to have hanged or shot, some say, as many as five hundred of his
former parishioners, because they declined to be baptized. He told them
that their ancestors were all Serbs, and that therefore they should
follow his example. Since the Montenegrins did not restrain this
over-zealous man, the villagers were naturally not in favour of that
country. Montenegro had a very small number of good officials, owing to
Nikita's peculiar management which, in considering his favourites, did
not regard illiteracy as a bar to the highest administrative or judicial
post.... The people of Plav and Gusinje have, on the other hand, no
hostility against Serbia. In November 1918 a detachment of thirty Serbs
was stationed at Gusinje, what time certain Italian agents put it into
the shallow minds of some Albanians that Albania desired to be
independent under Italian protection. Nothing happened when a Serbian
force came from Mitrovica, except that these agents and a few of their
tools--be it noted that perhaps half the population is ignorant of the
Albanian language--withdrew to the Rugovo district, where they tried to
induce the people to fly with them, so that the world would hear how
iniquitously the Serbs had acted. Those of Rugovo refused to accompany
them; in consequence of which there was a fight, some houses were
burned, some women and cattle were seized. And afterwards the men of
Rugovo repaired to Gusinje and exacted a vengeance which, the most
Serbophobe person will admit, had nothing to do with the Serbs. The
luckless village of Gusinje was again laid waste in 1919 by the
Montenegrins, but this came to pass as the result of the Montenegrin
clan of Vasojevi['c] having their property ravaged by some Albanian
marauders who were prompted by the same Great Power. The Vasojevi['c]
believed that this evil deed was done by the men of Gusinje, so that
they destroyed their houses. When the facts were explained to them, the
Vasojevi['c] said that they were prepared to rebuild the village. And
now Plav and Gusinje, who ask for Serbian and not Montenegrin officials,
recognize that it is impossible for them to live except in union with
Yugoslavia.... Miss Durham's wrath concerning an affair which happened
during 1919 in this region shows to what lengths a partisan will go. She
complained with great bitterness that the Serbs had actually arrested a
British officer whose purpose it was to make investigations.

The Serbs are human beings and are no