The corpus separatum became an independent unit under the League of Nations, the Croat suburb of Susak remaining in Yugoslavia and the Baros port being added as an outlet for Yugoslav trade.
In 1723 it was declared a free port by Charles VI., in 1776 united to Croatia by the empress Maria Theresa, and in 1779 declared a corpus separatum of the Hungarian crown.
Italy in her reply (Dec. io) insisted on continuity (the real if unavowed motive of which was to control the port of Fiume in the interests of Trieste and Venice, and so retain some hold over Yugoslavia's commercial development), demanded the island of Cherso and the neutralization of the Yugoslav coast, and suggested a triple division - the corpus separatum of Fiume to Italy, the port to the League of Nations, and the rest of the buffer state to Yugoslavia.
