Part 6 (2/2)
The wretched Alexander, not knowing whom to trust, nor where to turn, then begged his exiled father to return from Austria and take command of the army. Milan did so and Russia was more than ever furious.
Warnings were now frequently received that Russia was planning the deaths of both Milan and Alexander. One such warning was sent by the Berlin Foreign Office.
In May 1898 Nikola Pas.h.i.+tch, who had been working an anti-Obrenovitch propaganda in Bulgaria, was again in Serbia, and led the Radical party in the general elections. The Government, however, won by a large majority.
His work in Bulgaria seems to have been effective for in June the Serb Minister to Sofia sent in a very important report to his Government:
1. That Russia was determined that Milan should leave Serbia.
2. That Prince Ferdinand was willing to support Russia in this way by any means--even bad ones.
3. That the Princes of Montenegro and Bulgaria were co-operating.
Shortly afterwards Ferdinand of Bulgaria, Nikola of Montenegro, the Russian Minister and the Bulgarian diplomatic agent to Cetinje all met at Abbazia. And Ferdinand is reported to have promised Nikola the support of his army to overthrow the Obrenovitches with a view to finally uniting Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia and the Herzegovina into one state with Nikola as head. Nikola began to sow the ground by starting a newspaper which attacked Austrian policy in Bosnia severely.
This is a most important turning point in Balkan history, and we shall see many results.
Mr. J. D. Bourchier, whose knowledge of Bulgarian affairs is unrivalled, has further told me that not only did Montenegro and Bulgaria work together for a long while, but Bulgaria also supplied Montenegro with much money--she was, in fact, another of the many States who have put money into Montenegro--and lost it.
Things soon began to move. Prince Nikola got in touch with the Radical party in Serbia and they began to prepare the downfall of the Obrenovitches.
Bulgaria refortified her Serbian frontier. The Narodni Listy of Prague described Prince Nikola as the only true Serb upon a throne.
King Alexander proposed at this time to visit Queen Victoria, but was informed by Lord Salisbury that Her Majesty's health had already obliged her to decline other visits and she was therefore unable to receive him.
The Serb Government then complained that Queen Victoria had conferred a high Order on Prince Nikola, who was but a va.s.sal of Russia, and had given nothing to the King of Serbia. Some papers even declared she had shown preference to Nikola precisely on account of his pro-Russian tendencies.
Russia showed her feelings plainly. The Tsar at a reception spoke sharply to the Serbian Minister and ignored the new Serbian military attache who had come to be presented.
Tension between Serbia and Montenegro was now acute. Large numbers of Montenegrins had been emigrating into Serbia attracted by the better livelihood to be obtained. The Serb Government in October 1898 formally notified Montenegro that this immigration must cease.
No more land was available for Montenegrins.
The Magyar Orsyagu went so far as to say ”Montenegrin agents wander over Serbia with their propaganda and Serbia has therefore forbidden the further settlement of Montenegrins in Serbia.” Pas.h.i.+tch again came to the fore and was sentenced to nine months' imprisonment for publis.h.i.+ng an offensive letter to the ex-King Milan. And in November a plot, alleged to be Bulgaro-Montenegrin, against Milan, was discovered.
Russia was furious that Milan, in spite of these warnings, remained in Serbia.
And in July 1899 he was fired at and slightly wounded. Milan insisted on martial law being proclaimed and many arrests were made.
The would-be a.s.sa.s.sin was a young Bosnian--Knezhevitch. The Times spoke of the conspiracy as a Rus...o...b..lgarian one. It is stated to have been planned in Bucarest by a.r.s.ene Karageorgevitch and a Russian agent.
Pas.h.i.+tch, who since 1888 had been in close connection with the Karageorges, was accused of complicity and Milan insisted on his execution. His guilt was by no means proved and he was finally sentenced to five years' imprisonment, but at once pardoned by Alexander. In reply he telegraphed, ”I hasten in a moment so happy and so solemn for my family, to lay before your Majesty my sincere and humble grat.i.tude for the very great mercy which you, Sire, have shown me from the height of your throne. I declare to you, Sire, that I will, in future . . . give my whole soul to strengthening that order in the State which your Majesty introduced in 1897, from which, thanks to your distinguished father, King Milan, as commander-in-Chief of the Army, the country has derived so much benefit.” He further promised to put the remainder of his life to the exclusive service of King Alexander and his country, and ends with, ”Long live the hope of the Serb nation, your Majesty our Lord and King Alexander!” signed, ”The most sincere and devoted servant of the House of Obrenovitch and the throne of your Majesty, Nikola Pas.h.i.+tch.” This amazing telegram caused consternation in Russia. And well it might. The annals of crime scarcely contain a more gross example of perjury.
We now enter upon the last act of the sordid drama. For several years Alexander had kept a mistress, Madame Draga Maschin, nee Lungevitza, the widow of a Serbian officer. She was a handsome woman, considerably older than Alexander, and possessed such a hold over him that the more credulous of the Serbs--including an ex-Minister to the Court at St. James's--believed that she had bewitched him by means of a spell made by a gypsy woman who had chopped some of Draga's hair fine and made a mixture which she put into Alexander's food. Only by magic, I have been a.s.sured, could such results have been obtained. Alexander ”was crazy about her.”
The Serbs are not particular about morals by any means. But this liaison was a national misfortune Especially to all supporters of the Obrenovitches. Not only under these circ.u.mstances could there be no legitimate heir to the throne but a matrimonial alliance with one of the Great Powers was desired by the country. By 1899 the situation had become acute. The spectacle of Alexander waiting in the street till Draga chose to admit him was a national scandal.
He was repeatedly approached on the subject, both by his father and the nation, but Draga held him in a firm grip. Enmeshed as he knew he was in hostile intrigues, surrounded by spies and traitors, and himself a fool at best, maybe the luckless youth regarded her indeed as the one human creature for whom he had any affection or trust. Be that as it may Alexander, under her influence, promised his father and Vladan Georgevitch that he would marry if a suitable match could be arranged. He persuaded them to leave the country to visit a foreign Court with this object, and so soon as they had gone he publicly and formally announced his betrothal to Draga, and informed his father of the fact by letter. Milan, horrified, replied that the dynasty would not survive the blow, and that even a mere lieutenant would scorn such a match.
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