MONTENEGRO. 



549 



Marriage of Princess Zorka. The attention of 

 Europe was attracted to the movements of the 

 Servian pretender, Peter Karageorgevich, in 

 the early part of the year. This prince had 

 spent his life and dissipated his fortune in 

 weak and hopeless attempts, instigated by 

 Austria, to stir up a rebellion in Servia and re- 

 gain his father's throne ; he visited Montenegro 

 and was received with many marks of cordial- 

 ity and respect by Prince Nicholas. Prince 

 Peter denied that his visit had any political 

 significance, declaring that he came simply on 

 a pious pilgrimage to the seat of his ancestors 

 and the home of Servian liberty. The close 

 and cordial relations between the Czar and 

 Prince Nicholas were remarked at the corona- 

 tion at Moscow, where the Cernagoran prince 

 appeared by the side of the Czar as though he 

 were a relative, and alone of all the foreign 

 visitors received popular ovations. On Au- 

 gust 10th, Peter Karageorgevich was given in 

 marriage at Cettinje, Prince Nicholas's eldest 

 daughter, Zorka. The Russian Government, 

 according to rumor, furnished a handsome 

 dower. The idea of a Great Servia, under 

 Russian protection, is the chief aim of Russian 

 activity in the Balkans. Prince Peter Kara- 

 georgevich's father was driven from the throne 

 on account of his subservience to Austria. The 

 same fate now threatened the house of Obre- 

 nevich. But the immediate recognition of 

 Prince Peter's claims did not seem likely to 

 be the object of Russia in taking him under 

 her protection. From various expressions of 

 Prince Nicholas, it appears that he has hopes 

 of founding the kingdom of United Servia. 

 Montenegro was the only Servian land not 

 subjugated by the Ottomans. A Servian song 

 says that, when Freedom deserted the Servians, 

 she escaped to the crags of Cernagora. 



Turkish Boundary Difficulty. The Turkish 

 boundary question was stirred up again in the 

 early part of 1883, after resting since the end 

 of 1880. The line drawn through the map by 

 the plenipotentiaries at the Berlin Congress 

 was even more difficult to establish than the 

 new boundary of Greece. The delimitation 

 was carried out in the main according to the 

 Berlin Treaty before the naval demonstration 

 of the powers in 1880, with the exception of 

 the transfer of the districts of Plava and Gu- 

 sinje, patrimonial possessions of the clans of the 

 Hotti and Klementi. This transfer could not 

 be effected without a bloody conflict with the 

 then all-powerful Albanian League. The out- 

 come of the intervention was, that Montenegro 

 retained, in the place of those districts, the port 

 and district of Dulcigno, which are more valu- 

 able than any of the lands ceded by the Berlin 

 Treaty. The southeast boundary of Montene- 

 gro remained undetermined until the princi- 

 pality pressed for a settlement, and in Janu- 

 ary, 1883, the preliminaries were arranged 

 between Bedry Bey, as Turkish plenipoten- 

 tiary, and the Montenegrin commissioners. 

 The settlement which they arrived at regard- 



ing the line to the northeast of Lake Scutari 

 preserved the actual frontier, leaving the vil- 

 lages of Matagosh and Vladnia to Turkey, and 

 Gosik, as well as the hill of Voina, which is of 

 strategic importance for the defense of Pod- 

 goritza, in Montenegrin possession. The con- 

 tinuation agreed upon as far as Planinica cor- 

 responds with the line stipulated in the Treaty 

 of Berlin, the boundary between the Kuchi 

 Kraina and the Gruda and Klementi tribes. 



The portions adjacent to Lake Scutari were 

 transferred to the Montenegrin authorities, 

 and occupied without difficulty. In the Kraina 

 the delimitation agreed upon could not be car- 

 ried out without a conflict. The Albanians 

 gathered to resist the occupation with arms, 

 but the Turkish military interposed and loy- 

 ally assisted the Montenegrins to establish 

 their authority after a severe skirmish. The 

 Porte declared its willingness to evacuate the 

 Ottoman portion of Kolashin, but when it re- 

 fused to give up part of the Plava- Gusinje 

 territory, Montenegro broke off the negotia- 

 tions and appealed to the signatory powers. 

 Upon receiving no answer to the first commu- 

 nication, of January 31st, it addressed a note of 

 urgency to the powers, February 9th, declaring 

 its intention to take forcible possession of Mat- 

 agosh and Vladia, and asking for a decision of 

 the boundary dispute. On February llth the 

 Gruda, Klementi, Kastrati, and Shkrieli clans 

 met in Bessa and swore the fiessa (blood-pact) 

 against the Montenegrins and the Turkish 

 troops, in case they should attempt to partition 

 their lands. They showed their temper in two 

 sanguinary skirmishes with the Turkish mili- 

 tary in Scutari. The Albanians, with the ex- 

 perience of their race-kindred in Podgoritza to 

 teach them, have stronger grounds than simple 

 religious and national sentiment to resist being 

 handed over to Montenegrin jurisdiction. The 

 new code of laws, elaborated by Prof. Bogosich, 

 can not counteract the national prejudices and 

 propensities which refuse equal rights to Mus- 

 sulmans in Montenegro. Their lands and herds 

 are divided up among Montenegrins on perpet- 

 ual leases at arbitrary rentals which they are 

 unable to collect, and they themselves are 

 driven to emigrate, or expelled on a trumped- 

 up charge of conspiracy, if other means fail. 



Border Warfare. A border war was carried 

 on between the Albanians and Montenegrins 

 for two or three months. Fierce skirmishes, 

 which were no better than butcheries, took 

 place all along the frontier, and a long list of 

 blood-revenges was treasured up on both sides. 

 Every Montenegrin fled from Scutari, and 

 peaceful communications were entirely inter- 

 rupted. At length, after a third note to the 

 powers had failed to stir them from their apa 1 

 thy, the Montenegrin Prince' fell in with the 

 desire of the newly- appointed Vali of Scutari 

 to put an end to the useless bloodshed by re- 

 opening negotiations. An interview was held 

 at Rjeka, April 21st, in which the Vali, Musta- 

 pha Assim Pasha, said that the Klementi and 



