Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1914-07-08
KING NICHOLAS
STIRS THE MONKEYS
Takes Especial Delight in Polling the
Powers and Doing Whatever
They Tell Him Not To.
STARTED THE BALKAN WAR,
FIRED TURKEY OUT OF EUROPE
Now Snaps His Fingers at the Big
Ones and Will Add Montenegro
to Servian Dominions.
By Henry Wood

~ AAOhAy UOOu
(Staff Correspondent OF United Press. !
Gettinge, Montenegro, July Skiing
Nicholas of little Montenegro has Just
thought of new plan for batting the
big European powers. Nicholas, during
his long lifetime, has tried a great va
riety of amusements. He has beer
prince and poet; king and statesman;
warrior and dramatist; musician and
art connessiour. He has made good al
all of them, too. But two years ago he
discovered that for zeal sport there is
nothing to be compared with tantaliz.
ing the big powers and turning topsy.
turvy the dignified diplomatic chancel
lories of Europe.
King Nicholas first tried his hand at
this in the fall of 1912. At the head
OF his little army he one day suddenly
marched out of his capital of Cettinge
and began swatting right and left at
the Turkish garrisons on his southern
frontier The European powers were
even more startled, than the Turks and
at once they threw a fit. The Balkans,
they told Nicholas, were in that mo.
ment in an even more inflammable con-
dition than usual. A little over act
might destroy the greatest modern dip
lomatic masterpiece, the " status quo. ]"
Unheeding, King Nicholas swatted all
the harder. Then the powers told him
ne might just as well quit anyway.
Even if he conquered any territory,
they wouldn' t let him keep it, he was
told. Greatly amused, Nicholas cap.
tured two more Turkish garrisons. Then
in less than week, he had forced the
mobilization Of all the Balkan armies.
had forced a declaration of war from
Turkey and had precipitated the con.
flict which wiped Turkey, after 500
years of misrule, off the face of Eu.
rope.
Waved Red Flag at Them.
Before this was finally accomplished.
however, King Nicholas once more
waved the red flag in the face of the
big powers. Scutari had once been the
capital of Montenegro. Centuries ago
it had gone down under the Turkish
inundation. Nicholas decided he must
have it back The powers, for their
own selfish ends, decided he mustn t..
Nicholas began the long and bloody
scige of the city Nicholas took Scu-
tart but the powers later deprived him
of it, Now King Nicholas has Just re-
vived an even more tantaizng pro-
ject This involves nothing less than
the abdication of his throne, the cf-
facing from the map of Europe of the
independent political state of Monte
negro and its amalgamation with the
growing Slav empire of Servia. 1t
means the end of nation, but the ag-
grandi2ement of n people, Nicholas be-
lieves.
For a century past, the separate po-
htcal existence Of Montenegro has
been one of the pet projects of the
powers. The Montenegrans are of the
same ethical Slav origin as the Ser
vians, speak only the Servian Ian.
guage and are kept apart only through
the machirations of Austria. They
have joint ministry with Servia BY
keeping up this separate political ex-
istenee from Servia, Austria has hoped
not only TO prevent the formation of
big Slav empire on her southern hor-
der, which might not only one day be
national menace. but which would
also block her own. ambitions of ex.
tending Austrian territory through to
southern seaport on the Adriatic or
the Aegean.
What Austria Wants He Doesn't.
However, just what austria doesn Z
want is just what Nicholas does want,
aud his latest scheme of abdication
seems to offer the only way for its at.
tainment. There are now in the Bal
kan peninsula $4,000, 900 Slavs. Since
Servia doubled its territory in the re.
cent Balkan wars, she now has 5,000,.
600 of these within her own boundaries.
Some 100000 more comprise the popu-
lation of Montenegro, while the re-
mainder are in the olav provinces of
Dalmatia, Crita, Roznia and Herzogo-
vina which Austria has from time to
time annexed, The aspiration of these
lS,OOO,000 Slavs is 10 get all of these
Slav provinces and states back into
the common Slav fatherland which the
Turks wiped out 500 years ago. Unit
ed Servia and Montenegro might ac.
complish this.
Other considerations have also moy.