in the undertaking, and worse may yet come. But then why does the Porte never recollect that States, any more than children, should be allowed to play with fire?

The history of Albania since the advent of Ottoman rule in Europe until the beginning of the century, is merely the record of perpetual struggles with varying issues between the hardy mountaineers and the satraps sent to rule them from Constantinople; and the power which the latter enjoyed, depended more upon their success in applying amid the local jealousies of contending parties the old maxim, Divide et impera, than on the respect or awe which the central Government could inspire in these remote regions. Ali Pasha, the tyrant of Yanina, was the first who attempted with an iron hand to weld into one homogeneous mass the disjecta membra of Albania. The success, however partial and ephemeral, which attended his efforts, was due doubtless, in the first place, to his monstrous genius, for which no undertakings were too laborious and no crimes too atrocious; but it may well be doubted whether even he would have succeeded in breaking the

power of the feudal aristocracy and coercing into subjection the stubborn necks of the Skipetars, had he not possessed in their eyes the supreme qualification of a national ruler, in that he himself was born an Albanian. Thus it happened that when his power at last roused the jealousy of Constantinople, and the octogenarian tyrant fell pierced by the bullets of the Turkish soldiery, the Porte found itself deceived in the hopes which it had fondly formed of substituting its own yoke for that which it had indirectly helped the Albanians to throw off. It was not till ten years later-not till after the treacherous banquet in the tented field of Monastir-that Albanian liberty lay foully murdered at the Sultan's feet. Even then certain concessions were still granted to the more powerful of the tribes, and local privileges confirmed or accorded in order to allay their resentment. But in the main, Albania was henceforth assimilated to the rest of the empire: Turkish pashas occupied the konaks of her cities; Turkish soldiers mounted guard over her strongholds, while her own sons were drafted into regiments far away in Syria or in Asia Minor; Turkish judges ren

dered Turkish justice in her law-courts; and Turkish tax-collectors robbed her peasantry to build palaces on the Bosphorus. Now and then Albania writhed under the lash; but the harsh discipline seemed to have cowed her proud spirit, while the local feuds and tribal jealousies which the Turkish authorities unceasingly laboured to develop and intensify, appeared to incapacitate her for all united action.

In stating that the present agitation in Albania was not spontaneous in its origin, I do not in the least intend to disparage its value or question its actual genuineness. The rapidity and vigour of its growth sufficiently testify that the germs of the national movement were embedded in the heart of every Albanian; and if they were first quickened into life by the preachings and exhortations of the Porte, it was the virtues and patriotism of the Albanians themselves which ripened and could alone ripen them into maturity. The principle of nationalities had been so often made use of against the Ottoman Government as a pretext for spoliation and foreign interference, that it was only natural for the Porte to seize the first opportunity which

presented itself of turning the same weapon. against its adversaries, and defeating by the same arguments their demands for further territorial sacrifices. European diplomacy had adopted for its watchword, "The provinces of the Balkan peninsula for the populations of the Balkan peninsula." To plead that some portion. of those provinces should be reserved for their Turkish populations was out of the question, for they had been voted an anti-human race, and as such, had forfeited all their rights. But the Albanians had not been outlawed; and though many of them, as Mussulmans, had no doubt incurred the reprobation which enveloped all their co-religionists, there was among them a considerable leaven of Christians who might be expected to deserve at the hands of Christian Europe some measure of that sympathy which was so profusely lavished on Greeks, Bulgars, and Armenians it might even be hoped that the warmth of that sympathy would be reflected in a lesser degree on their Moslem brethren. The Powers demanded that the national aspirations of the Greeks and Montenegrins should be satisfied by a rectification of frontiers; what

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more natural than for the Porte to reply that, in regard to such rectifications, account must also be taken of the national aspirations of the Albanians? The retort was just, if founded in fact. The Powers could only meet it by denying that the Albanians had any national aspirations; so the denial was given, and the Porte set to work to prove the bona fides of its plea. The Albanian agitation dates from the day when this ingenious idea was conceived and adopted at the Palace of Yeldiz. Its growth may be conveniently divided into three periods.

The first period is that in which it was transplanted from the shores of the Bosphorus to the mountains of Albania, and nurtured under the watchful care of the Ottoman authorities. The Central Committee of the League, which had been founded at Stamboul, established branches in all the principal towns of Albania, and the adhesion of the Albanian chieftains was canvassed for by the Turkish governors. Two Albanian chieftains were sent as ambassadors to the European Courts to announce the birth of the Albanian question, and emissaries were despatched to preach the new message in the