In late November 1830, Radonjić wrote to vice-consul Gagić in Dubrovnik complaining about Cetinje's inability to hold the tribes together and the anarchy that was sweeping through the countryside. This apparently led him to conspire with the Austrians to have Njegoš removed from his throne and have him replaced by his cousin, Đorđije. On orders from Franjo Tomašić, the governor of the Kingdom of Dalmatia, the commander of Fort Dubrovnik met Radonjić at Kotor on . Radonjić left Montenegro without informing Njegoš or the other chieftains, raising much suspicion. His meeting with the Austrian commander did not remain a secret for very long. On 28 November, a group of Montenegrins who happened to be visiting Kotor noticed Radonjić in the company of a few Austrian officers. They stormed the house where the meeting was taking place, exchanged obscenities with Radonjić and hurried back to Cetinje to report on what they had seen; Njegoš was furious. In a letter to Gagić dated , he wrote: "Radonjić to the Kotor hinterland ... without anybody's notice, but on his own ... and there met some imperial general and other imperial men, having in mind to give up Montenegro and place it under their protection thinking that after the late "vladika"'s death there were no sons of Montenegro allied to glorious Russia."