that the Karageorgevitches shall not play a rôle analogous to that of
the Hohenzollerns. Montenegro, remember, threw off the Turkish yoke a
century and three-quarters before Serbia was able to achieve her
liberty, and the patriotic among her people feel that this hard-won,
long-held independence should not lightly be thrown away.

It is not generally known, perhaps, that, when Austria declared war on
Serbia in August, 1914, an offensive and defensive alliance already
existed between Serbia, Greece, and Montenegro. We know how highly
Greece valued her signature to that treaty. Montenegro, with an area
two-thirds that of New Jersey, and a population less than that of
Milwaukee, could easily have used her weakness as an excuse for
standing aside, like Greece. Very likely Austria would not have molested
her and the little country would have been spared the horrors of a third
war within two years. But King Nicholas's conception of what constituted
loyalty and honor was different from Constantine's. Instead of accepting
the extensive territorial compensations offered by the Austrian envoy if
Montenegro would remain neutral, King Nicholas wired to the Serbian
Premier, M. Pachitch: "_Serbia may rely on the brotherly and
unconditional support of Montenegro in this moment, on which depends the
fate of the Serbian nation, as well as on any other occasion_," and took
the field at the head of 40,000 troops--all the men able to bear arms in
the little kingdom.

It has been repeatedly asserted by his enemies that King Nicholas sold
out to the Austrians and that, therefore, he deserves neither sympathy
nor consideration. As to this I have no _direct_ knowledge. How could I?
But, after talking with nearly all of the leading actors in the
Montenegrin drama, it is my personal belief that the King, though guilty
of many indiscretions and errors of policy, did not betray his people.