Italy there
are men alive who can recall their struggles against the Austrian
oppressor, it is sad that their own country should now be playing this
very same role. The Ambassadors appear to have taken no notice of
Italy's support of the Tirana Government, but to have been very drastic
with respect to Yugoslavia's support of the Mirditi. They have punished
the Yugoslavs by binding their hands in a district part of whose
population long for the help of those hands in gaining some
tranquillity, whereas the other part consists of persons against whom
one must defend oneself.

The politicians have acted as if all the border folk were as peaceful as
they doubtless are themselves. In consequence, there will be panic and
assassination till the politicians--unable to oppose the wishes of the
majority of those who dwell in the frontier zone--proclaim that until
further notice General Franchet d'Esperey's wise and prudent
dispositions shall be honoured.

* * * * *

That is the only method by which an Albania can be brought slowly into
existence. At this moment the cartographers are printing the map of the
Albanians' country in accordance with the Ambassadors' decision. They
might spare themselves the trouble. The decision to recognize an
Albania was as premature a project as, in Mr. Wells' opinion, is the
League of Nations. A free, united Albania has been recognized, and in a
little time the Ambassadors' Conference, perceiving that such a thing
does not exist, will be relieved to see the North and the South taking
the steps to which we have referred. It is wonderful that the
Ambassadors' Conference and the League of Nations should imagine that a
country, most of which is in the social state of the Gallic clans in the
days of Vercingetorix, can suddenly become a modern nation by the simple
contrivance of a parliament, which, as a matter of fact, has been the
caricature of one. In the words of Lord Halsbury, when reversing a
judgment of the Court of Appeal, I am bewildered by the absurdity of
such a suggestion. Albania is in need of organizers, not of orators. A
very competent French traveller,[111] one who believes that a future is
reserved for this unquenchable people, warns the world against undue
haste. After describing the deplorable state or the non-existence of
Albanian schools, roads, ports, the monetary system and the organization
of credit, he says that it is scarcely an exaggeration to a