Mihailo was a convinced Russophile and maintained numerous close ties with Pan-Slavic circles in the Russian Empire, and gathered various figures interested in the unification of the South Slavs, including Josip Juraj Strossmayer, but also many Bosnian Franciscans, which made him very unpopular in Vienna. During the Herzegovina Uprising of 1875, Mihailo helped the insurgents materially and politically, and Pan-Slavic committees sent their help for the insurgents through him.