Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XI.djvu/798

 780 MONTENEGRO MONTEREY and leaves, salted and dried fish, wax, honey, vegetables, fruits, and some silk. The prin- cipal market is Cattaro. The produce is car- ried thither chiefly by women, and it is only in the eastern regions of the country that they are assisted in their labor by the use of mules and asses. There is no port and no outlet to the shore, and the Montenegrins are dependent on the Austrian government for permission to pass goods to and from the sea. Manufactures are limited to articles of immediate necessity. Taxes levied on each household, together with duties on salt, fish, and dry meat, the monopoly of tobacco, and the land rent of several con- vents, amounted in 1872 to about $23,000, to which Russia annually adds about $20,000 to cover the tribute due to the Porte. The Mon- tenegrins are all of the non-united Greek church, excepting a few Roman Catholics who belong to the Turkish diocese of Scutari, and every village has its church. The head of the church is the vladika, or prince-bishop, who till 1852 was also the secular ruler ; he is elected from among the monks or unmarried clergy by the national assembly, and may be deposed by it ; he has an annual revenue of $16,000. The number of priests is about 200 ; they join in war and the other occupations of the people. Priests must be married before they can be consecrated. The convents are those of Cet- tigne, Ostrog, and St. Stefano. Education is neglected, and many of the priests are unable to read and write; but several schools were established in 1841, and a printing press in Cettigne, which has issued several books. The first political newspaper was established in 1871. Since the separation of the secular from the ecclesiastical power on the accession of Danilo I. in 1852, the government has been a limited monarchy, hereditary in the male line of the family of Petrovitch of Niegosh. The prince is assisted by a senate of 16 members, which also acts as a supreme court. The legislative functions are exercised by the skupshtina, or national assembly. There is no standing army except the body guard of the prince and a corps of gendarmes, together numbering 1,000 men. The language of Montenegro is a very pure dialect of the Illyrico-Servian branch of the Slavic, not corrupted by admixture with foreign words. In ancient times Montenegro formed part of Illyricum. The present prin- cipality afterward constituted the S. W. corner of the old kingdom of Servia, which in the 14th century extended from the Adriatic to the Black sea. Toward the end of that century Servia became tributary to the Porte. Monte- negro, or Zeta as it was then called, secured its independence under the rule of George Balsha, the son-in-law of the last Servian king, and his descendants. The last of the line (eventually known by the name of Tchernoyevitch) mar- ried a Venetian lady, and in 151 6 'abdicated and with his wife retired to Venice, leaving the government in the hands of the bishop, whose successors (since about 1700 all of the house of Petrovitch) ruled the country as prince-bishops till one of them proclaimed himself secular prince as Danilo I. (1852). Turkey regarded Montenegro as a portion of her empire, and in 1623 the pasha of Scutari invaded the country with a powerful army, but was repulsed with severe losses. At the beginning of the 18th century the Montenegrins sought the protec- tion of Russia against Turkey. The Turks sent several expeditions thither, one of which in 1714, 'consisting of 120,000 men, defeated the Montenegrins, and carried more than 20,000 of them into captivity. A war with Venice com- pelled the Turks to withdraw their forces, and successive* invasions were repelled, in one of which, in 1796, 30,000 Turks were slain. In 1820 another invasion by the Turks was re- pulsed with heavy loss, as was still another in 1832. After a border warfare had continued for many years, at the close of 1852 Omer Pasha with a formidable force was sent to subdue the mountaineers. The position of Montenegro was most critical, when peace was restored by the intervention of Austria and the mediation of other powers. Danilo I. displayed much energy in improving the laws and the condi- tion of the country. Fresh collisions with Turkey took place in 1858 ; and one of Danilo's uncles was detected in treasonable proceedings. On Aug. 12, 1860, Danilo was assassinated, and was succeeded on the throne by his nephew Nikolo Petrovitch-Niegosh. The insurrection which broke out in Herzegovina in 1861, being favored by the Montenegrins, was followed in 1862 by the invasion of Montenegro by Omer Pasha with an army of 30,000. In August the Turks appeared before Cettigne, and Nikolo soon submitted by treaty to the sovereignty of the Porte. New complications arose with Tur- key in 1874 on account of murders committed on the Albanian border, and Montenegro de- clared war in January, 1875, but a compromise was effected toward the end of that month. MOBTTEPIN, Xavier Aymon de, a French 'author, born at Apremont, Haute-Sa6ne, March 18, 1824. He began life as a journalist, and wrote in conjunction with the marquis de Foudras the novels Les chevaliers du lansquenet (10 vols., 1847) and Les mreurs cPautrefois (4 vols., 1848), to which he added many others equally descriptive of the elegant, demi-monde, and Bohemian life of Paris. He gained great noto- riety by the suppression of his licentious Miles de pldtre (7 vok., 1855), but continued to pro- duce other voluminous works of a similar char- acter. Among the most recent are Le ligame, Le mari de Marguerite, Confessions de Tulla, Les drames de Vadultere, La comtesse de Nancey (all in 1873), and La voyante (1873-'4). He also assisted the elder Dumas as a playwright. MONTEREY, a W. county of California, bor- dering on the Pacific, bounded E. by the Coast range of mountains, intersected by the Salinas or Buenaventura river, and drained also by the San Benito and other streams ; area, 4,536 sq. m.; pop. in 1870, 9,876, of whom 230 were