It may be urged that the want of power has caused this increased humanity; and in part it may be so, for the nature of a people can never undergo a sudden and entire change.  But I can myself vouch for the lenity which they displayed when they have had the power, and to wit great provocation, to have acted otherwise.  The incontrovertible facts, too, remain that Mussulman Turkey has been the first to relinquish the unchristian custom of decapitating prisoners, and other inhuman practices, which the so-called Christians appear little inclined to renounce.  This will, of course, meet with an indignant denial on the part of their supporters; but it must be a strong argument which can overcome the disgust occasioned by the sight of women without ears, children without noses, and bleeding corpses of soldiers literally hewn to pieces with knives, all of which I have witnessed with my own eyes.

In matters which do not immediately concern England, no opinion is probably entitled to so much reliance as that of a Briton, even allowing for a certain tendency, which he often has, to measure all people and things by his own standard; and for this reason, that he is probably free from all political and religious bias, while we know that he cannot be actuated by prejudices resulting from community of origin, which invalidates the testimony of the subjects of so many other European states.  However narrow-minded Englishmen may be in their own affairs, they are generally capable of taking a broader and sounder view of those of their neighbours than any other people.  I think, therefore, that it speaks strongly in favour of the opinions which I have advanced, that they are shared by all those few Englishmen whose calling has brought them into connection with these countries, or the still smaller number who have gone thither for their own gratification.  To the former class, more especially, I can unhesitatingly appeal, to bear me out in the heterodox assertion that the Christians are, as a mass, greater enemies to progress than the Turks.

[Footnote O:  I.e. of the Greek Church.]

CHAPTER XII.

Tzernagora—­Collusion between Montenegrins and Rebels—­Turks abandon System of Forbearance—­Chances of Success—­Russian Influence—­Private Machination—­M.  Hecquard—­European Intervention—­Luca Vukalovich—­Commencement of Hostilities—­Dervisch Pacha—­Advance on Gasko—­Baniani—­Bashi Bazouks—­Activity of Omer Pacha—­Campaigning in Turkey—­Line of March—­Pass of Koryta—­The Halt—­National Dance—­’La Donna Amabile’—­Tchernitza—­Hakki Bey—­Osman Pacha—­Man with Big Head—­Old Tower—­Elephantiasis—­Gasko—­Camp Life—­Moslem Devotions—­Character of Turkish Troops—­System of Drill—­Peculation—­Turkish Army—­Letters—­Scarcity of Provisions—­Return of Villagers.

If the past history of Tzernagora or the Black Mountain is deserving of our admiration and wonder, its future prospects afford a no less open field for doubt and speculation.  So far all has gone well with her:  the manly character of her people, and their apparent invincibility, have enlisted the sympathies of the world in her behalf, while identity of religion and race have procured for her the more tangible advantages of Russian protection.