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Show M9 Tr"v j nn . -or - Tpfc tt-a Celebrates His Jubilee Nest Week and ontenegro s Despot Best Loved Ruler in Europe sZ"sr$sJz . . Nicholas. Five Girls Married Into - -BY HENRY CAB SLAKE. - Eoyal Families. Special Cablo to The Tribune. CETTTNJE, Aug. G. From next Saturday Sat-urday tho ruler of Montenegro aims to add his name to tho list of tho kings of Europe. On that date Princo Nicholas Nicho-las will begin to celebrate tho .-jubilee of his reign and his quarter of a million subjects hold him worthy of the highest title that can bo given. Bib nations with far flung territories may smile, thov Bay, but thoro is spirit enough in little Montenegro Lo equip any kingdom. king-dom. Such devotion from the people to tho throno is fully reciprocated. That is why Nicholas is ono of the best beloved be-loved rulers iu tho world. In ovory Montenegrin homo thoy treasuro theso princely words: "My country is a wilderness of stonos, it is arid, it is poor hut I adoro at. And if I were offered tho whole of the Balkan Peninsula in exchange, ex-change, why I would not hoar ono word." Certain circumstahcos to be ovokod by his golden iubrileo will mako it noteworthy note-worthy in tho annals of sovereigns. His territory is the poorest in tho world, his people tho most patriarchal, his capital tho smallest. But a inugmiicoiit family of throe brave sous and seVen beautiful daughters, fivo of whom aro marriod into royal houses, tho prospect of his proclamation as king and tho movement m favor of a Danubian confederation, all lend importance to tho coming celo-brations. celo-brations. Oldest Eelgnlng Sovereign. With tho exception of the emperor of Austria ho is the oldest reigning sovereign. sov-ereign. For ho was born October 7, ISdl, and proclaimed prince on August IS, nineteen years lator. Princo Nicholas's Nicho-las's father and fathor-in law were Ins subjects first subjects, if you will for his father was president of the somite and his father-in-law president of tho couueu ol: state, rrince JNicnojas is the sevonth of his lino and tho house of Potrovitch, to which he belongs, has roignod two hundred and .seventeen years. Still a distinguished looking septuagenarian, ho was vory handsome in his youth, aud as a child was permitted per-mitted to run wild among his native mountains. Ho is a good linguist, spoak-ing spoak-ing French, Italian and German quite fluently. In his youth he wrote poetry with lines that did not limp. And now after having boon dragged by tho will o' the wisp of philosophy over tho dreary quagmires of speculation, ho has returned to his first love and woos the' muses successfully. Two good tragedies. "The Empress of tho Balkans" and "Princo Arbaint," aro to his credit Those aro played today in the little theater of Cottinje, lho capital of. Montenegro, Mon-tenegro, and ho means to build a new-national new-national playhouso soon. Sinco tho beginning of his reign Princo Nicholas has been' the personification personi-fication of benevolcut despotism. Though bo has given his country a constitution con-stitution ombodying universal suffrage and a single chamber, a frco press and frco compulsory education ho still exercises exer-cises many prerogatives. Tho princo alone can declare war or peace; ho signs treaties, is head of tho army, makes and unmakes ministries, appoints officials' and enforces tho acceptance of tho budgot in case of a dispute between government and parliament. He is vir-tuallj- his own prime minister and is actual l3r his owTn lord chancellor. Ho ; distributes arms and teaches his people peo-ple how to uso them. Ho oven sits in .judgment in important civil cases. Thus Prince Nicholas is ruler, generalissimo, general-issimo, premier, chaucollor, master-at-arms, judge, playwright and poet laureate. lau-reate. In a word, lie is all the crow that counts. Turk His Enemy. The life-long struggle of Priuco Nicholas and his pooplo has been again at pinclunjr poverty and the persecuting perse-cuting Turk. Tho two hundred and fifty thousand people whom ho governs are nearly all pastoral. Cottinje, his capital, is only a mountain townlot of tbroo thousand souls, mostly shepherds, who pasture their flocks on tho neighboring neigh-boring hills. Tho peoplo aro hardy, bravo, patriotic, and won thoir indepon-denco indepon-denco from tho Turks after many sharp struggles. Twice Franco stepped in and saved them from tho voracious Moslem. Mos-lem. So long has war been their calling that thoy think it dishonorablo to die in their beds. Since tho treaty of Berlin, Montenegro bus oujoyod comparative security and Prince Nicholas has given a turn to tho minds of his peoplo in the direction of tho ploitghsharo without, however, surrendering tho sword. In one day tho princo had two hundred and fifty thousand seeds planted iu Montenegro simply by issuing an order that each of his subjects should plant one. A Montenegrin proverb still in full force is: "You might as well take from mo my brother us my rifle." Tho wives, daughters and sisters of theso brave mountaineers carry powder, food and drink for tho soldiers when maneuvering maneuver-ing or in war. Tho palaco in which Prince Nicholas lives is a wonder iu its way. The ground floor is covered with trophies of tho cliaso. On tho walls aro guns of every sort, Ono sees Arab mualcots inlaid with ivory, Italian halberds and Moslem scimitars. Room has been made among tho warlike weapons for four large portraits ono of the Crown Princo Danilo, one of tho late Empress Elizabeth of Austria, one of Princo Mirko, tho second son, and ono of PrincocKs Consort Milcna. Tho Prince entertains his more athletic guests by hunting tho wolf or that scriptural bird of tho wilderness, the pelican. Has Ton Children. Princo Nicholas has raised a family largo onough to satisfy even the requirements re-quirements of Colonol Roosevelt. For ho is tho fathor of ten children and nocossity if not choice has compollod him to bring them up in accordanco with the strictost priuciplos of the simple lifo as expounded by Dr. Wagner. Wag-ner. They aro a family of mountaineers, mountain-eers, musicians, hunters and poets. Prince Nicholas aud Princess Milcna wero tho teachers oftheir own cbildron. Tho princo taught them French and Russian, , history and geography. The Criiicoss taught her girls music, cni-roidory, cni-roidory, dressmaking and cooking. Outdoor sports formed a part of the curriculum. All wero adopts at tennis and today tho former Montenegrin princoss, Queen Helona of Italy, is one of the best shots in Europe. The girls wero sent to St. Petersburg to complete their education. Five of theso womon have won ro3'al husbands with their large melancholy melan-choly eyes. Tho eldest daughter, Princess Zurka, married Princo Peter Karageorgcvitchj now king of Servia. She is dead, and tho widowed king has tried lo console himself by .seeking an American wife. Princess jMilit.ji married the Grand Duko Peter ,Nico)a-vaiovitch, ,Nico)a-vaiovitch, and Princess Anastasia married mar-ried Prince Konianowski, the Duke of Lonchtenberg. Both, ' therefore, havo joinod thoir fortunes to th" royal house of Russia. Princess Helena's marriago to the Prince of Naploa, now king of Italy, was a love match. Thoy met at Moscow, Mos-cow, and it was a caso of love at' first sight. "L'm going to Naples, what shall I .bring you'?" asked Qucn Helena of tho young daughter of an Italian colonel. "A doll which speaks and dances," replied tho delighted child. Then turning turn-ing to the child's little brother, the queen queried: "And you, darling, what' do you wish?" "A pony, but not in pasteboard: a real pony that runs," gleefully answered ans-wered the boy Queen Helena nout a doll and a pony to tho children of her friend. The in1 fident illustrates her life in Italy. Princess Anna is married to his serene highiioss, Francis .Toscph, Prince of Battenberg, and Princess Xonia and rrineoss Vora aro srill unmarried. Like his father, tho heir ' to Tho i throno is fond of hunting tho wolf. IIo is n colonol of tho Russian army. Aud this is no wondor, for tho late Czar spoko of Princo Dauilo's father as "my only friend." Ho is aldo a colonel of tho Sorvian arury. Thero is a closo attachment between Moutene-grins Moutene-grins and Servians, for they have l x jz PRINCESS CONSORT MTT.ENA, PRINCE NICHOLAS, QUEEN HELENA, of Montenegro, of Montenegro. of Italy. . tho sumo language, roligiou, poetrj-music poetrj-music and tradition. About Princo Mirko. , Prince Mirko, tho second son, is also a colonol of tho RuHsiau and Sorvian armies. Ho -prefers tho easy hunt of tho pelican to the fatiguing cliaso of tho wolf. Ho is an excellent musician. He has composed a march dedicated to Rome, which has been played in tho National theater of the Eternal City. Like Queen Helena, who has written sonnets on Venice, he is poetic, and can turn off romantic verso with graceful caso. Tho Bonjamin of the family is Prince Peter, who is only twenty-one. Tho Princess Helena was nis uurso, and so attached was she to her youngest brother that on tho day she left the Black mountain to marr3 Princo Yictor Emanuel tho littlo bov had to bo torn from her arms. Her girlish gloo at' seeing see-ing 500 white carrier pigeons let loose in Rome to tell lho good tidings of her marriage helped her to bear up aguinst tho sorrow of parting. It would bo a graceful thing to make the venerable Princo Nicholas a king on tho occasion of his jubilee. He is endeared to his people by many ties, the strongest of which is tho Homeric battles ho has fought against the Turks. Only ono namo can approach oven remotely tho veneration in which ho is held. That is the name of the Into William Ewart Gladstone, which I found to bo as well known among the mountain shepherds of Montenegro as among tho politicians of "Westminster. Of former Turkish possessions in Europe, Roumania has its king, so has Servia, so has Bulgaria. Why should uot Montenegro have hers? It would .bo another sten toward a Balkan confederation, con-federation, and Turkey may. as wcjl surrender her nominal suzerainty over tho mountain principality. The Crescent Cres-cent is disappearing before the Cross on this sido of the Bosphorus, Tho arch that "spanned the ample regions from Bagdad to Belgrade" no longer exists. |