6l2 



The Review of Reviews. 



The only comic relief in 



The Farce of the Balkan situation has 



Albania. j^ggj^ affordcd by the 



-sudden affection dis- 

 played by Austria and Italy for the 

 welfare of the Albanian peoples. In the 

 past these two nations have been 

 callously indifferent to the frightful 

 state of anarchy existing in Albania, 

 and have read without any interest the 

 reports of their consuls in those regions, 

 which show that the murder rate in 

 Albania varies from 20 to 75 per cent, 

 of the total death rate. That Italy 

 should be interested in the future of 

 Albania, and should prefer an autono- 

 mous State, even if it means the gradual 

 disappearance of the Albanian peoples, 

 is natural, since she must make sure of 

 the future of the port of Valona. 

 Austria has no such excuse, and Aus- 

 tria's demand for Albanian autonomy is 



only in keeping with her desire to gain 

 time at all costs, and, if possible, to 

 leave a permanent source of trouble in 

 the Balkan Peninsula. The argument 

 that the Albanians are Mohammedans, 

 and, as such, should not be handed over 

 to the tender mercies of a Christian 

 State — an argument curiously lacking in 

 respect for the value of Christianity — 

 loses much of its effect from the fact 

 that in Albania there are not only 

 Mohammedans, but also Catholics and 

 Orthodox tribes. They have neither 

 the same literature nor alphabet. It is 

 evident they cannot have an indepen- 

 dent development. Their country, if it 

 were to obtain autonomy, would become 

 a theatre of rival agitation, a ground 

 given over to the struggle of interests 

 between Serb, Bulgar, Greek, Italian, 

 and Austro-Hungarian States. The 

 origins of the Albanians were principally 



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A COMPARISON OF THE SERVIAN OUTLET AND A PART OF 



WALES. 



The Territory for which Austria threatened to precipitate a European War. 



By a comparison of the above maps it will be seen that the area in dispute is but little larger than t^-o small Welsh counties and 

 indeed is not one-third the size of Wales, and has a population of but 150,000, not one-twelfth that of Wales. 



