then Italian Foreign Minister, "preferred to withdraw into exile rather
than sign a separate peace."

I may be wrong in my conclusions, of course; the cabinet ministers and
the ambassadors and the generals in whose honor and truthfulness I
believe may have deliberately deceived me, but, after a most
painstaking and conscientious investigation, I am convinced that we have
been misinformed and blinded by a propaganda against King Nicholas and
his people which has rarely been equaled in audacity of untruth and
dexterity of misrepresentation. To employ the methods used by certain
Balkan politicians in their attempted elimination of Montenegro as an
independent nation even Tammany Hall would be ashamed.

When, upon the occupation of Montenegro by the Austrians, the King fled
to France and established his government at Neuilly, near Paris--just as
the fugitive Serbian Government was established at Corfu and the Belgian
at Le Havre--England, France, and Italy entered into an agreement to pay
him a subvention, for the maintenance of himself and his government,
until such time as the status of Montenegro was definitely settled by
the Peace Conference. England ceased paying her share of this subvention
early in the spring of 1919. When, a few weeks later, it was announced
that King Nicholas was preparing to go to Italy to visit his daughter,
Queen Elena, the French Minister to the court of Montenegro bluntly
informed him that the French Government regarded his proposed visit to
Italy as the first step toward his return to Montenegro, and that,
should he cross the French frontier, France would immediately break off
diplomatic relations with Montenegro and cease paying her share of the
subvention. This would seem to bear out the assertion, which I heard
everywhere in the Balkans, that France is bending every effort toward
building up a strong Jugoslavia in order to offset Italy's territorial