Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-03-16
SCUTARI A DANGER POINT.

Austria is still plotting, still mobilizing
her troops. but her budgets are in deficit
and her treasury is bare.
Austria Notwithstanding. Austria
pl.<&;. assumes bold face. and
Avs'6' according to a dispatch
from Belgrade the Austrian minister,
Baron Ugron Won Abranfalva, conveyed to
Premier Pasitch message from the Aus
trian government obiecting to Servian
troops assisting Montenegro in. the as
sault on Scutari. and requesting the re-
call Of the Servian troops.
To this peremptory note the Servian
minister is reported to have replied that
according to treaty arrangements Servia
was obliged to aid her allies without re-
gard to the future Of Scutari.
A previous dispatch from Vienna on THE
10th instant had already announced that
5000 Servian troops were being trans
ported to Durazzo in Greek ships, to-
gether with immense quantities of war
material.
Scutari called by the ancients Scodra
by the Slav Skadar, by the Albanian
Shkoder. is the capital of what until re-
Gently was a vilayet of Albanian Euro
pean Turkey. 1t is situated on the south
east shore of Lake Scutari near the con-
fluence Of the Drin and Boyana rivers.
fourteen miles inland from the Adriatic
sea. Its population in 1905 was $500. 1t
is inclosed by lofty mountains except
where the lake commences. The bazaars
are oriental In appearance. but the archi-
lecture is Venetian.
The King Of Montenegro has already
had occasion to address a telegram to
the correspondent Of the Temps at st.
Petersburg in order to deny the report
of the cession Of Lowcen to Austria. The
king has sent another dispatch to the
same correspondent with reference to
Scutari The dispatch. was dictated by
the king to the marshal of his court, NJ
Gregovitch.
I'VE are" said the king, very much
obliged to the Temps for the interest
1t takes in Montene-
King Nicholas gro in this solemn his
toric hour in which it
1SSeo6S' is engaged in magnifi-
cent effort. its sovereign and people. The
question of Scutari is for Montenegro a
vital question. The possession OF that city
and its territory is the resultant logic and
necessary step to the preservation OF the
national existence Of our country. A fatal
law vigorously deduced from the most
vital interests of the Montenegrin people
impels our nation to the conquest or TINS
country, which from ancient days de-
termined the protecting power of Mon
tenegro, whose violent separation during
centuries has stopped her political and
economical development.
Montenegro hopes that Europe will not
force it to push its legitimate demands
to the necessity Of its supreme resoiu-
tions.
Say this, sir to public opinion of your
country through your eloquent journal.
which has always been the champion OF
national aspirations and the authorized
Interpreter of moral elements which fur-
nish to each the life worthy or DelnS
lived
Mr.. Asuuith in the house of commons
declared that an agreement had been
made by which Servia. had been given
certain economical privileges on the
Adriatic; and also the creation of an
autonomous Albania under the guarantee
of the great powers.
A dispatch from London reports that
European chancelleries and stock mar
kets are kept in a condition of nervous
tension.
The long-expected agreement for Aus
trian-Russian rehabilitation was pub
lished in London on the 18th and ar
rangements had been completed finally
for the settlement Of the dispute between
Bulgaria and RoUnania by a conference
Of ambassadors at ST. Petersburg pre-
sided over by Sergius Lazonoff. the Rus
sian foreign minister.
*
1t Is intimated that Roumania, with an
intimate knowledge of the interior af-
fairs of Austria. has de-
Roumania'S cided that a rectifcation
of the frontiers of Silistria
OeSAcS' is after all a poor COM
given her in case Austria might declare
war against Servia. The conference of
the ambassadors may tend perhaps to
save Roumania's face, but the prospect
of adding three million Roumanians of
Transylvania to Roumania's possessions
is doubtless the immediate cause of Rou-
mania's change Of heart.
Austria is announced as firm in her at
titude to insist upon Scutari and Prisrend
being included in the proposed autono-
equally resolved that Scutari shall be-
long to Montenegro, and Servia, it APP
pears, needless Of Austria's threats, has
sent her troops to aid her ally to capture
the city.
Germany is reported in recent dis
patches as ''panicky over lack of money"
But the fact that there is no acute trou-
BILE in Vienna should lead us to regard
the Berlin dispatches with some sus-
picion. 1t must be borne in mind that
the armament program is pending and it
Is necessary to awaken excitement in or
der to induce the Reichstag to vote the
necessary credit Of $25O,O0O,OOO.
Germany has a decided interest in Tur-
key in Europe. but suddenly the Turk
and his magnificent army, which consti-
tuted a very respectable balance Of pow
er. suffered an extraordinary eclipse, and
the Turk and his army at this moment
are an unknown quantity. 1t is certain
he is no longer a balance Of power for
Germany or for England.
Germany is doubtless more absorbed by
her desire to protect Germanism than to
direct her arms against either France or
England. Behind the present political
events hidden by the curtain of Ian
guage and the fastness of the Moravian
and Carpathian mountains, there is FORM
ing a great Slav movement which will
crystalline one day not far distant into a
great nation.
X X
Already the Slavenes, Servians and
Croatians dream Of this nation whose
foundations were laid a
Dream of thousand years ago by
VIII their ancestor, but which
N"'A00' was blighted and destroy ed
by the Magyars and the Turks. The
Montenegrin and Servian victories have
been echoed In all Slav countries south in