THE COERCION OF MONTENEGRO.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] Sra,—History is once more repeating itself in the present relations between the Great Powers of Europe and Monte- negro. A. century ago the French troops occupied Dalmatia (from which fact Marshal Soult derived his title of Duke of Dalmatia), and the Montenegrins, instigated by Russia, were endeavouring to expel them. A Montenegrin army and a British fleet jointly besieged and blockaded Cattaro ; its French garrison capitulated to the English, and the town was occupied by the Montenegrins, who hoped to retain it, as it was the natural seaport of their little country and their only means of access to the sea and to the outer world. But the statesmen of the Great Powers assembled in conclave at the Congress of Vienna decided that the old possessions of Venice on the mainland should be made over to Austria, and sum- moned the Montenegrins to evacuate Scutari. They refused, and had to be finally dislodged by an Austrian army.—I am,
sir, Sec., F. H. TYRRELL, Lieut.-GeneraL
Hotel Bel Silo, Ban Remo.
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