The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-05-31
~ CUTARI which in its troublous
y history of more than twenty-five
- centuries has so often suffered

history of more than twenty-five
centuries has so often suffered
the doubtful honor Of being a
prize of war. is again confronted by its
hereditary enemy. the Serb. The diff
culties growing out of the effort to es-
tablish the boundaries between Albania
and Montenegro have reached such a
critical stage that it threatens now to
be but short time until the Monte
negrlns are again at the gates of the
city and the new state of Albania is
in peril Of its very existence.
without Scutari there can be no AL
banla," said an Albanian pleading for
his country before the commission of
the Powers in London.
without Scutari Montenegro cam
not expand and come into her own" re-
piled the Montenegrins.
The boundary commission has begun
it's work here and will gradually make
its way northward. 1t will have little
trouble until it reaches the country
north of Scutari and attempts to enter
the land of the Hoti and Grudi, two
tribes of fighting men who have been
struggling for generations for the in
dependence of Albania. The London
commission that drew pencil marks on
a map and said Here is your new
state" gave these people and their lands
TO Montenegro.
we are by race and tradition AL
In piar tai 80 he It'll
we have no sympathy with the Mon
tenegrins. and We will fight to the last
man before we permit foreigners to
tear us away from our own country"
"The territory was given to us by
the Powers said a Montenegrn Off
cial. ut is the just reward of our sue
cess in the war. II is in the field of
our natural expansion. Scutari was for
100 years Serb city. and Serb it must
be again. While we will not be the
aggressors in warfare. we will fight to
the last man to maintain our rights"
For weeks there has been all along
the border a bitter guerrilla warfare
in which many lives have been lost
and much property destroyed. Monte
negrin troops under Gen. Martinovitch
are massed on the frontier of the Hotl
and Grudi country ready to cross into
Albania, and prepared for the armed
resistance they will certainly encounter
when the commission declares the ter
ritory Montenegro. as it seems almost
certain 1t will do.
N anita Of hrava fropt % Tho
new Prince. William of wied, the new
State has no troops with which to OPP
pose the invaders and resistance will
be offered only by the tribes with which
the Hoti and Grudi are in alliance.
These, the Montenegrins believe, they
can easily sweep away, and leave a
straight road right up to Scutari. They
cannot enter the city. for it is in the
control OF the international troops, but
Europe will find the task of driving
them back from its walls much more
difficult than when they were last there,
less than two years ago, when the city
fell to them after a long and arduous
siege.
This little city, so vital to the ex-
istence Of Albania and so important to
the growth Of Montenegro, is one of
the beauty spots of the Balkans. Look
Ing down upon II from the distant
gray Montenegro mountains 1t seems
little wonder that to the Serbs It Is the
city of the Hearts Desire"
1t lies at the far end OF the clear
placid Lake Scutari and spreads over
plain from the foot of great crag.
on which Its old castle is built, out to-
ward the Malissor mountains, a pro-
tecting crescent on the north that
rises from green forest clad foothills
TO snow capped peaks. It's brown
roofs, It's great church towers with
glitterlng gold crosses, its domed
mosques and slender white minarets,
all rise above mass of foliage that
gives 1t the look Of great garden.
The approach by way OF the lake
adds to It's picturesque charm, for this
Is one of the most fascinating bodies
of water In Europe, resembling in some
respects the Italian lakes, but with
more rugged scenery. The little
steamer that plies between the Monte
negrin port OF Vir Pazar and Scutarl
Is the only craft to be seen ON the