V.
The Occupation
WE have left the story of events in Montenegro itself, in order to show the efforts King Nicolas was making in Paris. But the Serbians never waited an instant for the lawful government to move. Law could be attended to later. What they wanted was action.
They had long been preparing to lay the foundation for their new structure by excavating and getting rid of whatever might give any aid or even recognition to the old. Their ends were accomplished in various ways.
After Nicolas went to France, the French and British Governments had allowed a monthly credit of 400,000 francs, for governmental expenses. This was soon reduced to 200,000. But no payment was made from January 1917 to September 1918. Serbia received her allowance regularly. And the Serbians turned over small sums to any Montenegrins who would acknowledge the Serbian sovereign. The policy followed by Serbia was always the same: To secure from the Allies all advantage, authority and money as administrators for Montenegro; and to use all such powers in behalf of those who gave up any claim to Montenegrin citizenship. Since many refused to do this the little nation endured hardships that might have been relieved if she had been justly treated.
All the old governmental machinery of the nation had been taken apart and every effort to assemble it had been checked. The salaries of officials remained unpaid and many of these were suffering great privation, in which of course their families shared. This very fact was used to carry out the diabolic design.
Every former government employee who would accept the usurping regime received back pay and a generous share in the relief funds. A certain number reluctantly did this to save their children's lives. The point to be remembered, however, is that many held out for independence and still hold out.
There is today a Montenegro that refuses to acknowledge the rule of Serbia.
Here is a brief resume of the steps taken to give a show of legal form to Serbia's arbitrary acts:
As early as July 1917, Premier Pachitch made a preliminary announcement of the annexation of Montenegro, in the Declaration of Corfu. Serbia's bad faith in the whole process needs only her own documents for proof. After such a declaration any "popular vote" of Montenegrins "to decide the destiny" of their country could be only a hideous farce.
But the farce must be carried through. On October 25, 1918, four persons having no real authority whatsoever signed a call for an "election of delegates to a great national assembly." Two of these were Serbians—Inspector Tomitch of the department of public instruction and Kossovitch, a high school teacher. The "great national assembly" met in a building surrounded by armed Serbian bravos and "voted" away Montenegro's liberty on November 26, fifteen days after the Armistice, when the other Allied peoples were rejoicing in the prospect of complete restoration. There was no debate over thus disposing of a people's existence. The resolutions passed had been drawn up and printed at Corfu. In half a day the meeting was over, Montenegro's future having been placed in the hands of a directorate of five men. Three of these "patriots" had been implicated in the plot against Nicolas in 1907. Planning the assassination of the King was a fit prelude to the betrayal of his nation.
The same tactics that had carried through the organization of the "great national assembly" were used to prevent any reassertion of national sentiment. In the "elections" of 1920, no candidates opposed to annexation were permitted to stand for office. The Serbian Minister of the Interior expressly forbade the presentation of their names to the public. The only resource open to Montenegrins if they wished to cast their votes against the Serbian government was to vote for the communist candidates, which they did.
The treaty of Rapallo, November 1920, is taken by many as a final settlement of questions referring to the Adriatic region. It has no clause referring to Montenegro!
In December 1920, the French minister still accredited to the Kingdom of Montenegro finally closed the account, with this statement:
"Elections to the constituent assembly having taken place recently in Jugoslavia, the people of Montenegro have declared themselves: one cannot longer question their desire to remain united with the other Serbian populations in the Serb-Croat-Slovene realm whose existence we have officially recognized. The government of the Republic assumes, therefore, that the union of Montenegro with the said realm is now an accomplished fact."
The Montenegrin Government replied to the French refusal to recognize its existence by a letter dated January 10, 1921, in which these points were made:
The Pact of London, in 1915, guaranteed the future existence of Montenegro. The same guarantees were affirmed in January, 1917, and in August 1919. The Peace Congress recognized Montenegro's right to be represented by a delegate and promised that "a good opportunity would be offered to the Montenegrin people to express themselves freely as to the political form of their future government." This promise was never fulfilled. Even at that time the Serbian government was exercising complete sovereignty and when an "election" was held in November 1920, it was completely under control of Serbia. The election was
called by authority of the Serbian Regent.
King Nicolas died in exile at Cape Antibes, Côte d'Azur, March 1, 1921. Little Michael I, now attending school in England, succeeds to the title. The constitutional government, with temporary headquarters in Rome and the thousands of loyal mountaineers who continue resistance to Serbia with considerable success, are the present evidence of Montenegro's individuality.