I was sick of the web
of intrigue which entangled the land. But now it seemed that only
from Montenegro could I watch the case for Albania.

I was summoned to the palace, and received by the whole royal
family, who were very gay, and did not conceal the fact that they
expected and wanted war, and bade me go to Podgoritza, where the
Queen's cousin, General Yamko Vukotitch, was in command of affairs.

The details of the insurrection I have told in my book, The Struggle
for Scutari. Here I will narrate only those political facts which
fear of injuring my informants compelled me then to withhold.

Briefly: the insurrection was planned by King Nikola as part of his
effort to obtain a kingdom. Taking advantage of the unrest caused by
Young Turk rule, he used as his lever old Sokol Batzi, a worthy man
of the Gruda tribe, who had fought against the Turks in 1877, and
therefore taken Montenegrin nationality. Nikola rewarded him
suitably, and Sokol, in return, served him with dog-like fidelity.
To Sokol, much respected by the tribesmen, Nikola entrusted the task
of inducing the Albanian Catholics to migrate in numbers into
Montenegro, promising them that if they would revolt against the
Turks their wives and children should have shelter and protection
till their land was freed from the Turks, and that they should
receive sufficient arms and ammunition. Nikola himself promised
independence to the tribesmen. Sokol was a simple-minded old fellow.
Bitterly did he and his family repent later of the way they had let
themselves be made cat's paws of. A considerable sum of money was
collected in Montenegro to finance the revolution. An Austrian Slav
doctor was engaged, and a rough hospital prepared, and a store of
maize purchased. These preparations went on through the winter.
Montenegro's protests, to Europe, of her innocence were lies which
were black even for diplomacy, As for the interview which Prince
Danilo gave to the Morning Post, it was a shameless tissue of
falsehoods. He declared that Montenegro had supplied no arms or
ammunition to the insurgents, when at that very time his cousin,
Yanko Vukotitch, was distributing weapons and directing the military
operations under my eyes.

Even worse was his statement: "It grieves my heart to see these
brave mountaineers die for the liberty of having their own schools
for their children." When not one single Albanian school was
permitted in Montenegro; forcible Slavizing was going on