Middletown transcript., 1918-11-02

! the limbo Of forgotten things.
There is no such thing as Albanian
nationality" Bismarck roughly ex-
claimed ut the congress of Berlin.
More properly speaking there was no
Albanian diplOmatiSt, no Albanian
spokesman. There was just Il little
nation to be dealt with according to
the irrefutable wisdom of power, just
the remnants of an ancient race that
has been forced ever farther into q
fringe of unproductive mountains.
The conflict sustained for more than
1900 years against Greek and Slav
and Turk and Frank. by this uncon-
querable race, has awakened no echo
of understanding or applause abroad
in the civilized world. MOntenegro's
sturdy defiance of the Turk through
five centuries; the courageous resist
ance of the Serbians; the stolid sur
vival of the Bulgarian under CEN
turtles of merciless domination. and
tine revival of the Greeks, the nation
Of il!ustrious ancestry: all these have
stirred the world. The wrongs and
the hopes and the virtues of all other
Balkan peoples have been told in the
press everywhere. The Shkypetar has
continued his history into modern
times of propaganda and press agen.
cies practically voiceless. Overshad-
owed and overshouted by the peoples
around him. he at best received flashes
Of consideration as a possible booty
or as race of guerrillas.
Lord Byron gave the Shkypetar a
mOmentary notice, brief literary
memorial, when he said that the wild
Albanian had never shown an enemy
his back or broken his faith to a
guest. The Albanian has asked moth
ing Of Europe, and Europe has given
him nothing but a sad reputation.
The Albanians are the remnants Of
the original Inhabitants Of Illyria,
Epirus, Macedonia and Thrace. Over
whelming waves Of Celts, Goths, Ro-
mans. Greeks, Serbs, Bulgars. Franks
and Turks have flooded against them.
but the Shkypetars have always sur
vived the shock; have survived the
burning of their villages, the wasting
of their lands, the massacres of their
people. and have somehow emerged un-
broken, unassimilated upon the stage
Of the twentieth century.
They have borne the assault of Sla-
al OH
pean debut of the Slavs. Between the
Slavs and the Illyrians there have been
centuries of blood feud. The Slav has
called the Albanian brigand and
plunderer, and the world has accepted
the verdict, while the Slav and the
Turk have steadily encroached upon
the Shkypetars' homeland. Until the
wild torrents of this world war swept
over his country the Albanian had
managed to maintain the freedom of
his hills.
Single Handed for independence.
Though occasionally beaten and
forced into narrower limits, he has OBJ
stinately refused submission, has op-
posed a rugged, accomplishing, uncon-
querable spirit to all grievous misfor-
tune; and alone, without the sympathy
of anyone, illiterate, poor in country,
his few remaining rocks coveted by
every neighbor, with no ally or disin-
terested counsellor, ut the outbreak of
the world war the Shkypetar stood
at the end Of a splendid fight of more
than 1000 years. duration, in which
the armistfces have been few and
short.
And their claims are the best in Eu-
rope to the lands they occupy. There
can be no doubt of the legitimacy of
their tenure. Whea the Slavs first an
peared in the Balkans in the beginning
of the sixth century the Shkypetars
had already enjoyed LOO years. pos.
session.