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Correspondence.
tions , stars , titles , and colonels' commissions . As this is a simple historical matter , there is not much difficulty in settling it . Prince Skanderbeg who appears before Europe to liberate eleven millions of Christians from the Mussulman yoke must be sufficiently a public character for his personal history to be known .
Messrs . Loewenstark cannot be responsible for the romances of Dumas ; but they will not be offended to be told that it is nothing but humbug for Dumas or Skanderbeg to talk of Skanderbeg liberating eleven millions of Christians . ' The greater part of the eleven millions are under Christian princeswho
, would put Skanderbeg in the stocks were he to appear in their territories . The Prince of Eoumania has four millions of the Christians , the Prince of Servia another million , the Princes of Montenegro , Samos , and the Myrdites smaller numbers . As the eleven millions of Christians are nearly all of the Greek
religion , they do uot want to be interfered with by a heretic ; and of tbe small number of Christians who ¦ are Eoman Catholics , and who are chiefl y Albanians , they are under Bib Doda Pa 3 ha , the Prince of the Myrdites . These Eoman Catholic Albanians carry
arms and pay no taxes to the Sultan , and if any Prince Skanderbeg appeared at Durazzo would be the . first to march against him . There can be little doubt the rest of the Christian Albanians would do the same , and the Christians generally in Turkey have an . antipathy to a stranger and a heretic . So farthereforefrom there being any current
, , newspaper historical evidence of any Prince Skander-• beg ' s participation in the numerous insurrectionary movements in European Turkey , the newspaper evidence is of a very different character . If , however , Messrs . Loewenstark ' s customer had happened to be an actual Panariote prince there like
L'rince Tpsilanti , Prince Vogorides , & c , it has never been the custom of these gentlemen whenremoved from their Governments to give away decorations and appoint " Medallists to H . E . H . " "Were it so , Paris would swarm with tradesmen to these Panariote Prince . One more matter remainsDurazzo is a very far
, address if this is the Prince Skanderbeg from whom . ur brother seeks payment . Tours fraternally , A MASON .
TO THE EDITOE OF THE FHEE 3 XASOX 5 ItAGAZIXE A > 'D ATAS 02 * IC AlIEEOE . Dear Sir and Brother , —After the satisfactory and conclusive explanations of Messrs . Loewenstark ia your columns , all controversy about H . E . H . Prince Skanderbeg will most likely cease . Should it not do so , there is a very easy means of settling the matter . H . E . H . does not appear to have an ambassador or
consul here , as the Provisional Government at Durazzo has not yet been recognised by her Majesty ' s Government any more than the Confederate States of America . There are , however , English consuls and consular agents thronghout Albania . H . B . M . ' s ¦ Consul at JaninaMajor Stuart , could inform us on
, application of the strength of H . E . H . ' s army and navy , and his title to the rights of a belligerent . Better still , the Austrians have a consul at Durazzo , but I suspect , from the " A lmanac de Gotha , " he is
not accredited to H . E . H ., but to the oppressor of H . E . H . and his brother Christians , the Sultan of Turkey . Mr . Eeade is her Majesty ' s Consul at Scutari , and at Oroya there is a consular ageut , so that something can be learned about the Prince ' s territory or estates . Tours fraternally
, P . C . TO THE EDITOR ON THE FftHEMASONS' MAGAZINE AND MASONIC MIRROR . Dear Sir and Brother , —Is Prince Skanderbeg a Mason ? If not , what has he to do with Masonic jewels , or what has Masonic jewellers or jewellery to
do with him ? If he is a Mason , where does he hail from , and under what Constitution was he initiated , where and when ? In Southern Italy ( Calabria , Sicily , & e . ) princes , dukes , and counts are as plentiful as blackberries , and tbey are generally very patrioticand very often very
, poor , with nothing but their titles and their wits , with which they travel , and make the most of whenever they do . If they are educated ( and many of these princes cannot read or write ) , and they travel , they are generally engaged in some such Christian and chivalrous occupation as that in which I gather
, from the letters you have permitted to be published , H . E . H . the Prince S . is now engaged in . I well remember once meeting with a prince ( some years ago ) with whom I travelled by land and sea for many days , and who , in return for some trifling advances , and for financial facilities which I was ( fortunately or
otherwise ) enabled to afford him during the time , kindly proposed to confer upon me the rank of a general , the title of count , aud the decorations of several orders ( more or less ancient ) . The military uniforms of the princely staff were designed from really handsome French models ; so too with the decorations . The titles offered were to be conveyed by splendidly
illuminated documents on vellum , with seals , & c . Alas , I was obliged to decline the proposed return , splendid as no doubt it was , for such mere banking facilities , though sought by a noble Prince from an ordinary mortal such as I was travelling for pleasure in foreign lands with a " circular letter" from the Lnion Bank of London . Mnoble Prince could
y never understand why Englishmen generally set so little value upon such brilliant offers , so handsomely conveyed- but he added , " Tou are not all so , even in England , for I have the great honour of numbering amongst those of your countrymen on whom I have conferred distinction I count many of the most noble
spirits of the age ; and in Prance—ah ! in Prance they do honour and appreciate me and my cause thoroughly . Why , noble Signor Inglese , I shall , when I take the field ( and in two or three years things will le ripe ) you will see in my ranks thousands of noblemen you know . " Sir , I will not pursue the matter much further , but
this I must add ( though it may be announced as an exposure of juvenile weakness ) my noble Prince suddenly and without notice quitted my society , no doubt disgusted with my stolid indifference to honours , titles , and decorations , and , to mark his displeasure , left his hotel bill unpaid , and also the fifty odd pounds he had temporarily required for his immediate wants during the unlooked-for absence of his chancellor of the exchequer .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Correspondence.
tions , stars , titles , and colonels' commissions . As this is a simple historical matter , there is not much difficulty in settling it . Prince Skanderbeg who appears before Europe to liberate eleven millions of Christians from the Mussulman yoke must be sufficiently a public character for his personal history to be known .
Messrs . Loewenstark cannot be responsible for the romances of Dumas ; but they will not be offended to be told that it is nothing but humbug for Dumas or Skanderbeg to talk of Skanderbeg liberating eleven millions of Christians . ' The greater part of the eleven millions are under Christian princeswho
, would put Skanderbeg in the stocks were he to appear in their territories . The Prince of Eoumania has four millions of the Christians , the Prince of Servia another million , the Princes of Montenegro , Samos , and the Myrdites smaller numbers . As the eleven millions of Christians are nearly all of the Greek
religion , they do uot want to be interfered with by a heretic ; and of tbe small number of Christians who ¦ are Eoman Catholics , and who are chiefl y Albanians , they are under Bib Doda Pa 3 ha , the Prince of the Myrdites . These Eoman Catholic Albanians carry
arms and pay no taxes to the Sultan , and if any Prince Skanderbeg appeared at Durazzo would be the . first to march against him . There can be little doubt the rest of the Christian Albanians would do the same , and the Christians generally in Turkey have an . antipathy to a stranger and a heretic . So farthereforefrom there being any current
, , newspaper historical evidence of any Prince Skander-• beg ' s participation in the numerous insurrectionary movements in European Turkey , the newspaper evidence is of a very different character . If , however , Messrs . Loewenstark ' s customer had happened to be an actual Panariote prince there like
L'rince Tpsilanti , Prince Vogorides , & c , it has never been the custom of these gentlemen whenremoved from their Governments to give away decorations and appoint " Medallists to H . E . H . " "Were it so , Paris would swarm with tradesmen to these Panariote Prince . One more matter remainsDurazzo is a very far
, address if this is the Prince Skanderbeg from whom . ur brother seeks payment . Tours fraternally , A MASON .
TO THE EDITOE OF THE FHEE 3 XASOX 5 ItAGAZIXE A > 'D ATAS 02 * IC AlIEEOE . Dear Sir and Brother , —After the satisfactory and conclusive explanations of Messrs . Loewenstark ia your columns , all controversy about H . E . H . Prince Skanderbeg will most likely cease . Should it not do so , there is a very easy means of settling the matter . H . E . H . does not appear to have an ambassador or
consul here , as the Provisional Government at Durazzo has not yet been recognised by her Majesty ' s Government any more than the Confederate States of America . There are , however , English consuls and consular agents thronghout Albania . H . B . M . ' s ¦ Consul at JaninaMajor Stuart , could inform us on
, application of the strength of H . E . H . ' s army and navy , and his title to the rights of a belligerent . Better still , the Austrians have a consul at Durazzo , but I suspect , from the " A lmanac de Gotha , " he is
not accredited to H . E . H ., but to the oppressor of H . E . H . and his brother Christians , the Sultan of Turkey . Mr . Eeade is her Majesty ' s Consul at Scutari , and at Oroya there is a consular ageut , so that something can be learned about the Prince ' s territory or estates . Tours fraternally
, P . C . TO THE EDITOR ON THE FftHEMASONS' MAGAZINE AND MASONIC MIRROR . Dear Sir and Brother , —Is Prince Skanderbeg a Mason ? If not , what has he to do with Masonic jewels , or what has Masonic jewellers or jewellery to
do with him ? If he is a Mason , where does he hail from , and under what Constitution was he initiated , where and when ? In Southern Italy ( Calabria , Sicily , & e . ) princes , dukes , and counts are as plentiful as blackberries , and tbey are generally very patrioticand very often very
, poor , with nothing but their titles and their wits , with which they travel , and make the most of whenever they do . If they are educated ( and many of these princes cannot read or write ) , and they travel , they are generally engaged in some such Christian and chivalrous occupation as that in which I gather
, from the letters you have permitted to be published , H . E . H . the Prince S . is now engaged in . I well remember once meeting with a prince ( some years ago ) with whom I travelled by land and sea for many days , and who , in return for some trifling advances , and for financial facilities which I was ( fortunately or
otherwise ) enabled to afford him during the time , kindly proposed to confer upon me the rank of a general , the title of count , aud the decorations of several orders ( more or less ancient ) . The military uniforms of the princely staff were designed from really handsome French models ; so too with the decorations . The titles offered were to be conveyed by splendidly
illuminated documents on vellum , with seals , & c . Alas , I was obliged to decline the proposed return , splendid as no doubt it was , for such mere banking facilities , though sought by a noble Prince from an ordinary mortal such as I was travelling for pleasure in foreign lands with a " circular letter" from the Lnion Bank of London . Mnoble Prince could
y never understand why Englishmen generally set so little value upon such brilliant offers , so handsomely conveyed- but he added , " Tou are not all so , even in England , for I have the great honour of numbering amongst those of your countrymen on whom I have conferred distinction I count many of the most noble
spirits of the age ; and in Prance—ah ! in Prance they do honour and appreciate me and my cause thoroughly . Why , noble Signor Inglese , I shall , when I take the field ( and in two or three years things will le ripe ) you will see in my ranks thousands of noblemen you know . " Sir , I will not pursue the matter much further , but
this I must add ( though it may be announced as an exposure of juvenile weakness ) my noble Prince suddenly and without notice quitted my society , no doubt disgusted with my stolid indifference to honours , titles , and decorations , and , to mark his displeasure , left his hotel bill unpaid , and also the fifty odd pounds he had temporarily required for his immediate wants during the unlooked-for absence of his chancellor of the exchequer .