The Express.
London, England, 1853-11-29 00:00:00

SERVIA.

We have several letters from :his principality to
the 18th instant. Nothing is to be learnt from them
respecting the hostilities which rage so near to Bel-
grade, but the particulars relating to Servian
affairs which they contain are of unusual interest.
The expulsion of the Russian consul-general was the
universal topic of discussion. 'I he agents of the
European governments at semi-sovereign states like
Servia and Egypt, do not take a regular diplomatic
title out of deference to the sovereign power, but in
fact they are accustomed to claim and receive all the
consideration which is usually conceded to members
of the coy, diplomatique in independent states. M.
Muchin had only been in Servia three weeks, when
the difficulty which ended in his expulsion arose.
He had visited Prince Alexander, and had received
the visit of the Servian minister in return, but he
had not been recognised by the consuls of France
and England, who, judging according to the law and
usage which regulate matters, declared that in de-
fault of the herat or exequatur of the sovereign
Porte, M. Machin was a consul but in name.
It is no secret that when the Czar and the Sultan
were nominally at peace, the agents of Russia were
fomenting discords between Servia and the Porte,
and endeavouring to draw over the people of Servia
from their Prince and his sovereign to the side of
their master. It was, therefore, altogether out of the
question to allow a Russian agent to establish direct
relations with one of the feudatories of the Porte,
and carry on his machinations under the eye of the
Turkish Pacha who keeps the citadel of Belgrade ;
and accordingly Izzet Pacha roundly told the Prince
of Servia that he must expel M. Machin, and that
without delay. That this requisition was complied
with our readers already know.
The excitement prevailing at Belgrade, as well as
in the interior of Servia, is described as very
great. The first and last object of the Prince and
his leading councillors is to maintain the neutrality
of the province. By treaty Servia is bound to aid
the Porte in its present struggle, but it is not by
any means likely that the Sultan will demand this
, assistance. The Servians are fellow-believers with
the Czar. Their church, however, is totally inde-
pendent of the jurisdiction of Russian spiritual au-
thority, the Archbishop of Belgrade, the metropo-
litan of Servia, exercising full power throughout the
principality. At the same time religious
I affinities are strong enough to restrain the
Servians from taking up arms against Rus-
sia. Against Itabsia they will plead duty
to the Sultan, against the Sultan the Servian
government will all( ge the impossibility of inducing
the people to fight against the protecting power.
There are many reasons why the Prince and people
of Servia should embrace the cause of the Porte at
the present juncture. It was the Sultan who stood
by Alexander Georgewitch, the actual Prince, when
in 1843 his nomination was condemned by the Czar
Nicholas and Lord Aberdeen. That youth, as Lord
Aberdeen called him (he was only torty-five years of
age), has seen the Porte offend its faithful Maho-
metan Bosniacks, and provoke an insurrection only
to be put down by the skill and conduct of Omer
Pacha, in its determination that this Christian prin-
cipality should flourish in the full enjoyment of its
rights and franchises.
It was only in the spring of this present year that
the Servian Prince received from the Russian consul-
general a peremptory summons to dismiss from his
councils a wise and popular, but too independent
minister, M. Garaschnin, President of the Adminis-
trative Council. The summons was obeyed, and it
was followed by renewed demands for the dismissal
of ministers. Bat the people and senate came to
the help of the Prince. The latter voted a resolu-
tion continuing to M. Garaschnin his salary, although
he had resigned office, and presented to Prince Alex-
ander an address in which it declared that the
removal of the minister had caused it the greatest
pain, and then said: "The National Council sees with
great regret that the Russian government, not content
with the great sacrifice which Servia has just made,
has put forward claims which tend to violate the
constitution, and necessarily cause a most powerful
impression in the national mind. The National
Council approaches your Highness with the assur-
ance that, in common with your Highness and with
the whole Servian nation, it acknowledges the neces-
sity of defending the constitution; that it shares the
enthusiasm of your Highness for the interests of the
fatherland, and is ready with all its forces to assist
your Highness, in word and deed, in whatever you
may fled it good to undertake for the defence of the
national rights."
Such was the language which the Serviau senate
felt itself called to hold in relation to Russian pre-
tensions no later than March last. It cannot, there-
fore, be said that the Porte and the Principality have
not a common interest in resisting the aggressive
advances of the Czar.