River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1876-10-05
A Lady's Description of the Prince of Mon
tenegr0.

Presently an individual, evidently
high in office, introduced himself as Aid
de-camp of the Prince. He told us that
apartments had been prepared for us
i'm the old palace, where we were to be
the guests of ROYALTY. 'If you wait a
moment here" he added, ''you will
see his Highness pass. We did SO.
and were rewarded by as romantic a
sight as this prosy nineteenth GEN.
ture has to show. 1t was like scene
out of a medieval romance. The
Prince and all his ''Perianikes," or
bodyguard, were in their beautiful
National dress ; the Prince being dis
tinguished from his retainers by a
light-blue mantle thrown over his
shoulders. All of them-and they
numbered q hundred-were splendid
looking fellows, but none of them sur
passed their chief. lie was q man of
about thirty-fve, six feet four in
height, and acknowledged as the
strongest and most muscular person in
his domOnions, which is saying great
deal. His face was open and frank,
and usually wore very sweet smile,
which conferred on it look OF Singu-
lar gentleness. .'E bellO, il nostrO
principe l-eh g. said our guide, in
broken Italian, and we certainly agreed
with him. AS we passed the Prince
and his bodyguard, they Saluted us
with distinguished courtesy, and we
continued our route to he hoSpitable
quarters prepared for us, right glad
to sit by warm stove and forget the
deep SHOWS and bitter cold outside.
After an hour of this luxury, however,
we summoned up courage and deter
mined to sally out and see some of the
sights of the place.
Close to our quarters, and over
shadowing the public fountain, stands
the ''Tree of Justice, for Montenegro
is a happy country, that KNOWS neither
Parliament nor law court, and where
the people address all their appeals
and grievances to the ear of the Prince
himself, who sits underneath the tree,
and either decides between the disput-
ants orrefers them to the MOntenegrin
code of laws. During fine and open
weather, people come from all the
country round to consult their Prince.
his decision on any point, we are told
never being disputed. Capital punish
ment in the form of shooting is in
flicted for murder. 1t was instituted
by DanilO, so put an end to the ven
dette which existed, and which was
transmitted from father to son, and
from family TO family. Imprisonment
follows theft and acts of violence;
but the longest term is seven years,
during which time the condemned are
allowed to 90 about in the day time,
and although marked men, they are
trusted to go even as far as Cattaro.
They have TO pay so much day for
their keep, and are sometimes en-
ployed on public works. The women
receive no education, but are never
theless subject to the same penalty
and incarceration as men. Their ideas
of morality are extremely strict, and
any breach of decorum is visited with
the greatest severity. Next morning
we were awakened betimes by violent
storms of ram and wind, for q SOU
westeT had set in, bringing with it a
thaw. Nothing more dreary could be
imagined than the view that greeted
us from our bedroom window. A thick
mist hung over everything, only allow
ing glimpses now and then Of the wild
looking hills that surround the plain.
To the. left lay the new palace, the
residence of the Prince, with its small
piece of garden reclaimed from the
surrounding waste, but presenting at
that moment only the aspect of mud.
just imagine what were our feelings
when, under such circumstances, we
received an invitation, which was
equal to a command to dine with the
Prince that evening" How were we
possibly to get across the flooded
streets en- grand tenue! For such a
thing as carriage has never been seen
in Cettinje. As we were in Montenegro,
however, we felt we must do as the
Montenegrins dc. So, Drawing the ell
ements. we mounted the little horses