The Sun.
London, England, 1853-01-11 00:00:00

',Eli DAYD

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

THE WAR IN MONTENEGRO.
( From the Tunes. J
Within a few hours' sail of the coast of Italy upon
the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea, lies a tract of
country which, though surrounded by the most
powerful military empires of antiquity and of mo-
dern times, has never been wholly conquered, and
though within reach of the comtherce, the culture,
and the wealth of Greece and Italy, has never been
civilised. The ridges of the Albanian mountains
have been inhabited from time immemorial, by a
fiery and independent race of highlanders, whose
only pursuits are those of pastoral life, and whose
chief passion is the use of arms. Their martial
habits have, indeed, secured to them a sort of in-
dependence, even under the despotism of the Ot-
toman Empire. As long as the Venetians held the
coast of the Adriatic, several free Christian com-
munities, self-governed and self-defended, main-
tained close relations of amity with the Republic of
St. Mark. It was not till a much later period that
the interesting little States of Suli and of Parga sank
under the barbarity of Ali Pasha, of Joannina—a
name which will rec al to our elder readers the in-
terest with which this region was regarded about
30 years ago. The powers which were afterwards
to recognise and establish the independence of the
present kingdom of Greece, had, in 1815, consigned
these small States to destruction ; and, in succeed-
ing to the dominions of Venice, on the Dalmatian
coast, Austria forsook the cause of those Christian
communities which had, been upheld for ages
against the Turk.
Somewhat more to the north, in the recesses of
the mountains included between the Pashalic of
Scutari, the Herzegowine, and the Austrian fron-
tier at the Bocca di Cattaro, there still remains one
of the most independent and the most warlike of
these mountain clans....._.The.aistrid of Montenegro
(for it is to that we re:fer) does not exceed 50 miles
in length by 30 in. breadth. Its mountains are
darkened with pine forests. The country is ill-
adapted for agricultural purposes, wild, and desti-
tute of roads. The inhabitants are armed shep-
herds, living with their flocks, ready for plunder,
delighting in war. They are a pure Slavonian race,
retaining their primiti• ve manners, professing for the
most part the faith of the Greek Church, and go-
verned to the present day by their own patriarchal
institutions. The Co urt of Russia has more than
once testified a stmt. ng interest in this singular
people, and has addressed friendly communications
to their Wladika, or chief, under the pretext of
their common religion. The most important family
of the country seems to be that of Petrovitsch,
one of whom, Peter Petrovitsch, exercised great
authority in the tribo from 1770 to 1830, and his
descendants figure in. the recent occurrences which
now attract our attention to this subject. Attacks
have frequently been z nade on Montenegro in earlier
times by the Turkishi Pashas of Scutari, but in
vain ; and since 1797, the very year in which the
Republic of Venice was overthrown, the complete
independence of the tribe has been admitted by the
Porte. The strength of the native population may
amount to about 20,000 warriors, for every man is
practised in the use of arms ; but besides the actual
population of Montenegro, properly so called, a
considerable number ,of families of the same race
have gradually settled in the neighbouring Turkish
provinces of Bosnia, the Herzegowine, and Scutari,
who retain a near connexion with their kinsmen
and their birthplace, and may possibly extend over
a much wider field the .hostilities which have broken
out in Montenegro.
We are not yet in possession of any clear and
certain account of the 'origin of this contest ; but
we are informed by the German papers that a con-
siderable expedition agaiirtst Montenegro was already
in preparation by the Porte, when the mountain-
eers, becoming aware of their danger, pounced on
the dismantled fort of Z:abljak, drove out the feeble
Turkish garrison, left 1,200 of their own men in the
place, and so began the war. It can hardly be sup-
aprotsifiederyth,ata tohde s e
buth i
ihtltal dosfh etphhe e rmd sa,t,
owr
ihaol have
of
anro,
would thus have braved the military power of Tur-
key without very strong- motives or apprehensions.
Certain it is, that within a short time of this occur-
rence, and, indeed, before it could be known at
Constantinople, the Porte has proceeded to put
in motion forces, both by sea and land, which
seem strangely out of proportion to the enemy they
are to encounter.. A squadron of Turkish men-of-
war, said to be commanded by the Captain Pasha
in person, has entered the Adriatic, and a blockade
of the Albanian coast is established from Dulcigno
to the Austrian frontier. This is, however, a sin-
gular measure, for the coast thus blockaded is
Turkish territory. Montenegro itself is separated
by a small strip of land from the sea ; and on the
west it is contiguous to the Austrian territory,
where, of course, the Turks can exercise no direct
control. The Austrian Government has, however,
also taken measures to prevent the passage of war-
like stores. By land the preparations of the Porte
are still more considerable. Large bodies of regu-
lar and irregular troops are said to be concentrated
in the Herzegowine, and Ismail Pasha is at Mostar,
prepared to march southwards upon Stolatz and
Gatzko. 'The Pasha of Scutari, Omar Pasha, who
passes for one of the best generals in the Turkish
army, was to operate on the other side of the ter-
ritory of Montenegro ; but upon his first attack he
is said to have been severely handled by the
enemy, and to have lost 600 men. All these par-
ticulars &re, however, still extremely vague, and we
must wait for more authentic statements from the
scene of action.

offere
But it is easy to perceive that whatever be the
immediate result of this contfest, it is calculated to
edqutheasttitohnes
IrVar arel°inliftoirmeal
Porte, on the ground that
made by the Emperor of a
of serious
mediation
be the language of the Russiathe is rejected by the
unfortunately obtained a
enforce his rights against Sultan is resolved to
Montenegro. This may
fanatical party which has
and least of all can ave
the Divan, but in reality theemporary ascendancy in
alleged rights of the
Sultan on Montenegro h
peremptorily enforcedno existence at all,
in theythe now be suddenly and
that the movement present condition of
Turkey and of Europe. R
is at present the centre has by no means im-
probableoisf which Montenegro
ramifica-
tions, and we shall not be much wider a
more extensive insurrectiontchisoeurmpreleds tof learn that
Ti has been kindled in
the Turkish provinces.
so devoid of the spirit or Rayahs, indeed, are
to the oppression which
disturbances,hes them, that they
nsteth:sawn:
will be the victims of these
mwhayombeatphaertir
prersoulfetss;
tbhuetethhreistm. whatever
mountain tribes, of
moncfcaurrithe,nacrees nisoftutro_
be attacked and subdued
theTrhienperoeaslitiecadl
binytetrheest
doifffwetrihteeh
be taken of them by the European same
impunity.
which nia
offer Powers. Will
the Russian Governmentno. opposition to
measures taken evidently Without
its concurrence,
and in direct hostility to a class of Christian sub-
jects of the Porte, in whom R
Willi,ssia has
long pro-
fessed an especial interest ?France stand
entirely aloof from events affecting the general
policy of the East, and interesting to herself from
their proximity to a region which
once. formed part
pol
of the French Empire ? What icy will Austria,
immediately contiguous to the Scene of these occur-
rences, be disposed to pursue ? It is premature to
offer any answer to these questions, and w e have
yet much to learn as to the true nature
and extent
of the movement. Nit an opinion. undoubtedly
prevails in the East of Europe that the Turkish
dominions to the south of the Danube are likely
become the scene of important events, and
thereis
reason to fear that the present Ministers
Sultan are men whose only strength lies in of
their
the
old Turkish violence, which, if let loose upon th
Christian population of those provinces,
ht e
might
re-
enact scenes utterly intolerable to the present state
of public feeling in Europe. The world has made
some progress in the last 30 years, though the old
Turkish party may have remained stationary ; and
atrocities like those perpetrated by Ibrahim Pas ha
Albania in the Mores or Ali Pasha in would not
be enduted by Christendom.

DEATH OF FRANCESCO MADIAI.
(From the Morning Advertiser.)
one of the two
The Church of Rome has had another victim.
To the endless list of those whose lives she has
be added
expired in the
maexacdtiaeid,Ftrahenrceesicso,noww to
has justho
prison of Florence, through the combined effects of
the closeness of his confinement in the dungeon to
which he was consigned by Popery, and the severity
of the labour to which he was subjected. Nothing
short of his death would satiate the vengeful spirit
of the Romish Church, nor is it likely, unless some
strong political pressure from some of the European
Powers be applied to the Grand Duke, who is the
veriest slave of the priests, that the surviving wife
will ever cross the door of her dungeon a living

woman.
Our readers are aware of the " crime" for which
the Madiai were doomed, the wife to 46, and the
husband to 54, months' imprisonment and hard
labour. That crime was neither more nor less than