in addition, still further increased by the excessive use of the blue-and-white painting, infuriated the Greeks and made them change their tactics. As it proved impossible to shut the mouths of the whole people, many of whom found a way of communicating with the members of the Commission to whom they denounced the masquerade, the Greek authorities had recourse to violence. They let loose on the trails of the Commission a wild band of the notorious Greek irregulars, professional desperadoes, to shadow the Commission everywhere, and to shout à tue-tête, "Union or death!" The glorious achievements of this band are fortunately recorded in the Official Proceedings of the Commission.

It was thus that the Greeks tried to get rid of the Commission altogether, when they realized that their farce was too grotesque not to have made a distasteful impression on the European delegates. Consequently, when the Commission arrived at Borova, in the province of Kolonia, the new Greek plan was put into operation. On reaching the latter locality, the Commissioners, who had already began to feel weary of the comedy, sought to get in direct touch with the inhabitants. One of them knocked at the door of a house, which had been designated at random as the place from which the investigation was to begin. Unfortunately for the Greeks, that particular house happened to be the one in which they had interned all the inhabitants who could not speak Greek. The Greeks realized that the moment had come for the entire upsetting of their organization. When the delegate again repeated the knocks, the inseparable band which had been watching the movements of the Commission, threatened to shoot the

delegate, unless he desisted from his intention of entering the house.

The scandalous interference of the band with the work of the Commission convinced the delegates that there was nothing to be done but to suspend altogether their operations. So they did, and informed their respective governments of the impossibility of carrying out their mission. As a result, the British government proposed that the Commission should proceed to delimit the frontiers with the aid of the map, taking into consideration only economical and geographical reasons. The Greeks threatened to boycott British commerce, but the Powers accepted the proposal.

The Commission proceeded then to Florence, Italy, and finished its work in December, 1913, with the assistance of the Geographical Institute of that city. It assigned to Albania the two disputed provinces or sandjaks of Korcha and Arghyrocastro, in accordance with the original expectation of the Conference of the Ambassadors. But in order to cripple the only line of communication of Southern Albania between the sea and the mainland, a small part of the road was left within the territory assigned to Greece. The boundary line left also outside of Albania the district of Tchamouria, which is inhabited by a compact Albanian population of the Moslem creed, though this was the fault of the Conference rather than of the Commission.

The matter was ended, nevertheless, so far as the Commission was concerned. But the question of Southern Albania had yet to go through many vicissitudes, and had finally to become the gangrene which poisoned the whole life of the frail principality

and which brought it to an untimely and inglorious end, as will be seen a little later.

IV. DISINTEGRATION

Meanwhile, some very important events had taken place within the free territory of Albania, to which we now turn our attention.

More than a year had elapsed since the declaration of independence and the recognition of the autonomous principality of Albania. But, as yet, none of the vital questions on the settlement of which depended the existence of the new State had been resolved. People began to grow restless and agitated. They now accused the government of Ismail Kemal Bey of being utterly incompetent to grapple with those questions.

Two occurrences had particularly exasperated the people. At the time when the International Commission for the delimitation of the southeastern frontier was spending a month at Monastir, in idleness, various financial groups were exercising a powerful influence over the government of Valona with the view of securing concessions. They had particularly set their hearts upon obtaining a concession to found the National Albanian Bank. It was intimated to the government that the Commission would not start on its mission before the signing of the contract. It is not surprising, then, that the government had to yield to this pressure by granting the concession to a group of Austrian and Italian bankers who were respectively representing the Wiener Bank Verein and the Banca Commerciale d'Italia. The most obnoxious privilege included in the concession was the right given to the so-called

National Albanian Bank to deal in real estate. The signing of the contract was a source of mortification to the Albanians, who were working under the apprehension that, owing to the poverty of the people, the Bank would finally be able to buy up all available territory, which would thus pass into the hands of Austrian and Italian capitalists. Naturally enough, popular indignation turned against the government of Ismail Kemal Bey, which now lost the confidence of the people.

Agitation was resorted to, moreover, by the radical nationalists, whose ranks were mainly filled by the Albanians who were returning from the United States. The government of Valona was looked upon by them as hopelessly conservative; they desired to modernize the government as well as the country over night. The reforms which had been carried out were considered as trifling by these fire-eaters who wished to see Albania reformed from the ground up.

The other occurrence was the new turn of affairs in Southern Albania. On December 13, the Powers informed the Greek government that its troops should be withdrawn within a month from the territories assigned to Albania. Eventually, however, a further extension was granted, and the 1st of March, 1914, was designated as the day of the evacuation.

But the Greek authorities had not lost their hopes of avoiding the issue of the evacuation. They were presently setting the stage for a new coup de théâtre. Greece was about to play her trump card. The refugees, who were daily flocking into Valona, were bringing awful stories of persecution and repression. They had heard the Greek officers say that they would never give up Southern Albania, never.

And if they were forced to by the Powers, they would leave behind only ruins and devastation. They would take along with them the Christian population, in order to show to Europe that these poor people preferred to leave their hearths rather than submit themselves to the Albanian government. As for the Moslems, the Greek officials openly declared that it would be better for them to migrate before it was too late.

These reports caused consternation among the people. But Europe was indolent, even sarcastic, and the government of Valona powerless.

There appeared now on the stage, for the second time, the figure of Essad Pasha, to whom public opinion ascribed the mysterious surrender of Scutari (pp. 100-102). This time he stepped forward as the savior of Albania. Taking advantage of the popular discontent against the government of Ismail Kemal Bey, he rallied around him the discontented, especially a group of nationalists, and set up a new government at Durazzo, with the avowed aim of overthrowing the "rotten" government of Valona and placing in its stead a strong national government.

But, no sooner had he strengthened his position than he expelled his unwelcome collaborators, the nationalists, and made his government a base instrument of hideous intrigues, by enlisting the support of the worst reactionaries.

In view of these conditions, the government of Ismail Kemal Bey notified the Powers that he was no longer able to master the situation, owing to the lack of means necessary to enforce the authority of the government, and to the popular exasperation resulting from the dilatoriness of the Powers relative