However, in the first days of 1814 the Austrians arrived and the
French, in their reduced condition, could hold out no longer. 1813 had
been a fatal year for Napoleon. The Montenegrin Bishop had addressed a
stirring appeal to the Bocchesi and others in September. "Slavs!" he
wrote. "Glorious and illustrious population of the Bocche di Cattaro,
of Dubrovnik and Dalmatia! Behold the moment to seize arms against the
destroyer of Europe, the universal foe who has attacked your religion,
ruined your churches.... He has put his taxes on the blood of your
veins and even on the corpses of your parents! What injustices has he
not committed?... Behold the hour of vengeance.... Croatia is
delivered, and Carniola, Triest, Istria, Rieka and Zengg. What else do
you wait for, O valiant Slavs of Dalmatia, of Dubrovnik and of Kotor?
By land the army of the Emperor of Austria, by sea that of the King of
England enter Dalmatia. They have taken Zadar and have arrived at
Makarska." ... [The Austrians, as a matter of fact, entered Dalmatia a
month after this proclamation was issued. The Bishop has allowed the
prophet in him to prevail over the chronicler.] "I am there," he
continues, "with my Montenegrins, ready to go where peril has to be
faced. The glory of the traitor Bonaparte has remained at Moscow and
Smolensk: no longer need we tremble before the Tyrant....
"Given at our Headquarters at Budva, 12/24 September 1813.