The disturbances in Montenegro did not cease; a country through which
you could formerly drive with less risk than in Paris, was now infested
by outlaws and those who pursued them. And Count de Salis, who had
served as H.B.M.'s Minister at Cetinje, was sent back to Montenegro on a
mission of inquiry. His report was not published, for the reason that he
did not beat about the bush in his references to the Italians and for
the further reason that he gave the names of those persons from whom he
culled his information. This was a fine opportunity for the foreign
busybodies who were thrusting their silly little knives into Yugoslavia.
"Count de Salis reports clearly and unmistakably," said Mr. Ronald
M'Neill in the House of Commons, "that in his judgment the wish of the
Montenegrin people is to retain their own sovereign and their own
independence." When Sir Hamar Greenwood subsequently, speaking for the
Government, threw out a hint that this was not the case, it was amusing
to see how the pro-Nikita party lost their interest in the report. A
certain Mr. Herbert Vivian sent from Italy in April 1920 a most
ferocious indictment against the Serbs in Montenegro to a London paper
called the _British Citizen_. He said that the Countess de Salis, while
at Cetinje, was in danger of her life. But the lady has been dead for
many years. I presume this is the same Mr. Vivian who in a book,
_Servia, the Poor Man's Paradise_, trembles with rage whenever a Serb
speaks admiringly of Gladstone.
VARIOUS BRITISH COMMENTATORS
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