Lake of Scutari.  Omer Pacha, accompanied by the European commission, travelled to the spot.  All appeared to be going well.  Though nothing definite was ever promulgated, there is good reason to believe that the Turkish Plenipotentiary would have offered the most advantageous terms to the Prince, including an accession of territory to the NW. and W., and the possession of Spizza, a seaport, had the meeting taken place.  But at the last moment the Prince evaded his share of the arrangement, on the shallow excuse that his people would not permit him to cross his own frontier.  He well knew that the Sultan’s representative would not demean himself by pandering to the caprices of one by rights a subject, and that the only way in which Omer Pacha would ever pass into Montenegro would be at the head of his soldiers.

In vain did the European Commissioners try to change his decision.  In vain they asserted the sincerity of the Sultan, and the safety with which he might fulfill his agreement.  They could only elicit a surly, ‘Faites comprendre ces gens-la.’  The indignant ‘C’est assez, Monsieur,’ of the French Commissioner brought the interview to an abrupt conclusion.  The rejection, for such it must be deemed, of the Turkish overtures, together with the boast which escaped the Prince, that he could pacify the frontier in fourteen days, are quite sufficient proofs of his implication in the disturbances, and would fully justify the Turks, were they to sweep this nest of hornets from the face of the earth.

Unfortunately, the principle of non-intervention between a sovereign and his subjects is a chimera, refuted as it has so signally been by the very author of the principle.

The Commissioners now saw that nothing more could be done save by force of arms, and were dissolved accordingly.

Omer Pacha returned to Mostar to continue his preparations for carrying on hostilities, not against the Montenegrins, but against the rebellious Christians on the Turkish side of the frontier.

CHAPTER XI.

Leave Mostar for the Frontier—­Mammoth Tombstones—­Stolatz—­Castle and Town—­Christian Shopkeeper—­Valley of the Stolatz—­Disappearance of River—­Temporary Camp—­My Dalmatian Servant—­Turkish Army Doctors—­Numerical Force of the Turks—­Health of the Army—­Bieliki—­Decapitation of Prisoners—­Christian Cruelty.

Day dawned on September 14, 1861, on about as cheerless a prospect as can well be imagined.  A chilly drizzle, swept hither and thither by strong gusts of wind, did not tend to enhance the beauty of the surrounding country, while it portended rather ominously for the success of the operations, the first important step in the prosecution of which may be considered to have been begun upon that day.  By nine o’clock, the hour fixed for our departure, the wind had fallen, and the rain began, to descend in torrents, defying all precautions in the shape of cloaks and waterproofs.  So it continued until past noon, when the clouds cleared away, and the sun shone out bright and warm.