MONTEXEGRO. 



103 



aged Vladika, feeling himself weal;, announced 

 that his last hour was come, and prayed them to 

 conduct him to the humble cell which, without 

 tire, he inhabited as a hermit would. Arriving 

 there, he stretched himself on his bed, urged upon 

 his chiefs to execute with fidelity the provisions 

 set forth in the will he had that day dictated to his 

 secretary, and then, in conversation and in prayer, 

 rendered up his soul to God. So died this illustri- 

 ous man, whom a Slavonic writer has not scrupled 

 to call the Louis XIV. of Tsernagora, but who in 

 a number of respects was also its St. Louis." ' 



Thirty-five years after his death Miss Macken- 

 zie and Miss Irby, in their remarkable tour, vis- 

 ited the country. They found still living some 

 of those who had lived under St. Peter ; and thus 

 they give the report of him which they received: 



" There are still with us men who lived under 

 St. Peter's rule, heard his words, and saw his life. 

 For fifty years he governed us, and fought and ne- 

 gotiated for us, and walked before us in pureness 

 and uprightness from day to day. He gave us 

 good laws, and put an end to the disorderly state 

 of the country. He enlarged our frontier, and 

 drove away our enemies. Even on his death-bed 

 he spoke words to our elders which have kept 

 peace among us since he has gone. While he yet 

 lived, we swore by his name. We felt his smile a 

 blessing, and his anger a curse. We do so still." 2 



The voice of his people declared him a saint. 

 Did the Vatican ever issue an award more likely 

 to be ratified above ? 



I have already indicated resemblances be- 

 tween the characteristic features of Montenegro 

 and of Homeric or Achaian Greece. One of the 

 most remarkable among them is the growth of 

 men truly great in small theatres of action. Not 

 Peter I. only, but his successors, will bear some 

 comparison with those whom the great Greek 

 historians of the classic period have made so fa- 

 mous. To Peter I. succeeded his nephew Rada- 

 tomovo, aged seventeen years. He was there- 

 upon invested with the ecclesiastical habit and 

 the sovereignty, and in 1833, when aged only 

 twenty, he received at St. Petersburg episcopal 

 consecration. Sir Gardner Wilkinson informs us 

 that he was nearly six feet eight inches in height, 

 and thoroughly well-proportioned. His skill with 

 the rifle was such that, when one of his attend- 

 ants tossed a lemon into the air, he would readily 

 put a bullet through it. At nineteen the cloud 

 of Turkish war broke upon him from Scutari ; 

 for he had refused to accept a berat from the 



1 F. and W.. p. 58. 



2 " Travels " of Miss Mackenzie and Miss Irby, p. 62S 

 (ed. 1S67). Also see Goptehevitch, p. 21. 



Porte, which would have sealed him as a vassal. 

 The pasha's advanced-guard of several thousand 

 men i was defeated by a body of 800 Montene- 

 grins, at the head of whom the Pope Radoviti 

 fell bravely fighting; and no more was heard of 

 the invasion. But this Vladika, following up St. 

 Peter's work, set his face sternly against all such 

 lawless habits as remained in the country. In 

 his modes of repression there are curious traits 

 of manners. The man-slayer was shot, 2 but the 

 thief was ignominiously hanged. In the matter 

 of shooting there was a great difficulty, for the 

 terrible usage of the vendella — which had by no 

 means been extirpated from the Ionian Islands 

 twenty years ago — bound the kin or descendants 

 of a man to avenge his death on the person who 

 slew him. The expedient adopted was to shoot 

 by a large platoon, so that the killer could not 

 be identified. I read that, before brigandage and 

 the vendetta could be thoroughly put down, some 

 hundreds of lives * were taken — more, probably, 

 than were ever lost in the bloodiest battle with 

 the Turk. Internal reform, which partook of a 

 martial character, was the great task of this reign. 

 But not exclusively. Under him was performed 

 one of the feats incredible except in Montenegro. 

 Ten men in 1S35 seized by a coup-de-main the 

 old castle of Zabliak, once the capital of Zeta, 

 held it for four days against 3,000 Turks, and 

 then surrendered it only by order of the Vladika, 

 who was anxious to avoid a war. Nearly all his 

 battles were victories. 



This giant had received at St. Petersburg a 

 high education, and was a cultivated man. A 

 friend of mine has seen and admired him at 

 Venice. He goes by the title of " the hero, 

 statesman, poet Tladika ; " and his verse has 

 given him a high place in Slav literature. He is 

 thus described : 4 



"One while he was to be seen as a captain, 

 sword in hand, giving an example of every mili- 

 tary virtue at the head of his troops ; another, as 

 a priest and preacher, carrying the cross alone, 

 and subduing his wild compatriots into gentle- 

 ness ; again, as an inexorable judge, ordering the 

 execution of culprits in his presence, or asaprince 

 incorruptible, and refusing all the favors by which 

 it was sought to fetter his independence." 



Down to his time, there had been a civil gov- 

 ernor who acted under the metropolitan as sov- 

 ereign ; but the holder of the office was deposed 

 for intriguing with Austria, and wnen the Vla- 

 dika died at thirty-nine, no successor had been 



« F. and W., p. 30. G., p. 23. 2 G., p. 22. 



s G., p. 39. 4 F. and W., p. 62. 



