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[5257]
June 4. 1920
My dear Mr. Tumulty:
There is transmitted herewith, a copy of a letter dated May 6th from Memed Konitza, President of the Albanian Delegation, to the American Ambassador at Paris, together with a letter addressed to the President by Memed Konitza, regarding the future of Albania.
I am, my dear Mr. Tumulty,
Very truly yours,
Frank Golb
Enclosure: As stated above. 875.01/82
The Honorable, Joseph P. Tumulty, Secretary to the President. The White House.
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Hotel Campbell, Avenue Friedland, PARIS, May 6th, 1920.
[5257] [Hugh C. Wallace]
To His Excellency The American Ambassador, 5, Rue de Chaillot, PARIS.
Your Excellency:
The Albanian Delegation would be deeply grateful to Your Excellency if you would kindly transmit the attached memorandum to President Wilson at the earliest moment.
As the Adriatic-Albanian question is certain to come up for further discussion, if not final settlement at the Spa Conference, it is important that the President, whose interest in Albania is so genuine and who stands practically as her sole defender among the great men of State; should understand as clearly as possible the Albanian viewpoint.
With great respect.
We are Your Excellency's humble and obedient servants,
(Signed): MEHMED KONITZA President of the Albanian Delegation.
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[Enclosure No 2 to Despatch No 1175] [5257]
Paris
May 5th, 1920.
To His Excellency Woodrow WILSON President of the United States, White House, WASHINGTON, D.C.
Your Excellency:
The Albanian Delegation begs once more the honour of addressing you. When their cause seemed hopeless your intervention, (which we can only regard as Providential), saved Albania from dismemberment. The proposal that Albania be recognized as an Independent State by the League of Nations, we naturally assume must be accredited to you. Likewise the excellent restrictions placed upon Italy as Mandatory, embodied in the Memorandum of December 9th we believe to be due to you; and that the terms were not more liberal, even to the granting of the boundaries of 1913 and the right of the Albanian people to choose for themselves their friend and guardian among the nations would have been fully recognized, we are sure, had you been able to apply your principle of "Self-Determination" to her case. No delegation can be more deeply conscious of the difficulties under which you have laboured in behalf of small nations and particularly their own, than the Albanian Delegation. Whatever the outcome may be, Your Excellency will always be deeply and gratefully esteemed by the Albanian representatives and their nation.
Since the Memorandum of December 9th has become the basis of negotiations for the settlement of the Adriatic-Albanian question, we beg again to call your attention to the following considerations.
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First, The Economic:
If Albania is to be recognized by the League of Nations as an Independent State it must be made viable and should be at least of sufficient size to give it standing among the Balkan States. We are fearful that sufficient consideration has not been given to this in the Memorandum of December 9th. In this, the Province of Argyrocastro has been conceded to Greece for occupation, Valona and hinterland to Italy; while the Province of Koritza is set apart for special negotiation.
Already all the plains lying to the north and east of the Albanian Alps have been ceded to Montenegro & Serbia by the London Conference of 1913; so that there remains not a single market town for all the mountain tribes inhabiting those regions. If now the terms of the Memorandum are executed practically the same thing will have taken place on the other two sides, virtually stripping the state of all its valleys, save the comparatively narrow ones of the Skumbi and Drin rivers.
The hinterland of Valona is constituted in large part by the Musike valley - one of the richest in the whole Balkans, capable of feeding the entire nation. Within this region are likewise valuable coal and iron deposits, lakes of asphalt and petrolium beds, - all, save the asphalt, entirely undeveloped. It is important in this connection to know that the Province of Valona furnished one fourth of the total revenue of Albania in 1913. So that, instead of Valona being a barren "Gibraltar" for the protection of the maratime interests of Italy, it is for Albania what Liverpool is to England, or New York to the United States. Before such a handicap, to say nothing of Argyrocastro and Koritza is settled upon a weak, impoverished and backward
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state of Albania, would it not be prudent to further study the question, whether she can support such a handicap and live?
Second, The Political Consideration.
The first essential of a stable government is that it shall have the support and cooperation of the people. No government in Albania can have that under an Italian mandate. That has already been demonstrated. The present government enjoys the confidence and support of the Albanian people only because it has declared itself for an absolutely independent Albania and taken over the reins of power in the face of an Italian army with machine gune set to oppose its entrance into Tirana. If that government is overthrown (and there are rumors of intrigues going on at present to that end) it will only arouse a deeper resentment and bitterness in the nation toward those who arbitrarily assume to control and direct its destinies. The Albanian nation, leaders ane people alike, have no confidence in the declaration of Italy's premier that:
"She is ready to aid Albania in its national resurrection, "and if others demand sacrifices of her she will not, nor "will she seek to profit from her; desiring only her indepen"dence and the development of the Albanian race". On the contrary, the surrender she is willing to make of the dowry of her proposed ward, (Scutari to Yugo-Slavia, Argyrocastro to Greece, while she preempts Valona and hinterland for herself, - have convinced the Albanian nation that she prefers to have such an Albania as can live only as she is in Italian control.
Complicated, difficult and well-nigh hopeless as the situation appears, we still believe that the door is not closed to a solution more equitable and more promising for peace
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