One can only hope that the Great Powers may have wisdom granted to them to find a peaceful solution of the embarrassing problem which they have created in setting up the new state of Albania. That the Albanians themselves will have an opportunity to develop their own national independence I find it impossible to believe. Yet I heard in the summer of 1913 at Valona from the lips of Ismail Kemal Bey, {131} the head of the provisional government, a most impressive statement of his hopes and aspirations for an independent Albania and his faith and confidence in its future, in which he claimed to voice the sentiments of the Albanian people. But, as I have already explained, I think it doubtful whether under the most favorable external circumstances the Albanians are at present qualified to establish and maintain an independent state. And their destiny is so inextricably entangled with the ambitions of some of the Great Powers that the experiment stands no chance of getting a fair trial. I heartily wish the circumstances were other than they are. For as an American I sympathize with the aspirations of all struggling nationalities to be free and independent. And my interest in Albania is deepened, as the interest of all Americans must be deepened, by the fact that a large number of Albanians have now found a home in the United States. {133} INDEX Abdul Hamid II, misgovernment, 32. Adrianople, capture by Murad I, 4; left to Turkey, 9, 25; holds out against Bulgaria, 56; _sine qua non_ at Peace Conference, 57; captured, 57; question of retention of, 58; reoccupied by Turkish army, 109; ceded back to Turkey, 111. Adriatic, question of supremacy over, 68. Aegean Islands, Greece takes, 52; left to decision of Powers, 59; given to Greece, 122. Albania, Montenegrins, 53; to be left to Powers, 59; cause of friction, 67; problem of, 118; given a ruler, 120; danger-point of the Balkans, 129; northern tribes oppose absorption by Montenegro, 130; future of, 131. Alexander, Prince, of Bulgaria, 27. Area, see under countries. Asen brothers, free Bulgaria, 10. Athens, recaptured, 22. Austria, discusses division of Turkey, 7; given Bosnia and Herzegovina, 27; intervenes in Macedonia, 33; demands independent Albania, 67, 118; opposes Servia, 68; dislikes Slav hegemony, 97; interests in Balkans, 127. Balkan Alliance, see Balkan states. Balkan states, quarrel, 11; peninsula under Moslems, 13; massacres in, 25; large part of peninsula lost to Turkey, 27; dissensions among, 60; alliance, 34; rival ambitions among, 64; treaty restrictions, 72; causes of war between, 75; previous fighting between, 108; make peace, 110; future, 126. Balkan wars, cause of first war, 30; cause of second war, 64; division of fighting, 54; cost, 125. (For progress, see under countries.) Basil II, conquers Bulgaria, 10. Belgrade, conquered by Dushan, 12. Berane, massacre at, 36. Berlin, Treaty of, 21; Congress of, 78. Blockade, Greek, of Turkey, 51.