athized with
Nikita of Montenegro for having this personage as a son-in-law. The
indebtedness of Serbia--she owed 450,000,000 francs, a sum which
swallowed a quarter of the annual budget--the corruption of the public
services, the lack of industrial development, the rudimentary state of
agriculture and whatsoever else of evil which the Obrenovi['c] had
done or left undone--everything was the fault of King Peter. A great
many people were positive that Alexander had been slain by his
myrmidons; for this foul deed he had been always plotting, from the
time when he fought as a lieutenant in the French army of 1870-1871
(when he was wounded and decorated), during the Bosnian insurrection
of 1876 (when he served the national cause) and while he was
translating Mill's _Treatise on Liberty_. These liberal activities
were held as the absolute proofs of the hypocrisy of Europe's outlaw.
In a few years "old Uncle Pete," as his people affectionately came to
call him, was revered by the men not only of friendly countries but
even by those who were in arms against him.

A HAPPY ADVENT

He started by placing the government in the hands of the Radical party
and by showing that his own position would be strictly that of a
constitutional monarch. Numerous reforms were undertaken with respect
to the finances, the exploitation of the country's resources and the
reorganizing of the army, which had been debilitated by intrigue and
corruption. So many tasks had simultaneously to be accomplished that
the greatest Serbophil may have despaired, since the national
qualities do not, as yet, include much power of organization. Is it
not astonishing, therefore, that in a few years so much was done?--the
army, for example, becoming so closely identified with the people that
high Obrenovi['c] officers felt that it was unpatriotic to perpetuate
these dynastic divisions, and gradually they resolved to offer their
swords to the State. More than one General whose abilities in the
Great War gained him a high British decoration had once been
conspicuous for his enmity to the Karageorgevi['c]. With regard to
Serbia's international standing we have the fact that in 1899-1900 it
was impossible to arrange a loan of 40 millions at Vienna even though
the entire railway system was offered as a guarantee; in a few years
various loans, with relatively easy terms, were contracted for amounts
of 90, 110 and 150 millions. One saw the peasant, who a short time
befo