The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-06-12
THE SERVIAN AFFAIR.

A weak man and bad were killed in Bel
grade yesterday morning bloodthirsty mob of armed
ruanS slew the king and queen of Serva practically in
cold blood, and there is condemn the killing
to say aught in praise of the unhappy victims of the
crime. The has caused stir in the world only be-
the wretched people who lost their lives happen
to be conspicuous by of the geographical location
Of the country of which the monarch and the
other the of the The change of dynasty
following the double assassination may disturb the peace
OF Europe for the independence of Serva guaranteed
by the Powers and maintained in spite of the machina
tons of Russia.
It appears that the assassination was prompted in
the first place by the attempts of the queen, of
great beauty and than questionable repute,
tabsh herself and her family at the head of the nation
Her marriage to the young and weakly King Alexander
furnished material for international scandal few
and the of the reprobate Milan very
establishing himself popular idol by of
his espousal of who regarded as being close
to the people His weakness and the womans worse
than folly destroyed the chance to popuarze the Obre
nOvch dynasty and the country has been ripe for revo
ton for many months.
Russia has maintained system of espionage and
corruption in Belgrade for years. the object of the cars
being retain the control of the court but
there is evidence that the Russians directly
SpOnsibe for the assassnations 1t likely that
of the fierce quarre that have been frequent of
late between the king and queen resulted in attempt
the part of the bring about the removal of
her spouse and that the soldiers took advantage of the
opportunity to rid the country of both of them and the
well-hated members of the queens family.
The brutality of the affair has no parallel in modern
history There is something of the savagery of the days
of the Roman empire in the killing of this young and
who stood at the head Of the nation The darkest
pages of Roman history tell of just such scenes
as that which took place in the palace at Bel
grade when a ruffian soldiery killed with all the
brutal ferocity of the Praetorians of old the mon
arch, who had become offensive them and his
1t regarded rather good politics in remote times
to put period to reignng house by wipng SO
thoroughly that member Of the dynasty would survive
to nurse the flower of rebellion But Rome ruled through
its sodiery, while the Servian army little more than
rabble This deed of blood the work of savages.
The same end-change of ru1ers-might have as readily
been attained without the shedding of blood.
If the killing shall ultimately result in the partition of
the Balkan states and the of the world be thereby
eecuay secured the death of these unhappy peo
pie will not have been vain The people of Servia are
unfit for self-government. There no homogeneity in
the nation The kingdom consists of number of groups
OF peoples of various races, each maintaining its own
racial pecuartes of language manners and religion and
each hating the other with cordially that makes the
only consistent feature of the national life. The off
scOurngS of Central Europe have sought the Balkan
states asylum for centuresand the asylum was as
often sought for protection from punishment for mis-
deeds as for political reasons.
The consequence of the conditions that exist as to
population in Serva is that there as many parties in
the state there nations represented the popuace
The native Servians war with the Bugarians
who constitute considerable portion of the population:
the Russians and Greeks always striving for political
domination and through it all there is eaven of the
Turk with his beastly methods and his ferocous fanati
cism.
If the assassinatons result in revision of the man
of Europe there will be regret felt the event that
Serva absorbed by civilized power strong enough to
keep the turbulent people in check.