Bisbee daily review., 1915-05-28
.RAGUSA IS RELIC OF PAST AGES WHEN II
 WAS PROMINENT
Delmatian Seaport, the Little Venice of the Section, Has Great History in Medieval Europe.

EuIUpes
 WASHINGTON. May Ragusa
 is an instance of splendor fed and
 fame forgotten says statementf is- sued by the National Geographical so-
 ciety today, dealing with the Dual
 Monarchy's advanced Mediterranean base, place that must win a new significance in an Austro-Hungariau Italian struggle for control of the Ad- ratic Sea This little port city sit uated near the southern tip of Dalma- tia, among the earliest objectives of unsuccessful Monteneerin invasion, was once one of the richest cities Of Europe, almost the Hamburg or New York Of the world of the Middle Ages. In the days of its prosperity, its ships were found wherever Europe traded, and its merchants held accounts seat tered to the uttermost ends of the earth familiar to the West
 'Bue the glories of Bagusa have faded and dimmed. until today men ton of it coming from the war zone stirs no memory. and awakes no inter est in the minds of the people of this country, very few of whom have ever had occasion even to know it's name.
 Yet Ragusa was a brave. a wealthy, persistent little republic through many generations before the discoye- ry of the American continents Like our great republic. RaEusa was an asy- lum for CNiles of whatever nation, faith or politics + was democratic in it's tolerance long before the French
 Revolutionists made the word free dom a worldwide fetish. Ragusa was a merchant-state, concerned more with its wealth and it's commerce than with politics or policies.
 "Raeusa or, as it is often called, Little NeliCe-Was. in many ways, a model republic, though miniature. In the time of its highest spleudor it did not possess more than 500 square miles of area; but it endured through ial manner Of bitter trials, produced energetic, prosperous citizens through centuries; maintained a stable and Q wise government in ages when the country an around it was in frantic passionate unrest, and was as willing ythe haven of the oppressed as is the United States today And like the later republic. the United States, the foreign policy of Ragusa was al
 ways a peaceful one, the enlighten ed little state, wherever possible, sub- hitting its differences with other lands to arbitration Despite its peaceful temper, however Ragusa we'll knew how to defend its interests where the course Of war was a nee essary one. Ragusa armies and Ra- gusa ships nobly preserved their coun- .try in the midst of jealous, powerful enemies But Raeusa diplomacy did more: it preserved the state in the fact of oyerpowering conquerors.
 "The fortified castle of Roman noble was the neuclus Of this famous South European city. Before the ava
 Ianche of barbarism invasion -Avar hordes. according 10 most authorities refugees from neighboring Latin
 communities fled Co the noble's castle and took refuge under the shadow ot it's walls These refugees brought and conserved the technique and civiiiza- ton ol Greece and Rome, and, in a
 short time, a town arose around Che castle, wcll-bullt and thoroughly forti- fled. Ragusa is mentioned in the 3th century.
 "A colony of Slovenian people join
 ed the Latins, and greatly added 10 the oity's power for resisting the en- croachments of the hostile neigbbors. 1 Saracen. Bulgarian Bosnian, Venetian Hungarian and Seryian waged releut- ! less war with the little state, which. | in some cases, beat off its enemies. and. in others, was forced to acltnowl edge a certain dependency. It never wholly surrendered its republican self leoycrnment, however. though Constan. ltinople, Venice. Hungary Bosnia and l servis were, at various times, recog- Inized to a degree as oyorlords
 "Ragusa today-the gem city of tho Mediterranean is an inconsequen- ] tial seaport m the Austrian crOWniahd
 of Dalmatia. Every line of the quaint little city is monument 10 the im- portance and the power that are flown, | It is a medieval town, still walled n | by heavy masonry, and still lowered. lRagusa is doored with the haggings
 of the Middle Ages. It's homes and buildings are ancient structures, and lover all is reminiscence.
 "The town is builded on rocky
 ridge that juts out into the Aduatic
 Sea It's harbor is small and illadapt-
 ed to the needs Of modern commerce.,
 and the heavier vessels that visit here
 anchor at Gravosa a twin city, situat- Ted ou deep sheltered bay across