t was,
moreover, initiated with the intent of winning over the Northern
Christians to Austria, and was directed rather to dividing the
Christians from the Moslems and to weakening rather than
strengthening the sense of Albanian nationality. The results of this
we will trace later.

None of these efforts on the part of Albania's enemies killed the
strong race instinct which has enabled the Albanian to survive the
Roman Empire and the fall of Byzantium, outlive the fleeting
mediaeval Empires of Bulgar and Serb, and finally emerge from the
wreck of the mighty Ottoman Empire, retaining his language, his
Customs and his primitive vigour--a rock over which the tides of
invasion have washed in vain.

When threatened with loss of much Albanian territory by the terms of
the Treaty of Berlin, the Albanians rose in force and demanded the
recognition of their rights. There is a popular ballad in Albanian
cursing Lord Beaconsfield, who went to Berlin in order to ruin
Albania and give her lands to her pitiless enemy the Slav. The
Treaty did nothing for Albania, but it caused the formation of the
Albanian League and a national uprising by means of which the
Albanians retained some of the said lands in spite of the Powers.
This induced Abdul Hamid for a short time to relax the ban upon the
Albanian language. At once national schools were opened, and books
and papers came from Albanian presses. The Sultan, alarmed by the
rapid success of the national movement, again prohibited the
language. Schoolmasters were condemned to long terms of
imprisonment. As much as fifteen years was the sentence that could
be, and was, inflicted upon any one found in possession of an
Albanian paper, and the Greek priests entered enthusiastically into
the persecution. But Albanian was not killed. Leaders of the
movement went to Bucarest, to Sofia, to Brussels, to London, and set
to work. With much difficulty and at great personal risk books and
papers published abroad were smuggled into Albania by Moslem
Albanian officials, many of whom suffered exile and confiscation of
all their property in consequence.

But there was another means by which printed Albanian was brought
into the country. During the short interval when the printing of
Albanian had been permitted, a translation of the Bible was made for
the British and Foreign Bible Society. This Society had the
permission of the Turkish Government to circulate its publications
freely. When the interdict