Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 13.djvu/845

* MONTENEGEO. 757 MONTEPIN. The Prince appropriates lialf of the revenue, be- sides having a subvention from the Russian Gov- ernment. Austrian. Kussian. anil Turkisli money, weights, and measures are in use. The principal towns are C'etinje (q.v. ), the capital (which is but a few miles distant from the Dalmatian sea- port of Cattaro), Podgoritza, Dulcigno, and Niksid. The external trade is so small that it amounts to only about $2.00 per head of the population. For some vcars past the exports have averaged about $250,000 and the imports about $300,000 a year. The sales abroad are dried fish, insect ]iowder (the two chief exports), smoked sar- dines, mutton, cattle, goats, sheep, wool, furs and hides, cheese, tobacco, wine, and olive oil. Cattle arc shipped to Malta, Austria, Italy, and France. The chief imports are salt from Sicily, petroleum from Kussia ( both Government monop- olies), maize (of which an insufficient quantity is raised at home), cottons, hardware, sugar, cof- fee, and rice. History. Montenegro belonged in the Middle Ages to the great Servian kingdom, but after the power of the Servians was broken by the Turks in 1389 at the battle of Kossovo (q.v.), the Jlontenegrins vinder their Prince, who was of the royal blood of Servia, maintained their independence, though compelled to relinquish the plains about Scutari, with their chief forti-ess of Zabliak, and to confine themselves to the mountains (1485). In their warfare against the Turks the Montenegrins leaned uiien Venice, mis- tress of the eastern coast of the Adriatic. In 1516 their last secular Prince resigned his office, and transferred the Government to the Vladika or Bishop, and the secular and ecclesiastical au- thority was thereafter united in the Prince- Bishop. The dignity of Prince-Bishop was elec- tive; by the side of the chief magistrate was a civil governor. The Ottoman rulers continued to assert their claims to Montenegro, and included it in the Pashalic of Scutari ; but the Montene- grins, in their rocky fastnesses, succeeded gener- ally in asserting their independence, and more than once the Jloslem invaders met with disaster. In 1611(5 the office of VladiJ<a ceased to be elective. In that year the present reigning dynasty of PetrovicXjegoS was inaugurated in the person of Danilo Petrovic. For a century and a half the succession was from uncle to nephew, the Vladika not being permitted to marry. In 1710 the ilontenegrins sought and obtained the pro- tection of Russia, the Czar agreeing to grant them an annual subsidy, while they, on their part, agreed that the Vladika was to be con- secrated by the Czar. In 1796 the Prince-Bishop Peter I. defeated the Pasha of Scutari, who had invaded ilontenegro, and for the next quarter of a century there were no more Turkish inva- sions. The Montenegrins rendered important aid to Russia at the beginning of the nineteenth cen- tury against the French in Dalmatia, and took a prominent part in the attack on Ragusa and the capture of Curzola. but they were not al- lowed to realize their dream of becoming masters of the seaport of Cattaro, Peter TI,, who ruled from 1830 to 1851. made great efforts to civilize his people and improve their condition. He es- tablisiied the Senate, introduced schools, and endeavored, though unsuccessfully, to put an end to internal feuds and predatory expeditions into the neighboring provinces. In 1851 the last Prince-Bishop died, and his successor, Danilo I., in 1852 separated the religious from the secular supremacy, retaining the latter under the title of (iospodar, or Prince. In 1852 war broke out with llie Turks, wlio, under Omer Paslui, invaded the country, but tfcrough the intervention of the I'owcrs peace was arranged, February 15, 1853, Danilo went to the Paris Conference in 1856 to obtain recognition of the indeiiendence of ^Montenegro, but liis efforts were unaailing. In 1861 the Montenegrins stirred up an insurrection against the Turkish rule in Herzegovina, which was soon suppressed, and in return they were so hard pressed by the Turks that they were glad to agree to a treaty (1862), by which the sov- ereignty of Turkey over IMontenegro was recog- nized. Fresh coniidications caused Jlontenegro to declare war against Turkey in Januaiy, 1875, but a compromise was effected. Jlontenegro, however, supported the insurrection against Tur- key that broke out in Herzegovina a little later, and in July, 1876. was again at war. The Mon- tenegrins coiiperated with the Russians against their hereditarv enemy during the war of 1877- 78; and by the Treaty of Berlin (1878) the European Powers recognized the independence of Montenegro with a greatly enlarged territory, including XikJic, Podgoritza, and the port of Antivari, together with the seaboard district thereto appertaining. This was guarded by a restriction prohibiting Montenegro from having a navy and providing that its waters should be closed to ships of war of all nations. In 1880 the Great Powers made over Dulcigno to Monte- negro. The Prince of ilontenegro is probably the most absolute sovereign in Europe, the moun- taineers of the little State showing the loyalty of clansmen for a chief. In 1879 the Senate was transformed into a State Council. A very close personal and political friendship exists between the reigning House of ilontenegro and the Im- perial House of Russia. On October 24, 1896, Helena, the third daughter of Prince Nicholas I., who ascended the throne in 1860, married Victor Emmanuel, Prince of Naples, who succeeded his father, Humbert, as King of Italy in 1900. BiBLiOGKAPHT. Dclarue, Montenenro, histoire, descripfion, mceitrs, etc. (Paris, 1862) ; Schw-arz, Montenegro (2d ed., Leipzig, 1888) ; Ha.ssert, Reise durch ilonteneqro (Vienna, 1893) ; id., ''Beitrage zur physischen Gcograpliie von Mon- tenegro," in Petermanns Mitteilnnqcn (Gotha, 189.5) ; Xorman. The Xciir East (London, 1896) : Miller, The Balkans (London, 1896) ; id.. Travel and Politics, in the Near East (ib., 1898) ; and for the history: Andric, (leseliichtc des Fiirsten- turns ilontenegro (Vienna, 1853); Crousse, La pcninsule greeo-stare (Brussels, 1876); Denton, Montenegro, Its People and Their History (Lon- don, 1877) ; Maton, Histoire du Montenegro (Paris, 1881); Carr, Montenegro (Oxford, 1884) ; Coquelle, Histoire du Mont(n6gro et de la Bosnie (Paris, 1895). MONTENOTTE, mon'tanAt'ta. A village in the Province of (!enoa, Italy, 26 miles west of Genoq (ilap: Italy. C 3). Here, on April 12. 1796. Napoleon won his first victory /ver the Anstrians, MONTEPIN". moN'ta'pax'. X.^-ter Aymox, Count de (1824-1902). A French writer, born at Apremont (Haut-Saone) . He studied at the Eeole des Charles, entered journalism in 1848,