Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-01-16

A cable from Constantinople the 1lth
instant announced the reconstruction OF
the Turkish cabinet with
Problems Haiku Bey as grand
u.,, vizier. This announce
oAsoASeu. ment recalls the fact
that the new ministry. as the old. must
treat the still unsettled questions OF
Crete and Albania: Crete. which may ne
cessitate the re-establishment OF the
troops of the four protective powers pre-
maturely withdrawn; Albania, which as
pires to autonomy.
Prior to the Young Turk revolution OF
July. 1908, there was already move
ment for autonomy in Albania. and at
tention is invited to this fact that we may
not be taken unawares If some day We
should learn that armed Albania asks
recognition as an Independent confedera-
ton.
NJ Rene-Pinon. than whom there is no
better authority. treats the Albanian sit
| uation in the Revue DIES Deux Mondes for
cember Ia. He affirms that the misun-
derstanding between Austria and Russia.
the rivalry between Austria and Italy in
the Adriatic. and the problematical sue
cess of the Young Turk administration
of Turkey. involve the Albanian cues
ton. The future destiny of Albania Is
a capital problem, for on it depends the
fate of Macedonia. Albania. obscure and
almost unknown, has nevertheless made
her entry into European politics and we
shall soon learn the place to which des-
tiny will assign her.
That Austria and Russia have been ir-
remediably estranged by the BOsnia-Her-
zegorina incident has been manifested by
the long rounda bout journey made by
Nicholas II and NJ. Isvolski to Racconigi.
in order to avoid Austro-Hungarian to-
ritory The determination with Victor.
Emmanuel and NJ. Tattoni at Racconigi
emphasizes the separation. The Russo
Austrian understanding which assured
the .peace of the Balkans and of Europe
has been definitely dssipated.
Austria and Italy are in state of
constant irritation and are arming them
selves and land. The prospective
field of military battle may be in the
Trentin and the Frioul, but the diplo-
matte and economical battlefield is in
the Ottoman empire in Albania The real
purpose of their mutual hostility is not
so much irredentism their predomi
| nance in the Adriatic. The recent mani
festation of Gen. Asnari di Berenezzo
has been officially disavowed at Rome.
but 1t showed what was in the mind of
the army as well as the Italian people.
NJ. Rene-Pnon places stress upon the
fact that NJ. Pachivitch publicly con-
graduated his govern
Balkan ment upon the interview
Er+o,+o at Racconigi, recalling
AA'oiA'e' with significance the taste
of the car of the Bulgarians for plants
on the high mountains of Servia. where
he found the crown prince. with whom
cordial words were exchanged. Some
weeks later it was remarked that King
Ferdinand visited King Peter at Belgrade
An understanding. it is said. is being
prepared between the two monarchS, the
Importance of which is apparent when
the role OF Bulgaria in the Bosnian crisis
is recalled.
The Young Turks are doing their very
best, but they are confronted by many
very serious problems. both within and
without. The deposition of Abdul Hamid
has not terminated the revolution. The
most difficult phase, the organization of
the new regime and the declarations and
promises made in the proclamation of the
constitution, are not yet accomplished
facts. The Young Turks, who have
achieved wonders, are confronted by
double resistance: The resistance of the
ignorant and stubborn masses, and the re-
sistance of certain parties of the better
classes. the old Turk party. 1t is still
a question for the great powers to know
If the new regime can establish itself SOL
idly i'm Turkey, or If. on the contrary. 1t
will not precipitate the Ottoman empire
into a series of Incidents which may re-
open the oriental question.
In this doubt. which is for some fear
and for others hope. the European pow
ers directly interested are preparing their
Joint means of action.
Albania is mistress by right of first oc-
cupatiOn and because she is strongly In
trenched from the Vardar to the Adriatlc
and from Thessaly to Montenegro. BY
race, religion, language and customs she
is separate and distinct from other peo-
ho nd
east she is limited by the Slavs, on the
south by the Helenes. She mixes with
neither Her neighbors assimilate. but
she does not. and she disdains them all.
The Albanian is the king OF the noun
tains. hunter shepherd, soldier or brig
and. He is to Turkey what the Bedouin
is to Egypt He disdains work, which,
according to his theory. makes a man
little else than a slave. He follows his
customs and depends only on his gun.
u
The mountain of Albania and the peo-
pie who intabit them form between the
Adratic and the Ottoman
Albanian empire east thick. i'm
o,.,, penetrable shield. There
0AAeAu. is no good port on the
Adriatic shore nor a good route to the
interior. After Diocletian and the sepa-
rHtlGn OIL tne TWO empires Tic <Aoi ideiN
lost is splendor and Importance. and
between the Balkan peninsula and Rome
there arose schisms more implacable than
the mountains.
When to Slavism and Byzantine ortho-
doXy there was superpoSed the Moslem
rule the divergence lapsed into hostility.
In the seventeenth and eighteenth CEN
turtles the Turkish ports on the Albanian
coasts became the refuge OF pirates
From this time on the countries east OF
the Adriatic became the refuge of the
corsars and the countries OF the capitu-.
lations The real obstacle. however, be-
not the mountains, but man. 1t was the
inertia of the oriental ana the clannlsn-
ness of the Albanian
Alone, perhaps, of the jewellers of east
ern Europe the Albanian has traversed
history and remained what he was in his
origin. He is descended from the an
cient Pelasges, from whom sprang also
the Greeks Achilles. remains the type
of the Albanian. Alexander the Great
was Albanian. and under him AlbanianS
founded the old empires Of Asia. Pyrr-
hus, King of Epirus, was Albanian, and
under him Albanians caused Rome to
tremble. Pyrrhus vanQuished at Argos,
the Albanian race passed under the Ro-
man yoke, and their descendants, under
the name of Wallachians, inhabit the
mountain of Pindar, and speak Ian
guage resembling the Latin.
At Kossovo the Albanians were on the
side of Sultan Mourad to aid In crushing
their enemies, the Slav. But when the
Turk in turn would subjugate them. they