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elected him President, and expressed to him their congratulations for the confidence the nation has in him.

ALBANIA UNDER MANY RULERS [From The London Times, Oct. 30, 1914]

BUCHAREST, Oct. 27.

There are now six Italian warships at Avlona, where a sanitary station will be established for the relief of Albanian refugees driven from Epirus by the Greek "sacred bands." The duty of maintaining the decisions of the conference in London will apparently be intrusted to Italy as the only neutral power among the signatories to the Albanian settlement. The consent of Austria to this arrangement would seem to have been secured.

At present Albania is under six different régimes. Scutari and its neighborhood is governed by a local commission composed of Moslems and Christians. Avlona is also administered by a commission. The Mirdites form a separate State under Prenk Bib Doda. The Malissors remain isolated under their patriarchal institutions. The southern districts have been appropriated by the Greek invaders. Durazzo and the central regions obey Essad Pasha, who enjoys the title of Prime Minister and is recognized by the International Commission. That shadowy body, now reduced to four members, personates the ghost of the European concert. Except in the south the country is remarkably tranquil under its indigenous institutions.

After he had left Albania Prince William of Wied received a telegram from the King of Italy assuring him of support in the future. His subsequent inclusion, however, in the German General Staff is regarded as seriously compromising to his prospects as sovereign of Albania.

ITALY'S SANITARY MISSION [From The London Morning Post, Oct. 28, 1914]

ROME, Oct. 27. The dispatch of the battleship Dandolo, the Climene and other Italian war

ships to Valona is due to the Government's knowledge of a scheme for starting an agitation tending to infringe the decision of the London Conference, which declared Albania neutral. Ismail Kemal Bey, whom I have just seen, expressed his satisfaction at Italy's action at Valona on both political and humanitarian grounds. He did not think that the step would lead to complications, and described the condition of the people at Valona as very miserable..

The Tribuna, commenting on the Government announcement, declares that Italy's aim is for the present solely humanitarian, since the miserable conditions of Valona necessitate sanitary aid. A few companies of marines will land from the Dandolo to protect the Sanitary Mission.

With regard to coast surveillance, the British and French Governments have warned Italy of a suspicious Moslem movement in the harbor of Smyrna, whence a thousand rabid young Turks have started or are starting on two steamers hired by the committee for Albania, with the intention of hoisting the Turkish flag and reannexing Albania to Turkey. Italy, in perfect accord with all the signatories of the London Conference, proposes to thwart the attempt.

The Giornale d'Italia considers that what has been done at Valona is sufficient affirmation of Italian interests. Italy never meditated expeditions into the interior or a protectorate over Albania. The Government's intention is to show that whoever touches Valona touches Italian interests, which are that no power shall establish a naval base there.

SASENO OCCUPIED

[From The London Times, Oct. 30, 1914] ROME, Oct. 30.

The Italian occupation of the rocky and desolate islet of Saseno, which, from a strategic point of view, completely dominates the sea approaches to Avlona, is a logical consequence of the occupation of that town for the purpose of establishing a hospital and maintaining order. The islet itself was for some months

in 1913 and 1914 a bone of contention between the Italians, who insisted on obtaining it for the Principality of Albania, and the Greeks, who were equally anxious to retain it in their own possession. With Saseno under the control of a foreign power, the possessor of Avlona could never make the town into a place of arms.

Saseno, as one of the Ionian Islands, became a British protectorate in virtue of the Treaty of Paris of Nov. 5, 1815, but was given to Greece by the Treaty of London of March 29, 1864. The Ambassadors' Conference decided in the Autumn of last year that it was illogical to allow the chief harbor of Albania to be dominated by the territory of a foreign power, and by the Protocol of Florence, Dec. 19, 1913, it was definitely included in Albania. This decision was ratified by legislative enactment in Greece, to which effect was given by King Constantine's proclamation of June 13, 1914, shortly after which the Hellenic garrison was withdrawn. During the Greek régime the island, being neutralized by the Treaty of 1864, was quite unimportant, and at one time the Turks, by arrangement with the Hellenic Government, maintained a lighthouse there.

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GREEK TROOPS IN EPIRUS [From The Morning Post, London, Oct. 28,

1914]

ATHENS, Oct. 26.

In view of the continuous Albanian attacks and the growing insecurity in Northern Epirus the Greek Government today ordered Greek troops to occupy the districts of Argyrocastro and Premeti. The official communiqué just issued declares this to be an entirely provisional measure to restore order and security in a country already exhausted by prolonged sanguinary conflicts, and Greece proposes to continue to adhere to the international arrangements regarding Epirus. It goes without saying that this reoccupation coincides entirely with public opinion, which has long been exercised over the sufferings of the Epirotes.

ASSENT OF THE POWERS [From The London Morning Post, Oct. 30, 1914]

Following are the replies of the great powers (states Reuter's Agency) to the Greek note announcing the intention of Greece to reoccupy Epirus:

France declared that she saw no objection to the course proposed by M. Venizelos's note.

Russia intimated that she would gladly accept whatever decision in the matter was reached by Great Britain and France.

The British Government accepted M. Venizelos's note.

Germany and Austria-Hungary replied that they accepted the declaration of the Greek Government that the occupation would not be contrary to the decisions of the London Conference.

Italy declared that she, for the same purpose as set forth in the Greek note, namely, the maintenance of order and security, was taking similar steps at Valona, and that she had adopted this course while fully respecting the decisions of the powers. She raised no objections to M. Venizelos's proposal.

ITALIAN OCCUPATION OF
AVLONA

[From the Messaggero of Rome, Dec. 28,

1914]

AVLONA, Dec. 26.

The following proclamation addressed to the population was posted here:

The grave disorders that become apparent from time to time in this country have paralyzed commerce, work, and initiative, and are endangering the life and property of the inhabitants.

The Italian Government, a watchful guardian of Albanian fortunes, desires that your tranquillity, so cruelly tried, shall be assured. Invoked by your wishes the marines of Italy are disembarking from the ships to establish order and defend you.

(Signed) ADMIRAL PATRIS.

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The War in the Balkans

General Aspect of the Near East on Aug. 1, 1914

By Adamantios Th. Polyzoides

Editor of The Atlantis, New York

HE opening of the great European war found the Balkan Peninsula in the political shape given to it by the Treaty of Bucharest, Aug. 10, (Old Style, July 28,) 1913.

This treaty was signed in the Rumanian capital immediately after the second Balkan war by Greece, Rumania, Bulgaria, Servia, and Montenegro, and considered in its essential points, was the handiwork of European diplomacy, at whose instance Rumania had entered the war, with the avowed purpose to reestablish the destroyed Balkan equilibrium. Europe had two reasons for interfering in what was then considered as the final settlement of the Balkan question. In the first place, she wanted to reaffirm her authority and predominance over the Balkan States, and, in the second, she considered it as an indispensable part of her Near Eastern policy never to allow much freedom of movement on the part of these same States, which in two successive wars had proved their ability to safeguard and promote their vital interests in spite of all European opposition. To explain this course of European diplomacy one must bear in mind that the Balkan States, since their constitution as such, have always been considered as protégés of Europe, or, to put it more plainly, as not being of age, and therefore deprived of the right and privilege to deal directly with their ancient master, Turkey, in all serious matters in which their most vital interests were involved.

In the Treaty of Berlin after the RussoTurkish war of 1877 a congress, in which all of the Great European powers participated, most emphatically affirmed that Turkey was responsible to Europe for

any complaints that the Balkan States might have against the Ottoman Government regarding the treatment of their connationals, still left under the Sultan. At the same time the Balkan States received due warning regarding their dealings with Turkey, and were made to take a pledge that whenever they had troubles with the Porte the powers and not themselves were to be the arbiters. All the world knows how Turkey, by constant wire-pulling, secured immunity from Europe for not fulfilling the obligations incumbent on her by the Treaty of Berlin, and how one of the Balkan States, namely, Greece, was left alone and unprotected, to be chastised by Turkey in 1897 for not leaving to the powers the settlement of the Cretan question which had brought about the war.

The European powers, having done practically nothing during thirty-five years for the betterment of the conditions under which the non-Moslem populations had to live in Turkey, were overwhelmed to hear in the Autumn of 1912 the news of a series of alliances conIcluded at Sofia on June 12 between Bulgaria and Servia, and between Bulgaria and Greece, for the purpose of settling once for all the perennial Balkan question. European diplomacy was slow, as usual, in grasping the meaning of the new alliance, and when, on Oct. 5, 1912, Montenegro suddenly declared war on Turkey, with Servia, Bulgaria, and Greece following suit on the 18th, there was consternation in London, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, Rome, and, to a certain degree, in Petrograd.

An idea of the unpreparedness of European diplomacy in the face of the sudden

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