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 arranged that the Turkish troops should be altogether withdrawn.

Servia declared war against the Porte on 20th June, 1876, but was obliged to sue for peace on 28th February, 1877. She declared war again on 14th December of the same year, and was rewarded by a stipulation in the Treaty of San Stefano that the Porte should recognise her independence. The Principality was recognised as independent, on certain conditions, by the Treaty of Berlin. A proclamation was issued to this effect on 21st August, 1878, and on 6th March, 1882, Servia assumed the rank of a kingdom.

IX. —The 'Black Mountain,' originally a dependency of Servia, after the fall of that State, maintained a long and generally successful struggle against the Ottoman power. It was not till 1623 that Turkish troops penetrated to Cetinge. The government was in the hands of the Bishop, who was styled 'Vladika,' from 1516 to 1852, when Danilo I broke through the family tradition by becoming a lay Prince, 'Knas.' In 1706 the Montenegrins placed themselves under the protection of Russia, but by the Treaty of Sistova, 1791, Austria acknowledged the Porte as their 'proper sovereign.' This claim was repeated by the Porte at the Conference of Paris in 1856, and protested against by Prince Danilo.

In November, 1858, with a view to putting an end to the perpetual hostilities between the Principality and the Turks, a Conference of the representatives of Great Britain, Austria, France, Prussia, Russia, and the Porte was held at Constantinople, and traced anew the boundaries of the Principality, leaving details to be settled on the spot by a Commission of Engineers, which reported upon the result of their labours two years later.