is for the present solely humanitarian, since the
miserable conditions of Valona necessitate sanitary aid. A few
companies of marines will land from the Dandolo to protect the
Sanitary Mission. With regard to coast surveillance, the British and
French Governments have warned Italy of a suspicious Moslem movement
in the harbor of Smyrna, whence a thousand rabid young Turks have
started or are starting on two steamers hired by the committee for
Albania, with the intention of hoisting the Turkish flag and
reannexing Albania to Turkey. Italy, in perfect accord with all the
signatories of the London Conference, proposes to thwart the attempt.

The Giornale d'Italia considers that what has been done at Valona is
sufficient affirmation of Italian interests. Italy never meditated
expeditions into the interior or a protectorate over Albania. The
Government's intention is to show that whoever touches Valona touches
Italian interests, which are that no power shall establish a naval
base there.

SASENO OCCUPIED.

[From The London Times, Oct. 30, 1914.]

ROME, Oct. 30.

The Italian occupation of the rocky and desolate islet of Saseno
which, from a strategic point of view, completely dominates the sea
approaches to Avlona, is a logical consequence of the occupation of
that town for the purpose of establishing a hospital and maintaining
order. The islet itself was for some months in 1913 and 1914 a bone
of contention between the Italians, who insisted on obtaining it for
the Principality of Albania, and the Greeks, who were equally anxious
to retain it in their own possession. With Saseno under the control of
a foreign power, the possessor of Avlona could never make the town
into a place of arms.

Saseno, as one of the Ionian Islands, became a British protectorate in
virtue of the Treaty of Paris of Nov. 5, 1815, but was given to Greece
by the Treaty of London of March 29, 1864. The Ambassadors' Conference
decided in the Autumn of last year that it was illogical to allow the
chief harbor of Albania to be dominated by the territory of a foreign
power, and by the Protocol of Florence, Dec. 19, 1913, it was
definitely included in Albania. This decision was ratified by
legislative enactment in Greece, to which effect was given by King
Constantine's proclamation of June 13, 1914, shortly after which the
Hellenic garrison was withdrawn. During the Greek regime, the island,
being neutralized by the Treaty of 1864, was quite unimpor