JUGOSLAV QUESTION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17141, 22 April 1919, Page 5

JUGOSLAV QUESTION.

i FUTURE OF THE STATE. i ~ ■ UNION OF THREE BRANCHES, i t, A largely-attended meeting of Jugoslavs . was held at the Chamber of Commerce last t j evening, when addresses were delivered by J Professor' J. P. Grossman and Mr. F., 1 I Miklavcic. Mr..Mark Simich presided. j Professor Grossman, who dealt with thai international aspd't of the Jugoslav question, went exhaust lvely into the history of j the Jugoslav people, and said that, from his reading of the.V history, he was deeply | impressed with the struggle these people , had made for freedom. He spoke of tho j despotic tyranny exercised over the Jugo. 3 slavs by Austria, and said th e powers of '. Europe had not yet recognised tha debt) J they owed to these people in acting as a , j barrier against the onslaughts of the ; I Turks. Justice had not been done to , i Servia for the magnificent pari she had 'played in the war. Dealing with tha : controversy with Italy over Dalmatia, ho said, from a national point of view, ha : could see no conceivable reason wcy Daljmatia should bo handed over to anyone , but the Jugoslavs, neither could he see t I that the latter had any clear right to tho CAy of Trieste, which, with Fiume, would I no doubt finally be declared a free port. | He had great faith in the absolute permanence and success of the Jugoslav Union, which had the sympathy and best hones of the civilised world. , Mr. MikJavcic, who belongs to tho Slovenio branch of the Jugoslavs, .ipok* in his native tongue, and traced tho hir- , tory of the Jugoslavs from the timt, , about IS centuries ago, when they arrived . in their present territories as a united people having identical laws and cu-s- ---. Toms and speaking the same language . He showed that through subsequent , events they were split into . several , branches— owing to difference in , religion and cultural and political infln--3 ences. Gradually, however, tluy began , to draw together, the strongest forces working in this direction, no doubt being j the memory of their former urity and the . battles fought in common against the . Turkish oppression. The present union was j, the logical consequence of tie Servian i( victory during the recent Balkan ware, ' which deeply stirred the public opinion s in all Jugoslav countries. To-day, ha f said, tho new Jugoslav State, comprising ~ the three branches of the Jugoslav race— r the Serbs, Croat*, and the Sloveneswan 8 an accomplished fact which friend' and B foe must recognise.