oy to
Belgrade, Yanko Vukotitch, cousin to the Princess, was stopped, and,
it was said, searched on Austrian territory. Things were touch and
go. The Montenegrin army was preparing to fall on Cattaro. War
seemed inevitable, for England's attitude caused the Montenegrins to
believe that they had only to begin and British aid was certain.
Imaginative people actually saw the Mediterranean fleet coming up
the Adriatic. They were spoiling for a fight. I was sure our bark
was far worse than our bite was likely to be, but was very anxious,
for we had no British representative in Cetinje to advise
moderation, and, while we went on barking, Montenegro might bite.
Montenegrin and Austrian troops faced each other on the frontier,
and a rifle fired by a man full of rakia might set the whole ablaze.

People at home did not know how close the spark and the powder lay.
If war ensued, it would mean the end of Turkey in Europe. In spite
of tension between Christian and Moslem, the Albanians remembered
that blood is thicker than water, and were very anxious to
consolidate their position by adopting a common alphabet for all
Albania. This, owing to Turkish prohibitions, had previously been
impossible. For Italy and Austria, who printed school books in
Albanian, did so for their own purposes, and not to encourage
nationality, and so each used a different alphabet and changed it
not infrequently.

A great national meeting of representatives of all Albania was held
at Monastir, which the Albanians then reckoned as one of their
towns. The Latin alphabet was chosen, a common system of orthography
adopted, and the frontiers of Albanian territory discussed. The
Turks, alarmed at the growth of Albanian Nationalism, again began
restrictions, and hurried to arrange for the election to Parliament
of such members only as were pro-Turk. As I wrote at the time: "The
so-called election is no election at all. The tyrant of Tirana,
Essad Bey, a man who is greatly detested, and has an awful
reputation, is to be member for Tirana, elected' by the peasants who
are terrified of him. Even Scutari is surprised he has succeeded in
making them do it. He is head of the gendarmerie, and this gives him
great power." It has been said that in an emergency you can always
trust a Turk to do the wrong thing. Every mistake possible to make
in Albania, the Young Turks made, and while they still rubbed
Albania up the wrong way, Austria was still boycotted. Kral himself