The reconstruction of South-Eastern Europe

THE RECONSTRUCTION OF

argument appeals but feebly to her nations. Even if it be true that the Venetian rule of the Adriatic represents a bright page in the Italian history of warlike achievements, it is not less true that the memory of the Venetian rule of the Slav coasts of the Adriatic also recalls to their Slavonic inhabitants the dire days of foreign subjugation and misery. Those were days when their economic and commercial resources were ruthlessly exploited for the profit of an alien ruler, and when their manhood was mercilessly employed to fight far-distant battles for no profit to their native land and kinsfolk. Those were days when, for all their services, they were paid by economic misery and moral contempt, the days when Slavs were ‘“ Schiavi ’’—most despicable slaves. The memories of those days, walking like pale ghosts on the other shore of the Adriatic, make, even to-day, the blood run quicker, fists clench themselves involuntarily, and account for so much animosity and misunderstanding between their mixed population. Let those ghosts of the past be buried for ever. To shine forth brightly the glory of young Italy has no need of the humiliation and moral misery of her Slav neighbours. Against those historic rights of past States rises the incontestable and unquestionable right of a living nation striving for freedom, equality, and lawful recognition. The whole history of those provinces in the past has been a long struggle 156