The Sun.
London, England, 1859-01-24 00:00:00

THE PUBLIC MEN OF SEE VIA.

The following sketch of the members of the
family recently brought uppermost by the turn of
the wheel in Servia, with some account of the rule
of Alexander Karageorgevitsch, in his turn expelled
to make way again for Milosch, will be of interest
in the present juncture of affairs. The career of
these personages, in all its singular vicissitudes,
comprehends the history of Servia, from the first
recognition of her independence to the time at
which we write. The individuals briefly noticed
towards the conclusion of the sketch, Elias Gara-
schanin and Wuksitsch Peritschisch, also present,
each in his way, a distinct type of semi-civilisation
hardly known to western Europe.
First, then, of Milosch Obrenovitsch. The son
of a labourer in Tescha, and of the widow of a
peasant in somewhat better circumstances at Obren,
Milosch was born in 1780, grew up among extreme
poverty, and eked out a scanty existence by tend-
ing cattle. While employed, in 1804, in this ca-
pacity, by a brother, born of his mother's first
marriage, the oppressions of the Turks occa-
sioned the rebellion, by means of which Black
George became famous. The distinguished bravery of
the young cattle-herd was insufficient to efface the
taint of his humble origin, and he therefore attached
the surname Obrenovitsch to his paternal designa-
tion, with a view to obtaining the appearance of
more distinguished birth. He was entrusted by the
people with the administration of three districts,
but Black George, through jealousy, limited his
power to one small and insignificant division ; and
upon Milosch joining a conspiracy against him,
would even have commanded his execution, had not
his young rival been so universally beloved. In
1813 the Turks again made an inroad into Servia.
Milosch was commissioned to defend the Bosnian
frontier, and held an unfortified village 17 days
against a greatly superior force. He did not relin-
quish his post until it was reduced to ruins, and
then hastened to join another detachment. All
had, however, fled, and he too hurried towards the
Saave, but halted upon the bank of the river.
" Brothers," he replied to the entreaties of his com-
rades that he would accompany them across the
river, " I will not go empty-handed into Germany
and allow the Turks to carry off and sell my old
mother, my wife, and my children into slavery. I
will return to my district, where my people are
still in arms. So many have fallen under my guid-
ance, that I will stand or fall with my country-
men." He returned to his command, but finding
resistance unavailing, was compelled finally to sur-
render to the Turks. He even rendered them ser-
vices, and aided in the suppression of fresh out-
breaks.

Milosch was one day in the suite of the Pacha of
Belgrade, when the head of an old companion in
arms was brouuht in. " Seest thou that head, re-
bel ?" said one of the suite to him. " Beware ! thy
turn will come soon." " Friend," replied the wily
Milosch, " I have long known that the head which
I carry on my shoulders is not mine." The hint,
however, was not lost. A day or two afterwards
he procured leave of absence, and repaired to Bruss-
nitza, where he possessed a small estate. His
patriotism revived when he found his safety threa-
tened, and he no longer withdrew from the urgent
impatience of his friends. His preparations being
completed, he presented himself, carrying the
Servian national flag, on Palm Sunday, 1815,t0 the
people, and proclaimed a renewal of the war. The
contest which ensued was one of singular vicissi-
tude. At one time Milosch was at the head of a
considerable force, with which he achieved import-
ant victories at Ertari and on the Matschwa ; at
another he was deserted by all, and forced to seek
concealment in the mountains. In time, however,
he succeeded in compelling the Turks to conclude
an armistice, and to recognise his nomination by
the Servian people as their prince.
The Turko-Russian treaty of Akjerman estab-
lished the present state of affairs. Important privi-
leges were conceded to the Servians—free choice of
their ruler, independent courts of justice, and of
internal administration, with right to levy their
own taxes to raise a stipulated tribute. Milosch
hoped to gain Bosnia and the Herzegovina in con-
sequence of the war of 1821, but the Russians
declined his assistance, because a Servian kingdom
extending from the Danube to the Adriatic by no
means suited their plans. They required, indeed,
that their protege should forbid the passage of the
Turks posted in Bosnia, and thereby cover their
right flank. Even for this not unimportant service
they manifested little gratitude, and forgot their
promise of procuring for Milosch in the Adrianople
negotiations for peace the transmission of his title
to his heirs. He attained this eagerly-desired end
by a decree of the Sublime Porte in August, 1830.
The same arts of corruption which he brought into
play upon this occasion called forth the hatti-

icheriffs of June 4 and December 4, 1834, by which
his last differences with the Porte were arranged.
In order to secure within that peace already
attained from without, Milosch became a stern and
frequently cruel ruler. He was a faithful imitator
of what he had seen done by the Turks in his youth,
the sole difference being that he substituted deca-
pitation for impalement. With all this neither

system nor principle had a place in his policy.
According to the humour of the moment, and just
as his inborn craft led him to adopt this or that
expedient, he humiliated the wealthy or injured
the poor. In place of attaching to him one of the
two native parties, either the people or the nobles,
he offended both, treated every one who preferred a
complaint before him, with contumely, and perpe-
trated exactions ; and, after having excited the
wrath of the majority of the nobles, he had the
houses of 200 poor people in the Saavestrasse, at
Belgrade, burnt to the ground, because he required
the site for a bazaar. His chief reliance was upon
his Momaks (body-guard), an armed suite, without
whom he never appeared in public. The universal
discontent encouraged the nobles to an outbreak
(1835), which he was unable to quell. His prestige
was gone, and his violation of the constitution
which he had accepted, combined with Russian in-
trigues, deprived him finally of all power of resist-
ance. On the occasion of a fresh revolt his Momaks
were surrounded by militia at the convent of Rako-
witz, and laid down their arms. On the 13th
June, 1839, he signed his abdication, and quitted
the country two days later.
His exile was soothed by the possession of an
enormous fortune, as he owned large estates in
Wallachia and in the Austrian States, and had
prudently deposited in the time of his power
1,600,000 ducats in the Bank of Vienna. His
appeals for assistance to foreign courts were as in-
effectual as the intrigues he constantly set on foot
in Servia. In 1848 he imagined his restoration
was at hand, and fell into the snare laid for him by
Ludwig Gaj, Illyrian agitator, who, seeing himself
crossed in other plans by Milosch, enticed the latter
to Agram, and retained him some time in confine-
ment. Russia forgave his having desired to render
himself independent as the Servian ruler, and he
then became the subservient tool of the late Czar.
During the recent war he raised a corps of Servian
volunteers at his own expense, to overrun Servia
and Bosnia, and open the way to the Greeks in
llessalv, but the Austrians, under Count Coronini,
defeated the scheme. The result of the present
revolution proves how successfully he has employed
his wealth in purchasing adherents in Servia since
1848.

MICHAEL OBRENOVITSCH, younger son of Milosch,
was horn September 4, 1823, and, together with
his elder brother, Milan, educated first by the Rus-
sian Professor Zoritsch, and from 1837 entrusted
to the care of a young Triestine Greek, Banos,
from whom the youths received instruction in modern
languages. Michael was upon the point of making
a tour through Europe when the troubles broke out
which unseated his father. Servia then received
the constitution now in operation. After the
downfall of Milosch his eldest son was called upon
to assume the sovereignty, but died three weeks
afterwards of decline. The Porte nominated
Michael as his successor, associating with him a
regency, not one of three members of which was
favourably disposed towards the young ruler. His
uncle, Jephrem, intrigued for his
nephew's over-
throw in his own favour and the other two
m
of the regency desired the accession of the son of
Black George. The powerful hand of Russia was
Michael's only support, and he in return so im-
plicitly followed the advice of the Russian consul,
Waschtschenko, that Servia was to all intents and
purposes a Russian province. Two of the members
of the regency were expelled by outbreaks got up
by Russian agency, but the ambitious Jephrem was
ntained as scapegoat for unpopular measures. The
two exiles intrigued with such success as to lead
the governmentbring ianbtoon
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seeking toand
efforts were exerted to avert this danger. They
entrusted, therefore, the most important posts to
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In the meantime they embittered the nation by
el i einn ta t oppressor.ed
their tyrannical decrees and violations of the law,
by their boundless persecutions, and by a large
increase of the already heavy taxation. The last
drop in the cup was the tax upon acorns, which the
Servian finds in quantities in the forests of his
native land, and requires for his herds of swine, in
Which consists his principal wealth, A Turkish

Plenipotentiary warned the infatuated ruler in
vain, and the advance of a Turkish division to the
vicinity of the frontier created no impression. The
troubles which broke out in some districts were
pertinaciously ascribed to the influence of Milosch,
and patriots again placed at the head of the
troops charged to suppress the movement. The
object of the discontented party was thereby
half achieved, and with assistance of Wurczicz
and Petroniewicz (noticed further on), who
had in the meantime returned from Constanti-
nople, an outbreak took place in the summer, which
the Prince endeavoured to subdue with 10,000 troops.
These, however, equally with his other adherents,
deserted him ; although he twice attempted to give
battle, the same scene was repeated upon each occa-
sion. He sought refuge upon Austrian territory,
Sept. 7, 1842.
Shortly afterwards the Scuptschina decreed the
deposition of the Obrenovitsch family. Prince
Michael had withdrawn to Semlin, whither he had
been followed by the European consuls. The pre-
sence of the diplomatists awakening within him a
last gleam of hope, he protested to the Porte against
the decision of the Scuptschina, but without effect.
Intervention of the great powers in his favour met
with a little success, and he was given to understand
that he must quit Semlin, as his presence so near
the frontier was productive of disquiet. He has
since devoted himself to study and travel, and has
insignificant.
ALEXANDER politically speaking,
ALEXANDER KARAGEORGEVITSCIL—When the
Servians, in the war which Austria and Russia
conjointly undertook against Turkey, took up arms
for their faith and were vanquished, an old man with
his son fled towards the Saave. At sight of the
river which would separate him from his native
land for ever, the old man declared that he would
return and surrender to the Turks, for he could not
live away from his mountains. The old man re-
maining deaf to the prayers and entreaties of his
son, the youth exclaimed, " Shall I live to see my
father tortured to death by the Moslems?" and
drawing a pistol shot his father through the heart,
divided his effects among their companions, and
crossed over to the Austrian territory. This youth
was George, from that time forth surnamed the
Black—in the Servian dialect Czerny, in the Tur-
kish Kara. He distinguished himself in, all the
' engagements which followertwith the Turks, and
soon attained the chief command. In 1811 he was
Prince of Servia, supported, however, only by the
people ; the aristocratic party were opposed to him,
and at their secret instigation he was induced, in
the next engagement, to divide his troops, who
were successively defeated. Being informed
that the hostility of the Turks was directed
against him personally, and that if he would with-
draw a favourable peace might be concluded, he
went a second time into exile, and during his ab-
sence Milosch usurped the supreme power. Two
years after, as Black George was returning to Ser-
via, he was beset by assassins almost upon the
frontier, shot, and his head despatched to Constan-
tinople.
The son of this Servian hero, Alexander Kara-
georgevitsch, was born Sept. 29, 1806, at Topolo.
He was about ten at his father's death, and had
been placed up to that period in an ordinary school
in Bessarabia. After that catastrophe his mother
brought him to Wallachia, where she received a
moderate pension. As long as Milosch was at the
head of affairs Alexander dared not re-enter Servia,
but he was recalled by Michael Obrenovitsch, who
nominated him his adjutant. He soon became the
pivot of one of those intrigues incessantly carried
on in the country. The so-called national party
attached themselves to his fortunes, and Prince
Michael was no sooner expelled than he was called
upon to assume the sovereignty. A popular as-
sembly, which met September 14, 1842, at Belgrade,
proclaimed his accession. Austria, Russia, Eng-
land, and France, refused to recognise the choice
as constitutional, but, with the exception of Russia,
practically accepted the nomination. The latter
power, however, protested vehemently against
Alexander, and succeeded in prevailing upon the
Porte to declare a new election necessary. The
Servians obeyed, and re-elected the son of Black
George, on the 27th June, 1843. Russian influence
in Servia now sank to zero, but was still able to
occasion an outbreak in October, 1844, which was
instantly suppressed. Perfect tranquillity then
reigned in Servia until 1848. By the aid of Wuk-
sitsch reforms were undertaken which entirely
changed the face of the appearance of the country.
Education, as well as material interests, met with
the most careful encouragement. A series of ex-
cellent roads gave the products of the country
access to to the neighbouring provinces, while ex-
ports and imports were almost doubled. The prudent
policy of Alexander, to acknowledge the Sultan,
who never took part in internal affairs, as sovereign
of the country, and to oppose his fidelity to his
sovereign to the efforts of foreign diplomacy,
greatly favoured the development of indepen-
dence. The events of 1848 put a sudden stop to this
fortunate condition. The South Sclavonians at first
intended to join Servia, Bosnia, and the Turkish
Herzegovina, as united provinces to Hungary, and
subsequently to Austria. It is probable that the
plan would have been frustrated by Russia, but it
failed even before that power could interpose, owing
to the war of races in Hungary. This Hungarian
civil war was for Servia a turning-point in the most
fatal sense of the word. Up to this time the reform-
ing and conciliating policy of Alexander had suc-
ceeded in holding the balance between the contend-
ing parties ; from henceforth the fanatical Sclaves
obtained the supremacy. The secret influence
occasioning the movement was revealed clearly
enough by a meeting to consider the advantages of
a Russian protectorate held by Russian officials and
the Servian youth at Belgrade, and by the toasts
given by the Russian consul-general at a public
banquet in favour of the union of Servia with the
great Sclavonian kingdom.
During the Eastern war Russia made frequent
overtures to the Servian ruler, but the latter re-
mained firm in the maintenance of neutrality. Upon
the return of peace a new opposition was formed
against Alexander, originating with the Senate.
External intrigues fanned the flame. The breach
between the Prince and the Senate grew daily
wider, and was greatly increased by the Senate dis•
puting the right of the Sovereign to nominate
ministers who were not members of their body.
Alexander gained his point, it is true, but from that
hour the Senate rejected all propositions laid before
them by the Ministry, not alone for the sake of
opposition, but also with a view to seizing the
sovereign power. In June, 1857, the Prince re-
ceived information of a conspiracy to procure his
overthrow, concocted principally by the Senate.
On October 9 some senators were arrested, and
more in the following days. The prisoners were
fully convicted of intended regicide and high trea-
son, partly by evidence, partly by confessions, and
ultimately condemned to death. The Porte inter-
posed, and, assuming the privilege of confirming
or vetoing the sentence, nullified the proceed-
ings. The condemned—among whom were the
President of the Senate, three Senators, the
President of the Supreme Court, a clergy-
man, and a custom-house officer—were conveyed to
Rustschuk, where they were treated with sufficient
indulgence to enable them to bribe a young
foreigner to declare that Prince Alexander had
hired him to assassinate these, his chief enemies.
The Porte, through Ethem Pasha, Turkish Pleni-
potentiary Extraordinary in Servia, further com-
pelled Aleiander to change his ministers, which
brought the national party, a coalition of the Rus-
sian and democratic elements, again into power.
The apparent tranquillity of the country spread
but a flimsy veil over the troubles in preparation.
A smothered discontent was perceptible, increased
by the uncertain tenure of the sovereign's power,
the equivocal attitude of the Senate towards the
regent, and the secret exertions of the adherents of
the Obrenovitsch family. The best means to issue
from the prevailing uncertainty appeared to the
discontented to be the meeting of the Scuptschina,
which, according to the constitution, should take
place annually. This popular assembly possesses
privileges unknown in the Parliaments of more
civilised nations—among others, the right of calling
the Government to account for all its deeds. Fear-
ing the exercise of this privilege, the Prince had
not summoned •a Scuptschina since 1848—a course
which was justly regarded as a breach of the con-
stitution. The Senate was of the contrary opinion,
and rejected a proposition for the meeting of the
Scuptschina by a small majority. Upon this result
becoming known much general excitement was
manifested, and in some districts assemblages took
place with a view to calling upon their own re-
sponsibility a meeting of national representatives,
which, according to ancient Servian customs, should
consist of all males capable of bearing arms. Seeing
this Alexander took the initiative, and laid before
the Senate, upon the 15th of last September, a pro-
posal to execute the wish of the people, which met
upon this occasion unanimous acceptance. In
November instructions were issued relative to the
mode of choice, according to which the assembly
must contain not only the elected representatives,
opr
naa
bsr y
but also 17 judges, 17 mayors of communes, and 17
priests. The constitutional ideas of the Servians are
so slightly developed that the declaration of the
Prince, issued at the same time, that a resolution of the
Scuptschina possessed no actual force until he and
theas a
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wereA t lea s
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Obrenovitschof the m em-
party. The Scuptschina was opened on the 16th
Dec. by the Prince in person, the entire ceremony
occupying scarcely five minutes. The, Prince read