Accustomed as I had been to the color of Turner as the aspect of the
Grand Canal, it seemed to me that what I saw from the steamer was
the ghost of Venice, pallid, wan, faded to tints which were only the
suggestion of Turner's, but still lovely in their fading, and the
impression was more pathetic than it would have been with all the glow
of the great Englishman's palette. My wife met me at the steamer,
and we went home by short stages, for I was too weak to bear a long
railway journey.
CHAPTER XXX
THE WAR OF 1876
I returned to Montenegro in the following June, after the diplomacy of
Europe had vainly and discordantly discussed mediation all the winter.
An armistice had suspended hostilities, but the Turks continued the
concentration of troops on the frontiers of the principality, north
and south, and refused the conditions of the Prince for a peaceful
solution. Everything waited for the acceptance by Servia of the
programme for the war which was to be declared by the principalities
against Turkey. The official declaration of war took place on the 2d
of July, and on the 3d the Prince set out with flying banners for the
conquest of the Herzegovina. My orders being to remain in touch with
the telegraph, I had to resign the pleasure of the campaign, and
I passed the time in studying up accessories. The Prince started
directly for Mostar, accompanied by the Austrian military attach?,
Colonel Thoemel, one of the most intensely anti-Montenegrin Austrian
officials I ever met.
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