rease the
magnitude of their loss. In justice to Hussein Pacha, the Turkish
General, it should be known that the operations which placed his army in
this false position were not of his planning, but were carried out in
deference to the wishes of the Civil Governor, and against his advice.
From the above remarks I would not have it supposed that I am desirous
of detracting from the well-merited praise to which the Montenegrins are
entitled for their long and successful resistance to the Turkish arms.
Their gloriously stalwart frames, and their independent spirit, both of
which they inherit with their mountain air, entitle them to admiration
and esteem; but an undue appreciation of these should not be allowed to
warp the judgement or prejudice the mind. Some there are who invest them
with almost supernaturally noble qualities, while they attribute every
conceivable enormity to their enemies the Turks. Each of these views is
incorrect. The Osmanlis, whether it be from a consciousness of their own
decrepitude, or some other cause, appear to have lost the spirit of
cruelty which characterised their more successful days; and it is a
matter of fact that the atrocities committed by their Christian
antagonists in the Greek War of Independence, during the incursion of
the Hellenic bands into Thessaly and Epirus in 1854, or in the present
_emeute_, equal, if they do not surpass, anything which they can lay to
the charge of the Turks. Travellers are apt to form their opinions upon
the evidence of their own senses; and when such is the case, their
verdict cannot fail to be favourable to the Moslems: for things seen
with one's own eyes will always make a deeper and more lasting
impression than the most harrowing details, the scene of which is laid
in times gone by.

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 whi