the Balkan States. Austria and Italy, on the other hand, were governed by the same motives but in quite another direction; they would have a splendid occasion of interference in a weak and tottering Albania which they could, at the end of the count, divide between them. As for England, she was trying to keep up the balance without compromising herself, though much is owed to her that Albania was not made weaker. We pass now to see how the provisions of the London Conference were carried out. To the general merriment of a part of the European public and to the satisfaction of the diplomats who had foreseen the case, the Balkan States refused to comply with the decisions of the powers, and when they had been hard pressed by the interested powers, they avoided the crisis by various ingenious stratagems. This applies mainly to Greece, for the Servians and Montenegrins have been kept out of Albania by the threatening sword of Austria. Greece was more fortunate because she had to deal with Italy alone and the government of Rome was the least disposed to go to extremities; it rather adopted the policy of relying on the complacency of Greece in evacuating Southern Albania. Meanwhile, the Greek government, out of deference to the decisions of the great Powers, as it declared, agreed to evacuate the Albanian territory in a very conscientious way. She set up a provisional government for the Autonomous Epirus, as she styled Southern Albania, provided it with all the necessary military means, chiefly by disguising as Epirotes a good part of the royal Greek army and, lastly, she informed Europe that she was ready to evacuate the territories but for the opposition of the inhabitants who would in no way let her go! And in order to show how great was the attachment and the love of the native population towards Greece, the royal army burned down some 300 towns and villages and drove out of their hearths more than 300,000 Albanians who sought a refuge at Valona wherein they have been fed for some time by the Albanian Relief Fund Committee of New York. In reality, the Greek Christian Work for October 10, 1914. 6 troops had never evacuated Southern Albania, in which they perpetrated every sort of frightful massacres, until very recently when they have been replaced by Italian troops which are now in occupation of those Albanian districts. As for the internal situation of the Albanian State, we have but little to say, for everyone must have understood that it could not be better than it was devised to be. Prince William of Wied was elected to the throne of Albania and took possession thereof on March 7, 1914, most heartily and enthusiastically greated and acclaimed by the people who expected in his person the worthy successor of Scanderbeg. But, whatever might have been his dispositions and projects, he was not in position to carry them out. Prof. A. L. Lowell says in his Government of England that "government means not action by universal consent, but compulsory obedience to an ultimate authority." Now that authority was totally absent from the Albanian State. True, there was a government and also an international commission of control, composed of one delegate from every great Power, with one Albanian delegate, to aid the King and his government, but as there was no real authority, it is idle to consider it as a government in the sense we are used to understand it. Moreover, its action, weak and inadequate as it might have been, was entirely negatived by the unscrupulous interference of the so-called protectors of Albania. Foreign agents and agitators, official and semi-official, were overrunning her and the government could in no way interfere with their operations. If it did, it had to apologize to their respective ministers; if it arrested or tried to deport them, it had to offer its excuses not only to their diplomatic agents, but what is more revolting, even to the prisoners. A case of this sort arose with the arrest of two foreign agitators, belonging to one of the direct protectors of Albania, by the Dutch organizers of the embryo Albanian gendarmerie. The offended foreign minister called for excuses, and when they were refused to him by the much-regretted Colonel Thomson, sub-head of the Dutch Mission, he demanded from the Albanian government the dismissal of the colonel whose heroic death in defending the just cause of Albania has spared her and him of such a repugnant insult to the memory of the gallant soldier of Holland. Three months after the arrival of the King, a revolution broke out in Central Albania. At the beginning it was directed against the great landowners but gradually it took the character of an anti-dynastical movement, through the untired efforts of those who conspired against the existence of Albania. The agitation was limited to a few towns and villages, but as there was no military force to suppress it, it spread to the adjoining districts. Moreover, the rebels were almost openly supported by a great power which was desirous of getting rid of the King and which, having the command of the sea, provided them with all the necessary material even with heavy artillery. None the less, the situation of the king was not wholly hopeless, for the greater part of the free soil of Albania was at his side at all times, had not the European war rendered unsustainable his position. He left his realm after a turbulent and discouraging reign of seven months, and Albania fell into a state of complete anarchy which had been insidiously fostered by those who most earnestly wished to profit by it. A little later on, Italy seized the much-coveted seaport of Valona with the intention of transforming it into a new Gibraltar, and in the course of her negotiations with Austria, previous to her entering in war against the Dual Monarchy, Albania served in many instances as a free object of exchange and mutual compensation." Such is the tragical history of the unfortunate Albanian nation which has the further misfortune of being discredited and calumniated as ungovernable by the very persons who brought about the present conditions. As to her actual situation, this it is quite plain needs to be further explained. At the present time, she is divided into two zones of foreign occupation in the possession respectively of Austria and Italy. In many instances and 7 Italian Green Book, 1914, 1915, various documents. on many occasions the Italian government has formally declared that one of the aims of Italy in prosecuting the present war is to assure the independence of Albania. Austria on her side, has been silent on the subject since she got possession of Northern and Central Albania. She protested against the blockade of the coast of the "sovereign" state of Albania by the Italian navy, in the early days of the war, but since then no word has reached us from Vienna about the fate of Albania. What may be the fate of Albania in the future and what do the Albanians wish? The first question is a matter of speculation. Nevertheless, in considering the actual tendencies and the various official pledges, it seems quite sure that the great Powers will abide by their former decisions as regards the principle of the independence of Albania, but much is to be feared as to the meaning they will attach to the word independence, their predilection going always to the creation of sham and impotent states, without regard to national rights and international law or morality. Coming to the second question, the point of view of the Albanians is that they must have a compensation, for their previous cruel sufferings, in a really independent Albania, free from foreign interference, unhaunted by the ghost of invasion, with a strong national government. If they cling still to the fatal decisions of the London Conference, artificial and prejudicial as they are, they do so for fear of a worse arrangement. To this end, the most effective moral support can come to them from the great American nation and the powerful influence of the government of the United States. This is the ardent hope and wish of the 60,000 Albanians who enjoy the blessings of peace and liberty in the United States as well as of the entire Albanian nation. THE JOURNAL OF RACE DEVELOPMENT, VOL. 7, No. 3, 1917 TRUE PAN-AMERICANISM: A POLICY OF By George H. Blakeslee, Ph.D., Professor of History and International Relations, Clark University One of the striking facts in connection with our foreign relations is the recent increase of interest throughout the United States in Latin America. This change is shown in many ways, and may be measured in part by definite figures. The leading newspapers in the United States, for example, according to the reports of the statisticians in the Pan American Union, gave more news space to Latin America in a single month of the past year than the same papers gave in the thirty-six months of 1907, 1908 and 1909; our magazines had more articles on Latin America in the first three months of 1916 than in the five years from 1907 to 1912; while more books dealing with Latin America were published in this country in 1914 than in the entire period from 1906 to 1910. A recent bibliography of the two hundred best volumes on South America shows that seveneighths of them appeared within the past five years. This increased interest appears in other ways, such as in the teaching of Spanish; at the present time some two thousand educational institutions in this country are giving instruction in Spanish, while ten years ago there were hardly more than fifty. Over 1700 clubs in the United States are making a study of Latin America and Pan American relations; while our leading colleges and universities are now introducing courses on the history, commerce and culture of the states to the south of us. Then there is the people's university, the moving picture show; it is estimated that three thousand moving picture theatres are every week showing to American audiences the people, the scenery, and the life of the republics of South America. Only a few |