River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1918-10-31

Z,UUU years against Of0oh anu OldV
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
the revival of the Greeks, the nation
Of illustrious 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 q possible booty
or as a race of guerrillas.
Lord Byron gave the Shkypetar
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,
which, judged according to the great
er enlightenment of our civilization,
he undoubtedly has deserved.
Neglected by Missionaries.
But even the mission schools have
passed him by and so he has had lit
tie opportunity to learn the advantage
of the high moral codes and humani-
tarism which rule the destinies of civ
iEization. Pillaged and warred upon
through the centuries, he has become
habituated to war and pillage.
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 I'M
broken, unassimilated upon the stage
Of the twentieth century.
They have borne the assault of Sla-
vonic storm almost since the Euro
pean debut of the Slavs. Between the
Slavs and the Illyrians there have been
centuries Of blood feud. This Slav has
called the Albanian a brigand and
plunderer, and the world has accepted
the verdict, while the Slav and the
Turk have steadily encrCached 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 OPP
posed rugged, accomplishing, uncOn-
querable spirit to all grievous misfOr-
tune; and alone, without the sympathy
Of anyone, illiterate, poor ia country,
his few remaining rocks coveted by
every neighbor, with no ally or disin-
terested counsellor, at 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 armistices 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. When the Slavs first ap-
peared in the Balkans in the beginning
of the sixth century the Shkypetars
had already enjoyed LOO years pos
session.
True, the Albanian has not been a
friend to the stranger nor has he been
Seeker after the strangers light. but
then almost the whole story of his con-
tact with higher civilization has been
in battle for his hearth and home
against aggression.
Rome policed the shores Of the AT
banians country, but left the unbreak-
able people largely to themselves. The
Slays drove them from many of their
lands, but could not crush or subdue
them. For more than 1000 years the
Shkypetars have contested their
ground foot for foot against the Slav
and Turk. Montenegro struggled
against TIE Turk q bare five centuries.