Written by Petrit Latifi. Taken from “La Correspondence”, January 8, 1873, Dalmatia.

“The following details were sent from Kotor by the Hungarian Lloyd on the new troubles that have just broken out in Albania.

For some years the inhabitants of the Albanian villages of the Krajë, this mountain range bordering the northern and eastern shores of Lake Shkodër, have been in conflict with the Turkish authorities over the collection of taxes. The inhabitants of the Krajë claim, taking advantage of an ancient privilege, which was granted to them for the assistance given in the campaigns against Montenegro, to be exempted from all taxes, while the Pasha of Skadar is unwilling to grant them only a partial exemption.

Repeated representations made to the Sublime Porte had no result. From then on, hostilities broke out between the Pasha and the Albanians. The emissaries sent by the pasha to the villages of Krajina to bring the inhabitants to make peace were held hostage, and the Turkish authorities, in turn, took revenge by imprisoning the surprised Krajë highlanders in the territory of Shkodra.

A crisis was inevitable and hostilities were expected to break out openly. What seemed to have hastened this conclusion was a measure taken by the Ottoman Porte. Constantinople ordered the distribution of new rifles to the Albanian communes. The first contact that took place between the Albanians and the Turkish authorities naturally caused the conflict to break out.

The former refusing to accept the rifles, their leaders were threatened with arrest, where they used their weapons. As for the outcome of the war, it is certain that it was not in favor of the Turks. An entire detachment of Turkish gendarmes and several high-ranking officers fell into the hands of the Albanians and were taken prisoner. Strong repressive measures are being prepared at Shkodra.

But if the preparations last as long as the distribution of arms to the military expedition, there will be little reason to hope for a satisfactory result. Very well-informed people assure us at least that once the insurgents have seized the land, they will have no difficulty in preventing the landing of the expedition. It is true that there has already been talk of a clash. But this news deserves confirmation.

We can therefore see that things are taking a rather disturbing turn. However minimal the sympathies that reign between the Albanians and the Montenegrins, they may nevertheless unite for a moment, given the homogeneity of their interests, and make common cause against the Turks.