trukr q .—The reports from Montenegro appear to be decidedly en- favourable,
and the following gives for the first time a really intelli- gible account of the position. The exceptional position of Monte- negro "is due to the expedition of Admiral Jurieu de la Graviere to the Albanian coast in 1858, whereby the Porte was prevented bring- ing the Prince of the Black Mountain into the clearly defined rela- tion of a vassal. The subsequent conference of ambassadors at Con- stantinople did not, however, declare that prince's independence. Hence resulted, for Danilo and his successor Nicholas, the very con- venient situation of combining in their person all the privileges of an independent prince, without being subject to the duties and respon- sibility entailed by that position. After, as before, the arrangement, their subjects might extend their raids and robberies to Turkish territory ; the Porte must not, on that account, make the whole country responsible—because its ruler is not a sovereign in the strict. sense of the word. But neither was Turkey permitted to pursue the flying depredators on Montenegrin territory, lest it should run against a veto of France or Russia—since the Montenegrins are not its sub- jects like the Bosniaks in the Herzegovina. Thus, at each moment, the Porte had to be prepared for the intervention of a foreign Power in favour of this interesting tribe. Now, it is manifest that Monte- negro is thus marked out as the focus, the inviolable arsenal and asylum, whence a foreign hand may at any moment, so soon as the necessary mass of combustible is accumulated, set fire to the mine of a general South-Slavonian insurrection. Exactly in this manner has Prince Nicholas done his best to assist the insurrection in the Her- zegovina, without, however, going so far as openly to espouse its cause. From Montenegro the insurgents have been supplied with arms, ammunition, and provisions; nay, these stores have often enough been escorted by Montenegrins, on the occasion of their sorties from their mountains. But, however numerous such parties might be, the people, as a whole, remained wrapped in a mantle of neutrality; for the Prince was not responsible for the proceedings of :individuals' among his subjects. In short, for Turkey, Montenegro is an enemy's country, but also a ?soli me langere." Omar Pasha, however, has blockaded the province, but is afraid to advance into it, as his soldiers are panic-struck. He is endeavouring to secure dis- cipline, but the Servian Government is disposed to assist its friends, and has provided for a very large increase of its troops. The army is to be raised to 45,800 infantry, 2400 horse, and six batteries, all supported by a landwehr of 50,000 men. The taxation has been in- creased to meet these new demands, and stories of a general Slave insurrection, supported either by Russia or France, are repeated in the most serious manner from Constantinople, Vienna, and Paris. Statements, too, hostile to the Sultan, are very widely circulated. They seem to be without foundation, but they imply that he is falling back upon the advisers who deceived his brother.
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