7 from Greeks and Serbs and Montenegrins, and from the Great Powers which, for reasons of their own, created in 1912 and in London the state of Albania and handed it over to an unknown German prince, William of Wied. But no people can be the safe interpreter of the needs and wishes, the rights and aspirations of any other people, just as no individual can be an authoritative spokesman for any one but himself. It is therefore a satisfaction and a distinct advantage to have, at last, an interpretation of the Albanian people, an exposition of Albanian history, a presentation of Albanian claims, straight from the mind and heart of a native of that country. For this is, as far as I know, the first book by an Albanian on Albania, that has appeared in the English language. As such it throws light upon matters not too well known to the English-reading public, and may furnish, in many particulars, a corrective to views more or less widespread. The author is, of course, alone responsible for his statements and opinions, but that he adds to our knowledge concerning a subject on which we are none too well informed, is the opinion of the one who writes this introduction. Mr. Chekrezi graduated in 1909 from the Gymnasium of Korcha. Later he studied law for a short time at the University of Athens and then became a journalist. When Albania was made an independent state in 1912 he was appointed Interpreter and later Secretary to the International Commission of Control for Albania, created by the London Conference of Ambassadors. He came to the United States in November, 1914, and has in the meantime studied at Harvard College, from which he graduated in 1918, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Arts. The Albanians first brought the claims of their nationality before Europe at the Congress of Berlin in 1878. They were roughly and summarily handled, Bismarck bluntly declaring that "There is no Albanian nationality." This was one of Bismarck's numerous errors, as he was to find out the following year at the hands of the Albanians themselves. Albanian nationalism has been as true and genuine an historic growth as Greek nationalism, or Serb, or Roumanian, or Bulgarian. Albania is merely the last of the Balkan States to emerge from the blight of five centuries of unconscionable Turkish oppression. Mr. Chekrezi's description of the evolution of this sense of nationality since the Congress of Berlin and his account of the creation in 1912 of the independent principality of Albania and of its brief and troubled history are particularly instructive and illuminating. Whether Albania is to be restored and if so, whether she is to be completely independent or to be under the control, more or less disguised, of Italy or of other powers, whether she will include within her borders all those of Albanian nationality and race or only a part of them, are matters to be decided at Paris. But unless the decisions are right and just, it will not conduce to peace in the Balkan peninsula nor will it be likely to prove permanent, whatever may be the pronouncements or pretentions of a league of nations. Acts of injustice or unreason may destroy a league as they have destroyed in the past many an imposing empire. CHARLES DOWNER HAZEN. |