[War with Turkey.] No. 464.-DECLARATION of War by Montenegro against Turkey. Cettigné, 2nd July, 1876. (Translation.*) The Prince of Montenegro to the Grand Vizier. I RECEIVED on the 26th instant, your Highness's telegram of the same date, and I thank you for the kind expressions contained therein. I see with satisfaction that the Sublime Porte is inclined to appreciate with more justice my conduct in the affairs of the Herzegovina. I regret that I cannot accept with the same feelings the assurances which your Highness gives me respecting the aggressive and vexatious measures of which I complained in my despatch of the 13th ultimo. Your Highness has not only been ill-informed, but positively deceived by the agents who have pretended to give him information, and who openly disobey his wishes. The blockade, although not formally notified, is none the less strictly enforced; if, for personal reasons, some Montenegrins are allowed to pass, on the other hand, great numbers are sent back to the frontier; those who proceed by the Lake to Scutari, are prevented from landing or expelled; localities in the Kaimakamlik of Antivari are also prohibited. The export of provisions is rigorously forbidden, which cannot be caused by famine in grain, which does not exist, inasmuch as if such reason had been true, the prohibition would have been announced, in accordance with custom and good relations. Not only are provisions prevented to be exported, but the same extends to animals, raw produce, manufactured articles, all merchandise required by our mountaineers and supplies of which they generally obtain from Albania. As to the concentration of forces, your Highness has likewise received false reports; to cite two examples only, five days before the despatch of your telegram, a camp of one brigade was installed at half an hour's march from my frontier, on the western shore of the Lake of Scutari; on the same day a battalion disembarked at Scutari. *For Turkish Notification (of the same date) of this Declaration of War by Montenegro, see "State Papers,' Vol. 67. Page 1241. [War with Turkey.] Besides, your Highness cannot fail to perceive what strategic meaning we must necessarily give to the formally expressed intention of excluding the district of Niksitch from any eventual armistice. Whilst learning with satisfaction that the facts enumerated are, with the exception of the latter, independent of the will of your Government, I must frankly inform your Highness that we are not reassured. The Montenegrin people are well aware that they are, from the very fact of their independence, subject to such enmity as their utter ruin only could satisfy, and from past experience they can recognise the signs which preceded former invasions. I can do no otherwise than to participate in their conviction, for I know full well that if I was not attacked two months ago, it is not due solely to the moderation of the late Government. On the other hand, and if, bearing in mind the sacrifices of every kind imposed upon us by the war in the Herzegovina, I have abstained from expressing the feelings with which we take part in it, I should not have to inform you that our sympathies are with our co-religionists, who, although politically separated from us, are in fact our brethren in blood, in customs, and in past misfortunes common to us both. Notwithstanding all this, resisting all solicitations and im- . pulses, I have striven to fulfil my international duties. When Foreign Powers, taking upon themselves to plead with His Majesty the Sultan the Christian cause, requested me to be neutral, I took the engagement and have kept it. It is useless to revert to the details of the successive attempts at pacification, unless it be to record that I assisted to the best of my power, and that with the consent of the Powers, I accepted the office of representing the insurgents in all the negotiations which have taken place for the re-establishment of peace. One thing only has been the result, the demonstration of the absolute impossibility of the Sublime Porte, notwithstanding the acknowledged sincerity of her good intentions, to give to her subjects of the revolted provinces the guarantees and institutions which alone could be reconciled with their legitimate aspirations and with the times in which we live. But from the nature of my co-operation in attempts at pacification, as well as from the general wish of the populations, powers have been given me and duties imposed upon me which dictate what I have to do. The very step which your Highness is pleased to [War with Turkey.] take is a further proof that the circumstances are stronger than the pacific wishes of the Governments. Considering also the increasing dangers which threaten my country, from the force of circumstances, and the ineffectual war desolating countries having a right to my assistance, I find myself under the absolute necessity of taking a decisive step without further delay, with profound regret at finding myself reduced to that extremity, and convinced that the Sublime Porte, if she had been able to do so, would have wished to avoid it as well as myself. I have now to announce to your Highness that the equivocal position of our relations, always strained, must from this day be replaced by the more defined situation of declared hostilities. NICHOLAS, Prince of Montenegro. [Reforms.] No. 465.-TURKISH IMPERIAL HATT, decreeing the formation of a General Council; declaring the necessity for Administrative, Financial, and Imperial Reforms; enjoining measures for the Pacification of Herzegovina, Bosnia, and Servia; and confirming Treaties with Foreign Powers. Constantinople, 10th September, 1876. TABLE. Establishment of a General Council. Public Offices. Education. Administrative, Financial, and Judicial Reforms. (Translation as laid before Parliament.) (Official Translation.) My Illustrious Vizier, Mehmed Ruchdi Pasha, OUR well-beloved brother, the Sultan Murad V, having been forced, by the will of Providence, to give up the reins of the State and the Caliphate, we have ascended the throne of our august ancestors in conformity with the Ottoman Law.* Knowing your well-known and tried patriotism, your perfect knowledge of the great interests of the State, we confirm you in the high post of Grand Vizier and President of the Council of Ministers. We confirm likewise all the Ministers and all the functionaries in their respective posts. We have boundless confidence in the aid and assistance of the Almighty in all things and under all circumstances. We have no other desire nor thought than to consolidate the bases on which rest the grandeur and glory of our Empire, and to secure to all our subjects, without exception, the benefits of liberty, peace, and justice. We have the full hope and conviction that all our Ministers and all the officials in our Empire will on their side not fail to contribute to this result in conformity with our example. * Sultan Abdul Aziz was deposed on the 30th May, 1876, and died on the 4th June following. He was succeeded by Sultan Murad V, who was deposed on the 31st August, and was succeeded by Sultan Abdul Hamed. [Reforms.] The origin and causes of the crisis through which our Empire is now passing, and which reproduces itself under different forms, are, it is true, manifold; but from whatever side they are regarded they may all be summed up under one head, viz., the imperfect execution of the laws which spring from the supreme edicts of the Cher'i, which is the fundamental base of our Empire, and the absolutism which every one has adopted, so to speak, as their rule in the conduct of affairs. If, indeed, the irregularities, of which for some time past now the administration and finances of our country have felt the effects, have reached their present pitch; if public opinion shows itself distrustful with respect to our credit; if the tribunals have not yet arrived at securing the rights of individuals; if it has not been yet possible to turn to account the natural resources which all the world allow that our country possesses, for industry, commerce, and agriculture, these fruitful sources of welfare and general prosperity; if, lastly, all the measures hitherto adopted, as well in the interests of the country as with a view to secure to all my subjects, without exception, the benefits of individual liberty, have not acquired more consistency in spite of the sincere intentions which dictated them, nor attained the proposed result, through a succession of variations and changes, all this can only be attributed to one cause, and that is, that the laws have not been regularly and constantly observed. This, therefore, should be the starting-place to-day for the measures which it is urgent should be adopted to settle the laws and regulations of the country on bases calculated to inspire confidence. Establishment of a General Council. For this purpose it is indispensable to proceed to the establishment of a General Council whose acts shall inspire the nation with all confidence, and shall be in accordance with the customs and capacities of the population of the Empire. This Council will have for its mission to guarantee, without exception, the faithful execution of the existing laws, or of those which shall be promulgated in accordance with the dispositions of the Cher'i, and with the real and legitimate wants of the country and nation, and to control the balance of the receipts and expenditure of the Empire. |