At last General Milutinović lost patience, and when a deputation of nobles came to propose a series of administrative reforms which would have prepared the way for the restoration of the Constitution, he threatened to imprison all who took part in secret conclaves, and in his report of April 4 he denounced the nobles for their correspondence with the Turks. But when he departed to attack Cattaro for the second time, he left a Hungarian officer named Wittman, a weak and incapable person, in charge, and under his feeble rule the plots began again. The nobles succeeded in winning back Caboga to their side, by showing him (according to Pisani) some forged documents, in which it was stated that the Congress really intended to re-establish Ragusan independence; fearing, therefore, that if the nobles came into power once more they would exile him and confiscate his property, he communicated some valuable documents to them, such as Lowen’s proclamation at Ragusavecchia of Ragusan independence, which they sent to England to be submitted to the Congress by the British Ministers. But when Caboga saw that he had been hoodwinked, he returned to Austrian allegiance. A deputation of nobles went to Zara to wait on General Tomasić, but without result. On July 13 Milutinović returned in triumph from Cattaro, which he had reduced to order, and made the following proclamation:— “The Imperial and Royal Chancery has been pleased to inform me by a Note of January 3 that, in consequence of an agreement between the allied Powers, the territory included under the name of Illyria during the rule of Napoleon, and consequently the State of Ragusa, the islands depending from it, and the Bocche di Cattaro are definitely made over to the Imperial and Royal Court of Austria. “I notify this decision so that the inhabitants of the said provinces may learn their fate, and try to deserve, by a prompt and loyal submission, the effects of the benevolence of Our august Sovereign the Emperor and King Francis I. “By the Civil and Military Government of Dalmatia, Ragusa, and Cattaro. “Baron TOMASIĆ, _Feldmarschall-Lieutenant_. “By authentic copy. “MILUTINOVIĆ, _General-Major_. “ZARA, _July 7_.”