ish are operated upon by the last of
these influences. We are contented to accept the meagre accounts which
have as yet reached us, and which give a very one-sided impression, as
is but natural, the whole of the materials having been collected at
Belgrade. I am not aware that anyone has during the past few years
written upon the subject; and having been at some pains to obtain the
means of forming a just estimate of the character and condition of the
Servian people, I must fain confess to very different ideas concerning
them to those which I had previously entertained, based upon the perusal
of Ranke and Von Engel, or the lighter pages of Cyprien Robert and
Paton.

The retrograde movement, but too apparent, gives cause for serious
regret, not only to those who are politically interested in the
well-being of the country, but to all who desire to see an advanced
state of civilisation and a high moral standard amongst a people who
pride themselves on the universality of Christianity within their
limits.

The present population is about one million, and is said to be
increasing at the rate of ten per cent., but so crudely compiled are the
statistics, that doubts may be entertained of the accuracy of this
statement. Of this million of souls, 200,000 at the lowest estimate are
foreigners; the greater portion being Austrian subjects, and the
children of those Servians who on three separate occasions migrated to
the northern banks of the Danube. What has induced them to return to
their ancestral shores, whether it be Austrian oppression, or an
unlooked-for patriotism, it is hard to say; but whatever the motives,
they have not proved of sufficient strength to awaken the dormant apathy
inherited with their Slavish blood. Save those who have settled at
Belgrade, and who drive a most lucrative and usurious trade, they have
sunk back contentedly to a level with the rest of their compatriots.

The scanty population is only one of the many signs of the decadence of
a country for whose future such high hopes were entertained, and whose
name is even now blazoned forth as a watchword to the Christians of
Turkey. In reality, a comparison with most Turkish provinces, and more
especially with those in which the Mussulman element predominates, will
tell very favourably for the latter. Roumelia, for example, with a
smaller area, contains a larger population, produces more than double
the revenue, while land is four times as valuable, the s