eading to the collapse of the enemy. Instead of forwarding
the 25,000 greatcoats, the 20,000 kilos of leather, and great
quantities of material, medical and other stores, to Montenegro and
rendering first aid to the liberated population, the managers of the
Royal Treasury deemed it wiser to transfer the value of all these
stores into their own pockets, disposing of more than 21/2 million
francs worth of goods to trusted figureheads for a few hundred
thousand Italian lire. Fortunately the French naval authorities put a
stop to this brigandage, and the honest guardians of the people only
succeeded in diverting a few hundreds of thousands. You may suppose
that there is no excuse for conduct of this kind; but the Royal Family
could say, "Behold, the people do not want our gifts." The
Montenegrins, for example, who were interned at Karlstein in Austria,
where they were not overfed, sent a telegram on November 27, 1916, to
ask at whose initiative the Red Cross parcels had been sent to them.
This was (in German) the prepaid reply: "Montenegrin Committee,
President, Professor Pugnet, supported by the Red Cross. (Signed) THE
BAKERY." As Pugnet was Danilo's professor, all the interned, except
six or seven, declined the parcels.[102] Among the half-dozen were
some relatives of Nikita, and some who explained that "We take the
traitor's bread, for otherwise we should die; and after all it is the
Entente which sends it. How unfortunate for us that they regard Nikita
as our King." After the Armistice Nikita and his adherents complained
bitterly that the Podgorica Assembly which deposed him was convened
before these internees had come back from Austria!

Although the funds of the Montenegrin Red Cross were, as we have seen,
not devoted to the needs of many of the Montenegrins, yet the Royal
Family were very energetic in collecting cash. They caused a letter to
be written to the French Red Cross, which had collected two millions
for the Serbs, and in the letter they asked for a part of the two
millions. A diplomatic answer was received. "You are only working," it
said, "for Montenegro, whereas we are for all the Yugoslavs." This
lack of success in financial matters was a new experience for the
Royal House. When Russia sent the Montenegrin officers their pay
during the War, an arrangement was made for it to come _via_ Serbia in
Serbian dinars. The King of Montenegro kept the dinars and paid his
officers in paper money. Later on he sold s