‘Prove Your Enemies Wrong’
Aubrey Herbert MP was called upon to make a speech to Albanians itching to avenge the crimes of neighbouring Montenegro.
1913
King George V 1910-1936
Aubrey Herbert MP was called upon to make a speech to Albanians itching to avenge the crimes of neighbouring Montenegro.
1913
King George V 1910-1936
In 1913, Aubrey Herbert MP rode through the mountainous country near Albania’s border with Montenegro. The locals in Rrapshë, exhilarated by the successful Albanian Revolt of 1912 against Turkey, were celebrating a festival, and amidst gunshots and denunciations of Montenegro’s historic crimes against Albanians they called on Herbert for a speech.
I AM an Englishman, but I am not speaking for England. You have many friends in England, who are glad that Albania has been saved, for we have always fought for freedom and you have always fought for freedom, and now you have achieved it. For five hundred years you have worn black in mourning for Skenderbeg;* soon, I hope, with the help of God, you will wear coats of white for your King.*
Uncertainty is trying, but patience conquers all things. You have been patient for so long; be patient a little longer. It is not my business to offer you advice. It is in England that your other friends and I do what we can for Albania. It is your business here to lay the foundations of the Albanian State. Your enemies have said that your feuds were too many and your quarrels too ancient to be overcome. Prove that your enemies are wrong.
Gjergj Kastrioti (1405-1468), known as Skanderbeg (Skënderbej), led a rebellion against the Ottoman Empire that lasted from 1443 to 1468 and ended with his death from natural causes. All the territories gained were won back by the Ottomans except for Kruje, which was taken by the Republic of Venice.
Herbert was proposed by some influential Albanian figures as a possible King of Albania, though he turned the honour down. So too (reputedly) did test-cricketer and diplomat Charles Burgess Fry (1872-1956), who claimed he was approached while working as assistant to fellow-batsman Sir Ranjitsinhji Vibhaji of Nawanagar, at the League of Nations in Geneva.
1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?
2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?
3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?
Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.