u

i

No. 8. in.LUNIVER^in
ADDRESS '"''' ''''
delivered to the
Anglo-Hellenic League
by
Mr. FRANZ de JESSEN,
in the
Morley Hall, on 30th March, 1914.
on
"Artificial Frontiers in the Near East."

MR. FRANZ DE JESSEN, the brilliant war corres
pondent of the Temps, who was with the Greeks in
1897, with the Turks in 1912, and with the Greeks in
1913, and accompanied the International Commission
appointed to delimit the southern frontier of Albania, gave a
very complete description of the situation in Epirus and
Albania, to the Members of the League.
The Chairman of the League presided.
Mr. de Jessen said^
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen,
May I be permitted to preface my remarks by dis
claiming, in some degree, the responsibility for the
trial which you are to undergo — that of hearing a
foreigner describe, in your own beautiful tongue, a distant and
little known nation, the creation of which is one of the most
unreasonable happenings of modern history. The true
responsibility for my presence here this evening must rest
upon the shoulders of my dear and highly esteemed friend
Colonel Murray, and I can only hope that my audience may
prove as indulgent as he. For my own part, I can assure
you that I should never have ventured to attempt so bold an
undertaking save for the bond of deep and sincere sym
pathy with a great and noble cause which unites me to
the Anglo- Hellenic League.
"2' ZL_ 6

As a natural preliminary to any discussion of Albania —
principality, kingdom, or at least, independent and autonomous
State — it might be well first to examine what this country
is. That a State so called does exist we know, since it
was created here in this city last summer at a conference of
the Ambassadors of the Great Powers under the auspices of
the distinguished British Minister for Foreign Affairs.
Indeed, Albania may be said to have been cut out of the Balkan
Peninsula upon a green table : the green table, where diplo
matists, according to ancient tradition, cut out countries as a
tailor cuts out clothes, and draw their boundaries as a boy
draws lines upon a slate. Even the most skilful tailor, how
ever, would find it impossible to fashion a coat without
material, and, in like manner, the ablest diplomatist will
require for the formation of a new country at least some
few square miles of land. The land from which the new
State of Albania has been formed was taken from what had
formerly been part of Turkey in Europe ; the western portions
¦ofthe vilayets of J anina, Monastir, Uskub and Scutari, amount
ing in all, if the Almanach de Gotha may be relied on, to some
28,000 sq. kilometres, or say 10,800 square miles— with some
800,000 inhabitants.
The land then was there. All else, however, of that
which goes to make a State was utterly and entirely lacking.
Last year, after having made . an expedition trom one end to
the other of the so-called jVlbania, I wrote in the Paris
Temps" an article under the heading " Une nationalite
inexistante." The appearance of this article in a paper with
so great a circulation and so high a repute in international
political circles brought down upon me a number of threatening
letters — almost the only articles of genuine Albanian produce
I have even seen. Yet my article was based upon unprejudiced,
careful and, 1 think, accurate observation. What is required
for the formation of a State in the modern acceptance of the
term ? First, as we before agreed, a certain area of land over
which the government of the State exerts dominion. In
addition to this, it is presumably necessary to have a people
united as closely as possible by the bond of a common tongue
and by community of origin, religion, history and tradition.
I am aware that there exist some States where no such bond
and no such community are to be found. But then there
should at least be a common love for the common country,
and like hopes, like endeavours, for its future development as
an independent unit. It would be fruitless, however, to make
any such demands with regard to the State of Albania, as
created by the Pov/ers. This I will proceed to demonstrate
m detail. I would, however, here merely observe that the
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unfortunate German prince now at Durazzo most strongly
calls to mind a little story by ray countryman, Hans Andersen,
about the Emperor's invisible clothes. The Great Powers
have cut him out a country upon their green table, but it
¦cannot be long before some wise innocent discovers and dares
to exclaim that " He has nothing on."
As to the language of this new State of Albania— it is
-divided into two dialects, closely related, but differing consider
ably the one from the other. The boundary line between the
two linguistic divisions is formed by the Skumbi river, which
¦cuts the land lengthwise through the centre. North of the
river, the Gheghi dialect is spoken, that of the south being tbe
Toski. Neither of these two branches of one linguistic stem
has ever produced the fruit of a written language, and they
have thus no common denominator. Whether considered
¦separately or taken together as one, these two dialects must be
regarded as among the poorest in Europe, being, as a matter
¦of fact, mere patois, sufficing only for the needs of daily life
among a race whose intellectual and material development is
still in a purely medieval stage. I must maintain that no such
unit as an Albanian people exists. I do not, however, deny
the existence of an Albanian race, possibly descended from
the ancient Illyrians, or rather, perhaps, the Pelasgians ; in
any case, a group with distinctive characteristics, and differ
ing in point of language from the other races of the Balkans.
This group has never furnished any independent contribution
to the progress of culture ; no such product attaches to the
regions which it inhabits. No monuments of Hterature or art
¦can be found to testify to the existence of any intellectual
•culture at all ; on the contrary, the traveller in Albania cannot
fail to observe that he is moving in a land where time has
stood still, inhabited by a race which for thousands of years
has felt no need of rising beyond its primitive state. The
Albanian lands bordering on the Adriatic have been invaded
by the Romans, who founded colonies on the seaboard, as well
as by Slavs (both Servians and Bulgarians) who, about the
year 900, occupied the whole of the country. The Byzantine
Empire obtained dominion over the Albanians, and was
¦succeeded by the Turks, who, with the exception of a single
period (to which I will refer later on) maintained possession
of the country from 1478 to 1912. All these various influences
have set their mark upon the people and their language.
Scientific investigation of the Albanian language has demon
strated that of the 5,000 words of which it may be said to
¦ consist, no less than 1,420 are of Roman origin, while 1,180
are Turkish, 840 taken from modern Greek, and 540 are
Slavonic Only some 1,100 words are unclassified, and form
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probably the last remains of the ancient Albanian or lUyriam
tongue. The Albanian dialect is thus extremely poor and mean,;
it has no written characters. Only of late years have certain
Austrian and Italian savants attempted to construct an
artificial written language, with the aid of new words borrowed
from other tongues. It is, however, in all probability, no
exaggeration to assert that there are not two hundred
Albanians in the country who can write this language. The
characters employed are those of the ^ Latin alphabet,
although both the Greek and the Slavonic are' better suited to
the phonetic needs of the Albanian dialect than Roman letters
and Greek script is used in the South ^s in Epirus. The
mere fact that the Albanian race has never risen to such a
point of development as to render i. written language a
necessity is sufficient indication that no independent literature
exists. Not even by verbal tradition do any artistic products
of the language, such as folk-songs or fairy tales, seem to
have survived among the Albanians in Albania, although such
are to be found among those who have emigrated to Italy.
Strangely enough fragments of such productions exist in
those parts of Albania which lie nearest to Greece, whereas
the central portion of the country is in this respect entirely
barren. This is perhaps partly due to a lack of natural talent
among the people ; doubtless, however, largely to the fact that
their low degree of culture has never fostered any desire tO'
commemorate their history or tradition.
I remember once, when travelling from Trieste to-
Durazzo, I happened to find myself in company with the
Roman Catholic Bishop and the Orthodox Greek Metropolitan-
of that ancient Roman and Venetian colony. On the way,
the two learned divines engaged in a discussion, with the-
evident intention of contributing to my edification as audience.
The Bishop was a Gheghi Albanian, born in the Mirditi
country, and educated by Austrian teachers at the cost of th&
Austrian State. The Metropolitan had studied at the Seminary
of the Patriarchate in Constantinople and was a keen Hellenist.
The conversation turned upon Albania's past, and the Roman.
bishop held forth eloquently upon the manner in which the
Albanians for nearly 500 years had fought without intermission
against the Turks in support of their independence. At last
the mild and gentle voice of the Metropolitan broke in,
speaking apparently rather to the sailing clouds overhead than
to either of us :
" Ah, how well I remember the splendid Albanian Guard,.
which Abdul Hamid kept about his person ; his truest
servants, as he called them, whom he could always trust."
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The Bishop, however, was not to be vanquished by such
.a trifle as this. He exclaimed eagerly :
' Your Eminence will not deny that Skanderbeg, the
greatest figure in Albanian history, fought victoriously against
the Turks . . ."
Pardon me, reverend friend: ihe greatest figure in
Albanian history, I think you said. Can you mention any
more ? "
To this the Bishop was unable to reply. There are no
more. And it is even questionable whether Skanderbeg
himself can really be reckoned as an Albanian. He was born
in 1403, and I may therefore, I hope, be pardoned for not
being able to trace his descent very far. This much, however,
is certain : he was the son of a Greek magnate, John Castriotis
and a Servian princess, so that his claim to Albanian blood
¦can scarcely have been of the strongest. True, this Alexander
Bey, who was forcibly converted to Islam, achieved
much for Albania. In 1444, he succeeded in doing what no
other leader has been able to accomplish either before or
since : he gathered the Albanians into one people. At the
head of an army of only 8,000 horse and 7,000 foot, he
defeated a Turkish force of 40,000 men, subsequently main
taining, in a continual struggle with the Sultan, his position as
ruler of an independent Albanian kingdom. Later, he reverted
to the Christian faith, and was even deputed by Pope Pius II.
to act as leader of one of the Crusades. Here again he was
victorious, but in 1468 he died, and his proud work crumbled
to ruins under his young son and incapable successor. Even
during the lifetime of Skanderbeg many of the Albanian
chiefs had thrown off their allegiance, and after his death the
secession and disruption became general. By 1478 the Sultan
had extinguished the last vestige of Albanian independence,
and embodied the country within his mighty Empire.
This single gleam of light is all that the history of the
Albanian race can show. It died out after 30 years, and has
never since been rekindled. The Albanian prince, issue of
Greek and Servian parents, found no successor. But the
Albanian chieftains who betrayed him and the cause of their
¦country to occupy themselves with internal disputes and petty
¦strueeles of tribe and clan— these have left descendants
enough, whose active rivalry and mutual hostilit>- furnish
nroof to-day of the fact that the Albanians are not a nation,
and have no claim to the right of managing their own afi^airs
Finally, there is the question of rehgion, a pomt which
is everywhere of importance in any State or societv^ and
nowhere more so than m Oriental countnes. Far from bemg
uniled as regards religion, the Albanians are in this respect
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hopelessly divided. The great majority of the inhabitantsi
are Mohammedans, and have been since the close of the- ¦
fifteenth century. This applies to the greater part of the
landowning population, both the upper class, the so called ,
beys, and the lower class, or peasants, who are, pra.ctically -
speaking, the serfs of the land owners. In the north, a con-
siderable*nuniber of Roman Catholics are to be found, w;ith
native clergy, who, being educated either in Austria or by
Austrians in Albania, are entirely under Austrian . influence.
The Albanian Catholics as a whole are, moreover, under the
protectorate of Austria. Further south, from Durazzo or
thereabouts, a very great majority of the middle classes in the-
towns, that is to, say, the tradesmen and mechanics, belong to-
the Orthodox Greek Church, and the education of their priests,,
from the highe.st to the lowest, is entirely Greek.
These three religious elements of the population have thus;
each their separate education, as far as it is possible to speak
of any education at all. The Mohammedan upper classes read
and write Turkish, and are in every respect dependent upon
Turkish culture. The peasants can neither read nor write,.
and the Koran, as my audience will be aware, exists only in-
the Arabic tongue— the faithful regarding it as sacrilege tO',
vulgarise the inspired word by expressing it in any tongue
save that in which it was received by the Prophet. The
Roman Catholic services are held in Latin, and the education
of the clergy is chiefly Latin and German. Finally, the
Orthodox section of the population have their services in
Greek, and modern Greek is taught in the schools — which, by
the way, are excellent. These schools, which are imder the ,
direction of the Patriarchate, include in their curriculiim even ,
the teaching of Turkish and French. I have myself had
opportunities of examining the pupils in several of the
Albanian towns, and have been surprised to note the remark- .
able progress exhibited, by these children, taught as they are
in Greek, while their mother-tongue and language of home
intercourse is the Albanian patois.
You will thus see, ladies and gentlemen, that the popu
lation of Albania is divided into three religions, and that in
regard to that which is at once the highest and most primitive
element of culture — namely, the worship of God— it is
dependent upon at least three different languages: Arabic,
(or Turkish), Latin and Greek.
And now I hope that I have succeeded in roughlydemon-
strating this one fact, that even though the Great Powers at
the green table have been able to carve out a piece of land
from Turkey in Europe and launch it forth as an independent
State under the name of Albania, yet this State is lacking in
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all those characteristics which are generally regarded as
necessary to the existence of a nation or State as such— namely,.
the bond of common language, culture, history and aspiration.'
The State of Albania is an unnatural artificial product, with
no conceivable fiiture before it.
In every modern social State the distinction of rank and
class IS still sharply defined, even though the distance between
the various strata of society diminishes year by year, as is
especially the case, for instance, in the countries of Scandinavia.
In Albania also, this social division is strongly marked, though
less, perhaps, in economical respects than in other countries.
Very large fortunes are extremely rare in Albania, while
poverty such as is found in the slums of the great cities of
Europe is practically unknown among this primitive people.
On the other hand, it may be said that the whole power of the
country has until quite recently been in the hands of the
landowning class, the beys, or more correctly, perhaps, of the
tribal chiefs, who rule as petty despots within the limits of
their clan, keeping up a perfect reign of terror, not only over
their subject Mohammedan peasants, but also over the
Christians of the middle classes. The Turkish rule in Albania
has never been very effective. The Turkish ruler who best
succeeded in winning the hearts of the Albanians was Abdul
Hamid, and if he .managed to keep their country in a state of
comparative quiet, it was because he allowed the laws to
remain unenforced in the Albanian vilayets, especially
charging liis tax-collectors not to deal too hardly with his
faithful " eagle sons." The Albanian chieftain claims the
right of rnaintaining such order or disorder as best suits his
own advantage ; he is a twentieth century representative of the
trade and morals which disting^ished the robber knights of the
Middle Ages, save only for t^e fact that there is nothing
knightly about him. He was permitted to do whatever he
pleased, or he did so withput permission. His relation to the
State, in thiscasetheTurkish Government, was purely receptive.
He was always ready to accept money, favours and honours,
but it never occurred to him that he himself was under any
obligation to the State. The utmost he would admit in the
way of obligation was a certain duty enjoined by his
Mohammedan religion ; even here, however, his obedience was
largely dependent upon the prospect of advantage involved.
Thus the Albanian chieftain has ever been a terror to the
Greek and Servian Christians, whose villages he robbed and
plundered in the name of Islam, to the honour of the Prophet,
caring, little for the officers of the Sultan, who seldom dared
to oppose him.
Law in Albania was vested in the landowner's spears,
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and it was as easy for the Christian victim to escape his
attacks as for a camel to pass through the eye of a ^eedle. . As a
logical result, neither trade nor agriculture has ever been able
to thrive in the country. Naturally also the first well-meaning
attempts of the Young Turk Government to establish some
sort of order throughout the Ottoman Empire were nowhere
more violently resisted than in Albania. This resistance was
crushed, however, in a comparatively short time, by the dis
tinguished Young Turk General Djavid Pasha. The Albanian
is bold enough when attacking the weak and helpless, but
makes a poor soldier when opposed to drilled and disciplined
troops acting with a definite purpose.
This state of affairs, the sharp class distinction which
places the actual power in the hands of a very small group of
men, is not a thing which can be altered in a day, even though
the Prince of Wied and the International Commission which
surrounds him set about their work with the best intentions.
The beys, who opposed the well-meant efforts at reform made
by the Young Turk party, will certainly resist to the utmost
the attempts of a foreign usurper to deprive them of their
lucrative privileges. Altogether it is my firm conviction that
the Powers, in deputing, by an apparently unanimous resolu
tion, a Christian prince to rule over this country, where the
Mohammedans form an overwhelming majority of the popula
tion, have engaged upon a dangerous experiment. Siich an
experiment has never before been attempted. On the con
trary, wherever the Great Powers of Europe have extended
their dominion over countries largely Mohammedan — as Egypt,
Tunis, Morocco — they have always hitherto been careful to
secure to the Mohammedan ruler at least nominal power,
making him a screen between the actual government and the
Mohammedan population. Such an arrangement is naturally
no coincidence, but is a concession to existing Mohammedan
institutions and the religious tenets of the people, which stand
in the closest relation to their ideas of legal right and obliga
tion as subjects. Experience has shown that Mohammedans,
when subjected in any considerable numbers to the governance
of an exclusively Christian rule, find themselves ill at ease,
and will not long remain under such conditions. Less than a
generation ago there were considerable minorities of Moham
medans in Servia and Roumania ; now scarcely any are left.
Until the Austrian annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina,
the Mohammedans in these countries were formally subject
to the Caliph, and therefore remained on their ancestral lands.
Since 1908 they have corhmenced to emigrate in ever increas
ing numbers. The same applies to Bulgaria, after its declara
tion of independance in 1908, when it threw off allegiance to
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the Caliph in Stambul. Why then should the Mohammedans
of Albania, uneducated, and therefore especially fanatical as
they are, feel and think otherwise than their co-religionists in
other parts of the Balkans ? Everything seems to show that
the Albanian Mohammedans — ^who, I repeat, form an over
whelming majority of the population — must either demand an
alteration in the form of government which better agrees with
their wishes and views, or else follow the emigrant stream of
Islam back to Asia, whence it came.
As regards the two Christian minorities, again, the new
ruler and government of Albania stand in a position far from
enviable. Asl have already pointed out, Austria has from
ancient times exerted a protectorate over the Catholics of
northern Albania. This secures to Austria an influence which
is regarded with jealous eyes by its ally Italy, and which,
moreover, ill agrees with the sovereignty of the Albanian
Crown. And as the Mohammedans naturally will continue to
regard the Caliph as their religious and, consequently, political
head, so also the metropolitans, priests, and congregations of
the Greek Orthodox Church. will look to the Patriarchate at
Constantinople as the supreme authority to whom they trust
for the protection of their faith, their churches and their
schools. Arabic, Greek, and Latin are the respective lan
guages of the three Albanian religions. And, to further
increase the confusion, the foreign riiler who has been forced
upon them is not the head of any Of these religious com
munities. The Mohammedans look to the Caliph, the
Catholics to Austria, and the Orthodox Christians to the Greek
Patriarch as their ruler and protector.
Thus, from whatever point of view we regard the
formation of the State of Albania, we are forced to admit that
it is artificial and unnatural. It bears in every respect the
mark of hasty work. And whatever the confidence generally
due to the diplomatists in question, and their decisions, they
can scarcely be said to have justified it in the present instance.
My pessimistic views as to the future prospects of this
artificial Albania have frequently called forth protests in such
organs of the Press as favour the Triple Alliance. The
argument generally advanced has been based on the fact that
the founding of an independent Greece, an independent Servia,
and, some thirty years ago, an independent Bulgaria, was
attended by similar ominous prophecies.
I cannot, however, admit the justice of this argument.
In all the three cases here cited it has been a question of a
people numerically considerable, really forming a nation,
¦closely united by the bonds of language and religion, and with
an ancient and honourable history. Five hundred years of
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Turkish rule had not sufliced to crush the faith of these-
Balkan peoples, who strove zealously to prepare themselves-
for the great day of freedom when their fate should be ia
their own hands. In the ancient Macedonian land, ¦ where.
now the Greek and Servian frontiers meet, there is a lovely-
mountain lake called Ochrida. Even in the hardest winter
its surface is never entirely frozen ; in the centre of its-
beautiful blue oval there is always an open spot which
reflects the sky. So also the bitter Turkish winter has never
entirely availed to kill all hope in the souls of the Greek and
Servian peoples; they have lived and struggled in the firm
conviction that a day of restitution must come for a people
that refused to die. From beyond the banks of the Danube'
to the shores of the ./5£gean the earth was frozen hard and"
covered with the snow of Islam — but, beneath, the- germs of;
fruitful things still lived, and the first gleam of sunlight, that
pierced the sntiw called forth a wealth of verdure and decked,
the land in festival dress as at the approach of spring. But
the Albanian soil is barren ; it holds no living germ conceived
in so great a past as to give promise for the future. There
is no growth in it for any harvest.
How is it possible to compare the Greek and Slav
peoples of ancient culture with these barbarians of the little
Albanian race ? Even if any dare to make the bold attempt,.
all likeness must fail the moment we touch upon theidecisive
point in the history of these Balkan peoples — their liberation,.
the attainment of their independence.
Greeks, Roumanians, Servians and Bulgarians have
fought a sanguinary struggle for the fulfilment of the dreams.
that filled the soul of the people for half a thousand years.
They have thrown off the "Turkish yoke by force of arms, and
toiled in the sweat of their brow to win an honourable, place
among the nations, often hindered in their endeavours to-
secure reasonable conditions of material and spiritual welfare
by neighbouring Christian Powers, oppressors fully as^
dangerous as and even more maUcious than the Turks them
selves. The Powers of Europe have been lavish with promises-
to Greeks, Slavs and Roumanians, but their internal jealousies-
have caused them to forget their promises before they had
well begun to fulfil them. Both Greece and Servia, both
Roumania and Bulgaria, have a long record of suffering to-
show, and each step forward has been won by their own
endeavours, their own endurance, their own sacrifices. And
when in 1912 they dared the great reckoning which forms a
turning -point in the development of our time, they found
themselves opposed, not only to Turkey, but to almost the
whole Concert of the Powers. And yet they won — because
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they were fighting with the sacred right of nationality on their
side, and because each of them risked the highest stake which
a nation can hazard in defeiice of its greatest cause.
What single instance of this combination of virtues' and
merits can be put forward with equal truth by Albania? iSTot
one of them ; not one ! The Albanians have never stirred a
finger, never made the slightest sacrifice, never staked a man
or a farthing for the cause of their freedom. This so-called
independence was delivered ready-made from London, with
out their even having asked for it. When that little gathering
of beys — hardly a score in all — incited by the agents pf.
Austria, proclaimed Albania's independence, this independent
Albania consisted of some few square miles about Valona.
Outside Valona lay the Greek warships, blockading the tqwn.
From the Scumbi to Scutari the country was occupied by the
Servians ; between Janina and Valona by the Greeks. North
and north-east of Valona, scarcely thirty miles away, were
the remains of those Turkish armies which had been forced'
back from Monastir by the Servians and from Epirus by the
Greeks. Three foreign armies and a foreign fleet were
masters of the country at the moment when Ismail Kemal
Bey voiced the desire of Austria by proclaiming the independ- ¦
ence of Albania. The whole thing was a vulgar and offensive'
comedy, taking the name of nationality in vain to serve the
ends of greedy and jealous Powers. There is nothing edifying
in such an episode ; nothing but sordid masquerade and mean
intrigue. . . ,
This then is the foundation upon which the liberation and
independence of Albania are based. As early as August of
last year I took occasion, in an article in the Temps, to
condemn the independence of Albania as due to falsehood
and bluff ; s,ubsequent events have in no wise shaken my con
viction. And, in any case, I must decline to entertain the
idea of any comparison between Albania and Servia, Albania^
and Greece. There is no possibility of any parallel between
the growth and victory of thkt instinct of freedom which has
its roots in the sound soil of national feeling and this piece of
hfeless patchwork turned out by the Conference of London.
The natural question now arises : why was this artificial
Albania ever called into existence ? What are the extra
neous reasons which have led to the formation of an indepen
dent State of Albania ? .u *¦ „.
We have already seen, ladies and gentlemen that m
one of those elements of which the population of Albania is
composed entertains any desire for independence ; he sole
initiative on the part of Albania m this respect or ginated
among a small party of landowners, who can scarcely ha^ e
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been actuated by any other personal motive than the desire to
maintain their class privileges. These beys knew very well
that no form of government but their own could secure to
them the exceptional position -which they had hitherto
maintained ; hence their eagerness to proclaim their indepen
dence. The history of Albania for the last four hundred years
or only the last eighteen months furnishes no evidence of any
desire for independence. When I rode through the country,
from Durazzo in the north to what was then the Greco-
Albanian frontier in the south, and from Valona in the west to
the lake of Ochrida in the east, I had opportunities of con
versing with numbers of peasants' and with Albanians of the
middle, class, both Mohammedan and Christian. The
Christians, to begin with, all exhibited strong Hellenic
sympathy, whether they were of pure Albanian descent or
belonged to the Kutzo-Wallachian race. The Mohammedans
in many cases refused to believe me when I told them
that the Powers of Europe in their wisdom had determined to
make their country an independent State and set a Christian
prince to rule it. These Mohammedan peasants, who are at
a very primitive stage of development, are among the most
hospitable people I have ever met, and, although living under
conditions which differ only slightly from those of Central
African savages, their manners are marked by a natural
gentility not surpassed by any aristocracy in Europe. How
ever poor they may be, however conscious of the fact that
they have but little to offer, their bearing, from the moment
they receive a guest to the moment when they hold his stirrup
on departure, is marked by a simple, unaffected dignity which
leaves a deep impression on the mind. I am not in a position
to say to what particular source in the teaching of Mahomet
we owe these charming customs, which are common to the
dignitaries who surround the Throne of the Caliph and the
poorest peasants in the Albanian mountains. But I recognise
that beneath them lies the ancient culture of the East, among
the ruins of which they have been preserved, as a valued
inheritance, from generation to generation.
When I then spoke to these peasants about the future,
they insisted that it was impossible that I could be right in
asserting that a Christian prince would be set to rule over
them. They did not desire independence ; they feared it ;
for, as they said, " A Christian prince will take away our holy
religion." Moreover, the idea was in itself an impossibility,
since, as the peasants themselves expressed it, the Padisha
would never permit anything of the kind — he would never
leave them alone among the Christians. For them there was
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but one rightful ruler over Albania and the Albanians— the
Gfiliph at Stambul.
The fact of the niatter is this: not only have the
Albanians never themselves stirred a finger to obtain their
independence, but the overwhelming majority of the population,
far from desiring it, rather fear the change. We have,
therefore, the right to assert that the entire responsibility for
the formation of this artificial State rests with the Great
Powers of Europe — and of these, first and foremost, with
Austria and Italy.
For it is in reality the mutual jealousy of these two
Adriatic Powers which lies behind the decision of the Con
ference of London. During the first part of the Balkan war,
from the autumn of 1912 to the spring of 1913, the position as
regards the Albanian lands was this — the Montenegrins
besieged Scutari, and finally succeeded in forcing the Turkish
garrison under Essad Pasha to surrender. The Servians had
overcome the resistance of the Turks throughout the Sandjak
of Novibazar and Old Servia, had forced their way southward
as far as Monastir, and had taken possession of all the country
north of the Scumbi. The seaboard towns of Northern
Albania were thus garrisoned by Servian troops, while the
' whole country was under the administration of the Servian
military authorities. The Greeks besieged and captured
Janina and drove the Turkish armies before them up through
Epirus and Southern Albania, where the pursuit was only
checked, as I have already mentioned, some few miles south
of Valona. This little district in the immediate neighbour
hood of Valona the Greeks and Servians had no wish to take —
it was simpler to let Albania feed and clothe the remains of
Achmed Riza Pasha's and Djavid Pasha's armies than to take
them prisoners. Save for these few square miles all the
Albanian vilayets in Turkey were now occupied by Servians
and Greeks. This state of affairs filled Austria and Italy -with
anxiety. For more than half a century Austria had striven
to keep the Servians back from the Adriatic, supported, I
regret to say, for some time by Great Britain. Now, however,
this unjustifiable policy could no longer be maintained.
Servia was in possession of a long stretch of coast along the
Adriatic, and had emancipated itself from dependence upon its
great northern neighbour. The Greeks, already in possession
of Salonika and soon to finally occupy Ka valla on the iEgean,
had extended their territory by the addition of the whole of
Epirus and a considerable stretch of the Albanian coast,
reaching so far north that the Western or Albanian side of
the Straits of Otranto opposite the heel of Italy was now
Greek territory. (13)

This then was the position when Italy, proposed , to
Austria that they should divide Albania between theni'by
mutual agreement and drive the Greeks and Servians out
of ' tbeir newly conquered possessions. Italy had the
astounding temerity to offer Austria the Albanian lands north
of the Scumbi — which belonged neither to Italy nor to Aiistria,
but -were in possession of the Servians — reserving to itself the
territory soiith of the river, to which Italy had no more claim
than I have to the money in my neighbour's pocket, already
occupied by the Greeks. It was a great temptation to which
Austria was thus exposed, and for a time it seemed as if the
Austrian statesmen could not resist. It is not too much to say
that at this time the peace of Europe hung upon a hair. It
was not, however, this reason which determined Austria's
final answer, but distrust of its ally and rival, Italy itself.
Austria had realised that by accepting the proposal, it would
place Italy in possession of both sides of the Straits of
Otranto, a position which carried with it the power of opening
and closing at will the entrance to the Adriatic, the only sea
to which Austria- Hungary has access. Italy had laid a
cunning trap and baited it with an attractive morsel, but
Austria discovered it in time and declined to be caught.
Finding it impossible to agree upon a division of booty
which did not belong to them, these two Great Powers com
bined with charming unity to prevent Servia and Greece from
enjoying the fruits of victory. Failing a division of Albania
between Austria and Italy, it might yet be possible, with the
aid of the Great Powers, to evict the Servians from the shores
of the Adriatic and barricade the Greeks behind an unnatural
frontier limit, which excludes a living part of the Hellenic
people from free intercourse with the mother-country. It is
not for the sake of the Albanians that the independent State of
Albania was formed, but in the interests of Austria and Italy
as against Servia and Greece.
I myself, ladies and gentlemen, belong to a small nation
which has suffered greatly under the unjust decisions of the
Great Powers. And I find it difficult to refrain from criticism
df the resolutions arrived at last summer at the Conference of
Arribassadors here in London. I cannot but call to mind, in
this connection, another Conference held about this time fifty
years ago, under the presidency of the British Minister for
Foreign Affairs, at which the fate of my own country was
determined at the green table. England, France and Russia
agreed in leaving Denmark alone to face the assaults of
Austria and Prussia, yielding no other aid than some fine
phrases. And -what was the result ? The E)anis]i duchies fell
into the hands first of Prussia and Austria and then of Great
(14)

rGermany alone, and the harbour of Kiel, which had never
-threatened anyone beneath the Danish flag, became, in the
hands of Germany, the base for the development of the
German fleet, which is now forcing England's expenditure
upon armaments up to enormous figures and permanently
threatening the British supremacy at sea.
In 1878, at the Congress in Berlin, where Bismarck
presided, the British foreign policy was again marked, if I
may be permitted to say so, by short-sightedness and narrow
ness of view. The British statesmen supported Germany and
Austria against Russia and the Slav and Hellenic nations of
the Balkans, with the result that the Turkish dominion over
these Christian peoples was unnecessarily prolonged by four
and thirt-y years, while a long series of artificial arrangements
¦on the part of Austria hindered and delayed the Servians,
Bulgarians, Roumanians and Hellenes in their natural
-development among the concourse of nations.
And now again, in 1913, Great Britain, France and
Russia have once more allowed themselves to be drawn into
-an unnatural decision at the expense of important national
interests. No good came of the Conference of London in
1864; the Danish nationahty in North Slesvig has since been
-subjected to shameful and unconscionable oppression. And
the war against Denmark was only an introduction to the far
.greater events which marked the years 1866, 1870, and 1878.
It would seem, however, to be somewhere written as a secret
law that diplomatists are only to solve the problems presented
to them — or which they themselves, unasked, attempt to deal
with — from day to day, at sight, in such a manner as to remove
the immediate difficulty. The diplomatic representatives of
the Powers succeeded in preventing the outbreak of a
European war as a result of the Balkan complications of
1912 and 1913, and this result of their endeavours can hardly
be over-estimated. But it would be futile to suppose that
the Balkan problem has thereby been solved, or that the
rresolutions of the late Conference will remain valid for any
length of tirne. It is more than possible that the independent
State of Albania may come to play the same part in the
relations between Austria and Italy that Slesvig- Holstein
played in 1866 in those of. Prussia and Austria. And even if
such a disaster be averted — which is most earnestly to be
¦ desired— nothing is thereby determined as regards Albania
itself. This artificial State will never be anything but a
minor unit, while its neighbours, Servia and Greece, will have
-developed into considerable 1 'owers, each held together by
the cohesiipn ,of ^ital culture and strong national feeling.
-Albania is incapable of defending' itself . The time will come
(15)

YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

When the support c, _ _ 39002 089540265  [i,^^^ ^j^,,
Austria itself is an artificial product, which must sooner or
later be resolved into its natural components. And it may
safely be asserted, that as soon as Ser-via and Greece feel
themselves sufficiently strong, they will draw the limits of
their dominions where they please, without regard to any
resolutions passed by future combinations of other Powers.
Ladies and gentlemen ! There is a Nemesis in the history
of nations and of States. Errors and faults, shortsightedness
and narro-w' policy, bring their own punishment. The clothes
cut out upon green tables by the diplomatic emissaries of
Great Powers are not calculated to last for ever. I make no
prediction — I have no faith in predictions. But I have great
faith in the knowledge born of experience and actual observa
tion of realities. And so I maintain that the wrong done to
the Servians when they were driven back from the Adriatic ;
the wrong done to the Greeks when the population of North
ern Epirus was cut off from communication with the new
proud Land of Hellas; in a word, the formation of an
independent State of Albania is one of those fatal sins which
sooner or later must be paid for. This new State is the
illegitimate offspring of falsehood and audacity, brought forth
in jealousy and mahce.
And in this free country of England, where justice is so
prized, I feel I have no need to ask if any can believe that such an
action can remain unpunished, and such a work continue to exist.
At the conclusion of his address, Mr. de Jessen showed a
series of lantern slides illustrative of his lecture, his observa
tions being full of humour.
A cordial vote of thanks was accorded to him.
NOTABILIA. '
1. Special Articles on Albania, The Times, 4th, 6th, 11th and 23rd March, 1914.
2. Leading article. Daily Mail, 2nd April, 1914.
3. Letter of the Rev. Dr. H. Ford, Manchester City Nfiivs, 28th March, 1914.
4. Leading article, Irish Times, 2Sth Md.rch, 1914.
5 . " The Outlook of the New Albania, ' ' by Lucien Wolf, Graphic, 14 Mar. ,1914.
6. " Sport in Albania," by B. H. Hughes, Country Life, 14th March, 1914.
7. " Albania and the Fates," by Plinthos, New Statesmati, 4th April, 1914.
8. " Greece and the Position in the Near East, " by D. J. Cassavetti, Asiatic
Review, April, 1914.
9. Near East, published every Friday.
10. The World, published every Tuesday.
11. " Days in Attica," by Mrs. R. C. Bosanquet. (Methuen.)
12. ' ' Hellas and the Balkan Wars, ' ' by D. J. Cassavetti. (T. Fisher Unwin.)
13. "The Life of King George of Greece," by Captain Walter Christmas.
{Eveleigh Nash.)
14. " La Grece et I'Epire," by Robert David. (Lecene, Paris.)
15. 'Greeks, Bulgars and English Opinion," by Z. D. Ferriman. (Bonner.)
16. "GreeceoftheHeUenes,"by Lucy M.J. Garnett. (Pitman.)
10 ., p''^®'=^ °f *s Twentieth Century," by P. F. Martin. {T. Fisher Unwin.)
in ,. l:'®"^i'S.'''om Greece," by John Mavrogordato. (Martin Seeker.)
in ,. V u ^"^""¦^"^^^P'"'^'" ''y Re°^ Puaux. (Perrin, Paris.)
^o. Athens and Its Monuments, by C. H. Weller. (Macmillan.)