atholic tribes) consistently struggles also against the Slav peril
and sides with its opponents.

(2) It is also markedly a struggle for the supremacy of the Orthodox
Church. For with the exception of Montenegro's fights against the
armies of the Pasha of Scutari and his Albanians, the enemy of
Montenegro was always the Moslem Serbs of Bosnia and the
Herzegovina, people, that is, who racially and linguistically and by
custom are identical with the Montenegrins.

Montenegro's history continued on precisely the same lines under
Nikola I, until Slavonic and Teutonic rivalry culminated in the
colossal struggle which began in August 1914.

Of all the Petrovitches Nikola is one of the most remarkable. The
last of the mediaeval chieftains of Europe--a survival from a past
age--he is an epitome of the good and bad qualities of his race. In
common with that of other half-wild races the Montenegrin mind is
credulous and child-like and at the same time crafty and cunning.
With a very limited outlook, the Balkan politician is wont to spend
infinite ingenuity in outwitting a rival in order to gain some petty
advantage, and meanwhile to lose sight entirely of the larger
issues. Prince Nikola, better equipped by a western education than
any of his forerunners, rapidly gained a strong hold over his
ignorant subjects and in the great game of Near Eastern politics was
second only to Abdul Hamid at ruse and intrigue.

From the very first he had but one ambition--the reconstruction of
the Great Serbian Empire with the Petrovitches as the reigning
dynasty. He lived for it and he did all possible to foster it in the
minds of his people. He enforced the wearing of the national cap,
invented by Vladika Petar II. Each child was taught that his cap's
red crown was blood that had to be avenged. For each tribe he wrote
a Kolo song to be danced to at festive gatherings, to stimulate
nationalism. And for the whole country he wrote that most popular
national song:

Onward, onward, let me see Prizren,
For it is mine--I shall come to my home!

The throne and the castle of Tsar Dushan at Prizren became a
national obsession.

And to ensure the obedience of the Soviet of headmen he appointed
his redoubtable father Voyvoda Mirko as President and chose the
members himself.

He was but nineteen at the time of his accession and married almost
at once, Milena, daughter of Voyvoda Vukotitch of the fighting tribe
of Kchevo, to whom he had been affia