THE SLAVONIC PROVINCES.

Globe, Volume VIII, Issue 948, 9 July 1877, Page 3

THE SLAVONIC PROVINCES.

[FROM THE PRESS.] Montenegro. We have been made a wave by recent telegrams that very hard fighting between Turkey and Montenegro has taken place, and that the little highland state has held its own. This is in entire accord with her traditions. The fact being that, although she has been at various eras nominally regarded as a Turkish province, yet she has practically been independent, having made spirited protests against the assertion of even nominal control over her on the part of the Ottoman Govcrnmcnt. Montenegro is a little highland state, containing a population of only some 120,000 people, men, women, and children. Of this grand total about 20,000 are fit to bear arms' Not a very largo number, yet sufficient, when the nature of their defences are considered, to enable them to hold out against all the force which the Porte can send against them. The obstinacy of their defence may be judged from the fact that for seven years their mountain home was completely invested by the forces of Turkey —but invested in vain, for each attempt to penetrate her impenetrable forests) and cross her inaccessible mountains was repelled with great loss to the invaders. We have just heard a similar story that, after much fighting, the Turkish army has been compelled to withdraw, and-the Montenegrins have maintained their independence. This impregnable position is due to th e formation of their country, which may be judged of from the following ancient legend—The Almighty, after the creation of the world, carried in a vast bag the various rocks and mountains that He purposed to distribute among the various countries of the earth. When He reached Montenegro the sack burst, and the rocks and hills tumbled out pell mell in admirable confusion, without regard to either shape or order. The country, as might be judged from this old legend, is a vast mass of mountains, penetrated in all directions by great caverns, and so affording places of resort in times of extreme danger. Every figure of speech has been used for the purpose of describing the little territory. One writer, for example, comparing it to an immense cake of mud, pierced by holes in every direction. Still the country is not without fertility. In the south-eastern corner, towards Lake Scutari, the climate is said to be like that of Nice, and fruits of a semi-tropical character abound—oranges, figs, olives, &c. In other places, too, there is good pasturage. It was at one time a portion of the Duchy of Zeta, which then included a small portion of Herzegovina. Tire native name of this state is Tcherna Gora—the black forest. But the Venetians called it by a more expressive name—Montenegro, the Black Mountain. Its people are brave, hospitable, and courteous, and in its capital, Cetignfi, as much culture will bo found ns in any larger place. A peculiarity of the position of Montenegro is that it is separated from the sea—the Adriatic Gulf—by a narrow strip of land which belongs to Austria. It is thus shut out from the possession of a seaport in a most provoking way. The Gulf of Cattaro, which is not more than a mile in a straight line from the Monteregrin frontier, is an Austrian port. For, although it was made over to the Montenegrins in 1814 by Great Britain, yet it was in the next year, at the Congress of Vienna, returned to Austria, by whom it is still possessed. The only other port available is that of Scutari, which belongs to Turkey, who maintains a garrison town on its shores. Montenegro was anciently a portion of Illyrieum, and was under the dominion of the Roman Empire. It was subsequently conquered by the Goths, who were in turn subdued by the Serbi. It lias no history until after the great battle of Ivossovo in 1389. Its prince, Balsa, who was married to a daughter of the Servian King Lazar, attempted to render assistance to his father-in-law on that bloody occasion, but was too late to take part in the battle. Among the Servians who escaped from the battle-field many found a refuge among the rocks of the Black Mountain. In 1478 the Sultan Mahomet 11. wrested Scutari from the Venetians, and pressed into Montenegro. Ivo Tsernoi (the Black) repulsed the Turks for a time, and kept them back. But his son was loss fortunate, and ultimately (in 1516) abandoned Montenegro, and spent the rest of his days in Venice. For three hundred years the highland state was governed by prince bishops. But in 1855 the Government was vested in the family o" Niegosch, in the male line, as secular princes. Although asserting a nominal claim to Montenegro, yet Turkey had not, until 1623, the shadow of a justification for her claim. In that year, Solieman, Pacha of Scutari, captured Cetigne, the capital, and “ the supre-

macy of the Sublime Porte was in name established over the Black Mountain. The Ottomans, however, have never been able to remain in possession of the country. ’ ’ This statement is made by Twiss in his “ Law of Nations.”

At the close of the 17th century, Montenegro nominally changed hands, and became part of the Venetian republic. But in 1718, at the treaty of Passarovitz, it was ceded back to the Porte. Its dependence upon the Porte was recognised by the treaty of Sistova, which provides that the inhabitants of Montenegro, Bosnia, Servia, Wallachia, and Moldavia, may re-enter their ancient possessions and enjoy their rights without being punished for taking up arms against their own sovereign (the Sultan). In 1739 occurred the seven years’ blockade mentioned above. The brave mountaineers, however, succeeded in beating off their persistent adversaries at last. Again, in 1768 and in 1789 the Turks and the Montenegrins were engaged in bloody but futile strifes. In the latter war the Pacha of Scutari (Mahmoud) was surrounded on all sides and his army almost entirely destroyed,—he himself being amongst the slain. This by no means exhausts the list of wars which have occurred between the two Powers, for they were continually at strife. The most disastrous for Turkey was fought in this century, in 1858, at Grahovo. After the close of the battle, in which Turkey was defeated, the general of the victorious Montenegrins, Mirko Petrovich, reported to Prince Daniel that “ of the thousands of which the Turkish army was composed, scarce a few hundreds have escaped to tell how the Montenegrins can fight for their country. Your soldiers have slain seven thousand Turks, taken eight pieces of artillery, twelve hundred caparisoned horses, and five hundred tents. It is thus that the Montenegrins have in part avenged the defeat of their Servian ancestors on the plain of Kossovo on June 15th, 1389.” Again, in 1861, hostilities broke out between the two powers, Omar Pacha commanding on the one side, and Mirko Petrovich, the above-named general, the other. Obstinate battles were fought, and men, women, and children took part in the struggle on the part of the mountaineers. Peace was restored in 1862, which has not since been disturbed, so far as we are informed, until on the occasion of the outbreak which even now continues, and which occurred through a breach of the protocol of 1858 —confirmed again in 1862 —that Montenegro was to give neither moral nor material support “in case of any insurrection in any of the adjoining districts.”

The Constitution of Montenegro is contained in the code of Prince Daniel of 1855. The sovereign is hereditary, and is called Gospodar (/.<?., Hospodar) of Tcherna Gora and Besda.

“ One characteristic of the people is the respect shown to women. They need fear neither insult nor injury. It is said that a young girl may travel from one end of Montenegro to the other in perfect safety, and her presence protects even an enemy from outrage.” Their religion is Christianity after the form of the Greek Church. We conclude with the expression of the hope that Montenegro may long retain her ancient liberties amid her inaccessible ranges. We now proceed to give a short account of the province which lies to the north of Montenegro, Herzegovina,

which is now separated from the former by the plain of Niksich, and a chain of mountains on its north, the forests of which, consisting of magnificent oaks and beeches, have been destroyed by fire, in order to form a sterile frontier between the two provinces. Of Herzegovina we have very little to say. It really forms a portion of the province of Bosnia, with which it is and has been closely connected.

Dalmatia, an Austrian tract, lies between it and the sea, on the west; to the south is Montenegro ; while to the north and east lie portions of Bosnia. A few miles of its southeasterly frontier project into Albania. Little is known of it until after the bloody battle of Kossovo. After this battle internal dissensions invited the interference of the Bosnians, and Stephen IY., the Ban of Bosnia, incorporated Herzegovina with his own dominions. This was in the fourteenth century. It remained part of Bosnia until Stephen Turtko made a grant of it to one of his Senators. He and his son remained loyal to the house of Bosnia ; but his nephew, Stephen Rosaca, on succeeding to Herzegovina, first increased his lordship at the expense of the King of Bosnia, and then threw off his allegiance to him, and submitted to the Emperor of Germany or Austria, Frederick IY. The immediate fruit of this defection was a change in the name of the State. Stephen Rosaca received from the Emperor the title of Duke or Herzog, from which the province was called, as it is now called Herzegovina. Before this incident the district was called Ramavina. The King of Hungary, in 1102, styled himself King of Rama. The new ruler was ambitious, but wanted astuteness, for he withheld assistance from the King of Bosnia when lie was engaged in conflict with the common enemy, the Turks, in the close of the fifteenth century. Bosnia, as wo have detailed, became tributary to the Porte, and Herzegovina soon followed its example, or shared its fate ; and it has remained to the present day subject to Turkish rule—sharing the fortunes of its larger sister. The climate is very mild, and in its lower valleys grapes are grown and olives are produced. It produces also figs, mulberries, rice, and tobacco. Its roads, like those of Bosnia generally, are in a bad state, and of railway communication there is not yet the least sign Its population must be picked out of the united total under the heading of Bosnia. As Herzegovina is about one-third of the size of that province, we may be safe in allowing one-third of the whole as the population of the lesser state. This will give a population of about 400,000.

From the information which we have been able to place before our readers it would appear that the population of the Slavonic provinccs is about four millions and a half, forming nearly one half of the numerical strength of Turkey iu Europe. The loss of these provinces would be a serious blow to the power of the Ol toman Porte, as far as her position in Europe is concerned. Losing these, she could not expect long to retain her more southern Provinces. The addition of the Slavonic Provinces to the Russian empire would be a serious menace to Austrian existence ; for the Russian frontier would then actually embrace her on the north, the east, and the south. The reader may now catch a glimpse of some of the difficulties of [the Eastern question. The attempt to re-allot the provinces would, as the great Duke of Wellington said, lead to a war of which no one coidd foresee either the extent or the termination.