wounded. On the 20th a
deputation of townsfolk went to try and make terms with the
insurgents. From the messages they brought it was clear that the
luckless Albanians without the town were being used as cat's paw by
more than one Power. A truce was called, and the insurgents asked to
give up their arms and leaders. They replied they would yield their
arms, but not their leaders. Who the leaders were remained a
mystery.

While the armistice lasted at Durazzo the insurgents began to march
to other places. No other town was armed. The people in vain asked
what it was all about, and what the Powers wanted them to do. The
Russian Vice-consul at Valona sent messages about to say that the
Powers would be very angry if they fought on the side of Wied, The
Albanians did not want to fight each other. Towns at once
surrendered to the insurgents. The police changed their badges and
business went on as usual. The populace did not want civil war, and
continued to believe that the Powers would keep their promises. News
then came that the Greeks were massing on the frontier ready to
again fall on Koritza.

The insurgents now sent a message into Durazzo that they wanted to
parley with an Englishman. They believed in England. General
Phillips came from Scutari and went to meet them. He reported that
the leaders were certainly not Albanians, and that they had refused
to give their names. One was a Greek priest.

The game of the Greeks, then, was to incite the Moslems to ask for a
Moslem ruler. With this in view they blackened Wied as an
"anti-Moslem," hoping thus to split Albania and more easily destroy
it.

One of the chief spokesmen said to General Phillips: "In England
there is a Liberal Government. Many of you do not like it, but you
must accept it because it is the will of the majority. We are the
majority here, and we will have a Moslem Prince." This man the
General "believed to be a Young Turk leader disguised." He asked why
they objected to Wied, and they replied: "Because he is against our
religion!" which was entirely untrue. And they added that they could
easily take Durazzo because they knew that the international
battleships off the coast had orders not to fire. In the end General
Phillips made a strong appeal to them to cease this foolish warfare
and accept Wied as the choice of Europe.

The Albanian crowd, he reported, appeared to agree and to be anxious
to come to terms. But the five foreign leaders stuck out. And