he Nationalist
Albanians that Essad was brewing mischief. Unless he was preparing a
coup against the Prince, he could have no need of a private munition
store. Information was given to the Prince, who had him arrested by
the Dutch gendarmes and a band of Nationalists on the night of May
18th. A few shots were fired amid shouts of "Down with the
tyrant." He was arrested by the Dutch officer in command, and taken
first to the palace, and then to the Austrian battleship Szigetvar.
Essad was, as most folk knew, the agent of the combine against
Austria and Germany. Italy was ready to partition Albania between
the Greeks and Serbs, rather than let Austria gain power there. Now
she has realized that the Slav is her enemy, but then, in May 1914,
she was furious at Essad's arrest, and demanded his release. The
correct course was to try and, if guilty, execute him. But trial
would have meant conviction, and Italy would not hear of it. The
Italian and Austrian battleships cleared for action, though the
Powers had neutralized the Albanian coast. For twenty-four hours the
position was precarious, but Austria once more swallowed her pride
and yielded--this time to Italy. The Prince surrendered Essad to the
Italians on condition that he did not return to Albania. With
amazing effrontery the Italians took him to Rome and feted him in
such a way as to make it clear they were rewarding him for his
action.

Italy's conduct as a member of the Triple Alliance was in the
highest degree insulting to her allies, and can be explained only by
supposing that for the sake of the Adriatic she was ready to stab
them on the first opportunity.

It was soon plain that the report of a prepared rising was true.
Armed men were concentrating at Shiak on the road to Tirana.

The ignorant Moslem inhabitants had been told that the Prince meant
to abolish Islam and promote incestuous marriages, and bidden to
demand his immediate withdrawal. There were also the mass of
refugees from Dibra and Gostivar. They had passed the winter
wretchedly enough, and were told that if they would combine and
drive out Wied the Serbs would restore to them their lost lands. In
vain the American missionaries warned them not to believe this.
Dibra was their one hope and desire.

A party of armed men, led by one of the Dutch officers, went to
parley with the insurgents, and took a machine gun. Unluckily,
Captain Saar was ignorant of local customs. He and his party were
undul