Potemkin,” for the edification of foreign journalists, while the people have been left to starve, or sink into poverty and ignorance. The numerous foreign tourists who have travelled in these beautiful countries have seen nothing of Austria’s “work of civilization,” as they are kept to the beaten tracks specially prepared for them, and they only see the country like a carefully staged panorama on the films of the Royal and Imperial State Cinematograph! But had these travellers caught a glimpse of the abject misery of the people, their pleasure in these beautiful countries would have been spoilt, and they would have better understood why the inhabitants are rebelling against the “blessing” of Austro-Hungarian rule.

It is much easier to understand why the political horizon in the Southern Slav corner of Europe is always clouded if one is given a clearer view of the _Chartered rights_, as opposed to the _actual position_, held by the Southern Slavs in the Monarchy; but this view is not usually obtained through the official channels of Vienna and Budapest. According to these, all ancient _charters_ of liberty are so many “scraps of paper,” and the actual law merely the right of the strongest. The Hapsburgs did not come as victors with the rights of a conqueror to the Southern Slav provinces. They became rulers of these countries in virtue of voluntary treaties, and they themselves issued manifestos and bulls, in which the integrity and independence of the Southern Slav countries are incontestably guaranteed. Centuries ago, while the Hapsburg dynasty was endangered by constant wars, and especially during the Turkish invasion, these guarantees were faithfully observed. But with the altered conditions of affairs the Southern Slavs had to wage a bitter struggle for their rights.

Of all this group Croatia-Slavonia alone still retains the slightest degree of autonomy, while the countries belonging to Austria have been deprived of every vestige of self-government, and only appear to be distinct dominions in the State by their mock Landtags, whose decisions are almost invariably disregarded. Croatia-Slavonia, which belongs to Hungary, has to this day at least theoretically maintained her political independence. Croatia was once more guaranteed this independence by the agreement between herself and Hungary in 1868. When the Hapsburg Empire was reconstructed in 1867 the constitutional independence of Croatia could not be set aside, especially as this reconstruction was founded on the Pragmatic Sanction, which provided for the separate constitutional independence of Croatia under guarantee of the Royal Oath. Moreover, the events of the revolution of 1848 were still too fresh in the memories of the Hungarian statesmen who had laboured for the establishment of Hungary’s State Constitution from 1861 till 1867, and in their dealings with Croatia they did not dare to repeat the mistakes they had made in 1847 and 1848. Francis Deak, the chief of these statesmen, knew very well that the catastrophe that overtook Hungary in 1848 would never have been so great, if the Croatian national forces had fought side by side with Hungary. Thus it was his wish to conclude a lasting peace with Croatia on a just basis. Under Deak’s influence, and with the co-operation of Croatia’s leading representatives, an agreement was concluded which assured Croatia the position of a State enjoying equal rights with Hungary, with complete self-government as regards her internal affairs, a separate legislative parliament, and her own army; only the railways and the postal and financial systems were to be under mutual control, and Croatia was guaranteed a proportionate share of the revenues from these sources. The Croatian tongue was to be the official language in the Landwehr, and in all courts of law, whether joint or autonomous. The important Croatian seaport Fiume was declared a “corpus separatum adnexæ _rex_,” and thus constituted a joint open port. I shall presently show how Hungary kept her side of the bargain.

* * * * *

A Southern Slav patriot has said that no greater misfortune has befallen the Southern Slavs, than to pass under the dominion of civilized Austria. Had they been obliged to share the fate of their brothers, the Serbs and Bulgarians, they would certainly have tasted all the misery of the Turkish yoke, but to-day they would be free, as an independent State with a right to their own national and intellectual development. The one thing Turkey has left untouched in the Serbs and Bulgars—_the heart of the people_—is the very thing that Austria has sought to destroy in her Southern Slav subjects. Turkish captivity has steeled the hearts of the Slavs she oppressed, but Austrian captivity has cankered them and made them effete.

In many respects this pessimistic view is justified. The struggle of the Southern Slavs for national life has passed through many phases, and has exhausted itself in many more. For centuries the Southern Slav stood under the protection of “Heaven militant,” and his motto was “For Faith and Freedom,” for with him faith was always first. All his culture consisted in imaging the Christ as the “Otac i voyskovodya illyrskyh Kralyeva” (Father and leader of the armies of the Kings of Illyria). The Holy Cross was transformed into a standard of war, and his enthusiasm for this false ideal led him so far astray, that the _baptized_ arch-enemy was nearer to him than his own _unbaptized_ brother, and the Church dearer to him than his country. But these traits do not originate in the character of the Southern Slav. He was educated into them and impregnated with them from without, and always by his greatest enemies, the Germans or the Turks. The Germans made a national mission of the Crusades, and the Turks usually went to war on religious grounds and called their armies the Hosts of the Prophet. Following the example of the Turks, and imitating the Germans in their appropriation of the Deity, Slav Christianity was infected by the fanaticism of the Church of Rome, and became synonymous with militancy and the spirit of the _condottieri_. The heart of the nation grew vitiated, and the Illyrians callously neglected their lovely land, which ought to have been a Garden of Eden. And those who were so liberal with their promises of Heaven and constantly cried, “Thy Kingdom is not of this world!” were well pleased that these things should be so, for they coveted the lost Empire of the Southern Slavs for an earthly paradise of their own.

Unfortunately this dark page in the history of Southern Slavdom followed directly upon one of the most brilliant periods in the intellectual development of Southern Slav culture. It was a period when the national culture of the Southern Slavs put forth some of its most vigorous, fairest and sanest blossoms—the time of the Bogumili (“beloved of God”) whose work of enlightenment spread from Bulgaria over the whole of the Slav South. The Bogumili were strongly opposed to the poetic glorification of the Crusades, because they grasped the fact that the extolling of such an ideal can never open the mind to _heretic_ culture—the culture based on _free choice according to conscience_—which was eventually to undermine the foundations of the sacrosanct Roman Empire and lay the first solid foundations of _true_ culture. The Bogumili taught that true culture is not spread by crusades, but springs from Christian, human contemplation. They deprecated personal worship, and replaced it by a worship of ideals, of spirit, and of thought. Wyclif, Huss and Luther are always quoted as the foremost apostles of the _heretical_ culture. But in the Hungarian Crusaders the Bogumili found bitter enemies. Bogumilist activity in Bosnia and Croatia was stifled in blood, and the people, who were beginning to protest against the lying cult of Cæsarism wedded to Papistry, were simply butchered in the name of the Cross. The blood-baths on the fields of Bosnia filled the people with consternation, but could not stifle Bogumilism. True, its progress was checked in the Southern Slav region, but it secretly penetrated westward, whence the Patarenes in Italy and the Catharists, Albigenses and Waldenses in France spread it all over the world. It is interesting to note that at the very moment when Bogumilist culture was destroyed among the Slavs themselves, they bequeathed this very Bogumilism to the rest of Europe—the first and only gift from the Southern Slav race _as a whole_ to the spiritual life of Europe. It was the true “antemurale Christianitatis”—the outworks of Christianity—purified from Byzantine and Roman elements. _What they gave_ was perhaps not so very much their own as the _vigour_ with which they transplanted the ideal and the doctrine of a spiritual life, from the mountains of Asia Minor to the West. Theirs was the work of emissaries and outposts.

To resume, during the time of Turkish power, the Southern Slavs had ceased to be the “outworks of Christianity” and had become merely a _soldatesca_ in the service of the foreigner, fighting indifferently for Cross or Crescent. It was a terrible time of national abasement, more especially because it followed so closely upon the great era of spiritual exaltation. The gradual loss of Southern Slav independence likewise dates from this period, and from that time until quite recently they were unable, _as a race_, to produce a truly Southern Slav culture. Only those among them who travelled westward, where Bogumilism continued to thrive and flourish, found the way of true culture. Among these exceptions were Marko Marulić (Marcus Marulus), a Spalatine noble, whose works were translated from the Latin into all the principal European tongues, and Flavius Illyricus, whom, after Luther, Germany considers one of her greatest teachers. In their souls these men were merely Bogumili and nothing more. With them we may also class John of Ragusa, who led the whole Council of Bâle against the Pope and proposed to negotiate calmly and justly with the Hussites and Manichees. Just such a man was Bishop Strossmayer in our own day, a man of whom I shall presently speak further.

Their liberation from the Crescent put an end to the period of religious militancy among the Southern Slav people. The warlike element is perhaps of great historic moment. It certainly fended the Southern Slavs over the abysses of Turkish barbarism to freedom in the Christian sense of the word, but by no means to national freedom. When the Turkish invasion was rolled back and the everlasting wars were over, the symbol of the sword was exchanged for that of the plough, and God as God was no longer adorned with weapons, but imaged in a nobler spirit as the highest conception of _peace_. And, as the people accustomed themselves to peace, and once more came in touch with the soil, a new spirit grew up within them, or rather it was the re-awakening of an old spirit that for a while had been silenced by the clamour of weapons—the spirit of love for the homestead and the community. Nationalism still slumbered but, like a guardian angel, the _national tongue_ watched over its slumbers. Through storm and stress, in spite of travels and intercourse with foreign-speaking mercenaries, this language has remained pure and unalloyed. This was the seed of the future from which sprang the great awakening; for so long as a people preserves its language it possesses a Nationality.

Liberty of conscience, and the transformation of the warrior into a husbandman, were also the beginning of a change in the souls of the people, which, while groping its way back towards its own essential beauty, began to feel the hidden wounds within, and strove to rid itself of the canker. The old beautiful mode of life, the patriarchal family feeling and the bond of union in the community were restored, and the gentle, plaintive melodies echoed once more in farm and field. And this regeneration grew and expanded until it brought the revelation of national union, patriotism, and finally the love for all that belongs to the Slav race.

* * * * *

The Napoleonic era found this people already fully developed. They had found their soul and knew what they wanted. Napoleon, who treated most of the people he conquered without much consideration, was filled with unusual admiration for the Southern Slavs that came under his rule. By the peace of Schönbrunn (October 14th, 1809) he acquired Triest, Görz, Carniola, part of Carinthia, Austrian Istria, the Croat seaboard with Fiume, and all Croatia south of the Save. Napoleon united all these countries with French Istria, Dalmatia and Ragusa into one “Province of Illyria,” and thus for one short moment fulfilled the dearest wish of all the Southern Slavs. Illyria was organized as one military province divided into six civil provinces; Maréchal Marmont was appointed Governor and in the name of Napoleon carried out sweeping reforms throughout the country. Trade and industry were signally improved and the people were granted far-reaching national liberties. The use of German as the official language was abolished in the schools and law courts and Serbo-Croatian introduced in its place. Special attention was devoted to road-making and education, and the Croats were permitted to edit their own newspapers in the Croat tongue, which would have been considered high treason under Austria. Although the French rule was only of short duration (till 1817) _it did more for the Southern Slav lands in three years than Austria did during the century that followed_. But the main thing was that this rule aroused the national thought so effectively that henceforth it ceased to be a dream and became a factor to be reckoned with. From that time dates the unremitting struggle against Germanism and Magyarism, and the agitation for a national union of all the Southern Slavs.

The first-fruits of the complete national regeneration were seen in the great movement started in 1835 and known by the name of Illyrism. Illyrism began with a small group of patriots and poets whose leaders were Ljndevit Gaj and Count Janko Drašković. They founded newspapers and periodicals, published patriotic books and poems, and roused the national enthusiasm of the people to the highest pitch. In this mission they successfully sought help and advice from other Slavs, especially the Csechs and Serbs; they were also the first to come into touch with Russia. Austria-Hungary tried sharply to repress this movement, and for the first time found herself confronted by a united nation bent on going its own way. The Illyrist movement cannot point to any positive political results, but it laid a foundation for future political and national activity and did an incalculable amount of pioneer work which would have been most difficult to carry out under the conditions that followed. In 1843 the name of Illyrism was prohibited by an Imperial edict, and it was hoped by the Austrian authorities that this would be the end of the patriotic movement. But their labour was lost. In fact, under the spur of persecution the patriots passed from their idealistic literary campaign to more tangible activities. By the prohibition of the Illyrian name the motto of the poetic propaganda was lost, and it became the duty of the patriots to lead their politics into less sentimental paths, and enter upon a campaign of cold reasoning in place of poetic sentiment. This was all the more necessary as the national cause was greatly endangered by several new regulations. Following closely upon the prohibition of the Illyrian name came an order for the introduction of the Magyar tongue in the Croatian law courts. When the Croatian counties protested in Vienna that Croatia was privileged to choose her own official language, and that no one had the right to interfere with this privilege, they met with a brusque rebuff. Up to now the Government had hardly dared to attempt the Magyarization of Croatia, but now they decided to enforce it in spite of the newly-awakened national consciousness. The Croats now realized that it was a case of war to the knife. The Hungarian Government proclaimed that all countries and nationalities subjected to the crown of St. Stephen must be made one people, one state, and be taught to speak _one_ language—in short, they were to become Magyars. They were determined to break the national resistance of the Serbs and Croats by force, or preferably, by corruption. In this enterprise Hungary found an able assistant in Ban Haller. A “Magyar party” was organized in Croatia with a view to reconciling the people to Magyar demands, but, unfortunately, it consisted chiefly of adventurers and social riff-raff; the work of Magyarization made no progress, but only further incensed the Southern Slavs. One of the consequences of this hatred was that in 1848 the Croats and Serbs enthusiastically followed Ban Jellacić in the campaign against Hungary.

* * * * *

After the conclusion of peace between Hungary and the Crown the Croats were rewarded in a truly Austrian fashion for their assistance in putting down the rebellion: once more they were handed over to the tender mercies of Hungary. This ingratitude roused a perfect tempest of indignation, but at the same time the Southern Slavs finally learnt their lesson. Henceforth they would look for help to no one but themselves, and they resolved that the coming struggle must be fought to a finish. The Southern Slav leaders knew very well that nothing could be done by revolutionary propaganda, but that their first task must be to establish a footing from which they could conduct a constitutional campaign. They formed a strong Nationalist party in Croatia, which co-operated with the Dalmatine and Slovene parties, laid down their programme on a broad national basis, and organized a campaign of passive resistance among the people. Of course the success of these labours was largely due to the fact that Hungary was weakened by the revolution and inclined to be somewhat less aggressive. Croatia, on the other hand, was fresh, strong, and self-reliant. Of course the results were not apparent at once, but the agreement of 1867 was a consequence of Croatia’s united stand. This agreement by no means satisfied all the aspirations of the Southern Slavs, but it gave them the required footing against Magyar oligarchy. Upon the conclusion of the agreement, Croatia received her first constitutional Ban, who was henceforth to be responsible to the _Croatian Parliament_. Unfortunately the King made this appointment upon the recommendation of Hungary, who saw to it that the first Ban, Baron Levin Rauch, should be a mere exponent of the Hungarian Government. Contempt of the constitution, and corruption, were the first-fruits of the agreement under Hungarian influence in Croatia, with the result that all Croatian patriots—including those who had helped to conclude the agreement—passed over to the Opposition. This Opposition worked on rigidly constitutional lines, and, as more radical parties arose, they formed the constitutionally correct, though barren, Croatian Constitutional party. Space forbids me to enumerate all the means by which the first “constitutional Ban” strove to carry out his orders from Budapest. By suddenly imposing a new election law he secured a large and obsequious majority in Parliament, which effectively barred the co-operation of the Opposition in national affairs. But the Opposition attacked the Government _outside_ Parliament, through the press. When this systematic corruption and disregard of the agreement had gone too far, M. Mrazović, the leader of the Opposition, published a sensational indictment against Baron Rauch, accusing him of underhand dealings. Baron Rauch took proceedings against Mrazović for libel in the military courts, but Mrazović substantiated his accusations and was acquitted. Baron Rauch resigned, and the Nationalist Party scored its first victory. He was succeeded by Ban Bedeković, another Hungarian nominee, who was, however, unable to prevent a triumphant Nationalist victory in the election of 1871. The Hungarians asserted that this victory had been subsidized by funds from Russia and Serbia, and this accusation contains the substance of all subsequent charges of high treason. The Opposition replied with a manifesto, in which they clearly set forth the gravity of the numerous infringements of the constitution. Because of this manifesto, the Government wished to take proceedings against the leaders of the Opposition for high treason, but they refrained through fear of offending European public opinion. At this time the Constitutionalist Kvaternik, a good patriot but wholly unpractical, started an armed rebellion among the peasantry in the Rakovica district. It was put down by a strong military force, and Kvaternik lost his life. The October manifesto, in conjunction with the rebellion in Rakovica, afforded Andrassy (then Minister of Foreign Affairs) a pretext for opposing every form of Slavophile policy and ascribing both the manifesto and the rebellion to Russian influence.

The policy then inaugurated remains in force to this day. Brutal Imperialism is rampant in Croatia, and the Agreement has become a mere “scrap of paper.” But oppression begets opposition, and during these critical times the Southern Slavs found not only their greatest tyrant but their greatest patriot. From 1883 to 1903 Count Carl Khuen-Hedervary was Ban of Croatia, and the twenty years of his administration have been the blackest period as regards political, economic and personal thraldom. Countless Magyar schools were scattered throughout the country to promote the denationalization of the people; espionage and Secret Police flourished as in Darkest Russia. The archives of the State, with the Constitutional Charters of Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia, were incorporated with the State archives in Budapest, and, _last but not least, the Agreement itself was falsified by the pasting of a slip of paper over the specification of Fiume as a “Corpus separatum adnexæ rex”_ converting it into a “corpus separatum adnexæ _Hungariam_,” whereby this important Croatian seaport became exclusively Hungarian property. But this same period also witnessed the labours of the greatest of all Southern Slavs, the benefactor and father of his people, Bishop Josip Juraj Strossmayer.

II.

Bishop Strossmayer (1815-1905) was the most generous benefactor of his people, their greatest patron of science and art, and the very incarnation of their political programme. He was the first to break down the local artificial barriers between Serb and Croat—the first to preach the gospel of united Yougoslavia. Labouring in a period when all national effort was suppressed in every possible way, when Slav sympathies were accounted high treason, he rose to a position of unassailable eminence, which enabled him to set the mark of his powerful personality like a leitmotive on the whole nineteenth-century history of the Southern Slavs. Born of peasant stock and, like all gifted Slav boys, destined for the church, Strossmayer began his patriotic activity, while he was still a student and youthful priest, by joining the Illyrist movement. His exceptional abilities were soon noticed in connection with the national movement, and Vienna and Budapest awoke to the dangerous possibilities of his personality. Determined to put an end to his patriotic labours they appointed him court chaplain, and trusted that the society of the court with all its splendour and gaiety would dazzle the handsome young priest, and wile him away from the service of his country. But Strossmayer made a most unexpected and highly diplomatic use of his position. He brilliantly succeeded in deceiving his surroundings as to his sympathies, and when barely over thirty he secured his appointment to the Episcopal See of Djakovo. Hereby he also became Vladika of Bosnia and Syrmia, and shortly afterwards was created governor of the Virovitica district.

At this point Strossmayer’s life-work for his people began in earnest. Holding a most distinguished position, and with the vast revenues of his bishopric at his disposal, he opened the flood-gates of his activities, and Vienna and Budapest saw with horror and amazement the mistake they had made. Strossmayer assumed the leadership of the Nationalist party; and in Parliament, where he took his seat in the double capacity of bishop and elected deputy, he showed himself a brilliant orator, a subtle politician, and an astute diplomat. He was the incarnation of a keen, but determined and wise Opposition. He also became an intellectual leader of his people and accomplished more than anyone else before him. He founded the Southern Slav Academy of Science and Art, which in the very terms of its foundation embodies the intellectual unity of the Southern Slavs. He also founded the Croatian University; and, being a great art connoisseur, he spent years in accumulating an exceedingly fine private collection, which he presented to the nation. He built the Cathedral at Djakovo, and at his own expense sent hundreds of young Serbs and Croats to foreign art schools and universities. Every intellectual enterprise, whether literary, artistic or scientific, found in him a munificent patron. His entire income was devoted to the welfare of the nation, and the sums that Strossmayer spent in adding to the greatness and fame of his country amounted to many millions during the long years of his office. But his dearest wish was the realization of the Yougoslav ideal, the breaking down of all local barriers between Serbs and Croats, and the creation of a united people. With this end in view, and in spite of his position in the Roman Catholic Church, Strossmayer went so far as to advocate that the Serbian Græco-Orthodox, and the Croatian Catholic, Churches should unite and become one National Church. He knew that the future of his people could never be realized within the confines of the Monarchy, but that it must be identified with that of all the other Southern Slav nations, and founded upon a purely Slav basis. Strossmayer did not confine his efforts to winning converts among his own people for this idea. He knew too well, that at the decisive moment the nation would require strong support from without, and, at the risk of being accused of high treason, he entered into friendly relations with Russia, which should bring the big and powerful brother of the North nearer to his down-trodden little brother in the South. He succeeded in finding influential friends in Russia as in other countries, and his nation is still proud of his friendship with the Tsar Alexander III., Leo XIII., Gladstone, Crispi and Gambetta. Before Strossmayer entered the lists no one in Europe had taken the slightest interest in the Southern Slav problem. The slippery diplomacy of Vienna—which is only equalled in duplicity by that of Turkey—had for centuries successfully diverted the attention of Europe from the Southern Slav peoples in the Monarchy, and the general assumption about them was that they were a horde of uncivilized semi-barbarians, fed by Austria at great sacrifice and treated by her with the utmost forbearance. The spectacles through which Europe viewed these nations were made in Vienna and Budapest, and no one took the trouble to bring an independent, unbiassed mind to bear upon the problem. Many Southern Slav patriots made desperate though vain efforts to bring even a grain of truth before the European public; a Jesuit Vienna and a Judaized Budapest were too strong for them. The world thought more of the colourless anational Austrian culture, and the borrowed pseudo-culture of the Magyars than of the culture of the Slavs, which for a thousand years has been the spontaneous expression of their national individuality, with a literature worthy of the lyre of Homer. Not only Austro-Hungarian politics, but the age itself was unpropitious to the Southern Slavs. They possessed no importance for the European balance of power; and it is one of the bitterest ironies of history, that for a very long time the Southern Slavs fought less for their own advantage than for the interests of Europe. For, even as the Southern Slavs were for centuries the bulwark against the tide of Ottoman invasion _from_ the East, they subsequently became an equally strong bulwark against the rising tide of Germanism _towards_ the East. With every fibre of their being they kept the gate of the East fast closed against either foe—not only for themselves, but in the interests of European civilization.

Strossmayer was the first who succeeded in re-awakening the interest of Europe in this struggle, and, even if his efforts were not crowned with immediate practical success, he at least contrived to cast a doubt on the complacent assurances of Vienna and Budapest. Strossmayer was a man with a tremendous personality, and his word was invariably accepted. He was also past-master in the art of _not saying too much_—thus avoiding the appearance of exaggeration. Even in his world-famous speech in the Council of the Vatican (1871, under Pius IX.), when he spoke in Latin for sixteen consecutive hours against the doctrine of Papal infallibility, he left some things unsaid, for he was interrupted in “the midst of his speech” by the Archbishop of Paris, who embraced and kissed him, and assured him that what he had already said was amply convincing.

Strossmayer’s activity was pursued with ruthless enmity in Vienna and Budapest, and, even as he was the best-loved man among his own people, he was the best-hated enemy of the Germans and the Magyars. They tried by every possible means to minimize his power, and agitated in the Vatican for his recall to Rome. But Leo XIII. was not only the personal friend of Strossmayer, but also the friend of the Slavs, and Viennese diplomacy failed in its object. Then followed disgraceful intrigues, and endeavours to represent Strossmayer as a traitor. Among other accusations, it was alleged that he had exchanged incriminating telegrams with the Tsar, in which he was said to have advocated the detachment of the Southern Slav provinces from Austria. Strossmayer’s reply to these insinuations was truly characteristic. Several years after this alleged exchange of telegrams the Emperor Francis Joseph came to Croatia for the grand manœuvres, and Bishop Strossmayer was one of the guests at the great reception in Belovar, where the Emperor had his headquarters. The Emperor took the opportunity to sharply reprimand the Bishop for his conduct. Strossmayer retorted with equal sharpness “My conscience is clear, your Majesty,” then brusquely turned his back and ostentatiously walked out of the hall. Circumstances made it impossible to celebrate Strossmayer’s courage, but the people rejoiced in this new proof that their champion feared no risk when it was a case of defending the freedom and interests of his people.

Strossmayer was no dreamer, but above all things a practical statesman. He knew that whoever hopes to win a final success must first carefully prepare the ground. Any attempt to detach the Southern Slav Kingdoms from the Monarchy by force would have been unadvisable, and moreover, a dangerous and futile enterprise. Therefore, the political party of which Strossmayer was the leader made it their business to see that the stipulations of the Agreement were scrupulously observed, knowing well that a strict observance of the Agreement—if only for a time—would give the nation the much-needed chance of economic improvement, and thus pave the way to future independence. In this policy they were supported by the entire nation, who by their very unanimity proved their political fitness. Twenty years’ martyrdom under Count Khuen-Hedervary had not enervated the nation; on the contrary, they grew strong through adversity; and, with their eyes fixed upon their spiritual guide and protector, they steadfastly went forward towards their goal. Khuen-Hedervary’s bribery, intimidation, everlasting trials for high treason, prison and the gallows, all these had only incited them to further resistance. When, bowed with age, Strossmayer finally had to resign his active part in politics, we saw the people whom his spirit had inspired suddenly turn upon their oppressors. In 1903, the whole country rose in rebellion as one man, and Khuen-Hedervary’s power was broken. Even he had to admit that his twenty years’ rule of ruthless oppression had merely defeated its own object, that it had united the people whom he had sought to weaken, and strengthened that which he had hoped to destroy.

Strossmayer lived to see Khuen’s resignation, and his last days were cheered by a gleam of light—which alas! proved only illusory—shed upon the path of his country; yet as he closed his eyes for ever, he realized that he had not given his all to Croatia in vain, and that the hour was not far off when his ideals should become realities.

He died in 1905, but his spirit lives on in his people and his memory shines among them like a guiding star to point the way.

III.

The popular rising in 1903 opened new channels for the national struggle; it was also the prelude to the hardest and bitterest time that the Southern Slav people have yet been called upon to face. Khuen’s successor was Count Theodore Pejacsević, a Croatian noble, who was no great statesman, but at least a good administrative official. He gave the distracted country a brief time of quiet, equitable government, and deserves great credit for abolishing Khuen’s system of corruption. Meantime the strongly Nationalist parties in Croatia had formed a block,—the _Serbo-Croat Coalition_,—and Count Pejacsević found it impossible to raise a pro-Hungarian majority in Parliament. Shortly afterwards the Hungarian Opposition also rose into conflict with the Crown, and the situation became involved both in Hungary and Croatia. The Hungarian Opposition applied to the Serbo-Croat Coalition for support in their struggle and promised that, if their party were returned, they would grant all Croatia’s demands as embodied in the Agreement of 1867. Negotiations were carried on by Francis Kossuth and Geza Polonyi on behalf of Hungary, and by Frano Supilo as delegate of the Serbo-Croat Coalition. These negotiations resulted in the _Resolution of Fiume_ (October, 1905), which stipulated for the political co-operation between the Hungarian and Serbo-Croat parties, and secured considerable advantages to Croatia in the event of success. The Resolution of Fiume was in every way a masterpiece of policy and diplomacy, and was in all its details the achievement of Frano Supilo, who was the popular leader in Croatia at the time. In the election of 1905 the Coalition won a brilliant victory. Not one Government candidate was returned, and the small Opposition consisted of partizans of Ante Starćević’s one-time idealist, patriotic constitutionalist party, which however, since his death, had passed under the control of Jewish solicitors, and was so committed to a purely Austrian _Christian-Socialist policy_. As the Hungarian Opposition had likewise scored a victory, the Croatian Cabinet was composed of representatives of the Serbo-Croat Coalition, with Count Pejacsević retained in office as “ut conditio sine qua non.” Croatia enjoyed a short respite and began to look forward to better times. But her hopes were once more doomed to disappointment. The perfidious Magyars once more failed to keep their word. So long as they _needed_ the Serbs and Croats they were full of love and brotherliness, but when they had gained their point, they discarded the mask of false friendship. Francis Kossuth, having become Handelsminister (Minister of Trade) in the Hungarian Cabinet in 1907, introduced a bill on the control of the Railways which was the most _flagrant_ and _outrageous_ infringement of the Agreement as yet attempted. It provided that thenceforth the language used on the railway-system, even in Croatian territory, was to be _Hungarian_, although it had been specially stipulated in the Agreement—which stands in the place of a fundamental constitutional law—that _Croatian_ was to be official tongue in all joint offices within Croatian territory. The Serbo-Croat Coalition, which is represented by forty members in the Hungarian Parliament, rose in wrath against the Bill, and declared war to the knife upon the Hungarian Government. The conflict in the Hungarian Parliament is known all over Europe. The Croats and Serbs pursued a policy of obstruction, which fairly paralyzed the House and made parliamentary discussion of the Railway Bill quite impossible. To get it passed Kossuth so worded his Bill that it was contained in one paragraph, empowering the Government to deal with the Pragmatic (administrative business of the country) at their discretion as part of the Order of the Day.

The rupture with Hungary was now complete. The Serbo-Croat Coalition transferred the conflict to Croatia, and the nation began to agitate for detachment from Hungary. The Parliament was dissolved, but the Coalition was again victorious in the election. On the resignation of the Croatian Government, Alexander v. Rakodczay was appointed Ban, but failing to raise a party friendly to the Government he was forced to resign his office in two months. The next Ban to be appointed was Baron Paul Rauch, who boldly entered his capital town of Zagreb, but was received with hostile demonstrations and showers of stones. It speaks well for his courage that he was not affected by this reception, and even introduced himself to the Parliament with great pomp. His reception in Parliament was one great demonstration of hostility, so that he could not even read the Royal message. He had to fly the building with his Ministerial staff, and Parliament was officially dissolved the same day. Baron Rauch formed a Government party of venal upstarts and discredited characters, secured the support of the now thoroughly demoralized “constitutionalist party,” and ordered a new election. _Everything_ was done to intimidate the electorate, with the result that not one of Rauch’s candidates was returned. This Parliament was dissolved without even having been summoned, and Rauch embarked on a reign of terror which can only be compared to that of Germany in the Cameroons. He organized the Jewish-constitutionalist party into bands which went by the name of the “Black Hand.” Their motto was “For the Emperor, and for Croatia,” and their weapons were murder and assault, which they were allowed to use with impunity against their opponents. At the same time an organized judicial persecution of the Serbs was set on foot. But even this tyranny could not break the national resistance.

At this juncture a new contingency arose. The Monarchy was preparing to annex Bosnia and Hercegovina, and a suitable pretext had to be found. The Government accordingly invented the “_Greater Serbian agitation_.” The heroic struggle of the Serbo-Croat Coalition was represented as being the outcome of a Greater Serbian agitation, and Baron Rauch was commissioned to unmask this “widespread criminal conspiracy.” In the summer of 1908, to the amazement and consternation of the people, large numbers of Serbs, chiefly priests, school-masters and business men, were arrested, and the official Press triumphantly announced that a horrible, widespread and highly treasonable propaganda had been discovered! The preliminary investigations lasted a long time, and March 3rd, 1909, saw the opening of the proceedings against the “traitors” who had conspired with Serbia for the detachment of all the Slavonic South from the Monarchy. The trial lasted till October 5th, when all the accused parties received very heavy sentences. Immediately afterwards the Austrian historian Dr. Heinrich Friedjung stated in the Viennese _Neue Freie Presse_, that the leaders of the Serbo-Croat Coalition were also implicated in this conspiracy, especially Frano Supilo, Grga Tuškan and Božidar Vinković, and that his accusation was founded on documentary evidence. Hereupon the whole Serbo-Croat Coalition took proceedings against Dr. Friedjung for libel. The result of this case, which was fought in Vienna, caused a European sensation. _It was conclusively proved that all the documentary evidence against the Coalition, both in the Zagreb and the Viennese trials, had been forged by order of Baron Aehrenthal, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Count Forgach, the Austrian Ambassador in Belgrade._ Friedjung himself confessed as much in court. The consequence of this unparalleled _exposé_ was, that the King-Emperor had to rescind the sentences already passed in the Zagreb trial.[17] Meantime, however, the desired object had been gained, and Bosnia-Hercegovina was annexed contrary to the will of all the Slavs.

But, with scandalous details incidental to the annexation, Baron Rauch’s mission had been brilliantly fulfilled. Soon afterwards Kossuth’s perfidious Government was turned out and Croatia’s old oppressor, Count Khuen Hedervary, became Premier. Khuen, however, was a personal enemy of Rauch, and occasioned his recall. In his place Nikolaus von Tomašić was appointed Ban of Croatia—a most eminent and highly-respected Croatian scholar, but politically a satellite of Khuen. He did his best to restore order, and to this end negotiated with the Serbo-Croat Coalition. Frano Supilo protested most emphatically against this. He had already had exhaustive experience of Magyar perfidy, and had no desire to see his people once again walk into the trap. But the Coalition was perhaps weary of the struggle—perhaps they still hoped for fair dealing, and accordingly entered into a compact with Tomašić which made peaceful government possible so long as the rights of the nation were respected. On the strength of this compact several Government candidates were returned at the next election; after which Tomašić promptly ignored the Coalition and governed only with his own party. Supilo’s prophecy was fulfilled, and the Coalition had once more to join the Opposition. Tomašić was overthrown but the Austro-Hungarian Government replied by sending Herr von Cuvaj, the Terrorist Commissioner, and suspending the Constitution. These were the days of bitterest misery and unscrupulous tyranny in Croatia. Cuvaj ruled with the knout, and the knout only. Police espionage flourished, and all personal, political and civil liberty was set at naught. All this time the Balkan War was raging, and woe to the Serb or Croat who dared to rejoice at his brother’s victories. But, when the Balkan Alliance was victorious, the Southern Slavs knew that from henceforth they could rely on a measure of support from their kinsmen. Vienna and Budapest were equally perspicacious and realized the advisability of changing their tactics. Cuvaj was recalled and Count Stephen Tisza, one of the most inveterate enemies of the Slavs, sent Baron Skerlecz to Croatia with instructions to conciliate the Croats. The effete Serbo-Croat Coalition was once more cajoled, and, for the third time, it entered into a disastrous compact with Hungary. This time one of the consequences was the expropriation of the Croatian sea-board in favour of Hungary. Moreover, the present crisis found the Coalition helplessly committed to the Government.

But the people had stood firm. The dire sufferings of recent years have begotten a new and healthy movement, which includes the entire youth of Croatia. The younger generation has lost faith in political parties, and begun to go its own way along the path which leads away from Hungary and away from Austria, back to union with their scattered kindred. Their aim is the establishment of a great, free and independent Southern Slav State. At the head of this younger generation stands a man of magnetic personality—Frano Supilo.

IV.

The Southern Slavs in Dalmatia, Carniola and Istria fared little better than their brothers in Croatia and Slavonia. I have already alluded to the economic neglect of Dalmatia. In politics, Germanization was practised in much the same way as Magyarization in Croatia. Dalmatia unfortunately does not enjoy independence, even on paper, and thus her oppression could wear a perfectly constitutional guise. The Dalmatian “Sabor,” like that of Istria and Carniola, is an assembly quite at the mercy of the viceroy for the time being, who would never dream of convoking it, unless he had made quite sure that no inconvenient resolutions would be passed. As a rule these “Sabors” enjoy prolonged periods of rest, and the people are only represented by their delegates in the Viennese Reichstrat. There these delegates certainly make a brave fight, but they are too few, and their voice is drowned by the huge German majority. Because of this and also through the fault of the Slovene Roman Catholic party, Carniola has become strongly Germanized, especially as regards the administration of the schools. But the Dalmatians and Istrians are a sturdy, progressive people, Slav to the backbone, and all attempts at Germanizing them have proved as futile as the beating of waves upon the shore. Beside the German danger, this people also has the Italian danger to contend with. For opportunist reasons the Austrian Government has always favoured the Italian element (4 per cent. in Istria and 2 per cent. in Dalmatia) and granted them concessions, which have given rise to the most absurd anomalies. For instance, the election law in Istria is so framed, that 96 per cent. Slovenes and Croats send fewer delegates to Vienna than 4 per cent. Italians. The same injustice prevails in the Parish Council election law, but in spite of this the Italians would never secure their majority, if special Government regulations did not compel all officials and State employees to vote Italian. _If to-day Italy is apparently able to claim a sphere of interest in Istria, this is the outcome of a chance state of affairs, arbitrarily created by the Austrian Government._ As an instance of this policy, I will state that shortly before the outbreak of the war the Government seriously contemplated the foundation of an Italian University for a population of 700,000 souls, while strenuously opposing the foundation of a Slovene University for 1,400,000 Slovenes and Croats in Carniola and Istria. Of course this policy made the Italians aggressive, and they continued to extend their sphere of interest until it actually included the Quarnero Islands, although these islands do not possess one single Italian inhabitant, and _these very islands are the most sacred possession of the Southern Slavs_. THEY ARE THE ONLY SPOT IN SLAV TERRITORY WHERE THE OLD SLAV TONGUE IS STILL SPOKEN BY THE PEOPLE. This fact is amply borne out by publications of the Southern Slav Academy, and also of the Russian Academy, which sends its scholars year by year to these islands to study the language. In the province of Dalmatia the populace have themselves dismissed the Italian question from the order of the day, and the local government of Zadar (Zara) is the only possession—and a very problematical one at that—which the Italians might claim, and that only because of the truly mediæval election laws. For, as soon as vote by ballot for the Parliamentary elections was introduced in the Austrian Crown lands, the Croatian candidate was returned by a majority of 7,000 votes over his Italian colleague.

The pro-Italian attitude of Austria was and is as insincere as the rest of her policy. It is simply dictated by the “_divide-et-impera_” principle, because an alliance between Slavs and Italians would have been fatal to the Government. One nationality was played off against the other, and the Italians proved willing tools in the hands of Austria. The influence of Italian culture, which has for centuries been received with love and admiration by the Southern Slavs, has created an Italian-speaking zone of culture in the coast-lands of the Adriatic; and the Italians, assisted by the Austrian Government, have made the most of this zone until they have actually had the audacity to include it in their sphere of _national_ aspirations. Thus Austria created an enemy both for herself and the Slav peoples, an enemy with whom the Southern Slavs have never before had any real quarrel. Antagonism led to bitter conflicts, and if the Slav population in Dalmatia and Istria have begun to detest the Italian zone of culture it has been purely in self-defence and for fear of having to pay with their national existence for the amity and admiration of centuries. Nowadays, the Italians themselves admit that Dalmatia and Istria are indigenously pure Slav countries. Probably the present struggle has also revealed to them the true value of Austria’s favours.

In Bosnia and Hercegovina, Austria pursued the same heartless policy. Out of the three religions of _one_ people she made _three_ nationalities, and then fostered dissensions between them. Her policy was especially bitter against the Serbs, who are in the majority and also the more highly-educated element of the population and therefore more able to give effective support to the just claims of Serbia. Austria was not in the least interested in the prosperity of the country, and merely created an intolerable chaos by her political intrigue in a land that had already suffered beyond endurance. Her evidences of civilization exhibited before Europe were pure humbug, and the annexation of Bosnia-Hercegovina one of the most flagrant acts of injustice ever perpetrated on a nation.

If the present war is decided in favour of the Allies—and this is the prayer of _all_ the Slavs—it will become necessary to settle the Southern Slav problem once and for all. This can only be done _satisfactorily_ by respecting the principle of nationality, and by a just delimitation of the various national zones. In disputed territories, such as Istria or the Quarnero Islands, a referendum ought to decide.

The Slavs have been tortured long enough. For centuries they have guarded European civilization against the inroads of _Ottoman Islam_, which has always been synonymous with bigotry, barbarism and sloth, and should never be confounded with _Arab Islam_, or _Hindu Islam_, to whom the whole world of science, art and philosophy is eternally indebted. Austria and Prussia are the natural heirs of Ottoman Islam, and the Southern Slavs have made a heroic stand against this latter-day _Prussian Islam_.

Civilization owes them a debt of honour, and it is only their due that Europe should give them justice.