THE BALKAN WAR.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXV, Issue 97, 1 May 1913, Page 3

THE BALKAN WAR.

1. 1c :.s—n ' ! i ALBANIAN OB MONTENEGRIN ? - , Scutari, the, fall of which marked stage in the progress of the war, is the principal city of Albania. It is about fourteen miles inland from the Adriatic Sea, near a lake of the same name. Tho-bazaars and mosquejr /off Scutfiff- givo tJ/d'd.dty 'an Oriental appearance, but the finest of its buildings aife Italian.' * The trade of Scudari: sho-vvk a tendency to decline ajid to be diverted to 1 Salonica and other ports connected with‘the main European' railways; „ Gfhin wool, hides, skins, tobacco, and sumach are exported; ‘arms and cotton-stuffs are manufactured, and- its imports include textiles,’’metals, provisions', and hard-, ware. Large’quantities of a kind of sardine, a called “sdorahze” by the Albanians', are caught in the Boyana and cured I 'for export or home consumption. The Roman historian, Livy, relates that Scodra, as' the city was called M that time, was chosen as capital by the Illyrian King Gentius, who was besieged there in 168 8.0., and carried captive to Rome. In the seventh century Scutari fell into the hands of the Servians, from whom it was wrested by the Venetians, and finally, in 1479, the Turks acquired it by treaty. The population, which numbered about 36,000, consists of some 23,000 ‘Mohammedans and 8000 Christians.

Dr. E. Dillon, the foreign expert of the “Daily Telegraph,” writing during the armistice 'between Tail key and the Allies, says:—-‘’“This town is demanded with insistence by Montenegro, and with pathos by'its venerable King, who declares that the 1 future of his dynasty is indissolubly bound up with the' acquisition or loss of that historic town. Albanians, backed by Austria-Hungary, maintain that Albania without Scutari i would be a mere torso. “Scutari,” they say, “is the capital of the North counry, and whaever principle you set ■ up as a criterion you cannot award the city to the Montenegrins. Scutari has always been Albanian ; even its name is not Slav, despite the fact that most of the names of Albanian places have been given by the Slav invaders. It is composed of two words which mean the “city near the Drin.” Furthermore, geographically and strategically, the town is Albanian. And hero is a proof. The hills of the amphitheatre at the mouth of which Scutari is situated, belong to the Malissoros. Nobody wants to dispossess the Albanian tribes of those

heights in favour of. the Montenegrins. Consequently, they will be left-in possession. But if they are masters of the heights they are also masters of the plain which is commanded by the heights, and which cannot bo hold against the will of the hillmen. If, therefore, you want to give Scutari to the Montenegrins, you must go further, evict all the Albanian highlanders from their hereditary seats, sot them adrift, and allow the country to be settled by the Slavs.”