THE MONTENEGRINS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1739, 2 May 1913, Page 6

THE MONTENEGRINS.

o —- — v PIVOT OF WORLD POLITICS. KING NICHOLAS AND HIS PEASANTS Montenegro holds the centre of the stage to-day in European politics, and it is interesting to recall what Mr. H, N, Brailsford said recently about the warlike 1 illlo'community over which King Nicholas rules in patriarchal style. In the old days, war was Montenegro's natural condition, and peace at .the best a relapse into those gaps ot timo in a nation's life which count no more than tlia nights between our days. Politicians were much perplexed at "tho inner moaning of tho action which King Nicholas took last October iii declaring war on Turkey. Was arranged that iio should give the sigfial for a general Balkan war, or did ho fear (hat his allies were listening to the talk of compromise Had lie obeyed a secret Austrian or Russian prompting? Or was his declaration of war an astute move in the interests of Italy, on whose throne sits a Montenegrin princess, In order to precipitate a hurried peace by a Turkish surrender ? These questions were asked by everyone excepting only the mountaineers who were marching against the hereditary foe. Their only surprise had probably been tlio preservation of peace through tho last two anxious years, and their only comment "Better late than never."

l''or by the early declaration, of war Montenegro was fulfilling a cherished tradition, In most pvimihvo raccs there is an historical law of precedence which assigns to one clan tho place of honour in I lie van or on tho right wing when the tribes muster against the common enemy, Montenegro has always claimed tho vun among the Balkan peoples, and her nrecedenco has never been disputed. So. it was on the evo of the Crimean war when l'sar Nicholas was waiting for the magical date 1853, which proptiecy had assigned for the end of tho Empire of Constantinople. Montenegro, proud to act as the feudatory and pioneer of Russia, delivered tho first assault, and drew un herself the ilrst reply of the Turks. The saino thing- happenecl onco more on the eve of the second of the great Near Eastern wars. She roso in 187G, and becainc thereby tho herald of modern I'an-Slav-ism. Whatever her relations may be to day to her Balkan allies or tho Europear Powers, 6ho has acted on an impulst which moves with her blood.

it was tho Turkish conquest which first isolated Montenegro in a kind of independent. Her mountains had been up lc that date only a littlo self-governing unll in , the loosely-built Servian Empire, which included the now Austrian pro. vmccs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with the greater part of Clio Balkan Peninsula, Slio retained her effective autonomy much as Wales resisted tlio Saxons and . Normans, and for tlio same reason—het poverty. Tradition relates that after tho Servian race was broken on the plains of Kossovo, wliila its nobler families in Bosnia, Servla proper, and Macedonia were choosing between massacre and conversion to Islam, a remnant of its aristocracy found refuge among tlio mountaineers of Montenegro. Hero tlio first Slav books Vero printed and Venetian influences entered through tli« cultured and prosperous city-republic of Raeusa. But legend somewhat exaggerates tho dignity of tlio past. Montenegro was independent, as the neighbouring Albanians were, only on sufferance. It was in theory a part of the Turkish pashaliek of Shodra (Scutari), and paid its annual tribute in the intervals of peace. It retained no vestigo of tho old Servian dynasty, but evolved for itself a.custom eminently characteristic® of tho status <of the freer Christian races under the Turks. Its ruler was always its Princo-Bishop (Vladilca), who led its armies and mode its sacrament a military oath. He was so far a, priest fliat lie did not marry, and the dignity descended in one familv from bishop tc nephew. It was not •until ISSI that Danild made himself frankly a. secular ruler, married, and founded a dynasty on com* inonplaco worldly lines. It owed its preservation to Kussia, whose fleets had first discovered the Montenegrins when they were cruising in the lower Adriatic on the evo of Navarino. From that day onward Danilo and his successor Nicholas have been, in sentiment and fact the feudal vassals of Kussia. They have been proud to accept an annual subsidy, and from time to . time their military efficiency has been increased by gifts of modern cannon and magazine riiies. Their services ill tho Rus?o-Turkish War were recognised at Berlin by an iiicrc<a*t> ot territory which doubled tho area of the Principality and gave it a port. Prince Nicholas assumed the full status of kingship in tlie Bosnian ' crisis, and lie has entered the Royal caste of Europe by alliances which link him with the Russian, Italian, and ' Servian dynasties. cs Politically, the further expanlW of his kingdom seemed, until lately, to lulve been checked by Austria. Serb lands lie to tho north and west, but they are either under the Austrian Crown or else in the saudjak of Novi-Bazar, on which Austria has pretensions. To tho south lies the Albanian countiT, and up to last year the traditional feud of Slavs and Albanians bad seemed to oppose a barrier of sentiment to all ambitions in this direction. But tlio 'help and hospitality given to the Malissori (Catholic Albanians) in their insurrection of 1911 has changed tho faco of the Albanian problem in the north. It is easy to represent to oneself the mind of these mountaineers if ono can forget that-they ore contemporaries. They think as the Scottish clans thought in 17.15, and they would feel at homo among tho Pathans of tlio Indian frontier. For generations tliev have ploughed in tbeir narrow valleys with a rifle on tlicir backs and herded' their flocks on tho mountains with equal vigilanco against man and beast. Continual warfare gave them tlio same virtues and tlw sanio vices as their Albanian neighbours—courage, honour, cruelty, and a contempt for all the tamo things of industry and peace. Distinction among fliem is to bo chosen, a chief, by tho -olcotion of their fcll&ws, in the national militia, and glory is reckoned by tlio number of Turks a man has slain. Their barren rocks have kept them hardy and simple, with the adventurous aggressiveness of tlio poor who are freeborn and strong. For stature and graco and regularity of feature, 110 race is their equal in the modern world, and ono day perhaps our cugenists will be explaining that semistarvation in mountain air, is the ideal condition for a perfect human breed. Even iii'our own generation the modern world has hardly touched. them. 'A few hayo emigrated to America and relumed ■ sophisticated. Here and there Italian engineers and company promoters have sought a footing in these inhospitable rocks. But the race remains wliat it has been through four centuries of warfare. A little education lias added only to its ambitions' and' taught it tho meaning o? "manifest destiny." t