Servian

even in an Oriental land, where the subjection of women remains almost an article of faith. In every Servian household, except the few diplomatic families, who have acquired exotic ideas, wives and daughters are expected to fetch and carry, remain standing in the pres- Position of ence of their men, and dine together on the women. fragments that remain after dinner. It is easy to imagine the horror likely to be aroused among men brought up in such an atmosphere when they heard that their King actually consulted his consort on the affairs of state, had even been known to take her advice. The shock to the nation would be infinitely greater than if all the slanders of disappointed damsels had been proved in open court. The fact that her counsels were wise and moderate and generous would in no way extenuate the enormity of her presumption in holding opinions at all. Open immorality might easily have been condoned, but character and courage in a woman were held to be positively indecent. Yet her influence was always on the side of harmony and kindness. King Alexander, like every one else, could not fail to realize the national need of strong government, but he made every allowance for the prejudice of his subjects. His ear was always open to any man or party with a grievance; he was readily accessible to all classes, and listened with the utmost patience to every suggestion; and the mass of the people was by no

means ungrateful. Wherever I went in my Popularity travels through the country, I heard nothing Alexander. but good of him; praise of his tact, admiration

of King

The low

perpetra

crime.

for his talents, enthusiasm for his warm heart and personal charm,

The late revolution was not the handiwork of Servia. It was engineered by the low cunning of a handful of discredited ruffians. Examine the list of conspirators and provisional ministry: not a single name is associated with an honorable career or any deed of distinction. Jail-birds, bankrupts, needy lawtors of the yers, and gutter journalists are the new rulers of Servia, maintained in parlous authority by a gang of drunken young officers, half-maddened by their taste of blood. We are not to believe that the nation, or even the army, participated in the recent crime. The nation knew nothing of it until the whole tragedy was over. Then a reign of terror set in and the unarmed populace was impotent to protest; even the decencies of mourning were forcibly prohibited and orders were carried. out enforcing signs of hollow joy. In every town and village the prefects and their subordinates were compelled to do the work of regicides and coerce opinion. It is impossible not to marvel over the diabolical craft which has ordered the after-effects of the holocaust. No man in Servia could call his soul or his thoughts his own. The faintest show of disapproval would have meant instant death. I

terror.

know that at least twenty private citizens were put to death in Belgrade within the first few days of revolutionary rule. The simple procedure was to enter a man's house, shoot him through the head, and then calmly announce that he had committed suicide for some disgraceful reason. The whole story reads like a grossly improbable romance. I could understand a people being terrorized by a determined army, but it seems almost incredible that a people and an army should have been so completely overawed by a few hundred desperadoes. None of the superior offi- A reign of cers knew anything of the plot; the privates had to obey orders when they surrounded the palace, and, until the deed was done, they probably imagined that they had been called out to protect their King. Even when they learned what had happened, they were without leaders or initiative and were forced into a sullen acquiescence. Many officers were horror-struck when they heard what had happened, but it was too late to do anything, for all the army organization was in the hands of the conspirators. One faithful Colonel, Miloslav Zhivanovich (let his name go down to posterity), was found to have warned the King. He was shot in cold blood, and the news went forth that he had committed suicide in consequence of pecuniary troubles. Another officer, Lozar Jovanovitch, who refused to rejoice over his master's murder, was

6-Vol. 8

run through the body, and his assassins announced with grim cynicism that he had killed himself in mortification because he was deemed unworthy to participate in the "gallant deeds" at the palace. When the thanks of Parliament and the blessings of the Metropolitan are showered upon the "brave Servian army," those insults are not directed to the nation under arms, but to a small clique of criminals.

Not content with taking King Alexander's life with revolting savagery, the criminals set to work to traduce his memory. They remind me of the regicide Harrison, who said of King Charles I., "Let us blacken him." Mashin and his fellow-murderers have exBlackening pended infamous ingenuity in blackening victims. their royal victim. King Alexander died

the royal

fighting for his Queen; they represent him cowering in a cupboard. He was a Prince of singular wisdom and prudence; they suborn physicians to declare that his brain betokened incipient lunacy. They have gone on to discover all manner of compromising documents, which they had evidently forged and themselves placed in the Palace. Journalists and historians are often too ready to accept the first story that comes to their hands. judging of calumnies against the unfortunate victims of the Servian tragedy, they will do well to hesitate before they receive the tainted evidence of crafty criminals.

In

[Floods and conflagrations in Kansas and Nebraska. Tornado wipes out Gainesville, Ga. Prof. W. Markwald, of Berlin, exhibits his newly-discovered metal, polonium. Explosion at the lyd dite manufactory, Woolwich. Prof. Curie lectures at the Royal Institution on Radium. King Peter Karageorgevitch, the newly elected King of Servia, enters Belgrade after an absence of 45 years. Khedive of Egypt visits Sir Ernest Cassel in London. Railway accident in Spain on the Najerilla River (200 lives lost). Visit of M. Loubet to King of England. King Edward entertains officers of the U. S. Squadron at Buckingham Palace. Death of Leo XIII.]

Death of
Leo XIII.