542 



MONTENEGRO. 



1880, a warning from an International Con- 

 gress of the Christian powers of Europe, that 

 it must cease to oppress its Jewish and Chris- 

 tian inhabitants. (See MOROCCO.) 



MONTENEGRO, a principality of South- 

 eastern Europe. Reigning Prince, Nicholas I, 

 born October 7, 1841 ; declared Prince on Au- 



rit 14, 1860, upon the death of Prince Danilo 

 He was married, November 8, 1860, to Mi- 

 lena, daughter of Peter Vukotitch. The chil- 

 dren of this marriage are two sons Danilo 

 Alexander, born June 30, 1871, and Mirko, 

 born in 1879 and six daughters. The area of 

 the country in 1880, before the new regulation 

 of the frontier, was about 9,475 square kilo- 

 metres, and the population was officially esti- 

 mated at 236,000, of whom about 4,000 were 

 said to be Roman Catholics, as many Moham- 

 medans, while the remainder belonged to the 

 Greek Church. According to Gopkevitch, a 

 writer of note on the Balkan Peninsula, the 

 population amounted to 299,400, among whom 

 there were about 34,000 Mohammedans and 

 18,000 Roman Catholics. 



Efforts to adjust the complications which 

 had arisen concerning the rectification of the 

 Turkish frontier, according to the provisions of 

 the Treaty of Berlin, engaged attention during 

 most of the year. The Montenegrin Government 

 had grown weary of the delay of the Porte in ex- 

 ecuting the cession of Gussinje, and had. among 

 the last acts of 1879, sent a circular to the 

 powers urging them to energetic action to 

 remedy the existing state of things, but prom- 

 ising that it would not for the present regard 

 the attitude of the Porte, contrary as it was to 

 the stipulations of the treaty, as a casus belli. 

 The Turkish Government had proclaimed to 

 the inhabitants of Gussinje and Plava that 

 those districts no longer belonged to Turkey, 

 but to Montenegro, and had warned them that 

 opposition to the Montenegrin authorities 

 would be illegal. Osman Pasha was appoint- 

 ed Ottoman commissioner for the delimitation 

 of the Turko-Montenegrin frontier; and the 

 Porte replied to the Montenegrin circular with 

 a statement to the powers that it was not re- 

 sponsible for the delay in surrendering Gus- 

 sinje, but that Montenegro had brought on the 

 conflict by dispatching a large force to the fron- 

 tier. The Albanian chiefs resolved to resist 

 the Montenegrins to the utmost, and Moukhtar 

 Pasha professed to fear to use force lest his 

 soldiers should join with them. The question of 

 the cession Avas taken up in February on a new 

 basis, and the substitution of other territory 

 for Gussinje was talked of. Italy proposed a 

 new line of frontier, by which the boundary, 

 starting from the Gulf of Kastrati, should fol- 

 low the mountain-range as far as the Sem, and 

 continue thence to Mount Visitor, thence to 

 the Line, thence northeasterly till it should 

 coincide with the frontier marked out by the 

 Congress of Berlin. Montenegro laid a further 

 claim to the district of Mercovic, on the Adri- 

 atic. Turkey objected to ceding the plain ly- 



ing between Podgoritza and the Lake of Scu- 

 tari, on the ground that it comprised three 

 elevated points which could be fortified by the 

 Montenegrins, and would dominate Turkish 

 territory. The Russian Government approved 

 the Italian proposition, provided it should be ac- 

 cepted by the other powers and by Montenegro ; 

 and the Montenegrin Government expressed a 

 willingness, while it preferred to take its stand 

 unconditionally upon the Treaty of Berlin, to 

 enter into negotiations for the substitution of 

 other territory instead of Gussinje and Plava. 

 The Sultan agreed to the concession of a line 

 that should leave to Turkey the eastern half 

 of the plain of Podgoritza as far as Poula on 

 the Lake of Scutari. The Montenegrin Govern- 

 ment demanded a modification of the line 

 proposed, and declared that, if its views were 

 not acceded to, it would not further entertain 

 the idea of territorial compensation for the 

 districts of Gussinje and Plava. A line was 

 finally agreed upon, on the basis of the Italian 

 proposal, with some modifications respecting 

 the country near the Lake of Scutari in con- 

 cession to the views of the Turkish Govern- 

 ment, and the preliminary net of ratification 

 was signed at Constantinople, April 12th, 

 Savas Pasha, Minister for Foreign Affairs, am 

 M. Vnkovitch, the Montenegrin charge d'af- 

 faires, and the ambassadors of the powers were 

 instructed by their governments to signify their 

 adhesion to the arrangement. By the terms? 

 of the new agreement, the Turks were to evac- 

 uate the ceded positions by the 23d of April, 

 giving twenty-four hours' notice of their inten- 

 tion. They removed, however, within seven 

 hours after they had given notice, and before 

 the Montenegrins had sufficient time to enter 

 into the ports. The positions were thereupon 

 immediately occupied by the Albanians, who 

 were in possession when the Montenegrins 

 came up, and refused to give way to them. A 

 Montenegrin and a Turkish officer, who went 

 from Podgoritza to Tusi to hold a conference 

 with the Albanians assembled at the latter 

 place, April 21st, were received with a volley 

 of musketry, and had to fly for their lives. An 

 engagement took place on the 23d, on the 

 Montenegrins advancing to occupy Tusi, with 

 losses to the Montenegrins. The Government 

 of Montenegro addressed a note to the repre- 

 sentatives of the powers at Cettinje, accusing 

 the Turkish authorities of connivance with the 

 Albanians in their resistance, and demanding 

 the fulfillment of the convention, together with 

 compensation for the delay in the surrender of 

 the territory. The representatives of the pow- 

 ers at Constantinople addressed a collective note 

 to the Porte, demanding that the territory oc- 

 cupied by the Albanians be immediately reoccu- 

 pied by the Ottoman troops, and then surren- 

 dered to Montenegro. The Porte replied to 

 this note with a statement that the facts and 

 circumstance which accompanied the evacua- 

 tion had been misrepresented, and proposed 

 that an international commission should be 



