The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-02-14
A RUFFIAN KING.

"A brutal ruffian playing the role OF
king is not an entirely unknown circum-
stance in the history Of the world. That
1t should be exempIffied In this stage OF
the worlds advancement may reflect
more Or less diseredit on the monarchical
principle in government. In the case of
the former king Of Servia. however the
circumstance was not due perhaps 80
much to the inherent wrongfulness of
the monarchical idea as it was to the
depth of the Vaccinations of European
powers in the Balkans.
AS the life of Milan was disgraceful.
so was his Death He had lived to
cover himself with infamy, and to
destroy the peace and happiness of one
OF the most beautiful characters that
mas ever been identified with royalty in
any country or in any age Queen Ma
tale bore the awful infection of her
marriage to Milan as a pure-mindad
ano devoted wife and mother is expected
10 endure the sorrow which always
comes from such unhappy connections.
Her life was so beautiful as to throw a
ven Of pity and charity over the crimes
OF one who had outlawed himself from
the consideration of decent society.
She mas been as great an ornament to
the high position in which she served
as her husband was scourge to his
people. NO one reader of any land has
lalieo TO derive some pleasure from the
delightful contributions to literary art
Which have come from the pen of this
noble woman. Sheowas indeed a queen
and faithful friend and sovereign Of
her people. The world will rejoice,
rather than extend sympathy to her.
on the decease Of him who rendered her
life misery in maay directions.
No people have fought more bravely
for the preservation of their liberties
than the natives of the Balkan states
10 their answering opposition to the
advances Of the Turk civilized Europe
owes much. Generation after generation
their children were carried into captiv-
ity, the boys to9 appear In the invading
armies of the sultan, the girls to meet a
worse fate than nameless It Is pitv
that race with so glorious history
as the Servian should have such mon
ster in human form forced upon them as
Milan. 1t is more than pity that they
should not, with their neighboring states
be left to work out their own national
destinies.
In the advance Of the worlds affairs
Which has been in progress during the
past decade or two the problem of Eu-
ropean diplomacy involved in the ex-
preston THE Eastern Question: has
lost its application to the Balkan states
The car of world progress has rolled
much further East; and, today. the dis
turbance of the relations Of the Euro
pean powers which is looked forward to
as certain to evolve has to do with the
Orient rather than with the Balkans tt
Will be Il happy contamination for the
countrymen of Queen Natalie and for
their kindred in the adjacent states if
II should come to pass that the compi-
cations which prevail in the Orient
should operate to give the Balkan pen
insula the opportunity to establish for
itself a position independent of the ma
chinations Of either Russia or Austria.
While Milan sleeps far from the soil
which he disgraced, there is happily rea-
son to hope that1the virtue of his success
sor will go farlto win for the servian
people the position in the affairs of the
world for which they have so long and
SO nobly struggled.