He notices, I think, that something is going on outside
ourselves; but he keeps a resolute silence. What the movement going on is I cannot guess. It is not like the
uneasiness that went before the abduction of Teuta and the Voivode, but
it is even more pronounced. That was an uneasiness founded on some
suspicion. This is a positive thing, and has definite meaning--of some
sort. We shall, I suppose, know all about it in good time. In the
meantime we go on with our work. Happily the whole Blue Mouth and the
mountains round it are on my own property, the portion acquired long ago
by Uncle Roger, exclusive of the Vissarion estate. I asked the Voivode
to allow me to transfer it to him, but he sternly refused and forbade me,
quite peremptorily, to ever open the subject to him again. "You have
done enough already," he said. "Were I to allow you to go further, I
should feel mean. And I do not think you would like your wife's father
to suffer that feeling after a long life, which he has tried to live in
honour." I bowed, and said no more. So there the matter rests, and I have to take
my own course. I have had a survey made, and on the head of it the
Tunnel to the harbour is begun. BOOK VIII: THE FLASHING OF THE HANDJAR


PRIVATE MEMORANDUM OF THE MEETING OF VARIOUS MEMBERS OF THE NATIONAL
COUNCIL, HELD AT THE STATE HOUSE OF THE BLUE MOUNTAINS AT PLAZAC ON
MONDAY, AUGUST 26, 1907. (_Written by Cristoferos_, _Scribe of the Council_, _by instruction of
those present_.) When the private meeting of various Members of the National Council had
assembled in the Council Hall of the State House at Plazac, it was as a
preliminary decided unanimously that now or hereafter no names of those
present were to be mentioned, and that officials appointed for the
purposes of this meeting should be designated by office only, the names
of all being withheld. The proceedings assumed the shape of a general conversation, quite
informal, and therefore not to be recorded. The nett outcome was the
unanimous expression of an opinion that the time, long contemplated by
very many persons throughout the nation, had now come when the
Constitution and machinery of the State should be changed; that the
present form of ruling by an Irregular Council was not sufficient, and
that a method more in accord with the spirit of the times should be
adopted. To this end Constitutional Monarchy, such as that holding in
Great Britain, seemed best adapted. Finally, it was decided that each
Member of the Council should make a personal canvass of his district,
talk over the matter with his electors, and bring back to another
meeting--or, rather, as it was amended, to this meeting postponed for a
week, until September 2nd--the opinions and wishes received. Before
separating, the individual to be appointed King, in case the new idea
should prove grateful to the nation, was discussed. The consensus of
opinion was entirely to the effect that the Voivode Peter Vissarion
should, if he would accept the high office, be appointed. It was urged
that, as his daughter, the Voivodin Teuta, was now married to the
Englishman, Rupert Sent Leger--called generally by the mountaineers "the
Gospodar Rupert"--a successor to follow the Voivode when God should call
him would be at hand--a successor worthy in every way to succeed to so
illustrious a post. It was urged by several speakers, with general
acquiescence, that already Mr. Sent Leger's services to the State were
such that he would be in himself a worthy person to begin the new
Dynasty; but that, as he was now allied to the Voivode Peter Vissarion,
it was becoming that the elder, born of the nation, should receive the
first honour. THE SAME--_Continued_. The adjourned meeting of certain members of the National Council was
resumed in the Hall of the State House at Plazac on Monday, September
2nd, 1907. By motion the same chairman was appointed, and the rule
regarding the record renewed. Reports were made by the various members of the Council in turn,
according to the State Roll. Every district was represented. The
reports were unanimously in favour of the New Constitution, and it was
reported by each and all of the Councillors that the utmost enthusiasm
marked in every case the suggestion of the Voivode Peter Vissarion as the
first King to be crowned under the new Constitution, and that remainder
should be settled on the Gospodar Rupert (the mountaineers would only
receive his lawful name as an alternative; one and all said that he would
be "Rupert" to them and to the nation--for ever). The above matter having been satisfactorily settled, it was decided that
a formal meeting of the National Council should be held at the State
House, Plazac, in one week from to-day, and that the Voivode Peter
Vissarion should be asked to be in the State House in readiness to
attend. It was also decided that instruction should be given to the High
Court of National Law to prepare and have ready, in skeleton form, a
rescript of the New Constitution to be adopted, the same to be founded on
the Constitution and Procedure of Great Britain, so far as the same may
be applicable to the traditional ideas of free Government in the Land of
the Blue Mountains. By unanimous vote this private and irregular meeting of "Various National
Councillors" was then dissolved. RECORD OF THE FIRST MEETING OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF THE LAND OF THE
BLUE MOUNTAINS, HELD AT PLAZAC ON MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 9TH, 1907, TO
CONSIDER THE ADOPTION OF A NEW CONSTITUTION, AND TO GIVE PERMANENT EFFECT
TO THE SAME IF, AND WHEN, DECIDED UPON. (_Kept by the Monk Cristoferos_, _Scribe to the National Council_.) The adjourned meeting duly took place as arranged. There was a full
attendance of Members of the Council, together with the Vladika, the
Archbishop, the Archimandrites of Spazac, of Ispazar, of Domitan, and
Astrag; the Chancellor; the Lord of the Exchequer; the President of the
High Court of National Law; the President of the Council of Justice; and
such other high officials as it is customary to summon to meetings of the
National Council on occasions of great importance. The names of all
present will be found in the full report, wherein are given the ipsissima
verba of the various utterances made during the consideration of the
questions discussed, the same having been taken down in shorthand by the
humble scribe of this precis, which has been made for the convenience of
Members of the Council and others. The Voivode Peter Vissarion, obedient to the request of the Council, was
in attendance at the State House, waiting in the "Chamber of the High
Officers" until such time as he should be asked to come before the
Council. The President put before the National Council the matter of the new
Constitution, outlining the headings of it as drawn up by the High Court
of National Law, and the Constitution having been formally accepted _nem.