The Vienna correspondent of the Times reports in last Saturday's
paper that an extraordinary petition for clemency has been addressed by Albanian refugees in Montenegro to the Sultan. The petitioners speak of prostrating themselves at the Sultan's feet, and go on : " Great is our error, but greater be thy clemency. Mayest thou receive us as penitents into thy dominions." It is difficult to know how to reconcile this with the fairly regular announcement of Albanian successes in the fighting. It may be that the petition is not spontaneous ; and if it has been inspired by the Turkish Government it perhaps prepares the way, as the correspondent suggests, for a more conciliatory policy. The recent abolition of the courts-martial and the granting of permission to use the Latin characters in Albanian schools may, at any rate, be taken as signs of such a tendency.
