"What do you think of our Prince, and the way he goes among the people? I saw you last night with him. Did you ever see such love, such devotion, as we all have for him? But he deserves it fully. There never was such a ruler as our Prince; we would all lay down our lives for him, and be proud of the honour. If he were to call us to arms, we could muster in twelve hours, here in this plain of Cettigne, twenty thousand able men, fully armed and equipped, ready to march on any point, and that without endangering Montenegro; for we should leave twenty thousand more behind us, not so well adapted for advancing in an enemy's country, but fully competent to guard our mountain passes and protect our strongholds."
I said I hoped such a contingency might never arise; but he shook his head. The Turks, he said, hated them too much not to seek, sooner or later, for a pretext to attack them, and then he added,
"But the sooner the better; we never were so well prepared to meet them. The Turks pretend that Montenegro is an integral portion of the Ottoman Empire; we insist that we have always been free, and though often hard pressed by Ottoman forces, have never yet been conquered. What chance then is there of our coming to an understanding? My great grief, however, is to hear that England is against us and in favour of our enemies, and if it were not for the friendship which Russia has ever shown us, we might be exterminated by the infidels before you would lift a finger to prevent our utter annihilation. We cannot understand it, for we read of how England exerts herself always in favour of oppressed nationalities, and how she has even spent hundreds of millions of piastres to put down the slave trade; and yet she favours the Turks, who are the greatest supporters of slavery, against us, though our religions are almost identical, I am told. I wish more English would come to Montenegro. I think they would end by appreciating us."
These words of the Commandant made a deep impression on me.
CHAPTER XVIII.
FALSE IMPRESSIONS OF MONTENEGRO—AGRICULTURE ON A MINOR SCALE—FIELD-LABOURERS—MONTENEGRIN FACCHINI AT CONSTANTINOPLE—FEMALE LABOUR—PRODUCTION OF SUMACH—COMMERCIAL RELATIONS WITH OTHER COUNTRIES IMPEDED—IMPOSING PAGEANT.
