In more cultured circles the wonderful union of the
Southern Slavs is manifested after a different fashion, and those
neighbours who imagine that the afore-mentioned grievances are going to
dissolve the new State will one day see how much they are mistaken. The
Southern Slavs intend to quarrel with each other, to quarrel like
brothers.
THE SAD CASE OF PRIBIČEVIĆ
As between the Catholic and the Orthodox in Croatia the sole uncertainty
is whether this fusion will shortly take place or after an interval. It
is agreed by the most malcontent schoolmasters that their pupils are
growing up to be excellent Yugoslavs who will have no more fear of what
they call "Serb hegemony" than have the Scots of that of England. As for
the present generation of Croats and Serbs, if they were Occidentals
they would be old enough to laugh at each others' peculiarities and each
others' statesmen. But South-Eastern Europe is still under the morning
clouds, and they are inclined to take seriously what we in the West make
fun of. However, there is one man whose presence in the Cabinet the
Croats cannot be expected to regard with good-humour or with
nonchalance. The reconciliation of Croatia will be much more easily
effected if Mr. Pribičević resigns. His merits as a demagogue and
political writer are undeniable. He would make an excellent Whip. But he
prefers to be a Minister, and most unfortunately he is not a statesman.
A zealous patriot, he is as yet unable to conceive that the business of
the State could be more successfully managed without him. The sweets of
office appear, if anything, to have made him more bitter; and even among
the Serbs of the old kingdom his withdrawal is considered advisable. A
friend of his has told me that in the middle of a laughing conversation
he threw out a hint of this, and like a cloud blown suddenly across a
summer sky, Pribičević's face grew black. Unhappily he is not even
Fortinbras and yet imagines he is Hamlet. A good many people in
Yugoslavia call him _un homme fatal_, most of the others _l'homme
fatal_. It is said that in the Democratic party he is actively supported
by not more than ten deputies, but that the others, to preserve the
party, take no steps. He himself, however, would probably have not the
least hesitation in choosing another party, if he could otherwise not
stay in the Cabinet; for his permanence in office is the one idea that
crushes every other from his mind. If he cannot be Minister of the
Interior--a post from which he has been more than once, and happily for
Yugoslavia, ejected--then he insists on being Minister of Education.
What are his qualifications? Years ago he gave instruction at a school
for elementary teachers, and so faint a conception has he of the
educational needs of his country that one day when a Professor of
Belgrade University asked him if no steps could be taken to diminish the
prohibitive cost of books, especially foreign books, the Minister
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account