, 1880-10-27

was the reigning Prince. Against such
attacks as these people were likely to bring
against it it would have stood a heightened
siege, the walls of the building being thick
| and being surrounded by solid and we'll.
(! built outer walls. In the rear is the cele.
brated tower, which never escapes des-
cription or portraying, on which in days
gone by the Montenegrins exposed the
heads of the Turks they bad slain In battle.
it is now converted TO less CHASTITY uses,
and is o belfry. With regard to the i'm
portance of the site of Cettinje as a capital
it may be accepted that the Montenegrins
themselves are quite aware OF its insult.
ableness, and several other positions are
likely to be eventually selected for a new
capital. 1t cannot be denied that Mon
tenegro is about to lose much that has
rendered her formidable in bygone days
by becoming an ordinary European Princi-
pality with the attendant responsibilities
of other such Powers. Montenegro, a
mountain power, an aggregation OF warlike
clans, living in d perpetual state OF fight
ing, was a very different thing from what
new Montenegro will become, with a
seaboard and with roads, and peace within
her borders, She will more than ever
become the outwork, as it were, Of Slav-
ism, and will be infinitely more vulnerable
than before. If she fixes her capital near
Podgoritza or the shores of the Lake Of
Scutari, she will be open to attack by
land from Turkey or any other Eastern
European power, be it q great Bulgaria
or an East Roumelia. If she settles at
Antivari, or even at Dulcigno, her relations
with Austria, and for the matter of that
with any other maritime Power, will be
altogether changed. In fact whatever
happens, Montenegro, in expanding into a
cenntry possessing plains and ports, is no
longer the Montenegro of the past. A stand
ing army of some kind will become a ne
cessity, These new strategica reconstruct
ed roads will require points Of protection
and it will no longer become possible for
her to retire with u feeling of security in'o
her mountain Businesses. What roads and
better communications did for our own
Highlanders the same facilities will do for
the Montenegrin. He must become some.
thing more than the man before described,
with the skill of an educated foe meeting
him on equal grounds. He will have to
learn to fight in the plains, or he will have
TO leave his newly-acquired possessions to
look after themselves. He cannot always
count on the timely aid of this or that
friendly Power. Moreover, friendships
among Powers are more purely matters of
self-interest than they are socialIy-which
is saying little enough for them-and his
stanehest allies of to-day may fail him
to morrw, amid the whirl aud rapidly shit
ing current of events.
Already the strain on the tact and
patience of European statesmen necessita-
ted by this strange combination of the
forces which ara bolstering him up is
becoming a source Of weakness to the
Moutenegrin, aud the sooner he begins
looking about seriously TO consider who
ore his friends and who arc not the better
for himself. He must soon move alone,
and that along q very difficult path, for in
his own individuality as q nation he now
becomes a factor in the hydra headed
Eastern Question, whereas, before he was
the stalkiag-horse of this or that ambition,
or the peusioner of q Great Power. Now,
the Powers generally will no longer con
sent to any undue preponderance OF any
one Power, while the brand on every case
of g%unpowder he imports and the makers
name Of every rife he buys will be care
fully scrutinized. His picturesque though
rugged life will disappear, together with
his snartlv braided natio nal jacket, his