The National tribune., 1903-06-18
sERvlA:

IS one of the little countries which for
centuries were grouped under the name
Of ''the Danubian Principalities." 1t is 4
mountainous country, stretching for
about 40 miles from Hungary along the
Danube, and has an area of 1S.754 square
miles, almost exactly that OF Vermont
and New Hampshire combined, or half
that of Indiana. The population in 1894
was 2,256,0S4, or about lis to the square
mile
These are almost wholly engaged in a
rude. primitive system of agriculture,
their main product being hogs, which are
fattened on the acorns in the forests and
marketed in Hungary. They also raise
great numbers of cattle and sheep, and
export considerable quantity Of dried
plums, with some other fruits.
While the people are very backward
in their agriculture. they are still nearly
all land owners, each having little piece
of ground, so that there are no paupers
and no asylums. As to race, they are
mainly Slavs. with very few Germans.
Albanians, Turks and Jews among them.
Their principal town is Belgrade, the
capital. 1t has 54,249 inhabitants.
In religion they are fanatical Greek
Catholics, and have an aversion to the
Roman Catholics only equalled by their
hatred for Mahometanism. They are part
Of that wonderful Slavic immigration
which early in the Christian era spread
over Eastern Europe, largely by the
fecundity Of the people rather than by
conquest. They became nominal Chris
tions in the seventh century, accepting
the doctrines and church government Of
Constantinople and giving more or less
political allegiance to the Government
there.
The Turks took the country in 1880, or
nearly 100 years before they captured
Constantinople, and for three centuries
ruled the country with a rod Of iron,
numbering or driving out of the country
the principal families and taking off ev-
cry year the best young men to serve in
the janizaries. In 1904, under the leader
ship Of Karageorge, a rich hog-raiser, tho
people rose and drove the Turks out Of
their country and began a savage war, in
which they gained virtual independence,
though this was not accomplished until
1929. The country was recognized as
part of the Turkish Empire with q
Prince at the head as Viceroy, though it
was allowed to manage its own internal
affairs. .......
Then began struggles among them
selves as to who should rule the country.
karageorge had been driven out of the
country during the war and Milosh
Obrenovich, a swineherd, took chief COM
mand of the army and won eventual sue
cess. When Karageorge came back to
the country Obrenovich, the ancestor of
the King who has been killed, had him
assassinated and declared himself ruler of
the country. Thus began the struggle be-
tween the Karageorge and the Obreno-
vich families which has disturbed the
country ever since, and last week re-
suited in the elevation of the head of the
Karageorge family to the throne made
vacant by the assassination of the head Of
the Obrenoviches.
The Obrenovich family has generally
been successful, though one or two MEM
bers of the Karageorge family have sue
ceeded in reaching the throne. Every
few years has been marked by the assas-
sination Of the leader of one faction or
the other, and these have been accom-
panied by murders Of minor leaders.
The greatest of the Obrenoviches was
Michael, who ascended to the throne in
1861, and gave the country the best ad-
ministration it had ever had until he was
assassinated by the partisans Of the
Karageorge faction in 1868.
The Treaty Of Berlin in 1873 made
Servia completely Independent, and threw
her as a football into the contention
among those who were trying to gain the
control of Constantinople and the Turk
ish Empire.
Alexander 1, the King who was so
brutally murdered with his Queen last
week by the partisans of the Karageorgs
faction, was the fifth of the Obrenovich
dynasty, and ascended the throne March
6, 1889, upon the forced abdication Of his
father, King Milan, whose worthlessness
and profigacy forced him from the
throne. Alexander was represented to
have been as vicious and corrupt as his
father, and the opposition to him was
greatly strengthened by his marriage in
August, 1900, with Nine. Draga Machin,
the widow of Russian Colonel She
made herself especially obnoxious by her
cruel persecution of those who had been
her enemies and opposed her marriage.
She was also desperately eager to ad-
vance the fortunes of her family, which
seem to have not been regarded very high
ly in Servia.
The assassination was accomplished
with a ruthless brutality such as the
world has hardly seen since the middle
ages, but the people of Servia have not
advanced for centuries and are living sub
stantially as their forefathers did 500
years ago.
Of course this is not the end. There is
hardly doubt that it will not be long un-
til the Obrenovich faction gains sufficient
head to deal out to the Karageorge fac
ton the same measure of brutal ven
geance that has been visited upon them.
THE Department Of Kansas in Annual
T.. IL