n the faith and courage of the Catholic Albanians of the
Brda, the very numerous Bijelopavlitchi, Piperi, Kuchi,
Vasojevitchi, Klementi, Hoti, etc., who could muster 20,000 very
outrageous fighters whom the Sultan fears more than he does the
Montenegrins." A passage of great interest, for to-day many of these
Albanian tribes, having fallen under Montenegrin rule, have been
completely Slavized and have 'joined the Orthodox Church.

Some of these tribes did support Austria, were left in the lurch by
her when she made peace in 1791, and were punished by the Turks.
Part of the Klementi dared not return home and settled in Hungary,
where their descendants still live.

Montenegro was mentioned in the Treaty of Sistova merely as a
rebellious Turkish province, but Vladika Petar had gained much
power, for the Brda tribes now definitely accepted him as their head
and the Tsutsi and Bijelitch tribes emigrated into Montenegro from
the Herzegovina and were given land.

The Turks forcibly opposed the union of the Brda with Montenegro,
but could not prevent it, and in the fight the Pasha of Scutari was
killed. His head, on a stake, for long adorned the tower at Cetinje.

A hard blow was now struck at Montenegro. The Venetians in 1797
ceded the Bocche di Cattaro to Austria. Till then the frontier had
been vague. The Vladika was spiritual head of the Bocchese and the
Montenegrins considered them as part of themselves. The new frontier
caused much wrath. Russia hurried to support the Vladika. Austria
strove in vain for influence. Her Envoy wrote in 1798, "The
Gubernator sees his authority daily weakening while that of the
Vladika increases." He says the frontier must be fixed "so as to
force this horde of brigands to remain within the frontiers which
they cross only to molest his Majesty's subjects and make them
victims of brigandage. The Metropolitan and the Gubernator have
given no satisfaction to the complaints daily addressed to them."

No. They did not. For they had a strong backing. Up hurried a
special Envoy of the Tsar with rich gifts for the Vladika, who
received him with a salute of guns, and further insulted Austria by
hoisting the Russian flag over the Monastery. "Devil and Baker" had
both pulled. Which won? I leave that to the reader.

Russia was now ruling power in Montenegro. When Napoleon's troops
appeared in the Near East the Montenegrins joined the Russian forces
and attacked the French at Ragusa where their fero