740 



SERVIA. 



of the Panslavist Liberals, who dreamed of 

 the restoration of the Servian Empire, em- 

 bracing all the South Slavs, under Russian 

 auspices, with Prince Karageorgevich or Prince 

 Nikola of Montenegro on the throne. The 

 Queen thus became identified with the party 

 having Russian leanings. In 1887 the King 

 insisted on Natalie's leaving Servia. and com- 

 pelled her to sign articles of separation and 

 take up her residence abroad. The Queen 

 under this arrangement was given the custody 

 of her son. In May, 1888, Natalie announced 

 her intention to return to Belgrade. The King 

 forbade her to do so, and, meeting her at Vi- 

 enna, directed her to go to Wiesbaden. While 

 she was there, he sent a proposal for a new 

 agreement, declaring that the former one was 

 impracticable. She rejected the new proposi- 

 tion, whereupon King Milan applied to the 

 Synod of the Servian Church for a divorce. 

 The Queen made a compromise more difficult 

 by add re-sing indignant protests to the Synod, 

 the Consistory, and the Council of Ministers. 

 Ex-Minister Pirotshanatz became her advocate. 

 She denied the competence of the Synod to 

 try the case. The Synod, consisting of the 

 Metropolitan, three bishops, and seven clergy- 

 men, asserted its jurisdiction ; but, after the 

 King had transferred the case to the Belgrade 

 Consistorial Court, consisting of three dele- 

 gates of the Consistory, the bishop agreed that 

 this was the proper tribunal. The Queen pur- 

 posed appearing in person before the Consis- 

 tory, but was forbidden by the King, who 

 demanded that the Crown -Prince be given 

 into his custody, and sent Gen. Protich to 

 Wiesbaden to bring him to Belgrade. Queen 

 Natalie refused to give up her child, but the 

 German authorities interfered, and took him 

 by force from his mother. 



The ground given for the petition of divorce 

 was "irreconcilable mutual antipathy." The 

 Servian law gives to the ecclesiastical authori- 

 ties alone the power of divorce, which can 

 only be granted after the parties have been 

 brought face to face and a formal attempt has 

 been made to reconcile their differences. Bish- 

 op Dimitrije, of Nish, a friend of the Queen, 

 was sent by the Synod to Wiesbaden to ar- 

 range a reconciliation, if possible, on the terms 

 proposed by the King, allowing Natalie to re- 

 tain all the rights and privileges of Queen on 

 condition that she should not return to Servia 

 except at the King's invitation. The Queen 

 scornfully refused to accede to these conditions', 

 but afterward, when Milan showed a deter- 

 mination to proceed with his application for 

 an absolute divorce, she pressed for a com- 

 promise on these very terms. After being 

 robbed of her child and expelled from Wies- 

 baden by order of the German Government, 

 she demonstratively identified her cause with 

 the political designs of Russia by going to that 

 country in order to interest the people and the 

 Czar in her wrongs. Subsequently she went 

 to the house of her brother-in-law, Prince 



Ghika, in Bucharest, and waited for permis- 

 sion to answer the summons of the ecclesiasti- 

 cal tribunal in Belgrade. Her cause was es- 

 poused by the Liberal and Radical Opposition, 

 and even the leaders of the Progressist party 

 disapproved the divorce proceedings. Gen. 

 Horvatovich, for championing the Queen, was 

 placed on the retired list. The Cabinet could 

 not approve the King's course, and the minis- 

 ters wished to retire. So determined was 

 Milan to punish his consort that he contem- 

 plated recalling the Russian party to power on 

 condition of its upholding the divorce proceed- 

 ings; but Ristich declined to take office if the 

 suit were not dropped. Milan's temper became 

 so moody and violent that he sent into exile 

 his old and devoted friend Garashanin for ad- 

 vising him to withdraw his application for 

 absolute divorce. 



The Court of the Consistory ruled that the 

 King and Queen must both be heard in person. 

 The ministers decided that there was no law 

 to prevent the Queen from entering Servia, 

 yet held that they could prohibit her sojourn 

 in any particular town as likely to produce 

 political disorders. When King Milan found 

 the Consistorial Court determined to treat him 

 as a private person, he suspended its action, 

 requesting an adjournment for three months 

 to allow the Queen time to prepare an answer. 

 While the matter remained in abeyance in the 

 Consistorial Court and before the Holy Synod, 

 Milan applied to the Metropolitan Theodosije, 

 and on Oct. 24 obtained from him a decree of 

 absolute divorce, granted in his capacity as 

 autonomous head of the Servian Church. The 

 law gives the Metropolitan no authority to 

 grant divorces independently of the Synod; 

 and, even if he had the right, the title of 

 Archbishop Theodosije to his office is doubtful, 

 since many religious persons look upon the 

 deposed Metropolitan Michael as the rightful 

 head of the Church. Milan took this irregular 

 way to accomplish his purpose, because he 

 expected an adverse decision in the Consis- 

 torial Court. To prevent hostile action of the 

 Synod, the King suspended Bishops Dimitrije 

 and Nicato, on the ground of contumacy. 



Revision of the Constitution. King Milan fol- 

 lowed up his divorce with a bid for popular 

 favor, ordering elections for a Grand Skup- 

 shtina, to be held on December 2, and summon- 

 ing the Assembly for December 25. The 

 manifesto ends with an assurance that the 

 elections should be free. A commission for 

 the revision of the Constitution, consisting of 

 85 members, chosen from the three political 

 parties, met in Belgrade, under the presidency 

 of the King, on November 3. The King 

 brought about a fusion in the revision commis- 

 sion between the Progressists and the Liber- 

 als, whose political alliances have heretofore 

 been made only with the Radicals. The pre- 

 liminary elections were by no means free. 

 The police interfered everywhere, and a great 

 many persons were arrested or maltreated. 



