Albania, the Foundling State of Europe PDF
Preview Albania, the Foundling State of Europe
ALBANIA THE FOUNDLING STATE OF EUROPE WADHAM PEACOCK ALBANIA THE FOUNDLING STATE OF EUROPE C5 «S ALBANIA THE FOUNDLING STATE OF EUROPE WADHAM PEACOCK FORMERLY PRIVATE SECRETARY TO H.B.M. CHARGE D'AFFAIRES IN MONTENEGRO AND CONSUL-GENERAL IN NORTH ALBANIA WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS NEW YORK APPLETON & COMPANY D. MCMX1V c" \ LP Ui 701 S5P3 CONTENTS PAOB I. In Europe and yet not of it 1 II. The Gate of North Albania 9 — iii. scodra the albanian clty which montenegro Covets 34 IV. Kavasses and Servants 52 V. The Boulevard Diplomatique 62 VI. The Vali Pasha and his Staff .... 75 VII. The Roman Catholics of Scodra 83 VIII. The Commodore and his Fleet 92 IX. The Malissori Chief 104 X. Albanian Blood-Feuds 114 XI. In the Albanian Mountains 130 XII. A Night in Ramazan 142 XIII. An Albanian Wedding 153 XIV. The Story of Albania .... 176 XV. Cutting Out the New Kingdom 204 XVI. The Future of Albania 224 XVII. The Albanian Roman Catholic Church 234 . - . THIS book deals with aphase in the history ofAlbania, which is passing away. The new King has arrived at his new capital, and the European ruler has replaced the Turkish Pasha. But the sold of the Shkypetar people remains the same, and the Albania of to-morrow will be the Albania of yesterday with only a superficial variation. In the Near East things, when they change, change slowly, and the transition from the Middle Ages to the Twentieth Century will not be accomplished by a stroke of the pen because Europe has at last recognised itsfoundling State. Some of the chapters have appeared in " The Fortnightly Review" " Chambers' Journal " and other periodicals, to whose editors I make my acknowledgments. I have also to thank Lady Donegall, Mrs. Gordon and Mr. R. Caton Woodville for leave to use some of the photographs here reproduced. WADHAM PEACOCK. London, March, 1914. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS TO FACE TAGE Scodra. Thk Castlk and Mount Tarabosh . .. .Fron.tisjriecc Achmet Pasha's Bridge, Tabaki and the Cas.tle... 32 Ancient Bridge at Mesi over the Kiri 32 An Unmarried Roman Catholic Girl 40 Village Matron from Vraka 40 A Mahometan Agha 44 A Mahometan Woman Indoors 44 Old House, formerly the British Consulate-General 64 .... The Public Garden of Hussein Husni Pasha 64 .98 The Road to the Bazaar by the Konak . . . The Bazaar with the Exit of the Boiana from the Lake 98 Gipsies near Lake Scodra 100 Montenegrins near Lake Scodra .... 100 Nik Leka. An Albanian Mountain Chief .... 104 Pulati. Married and Unmarried Women .... 104 Malissori Fishermen near Lake Scodra .... 134 Malissori Farmers going to the Bazaar 134 Albanian Alphabets adapted from Greek and Turkish 198 . The New Testament in Greek and Alba.nian... .. . 210 A Group of Albanian Mountaineers 228 ALBANIA IX EUROPE AND YET NOT OF IT With the beginning of 1913 Albania suddenly awoke to find herself famous for the newspaper ; reader became aware that there was such a district in Europe, in that mysterious Balkan peninsular occupied by Bulgarians, Servians and Greeks, some independent, and some crushed under the heel of the wicked Turk. Albanians, it is true, had been heard of even by those who were not experts in Near Eastern matters, butthey were con- sidered as Turks of a sort and as oppressors of the Christians, and it was something of a surprise to most people when the action of Austria and Italy — — selfish action it may be forced the Western Europeans to recognize that the Albanians are not Turks, but the oldest of European races, and that a very large proportion of them belong to the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches. When Austria insisted on Albania being made into an independent state on the lines of Greece, Bulgaria, B ALBANIA 2 Servia and Montenegro, the towns, rocks and plains ofAlbania began toemerge from themediaevaldark- ness in which they had been for so long enveloped, a darkness so intense that even Gibbon could write a" of the Albanians as vagrant tribe of shepherds and robbers," without any hint of who and what they really are. Now this ancient nation is to be given its place in Europe alongside the more modern Slavs who dispossessed it of the best part of its inheritance before the Turk was heard of in the Balkans, and who last year would gladly have swallowed up the scanty plains and sterile moun- tains in which it has eked out a warlike existence for nearly fifteen hundred years. During the past quarter of a century Albania, being in Europe and yet not of it, has hardly been touched by travellers, who have gone further afield to Asia and Africa, but have passed by the eastern shores of the Adriatic. The Consuls at Scutari and Prisrend were withdrawn when the country ceased to be of active interest to the European Chancelleries, and the few Europeans who did penetrate to the mountainous regions of North Albania paid more attention to the picturesque court ofCettigne than to the barren rocks and grim villages of the Shkypetars. For those who have, or who had, to live in the country, Albania is one of the few places still left IN EUROPE AND YET NOT OF IT 3 in Europe where a man may feel in exile. Rail- ways, steamers and telegraph lines have brought most parts of Europe within easy reach of the tourist. There is an English society of one sort or another in most foreign towns ; and where there is no society there is a British merchant or two, or some one trying for a concession, or some one A financing a railway. man does not feel himself absolutely in exile when he can hear his own language spoken occasionally by residents or — visitors, but in Scutari or Scodra, as it should — properly be called we so seldom saw a traveller's face, or heard any English voices but our own, that we might fairly consider ourselves in exile. Not only was the place so difficult of access that it was almost impossible to reach it in less than eight or ten days on an average, but the post, that great solace of the exile, was extremely irregular. Letters came quickly enough as far as Trieste, but there they were put on board anAustrian Lloyd steamer and spent nearly a week dawdling down the Adriatic till they reached San Giovanni di Medua, which is one ofthe worst ports in what used to be European Turkey, and that is saying a great deal. Scodra is about twenty miles from the sea-coast, and each consulate possessed a postman who took it in his turn to ride down to the port to meet the steamer and to bring back the mails. When the
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