ther he considered that the sort of federation which the ex-King had
suggested would assist more efficaciously the welfare--social,
economical and national--of the Montenegrin, he would not have thanked
you for asking so superfluous a question.... Nikita then asserted that
those terrible Serbian bayonets had caused the Podgorica Skup[vs]tina to
vote as it did. Anyone who has spoken to one of those Bocchesi or
Dalmatian volunteers who were at that time in Montenegro will quite
believe that they applauded the result, but to pretend that they drove
the Skup[vs]tina with bayonets to do what every reasoning creature would
have done is so farcical that one might have thought it would not even
form (as it did form) the subject for questions in the British House of
Commons.... The only part played by bayonets was when on November 7 (one
day previous to that fixed for the elections) a detachment of the
Italian army landed at Antivari and another marched to within about six
kilometres of Cetinje, where they were met by the Montenegrin National
Guard, were told that bigger forces, which it was difficult to restrain,
would shortly arrive and were given one hour in which to depart. Of this
they availed themselves, announcing that they were all Republicans. They
left behind them an elderly man who was sick and requested the
Montenegrins not to murder him. The Italians and Nikita's friends soon
afterwards spread a report of horrible murders in Montenegro. Certain
Allied officers went up to investigate the matter and found that the
charges were baseless. They were told by Mr. Gloma[vz]ic, the prefect of
Cetinje, that the Allies, apart from the Italians, could go anywhere in
Montenegro, but that the Italians would be opposed by force of arms and
that if the Allies came up together with the Italians, then they too
would be attacked. Thereupon the Allied officers invited Mr. Gloma[vz]ic
to lunch.

NIKITA'S SORROW FOR THE GOOD OLD DAYS

Nikita had no hopes that any good would come from such a Skup[vs]tina.
In 1912 it had been different; with a budget of some 6,200,000 perpers
(or francs), including the Russian subsidies and the revenues from the
Italian tobacco monopoly, the royal civil-list comprised 11 per cent. of
the expenses, while the police accounted for 12 per cent., agriculture
and commerce 11/2 per cent., public works 4 per cent. and education 5
per cent. The Skup[vs]tina of that period had not caused him to pay more
attention