North
of Ponte Rosso is Germania, or the Austrian colony, composed of the
authorities, the _employes_, and a few wealthy merchants who had a crazy
idea of Germanizing their little world, an impossible dream, for there
are twelve thousand Italians in Trieste, who speak a sort of corrupted
Venetian. One thousand of these are very rich, the others very poor.
However, whether rich or poor, the _Italianissimi_ hate their Austrian
rulers like poison; and in this hatred they are joined by the mass of
the wealthy Israelites, who divide the commerce with the Greeks. The
wealthy _Italianissimi_ subscribe handsomely to every Italian charity
and movement, and periodically and anonymously memorialize the King
of Italy. The poor take a delight in throwing large squibs, called by
courtesy 'torpedoes,' amongst the unpatriotic petticoats who dare to
throng the Austrian balls; for though Trieste is Austrian nominally, it
is Italian at heart. The feud between the Italians and the Austrians
goes to spoil society in Trieste; they will not intermingle. The Slavs
also form a distinct party.
"I found these discordant elements a little difficult to harmonize at
first. But Richard desired me to form a neutral house, as at Damascus,
where politics and religion should never be mentioned, and where all
might meet on a common ground. I did so, with the result that we had
friends in all camps. There was an abundance of society of all kinds:
Austrian, Italian, and what Ouida has called the _haute Fuiverie_.
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