686 



SERVIA. 



tures are set down as 62,719,846 dinars, includ- 

 ing a supplementary credit of 2,609,251 dinars. 

 The chief items are 20,466,188 dinars for the 

 public debt, and 11,327,483 dinars for the army. 

 The "debt on Jan. 1, 1893, amounted to the capital 

 sum of 324,956,542 dinars, of which 155,310,000 

 dinars were borrowed to build railroads. 



Commerce. The value of the imports in 1892 

 was 37,069,000 dinars, against 42,806,000 dinars 

 in 1891 ; of the exports, 46,452,000 dinars against 

 52,480,000 dinars. The principal exports are 

 prunes, wine, hogs, cattle, sheep, grain, and barrel 

 staves. Every peasant owns his small farm, or- 

 chard, or vineyard. 



Communications. The state railroads have 

 a length of 337 miles. The post-office handled 

 5.195,000 internal and 3,655,000 foreign letters in 

 1891, besides 354,000 postal cards. The tele- 

 graphs have a total length of 1,942 miles, with 

 3,717 miles of wire. The number of dispatches 

 in 1892 was 653,449, of which 463,798 were paid 

 domestic dispatches. 



The Army. The law of Jan. 31, 1889, intro- 

 duced obligatory service for one year with the 

 colors. The strength of the active army and its 

 reserve is 2,474 officers and 102,233 men with 

 26,486 horses and 282 guns. The military 

 strength of the nation, including the first and 

 second bans of the militia, is 57,000 officers and 

 239,950 men, with 45,100 horses and 402 cannon. 



Politics. After the dissolution of the Skupsh- 

 tina in December, 1892, the Regents ordered the 

 general elections to be held in February, 1893. 

 The last Skupshtina was strongly Radical, but 

 in spite of that fact a Liberal ministry had been 

 appointed, and the Regents declared that even 

 should the new Skupshtina contain a majority 

 of Radicals, the latter would not be allowed to 

 form a Government. The law prohibiting citi- 

 zens to vote who had not paid their taxes was 

 enforced against Radicals, while all Liberal votes 

 were counted. When, nevertheless, the Radicals 

 elected a majority, the Government declared the 

 election of 7 Radical members illegal, and thereby 

 obtained a majority of 3. Of the 134 members, 

 the Liberals claimed 63, the Radicals 57, and the 

 Progressists 3. The new Skupshtina was con- 

 voked on April 6, 1893. On the first day of the 

 session the Radicals and Progressists left the 

 House in a body and declared their intentions 

 of remaining absent, thereby preventing the 

 organization of the Chamber. The Regents 

 simply declared the law passed in 1891 by a 

 Radical majority increasing the number of del- 

 egates from 125 to 134 to be unconstitutional, 

 organized the Hmise, and commenced business. 



The Coup d'Etat. The abuse of power by 

 the Regents had roused public indignation to 

 the highest pitch, and fears were entertained of 

 a civil war, when, on the night of April 13, 1893, 

 King Alexander, still an infant, and during 

 whose infancy the regency had been appointed, 

 declared himself of age and took the reins of the 

 Government into his own hands. For the pur- 

 pose of carrying out this coup d'etat he invited 

 the Regents and all the ministers to a banquet, 

 given in his palace, to celebrate his successful 

 examinations as a Servian student. During the 

 banquet the houses of the Regents and ministers 

 were taken possession of by military forces, 

 whose co-operation had been secured previously, 



and all Government buildings were guarded by 

 troops. After the third course of the banquet 

 the King arose and addressed the Regents : 



Gentlemen, for four years you, in my name, have 

 administered the kingly power. I thank you heartily 

 for the trouble you have taken. I now feel able to 

 administer the power myself, and will exercise it from 

 this moment. I beg you, therefore, at once to hand 

 me your resignations in writing. 



M. Ristich, the first Regent, replied that he 

 could not and would not comply with the King's 

 request, which, he said, was unconstitutional. 

 The Regents and ministers remaining obdurate, 

 they were then escorted to a wing of the palace 

 and kept there under guai'd for the night, and 

 their homes were guarded by soldiers for a few 

 days longer. On April 14 the King issued a 

 proclamation stating that the Constitution had 

 of late been placed in sore jeopardy, the rights 

 of citizens imperiled, and the constitutional po- 

 sition of Parliament so abased that no course 

 was left open for the King but to make an end 

 of this unhappy condition of affairs, and an- 

 nouncing that he took the kingly power into his 

 own hands and that from that day the Constitu- 

 tion went into effective force and acquired its 

 full significance. It further declared that the 

 Regents, Ristich and Gen. Belimarkovich, were 

 relieved of their posts, that the Cabinet of Ava- 

 kumovich was dismissed, and that the newly ap- 

 pointed ministry was composed of the following 

 members : Premier and Minister of Public In- 

 struction. Dr. Dokich : Minister of Finance, Dr. 

 Vuich; Minister of the Interior, M. Milosavlje- 

 vich ; Minister of War, Col. Franassovich ; Min- 

 ister of Foreign Affairs, Andreas Nikolich ; Min- 

 ister of Public Works, Lieut.-Col. Stankovich ; 

 Minister of Commerce, Miloshevich. The Skupsh- 

 tina was immediately dissolved, and writs for new 

 elections to be held on April 30 were issued. The 

 change of government was received with rejoic- 

 ing by the people. The elections resulted in the 

 return of 121 Radicals, 11 Progressists, and 1 

 Liberal. The Liberals generally abstained from 

 voting, but this reduced the total ballot only 

 from 237,900 to 231,000. The ministers tendered 

 their resignations when the Skupshtina met on 

 June 13. All were asked to retain their posts 

 except Gen. Franassovich, who made way for 

 Gen. Sava Gruich, a Moderate Radical. The 

 speech from the throne was a severe arraign- 

 ment of the late Liberal Government, which, 

 while the Regency was incomplete and there- 

 fore legally incompetent, to administer the 

 country, had dissolved the Assembly, which 

 was invested with the mission of filling the 

 vacancy, and had unscrupulously endeavored 

 to stifle the electoral voice of the country, 

 and when the electorate refused to be intimi- 

 dated, had altered its verdict, and finally, with 

 the Regency not yet completed after the pre- 

 scribed term had passed, opened an Assembly 

 that was not legally constituted. The Radicals 

 were in a difficult position in regard to the 

 finances, because their party had demanded the 

 repeal of the tobacco and salt monopolies, and 

 many peasants were already illegally planting 

 tobacco. The Liberals were in a large measure 

 responsible for the deficits because they had 

 been lenient in assessing and lax in collecting 

 taxes in order to attract the peasantry to their 



