d'Annunzio--very much in earnest, wholly sincere, but fanatical,
egotistical, intolerant of the rights or opinions of others, a
visionary, and perhaps a little mad. I imagine that he would rather have
his name linked with that of that other soldier-poet, who "flamed away
at Missolonghi" nearly a century ago, than with any other character in
history save Garibaldi. D'Annunzio, like Byron, was an exile from his
native land. Both had a habit of never paying their bills; both had
offended against the social codes of their times; both flamed against
what they believed to be injustice and tyranny; both had a passionate
love for liberty; both possessed a highly developed sense of the
dramatic and delighted in playing romantic rôles. I have heard it said
that d'Annunzio's raid on Fiume would make his name immortal, but I
doubt it. Barely a score of years have passed since the raid on
Johannesburg, which was a far more daring and hazardous exploit than
d'Annunzio's Fiume performance, yet to-day how many people remember
Doctor Jameson? It can be said for this middle-aged poet that he has
successfully defied the government of Italy, that he flouted the royal
duke who was sent to parley with him, that he seduced the Italian army
and navy into committing open mutiny--"a breach of that military
discipline," in the words of the Prime Minister, "which is the
foundation of the safety of the state"--and that he has done more to
shake foreign confidence in the stability of the Italian character and
the dependability of the Italian soldier than the Austro-Germans did
when they brought about the disaster at Caporetto.

I have heard it said that the Nitti government had advance knowledge of
the raid on Fiume and that the reason it took no vigorous measures
against the filibusters was because it secretly approved of their
action. This I do not believe. With President Wilson, the Jugoslavs,
d'Annunzio, and the Italian army and navy arrayed against him, I am