press, together with the right of public meeting, and abolishes the death penalty for political offences.
Administration and Justice.—For purposes of local administration the country is divided into 5 departments (oblasti), each governed by a prefect (upravitel), and 56 districts (kapetanati), each under an official styled kapetan. The prefects and kapetans are nominated by the king on the recommendation of the minister of the interior. Rural communes, each under an elected kmet, or mayor, exist in Montenegro as in all Slavonic countries. The kmets act as justices of the peace, and there is an appeal from their decisions to the courts of first instance (kapetanski sudove), of which there is one in each district, the kapetan acting as judge. In each of the five departments there is a superior court (oblasni sud), with a president and two judges; at Cettigne there is a high court of justice (veliki sud), which is the final court of appeal. The ultimate appeal to the prince was abolished in 1902, when Prince Nicholas laid aside his judicial functions, retaining only the prerogative of pardon. The judges, who are removable, are nominated by the king on the recommendation of the minister of justice. With a single exception there are no professional advocates in Montenegro; each man is his own counsel, bringing his own witnesses. The local gendarmerie, numbering 150 men, is distributed in the five departments. The kapetanati have replaced the former local divisions according to plemena; in each of the communes there is one or more of the bratstva. The codification of the law, which had previously been administered according to unwritten custom, was first undertaken by Peter I. in 1796. An improved code, issued by Danilo II. in 1855, still contained many quaint enactments. The excellent code drawn up by Professor Bogishitch, a native of Ragusa, in 1888, was revised and enlarged in 1899. It contains elements from various foreign systems scientifically adapted to national usages and requirements. A large number of judicial reforms were carried out by Count Voinovitch, who succeeded Professor Bogishitch in 1899; in 1905 a new code of civil procedure was promulgated, and a criminal code in the following year. The only prison is at Podgoritza. In the old prison at Cettigne, closed after 1902, many of the inmates were free to walk in and out at pleasure. Some were burdened with fetters, rather as a punishment than for restraint. Until the completion of an asylum in 1903, dangerous lunatics were confined in prison. The commonest offences are murder and robbery; despite vigorous measures taken by the king and his predecessors, the blood-feud, or vendetta, cannot be stamped out, being approved, and even enforced, by public sentiment. Only women are held exempt from the duty of avenging their next-of-kin; they have been known, however, to undertake it, disguising themselves in male attire. A man who kills his slanderer, or otherwise avenges his honour, often receives a nominal term of imprisonment. Robbery, if practised by means of raids across the frontier, is popularly regarded as a venal offence. Other forms of crime are rare, and foreigners may traverse all parts of the kingdom, except the neighbourhood of the Albanian border, in perfect safety. The death penalty was first introduced by Peter I. Executions are carried out by a firing party selected from the various tribes, in order to prevent the relatives of the criminal from exacting vengeance. Exceptional severity is shown in the treatment of political offenders, who in some instances have been subjected to solitary confinement for years without trial.
Finance.—Financial statistics are not published. The total receipts were estimated in 1907 at 2,773,690 Austrian krone,[1] the principal sources of income being the taxes on land, houses and cattle, the monopolies of tobacco, salt, petroleum and alcohol, and the customs dues. The total expenditure was estimated at 2,730,994 krone, the principal items being: civil list, &c., 189,586 krone; ministry of interior, 574,822 krone; of foreign affairs, 144,547 krone; of justice, 232,710 krone; of finance, 592,561 krone; of war, 133,696 krone; of worship and education, 269,208 krone; service of national debt, 244,500 krone. The public debt is under £300,000. The contribution of Montenegro to the Ottoman debt has not been fixed. From time to time considerable subventions have been received from Russia and Austria. The annual Russian subsidy, mainly for military and educational purposes, is stated to be about £40,000. Montenegro has no mint; Austrian paper money and coins are generally employed together with Montenegrin nickel and bronze coins struck in Austria. Turkish gold and silver are also in circulation. The former Turkish and Venetian weights and measures have been superseded by the French.
Defence.—The Montenegrin is a born warrior; his weapons, which he never lays aside, are his most precious possession, and distinction in battle is the sole object of his ambition. Persons of all classes wear a revolver in the kolan or waistband. “You might as well take from me my brother as my rifle,” says a native proverb; and rifles are almost universally carried near the Albanian frontier, where the tribesmen on either side are in a state of chronic hostility. Brave to a fault, an unerring marksman, hardy, agile, crafty and enduring, the Montenegrin has few rivals in the practice of guerrilla warfare. The traditional method of fighting is by ambuscade; the enemy is enticed into some intricate defile, surrounded, and harassed by rifle-fire; then the mountaineers, throwing aside their firearms, deliver a swift attack with the hanjar, or yataghan, which they wield with terrific effect. A number of heads cut off in battle adorned the parapet of a small tower outside Cettigne, called the “Turks’ Tower,” as late as 1850. When reduced to extremity the Montenegrins often committed suicide rather than fall into the hands of the enemy, the last cartridge being reserved for this purpose; disabled comrades who could not be removed used to be beheaded, in 1876 a Montenegrin offered to perform this kindly service for a Russian officer who was wounded at Klobuk. Savage methods of warfare, however, have been strongly discountenanced by King Nicholas and his predecessor. Till the middle of the 19th century the forces of the principality consisted of undisciplined bands of tribesmen under local chiefs, whose rivalries often proved injurious to the national cause. The supreme command, however, always rested with the prince. The nucleus of a permanent corps was created by Peter II., who formed a bodyguard of picked men known as perianiki, from the feathers (pera) which adorned their caps. The name is still borne by a small corps (20 men in 1907) which guards the residences of the king and his sons, but the feathers are no longer worn. In 1853 Danilo II. ordered the enrolment of all persons capable of bearing arms, and instituted a military hierarchy of voievodes (generals), sirdars (colonels) and kapetans; the organization, which was based on the tribal system, was remodelled by Servian officers in 1870, when the chiefs were brought to Cettigne to receive military instruction. In the same year arms of precision were introduced: the cost and complex structure of the new weapons threatened to cause serious difficulty, but Russian aid was soon forthcoming. Since 1870, though arms and ammunition are manufactured on a small scale within the kingdom, the chief supplies have come from Russia. In 1895 the tsar presented Prince Nicholas with 30,000 Berdan rifles, besides ordnance and other war material, and in 1898 sent a further gift of 35,000 Moskovska rifles. Every able-bodied citizen must serve in the army, except Moslems, who are exempt on payment of a capitation tax. The military organization has undergone a gradual transformation under Prince Nicholas in conformity with the changed circumstances of the country and the requirements of modern warfare. The militia system on the tribal basis is maintained, but in 1896 a permanent battalion of 500 men was established at Cettigne, and two years later another at Podgoritza, each under a komandir, or major, 4 captains and 15 lieutenants. A permanent brigade of artillery was formed at Nikshitch in 1897. In 1905 these were abolished through motives of economy. There is a standing corps of officers, but no standing army. All young men of military age go through an obligatory period of twelve days’ service at the various local military centres. Candidates for a commission afterwards proceed to a military school at Podgoritza for one year; the best and most promising then receive commissions as pod-ofizieri or sous-officiers, and are sent for a further course of instruction of two years to military schools either at Cettigne for the infantry, or at Nikshitch for the artillery. They then receive full commissions and are sent to the local centres to superintend the training of the militia, thus gradually superseding the old militia officers, and replenishing the standing corps of officers of the regular army. Officers who have completed a course of study abroad are allowed to wear a distinctive emblem on the kapa. The war strength is estimated at from 38,000 to 42,000 men, the infantry being composed of about 32,000 men of the first ban and of 5000 or 6000 of the second or reserve (which, however, would scarcely be employed in the field), the artillery of about 1500. Considerable deduction must be made from these numbers in view of the emigration of recent years; according to some authorities between 20,000 and 22,000 men of military age are absent in America and elsewhere. It is expected, however, that many of these would return should the country become involved in war. The infantry is divided into 11 brigades, each containing from 4 to 6 battalions; the total number of battalions is 56. The battalion is composed of a varying number of tchete, or companies, each of which belongs to a separate clan and has its own bairaktar, or standard-bearer. The younger men of the first ban are occasionally exercised in the neighbourhood of their homes on Sundays and holidays. They are armed with the Moskovska (repeating) rifle, but a Berdan rifle is
- ↑ The krone = 10d. English.
