CHAPTER XVII

THE GROWTH OF NATIONALISM

I. THE INITIAL STEPS

IN sketching in the first part of this book the formation and the activities of the Albanian League it was stated that the year 1878 marked the beginning of Albanian nationalism.

In the hope of circumventing the decision of the representatives of the Great Powers assembled in the Congress of Berlin relative to the evacuation of the territories assigned to Montenegro and Greece, the Sublime Porte took the momentous step of adopting the dangerous principle of nationalities, for the first and last time. Instead of complying with the stipulations of the Treaty of Berlin, which it had signed, the Turkish Government sought to exploit the discontent which was manifested among the Albanians as a result of the decision of the Powers to hand over Albanian territories to Montenegro and Greece. The discontent and agitation were undoubtedly genuine and quite in line with the essential unity of the Albanians. What the Porte did was to arouse the indignation of the Albanian people against the Powers, by allowing them, at the same time, a degree of freedom of action as an individual nationality which Turkey was later to regret very deeply.

In pursuance of its policy, the Government of the Sultan permitted the Albanians to protest separately to the Congress of Berlin against the cession of any Albanian territory to their neighbors, and, when it saw that the protest was brushed aside without being given any consideration, the Porte encouraged, and even instigated, the attempt of the Albanians to substantiate their protest. On the first of July, 1879, delegates from the various provinces of Albania assembled at Prisrend to form the celebrated "League for the Defense of the Rights of the Albanian Nationality. The League thus constituted was the first national Albanian organization in modern times, and it is impossible to minimize its importance. The management of Albanian affairs was presently taken over by the League, which succeeded even in establishing Albanian authorities in Northern Albania. In the course of its activities, this national organization issued a series of proclamations which were addressed to the Albanians only as an individual nationality. They were a bugle call for the nation.

The meeting of the delegates at Prisrend and the measures they took for the preservation of the territorial integrity of Albania, which were spread broadcast for the information of the people, constituted the first spark which electrified the nation.

The successes of the armed forces of the League, which have been referred to in a preceding chapter, against the Montenegrins and a little later against the combined forces of Mukhtar Pasha and of the Prince of Montenegro, thrilled the Albanians whose enthusiasm was intensified by the heroism of the small garrison of Dulcigno, which withstood even the

bombardment of the warships of the great European Powers.

How dangerous, for the Porte, was the resentment of the Albanians against the Turkish Government and the Powers on account of their action in assigning Albanian territories to their neighbors was ominously demonstrated in the treatment of Mehmed Ali Pasha, one of the representatives of Turkey at the Congress of Berlin. The said Pasha arrived at Djakova to witness the evacuation of the Albanian territories; angry Albanian mobs massacred the unlucky Mehmed Ali Pasha and the soldiers who accompanied him.

Then followed, as has already been said, a clash between the forces of the League and the troops of the Sultan that came to reclaim the districts which were under the authority of the League, the battles with the army of Dervish Pasha, and the eventual sanguinary suppression of the League.

All these events could but have the most momentous effects in awakening the dormant national spirit and in exerting a powerful influence on the overexcited imagination of the people. In fact, the struggles which characterized the stern suppression of the League made a deeper impression than the successes which had been won by it.

Moreover, to these thrilling national emotions was added another important factor. Hitherto, the use of the Albanian language had been rigorously prohibited. Apart from a few religious books published now and then by the Catholic clergy of Northern Albania and a translation of the Bible made under the auspices of the British Biblical Society for the use of the Orthodox Albanians but which could

not be read without danger, no other books had been published in the Albanian language during the long Turkish domination. The Moslems had to send their children to the wretched Turkish schools which were in charge of stupid instructors. The Orthodox Albanians were forced to send theirs to the Greek schools which were maintained under the auspices of the Greek Patriarch of Constantinople. Albanian schools could not be had at any price.

But with the formation of the League, the Sublime Porte was prevailed upon to allow the opening of Albanian schools and the use of the Albanian language in writing.

The result of the lifting of the prohibition was the opening by private contributions of a number of Albanian schools which marked a revolution in the conception of religious matters. The new national schools were attended by both Christian and Moslem children sitting side by side! Their teaching staff was also as mixed as their student bodies.

Simultaneously, there began the publication of a series of school books and newspapers in the native language. The first school book was a "Spelling Book," which appeared at Constantinople, in 1879, under the patronage of the celebrated Albanian patriots, Sami Bey Frasheri, a Moslem, John Vreto, a "Greek" Orthodox, both natives of Southern Albania, and Wassa Pasha, a Catholic, the latter being a high dignitary of the Turkish Government, and also a distinguished national poet. At the same time, there was founded at Constantinople the "Society for the Publication of Albanian Books." This was the beginning of Albanian national education, and it was soon followed by a period of lively activity

in the publication of more substantial books, such as manuals of history, physical science, Readers and poetry for the use of the schools, the most important of which was a treatise of General History by Sami Bey Frasheri. But the book which attracted the widest attention and had the greatest circulation was a small treatise, written by the same writer, under the caption "Albania, Her Past, Her Present, Her Future." This little book, which is not of any great literary value, has been translated into Turkish, Greek and German,1 and has been considered for a long time as the Bible of the Albanian patriot. The fact that it was written by a Moslem Bey recommended it instantly to every Albanian, without distinction of creed. On the other hand, his brother, Naim Bey Frasheri, devoted his time to writing patriotic poems, which so inflamed the imagination of the people that early in 1879 a revolutionary outbreak took place at Frasheri against the Turks, an outbreak wholly due to the influence of his poems.

Very soon, however, reaction set in. The Turkish Government and the Greek Patriarch felt very uneasy in view of the progress of popular Albanian education, for it was seen that the two religious groups, Christian and Moslem, which each of them was trying to keep apart, were now being cemented into one national body through the influence of the schools and books. Consequently, in 1886, the Albanian schools were closed by order of Sultan Abdul Hamid II, and publications in the Albanian language were suppressed. A supplementary decree was is

1 Fraschery, Ch. Samy, Was war Albanien, was ist es, was wird es werden, Vienna, 1913.