The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-06-22

~ ELGRADE. June H.-(speeial)-
X Nikolai Pashitsch servias un-
~ crowned king, is threatened with
deposition. His triumphant administra-
ton is collapsing before military onset.
Having survived five cabinets, three
wars, violent assault, two courtmartial-
ings, death sentence, and a sentence
of five years penal seryitude, Pashitsch
is little perturbed by the prospect But
people are asking by which of his in
Vulnerable, well tried ruses. will the as
tute Pashitsch maintain his power; by
what maneuvers will he return to Office
if the military faction for time sue
ceeds and drives him to retirement.
Nlkolai Pashitsch's rriumphs, ruses.
lures, tricks, manipulations and mystifi-
cations have earned him a title more ex-
pressiVe than uncrowned king. 1t is the
fox of the Observation-Disclosures Ly-
sitsa!" And, in fact, since Jacob, the
son of Isaac achieved "a blessing from
his father by donning gloves of goat skin.
never has there been such willy, cum
ming, canny, astute, unsezable success
hunter as is Nikola
Pashitsch runs the Balkans. He runs
Servia without challenge. He is the old
est wisest and wiliest of Servian polite
ians; he has been prime minister five
times, and when he has not been prime
minister he has bossed the prime minis
ter To Servias parliament, the humble
Skuptschina, Pashitsch is the embodi-
ment of penetrating statecraft, man
of superhuman talents, who proves his
genius by almost always keeping on the
winning side, or, If he is on the losing
side, by getting away safe with some
fellow victim's boots. The legislative or
gan. ever since wise electoral law gave
every Serb a vote If Ne pays Is dinars-
about $3.O0-is entirely in the hands of
the petite bourgeoisie," an unpolitical
class to whom Pashitsch, with his pro-
found political achievements, is a Wash
ington, Lincoln, Gladstone. Bismarck, and
Gambetta rolled into one.
And all this is surprising. For Ser
Was uncrowned king. the fox of the Bal
kans has not the talents which make for
commanding statecraft. He Is bad
speaker, master of a corrupt. cosmopoli-
tanized Servian jargon; he hates putting
pen to paper: he is not a scholar, or g.
man of strong will, and of finance. ad-
mnistraton, and high diplomacy ne
knows little more than the members of
the petite bourgeoise Sktptschina- In
intellectual attainments hel is far below
the chiefs of rival parties. But Pas
hitsch Is blessed with an asset which H.
walls lack He has an enduring, imper-
turbable, nimitable talent for waiting.
While other politicians are hard at work,
trying to serve Servia but compromising
themselves, the supersubtle Pashitsch
merely sits silently, waits till his foes
commit extravagant blunders, and then
with an overwhelming, II told you so,"
takes the blunderers' jobs.
Nikolai Pashitsch was born far back
in 1916 when Servia was an autonomous
Turkish province. He quickly learned
what there was to learn in Belgrade
nothing), and went to learn what there
was to learn In Zurich (much). He set
tied as an engineer in Pozarevacs. When
the war with Turkey broke out in 1875
Pashitsch went to the front. and earned
from the Russian volunteer Tchernayen,
the title 1.-THE most cautious brave man
i've ever seem" AS the result (of his
caution, not Of his bravery Pashitsch