A GROUP OF MONTENEGRINS.
To delve briefly into the beginning of things, this Land of the Black Mountain was settled by a dauntless band of Servian refugees who, after the battle of Kossovo, when Tzar Lazar, Emperor of Servia, was defeated by the Turks, preferred liberty in some wild country of their own at any price, rather than live under the domination of the Mohammedans. They fled, accordingly, into the Black Mountains and there commenced the story of the Montenegrins and their strenuous existence. This story has been written in the blood of the Ottoman, but never once during the five hundred years of almost continuous war that followed did Turkey gain a permanent foothold in Montenegro.
Strange to say, even at the present writing, Montenegro does not maintain what would be called in military vernacular a “standing army.” The “regulars” comprise two companies of thirty-two men each, each company taking its turn in guarding the palace and acting in the capacity of secret service sleuths for the Prince. But the spirit of patriotism within the breast of every Montenegrin demands that he stand ready to defend his country to-day, as he has done in the past. Except for those of the guards who peer out from the open doorways of the little peppermint sentry-boxes outside the Prince’s palace, a military uniform is a rare sight in Cettinje, the miniature capital.
In a country like Montenegro, guerilla warfare is the best possible method of defence, and to it the Montenegrins are particularly well adapted. To the mountainous nature of their land is partly due the many decisive victories which they have gained over the Turks, who have sent army after army of from forty thousand to two hundred thousand men against the stubborn little band of fighters. Another point in their favour is the rapidity with which their forces may be mobilized. On one occasion, in 1887, six thousand men were assembled on the Austrian frontier, between eight o’clock in the evening and four the following morning. Doubtless, even to-day, the whole available Montenegrin military force of more than forty-two thousand men might be strung along the frontier within four or five days at the most.
It seems stretching it a point or two to say that eight thousand men would be able under any circumstances to put to flight an army of sixty thousand, but such was the case in 1604 when a comparatively small band of Montenegrins defeated almost seven and one-half times their number of Turks. In 1796, under Peter I, at Kroussa, the Turks received their most crushing defeat. Thirty thousand of them were slain and the Montenegrin leader himself killed Kara Mahmoud, the Turkish general, and spitted his head on his sword. This mountain warrior was of a family which has ruled in the land for two hundred years and was an antecedent of the reigning Prince.
In those days the leader was called a “Vladika,” or Prince-Bishop, who combined both spiritual and temporal power. This Bishop being celibate the office passed from uncle to nephew until 1852 when an absolute principality was established, to be ruled over by hereditary Princes with unconditional autocratic power.
Prince Nikola, the present ruler, the seventh of the family of Petrovich of Njegushi who has governed Montenegro, succeeded to the title in 1860, after the assassination of his unpopular uncle, Danilo II. Nikola is now almost seventy years of age, but tall, erect and deep-chested, and carries his years as becomes the fighter and leader he has been. He received his education in Paris and in Trieste, and is gifted with no ordinary literary talents, having written many poems commemorating the victories of the Montenegrins over the Turks, in addition to two plays, “The Empress of the Balkans” and “Prince Arbanit,” which still enjoy occasional runs behind the kerosene footlights on the exiguous stage of the little theatre in Cettinje. His civil list amounts to but $25,000, and it means a strain on his revenues to supply his two elder sons with $6,000 a year each.
Her Majesty, Queen Helena of Italy, who so endeared herself to the hearts of her subjects at the scenes of the recent earthquake in Sicily, is the most illustrious of Prince Nikola’s nine children. She was born in the palace at Cettinje in 1872 and was brought up in the strictest economy, according to the traditions of the family of Petrovich. She was a girl of “God’s out-of-doors,” and the episodes of her early life taught her the trails of the Black Mountain and whither they led. It is said she could handle a rifle as well as any of her three brothers. She was also a favourite of her relative, Alexander of Russia, and through his liberality was taken to St. Petersburg and educated. The heir to the throne of Italy met her later in Venice, fell ardently in love with her and they were married on October 4, 1896.
When at home the Prince wears his national dress consisting of a small, round cap (kapitza) embroidered in gold on the top with the letters “N. I.”; a long white, or light blue, cloak of broadcloth (dolama or gunj), circled at the waist by a fancy girdle, in the front of which nestles a formidable array of cumbersome firearms; a red waist-coat (jalek); a short, richly embroidered Zouave jacket (jamada); loose, blue knickerbockers (shalwar); sandals (opanka); and carries across his shoulder a dark-coloured plaid shawl with heavy fringe (struka). That he makes himself popular goes without question, for it is said that he knows personally every citizen in Cettinje and will call each by name when the occasion arises.
