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Updated: September 20, 2025
Imaginative people actually saw the Mediterranean fleet coming up the Adriatic. They were spoiling for a fight. I was sure our bark was far worse than our bite was likely to be, but was very anxious, for we had no British representative in Cetinje to advise moderation, and, while we went on barking, Montenegro might bite.
I don't believe there is a piano in the country except at the girls' school at Cetinje. The Scotchman had suggested the gusla as a substitute, and had been met with derisive laughter, for he had made the suggestion in all good faith. He was one of the most unmusical men I have ever met.
A strange tale has been circulated that Montenegro mobilized but four days before war broke out. The above facts show this to be quite a mistake. Montenegro had been preparing over a year, and could have begun in July. I hastened to Cetinje to tell Count de Salis what was happening. He replied that the Powers were doing nothing useful, and he feared it was now too late.
Shortly afterwards we were spending a few days in Cetinje, and were again witnesses of the final act of another small drama which was enacted about this time. One morning we saw about twenty Montenegrins brought into the town heavily chained, and on inquiry we were told the following story.
The sublime folly of the Serbian police consisted in thinking that if I were really an agent of Prince Mirko, bringing messages and intending to take them on to Sofia I should have been such a fool as to tell every one I met that I had just come from Cetinje. But perhaps they judged others by themselves. The semi-oriental mind is born to suspicion and can conceive of no straightforward action.
The same boys usually visit some Russian University, occasionally Vienna or Belgrade, and return to their native land as doctors, engineers, or lawyers, and supply the learned professions. At Cetinje there is a further High School for Girls, founded by the Empress Marie of Russia in 1869.
But in the height of summer, a shady spot in the open air is still found. We listened to one case, that of a woman who had amassed a large sum of money for Montenegro by fetching water from a distance at so much a gallon. Cetinje is almost waterless in summer, and water-carriers can earn small fortunes, particularly if equipped with a donkey or two, as was this woman.
The road entering Podgorica is very similar in appearance to that which leads into Cetinje, only the first impressions are considerably wilder and more uncivilised than that of the capital. Hundreds of Turks and Albanians are smoking their evening "tchibouque" in the streets, and scowl in no friendly manner at the stranger.
And the Italian architect who was designing the Russian Legation replied, more truly than he was perhaps aware: "Because Montenegro is the matchbox upon which the next European war will be lighted!" Cetinje was then extraordinarily picturesque. The Prince did all he could to emphasize nationality. National dress was worn by all.
December 1 British retreat from near Bagdad. Dec. 4 Ford "peace party" sails for Europe. Dec. 8-9 Allies defeated in Macedonia. Dec. 15 Sir John Douglas Haig succeeds Sir John French as chief of English Armies on west front. January 8 British troops at Kut-el-Amara surrounded. Jan. 9 British evacuate Gallipoli peninsula. Jan. 13 Austrians capture Cetinje, capital of Montenegro.
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