The New York herald., 1868-06-12
The Assassination Of Prince Michel, o

PURPOSE
The Assassination Of Prince Michel, of
Servia.
The special cable despatch which we pub
lished in the HERALD of yesterday has been con-
frmed in all its particulars by the telegraphic
sisting of Prince Michel, his cousin and
daughter of the latter, with some attendants,
were walking leisurely in one of the public parks
of Belgrade, about five o'clock in the after
noon of Wednesday, when the party were
suddenly attacked by three assassins, all of
whom were armed with revolvers The first
shot proved fatal to the Prince, who fell and
died Immediately. The revolvers seem to
have been freely used; for the cousin was hit
and died in few minutes, and the daughter
was seriously, though it is thought not
fatally, wounded. Most of the attendants sus-
tanned injuries more or less severe. The assas-
sins, we are told, were recognized to be three
brothers. One of them was Immediately cap
tured, but the other two had managed to make
their escape The murderous deed had filed
the entire population with indignation and
sorrow.
For many reasons this must be regarded as
one of the most alarming events in modern
times. In the closing years of the nineteenth
century we are still compelled to consider our
selves at the mercy of the assassin. We live
in an age which, in spite of its sleek exterior,
must be pronounced an age of violence, of
passion uncontrolled, of murder, of suicide.
At no previous period in the worlds history
has human life been so lightly esteemed We
of iniquity which characterized ancient
paganism. We are certainly, within the
confines of Christendom, begetting evils
which have no parallel in the nom
Christian nations of modern times. We are
unwilling to believe that the salt has lost its
SAVIOR; but it does seem, if we are to attach
any value to facts, as if Christianity had lost
somewhat of its ancient constraining power.
Suicides and murders have been multiplying
year by year in every Christian country until
they have become so common that they no
longer furnish occasion for alarm or dis
quietude. Assassination now follows so rapidly
upon assassination that we are threatened
everywhere with very reign of terror. 1t has
actually come to this, that to occupy in any
sense prominent position, to stand in the way
set or an individual, is to be in danger of fall
ing a victim to the assassin's stroke. Within
the last few months we have had an almost
unprecedented number of assassination at
tempts, some of them successful, some of them
unsuccessful, all of them daring and deter
mined in the last degree; but since the Orsini
conspiracy in Paris, which happily failed Of its
object, we have had nothing, whether we con-
slider the number and relationship of the
assassins, the means they employed or the
unhappy and untimely fate of the illustrious
victims, which at all approaches, in the mag
nitude of its horrors, this Belgrade affair. The
only event of the kind which can be at all
compared with it is the murder of our own
Lincoln. The murderous but unsuccessful
attempt made last year in Paris on the life of
the Emperor of Russia, the recent assassina-
ton Of prominent statesman in Canada, and
the dastardly but brutal and bloody attack
made within the last few weeks on Prince
Alfred of England, in Sydney-all these sink
into insignifcance when compared with this
latest outburst of the assassination spirit of the
age.
We know too little of the actual condition of
affairs in Servia, and our information regard
ing this affair is too meagre to warrant us to
pronounce decided opinion as to the cause or
causes which have led to such unhappy results.
All that we do know has been favorable rather
than otherwise to the character of the mur-
dered Prince. Prince Michel Ohrenovitch
was the second son of Milosh, who took an
active part in the insurrection headed by
Czerny George in the early part Of this CEN
tury. When Czerny George was driven from
Servia by the Turks Milosh rose to the head of
affairs, and having in series of struggles sue
cessfully resisted the Turks was finally, in
November, 1917, by an assembly Of bishops
and chiefs, elected Hospodar of Servis. With
the exception of brief period when Alexan-
der, son Of Czerny George, held the reins Of
power the Obrenovitch family-father and
sons-have governed Servia. Prince Michel,
who was born September 4, 1926, succeeded
to the throne in September, 1860. Though the
hereditary rights of the family have never been
acknowledged by the Sultan, who still holds q
nominal sovereignty over Servia, 1t was not
deemed advisable to resist the personal claims
Of Michel, and, as the other European Powers
were not disappearing, he was confirmed in his
princey dignity by frman Of the Sublime
Porte in October of the same year. During
the reign of Michel Servia has made consider
able advancement in material prosperity and
has practically risen to the rank of On inde-
pendent State. BY his spirited efforts the
Sultan was induced last year to withdraw hi'
garrison from the fortress of Belgrade gar