Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-02-12

to bring the present conflict to an ena,
however great may be the dlmcuiIes ~
the way of such an achievement Iheie
is still time for diplomacy to try It's
hand; two months may. perhaps. be avail
able-provided. on the one hand, tnat me
political conflict at COnstantinople ana the
dissensions in the army do not IN tne
meantime eliminate in civil war anu, VI
the other, that the -Albanians postpone
their annual uprising beyond the usual
date-the beginning of February.
The causes and progress OF discontent
in Macedonia and Albania are many. ne
lieved from the incubus OF european con.
troll and having obtained the free hand
which Germany had SO often demanded
for Abdul Hamid. the soldiers and newly
fedged politicians who undertook to gov
ern the empire discovered new ana
more excellent way of putting an end to
The application of the policy OF "
tomanism," the new specific. was or ne
cessity intrusted to the local omcials,
who, freed from the irksome surveillance
of Hilmi Pasha and his foreign asses
sors, as well as from the espionage OF
Yi,diz proceeded to administer the pre-
scribed remedy in their own way. 10
the oriental functionary the possession OF
authority implies the right to 90 as ne
pleases, and the liberty accorded by the
constitution was interpreted as a con-
firmation and extension of that right
Follow Own Sweet Will.
The experience Of the last three years
has shown that neither the government
at Constantinople nor the committee at
Saloniki has exercised any effective con-
troll over the local officials. who for the
most part have dealt with the subject
populations according to their own sweet
will. The annual councils Of the vilayet,
which assemble for about a fortnight
every year, possess no powers of any
kind, and resemble debating societies
rather than county councils. In the first
year Of their existence they were well at
tended. but the members. perceiving the
futility Of their discussions, have drop
ped of, the Christian representatives es-
pecially being conspicuous by their alb
sence 1t would be mistake to suppose
that even the shadow of local self-gov-
eminent exists in European Turkey.
During the past year the situation has
comic law OF brigandage without the sane
ton Of parliament had already resulted
In the formation of numerous bands OF
Christians Mos1em bands were in ex-
istence since the early days Of the new
regime, but a noteworthy multiplication
Of these has been a distinctive feature in
the history of the past year. accompanied
by an alarming increase Of political as
sassinations. In the districts of Florina
and Langaza, especially, numbers Of Bull
garian and Greek notables have been
murdered, and in no instance have the
perpetrators Of these crimes been brought
to justice. In the Albanian portion of
the Kossovo vilayet, and in north Albania
generally, murder and pillage are uni
versal; in the vilayet OF Skodra thirty
three Moslems and two MalissOri are off,
cially stated to have been assassinated
between October IA and December 10;
the latter figure, however. Is obviously
too low.
A congress Of chiefs at Diakovo has
once more formulated a series Of demands
which the Albanian deputies have in vain
endeavored to bring before the chamber,
and, should a dissolution take place be-
fore they obtain q hearing, other methods
OF asserting the national claims will
doubtless be resorted to. The deputies
have now renowned their allegiance to
the committee OF union and progress-a
step which Is all the more significant as
the usual season for Albanian troubles is
only q few weeks distant. The c0ncen-
tration Of large bodies of troops in north
ern Albania and the hasty construction
Of a military road from Prizren. to
Skodra betray the concern with which
the government regards the situation.
Struggles for Existence,
Meantime the Saioniki committee.
severely damaged In its prestige by the
outbreak Of the war and abandoned by
q number OF its military. and civil adj
herents. continues the struggle for ex-
istence with marvellous energy and ipge-
nuity. The policy OF blum aaa poy,sn
not vet Altogether broken down.. For the
moment ssCttomanism" has Been forgot