Germany -- Politics and government -- 1888-1918; William II, German Emperor, 1859-1941; World War, 1914-1918
He pointed out that a future ruler of the land must in no circumstances
reside on the coast, but must show himself to the inhabitants
and travel about in the country. Owing to the primitive means of
transportation, he went on, the lord of the land must sit all day on
horseback and ride through his domain, having at his saddle bow the
famous "bag of sequins" mentioned in all Oriental tales and legends, in
order to sway public opinion in his favor in the places visited by the
expected shower of gold. The ruler must be sure, the author continued,
to bind some of the clans of the region closely to himself, so as to
have at his beck and call an armed force for asserting his will and
overcoming any opponents wishing to rebel, since this was the only way
to maintain his power, in view of the utter lack of "troops" or an
"army" in the European sense of the word.
This meant that the ruler of Albania must lead at first a nomadic,
horseback life, and, in addition, provide himself with a wandering
camp, with tents and other accessories and the necessary horses. Plenty
of men adapted to this sort of life might have been found in his
squadron of the Third Guard Uhlan Regiment, since many of his Uhlans,
who were very fond of the Prince, had declared that they were ready to
accompany him as volunteers. Surely, they would have served him better
and been more useful to him than what he did in preparing to take over
the overlordship of Albania, without knowledge of the country.
I advised my cousin urgently to study this pamphlet and to follow
its recommendations, especially with regard to his residence, which
should be fixed at some point as far as possible from the warships of
the Powers, in order that he might not be forced to act under their
pressure and arouse suspicion among the Albanians that their ruler
needed these ships for protection against his subjects. Did the Prince
ever read the pamphlet? In any event, the course adopted by him
subsequently was contrary to its advice and the advice given him by me.
The Prince and his wife journeyed to Albania, and things turned out
as I had foreseen. According to reports describing the arrival of the
sovereign couple, the Princess, although she was a German, addressed
the assembled Albanians from her balcony in French, since they
understood no German! The "court" remained at Durazzo under the guns of
the foreign ships. The Prince did not travel on horseback through the
land, nor did he scatter gold sequins about--not even from his balcony
on the day of his arrival--nor did he push Essad out of the way. So the
adventure ended as one might imagine.
I have gone into some detail in describing my opinion and attitude
toward the question of the choice of the ruler of Albania because,
from every possible quarter, false rumors have been circulated for the
purpose of imputing to me motives which were utterly foreign to me. In
this matter, also, I gave honest advice when questioned, based on sound
knowledge of mankind.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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