Evening star., 1923-11-01
Curzon's New Book Reveals
Him as Man of Fun and Humoi'
BY THE mARaU1sE DE. FoNTEsoY

BY THE MARQUISE DE FONTENOY
Prince Paul of Serbia FELLOW under
graduate of the Prince OF. Wales at
Magdalen College, Oxford, and. Ike
him, a gallant veteran Of the" great
war, is to take up his residence With
his bride. Princess olga: of Greece,
whom he married the other dayain
Belgrade. not in the latter city, but
in the old Croatian capital of Agran,
and is to hold court. there in behalf
of his cousin, King Alexander In
fact, Prince Paul is to become a sort
Of viceroy, or ban, of Croatia, pre-
lude to the restoration of the former
to that nation.
Much of the unrest in the Balkans.
until now. has been due to the failure
of the authorities at Belgrade to full
fill the pledges of self-government,
on the strength of which the Croa-
tians agreed to throw in their lot
with their fellow Slavs in Serbia and
to form one federated state of Jugo-
slavia, or Greater Serbia. In fact,
the bitterness against Belgrade has
been very pronounced throughout
Croatia and has led to a number Of
sanguinary risings.
Now, however, RadiZc, the moving
spirit of all this insurgent element
in Croatia, has sought .refuge1in Eng
land, and il the projected -restora tion
of autonomy materiaiizes,. as appears
imminent from the announcem ent
that Prince Paul. fand HIS very at
tractive bride are to live and hold
court in the ..croatian capital Of
Agran, all further source OF irrita-
tion against the Serbian. government
will vanish and the very real peril
of civil war and internecine strife
will be averted. 1T is believed that
England has had a share in inducing
against King Alexander in Croatia,
and in this connection it is worthy to
note that the Duke of York travelled
all the way to Belgrade with his
duchess In order to serve as best man
to Prince Paul at the latters we'd
ding.
- x x
Lord Curzon is generally regarded
as a very pompous and stately person.
age, terribly imbued with a sense
OF his own dignity, and utterly devoid
of humor. Yet that he. possesses q
very pronounced sense of the latter
and that his often stiff demeanor
and his seriousness are the results
of occasional acute suffering and
physical pain Is no secret to those
who know him well. In the book
which he has just published in Lon
don, he takes the public. for the
first time, Into his confidence about
some of his experiences of travel
which betray certain impishness of
character and a readiness to partici-
pate in hoaxes. The. book Is en-
titled Tales of Travel" and, al
though they bear the title of Marquis
Curzon Of Kedleston as the author,
yet they deal with the wanderings
Of plain George Nathaniel Curzon,"
before he, became minister Of the
crown.
Thus he relates how, when in
Tunis, some thirty years ago, he was
very anxious to witness the rites OF
the self-slicing. self-mutilating der
wishes of the sacred city of Kairwan,
which in those days, at any rate,
were : barred to all unbelieying
foreigners, But he found that the
name of Gen. Boulanger was on the
lips of all natives as one with which
TO conjure. as that of the great
to them their independence and to
re-establish the monarchy in France.
So he coolly declared himself to be
the favorite son of the BRAY
General" and was consequently
treated by the Moslem clergy and au-
thorities at Kairwan with the great
est honor and distinction. There was
so much that was grotesQue, vulgar
and bombastic in the career OF this
posturing, prancing, play-acting
general, who. when overwhelmed