CHAPTER III SERVIA’S AIMS AND ASPIRATIONS

Audiences of M. Pachitch, the Premier and “strong man” of Servia, and of M. Stoyanovitch, Minister of Commerce—My friend, Dr. Milenko Vesnitch, Minister of Justice—The Servian case as I found it—Austria Servia’s arch-enemy—Dr. Vesnitch an up-to-date politician—Undeniable prosperity of the country under King Peter’s rule.

He who attempts to study Servian politics will find himself engulfed in a perfect vortex of mystery and intrigue.

Politics occupy everyone’s thought in Belgrade. The Pachitch Party is on everyone’s tongue. Be it at the luncheon table of the restaurant, over the card-table at the Grand Café at six o’clock, in the salons of the Ministers’ wives, or at the smart diplomatic receptions, the gossip is always of politics. Hence it is that the secret agent is everywhere, and one hears complaints on every hand of telegrams being noted and letters tampered with.

Having regard to recent events and the presence of a horde of Austrian spies, this is not, perhaps, surprising. Though Servia is undoubtedly prospering and contented under King Peter and the present Ministry, yet there is, of course, in politics an opposition—though not a formidable one.

During my stay in Belgrade, besides being graciously granted private audience by His Majesty King Peter, I had many opportunities of discussing Servian politics with the Premier, M. Nicholas Pachitch; Dr. Milenko Vesnitch, Minister of Justice; M. Stoyanovitch, the Minister of Commerce; M. Patchu, Minister of Finance; M. Andrea Nikolitch, Minister of Public Instruction; M. Yovan Gyaya, who has formed the new Radical Party; and many other leading men of both sides. I very carefully investigated each question, in order to present to the British public, for the first time, the actual truth of the present state of affairs in Servia.

Quite recently the British Government resumed diplomatic relations with the Servian Court, therefore it is fitting that a fair and unbiassed statement should now be put forward, in order to show Servia as she really is, her aims, her aspirations, and her future policy in the Balkans.

I confess that I found considerable difficulty in forming my conclusions. The policy, however, which the present strong and level-headed Government are pursuing is a policy which, having carefully heard both sides, I have no hesitation whatever in endorsing as the very best for the peace and future of the nation. It is strong, without being belligerent, even though Austria has never ceased to annoy, irritate, and intrigue.

Balkan questions are both difficult and intricate, but I will endeavour to describe the true state of affairs as plainly and briefly as possible. This work, though not intended to be a political treatise, would be incomplete without some explanation of the mysteries of the politics of the various Balkan countries I visited. Therefore, at risk of being perhaps a little too outspoken, I will state the Servian case just as I found it.

One of the burning questions in Servia at the present time is the Customs War with Austria. The latter Power has endeavoured to ruin Servia, but has fortunately not succeeded, even though her emissaries are everywhere, and many newspaper correspondents are undoubtedly in her pay. For this latter reason Servia has, for many years past, been presented to Europe in a false light and columns of untruths telegraphed from Zimony, or Semlin, the Hungarian town on the opposite bank of the Save.

Briefly, the truth is as follows:—

Austria—and with her Germany—is slowly but surely marching to the East. One sees and hears evidence of it everywhere in the Balkans. The extended talons of the Austrian eagle are as apparent—and perhaps more so in Servia than in Montenegro. Servia bars Austria’s way southward to that much-coveted port, Salonica. It is therefore not to Austria’s interest that Servia should be at peace. Unfortunately for Servia, the Occidental people view the Eastern questions through the spectacles of the Vienna Press, which is—for the most part—inspired by the Austrian Government.

Austria is at the bottom of the whole of the Servian difficulties. As long as things went badly in Servia—as under the régime of the late King Alexander—they allowed matters to go on without interference, and watched eagerly for the downfall of the kingdom. Unfortunate events occurred, as is well known, but to the great dismay of Servia’s arch-enemy, the country has become contented and is greatly prospering under the rule of King Peter. For this reason, therefore, because a prosperous era has set in, Austria has once again sought to stir discord and to create troubles and difficulties. At the moment of writing the secret police have a long list of over one hundred Austrian political agents living in Belgrade alone!

How Austria seeks to compromise Servia in the eyes of Europe, and the scandalous methods by which she is seeking to attain that end, is well illustrated by a telegram which was supposed to emanate from Odessa, but which I have indisputable evidence came from the same source as all the others—an unscrupulous correspondent in Vienna in the secret pay of the Austrian Government.

Mr. Alex. Tucker,
Servian Consul-General in London.

Mr. Beethom Whitehead,
British Minister at Belgrade.

The amazing telegram in question appeared in the London newspapers on January 2 this year, and was as follows:—

“The local agency of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which for the last twenty years has been specially retained in Odessa as a convenient medium of secret intelligence respecting the Balkan States, is in possession of indisputable proofs of the existence, notwithstanding all recent and official denials from Belgrade, of a widely ramified and elaborately matured plot for the execution of a sudden coup d’état and the expulsion of the Karageorgevitch dynasty from Servia. Leading members, civil and military, of both the chief political parties are stated to have joined the conspiracy.

“According to this information, the intended first result of the coup d’état, if it be not marred, will be the establishment of a provisional regency in the administrative hands of six or eight Ministers. The regents would then take time to prepare a comprehensive explanatory statement of the situation for presentation to the Great Powers, which they would also consult as to the choice of an alien prince for the royal throne of Servia. They will urge upon the friendly consideration of the Powers the fact that the two peasant dynasties of Obrenovitch and Karageorgevitch have been fairly tried and justly found impossible and incompatible with the economical welfare and progressive culture necessary to the worthy attainment of Servia’s proper political destiny.”

In reply to this, the Servian Government nailed the lies upon Austria by the following official statement, issued on January 3 from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at Belgrade:—

“All sorts of misleading fabrications have lately been issued to the world by the Austrian Press for the purpose of compromising the political situation in Servia, the latest report being that of an alleged plot to exile the Karageorgevitch dynasty. Gradually and systematically the Viennese newspapers have been communicating to the foreign Press alarming news, injurious to Servia’s good name, and certain quarters in Vienna consider it necessary to reserve the fabrication regarding the exile of the Karageorgevitch dynasty as the final stroke on the eve of the conclusion of the Servian loan. The Austrian Press has even gone so far as to make use of prevarications in order to succeed in giving credence to its report regarding the exile of the royal dynasty, alleging they had obtained news from the Russian Agency created at Odessa by the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs for special political service in the Balkans. According to our information, such an agency does not even exist.”

Again, an ingenious gentleman representing the Vienna Zeit, who lives opposite Belgrade, at Semlin, in Hungary, and fears to cross into Servia, sent the other day, not only to the Zeit but to the Daily Mail, an extraordinary telegram declaring the Servian Crown Prince to be slightly demented, and casting all sorts of insinuations as to what was happening in the palace.

I chanced to be in Belgrade at the time, and showed the Crown Prince the ridiculous concoction, and we both laughed over it.

“Bah!” he said, “it is really too silly to require contradiction.”

The true fact is that the young Crown Prince, who gave me the signed portrait that appears in these pages, is a particularly smart young man, and not only do his tutors, but also the Cabinet Ministers of Servia, speak in the highest terms of his tact and intelligence.

But to Austria no method is too mean or too unscrupulous by which to circulate false news to the detriment of Servia. Ask any Servian, and he will tell you of Austria’s machinations in every quarter.

Quite recently a Servian author wrote some libellous and untrue articles regarding the present dynasty, and was consequently arrested and condemned to imprisonment. Whereupon the Austrian Minister in Belgrade, without asking permission of the Minister of Justice, went to the prison and prevailed upon the Governor to be allowed to see the prisoner privately. Such action surely speaks louder than words!

The Austrian attitude was well exhibited on the occasion of the accession of King Peter. His Majesty received two telegrams. The first was from the Tzar, who said, “I hope you may be able to bring happiness to the Servian people, and by doing so you will receive my friendship.” The other was from the Emperor Francis Josef, and was certainly in the spirit of dividing King and people, for His Majesty merely expressed a hope that the evils existing would be remedied.

Austria’s chief aim in Servia is to estrange the people from their King, to create as much discord and discontent as possible to crush the trade of the country and to keep her poor. As long as she believed that Servia was in a bad position economically and financially, things were allowed to go from bad to worse. But as soon as an improvement was observed in the national prosperity, a hostile policy was adopted, which has rendered trade between the two countries impossible.

Careful inquiries of the Servian Cabinet Ministers and many statesmen of both political parties show that even in the present position, with Austria closed against her, Servia is nevertheless progressing, and prospering more than the outside world ever dreams.

The last commercial treaty between Austria and Servia expired in 1904. There was a desire on the part of Servia to at once renew it, but this Austria-Hungary was unable to do, as she was rearranging her treaty with Germany. When, however, the first negotiations were started, Austria made very severe complaints regarding the Serbo-Bulgarian Customs Union, and asked that the treaty in question should be annulled before negotiations for the new treaty were started. The Servian Government, desirous of pleasing Austria, replied that in the Serbo-Bulgarian Customs Union there was a clause to the effect that if one of the Great Powers raised a protest, amendments might be introduced. They therefore suggested the postponement of this question, hoping that Austria was satisfied, and would begin the pourparlers. But no such thing. Austria had other aims, for very soon they coolly declared that if the commercial treaty were renewed, Servia must buy her new armament for the artillery of the Scoda works in Austria. This is peculiar, inasmuch as the cannon in question is not that in use by the Austrian artillery!

The reason for this has been explained by the fact that certain members of the Austrian Imperial family were financially interested in the works in question. This, however, was not the real reason. There was one far more subtle. The true political reason, indeed, was that the Austrian Government wished to get a seat in the “Autonom-Monopol” administration—the body which controls the loans, and which consists of six members, namely, one French delegate, one German, and four Servians. France and Germany were both friendly, but Austria, had she gained a seat there, could at once have created internal dissension and difficulty.

Nominally, the annual income from this “Monopol” is about thirty million dinars, or francs, of which twenty million go to the creditors, leaving ten million at the free disposal of the Government. Now had Austria obtained a hand in this administration, she would have been able to exercise a prerogative and a right of intervention in many matters affecting the good government of the country—a danger that will at once be apparent.

Austrian intrigue is everywhere apparent, not only in Belgrade, but throughout the whole of Servia. Austria does not wish either a national or a staple Government in Servia, and so, because they could not obtain their ends, and because the present Government voices the national ideas of the whole of the Serb people—who are as a matter of fact spread over Croatia, Slavonia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Montenegro, and part of Hungary—they have pursued the Customs War, and put a prohibitive tariff upon everything in the endeavour to close entirely the world’s markets to Servia. The latter has of course retaliated by placing a prohibitive tariff upon all goods from those nations who have no treaty—a move which is of course directed against Austria, but by which other Powers must, for the present, suffer.

As regards England, the first commercial treaty made by Servia after the Berlin Treaty was with Great Britain, and it served as the base of all the other treaties. Of this Austria-Hungary was jealous, and from that time until to-day Austria has done everything in her power to discredit and discourage British trade in the Balkans. In fact, so seriously detrimental has been Austria’s influence against British trade that naturally some time must elapse ere the damage done can be repaired.

Meanwhile, a new commercial treaty with England has been arranged, for it was in Servia’s greatest interest that this should be done. Every Servian I spoke to was loud in his praises of England, and of English methods. Servia is very anxious to export her agricultural produce to England, while in Servia—now that Austrian imports have stopped—there are many open markets for English goods.

Austria believed that as all Servian exports were sent into Austria-Hungary, Servia would be obliged in the end to accept their drastic and unfair terms—the purchase of cannon and other restrictions. On the contrary, however, it says much for Servia’s enterprise that, though the Austrian frontier has been closed during 1906, yet Servia has exported all her goods by way of Varna or Braila, or by Salonica, to which port a line of rail runs from Nisch. The producer has felt the Austrian oppression but little, if any at all. In fact, it is the opinion of many statesmen in Servia that it would actually be in the country’s interests if Austria continues her present hostile Customs policy, for it will then compel the Servians to look for markets farther afield, and arouse them to take strong initiatives.

It should be noted, too, that fifteen years ago Austria raised the same trouble with Roumania, and the Roumanians are now happily emancipated from the Austrian market, and are consequently prosperous.

At present, with the Austrian frontier barred for export, Servia must build a railway to the Adriatic. The line from Nisch, viâ Usküb, to Salonica, though it runs through Macedonia, is practically under Austrian control, and goods sent over it from Servia are subjected to high tariff. Therefore there is a project afoot to construct a new line from Kragooyevatz across the Kopaonik Mountains to Prisrend, and thence through Northern Albania down to Skodra and the Adriatic at the port of San Giovanni di Medua. An alternative scheme is to construct the line so that it passes through Montenegro, and joins the line at present being made by an Italian company from Antivari on the coast to Virpasar on the Lake of Scutari.

One or other of these two schemes will certainly be adopted in the near future, and when the line is completed, Servia will at once be entirely independent of Austria, and secure an outlet to the Adriatic. Such a railway will be of great strategic importance, as will be seen from a glance on the map. I have been over parts of the projected route, and certainly it will be a very difficult line to construct, on account of the wall of mountains lying between the Lake of Scutari and the Servian frontier. But its opening will mean civilising the wild tribes of Albania and the further cementing of the Serb nation.

This last point is, indeed, the chief line of the Servian Balkan policy. In my conversations with the Premier, with Dr. Milenko Vesnitch, Minister of Justice, and with the Ministers of Commerce and of Finance, I found them all in accord upon the one great principle of policy, namely, the preservation of the great Serb nation, which consists of over ten million persons, spread through Bosnia, Herzegovina, Slavonia, Kossovo, Montenegro, Servia, Dalmatia, and many parts of Hungary itself. This great population speak the same language and have the same aspirations, namely, the unity of the great nation whose past history is such a splendid one.

The policy of the Servian Ministry, whether military, economical, or political, is all directed towards this one end, and here it may be pointed out that King Peter is grandson of the great hero of the Servian people, the peasant Karageorge, who in 1804 raised the Servians against the Turks and defeated them.

King Peter has already given evidence of his patriotic sentiments, not only interesting himself in the nation before he was elected ruler, but perhaps it is not generally remembered that in 1875 he fought at the head of his troop—which he raised himself, and crippled his finances thereby—for the emancipation of Bosnia. In the Servian national poetry there is a hero called Peter Mrcognitch, the Protector of the Poor against the oppressors, and it was under this assumed name that the present ruler of Servia fought. In 1870, too, he fought with the French against the Germans, and was awarded the Legion of Honour for valour on the battlefield. Therefore the Servians regard him as a patriot—as indeed he is—and up to the present he has certainly shown himself an able, wise, and discreet ruler, who has the interests of his country very deeply at heart.

The Road to the East: The last view of Europe.

Villagers and Gypsies in Miriavo (Servia).

To refer to the tragic events of the night of June 11, 1903, is unnecessary. All I can personally say is that I arrived in Belgrade full of an Englishman’s natural prejudice against the present régime, but after careful inquiry, not only in government and diplomatic circles, but also among the adherents of the old régime, I came to the conclusion that though drastic and cruel, yet had not those events happened that night, hundreds of unfortunate ones would have lost their lives on the following morning.

In the régime of the late King no one was safe in Belgrade. Draga had her spies everywhere, and alas for those who dared to utter a word against her or her methods! Leading men in the political, social, and literary world of Belgrade to-day have explained to me how they had from day to day lived in fear and dread of false accusations and arrest, until life became so intolerable that many were almost driven from the country. These men strongly disagreed with the methods of the regicides, but they are now thankful they are free.

The truth of those black days of spies and suspicion in Belgrade in the last days of Alexander’s reign has never been told. Only those who lived there, and only those who hear the truth from the lips of responsible persons, can realise how entirely the country was in the hands of one unscrupulous woman. The journalists of Europe were horrified at the methods by which the Obrenovitch were wiped out, and they condemned the Servians. Not one had the courage, or the inclination, to put the facts fairly and impartially before the public.