The Times correspondent states that Hakki Bey "is a young
Turkish Jacobin from Anatolia, and- is totally ignorant of the Albanian language and character." As long as he is per- mitted to control intercourse between the Albanians and the Turkish Government there can be -little hope of conciliation. The whole situation cannot but cause great anxiety. Though we sympathize with the Young Turks in desiring to maintain the integrity of their country we cannot regard their action in detail as judicious. Their behaviour over the alphabet question was specially foolish and provocative. They should
have shown deference to Albanian sentiment in all non- essentials, but at the same time have pushed on road-making with one hand and the general education and civilization of the Albanian population with the other. Even if they deemed military action to be inevitable, it should at least have been postponed till the troubles in the Yemen were over. At the present moment the Sultan of Turkey is paying an official visit to Salonika, but it is to be feared that when this is over it will be found that the activity of the insurgents in Macedonia has only been temporarily concealed, and that the condition of things there is hardly less bad than in Albania.
