AUSTRIAN ULTIMATUM,

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1714, 3 April 1913, Page 5

AUSTRIAN ULTIMATUM,

SIEGE OF SCUTARI MUST END. MONTENEGRINS GIVEN 24 HOURS . "TO YIELD. . Vienna, April 1. • An' Austrian squadron is at the Montenegrin seaport of Antivari. An. ultimatum to Montonegro to abandon the siege of Scutari within twentyfour hours has bern given. : (Rec. April 3, 0.30 a.m.) Cetinje, April 2. Montenegro's reply to the Powers is evasive and dilatory. . London, April 1. Rsuter's Agency reports that Turkey . has accepted the Powers' terms. TURKISH VICTORY, ■ \ . REPORTED AT CHATALJA. . London, April 1. . English war. correspondents at' Hademkoi assert that the Turks had a brilliant victory , at Chatalja , on Saturday last. The Bulgarians drove a wedge into tho Turkish line, and occupied a steep hill. The Turks eventually routed the Bulgarians at tho point of tho bayonet, and reoccupied the hill. ■ Pour thousand Bulgarians were killed or wounded. ALLIES AT VARIANCE, , QUARREL OVER HONOURS. . London, April 1. There has been, a sharp controversy between the Servians and Bulgarians respecting the question of who is most entitled'to honour in connection with tho capture of Adrianople, and particularly with reference to the surrender of Shukri Pasha, tho Turkish ' Commander. The latest phase of the dispute is the issue of a detailed semi-official statement from Sofia disproving Servia's claims. AN UNLUCKY CAMPAIGN. ■MONTENEGRO'S SHARE IN THE .WAR ' ~ KING NICHOLAS IN .DIFFICULTIES. Rightly or wrongly (wroto tho Cetinje correspondent of "The Times" in a recent dispatch), tho people of Montenegro consider that the wholo future economic prosperity of their country depends upon the possession of Skntari, and iho district which will go with . it. At all events, this was the principal reason for which Montenegro was'ready to go to war with 'Turkey.* Since sho had failed in her enterprise from tho military point of view, it was natural that efforts should havo been made to repair this failure by diplomatic means'. But Austria already iiossessed 'considerable interest in Skutari, which, in the event of tho town being included in Albania, would bo valuable as a nucleus for the extension of Austrian influence. The price asked for tho support of Montenegrin claims was therefore higher than King Nicholas would pay; for to give up to Austria tho Lovichnu Mountain, which dominates Cetinje find which is closely connected with the patriotic sentiments of tho Montenegrins, might havo easily set a spark to the agitation which even tho much-desired acquisition of Skntari might not allay, quito apart from tho resentment which tho . conclusion of any compact with Austria ' would probably arouso among tho people. No Siege Guns Tho first successes of the war near ! Tu/.i had flushed the Montenegrins with victory, and they believed that they had only to assault Tarabosh at onco for Skutari to fall into their hands, In

. many quarters it is believed -that had they dune so they would have succeedul, since at that dato Iho leinicrceuients which arrived later luul not luiclud the town. But, out of the desire not to lu.-;e men unnecessarily—a desire which was strengthened by Iho comparatively heavy losses at Uctchitcli and Zugaj, caused by the fooiliaj'dy courage n£ the men—King Nicholas forbade au assault; to bo delivered. Until the armistice the ;Vriny had remained in front of Skutari, in sight of, though ns far from capturing, tho town a.s before the war began. For tui army sucli as tho Montenegrin. Army, with practically no organisation and ill-supplied with artillery, it was unfortunate that the task £ct it should have included the siege 'of a. modern fortress. But ill the last few months, and especially since thejunctiou with Ilia Servians at Alessio, tho Montenegrins have been asking themselves whose fault it is that (hero are 110 proper guns. And, as waa to bo expected in the circumstances, tin? blame, right- ■ ly or wrongly, is attached to the King.. Without the acquisition of Skutari and the fertile land, which would go with it, the outlook for Montenegro is, it must be admitted, not an encouraging one. Large sums of money havo been expended, resort has already been had to t'ho issue of a paper currency, and thero is much distress among tlie people. From the latter, it must be remembered, horses and cattle were requisitioned at the beginning of the war for the use of tho army. The people gave them willingly in tho first flush of enthusiasm, but with no signal success to record this feeling has changed, and very heavy losses during tho last fortnight— tlie figure of COCO killed and .wounded men—the casualties liavc, Ijcen severe enough for a small army which lias little to show in return-. The Volunteers from America, The feeling of discontent engendered by these various causes is further increased (states "Tiie Times") by the numbers of Montenegrins who nave returned to their country as volunteers from -North America, whither many thousands emigrate in order to earn n living less laboriously than among their own barren mountains. These men have become accustomed to a democratic form of government, and are not «low to point out to their comrades tho disadvantages of patriarchal rule. That i'll quarters.closely connected with the Palace some such result was auprohended from the return of the'so-called "Americans" was clear from the manner in which certain detachments.of them wcro'received, a reception which, in one case at all events, resulted in the men concerned faking service with tho Montenegrins only' after they had applied in vain to serve as volunteers with ;the Servian Army.Relations with Servia. Although it may. bo questioned whether dissensions arc not teiug purposely town, uiid those dissensions which already exist between Servia and , Montenegro purposely exaggerated for the ultimate benefit of 11 tertius gaudens, it would ho idlo to pretend that complete harmony - prevails between the two branches of the, Serb race. Although King Peter's lato wife was a Montenegrin princess, there arc long-standing differences between the Petrovitch and the Karageorgevitch dynasties, and the representative of each is popularly credited with the belief, that, tho other is desirous of iaiiting in his person the kingship of the t\vo nations. In Montenegro an outward manifestation of this animosity was furnished in, 1!)07 by the lamentable "bonib affair" which led. to the imprisonment mid exilo of many of the Progressive party in the country. Relations between •tho two countries improved in consequence .of the annexation of BosniaHerzegovina and .tlie-declaration of Bulgarian .independence, bath of which'events tiH'ved to drive the two fieri) States closer together. . But' the improvement was not lasting, and, though an agreement. was patched up for tho purposes of tho war, it requires only slight acquaintance with Servian offcers to.realise that various incidents in tho course of the last few weeks in which both armies were concerned • havo accentuated already existing differences. Whether or not the eventual absorption of Montenegro is seriously contemplated fcy Servian .statesmen', the project is being wirriiljS' advocatedin. Moii'ienejifo ,by the "Young Montenegrins." Many of these men were imprisoned or exiled as a result of the "bomb trial," but with the exception of .the sometime Prime Minister, M. Radovitch, who was kept in prir Eon, all were amnestied at tho outbreak c-f the war. For the mcsfc part, the momtiers of this party are men who have completed their studies in Belgrade and have becomo' imbued "with Servian, democratic tendencies, A Constitution, it is true, exists, in Montenegro; but, since the Montenegrin Constitution, in the hands of King Nicholas is merely a thinly veiled autocracy, lot us, they say, solve the question by pensioning off tho Royal Family and uniting ourselves with Servia: It is.nijt impossible that a situation is developing from which to extricate himself 1 Successfullv' King Nicholas will have need of all his skill and diplomacy.