Evening star., 1923-08-01

lows after conviction of having insti-
gated alleged attempts upon the life
of Milan. Twice he escaped by flight
abroad. On the third occasion Milan,
who was not quite a fool, and who
realized the danger of making po-
litical martyr of Pashitch, caused
him to be taken from the condemned
cell of the fortress prison of Belgrade
on the very eve of the day set for
his execution, and to he brought just
as he was to the royal palace, where
a dinner was in progress and where
the king placed him at the table by
his side. The dinner, it is true, was
near its end. and as soon as they
rose. Milan informed Pashitch that
he was free and at liberty to go
where he would. On the following
day it was known throughout the
length and breadth of Serbia that
Pashitch had been dining with King
Milan, and at first there was an inn
preston among his adherents that
he must have gone back on them and
upon his principles in order to be
treated with such marked favor.
That is precisely what Milan had in
view. He had wished TO create an
atmosphere of suspicion in the ranks
OF the Antt-Austrian party in Serbia.
Pashitch was largely instrumental
in bringing about the compulsory
abdfcation of Milan. He was the
son, King Alexander Obren0vftch, and
sought to interest the court of Russia
in his behalf. But he naturally could
not lend himself to the nefarious de-
signs OF that crazy young monarch's
infamous eonsort, Queen Draga,
woman of the vilest antecedents, and,
while no one has ever charged him
with having been a consenting party
to the shocking death of King Alex
ander Obrenovitch and of Queen
1rp pero hAr se.
instrumental in bringing about
restoration of the present Kara
georgevitch dynasty to the throne,
and he became the first prime minis
ter OF the late King Peter.
xx*
From that time he may be said
to have been the veteran pilot of the
Serbian nation. He brought about an
end of the boycott to which the court
of Belgrade had been subjected by
most foreign governments following
the butehery of the last of the Obren-
ovitch rulers and Queen Draga. He
directed the difficult and delicate ne
gotiatfons which culminated- in the
elimination of the then Crown Prince
George from the succession to the
brother, Alexander Karageorgevitch,
the present king. Together with
Venizelos, he organized the Balkan
Confederation which drove the Turks
from Europe to the very walls of
Censtantinople. He strengthened the
bands of his country with Russia to
such an extent that when Austria
invaded Serbia in the summer of
1914 at the secret behest of eX
Emperor William, Gear Nicholas and
his people took up arms against
Germany and Austria In her defense
On one memorable occasion he
played the role of Cupid, in entreat-
ing Emperor Nicholas to accord the
hand of his daughter, the beautiful
Grand Duchess Olga, to the then
fatuation was very great. The czar
favored the suit and gave 1t his
countenanee, there being document
ary evidence to that effect. But be-
ing devoted to his children, he would
net bring any pressure to bear on
bring herself te accept the idea of
becoming the bride of Crown Prince
Alexander. Had she married him,
she would today be sharing his throne
of Serbia instead of having been
overtaken by the shocking fate of her
her sisters at the hands of their. boil
shevik butchers at Ekaterinburg, in
June, 1918.
Pashitch stood beside the crown
prince during the latters regency
throughout the great war, was
instrumental in bringing about his
marriage with Princess Marie Of
Rumania. and especially in the Or
ganization of the Jugoslav Confed-
grafton, that is to say. the United
Kingdom of the Serbs. the Croats,
the Slovenes and the Mentenegrins,
whose territories extend almost
from Saienica, on the Aegeansea to
the northern Adriatic, near Trieste,
q mighty Serb empire. 1t was origi-
naliy intended that the confederation
should be somewhat ON the same lines
Of that of switzerland, where each
canton retains it's local autonomy.
That was very WILL in theory, bnt
almost impossible ken execution. jim
this instance.