”7 E d a m /{x

W , I fz /c w e ,

Th e M emo i r s o fa B a l k a n
D i p l o ma t i s t

Cou n t Ch edo mi l l e M l j a t OV i Ch
er i M i ter f orei A r
F o rmerl y S b ni s F gn f
fai s e o e
F in a n c a n d C mm n“t
o tr ordi r dM i i ter e i ote t r to o rt e
an or . .

n ia y t h e C u s of St Ja m a a
'
En v y Ex a Pl n p
re t
na y a n n s . .

Cons t a n t i n Op l e. Bu ch a s .a n d Th e H a gu e

zf
IVztf
'

our i l l u s tra t i on s i n P hoto r a vu re

'
g

Casse ll a n d Compa n y L t d ,

Lo n don , N ew Y ork, Toron t o an d M el bo u rn e

I 917
 P RE F A C E

ERH A P S I ought to ei pl a in to the reade r W hat

induced me to write these Memoirs and what is their
leading purpose .

D uring the second half of the nineteenth century the

histori cal sta ge of Europe wa s principally occupied by
the so called Eastern Question That problem led t o
-
.

the Crimean War ( 1 8 5 4 to the Russo Turkish

-

War ( 1 8 77 and t o the Balkan War ( 1 9 1 2

T h e dan ger o fthe situation was deepened and a ggravated
by the permanent co nflict of Austrian and Russian
interests in the Balkans and by the bold endeavour of
Germany to give the Eastern Que stion an issue favour
able exclusively to German political industrial and
, ,

commercial concerns The Balkan interests ofAustr ia

.

Hungary and the Eastern designs of Germany deter

mined these two Powers t o astound Europe by plunging
it into the most terrible war in the hi s t ory ofthe world
.

I have n o doubt that when the time arrives a truthf ul

history of this great— and as I hope t he last— war in

Europe will be written and proofs be forthcoming that
,

this was really an Eastern Question wa r provoked by that

-

question and having its final solution for its object

, .

Naturally when the Pandora box of the Eastern Que stion

,

was opened other local national and world interests

,

flew forth calling for an e q uitable and therefore healthy

,

and de finite settlement .

vii
 Pre f ace
O f course such a history as I have hinted at cannot
,

be written n ow But there is no reason why contri

.

butions for the better understanding ofthe events and

facts which preceded t he war and gradually led up t o
it should not be presented As from 1 8 6 9 to 1 9 0 3 I .

had been serving my own country Serbia as diplomatist , ,

and often as Cabinet Minister and h a d opp ortunities of ,

witnessing the never ending struggle between Russia and

-

Austria Hungary in the Balkans as well as the conflict

-

of Serbian and Bulgarian interests in Macedonia I ,

thought I coul d give some authentic and impartial con

t ri bu t i on s t o the historical study of the antecedent
circumstances which finally developed into wa r I .

could at any rate supply authentic informat i on ofthe

, ,

political events in the Balkans in which I persona lly , , ,

had t o act more or less important roles and I could sketch ,

the political and psychological pictures offar more i m

portant actors on the political stage ofthe Balka n s whom
I have known intimately .

Before I became a dipl omatist I wa s a historian a n d ,

in writing this book my only ambition has been t o relate

the facts impartially Indeed I consider that t o be simply
.
,

my duty .

As I went t o the United States o fAmeri ca and t o

Canada in 1 9 1 6 t o show to their people why the Serb s
,

deserv e the sympathy a n d support ofevery civilised and

liberty loving nation I have added chapters on my
-

American and Canadian impressions With all the Serb s .

I thank G o d that H e moved the great American nation

t o rise up t o help the cause ofjustice and liberty and t o
assist in winn i ng for all the nations ofthe world a lasting

N evertheless though the War

, q l rgely i n all
b s a

viii
 Pre face
minds it occupies but a comparatively small space in
,

these pages Really as a glance at the contents will

.
,

show my book aims at rendering an account ofthe more

,

public side ofmy career Virtually that is to say it

.
, ,

is my autobiography It has been my privilege and some

.

times alas ! my misfortune to see many men and many

, ,

things and my hope is that the record may prove of

,

g eneral interest It .has been my endeavour t o speak o f

myself as I am t o extenuate nothing and to set dow n
,

naught in malice .

To turn for a moment to a detail in the i n t rodu c ,

tory chapter I have call ed the monastery in which lies

the embalmed body of Tsar Lazar by the name of
R a v a n i t sa,
”
while in Chapter XV I call it Vrdnik .
”
.

I wish to explain t hat the correct of ficial name ofthe

”
monastery was and is Vrdnik but the people gave ,

”
it the popular name of R a va n it sa in commemoration ,

o fthe church R a va n i t s a which Tsar Lazar built in the

centre ofthe Morava Valley and in which he expressly ,

wished t o be buried In the introductory chapter I

.

have used the popular name by which my mother called

the monastery and in Chapter XV acting officially
, .
, ,

I have used the o f fic i al name .

CH M . .

M AY , 1917 .

L O ND O N .
 CO N T E N T S
PA GE

I N TROD U CTI ON MY MO T HE R

1 . MY FI RST MISS IO N

2 . TH E LO N D ON B L AC K SE A CO N F E RE N CE

3 . TH E SEC RE T TREATY W IT H A U ST RIA HU N G ARY

-

TH E S E RB O B U L GA RIAN
-

WAR

5 . TH E B UC H ARE ST PEACE CO N F E RE N CE
6 . B UC H ARE ST R E M IN I S CE N CE S
7 . SU LT A N AB D UL HA M ID

8 . KI N G MILAN

10 . KI N G PE TE R

11 . MY B O LD EST PO LITI CAL

12 . TH E L AST OB RE N O VIC H
13 .
QUEE N D RA G A

14 . MAC KE N ZIE OF GAI RLO C H AN D OT H E RS

15 . TH E F AIL U RE I M O ST REG RE T

17 . MY REC O RD IN S E RB IA
xi
 Co n t e n t s
CHAPTER

18 . IN TH E UITE
S OF TH E SH AH
19 . TH E P EACE CO N FE RE N C E AT
20 . MY AME RICAN I M PRE SS IO N S

21 . TH E CLAI M S OF LO N G DES CE N T
22 . CAN AD IAN I MP RESS IONS
IND E! .
 L I S T O F PL A T E S
PAGE

CHE D O MI L LE MIJ ATOVI CH F ron ti s pi ece

TREAT Y OF B UC H ARE S T
OF E RB IA
S

NATH ALIE OF SE RB IA
M emo i r s O fa B a l k a n D i p l o ma t i s t

INTR OD UCTI O N
My Mo t he r
N these Memoirs I wish to speak of myself as little as
possible I dare say indulgent readers would find no
.

fault with me if I were in this introductory chapter to

, ,

introduce myself to them But instead Of doing so I wish

.

to introduce my mother N ot only because she is my

.

mother not only because entering on an important and

, ,

responsible work I as a grateful son wish to O f

, , fer ,

public homage to her before I pay it to any other woman ,

but because she is really an interesting and typical Serb

.

woman with all the strong and weak points Of her race .

Those who hav e the patience to read thi s pen sketch Of -

my mother will be able afterwards to understand my o wn

activity and my character more easily Indeed except .
,

i n g the love Of books which I inherited from my father

, ,

every other feature Of my personality and character

my faith i n God and God s Providence my pity for all ’
,

who suffer my wish to help e v erybody my lo v e for

, ,

everything that is beautiful my adorati on Of chi v alry , ,

my love Ofmusic sin ging and poetry my fearlessness in

, ,

speaki ng the truth and se v eral Of my weaknesses —all

,

these I inherited from my mother .

She was the great granddaughter Ofa Serbian Gabriel

-

Ilich by name who was commander O f a regiment of

,

B I
 Memo i r s O fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
Serbian v olunteers and who joined the Austrian Army
under Prince Eugene Of Savoy at the siege Of Belgrade
in 1 71 7 When the fortress w as stormed her great
.

g randfather was the first to enter at the head o f his

men carrying in his right hand no other weapon than

,

an Old mace F or that act o fbrave ry and his other

.

serv ices the Queen Of Hungary the Empress ,

Theresa on the proposal OfPrince Eu gene ga v

, ,

o —
f
a charter Of nobility with a beautiful coat arms in ,
-

the Serbian national tricolour red blue and white : , ,

a blue shield crossed by a silver bar with a red mace

, ,

o n it
. I have the original charter still Its text states .

that the rank o fnobility is inheritable hy the members ‘

Of the family : Utriusque Sexus .

O ur ancestor seems to have possessed artistic instincts

and a romantic disposition which were transmitted ,

somewhat intensified to his great granddaughter The

,
-

conqueror Of the Turks at Belgrade the new Hungarian ,

nobleman was himself con quered by a young Anda

,

lusian peasant girl It occurred thus The Empress

. .

Maria Theresa wishing to introduce silk wool sheep

,
“ ” -

into Hungary brought from Andalusia the peasants of

,

two villages with all their families and their silk wool -

sheep and settled them in Southern Hungary O ur

, .

great great grandfather saw a youn g girl amon gst these

- -

immigrants and after some romantic e f

, , forts succeeded ,

in marrying her .

My mother with her dark eyes and black hair her

, ,

remarkably small hands and feet and her inclinati on t o ,

a rounded figure looked very Spanish especially in her

, ,

later years She was born in 1 82 6 in Becskerek a

.
,

Serbian town in Southern Hungary She was given the .

double name ( a very rare custom among

 M y Mo t h e r
her Andalusian great grandmother Rachel Christina
-

,
.

As a child she was called Tina and we her children , , ,

knew her only under this name although her brothers ,

and sisters preferred to call her R a k eel a which is Serbian ,

for Rachel .

She was a very pretty child liked by everybody for

,

her intelligence and sweet temper When in her sixth .

,

year she was standing o n e day in front Of her parents

,
’

house watching a number Of carriages returning with

,

merry people from the fair held that day in the town ,

suddenly a simple covered carriage with two horses

stopped before her house and an Old woman from
,

“
inside the vehicle call ed to her : Come my pretty ,

child ; come to me ! I wish to gi v e you some nice

cakes ! The moment she entered the carriage the Ol d
”

woman ordered the dri v er to dri v e away at a gallop .

She took the child to her own home in Arad a town ,

at some distance from Becskerek The Old woman was .

a Wallachian by nationality and a magician ( vra cha ra

,

in Serbian meanin g medicine woman by profession

“
.

Wallachia and Southern Hungary are even in these days

known as countries where on e can meet powerful pro
f ess i o n a l ma gicians Those countries together with
.
,

Transylvania in Ol d times formed D acia ; and the

,

D acians are said to have fought the invading Roman

legions by magic .

It seems that in order to produce effective results

at performances Of magic i t was necessary that the
a ction O fan Old w oman magician shoul d be assisted by
an innocent girl as young as possible Therefore the .

ol d woman had kidnapped Tina at the gates Of her

parents courtyard At that time there were n o tele
’
.

graphs and no proper police organisation and my ,

3
 M emo i r s O fa Ba l ka n D i p l omat i s t
mothe r s family searched in vain for her for fully si x
’

years A t last they discovered her and took her to

.

K ag y
r u e v a t s in S erbia
,
where her elder
,
brother was
private chemist to the Prince Of Serbia M il osh O bren o ,

vich and where she was in a couple ofyears to meet

, , ,

her predestined husband .

My fath er was a Serbian from F ru shk a Gora

mountain Of the B rugi ) in Syrmia famous for the
”
,

number Of its Serbian monasteries His father sent .

him to study at the Hungarian Universities He was .

the greatest Latin scholar amongst contemporary Serbs

in Hungary and became a solicitor as well as assistant
,

editor Of the first Serbian paper in Budapest O ne

‘

evening at an inn he heard a young M a gyar nobleman

boast about his latest triumph o v er a poor innocent ,

g irl
. Indignant he told the Ma g
,
yar that his conduct
was mean that no man had a right to boast over such
,

triumphs ; and although he did not know the girl he

, ,

provoked the braggart Magyar to a duel with swords .

H e was nearly killed in the encounter and badly , ,

w ounded had to retu rn to P ru shk a Gora His nurse

,
.

was a cousin whom I knew as a still beautiful Old

woman and wh o must have been remarkably beautiful
,

when young I do not w onder that my fath er fell

.

in love with her ; but as according to the O rthodox ,

Canon Law he could not marry her melancholy and

, ,

despair seized him and when he recovered he went to

, ,

R a va n i t s a a monastery Of F ru shk a Gora with the

, ,

intention Of entering holy orders But the pretty cousin .

went to the monastery with his mother and those two ,

women prevailed on him to leave and gO to Serbia ,

whi ch at that time wa s in need Ofyoung professors for

middle scho ol s He went t o Serbia saw Tina Ilich
l

.
, ,
 Memo i r s O fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
A few weeks after the departure of the regiment a
pretty girl Marushka by name came to see the Ol d
, ,

”
magician . My dear aunt said the girl through her
,

tears
,
“
ever since my fia n cé Corporal Marian left for
, ,

Italy I have been SO unhappy I think I shall die o fa .

broken heart But I should SO like to see him once

.

more Could you not make him come even if it were

. ,

”
only for a few hours ? The Old woman answered that
she certainly could make him come but the operation ,

would be very risky and dangerous ; therefore she

advised the girl to abandon her wish Marushka went .

away but two or three weeks later she returned pale

, ,

and haggard ; and kneeling and crying bitterly again

, ,

begged the Old woman to have pity o n her and bring

her Marian to her— onl y for a few hours ! The
magician once more did her best to dissuade her and
even scolded her .

“
You see my foolish girl she said
,
“
the opera , ,

tion may succeed perfectly ; but it is also possible that

something untoward may happen and I do n ot want ,

the sin to fall o n my soul ! ”

But when the unhappy and persevering girl came a

third time and declared that if something untoward
,

should happen she w ould take the sin on her o wn soul ,

the Ol d woman consented to bring the young corporal

to see his sweetheart .

The magic operation had to be done o n a Young

”—
Friday ~
that is to say on the first Friday after the
,

appearance Ofthe new moon Early in the morning Of.

that day the girl had to gO barefooted to the fountain

, ,

to fetch a pitcher full Of water This water was poured .

into a new copper kettle and left on a bench in the yard

in the sunshine in order that the rays Of the sun mi ght
6
 M y Mo t h e r
fall on it The incantation had to take place at mid
.

night A n hour before that time the girl —

. apprentice
had to make a blazing fire on the hearth and hang the
copper kettle which had been bathed in the sun by
, ,

an iron chain above the fire A few minutes before .

midni ght the magician and her girl apprentice undressed -

themselves entirely letting their hair fall loose on their

,

shoulders Punctually at midni ght the Old woman be gan

.

to address the fire in strange words from time to time ,

prostrating herself before the hea rth and kissing the

earth in front Ofit The young girl had to imitate the
.

Old woman in all her movements and gestures Then .

the magician cast a handful Of salt into the boiling

water at the same time throwing into the fire an Old
,

necktie which Corporal Marian used to wear The .

next moment a terrible explosion shook the house to

its foundations and the water i n the kettle overflowed
and extinguished the fire That wa s the end Of the
.

operation SO far as my mother remembered it .

S ome days after that late in the night someone

, ,

knocked at the window Of M a ru shk a s room all the ’

,

houses in Arad at that time being only Of on e storey .

The knock was repeated more impatiently and again ,

and again until M arushka jumped up from her bed

,

to ask who was knocking A husky voice answered

.

“
M arushka open ! I am your Marian !
,
”
The girl
awakened her mother and both went to unbolt the
,

front door There before the door Marian was stand

.
, ,

i n g palpitating and breathing quickly like a do after

,
g ,

a long run all his uniform in tatters as if he had been

,

dashing through thorny hedges .

“
Marushka ! he said in the deepest agitation ,

Marushka for God s sake why were you constantly

,
’
,
 Memo i r s O fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
calling me ? He stretched his arms towards her drew ,

her to his breast kissed her and fell dead !

, ,

2 .
The D octor s Wife and her D au ghter ’
In a .

town near Arad a doctor had married a wealthy woman

with a grown u p daughter H i s w i fe on e day came
-
.

to Arad with her daughter to consult the famous

ma gician .

”
You will understand my anxiety the lady said , ,

when I tell you that my da u ght er is n ow in her twenty f

sixt h year and as yet no on e has sou ght her in

,
°

marriage I want you to tell me whether she will ever

.

”
marry .

Throwing a handful Of h a ri cdt beans on the earthen

—
floor Ofthe kitchen she received all her clients in her
kitchen —the Old woman said at once : O h yes ; your
“
,

daughter will certainly marry but for the present there ,

is an impediment Y es a woman stands in the way !

.
,

Could you not remove that Obstacle ? asked the

doctor s wife ’
.

“
O h yes ; certainly answered the magician ; and
, ,

then arran ged the fee with the doctor s wife ’

.

This satisfactorily arranged the Old woman invited ,

her new clients to come with her to the garden at the ,

same time ordermg her girl apprentice to bring an axe -

to her She came to a slender peach tree took the

.
,

daughter by the hand and walked with her three times ,

round the tree mutterin g the while some formul ae i n

,

a strange language Then she placed the axe into the

.

girl s hand and asked her t o have a good cut at the

’

slender stem This done the magician asked them to

.
,

come a gain t o her o n the following Friday They did .

so and the girl had again to strike a blow with the

,

axe deepening the first cut This wa s repeated on t wo

, .

8
 M y M o t h er
or three consecuti v e Fridays until at last the peach tree
was completely cut do wn .

“ Now “
,
the witch said to them the impediment
’
,

will be speedily removed ; and you may be sure madam , ,

”
that your daughter will be married within a year !
D riving home the doctor s wife suddenly felt ill
,
’
.

Notwithstandin g her husband s ef orts she grew worse

f ’

and worse and in a few days she was dead Within

,
.

a year Of her death the doctor married his step daughter -

.

I could give a few more such stories which my

mother related as having happened whil e she was from ,

her sixth to her twelfth year living w ith the Old ,

Wallachian magician O f course she learned some

.
,

minor magic herself which she used principally for

,

reconciling estranged lovers or husband and Wife wh o ,

were contemplating divorce and who owing to my , ,

mother s innocent magic were reconciled and lived ever

’
,

afterwards in perfect harmony and love !

My mother was a patriot Like every Serbian .

woman she knew everything about ou r history ; about

,

Nema n ya , St Sava Tsar D ushan Tsa r Lazar

.
, , ,

Tsaritsa Militsa and ou r national heroes Kra l yevi ch

,

Marco M i l osh O bil i ch Ban St ra hi n ya — she kn ew all

, ,

these things not from written histories but from the

, ,

national ballads which were sung o r rather recited by , ,

”
G u sl a ri , as ou r national bards are called As .

soon as I learned to read she made me read ou r national

heroes songs ( Yu n a chk e P yesme in the collection o f
’
,

Vuk Stefanovich Ka ra ji ch) M y first journey wa s a visit.

to my grandfather which I combined with a visit to the

,

R a va n i t sa Monastery where the embalmed body Of Tsar

,

Lazar lay in a silver coff in (s ee Preface) I remember .

even n ow in my old days every detail of that w onderful

, ,

9
 M emo i r s fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
O

journey o n which my mother took me then only in my

, ,

seventh year and my sister Anka two years younger

, ,

than I H OW little worldly wisdom my father had not

.
,

withstanding his great Latin scholarship can be seen from ,

the fact that he let his wife then a y oung and pretty ,

woman Oftwenty three dressed in the glaring Serbian

-

national costume travel with two young children in a

,

country which had not yet settled down to normal con

di t i o s after the revolution Of1 8 4 8 9
n We met several -
.

conv oys fM agyar prisoners some Of whom fell into a

o ,

rage o n seeing a S erbian woman in the national cos

tume and shook their fists at us My mother had to
,
.

borrow a pistol and cartridges from a coachbuilder on

the outskirts Of the town f Semlin My sister and I o .

laughed merrily seeing ou r mother carrying in the

, ,

silk belt around her waist a big pistol , .

The v illage ( Y a za k by name ) in which ou r grand

father lived was about two hours journey by carria ge ’

from the monastery Of R a v a n i t s a I think o n the third .

day after ou r arri v al my father s younger brother took ’

us to the monastery My father was w ell known in all

.

the monasteries of F u hka Gora as a learned man who

r s

had nearly become a monk himself ; and still more

popular with the monks was my grandfather who Often ,

sent to the monastery barrels Of wine and s hlyi vovi ts a

( a whisky made Of plums) as presents It w as not .

surprisin g although I was as a little boy deeply

—
, ,

i mp res s ed t h a t the abbot a tall thin man with a white

fi

h ea rd in a long black robe and with a long silver

, ,

stick in his hand surrounded by a dozen black robed

,
-

monks received us at the gate Of the monastery with

,

some solemnity while all the bells ofthe church tower

,

were ringing merrily They took us in a sort ofpro.

10
 M y Mo t h er
cession to the church and to the cof fin contai ni ng the
embalmed body Of Tsar Lazar My mother in tears .
,

from her deep emotion raised me up in her arms t o

,

kiss what was supposed to be the hand Ofthe Tsar and ,

said t o me : Y ou have read the song about the battle

o fKossovo That is the body o fou r Tsar Lazar who
. ,

died gloriously for the Holy Cross and ou r precious

liberty ! ” She was quoting the lines o f the national
ballad .

—
The monks showed us numbers Of reliques gold and
silver goblets swords pa u n ch ers and vestments ; and a
, ,

tunic supposed to have been worn by Tsar Lazar at

,

the battle Of Kossovo made Of silver grey corded silk

,
-

with five buttons of imitation pearls O riginally the .

tunic had six buttons but a woman cut Of , f on e and

carried it away only to find on reaching her home
, , ,

that the stolen button had disappeared and that her

o wn right arm wa s paralysed and dried up t o a
wooden stick !
The monks gave my mother and my uncle quite a
grand banquet in their great dining room the walls of -

which were covered by frescoes representing scenes from

the battle of Kossovo which a young monk minutely
,

explained to us The Old abbot who presided went

.
, ,

so far in his courtesy as to propose the health and

happiness Of my mother All the monks sang beauti
.

ful ly in chorus the famous Serbian song May you ,

”
liv e many years ! While they were singing my
mother was sobbing When the abbot at the end Of
.
,

the song asked her why she wept she said : I weep
, ,

from joy feeling so happy that I brought my children

,

to kiss the hand Of ou r holy Tsar Lazar !

This my first journey a n dmy first visit to R a va n i t s a
, , ,

I I
 Memo i r s fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
O

made a deep impression o n me In later years I .

never could think Of Tsar Lazar and K ossovo battle

without remembering the incidents I have briefly
related Throughout my life I have often recalled
.

that scene in t he dining room Of the monastery -

where my mother wa s surrounded by the monks ,

pleased to entertain so young and beautiful a woman .

O ne O f my cheri shed but not fulfilled ambitions has

been to write a history Of Tsar Lazar Instead ofthat .

history which would have had all the features Of grand

,

tragedy I wrote the life Of Lazar s grandson George

,
’

Brankovich whi ch also wa s a tragedy although n ot

, ,

such a grand on e as that Of Lazar .

When after the death Of my father my mother

, ,

married Vassa Berar the general manager of the Govern

,

ment s printing press w e children ( I and my two sisters)

’
,

had a still more enjoya ble time O ur stepfather was a .

highly cultured and very kind hearted man a great -

lover Of books and music H im I have to thank for.

my intellectual development as for the growth Of my ,

artistic instin cts I have to thank my great friend the

artist Stefan Todorovich But for my faith in God
.
,

in the high destiny Of my nation and the still hi gher ,

destinies Of humanity ; for my constant wish to be

helpful and kind to everybody ; for my belief in the ‘

beauty and goodness Of this world ; for my optimism ,

mysticism and occultism I have to thank my dear

mother .

I wish to mention yet o n e other strange incident

in connection with my mother O ne day while I n my .
,

fifteenth year my mother summoned me into the

,

drawing room -

There I found a middle aged man

. -

sitting on a chair and holding on his knees a basket full

12
 Memo i r s O fa Ba l ka n D i p l omat i s t
receive them in a large room They rush suddenly at
.

you with knives and revolvers and assassinate you Y es ; .

you will die by assassination And after your death

.

”
your people will pay great homage to your memory !
I acquired the impression that Y eft a was telling me
impossible things How could I go to foreign Univer
.

sities when I knew that my stepfather could not a f ford

the necessary expense ? And how absurd to say that I
was to marry a foreign lady several years Older than
myself ! That certainl y should never take place ! And
‘

then how could I the son Of a poor Serbian professor

, ,

g o to forei gn Courts and shake hands with Kin gs and

Queens ? Even to my mother who had abounding
,

faith in Y eft a s clairvoyance all his forecast seemed

’
,

rather puzzling and impr obable .

Yet three years later the Government Of Serbia

, ,

sent me to foreign Universities at the expense Of the

nation And I di d marry a foreign lady several years
.

older than I w as And as professor I addressed crowds

.

Of students at the Hi gh School Of Belgrade And I .

di d gO to di f ferent Courts OfEurope and shake hands

with Kings and Queens ! Ha v ing known all these i m
probabilities realised in my o wn person I believe also
,

that the end Of the forecast will be fulfilled and that I

,

sh a ll die as the victim Of a political assassin

.
 CHAPTER I
My Fi rs t Mi s s i o n
Y personal inclination was always for literary work .

I never thought ofbein g and never wished to be

, ,

a diplomat But whatever we may think Of ou r free

.

will and Of our bein g the makers Ofou r destiny the ,

circumstances Of a practical life over which we ha v e ,

no control do not take any considera tion Of ou r per

,

sonal inclinations At any rate this has been my own

.

experience but it may be that I am a man without a

,

particularly strong will .

I began my public career as professor Of political

e conomy and finance in the High School ( Veli ka
S hko la ) of Bel grade an institution which later blos
,

s omed into the University Of Bel grade I was only in .

m y twenty third year when I was appointed to the

-

chair The four years I worked as professor ( 1 8 6 5 9 )

.
-

were the happiest O f my life I wrote several books

.

on political economy and finance besides numerous ,

articles on the blessings Of Free Trade o n the a dva n ,

tage Ofconstructing railways and establishing banks A .

great number Of pupils from di f ferent faculties

flocked to my lectures including almost all who after
,

wards became prominent as statesmen and political

workers in Serbia from 1 8 80 to the present time When .

the Prime Minister Of Serbia M Nikola P a shi ch in, .

,

June 1 9 1 4 proposed to make me Archbishop OfSko pl ye

, ,

( Uskub ) he said :
, I am delighted to Ofl er you this
I S
 Memo i r s O fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
dignity as I never forget that you were my professor
,
,

”
and a very good professor indeed ! My answer was
“
As you were my pupil and are now SO successful a ,

Prime Minister I begin to think that after a ll I must

, , ,

”
have been really a good p rofessor ! And we both
laughed .

Besides my chair I filled t h é p ost o fsecretary oft he ‘

Chamber Of Commerce Of Serbia working in Belgrade ,

.

Through that Chamber I stepped into the diplomatic

world It happened in this way :
.

O n the assassination Of Prince Michael ( O brenovich

o n June l ot h 1 8 6 8 the situation wa s saved for
, ,

the dynasty principally by the energy Of the War

Minister General B l a z n a va t z and order was preserved
, ,

by the prompt appointment Of a Regency and its "

judicious activity The Chamber composed Of twelve

.
,

merchants decided to gO in a body to than k the Regents

,

f or their great service t o the country and to com

merce Naturally I as their secretary accompanied
.
, ,

them .

We were recei v ed by the two Regents General ,

B l a zn a va t z and J ovan Ri s t i ch ( the third Regent Gav ,

ri l ov i Ch bein g absent)
, J ovan R i s t i ch wa s alre ady
.

!
well known as the best and most successful Of Serbian
diplomatists especially since he as E nvoy to the
, ,

Sublime Porte was the principal co operator with

,
-

Prince Michael and the Prime Minister Iliya Gara

shanin in Obtaining the cession ofT urkish fortresses in
Serbia But in replying to the thanks Ofthe Chamber
.

both Regents spoke in a somewhat loose way G en era l . f

B l a zn a va t z told the members that as rumours Of the ,

conspiracy to assassinate the childless P rince Michael

has been I n circulation he thought it hi s duty to con
,

I 6
 M y F i r s t M i ss i o n
sider what he as War Minister ou ght to do i n case
, ,

the Prince should be slain ; and he came to the con

elusion that the army should at once proclaim M ichael s ’

second cousin the fourteen year Ol d Milan O breno v ich

,
- -

as the Prince OfSerbia He added that he spoke about .

it to Mr R i st i ch the second Regent who in con

‘

.
, , ,

firming the statement Of his colleague mentioned ,

that he told him he (R i st i ch) wished to act with

him in that case to show how far he would go with
,

him in upholding the O brenovich dynasty o n the

throne .

Unfortunately the Chamber Of Commerce entirely

misunderstood the words Ofthe Re gents The second .

day after the interview I wa s summoned to Mr R i st i ch .

,

who informed me with consternation that the members

, ,

were spreading the story that both Regents had con

fessed that they knew the assassination Of P rince M ichael
woul d take place and had formed their plans as t o what
they ought to do as Regents after the murder Mr . .

R i s t i ch requested me to write a report of what they

really said and to publish it under my name as the
secretary Ofthe Chamber Of Commerce I sat down .

at once wrote a draft Of my eventual report and sub

, ,

mi t t ed it to Mr R i s t i ch He read it slowly read it a

. .
,

second time and then gi v in g me his hand said

, , ,
“
There is not a word to be l eft ou t nor a word to be
added I thank you and congratulate you NO diploma
. .

t i s t could ha v e written a better report I think you .

ought to enter the diplomatic service ! ”

When in 1 8 6 9 I left the High School and became

, ,

head Of the administrati v e department of the Ministry

o fFi n ance Mr R i st i ch Often called me to the Foreign
, .

Of fice and asked me to write diplomatic notes concern

C 1 7
 M emo i r s fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
O

i ng Serbia s commercial policy as he wa s not satisfied

’
,

w ith the drafts for such notes prepared by the chief o f

the politic a l department Of the Foreign O f fice Serbia .

had at that time a controversy with Prussia touching

the tariff o n the importation Of German goods into the
country In that duel w e succeeded in gaining a v i c
.

tory fo r ou r views and Mr R i st i ch again congratulated

,
.

me on my diplomatic aptitude and urged me to enter

the diplomatic service Thereupon as was not unnatural
.
, ,

the chief o fthe political department on e Of the most ,

brilliant oflawyers and politicians took umbrage and , , ,

although we belonged to the same political party (the

Progressists while Mr R i st i ch was leader o f the
,
.

Liberals) and later had to work together in the same

,

Government he never forgave me for my involuntary

,

intrusion into the Foreign O ffice .

In that year ( 1 8 6 9 ) the Regency at the suggestion ,

Of Mr R i st i ch entrusted me with my first diplomatic

.
,

mission This was to visit Count Andrassy the Prime

.
,

Minister Of Hungary in Budapest and Count B eu s t in

, , ,

Vienna to ascertain the details Of the contract between

,

Turkey and Baron Hirsch for the construction Of the

O ttoman railways and to learn whether it were true
,

that Serbia was i gnored in which event I was to protest

,

and try to en l i st t h e support ofAustria and Hungary

in an endeavour to modify the contract so far in our
favour as to ensure that the connection Of Constantinople
and Salonica with Vienna and Western Europe by rail
w ay should pass through Serbia I t w as a responsible .

mission fo r a young man not yet twenty seven who had -

had no diplomatic training .

TO the Regents as well as t o me personally it was

, ,

cl ear tha t the political economical and agricultu ral

,

18
 M y F i r s t M i ss i o n
interests Of our country required that the O ttoman
railways ought to communicate with Central and West ern
Europe through Serbia Mr R i st i ch wa s already a
. .

Russophile in politics especially since the Russian

,

Ambassador in Constantinople had co operated in s ecu r -

ing the evacuation o fTurkish fortresses in Serbia But .

although a Russophile Russian statesmen naturally did

,

not keep him informed Of all their movements in their

Balkan policy nor had he at that time the habit Of
,

asking co n fidentially the advice Ofthe Russian Ministers

in Belgrade before undertaking a step of importance .

Nor had I the sli ghtest notion Of what was going on

behind the scenes in the promotion OfRussian policy in
the Balkans .

T O my astonishment and dismay I found myself in

Budapest and Vienna in the thick Of a confli ct Of vital
Balkan interests between Russia and Austria Hungary -
.

I was told in both cities that Russian diplomacy was

working to prevent the construction Of any O ttoman
railways at all in the Balkans and unable to secure this
, , ,

had induced the Porte to let its railways join the Aus
trian through Bosnia where the diffi culties of the ground
,

made the construction almost impossible at time , ,

or only at a great cost in time and money were

opposed to the connection o fthe Balkan railways with
the Austro Hungarian through Serbia principally from
-

military and political considerations .

Although I reported to the Regency what I had

heard about the Russian point Of View my instructions ,

were to proceed with the demand that the lines should

go throu gh Serbia and n ot throu gh Bosnia General .

B l a zn a va t z even wrote a postscript orderin g me to inform

Andrassy and B eu st that if the Turks should begin t o
,

I
9
 Memo i r s O fa B a l k a n D i p l omat i s t
‘

build the railway through Bosnia Serbian band s would

‘

destroy e v ery ni ght what the Turks built during the

day I was in Budapest when I received these i n st ru c
.

tions and I spoke t o Count Andrassy in accordance

,
,

with them .

After looking at me for a While the H ungarian Prime

Minister said : Y ou are a young man and e v idently
a beginner in diplomacy Write to your Government
.

that I have told you that D iplomacy never uses menacing

language unless the country it represents is ready to
declare war in forty eight hours Ask them to with
-
.

”
draw that part o ftheir instructions !
I reported Count Andras sy s remark but my i n ’
,

s t ru ct i on s were not modified and in Vienna I thought

,

it my duty to repeat the warning Count B eu st quite — .

a different typ e Of statesman from Count Andrassy

onl y smiled and said O h n o ; I am sure it will never
: ,

come to that All we need at the moment is patience

. .

The contract between the O ttoman Government and

Baron Hirsch ought to be modified and will be modified .

We are glad to see your Government so alive to the

conditions OfSerbia s prosperity and we will do a l l we
’
,

can to secure the passing through Serbia Of the Con

s t a n t i n op l e— Vienna railway .

F or the next nine years the strug gle between Russian

and Austro Hungarian diplomacy w ith reference to the
-

O ttoman railways was c ontinued In t hebe ginni n g .

Serbia was working o n her o wn lines and exclusively for

her own interests W ewanted the great trunk railway
.

to pass throu gh ou r country and not through Bosnia ,

and only vaguely began to percei v e that Russian policy

rather favoured the Bosnian project In 1 8 73 a Con .

s erva t i ve Cabinet under J ovan M a ri n ov i ch a statesma n -

20
 Memo i r s O fa Ba l ka n D i p l omat i s t
Prince Milan wh o was extremely annoyed that he wa s
,

deceived by the Sublime Porte .

I may safely say that from that time the personal

animosity Of Prince Milan a gainst General I gnatie f f
was intensified It be gan a few months earlier Up to
. .

the formation Of the M a ri n ovi ch Cabinet Serbia had

only copper coins ( pennies) as her national money O ne .

Of my first tasks as Minist er Of Finance was to intro

, ,

duce the decimal system Of weights and measures and

to com Serbian silver francs givin g them the name
,

Of di n a r which was the name Of the silver coin

,

that circulated in the reigns Of the Old Kings Of the

N ema n yi ch dynasty in the thirteenth and fourteenth
centuries TO our intense surprise ou r Minister in Con
.

f adv ised the

s t a n t i n opl e reported that General Ignatie f

Porte to protest against the issue Of silver coins t o ,

which Serbia as a vassal State Of the Sultan had no

, ,

—
ri ght the coining Of silver and gold money being a pre
rogative of the Sovereign ! Prince Milan impetuous , ,

sensitive and inexperienced as he was at once took

,

I gn a t i ef fs action as a personal insult I did my best

’
.

to show him that there could be nothin g personal in

the matter a n d that the General wa s only working
,

to win the confidence Of the Porte by proving himself

occ a sionally a greater Turk tha n the Turks them
selves.

I really had not distinguished myself in that first

diplomatic mission ofmine It was only for the purpose
.

Of getting information and Of asking Austria Hungary -

to support us in Constantinople in obtaining the con

n ect i o n O fthe European railways with the Balkan railways

through Serbia There was no need to ask the D ual

.

Monarchy for that support It would have insisted that

 that the O rient
l e and Salonica should

23
 CHAPT E R II
The Lo n do n Bl a ck Sea Conf
er en ce

U SS I A S
’
neutrality durin g the war between Ger
many and France in W — SO decidedly ben evo
—
lent for Germany seems to have been secured by previous
secret arran gemen t between Prussia and Russia Any .

h ow after the French disaster at Sedan Russia notified

, ,

the Great Power Si gnatories to the Paris Trea ty Of 1 8 5 6

that she no longer considere d herself bound by the
article Of the Treaty which stipulated that she should
keep no fleet in t he Black Sea Prussia declared at
.

once her a greement with Russia s decision B u t Great

’
.

—
B ritain stood then as she stood in 1 9 0 8 and in 1 9 1 4
—for the sanctity OfInternational Treatie s and main ,

t a i n ed the principle that no Power could release herself

from engagements which she undertook by Treaty u nl ess
she were freed by the consent Of all the other CO
signatories Austria Hungary at that time sided with
.
-
‘

the British point Of view and support ed the British

suggestion Of a Conference Of the Great Powers in
London in order p ractically to release Russia fromher
,

Black Sea engagements ; but she attached a special con

dition to her CO Operation namely that in connection
‘
-

, ,

with the Black Sea question certain points concern

i n g the navigation Of the D anube should be considered
and decided The connection between the two was
.

plausible enough and the Powers agreed t o the Austro

,

Hungarian condition The London Conference met in

.

the beginning of1 8 71 accordingly .

2 4
 T h e Lo n do n B l ack Sea Co n f e r en c e
Serbia had no diplomatic rep resentatives abroad then ,

except in Constantinople Among the diplomatic agents

.

Ofthe Great Powers in Belgrad e nobody knew anything

a bout the D anubian questions w hich were t o be submitted

to the Conference SO the Re gents hurriedly dispatched

.

me to London to represent Serbia at the Confere nce .

They shared the prevailing ignorance o n the specific

points mentioned and had no precise instructions t o
,

g ive me .
“
All we ca n tell you at t his moment is
“
this ,
was Mr R i st i ch s pithy command ;
.
’
go to

be menaced !
At my first i nterview with Earl Granville British ,

Secretary Of State for Foreign A f fairs he informed me ,

that as Serbia was a v a ssal count ry ofTurkey I could

, ,

—
not come even semi off icially- — into touch with the
Conference unless introduced O f ficially by the Turkish
Ambassador He added that he had made that very
.

day a similar declaration to the Rumanian representative ,

Mr Strat
. .

As that formality I answered,

“
is the logical ,

conse quence O f the fact that Serbia is a vassal country

Of the Sultan and as that vassalage would not be put an
,

end to by my refusal to be introduced by the Sultan s ’

Ambassador I will go to morrow to M u su ru s Pasha

,
-

and ask him t o introduce me formally to your Lord

ship !
Earl Gra nville thought I was acting wisely .

The Rumanian representative Mr Strat assured me , .

,

that evening that he had refused to be introduced by

the T11rki sh Ambassador and had consequently been
,

informed that he could not be even semi o f fi ci a ll y -

received by the Foreign O ff ice nor by the Co n ference .

2 5
 Memo i rs O fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
Mr Strat asked me to let him have all the
.

at my disposal concerning the work of the Confere

which I promised to do .

Baron B ru n n ow then Russian Ambassador

,

London wa s an Old gentleman and very kind to

,

helping me often with his advice H e liked to chat and .

narrate amusing stories from his long experience He .

approved of my intention to be introduced to Earl

Granville and the members o f the Conference by
M u su ru s Pasha Sp ea k mg Of that he told me a story
.
,

Of the Serbian Princess Julia O brenovich n ée Countess ,

Hunyadi .

After the bombardment Of Belgrade in 1 8 62 by the

Turkish forCCS i n the citadel it wa s the British A m
’

ba ss a dor in Constantinople who pre v ented the Porte from

grantin g the concessions which Prince Michael asked
for. Michael and his Government saw clearly that
Serbia ought to Obtain Great Britain s support in Con ’

st a n t i n opl e and as Serbia a vassal principality Of

, ,

Turkey had no ri ght to regular di plomatic representa

,

tion abroad Michael sent to London his o wn wife

, - ,

P ri n cess J u li a to plead unofficially the Serbian claim

‘

, ,

namely the surrender of all the fortresses that were

,

guarded by Turkish garrisons Princess Julia was a .

great beauty and a highly cultured woman but ex -

ceed i n gl y proud Of her family connection with the

H ungarian national hero Hunyadi Janos In London , .

she naturally expressed a wish to v isit Queen Victoria ,

and was told the Queen would be pleased to see her but “

political exigencies demanded that she should be intro

du ced by the wife Of the Turkish Ambassador The .

Princess refused for some time to ac quiesce in that

convention ; but consciou s Of the abnormality and
,

26
'
 T h e Lo n do n B l ack S ea Co n f
e r e n ce
awkwardness Of her position in London Society without
having paid her respects to the Queen she w as persuaded ,

at last by the Russian and Austrian Ambassadors t o

submit to the unavoidable formality Madame M u su ru s.

came with her brougham to fetch her but Princess ,

Julia entered the carriage without saluting the A m

ba s s a dres s took a seat o n her ri ght hand open ed the
, ,

window and during all the drive looked outside W ithout

,

uttering a word .

Baron B ru n n ow asked me what I thought about i t .

I told him that I regretted a Serbian Princess could

behave so rudely ; but that after all o n that occasion
, ,

she acted n ot as the Princess Of Serbia but as Countess

Hunyadi Baron B ru n n ow added that all the members
.

o f the Corps D iplomatique in London were sorry f or

M adame M u su ru s and disapproved of Princess Julia s ’

incivility .

Baron B ru n n ow told me another story which had

especial interest for me as a Serb .

After 1 8 4 8 it seemed that Prince Alexander Kara

g eo r g ev i ch never con v oked the Serbian National Assembly
( S ku p s h t i n a ) .This caused general dissatisfaction and ,

certain politicians worked to replace the Protectorate of

Russia by a Protectorate ofall the Great Powers and then ,

to induce these Powers to grant a liberal constitution and

obli ge the Prince to reign constitutionally The Presi .

dent Of the Council of State Mr J o v an M a ri n ovi ch

, .
,

sub mitted to the Emperor Napoleon III a confidential .

memorandum on the question At the sitting o f the

.

Conference at which it was unanimously voted that

Serbia s autonomy should be placed under the guarantee
’

Of all the Great Powers the President Count W a l evsky

, , ,

proposed that an Intern ational Commission shoul d inquire

2 7
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l omat i s t
into the political condition Of the country and eventually
esta bli sh a const itutional ré gime The proposa l came .

as a surprise and for a mi nute o r two the representatives

,

ofthe Great Powers were silent Then Baron B ru n n ow .

su ggested that since most of them did not know t he

,

country well enough to say whether the Serbs desired a

constitution or would accept on e from an International
,
‘

Commission the O ttoman dele gate Ali Pasha mi ght

, ,
’

fa vour the Conference with his opinion as he was most ,

familiar with Serbia .

Ali Pasha suavely re sponded : I could not advise

'

the sending Of an International Commission to Serbia .

Much less would I recommend any of my friends to

accept me mbership ofsuch a Commi s sion We kno w .

the Serbs as a rather turbulent race full o f s uspi cion ,

against foreigne rs and I am afraid they would sooner

,

massacre the E uropean Commissioners than give a

banquet in their honour ! ”

Ali Pash a s remarks produced such an impression

'
’

that W a l evs ky withdrew his proposal ! Baron B ru n n ow

laughed heartily in telling me that story and evidently ,

enjoyed the cleverness by which he had saved S erbia

from the meddling Of an International CommI SSI on with
her internal af fairs .

If Ali Pasha however w ere to be taken seriously

, , ,

he o nly showed his small knowledge of the Serbs by

depicting us as cut t hroats Two years later ( 1 8 5 8 ) the
-
.

Porte sent E dh em P asha and Ka bou li E f fendi to Serbia

as Special Co mmissioners t o in quire into the confli ct
between Prince Alexander and the Council of State ,

and not only were their throats not cut but a ,

great ban q uet and a State ball were q u i te properly

given in their h onour !
2 8
 M emo i r s O fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
Serbian Foreign O f fice ever published M y friend Mr
. .

Strat thanked me e f fusively telling me that I had de

,

fended successfully the interests not ofSerbia only but

,

those Of Rumania also Austria s ambition to secure

.
’

the sole policing of the blue D anube was frustrated .

It wa s Serbia s first diplomatic victory over Austria

’
.

5
0
 CHAPTER III
The Secr et Trea ty wi th Au s t ri a Hu n ga ry -

AM going to write now o fa most delicate matter a ,

secret State document Although it bears the si gna

.

tures Of King Milan and the Prime Minister P i rot ya n a t z

besides my own as that ofMinister for Forei gn A f
,
fairs ,

—
I always while King Milan and Mr P i rot ya n a t z were .

living— took full and entire responsibility for it Much .

more do I do so now since both King Milan and Mr

, .

P i rot ya n a t z are dead The latter in his declining years

.

regretted that he attached his si gnature to the Treaty ,

but neither King Milan n or I regretted it although both ,

he and I had to suffer much— and I am suffering even

—
to this day i n consequence .

Although I am personally concerned I wish to assure ,

In any case the Treaty now belongs t o history and ought ,

t o be han dled in the historical manner And I flatter .

myself that I can deal with it in that way .

To explain the pol i t i ca l in which we ,

the M
fi

ssi st s found ourselves

, _when

t met __and p sy_c_ho

é m

logical condition m t we h a d to work i must g it e

certain facts .

Most of Serbia s people were always Russophile

’
.

Every Serb knows that Serbs and Russians are ethmo

graphically first cousins that we are both members o f
,

the great Slav family that we belong to the same Church

,

3 1
 M emo i rs o fa Ba l ka n Di p l oma t i s t
( O r t hodox Eastern Church ) that o u,
r church services
are identical in rites a n d language ( O ld Slavonic) and
.
~

that ou r colloquial languages are very simil ar although

n ot quite identical And every Serbian takes almost a
.

personal pride in the greatness and power of Russia .

Among the Serbians who had hi gher education especially ,

among those who studied at the German and French

Universities yo u could sometimes meet men wh o had
,

their do ot s as to the ultimate Object of Russian

“ ”

p olicy concerning other Slav nations and more especially ,

concerning Serbs and Bulgars and who di d not admit ,

the identity of the Serb and Russian political interests

in all circumstances and at all times But these men .

w ere only a small minority and without

the mass which was always and still now is s olidly
, , ,

Russophile .

But Serb Russophiles do not go so far as gladly t o

consent to allow themselves to be absorbed by R u s si a
and trans formed into Russians This was shown at the.

final solemn meeting at the Ethno graphic E xhibition of

the Sla v s in Moscow in 1 8 6 7 O n that occasi on the
, .

leaders ofthe Russian Slavophiles ( otherwise known a s

P a n sl a v i st s) proposed t o the representatives Of all other
Slav nations a resolution in favour o fthe adoption Of
the Russian language as the literary language of a ll the
Slavs The Czechs ga v e an evasive answer ; the B ulgars
.

were the only Slavs who agreed absolutely and the

Serbs were the only Slavs who absolutely and clearly
refused to agree That meeting was an important land
.

mark as from that time the Slavophile party in Russia

,

—gaining from year to year in influence at home— be gan

to neglect Serb interests and to espouse i n every wa y ‘

those of the Bulgars Under the inspiration ofthat

.

3 2
 Th e S ec r e t Tr ea t y wi t h A u s t ri a H u nga ry -

party the Russian Ambassador in Constantinople ,

General Ignatie f f obtained from the Porte the establish

,

ment of the Bulgarian E xarchate in 1 8 70 The same .

Ambassador persuaded the Porte to give the majority

ofthe dioceses in Macedonia and even in O ld Serbia to
, ,

the B ul garian bishops who at once unde rtook the proper

,

Bul ga ri s i n g o f Macedoni a which until then wa s

,

looking to Serbia for guidance and salvation .

”
This B u lga ri sa t i on ofMacedonia and O ld Serbia
( K ossovo Vilayet ) under the indirect and sometimes ,

direct support ofthe Russian Ambassador gave a shock

, ,

to the Serbs not only in Macedonia but in st rongly

, ,

Russophile Serbia too The people found consolation

.

in the belief that that was not the intention Of the Tsar
and his Government but rather a personal hobby of
,

General Ignatief f E veryone in Serbia was aware that

.

t hw nt ry although not prepared for war de clared

m
, ,

war on TurkJ i n 1 876 at t the Russi an

Ambassador in Constantinople and that a f
m

ter h a vmg
w

, ,

been defeated by _Turks

in and havin g
been sa jT f rom a catastrop h e by the
W
”
__
of
_

ery o n e expected that the Treaty

Russia wo ul d bring Serbia her

It i s i mpossi blé to des cribe the amazement o f the

“

stipulated for Serbia Only the

frontiers whil a t the
’
ti _m__e a Great
,
e .
“

“m

tween the Bal kans and the D anube ) Roumelia portions

a “ ou r

, ,

33
 Memo i r s ofa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
o f the lake ofO ch ri da a n d even certain
,

and to the east ofNish the important strategical town

, ,

o f Pirot It was the Liberal Government with Mr

. , .

R i st i ch at its head that framed the Russophile policy

, ,

committing the country to acts fo r which they knew it

was not prepared but doing so in the faith that Serbia s
,
’

sacrifice and risks woul d be abundantly rewarded by

Russia N o on e was more bitterly disappointed than
.

the L iberals of Serbia when they read the text ofthe

San Stefano Treaty .

—
heir disappointment and indeed the disappoint , ,

—
ment o fevery Serb was intensified when Mr Ri st i ch .
,

the Premier and Leader of the Liberals reported his ,

experiences to the nation as the only dele gate ofSerbia

at the Congress o f Berlin/ He had there to combat
the Russian e f forts to get Pirot and Vranya fo r B u l
g aria At
. last Count S hu v a l o f
f ( the second Russian
delegate and assistant o f Prince G o rcha k of f) told the
greatest Russophile among the Serbs ( Mr R i st i ch ) that .

Russia could n ot do anything for Serbia at that time ,

and that he had better address himself to Count Andrassy ,

the Austro Hungarian a -

e M inister and the first

delegate of the D ual M onarchy at the Con gress It .

was most painful for M r R i st i ch to do so as he was

.
,

well known no t only for his Russophilism but also for ,

his A u st rophobi a sha that respect the sentiments

,

o fevery 0 obtain Serbia s extension t o

’

a point south of Vranya and to add Pirot to Serbia ,

he had t o consent to si gn a special Convention with Count

Andrassy bindi ng Serbia to construct the Serbian section
,

o f the railway —
Vienna Constantinople and Vienna
,

Salonica wi th i n three years and t o enter at once into

, ,

34
 Th e S ec r e t T r eat y wi t h A u s t r i a H u n ga ry
-

treaty with Austria

rci a l

Hungary hen all these facts became known and

. ,

especiall y the facts that Russia wishing t o create a ,

Great B ul garia gave t o her Serbian Macedonia and that

, ,

Russia by the agreement made in 1 8 75 at Reichstadt

, ,

consented to the Aus trian o ccu o f Bosnia utter

Partly owing to his o wn disgust at the failure ofhis

Rus sophile policy and partly to unwillingness t o expose
,

himself and hi s party to unpopularity by increasing the

taxation ( ine v itable in consequence o f Serbia s engage ’

ment to build the railway) Mr R i st i ch resigned in, .

O cto ber 1 8 8 0 and Prince Milan invited Mr P i rot ya n a t z

, , .

and Mr G a ra sh a n i n the leaders of the Progressists t o

.
, ,

form a new Government I entered this Cabinet as

.

Minister o fFinance and of Foreign A f fairs as my col ,

leagues thought that the negotiations for a treaty of

commerce with Austria Hungary and the execution o f
-

ot her engagements entered into by Mr R i st i ch in his

,
.

Berlin Convention with Andrassy would be facilitated ,

if both portfolios were placed in the hands o f o n e

person .

The Progressist Cabinet began its work with an open

mind We certainly were not Russophile but much less
.
,

were we Austrophile We shared the g eneral disappoint

.

ment with Russian Balka n policy but we naturall y dis

liked the Austrian occupation of B o sm
,

g o v i n,a t wo Serb pro v inces At the same time we.

35
 fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
fter the war of 1 8 76 7 ou r country needed
-

peace and rest to work at its own recuperation and

economical and agricultural progress Public opinion .

in Serbia approved ofthat programme O f fi cial Russia

.

—that is the responsible Government of the Ts ar

thought the programme necessitated by the circumstances ,

and even advised us to entertain correct relations

-
.ffi
”
wit h Austria Hungary But uno cial Russia that —
is the leaders ofthe Sl a vophile party— was not satisfied
, .

It wa s under the impression that after the humiliation

at the Berlin Congress Russia must prepare for and ,

within t h e next ten years declare war on Austria and ,

that Serbia s policy ought t o be shaped with a view to

’

that eventuality We were n ot disposed t o allow Serbia s

.
’

policy to be guided by i rresponsi ble members of the

Slavophile Committees of Mos cow and Petrograd (though
this n a me was not then in vogue ) And therefore .

relations w i th those Commi ttees were not and could

not be v ery cordial from the very be ginning of ou r
existence as a Government .

My strength and my weakness cons i st in my frank

ness O n my first visit t o the Russ1 an Minister in
.

Belgrade I ventured t o express the hope that henceforth

Russ i a would not be a mother to Bulgari a and step
mother to S erbia Mr Persiani was the most charming
. .

o f men p ersonally bu t he had a peculiar knack of

,

cracking jokes and laughi ng during the most serious

conversation He simply laughed at my boldness in
.

expecting Russia t o change her Balkan policy the

moment I held the portfolio ofSerb i a s Foreign Af f
’
airs .

I did n ot feel hurt as Persiani and I had been fri ends

for many years and I knew h i s manner in discussing
,

grave q u est i on s
l
.

36
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
I received from Baron H a ymerl é in the presence ,

o fde K a ll a y the following assurances ( I cannot quote

,

the exact words but give the exact meaning of the

,

words used) : We have no intention of utilising ful ly

the right the Berlin Treaty gave us ; to prove this we ,

w ould be ready to bind ourselves by a formal convention

, ,

to recognise the claims ofSerbia to the Kossovo Vilayet

and to Macedonia ( up to a certain point) and to do ou r ,

best at the next E uropean Congress to induce all the

Great Powers to approve of the annexation of those
territories by Serbia .

In this connection I wa s further told by Baron H ay

merl é : The D ual Monarchy has no objection to the

to the exten si on ofher territories in a southern direction

m
.

erbi a should turn ou t to be a

“

Bu Russi an ga t f
afi j
'
‘
’
r

an d Were herself to aba ndon her independence and act

o n orders from Petersbur g then we could n ot M
,

such a Se rb ia on o u r frontier and we would a s a lesser

'

, , ”

”
evil occupy it with ou r armi es !
,

I was deeply i mpressed by these declarations but , ,

naturally I could at that moment do nothing else but

,

say that I would submit them to the Prince and my

colleagues .

In Bel grade I reported to Prince Milan in the ,

presence ofthe Prime Minister P i rot ya n a t z and Home

Minister G a ra sha n i n what I was told in Vienna They
, .

recognised that these declarations were not only very

interesting but that they might be ofgreat importa nce
,

to us The Prime Minister apparently thou ght that they

.

were of such extraordinary importance that the prob

ably were not s i n cere ( a n d that it was unlikely that
,

3 8
 T h e S ec r e t T r ea t y wi t h A u s t r i a H u n ga r y -

Austria would consent to donia being

incorporated with Serbia reiterated my impressi on
that the assurances were made in perfect good faith .

The Prince and G a ra sh a n i n thought that it was quite

easy to ascertain whether they were sincere or not by
telling Austria that we w ere ready t o negoti a te and
eventually sign the suggested Convention and that ,

everything depended upon the conditions under which

the D ual Monarchy would define the right of the
Serbian nation to Kossovo and Macedonia .

After all four ofus had recognised according to the

,

information which each had obtained that Russia would

,

r policy
enter into negotiations
with Austria Hungary for the conclusion of a secret
-

political Convention concern ing Macedonia The result .

ofthe ne gotiations was a s follow

I Austria Hungary
.
-
right of Serbia
to annex Kossovo and Macedonia ( from watershed t o ’

watershed) with the exception ofSalonica .

She undertook to support that right of Serbia at an

eventual Congress which should settle the repartition of
the Balkan Peninsula .

She undertook to support the interests o f Serbia

generally and to uphold the O brenovich dynasty against
all the attempts o fits enemies .

II O n the other side Serbia had t o undertake

.

( a ) Not to agitate in Bosnia a ga mst Austrian

occupation .

( ) If Serbia should conclude secret political treaties

b
with other Powers she must co mmunicate con
fiden t i a ll y to Austria Hungary the conclusion
-

of such treaties .

39
 M emo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i pl oma t i s t
( )
c If
,
whilst the Secret Convention were in force ,

a war should take place in the Balkan Penin

sula and the Austro Hu ngarian army shoul d
,
-

require to pass through Serbia such passage ,

would be granted t o that army .

/ I did not hesitate t o agree t o the first condition .

Indeed we would not and coul d not agitate for some

,

years in Bosnia because we were exhausted by the las t

,

t wo wars and because it were folly in ou r exhausted

condition to risk an arm ed conflict with Austria Hun gary/ -

N or did I hesitate much concerning the second con

dition That engagement did not in a n y way compromise
.

ou r liberty to conclude secret political treatie s with other

Powers ; it only involved an undertak in g to tell ou r

friendly neighbour if and when we did make a secret
treaty with another Power Besides I thought we were
.
,

entering a period ofpeace and recuper a tion with hardly ,

any prospect o f new political a dventures Virtually I .

believed we should have no reason to c onclude secret

treaties with o ther Powers as lon g as ou r engagement
with Austria Hungary lasted
-
.

I did hesitate for some time concerning the clause

marked But in the end I thought I would find .
_

escape from the practical application of it by adroitly

wording the article so as t o postpone the solution to
the time when a dema nd should be made and a con -

crete case a rise under the Convention As I foresaw .

,

th concrete case never arrived

'

Every shred of hesitation wa s removed by my pro

posal that the duration of the Secret Convention should
be fixed for only by Austria Hun gary s -
’

acceptance of tha
A copy of the wa s sent from
0
4
Th e S ec r et T r ea t y wi t h A u s t r i a H u n ga r y -

Vienna to Prince Milan before I came to submit it t o

him and the Prime Minister Prince Milan impulsive .
,

as always requested the Austro Hungarian Minister in

,
-

Belgrade to wire to the Emperor Franci s Joseph that

he — Prince Milan — would sign that Convention as
drafted with a sin gle alteration namely the Convention
, , ,

should last seven years instead offive .

This personal undertaking of Prince Milan to the

Emperor Francis Joseph without consultin g either the
Prime Minister or me hi s Forei gn Minister placed me
, ,

in a very delicate and most awk ward position The .

Prince insisted that I ought to help him to keep h i s

word to the Emperor ; in fact t hat I should c ounter ,

si gn his o wn si gnature At the s ame time the Prime

.

Minister P i rot ya n a t z wa s not satisfied with the

, ,

wordin g of the article concernin g ou r undertaking t o

inform Austria Hun gary of contingent secret treaties
-

with other countries This awkward position nearly

.

caused the resi gnation ofthe Cabinet both the Prime ,

Minister and I tendering ou r r esi gnations The crisis .

was a verted however I countersigned Prince Mila n s

, .
’

si gnature on the Secret Convention and then the ,

Prime M inister went to Vienna and in a P ro t o co l ,

E wp li ca t i f gave to the article in question the harmless

,

meanin g which in my opinion the original wordin g

, ,

expressed clearly enough .

Mr P i rot ya n a t z a lthough my political chief and my

.
,

colleague in the Cabinet had never been my personal ,

friend since Mr Ri st i ch had preferred ( in 1 8 6 9 ) my

.

drafts of diplomati c notes to those which he drew up

as chief of the p olitical department of the Serbian
Foreign O ffice But I always considered him a true
.

gentleman When he returned fro m Vienna with the

.

4 1
 M emo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l omat i s t
P ro t o co l E x p li ca t if he said to me
, Your Secret Con
:

v en t i on with Aust ri a is n o w all ri ght /But remember .

this although we call that Convention a secret on e

: ,

Austria herself will sho w it t o morrow to Russia and

-

the Russian Government will never forgive Milan

and yourself for having dared to look elsewhere for
support when Russia refused to award Macedonia to
Serbia ! I did not care if I sho ul d be pers ecuted to
the end ofmy days so long as I was satisfied in my
,

conscience that I had honestly served the best interes ts

ofmy country without fear and without hesitation .

I will o nly mention n ow a few immediate cou se

qu e n c es o f the Secret Convention .

It wa s in con seq u en cea o f th a t Convention that we

‘

could restore t o our country its ol ddi gnity as a Kingdom .

When the contractor for the Serbian railways the ,

great bankin g establishment the Union Générale of

W aris failed in 1 8 8 2 it was in c onsequence ofthat Con
, ,

ven t i on t hat the Austrian Chargé d A fl a i res in Paris

’
,

Count G ol u ch owsky helped me to save Serbia any loss

,

and to secure the construction of the Serbian railways

without additional sa crifices on the part of Serbia .

And when in 1 8 8 5 the Bulgarians rep ul sed the

Serbian invasion t ook Pirot and were marchin g on
,

N ish it was in consequence of t hat Convention that

,

Austria Hun gary by her ultimatum t o Bulgaria stopped

-

, ,

a further Bulgaria n march towards Nish .

It wa s in consequence of that Convention that

u st ri a Hungary made strenuous ef
-
forts to obtain for
Serbia terr itorial compensation for Bulgaria s annexa ’

tion ofRoumelia She wa s o n the point ofsucceeding

.

in those e f forts when Serbia declared war on Bulgaria .

I suf
,
fered much personally in con sequence of my
4 2
 Th e S ec r e t T r ea t y wi t h A u st r i a H u n ga ry -

Secret Convention with Austria Hungary But all -

.

those suf ferin gs are nothing in comparison with the great

satisfaction I shall always feel whene v er I remember
that it was I l vho b bt a i nei t hefl n pem E mnci sl fl mph s ’

King Milan s enemies found that their periodical

’

attacks on him in the Press and through gossip for the

, ,

S ecret Convention did not make much impres sion o n

,
.

the Serbians Certainly the people did not like Serbia

.

to have a secret political understanding with Austria ,

although they did like exceptional facilities for th e export

o f their produce to that country But the people s ’
.

I n t ell igen zi ya ( men and women wh o had passed throug h

the hi gher schools and formed the State employees ,

\ clergy , free pr ofessions etc ) was divided

, on the
. question .

That Russia stuck to her illusions that three fourths of -

the Balkan Peninsula ought to belong to Bulgaria ; that -

she consented in Reichstadt and afterward s at the Berlin

,

Congress that Bosnia and Herze govina should be oc on

,

pied by Austria ; and that she advised Mr R i st i ch in .

Berlin to ne goti ate directly with Austria and save what

wa s still oss i bl e t o sa ve these things were well known
,

to the I n t elligen zi ya and many of its members did not

,

seem surprised that a secret arrangement had been

made .

Therefore the King s opponents whose immediate

’
,

object was to provoke a revolution and if possible drive , ,

him from the throne invented a far more shocking thing

,

than a secret political Convention All the Press of .

Europe was inundated with telegrams and reports pur ,

porting to come from Belgrade to the ef fect that King

,

43
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
Milan had concluded a Military Convention
My friend William T Stead on his return
.
,

burg in 1 8 8 3 told me that his Slavophile fri ends

,

had assured him that King Milan had concluded a

Military Convention with Austria and that a G ,

had told him he had seen a copy accordin g to ,

—
the Serbian a rmy i n the case of wa r between Austria
and Russia— wa s to be placed under the c ommand of
the Aus trian Commander i n Chief Similar stories were
- -
.

assiduously spr ea d in all the cof fee houses in the towns

-

as well as in all the inns (meha n a s ) in the villages and

o n the country roads , garnished with the add itions that
Kin g Milan had sold the Serbian army to Austria for
millions ofpounds and that he had secretly passed o ver
,

to the Roman Catholic Church and given the Pope the

ri ght t o consider the O rthodox people ofSerbia as virtu
a lly r ecogn i s i n g him ( the Pop e ) as their Spiritual Chief
'

The cof -
fee houses in the Serbian towns and the inns in
the villages are something like clubs in which citizens ,

and peasants meet every day t o discuss politics over a

cup ofco f fee a glass ofbeer or a small glass ofs hlyi vo
, ,

v i t s a ( whisky made ofplums ) .

N ow Aust ri a wished to make special arrangements

at once that in the event ofwa r the Austrian army
, ,

might pas s through Serbia I refused to make these

.

arrangements then and there and c onsented only ( as

,

I have already said) to the insertion of an article in the

Convention declaring that the question of passage for
the Austrian army through Serbia should stand over to ,

be decided at a future date when ( if ever) such an

emergency arose .

O f the placing ofthe Serbian army under the com

mand of the Austrian Commander i n Chief or o f the - -

44
 CHA P T E R IV
The Serbo Bu l ga ri a
-
n Wa r
S is well known Bul garia surpri sed the Cabinets of
,

E urope by proclaiming in the spring of1 8 8 5 her

union with Roumelia o r rather her annexation o fthat
, ,

country which according t o the Treaty ofBerlin

, , ,

to remain an autonomous pro v ince o f Turkey with a

Governor General appointed by the Sultan with the
-

approval ofall the signatories .

No one was more taken aback than the Russian ,

Go v ernment That only seven years after the creation

.

o f Bul garia by lavish Russian sacrifices in blood and

money the Prince ofBulgaria Alexander ofBattenberg

, , ,

and his B u lgarian advisers shoul d be able t o organise

,

a conspiracy and annex a great and rich province with

out letting Russia know anything about i t wa s a bolt
from the blue Tsar Alexander III could never forgive
. .

Prince Alexander ofBattenberg that act ofindependent

activity and t he P a n sl a vi st party in Russia decided to
,

remove Prince Alexander from the throne ofBulgaria .

We Serbs were not only surprised but alarmed .

D uring the Middle Ages when we possessed ou r inde

,

p en den ce both the Serbs and the Bulgars struggled

,

express the truth in its mildest form I must say that ,

between the Serbs and Bulgars there never wa s much

friendliness Before the events of 1 8 8 5 we Serbs did
.

n ot hate the Bulgars but we always thought that we

,

46
 T h e S e r b o B u l ga r i a n W a r
-

were a much sup erior race We thought that the .

Shops ( as we called the B u lgars somewhat derisively)

were only use fu l as gardeners ( ba s ht ova n i ) and that ,

they had neither military nor political aptitudes As .

W a a i n s t the Turk
a
and won ou r national m b o u r o wn
ef forts absolutely u n aided by anyone we were roud of,

o u r intelligence mil ita v irtues and ol it i ca l abili ties

ta w
.
,

Af
-

ards we were to pay a high price for this national

pride of ours o r rather for ou r under estimation ofou r
,
-

opponents The B ul gars o n their side have always

.
, ,

hated t he Serbs So much only I w ill say here in order

.

to show ou r mutual relations .

It was not jealousy that determined Serbian policy

Having succeeded without spilling a drop ofblood and

,

without spending a shillin g the Bul gars feeling them

, ,

selves stronger and finding sympathy for their bold deed

everywhere ( and more especially in England) except ,

in Russia and Serbia would be tempted to further

,

annexations and ou r Macedoni a would be seriously

,

Serbian
o f R ou
melia by Bul garia on the ground that it was a glaring
,

infraction of the Berlin Treaty and that ,

o fInternational Treaties ought t o be res e

p
at that time Serbian Minister in Londo n Recognising .

that public opinion in E ngland appro v ed ofthe Bulgarian

annexation o fRoumelia and finding that the signatory
,

Powers would not defend the sanctity o f Treaties I ,

began to agitate in the London Press for the ma i n t en

4 7
 M emo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
ance o f the doctrine of the balance of power in the
Balkan Peninsula as a part ofEuropean policy and that
,

f E urope was to allow Bulgaria to retain Roumelia ,

notwithstanding the fact

up a solemn Internation
to Serbia a terr in o m ore
the balance ofpofi ry I contributed considerably to
“

the decision ofmy Government to leave their ori ginal

—
platform the sanctity of International Treaties and —
take up the position of upholding the doctrine o fpre
serving a balance ofpower amongst the Balkan nations ,

preventing any one of them from obtaining a hegemony

over the others /.

It was and is still generally believed that it wa s

Austria Hungary which incited Serbia to make war on
-

Bulgaria [It wa s naturally supposed that Austria

.

H ungary had every interest in creating dissension and

hatred among the Balkan nations so that might the
more successful ly fish in troubled this par
t i cu l a r case Austria Hungary was unjustly accused o f
-

such a M achiavellian policy So far as I wa s then and

.

afterwards acquainted with the real facts it seemed to

,

me that Austria Hungary was honestly endea v ouring to

-

pre v ent war between Serbia and She adopted

the v iew o f the Serb i an Government that the balance
o f power in the Balkans ought to be upheld , and she
endeavoured to induce the Great Powers to a gree to
Bulgaria s annexation o f Roumelia on condition that
’

Serbia should get some territorial compensation She .

sug gested that the Bulgarian fo rtress Vidin ( which was

a great menace to the open eastern frontier ofSerbia)
shoul d be ceded to Serbia together with a strip of
,

territory south ofPirot ( T rn and B resnik) .

48
 T h e S e r b o B u l ga r i a n W a r -

From my se v eral interviews with Lord Salis bury and

the Austro Hun garian Ambassador in London Baron
-

H en gehn u ell er I deri v ed the i mpression that Gre a t

,

Britain was favourably di sposed towards the Austro

Hungarian propos al Lord Salisb u ry whenever I saw . ,

hi m asked me t o trans mit t o my Government his adv ice

,

t o exercise patience and moderation and not to attack

Bul garia I do not know ho w far this advice influenced
.

the Serbian Government but it began t o consider ,

whether it would not be better t o invade Kossovo Vil ayet

suddenly and occupy it as compens ation for Bul garia s ’

annexation o f R ou meh a — even at the risk of war

with I\ 1 rkey Lord Salisbury must have received from
'
.

the British Minister in Belgrade some 1 n fo rma t i on on

this subject because he invited me t o come to see hi m
, ,

and said to me : I ad v ised yo u r Government n ot to

attack Bul garia but I never meant t o hint that you
,

might attack Turkey ! O n the contrary most em ,

phatically we do n ot want you to attack Turkey Please .

wire at once t o your Government that I made this

declaration to you If Serbia does not attack Turkey
.

or Bul garia Her Majesty s Government will prove to be

’

”
a friend of Serbia He refused t o explain t o me the
.

true meani ng of thi s enigmatic declaration When I .

told Baron H en gel mu eller that I wa s puzzled at what

Lord Salisbury meant by his phrase he of fered as the , ,

probable explanation the re a diness of Great Britain t o ,

support Austria Hungary s proposal ofa territorial com

-
’

p ens a t i on t o Serbia .

Unfortunately the Serbian Government did not follow é

Lord Salis bury s a dvice and not only lost their chance
’
,

of acquiring territorial compensa tion for Serbia without

war but exposed the Serbian army to the h u mil iation
,

f
I
49
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
ofbeing beaten by the young Bulgarian army and of

escaping with di f ,
ficu lty from further and great er
,

humil iation All that happened in Serbia in the summer

.

and early autumn of 1 8 8 5 furnished me with another

proof that there is a Higher Power which guides men
to fu lfil certain Pro v idential objects King M ilan was .

a man of brilliant i n t el hgen ce ; his Prime M inist er ,

M il u t i n G a ra sh a n i n was a man of noble character a

, ,

great patriot and a true statesman u sually clear and

,
.
,

far seeing ; hi s W a r Minister and C hi ef ofthe Serbian

-

Staf f General Y ot za Petro vich enjoyed not onl y in

, ,

Serbia but in Austria and Germany ( where he studied

the miht a ry art and sciences) the reputation ofbeing a
brilliant staff officer Why these three men whom
.
,

even their enemies recogni sed as men o f the highest

capacity should make such glaring mi stakes as they
,

did cannot be explained on any other ground than by

,

assuming that fate influences our a f fairs They com

.

mi t t ed the fu ndamental mistake of not waiting t o see

whether the Austro Hungarian proposal would be taken
-

o r rejected They made the twofold mistake ofunder

.

valuing the Bulgarian army and ofbeh ev i n g firmly but ,

without re a sonable cause that the R ou mel i a n army

,

( composed mostly o f Turks ) would not join the Bul

gari an They thought that the fir s t cl a ss of ou r militia
.
,

composed o young su f
f i n,
—
fi ci en t l y trained men number ,

i ng altogether about soldiers woul d beat the

,

B ul gars at th e strong strategical position at Sli vnitza

and march triumphantly into Sofia withi n eight or ten
days after the declaration of war ! Th ese were fatal
blunders Sixt y thousand o f Serbia s youth were met
.
’

by a hundred thousand Bulgarian and Turkish soldiers

( from Roumelia) at Slivnitza were repulsed and pursued
,

5 0
 T h e S e r b o B u l gar i a n W a r
-

to Pirot ,
which they lost after a bl o ody battle Pr i nce.

Alexander o f Battenberg wou ld have march ed at the

head o fhi s victoriou s army into Nish had Count Kh even
huller the Austro Hun garian Minister in Belgrade not
,
-

dehvered t o hi m at Pirot the o rder t o arrest his fu rther

When I went t o Nish si x weeks later the Prime

Minister G a ra sha ni n ( my friend from bo yhood ) t old me
a c u rious fact which only confi rmed my theory o fan
,

inscru table Power influ encing o ur human a f airs not

f ,

withsta ndi ng ou r v ain boasts of free will

-
“ ”
. When I
expressed my astoni shment t o my friend that ou r best
General Y otza Petrovich ha d m a de such a terrible
, ,

mistake in ca lhng under a rms onl y our first class and

attacking the Bulgars with ins uf icient forces G a ra s h a n i n
f ,

said t o me : O h there is something el se o f which I

“
,

hardly dare t o speak ! Y o t za and I ha v e been since ,

the declaration of war h vi n g day and night in the same

,

room or under the same tent and ou r Chief o fth e Staff

, , ,

as i fhe ha d been bewitched c ould ne v er arous e hims elf

,

from a strange sleepiness ! He was dozin g whi le sitting

at the ta ble with th e maps before hi m ; he had at a ll
hou rs ofthe day and night t o stretch hi ms elf o n a sofa ,

and I had positi v ely t o sha ke him to get up t o recei v e

the re po rt s and t elegrams which were po u ring in And .

often I ha d t o give answers and orders in hi s stead It .

seemed as i f the B ul gars were fighti ng us by M agic ,

”
p ralysing the brain o four army !
a

I asked G a ra s h a ni n why o n ea rth he had n o t ex er

ci s ed greater patien ce ins tead of precipitatin
g hostilities
just when I thought we had better chances o fe v ading
ri sks and getting territorial compensa tion without war .

“
He replied : Y ou must not thi nk I wish t o shi rk my
SI
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
own r esponsibility As Prime Minist er and Min i ster for
.

F oreign A fl a i rs I am entirely in the face ofmy con ,

temporari es and before history responsible for this wa r , .

F rankly I did n ot bel i eve Austria would succeed i n

,

getting us compensation In my opinion war with .

Bulgari a was the o nl y practical wa y ou t ofan intolerable

situation Perhaps we might have delayed it by a
.

month or t wo But you know King Milan s nerves

.
’
.

H e had wa r on the brain and thought we ought not to

,

give time to t he Bulgars t o organise their defence He .

g o t Y o t z a ( General Petrov i ch ) on h i s side and at last ,

we rushed into wa r .

G a ra sha ni n was much t oo noble a man t o hint

K ing Milan wa s personally responsible for a b
prepared and therefore disas trous conflict But n ot .

a year later in 1 8 8 6 when I was in his Cabinet

, ,

Minister ofFinance and Commerce K ing Milan told ,

himself what was the true cause ofthe precipitation

the wa r against Bulgaria .

I w as dini ng at the Palace and after dinner ,

K ing took me and General Ca t a rgi ( his uncle and the

first a i de de camp ) into his working room to take cof
- -
fee
-

smoke and chat He always treated me as a personal

.

friend and as a man in whom he had full confidence .

After we had spok en ou several current topics the con

-

versation turned on ou r relations with Bulgari a and I ,

again too k the opportunity as I repeatedly did to , ,

exp ress my regret that we had m a de wa r on Bulga ria ,

especially as I believed we had good chances ofobtain

i n g terri torial compensation without war .

King Milan the n said to me W i th all your B yza n

tine brain —
h e often called me a Byzantine diploma
t i st y u have not been able t o fin d ou t the truth
o .

5
2
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l omat i s t
believed himself t o have been born under
star and that a kind o f fatality clun g to
,

fore he wa s personally reluctant to ri sk a wa

believed that if the war on Russia had b
between 1 8 8 0 and 1 8 9 0 Austria Hungary
-

been victorious With every year s delay

.
’

—
o f victory for Austria Hun gary w o uld d wi
this con v iction that the best
being lost mad e Rudolph disgusted with the leaders of
Austro Hungarian policy and made him almost despair
-

”
o f the Monarchy s future ! Kin g Milan adde d that
’

he was himself absolutely ofRudolph s opinion ’

.

This recital reminded me o fan earlier statement of

Kin g Milan o n the true object o fhis war a gainst Bul
garia and I could not free myself from the impression
,

that they were somehow connected But ofcourse I

.
, ,

do not mean to say that the Crown Prince Rudolph

incited King Milan , or indirectly t o attack
,

Bulgaria .

54
 CHAPTER V
Th e B u ch a res t Pea ce Co n f
er en ce

B O UT the eve ofChrist mas 1 8 8 6 I received a tele , ,

gram from the Prime Minister G a ra sh a n i n that I

had been appointed the sole dele gate of Serbia to the
Conference in Bucharest to ne gotiate peace between
Serbia and Bulgaria The Minis ter a dded that the
.

King desired me to come at once to N ish for my

instructions .

I arranged t o start in a few day s O f course I .

,

called on and to ok leave of Lord Salisbury and the

Ambassadors ofthe Great Powers They all express ed .

the wish that peace mi ght be re e s tablished as speedily -

as possible Lord Salisbury assured me that Her

.

M ajesty s Government would gl a dly do all they cou ld

’

to help Serbia to an honourable peace He added that .

I personally mi ght rely on every a ssistance he ( Lord

, ,

Salisbury) could give me in my mission I told his .

Lordship that I regretted very much that my friend

Sir William White British M inister to Rumania wa s
, ,

just then absent from Bucharest

.

”
Never mind said Lord Salisbury
, we have as ,

Chargé d A f f
’
a i res there Mr Francis Sanderson an ex.
,

cel l en t man a real good fellow as you will understand

, ,

when I tell you that he is brother to o u r Sir Thomas

Sa nderson I will ask Sir Th omas to write to his
.

brother and recommend you t o every friendl y care on

”
his part. Sir Thomas was at that time the Permanent
55
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
Under Secretary of St a te for Foreign Af
-
air s and his
f ,

brother wa s Great Britain s representative o n the

’

D anubian Commission at Sulina with a uthority to act ,

as Chargé d A f a i res of the British Legati on at Bucharest

f
’

during the absence of Sir William White .

From London to Belgrade I travelled W ithout s top

pin g anywhere but in Bel grade I remained a day and a
,

ni ght to rest and to pay my respects to Queen N athalie .

Before I reached the palace I met her in the principal

street walking in deep snow on a visit to the wounded
,

soldiers in the hospitals She invited me to accompany

.

her and I witnessed her magnetic influence on the

,

p oor young men Patriotic hopeful and even cheerful

.
, ,

herself she heartened them wonderfully

,

“
I noticed that most of the boys seemed t o be
ashamed that the Bulgars had beaten them from
Slivnitza and had taken Pirot Fo rgive us o u r Lady
.
,

Queen but we as sure you when we return to the

, ,

battlefield we shall make the Bulgars repent !

,

To some ofthe wounded the Queen said : This is “

”
Gospodin Ched o ( I am better known m my own
country by my Christian than by my family name ) ,

who is g oing t o make peace with Bulgaria ! They

all looked alarmed at that intr oduction and begged me ,

not t o conclude peace before they ha d dri ven the Bulgars

from Serbian soil .

When I reached Nish and arrived at the Palace ,

almost the first words King Milan addressed t o me

were Y ou stopped at Bel grade for a day ; did you see
the Queen ? ”

Yes ofc ourse ! I answered

, .

O h you say of course ! D id you see Count

,
’

Kheven h u l l er and Mr P i rot ya n a t z ?

.

56
 T h e B u c h a r es t Peace Co n f
e r e n ce
N o I answered
,
”
.

I wonder you did not ! the King said .

I do not understand what you mean Sire ! ,

Well the King answered

”
,
I will tell you by ,

and by but not n ow

, .

And I will tell my reade rs at once what Kin g Milan

told me a little later during my stay in Nish After .

the Bulgars had defeated the army commanded by the ,

King at Slivnitza and Pirot some spies repo rted to

, ,

Milan that Count Khevenh uller the Austro Hungarian ,

-

Minister in Belgrade and Mr P i rot ya n a t z former

, .
,

Prime Minister went to the Palace and represented to

,

Queen N athalie that after these reverses the only wa y

, ,

to save the dynasty wa s by the abdication of King

Milan and the proclamation of Queen N athalie as
Regent for her little boy Alexander The Queen was .

to be j oined by two prominent s tatesmen as second and

third Regents Mr P i ro t ya n a t z would be o n e of those
. .

state smen but wh o would be the other ?

,

I assur ed the Kin g that durin g my conversation

with the Queen she never uttered a word which could
be interpreted to mean that she contemplated such
an eventuali t y as a Re gency G a ra sh a n i n told me that
.

after the loss o fPirot some politicians in Belgrade had

begun to talk about a R egency and approached the ,

Queen o n the subject but that she refused to listen to

,

their suggestions .

I found Nish converted into a fortified camp full o f ,

soldierly lookin g men of the se cond class (from 2 5 to 3 5

-

years old) but wearing rather thin overcoats for the

,

bitterly cold days of January 1 8 8 6 King Milan wa s , .

in a st ate of permanent excitement evidently pained ,

and humiliated by his reverses G a ra sha n i n was earnest.

57
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
but sad yet bravely bearing hi s misfortune General
,
.

Y ot z a Petrovich had resi gned and wa s ill The King .

had als o relin q uished the chief command ofthe army ,

and appointed General H orva t ovi ch Commander i n Chief - -

This General was known as on e of the bravest and ablest

officers and at the same time on e of the handsomest
,

and toughest ofsoldiers The army had full confidence

.

in him The soldiers althou gh badly equipped and

.
,

shivering m the severe cold which prevails in snow

bound Serbia in January were cheerful and confident
,

that they would beat the Bulgars Until n ow only

.

”
ou r be a rdles s boys have fou ght and were defeated so ,

the men repeatedly assured me but the Bulgars will

,

n o w have to fight the bearded Serbs and we shall teach

,

them what that means !

I reported to the Kin g in the presence of the Prime
,

Minister ( wh o also held the portfolio ofF orei gn Af

fairs ) ,

the advice which Lord Salisbury a n d the Ambassadors

ofthe Great Powers in London had given t o me and ,

through me t o the Serbian Government They all

, .
,

without exception urged us t o make peace promising

, ,

to help us to reasonable terms Both t h e King and

.

his Prime Minister were of opinion that Serbia in her ,

first crossin g of swords with Bulgaria h a d been defeated

,

more by accident than anything and that she co uld n o t

,

think of pe a ce while smartin g under that infliction .

And much less could she think of peace n ow when she

had every chance of defeating her enemy I drew their .

attention to the fact that we were not makin g peace in

conse q uence of our accidental and temporary defeat but ,

because all the G reat Powers desired us to make peace .

Practically we were yielding under the pressure of

Europe not under the pressure ofBulgaria
, .

5 8
 T h e B u c h a r es t Peac e Co n fer e n ce

To secure my adhesion to his war policy the Kin g

conveyed me in his open carriage through the camp ,

p ointing out the martial bearing of the men and also ,

took me to see some experiments with subterranean

mines But all I saw only deepened my conviction that
.

peace was the safest and wisest policy in the circum

stances in which both Europe and ou r country stood at
that time I told the King that all he showed me made
.

me more and more desirous o fpeace .

O n the eve of my departure from N ish to Bucharest ,

a meeting ofall the M inisters and principal commanders

ofthe army was heldin the Palace the King presidin g , .

I opened the proceedin gs and reported t o the Council

the advice which the Great Powers had given us and ,

stated why I thought that we ought to conciliate Europe

by making peace King Milan then made a lon g speech
.

to the e f
f ect that Serbia could not make peace until her
new army had driven the Bulgars ou t ofPirot and across
the frontier He also pointed o u t that we were n ow far
.

better prepared than when we started the war and that ,

he s hared the confidence of his army that we should

now beat the Bulgars The Prime Minister G a ra sha n i n
.
, ,

declared hi mself in full agreement with the Kin g s ’

views So did also the Minister o fF inance Vu k a shi n

.
,

Petrovich Ot her M i n i st ers did not utter their senti

.
~

ments I was struck with the fact that the Generals

.

remained silent none of them asking to be allowed t o

,

say what he thought TheKin g called upon the Com .

mander i n Chief of the Army General H orva t ovi ch

- -

, ,

for his opinion He be gan with a short and somewhat

.

ironical laugh as his wont was and then spoke in thi s

, ,

sense :All I can say is that we are now better pre,

pared than at the be ginning and that theref ore we have

“

59
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
to day better chances than we had when marchin g on
-

Slivnitza In the event ofwar the army will fully do

.

its duty But after a ll the Victory is in the hands of

.
, ,

G o d! I had the impression that the General s speech ’

was devoid of wa rmth and enthusiasm and even of

assurance .

King Milan t ook it for granted that the Ministers

and Generals present were unanimously in accord wit h
his views and he immediately ( after the terse speech
,

ofthe Commande r i n Chief) fo rmulat ed my instructions

- -

for me
. 1 Your first task will be to prolong the negotiations
in order to procure a few more weeks to complete ou r
preparations You will have no di f
. fi culty in that as you ,

a re a born Byzantine ’
.

. 2 When we finish our preparations we will wire

to yo u only on e word Sa d [ which means n ow ,
“ ’

in Serbian ] and you will then at once break of

, fnego
t i a t i on s and leave Bucharest As a good Byzantine you
.

will easily find a plausible reas on for your sudden

departure .

. 3 If at any t ime during the negotiations the

B ul gars should bring forward a suggestion that Serbia
should pay a war indemnity you will instantly declare ,

the peace negotiations at an end ; that from the following ,

morning Serbia will be at wa r with Bulgaria ; and that

”
yo u will leave Bucharest by the first train for V eri corova .

Then the King declared the Co uncil at an end and ,

we all rose and left the room excep t the King t he ,

Prime Minister a n d General Ca t a rgi When I stepped .

ou t into the large hall I found General H orva t ovi ch

and General M il oyk o L eshja n i n waiting for me Each .

took me by the arm and led me into a far corner of

60
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
Yet both wished me to conclude an honourable peace ,

contrary to the instructions the K ing had given me !

Though I reproached them for not speakin g frankly in
the Council room I was grateful to them for having at
, ,

any rate told me what they really thou ght

, .

I shall not describe in all its details my work at the

Peace Co nference Nearly three months I spent there
.
,

and I consider them the best and happiest ofmy diplo

matic career King Carol Queen Eliz a beth ( Carmen
.
,

Syl v a) the Government and the hi gh Society of

,

Rumania s capital were extremely kind to us the dele

’
,

gates ofBulgaria Serbia and Turkey It was then the

, .

seas on for balls s ocial gatherings and entertainments

, .

Bulgaria s delegate Ivan G u esh ov and myself cherish

’
, , ,

ing adm i ration for t h e British people and their ways ,

entered at once into friendly relations but from the ,

be ginning it went aga inst the grain to see a Turkish

Pasha take the chair at ou r meetings Howe ver it wa s .
,

at the demand ofthe Serbian Government that a repre

s en t a t i ve of the Sultan— the Suzerain of Bulgaria
accompanied Bulgaria s dele gate to the Conference
’
.

K ing Milan told me so in N ish and was pleas ed that ,

thereby he had caused Bu lg aria annoyance and humilia

tion.

“
You have forgotten I reminded his Majesty
, ,

that your o wn representative would be annoyed and

humiliated by a Turk presiding over the peace nego
t i a t i on s between Serbia and Bulgaria ! ”
And s o I felt
always .

However Mad31 d Pasha notwithstandin g his flat face

, ,

and nose and dark complexion speedily proved to be an ,

intelligent amiable and charming man He was a poet

, .
,

62
 T h e Bu c h a res t P eace Co n f e r en c e
and used every day to compose verses in Arabic dedi ,

ca t ed to various Society beauties G u esh ov and I could .

do many things but neither of us could rhyme for the

,

Rumanian ladies And so our clever Arab poet put

.

poor G u eshov and myself quite in the shade in the

brilliant throng But I revenged myself by telling
.

everybody ( including himself) that I allowed him to pre

side a t the ne gotiations between me and Gu esh ov only
because he was a poet and n ot because he was the
representative o fBulgaria s Suzerain ’
.

At my s uggestion we agreed at our first meeting to

invite Mr Ph erekyde Rumania s Foreign M inister to
.
,
’
,

be our honorary President and also requested the ,

Rumanian Government t o depute a diplomat to act as

General Secretary We were fortunate enough to secure
.

the services ofMr E Lahovary on e ofthe ablest and

. .
,

most cultured ofthe younger diplomatists ofRumania ,

who since that time has rendered signal ser v ices to his
country Every dele gate had hi s o wn secretary mine
.
,

being M r Za n k ovi ch a Serb born in D almatia Madjid

.
, .

Pasha s secreta ry was R echid Bey for whom I had very

’
,

great sympathy as he was grandson o f the famous

,

Mustapha Pasha who as the Sultan s Governor General

, ,
’
-

of Serbia was so kind to the Serbians that o u t o f

, ,

gratitude they called him

, the mother o fthe Serbian
”
people . Twenty seven years later I met R echid Bey
-

as R echid Pasha and Turkey s dele gate to the Peace ’

Conference in London in the be ginnin g o f1 9 1 3 '

.

I was doin g my best to prolong ne gotiations and

allow my Government time to complete their military
preparations Meanwhile Count Kheven h ii ll er dis
.

covered i n Nish what was the real intention of King

, ,

Milan and his Government and the Aust ro Hungarian ,

-

63
 Memo i r s fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
o

Government invited the other Great Powers to exercise

a certain pressure at Nish in order to make peace Their .

representati v es in Bucharest therefore put pressure on

, ,

me to that end This was not necessary as I was

. ,

honestly convinced that it was to the interest o f my

country t o conclude peace I can ne v er for get the con
.

v ers a t i on s I had then with the Italian Minister Count ,

Ti t on i whose ability knowledge of the circumstances

, , ,

and sympathy with the Balkan nations i mpressed me

immensely .

O ne day the ef forts ofthe Great Powers to dissuade

Kin g Milan from renewing wa r were nearly frustrated .

At the beginning ofa si tting Madjid Pasha told me that

the Bulgarian delegate had received instructions to pre
sent Bulgaria s conditi ons for the conclusion of peace
’
.

Mr G u esh ov passed to me across the table a white paper

.
,

foolscap size folded in four I opened it My eyes at

, . .

once caught the seco nd article ( I never knew what the

first article contained) which declared that Serbia was to
,

pay an indemnity o ftwenty fiv e million francs I noticed

-
.

there were several other articles but I did not read ,

any except that seco nd o n e F or half a minute I sat .

starin g at my friend G u esh ov Then I rose stood as .

,

upri ght as I could and spoke with the utmost gravity

,

Monsieur l o D élé gué de la Bulgaric I did not read all ,

the articles reciting the Bulgarian conditions for peace .

It was not necessary It was sufficient that I read only

.

the s econd article Bulgaria h a s the boldn ess to demand

.
‘

that Serbia should pay her a war indemnity My i n .

s t ru ct i on s are
, that if Bul garia make such a demand
I am to declare and I do n ow formally declare these
, ,

ne gotiations for peace at an end I shall leave Bucharest .

within a few hours and the war between Serbia and

,

64
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
”
non avenues not having been propos ed ] and ,

further that we are to hear n o more of any wa r

,

indemnity
Splendid ! cri ed Madj i d I was sure you would
.

find a way out of the dilemma And G u esh ov wi ll .

accept your suggestion ?

G u eshov who never moved from his chair answered
, ,

“
quietly : Yes Mr M ija t ovi ch I wi thdraw my pro
, .
,

p os a l s, and we will cons i der them as never hav i ng b een

”
made .

I went back t o my chair return ed the paper t o ,

G u esh ov and we shook hands as old friends

, Madjid .

thanked me and promised to dedicate t o me his next

,

poem in Arabic .

The scene produced a marked impression on ou r

s ecretaries Mr Lahovary report ed what happen ed to
. .

his Minister who reported it to the Ki n g His Majesty

, .

s ummoned me next day to the Palace a n d thanked me

for n ot having irremediably destroyed the chances of
peace and Prince Alexander of Ba ttenberg sent his
,

private s ecretary with the message : Y ou have done a

”
service not only t o Serbia and Bulgaria but to humanity , .

I thanked God I had not been such a pedantic fool

as to execute literally the instruction which my King ,

in peculiar circumst ances had given me When I , .

returned t o Belgrade his Maj esty remarked : I ought

to be angry with you but I cannot ”
, .

I have only thi s t o add : after considerable delay I

was at last authori sed to sign the treaty ofpeace which ,

consisted ofbut a single article :

Peace is re established between Serb ia a n d
-

Bul gari a !
 CHAPTER VI
B u ch a res t Remi n i s cen ces

U CH A RE S T claims t o be the Paris ofthe Near

East N o doubt it has
. its boulevards and its life , ,

especially during the winter season is very gay In ,

.

high S ociety French is the ordinary language I was .

told that Rumanian ladies if they ever pray do s o

, ,

in French A young poet w as on e day introduced to

.

me who was visibly annoy ed that I co u ld imagine

he wrote in the beautiful and musical Rumanian
tongue .

O h n o my dear sir he said t o me rather sharply

, , , ,

I never write in the Rumanian language My poetry .

”
is written in French .

I think that every man a n d woman in the higher

ranks of the community wa s educated in France and
lived for some time in Paris They are educated men .

and women familiar with contemporary French litera

,

ture but after all lacking the true French esp ri t

, , , .

Rumania has no aristocracy but she has a class of ,

proprietors oflarge landed estates which for generations

have been in the possession ofthe same family Men .

o fthat type are generally very wealthy and spend thei r

money willingly and freely They have a European .

reputation for being spendthrifts and leading somewhat

extravagant and wild lives About the middle of the
.

nineteenth centu ry Bucharest was considered a hotbed

of gamblers and profli ga t es But the influence ofK in g
.

67
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
Carol and Queen Elizabeth succeeded in purifying the
social atmosphere ofRumania s capital Almost every ’
.

man and woman in Society acknowledged that fact with

g ratitude t o their Majesties .

— —
Y et although I am not a prude many things in
Bucharest shocked me I was introduced as honorary
.
,

member to a most fashionable and almost aristocratically

,

exclusive club But when the members found that I did

.

not smoke drink o r play cards they did not conceal

, ,

that they had a v ery poor opinion of me and my

diplomatic abilities and I soon learned that it was
,

useless to visit that club .

O n the second or perhaps the third day after my

, ,

arrival as delegate to the Peace Conference my valet ,

informed me that a gentleman wished to see me for a

few moments O n an elegant visiting card I read a
.
-

name which struck me as Spanish When he came in .

I saw a tall handsome man most stylishly dressed I

, , .

of fered him a seat but he would not take it He

, .

merely said : I wished t o have the honour to hand

this sealed letter to your E xcell ency personally If .
,

when you have perused it at your leisure you should ,

wish my confidential services you have my address on ,

”
my card . He then bowed himself ou t My first i m .

pression was that he wa s a private detecti v e I opened .

the letter which exhaled a strong perfume of musk

, ,

and to my horror discovered that it contained a long

, ,

”
list ofnames of white slaves young women ofall ,

nationalities with their prices The fashi onably dressed

, .
-

pande r called upon the other delegates and their

secretaries too .

At a ball I noticed a very pretty young lady flirting

in a lively fashion with a middle aged gentleman I -

68
 B u c h a r es t R em i n i sce n ces
asked my friend K a lyevi ch the Serbian Minister in ,

Bucharest who she was

, O h ! that is Madame N
.

That is the name of her third husband The man she .

is flirting with was her first husband but she divorced ,

him Her second husband is also here ; I saw him a

.

moment a go and she will probably dance the next

,

”
waltz with him .

At the Requiem serv ice for the Tsar Alexander II .

I noticed a very beautifu l lady in mourning expressing

her condolence with the Russian Minister Prince ,

Ou zou s of.f Inquirin g who she was I wa s told she wa s ,

the wife ofa banker who bought her from her first
,

husband fo r a large sum o f money the husband then ,

enabling his wife to get a divorce from him and marry

the banker .

I made the ac quaintance of a very pretty and ,

apparently hi ghly accomplished youn g Rumanian lady

, ,

who married an old but very wealthy man She invited .

me on e evening to her box in the theatre A few other .

ladies and gentlemen were present with us Some .

remark in the play caused o n e of the ladies to start ,

”
between the acts a conversation on platonic love
, A .

lady whose a ge mi ght have been seventy observed that

, , ,

in her long experience she had found no such thing as

,

platonic love ”
.

Ah ! but said my h ostess

, there i s platonic
,

love and the men who generally be gin with it know

,
’

that it invariably leads to the other kind .

I met in Society a Civil Servant ofvery hi gh standin g

and his wife and became very friendly with them
, .

They had both contrary t o the general rule been

, ,

educated in Germany The lady coul d discourse interest

.

i n gl y o n He gel Kant and other German philosophers

, , ,

69
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
a n d wa s a great admirer ofSchopenhauer A t the same .

time she had much ofthe French esp ri t in her and as , ,

she w as also a typical dark eyed Ru manian b eauty I -

rather enjoyed conversations w ith her .

O ne day I received early in the morning an i nvita

, ,

tion to come the same afternoon to her house It .

is true she added I am not quite well but that will

, , ,

justify my refusin g other visitors so that we may have ,

”
an exhaustive discussion o n Schopenhauer Having .

been to her hous e before I noticed with some surprise

, , ,

that the valet showing me the wa y passed the door

, ,

o fthe drawing room and led me to another door farther

-

in the hall but still on the ground f loor N ext moment .

,

to my amazement I found myself in the bedroom of

,

the lady ! She wa s si tting in bed the silk q uilt of which ,

wa s covered w ith books and pamphlets .

I could not conceal my embarrassment and told her ,

that in E ngland no lady wou ld receive a man in her

bedroom unless he were her husband or her medi cal
attendant .

“ ”
O h ! she cried ou t do not come to me wi th
,

your E nglish hypocrisies ! Besides don t you see this ,

’
,

is not a bedroom but a combination ofa bedroom and

,

a boudoir Come take this chair near my bed a n d if

.
, ,

you are shocked to see in me a woman forget the ,

”
woman and see only a sexless philosopher .

F ive minutes later her maid entered wi th black cof

fee
f o r her and me I had not finished sipping mine when
.

the door bell rang in a peculiar fashion as if someone

had given it three distinct pulls .

Probably more visitors I said ,

‘

”
O h no she answered
, , It s my husband return.
’

”
ing home .

7
0
 B u c h a r es t R em i n i sce n ces
What will your husband sa y at finding me sitting

Even if he were to come in he w ould only say ,

that he wa s pleased t o see you But he will not come

.

in My husband has no right to enter my boudoir

.

without my permission and he has not got it fo r

,
,

t o day
-
. And I heard her husband passing the door
and going upstairs .

These few incidents—which might be multiplied

show that the men and women of high position in
Bucharest look on the social conventions from a different
point ofV iew from that obtai n ing in E nglish society .

They are more free and even lax

, .

But while I mention these shadows in the picture of

Bucharest ha u t t on it is my pleas ant duty to acknow
,

ledge that I have fou nd plenty ofsunshi ne there t oo .

I t wa s my good fortune to have several conversations

with K ing Carol and whenever I lef
, t hi m I carried
away the impression ofa superi or man— not indeed a , ,

man ofgenius n or even ofbrilliant gifts yet a man

, ,

offine intellect and a good man as well as a successfu l

,

and experie nced Sovereign And what can I say of

.

Queen E l izabeth ? O ther countries great and small had , ,

E mpresses Queens and Sovereigns possessing admirable

, ,

qualities and justly worthy ofp opularity and af fection ,

but not on e could vi e with Carmen Sylva in the

position she occupied in the hearts of the Rumanian
people and in the public opinion ofthe civi lised world .

N o wonder such a Queen wa s surrounded by a galaxy

ofvirtuous intellectual and refined women ofthe highest
, ,

culture and patriotis m To have fre quent opportu nities

.

to talk with them as w ell as with the Queen w as

, , ,
“
indeed a l iberal education and an uplifting joy
, .

7 1
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l omat i s t
‘

My o wn Sovereign King Milan wa s not exactly

, ,

the model of a constitutional monarch He wa s n o .

,

doubt a man o fbrilliant intelligence but conscious of

, , ,

his bril liancy he considered statesmen politicians and

, , ,

prominent men of all parties as rather dull and dense .

He always thought he knew better than they and , ,

constitutionally o r unconstitutionally loved to impose ,

his will on every other will and n ot only t o reign but

, ,

to govern too .

King Carol knew Milan s weakness and repeatedly ’

,

described t o me not only the wisdom but the beauty ,

of a constitutional régime H e always added that he

.

was not a doctrinaire and had n o desire to t each me the

theory ofConstitutionalism but that he spoke from his
,

o wn experience And he always finished by asking me

.

t o communicate to King Milan hi s brotherly advice to

embark without fear on a truly constitutional rule
O ften w
.

e spoke of the political situation in E urope .

He did not hide from me his conviction that the i n

dependence ofhis people would be jeopardised were the
—
ideal ofthe P a n sl a vi st s the absorption ofall other Slav
~

—
nati ons by Russia t o be realised Rumania would .

then be a small Latin i sland surrounded by the Slav

Sea .

O n on e occasion I took the liberty ofasking Carol

what was the secret ofhis remarkable s uccess as King .

He was a German by nationality and his people were ,

of Latin race a restless people accust omed to change

, ,

their Sovereigns so t o speak every seventh year

, , .

”
O h ! quoth the King the secret ofmy success
“
,

is very simple ; patience hard work and faith in the

, ,

intelligence patriotism and future of my Rumanian

, ,

”
people .

72
 M emo i r s o fa Ba l ka n Di p l oma t i s t
O h ! you seem be a myst ic yourself Y ou must
to .

”
come and have a talk on mysticism .

But Madame although I am a mystic you must

, , ,

not be shoc ked by what I am n ow goin g t o say t o you .

D ean Stanley s words are so wonderfully true in all

’

senses that at thi s very moment my sp i ri t is willing to

enjoy the sacred food with which you so graciously fed
me ; but my weak flesh reminds me that I am in danger of
risin g from this Royal ta ble q uite hungry as I have so , ,
”
far not had any physical food
, .

The Queen laughed heartily and when the K ing at , ,

the o ther side ofthe ta ble heard what wa s the matter , ,

he laughed t oo in hi s q uiet subdued wa y But I very

, , .

soon felt ashamed and even t o thi s da y I feel ashamed

, ,

that I wa s led t o play such a poor joke q uit e u n ,

—
worthy of so rare I may say unique a n inc i dent as
-

Carmen Sylva s recital ofan inspiring sermon by D ean

’

Stanley .

The Queen su mmoned me often t o t he Palace We .

generally s poke on literature and s he showed herself a ,

warm admirer ofE nglish p oets and novelis t s especially ,

of the later Victorian peri od—Charles D ickens ,

Thackeray etc And she admired Bulwer L ytt on s

, .
’

”
Zanoni and sent me at my hotel a copy of that
, , ,

novel t o re re a d as I told her that it wa s years since I

-

had read it .

We often spoke ofspiritualism in whi ch she wholly ,

believed She told me that her mother Pri ncess of

.
,
“ ”
Wied w as a very g reat psychi c
, and that she ,

Carmen Sylva— sa w with her o wn eyes on e day her

mother being suddenly lifted up mysteriously and
floating through the air along a corridor in Wied
Palace .

74
 B u c h a r es t R em i n i sce n ces
Queen Elizabeth— Carmen Sylva— wa s a rare woman ,

a real Queen She wa s the first lady ofthe land and

.
,

the Rumanians were proud t o have her for their first

lady and their Queen .

But she would have been the last person to cause her
bril liancy to outshine that of some o f the Rumanian
women around her I met in Bucharest several women
.

who by their beauty or distincti on their culture and

, ,

personal character mi ght have given lustre and done

,

honour to the best Society in the world They would .

not like me t o mention them by name But I must do .

so in the case ofon e ofthem It is the sacred duty of .

my soul to do public homage to her personality for I ,

worship her alway s in my innermost heart And why .

should I n ot worship her in the sight ofher nation a n d

my nation in sight o fthe whole world ?
,

Before I met her and since I met her I have become

, ,

ac quainted with many a noble woman B u t I never met .

her superior .

Her name is H elen B ibesco the wife of Pri nce ,

Geo rge Bi bes co She wa s then ( 1 8 8 6 ) the mother of

.

two charming boys who now are as men and patriots , ,

doing honour to their mother and their country .

Pri nce B i besco lived in the Grand H otel Boulevard ,

in which I had taken rooms He introduced me to the .

Princess and she i ntroduced me to the French music of

,

the eighteenth century It was a new heaven into which

.

she l edme She wa s an exquisite pianist and instead of

.
,

five o cloc k tea every afternoon she gave me some ofher

’
-

favourite French music When later I told her that .

,

listening to her music I felt as if I were in a temple

,

thronged with angels behind whom the G od ofMercy

,

and Pity and Purity wa s enthroned s h e said : I am ,

75
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
not surpris ed I learn ed philosophy in Germany ; I
.

learned true science in England ; but French music and

French poetry opened the seventh heaven to me !
We soon found that we b oth had several loves in
common We both were old fashioned idealists I dis
.
-
.

covered that when she showed me her published p oems

and prose writings She was indeed the most gifted
.
, ,

woman I ever met And so beauti ful t o o ; a special

.

type ofthe Rumanian or rather Latin beauty a fine

, ,

oblon g face warm complexion and dark eyes with the

, ,

soft li ght ofa passion for holiness in them She never .

preached to me except perhaps on on e occasion when

, ,

—seein g me at a ball laughin g ( probably flirting !) with

—
some ladies she said t o me : Your nation entrusted
you with an important m i ss i on of peace To accomplish .

it you ought to walk in touch with G od Y o u ought

, .

to be far above flirtation and frivolity .

And indeed I wa s in touch with God through the

pure soul ofthat truly noble woman She became my .

guardian an gel whilst I wa s moving in the lascivious

atmosphere of Bucharest I never did a greater work
.

in my life and if I did it well— and in all modesty I

,

—
think I did it well i t wa s under the inspiration of the
pure friendshi p of the noblest and best of women an ,

accomplished artist and true poetess my unforgettable ,

friend Princess Helen B i bes co whose memory I always

, ,

cherish in my heart of hearts and bless with the sincerest

g ratitude in the depths o fmy soul .

Nor can I close thi s chapter on my Bucharest re

membra n ces without mentionin g how much I owed t o
the friendly support ofSir Francis Sanderson in charge ,

ofthe British Le gation at Bucharest in the then absence ,

76
 B u c h a res t R em i n i sc en c es
o f Sir William White in Constantinople He
g ave me valuable political support and ad v ice en cou ra g ,

i n g me to promote peace as already narrated , But Mr . .

Sanderson did more than af ford me the benefit of his

political counsel A few days after my arrival in
.

Bucharest and after I became personally acquainted

,

with him he came to my room carrying a huge bear

, ,

skin o v ercoat He said to me

. Lord Salisb u ry recom
mended you to my care and service I noticed you .

were dri v ing about the town in your winter o v ercoat ,

which i s no doubt quite suf fi cient f or London but ,

quite useless in Bucharest with its Russ1 an winter So .

I hav e brought this o n e for use during your stay here ,

and it will prevent your catchin g cold .

I thanke d him heartily but declined to avail myself,

o f his kindness Mr Sanderson however persisted

. .
, , .

Lord Salisbury has recommended you to my care and ,

I could n ot better comply with his instructions than

by preventing you from catching cold Y ou mus t use .

”
my travelling overcoat O f course there was nothi ng
.
,

more to be said and I remained quite warm and com

,

f o rt a bl e all the time I wa s in snow covered icy -

Bucharest .

O ne Saturday morning Mr Sanderson called early . .

”
What are you doing this evenin g ? he asked me .

“
Well after dinner I am goin g to Madame P here
,

”
kyde s ball the lady being the wife o fthe Rumanian
’
-

Forei gn Minister .

“
I know that as I h a ve been i nvited too but I
, ,

have excused myself To morrow will be Sunday and .

-

it will be better for you to rest to night and go t o -

church to morrow In fact I have come t o ask you

-

.
,

to accompany me t o the church ofthe British Miss i on

77
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
to the Jews which is in t he middle of the Jewish
,

quarter .

Y ou know Mr Sanderson , I said all diplomacy

.
, ,

is nothing but compromise I sugge s t that you let me

w
.

g o this evening to t h e ball and I ill let yo

,
u take me
to morrow to the church
-
”
And Mr Sanderson . .

accept ed that compromise .

I remember Madame P h ereky de s ball more espec i ally ’

because of an incident which made some sensation in

-

Society and diplomatic circles I noticed a tall middle .

,

a ged lady lookin g not exactly handsome but the very

, ,

personification ofdi stinction When I as certained that .

she wa s Princes s Sarka Ka ra georgevi ch I re q uested my

amiable h ostess to do me the honour ofi ntroducin g me .

Princess K a ra georgevi ch wa s agreeably surprised that the

delegate ofSerbia well kn own to be a personal friend
,

of K in g Milan should ask to pay her his respec t s as

, ,

she belon ged to the dynasty of the pretender to the

Serbian throne Amongst the onlookers were als o Prin
.

cess Gregor Ghica the s i ster of Queen N athalie and

, ,

General Ca t a rgi uncle of King Milan S ome ofmy

, .

diplomatic colleagues asked what K i ng M ilan would

say to my public homage to the Princess Ka ra georgevi ch .

King Milan knows me I answered and he will

, ,

understand that I could n ot publicly ignore the woman

who bears on e ofthe most illustrious names in Serbia s ’

modern history and wh o is besides the daughter of

, , ,

the patriotic Misha A n a st a s si yevi ch who gave his palace ,

i n Bel grade to be us ed a s the High School [ n ow Univer

si t y]. In fact K ing Milan never uttered a word of
,

reproach for my courtesy to Princes s Sark a K ar a

georgev i ch .

I return no w to my fri end Mr Sanderson . . He

78
 B u c h a res t R em i n i sce n ces
came next morning early enough a n d we drove to the ,

Jewish quarter and to the Mission Church which we ,

found filled with partially converted Jews When we .

too k o u r places in front of them Mr Sanderson sai d .

to me , By the by you will have t o read the first

,

lesson I wi ll tell you when you must step up to the

.

p u lpit.

Surely I exclaimed in alarm

, Lord Salisbury ,

did not instruct you to make me read the first lesson

to half converted Jews ?
-

”
Well Mr Sanderson answered Lord Salisbury
, .
!

recommended you to my care and courtesy and we ,

cannot of fer you a greater courtesy than to ask you to

read to us on e ofthe epistles ofSt Paul . .

I thanked him very much for the honour ofwhich ,

I thought I wa s unworthy and wi th di f fi culty induced

,

hi m to let me listen t o his own reading of the first

lesson .

Mr Sanderson was extremely kind and displayed

.
,

much care not only for my mat erial but also af or my

‘

spiri tual welfare .

Lord Salisbury was q uite capable ofre questing Mr .

Sanderson to pay due regard t o my comfort and well

being or of asking Sir Thomas Sanderson t o write
,

t o his brother to thi s purpose He would rarely

.

deny hims elf the pleasure of a little joke sometimes ,

sarcastic sometimes even somewhat cynical at my

, ,

expense O n on e occ a sion I appealed to him for diplo

.

matic support and moral sympathy on behalf ofSerbia .

I assure you my dear Minister Lord Salisbu ry

, ,

said, th a t Serbia always h a s ou r sympathy And in .

future you will always have ou r moral support and

sympathy provided you do not expect us t o fight for
,

79
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l k a n D i p l oma t i s t
yo u against Austria or Turkey and provided you do not
,

expect us to lend yo u money ! And yet Providence

has brought about the day on whi ch the British Empire
is fighting both Austria and Turkey for us and is lending ,

us money to carry on a wa r in which we fight not only

for ou r o wn but also for British interests
, .

O n an other occasion I complained that the British

Press took little interest in the Serb people I thought .

we deser v ed better treatment considerin g the self

,

s a cri fici n g services we had rendered t o Christian civilisa

tion in the past .

That is just it said Lord Salisbury smiling

, , .

We in this country know so little about these services .

You ought to li ghten our darkness !

I then told him how we had fought for nearly a
hundred years to stem the Mahomm edan invas ion of
Europe and how for four hundred years we had never
, , ,

ceased ou r guerilla war against the Turks for ou r own

liberty I thought ou r brilliant hist o ry entitled us to
.

look to the British people for some sympathy and

support .

I am much obliged to you observed Lord Salis

,

bury , for telling me something I did not know I .

s ee now you have h a d really an illustrious history But . ,

my dear Minister permit me t o say thi s : it would have

,

been better f or you to have had a less dazzling history

and in its pla ce a port on the Adriatic to which British

, , ,

”
merchants could brin g their goods for sale .

H e laughed heartily I kept my countenance and

.

rejoined Your Lordship is perfectly ri ght And that .

is just why we hope yo u will help us t o get a port on

the Adriatic !
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l omat i s t
part ofthe Serb nati on we realised also that it w as ou r
,

duty to work for the liberation ofall other Serbs living

under the direct rule ofTurkey and Austria Hungary -
.

Conscious of that duty we never ceased either openly

, ,

o r secretly to be at wa r with Turkey That fact made

,
.

the position ofSerbian Minister in Constantinople not

only very responsible but also very delicate and di f
,
i cult
f .

D uring my stay in the t rue capital ofthe Balkan Penin

sula my task wa s rendered the more delicate and more
di flri cu lt in that it was compli cated by the maintenance
'

ofou r national interest s against the Bulgarian propaganda

in Macedonia I remember always with sincere gratitude

.

that the Russian Ambassador in Constantinople Mr , .

Zi n ovi ef f often gave me his powerful support in all

,

questions which lay outside the conflict ofSerbian and

Bulgarian interests This was e specially the case during
.

my negotiations with the Porte for the conclus i on ofa

treaty ofcommerce between Serbia and Turkey .

In Constantinople I met many interest ing men .

But the most interesting ofthem all was Sultan Abdul

H amid n ot because he was Sultan but bec a use he wa s
, ,

somewhat a fascinating personality apart from his posi

tion I know well that he wa s far from popular i n
.

E ngland that the massacre ofthe Armenians in Con

,

st a n t i n opl e in 1 8 9 2 wa s attribu t ed t o his o wn orders ,

and that he was accused of abandoning the traditional

Anglophile policy of Turkey and replacing it by a
Germanophile policy The latter accusation wa s well
.

founded Bu t I cannot honestly say as much of the

.

former although I have met several well informed

,
-

diplomats who were in Constanti n ople during the mas

sacres and who were inclined t o belie v e that the signal
came from the Yildi z Kiosk the Palace in which Abdul
,

82
 S u l t a n Ab du l H am i d
Hamid resided I saw Abdul Hamid fairly o ften and
.

had prolonged conversations with him but I never once ,

g ained the impression that I wa s talking to a blood

thirsty monster O n the contrary he appeared t o me

.
,

always a kind hearted G odfearing quiet patient man

-

,
-

, , ,

lov ing music poetry and philosophy It is true I

, , .

found him also— and that to my own cost— a sly and

slimy O riental diplomatist very di fli cul t to be dealt ,

with by modern European methods .

I happened t o win the Sultan s good graces when ’

,

in presenting the accrediting letter from my Soverei gn ,

I expressed my belief that his M ajesty followi ng the ,

example ofhis ancestors the former Sultans who always , ,

tried to do justice would deal e quitably with the Serbs

,

under his sceptre O n a later occasion he told me that

.

he was pleased to hear a foreign diplomatist speak rea son

ably ofhis forefathers .

“
We Turks know he remarked that all ou r
, ,

Sultans have tried to do justice but you are the first ,

foreign diplomatist who has acknowledged that fact !

“ ” “
That is I answered because I am n ot o nl y a
, ,

diplomatist but also something o fa historian and I can

, ,

prove my s tatement to be an historical fact !

How shrewd Abdul Hamid could be I had a hint of
from King M i lan King Milan abdicated in February
.
,

1 88 9
. He who s o far had been an atheist was seized
, ,

—
suddenly and t o me as o n e of his intimate friends
, ,

—
quite inexplicably with the idea of spending Easter in
Jerusalem O n his return speaking to me ofthe Sultan
.
, ,

he said : I will show you what a clever diplomatist

and generous man Abdul Hamid is O n my w ay t o .

Jerusalem I had t o pass through Constantinople and ,

of course was bound to v isit the S ul tan As his v assal

, .

83
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
I had rebelled twice against him my Suzerai n and , ,

really provoked Russia s attack on Turkey in 1 8 76 so

’
,

I wondered what my reception would be I expected .

him t o be formal and cold I knew I had no right to

.

anticipate mo re than bare ind i spens able courtesy Judge .

o fmy s urprise to find Sultan Abdul Hamid w aiting for

me on the threshold ofthe Yildiz K iosk and greeting .

me with this most unexp ected spe ech : I receive with

pleasure under my roof the man who has re established -

S erb i a in her ancient dignity as a K ingdom We know .

well how much the Serbs contributed in ol d times to

the greatness and glory ofthe O ttoman E mpire ! So
I greet you as a Sovereign who has done his duty to
his people ! I w as moved almost t o tears by those
’

generous words I understood him practically t o say :

.

Yes you rebelled twi ce against me but you did it

, ,

concei v ing i t to be your duty t o your people ! K ing

Milan appeared touched even while relating the incident
to me .

I once saw Abdul H ami d i n a fine philosophical mood .

O n the day o n whi ch I received K ing Alexander s tele ’

gram announcing his engagement t o Madame D raga

Mas hin the Sultan late in the evening sent an aide
, , ,

de camp w i th a royal carriage to convey me to his

-

presence in Yildiz Kiosk There he i n quired whether I

.

had obtained more details about the engagement ofmy

K ing ; whether I personally knew Madame Mashin ; and
whether it were true that she was older and if so how , , ,

many years older than the King I told him that I knew .

her when as Mademoiselle L u n yevi t sa she married my

, ,

o wn Secretary ( ofthe mining department ofthe Ministry

ofF inance ) Svetozar Mashi n a n

, dthat she must be eight
,

or nine years the K ing s senior When he heard tha t I

’
.

84
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
O n another occasion Sultan Abdul Hamid spoke
more as philosopher than as potenta te .

King Alexander having mortally o f

, fended his father
by his marriag e with Madame D raga Mashi n and by the ,

drastic measures he took to prevent King Milan s return ’

to Serbia was uneasy because the latter lived in Austria

, ,

from which he cou ld at any time foment a movement

against him ( Alexander) and Queen D raga He had a .

remarkable knack of inventing original methods for

dealing with di f i culties and dangers
f Anxious to induce
.

his father to leave Vienna fo r a place where he would

be virtually interned never quitting it save in his co f
,
in
f ,

he conceived the idea ofasking Abdul Hamid to invite

Milan to reside in Constantinople permanently o r even ,

temporarily detaining him there all the same and render

, ,

i n g thereby a great se rvice to him ( King Alexander)

personally as well as to Serbia .

He sent his first aide de camp General Lazar Petro

- ~

vich on a secret mission to the Sultan The General

, .
,

a very sympathetic and courtly man and my personal

friend begged me to procure for him a pri vate audience
,

with the Sultan H e added that as his mission w as

.

strictly secret he Wa s instructed by the King to speak

,

with the Sultan alon e and without my presence I di d .

as I was requested but immediately wired my res i gna

,

tion to the King Alexander sent me a flattering tele

.

gram and requested General Petrovich t o use his best

ef forts to soothe my sensitiveness But very soon aft er
.

the General had his private interv i ew with the Sultan I

managed to find ou t the true object ofthe secret mission ,

and a very few days after the G eneral left the Sultan ,

indirectly confirmed what I had been informed .

It fell ou t thus : The Sultan inv ited me to see him

86
 S u l t a n Ab du l H am i d
for a confidential conversation and therefore I wa s n ot , , ,

to bring my interpreter with me as Ibrahi m Pasha w ould

be equ a l t o all re quirements .

”
“
I understand said the Sultan that you are an
,
“
,

intimate friend ofKing Milan wh o often follows your ,

”
advice.

I told him that I could hardly pretend t o intimate

friendship but that I wa s devoted to him and that he
,

treated me as a friend although he seldom accepted my

,

advice.

I congratulate you on enjoying the friendship of

such a brilli ant man the Sul tan continued
, I myself .

have been impressed by his personality and wa s happy

to notice that he responded t o my friendly sentiments .

I have a high opini on of his political experience and

knowledge ofthe world as well as ofhis moral courage
and generous heart Now you will not be surprised to
.
,

hear that I am longing t o have such a friend near me !

I am frequently tired ofthe heavy responsibility I bear ,

and I have nowhere t o turn for a refreshing rest for a ,

philosophical chat for an inspiring exchange o f ideas

, .

Thank G od I have many able and devoted and faithf

, ul
servants but I can hardly say that I have disinterest ed
,

—
friends And I need and oh ! I am longing for such
.
,
—
a friend Milan as I have learned to know him woul d
.
, ,

be an ideal friend Write t o hi m try as his devoted

.
, ,

friend to induce hi m t o come to me as my guest and

,

friend ; tell him I w ant his friendship more than that of

any other man ; tell him I leave i t to him to choose
which ofmy palaces on the Bosphorus he would prefer
to live in and that I will treat hi m as my best and most
,

trust ed friend ; that all I ask ofhi m is his friends h ip ,

that he should come and see me fr om time t o time so

87
 M emo i r s o f a Ba l k a n Di p l oma t i s t
that I might have the benefit of hi s knowledge of
Eu ropean politics and that we both having known the
, ,

splendour of thrones could humbly before G od talk

, , ,

as tru e phi losophers ofthe vanit i es ofthe world and the

”
emptiness of glory !
Abdul H amid usually conversed calmly in measured ,

sentences without emotion But on thi s occasion he

,
.

spoke as if deeply moved with increasing warmth and ,

s imple elo q uence O f course the impression his state

.
,

ments made on me wa s almos t n i l because I knew the ,

object of General P et rovi ch s mission I assured his ’

.

Majesty that I wa s certain that K ing Milan had a great

admiration for him and would be highly honoured by
,

and happy in his Majesty s fr i endship I promised t o ’

.

rep ort to the King his Majesty s generous sentiments ’

.

And I did s o .

I have published an account ofthis special audience

with the Sultan in a book on Constantinople which I
w rote in Serbia But no w for the first time I have related
.

what I knew about General P et rovi ch s secret mission ’

to the Sultan .

And here is an example ofAbdul H am i d s O riental ’

diplomacy .

I have already mentioned the clashing of Serbian

and Bulgarian inte rests in Macedonia We succeeded .
,

vastly to the annoyance of the Bulgar Exarchate in -

Constantinople in obtaining the e lection of a Serb

,

( Archimandr i te F i rm i li a n ) t o the Archbishopric of

Uskub ( in Upper Macedo nia) The election by the .

Greek Synod wa s not of much value wi thout the

formal consecration o f the elected Archbishop and ,

this could not be perform ed without the formal sanction

o f the Porte We won the election but Bulgar
‘

.
,

88
 M emo i r s o fa Ba l k a n D i p l omat i s t
he would be consecrated t o morrow but I tell you -

fra n kly my hands are bound All I can a dvi se you t o .

do is to see the Grand Vizier .

I w ent to the Grand Vizier a fine ol d Turk who , ,

received me with the utmost cordiality ordered coffee ,

and cigarettes spoke of the beauty of the B osphorus

, ,

ofhis friendl y di sp o sition t o wards the Serbs and at last ,

allow ed me to tell him why I had come After li stening .

quietly to my arguments as to the urgency ofa speedy

con secra tio n oft he elected Archbishop of Us kub he ,

Your arguments are unanswerable You are .

entirely in the right I can even understand that you

.

are at the end ofyour pat i ence I should feel deli ghted .

and happy if I could obli ge you by informing the

Patriarch that he could at once proceed But I cannot .

do it t o my sincere regret for the matter rests entirely

, ,

with his Majesty Ask for an audience wi th the Sultan

.
,

”
and I wish you every success .

I drove from the Sublime Porte direct to Yildiz

Ki osk to see T a hsin Pasha the famous private secretary
,

o fthe Sultan He had a peculiar method o fdoing busi

.

ness He worked in a large room which wa s at the same

.

time the waiting room for visitors O n both sides were

-
.

placed sofas and chairs for the callers H e sat at hi s .

writing desk receiving on e after the other and i n

-

, , ,

whispers asked each wh a t brought him the visitor

, ,

als o replying s o t t o v oce H e then m a de a few notes o n

.

the paper befo re him q uietly dismi ssed the c a ller and
, , ,

n odding ga ve the si gn t o the next to approach for

,
‘

another whispered en t ertainment ; All this took place

in the presence ofseveral others waiting for their turn ,
.

I entered the room while a call er wa s whispering t o

90
 S u l t a n Ab dul H am i d
him and had to wait only a minute o r t wo until he had
,

finished Tahsin immediately rose t o shake hands with

.

me and I whispered : I wish to have the honour ofan

,

audience with his Majesty ”

.

“
May I ask on what subject you wish to speak t o
his Majesty ?
To re q uest his Majesty graciously to give the
necessary orders that the elected Archbishop ofUskub ,

”
Fi rmil i a n should be at once con secrated
, .

Tahsin made some notes on a large sheet lyin g on

his desk and then shaking hands again whispered : I
,

will submit your Excellency s re q uest to his Majest y thi s

’

”
very evenin g And I left
. .

This was on a Monday Knowing well that the con

.

s t i t u t i on a l weakness ofthe T urks wa s procrastination I ,

did not expect an a nswer from the Palace till near the
end o fthe week I wa s therefore greatly ( and pleasantly)
.

surprised when the very next morning a special mes

senger brought me a letter from Tahsin P a sha informing
me that his Majesty would receive me next Friday after
the Selamlik—that is to say in three days I had been , .

told by some ofmy colleagues ofthe D iplomatic Corps

that it wa s rather dif icult to secure an audience with
f
the Sultan So I considered his readi ness to receive me
.

so soon an augury o f my success besides being very ,

flattering to me personally I reported this initial favo u r

.

to my Government and also wrote to F i rmi li a n that on

,

the followin g Friday I intended to try to induce the

Sultan t o give orders for his consecration .

Yildiz Kiosk with its extensive gardens lies on the

, ,

eastern declivity ofa hill A few hundred yards below

.

the gat e of the Palace stands a s imple house of on e

storey with a row of windows on the first floor looking
,

9 1
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l o ma t i s t
on the sloping road by whi ch the S ul tan drives down to
the mos q ue a few hundred yards lower on the left side
,

of the road The h ouse in question wa s reserved for

.

Ambassadors Ministers their wi ves and exceptionally

, , ,

distin guished fo reigners .

O n that Fr i day I went e a rly t o the Ambassadors ’

K iosk and took a place at on e of the windows not only

t o see the S ul tan better but also t o be better s een by,

him Presently driving s lowly in an open Vi ctoria the

.
, ,

Sultan appeared somewhat langui dly raised his eyes

,

towards the w i ndows and answered my deep bow by a

,

Turkish salaam wi th his white glov ed right h a nd We -

.

all followed him with o u r eyes a s we also did the crowd ,

ofPashas and high o f ficers w a lking in front ofand sur

roundin g his carriage .

N ot five minutes after the Sul t an had entered the

mos q ue little Emin Bey on e ofthe S ul ta n s chamber ,
’

lains came into the room i n which besides myself

, , ,

were several Ambassadors and some ladies ofthe D i plo

matic Corp s Emin Bey spoke first with the Amb a s
.

sa dors and then came t o me bowing and smilin g , .

“
His Majesty s ent me to give you his Imperial
”
greeting and to ask after your Excell ency s health ’
.

“ ”
Thank you I answered , As you see my ,

health is pretty g ood .

And his Majesty wished to know how y our wife

”
wa s . I do not see her Excellency here E min B ey ,

went on .

“
N o I explained
, I did n ot bring my wife a s
, ,

”
I am to have an audience o fhis M ajesty t o day -
.

Emin Bey began to rub his hands as if th ey had

suddenly become cold and looked down on his new ,

shining shoes .

9 2
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
I am aware o fthat His Majesty ordered me to .

deliver to your E xcellency the following message Just

when I was leaving the Palace a lengthy dispatch arrived
from o u r Ambassador in Paris which I must decipher ,

myself and I shall not be able to my real regret to

, , ,

receive the Serbian Minister to day but hope to do so -

next Friday .
’

Well of course I said

,
I understand and I
, , ,

can only admire his M a jesty s devotion to his o f ficial ’

duties N ext Friday I hope t o have the honour ofbeing

.

received .

”
O h certainly certainly ! cried Emin Bey as
, , ,

warmed by my goo d nat ured and stupid reply he ceas ed

-

to wash his hands with invisible soap in invisible water .

O n the third Friday I called again The Sultan .

passed as usual and E min Bey intervi ewed me once

,

more with wonted amiability .

“
H is Majesty saw you at t he w i ndow— indeed wa s ,

pleased to see y ou —and sent me w i th his Imperial ,

salutation t o ask how you were and how her Excellency

,

is whom I have not the pleas ure ofseein g here

,
”
.

I did n ot bring my wife as I am to have the honour

of being received
”
by his Majesty I repeated my .

answer ofthe two previous Fridays .

—
Certainly exactly ! said Emin examining hi s ,

shoes with fresh interest and rubbin g his hands slowly .

“
t His Majesty ordered me to tell your Excellency that
he l ooked forward almos t with impatience to the pleasure
o freceiving you more especially as his Majesty wished
,

to ask you for some information Unfortunately and .

,

to his Maj esty s profound regret a communication came

’
,

early this morning fro m the German Amb a s sador -

Marschall von B ieberstein that he had been summoned ,

94
 S u l t a n Ab du l H am i d
to Berlin for which he leaves to morrow morning
,
-

and that he must see hi s Maje sty t o day His Maje sty -
.

added : Mr M ija t ovi ch knows that Marschall von

.

Bieberstein has a habit ofremaining sometimes a whole

hour and even longer and I do not wish to keep him ,

waitin g until the German Ambassador ha s finished .

Better let him come next Friday .

’

This wa s n ow t oo much for a go od natu red patient -

and foolish fellow .

‘

Loo k now Emin Bey Y ou know and his

, , .
,

Majesty knows that this is the third Friday that I

,

have at his Maj esty s orders come for an audience and

,
’
,

have not been received Please tell his Majesty that I .

will come again next F riday the fourth Friday but , ,

if I shall not be received then I will go back from this

room to my Le gation pack up my things and leave ,

”
Constantinople without saying Good bye to anyone -
.

”
O h my dear E xcellency said Emin in subdued
, ,

tones n ot untouched with alarm genuine or af

, fected , ,

y ou must not take such a n extreme view ofan unin

t en t i on a l incident I assure you hi s Majesty h a s much
.

personal sympathy wi th you and wishes to see you .

His Majesty will l oo k forward to that pleasure next

”
Friday .

And on the fourth F riday E min Bey came smilin gly

t o take me from the Ambas sadors Kiosk through a
’

connectin g corridor to the Palace and handed me o v er ,

to Ibrahim Pasha the Sultan s principal interpreter

,
’
,

who escorted me and my interpreter the learned ,

Armenian Sa ma rdji into a small room where the Sultan

,

was waitin g for us It is a rule t hat foreign Ambas

.

sa d ors and Ministers shoul d brin their o wn interpreters

g
with them S ulta n Abdul Hami d understands French
.
,

95
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i st
but does n ot speak i t He speaks i n Tur kish and his
.

interpreter translates phrase after p hrase i nto French

, , ,

my interpreter checking the accuracy ofthe translation .

It would have been correct if my interpreter had trans

lated into Turkish what I said in F rench but on this ,

special audience Ibrahi m Pasha wa s translating not o nl y

what the S ul tan said but also my own answers t o the
,

Sultan my interpreter merely verifying the trans lation

, .

After t he customary s a lutations the Sult an sat down

on a small sofa whilst at his invitation I took an arm
, , ,

chair opposite t o hi m I drew ou t of my breast po cket

.

the noteboo k in which I had jott ed certain memoranda

about the case ofthe Ri ght Reverend Archbish op elect -

of Uskub and began : Your Majesty will graciou sly

allow me I had not proceeded farther when the
Sultan raised hi s right hand muttering something in ,

Turk i sh which Ibrah im Pasha imm ediately tra nsla t ed ‘

.

“
H is Majesty wi shes you t o stop as he has some ,

que stions t o put to you And the first i s : H o w long

.

have you been Minister i n London ?

I have been for nearly seven years Serb i an M in i ster
”
at t he C ou rt ofSt James s
.
’
.

Then you must know E ngli sh soc i ety very well ?

”
I hav e had ample opportunity .

What do you th i nk then o fE ngli sh women ?

, ,

This seemed such an o dd q uestion that I turned t o

my interpreter and asked in a whi sp er whether i t had
been correctly translated Mr Sa ma rdji confirmed its
. .

accuracy .

Well I said t o the Sultan

, I do not know in ,

what sense your Majesty puts that q uestion but I ,

know that Engli sh women are beautiful and he a lthy ,

g ood mothers faithful

, wives reliable fr i ends , .

9 6
 M emo i r s fa Ba l ka n D i p l omat i s t
o

But in a few days we found that our Colonel drank

whisky at all times although this did not interfere in
,

the slightest degree with the perfect fulfilment o f his

duties O ne evening my brother a good and con
.
,

s ci en t i ou s man remarked to me : D o you think we

,

are a cting properly when being friends of the Colonel

, ,

who is a friend to us we do n o t draw his attention to

,

the fact that he drinks t oo much whisky ? We dis ’

cussed the matter for some time and came to the con ,

cl u s i o n that it w a s ou r duty to speak to him about it .

So next morning when the Colonel was lunching with

,

and helping himself plentifully to whis ky my brother ,

observed to him Colonel we know you are ou r friend , ,

and w e hope you know that we are your friends Now .

,

as friends w e venture to sug gest that you drink rather

,

too much Scotch whisky ! The Colonel fell back in his

chair stared in astonishment first at my brother and
,

then at me then again at my brother and at last said

, ,

‘
What ! Your Imperial Highnesses think I drink too
much whisky ! I w onder what you d say i f you s a w ’

h o w much my wife drinks !

‘
N ow Mr M ija t ovi ch t he Sultan ended what
, .
, ,

I want to hear from you who have been so long l n ,

England is th is : Is it true that English women drink

,

”
much alcohol ?
I answered : Most emphatically I can assure your
Majesty that it is n ot true ! O ne may sometimes see
a w oman ofthe labouring class the worse for drink but ,

certainly never a woman o f the middle o r the higher

classes !
“
I am glad you confirm by practical knowledge my
o wn conclusions Whene v er I see those fine English
.

men so tall well de v eloped and handsome I say to

, , , ,

98
 S u l t a n A b du l H am i d
myself : It is n ot possible that the mothers o f this
”
vi rile race drink Scotch whisky to excess !
Then the Sultan said he had read much about E ngland ,

and thought that English women must have been hand

somer in the ol d times than they are n ow because a ,

Pope seeing them asked who they were and when t old
, , ,

they were En glish exclaimed : You a re n ot E nglis h

, ,

bu t A n geli c !
I seized my opportunity but you may be sure ,

I did not deem it politic t o rectify the Sul t an s ’

history .

I am grateful your Majesty mentioned the angels ,

as they remind me of my Archbishop elect of Uskub -

”
who ought to be consecrated !
“
My dear Minister ”
the Sultan said rising from
, ,

his sofa surely you won t speak to me ofa monk after

,
’

we have had a pleasant talk about English women !

Moreover F i rmi li a n s affair is not ripe for solution
,
’
.

When it matures I will send for you and then w e will

talk about monks B on j o u r !
.

He extended his white gloved ri ght hand and left

-

the room .

After waiting four weeks fo r the promi sed audience

I had at last obtained it ; but instead ofdiscussing the
consecration of an archbishop Abdul H a mid whil ed ,

away the time with a story about Scotch whisky and

gossip about English women My diplomatic e f
fort was
.

a complete fiasco But I could not help laughing at

.

my own defeat Abdul Hamid was too sly and cunning

.

for my honest diplomacy .

It is well known that Abdul Hamid had a theatre

erected in the E uropean style in the grounds ofYildi z
99
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
Kiosk It was a hn ost adjacent to the palace in which
.

the Sultan lives and the two structures are connected

,

by a long gallery I have an impression that the theatre

.

stands between the Sultan s palace and the palace in ’

which his harem is placed as t he ladies o fthe harem ,

g o from time to time to hear Italia n o r French

opera .

At the invitation o f the Sultan certain i mpresa r u

every summer bring an opera company t o Yildiz gener ,

ally a n Italian ohe As a rule the audience consists only

.

o fthe Sultan and a few of his aides de camp wh o happen - -

to be o n duty Sometimes however his Majesty invi tes

.
, ,

a few Ambassadors or Min i st ers whom he specially desires

to honour .

O ne day I received an inv itatio n t o dine at the

Palace and afterwards join hi s Majesty in the Imperial
box at the Yildiz O pera H ouse There I found the .

Russian Ambassador Zi n ovi ef fand the Persian Minister

Ali Mirza Khan After the d inn .

thought rather a poor a fl a i r in the ’

w ere taken by Ibrahim Pasha to a salon where in the ,

course of a quarter of an hou r the Sultan appeared ,

.

His Majesty wished to do us the honour ofconducting

us personally to his opera house .

We passed through several sumptuously furn ished

rooms and then entered a long but
,

corridor which to my astonishment p roved t o be

, ,

picture gallery I say to my astonishment b ecause I

.
,

knew that orthodox Mahommedans do n ot like pictures .

I noticed that all the paintings represented battles of

the Turkish army Zi n ovi ef f walked on the Sultan s
.
’

left I was behi nd the Sultan and Mirza K han

, ,

Zi nov i ef
f Sudde nl y the Sultan s topped turned
.
,

100
 M emo i r s o fa Ba l kan D i p l oma t i s t
Abdul H amid raised hi s white gloved right hand
-

shoo k his head and said something that sounded like

,

”
Us t a f
“
er A l la h ! ( God forbid !
As he did not applaud ofcourse n o on e a pplauded
,

the singers ; but at t he end he sent Ibrahim P asha to

, ,

convey his Imperial compliments t o the actors and

act re sses
.

10 2
 C H APT E R VIII
Ki n g Mi la n

ILAN O BRE N O VICH w as called to the throne

of Serbia after the assassination of his childless
uncle Prince Michael ( O brenovich
,
on June l ot h ,

1 868. Milan was then in his fourteenth year and

had only begun his studies under Professor Francois
H uet a famous French philosopher in whose house he
, ,

lived Throughout his career as reigning Prince and King

.

he always gratefully remembered his teacher and spoke

ofMadame Huet with tender a f fection When Prince .

Michael asked Professor Huet what would be his pro

gramme for the education ofMilan he wa s told : My
,

idea is t o educate your nephew as if he were my own

son !
“
I do not ask for anything better Prince Michael
,

replied g iving his hand to the Professor

,
“
Take the .

”
bo y with you ! The Professor w as well known as a
freethinker and democrat .

Unfortunately the young Prince had not been more

,

than a year with the Professor when he became a ruler .

O ften afterwards I heard him say to S erbian politicians ,

I know I am a source of embarrassment but you ,

must bear with me a s a necessary evil for which you ,

are yourselves respons ible By assassinating my uncle

.

you arrested my bein g educated by a French p hi losopher

and a democrat Y ou t ook me into your own h a nds
.
,

and whatever I am to day remember I am t he product

-

of the education which you gave me ”

.

10 3
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l omat is t
And he wa s q uite right Indeed he proved a more
.
,

brilliant man than his Serb educators had expected .

His teachers impart ed a certain amount of scientific

kno wledge and Mr R i st i ch the second Re gent
, .
, ,

developed his keen political instincts but the influence ,

o fthe o f ficers by whom he wa s surrounded wa s far from

wholesome They impressed him with the idea that the
.

a dherents of the K a ra georgevi ch dynasty were i n

cessantly plotting t o murder hi m or at least t o drive ,

him fro m the throne and replace hi m by Prince Peter

K a ra georgevi ch They taught him never t o go ou t
. ,

never to receive anyone without a revolver in his pocket .

Although an optimi st by nature Milan developed under , ,

s uch auspices into a rank pessimist These and other

, .

sinister influences also made him an atheist .

From hi s father M i lo sh O brenovich ( the son of

,

Jephrem O brenovich who w as the brother of Prince

,

M ilo sh the founder ofthe O brenovich dyna s ty ) he i n

, ,

h eri t ed his fondness fo r beautiful women and his passion

for gambling F rom hi s mother Maria Ca t a rgi daughter

.
, ,

of a Rumanian noble of the Ca t a rgi family and of

Madame B a l sh he inherited much ofh is Latin genius
,

bright and q uic k intelligence impetu osity generosity , , ,

love ofthe arts By instin ct and temperament he wa s

.

more F rench than Serb and wa s nowhere so happy as

,

in Paris .

N othing g a ve him greater ple a sure than when I

brought him historical evidence that the Moldavian noble
—
men B a l sh t o whom h i s grandmother wa s related
‘

were descendants of the Serbian Princess B a l shi ch of ,

the Upper and Lower Zetta ( n o w Montenegro and the

Boyana Valley) who were themselves connected with the
,

Italian nobl e family D el Balzo who again were a ,

10 4
 M emo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
some talk on current political events he suddenly said ,

to me
You have the reputation ofhav ing absorbed some
o f the religious zeal o f the English people Tell me .

frankly do you a cultured man and a student ofhistory

, , ,

believe in the ex i st en ce ofa personal God ?

‘

I told him that most certainly and most sinc erely I

did believe in a personal God .

I am astonished to hear that he answered T he , .

people re gard you as a learned man but how can a ,

learned man believe in a personal G od? My first teacher ,

Professor Huet a truly erudite man and philosopher

,
[
,

di d not believe there wa s a God My present physician .

,

your own chum D r Vl a da n G eorgevi ch does not believe

, .
,

there is a God Nor do I belie ve in H i s existence

.
,

although I must comply with the superstition of my

people and go on festival days to the church cross myself , ,

and kiss crosses and pictures ofthe Saints To play the .

hypocrite is part of my pub l ic duty as I wa s taught by ,

”
my teachers and advisers .

”
N ot by me Sire interrupted the old General
, , .

”
No not by you General
, the Kin g admitted
, , .

Then I expres sed astonishment and grief at hearing

him talk as he did I think it was the first time I ever
.

delivered anything like a sermon I fre quently di d that .

in later years and he best owed upon me the nick

,

name of Popp ( Priest) o n e ofthe numerous sobri ,

qet s whi ch he liked to give people It is unnecessary

u .

to mention my arguments her e nor in fact do I , , ,

reme mber them n ow But I recall the visible impression

.

I made o n him when I assured him that in spite of his ,

gifts and intelli gence he coul d not fulfil his high

,

mission and heavy tasks without G od s guidance and ’

10 6
 K i n g M il a n
help and that I ha d no doubt that he would find that
,

there wa s a personal G od should it ever be hi s lot t o

,

pass through great trials and su fl eri n gs H e became .

silent as though lost in thought Then he spoke in this

, .

sense ( of course I do n ot pretendto quote his i p Si s srma

,

v erba though the purport ofh i s remarks is correctly

,

recorded)
“
Look n ow my dear Popp you and D r Vl a da n
, , , .

G eorgev i ch are personal friends ; both o fyou are learned

men ; you bel ieve in G od he does n o t I wish you a n d
, .

D r Vla da n and the third person here my dear General

.
, ,

Zach would come every Thursday durin g the next month

,

to dine with me After dinner we shall have Russian

.
_

tea in the billiard room and you and Vl a da n will di scuss

-

, ,

in my presence and in that ofthe General the q uestion ,

D oes a personal G od exist ? I am ready to listen and

to decide whose arguments are the more convincing I .

should r eally be glad if yo u could overturn the material

”
i st i c ph ilosophy o fmy doctor .

I accepted the proposal with pleasure I remember .

even now not without emotion—that General Zach ,

placing me in a Court carriage to take me home em ,

braced and kissed me thankin g me for all I had said to

,

the young Prince that evenin g The Prince kept his .

word and during the next four Thursdays we four

,

dined together and afterwards D r Vl a da n G eorgevi ch

, .

and I discussed the momentous question on on e or t wo ,

occasions the discussion l a stin g until after midnight .

D r Vl a da n G eorgevi ch was on e ofthe most brilliant

.

men in Serbia between 1 8 70 and 1 9 00 a poet a novelist , ,

a clever physician and surgeo n ( winning the German

Iron Cross for services rendered t o the wounded in
an eloq uent debater organiser of the State Sanitary
,

10 7
 M emo i r s o f a Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
Service and finally a cons tructive statesman and Prime
, , ,

Minister from 1 8 9 7 t o 1 9 0 0 At the time ofo u r discus

.

sion we were both young men I in my thirty first he ,

-

in his twenty ninth year Prince Milan in his nine

-
.
,

t een t h and G eneral Zach in hi s sixtieth y ea r o r there

, , .

abouts plainly enjoyed ou r exchange ofideas O n the

,
.

fourth Thursday ni ght my last e f fort to demolish D r .

Vl a d a
’
n s trench —Le there is absolutely no scientific
.

and not even logical proof ofthe existence o fa personal

God —wa s decl ared by the youn g Prince to have failed .

He th a nked me for my efforts but did not find my ,

arguments convincing .

N o doubt it is my fault n ot yours I replied , , .

But I am sure that one day you will yourself be assured

that there indeed exists a personal God and that , ,

although I have fa i led to satisfy you at present I wa s ,

”
right and my friend Vl a da n wrong .

O n his return from Jerusalem in the summer of 1 8 8 9

King Milan reminded me ofthese words with the con ,

f es s i on
, Yes I have discovered myself that you were
,

”
right and that Vl a da n wa s wrong But I w ill speak .

ofhis conversion a little later .

I found Prince M ilan not only atheistic but in the ,

political sphere deeply pessimistic H e used to say in

, .

the hearing oftruly devoted friends : I have only on e

friend in Serbia and that is my dog Vigo !
, O ccasion
ally he would protest to me You Vl a da n and Kosta
, ,

[ General K osta Protich ] pretend to be my faithful

friends but if the supporters o f Peter Ka ra georgevi ch
,

succeed in murdering me as they murdered my uncle

,

Michael you three would be the first to kiss the hand of

,

Peter when he came to the throne Y our vivid imagina .

tion pictures the throne as a portion ofheaven set apart

10 8
 fa B a l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
M emo i r s o

a dvocate Alexa Popovich a political and personal friend

, -

said to me : D o you not see how the predictions of

Matha ofKremna are fulfilling themselves in all details ?
I told him th a t I did not k now anything about such
pr edicti ons .

I think you ought t o know them he ret orted , .

Y ou write hist o ries of the p a s t but this p oor peasant ,

wrote or rather dictated the history ofcomin g event s

, , ,

and they are turnin g ou t as he predicted If o u r Prince .

does n o t kno w anything ab out Math a o f Kr emn a he

ought to know his pre dictions as they concern him more
,

than anybody else .

That evening I din ed at the Palace After dinner .

I told the Prince what I h a d heard and he at once sent ,

an equerry to fetch Mr Popovich and then both the

.
,

Prince and I heard for the first time the story of

M a t h a s predictions
’
Popovich assured us he had with
.

hi s own eye s read M a t h a s deposi tions o f

fi c i ally rec orded
’
,

and still kept in the archives ofthe C ourt ofJusti ce of

Uji t sa .

I will n owreproduce a s fully and as accurately a s

,

I can what Popovich disclosed

, .

“
O n May 2 9 t h 1 8 6 8 , about 3 p m there . .
,

came to Ujit sa running and breathles s a pe a sant well

, ,

known on the market and in the inns as M atha i z '

Kremna [ M a t hea s from Kremna ] Kremna is a village .

some five miles to the west ofUji t s a He raced through .

the streets and shouted at the top ofhis voice and in

great alarm O h brethren help ! help ! They a r e mur
, , ,

deri ng ou r Pri nce ! The police thinking him mad or ,

drunk arrested hi m Four hours later an of

, . ficial tele
gram arri ved fr om Belgra de announcin g the assassina
tion of Prince Michael O brenovich III in the woods .

1 10
 K i n g M il a n
ofK oshu t n ya [ Parc
k —
aux Cerfs ] near Belgrade The
-

, .

Prefect ofUji t s a thinking that M ath a must have known

,

something about the conspiracy immediately opened an ,

interro gative examination .

It seems that the Prefect invited the President of

the Court of Justice to be present Poo r Matha had .

s ome difficulty in convincing the Prefect and the judg e

that he knew nothing about the conspiracy but that he ,

saw the assassination of the Prince in a vision My .

dear gentlemen Matha said you do not know but

,
’
, ,

many people are aware that I am subject t o visions and ,

what I see generally happens as in this case , .

’

The Prefect answered : If that is so perhaps you ,

ca n see the events which are goin g to take place in ou r

country ?
O h yes certainly ! replied Matha
, , I have .

already had such visions .

’

Well said the Prefect tell us what you see and

,
’
,

my secretary will write it down .

’

Matha thereupon dictated the following v i sions

A youn g boy is coming from abroad to be o u r
Prince As he is still youn g a commission ofthree men
.
,

will go vern t h e country until he come s of age When he .

begins to reign we shall have much trouble with him .

He is lively and restless He will constantly change his

.

Ministers will frequently disagree with the people s will

,
’
,

wil l often dissolve the Skupshtina and the country will ,

never be quiet under hi m He will marry a beautiful.

girl have a son by her and then divorce her

, , He will .

make several wars and be beaten but nevertheless will ,

gain fresh territories and adv ance t o become Ki n g I .

see him sittin g in his palace in Belgrade talking with

the Prefect of Nish .

1 1 !
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
H ere the Prefect int errupted him : Y ou mean
they are telegraphing to each other ? Besides you know ,

N ish is i n Turkey where they have Pashas and not

,

Prefects !
I know that resumed Matha but all will be
,
’
,

changed ; N is h will be ours and ou r Prefect in hi s ofli ce

,

in N ish will talk with ou r King in his r oom in the Palace

ofBelgr a de ! H o w it i s done I do n ot know but I see ,

them doin g it A t last the restless King gets tired

.
,

leaves the Crown and throne to his son goes abroad , ,

travels much and die s abroad fa r from his country

, , .

His son will be the last of his dynasty and will die
young childless and by assas sinati on Then I see Peter
, , .

Ka ra georgevi ch ascending the throne D uring hi s .

reign a foreign army i nvades and occupies Serbia and ,

the people will have to undergo s uch terrible suf ferings

that passing the churchyards they will exclaim
, , Oh , ,

y ou happy dead who do not suf fer wh a t we are endur

ing ! Bu t s ome time afterwards a man will arise from
among the people a relation ofthe O brenovi ch dynasty
, ,

who w il l gather the people around him and succeed in

driv ing ou t the foreign army and unite all Serb countri es
into on e State Then shall begin a period ofsuch hap
.

p i n es s and prosperity that people passing the church

,

yards will exclaim

, O h what a pity y ou who are
, , ,

in your graves are not alive to enjoy w ith us this won

,

derf u l happiness ! The Prefect observed : Y ou said

a moment a go that the O brenovich dyn as ty will end by
the assassination of the only son of the restless King
who is soon to reign in Serbia and n ow you assert that
,

a relation ofthat dyn a sty will expel the foreign army

and unite all Serb countri es ? Matha rejoined I ,

cannot explai n that t o you otherwi se t han by a s imile :

1 12
 I
K N G M I LA N O F SERBIA
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
‘
Art hemi sa. This lady w as the daughter of a Greek
merchant of Constantin ople wh o had made money in ,

the timber trade She was n ot exactly beautiful ; she

.

had a muddy complexion and a bad figure heavy and ,

large waisted But she had beautiful soft black eyes and
-
.

magnificent black hair Except that she spoke Greek

.
,

Turkish and French she had no other accomplishments

, .

B u t she mana ged somehow to make friends There was .

something mysteriously attractive in her And poo r .

King Milan wa s not only fascinated , but completely

hypnotised by he r She wi shed him to hate his wife
.

a woman in physical beauty charm and accomplish ,

ments immeasurably her superi or— t o divorce her and t o

abdicate the throne in order to marry her ; and he almost
mechanically executed three ofher wishes That he did
]

not fulfil her fourth wish als o wa s probably due to some

occult influence Whenever he spoke to me of her I
.

derived the impression that he wa s on the road to ma d

ness He insist ed that she wa s born to be a Queen that
.
,

she was a woman possessing a heart and brains ofsuch

q uality that no other woman in the world could be com
—
pared with her th a t we his Cabinet Ministers were
,
— '

not worthy t o lace her boots and finally that she wa s , , ,

the greatest statesman in Europe far greater than Bis ,

marck ever was !

In August 1 8 8 8 the King was spending some time
, ,

at Gleichenberg in Styri a H e wired me to come at

, .

once as he wish ed to consult me o n an i mportant q ues

,

tion O n my arrival he told me that he was so disgusted

.

with s his Ministers —

u — with the Serbians with his
, ,

friends in Austria and with his cruel enemies in Russia

, ,

that he ha d determined t o abdicate in favour of his boy

Sasha (as the Crown Prince Alexander wa s called) I .

1 1
4 .
 K i n g M il a n
tri ed t o show him the unworthi ness indeed the cowardice , ,

ofsuch a step and he grew annoyed and excited

,
.

You h a ve t he reputation of being an intel ligent

ma n he avowed
,
”
bu t you are very dense indeed when
,

compared wi th that wonderful woman Madame A rt he ,

misa She is the only person i n the world who under

.

stan ds me She considers that my resolution is right

. ,

that I wi ll be do i ng an act ofgrand and noble duty ,

that I will wi n the respect even ofmy enemies and that ,

only then will ou r country appreciate what I wa s t o my

”
people .

It wa s obvious from whom the suggest ion o fabdica

cation had proceeded I felt it wa s useless to combat the
,

idea and as ked leave to retire to my room t o consider

,

the question q uietly In an hour I returned with the .

following memorandum :
,
”
Yes I wrote —
you ought t o abdicate but n ot
, ,

at present If you abdicate n ow you W l ll depart leaving

.

a damning balance sheet —the balance sheet of a political

- -

and moral ban k rupt Y ou have never been more u m .

pop ul ar than you are now in conse quence ofyour divorce

ofthe Queen Y o u .
—
must remain a few years I suggest
four—to redress your moral balance sheet t o make your -

se lf popular t o make Serbia shed tears ofsincere sorrow

,

at your leaving D uri ng these four years educate your

.
-

son properly and prepare him t o be a good king and a

noble man That is your sacred duty to your dynasty
.
,

to your son and t o your country F ill these four years .

with wi se pa t ri ot i c and grand deeds At this moment

,
'

no on e in Serbia thinks ofclaiming a more liberal C on

s t i t u t i on
. Take the ini tiative and g i ve of your o wn ,

g ood w ill
, a n ew and trul y liberal Constituti on Y ou .

spend hundreds of thousands of din ars on M a da me

1 1
5
 M emo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
A rt hemi s a and at cards with Count Bray [ the German
Minister ] and Monsi eur Persiani [ the Russia n Minister ] .

Give up these expenses or at least reduce them and, ,

build a church as ou r ol d Kings u s ed to do a hospital

, , ,

a home for poo r men and women and create a fund from ,

which every year the best e f forts of our lit erary men
shall be rewarded And then at the end ofthe fourth
.

year— abdicate !
He was impressed by my brief protest There are .

”
some goo d ideas in it he said ; I will think about it
, .

I ma y follow your s uggesti on At any rate the abdi ca .

,

”
tion is postpon ed .

I returned to Belgrade relieved and reported to my ,

collea gues that the King s abdication was put of ’

f if not ,

quite given up I was confirmed in this notion by

.

Milan s action O n the very day o fhis arrival in the

’
.

capital he invited D r Vl a da n and myself to dinner and

.
,

after dinner when we three were alone he told us that

, ,

he wished to execute my Gleichenberg programme As .

the main point was the grant ofa liberal Constitution ,

he desired us to help him that very ni ght to compose , ,

a beautifully written proclamation to the people a n

-

n ou n ci n g that he intended t o promulgate a liberal

Constitution elaborated with the cc operation ofthe best
,
-

men of all parties By midni ght we were ready not

.
,

without a strug gle on my part against t h e King s wish ’

to introduce a few popular but ra ther vulgar phrases .

Then he ordered Russian t ea for us and spoke ofQueen ,

— —
N athalie to my pleasant surprise with admiration .

With all her faults and cruelty to me she was an ,

excellent mother to Sasha and in her company the boy ,

made great progress i n every direction Believe me I .

,

”
love that woman still and after all .

1 1 6
 M emo i r s fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
o

Y ou have honestly tried t o convince me that my resolu

tion to abdicate is w rong I admit that you are right
.
,

a s State Ministers and as m y personal friends Your .

arguments are unanswerable But gentlemen believe .

, ,

me I cannot do otherwise I can as s u re you that my

, .

resolution is not the resul t ofa light hea rted and su dden -

impulse I have considered it for months and months

.
,

and have always come to the conclusion that I ought to

abdicate I am n ot surprised that your devotion moved
.
‘

y ou t o tell me pl a inly all y ou t hink o fmy d ecision But .

I am astonish ed that M ija t ovi ch who knows well that ,

my abdication is un avoi dable sh ould attack me with ,

such fiercen ess calling me a coward and an unworthy

,

O b renovich .

H e then dismissed us Passing from Queen N athalie s

.
’

boudoir in which he receive d us the Prime Minister

, ,

asked u s to come t o his o f fice which wa s in a b uilding ,

adjoining the Palace After cups of cof . fee had b een

served the P rime Min ister addressed us thus
Gentlemen you have heard the King say that our
,

colleague Mr M ija t ovi ch knew that his abdication w as

, .
,
“

unavoidable I think w e have a right to re q uest ou r

.

co lleague to explain why he n ever i nformed any on e

”
o fus ofthe fact .

I reminded th e President ofmy reports from Gleichen

b erg i n the previous year and also of my oral report t o
, ,

my colleagues at a Cabinet me eting on my return I .

‘

firmly bel i eved that the question ofthe abdicati on wa s

adjourned for at least four years What the King .

meant by saying that I knew hi s a bdi cation w as u n a voi d

able w as q uite a dif ferent matter H e cau s ed me t o .

remember that h e a n d I had together list ened t o a

report on Matha ofKremn a s prophecies in whi ch among ’
, ,

1 1 8
 K i n g M il a n
other things it ,
oretold
wa s f that King Milan would

D r Vl a da n G eorgevi ch Minister of Education and

.
,

Church A f fairs became indignant

,
Are you n ot .

ashamed to drag into a serious discussion and on such ,

a solemn and tragic occasion as thi s your crazy belief ,

in some fool s prophecies ? Who is this Matha of

’

Kremna ? Where and when and what did he prophesy ?

”
I believe it is all rubbish .

Unexpectedly the Prime Minist er came t o my

support .

Gentlemen he began in hi s quiet manner ou r

, ,

colleague Mr M is quite right There w as on e Matha

. . .

o f K remna wh o uttered remarkable prophecies Y ou .

remember that I had the misfortune t o be the H ome

Minister at the time o f the assassination o f P rince
Michael The Prefect ofUji t sa reported to me that on
.

the day of the assassin a tion and several hours before

,

it took place a peasant f

, rom the vill age of Kremna
came to Uji t s a and told people that the Prince w as
being attacked and assassinated The man was examined .

and his statements were taken down and a copy of ,

them was sent to me and I believe is still in the secret

,

archives of this o f fice I read them at the time and

.

remember that I wa s much impressed by them but I ,

cannot r ecall their details now .

As I have s aid unexpectedly I got a witnes s of the

,

first rank to t he existence of Matha of Kremna and

his soothsayings Many ofthe Scottish Highlanders are
.

”
known to possess what is called second sight and it ,

is my belief that Matha w as similarly g i ft ed .

We decided to send in ou r resignations forth

with The King accepted them towards midnight of
.

1 1 9
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
February 2 l st when he signed a decree appointing
,

General B el i ma rkovi ch Prime Minist er General Protich ,

War Minister and myself Foreign Minister The Cabinet .

was to last only eleven hours as both Generals with Jovan

, ,

Ri st i ch were appointed the three Re gents until the n ew

,

Kin g should come of a ge King Milan asked me to give

.

him a final proo f o ffriendship by acting as his Minister

ofForeign A f fairs o n the following morning at the re
cep t i on of the D iplomatic Corps .

The Ministers arrived in full dress with orders on

their breast s as was customary at Court receptions on
,

the N ational Festival I received them in the large

.

drawing room of the Palace and when they were all

-

assembled I went t o fetch the King The King in full .

,

uniform and wearing the cordon ofthe White E agle ,

addressed those present in a rather long speech inform ,

i n g them that he w as abdicating in favour o fhis son ,

re quest ing them to transmit to their Sovereigns and

Governments his thanks for their friendliness during his
reign and expressing his hope that they would con
,

t i n u e to be friendly to Serbia and her n ew King .

I wa s standing o n the left of Milan t wo or three ,

feet behind the l ine on which he stood conversing with

the diplomats I myself was looking vaguely at the
.

g litterin g group o f foreign Ministers Suddenly I was .

struck by the voice o fthe King D ecidedly it wa s n ot .

his u s ual voice but much deeper and hollower I raised

, .

my head and looked at the King s profile Yes it was ’

.
,

he who spoke but n ot in his natural voice

, .

'
After the diplomats had shaken hands with the King
and left the latter accompanied by me went to the
, , ,

next room the blue salon where his household his

, , ,

aides de camp e querries comptroller ofthe household

- -

, , ,

120
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
lasting and that he might never have reason to r epent
o fhis abdication .

O nly a few weeks later the ex King left Serbia for -

Constantinople Jerus alem and D amascus He wished

, ,
.

t o spend Easter in Jerusalem He repeatedly invited me

.

to go with him I could n ot do so for several reasons

. ,

the princi pal being that I was afraid that the s qualor of
Jerusalem and the unsee ml y scenes of confli ct between
the O rthodox and Roman Catholi cs at E aster might
destroy my faith in the divinity ofJesus Christ
O n his return to Belgrade he said to me : Y ou
made a great mist ake not to come w ith me to Jerusalem .

Your fear I am sure w as groundless Y ou know I

, , .

have been all my life an atheist I have returned be .

lieving in God and the Saviour The impressiveness o f .

the service o n Easter D a y simply broke t h e hardness o f

my heart and when the Patriarch ofJerusalem took me
,

into the grave ofO ur Lord and there administered the

Communion I wept and felt that God was miraculously
,

transforming me into a new man In the grave ofthe .

Lord I wa s bo rn again When I left the church I

.

remembered you and regretted you w ere n ot with me .

While I w as Minister of Serbia in Constantinople

in 1 9 0 0 I made the ac quaintance ofa form er Patriarch
o fJerusalem H e invited me to lunch with hi m on on e
.

occasion in his house at Chalkis When I told him what .

I had heard from ex King Milan about the impressive

-

ness ofthe service a t E aster and how he had come ou t

of the grave of Jesus q u i te a reformed man the old ,

Patriarch answered :
Yes I w as then Patriarch ofJerusalem I took
, ,
.

K ing Milan b y the hand and led hi m into O ur Lord s ’

grave H e wished to p artake of the Communion and

.
,

1 22
 K i n g M il a n
I told him he must make there and then a con fession of
sin He fell on his knees and said I know I have
.
,

sinned against G od n ot believi ng in H im for so many

,

years ; and in the exercise ofmy royal power I have ,

no doubt wronged many people I have sinned also

, .

against I stopped h im and told him that it w as

not necessary t o enumerate hi s sins I t w as enough to .

acknowledge that he was a sinfu l man that he repented ,

o fhis sins and prayed G od t o forgive him and asked

, ,

the Lord Je sus Christ t o wash hi m in His great mercy ,

and by H is blood from all his sins When he had

, .

done this and I had read over him the prayer offorgive
ness I raised him up kissed him and said : Now by
, , ,
‘
,

the mercy ofou r Lord and Saviour all your sins have ,

been forgiven you But you must take care not to sin
.

again If you commit fresh sins G od may punish you

.

by punishing your son I could n ot proceed farther

because he fell on my shou lder and weeping loudly , ,

exclaim ed : O h n o n o ! L et G od punish me b ut let

, , ,

Him not punish my son for my sin ! I tried to quiet ’

him and deeply touched myself exclaimed r aising my

, , , ,

eyes upwards : O merciful F ather have mercy on the ,

t ea rs ofthis poor man !

’

I cannot say whether King Milan s i nned after that

against God or his country H e believed in God and .

tried honest ly acco rdin g to his light to serve Serbia

, , .

But for some reason G od punished him by his own

, ,

son s cruelty to wards h i m—a son whom he loved and

’

adored Milan died on F ebruary 1 1 t h 1 9 0 1 away from

.
, ,

his son who w ould not allow h im t o return to his

,

country And hi s son wa s assassinated horribly in 1 9 0 3

. .

How propheti c wa s the Patriarch ofJerusalem !

1 23
 C H AP TER IX
Q u een Na t ha l i e
N E day in September 1 8 74 Prince Milan informed
, ,

Prime Minister M a ri n ovi ch that he intended to

spend a few weeks in Vienna where he would meet ,

h i s mother O n the ei ghth day af t er his departure the

.

Premier convoked a full meeting o f the Cabinet and

read to us a telegram in which Prince Milan announced
that he had just become engaged to Mademoiselle
N athalie K et chk o the second daughter of a Russian
, ,

Colonel K et chko .

It wa s as if a thunderbolt had dropp ed from the

skies For a few moments we were thunderstruck as it
.
,

were humiliated by the surprise o u r Soverei gn had given

,

us Not even to the venerable Prime Minister an old

.
,

and faithful friend of hi s dyn a sty had Prince Milan

,

mentioned that his visit to Vienna was t o meet his

destined bride ; yet n ow he confronted his Government
with an accomplished fact and had not dei gned t o con
,

sult it about an act ofsuch importance to the nation .

N o on e wa s more upset than ou r Prime Minister .

He sat pale and speechless with tears in his eyes The

, .

first member wh o recovered speech wa s Ts en i ch Minister,

ofJustice ,noted for his independence ofcharacter and

fr a nkness a s well as for his severity and impartiality as
,

judge .

Gentlemen he said who is Colonel Ket chk o ?

, ,

T h e Pr i me Minister answered : I did not kn o w

1 24
 M emo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
young N athalie Ket chko w as greeted by the Serbs when
she arrived for the first time i n Belgrade as fia n cee of ’

the Prince .

By Princ e Milan s cl ever although not chivalrous

’

man oeuvres M a ri n ovi ch s Cabinet was obl iged to resign

’

a few months later He had some d i f fi culty in forming

.

a st able Cabin et and his marriage with N athalie t ook

,

place under the Cabinet of Lubomir K a lyevi ch well ,

known as a faithful adherent of the exiled K arageorge

vich dynasty but at the same time a perfectly correct
,

subject of Prince Milan and a thorough gent leman .

From early childho od Ka lyevi ch and I had known each

other We pass ed through the middle and higher
“

schools tog ether and as companions as well as com

, ,

patriots w e w ent t o the German uni versities H e and

, .

I we re always devoted fri ends although he wa s a partisan , ,

as I have said o fthe Ka ra georgevi ch while I adhered

, ,

to the O brenovi ch dynasty But all this en p a ssa n t . .

We Serbs as all other Slavs are prone t o mys

, ,

t i ci sm and believe much in omens f o r which reason an ,

incident at the wedding ofMilan and N athalie pou red

much cold water on the enthus iasm of the Belgr ade
population When N athalie 1 11 her rad i ant beauty
.
, ,

was drivi ng f rom the Pala ce to the Cathedra l there ,

w as a glorious sun shining The people rapturously .

cheered the young bride whom the sun was accl aiming
as predest i ned t o be a ha ppy wi fe But during the long .

wedding c eremony in the Cathedral heavy clouds spread

over the capital , When the newly married couple
.
-

stepped ou t of the Cathedral the sky appeared dark '

and thunder wa s heard in the di s tance When they .

t oo k t h ei r places in the op en carriage the p a l r o fwhite

.

horses woul d not move from t he spot F o r at least ten .

”

1 26
 Q u ee n N a t h a li e
minutes the efforts of the driver outriders and some , ,

policemen and officers were useless ; they only made the

horses rise on their hind legs nearly overturning the ,

bridal carriage and its occupants .

A battalion ofsoldiers presenting arms and a dense

crowd in front o fthe Cathedral w itnessed the incident
with consternation People were whispering t o each
.

other : O h this is not a good o men ! It looks as if

“
,
”
this marriage w ill n ot be a happy one ! I was with
my wife in the suite ofthe Prince and we t oo felt , , ,

chilled by the ominous portent .

Hardly had we reached the Palace when a st orm

o f tropical intensity burst over Belgrade The clouds .

were so black and heavy that i n the great drawing

room o fthe Palace where the invited notabilities were
,

assembled in a circle w e could scarcely see each other

, .

The P rince and Princess were evidently deeply i m

pressed ; both were pale and addressed only a few ,

co n v en t i on a l words to their guests These guests formed

‘

the eli t e o f Serbia s st atesmen officers and men o f

’ ’
, ,

letters and science Yet while we were leaving the

.
,

Palace not a single smiling and cheerful face was to be

,

seen Many ofus expressed the fear that this darkness

.

in the Palace was ofill augury for the happiness ofthe

bridal pair Call it a coincidence if you will but the
.
,

later events justified the worst forebodings .

Queen Nathalie was the most interesting woman I

ever met She was very beautiful with large dark
.
, ,

brown velvety expressive eyes She was distinctly of

, , .

an O riental type of beauty Something in her face .

reminded me ofan Armenian girl whom I once met in

Constantinople and who wa s supposed to be a descendant
ofol d Armenian kings Pro v idence had al so endowed
.

12
7
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l omat i s t
her wi th many queenly qualities of heart and soul She .

was absolutely virtuous and deeply religious but not a ,

bigot She was most kind charitable generous to

.
, ,

everyone —save to her o wn husband She had a .

magnetic nature easily winning the admiration and

,

devotion of men and women Besides she had the .

,

intelligence and esp ri t of a Frenchwoman n ot only ,

because as a Rumanian girl she had had a French

, ,

educa tion but also because as historical research proved

, ,

to me she had in her veins at least some drops ofnoble

,

French blood Indeed she was a rare probably unique

.
, ,

type and represented a union o f the genius of the

,

O rient and the Troubadour Provence -

.

She had vivi d and correct political instincts With .

abounding tact she never wished to influence the policy

o fher husband or his Government But when Ministers .

asked her occasionally to express her opini on she gave ,

it frankly and fearlessly and always fo r the cause of

justice and liberty I can never forget how e f
. ectively
f
—
she helped u s Prime Minister P i rot ya n a t z Home ,

Ministe r G a ra sha n i n and myself Minister of Finance ,

—
in the Progressist Cabinet to dissuade King Milan from
his intention of arresting the members of the central
committee of the Radical party o n a charge of high
treason She did not deny that she hat ed Austria and
.

loved Russia but she wa s never an agent of the Russian

,

policy as the Austrians often accused her o f being

, .

From the first day o f her arrival on Serbian soil she

began t o admire and love the Serbian nation and wa s ,

always an ardent Serbian patriot .

As I am writing contributions to history and desire

t o be impartial towards friends and foes I must complete ,

my pen portrait ofQueen Nathalie s sunny features by ’

1 28
Q UE E N N AT H A LIE O F SE RBIA
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
“
But Sire I demurred the Queen has not the
, ,
”
,

eyes of a tigress !
“
O h ! her eyes have bewitched you It is of no .

use to talk to you .

I was the witness ofat least on e incident in which

the Queen appeared to me rude and inconsiderate At .

a State dinner at the Palace in honour ofMinisters and

State Councillors I sat on the left of the King the ,

Queen sitting at the other side o fthe table opposite ,

the King The King and I had a lively conversation on

.
O

the subject of national education Suddenly her Majesty .

“
inquired across the table What are you discussing in ,

”
so lively a fashion ?
Madame I answered his Majesty is discoursing
”
,
“
,

about education .

Then I must pity you she said aloud ; for ,

you are talking of education w ith a man who has

”
none .

Some ofthe guests laughed as if the Queen had said

a harmless witty thing I wa s so shocked that I could
,
.

not utter a word .

In an unbalanced moment King Milan wrote to her

asking her to help him ou t of a serious financial em
rr m
ba a s s e t
n .
—
The letter was full o fs elf accusations and
repentance lacking— as wa s perhaps unav oidable— i n
, , ,

self respect and dignity Never in his life did King

-
.

Milan appear so pitiable and mean Queen N athalie .

not o nl y refused to help him ( against which refusal

nobody could say a word) but sent his letter which , ,

w as unquestionably confidential and w ritten for her

alone to the French Press It appeared in many papers
, .

and did grave harm to M ilan s position in Paris and ’

other cou n t ries I do not forget that King Milan in

.
,

0
1
3
 Q u ee n N a t h a li e
divorcing Queen Nathalie behaved brutally but I, ,

cannot consider her publication ofhis private and con

fiden t i a l letter in any sense justifiable o r honourable .

It is proper and due to Queen Nathalie that I

, ,

should add that excepting these two cases I do not

, ,

know any other act of hers which could be called

cruel .

N ow I am going to recite a strange story which

Queen Nathalie told me herself In 1 8 8 6 I was Minister
.

o fFinance in the Cabinet o fM i l u t i n G a ra sh a n i n O ne .

day in June the Queen sent word that she wished to

see me I went at once to the Palace and was received
.

in her boudoir She told me she took an interest in a

.

poor family consisting of the mother two daughters

, ,

and a son The mother was a washerwoman who worked

.

day and night to enable her two dau ghters to attend

the hi gh school for girls in order to qualify for becoming
teachers in the national schools The Queen assisted .

the woman with money every month but as she had ,

many poor to support this help together with the

, ,

washerwoman s precarious earnings was not enough to

’
,

maintain the family offour persons in which only the

mother wa s a breadwinner The Queen asked whether
.

I could not provide the son with some employment at

a small salary and added that t he young fellow wrote
,

a good hand I promised the Queen to find the boy a

.

place as copyist in the custom house of Belgrade the

very next day .

Queen Nathalie was so pleased that she said Now , ,

as you have been good enou gh t o do me a pleasure I ,

will while you take a cup o f cofl ee tell you a story

,
'

which you may deem an interesting contribution to your

store ofoccult experiences I often laugh at you and
.

1 3 1
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
tease you because of your belief in the occult but I ,

”
mysel f have reason to believe in clairvoyance .

Then she told me how when a young child ofsix , ,

her mother took her on a visit to her aunt Princess ,

M ou rou s i in O dessa
, O ne morning her mother came
.

up to the nursery and said to her Come down with ,

me to the drawing room and don t be afraid if a gipsy

-

,
’

woman takes your hand into hers In the drawing .

room were many ladies ofthe best society in the town ,

sitting on sofas and chairs whi le in the centre ofthe

,

room a gipsy woman sat on the carpet The ol d crone .

looked for a moment at the child s hand and then ’

exclaimed , Glory to God ! This girl will on e day be

”
Tsaritsa ; I see her wearing a crown ! The ladies
laughed aloud and some said O h you ol d witch ! , ,

H ow is it possible that the daughter ofMadame K et ch k o

”
should come to wear a crown ? The woman grav ely
retorted,
“
I do not know how but I tell you this ,

child will be o n e day Tsaritsa or Queen or Princess ; , ,

something that will enable her to bear a crown But .

when she reaches her twenty ei ghth o r twenty ninth year

- -

she will lose that crown I do n ot see clearly how but

.
,

”
a tree or some timber will be the cause The gipsy .

used the Russian word dryevo which means tree and ,

”
also timber
“
.

“
Now the Queen continued as the first part of
”
, ,

the prophecy against all the probabilities was realis ed

, , ,

I am afraid the second part may also be fulfilled The .

critical years are coming Whenever I dri v e in the

.

K o shu t n ya k [ Parc aux Cerfs near Bel grade ] and enter

- -

the wood I find myself calling to the driver Take care ,

o fthe horses That is because I think the horses might

grow resti e rush through the forest wildly and perhaps
v .
,

1 32
 CHAPTER !

Ki n g Pet er

HAVE not much to say about K ing Peter but , ,

knowing something characteristic ofhim as he has ,

many detractors even among those who helped to raise

, ,

him to the throne it is right that justice should be done

,

to him by on e whose career from 1 8 6 9 to 1 9 0 3 was

, ,

often associated with measures to prevent him from

succeeding Milan O brenovich as King of Serbia .

I was bo rn when K ing Peter s father Alexander ’

,

K a ra georgevi ch w as elected rei gning Prince of Serbia

, .

My childhood was spent in an atmosphere in which poets

and authors wrote in laudation ofKarageorge Prince .

Alexander was a hands ome man who looked exc eedin gly ,

well in the uniform of a Serbi an colonel and to me , ,

between my tenth and sixteenth year he w as an ideal ,

Prince As a schoolboy I admired King Peter s mother

.
’
,

Princess Persida wh o used to come every Sunday and

,

Saint s D ay to church dressed in the nat i onal costume

’
,

o fsilk or velvet with pearls and diamonds o n her red

,

headgear Although my o wn mother wore a brooch

.

w ith a portrait of the exiled Prince Michael O brenovich ,

and used to sing songs which she believed were written

by him and although my stepfather wa s an admirer of
,

Prince M il osh the founder of the O brenovich dynasty

, ,

I grew up a parti san of the reigning Ka ra georgevi ch

dynasty .

I wa s confirmed in my sentiments when— along with

I 34
 K i n g Pe t e r
my t wo chums M il u t i n G a ra sh a n i n the son of the
, ,

Prime M inister and Lu bomir K a lyevi ch a future Prime

, ,

—
Minister I was invited every Thursday afternoon to the
Palace garden t o play ball with the heir apparent -

Prince Peter then in his fourteenth year while we others

, ,

were two years older M il u t i n G a ra sh a n i n and I became

.
,

later stanch and faithful partisans of the O brenovich

,

dynasty while K a l yevi ch remained throughout life faith

,

ful to Prince Peter Yet when in 1 8 5 8 Prince

.
, ,

Alexander w as deposed and the young Prince Peter

had to follo w his father into exile I cried bitterly ,
.

The ol dPrince M i losh although Serbia s only great man

,
’

in the nineteenth centu ry did n ot impress me much , .

However in 1 8 6 2 on the bombardment o f the open

, ,

town of Belgrade by the Turkish forces we students of ,

the Lyceum constructed a barri cade near the fortress

between the Cathedral and ou r school and when the ,

stately Prince Michael w ith his beauti ful w ife Princess

, ,

Julia ( n ee Countess Hunyadi) came to visit ou r barri

'

cade I felt that Prince Michael was a noble person i fica

,

tion ofou r national ideal and from that day I became

,

an adherent ofthe O brenovich dynasty .

I resigned my post as Serbian Minister t o the Court

of St James s immediately on the assassination ofKing
.
’

Alexander and Queen D raga If that resignation w ere .

a protest it was a protest against those Serbian ofli cers

,

who forgetting the obligations of chivalry were capable

, ,

ofassassinatin g a woman— Queen D raga But some of .

them surrounding Kin g Peter o n his arrival in Belgrade

, ,

persuaded him that my resignation wa s a protest against

his occupation ofthe throne ofSerbia which ofcou rse , , ,

it wa s not nor wa s ever meant to be They succeeded

, .

all the more easily in that intrigue as I wa s well known

1 35
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
to be the personal friend of King Milan and a faithful
adherent ofthe O brenovich dynasty and as I wa s the ,

only Serbian diplomatist wh o resi gned his post as Minister

t o a foreign Court .

Somewhat later a still graver intrigue prejudiced

King Peter s mind against me The British Govern
’
.

ment broke of fdiplomatic relations with Serbia and this ,

ru pture wa s in the King s entourage ascribed t o my

,
’
,

personal influence with the British Government and to ,

my h a tred ofKin g Peter Every British reader ofthese

.

pages will at once recognise how ridiculous this suspicion

o fmy supposed influence with the British Gov ernment

was Nor have I ever had the slightest hatred ofKing

.

Peter although I could not honestly say that I am an

,

admirer ofsome of his earlier acts on the throne .

D eeply did I regret the rupture ofBritish diplomatic

relations with Serbia The Serbian newspapers in the
.

pay o fthe conspirators represented the rupture as ofno

importance I then started in the most respectable of
.

Belgrade newspapers the Trgovi n s ki G la s n i k a cam

, ,

p ga i n to explain to the people that it was o fvital co n

sequence to win the friendship of Great Britain and ,

that we ought to be ready to make every reasonable

sacrifice to enable the British Government t o renew
diplomatic relations with Serbia At the same time .
,

although living in London as a private person I took ,

the liberty of approaching my friends in the B ritish

O —
Foreign fli ce Sir Eric Barrington in the Unionist ,

a n d later
, , Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice in the Liberal
—
Cabinet with suggestions ofthe desirability of renew
ing relations .

It was my suggestion that Serbia should facilitate

the restoration of these relations by removing from
1 3 6
 M emo i r s o fa Ba l ka n Di p l oma t i s t
to see me on a special mission as they said O ne ,
.

was an ex colonel another an ex prefect and the third

-

,
-

a w ell to do merchant They told me they had been

- -
.

sent by a committee o fpatriots who wished t o i n form

me that nobody in Serbia was satisfied with King Peter ,

that even the conspirators w ere disappointed with him ,

and that he could readily be deposed But the dif ficul ty .

w as who was to replace him ? The committee after ,

considering the question had come to the unanimous,

conclusion that Prince Arthur of Connaught ought to

be elected King ofSerbia They had accordingly been.
, ,

especially deputed to see me to ask me t o introduce

them to Prince Arthur .

I told them at once that I could not accede to their

request fo r several reasons O ne was that it was not .

to the interest of ou r country that after the terrible ,

shock of the assassination of King Alexander a new ,

dynastic revolution should take place Another wa s .

that King Edward would never consent I added that .

I would make myself ridiculous in the eyes both of

King E dward and Prince Arthur if I were to approach
them on the matter .

I received the deputation in on e o fthe rooms ofmy

club (the Royal Societies) and for several days they ,

discussed the project with me over a dish o ftea in the

hope that I would give wa y But I did not yield and .
, ,

disappointed they left London with the sole consolation

,
,

that they carried away all the photographs o f Prince

Arthur they could buy I advised them to have patience
.

with King Peter and in justice to him allow him time

, ,

to adjust himself to his surroundings and duties .

This is a true and faithful account of what really

took place in 1 9 0 5 And yet K ing Peter for several
.

1
38
 K i n g Pe t e r
years believed that I wa s conspiring to supersede him
by Prince A rthur of Connaught A friend of P a sh i ch
. ,

the Radical Prime Minister ofSerbi a assured me that ,

when the Premier once proposed to King Peter to re

appoint me Minister in London his M ajesty answered
“
You do not seem to know that Mr M ija t ov i ch is .

working to replace me by an E nglish Prince o n the

”
throne ofSerbia ! P a shi ch wa s reported to have pro
tested : Sire I do not believe Mr M ija t ovi ch is doing
,
.

any such thing He is a sincere and straightforward

.

man and his first act would be to inform you by letter

,
”
that henceforth he was going to work against you .

Here I may say that P a shi ch then repaid a compli

ment which I had paid him many years earlier In .

1 8 9 7 when in Paris King Milan and King Alexander

, ,

communicated to me their intention of entrusting my

friend D r Vl a da n G eorgevi ch with the formation ofa
, .
,

n ew Government in Serbia ; I argued with them that ,

as the Radicals possessed a great majority in the

country the correct way would be to entrust t hem with
,

the Government King Milan somewhat impatiently

.

observed : I really wonder that you don t see that if ’

we gave the Government to the Radicals in less than

three years Austria would declare w ar and occupy the
”
country . King Alexander added : And you do not
“

seem to know that the leader ofthe Radicals P a shi ch , ,

conspires to replace me by a Russian Grand D uke ”

I .

t ook st ron g exception to this last statement and assured

both Kings that I did not believe it .

To return to King Peter In consequence o fthose

.

hr —
t ee accusations that I demonstrated against him per
s on a ll y by my resignation
; that I influenced the British
Government to break of f diplomatic relations w ith
I
39
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l omat i s t
”
Serbia ; and that I w as working to supersede him o n the
throne by Prince Arthur o Connaught King Peter
f —
naturally was prejudi ced a gainst me It is true that .

some of his most devoted friends in whom he had ,

complete con fiden ce— Lubomir K a l yevi ch ( once Prime

Minister) A t za Novakovich ( barrister) and Prota Alexa
, ,

—
Ilich ( the D ean of Belgrade) repeate dl y assured him
that these charges w ere false yet he hesitated to re ,

lin quish his prejudice against me Those friends urged .

me to come to Bel grade and have a talk with the King ,

believing that I could dissipate all his suspicions I .

did not care to unde rt ake so long a journey for so

insignificant a purpose But when he went to Paris in
.

1 9 1 0 to make his State visit to France I wrote to the

Premier ofthat time D r M i l ova n ovi ch that I should
, .
,

like to pay my respects to his Majesty if I were sure

he would receive me The Prime Minister informed me
.

that the King authorised him to say that he would

receive me with pleasure .

Received in Paris w ith the greatest honour as a

former French o f fi cer who had fou ght against the
Germans in 1 8 70 the King stayed in the Palace ofthe
,

Quai d O rs a y the French Foreign O f

’
, fice And there .
,

after fifty years I met him again face to face

, .

The King came to the room in which I had been

waiting and shook my hand very cordially saying
, ,

Have you forgotte n h ow we used to play ball together ?

I often recall the happy days ofmy early youth and ,

”
o fcourse ,remember the boys who were my playmates .

There is n o need t o set ou t here a l l ou r conversation ,

especially as it w as of a rather personal character and

did not touch on politics I told him that I considered
.

it only right and proper to come from London to Pari s

1 40
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l omat i s t
Thank you v ery much ! the young Prince re
joined ; “
but D iogenes and his tub are not my
ambition !
I ought to say that I rather liked Prince Geor ge ,

despite his impetuosity and eccentricity He impressed .

me by the sincerity and outspokenness ofhis character .

H e w as absolut ely honest with not the slightest shadow

,

o f hypocrisy
“
which is sometimes called policy and ”
,

sometimes diplomacy He won my heart when we

first met in London in 1 9 0 8 I know ofyour devotion
to the O brenovich dynasty he assured me but that
,
“
,

is only o n e of your titles to my respect I myself .

hav e always admired the patriotism of Prince Michael

O brenovich III and I like Queen Nathalie All .

I wish is that you should be as good a friend to us

”
also .

O n that occasion we spoke on all sorts of questions

for more than an hour Amon g other things he told me
.

that he believed in G od but n ot in a life after death

, ,

nor in the existence of spirits He could believe in .

spirits only if he w ere to meet on e and pinch his or

her arm He wanted me ve ry much to take him to a
.

“ ”
s ea n ce with materialisation I refused to do so At
’
. .

that time he wa s still ou r heir apparent and as he wa s-

very sensitive and nervous I do not mean timid —I

—
dared not expose him to the excitement ofa ma t eri a l i s
i ng sitting At the end ofou r prolonged conversation
.
,

when I rose to leave he asked me to tell him frankly

,

what impression he had made on me ; and I told him

frankly what I thought .

“
Well to speak the plain truth I carry away with
, ,

me the impression that we— the people — shall have all

sorts of trouble with you as ou r King You are a you ng .

1 4 2
 K i n g Pe t er
man of brilliant intelligence as King Milan was and you
, ,

will be easily tempted t o believe that you know every

thing better than your advisers as King Milan did ; and ,

since you strike me as being more self willed than Kin g -

Milan was we shall in all likelihood have more trouble

,

with you than we had with King Milan Y our tempera .

ment impresses me as that ofan autocrat and n o t ofa

”
constitutional King .

Ah ! Mr M ija t ovi ch
. he answered ,you are ,

entirely mistaken I can be I mean to be and I will

.
, ,

be a constitutional King But why could I not as a

, .
,

constitutional King be also the leader ofmy people ?

,

If I cannot be the leader of my people I do not want to

be their King .

It was a strikin g phrase expressed in an arresting ,

and most emphatic manner I pondered it there and .

then staring at him for a while Then taking his hand

, .
,

agai n in mine I exclaimed ,

“ ”
Y es ; be ou r leader and guide us to victo ry !
Poor Prince George ! He will be neither King
nor leader He renounced his right of succession on
.

M arch 1 5 th 1 9 0 9 but he has a place in the histo ry of

, ,

the Serbian people as an intrepid and recklessly brave ,

honest and patriotic Prince With all his faults I .

,

repeat I li ked Prince George

, .

At the end of1 9 1 3 King Peter opened the N ational

Assembly w ith a speech which from the political and ,

literary point of view was one of the finest ever

,

deli vered in the histo ry ofthe Serbian Parliament In .

my opinion it was open to only on e piece ofcriticism ,

but this was ofa very grav e nature Peter thanked th e .

soldiers t he o f
,ficers t he Serbian and the foreign Red
,

I 43
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
Cross societies the Serbian and foreign doctors and
,

nurses and the people for the readiness and cheerfulness

,

w ith which they had worked and combined t o secure

victory a gainst the Turks Bulgars and Albanians But , .

he forgot to thank God Who had given him the v i c ,

tory I did not hesitate to write to the Serbian paper

.

P ra vda Justice regretti n g that omission with some

comm ents My article created a sensation Almost
. .

everybody in Serbia approved of my a mma dversi on s ,

and the Metropolitan and the bishops were well scolded

for leaving it to a poor layman t o take his King t o task
fo r the great oversight .

In the beginning ofApril 1 9 1 4 I went t o Belgrade , ,

o n behalf ofthe Balkan Agency Limited O n the day , .

o fmy arrival I proceeded to inscribe my name in the

King s visitors book and to ask fo r an audience N ext

’ ’
.

day I wa s received by King Peter H e wa s n ot in such .

good health as when I had seen him four years before

in Paris He su f. fered from gout and needed the support
o fa stick But he was nice and cordial to me
. .

”
I am pleased to see you he began Since you , .

attac k ed me fo r not thanking God for ou r victories I

have often wished to have an opportunity ofexplaining
the reason for the omission You have forgotten that .

I did not write the speech that I am a constitutional ,

monarch and that my duty wa s to accept and read

,

to the Parliament the speech which my responsible

Ministers had submitted t o me .

“
In my op i nion if your Majest y will permi t me
, ,

I answered your first duty was to read carefully the

,

draft ofthe speech and you had a right to make sug

,

gestions as to the text Y ou were entitled to say to

.

your Ministers : This is a most beautif u l s peech bu t ,

1 44
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
every evening cannot have had anything to do with
,

the assassi nation of Kin g Alexander and Queen

”
D raga .

Some days later I was interv i ewed by the editor of

the B a lka n o n e ofthe most influential newspapers in
,

Belgrade He asked me what I thought ofthe inter

.

national situation i n Europe I told him a n d he .

,

published the following statement which I give here ,

in tabloid form
The political sky ofE urope at this moment ( April ,

1 9 1 4 ) seems to be cloudless but the actual situation of

,

ou r part of the world is extremely dan gerous Both .

great groups know that a conflict is inevitable but they ,

desire to delay the general war by trying to maintain

a sort of eq uilibrium which is s o delicate that the sli ghte s t
,

incident may u pset it and spread ru in over Europe I .

cannot say when the war will come It may come at .

any moment It may come in forty eight hours but

.
“

when it comes it will come suddenly O f course we .

cannot stand aloof when E urope is plunged into a general

war O ur people s place is by the side ofthe Entente
.
’

Powers .

Two days after the appearance of that interview ,

which produced a great sensation King Peter sent for ,

me
Yankovich [ his private secretary ] has read to me
your interv iew in the B a lk a n Have you been correctly.

”
reported ?
I assured his Majesty that this was the case .

And you believe that a general wa r may come soon

and suddenly ?
War is inevitable I answered , and will come ,

1 46
 K i n g P et er
suddenly As I stated it may come in forty ei ght
.
,
-

hours.

“
It will be terrible for us the King said looking, ,

v ery gra v e and almost shocked The war against the

.

Turks in 1 9 1 2 and that against the Bulgars and Albanians

,

in 1 9 1 3 have exhausted us economically and financially

, ,

and our army wants reorganising and re equipment We -

.

are on the point o fordering rifles from England

which cannot be delivered for three years We need .

peace for seven years if only to recover D o you think .

”
we will have se v en years peace ? ’

“
I cannot tell you but I think Europe will n ot
,

ha v e seven years peace ’

.

M a y we lo ok for three ye a rs peace ? ’

How can I possibly say ? My belief is that Ger

many will precipitate the war and therefore it may ,

come at any mo ment .

It will be simply dre a dful if a great European

con fla gra t i o n be started before we have rested re ,

equipped and reorganised ourselv es I hope you are

, .

entirely wrong in your readin g of the European

situation
I assure your Majesty that I heartily wish I may
”
be wron g .

King Peter was upset by what I had told him a n d ,

I re gretted I had c a used him so much alarm Three .

months later the declaration of war by Austria Hun gary -

against Serbia and by Germany against Russia and

France proved that I wa s not mi staken in my a ppre
ci a t i on oft h e European situation .

O nly a few weeks after my return to London I

received a letter from my friend D ean Alexa Ilich , ,

14 7
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l omat i s t
saying that K ing Peter wished to see me on a very
impor t ant matter a n d that I mu st be ready t o leave
,

London on receipt of an invitation from the Prime

Minister P a shi ch It happened that about the middle
.

ofJune three directors ofthe Balkan Agency wh o were ,

then in Bel grade wired t o me to come to assist them in a

,

business undertaking So I went to Belgrade a gain on.

the a fl a i rs ofthe Balkan Agency and of course imme

’
, , ,

di a t el y on my arri val I craved an audience o fthe K ing .

His Maj esty although walking with more difficulty

,

than when I h a d seen him in the spring met me with ,

great cordiality and even kissed me on the cheek We .

spoke on many topics more especially on the possibility ,

of developin g the commercial relations between Serbia

and Great Britain After some time he rose from his

.

ch a ir and said I wished t o speak to you on an i m

,

portant subject to propose a sphere o f usefu lness in

,

which you could do great service to the Serbs a service ,

which I am told and believe you could render better

, ,
,

than many o thers Unfortunately I am suf . fering at ,

present from a bad attack of rheumatism and I feel

tired But s ee the Crown Prince at once and he will
.
,

”
tell you all about it on my behalf H ethen o rdered .

an aide de camp to conduct me to the Crown Prince

- -
.

Alexander wa s evidently waiting for me in t h e salon

to which I was brou ght H e walked quickly towards .

me embraced me and kis sed me as his father had done

, , .

In agreeable astonishment I remarked Your Royal ,

H ighness I am grateful for such a reception but what

, ,

does t his great honour mean ?

Come sit here and I will tell you This great
, .

honour as you call it is a preliminary to a far greater

,
’
,

on e
. M y father myself Mr P a shi ch [ the Prime
, , .

8
1
4
 M emo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l omat i s t
Crown Prince said Naturally you will want time to
.
,

consider this o ffer Mr P a sh i ch and Mr Yovanovich

. . .

will speak with you in a day o r two and then you can ,

consider the question from all standpoints .

Leaving the Palace deeply mo v ed I remembered ,

that several years a go a remarkable clairvoyante Mrs

, , , .

Julia Burchell o f Bradford told me that by and by

, ,

my country would offer me a position much higher than

any I had ever o ccupied and second only to that of,

King And her vision wa s amazingly fulfilled by

.

the o ffer just made that I should become Archbishop

of Uskub and eventually the Patriarch ofall the Serbs .

I h a d to sustain a hard inw a rd stru ggle Knowing .

well what a mission the Church has in every nation and ,

more especially among the Serbs I was sorely temp t ed ,

to accept the o f f er and try to show the people what a

modern Archbishop could acc omplish I thought .

I could combine the most attractiv e qualities o f the

Anglican bishops with the best attributes ofthe Roman
Catholi c bish ops and inspire the Serbian O rth odox
,

Church with the true s pirit of Christ I began t o draw .

up a pro gramme ofmy activity as Archbishop to show ,

myself a Grand Seigneur with those who were powerful

and wealthy and to open my Palace to every poor
, ,

troubled suf ferin g man and woman and to deserve to

, ,

be called their br other and father in Christ And how .

helpful I could be a s Archbish op or Patriarch to the

State and in the political sphere what social reforms
, , ,

could I n ot inaug urate ! I had never had in my life a

more glorious opportunity o f serving G od and my
country .

But how could I accept the position of visible Head

o fthe Serbian O rthodox Church when I did not believe

1 50
 K i n g P et er
in all the dogmas ofo u r Church ? When I urged that
as my principal reason for refusing t h e o f
fer in my inter
view with the members ofthe Govern ment o n e o fthe ,

M inisters said But wh o asks you what you are a nd

,

how much you belie v e ? D o you think that every bishop

believes all the dogmas ofthe Church ?
But time ser vin g bowing and scrapin g were re
-

p u gn a n t to me I told
. them that as a politician and
diplomatist I had sometimes to move as on a stage and
play the part ofan actor but that I could not transform
,

the church into a stage nor be an actor in the sight of

G od I might mislead the people into thinkin g that I
.

had an honest faith in all the dogmas ofo u r Church ,

but my hypocrisy could not mislead G od and how could ,

I raise my eyes to Him in prayer ? No I preferred ,

to remain for the rest of my life a poor man rather

than wear an archbishop s mitre studded with pearls
’
,

and diamond s and live in an archbishop s palace a s a

,
’

hypocrite So I definitely declined the o f

. fer .

But I was touched by the generosity o fKing Peter

towards me He knew that I wa s a devoted friend of
.

King Milan and the O brenovich dynasty knew that I ,

had si gned the so c a lled Secret Convention with Austri a ;

-

he even believed for some time that I wa s his personal

enemy ( which I never was) and yet he of fered me the
,

highest di gnity in the land .

1 51
 CHAPTER XI
M y Bo ldes t Po l i t i ca l Ef
fo rt

H AT the reader may understand fully what I look

upon as my boldest political e f fort I must indulge in
a few preliminary historical remarks .

S hu ma di a wa s and still is the name ofthat part

o f Serbia w hich lies between the river Save and the

D anube in the north the Western Morava in the south

, ,

the D rina in the w est and the Morava in the east In

,
.

the beginning of the nineteenth century the area was

covered by o a k and beech forests which circumstance ,

gave it the name Shu ma di a which in Serb means ,

,

” ”
“
forest land or w oodland
“
.

Early in 1 8 0 4 the Serbs of Shu ma di a rose in open

revolt against their Turkish oppressors and at a general ,

assembly elected George Petrovich of Topola whom

, ,

the Turks called Karageorge Black George a s their

leader Under K a ra george s leadership the Serbs joined

.
’
,

by many volunteers from Bosnia Montenegro and , ,

M acedonia fought bravely and successfully from 1 80 4

,

up to the beginning of1 8 1 3 cleared the country entirely

‘

o fTurks and organised more o r less roughly something

, , ,

akin to a modern State .

But when th e Russians under the pressure of ,

Napoleon s invasion had to conclude a hasty peace wi th

’
,

Turkey in 1 8 1 2 at Bucharest they forgot to stipul ate ,

for the protection of the Serbs wh o practically were ,

their allies All the Turkish forces which had fought

.

1
52
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l k a n D i p l oma t i s t
ever suddenly left his Serb co refugees in Bessarabia
,
-

and appeared quite alone in Serbia Nobody knew

, , .

why he had turned up Most people thought that h e

.

a known hater o fthe Turks and o n e who wished to see

Serbia entirely independent— came to stir up a new

revolution M i l osh always assured his friends that the
.

Pasha o f Belgrade demanded from him ( M il osh ) the

head ofKarageorge or otherwise all the concessions and
,

promises of autonomy would be cancelled Probably .

the Pasha made such a demand on M i l o sh but it is ,

clear that Karageorge wa s murdered ( July 2 7t h 1 8 1 7) ,

at the order ofM i l o sh who in that way got rid ofhis

,

only possible rival .

Between 1 8 3 6 and 1 8 3 9 Prince M il osh a man o f

—
—
remarkable initiative and boldness began to agitate
against the interference o f Serbia s protector ( Russia)
’

in her home af fairs and persuaded Lord Palmerston to

,

send to Serbia Colonel Hodges as the first British

Consul General to that count ry Russia alarmed at
-

.
,

the growing influence of Colonel Hodges with Prince

M i l osh joined with M i l o sh s numerous political enemies
,
’

and forced him to abdicate and leave Serbia

M i l o sh s elder son Milan became the second Prince o f
’

Serbia ( O brenovich but died within a few months

and wa s succeeded by his younger brother Michael
( O brenovich But the men who ha d compelled
M i l o sh to abdicate w ere apprehensive of the influence
of ol d M i lo sh on his youn ger son and fomented a ,

revolt which ended in the exile of Prince Michael in

1 8 4 2 and the proclamation ofthe youn ger son o fKara
george ( Alexander Ka ra georgevi ch) as Prince o fSerbia .

The elder son o fKarageorge then happened to be away

in Russia but his brother Alexander a handsome young
, ,

I S4
 M y Bo l des t Po li t i ca l E f fo rt
of ficer whom Prince Michael had attached t o his person
,

as o n e ofhis aides de camp was at hand in Belgrade

- -

and profited accordingly .

While Prince Alexander K a ra geo rgevich was on the

throne the friends ofthe O breno vich dynasty constantly
agitated to depose him and restore M il osh They suc .

ceed ed in 1 8 5 9 when Prince Alexander K a ra geo rgevi ch

,

was expelled and the ol d M il o sh O brenovich recalled to

the throne He died in the following year and his s o n
.
,

Michael ascended the throne for the second time .

From 1 8 5 9 until 1 9 0 3 reigned the O brenovich dynasty .

D uring that period the friends ofthe K a ra georgevi ch

dynasty were working to get rid ofthe O brenovich line
and replace it by the eldest son o fPrince Alexander ,

Prince Peter Ka ra geo rgevi ch Although they assas .

s i n a t ed ( June l 0 t h 1 8 6 8 ) the patriotic and generous

,

Prince Michael O brenovich III they e f fected no change

ofdynasty .

But the unending necessity for the friends ofeach

dynasty to watch the friends ofthe other to prevent or
suppress conspiracies absorbed much ofthe activity and
energy of Go vernment which otherwise would have been
,

devoted to important national interests All thinking .

men deplored the calamity that such a small country as

Serbia should have t wo dynasties o n e on the throne and ,

the other in exile the friends ofthe latter constantly

,

working to bring it back to the throne I hardly need .

say that I was one ofthe politicians who lamented my

country s ill fortune
’
.

After this hasty excursion into the history ofmodern

Serbia I w ill now come to the actual subject of this
chapter .

After a spell o fstrenuous work from O ctober 1 8 8 0 , ,

I SS
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
I obtained in the spring of1 8 8 2 leave ofabsence f
,
or ,

a month in Venice But on my arrival in Vienna on

m
. ,

y w ay to Venice the Serbian ,Minister i n Vienna my ,

personal friend Milan B ogh i ch evi ch handed me a ciphered ,

dispatch from the Prime Mini ster and Minister for

F oreign A f fairs Mr Pi rot ya n a t s I wa s desired to stop
, . .

in Vienna to await the arrival from Petrograd ofPrince

N icholas of Montenegro to see the Prince and ask him
,

whether it wa s true that he had promised to give his

eldest daughter Princess Zorka to Peter Karageorge
, ,

vich
—
as
“
his wife .

Relation s between Prince Michael o f Serbia and

f

f
"

[Prince Nicholas of Montenegro and their Governments

were good between 1 8 60 and 1 8 6 8 There wa s a secret .

treaty between the t wo Serb Princes for joint action

”

against Turkey for the liberation of Bosnia H erzego ,

vina and O ld Serbia ( Kossovo V ilayet) Prince Michael .

had acted by proxy as godfather to that very Princess

, ,

Zorka who according to rumours w as t o bec ome the

, ,

wife o fPeter K a ra georgevi ch the Pretender But sin ce .

the access ion of Milan ( O brenovich IV ) the relations

“

between the t wo Serb Sovereigns had graduall y gone

from bad to worse .

Several years later I asked King Milan what wa s the

reason for his mistrust of King N icholas Came the .

answer : There are several reasons for my contempt ,

but the principal on e is this : I have read the copy of

(

a recent treaty between hi m and the Tsar Alex

ander III by which N icholas consented to act as
.

hereditary Governor ofthe Russian provmce ofMonte

”
negro .

When I in quired whether the copy he had read was

a faith ful rendering ofthe original he only answered ,

1 5 6
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
had to decline that honour and responsibility O f course .

that was some time before I si gned my Secret Convention

with Austria Hungary -
.

Nicholas must have heard that I was in Vienna ,

because immediately on his arri v al at the Goldenes Lamm

Hotel in the L eop ol ds t a dt where he always stayed he
, , ,

sent an equerry to invite me t o dine with him that

e v ening and to come half an hour before dinner for a
talk I did as requested
. .

Prince Nicholas began by airing a grievance against

Kin g Milan . Why did he surprise me by proclaiming
himself Kin g ofSerbia ? Am I not the S overei gn ofa
portion of the Serb territory just as Milan is the So v erei gn
,

o fanother portion ? The proclamation ofthe kingdom

is an a ffair in which the whole Serb nation is concerned .

Milan ou ght to have confided to me his intention and ,

in brotherly confidence asked me what I thought about

,

it He treated me as if Montenegro and its Prince

.

were utter strangers as if we were q

,
’ '
u a n t i t e n egligea bl e .

Such treatment from my brother Milan pained me very

”
much indeed .

I tried to explain ou r conduct by the propriety of

‘

keeping the matter secret until it became f a i t a cco mp li ,

and also by the natural assumption on the part ofKing

Milan and his Go v ernment that he ( Prince Nicholas) as ,

a patriotic Serb would be only t oo pleased to see the

,

ol d di gnity restored to o u r country .

It was obvious that Prince Nicholas intensely disliked

Milan s assumption ofthe regal title
’
.

As I had already ascertained at the Austrian Foreign

O ffice that the engagement ofPrince Peter Karageorge
vich to Princess Zorka was true and fin a l the Tsar —
himself promising to give the Princess a dowry ofon e
1
58
 M y Bo l des t Po li t i ca l E f
fort
million —
roubles I a t
once passed t o the real object of
my visit .

O f course your Highness and King Milan are Serb

,

Soverei gns together leadin g the Serb nation to a better

future O f course the Serb nation has a ri ght to expect
.
,

that you two shall act as brothers I w ill admit that it .

would ha v e been more correct had King Milan consulted

you confidentially about the eventual proclamation of the
kingdom But nobody in the Serb nation could dream
.

that that proclamation would ever be disagreeable to

you But n ow we hear that your Highness has consented
.

to give your daughter Princess Zorka in marriage to

, ,

Prince Peter K a ra georgevi ch Pretender to the Serbian ,

—
throne the avowed opponent and ri v al not to say enemy
,

— o fKing Milan No Serb could consider that engage

.

ment as a friendly act towards the King of Serbia ”

.

”
It is perfectly true the Prince returned in a lively
,

“
fashion that my daughter Zorka has been engaged to
,

Prince Peter I knew that that act mi ght be hostilely

.

interpreted in Belgrade so the moment I heard you ,

were in Vienna I sent for you Y ou are a man without .

prejudices and a devoted friend of King Milan I want .

your assistance to dissipate possible resentment on the

part of the Court of Belgrade My dau ghter s betrothal .
’

does n ot imply the sli ghtest hostile design against King

Milan and his dynasty O ne ofthe conditions on which
.

I consented to accept Prince Peter as my son i n law - -

was that he must give up all agitation against King

Milan in Serbia He promised to do so But fo r
. .

greater security I asked him to consent to live per

ma n en t l y at Cet t i gn e so to say under my o wn eyes
, , .

At Cet t ign e from my capital and under my watchful

,

care he will never be concerned in any undertaking

,

I
S9
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
“

i nimi cal t o King Milan The engagement of my dau ghter

.

to Prince Peter far from being a hostile act is really

, ,

a friendly on e towards the O brenovich dynasty My .

daughter is not marrying a Pretender ; she is marrying

a Prince who is every inch a Prince but who settling , ,

down t o a married life has renounced all adventures ,

.

What guarantee can I offer for the sincerity ofall

I have told you ? I have been thinking ofthat and I ,

have arrived at this decision . As you know King Milan s ,

’

uncle Prince Michael was Zork a s godfather ; now the

, ,
’

rights and dutie s of sponsor have passed o n to King

Milan and as according to the views and customs of
, ,

o u r people it is his ri ght and duty to act as v en eh a n i ha m

,

to Zorka I wish you to wire to him that I forma lly and

,

solemnly invite him to be the v en cha n i lea rn at the wed

”
ding ofZorka with Prince Peter K a ra georgevi ch .

K u ms t vo the sponsorship is a peculiarly sacred

, ,

institution among the Serbs The hu m the sponsor “ ”

.
,

“ ”
or godfather is respected almost as much as a real
,

father If the godchild attains ma rma gea ble age and is

.
“

going to be married he must ask his godfather to be

,

his ven cha n i ha m the chief W itness at the ceremony

, .

I fthe godfather 1 5 dead then his son or the nearest , ,

relation must be invited to perform t h e duties of

,

v en eha n i hu m The relationship is considered so sacred

.

that the children o fthe godfather and godchild cannot

intermarry A national ballad quote s amongst the mis
.
,

“
deeds by which the cursed country India drew on ”

herself the displeasure and wrath of God a nd the saints ,

“
that a ha m prosecutes his ku m before the judges and
”
bears false witness against him .

I wa s agreeably surprised and impressed by his su g

gestion He sp oke eloquently and with such emphasis
.

1 60
 M emo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
B oghi ch evi ch waiting for me He helped me to cipher
.

a lon g dispatch to Kin g Milan reportin g the full and ,

exact offer of Prince Nicholas and askin g him not to ,

decide anythin g until he had received my written report .

That night I wrote a memorandum for Kin g Milan ,

tryin g to show him what joy and advanta ge would

ensue to the entire Serb nation if the two ri v al dynasties
were to be reconciled and with what gl ory he would
,

cover himself if by risin g superior to prejudice he

, ,

could by his inborn generosity achieve that reconcilia

, ,

tion I discussed the possible objection that Nicholas

.

h a d not made his offer in goo d faith I showed that .

e v en in su ch a case Kin g Milan would not lo se any

thin g whereas Prince Nicholas would be caught i n his
,

o wn trap and his bad f a ith be exposed to the whole

world .

In about five days I received a letter from our Prime

M inister Mr P i rot ya n a t z
, . Both the King and I
.

read your memorandum with astonishment The King .

asks me to tell you in his name that althou gh he kne w ,

that your lively ima gination landed you often in u m

inhabitable islands of Utopia he never thought you ,

capable o f such quixotism as your memorandum dis

plays F o r my o wn part I remind you that the third
.
,

Article of the Constitution of1 8 6 9 declared the dynasty

K a ra geo rgev i ch cursed by the entire nation for ever .

My dear colleague you seem to have forgotten that

,

”
important Article o fthe Constitution .

I abandoned my projected journey to Venice and ,

returned to Bel grade to discuss the qu e stion with the

Kin g and the Prime Minister I told them that a lthough
.

I understood the excitement of the people a gainst the

Ka ra georgev i ch dynasty after some ofthe relatives and
,

1 62
 f
M y Bo l des t Po li t i ca l E fo rt
friends of that dy n asty had in 1 8 6 8 murdered such a
patriotic Prince as Michael O brenovich III yet t he
.
,

Re gents and other Serbian statesmen ought never to

ha v e allowed such a monstrosity as the national cur se
to become an article ofthe Constitution . I was sure
that the Natio nal Assembly which was competent to
,

chan ge the Constitution would by acclamation vote the

,

exclusion of that curse from the Constitution But it .

was no use arguing The King backed up by the

.
,

Premier rejected the conclusions ofmy memorandum

,

as to the reconciliation of the two Serbian dynasties .

1 63
 CHAPTER XII
Th e La s t O bren o v i ch
MUST make some hard and unpalatable statements
about Kin g Alexander and I owe it t o fair play and
,

justice to adv ance everything I can truthfully say in his

defence .

I was enthusiastically devoted to his father Kin g ,

Milan because although n ot by any means perfectly

, ,

balanced he was a man o f brilliant intellect a born

, ,

politician a patriot a man with fine artistic instincts

, ,

and a warm and generous heart Throu ghout the pro .

longed Press campai gn of calumny he became the

en f a n t t erri bl e o f Europe I was grieved to see him
.

treat his wife with hatred and cruelty more especially ,

as he behaved to no on e else in like manner But not .

withstandin g this bad asset t o his mor a l account I ,

worshipped him as my Kin g and lo v ed him as a friend ,

finding always the amiable features of his character

largely preponderatin g over his failings .

Poor King Alexander I could neither worship nor

lo v e I lo v ed him indeed while he was a deli ghtful wee
.

laddie full of brilliant impulse and childlike mischief

, .

But e v en in his sixth year he shocked me and led me

to ask myself , W h o is this cruel little boy ? What
soul h a s he ? This is what happened then
In September 1 8 8 2 King Milan arriving from
, , ,

abroad was shot at by H elene Markovich the widow of

, ,

Lieutenant Colonel Jeph rem Markovich executed for

-
‘

1 64
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
—
O f course and this I can plead in his defence as
—
an extenuating circumstance his childhood and u p
brin gin g had been poiso ned i n the most criti cal years
, ,

by the unhappy and often unseemly conduct o f his

parents . His father and mother hated ea ch other ,

brou ght their q uarrels to the market place of Europe -

and made them a public scandal of which even their

most de v oted subjects and friends were ashamed They .

both pretended to love their boy and fought for the

possession ofhis body and a f fection but all their actions ,

and the means they used only destroyed the boy s love ’

for them The greatest tragedy of King Milan and

.

Queen Nathalie consisted in the very fact that they

tried to win the love oftheir s on each t o the exclusion ,

of the other and both lost it I would have been

, .

tempted to say even that their individual tragedies led

indirectly and at least in a certain measure to the
, ,

terrible tragedy of King Alexander s assassination did ’

,

I not believe in fate and destiny Alexander would .

ha v e died a violent death h a d his parents been

ideal parents and had he enjoyed the very best
education .

But he was not fortunate enough to enjoy even an

ordinary education much less the very best His father
, .

wa s his first political educator and he tau ght him ,

political pessimism He taught him not to believe any

.

body to distrust professions of loyalty and to th ink

, ,

that he was surrounded by traitors and conspirators .

O ther teachers de v eloped the logical consequences of

such a dark conception of his position ; he became very
t en silent a nd when he spoke his words
‘

r es er v ed of
, ,

formed only a curtain to his true meaning He grew .

extremely self ish and t o attain his objects did not

, , ,

1 66
 T h e Las t Ob r en ov i c h
scruple to use all kind of means moral and immoral He ,
.

was born with a pr edisposition to cruelty and the Serbian ,

throne placed in the mids t ofthe surgin g waves of a fierce

,

struggle between rival dynas ties seems only to have ,

strengthened that predisposition .

His first political act deepened my anxiety for his

own and his country s future The Re gency was to
’
.

last fi v e years until the youn g King would reach his

,

eighteenth year in 1 8 9 4 The Re gency al th ough com

.
,

posed of three most able statesmen had a very hard ,

task The dif

. ficulties were accentuated when the third
Re gent General Kosta Protich died in 1 8 9 2 The
, , .

great question a rose who wa s to repl a ce him Both Mr . .

R i s t i ch and General B eli ma rk o vi ch were Liberals and

wished that a Liberal statesman or politician should be
chosen ensurin g thereby the harmonious workin g ofthe
,

Re gency But the Radical party had a majority in the

.

National Assembly and they and the Radical Govern

,

ment wished that their leader Nicol a P a shi ch s hould be , ,

appointed third Re gent .

Now both Mr R i s t i ch and General B el ima rkovi ch

, .

thou ght that their Liberal party alone was by tradition ,

sentiment and interest wholly devoted to the O b renovich

dynasty whereas the Radical party contained many
,
.

members well known as the adherents of the exil ed

K a ra georgevi ch dyn as ty They therefore dismissed the
.

Radical Cabinet formed a Liberal Cabinet under Mr

, .

R i ba ra t s authoris ed it to dissolve the Assembly and

,

cause a new election The electoral campai gn was very

.

bitter and its results were uncertain each of the con ,

tending parties claiming a sli ght majority Just as this .

question was to be settled in favour o f the Liberal

Government ( by a trick as the Radicals asserted)
”
,

1 67
 M emo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
the youn g King invited the Re gents and the Cabinet
Ministers to dinner at the Palace .

They were all still at ta ble when Colonel Tyi ri ch

approached the Kin g and whispered to him a few words .

Immediately the Kin g rose and without the sli ghtest ,

emotion sa id Gentlemen at this v ery moment the

, : ,

g arrison of Bel grade has proclaimed me o f a ge As .

such I assume at once t h e active exercise of the Royal

power I thank you my Re gents up to now and yo u
'

.
, , ,

g entlemen of the Cabinet fo r the services you have ,

rendered to the country and release you from further,

duty I am goin g at once to take t h e oath ofthe Army

.
,

and you will remain here for this ni ght as my guests

o r my prisoners D uring my short absence you will
.

ob ey the orders of my firs t aide de camp Colonel - -

”
T y i ri ch .

It was an audacio us co u p d et a t absolutely u n con ,

s t i t u t i on a l and indisputably immoral It was successful .

and therefore enthusiastically approved by the Radical

m a jority o fthe Serbian people Its boldn ess and neat .

e ecution pleased even the sporting instincts ofthe British

x

public and British Press M any people enjoyed the .

scene in which the smooth faced youth outwitted his -

g rey -
be a rded Re gents and councillors I was shocked .

and saddened I thou ght the King of Serbia ought

.

to act in all circumstances as a true and noble

kni ght The first public act o fthe youn g Kin g ( then
.

only in his seventeenth year) showed an utt er disre gard

not only o fthe simplest rul es of chivalry but also of ,

the respect of the host fo r his invited guests What .

could the country expect in later years from a Kin g

who in his early youth was capable ofsuch meanness ?
, ,

I was then living in London as a journalist and

1 68
 M emo i r s o f a Ba l ka n Di p l oma t i s t
Union Générale o f M B on t ou x and ensure the u n
.
,

interrupted construction ofthe Serbian railwa ys The .

Count was pleased to see me especially as he wished to

,

convey to King Alexander a private and confidential

message .

“
Will you tell his M a jesty as well as King Milan , ,

that we think that Kin g Alexander should marry with

ou t further delay ? As long as he remains the only
representative ofthe dynasty unmarried and w i thout an
,

heir he tempts his enemies to make him the last Obren o

,

vich The moment he has an heir this peril will be

.

lessened I spoke to him ofthat dan ger when he wa s

.

here last summer He said he was aware it was desirable

.

he should be married as s oon as possible and that he ,

was ready to marry at o nce provided that he met a ,

Princess who would attract him by her beauty and

ch a rms and at the same time be hi ghly cultured rich
, , ,

and connected with at least on e of the first Courts of

Europe .

Now it is imposs ible to find such a fairy Princess

,

a s Kin g Alexander desires And even if we were to

.

find her such a beautiful attractive highly—

, , cultured , ,

wealthy and well connected Princess mi ght not be eager

-

to accept Kin g Alexan der for a husband But the .

Emperor William has succeed ed in discoverin g a youn g

Princess who would m a ke an excell ent Queen besides ,

combinin g almost all the conditions required by King

Alexander She is beautiful highly cultured [ ho ch
.
,
-

g e bi l det ] and closely connected with several great Courts .

She lacks only o n e of Alexander s conditions she is — ’

not wealthy There is no other Princess in Europe more

.

worthy to be Queen ofSerbia As the German Emperor .

h a s alre a dy prepared the ground all that is n ow n eces ,

1 70 ,
 T h e Las t Ob re n o v i c h
sary is that King Alexander should make his formal
proposal Please con v ey that message from me to the
.

King and use your influence to induce him to act in

,

accordance with the ad v ice of the Emperor of Austria

”
and the German Emperor .

O n my arri v al in Bel grade I delivered Count Golu

ch o ws ky s messa ge to Kin g Alexander in the presence
’

of Kin g M ilan and the Prime Minister D r Vl a da n , .

G eorgev i ch The Kin g said to me speakin g with

.
,

emphasis and s olemnity I have already promised my

,

father and my Prime Minister that I will be married

this year I had decided this before they intimated to
.

me that they would leave me if I did not marry at latest , ,

by the end ofthis year But I declare to them a gain

.
,

and in your hearin g a s a witness that I intend to mar ry

, ,

this year and much earlier than the end o f the

,

year D id G ol u chows ky tell you the name of the

.

Princess ?
I answered i n the ne ga tive .

But we know whom he meant Now listen t o the .

plans I have made My father must go to Carlsbad for

.

his usual cure Y ou see what a physical wreck Vl a da n

.

the Giant has made o f himself by his indefatigable

service to his Kin g and country He must go abroad .

to rest and visit the Paris Exhibition before he returns .

When Vl a da n comes back I will then join my father

at Carlsbad and go with him to see the young Princess
and eventually become enga ged to her .

I dined at the Palace a few days later and after ,

dinner Kin g Alexander took me to gether with his father ,

and D r Vl a da n to his sanctum for a smoke and chat

.
, .

After we had been serve d with cof fee and the servants
had left King M ilan s a id to his son : Will you not
,

1 71
 Mem o i r s o fa B a l ka n D i p l omat i s t
ask Chedo [ he always called me by my Christian name ]
what impressions he h a s formed concerning the political
situation ? I know people of all parties ( and among
them several hi ghly suspicious ones) went to see him ,

and of course they all spoke o n p o litics

, ,

Kin g Alexander turned to me Come Mr , .

M ij a t o vi ch tell u s wh a t conclusions you have come to

,

from your intercourse with so many politicians in

Bel grade ”
.

I intended I answered
”
, speaking to my chief , ,

D r Vl a da n G eorgevi ch about it and n ow I can submit

.
, ,

the report ofmy impressions to him in your presence .

I certainly have had interviews with several Pro gressist ,

Liberal and Radical politicians and thus far I h a ve ,

arrived at this conclusio n— that you three are gaily and

boldly skati n g on thin ice without bein g aware that
it is thin and may break under you at any moment
, .

King Milan in great surprise exclaimed

, Tiens ! , ,

O h indeed !
,

D r Vl a da n my old chum also exclaimed

.
, Oh ! , ,

O h ! and added What an impertinent fellow you are

,

to describe us as three fools !

King Alexander imperturbable as always did not say
, ,

a word but stared at me as though tryin g silently to

, ,

penetrate the t rue meanin g o fmy words .

Pressed by Kin g Milan and D r Vl a da n to explain .

myself I told them that nob ody seemed to be satisfied

,

with Vl a da n s régim e of Red i Rad

’ “ ”
O rder and
Work that the Russian Chargé d A f fa i res Mr ’
, .

M a n su rof f was very active in his interv iews with the

,

leaders of the O pposition and that an uncomfortable ,

and uneasy feelin g that a s udden chan ge was imminent

was per v ading the political atmosphere I did not tell .

1 72
 Memo i r s fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
o

o fsuch an important Le gation but offered to make me

,

President o fthe Council ofState I declin ed the o f fer.

,

but the King agreed to pla ce me en di sp on i bi li t e and ’

g ave me permission to take my sick wife a broad .

O n my way from Constantinople to Abbazia having ,

!

to pass through Belgrade I stopped there for a week ,

w ent to the Palace to pay my respects to the King and

the new Queen and was well recei v ed It happened that
,
.

two or three days before my departure from Bel grade ,

the Ofii ci a l G a z et t e brou ght a communiqué from the

Court in which the Kin g s mother Queen Nathalie
,
’
, ,

was v iolently attacked abused and menaced by I know

,

not what repressive measures Everybody knew that .

this unworthy attack was made by Kin g Alexander at ,

the insti gation o fQueen D raga who felt o f fended by

,

certain allusions on an open post card sent by Queen

Nathalie to a friend in Belgrade Every fair minded .
-

man and wo ma n in Belgrade resented the King s insult ’

to h i s mother .

Havin g made preparations for my departure I went ,

to the Palace to take leave o ft h e King After conver .

s ation o n the political situation of ou r country and of

Europe in general I rose to leave and whil e still

, , ,

s tandin g , addressed the King thus

“
Sire I have been h onoured by the friendship o f
,
3

—
your father and by your o w i f I may be permitted
n

t o say s o — just because I proved my devotion to him

a

and to you by always telling frankly and truthfully , ,

what I thought to be in the v ery best interests ofyour

self the dynasty and the country It may be th a t I
, .

shall never return to Serbia nor have another opp or

,

t u n i t y o fspeakin g t o yo u .I wish therefore that my , ,

last words to you should be the words of a true and

1 74
 T h e Las t Ob r en ov i c h
devoted servant Sire you do not treat your parents
.
,

well You behaved badly to your father and y ou treat

. ,

your mother in a m a nner which equitable men must

'

deem harsh Sire children who treat their parents badly

.
,

never end well My last wo rds to yo u are : for God s

.
’

— —
sake and for your o wn mend your ways towards
your parents and do not treat your mother so cruelly
,

as you did in that official communi q ué three days

a ,
a go

So v ou think it proper the young King answered , ,

at a meeting which you say yourself may be ou r last

, , ,

to appear before me with the Ten Commandments of

”
Moses ! Why do you preach to me ?
Sire I replied Moses ou t o fhis wide experience
, , ,

o f men and nations found that children who did n ot

,

respect their parents never prospered Again I urge you .

to mend your ways towards your parents and not t o be

”
so cruel to your o wn mother .

My dear monk go to my father and mother and ,

teach them to mend their ways towards me the Kin g

”
,

retor t ed Y ou do not know how harshly they treat

.

me 3 ,

Even supposing they do I said they are your

“
, ,

parents and as their son —and their only son— you ought
,

to have e v ery consideration for them .

“
M y father used to say Chedo must always have ,
‘

the last word Have you had your last word ?

.
’ ”

Sire I have nothing more to say May God bless

, .

”
you and help you ! And I took his proffered right
hand and kissed it He was not a good son but he was
.
,

my King .

Why do I describe this scene and the conv ersation

which I had with King Alexander in November 1 9 00 ? ,

1 75
 M em o i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i pl oma t i s t
My readers will see the reason presently when they read ,

the account of the most extraordinary experience o fmy

life
.

In the summer of 1 9 0 1 I had to return to Bel grade

to occupy my place as member of the Upper House
( the Senate ) for a few weeks I soon learned
. that the
unpopularity o fthe King had greatly spread and deep
ened Men and women o fthe best society complained
.

o fthe Queen s hau ghtiness and I was told that many

’
,

of ficers spoke with undisguised hatred ofthe King I .

conceived a plan which in my o pi n i o n wou l d lessen his

, ,
'

Majesty s unpopularity and even may be transform it

’
, ,

into pop u larity .

In 1 9 0 4 would be witnessed the centenary of the

rising of the Serbian nation against the Turks and their
election of Karageorge as leader It was natural and .

proper that the people should celebrate that grand e v ent .

I formed the idea that King Alexander O breno v ich

should take the initiative in the national commemoration .

I prepared a memorandum for him showing why he

ought to head the mo v ement and also drafted the letter
,

in which he was to inv ite the Go v ernment to introduce

a Bill decreeing the erection o f a joint monument to
Karageorge and M i l o sh O brenovich and to their co
workers in the liberation of the country My suggestion .

was to be considered a State secret and excepting the ,

K ing and Queen only my t wo intimate friends Lubomir

, ,

K a l yev i ch ( President o f the Senate ) and the Senator

General F ra n a sso v i ch knew anything about it When I
, .

presented my memorandum and explained it to the

King he said that he liked the idea but that he wished ,

to consider my su ggestion But I had t o lea v e Belgrad e

.

1 76
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
O n M arch 1 2 th 1 9 0 3 my friend Willi a m T Ste a d
, , .

inv ited me to a reception o n the 1 6 th at Mowbray House ,

in the office o f the R evi ew ofR evi ews to meet an ,

extraordinary clairvoyante whom he had disco v ered .

He wrote : I wish most particularly that you should

come because my clairvoyante is an En glishwoman and ,

as such could easily enter into ou r wa y o f thinking

, ,

whereas you are a foreigner whose mental processes may

.

be di f erent from hers Could you not bring with you

f .

something connected with King Milan o r Queen

”
Nathalie ?
I cut o f
fthe si gnature o f Kin g Alexander from a
letter in my possession placed it in an en v elope which,

I gummed up and took it with me to Mr Stead s

, .
’

reception I was elected o n e o f the members of the

.

committee which had to note the clairvoyante s state

,
’

ments and watch the proceedings .

We were surroundin g the clairvoyante or to be more , ,

precise the psychometrist M rs Julia Burchell ofBrad

, , .
,

ford The roo ms were fil led with ladies and gentlemen

. .

The first experiments in psychometry were all wron g .

Mrs Burchell evidently worked with great e f

. fort and
some difficulty At last she exclaimed : M r Stead
. .
,

you have packed this room with too many people The .

m agnetic currents issuing from them are cutting me in

all directions and I cannot see anythin g clearly Give
, .

me another room and admit only twelve o r fifteen persons

at once and I shall be able t o exercise my powers !
M r Stead then prop o sed to give a dinner that
.

evenin g in the nei ghbouring Hotel No rfolk and i n ,

v i t ed I think
, about fifteen guests I could not accept
, .

his in v itation as th a t v ery e v enin g had been fixed for

,

a Court reception at B u ckin gham Palace which I h a d ,

1
78
 T h e Las t Ob r e n ov i c h
promised to attend I therefore left the sealed env elope
.

with King Alexander s si gnat u re in the keeping of

’

Mr Eugen L a za rovi ch with the re quest that he should

. ,

place it in the hands ofMrs Burchell when she be gan.

her psychometric experiments and that he should come ,

next mornin g t o tell me what she said I did n o t tell .

him what was in the envelope but a uthorised him to ,

open it at the end of Mrs B u rchell s statements and

.
’
,

show the contents to her and to all present .

Mr L a za rovi ch came early next morning and very

.
,

excitedly spoke to me somewhat as follows

What a pity you could n ot have been with us last
evening We had a very dramatic and quite an extra
.

ordinary scene with Mrs Burchell When I placed your

. .

en v elope in her hands she immediately said : Inside is

the si gn a ture ofa youn g man ; it is the si gnature ofa
young Kin g but I cannot read his name as it is written
, ,

in characters which I have never seen before She .

’

proceeded to describe the youn g King and I recognis ed ,

at once that she was des cribin g King Alexander Then .

she said she saw a lady near him somewhat older than ,

he was and she supposed she must be his wife and

, ,

she described Queen D ra ga quite correctly She next .

proceeded to describe the O ld Palace in Belgrade and

stopped all ofa sudden gazed for some moments silentl y
,

into space and exclaimed But what is this ? I see

, ,

soldiers surrounding the Palace ; I see officers breaking

the closed doors by a dynamite cartridge ; many ofthem
rush into the Palace ; all the rooms are dark ; the
offi cers wi t h re v olvers in their hands rush about in a
,
‘

great ra ge throu gh the dark rooms lookin g for the ,

King and Queen to murder them I s ee now someone

, .

brin ging two li ghted candles and with them they mak e
,

I
79
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
a fresh search O h they find them ! screamed Mrs
.
,
’
.

Burchell and fell on her knees raised both her arms

, ,

a n d prayed to God to save them and nearly swo oned , ,

sayin g they had murder ed them Some ladies and two .

o r three gentle men rushed to her raised her and be gged ,

her to quiet herself as she was in a state of great ,

a gitation and weeping We were all deeply moved .

,

and di d not care any more for further psychometric

experiments after her graphic description o fthe assas
s i n a t i o n o f Queen D rag a and King Alexander ”
.

M rs B u rch ell s v ision ofthe as sassination t ook place

.
’

on Friday March l 6 t h 1 9 0 3 in the Hotel Norfolk

, , , ,

No rfolk Street Strand London after the dinner which

, , ,

Mr Stead gave to a number o fladies and gentlemen

. .

Mr L a za rovi ch gave me hi s report as I s aid next

.
, ,

mornin g March 1 7th I knew Mr Stead was n ever

, . .

in his office on a Saturday s o I went to him on Monday

'

, ,

the 1 9 th He confirmed all the details o fMrs B u rch ell s

. .
’

vision o fwhich Mr L a za rovi ch had already acquainted

, .

me He handed me a letter he had just recei v ed from

.

M rs Bailey on e of the ladies who helped to lift Mrs

.
, .

Burchell when she nearly sw o oned from the shock Mrs . .

Bailey a clairvoyante herself and well known in L ondon

,
-

wrote to Stead that she had seen all the Visions o fMrs .

Burchell which were correctly described by her ( Mrs

,
“

Burchell) that she ( Mrs Bailey ) saw the officers weari n g

, .

lambskin kalpaks or turbans as if they were Russian

, ,

officers and that she heard two names pronounced

,

Alexander and Peter The leadin g murderer .

she d escribed as dark featured and very like a gipsy -

.

I was of course tremendo usly impressed by what

, ,

I had heard and after some hesitation decided to write

, ,

to Kin g Alexander I did not descri be M rs B u rchell s

. .
’

1 80
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
Forei gn Minister L K a lyevi ch that the King and
, .
,

Queen had perished in a mutual stru ggle (si c and a

new Government had been formed I sho wed the .

of ficial telegram to the reporters who had come in a ,

crowd telling them that curiously enou gh the assassina

, , ,

tion ofthe K ing and Que en had been seen in London

by a clairvoyante on March l 6 t h nearly three months ,

before it actually took place I advised them to see .

M r Stead wh o could supply all the details o f that

.
,

vision Mr Stead published in the next i ssue of the

. .

R evi ew ofR evi ews a full account ofwhat had happened

at the s éa n ce his statement bein g conf
, irmed by the
si gnatures ofalmost all who had witnessed that memor
able scene .

When I went to Belgra de in 1 9 1 4 I found it wa s

common knowledge th a t the conspirators had opened
the safe in the bedroom o f the King and Queen and
discovered in it my letter warning the Kin g .

There is another story as s ociated with the name of

Kin g Alexander which is e v en more extraordinary than
that which I have just related .

In 1 8 9 9 when I was leavin g London for The Hague

,

to act as Serbia s first delegate to the Peace Conference

’
,

I received a stran ge letter It was addressed to me.

simply as Chedo M ija t o vi ch Senator Belgrade ”

, , ,

evidently by somebody who did not know that I wa s

in Lond on serving as Envoy Extra ordinary and M inister
,

Plenipotentiary to t he Court ofSt J ames s The letter .

’
.

was written in Ca rl ovi t z a town in Southern Hun gary

, ,

well known for wine and dear to Serbs as the seat o f

-

the Patriarch The let t er ran somewhat in this way

.

( I have not the original at hand )

1 82
 T h e Las t Ob r e n o v i c h
We three undersi gned are spiritualists I the .
,

first undersi gned am a medium We heard the story

,
.

that the body of the Tsar o f the Huns was buried

somewhere l n this country We had the ambition to .

disco v er the gra v e ofAttila By the instructions ofa .

spirit gi v en to us at a s ea n ce we went to a small hillock

,
’

in t h e neighbourhood of Zemun [ Semlin ] We du g .

there and discovered a stone sarcopha gus and in it was ,

the skeleton o fa man with a sword and gold ornaments .

When we had carried all we found to the Hun garian

National Museum in Budapest we were told that that ,

was not the grave ofAttila but o fo n e o fthe voyv odes ,

[ generals or leaders ofthe army ] D isappointed as we .

were on ou r return to Ca rlovi t z we held a s ea n ce t o

,
’

ask an explanation of the spirit who had misled us .

But another spirit spoke upbraidin g us What a

, :

shame you are Serbs and you search for Attila s grave !
,
’

What is Attila t o you ? Why do you not search for

somethin g of greater interest to your people ?
We then asked him W ho art th o u ? :
‘ ’

And he answered : I am the spirit ofyour Tsar

D ushan .
’

And we then spoke to him : O h our dear Tsar ,

D ushan we are so pleased that thou shouldst speak to

,

us O f course we would prefer to find something more

.
,

interesting to our people D o thy crown and sceptre

.

still exist ?
he answered; all my re galia with many ‘
,

precious ston es and gold are buried in Serbia, .

’

Could you instruct us how to find that treasure ?

‘
Yes he said ; yo u can find it and di g it o u t
,
’ ‘
,

but only by the help ofChedo M ija t ovi ch .

’

And now sir you will understand why we address

, ,

1 83
 M emo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
ourselves to you We wish to meet you in order to
.

arran ge how to proceed in our task of discoverin g the

crown and the royal treasure of Tsar D ushan Shall .

we come to see you in Belgrade or will you prefer to ,

come to us in Ca rl ovi t z ?
Their letter wa s sent to Bel grade but the postal ,

authorities knew where I was and re addres sed it to -

London I answered that being officially occupied in

.

i
,

London I cou l d n ot arran ge a personal meetin g But

, .

bein g willin g to assist them as much as I could I would ,

write to the Go v ernment of Serbia for the necessary per ‘

mission to search for Tsar B usbau s treasure and in that ’

,

way I should be indirectly helping them .

I may here take the opportunity of mentionin g an

interestin g but little known fact Serbia was in the .
,

thirteenth fourteenth and fifteenth centuries o n e o f

, ,

the few gold and silver producin g countries ofEurope

-
.

Her aristocracy possessin g large estates became in

, , ,

those centuries very rich When the Turkish 1 n va 5 1 on

, .

took place and the Serbian nobless e fled to save their

,

li v es from the con q ueror s sword they could n ot carry

’
,

away the gold and silver which had been through

g enerations accumulatin g in their castles Hopin g they .

would return a gain they hid their treasures or buried

,

them in their castles or in the nei ghbourho od Circum .

stances did not al low them to return but ere they died ,

they communicated in writing o r orally the secret of

, ,

their buried treasures to their heirs The consequence .

was that after Serbia became autonomous almost every

year people arrived in Belgrade from all parts of the
world for permits to search for the treasures of their
ancestors I remember that in the course ofonly on e
year I gave as Minister o fFinance fifty such perm
.
,

, , is ,

1 84
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
whether the Serb imperial re galia were still in exi st :

ence and if so where they could be found So I went

, , , .

to see Mr Vango . .

I did not make an appointment by letter but went ,

on the chance offindin g him at h ome We s a w each .

other then for the first time He di d not ask me wh o .

I was or my profession In fact before he could say .

,

a W ord I inquired whether he could summon spirits to

,

talk with us M r Van go answered modestly that some

. .

times he succeeded and sometimes failed .

Must I tell you the name and position of the

man with whose spirit I wish to speak ?
O h no replied Mr Vango ; all that you have
”
, , .

to do is to concentrate your whole thou ghts o n the

man By the way did he speak En glish while he wa s
.
,

alive ?
O n my answerin g in the ne gative he went on ,

Well that will make it s omewhat more difficul t But

, .

it does not matter ; we will try Recently a n Indian .

called and wished to spe a k with the spirit ofhis partner

who had died suddenly in India leaving the business ,

in great confusion When I awoke from my trance he

.

thanked me very warmly s ayin g that h i s partner s ,

’

spirit speakin g to him in his native langu a ge had made

, ,

”
everything perfectly clear .

M r Van go t ook a seat in an arm chair and presently

.
-

went into a trance and said Here is the spirit

”
o fa youn g man who wishes urgently to speak t o you .

But the man with whose spirit I wish to speak

wa s not youn g when he died ”
I said , .

O h I know that the medium rejoined ; you

, ,

wish to speak with a King wh o li v ed in the middle of

the fourteenth century His spirit is here too but that
.
, ,

1 86
 T h e Las t Ob r e n ov i c h
youn g man pushed him back intimating that he had ,

somethin g urgent t o say to you ”

.

Who ca n he be and what is it he wishes to tell ,

I cannot tell you said M r Van go because he , .

,

is talkin g in a lan guage which I ha v e never heard before ”

.

I was now still more puzzled and asked the medium ,

whether he could repro duce at least one word by which

I mi ght perhaps identify the langua ge the young man
used
I will try the medium answered His arm chair
, .
-

was already near the wall but he pushed it a few inches ,

backwards still nearer and bendin g his head closer to

, , ,

it listened for a few moments And then to my utter

, .
,

astonishment he be gan in a peculiar fashion to repro

,

duce word by word an entire sentence in the Serbian

, ,

tongue .

“
M o li m p i s hi t e mo yo y ma t eri N a t a li yi da mi
”
op ros t i .

Please write to my mother Nathalie to forgive

As I have mentioned he reproduced those words in ,

a peculiar fashion which was that he read the syllables

.

backwards .

“ —
Lim Mo Mo lim - —
te shi pi pi shi t e yoy mo
,
- -

,
-

moyoy etc
”
, .

I reco gnised that it was the spirit ofKing Alexander ,

who referred evidently to the occasion on which I , ,

taking leave of him in November 1 9 0 0 told him he , ,

had behaved cruelly to his mother and s hould mend ,

his conduct to his parents Not to lea v e any doubt about .

his identity he said : I repent that I did not follow

,

v our advice about that monument but t he Qu een was

'

1 87
 M emo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
against it This related t o my proposal that he should
.

take the initiative in inviting the n a tion to erect a

worthy monument to Karageorge M i lo sh and their , ,

co workers in the liberation o f Serbia from the Turks

-
.

I consider that incident as the most remarkable in

my life More than any other experience it convinced
.

me that there is a life after death that there is a spirit ,

world and that the spirits sometimes desire and find

,

means to comm unicate with us .

I think I ou ght to say that the reproduction ofthe

Serbian words ofKin g Alexander wa s made with great
effort on the part ofthe medium Mr Van go became . .

yellow in the face and drops of perspiration appeared

.

o n his forehead I was afraid that something would

.

happen to him a n d be gged him to stop The spirit of .

Tsar D ushan spoke to me throu gh the controllin g spirit

o fthe medium and the latter reported to me in En glish
,

what D u sh a n s spirit wished to communicate

’
He .

repeated t hat his re galia as wel l as treasure exis t ed in

, ,

a large iron box hidden behind a wall ofred Roman

,

bricks in the cave of a vineyard situated at a cert a in

, ,

spot near the road leading from Negotin to Z a yech a r

( two towns in Eastern Serbia near the Bul garian fron ,

tier) He gave me instructions how to discover the

.

spot but they were so very va gue that I did not think
,

I co uld act on them .

1 88
 Mem o i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
special church service and prayers ; in ou r days it is done
by certain le gal proceedings at a court ofjustice or by
a declaration on the part o fboth parties that they will
henceforth consider each other as p obra ti mi M il osh .

O brenovich and Panta L u n yevi t s a became p obra t i mi in

that simple fashion King Alexander in engaging
.
,

himself to marry the great granddaughter ofL u n yev i t sa

-

made much ofthe latter s having been p obra t i m to the

’

founder ofthe O brenovich dynasty That was legitimate .

,

but it was n ot legitimate to represent L u n yevi t s a as on e

o fthe v oyvo d es of the Serb nation which he never was , .

The wealth o fthe first L u n yevi t sa was spent o r lost

in the first half of the nineteenth century and his ,

g randson , the Prefect of S h a b a t s lived on his salary , ,

which was not large Anyhow he placed his daughter

.
,

D raga in Madame Z erma n n s school for young ladies ’

,

the best in Bel grade Practically it was the school for

.

the daughters of mid dl e class folk Here Miss D raga

-
.

L u n yevi t s a learned to speak German .

When a few years after the marriage Svetozar

, ,

Mashin died his pretty widow found herself with only

,

a small pension ( I think about £ 4 a month) and had to ,

work to keep herself respectably She began to write .

stories for some papers in Belgrade and o f fered to give

lessons in German .

Fortunately Queen N athalie always alert in good ,

work heard of the di f

, ficulties of the great grand -

daughter o f Prince M il osh s p o bra t i m L u n yev i t s a’

.

D raga s youth beauty and intelligence and I am sure

’
, , , ,

her brave struggle against all sorts oftemptation a p ,

pealed to the Queen who engaged a French lady to

,

teach D raga French as well as the manners and customs

o f good society in France D raga made remark a ble
.

I
9O
 Q u e en D r aga
progre ss and the Queen lea v ing Serbia in 1 8 8 8 to
, ,

li v e in France took her as o n e o fher Court ladies to

,

Biarritz .

Men and women of the best French and Spanish

society used constantly to visit Queen Nathalie and ,

Madame Mashin rapidly completed her o wn education and

won everybody s admiration by her beauty and elegance
’

as well as her esp ri t Probably the years from 1 8 8 8 to

.

1 8 9 6 were the happiest o f her life King Alexander .

used to spend a few weeks every year with his mother

at her v illa S ashino in Biarritz and could not resist the ,

magnetic influence of the pretty widow It has often .

been asserted that Queen Nathalie intentionally en

co u ra ged the flirtation in order to stren gthen her o wn

influence with him against that o fhis father I do n ot .

belie v e that because it does not harmonise with her

,

character as I know it She hated M il a n but was far

.
,

abo v e low intri gue .

O ne o fthe defects o fKing Alexander s personality ’

was his utter want o fa f fection for anybody and every

thing King M ilan s a id to me once after o n e of the
.
,

periodical visits his son paid him in Paris that his son s ,
’

coldness ofheart and imperv iousness to the charms o f

.

women made him almost despair ofhis future Queen .

Nathalie probably was amused and interested to see the

ice around her son s heart thawing under the soft fire
’

o fthe eyes o fher dame de la cour She thought the .

flirtation between King Alexander and D raga would

only be a case ofplatonic lo v e and nobody was more ,

shocked than she to discover the real nature o f the

attachment into which that flirtation had de v eloped .

O n King Alexander s return from Biarritz to Paris

’

in August 1 8 9 7 I went to Paris to pay him my respects

, , .

1 9 1
 M emo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
H e and King Milan kept me for two weeks as their
g uest . A few days after his arrival King Alexander
asked me to accompany him o n his morni ng stroll
through the streets In the Rue de la Paix he entered
.

a jeweller s shop selected a most beautif ul gold ci garette

’
,

”
case and ordered that the Serb word D raga should
,

be placed in diamonds in the left hand corner ofit ( The -

word dra ga means in Serbian “

the dear o n e but is
, , ,

also used as a Christian name equi v alent to the names ,

o fCaroline or Charlotte in Latin ) The price was be .

tween two and three thousand francs He had n ot notes .

enou gh to complete the amount and asked me for t hree ,

hundred francs I happened to have as much and gav e

.

it to him When we left the jeweller s I said to him

.
’

Y our dear one will be henceforth dear to me too ,

as she gave me the unique opportunity oflendin g money

”
to my King .

What a bold and impertinent fell ow you are ! But

I shall never let my dear one be dear to anyone else
‘ ’
.

Look now as you are my friend I will t e

, ll you that at
last I have found the woman who has entirely won my
heart and who is worthy to be my dear o n e I tell
y ou this in the strictest confidence and you m ust not ,

make the slightest allusion to it in my father s presence ’

,

”
nor must you tell anybody about that gold ci garette case -

I saw then that the gossip which had reached me

, ,

in London about his flirt ation with M adame D raga

Mashin about their bathing to gether and o n o n e
, ,

occasion being nearly drowned had a real foundation , .

But I could not think not for a moment that King , ,

Alexander would marry Madame M ashin and make her

Queen o f Serbia The French have a pro v erb which
.

says : C es t l i mp revu q
“ ’
ui a rri v e l e p lu s s o u ven t !
’ ’ ”

1
9 2
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
King wh o has made me his wife overcoming all di f fi ,

cu l t i es so splendidly I am conscious of my duty to the

.

country and I am anxious to do it I pray t o G od to

,
.

enable me t o perform all my duties properly and

—
thoroughly in order that all Serbs and you also Mr , .

—
M ija t ov i ch may o n e day honestly say that after all , ,

the King did well in marrying me .

She spoke w ith emphasis warmly and eloquently , .

All she said gave me the impression ofabsolute sincerity .

I looked straight into her eyes and face and thought her
really beautiful .

”
I pray Queen D rag a contin ued I pray all g ood
, ,

Serbs to help me t o be a good Queen I ask you an .

,

o l d a n d devoted friend o fthe dynasty to help me with ,

your advice and suggestions to win the people s love ’

.

I think madame you can easily do that if you suc

, ,

”
ceedin correcting some defects in the Kin g s character
’
.

She stared at me in frank bewilderment What ! .

she exclaimed D efects in the King s character ! To

.
’

me the King s character has no defects no weak points

’
, .

”
Please indicate what you consider his defects .

“
Well madame the King is hasty impulsive self
, , , ,

will ed vindictive lacking in charity and kindness of

, ,

heart Give him what he has n ot and try by your

.
,

influence to make him just and kind to everybody a

, ,

”
generous man a true King , .

“
Y ou forget she said that a real King ought
, ,

t o punish too as well as to forgive

, .

In my turn I stared at her in astonishment The .

beauty ofher eyes and face had vanished and I thought ,

I beheld the revelation o fa narrow mind sympathising

with the cruel propensities ofKing Alexander s After ’
.

a f ew mo ments silence I said O h madame I am sorry

’
, ,

I94
 Q u een D r aga
to hear you speak ofpunishment Punishment is the .

duty ofthe law and the law courts ; and one o fthe most
beautiful prerogatives of the King is to have mercy and
to consider punishment in the light of human nature
and by his generosity prevent su mmu m ju s from be
, ,

coming s u mma i n ju ri a But with your permission I

.
, ,

would like to leav e this subject and ask your Majesty a

personal question You no doubt know that I take
.
, ,

a great interest in all sorts of occult phenomena Has .

your marriage with the King not been foretold or fore

shadowed i n some way ?
O h yes ! the Queen said ea gerly
, I can give .

you a small contribution to your theories which are of , ,

course well known to me As a youn g widow st andin g

, .
,

alone and without anyone to protect me I was some ,

times subjected to the gossip and slander ofjealous or

wicked w omen O ne day I heard what lies a certain
.

woman was spreading about me It pained me so much .

that I cried bitterly and at last fell o n my knees and

,

prayed t o G od to send me a husband who would pro

t ect me When I went to bed that ni ght I prayed a gain
.

that if i t was His will that I should marry a gain He

'

, ,

would let me see in my dreams the man who should

be my second husband That night I dreamt I was .

standin g in a garden and lookin g up towards the blue

sky when suddenly I noticed somethin g slowly descend
,

in g from the clouds I wondered what it was until I

.

disco v ered it was the portrait of a man in a golden

frame Presently floating in the air it came strai ght
.
, ,

before my face and I reco gnised the portrait o f King

,

Alexander ; so lifelike was it that I thought he was

smilin g at me I awoke with a shock and said t o myself
.

Surely this dream was not sent in answer to my prayer ?

1 95
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
K ing Alexander cannot possibly be my second husband
‘ ’
.

”
And yet the Kin g has married me .

The Queen did not tell me when she had that

dream But I dare say it was at the be ginning ofthe
.

Royal romance which ended in a Royal tragedy .

Madame D raga Mashin became the sweetheart ofKing

Alexander in 1 8 9 6 But some time before that year
.

Queen Nathali e came one morn ing to Paris a ccom

m
,

p a n i e d by Mada e Mashin and M iss Zana G y gy

o r ev i ch .

The Queen took both young ladies with her to Madame

de Thebes the famous clairvoyante wh o told Madame
, ,

Mashin that she cherished very hi gh ambitions that she ,

would see the desire of her heart fulfilled but that very ,

f ul filment would lead to a catastrophe in which both

she and her husband should perish Miss G yorgyevi ch
.

communicated to a friend ofmine some time in 1 9 0 2

, ,

what Madame de Thebes had told Madame D ra ga

Mashin that is before the assassination on June 1 1 t h
, , ,

1 9 03. In April 1 9 1 4 I s a w Miss G yorgyev i ch in Bel

, ,

g rade , a n d she told me that Queen D ra ga was so annoyed

about that story being told to anyone that police pro
ceed i n gs ha d been sta rted against her and only aban
,

don ed when Miss G yorgyev i ch promised that she would

never again mention the i ncident .
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l omat i s t
o u r first war with Turkey with the object of tendin g
,

the wounded Serbians and assistin g the suf fering women

and children He went to o u r E a stern army which
.
,

defended ou r Ti mok front and stayed and worked for ,

some time in the town of Z a yech a r But not being .

physically stron g through overwork he caught a chill

,

whi ch developed into pneumonia and he would have ,

died but for the cleverness oft h e Serbian military doc

tors and the assiduous nursin g of a Serbian officer ,

Colonel M In after years Mackenzie always spoke

.

with deepest gratitude ofthe Colonel s kindness thou gh ’

,

at the same time with great sadness because this good ,

man and splendid soldier had co nfessed to him that he

did n ot believe in l i fe after death nor in the existence
ofa per s onal God As F rank Mackenzie spoke French
.

fluently he had tried in vain to convert the unbelievin g

,

Colonel But whenever h e spoke of him h e always

.

acknowledg ed that although he ( the Colonel) did not

,

believe in Jesus Christ as the Saviour his conduct wa s ,

that of a perfect Chri stian and t herefore of a true , ,

gentleman .

Mr Mackenzie spent thousands of pounds in sup

.

portin g the widows and orphans of fallen Serbian

soldiers and some ofhis experiences were singular to
, ,

put it mildly With the permission of the Serbian

.

Government he went to Ujit s a ( the principal town in

South Western Serbia ) and tried to induce hundreds of
-

Montenegrins to make a road payin g them good wages , .

They worked for t wo or three weeks but on e da y they ,

all came together to Mr Mackenzie and declared that

.

they refused to work any more because they had heard

that the En glish Queen Victoria had sent through ,

him thousands o f pounds to be freely distributed

,

1 9 8
 Macke n zi e o fGa i r l oc h a n d O t h e r s
amongst them without exacting any labour in return .

They insisted that he should at once dis gorge Queen

Victoria s gold so v erei gns and the police had to come
’
,

in to protect him from their violence He had to .

abandon road makin g by charity and return to Bel grade

-
.

In acknowledging his manifest charities King Milan at ,

the insta nce o f the Serbian Red Cross sent him the ,

Cross o f Knight Commander o f the Takovo O rder .

He accepted the decoration but never wore it nor did , ,

he e v er go to the Palace to thank the Kin g for it .

Belgrade is built on a trian gle of which the western ,

side is w a shed by the river Save the eastern by the ,

D anube which coming from the north receives the

, , ,

waters of the Save at the foot of the citadel which ,

forms the northern top o fthe trian gle At the citadel .

the principal street ( Prince M ichael s and Tera zi a ) ’

be gins running strai ght southwards for about five miles

,

to the bas e ofthe trian gle This chief street at the .

,

time of Mr Mackenzie s arri v al ended in a field o f

.
’
,

so me 8 0 0 acres which belonged t o on e ofthe most dis

t i n gu i sh ed men o f Serbia Mr George Simich who
, .
,

let it t o a farmer at a very low rent Mackenzie .

bought the land for ( if I remember ri ghtly ) three

thousand pounds divided it up into building lots and
, ,

rapidly de v eloped a new quarter of Belgrade which ,

the people themsel v es called the En glish Quarter

“ ”

( E n gl ezo va t s) He let the lots o n very favourable con

.

di t i on s and became the benefactor of the poor and

middle classes M r M ackenzie built a few houses for
. .

himself there a small chapel which he n a med Sala

,

M ira the Hall of and a temperance hotel ,

in which only tea co f fee and lemonade could be go t

, ,

and to which consequently no one went

, That , .

I 99
 Mem o i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
temperance hotel was at last bought by my wife for
our o wn residence Before we moved to the En glish
.

Quarter we had a house in the immediate vicinity of

the Palace and as my wife was an En glishwoman o u r
, , ,

”
house was known as English House and most of ,

the English visitors to Bel grade came to see us And .

so also came Frank M ackenzie .

We rapidly grew very good friends As he was a .

Plym outh Brothe r and my wife belon ged to the

Wesleyans she in v ited him t o come every Sunday to
,

dine with us and for many years ( practically from 1 8 78

,

till 1 8 8 9 ) we spent every Sunday evening to gether ,

besides his being a frequent visitor durin g the week .

The first service which Mackenzie asked me to

render him was to recommend a good honest lawyer ,
.

I recommended M r M arco St oya n ov i ch whom I i n

.
,

v i t ed to come to my house the next day at 4 P M to . .

meet M r Mackenzi e M y lawy er friend arrived at

. .

in a cab I noticed Mackenzie hesitated to reta in Mr

. .

S t o ya n o v i ch for he told the lawyer he would communi

,

cate with him in a few days When M r St o ya n ovi ch . .

left Mackenzie said “

I am sorry your friend does not
,

impress me as a good lawyer First o f all he did .

,

not keep his appointment punctual ly ; secondly he came ,

in a cab ; and thirdly he we a rs patent leather boots !

,

I don t think I will en gage him

’ ”
I thou ght these .

observations pedantic as th ey were very characteristic

, , .

However after he had made further i n q

, u i rl es he en gaged

Mr M arco ne v er repented the choice and become o n e

.
, ,

ofhis best friends .

Very soon afterwards he asked me to in t roduce him

to a representative type ofSerbi a n clergym a n Accord .

i n gl y I invited my learn ed and distin guished friend ,

200
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
bishops of Nish Chachak and Sha ba t s were there
, ,

drinkin g cof fee on t he veranda of the abbot s house ’

.

I a t once begged p ermission to introduce the London

journalists t o the bishops and we were taken t o their ,

most reverend presence recei v ed cordially and regaled

, ,

with co f fee sweetmeats ci gars and a nice talk ( I

, , ,

acting as interpret er between the journali sts and the

bishops) Rising t o leave o n e ofthe London reporters
. .
,

was guilty ofwh a t I thought t o be bad taste in asking ,

What message do you wish to send t o the British

people through us ?
Nicanor the Bishop ofN ish wh o had once been my
, ,

teacher ofreligion said O h yes we have a mess age

, , , ,

for the British people Please tell them we do not want

.

them to send us Bibles Let them send us rifles and .

g uns to fi ght the Turks and the Sh v a ba s

F or a moment I hesitat ed to translate the mes s a ge .

But after all I did s o and the Serbian bishops and

, , ,

London journalists constituted a remarkable tableau .

I think it was L ord Rad stock wh o first wrote to

Mr Mackenzie that the British friends of Serbi a had
.

hear d with sorrow th a t there was something like reli giou s

persecution in the country O ther people wrote t o him .

o n the same subject and M ackenzie showed me their

,

letters and asked my a ssistance to find o u t wh a t was the

matter I assured him that the Serbs were the most
.

tole rant people in reli giou s matters and there was no ,

reli gious persecution in Serbia But upon fur ther i n .

q u i r i es we discovered that some p eas ant s ofthe district

o f V a l yev o , belon gin g to the only religious sect in
Serbia the s o called N a za ren es had been condemn ed
,
-
“ ”
,

to h a rd labour for twenty years for havin g refused t o

bear arms as soldiers .

20 2
 Macke n zi e o fGa i r l oc h a n d O t h e r s
It appears that a Serb who had spent se v eral years
in the United States h a d returned about the middle of
the nineteenth century to Southern Hun gary and there ,

began to organise amon g the Serbs of Hun gary the sect

”
ofthe Nazarenes He appealed to the people to have
.

nothin g to do with the o f fi cial O rthodox Church ; said

that they did no t want any priests to stand between
them and G od; that they should not pray to the Virgin
Mary and the Saints but should endeavour t o live
,

according to the teachin gs of the Lord Jesus Christ ;

that they should read the Holy Word and pray t o God
constantly accordin g as the Holy Ghost moved them
, .

The sect spread from Hungary t o Serbia and was ,

e specially s tron g in the district of Va l yevo and alon g

the river Save The State authorities and the people
.

acknowledged that the Nazarenes were exemplary Chris

tians kind willing to o blige honest pure heart ed
, , , ,
-

modest and ob edient to the civil law in everything ex

, ,

cept that they would not bear arms as soldiers Their .

reli gious principles came into conflict in respect ofmili

tary se rvice which was the lawful duty ofevery Serb
, .

The tribunals inflicted the severest punishment o n

recalcitrant N azarenes Generally the pena l ty wa s i m
.
,

prisonment with hard labour for twenty years but as , ,

the men were honest meek and lowly obedient hard

, , ,

workin g and fervently reli gious they rapidly won the

,

sympathy of the officials of the prison and were soon

released and allowed to return home .

Two o fthem were ostensibly in the prison of the

citadel but really they acted as attendants at the
,

prison o f fices or were sent o n different errands or

, ,

bought provisions for the prison Mackenzie and I .

visited them in the fortress met them often in the

,

20 3
 M emo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
streets of the town ( always wearing c onvicts dress) ’
,

and at his request they obtained permission to join him

at prayer in my drawin g room It caused quite a -
.

sensation when it was r umoured that two Nazarene con

v icts came every Sunday to M inister Ch edo s to pray ’

with him This not unnaturally led to my bein g sus

.

p e ct ed o f bein g a Nazarene myself al thou gh it was ,

known that in the last war ( in 1 8 76 and 1 8 77) I had

served as major and was the o nly Progressist that was
,

decorated with the o f ficer s Cross ofTakovo for services

’

rendered durin g the war I cannot say whether Kin g

.

Milan was joking or was in earnest when in la t er years , ,

he said not only t o me but t o several other people

that he would have entrusted the education of his
son to me had he not had a suspicion that I wa s a
Nazarene .

Later the two Nazarene convicts took Mackenzie to

,

the secret prayer meetin gs of the Bel grade Naza re nes

-

and henceforth he went re gularly to these meetings to

pray He wa s pleased when those simple but deeply
.

reli gious men received him as if he had been o n e o f

“ ”
themselves I say simple because they were mostly
.
,

small artisans and labourers After a few months on e .

,

Sunday evening my friend came to me deeply perturbed

, ,

pale sad and almost in tears

, .

What on earth is the matter ?

A great blow h a s been dealt at me this evenin g ,

he answered .I went as usu a l t o the prayer meetin g

, ,
-

o f the N a z a ren es but wa s met at the d oo r by their

,

leader who told me Some of us had our doubts about

, ,

the propriety of admitting you who are not a N azarene , ,

to our meetings and asked for enli ghtenment from ou r

,

bishop in Hungary We ha v e received a sharp rebuke

.

20
4
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l omat i s t
sold myself I got money enough to call in a doctor
.
,

and gi v e my father and sister comforts and good

food My father recovered a n d is now at work ; my
.

sister is still ill but I provide her doctor her medicines

, , ,

nurse food and every comfort she may desire and I

, ,

can afford No sir neither can I nor will I return to

.
, ,

”
my former starving and sad life .

Thereupon Mackenzie spoke to the girl s father ’

Y our elder daughter does n ot earn money in a way

pleasing to God nor in an honourable manner D o
, .

n ot accept her money fo r y our younger dau ghter s ’

assi stance I will myself give your younger daughter a

.

weekly allowance and even more than her unworthy

”
sister used t o supply her with .

The girl s father and his sick dau ghter accepted w i th

’

g ladness and g ratitude Mr Mackenzie s o fer

f and for a .
’
,

month or two my friend supported the dying girl

g enerously But . o n e day when he came t o visit the
poor girl her Nazarene father stopped him at the
threshold and told him that their elders t o whom he ,

had confided Mackenzie s advice and suppo rt had i n ’

,

v o k ed their bishop s c o unsel They have recei v ed

’ ”
.
,

he said the bishop s order which is as follows and

,
’ ”
, ,

he opened a leather ba g produced a paper and read ,

The ailing sister ought to accept help from her elder

sister because although a prostitute she is still her
, ,

sister ; she ou ght not to accept the assistance o fa man

who is a stranger and not a Nazarene .
’

But neither their intolerance nor those sad ex p eri

e mees could deter Mackenzie from a keen interest in
the Nazarenes He was n o Nazarene although even
.
, ,

more than myself he wa s suspected ofbeing on e His

, .

little chapel—the Hall of Peace—wa s called by many

20 6
 Macke n zi e o fGa i r l oc h a n d O t h e r s
the Nazarenes Chapel ”
’
When we first spoke of the
.

sect he disapproved o ftheir belief that people ought not

to bear arms even if the enemy were attacking their
country But some years later he more closely approached
.

their v iews I was confirmed in that opinion by the

.

ol l o wmg
f 1 n c1 den t .

In 1 8 8 5 I was Serbian Minister in London and in ,

June and July ofthat year M ackenzie li v ed in the Le ga

tion as o u r guest Serbia was then preparing for her
.

unfortunate war with Bul garia O ne day at noon there .

arri ved a tele gram for Mackenzie sent by the British ,

Minister in Bel grade Sir John L o co ck The Minister

, .

informed him that the Serbian G overnment had requi

s i t i on ed from his stables twelve of his horses which had ,

been taken to draw the guns to Nish The Minister .

added that according to the Treaties between Serbia

,

and Great Britain the Serbian Government had no ri ght

,

to requisition the goods of a British subject and that ,

he had not protested as yet only because he wished first

to hear from him ( M r Mackenzie ) . .

Sir John L o co ck well knew the charitable and

generous Scotsman and his warm lo v e for Serbia and
the Serbian people After a few minutes silence Mac
.
’

kenzie said to me I do not like the British Minist er

,

to protest just because of my horses Y et it will be .

his duty to protest unless we can render such a course

superfluous I think I have found a way ou t O f my
. .

o wn free will I will make a gift o fthose twel v e horses

to the Serbian Government o n o n e condition namely , ,

that they sh a ll be employed only in the serv ice ofthe

Red Cross and not to draw the guns .

O n behalf of the Serbian G overnment I accepted

his generous gift and its condition Bu t I thought the .

20
7
 M emo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
proviso somewhat reminiscent of our friends the
Nazarenes .

O n that occasion M ackenzie proved himself a true

Scotsman He asked me to draft a tele gram informin g
.

the British Minister in Bel grade of his decision about the

horses In a few moments I han ded him my draft
. .

After readin g it carefully he said My dear Minister : ,

the tele graphic charge to Bel grade i s threepence half

penny a word Y our tele gram will cost something like
.

ten shillin gs Can ye not condense it ?

.
”

I sat down a gain and tried to shorten it I thought .

I was v ery successful in reducin g it to I think twenty , ,

four words But h e was not yet satisfied and be gan to

.
,

write his o wn message At that moment the butler

.

announced that luncheon had been ser v ed But my .

Scottish friend kept hammerin g his brain for a laconic

dispatch for another ten minutes when I burst out ,

laughing .

Mr M ackenzie looked at me in amazement and

.

asked what was amusing me .

“ ”
I am laughin g I said because just now you
, ,

presented the Serbian Gov ernment with a couple ofhun ’

dred p ounds and now you cudgel your brains and let
,

o u r luncheon get cold merely to squeeze a few pence (

out of this telegram .

My dear friend if I do n o t try t o save a few pen ce

,

whene v er I can do you think I would ever be in a

,

position to gi v e aw a y a couple of hundred pounds ? ”

And then he laughed heartily And I had to acknow .

led ge that his laugh had more justification than mine .

O n one occasion Mr Mackenzie told me the story

.

o fhis con v ersion He spent his early youth on a man

.

ofwar and led a careless

-

merry godless li f e On e da Y
, , . s

20 8
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l omat i s t
and established a college for missionaries a n d gave it
absolutely to his friend Grattan Guinness Nor did he .

cease to do good all the days ofhis life .

Before Mr Mackenzie s arriva l in Bel grade my

.
’

friend the Rev Alexa Ilich and I often discussed the

.

publication o fa religious magazine dealing particularly ,

with the revival of faith amon gst the Serbs Up to .

that time there had been no paper or p eriodical ofthe

kind in Serbia My friend wa s ready to act a s editor
.

and I was willing t o help him with articles but we ,

could not start for want of more material support .

When Mr Mackenzie arrived I spoke to him of ou r

.

plans and he at once o f

, fer ed t o subscribe for thirty
—
copies ofthe magazine fo r the first year p ou r en co u ra ger
l es a a t res .That promise wa s certainly n ot very grand ,

but my frien d Ilich st rong in his belief th a t such a

,

periodical was necessary and firm in his faith in G od

, ,

v entured to start the Chri s t i a n M ess en ger ofwhich he ,

has been the editor and proprietor for nearly thirty years .

In its second year he was able to do without Mr Mac .

kenzie s support When I wa s living in London on my

’
.

small pension in the years 1 8 9 0 to 1 8 9 4 Mr Mackenzie , .

-

asked me to translate into Serbian the Commentaries

”
o n the Gospels by D r D avid Brown of the Free
, .
,

Church Colle ge Aberdeen This I did and he pub

, .
,

l i sh ed t he two volumes at his o wn expense .

These two publications ( the Chris t i a n M ess enger and

D r Brown s Commentaries
.
’
were Mr Mackenzie s .
’

principal e f forts in support of the reli gious revival in

Serbia But he acted als o in other ways and I was
.
,

al ways ready to support him although occasionally as , ,

I have hinted I got myself into ridiculous positions

, .

I think it was in 1 8 8 3 (just after I resigned my

2 10
 Macke n zi e fGa i r l oc h a n d O t h e r s
o

post as Minister in Mr P i rot ya n a t z s Cabinet) that

.
’

Mackenzie asked me to do him a personal service There .

was a famous Scottish preacher D r Somerville ofEdin , .

,

burgh who travelled throughout the world preaching in

,

English but having his sermon sentence by sentence

, , ,

immediately transla t ed into the language of hi s audience .

D r Somerville was then preaching to Ma gyar audiences

.

in Budapest and Mackenzie wished very much t o brin g

,

him to Belgrade t o deliver o n e o r t wo sermons if I ,

would undertake to be the interpreter I consented at .

once Mr Mackenzie was deli ghted ; he wired to D r

. . .

Somerville to come en ga ged the large hall ofa popular

,

restaurant ( Hayduk Velko) and placarded the walls ,

with announcements that a famous Scots divine would

preach a sermon which the late Minister of Finance and
Forei gn Affairs would translate sentence by sentence
into Serbian The é li t e ofBelgrade Society came and
.
,

I wa s surprised at the presence of many o f ficers .

My unbelievin g chum D r Vl a da n G eorgevi ch , .

,

brou ght a few friends mostly atheists like himself and

, ,

whenever from my position on the right ofD r Somer

, .

ville I glanced towards his group t hey would begin

, ,

”
to cross thems elves in astonishment at my queer job .

But everything went well and D r Somerville s sermon

, .
’

produced a great impression and al m ost every man and ,

woman in the audience came to thank the preacher and

shake hands with him I wa s sincerely glad to have had
.

an opportunity ofdoing a service to a good cause and ,

to t his day I consider it an hono ur to have on t wo occa

sion s been D r Somerville s interpreter His second
.
’
.

sermon wa s deliver ed in the drawing room o fmy wife s -

’

house before a select company A few days later King .

M ilan called me to the Palace and rebuked me for sacri

2 1 1
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
fi ci n g the dignity of a former Cabinet Minister
”
merely to gratify my evangelical friends He told .

me o f the account D r Vl a da n G eorgevi ch had gi v en

him of the ridiculous pr oceedings at the restaurant
o fHayduk Velko O f course the report was an amusing
.
,

caricature .

But sometimes to humour my Scots friend I did

, ,

play a ridicul ous ré l e and had a good lau gh at myself

'
.

He took it i n t o h i s head once t o establish a school for

g ipsies’
children He took
. a house and en g a ged a youn g
Serbian lady as teacher Then accompanied by Mac .
,

kenzie I went t o the gipsies colony in Belgrade from

,
’
,

family t o family trying to persuade them to send their

,

children to Mr Mackenzie s special scho ol for them

.
’
.

But they laughed at us a n drefused Almost all of them .

,

however asked Mr Mackenzie to give them money to

, .

educate their children m their o wn way which my friend

.
,

refused to do .

Nor did we fare better when Mackenzie w i shed t o

establish a school for bl i nd boys and girls of whom a ,

g re a t number appeared every Saturda y in the church

yard of Belgrade In Serbia the families of recently
.

deceased persons for six weeks after their death go every

, ,

Saturday to visit their graves and distribute food and

money to the be ggars for the benefit of the s ouls of
the departed The consequence is that on a Saturday
.

y o u are sure to find many mendicants mostly blind or ,

lame in the churchyards With the aid of the inspector

, .

o f the churchyard I gathered the blind boys and girls

and spoke to them of the kind intentio ns ofour friend .

Some of them said “

We do n ot want t o learn any
,

trade If it was God s will that we should earn ou r li v e

.
’

l ih ood by other means than be ggin g He would not ha v e ,

2 12
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
apparently considering the matter for some time he at ,

last said : As you Mr M ija t ovi ch n ow belong t o his

“
, .
,

Highness s O pposition I would gladly prove the courtesy

’
,

o f his Highness s Government to you I am afrai d

’
. ,

however that the beggars may disregard the invitations

,

passed to them through the police becaus e the latter are

not exactly popular with them But I will give orders .

to the prefect as you re quest provided the Minister of ,

Public E ducation and Church A f fairs does not object to

your reading the Bible at the dinner .

We went next t oMr A l ymp iyé Va ssi lyevi ch a de.

,

lightful man offine manners a philosopher a Liberal

, , , ,

and a zealous Russophile and P a n sl a vi st We had .

always been good friends although my own political ,

friends the Progressists were constantly attacking him

, , ,

probably because he was on e of the ablest men in the

Liberal party That he w as a n able man he proved at
.

once as the mere sight ofa Scotsman enabled him to

,

develop the matter of the reading of the Bible at a

beg gars di nner into the question ofthe Uni o n ofthe
’

Anglican and O rthodox Churches He spoke to us of .

the deep sympathy with which the Holy Synod of Russia

contemplated that question After an academic discourse .

o f ha lf an hour I ventured to remind the Minister of

the object ofou r visit .

S trictly speaking said Mr Va s silyevi ch as you

,
“
.
,

are not in Holy O rders you ought n ot to read th e Bible

at publi c meetings But as you are my friend and this
.
,

Englishman here is ou r country s friend I will waive ’

,

every objection and will let the Home Minister know

”
this
.

We had overcome Red Tape but were met by a still ,

more formidable di f fi cul t y— the prejudice of the hotel

2 1 4
 Macke n zi e o fGa i r l oc h a n d O t h e r s
keepers and restaurateurs None o fthem wo u ld let us .

have a room for ou r dinner Many thought we were .

playing a practical joke In vain Mr Mackenzie o f fered

. .

to pay double what they usually charged for the di nne rs

and dances of a wedding party Finally we had to content .

ourselves with the big room ofa sour milk and cheese
shop belonging to a Macedonian but beauti fully situated ,

o n the T era zi a opposite the spot o n which after wards

,

stood the H 6t el M oskva .

.

The Home Minister and the prefect kept their

promises and we saw policemen going from beggar to
,

beggar and telling them to go on Sunday to Mr Mac .

kenzie s dinner at noon There were then in Belgrade

’
.

between five hundred and six hundred beggars but only ,

thirty came to the first dinner Some gathered in front .

of the cheese shop and hesitated to enter until Mr .

Mackenzie and I went out and asked them t o come in .

Most were lame and almost all in dirty muddy clothes , ,

if not exactly in rags N 0 women came We did n ot. .

sit with them I stood at the rea ding desk placed at th e

.
-

head of the table and Mackenzie walked from guest to

,

guest urging them to eat At the beginning ofthe

, .

dinner I said grace The dinner consisted of tomato

.

soup with small pieces of vegetable marrow roast lamb , ,

fresh cheese made ofsheep s milk and plenty offresh ’

,

wheaten bread but n o wine ( Mr Mackenzie being a

, .
,

Temperance man o f fered his guests only milk and boza

, ,

a sour beverage made offermented rye ) I read aloud .

the l o6 t h Psalm and the Sermon o n the Mount O ur .

guests ate heartily but were silent subdued anxious

, , ,

and uncomfortable Mackenzie wa s pleased and happy

.
,

and cordially invited his guests to come again next

Sunday But on the second S u nday only seven be ggars
.

2 1 5
 M emo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
responded and on the third only three And even these
, .

three would not sit down to eat but said to Mr Mac , .

kenzie Sir if you wish to do something for us please

, ,

gi v e us each a dinar and let us go away ; we don t want ’

your dinners nor do we want this gentleman to read

,

to us !
Poor Mackenzie how sad and unhappy he wa s ! ,

Another story about my friend Frank Mackenzie .

fell very ill in 1 8 9 5 and next year being convalescent

, , ,

came to my Legation in London to spend a few weeks

with me and my wife O ne day my good friend and first .

neighbour M r Henry Wilde the well known Temper

, .
,
-

ance speaker and a staunch Protestant came to see him ,

.

They discussed all sort o fmatters ofpublic interest and

apparently agreed on everything Mr Wilde spoke also . .

o f the progress o f the Roman Catholic movement in

England and incidentally mentioned the silly worship

,
“

”
o f Saints Instantly Mr Mackenzie raised his hand
. .

as if wishing to stop the speaker .

“
Please sir do not say a word disrespectful to the
, ,

Saints .
’

Astonished I said : Well I thought you did not

, ,

”
believe in Saints .

There was a time when I did not believe in them ,,

but I believe now And why not ? The spirits o fyour.

departed relatives and friends live why should the spirits ,

ofholy men spi rits ofapostles evangelists holy fathers

, , , ,

”
martyrs n ot li v e also ?
,
And then he told us ofan
incident which opened his eyes about the Saints .

Before he parcelled ou t the field he bought from

Mr Simich into building lots he grew clo v er on the
.

g round ,
gatherin g ever y evening a quantity and selling
it to cart drivers for their horses A few Serbs from
-
.

2 1 6
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
S erbia had had her share during his lifetime . His
heir thought he had done enough for my country when
he gave the municipality of Belgrade a piece ofland o n
which t o build a church Notwithstanding the disappoint
.

ment ( which perhaps was over exacting) the Belgrade

, ,
-

people cherish a respectful remembrance oftheir Scot

tish fellow citizen Frank Mack enz ie
-

, .

2 1 8
 CHAPTER XV
The Fa i l u re 1 Mo s t Regret
MUST now turn t o a subject which has always been
a very sacred on e to me and which I desire to discuss
,

with reverence and with equal regard for truth and ou r

national ideals I would n ot be a true Serb if I did n ot
.

carry in the purest sphere ofmy soul the associations

, ,

ofKossovo . I would not be a true Serb if I could write

my Memoirs without taking the opportunity of men
t i on i n g the memories ofKossovo And as will presently
.
,

be seen I have special reasons for that But first a

, .
, ,

few words of introduction without which my readers

,

could neither understand my motives nor fathom my

deep sadness at my failure .

What is Kossovo ? It is a great plain a hn ost in the

centre of the western half o f the Balkan Peninsul a ,

s ra t egi ca lly commanding all the neighbouring provinces

g
.

ut f o r us Serbs Kosso v o is much less a geo graphical and

strategical term than a term of o u r national psychology ,

a term announcing a historical synthesis pr oclaiming to ,

the world that the Serbs have been able to transform

a military defeat into a moral victory to develop a national
,

tragedy int o a national glory / The bloody battle of

.

Kossovo on June 1 5 th 1 3 8 9 between the Turks under

, ,

Sultan M urad I and the Serbians under Tsar Lazar

.
,

exercis ed a deep and la sting influence on the Serbian

n a tion both by the extraordinary and indeed quite
,

unique fact that the Sovereigns of the two belligerent

2 19
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
n ti ons fell o n that field and still more by the fact that
girbia there lost her independence and became a tri bu
,

tary State o fthe Sultan / The Serbs went to Kossovo

.

t o fi ght for the holy Cross and the golden libe rty
(
“
Z a K rs t cha sn i i s l o bo da They fought
heroically How they fought yo u can see from the
.

g lo rious fact that Tsaritsa Militsa lost her husband ( the

Tsar) her father ( Yug Bogdon) and her nine brothers
,
.
.

And she wa s not the only Serbian woman who su f fered

such terrible losses in th a t battle .

Contemporary bards— and the Serbs had bards

throu ghout all t h e a ges as they have them in the se
,

—
days have describ ed the battle and its most striking
incidents in th eir songs o f which many portion s have
,

been preserved from century to century In that way .

the battle ofKossovo has been re acted before the eyes -

o f Serbs of every generation In that way the Serbs

.

have maintained livin g contact with Tsar Lazar Tsaritsa ,

Mil itsa M i l o sh Obili ch Ivan K oss a n chi ch Milan of

, , ,

Top li t sa and Ban St ra hi n ya

, .

Listenin g t o the bards recitation every Serb ofeve ry

’
,

1 9 1 2, the Serbian army started o n its victorious march

into O ld Serbi a and Mac edonia the leaders did not ,

make long and stirring speeches ; they only uttered four

words ,Let us avenge Kossovo ! And that sufficed
to transform Serbian pride patriotism and poet ry into
,

an in v isible t emple o n Kosso v o to which the Serbs went

,

to worship their national heroes and to inspire them

selves with faith i n the a dvent of better days At .

my suggestion the Belgr a de Society of Y oung Men

o f Commer ce established the custom of celebrating
Vidov D an ( t he da y of St Veit June 1 5 t h) o n .
, ,

2 20
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
vengeance fled to Hun gary carrying with them the
, ,

b ody of Tsar L a zar They went with their precious

.

treasure as far as Saint André on the D anube north of

, ,

Budapest O n the conclusion ofpeace they decided to

.

return to R a v a n i t s a They had already arrived within

.

sight of Belgrade at the monastery ofVrdnik in F ru shk a

,

Gora when they were met by some ofthe monks who

,

had not followed them t o Hungary but hidden them ,

selv es in the forests of Serbia and wh o now came to

,

inform their brethren that they had better leave the body
o fTsar Lazar in Vrdnik until R a v a n i t s a which had been ,

partly burnt by the Turks sh ould be rebuilt The

, .

monks in charge of Tsar Lazar s embalm ed body had ’

n o alternative but to ask temporary hospita lity from the

monastery of Vrdnik But the restoration ofR a va n i t s a

.

progressed very slowly ; then came the rising of the Serbs

o fShu ma d i a against the Turks and the lon strn gle for

monks in char ge ofthe body of Tsar Lazar died out ,

and the b ody of the Kossovo martyr rem a ined and ,

remains to this day in Vrdnik F ru shk a Gora

, , .

Now I come t o the s ubj ect of thi s chapter .

In 1 8 74 I accompan ied as a Cabinet Minister Prince

, ,

Milan on his tour through Serbia We came to .

Chu p ri ya a n impo rtant t own in the Morava valley and

, ,

went to visit Tsar Lazar s church in R a va n i t s a which

’
,

lies only five miles from the town Memories of Tsar .

Lazar and the battle of Kossovo were crowding on us .

Prince Milan was by n o means insensible to such impres

sions The monks showed us the charte r ( I believe a
.

copy of it) by which Tsar Lazar granted large estates

t o his monas tery .

222
 T h e F a il u r e I Mos t R eg r e t
O n the following ni ght I dreamt that a tall ol d , ,

but most dignified man dressed in the gold brocade cf

,

ancient Serb noblemen c a me to me took me by the

, ,

ha n d a n d led me to a large sheet ofparchment han gin g

on a wall and pointed ou t a few lines towards the end
,

of what seemed to be the charter I could not read .

these lines He seemed somewhat annoyed dropped

.
,

my hand and went away After he left me I suddenly

.

recognised that my di gnified v isitor was Tsar Lazar I .

rushed after him t o kiss his hand and awoke ! —

I was d eeply impressed by that dream I tried to .

remember the words he had pointed ou t but could not , .

H owever I came to the conclusion that the position of

,

the lines being towards the end of the charte r the

reference mi ght have been to his re que st that his body
should repose in the R a va n i t sa monastery which he had ,

erected expressly for that purpose Then it struck me .

that the Serbs were under a bounden duty to comply

with the distinctly stated wish oftheir last Ts a r that his ,

body should repose in his own church and that the ,

church o f Vrdnik in which his body now reposed

, ,

although surrounded by a Serb p opulation politically ,

belonged to Hun gary I saw that when in 1 8 8 9 we

.
, ,

should celebrate the fifth centenary of the battle of

Kossovo the very best way to commemorate it would
,

be to transport the b ody ofour last Tsar from Hun gary

to the centre of Serbia to R a va n i t s a which ( as I have
, ,

said) Lazar built for his o wn grave I thought also that .

it won ! i t i ca l l ad v anta geous f or the

Serbs from Bosnia Herzegovina
, ,

and Croatia sho ul d Ser bi a i n st ea dh fg o i n g i o

H u nga mt ofl en era t e t he mm rem a ins of t f f rt yr
i f i

22
3
 M emo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
Next m o rning I laid my idea before Prince Milan
and tried t o induce him to execute the wish of Tsar
Lazar I especially took the trouble to explain how his
.

popularity would be enhanced by such an act and how ,

the celebration o f the fifth centenary o f the battle of

Kossovo would be tame and empty if we left the body
o f the Tsar in Hun gary where it had been deposited
,

only by an accident .

Y ou are a dreamer my dear Minister was Milan s

, ,
’

Fabian answer .
“
Y ou see only the beautiful side of
thin gs and cannot see the u gly side You do no t see .

that the attempt to execute your idea would bring me

into conflict with the monks of Vrdnik with the Patriarch ,

o f Ca rl o v i t z and with the Hun garian Go v ernment .

Please spare me those conflicts Y ou know that I hav e

.

”
already more troubles than I can bear And s o he .

had no doubt but I thou ght he would ha v e grasped

, ,

eagerly at the idea o f fulfilling his o wn and our duty

to Tsar Lazar .

We dropped the matter then Soon afterwards came .

ou r war a gain s t Turkey the war of Russia i n

the Balkans the Treaty ofSan Stefano and the re visi on
, ,

of that treaty by the Con gress of Berlin There

was no reasonable opportunity ofcarrying ou t my heart s ’

desire to fulfi l the wish o fTsar Lazar But I never for .

got my dream o f R a va n i t sa and when in 1 8 8 0 I

, , ,

became Minister for Forei gn Af fairs I insisted that Kin g

Milan should gi v e me permission t o try to remove the
difficul t ies which had dismayed him when I for the first ,

time spo ke t o him on the subject He gave me t hat

, .

permission in view o f the approaching celebrati on of

,

the fifth centenary ofKosso v o and I be gan to work

, .

To my confidential inquiry the Hun garian Go v ern

22 4
.
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l omat i s t
Government M eda k ovi ch wrote a letter to the Serbian
.

Press violently attacking my scheme oftransferring the

body of Tsar Lazar from Vrdnik t o R a v a n i t s a His .

argument wa s that the Serbian population of F ru shk a

Gora were sustained in their national patriotism by the
presence of Ts a r Lazar s body at Vrdnik and if the
’
,

b ody were removed the M a gya ri s a t i on o f the Serbs

would succeed where so far it had not The Belgra de
.

newspapers— those which were subsidised by the Russian

Le gation—sided with M eda k ovi ch a gainst me Public .

opinion understood at o nce t hat M eda k ovi ch s letter ’

expressed the views of the Russian Legation and the

Russian Government The larger part ofSerbian public
.

opinion was always Russophile Although ou r Cabinet

. .

had a substantial majority in the National Assembly my ,

o wn political friends advised me to abandon my project

“ ”
in View o fthe Russian opposition . And as I wa s
not sure of obtaining the necessary credits from t he
Skupshtina reluctantly and with sincere sorrow I aban
,

don ed further e f forts to fulfil the h eart s desire of ou r

’ “

last Tsar.

This failure ha s occasioned me more grief and vexa

tion than any other ofmy official fa ilure s .

226
 CHAPT E R XVI
t Wa r
The G r ea

M M E D I A T E L Y after the declaration of war by the

Central Powers an American periodical of fered me
an attractive fee for an article ofthree thousand words ,

setting forth all I knew about the facts which led to

the war The o f
. fer reached me through an English
friend who was aware that in April 1 9 1 4 I had st ated
, ,

t o a Serb interviewer that the European situation — not

withstandi n g the apparent clearness of the political sky
wa s v ery delicate and dan gerous that war mi ght break
,

ou t any day , and that when it did so it would come

suddenly .

Although much tempted by the proposal on careful ,

consideration I refused it I thought the time i n oppor

.

tune for a true histo ry ofall the visible and some ofthe
then invisible salient facts whi l e what I as a historian
, , ,

would have t o say truthfully mi ght be misconstrued since ,

it mi ght be opp osed to the temporary interests ofmy

o wn people and their allies I am still handicapped by
.

such considerations especially as I cannot mention the

,

the n a mes ofthe persons from whom I recei v ed some of

my information But I may be permitted to indicate
.

certain things which may be useful to future impartial

writers.

Every student ofEuropean events during the t hirty

six years 1 8 78 to 1 9 1 4 must ha v e remarked the chain
offatalities w hich led to th e upheaval When I con
.

227
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
template these fatalities— J call them so because they
are inevitable ; men statesmen governments and nations
, ,

could not help themselves could not d

, o otherwise I —
am constrained to imagine that a higher Power verily
makes the history of the world an d that nations and
,
,

their leaders are only pawns on the chessboard moved

‘

by forces beyond their c o ntrol .

General I gn a t i ef
fs Treaty of San Stefan o ( 1 8 78 ) led
’

inevitably and fat ally to the Congress ofBerlin H u mi l i .

ated Russi a naturally vowed vengeance then and there .

I remember that Jovan R i st i ch t he only representative

,

of Serbia at the Berlin Congress told me on his return ,

that when distressed and heartbroken he went to Count

, ,

f and asked how he could sacrifice Bosnia and

Sh u va l of
H erze govina to Austrian occupation the Count answered , ,

D on t be alarm ed have patience ; in ten years we will

’
,

”
have a great wa r and a ll this will be chang ed .

Similarly Bismarck inevitably and fatally had t o

, , ,

take precautions a gainst an eventual Russian attack He .

went t o Vienna and afterwards to Rome and m a de the

Triple Alliance which again inevitably a n d fatall y led
, ,

to t he alliance between Russi a and France t o whose ,

—
dual alliance Great Britain after the period of her
former splendid isolation —had a gain inevitably a n d ,

fatally in the lon g run to accede The inevita ble forma

, .

tion ofthe Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente was

the expression ofthe exi stence o ftwo groups of interest s
and tendencies for the protection ofwhich it wa s deemed
,

essential to establish these two separate and— n ot wi t h

standing the insincere assurances t o the contrary —rival
organis ations That the leading men of both sides
.

thought them fundamentally antagonistic everyb ody ,

who had eyes to see ears t o hear and bra ins to dr aw

,

228
 M emo i rs o f a Ba l k a n Di p l oma t i s t
will say that the occupation and annexation of Bosnia
and Herzegovina did n ot spri ng from any sentimental
d esire of the Emperor Francis Joseph to obtain com
p en s a t i o n for the loss o fLombardy and Venetia Still .

less had that policy as i t s mo tive the al leged desire of

Austri a and Hungary to anni hi late and exte rminate the
Serb n ation The fact is that D almatia Herzegovin a
.
,

and Bosnia form on e geographical and economi cal or

commercial unit .

D almatia is the natural foreland of Bosnia the ,

latter thus being of course the natural hinterland of

, ,

D almatia Whilst the Turks were powerful masters of

.

Bo snia they often a ttempted to reduce D almatia but ,

since the Vienna Con gres s in 1 8 1 5 gave D alma ti a t o

,

Austria Austrian st atesmen began to cast unlawful eyes

,

o n D alma tia s nei ghbour which could not prosper with

’
,

o u t commercial union with her As mistress ofD almatia

.

Austria inevitably c oveted Bosnia If we Serbs become .

masters ofBosnia as we ho p e and believe we shall and

, ,

if D almatia be retained by Austria or given to Italy , ,

we must fatally and i nev i tably work to become s ooner ,

or later , m a sters of ou r o wn country D almatia I , .

mention all this to show h ow Fate h a s decreed that t he

“
’

vital interests of the Serb nation sh a ll conflict with those

o f Austria H ungary
-
I seemed to see this oppositio n
.

develop into a struggle for existence I feared for the .

very existence ofmy people and on several occasions

,

tried to prevent that danger .

Availing myself of my friendship with Mr B enjamin .

de K alla y the Austrian M inis ter for Bosnia my a c

, ,

quaintance with Count Szegven yi Marich the Under -

Secretary of State for Forei gn A f fairs in Vienna a n d ,

afte rwards Amba s s a dor to G ermany and my friendly ,

2 30
 T h e G r ea t W a r
relations with Count Kheven hiil l er Aus tro H ungarian ,
-

Minister i n Belgra de I often discussed the Bosnian q ues

'

tion with them We always spoke confidentially and

.

perhaps rather academically .

My thesis was always this If the Bosnian q uestion :

is not settled amicably between Serbia and Austria

Hungary it mu st one day le a d to rupture As Russia
,
.

could not let Serbia be crushed by Austria Hungary -

the D ual Monarchy may run the serious danger oflosing

not only Bosnia and Herze govina but several other ,

provinces as well Th a t risk would disappear if the

.

occupied provinces were ceded to Serbia By such an .

act Austria Hungary would Win the gratitude and friend

-

ship ofthe Serb nation and there wo ul d no longer be

,

a reason for the preponderance of Russian influence

amon gst the Serbs An enlarged and stronger Serbia
.

would be far less liable to become a Russian satellite

‘

than would a weak Serbi a smarting under the wound

which the Austrian occupation ofthose t wo Serb p ro
vinces had inflicted on her We would give full com .

p e n s a t i on for Austrian investments in railways roads , ,

buildings etc and grant Austria H ungary s commerce

, .
,
-
’

exceptional privile ges possibly even forming a Customs

,

union (Zollverein ) with them .

Mr de Kall a y a n dCou n t Szegven yi Marich i nvariably

.
/
-

assured me tha t they were not afraid ofa wa r with Russia

o n account o fSerbia ; that even if Austria were beaten

she might lose Galicia and Bukovina but not Bosnia ; ,

for if Au stria were t o cede Bosni a she might as well

hand over D almatia also In other wo rds they used
”
.
,

to finish you ask Austria Hungary to commit suicide

,
-

o u t offear ofa war with Serbia and Russia ! Count

Kheven hi i l l er used only t o lau gh and crack jokes .

2 3 1
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l omat i s t
Before I left Serbia for England in 1 8 8 9 I fe a red
th a t an amicable settlement of the Bo sman question was
impossible but I thought we ou ght to concentrate atten
,

tion o n winnin g O ld Serbia and Macedonia and leave ,

the Bosnian question to a later time I had however .

, ,

anxieties about the stability ofpeace since 1 9 00 when ,

King Alexander havin g married D ra ga Mashin by the

, ,

help of Russ ian diplomacy declared himself a parti san

o fRussia and v iolently denounced his father s friendship
’

with Austria Hun gary and Germany The danger i n

-
.

creased after the a ssassination of Kin g Alexander and

Queen D raga when Kin g Peter c a me to the throne of
,

Serbia and entru sted the Government to the Russophile

and A u s t roph obe Radicals Peter who wisely and
.
, ,

rightly wished t o govern in accordance with m odern con

,

s t i t u t i on a l principles , could not do otherwise since the ,

Radicals had a great majority in the country I often .

remembered Milan s prophecy that if he let the Radicals

’

govern according to their desire the Austrians would ,

occupy Serbia within three years of their advent to

power But prophets are seldom correct when they
.

speak of time .

There wa s no doubt that since 1 9 0 3 Russian influence

had been paramount in Serbia The leader ofthe Radical
.

—
party and with the exception of the short interregnum
of D r . M i l ova n ovi ch—almost the permanent Prime
Minister of Serbia Nicola P a shi ch wa s known in the
, ,

country and in Europe at large as p ers o n a gra t i ssi ma

with the Tsar and the Russian Government Vienna . ,

indeed considered the Kin g and P a shi ch as merely the

,

faithful a gents of Russia Consequently the Vienna

.

Press never friendly to Serbia immediately started a

, ,

campai gn a gainst them and the country The Serbian .

2 32
 fiM emo i r s o f a Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
be changed The annexation ofBosnia and H erzegovina
.

by Austria in 1 9 0 8 and all that happened in the be gin

,

n in g of 1 9 0 9 created an atmosphere charged with elec

,

t ri ci t y. Even if we put aside the suspicion that it was a

deliberate attempt o n the p a rt ofAustria and Germany
to provoke a general war everybody in Europe and more
, ,

especially in the Balkan States knew that Russia would ,

n ot long endure the slight ofA eh ren t h a l s success and ’

,

that she must s ooner or later—and sooner rather than

,

later—restore her presti ge among the Balkan Slav s .

The first conse q uence of the a nnexation was that

Serbia threw herself into the arms of Russia thereby ,

increasing Austria s hatred The second conse quence

’
.

wa s tha t it aggravated the secret agitation o fthe Serbians

in Bosnia which still further deepened the conviction in
,

Austrian military circle s that they would have to fight

with Serbia That agitation wa s very natural but it wa s
.
,

i mprudent T he third and much graver conse q uence wa s

.

Russia s patent determination to come at once t o a full

’

and secure arran gement with Japan and then amass the ,

largest part of her forces near the frontiers ofAustria

and Germany This fact was interpreted by Berlin and
.

Vienna as demonstrating Russia s intention to provoke ’

wa r either in secret understanding with France and Great

,

Bri t ain o r on her own initiative without the consent of

, ,

these Powers but in the hope offorcin g them to come in

,

later Everythin g that wa s done seemed so logical and

.

so natural bu t ho w inevitable h ow fateful !

, ,

I do not pretend to know absolutely the true obj ects

o f Russi an It woul d be fair to sup
pose that Russia simply followed the traditional Balkan
policy ofliberating Slav territories from the direct govern
ment of Turkey whenever s he s a w a propitious oppor
2
34
 Th e G r ea t Wa r
tu n ity . It mi ght even be argued that Russia in starting ,

the war ofSerbs Bulgars and Greeks against the Turks

,

in 1 9 1 2 proved that she did n ot intend t o provoke wa r

,

with Ge rman y and Austria and only tried to restore her

,

presti ge amon g the Serbs and Bulgars by a lo ca l Balkan

war which need n ot cause a European outbreak But
, .

in 1 9 1 1 when Russi a advised Serbia and Bulgaria to

,

come to a reasonable arrangement oftheir interests and

claims in Macedonia and ally themselves for an attack
o n Turkey she played the leading part in negot iations
,

which were notoriously very di f ficult as between Serbs

and Bulgars When further she s ucceeded in drawin g
.
, ,

th e Greeks into that Alliance a n d made provision i n

the bond between the contractin g parties a gainst any
interference ofAustria i n Serbian affairs it wa s only t o ,

be expected that various interpretations would be placed

on her motives i n dif ferent capitals .

The Grand V izier Ki a mi l Pasha whom the British

, ,

Government considered as its devoted friend a man of ,

great intelligence and shrewdness , declared on several

occasions that although Turkey wa s attacked the real
blow w
, ,

a s aimed at Austria I have reason to believe that

.

this vie w wa s held i n Budapest and Vienna The .

p artial mobilisation o f the Russian troops on the

A u s t ro H u n ga ri a n frontier w a s considered as meant t o
v

provoke a n open conflict between Russia and Austria

H ungary and so precipitate a general European w ar .

It was a miracle that the confla gra t i on di d n ot take

place then and we were often on the very brink of war
,

even during the Ambassadorial Conference in London .

That miracle was due t o the statesmanship of the British

Foreign Secretary Sir E dward Grey , .

But this shows ho w p r ecarious wa s the state ofpeace .

2 35
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l k a n D i p l oma t i s t
Living in London and sometimes seeing diplomats I
, ,

appreciated the di f ficulties of the Ambassadorial Con

ference and realised that diplomacy could not always
perform miracles and that consequently the situation o f
,

E urope wa s exceedingly delicate and dangerous From .

all I heard about Germany s and Austria s preparations

’ ’

it wa s easy to conclude that they would precipitate and

provoke war because they knew that it was inevitable ,

that their preparations were far in advance ofthose o fthe

Entente Powers and that it was absurd to suppose they
,

would wait until Russia had completed her strategi c

. ,

railways e quipped her ten million soldiers and the

,
:

French law of three years service had begun to bear

’

fruit In this diagnosis I was confirmed by what

.

occurred after the Treaty of Bucharest of1 9 1 3 .

This leads me to mention the peace negotiations 1 n

London between the Balkan belligerents in the year
named Serbia sent excellent representatives t o the
.

Conference in the person s of Andra N ikolieh President ,

ofthe Serbian N ational Assembly D r M i l en k o Vesn i ch

, .
,

ou r Minister in Paris and the leader ofthe Pro gressists

, ,

Mr Stoyan Novakovich who had been several times

.
,

Prime Minister Serbian Minister in Petrograd and

, ,

President of the Academy of Sciences and other

Academies All were my personal friends They
. .

brought me a kind message from P a shi ch who hoped ,

that as a good patriot and a ma n who kne w London

, ,

I would be ready to assist the Serbian delegates .

My friends invited me to consider myself as an

unoffic i al member of the delegation and although I ,

never assumed that character and came almost daily t o

see them only as a friend they had no secrets from me
, ,

and indeed did me m ore than a chivalrous kindness

2 3 6
 M emo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
too wa s the first Serbian delegate my political and
, ,

personal friend from childhood Stoyan N ovakovich I , .

always regretted his treatment ofthe Turks whenever

his t u rn ca me to preside at the Conference But D r
‘
. .

Ves n i ch by his diplomatic courte sy and Andra Nikolieh

, , ,

by his kindness and gentleness and his love of what is

r i ght and just soothed the p oo r Turks We all even
, .
,

No v akovich had much sympathy and respect for R echid

,

Pash a because he was great grandson ofMustapha Pasha

,
-

whom ( as I have already noted) the Serbs called the

Mother o fthe Serbs in gratefu l acknowledgment of
”
,

his kindness to the people Besides R echid Pasha wa s .

,

personally a fin e mannered gentleman Nor ca n I forget

-
.

Mr Take J on es co the Rumanian statesman who came

.
, ,

to ne gotiate with Mr D a n ef f about Bul garia s com

.
’

p e n s a t i o n to Rumania for the l a tter s friendly neutrality ’

during the wa r Whenever I had an opportunity of

.

talking with Mr J on es co I was always refreshed de

.
,

li ghted and enriched by an addition to my stores of

knowledge .

Although I wa s in da ily contact with the Serbian

delegates I maintained the independence of my opinions
, .

I was strongly opposed to their breaking o f fthe ne go

tiations for peace Neither my friends nor Mr Venizelos
. .

liked that rupture but they ha d to submit to Bulgaria s

,
’

desire to get Adrianople I am probably one of the .

few friends whom the Bulgars have in Serbia but I ,

did not hesitate to publish in the D a i ly Telegra p h my

reasons for thinking that Bulgaria s acquisition of ’

Adrianople was against the interests of Serbia The .

a rticle caused some sensation in London and my Bulgar ,

friends were annoyed that I had sounded the alarm at

the con seq u en ces oftheir ambition
‘

2 38
 T h e G r ea t W a r
At the same time when I gathered that Serbia would
,

retai n for go od the Macedonian territories which she had

bound herself by the Treaty of Alliance to cede to Bul
garia but which she had conquered and yet retained
, ,

I thought and rep eatedly said that such a policy was

, ,

neither ri ght nor prudent Probably I am more of a

.

doctrinaire than a practical politician But I held that .

Serbia ought to respect her o wn si gnature in all circum

stances It is true that we had made a bad treaty ;
.

t hat the territories which the treaty declared to be Bul

g arian were inhabited b y more Serbs than Bul gars that
the events which actually happened were not foreseen
by the treaty ; th a t the Bulgars themselves did n o t
comply with all their treaty obli gations towards us ; t hat
the Serbs conquered Macedonia from the Turks without
any direct aid from Bulgaria and that they went t o
,

help the Bulgars con quer Adrianople and Thrace which ,

was not stipulated for by the treaty Still we h a d .

,

si gned that treaty and if we could not obtain Bulgaria s

,
’

consent to a friendly modification o fits terms we ought , ,

in my opinion as an honest and honourable nation t o

, ,

hav e executed ou r ori ginal engagements .

I mu st do just ice t o the Serbian Prime Minister ,

N ikola P a shi ch and stat e that he did not repudiate the

,

treaty ofFebruary 2 9 t h 1 9 1 2 but tried t o induce Bul

, ,

garia to consent to an amicable revision with due con ,

sideration for the actual circumstances and facts And ‘

when the Bulgars refused to listen to his pr0 p osa l he

suggested that they should submit their difference t o
the arbitration of the Tsar as was formally provi ded for
,

in the treaty itself .

Russia found Serbia s demand for rev1 s1on reasonable

’

and justifiable and advised Bulgari a to try to come t o

,

2 39
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
a direct underst anding with Serbia a n d Greece t o o The .

Bulgars were surpri sed and then deeply irritated by

Russia s decision and Austrian agents worked energetic
’
,

ally to exploit that irritation Throughout Bulgaria .

,

a n d even amon g the s oldiers Russia wa s denounced as ,

siding with Serbs and helping to deprive Bul garia of

the fruits of her v ictory It was ce rtainly remarkable
.

that although the Serbo Bulgarian Alliance was initiated

,
-

and carried t hrohgh n o t only against Turkey but at , ,

least indirectly a gainst Austria als o the Kin g of Bul

, ,

g ari a and his Government and many politicians cultivated

most friendly relations with Austria Th a t looked very .

suspicious and suggested in my mind that the rumours

,

o f a secret treaty between Bul garia and Austri a since

the autumn ofthe annexation year 1 9 0 8 mi ght not be , ,

devoid offoundation .

Bulgar dissatisfaction with Russi a wa s quickly intensi

fied by a rumour and a fact The rumour was spread .
,

especially in the army that Russia prevented Turkey

,

from agreeing t o Bulgaria s demand of Mi di a Rodost o ’

-

a s a bound a ry line and urged the acceptance of the

,

line Midia Enos instead The fact was that the Bul
-

g a rian Minister in Petrograd M Bo p chev informed his , .

,

Government that the Russian Go v e rnment would not

like to see the Bulgar army enter Constantinople M . .

Bo p chev advised his Government to abandon such an

intenti on if they e v er had it else they would come into
, ,

conflict with the vital interests ofRussia .

No w it was not only the personal ambition ofKing

,

Ferdinand but also the dream ofthe whole Bulgar nation

, ,

t o become some da y masters of Constantinople The .

rumour of Russia s forbidding the Bulgar army from

’

entering Stamboul wa s backed by t he ru mou r th a t

2 40
 Memo i r s o fa B a l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
And now we know from the declaration ofthe Italian
,

Prime Minister Giolitti in the Italian Chamber that

, , ,

Austria towards the end of July and the beginning of

,

Au gust 1 9 1 3 contemplated a declaration of war on

, ,

Serbia .

After the conclusion of the Peace o f Bucharest

rumours were r ife in the Serbian Press that Bulgaria and
Austria had concluded a secret treaty for joint action
a gainst Serbia I heard even then only this on e detail
.
’

that in the case ofsuccess the con tracting parties wo uld

share Serbia the Morava forming a new boundary be
,

tween Austria and Bul ga ria and Serbia becoming extinct,

as an i ndependent Sta te S i multaneously the Bul garian

.

Press published somewhat veiled bu t still sufficiently ,

transparent statements that the Treaty o f Bucharest

,

could not be valid for very lon g that events would ,

soon happen which would chang e its stipul ations and

‘

that the struggle between Serbia and Austria w ould soon

take place when Serbia woul d be sorry for her hostility
,

to B ulgaria E ven Th e Ti mes Balkan correspondent

.
,

Mr B ou rchi er re echoed these views in his telegrams

.
,
-

from Sofia .

All these in th emselves probably not very a u t horit a

,

tive statements strengthened my conviction that the

,

situation was extre mely delicate and dif ficult and that ,

we might have war very soon and very suddenly ‘

This .

view ofthe situation was fortified by information from

German friends in the second half of 1 9 1 3 that the ,

impression in Germany was that Great Britain F rance ,

and Russia had conspired for the destruction of the

German Emp i re and that their preparations would be
complete in 1 9 1 7 That the impression was a base
fabrication w as of no consequence t o the
2 4 2
 T h e G r ea t Wa r
Lords The German Government s ta sk then was t o
.
’
, ,

decide whether it would wait until its enemies were

prepared or taking advantage of their unreadiness
, , ,

precipitate the wa r at once .

So certain was I that war was coming and that the

Bulgars would n ot join the Entente Powers that I wrote
a series ofarticles for the London Press calling attention
to the futility ofall e f
forts to draw Bulgaria to our side .

But British diplomacy seems to have believed up to the

last that B ulgaria could be won ; so confident was it ,

indeed that the Press Censor would not allow my articles

,

proving the contrary to be published I still posses s .

s ome o fmy articles on the Balkan situat i on bearing the

C ensor s veto as a souvenir ofthose strange days

’
.

now summarise th e facts which led to the

Great War .

I start from the fundamental known fact ofpermanent

rivalry between Russia and Austri a for predominant
influence and eventual maste ry 1 11 the Balkan Peninsula .

Their struggle was facilitated by the fact that the t wo

principal Balkan peoples Serbs and Bulgars were jealous
, ,

ofeach other Their vital interests came into collision

.

in Macedo n ia .

Since the Slavonic Ethnographic Exhibition at

Moscow in 1 8 6 7 o n e o fthe aims ofRussia s Balkan
, ,
’

policy had been to liberate the Slavs from Turkish

rule and create a Great Bulgaria includin g Macedonia .

The W o f1 81 8 gave full expression to

that policy Until this date Serbia and Prince Milan

.

were sincerely and devotedly Russophile But when in .

,

that treaty Russia sacrificed Serbia s claims in Mace

,
’

donia (having already sacrificed the Serbian provinces

2
43
 M emo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
o f Bosnia and Herzegovi na t o Austria by the secret

arrangement of Prince Milan turned from Russia

and looked towards Austria for the safeguarding ofSerb
interests in Macedonia From 1 8 8 0 to 1 9 0 0 Austrian
.

influence prevailed in Serbia , while Russian influence

“

was paramount in Bulgaria .

In 1 9 00 through King Alexander s marri age with

,
’

Madame D raga M a shin Russian influence wa s re

,

established in Serbia and still further confirmed by the

,

accession ofKing Peter t o the throne and by the Radicals

definitely taking the government of the country into
their hands.

Both Austria and Bulgari a alarmed by this fa ct , ,

drew nearer to each other More es pecially wa s this the

.

case when the confidential overture ofPrince Ferdinand

to Petrograd as t o his country s aspiration t o be pro
,
’

claimed independent and a Kingdom was not encouraged ,

by the Tsar but wa s befriended in Vienna This led

, .

up to a secret treaty between Austria and Bulgaria in

the autumn of1 9 0 8 which w as I think concluded for

, , ,

seven years.

O f this treaty the first fruit s were the simultaneous

proclamation ofBulgari a s independence as a Kingdom
’

( really as a new Tsardom and the annexation of

Bosnia and Herze govi na by Austria But t he further .

—
stipulation namely the cc operati on of Bulgaria with
,
-

—
Austria in case Serbia declared war was for the time
bein g rendered superfluous by Serbia s temp o rary sub ’

mission t o the adv ice ofthe Great Powers of the Entente ,

Russia n ot being q uite ready for hos tilities .

In the beginnin g of 1 9 1 2 Russian statesmanship

scored a decided success in organising the Balkan
Alli a nce on the basis of the seemin g reconciliation of
"

2
44
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l omat i s t
Bulgaria if need be with her whole military force
, , .

All this shows the existence ofa secret treaty between

Austria and Bulgaria O f this there is further proof in
.

Austria s attempt to o btain the consent of her allies

’
,

Germany and Italy to her attack on Serbia shortly af t er

,

the defeat of the B u lgarian army by the Serbs and

Greeks in the summer of 1 9 1 3 .

Austria s conduct during the conference ofBucharest

’

and immediately afterwards proved her to be a real ally

o f Bul garia It is extraordinary th at the diplomats o f
.

the Entente Powers in Vienna and Sofia did not see

that fact and grasp its meanin g It is true that M . .

Sazonov wa s reported to have said to the Bulgarian

Minister in Petro grad M B op chev on June 1 2 th 19 1 3
, .
, , ,

that he knew that Bulgaria had rejected Russia and

Slavdom and was following the advice of Au stria But .

would Bulgaria have dared reject Russi a and Slav

“

dom , surrounded as she was by four hostile Balkan

States had she not insured herself by a secret treaty
,

with Austria ?
Having lost all influence in Serbia after 1 9 0 0 ,and
,

bein g in dan ger oflosing her influence in Bulgaria too , ,

if she did not hurry to drag that country o u t of the

abyss int o which she had fallen through acting upon her
st a t es men s advice Austria Hun gary in the summer of
’
-

, ,

19 13, came t o the conclusion that it wa s of vital i m

p ortance to her to compel the Serbs to give up Russian
guidance and to retain and stren gthen her i nfl uence in
, .

Bulgari a by forcing Serbia to cede Macedonia to the

Bulgars N either object could be achieved without a
.

s uccessful wa r and Austria wa s bent as all the w orld

, ,

n o w knows o n w ar with Serbia in August

, 1913 , .

In my opinion it wa s Austria H unga ry which drag ged -

24 6
 T h e G r ea t W a r
Germany into the wa r Although q uite ready and
. ,

indeed contemplating the adv isability of precipitating

it Germany like Italy refused t o follow Austria into
, , ,

war in Au gu st 1 9 1 3 But persistent representations

, .

by Austria Hun gary o fher increasin gly dangerous posi

-

tion in the Balkans at len gth prevailed early in the

summer of 1 9 1 4 At the meeting between the German
.

Emperor and the Archduk e Francis Ferdinand at

K o n op i sht in the first days ofJune w a rlike action was
decided o n and the assassination of the Archduke in
,

Sarajevo on June 2 8 t h ( Serbian Kos sovo day ) gave a

plausible pretext for the Austrian H ungarian ultimatum -

to Serbia which was decided some time before

, .

I have no doubt th a t this cataclysmic World War

wa s inevitable developed o u t ofthe Balkan tangle
, In .

that p art of Europe lies the commercial and military

road from Central Europe to Asia Minor where again , , ,

runs the connecting link between Asia and Africa .

Therefore whoever may win the conflict o fthe Ba lkans

,

shall become master of Asia M inor provided he has ,

brains and the gift of organising t o say nothing ofmen , ,

money and courage A demoralised Power even if she

.
,

were to gain an accidental victo ry in the Balkans could ,

never retain its fruits .

So far as I kn ow the facts oft h e Balkan situation

_ and I have be n watching their emer ence and de
e g
v el op men t for the last forty five years— I d o n o t hesi
-

tate to say that Austria and not Ge rmany provoked

‘

, ,

the War But for practical purpos es Germany and

.
, ,

Aust ria are on e body a n d one soul and e qually share ,

the resp onsibility for the colossal catastro phe .

To those who a ssert that Serbia provoked this hor

rible hurric a ne ofdestruction bloodshedand indescri bable
,

24 7
 M emo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l omat i s t
misery I can only say that such an assertion is not o nl y
,

not true but so t o speak even a ridiculous lie

, , , .

As a rider t o this chapter I propose to amplify a

few of the statements it c onta ins in order to make it
quite clear why Bul garia join ed the Central Powers In .

doing so it will b e scarcely possible to avoid some amount

o frepetition .

From the be g innin g o f the war in Au gu s t 1 9 1 4 , ,

the diplomatists ofthe Entente Powers made strenuous

ef forts t o induce Bulga ria t o join the Al lies o r at least , ,

to remain neutral .

The Bul garian Government declared itself perfectly

free from every engagement and stated that it was ,

willing to negotiat e with both belli gerents t o see whi ch ,

would o f fer the greater adv ant ages fo r her neutrality

o r for her eventual participation in the strife It also .

declared that the Bucharest Treaty o f1 9 1 3 had inflicted

grievous injust ice and injury on Bul garia and that m odi ,

fi ca t i on o fthat treaty and the restoration of the territories

torn from her and ceded to Greece Serbia and Rumania ,

must be a s i n e q u a n on o fher friendly attitude .

That declaration made a profound impression on

public opinion in Great Britain and France Some .

newspapers indeed called it cynical while others

, , ,

admired its bold frankness but all urged the Entente

,

Powers to negotiate and try to win Bul garia by fu rther

c oncessions .

I knew that the declaration ofthe Bulgarian Govern

ment was not sincere that its negotiations were be gun
,

only t o gain time for war preparations and th a t i t s ,

ultimate decision wa s a foregone conclusion As has .

been mentioned already in the autumn o f1 9 0 8 a secret

,

24 8
 M emo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
Vardar . But as the Bul gars claimed in addit i on
, , ,

Macedoni a west of the Vardar as well as Monastir

, ,

—
the Serbian Government this time on the advice o fthe
Entente Powers— o f fered not only Eastern but also ,

Weste rn Macedonia with Monastir reserv ing to Serbia

, ,

only the town of Prisli p Bulgar i a therefore would

.
, ,

have secured more than she could le gitimately claim and ,

all that she really did claim without wa r

, .

But she refused every concession and preferred to

side w ith the Central Powers Why ? Because she wa s
.

bound to join Austria a gainst Serbia in conse quence of

the secret treaty of 1 9 1 3 which was a renewal and
,

a mplification ofthe secret treaty between her and Austria

in 1 9 0 8 .

2 50
 CHAPTER XVII
My Reco r d i n Serbi a
T is not ve ry modest but I o we it to myself to s a y
,

—
and I say it because it is easily veri fia bl e that my
name as Cabinet Minister is connected with several
, ,

important laws and reforms in Serbia .

I am especially proud that I was a membe r o fthe .

Government whi ch abolished corporal punishment civilly

and in the army and which saved ou r country fr om losing
,

its peasants through the l a w fixing the number ofacres

,

—
ev ery peasant must have as a minimum a holding that
could not be sold for any debt whatsoe ver I wa s also .

a member of the Cabinet which proclaimed Serbia a

Kingdom I introduced the metric system ofweights
.

and measures into Serbia coined the first silver and

,

g old coins o f modern Serbia ( identical with the French

monetary system) re established the old monetary silver
,
-

unit of the medi aeval Serbian Kingdom the di n a r which , , ,

according to D ante a Serbian King whom the poet saw

, ,

in hell for his felony s tole from Venice and counterfeited

, .

King Vladislav in the middle of the thirteenth century

, ,

only did what I e f fected in the nineteenth— namely ,

adopt ed the best model of a silver coin he found in

contemporary Europe I hope I shall not burn in hell
.

for coining a Serbian dinar identical with the French

franc ! I concluded Serbia s first commercial treaties
,
’

with the p rincipal countries ofE urope and introduced ,

several reforms among them the stamp duty ( for the

,

2 5 1
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
first time in Serbia) ; but apart from this I was rather a
poor administrator and had deficits in my budgets .

As I have mentioned budgets I may relate how I ,

once figured in the popular ballads o fthe Serbian bards .

In 1 8 73 for the first time I presented my budget t o

, ,

the N ational Assembly While in England I had listened

.

with just admiration to Mr Gladstone s budget speeches

.
’
.

I accordingly astonished the deputies by a speech lasting

over an hour th e like o fwhich they had never heard
,

before But the e f

. fect was contrary to my expectations .

Those simple and honest men suspected the soundness of

my budget because they thought a sound budget did not
,

need such a long speech to recommend it So the leader .

of the O pposition was much applauded when he massacred

my financial proposals .

Prince Milan summoned me t o dine at the Palace

by way ofconsolation and to induce me not to resign .

While we were at dinner the first police report was handed

to the Prince in accordance with the practice ofsending
to the Palace every t wo hours a report ofwhat was going
o n in the town The Prince read the report aloud It
. .

stated that in the chi ef cof fee houses ( which in Serbia

-

are also restaurants and inns fo r peasants) the national

bards were singing to large audiences the budget debate ,

representing the Minister of Finance as a n ew Mussa

K es s eji ya ( a typical Turkish tyrant ofol d time ) and the
leader of the O pposition as a new Kra l yevi ch Marco (the
Royal Prince Marco ) the national hero who according
, ,

to a popular ol d ballad fought and defeated Mussa

,

K es s eji ya . I felt for a m oment as if insult had been

added to injury But the Prince and a l l the guests
.

enjoyed the incident so thoroughly that I had t o join

in the laugh against myself .

2 5 2
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l o ma t i s t
the Government from undertaking the construction of
the railways forthwith .

The first foreigner who suggested the b ui lding ofthe

railway in Serbia was an E nglishman Mr Somerset , .

Beaumont who came to Belgrade i n 1 8 6 9 o nl y t o find

, ,

the Govern ment ofthe Regency n ot prepared t o enter

into serious negotiations as there was n o certainty that
Serb i a woul d consent t o link up wit h the O ttoman rail
way M r Hartley another E nglishman next proposed
. .
, ,

to assign to a powerful E nglish company the carrying

out ofthe enterprise This wa s just when Serbia was
.

preparing for the war against Turkey in 1 8 76 ; a n d the

Liberal Government of R i st i ch for political reaso n s , ,

hesita ted These reasons were k nown t o the Austrian

.

Government and at the Berlin Congress when Count

, ,

f advised M r R i st i ch to address himself to

Shu va l of .

Austria to save wh a t could be saved Count Andrassy

, ,

re quired the Serbian representative to sign a conventio n

binding Serbia to start her section ofthe internation a l
line within three years ( by
When the Progressists formed the Government after
the resignation ofR i st i ch in O ctober 1 8 8 0 they were , ,

confronted with hi s treaty engagement to begi n bui ld

ing the railway the very next year that is within a few ,

months R i st i ch s Cabinet having made no preparations

.
’

fo r the ful filment of the undertaking as Minister of ,

Foreign A f fa irs and F ina nce I made confidential ,

inquiries whether it were possible to o btain a prolonga

tion of the term fo r o n e year But the answer from .

Vienna was discouraging So we had t o set to w ork .

at once .

M B on t ou x the general manager of the famous

.
,

Pa ris B a nk the Union Généra le was the first t o come

, ,

2
54
 M y R eco r d i n S e r b i a
forward with an offer He wa s followed by General
.

f as representati v e o f P ol ya kof
T ch ern a yef , f Cc a .
,

Russian firm of railway engineers Independently we .

had of fers also from a Russo Belgian group represented -

by Mr Kos t i t sky and two French co mpanies and an

.
,

English o n e .

We had decided that the railway must be built at

the expense ofthe State and become national property ,

though its working mi ght be l et t o a forei gn company .

The scheme presupposed the raising of a loan M . . .

B on t ou x proposed to lend us the whole o fthe capital

at a certain price and take over the exploitation ofthe
railway for thirty or fifty years The Russian offer was .

also simi lar M B on t ou x s company wa s entirely French

. .
’
,

but he himself was considered t o be an Austrian who

ha d been encoura ged by the Austrian Government 2

Practically therefore we had a variant of the o ld

, ,

struggle between Austria and Russia and a very fierce ,

struggle it was Much money was spent on both sides

.

to secure the concession Bo n t ou x s propos als were .

’

more detailed more precise and on the whole more

, , , ,

favourable than P ol ya kof fs But Russia being so much’

.

loved and admired by the Serbians there was a wide ,

spread desire to favour the Russian company The .

newly formed Radical party under P a shi ch s guidance ,

’
,

plumped for the Russian proposals or f or the adjourn ,

ment of the question for s everal months In the .

National Assembly the Government had a majority ,

but it was not exactly overwhelming The R a dicals

‘

formed a rather stron g minority and comprised some

able men .

Next ensued a period ofintrigue and wire pulling -

.

A clever doctor who had worked for many years as a

2
55
 M emo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
journalist in Belgrade who spoke and wrote Serbian
,

well and who knew all the politicians privately inter

, ,

viewed many influential deputies and promised them

s ums ,
varying from to francs for each ,

v ote for B on t ou x proposals I found this o u t after

’
.

everything had been finished and M B on t ou x himself

, .

gave me the list ofthe men in the O pposition ranks who

had promised either to vote for him o r at least to remain
in the Assembly and so maintain a quorum I also .

g o t the list of my political friends who had recei v ed

“
presents from M B on t ou x His agent whom I
. .
,

had k nown since his journalist days came to me and , ,

assurin g me of profound respect detailed the case o f ,

a probably imaginary Hungarian M inister of Finance

who took office as poor as a church mouse and left it a
millionaire in consequence o f the gi fts o f grateful
“

railway companies The moral was supposed t o be

.

obvious and he thought I owed it to myself t o consider

,

my o wn position .

I stopped him and said that I knew what was due to

myself and to my country and that I was a Serbian
,

Minister paid by his people for his services As such .

I did not propose to emulate the Hun garian Mini ster .

When I met the interviewer a year later in Vienn a he

told me he had been empowered to o f fer me

O ne day when we were approaching a final decision

, ,

the representati v e ofa competing foreign company (n ot

E nglish) placed in my hand a cheque for a million francs
made payable to me I returned it at once .
,

telling him that I was sorry he had thought it necessary

t o offer me such a large bribe since it was quite super
,

flu ou s i f his co mpany s conditions were more advantageous

’

2
56
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
enough) or to M B on t ou x whom the friends ofRussia
.
,

represented rightly o r wrongly as working in the

, ,

service o fAustria .

I proposed to the Cabinet under the presidency of

,

the King that we should give the concession to the

,

Russo Belgian group represented by M Ko st i t sky pro

-
.
,

vi ded that it would agree to take up the entire loan ,

nominally four millions sterling I wa s authorised by .

the King and my colleagues to send at once for M .

K os t i t s k y who lived in a neighbouring hotel and ask

, ,

whether his company w ould do that M Ko st i t sky i n . .

formed me that his company was sure at that moment

of two millions sterling but seeing that the financial
,

strength and honesty ofSerbia were so little known o r ,

rather not known at all in the financial markets of

,

Europe they could n ot tak e up the whole amount then

,

and there That answer left us no other alternative but

.

to grant the concession to M B on t ou x . .

No doubt he made a splendid bargain with the Serbian

Railway Concession The shares ofthe Union Générale
.

adv an ced rapidly from 5 0 0 francs to and

francs and the bank rose to a premier position amongst
,

the financial establishments o f Paris But thereby he .

attracted the jealousy o f older leaders of the financial

market Besides he made o n e cardinal mistake He
.
, .

gave his bank

— to which Roman Catholic churches and
establishments and the more prominent Roman Catholic
—
persons confided their money the character ofa political
institution which dared provoke the Republic Political .

and financial interests combined to pull him down from

the pinnacle to which he had attained King Milan .

always believed that the Jewish anti Catholic Republican

,
-

a n d Russian in t erests combined to smash the Union

2 58
 M y R eco r d i n S e r b i a
Générale To be candid while I was in Paris t rying
.
,

to save Serbia s interests from the Union s ruin I

’ ’
,

found no proof that Russia had had anything t o do

with it .

We had about francs deposited w ith the

Union Générale As Minister o f Finance I was
.

responsible for that money I hurried to Paris and by .

,

God s help succeeded in saving my country from any

’
,

loss The Government o f M de F reyci n et was very

. .

sympathetic and helpful But I had especially to thank

.

Count G olu chows ky then in charge o f the Austro

,

Hungarian Embassy in Paris and Count Vi t t a li s fo r ,

the fact that I succeeded in forming a new company

which carried ou t the construction ofou r railway without
any fresh burden t o the country .

In the confusion created at the central o f fices ofthe

Union Générale by the failure a young Serbian employee ,

someho w got into his hands a pile ofprivate and con

fiden t i a l letters which M B on t ou x h a d written from
.

Belgrade to his assistant manager Colonel Feder The

-

, .

names of se v eral high personages in the Government and

in the National Assembly were mentioned together with ,

the amounts alleged to have been given to them There .

was also a letter in which M B o n t ou x expres sed his aston

'

i shmen t that I had refused to recei v e any money These .

letters were published with a Serbian translation in a

, ,

”
pamphlet entitl ed The Bomb Naturally it caused a .

tremendous sensation The publication ofM B o n t ou x s

. .
’

letter about me did me a good turn because since then ,

e v en my bitterest political foes when attacking my ,

policy o r my conduct o f public affairs have readily ,

admitted that although I may be a great fool I am at , ,

“ ”
any rate , a man with clean hands Many of my .

2 59
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l k a n D i p l omat i s t
fri ends have deemed me a great fool t o refuse t o become
a ri ch man and remain always poo r But I am proud of
.

my poverty ( if l iving on a modest pension can be called

poverty though sometimes I am tempted t o thi nk
'
,

while struggl ing w i th di f

ficulties in my o l d age that,

really I wa s a fool !

2 60
 M emo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
g e n
, e as thou gh to an intimate friend once indeed in , , ,

a v ery lively manner as if remonstratin g or quarrelling

,

with him I asked the Persian Minister Prince Mirza

.
,

Khan ( a fam o us Persian poet) how that was and he ,

accounted for it by the fact that the Shah and Grand

Vizier had been intimate from early childhood and edu
ca t ed by the same tutor .

I had t o inform the Sublime Porte that I would be

absent from my duties in Constantinople for a week o r
-

so as I had to accompany the Shah to Bel grade by order

,

of my King The M u s t ech a r ( General Secretary ) ofthe

.

Forei gn O f fice N oury Bey o n e o fthe ablest Turks I

, ,

ever met answered

, I ou ght to congratulate you o n
,

the honour o fbeing a Mihmandar [ personally attached ]

to his M a jesty the Shah but I am afraid the duty will ,

”
be somewhat trying .

My trials began before we left Constantinople If .

Europe thinks that punctuality is a virtue in a King ,

Asia evidently views unpunctuality as o n e of his dis

t i n ct i v e features I had to wait ( in undress diplo
.

matic uniform) nearly an hour at the station before his

Majesty arrived We started about six instead offive
.

in the aftern oon and the delay dislocated the whole

,

pro gr a mme O ne ofthe directo rs ofthe O rient Express

.
,

in special charge o fthe Imperial train wishing to regain ,

some ofthe lost time ordered a speed of about thirty miles

,

an hour We had been travelling at that speed for half

.

an hour when his Maj esty alarmed and horrified com , ,

ma n ded the train t o be stopped at once sent for the ,

direct or and told him he must not let the engine be

,

driven so recklessly He als o wished to learn whether all

.

precautions had been taken for the safety of the train

in the dark and requested the director to promise that
, ,

2 62
 In t he Su it e o ft h e Sh a h
during the ni ght the train would proceed v ery cautiously
,

and slowly Halil Pasha o n e ofthe Sultan s aides de

.
,
’
-

camp and acting as Turkish M ihmandar had a hard ,

task to reassure his M ajesty The Shah did not seem .

at all comforted but reluctantly consented to the train s

,
’

,
—
starting but only at half speed p et i t e vi t ess e H e -
.
1

shouted after the retirin g director Remember p et i t e , ,

vi t es s e— p et i t e vi t es s e— t ou j ou rs — p et i t e v i t es s e !
And we did pro gress— ifit could be called pro gress
—
by p et i t e vi ess e to such a degree that the citizens o f
t
Sofia and the military guard ofho nour at the station were
kept waiting more than an hour for our arrival I ought .

to say that I was much impressed by the splendour of

the reception which Prince Ferdinand ofBul garia gave
to the Shah althou gh the latt er did not seem to a ppre
,

ciate it The Prince placed his entire Palace at the

.

Shah s disposal and as I was attached t o his suite I had

’
,

an opportunity o fseeing the elegance and beauty ofthe

Palace and admired it very much It was in fact the
, .
, ,

hospitality of a French Grand Seigneur which Prince

Ferdina nd of fered I was sure the capital o fSerbia woul d
.

beat the capital ofBulgaria in the cordiality ofits recep

tion but I felt also with sad jealousy that we should
, , ,

be unable to rival it in splendour and ele gance .

M y troubles as Mihmandar grew very serious in Sofia .

At the Turco Bulgarian frontier the Turkish suite

-

wished to take leave ofthe Shah a s the mission with ,

which the Sultan had entrusted them ended there But .

the kind heart ed and amiable Shah would not let them
-

go wishin g them t o accompany him to Sofia and Bel

,

grade Consequently I wired at once to King Alexander

.
,

that three Turkish officers o n e ofthem a Pasha and a ide ,

de camp to the Sultan would arrive with the Shah in

-

2 63
 M emo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
Bel grade In Sofia I fou n d t o my annoyance the fol
. , ,

lowing open dispatch from Kin g Alexander As the

Sultan has ceased to be the Suzerain o f Serbia his ,

of ficers cannot accompany the Shah on Serbian territory .

You must not allow tho se o f ficers to cross the Serbian

frontier ; certainly they must not enter the train which
will bring the Shah from Tsaribrod to Belgrade !
I wa s i n a fix But presently I thought I had found
.

a solution of this diplomatically difficult situation I .

spoke to the Shah s Grand Vizier and with his consent

’
, ,

wired to King Alexander Turkish o f ficers will enter

,

Serbian terri t ory as Shah s personal guests n o t as’

,

Sultan s representatives H e has invited me to aecom

’
.

”
pany him as hi s gu est to Bud a pest .

I imagined the question wa s settled in a wa y satis

fa ct ori ly to my Soverei gn s susceptibilities as he evidently
’
,

suspected that t h e Sul t an had ordered his men to aecom

pany the Shah t o Belgrade in order to prove that Serbia
still belon ged to the O ttoman Empire I knew positively .

that that suspicion wa s baseless as the Turks already ,

desired t o return home from the Bulgarian frontier .

But when we reached Tsaribrod the Serbian frontier ,

station I wa s handed a fresh dispatch from Kin g

,

Alexander : You are strictly to execute my order

”
already sent to you .

I did not hesitate a moment but sent this telegram

'

to my Soverei gn I cannot execute your order ; in Bel

grade will explain wh y
”
.

In Tsaribrod a special Commission with General ,

Y o t za Petrovich at the head wa s t o greet the Shah in ,

the name of the King and o n behalf of the Serbian

Government N aturally the General immediately came
.
,

to me as I had to introduce him and his colleagues After

, .

2 64
 M emo i r s o f a Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
and in a louder tone ( in Persian ) so that it l ooked as
,

if he were scolding his Soverei gn and then to my — ,

astonishment and deli ght— h e took the Sh a h by the hand ,

raised him from his seat and l ed him o u t asking me

, ,

in French to show them the wa y t o the Serbian train .

O f course he had acted rather as an intimate friend than

,

as Grand Vizier .

At Nish the Serbian military and civil authorities and

a great crowd ofpeople gave a hearty welcome to t h e
Shah . He came out to receive the report ofthe military
commander of the place and after that was finished a
,

Serbian woman stepped from the crowd and handed him

a small bunch of flowers He accepted them smilingly
. .

N ext moment the cordon of p olice and soldiers was

broken and hundreds ofwomen and girls pressed around
the Shah tenderin g bunches o fflowers In a minute
, .

he had his hands full and was deli ghted with this spon
,

t a n eou s outburst o fcourtesy The scene was charmin g

.
,

and the men in the crowd cheered the Shah lustily .

When the train started a gain his M ajesty invited me to

sit with him in the saloon and asked me to tell him
,

somethin g ab out the history of the Serbs He wa s .

especially desirous of kno wing about o u r great poets I .

took the opportunity of tellin g him that o n e ofthe glories

ofwhich we were proud was o u r national son gs on ol d

national heroes and o u r gu s la ri o r bards He apparently

, .

took keen interest in what I told him and asked if a ,

g u s l a r were attach ed to t h e Court of the Kin fSerbia

g o ,

as he would like to see and hear him Unfortunately .

,

no gu s la r was atta ched t o ou r Court .

From time to time he complained that the train was

goin g t oo rapidly and insisted that its speed should be
,

reduced Thus we arrived everywhere t oo late Instead

.
.

2 66
 In t h e ft h e Sh a h
Su it e o

ofreachin g Bel grade at four we reached it at P M ,

. .
,

when the crowds were somewhat thinned as many people , ,

tired ofwaiting had gone Kin g Alexander surrounded

, .
,

by a brilliant suit e ofofficers of all arms the Go v ern ,

ment the State municipal and e v en ecclesiastical di gu i

, ,

taries were waiting at the station I was however

, .
, ,

astonished to hear that the Shah was to be lodged fo r

the night n o t in the New Palace but in the H 6tel de ,

Paris which althou gh nearest to the Palace was the

, , ,

least modern of the newer hotels The organisers of .

the reception thought they had done enough when they

hung the walls ofthe rooms with Serbian Pirot carpets ,

in glaring red colours It wa s painful to note the

.

di f
ference between the elegance ofthe Shah s dwelling ’

in Sofia and the simplicity of his accommodation in

Belgrade .

But that was not the sole disappointment for which

not the Shah but my own people were responsible The
, .

grand banquet in his honour was to be held that e v enin g

in the New Palace at ei ght o clock I was informed that ’
.

an equerry from the Palace would come to tell me when

to brin g the Shah and his suite Shortly afterwards .

an equerry said th a t I might brin g the Shah at once .

The Court carriages were waiting in front of the

hotel and in full gala attire we drove to the N ew
,

Palace .

I expected to see the Kin g at the threshold ofthe

New Palace to receive the Shah and lead him inside to
the reception rooms but he was nowhere to be seen
,
.

Instead the M arshal o fthe Court led us t o the great

,

saloon where on o n e side the Forei gn and Cabinet

, ,

Ministers Councillors f State other di gnitaries o f

, o ,

State and Church and the notabilities o fthe city were

,

2 67
 M emo i r s fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
o

already lined up The Shah wa s led to an arm chair at

.
-

the t op of the room the members of hi s suite and his

,

g uests placing themselves in a row o n his right a n d ,

facing the opposite line o f diplomats Ministers etc , , .

There wa s no on e to introduce the diplomats and

Ministers to the Shah and we gazed at each other in
,

silence and astonishment .

After waiting for nearly a q uarter of an hour King ‘

Alexander appeared at the side ofQueen D raga wh o ,

wa s walkin g slowly in a loose robe It wa s in fact the .

, ,

Shah who received the Kin g ofSerbia under the latter s ’

o wn roof instead o f Alexander s bein g the host and ’

,

extending a hearty welcome The Shah wa s a man .

endowed with good natural tact and he never mentioned ,

anything to me about this ma n q ue de t a ct o n our part ,

but I know from other persons that he wa s a little bit

annoyed .

Even yet I had not reached the end of my Persian

troubles .

Before the ban q uet the Shah sent to Queen D raga

a rare Persian O rder for ladies to her sisters j ewels and
, ,

several O rders and presents to the members ofthe K ing

and Queen s h ouseholds After the ban quet with his
’
.
,

suite and myself and Gen eral Petrovich as his special

guests he left for the H un garian Royal train a t the
,

Belgrade station where it had to remain for an early

,

start in the morning t o Buda pest .

Before midni ght a high official o f ou r Court came

to my compartment ofthe train with a strange message
from Queen D raga Her Maje sty it appeared wa s
.
, ,

dissatisfied with the paltry jewels which the Shah

”

had sent to her t wo sisters and the la dies of her Court ,

and w anted me to speak to his Majesty and try to rectify ‘

2 68
 CHAPTER XIX
Th e Pea ce Con f
eren ce a t Th e Ha gu e
S Serbian Minister to the Court of St James s and .
’

at the same time to the Court ofHolland I was ,

appointed the first delegate ofSerbia at the first Inter

national Peace Conference which met a t The Hague in
the summer of 1 8 9 9 The second delegate of Serbia
.

w as Colonel M ashin ( the brother i n law ofQueen D raga) - -

and the third D r Voysl a v Vel kovi ch who although very

.
, ,

young had already won reputation as a first class expert

,
-

on questions o fInternational Law .

This appointment I considered then and still con ,

sider as the highest honour done me during my public

,

career The v ery idea o f the Conference emanating

.

from Tsar Nicholas II was grand and noble indeed and

.
,

appealed mightily to my Serbian soul fundamentally a ,

Slav soul .

German Universities ( 1 8 6 2 6 5 ) had made ofme an -

idealist and humanist singul a r as this may now appear

,

in the light of Germany s infamous atrocities and her

’

deliberate violation of the laws of God and man in

the Great War I was lon gin g fo r a permanent world
.

peace in which to establish and develop a real brother

hood o f nations makin g the whole of mankind on e
‘

and the same family I therefore h ailed the Tsar s

.
’

ideal as the hi ghest possible a bi g step towards the :

brotherhood ofman by the prevention o fwar through

general disarmament The time I spent at The Hague
.

2 70
 T h e Peace Co n f e re n ce a t T h e H ag u e
was the grandest of my public career It gave me a .

unique oppo rtunity ofmaking personal acquaintance with

some of the ablest statesmen diplomatists lawyers and , , ,

representatives of the armies and navies of Europe ,

America and Asia I need only mention the names

.

of Admiral L ord Fisher and the United States nav al

expert Captain Mahan to show the quality ofmen I
, ,

was meeting .

O f course I clearly perceived the enormous di f ficulties

in the way o fthe Tsar s reform The reconstruction o f
’
.

E urope at the Vienna Congress had not followed natural

and healthy lines and had in fact created an artificial
, , ,

and therefore unwholesome Europe In my first speech

, , .

at the Conference I dared to allude to that condition ,

and suggested that we could arrive at disarmament and

stable peace only by seeing that justice was done to all
nations I had in v iew particularly the injustice wrought
.
, ,

to the Serb nation by Austria Hungary s occupation o f -

’

the two Serb provinces Bosnia and Herzego v ina , .

But to my surprise I found almost all the repre

, ,

s en t a t i v es of the Great Powers cool and sceptical At .

any rate nowhere could I discover any enthusiasm for

,

the Tsar s ideal D isarmament seemed to be a hopeless

’
.

task from the very be ginning The only practical results .

attainable were to try to reduce the cruelties of war by

international agreements And this was all that wa s .

done Unfortunately the agreements were si gned but

.
,

not kept as my gifted and eloquent young colleague

, ,

D r Velkovi ch foresaw
.
, .

I ought here to do justice t o the memory o f my

friend William T Stead I have said that the majority
. .

o fthe dele gates were cool and sceptical without faith ,

in the cause which had called them together Then .

2 71
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
Stead arrived to undertake a task which I deemed i m
possible He saw the situation at a glance He who
. .
,

had overabundant and sparkling enthusiasm for the Tsar s ’

ideal at once embarked upon a regular agitation to

,

impart fresh and vi gorous life into the Conference He .

went from delegate t o delegate ofthe great and small

Powers alike and spoke to them ofthe grandeur and
,

beauty ofthe Tsar s ideal and oftheir own task He

’
.

succeeded in making some o f us a shamed of ou r lack

o ffaith And thanks to Stead there was a pe rceptible
.
, ,

rising in the warmth ofintercourse among the members

o fthe Conference and in the energy o ftheir work No .

really great man could ever refuse to rece i ve him and ,

we small men were delighted to have him talk t o us .

Later he began to be considered as pa rt and parcel of

the Peace Conference and finished by becoming some
,

thing like its en f a n t ga t e .

H e succeeded in another apparently impossible task .

H e who could speak very little French and no D utch

,

at all started i n The H ague the publication ofa Franco

,

D utch newspaper publishing in French and D utch the

,

rep a rt s ofwhat was going o n in t h e secret sittings o f

se v eral committees ofthe Conference or in its plenary

sitt i ngs After every sitting he rushed to visit all the
.

more important members and although the latter i n

,
—
conformity wi th the initial resolution— refu sed to give
’

“
him fu ll information most ofthem gave him hi nts
,

from wh i ch he constructed tolerably exact reports of

what had taken place We all considered him a wonder
.

f ul journ alist I may mention that he introduced me to

.

another distingu i shed journalist D r D illon I came to , . .

the conclusion that Stead a n d D illon were the t wo best

informed m en in the sphere ofthe P ea ce C o nferen ce .

2 72
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l omat i s t
natural distinction and always found them perfect gentle
men I became their admirer especially when I dis
. , .

covered in N oury Bey an ardent student ofhistory who

had the knack ofdescribing episodes of Turkish history
in the most graphic manner I learned from him .

interesting details of Turkish history at the beginning

ofthe nineteenth century .

Among the delegates o f the Balkan S t ates the

chief pl a ce wa s easily won by Rumania s first dele ’

gate M Beldiman H e tried to organise us into a

, . .

special Balkan group and I gladly accepted him as

,

leader .

B u t aft er all during the whole sess i on o fthat first

, ,

Peace Conference no on e produced such an impression

,

on a certain occasion as ou r Serbian delegation did We .

Serbs are naturally open hearted and earnest My two

-
.

colleagues and I somehow felt that the restrictions and

limitations for the conduct ofwa r proposed and adopted , ,

w ere not rea lly very sincere We knew that n ot wi t h

.
,

standing the e f forts o fthe Conference the interests of ,

small nations would in the future as in the past be

, , ,

sacrificed to those of the Great Powers So we decided .

to speak plainly and to let ou r colleagues o fthe Great

Powers know that we were not blind The suggestion
.
.

came from my colleague D r Vel kovi ch and as he had

, .
,

perfect French ( having obtained his degree of D octor

ofLaws in Paris ) and wa s a brilliant speaker he wa s t o ,

speak o n our behalf .

At the plenary meeting ofthe Conference to discuss

a special convention restricting and limiting the usages
o fwar he was called o n by the chairman M Bourgeois , . .

The gist of his speech amounted to this : All these

limitations and restrictions would be respected and
2 74
 T h e Peace Co n f
e r e n ce T h e H ag u e a t

fulfilled by the small nations because the Great Powers

,

would if need be force them to reco gnise the obli gations

, , ,

whatever they might be ; but on the other hand the , ,

small nations had no power t o compel similar obedience

on the part o fthe great nations which would not hesi ,

tate to disregard them absolutely whenever they found

it to their interest to set them aside For this reason .

the deliberations of the Conference lacked sincerity

because they lacked comprehensiveness and were o n e
sided.

The e ffect w as extraordinary No o n e had spoken .

in that august and austere assembly with such frankness .

It was as if a bomb had exploded in that beautiful hall

whose w alls were covered w ith o i l paintings by t he
greatest D utch masters .

As I write thi s and in V iew ofthe conduct ofGer

,

many from the very beginning of the Great War it ,

seems to me the very Irony ofD estiny that that Serbian

bomb of frankness and sincerity brought the German
, .
—
delegate D r Zorn who hardly ever spoke— to his feet
to protest against the assumptions ofthe Serbian dele gate .

Then the chairman M Bourgeois delivered a speech

, .
,

the like ofwhich for eloq uence I had never heard before
in the whole ofmy life and which had no equal among
,

those delivered before o r later in that hall It was .

u niversally admitted t o be the fine st speech during the

first Internat ional Peace Conferen ce M Bourgeo i s . .
’

plea w as that both moral and international law do not

recognise any dif f erence between great and small nations .

The consecration o finternational agreement is not co n

di t i on ed by material but by moral force emana ting
, ,

from the conscience ofcivilised nations and the sanctity

ofinternational agreements These simple statements
.
,

2
75
 M emo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l omat i s t
almost so t o say li eu a: commu ns were spoken with such ,

eloquence that all the members p resent young and ol d , ,

were fired with an enthusiasm ofwhich the Conference

had never been thought capable They rose t o t heir feet.

and cheered and applauded the French statesman Many .

congratulated D r Vel kovi ch on a threefold treat : the

.

first the piquancy ofhis engaging audacity ; the second

,
,

the spectacle of the German Zorn aroused to speech ;

.

and the third and crowning treat M Bourgeois , .

’

wonderful elo quence E verybody acknowledged that

.

that sitting o f the Conference wa s o n e of the most

intere s ting
.

I shall never forget the honour and pleasure ofmy first

informal audience ofQueen Wilhelmina at The Hague .

I had been first received o f fi cially by the Queen Mother ,

her mother and then told to come about six o clock in

,
’

the evening to the Palace to be informally presented to

,

the young Queen The Queen Mother did me the honour

.

to take me to her and lef t me there Queen Wilhelmina .

looked a pe rfectly charming girl half child half woman , , .

She felt proud that the first Intern ational Peace Confer
ence had taken place in H olland s cap ital and had no ’
,

doubt that the deli berations of the most experi enced

statesmen and diplomatists wou ld furn i sh ben eficen t
p ractical results Girl though she w as she spoke with
.
,

the assurance and authority ofa grown u p woman She -

.

asked about my public career in Serbia and abroad and ,

when I told her that I had begun as professor ofpolitical

economy she immediately stopped me saying : O h I “
, ,

am so glad t o hear that ! I am taking a course in

political en on omy and I fin d it a most interesting and
,

use fu l science I think I like it almost as much as I

.

l i ke history and I am aware that it ma y prove mo re

,

2 76
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
At The Hague I made the ac quaintance o fon e of
the most interesting women in the w orld At a reception .

and concert Stead brought to me a little woman with

dark eyes and rather pretty square face whose age , ,

might have been forty or forty fiv e Here is a friend -

.

o f mine She is president o f the German Women s

a
’
.

Peace Society and just returned from Petersburg where ,

she presented to the Tsar an address on behalf ofthe

German women She has every claim to my courtesy
.

and friendship But as a journalist I am t oo busy

.
, , .

I entrust her to your courtesy and friendship Her name .

”
is Frau Professor Margarette Selenka And then he .

ran away .

She was really a very interesting woman Her .

speciality was zoology and the hobby of her life wa s to

,

”
search for the missing link
“
For years she had been .

digging in Sumatra and Java in quest ofthat desideratum ,

and spent much ofher o wn money In the forest s of .

”
Ja v a she learned the monkey language and once in
“
, ,

the Zoological Gardens in Regent s Park London she ’

, ,

spoke in my presence to two walking apes which were

, ,

not exhibited to the general public but were kept in a ,

special room below the chimpanzees house Besides she ’

.
,

always took a very lively interest in all humanitarian

movements such as the establishment of a permanent
“

peace the brotherhood ofnations the re organisation of

, ,
-

society o n the b a sis ofthe social and political e q uality of

the sexes She was also a charmi ng woman though
.
,

sometimes her utter disre gard of Society s conventions ’

exasperated even her best friends o f whom I flatter , ,

myself I wa s o n e She likewise took a deep interest in

, .

occult phenomena and psychic sciences .

Speaking ofoccult phe nomena I remember a peculiar ,

2 78
 T h e Peace Co n f
e r e n ce T h e H ag u e a t

incident which had some connection with my member

ship o fthe fi st Peace Conference To my great regret
r .

my Government w ould n ot authorise me to sign all the

conventions we had discussed and voted before the Con
ference had separated O n my return t o London I went
.

one day to see a lady a friend ofmine wh o was a clair

, ,

voyante O n receiving me she said

. So glad you ve :
’

called as I have something to tell you Quite recently

, .

my thoughts have been suddenly fixed on you and ,

I had a vision that your life wa s endangered by a

locomotive Y ou must take care not t o go near an
.

”
engine . She told me this o n e day towards the end
ofAugust .

At t he end of O ctober I unexpectedly received a

telegram from my Go v ernment ordering me to go at once
to The Hague and si gn o n behalf of Serbia all the , ,

conventions voted at the Peace Conference I left .

London by the night train reached Flushing early in ,

the morning and after a slight breakfast was proceed

, , ,

i n g to take my place in the train for The Hague The .

g uard was conductin g me to a fi rs t class carria ge -

separated from the engine by only on e or two other

carriages The moment I noticed that I remembered
.
,

the vision ofmy clairv oyante friend I asked the guard .

whether he could not give me a place in some other

carriage ?
Y es he said , There is a corridor carriage at
.

the end o fthe train but I am afraid you will be badly

,

”
shaken there .

I took a seat in the last carriage of the train O ur .

journey was quite commonplace as far as Rotterdam ,

but o n lea ving that city we encountered a v ery thick

f og and half an hour later ou r train collided with
, ,

2 79
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
another both engines and many carriages were smashed
, ,

t wenty six persons were killed and fift y three wounded

-

,
-
.

If I had not been w arned by my clairvoyante friend and

,

had taken a place in the carriage nearer to the engine,

I would probably have been killed or maimed in that

accident .

2 80
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
full of sympathy for Serbia and the Serbs was re a dy ,

to contribute handsomely towards the expenses Before .

I decided to go I was as a St ate pensionary in duty

, ,

bound to obtain leave from t h e Serbian Prime Minister

to undertake such a mission Mr P a shi ch not only gave . .

me his formal permission but sent me five thousand ,

francs to cover my travelling and other expenses Then .

I had to go .

I still howev er had some mis givings My lectures

, , .

o n Serbia and the Serbs mi ght increase the knowled ge

o fmy li steners but would they succeed in warmin g t heir

,

hearts and moving them to give of their means to the

relief ofSerbia ? I had been s everal times Minister of
Finance and ought to have been an expe rt in picking
,

the p ockets o fthe people but I hated making an appeal

,

f o r money and inde ed did not know how to do it Mr

, , , . .

Petrovich came t o the rescue He suggested that I .

should approach that great and eloq uent friend o fthe

Serbs Mrs Pankhurst with the request that she would
, .
,

j oin me in my Serbian mission to the people o fthe United

States Mrs Pankhurst most generously acceded t o my
. .

request moved thereto n ot only by her admiration for

,

the heroism ofthe Serbs and her compassion for their

suf fering women and children but a lso by the considera ,

tion that British women ought to do their utmost for the

Serbs since the British Government in her opinion
, , ,

had not done t hei r utmost for them O f her o wn free .

wi ll she declared that as long as she was wit h me in

the States she would confi ne her speeches and addresses
exclusively to the Serbian Relief question And that .

promise she kept faithfully and scrupulously ofte n t o ,

the bitter di s appointment ofthe suffragettes in the town s

ofthe United States and Canada wh o lon ged to hear ,

2 82
 M y A me r i ca n I mp ress i o n s
the famous leader o ftheir British sisters Mrs Pank . .
~

hurst took with her as her secretary M iss Joan Wick

, ,

ham a remarkably clever and hard working lady and a

,
-

veritable organising genius

I must say that for reasons incomprehensible to me
, ,

some efforts were made by persons unnamed to dis

, ,

courage Mrs Pankhurst in her devotion to Serbia and pre

.

vent h er from joining in my voluntary crusade while not ,

a few attempted to persuade me to go t o America alone .

But I considered it a very great honour that Mrs Pank .

hurst ha d consented t o a ccompany me t o America a n d

appear on my platform in the United States and Canada ,

and I had reason to be thankful to Pro v idence that she

was with me And I will at once say why
. .

The Serbian Minister in L ondon Mr Matha Bosch , .

kovich to whom I owed Mr P a shi ch s permission a s well

, .
’

as some financial support wired to the Serbian Consul

,

General in New York Profes sor Pupin that I wa s

, ,

coming and asked him to facilitate my work Some Serb s

, .

and J u gosl a vs who had been in the United States had

, ,

already told me whil e I was in London that I o u ght

, ,

n ot to rely much on Professor Pupin a s bei ng a very , ,

wealthy man he might n ot put himself t o much trouble

, ,

and he also rather deprecated other Serbs going to

America for purposes of agitati on somehow considering
—
,

—
the R epublic a s so t o speak his private pre serve .

I could not accept such a description o fthe character

of ou r Consul General and wi th full confidence
-

, , ,

address ed my sel f t o him expressing my readiness t o

,

co operate with him and his N ew Y ork City Serbian

-

Relief Committ ee To my astonishment he told me that

.

he and his Committ ee would cc operate o nly if I placed -

myself entirely at their disposal and under their control .

2 83
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l omat i s t
I laugh ed at that mode st suggestion
it From that moment he not only
.

wrote to Serbian Relief Committe

of the Union and to ld them not to assist

i gnore my presence if I v i si ted them ; he also

by a variety of unfound ed statement s in hi s Serbi a n paper .

As this wa s my fi r st visit t o the Un i ted States and ,

I was thus an absolute stranger I should have been ,

pa ralysed and forced t o abandon my lecturing tour and

return to England Then Mrs Pankhurst came to my
. .

rescue She appeal ed to her friends in many of the

.

principal towns and they re a di ly and successfully organ

,

ised splendid meetings Most o fthem were held in the

.

largest theatres or public h a lls some in schoolrooms ,

adjoining churches some i n t he churches themselves

, .

D uring a tour of nearly three months I spoke only in

Cleveland Pittsburg a n d Boston without the assistance
,

and suppo rt ofMrs P a n khu rs t s friends In all other

.
’
.

town s it wa s her pop u larity and t he devo tion of her

ad herents which procured me the privilege ofaddressing
large audi ences ofAmerican men and w omen In New .

Yor k City itself we addres sed n o few er than six meetings ,

ofwhich three were in the dr a wing roo ms o fdistinguished -

ladi es Aga in on ou r tour t hrough Canada the meet

.
, ,

ings in Montreal O ttawa Toronto Winnipeg and

, , ,

other places were arrang ed by Mrs P a n khu rst s .

’

friends Therefore I repeat that I cannot suf

.
, ficiently
bless my lucky star that I had the n ou s t o invite Mrs .

Pankhurst to go with me to America to serve the Serbian

nation nor can I ever thank her ade quately for honour
,

ing myself and my na tion by joining in that service .

O n the second day o fou r arrival in N ew York City

Mrs Pankhurst went to visit some influential friends
.
,

2 84
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
applause This showed that public opinion not
.

abhorred the deed but rejoiced in learning that S

,

abhorred it also .

All the meetings at which Mrs Pankhurst and I .

spoke were crowded with sympathetic men and women .

Whenever I mentioned the bravery ofthe Serbian army

—
against overwhelming odd s thr ee enemies atta cking us
on as many fronts — the audiences grew enthusiastic in
their demonstrations So also they were whenever I said
.
,

that althou gh we had had to retreat we had never been

, ,

be a ten i n open battle and that although ou r country had

, ,

been occupi ed by t he enemy we had not lost faith in,

ourselves ou r Allies or o u r God and therefore in o u r

, , , , ,

final victory .

Mrs Pankhurst held very strongly that the war must

.

be carried on until the Allies won a decisive victory and

Germany was rendered incapable of further mischief .

Such passages were always greeted by a storm of cheering .

She always spoke with admiration of the Serb nation ,

and her appeals for help for the suf fering women and
children evinced wonderful eloquence and profoundly
affected her hearers .

N ot only at our meetings but al so in private life we

,

found conclusive proofs that by far the major portion of

the American nation sympathised sincerely with the
Allies There were no doubt p a ci fi ci st s who th ought
.
, ,

that guarantees for a lasting peace co ul d be secured with

ou t further blo odshed but they were in a hopeless
,

minority .

At the same time I did not notice any bellicose dis

,

position anywhere The overwhelming majority ofthe

.

citi zens proved their sympathy with our cause by sending

large amounts in cash and shiploads ofpro visions Red ,

2 86
 M y A me r i ca n I mp ress i o n s
Cross necessaries doctors and nurses both to the Serb s
,

—
and Belgians and more especially to the Bel gians and —
even went so far as to undert ake the ma nufacture o f
ammunition and arms for us but— they were not willing
,

to fight for us although some prominent politicians sug

,

gested such intervention .

As an observer stri v ing to judge everything impar

,

t i a ll y I was not surprised at this reluctance to side with

,

us in the war thou gh the Americans fully recognised

,

that we were fightin g for great ideals But I was aston .

i sh ed at a nother fact President Wilson thought it his

.

duty t o draw the at t ention ofthe people ofthe United

States t o the grave situation o fthe country namely how , ,

absolutely unprepared it was to meet any sudden foreign

crisis and how it o ught to set to work at once t o remedy
,

thi s state ofthings But the President s agitation at

.
’
,

least whi le I was in the States fell o n deaf ears— so far ,

as I could judge from the Press and from private con

vers a t i on s with politicians This was by n o means a
.

sign oflack of patriotism for I had plenty of evidence

,

that Americans were very patriotic and that their ,

patriotism rapidly infected Serb Croat and Slovene ,

immi grants ( these three forming the Ju gosl a vs) and trans
formed them into Americans So that the obvious i n .

dif ference must have been the result ofsomethin g missin g

in the public charac t er ofAmericans .

O ther circumstances led me to the conclusion that

the fusion o f the var ious races in the States has not
yet been consummat ed The Republic exists and the
.

great democracy exists but the complete type o f

,

national individuali t y h a s n o t yet emerged The .

Americans are not yet on e nati on t o ws t eres a t q

' — ue ,

ro t u n d
. us I have beheld the immensity oftheir Republic ,

28
7
 M emo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
admi red the vitality of their expansive democracy ,

been deeply impress ed by the vastness oftheir wealth

and their untirin g energy in creating still greater wealth ,

but the Americans did not reveal to me their national

Soul It may o fcourse have been my fault not theirs
.
, , , ,

t hat I missed the revelati on .

—
We Slavs Russians Poles Czechs Slovaks Serbs
, , , , ,

Croats Slovenes Bulgars— although poor in material

, ,
_

wealth and living after all in an untoward environment

, , ,

possess imagination and poetry and ou r so ul is filled ,

with the hi ghest aspirations D uring the three months

.

I spent i n America I had the honour and pleasure o f

mak ing the ac quaintance of some of the best citizens .

The charm and fas cination ofthe women and the intel
l ect u a li t y ofthe men were a dmirable yet it seemed to ,

— —
me though I hop e I am wrong that they were lacking
i n imagination and p oetry M ore than that ; the whole
.

nation appeared deficient in a sense ofthe lofti er i deals ,

n ot consc i ous ofthe r o l e whi ch Providence has entrust ed

t o t he great dem ocracy between the Atlantic and Pacific .

Is not Ameri ca lying between these two vast oceans to

, ,

stretch ou t her right hand to E urope and her le ft to

Asia a n ddraw them towards her as to the centre ofthe
World s liberty and c ul ture the nexus of the un i on of
’
,

all the n ations ?

In Chi cago and in Pittsburg I had to address large
J u gosla v meetings which contained also many Americans .

I spoke of ou r nati onal a spirations Through the vic .

tory ofou r Allies with whom we were faithfully co

,

operating we hoped to real ise ou r first national ideal

,

the union of Serbia Macedonia Bosnia H erzegovina

, , , ,

M ontenegro D almatia Croatia and Slovenia i nt o on e

, ,

i ndependent free and happy State probably to be

, ,

2 88
 M emo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i st
no means doctrinaire but on e ofthose rare Americans
,

who have imagination and idea ls Some ca ll him a .

dreamer But every idealist is not necessarily a dreamer

. ,

n or is eve r y dreamer necess a rily an idealist That the .

Americans h a ve twice elected this same idealist as their

Presi dent however does not prove that the majority of
, ,

Americans are men ofimagination and idealism .

But I had the honour t o meet two great Americans

who in their own wa y are men of imaginat ion and
, ,

idealism I call them great because they are not merged

.
,

i n the gr eatness of their country but by their own ,

indi v iduality contribute something t o its greatness . .

And how dif ferent in character the two were ex —

President Taft and ex President Roosevelt It was -
.

worth while to m a ke the journey from London t o N ew

York only t o have the honour of meeting them .

I went from N ew York to Pou ghkeepsie t o speak

on Serbia and the Serbians at a meetin g arranged by
the American Red Cross The principal ofthe famou s .

g irls
’
colle ge — Vass a r C o llege — invited me to be his
guest It happened that ex President Taft arrived o n -
.

the same day to inspect the colle ge and to address the

ei ght hundred students I had the honour of dinin g.

with him that evening and afterwards I spoke a t the

,

meetin g in the Town Hall from the same platform from

which Mr Taft sp oke He was the personification of
. .

natural simplicity unaffected di gnity and kindness I saw

, .

in him a reincarnation ofthe ancient Greek philosopher ,

looking hopefully above the narrow horizon of his country

to the distant but glorious hori zons of an all compre -

h en si v e humanity the br otherhood of nations and a

,

lastin g peace App a rently nothing could ru f

. fle the
di gnit y of his calm personality .

2 90
 M y A me r i ca n I mp r ess i o n s
Ex President Roosevelt wa s an altogether dif
-
ferent
type or I ought rather to say was no type but a
, , , ,

unique and exclusive personality I was introduced to .

him in the editorial o f ice of an American magazine

f ,

and I at once felt as if I had entered an electrical furnace .

The man who grasped my hand and shoo k it violently was

a living moving walking talking electric bat tery But
, , , .

h e reassured me at o nce and charmed me by tellin g me

h o w he admired the ideals ofthe Serbian people ho w ,

he admired the bravery of the Serbian army how he ,

was so much interested in Serbia that he had acquainted

himself with Serbian history and Serbian nationa l son gs .

He knew all about Tsar D ushan Tsar Lazar the battle , ,

o fKossovo and the resurrection under Kara george and

,

M i l osh . I was astounded and deli ghted I shall never .

forget that interview with ex President Roosevelt He -

.

encoura ged me to deliver lectures on Serbia and the

Serb people at the American Universities and himself ,

gave me introductions and recommendations to two o f

these corporations If Mr Taft appe ared to me the re
. .

incarnation ofa Greek philosopher Mr Roosevelt i m , .

pressed me as a somewhat modern because in modern ,

costume reincarnation of thunder wielding Zeus him

,
-

self When I returned to my hotel I felt as thou gh

.

electric sparks sprang from the tips of my fin gers t o

everything I touched .

I will pass from ex President Roosevelt to a theme

-

which is quite soothin g because it is beautiful I was

, .

often honoured with an invitation t o spend a day o r two

as a guest in American pri v at e families I found their .

family life a pe rfect idyll All American houses even

.
,

if they are only cottages are commodious comfortable

, , ,

and well fu rnished; A great feature in all were books ,

29 1
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
flowers and music In all t o o I found the sweet aroma
.
, ,

o fexquisite naturalness and hi gh culture The mother .

the holy centre around which a happy tender lo v ing

, , ,

—
and worshipping circle composed of husband and
children— moves This family l ife is by fa r the best
.

and the most beautiful thing I saw in the United States .

Sometimes I found that my host and ho stess had fallen

in love with each other while studying at the university ,

marri ed after they had pas s ed their examinations a n d ,

e v er since had supported each other in all their work .

I was fre q uently struck by the scientific education o f

American women The greatest impressi on which I had
.

in the United States was made by Vassar Colle ge near ,

Pou ghkeepsie Bryn Mawr Colle ge near Philadelphia

, ,

( both for youn g women ) and the Universities o f,

Harv ard Yale Columbia and Chicago the last named

, , , ,
-

o f which has been so mu n i fi cen t l endowed by John

y
D avison Rockefeller I left the Unit ed States with
.

the impression that their people consider rightly that

the future greatness glory and happiness of their
,

country and the safety of D emocracy are based o n

knowledge which only great and live u mv ermt i es
“

can supply .

Althou gh Mrs Pankhurst and I were most cordially

.

received eve rywhere and although I addressed very

,

sympathetic meetings in New York City Philadelphia , ,

Cleveland Chicago Pro v idence Hertford Hamilton

, , , , ,

Poughkeepsie Pittsburg Irv ington and other towns

, , ,

grateful remembrance must e v er assign the first place to

the meeting in the Belasco Theatre Washington be , ,

cause there we were honoured with the prese nce ofthe

Ambas sadors ofSerbia s Allies their wives an d many of
’
,

292
 CHAPTER XXI
Th e C la i ms o fLo n g Des cen t
HE strangest incident that happened t o me while
I wa s in the United States wa s my meeting with t wo
men who honestly believed they w ere descendants ofthe
ol d Serbian Royal dynasties Prince Stephan U rosh o
.

vich Nema n yi ch I met for the first time in New York

in January 1 9 1 6
, . P rince L a za rovi ch H rebel ya n ovi ch
I had known many years before when he wa s a lieu ,

tenant ofdragoons in the Austrian army and signed

his name simply at E ugen Cern u cky von Hudecek He .

w as a brilliant young o f fi cer and later when he came to

, , ,

E ngland ( in 1 9 0 1 ) and I s a w him almost daily his i n t ell i ,

g ence and knowledge both ofstrategy and o fthe military

history ofEurope to say nothing ofhis fixed idea that
,

he was a descendant—o r rather the only descendant

, ,

ofthe ancient dynasty fascinated me , Although he h a d .

no convincing reason for his belief or perhaps just ,

because he had none I took great interest in h i m and

, ,

we became good fri ends O ur friendship cooled of

. f ,

however and I never thought I w ould see him again

, .

Certainl y I never d reamt we would meet in America ,

when he told me at once that he wa s no pretender to the

throne of Serbia .

This chapter will read like a romance and I wish I ,

could write it in w orthy style .

Let me first tell you about Prince Stephan Urosho

vich Nema n yi ch ofBrooklyn
, .

2 94
 T h e Cl a i ms o fLo n g D esce n t
He came to see me at my hotel twice o r thrice and ,

that I did not return his visit wa s due to the i llness o f

his wife He wa s a well dressed gentleman not lacking
.
-

in dist inction ofrather spare build fin e featured fair

, ,
-

, ,

and apparently intelligent and cultured .

He told me he wa s a descendant ofthe last Serbian

Tsar Urosh N ema n yi ch I drew his attention t o the
, .

fact that Tsar Urosh died in 1 3 71 childless and could , ,

not have had descendants He assured me I was mis

.

taken There was a conspiracy organised and headed

.
,

by King Vu ka shi n to exterminate the Nema n yi ch

,

dynasty Tsar Urosh was murdered by Vu k a shi n but

. ,

Urosh s son had escaped first to B osnia then to Hun

’
, ,

gary and at last to Scotland His descendants had lived

, .

in Scotland throughout the centuries and while taking ,

a prominent part in the Scottish wars had never for ,

g otten their descent fro m the last Serbian Tsar o fthe

Nema n yi ch dynasty Some fifty years ago his father
.

had emigrated to Australia and he himself left Australia

,

to settle in the first place in New Jersey I asked whether

, , .

he had any documentary evidence o fhis claims and he ,

said he w ould produce it when I went to see him in his

home and give me copies of it But as mentioned .
,

already I never returned his visit However I recei v ed

, .
,

several sheets backed on the last page by a municipal

,

certificate (under the off icial seal ) that all therein stated
had been sworn to as h a v ing taken place These papers .

disclosed an extraordinary story .

First ofall His Royal Hi ghness Stephan Urosh o

,

vich Nema n yi ch appointed a Montene grin to be the

Patriarch of Serbia an American to be his Secretary
,

o fState a n d another American to be his Great Lo rd

,

Chamberlain .

295
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
Next followed the minutes ofa grand ceremony .

His Royal Highness was seated on a throne chair -

accompanied by the Patriarch Secretary and the Great , ,

Lord Chamberlain His Holiness then opened proceed

.

ings with due solemnity

Is You r Royal Highness prepared to make before
us your solemn oath that you will respect the con st it u
t i o n a l rights liberties and privileges of the Serbian
, ,

”
people ?
Yes ; I am ready to do so .

” “
Then rise instructed the Patriarch
, lift three ,

fingers o fyour right hand and repeat after me the words ,

”
o fthe oath .

Accordin gly the Patriarch read the oath which H i s ,

Royal Hi ghness repeated word for word This done .

,

the Patriarch Secretary and the Great Lord Chamber

, ,

lain went to the Mayor and in his presence made an , ,

affidavit that His Royal Highness had taken as ,

described a solemn oath to respect the rights and

,

liberties ofthe Serbian people .

O f course this document threw some light on the

,

”
claims of His Royal Hi ghness
“
.

His younger son ofwhom he spoke with great pride

, ,

w rot e informing me of the principles o n which his

education had been based by his fathe r Some o fthem .

were good but o n e shocked me

, My father the .
,

young boy wrote always tells me never to forget that

,

God gave us words in order that w e might conceal ou r

”
thoughts . I answered that such a p ri nciple w as entirely
wrong that it would be a shame even for the commonest
,

o fmen to use words to conceal his thoughts but a still ,

g reater shame fo r a boy to do so whose father professed

to be a descendant o fthe ol d Serbian Kings .

2 96
 M emo i r s o f a Ba l ka n Di p l oma t i s t
My visitor next produced from an ample pocket a
, ,

Bible from which he extracted several sheets ofpaper

,

w ith a certified aff idavit that they w ere a true copy of

an ori ginal manuscript which a man had stolen from its
lawful possessors and which when on the point of arrest
, ,

he had thrown i nto an open fire ; part ofthe manuscript

had been rescued and formed the subject ofthe annexed
certified copy .

The document was written in Brandenburg in 1 73 7

( I d o not remember month and day ) in pretty g o od ,

German by on e Andreas Boyne von Lazar It wa s a

memorandum fo r his four sons to whom he comm
.
,

, uni
“
ca t ed the fact that they were descendants ofa Prince
”
in the Serbian Count ry Lazar by name wh o as a boy
, , ,

o f seven , had been rescued from a burning home and

the bloodthirsty Turks by a faithful servant J ephra i m ,

N a duzda t s who took him to a forest in Shu ma di a

, ,

where thousands ofpeople found shelter from Turkish

atrocities The refugees were delighted when the bo y
.

w as brought to them ; they carried him in their arms ,

kissing hi m and exclaiming : Thank God ou r Obi l i ch ,

”
is saved !
Then the memorandum proceeded to describe how
o n e day , when the boy w as twelve years ol d the servant ,

N a du zda t s took him for a walk o n the road between Sokol

and Belgrade Then the servant asked him : D o you
.

see that hill there with ruins on the t op ? And when

the boy answered he continued : That castle belonged
,

t o your family wh o w ere princes o fthis country Come .

,

and I will show something to you .

The man too k him to the ruined castle entered a ,

cave or underground passage and sto pping before a

, ,

huge stone pressed o n certain parts drawing the atten

, ,

2 98
 T h e Cl a i ms o fL o n g D esce n t
tion of the boy to these parts The block turned on its
.

axis and disclosed a narrow p a s sage through which they

crawled into a space that looked like a hi gh v aulted -

chapel It was filled with iron boxes and barrels contain

.

i n g gold and silver coins and around the walls were

,

shelves of books and parchment rolls In the centre .

stood a large round table ofpolished malachite on which

lay some crowns golden goblets and a square box con
, ,

taining what seemed to be a numismat ic collection .

“ ”
This explained the servitor
,
“
is the treasure,

deposit ofyour family We cannot bring it ou t n o w

.

because the Turks would take it from us Bu t the time .

may come when you will be able to remove it for the

benefit ofour people But to assure you that this is
.

not a dream and that you have really been in the trea sury
vault ofyour family take a silver coin from the box as
,
”
a souvenir .

Th at silver coin played a romantic ré l e later Andreas .

L a za rovi ch ( or Andrea s Obili ch) gave it instead of

an engagement ring to a pretty peasant girl in Silesia .

When she w as abducted from him by force he being a ,

tall handsome young man took service in the bodyguard

, ,

ofthe King ofPrussia Frederick the Great

, .

Some years afterwards on the occasion ofa Court

,

ball he was standing as halberdier at the door ofthe

,

salon in which Frederick was receiving his guests A .

beautiful lady entered and made a deep obeisance t o the

K ing .

Andreas wa s struck by her features and e yes which

‘
,

reminded him o fhi s p oor v illa ge fia n cée H e heard the .

King say to the lady : Countess I notice you always ,

wear a peculiar bracelet with a small medallion What .

i s it ?
2 99
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n Di p l oma t i s t
It is a silver coin Sire ! answered the lady
, I .

love it because it is a souvenir ofthe earliest and dearest

”
romance ofmy life .

Frederick asked the director ofhis numismatic cabinet ,

whom he had sent for whether he could identify the,

coin in the Countess s bracelet After minutely ex a mi n

’
.

ing it he said We have no such coi n in your Majesty s

, ,
’

collection All I can say is it looks very like the silver

.
,

coins ofVenice .

( This observation satisfied me t hat the story w as true ,

because the Serbian silver coins ofthe Middle Ages were

remarkably similar t o the Venetian silver coins a fact ,

which Andreas L a za rovi ch o r Obi li ch would n ot have

known ) .

When Andreas retired from the army the King of

Prus sia gave him a house in Brandenburg with the ri ght
t o use it as restaurant and inn As he loved to regale .

customers with stories ofthe w ars in which he had served ,

”
calling the war often by the Serbian name Voyna “
,

”
people gave him the nickname Boyne .

I asked the Minnesota man why he called himself

”
vo n Lazar .He answered that he did n ot know
exactly but believed it wa s the name either ofA n drea s s
,
’

father o r ofan ancestor H e wondered why the people

.

in the Refuge Camp in Shu ma di a called Andreas

”
Obi l i ch nor had he any idea who Obil i ch wa s
, .

For the benefit ofthose readers who are n ot familiar

w ith Serbian history though his name has already a p
,

p ea r ed in these pages I may say that M i losh Obili ch

,

is to this day on e ofou r most popular heroes He is .

believed to have married the youngest daughter ofTsar

Lazar D enounced to his father i n law for treason during
.
- -

the impending battle ofKossovo he in his indignation ,

30 0
 M emo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l omat i s t
verify closely all the marks and signs and then wi re to
”
me All right ! whereupon soldiers o r policemen
“

would be sent to him H e answered that though he

’

w as positive he had found the place he would do as I ,

suggested .

I did not hear from him again but a few weeks ,

later a man came to my house and informed me that in

a small cottage in a vineyard near the town a man lay
dying who was constantly calling out my name D riving .

to the place I found my Minnesota friend v irtually i n

a rt i cu lo mo rt i s He remembered me and in vain tried
.

to say something I took him at once to the hospital

.
,

called the three best doctors ( amongst them the King s ’

doctor D r Vl a da n G eo rgevi ch) but they could not save

, .
,

him He died in three days I paid for his funeral

. .
,

walked alone behind his coffin and afterwards published ,

”
a paper on A Possible D escendant of Obi l i ch .

Several years after this was published— I believe it

was in 1 8 8 5 while I was Minister in London—I received
,

a letter from an Austrian lieutenant o fdragoons E ugen ,

Cern u cky von Hudecek from Budweis in Bohemia , ,

asking whether I had ever written anything about some

descendants ofKnez L azar and if I had where it was , ,

published H e added that in his mother s family there

.
’

was a tradition that they were the descendants ofKnez

Lazar I sent him full information concerning Augustus
.

Boyne v on Lazar as well as the address ofthe publisher

o fmy paper When early in 1 8 8 6 on my way from
.
, ,

London to Nish to receive instructions for the peace

,

n egotiations with Bulgaria I spent a day in Vienna , ,

Lieutenant Cern u cky paid me a visit I gathered from .

him then that his mother was a relation ofthe Branden

burg family ofv on Lazar which had branches in Saxony , ,

30 2
 Th e C l a i ms o f Lo n g D esce n t
Zwickau and Chemnitz I remembered that Augustu s
.

von Lazar did receive some letters from Zwickau .

O n my return from Bucharest to Belgrade in March , ,

1 88 6 I received several letters from his mother who

, ,

”
signed herself Princess H rebel ya n ovi ch and kept up ,

a correspondence with my wife until her death in 1 8 8 8 ,

if I remember rightly .

I think it was about that time that King Milan

reproached me for having put a fly into the brain o f
an Austrian cavalry o f ficer who imagined that he wa s
the direct descendant of the Tsar Lazar of Kossovo
memory and with that fixed idea had tried to induce
, ,

some young Serbian officers studyin g in Vienna t o serve

under him as the lawfu l claimant to the throne ofSerbia .

The King said also that the A ustrian Government h a vmg ,

obtained proofs ofhis st range action had arrested the ,

officer placed him in an asylum at Prague under the

,

observation of three specialists in mental disease and on , ,

their report asked him to resign the army

, .

I told the King what I thought ofthe whole matter ,

and later in England I often repeated the following

, ,

theory to Mr Eugen Cern u cky who began to call him

.
,

self Eugen L a za rovi ch .

It is an historical fact that Tsar Lazar s son Stephan ’

died childless in 1 4 2 7 As there wa s no direct male

.

descendant the nearest male relative George Bran ko ,

vich the son ofTsar Lazar s eldest daughter Mara was

,
’
,

called to the throne o fSerbia But as the Turks were

.

in the habit in dif , ferent parts ofthe Empire ofmain ,

taining the scions of ol d influential families as hereditary

local chiefs ofa Christian district it was possible that
,

they had maintained i n the country between Loznica

a n d Sha ba ts t h e d es cen dants of M i l osh Obi l i ch as such

3 3 0
 M emo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
chiefs t o whom the people and the Turks gave the title
,

of Knez Towards 1 6 9 5 in that part of Serbia the

hereditary Knez wa s Lazar Obi l i ch father of the ,

w riter ofthe document of1 73 7 .

At that time the Austrian army had invaded Serbia

'

K nez La za r Obi l i ch formed a regiment ofSerbian v ol u n

teers and marched with them as the advanced guard of
the Austrian army against the Turks That action ex .

plains the mass a cre ofhis family by the Turks from which ,

massacre Andreas O bil i ch was saved by his family s ’

servant Jephraim The Turkish chroniclers of the war

.

mention that the Austrians gave the leader ofthe Serbian

”
volunteers first the title of Count and later that
, , , ,

“ ”
of King of Serbia But when the Austrians were
.

defeated by the Turks and began to retreat the leader ,

o f the Serbians was taken prisoner by the Turks and

cru elly put t o death in the town o fVranya Augustus .

Boyne von Lazar was probably the descendant ofKnez

Laz ar Obili ch Although it is not yet historically proved
.
,

popular tradition and the Serbian national ballads de

clare that M il osh Obil i ch was the husband of o n e of
Tsar Lazar s daughters It is therefore possible that
’
.
, ,

Au gustus Boyne von Lazar was in that way connected

with Tsar Lazar o fKossovo memory especially if it could ,

be established that Knez Lazar of1 6 9 5 was an Obi li ch .

When in 1 9 0 2 Mr E ugen L a za rovi ch came to

, , .

London though he saw me frequently he ne v er professed

,

t o possess any other proof of his descent from Tsar Lazar

except the relationship o f his mother with Augustus
Boyne von Lazar Taking that relationship for granted
.
,

I drew his attention t o the importance ofascertaining

who Knez Lazar Obil i ch the father of Andreas Obil i ch
,

( the wri ter o fthe paper of really wa s .

30 4
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
He told me that Miss Colquhoun had come to the
Embassy with a young Serbian gentleman wh o claimed
to be the direct descendant o f the old Serbian Royal
dynasty and whom she proposed to marry Mr White . .
,

anxious to learn to what extent the claim had been

recognised if at all I briefly recounted the chief features
, ,

o fthe case .

When Miss Col qu houn and Mr L a za rovi ch next went .

to the E mba s sy M r White mentioned what he had heard

,, .

from me and Mr L a za rovi ch thereupon flew into a

, .

temper and vowed he would demand satisfaction from

me at the sword s point But Mr White submitted that
’
. .

it would be simpler if he ( L a za rovi ch) were to produce

the proofs o fhis claim He further suggested that we .

four— M r White myself L a za rovi ch and Mr Ford

.
, , .
,

the husband o fMiss Col q u h ou n s dearest friend — should ’

meet at Mr Ford s house where Mr L a za rovi ch could

.
’
, .

then show the proofs o fhis claims as a rejoinder to my

statement .

Well we met at Mr Ford s house in Westminster

, .
’
,

where Mr L a za rovi ch brought a large leather box appar

.

ently filled with documents Mr White acting as . .

,

chairman asked me to state what I knew about Mr

, .

L a za ro vi ch s claim I repeated what I had told him at

’
.

the Foreign O f fice reception Then Mr White called . .

upon Mr L a za rovi ch to substantiate his claim

.

Mr L a za rovi ch opened his leather box

. I have .

”
here he said several proofs ; but not to waste your
,
“
, ,

time I will produce at once my most convincing evi

,

dence . And he handed t o Mr White several sheets .

o fpaper Mr White began to read them aloud They

. . .

were written in German and comprised the report of

the three experts on mental disease under whbse
30 6
 T h e C l a i ms o f Lo n g D esce n t
observation M r Eu gen Cern u cky von Hudecek had been
.

placed as already stated

,
.

When he had finished Mr White asked Mr Laz aro . .

vich how he considered a report o n his mental condition

a proof ofhis descent from Tsar Lazar .

”
In this way Mr L a za rovi ch answered
‘
, The . .

paper you have just read proves that Austria tried to get
me pronounced insane Why ? Because she knew that .

I was the descendant ofTsar Lazar and might become

”
dangerous to her .

O h ! remarked Mr White if you consider this .

,

medical report to be a convi ncing proof ofyour claim ,

then we had better say good bye to each other and not -

w aste any more time .

I do n ot know Mr Ford s whereabouts but the Hon

.
’
, .

Mr White I am sure could and would corroborate what

.
, ,

I hav e written abo ve .

To do Mr L a za rovi ch justice I ought to say that

.
,

throughout all ou r intercourse he never told me that he ,

assumed or intended as suming the r61e ofpretender t o

, ,

the throne o fSerbia When I saw him in N ew York

.

in 1 9 1 6 he assured me explicitly that he was n ot a pre

tender to the throne although he still firmly believed
,

he was descended from Tsar Lazar He never concealed .

hi s dislike o fKing Milan my great friend o r his admira , ,

tion ofK ing Peter He hated Aus tria and loved Serbia
. .

Both he and his wife have done a service t o ou r people

by their book o n the Serbian nation ( published in New
York in I say this in spite o fthe fact that their
account of the recent history of Serbia strikes me as
defective whi le thei r work in other respects is by no
,

means beyond criticism That Mr L a za rovi ch did not . .

mention my name among the literary men ofSerbia did

3 7
0
 Memo i r s o fa Ba lk a n D i p l oma t i s t
not hurt me at all although I knew it t o be a sort of
,

q p q for my View ofhi s claim In my opinion

u i d ro u o .

he is an intelligent clever and able man and a true

, ,

patriot but has n o right to call h ims elf Prince Lazaro

,

vich H rebel ya n ov i ch . H is wi fe a handsome charming

, ,

and gifted Ameri can and an artist ofcons iderable skill ,

may if she s o chooses call herself a princess i n her o wn

, ,

right and I shall always kiss her ha nd respectful ly when

,

ever I meet her .

But it w as pas si n g st range that on the democratic

soil ofthe great Republic I should meet t wo men who
claimed t o be Serbian pri nces .

8
3
0
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
to whom I owe many a kindness cordially endorsed Miss ,

L oza n i ch s su ggestion He had visited Canada and

’
.

could n ot find words expressive enough ofhis admira

tion of the D ominion and its people Although it .

w as n ot in ou r original plan Mrs Pankhurst and I , .

,

after consultation with Miss Wickham decided to go to ,

Canada where we spent three weeks from February 2 7t h

, ,

to M arch 2 1 st We saw her in her beautiful snow white

.
-

dress and even ex p eri en ced some blizzards but all the
, .
,

loneliness of her immense silent stretches was quite for

gotten the moment we reached the stations where the ,

warm hearted reception o f the most cordial of peoples

-

awaited us .

O n a bri ght but bitter day we reach ed Montreal ,

where Mr and Mrs H a rn a k er and a group o fladies and

. .

gentlemen friends and admirers ofMrs Pankhurst gave

, .
,

us a hearty welcome Po or Mrs Pankh urst shed tears

. .

ofpatriotic j oy when sh e s a w Canadians in khaki No t .

withstanding the se v ere cold and deep snow t h e largest ,

t heatre was cra mmed with men a n d women and when ,

we appeared on the stage which wa s decorated with ,

British Canadian and Serbian flags the whole audience

, ,

rose and cheered Mrs Pankhurst t o the ech o Whenever

. .

I in my spe ech mentioned Serbia o r the brave

, ,

”
Serbian army someone would call o u t Three cheers
,

for ou r brave Ally ! And then the people would give

n o t three but nine cheers for Serbia It was o n e of
,
.

the m o st enthusi a stic meetings we ever had .

After the meeting Sir Thomas Tate took us in hi s

motor car t o the Canadian Club to entertain us t o
-

supper and as the H dt el Ritz at which we were staying

, , ,

wa s not more than five hundred yards distant I walk ed ,

in my eveni n g shoes thr ough t he deep s n ow t o t he hotel .

3 10
 Ca n a di a n I mp r ess i o n s
N ext da y I lunched at the Canadian Women s Club ’
,

and spoke on the Serbian women but immediately after ,

wards I felt so ill that I called i n a doctor who seemed ,

alarmed at my hi gh temperature I as ked him to t ell .

Mrs Pankhurst ( who had just returned from a tea party

.
-

in her honour) that I could not leave with her that

evening for Quebec where we were to address a large
,

meeting on the morrow Presently the doctor returned

.
,

followed by Mrs Pankhurst ca rrying in her hand a small

.
,

sheet ofbrown paper .

I am sorry to hear you have got such a ba d chill

”
that it is impossible for you to come with me t o Quebec ,

she said to me . I am sorry also for the people as ,

it has been widely advertised that you were to speak

t o them o n Serbia Rest a day o r two and recover
.

quickly I have brought a mustard leaf t o ease your

.

”
pain.

O h my dear Mrs Pankhurst I exclaimed why

, .
, ,

do you destroy my idealisation ofyou ? What on earth

has the leader ofthe British suf ragettes to do with a
f
mustard leaf ?
All men are silly and you are no exception she
, ,

retorted laughing
, D o you th ink that because I am
.

a suffragette I have not the nursin g instinct ofa woman ?

We were born to nurse even foo lish men .

What a wonderful woman she wa s ! She addressed

two meetin gs that da y speaking only ofthe suf
, ferin gs
o fthe Serbian refugees ; travelled that ni ht by rail t o
g
Quebec ; next day spoke there at a great meetin g ;
travelled by ni ght back to Montreal and continued her ,

journey t o O ttawa to organise another meetin g in that

town To travel thirty six hours by rail without int er
.
-

ruption wa s nothi ng to her .

31 1
 Memo i r s fa B al ka n D i p l oma t i s t
o

When I wa s leavin g Montreal for O ttawa I was i n

formed that his Royal H ighness the D uke ofConnaught
expected me to lunch that da y at the Vid a Hall but if ,

I did not reach O ttawa in time for luncheon then I ,

wa s to go t o see him at six o clock that evenin g ’

I .

arrived late and wa s r eceived b y a group of sympathetic

,

ladies and gentlemen headed by Mr Johnson and

, .

charmin g M rs O live Garratt and Miss Taylor ( whom

.
‘

I found afterwards to be an exquisite poet) who took ,

me t o the Ch ateau Laurier I drove o u t in a sleigh the

.
,

streets being covered with deep sn ow and paid a vi si t e

,

de cou rt és i e t o the Right Honourable Sir Robert Borden ,

the Premier who immediately returned my visit I

, .

learned also that the D uke and D uches s ofConnaught

had graciously granted their patronage to the meetin g at
which I was to speak on Serbia and the Serbs .

At six o clock punctually I reached Vida Hall and

’

wa s immediately taken t o his R oyal H igh ness Th e .

D uke ( who had known me for several years in London)

received me with his o wn peculiar blend of Royal
g raciousness and democratic cordiality quite his o w
,n

speciality The D uke asked for my latest news from

.

K ing Peter and the Serbian Government at Corfu and ,

wished to know my impressions ofthe operations in the

Balkans In answer to my grave fear that ou r Allies
.

might abandon these operations which in my opinion ;

, ,

were absolutely necessary the D uke said that whatever

,

dan ger there mi ght have been ofthat was past and that ,

Salonica would become an indispensable ba se H e had .

always considered the Balkan operations of the Allies

of the greatest importance t o the general situation and ,

he was glad to be able to reassure me co ncerning the

immediate prospects He spoke wit h pride ofCa nada s
'

’
.

12
3
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
had suf fered so cruelly in their fli ght through Albania I .

thanked her for her great interest in the Serbian Relief

Committees of Canada and she assured me that the
,

Canadians had very sincere sympathy with the Serbs .

She told me she had read some years ago my bo ok A

, , ,

Roy a l Tragedy and was much impressed by it She

, .

reme mbered the prophecies of Math a o f Kremna and

wanted me to tell her more about them She rec a lled .

Kin g Milan a s a very brilli a nt man She and the D uke .

ha d once spent a few days with Kin g Alphonso o fSpain

and King Milan ofSerbia and it wa s a real joy to see
,

the sparkling esp ri t ofthese t wo young Sovereigns each

trying t o outshine the other .

I had the hono ur oftalking with the D uke o n the

evenin g o fM a rch 2 n d 1 9 1 6 and oflunchin g with the
, ,

D uke and D uchess on March 3 rd O n March a t h at .

,

noo n I was informed by teleph o ne fro m Vida H all that

,

his Royal Highness wished me to come th a t afternoon

at four o clock When I arrived I found a tea and
’
.

skating party on the lake near Go vernment H ouse

-
.

The D uke came from t he i ce with hi s skates o n and

'

, ,

s a id t o me : I thought you might like a little s kat in g

o r take a cup oft ea while watchin g others skate

I thank your Royal Hi ghness very much I said , ,

but as you know I have been for many year s skating

, ,

o n the slippery ice of diplomacy and have had quite ,

”
enou gh o fskating . The D uke introduced me to two
ladies and told them what I had just said about
,

the slippery ice of diplomacy and then returned t o

pursue his recreation .

There were many ladies and gentlemen all very fine ,

skaters But I thought n one skated with greater vi gour

.

than the D uke himself espe cially s ince h e ha d for hi s

,

3 14
 Ca n a di a n I mp r ess i o n s
partner a charming and pretty schoolgirl ( as she seemed
to me ) When he returned to the kiosk for a cup of
.

tea I congratulated him o n his vigour and youthfulne s s ,

and told him ho w I admired his dance on the ice with

that young schoolgirl .

Schoolgirl ! Y ou call her a schoolgirl ? exclaimed

the D uke Why she is a married woman with three
.
,

children ! And laughing he called the lady t o tell

, ,

her what I had said .

O ttawa Society was full ofthe warmest sympathy for

Serbia Mrs P a n khu rst s friends en gaged the Russell
. .
’

Theatre for ou r meeting and no doubt owin g to the , , ,

patronage ofthe D uke and D uchess ofConnaught the ,

é li t e of the city honoured us with their presence It .

wa s a deli ght ful si ght t o see the boxes stalls and galleries ,

occupied by elegant people in evenin g dress O ur O ttawa .

gatherin g could compare favourably even with o u r Wash

i n gt on meeting at the Belasco Theatre where the society ,

o fWashin gton and the diplomats o fthe Entente Powers

honoured Serbia and us by their presence Such dif fer .

ence as existed could be explained by the fact that the

Washington meeting took place in t h e afternoon while ,

the O ttawa meeting was held in the evening when most ,

ofthe ladies and gentlemen appeared in e v enin g dress .

My o wn speech on the merits and aspirations o f the

,

Serbian n ation wa s often interrupted by warm applau se

, ,

but Mrs Pankhurst who always spoke a fter me aroused

.
, ,

tremendous enthusiasm Not only ou r themes but also .

,

o u r sympathetic audience inspired us to d o o u r best and ,

Mrs Pankhurst a lways very eloq

.
, uent was on that ,

evening superb Mr C A Magrath a member ofthe

. . . .
,

International Joint Commissi on took the chair and ,

delivered an elo q uent speech o n Canada s sympathy ’

 M em o i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
with and admiration for the Serbian nation and army
, , .

A handsome youn g Canadian opened t h eproceedi ngs

by sin ging bea utifully the Serbian Nation al Anthem ,

O Go d ofJustice ”
I shall never forget that meeting
.

and the deli ghtful time I had in O ttawa .

My O ttawa friends insisted that I should ad dress

another meeting before I left and enga ged for th at pur ,

pose the Forum Theatre Just before the proc ee . din gs

the o rganising sp irit ofou r meetings in O ttawa intro
du ced me t o some French ladies f or wh os e sake I after
'

wards spoke of the i nfluence which the French genius —

ha d exercised on the Serbian s o fthe Middle A ge s and ,

h o w in the veins o fou r best K ings ( including the great

Tsar D ushan) ran many a drop of F rench blood I .

s poke al so o n the t olerance ofour people and how well

we treated the Jews who had repaid our liberality by

,

fighting a n d dying for Serbian ideals like true patriots .

A group ofJews and Jewesses shook hands with me at

the en d and thanked me for what I had said about their
,

Serbian fellows .

I n beautiful Toronto I spent seven very a greeable

'

days and made many interesting and ch a rming ac q uaint

,

a n ces .M a j or D eacon the President of the Canadian

,

Club Lieutenant Colonel N oel G L Marshall o fthe

,
-
. .
,

Canadian R ed Cros s Professor M avor of Toronto , ,

University and Mrs Hamilton President ofthe Serbian

, .
,

Relief Committ ee did everythin g to m a ke my stay

,

pleasant O n my arrival I was the guest ofthe Canadian

. .

Club and before some four hundred members lawyers

,
— ,

professors bankers merchants clergymen o f

, , ficers and , ,

political men — I spoke o fthe Serbs serv ice s t o European

’

civilisation and oftheir democratic principles poetry and ,

political aspirations When I had finished everyone rose

.

316
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
Belgrade The meeting was held in a Met ho di st chapel
'

. .

D r Sharpe took me to the famous Brampton hot houses

.
-

which supply all sorts of fresh flowers for the whole of

Canada It wa s a rare joy to see thousands and thousands
.

of roses carnations
,
violets lilies
, of—
the valley wall ,
- -

flowers narcissi hyacinths and orchi ds It was a fasci

, , .

nating riot o fcolour and scent .

We travelled for eight hours from Toronto to N orth

Bay by rail through snow covered fields beautifully
,
-

li ghted by the sunshine Both Mrs Pankhurst and I . .

addressed a large meeting in the Congregational Church ,

and afterwards attended a reception in ou r honour My .

host and hostess were Mr and Mrs M a cD ou ga ll He . . .

is a popular teacher in the N ormal School for Teachers

in N orth Bay and from him I learnt much about the
,

importance which Canad a attaches to the education of

her rising generation In the scholastic atmosp here of
.

North Bay I found that Canada with real enthusiasm , ,

emulated the love which the people ofthe United States

cherish for education .

We had to travel un i nterruptedly for thirty six hours -

by rail through a ve ry wintry country very sparsely ,

populated but getting more and more interesting after

,

we passed Port Arthur on Lake Superior and Fort Wil, ,

liam Late at ni ght we reached Winnipe g where we

.
,

were received with true Canadian cordiality by a group

of Mrs P a n k hu rs t s friend s headed by D r Mary E
’
.
, . .

Crawford and Mr Smith N ext day I had the honour

. .

t o address them o n Serbia and at the s a me t i me Mrs

‘

, .

Pankhurst was addressing the C a n a dian Ladies Club ’

.

In the evenin g we spoke to a large gathering in the

Con gregational Church The Governor ofthe province.
,

S i r D ouglas Cameron and the military commander , ,

318
 C a n a di a n I mp r ess i o n s
Count de Bury ; hono ured the meeting with their
presence and Mr D ixon a member oft he provi n ci a l
, .
,
’

Parliament presid ed , .

I felt deeply thankful to G od that my country was

so fully appreciated and admired by Canada I need .

hardly add that Winnipe g people were as sympathetic

as the warm hearted people of Montreal O ttawa and
-

Toronto Winnipe g gave me the impression of bein g

.

destined to become one day sooner or later the capital , ,

of Canada The city is already preparin g for its great

.

future and e verything in it is undertaken o n a large

,

scale N owhere else hav e I seen such lon g avenues and

.

roads stretching for miles and miles

, .

It was in Winnipe g t hat I for the first time in my ,

life ( I was then in my seventy fourth felt sorry -

that I was not a rich man In that town I found only .

a single Serbian family amongst great numbers of ,

Russians and Poles And thi s so le Serbian family had

.

only on e child a little girl just reaching her tenth ye a r

, .

But this pretty child was alre a dy a marvellous pianist .

There was s omethin g almost uncanny in her technical

skill She was playing to me in the drawin g room o fthe
.
-

Royal Alexandra Hotel when the Governor Sir D ouglas ,

Cameron and Count de Bury ca l led to return my visit

, .

They listened while she played a Tarantella and ,

shared my admiration for the child who n o doubt i f , ,

God grant s her life will on e day be a famo u s art is te

, ,

doing honour to her native country and to Canada I .

wi sh ed I could adopt that child and let her in London ,

and Paris develop her unusual musical gift I parted

, .

from Lulu Putnik and her parent s with sincere re gret

that I was not a rich man .

No w let me sum up my impressions o fCanada She .

3 19
 Memo i r s o fa Ba l ka n D i p l oma t i s t
is already a great country de stined to be still greater
, .

H er natural resources are immense hardly as yet even

,

tapped She is proud that she is the daughter of Great

.

Britain and a member ofthe Briti sh Empire I found .

every Canadian rejoice in th a t pride They are proud.

,

too that they are fighting for a great cause and happy
, ,

to have had an opportunity ofshowing their deep attach

ment to the Homeland They are cheerful and hopeful
.
,

brave and p a t ri p t i c
. They love their country but they ,

also have love to spare for their great Allies France , ,

Russia and Italy and their small but suf

, fering Allies ,

Belg i um Serbia and Rumania

, .

As I left Canada I thanked G od that such an earn est

and generou s country was the ally ofmy native land
~
,

and I carried away from the D omi nion everlas ting

and love for its people .

3 2 0
 I n dex
Ameri ca n i mp res s ons i ga i ed d
n ur B
th
ing th e a u t ou r, 2 8 1
B il ey M s l i v y t e 1 80
’
or s
a , r .
, c a r o an ,
93
ih p tit
An a s t a ss i y ev i ch , M s a a r o
B l k Age y L imit ed 1 4 4
a an nc , , ,
, ,
14 8
78
A d l i pe t f m i S t h
n a us a a sa n s ro n ou
B lk
a ew p p e i
a n, n B el g d e
s a r n ra ,

H g y 2
, ,
146
un

A d y C t i t e vi ew wit h
ar ,
B lk
a p li y ft h e b l e f
an o c o a anc o
n ra ss
20
, ou n , n r ,
p we 4 8 o r,

th e pe i l il w y
s e c a ra a con v n
C fe e e i L d i
on r nc n on on n

ti wi t h 3 4 2 5 4 1 91 3 23 6 ,
on

A d t h e medi i e w m i 3
, ,
B l h
a s M d me Ki g M il a a n an s
’

d h
, ,
ra cn o an o
ri
,

t le t ld
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m t e 1 0 4
-

cu f t he g ra n o r,

m gi i
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f5 9a can o
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,
-
o o
B d S e bi
ar s, d t h ei v i ed
r a n, a n r ar

A me i m
r n an e i C t a s s a cr s n on s a n g 9 2 52
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s on s, ,

t i n Opl e, 8 2 a rr n on , r r c,

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au , n u rs s, o ro n ,

Ki Mil i f
ng i ih
a n s n a t u a t on w t
’
1 05
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‘
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a on o rs an ra a
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, ,

A i Mi
s a n or, t h e ro a d t o, 24 7
a n n r a ,

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or t h e gr a e of, 1 83
B e k e ek
cs r th m t heau or s
’
o r s
’

bi t h p l e 2
,

A t i H g y dt he D b e
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un ar an a nu
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T h e t e W hi gt t h e
a c ,

qe t i u 24 29 s on ,
a s co
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h i t y f S e bi
,
’
p ro r an n n,
s or e et o r a s s cr
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292 3 1 5 ,

31 45
on ,
B eldi m M R m i d el ea n, r u an an

g te t the H g e C
- .
,

con dit i f t h e S e bi
on s o r an a a a u on

e et
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on t e i t i l c mp e
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t S e bi
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"

o ,

l i b e t i ft h e S e b i 8 2
ra on o r s n, 135
i t e e t f i t h e B lk
n r s s o n a a ns, the w d ed S e bi ou n l di e r a n so rs
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,

2 29 3 0 -
n os a a
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,

P e s f t g i m ft h e
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S e bi 23 3
, ,

t o r a s u rr n t r o r a o or
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,

r ar s r a o r n a s t e f 1 25
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,
”
a s cr a o a r, e e i
sc n n a ra o on
h e g wi g f i e dli e Ki g M il m i ge 1 2 6
,
’
r ro t n r n n ss o n an s a rr a
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,

ar s u ar a -
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he r su os cr r a s ua f 1 99 on o
wi t h B l g i 2 4 0 2 4 1 t h e b egg
,

u ar a f 21 3 21 5 a rs o
p vi i S e et
, ,

G e e l P ime
, ,

ro f hes on s o r cr B el i m k i h
ar ov c n ra r
T e t y wit h B l g i 2 4 2
r a u ar a M i i t e f S e bi 1 20
n s r o
,

r a
,

whi h t h e S e et
, ,
te m f r or c cr Be ke d f fC t d B it i h
T e ty w fi t
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24 4
f it f t h e e et lli e
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Be V ra r, th a ss a t ep f t h e
, a u or s s
’
a r,

wi t h B l g i
12
2 4 5 24 6
he r e p ibilit y f t h e
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or
B e li C g e f 2 2 8
r n, on r ss o ,

G e t W 246 7
r a a r, - Be t C
us , t t te m
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S e et T e t y wi t h B l g i
cr r a u ar a B i i t z Q ee N t h li e t 1 9 1
a rr u n a a a
e ewed mp lifi ed t h e fli t t i
, ,

r n d an a ,
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24 9 , 250 B i be P i e G e ge 75
s co, r nc or ,

3 2
2
 I n dex
B i b esc o, P i ce s H el e h e B a nk vi ch G eo ge d e p t f
r n s n, r r o r s o o
m i l gift 75 S e bi 1 2
, ,

u s ca s, r a
bl e t d be t fT L z d gh t er
,

the no s f an s o s on o sa r a ar s
’
au
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P et e )
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u n a os s sc n an o
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no s
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d h e f mil y
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3 07 8
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er a n n t eres t s
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h
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rs us a n o a c s s on , -

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a a c a on r nc

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s s o s a n
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me e i S e bi 2 5 1
a su r s n r a ,
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wi t h G
on s ra n c a ra
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con nc s o,
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e d i ght 1 1 0
s con s etr s 55
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f 1 54
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exil e f 1 5 4
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a h e t 62 6 uc a r s
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g t l ti t B h
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s s r, con ra t u a on s o, a uc a
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l a ov c o au e t 66
r s

t h ) h i m t he emi i i B h
, ,

or 2 s o r, hi s r e e n sc nc s o uc a
i d eb t ed e t h i
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hi s n n ss o s e t 6 7 80
r s -

m t he 1 1 2 t di e wi t h C me Sylv
,

o r, a nn r ar n a
h i f t he 4
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s a r, 73
bi t h f 5 r o t lk a s p i it li m wit h
on s r ua s
h ld y 5 C me Sylv 74
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hi s sc oo a s, ar n a
hi fi t i it t R f i e d hi p wit h P i e
,

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t ep f t h e 1 2 H el e B i b e 75 6
,

hi s s a r, n s co , -

hi f t ef s et ld 1 3 1 4
u ur or o p y e pe t t P i e
a s r s c s o r n c ss
S k K ge ge i h 78
-

p fe f p li t i l e
,

ro s s or o o ca con ar a a ra or v c

L
,

my 1 5 o
p l e d f
a S e bi
S w i t
orh d r a or
p p l it y fh i l e t e 1 5
,

S li b y 79 80
A

o u ar o s c ur s, a s ur
h w h e e t e ed di p l m y 1 6
-

E v y E xt di y
,

o n r o a c n o d ra or na r an
ext i t e t h e R ege t Mi i t e Pl e i p t e t i y
,

r ca 17 s n s, n s r n o n a r
e te t h e Mi i t y
n rs f Fi n s r o n t Ca t ti p le
on s a n no
a n ce 17 81

3 3°
 I n dex
M i j a t ov i ch Ch edomil l e, h i s im Mi j a t ov i ch , Ch edomi l l e, on the
p Abd l H mid i p it i
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res s on s o f u a , E u ro ea n s ua t on in 1 91 4 ,
83 14 6 7
f Ge e l
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h w h e le
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fere t h e rcA hbi h p i s o r c
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’
s s s on o Uk b
of s u , 1 4 8 51 -

S lt 86 8 u a n, -
e de v
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hi p l s ged e
ro on t e wi t h n cou n r d M t e eg
an 1 55 63 on n ro , -

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hi s pi i O f Ki g Al ex
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f Ki g M il
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e fG d 1 0 7 8
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a rs t f the a ccou n o a s a nc
p edi t i f M th Ki g Al ex d e t h t
,

r c fon s o a a o w a rn s n an r a
K em 1 1 0 r na h i lif e i i
s d ge 1 8 1 s n an r,
t h e Mi i t y f N h f the
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e te n rs n s r o an d th e e s a rc or

g v e f At t il
.

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Ki g M il i t e d ed d t h e b i ed t e
, ,

on n a n s
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di p e f i mp li ed e
,

s os s o a n c n the é e whi h
s a nc v e t ed c con r
e 118 19
su r -

h im t p i it li m 1 8 5 8
o s r ua s
F ei g M i i t e d e Ge
-

fid t fKi g Al ex d e
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con an o n an r
B el i m k i h 1 20 a r ov c i h i l v e ff i
n 1 92
s o a a r,
wi t e e Ki g M il
,

t i gh t t l k wi t h Q ee
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n ss s h n an s a hi s s ra a u n
di t i 1 20 1
ca on , -

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-

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r c s s on o an s hi s r n s ra n
ve i 1 22 3
con rs on , M k e zi e f G i l h
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Ki g M il
-

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1 26 7 E gli h H e hi ei s r s
-

s ou s
p i i fQ ee N t h
n
d e e i B el g d e 200
,
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vi t t p y e meet i g
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con c s a ra r n
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, -

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s or co n s, -

204
,

an d t h e Q ee t y ft h e u
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n s s or o su s p e t ed f b ei g N z
c o n a a a
lt 1 3 2 3
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e e 20 4
r n
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,

l t e D D vid B w
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dy y C mme t i e
.

g e g e i h
or t 1 3
v c4 na s , o the n ar s on
l te a r dh e e t f t h e
a n a r n o G p el 2 1 0os s,
”

O b e vi h f mily 1 3 5
r no c a i t e p et D S me vill e
n r r s r o r
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wh y h e e i g ed h i M i i t y
, .

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s r 21 1 on s ,
t the C t fSt J me ee T L z i d em
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1 3 5 1 77 223
wh y Ki g P et e w p ej f il e f e f h i g e t
,

n r a s r u a ur o on o s r a
di ed g i t h i m 1 3 5 4 0
c a a ns h eme 2 2 3 6
sc s, -

th e B
-

il ed t Ki g P et e t he i i
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e
r con c o n r, hi s s s on osn a n
14 0 Q e t i 23 1
u s on ,
h i t l k wi t h P i
s a e G e ge r nc or i vit ed t
n i t th e Se b o a ss s r
d el eg t e t B lk C
,

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me t y Ki g S p ee h d m
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n ar n
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,

14 4 5 -
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33 I
 I n dex
M ij a t ov i ch , Ch edomil l e, his M ij a t o v i ch E o e a wt on w e l di L if
h
, ,

s t a t emen t of t h e ca u s es o ft h e a u t or 2 00 297
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, ,

oft h e rea t W a r , 2 4 3 5 0 -

M 1j a t ovi ch M r s enr , t h e a u t or s h ’

hi k t h t A t i H g y f t he 4
, ,
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t n s a us r a -
un ar a r,
w di e t ly e p
a s ibl e f r c hi hiv l y 4 r s on s or s c a r
the G e t W h i e li e
,

24 6 7 r a ee 4
a r, -

s ar r ca r r,
er cor d fh i w k i o df Mj t si h R h el Ch i t ior
the n an or i a ov c a c r s na
S e bi 2 5 1 6 0
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m t he 1 1 4 a u
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or s
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wh t t h e t h
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a o ca c bi t h f 2 o r a n r o
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os on ,
t t emp t t
a b y hi pp t
s k id pp ed by
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by il w y e i ra e a wm 3
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256 7 e ed i ye l t e 4 r s cu s x a rs a r,
-

d the
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p hl et 2 5 9 h e p t i ti m 9 r a r o s
,

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tt
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d m i ge 1 2
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H g e C f e e e 2 70
a u h e f it h i t h e
on r nc lt 1 2 1 3 r a n o ccu
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di ill i me t t t h e M il ( O b e vi h I L ) P i e f
,
-

hi s s u s on n a

P e e C f e e e 2 71
a c on
S e bi 1 54r nc
an r no c , r nc o

di e e f Q ee Wil M il Ki g ( O b e vi h r a
,
,
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i a n, n r no c n
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2 76 7 na ,
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p l e 20 on s a n no
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pp ed G e e l I
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n
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a
f 22
t
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hi g t it d e t
s ra M P k u
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h t 2 82 2 84 an cr ca con
.

s o
u rs
e ti wi t h A t i H
i t e vi ew wi t h e P e i
,
,
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un

g y 41
hi s n r x -
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d e t T ft 2 9 0
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ar ,

h i i t e vi ew wi t h M R
,
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s
v elt 2 9 1
n r e
B l g i W 5 2 4 r . oos
u ar a n a r, -

Abd l H mid e ep t i f ’

h i i t e vi ew wi t h ll eged
,
u a s r c on o ,
s n r a n a
84
de e d t f U h Ne
sc n
t h e pl t t
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m y 29 5 6
o o n rn n
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1 03
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r a
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b e me q i t ed wi t h
co s h i ed
a c ua ti n
1 03 a n s u ca
,

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L z 3 02 8
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-

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ed by M P kh t
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,

i s n u rs rs an u rs s ss s
wi t h M d me
.
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el t i
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311 hi s r a on s a a
i s e eiv ed by t h e D k e
r c f A t h emi Ch i t i h 1 1 3 1 4 u o r sa r s c
C gh t Ot t w
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div e Q ee N t h li e 1 1 4
,

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3 12 1 3 -

1 15 1 33
a t l h wi t h t h e D k e d
un c hi mi g bdi t i 1 14 18 u an s co
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n a ca on ,
D he 3 1 3 1 4
-

uc ss, the e e fh i
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bdi t i sc n o s a ca on ,
a t k t i g p ty 3 1 4
a s a n 1 20 1 ar ,
-

hi s m y e g geme t an i t y fh i n ve i 1 22 3
a n s n s or o s con rs on , -

T t 316 1 7 oron o, de t h f 1 23 -
a o
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,

hi s V o u ur o o r a ou s n a n
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,

nn 1 24 5 -

i mp e i f C d p l m t i fh i ki g hi p
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hi s r s s on s o a na a ro c a a on o s n s
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an o 1 58or o ,

33 2
 I n dex
Ni h f t ifi ed mp 5 7
s a or ca P
t h e Sh h t 2 66
, ,

N th B y O t i 318
a
P
a
kh t M ,
p e t e wi t h an u rs rs co o -
ra s
th h i S e bi
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,
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,
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p ej di e h i m g i t t h e
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r u c a a ns 1 89
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P ol y a k off C d t h e S e bi
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ge ge) or
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Q eb e Mrs P a n k h
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P et vi h V k h i f v
ro c ue as n, a ou rs r u c, . urst a t, 311
mp t i fw wi t h B l Q ee de Ch i t i
,

su on o ar u u n. ( S ee u n r r s an

g i 59
ar a , n a me)

P et vi h G e e l Y t
ro c hi n ra o za s
mi t k e t t i c i R
, ,

s a the n ac s n
eb B l g i W 50 R d t o k L d i t e ed es f
g
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ve t i wi t h A t i
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a s u s a u a
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s

P h e ek y de M d me i id e t
,
t h e S e bi t k li e h i
r an ru n n s, s
r
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, ta a , nc n a
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o 35 r a a ar s
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u s ,
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1 868 , 1 6 St J h Si o F ed e i k B it i h
n, r r r c r s
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.
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in 1 8 8 9 , 1 20
di lved b y
ss o coup d éta t,
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S i t
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f 21 6
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1 68 ,

R ei ch s t a dt , T rea t y of
S l Mi
a a h ll fp e e 1 9 9
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3s S li b y L d
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p li y i 1 8 8 5 4 9
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R evi ew ofR evi ews , s é a n ce i n o ce ffi on

o
S e bi p e e wit h B l r
c
a s
n
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of , 1 78

a ccou n t i n , of rema r a e k bl g i 55 58 ar a
j l m d 79
, ,

i n ocu a r oo
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dvi e t t h e S e bi
,

hi 80
R i b a ra t s , Mr , L era ea er,
. ib l l d S m dj i M
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16
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h l Ki M il p li i
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33 4 -

q f 22 8
a lly
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S e bi ffe t ed b y 2 4 3
o ,

p h R i
h i s re ro a c of u ss a , 22 8
S de
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F i ft h e D
a a c ,

a nd the ra wail y comm t i an rs on ,

bi C mmi i 5 6
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men t s , 2 5 4 an o s s on ,

pp ort s the R i hi e ft h e
s ca r th 77 o au or ,
t t h e J ewi h M i i Ch h
su u ss a n con
i
ces s on , 2 5 5
a
i B h e t 79
s s s on u rc

R oc k ef ell e J h D vi r, hi o n a s on , s
S de Si
n

T h m ( ft e
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m i fi e e 292 an rs on , r o as a r
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un c nc ,

R ev el t e P e id e t
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,

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R meli ex t i f by B l
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g i
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a ra o, a s s a ss n a on o rc
ar a46 47 , ,
d k e F i F e di d
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R u d lp h P i e fA t i H
o , r nc o us r a -
un t 24 7a
g y w wi t h R i
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S h Al ex d e 1 1 4 1 6 5
as a an r, ,

S z v M d t h e ewB l k
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a on o r an n a an
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,
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t t h e B lk C fe e e i
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c o n au 70 r, a s cu s s on o n ,

f C l el G e m
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on on , S hw
c h f
a rz o
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de , o on , r an

R m i l di e 6 7 a a a u on
u an an
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an ua
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f e e e 2 73 r nc ,

s oc i et y 6 7
,
S e d i gh t 1 1 9
con s ,

i h C pt C l fM
,

R u ss ell The t e Ot t w t h e
a r a a
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N ew Y k 3 09
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S e bi meet i g i 3 1 5
, ,

r an n n,
t e eg i n ro n or ,

R i d the P i T e ty f S el e k P f e
n a M g et t e 2 78
ro s s or ar ar
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u ss a an ar s r a o , ,

r oo o ca u rs u s,
1 856 24
h mili t i
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f i 1 909
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23 3 r a ar s o
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r r s the B l o c n a a r o o rc o
k R ege y i 1 6
,

23 4
a n s, nc n,
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ar con ro rs ru s
p li y 24 0
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,

he f
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24 1 u s on , -

di pp i t Se b i h p e
sa o n s r an o s, d t h e B l k Sea C f e
an a c on r
2 en ce, 2 4 3 0 -

33 6
 I n dex
S ha h o f d pe t Pe ia rs a t Bu a s , l
St en ge , B a ron de, erma n ee G dl
2 69 ga t e t o t h e a g u e on er H C f
Sh p h a i Mi l
c a n n, d P p vi h ora o o c en ce, 2 73
S e bi p et 22 5 M
,

r an o , S t oya n ov i ch , a rco, a w er, 2 00 l y

Sh p e Dar Alb e t fB mp t r r o ra on , S t ra t , Mr , a n d t h e ac S ea Bl k
O t i 317 C f
, .
, .

n a r o, on eren ce, 2 5

S h l yi it
v ov p l m wh i ky 1 0sa u s , S bli me P t e 8 9
u or ,

S h m diu a w dl d ) ba d oo an ou n S e he
z c C t d t h e p li i g
n, ou n an o cn
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,

ft h e D b e 29
,

ar s o o a nu
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r s n o r s o , S eg e yi M i h C
z v n nt 2 30 2 3 1
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,
us r a ,
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a s n a s a a
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s
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r a
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s cr ar
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n o r u , T k v t h e O d e f 1 9 9 20 4
a o o, r r o
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c , or , , T t e Si T h m t M t e l 3 1 0
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Se bi r ilw y s 25 5
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a n ra a
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a on c n o ra c on Te i
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a os o ,
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T k i h F ei g
as a ur s or n
Sliv it z b t t l e f 5 0
n a , a o , Mi i t e 8 9 n s
,

r,
S fi wel me t h e Sh h 263
o a co s a , T h eb e M d me de l i v y t e
s, a a ca r o an
S k l t h e i ed t le
, ,

o o , e ru n ca s n a r,
29 8 9 -

T d vi h S t ef
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S me vill e t h e R e D p e he ti t 12
,

o r v r r ac s ar s
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n dt h e ra an au or T oron o, t meet i g i 3 1 6 1 7 n s n,
i t e p et 2 1 1
-

n r r s, C di Cl b 3 1 6
a na an u
S p i it li m f it h i f C me m t b e t i f l it y i C d
,

r ua s a n, o ar n cs au u c n a na a ,

Sylv d h e m t h e 74
,

a an r o r, él 7
P i e G e ge f S e bi
r nc or o r a s
’
Se b r l y i 317co on n,
i te e t i 1 4 2 n r s n, T ra n s y lv i m gi i 3 an a a c n,
mm i t i f m ,
co tu n ca on s a s o, ro
T e e t h e b i ed i S e bi
r a sur , ur , n r a ,
C l it 1 83 5
a r ov z, -

1 84 29 7 29 9
e whi h ve t ed , ,
the é
the th t
s an c
b eli ef i
c con r
T e t ie
r a t i t y f 2 4 2 75
s, sa nc o , ,

1 85 8
au or o n,
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r ov n s Gl ik B el g d e a sn ra
ew p p e
- ,

1 36
S t ley D e
an em f by a n, a s r on o
n

T i p l e Alli e f med 2 2 8
s a r,

p xy 73
, ,
r an c or ,
ro

S t e d W T p vid e mem
a
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ro s a or
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r n n or ,

bl e é e 1 78 80
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. .

a s a nc - rou r ,
te f ra , a no o ,
,

his a ccou n t i n R evi ew ofR e 317

vi e s w oi t h e s é a n ce a t T ib d t h e S h h t 2 64
sa r ro ,
a a ,

whi ch
i t h e a s s a s s n a t on of i T e i h M
s n c M i i t e fJ t i e
r n s r o us c ,

Ki g Al ex d e d Q ee
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,

n an r an u n 1 24
1 w ii e ig ti t e d e ed 1 2 5
38a
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T k ey Abd l H mid S lt
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, , ,

s r a or a a u 8 1 1 02
C f e e e 2 71 2
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on r nc ,
-

lib e t i fS e bi i 82
ra on o r a ns n,

S t ef vi h D il f l l fC bi et
a no c an o, a o a n t yp e fdi p l m y i
s o 89 99 o ac n, -

S e b ev lt i 1 80 4 1 5 2
,

r r o , n ,
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r
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p ye)
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1 81 5 1 53 , f 15 o
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,

con c t s a u on o F i mi l i o r a , r an c rc s o
1 53 f 88 o
d efe t t h eA t i i 1 775 b t le i t h e w y f
,

a s u s r a ns, n o s a c s n a o
ti
,

22 1 F i mi l i
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e r an s con s cra on ,
he r fli t i g i t e e t
con i c 88 99
n n r s s n -

t h e Ne E t 229 ar A hbi h p i f off e ed t

a s rc s o r c o r o
t t h e B lk C fe e e i th
, ,

a a a n 1 4 8 1 51
on r nc n au or, -

L d 23 8 on on ,
h e d el eg t e
r t the H g e a s a V a u
C f e e e 2 73
on r nc
V l ye
,
t h e N z e es f 20 2 et
T kh P h T k i h d el eg t e
ur an as a
eq
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t the H g e C f e e e Va
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