while Ipek, Prizren, Dibra and (after much negotiation) Jakova should be excluded from Albania. This arrangement leaves a large tract of territory to be divided between Serbia and Monte- negro as the fruits of victory."
" It is to be borne in mind that in making that agreement " Sir Edward Grey added in answer to a question " the pri- mary essential was to preserve agreement between the Powers themselves." The natural rights of Albania were accordingly sacrificed for the sake of the general peace of Europe.
In pursuance of this decision two international commissions proceeded to Albania, the one to delimitate the northern and north-eastern, the other the southern frontiers. The duties of the first were largely of a technical character, since with the exception of two or three small gaps the ambassadors had themselves traced the frontiers with some precision. The northern commission was, however, never called upon to report. Thus half a million Albanians forming a compact ethnographical unit within the watershed which constitutes the natural geo- graphical boundary of Albania were left without appeal to Montenegro and Serbia. The southern commission was given wider powers. Under the chairmanship of Lt.-Col. Doughty Wylie the work was undertaken conscientiously, and resulted in the drawing of a frontier which may be considered in the cir- cumstances a fair balance of conflicting ethnographical, geo- graphical and economic claims.
Rule of William of Wied. Meantime the status of Albania was defined by the ambassadors. On July 29 1913 it was agreed to recognize her as a sovereign independent state under per- petual neutrality guaranteed by the Powers. A foreign prince was to be chosen as ruler. Dutch officers were commissioned for the organization of an Albanian gendarmerie and an inter- national commission of control was instituted, composed of one delegate from each Power and one Albanian representative, with authority for ten years to control the finances of the new State and to check the Albanian Government when acting beyond the limits of its jurisdiction.
On account of the mutual jealousies of the Powers, and especially of those of Italy and Austria-Hungary, it had become impossible to choose for prince any man of known purpose or courage. Prince Charles of Rumania and the Due de Mont- pensier were among the abler candidates turned down. Ahmet Fuad Pasha of Egypt was suggested but Ismael Kemal let it be clearly understood that Albania intended to become a European State, and would not accept an Eastern ruler. The choice eventually fell upon Prince William of Wied. ,
When the international commission of control assumed the sovereignty of Albania at the request of Ismael Kemal in Jan. 1914 pending the arrival of the prince, the number of govern- ments ruling over the several provinces were three. First in priority was the Provisional Government of Ismael Kemal at Valona. The second was the international administration of Scutari, with Gen. Phillips in command. The third was the Government of Essad Pasha in central Albania. This adventurer, after bringing about the murder, so it .seems, of the Turkish commander defending Scutari, had betrayed the city in April 1913 into the hands of the Montenegrins on condition of being allowed to march out at the head of his armed followers. These he kept in hand, and on the withdrawal of the Serbs from central Albania he profited by the general discontent with the slow-moving over-cautious Government of Valona to establish a new government under his personal direction at Tirana. Meantime the Montenegrins had been persuaded by the Powers to evacuate Scutari and only the Greeks in the south remained in occupation of Albanian territory within the new frontiers.
Essad reluctantly consented to hand over the reins to the international commission of control on the condition that he himself might head the deputation to Neuwied for the purpose of offering the crown to Prince William. He continued, however, to intrigue against his chief, who bestowed upon him after his arrival at Durazzo (on March 7 1914) the post of Minister of War. The general situation was at this time exceedingly con- fused. The country was rife with disaffection due to the endless
delays before the choice and arrival of the Mpret, to the intricate cross-currents of intrigue of Essad, Austria and Italy, and to the ghastly terror that the Greek irregulars secretly sup- ported but officially repudiated by the Greek Government constituted in the south. Only a bold man capable of striking the imagination of his people could hope to succeed in these circumstances. Prince William, who even before his arrival had alienated the sympathy of many for having laid himself open to suspicion as implicated in the Austrian plots, revealed himself before long a man of neither courage nor resolution. He remained at Durazzo under the guns of Italian and Austrian warships, chiefly occupying himself in making and unmaking his Cabinet.
In the meantime Essad, who had the goodwill of the Italians, continued to intrigue with the,object of discrediting the Prince, while the Austrians and the Nationalist Albanian supporters of Wied plotted with equal pertinacity for the overthrow of the powerful Minister of War. The mistakes of the Prince were at first entirely ascribed by the populace to Essad's machinations. As a result, during the night of May 19, a group of armed Nationalists surrounded his house and Prince William's Austrian guns were trained upon it. Essad's life was only saved by the courageous intervention of an Italian officer. He was eventually placed upon an Italian warship and transported to Italy. Immediately after his departure rebellion broke out among his partisans at Tirana. It might easily have been crushed, for Essad's followers, though well armed, were limited to a few thousand men and were detested by the vast majority of the people. But Prince William at first hesitated, then blundered by bombarding the perfectly inoffensive village of Shuyak (Shyak), which raised the whole immediate countryside in revolt, and finally lost all caste in. the eyes of the Albanians by ignominiously taking refuge during an abortive attack by the insurgents on board a man-of-war. He was never again likely to win the goodwill of his people. When the World War broke out in Aug. 1914, he was still closely besieged in Durazzo. On Sept. 3 he abandoned the country.
The World War. The history after the outbreak of the World War may be very briefly told. Essad returned to Durazzo, and with the help of his friends the Serbs was able for a short time to reestablish his rule in central Albania. The international occupation of Scutari was followed by a Serbian occupation. The Greeks took possession of the south until the advent of the Italians in 1915- The rest of the country fell under the authority of local chiefs. Essad remained faithful to his plan which fore- shadowed the partition of his country between the Serbs, the Greeks, and himself, under Italian protection. In the absence of any authoritative Albanian Government he succeeded for a time in imposing upon the Entente Powers the notion that' he represented the will of his countrymen. It was owing to this fact that the articles relating to Albania in the Pact of London were admitted and it is these articles which have given rise to grave difficulties attendant on the settlement of the country since the Armistice of 1918. The articles in question run as follows:
Article 6.
Italy shall receive full sovereignty over Valona, the island of Sasseno and surrounding territory of sufficient extent to assure defence of these points (from the Voyusa to the N. and E., approxi- mately to the N. boundary of the district of Chimara on the S).
Article 7.
Should Italy obtain the Trentino and Istria in accordance with the provisions of Article 4, together with Dalmatia and, the Adriatic Is. within the limits specineciin Article 5, and the Bay of Valona (Article 6), and if the central portion of Albania is reserved for the establishment of a small autonomous neutralised State, Italy shall not oppose the division of N. and S. Albania between Montenegro, Serbia and Greece, should France, Great Britain and Russia so desire. The coast from the S. boundary of the Italian territory of Valona (see Article 6) up to Cape Stylos shall be neutralised.
Italy shall be charged with the representation of the State of Albania in its relations with foreign powers.
Italy agrees moreover to leave sufficient territory in any event to the E. of Albania to ensure the existence of a frontier line between Greece and Serbia to the W. of Lake Ochrida.
