'Furthermore, it is your bounden duty to submit yourselves to your sovereign, and to show humility to him.
'From the Divan Marshal &c. &c. &c. &c.
—at Mostar.
'When you shall have heard what I have promised, see that everyone know of it, and what is necessary to execute let me know, and it shall be fulfilled.'
This proclamation, was disseminated in all the Nahias (districts), towns, and villages, and in many instances produced a favourable result. But it could not be expected that these assurances, even though they should have reached them, could have made much impression on a set of lawless brigands, who loved plunder for plunder's sake, and who were supported both morally and practically by the agents of civilised European powers.
Having allowed a sufficient time to elapse for all to make their submission, it now remained to employ force where it was requisite. But the difficulties which Omer Pacha had to encounter were prodigious. An unprecedented drought rendered an unusually sterile country more incapable than ever of sustaining life, while the period which generally elapses between the autumn rains and the killing frosts of winter, renders the time available for military operations short and uncertain. Add to this, the total want of provisions, stores, and other necessaries, which his predecessors had neglected to procure, and an empty treasury, and we may not be surprised that his mission is as yet uncompleted. But another and still greater difficulty presented itself to him. This related to the attitude which he should assume towards Montenegro.
The shortest and most efficient line to pursue, in order to arrive at the root of the evil, would have been to have invaded and subjugated that province. But even had he felt confident of his power to effect it, he remembered too well the lesson of former years, when his successful advance was checked by political interference. There was little reason to suppose that the same power, which then intervened, would allow him greater latitude in the present instance. The idea, therefore, was discarded, and endeavours were made to bring about a pacific understanding, which should result in the re-establishment of order. A meeting between Omar Pacha and the Prince of Montenegro was consequently agreed upon at a point close to the Lake of Scutari. Omer Pacha, accompanied by the European commission, travelled to the spot. All appeared to be going well. Though nothing definite was ever promulgated, there is good reason to believe that the Turkish Plenipotentiary would have offered the most advantageous terms to the Prince, including an accession of territory to the NW. and W., and the possession of Spizza, a seaport, had the meeting taken place. But at the last moment the Prince evaded his share of the arrangement, on the shallow excuse that his people would not permit him to cross his own frontier. He well knew that the Sultan's representative would not demean himself by pandering to the caprices of one by rights a subject, and that the only way in which Omer Pacha would ever pass into Montenegro would be at the head of his soldiers.
In vain did the European Commissioners try to change his decision. In vain they asserted the sincerity of the Sultan, and the safety with which he might fulfill his agreement. They could only elicit a surly, 'Faites comprendre ces gens-là.' The indignant 'C'est assez, Monsieur,' of the French Commissioner brought the interview to an abrupt conclusion. The rejection, for such it must be deemed, of the Turkish overtures, together with the boast which escaped the Prince, that he could pacify the frontier in fourteen days, are quite sufficient proofs of his implication in the disturbances, and would fully justify the Turks, were they to sweep this nest of hornets from the face of the earth.
Unfortunately, the principle of non-intervention between a sovereign and his subjects is a chimera, refuted as it has so signally been by the very author of the principle.
The Commissioners now saw that nothing more could be done save by force of arms, and were dissolved accordingly.