SERVIA. 



SORGHUM. 



715 



out of court on the ground that the ukase was 

 unconstitutional. 



The King offered to continue to govern with 

 the Radical leaders, provided they dropped the 

 proceedings against Avakumovich and the other 

 ministers in office at the time of the coup d'etat, 

 to expel antidynastic members from the Radical 

 club, and to revoke the law forbidding Milan to 

 live in Servia. Failing to come to an agreement 

 with them, he sought a coalition ministry, and 

 on Jan. 24 a nonpartisan one was constituted, 

 which the Liberals and Progressists promised to 

 support, but in which the Radicals refused to 

 accept the three places that were offered to them. 

 It was composed as follows : Premier and Minis- 

 ter of Foreign Affairs and ad interim of Fi- 

 nance, Georg Simich ; Minister of Public 

 Works, Gen. Sdravcovich ; Minister of the In- 

 terior, M. Nicolaievich ; Minister of War, Col. 

 Milovan Pavlovich ; Minister of Commerce and 

 Agriculture, Prof. Lotanich ; Minister of Justice 

 and ad interim of Education, Prof. Andra 

 Georgievich. On the same day the Skupshtina 

 was prorogued after it had refused to listen to 

 the royal rescript. The impeachment of the 

 Avakumovich Cabinet was ended by a decree 

 granting a general amnesty for political offenses. 

 The Radical party issued a manifesto declaring 

 that the stay of the ex-King in Servia was dan- 

 gerous, and his participation in public affairs a 

 violation of the Constitution. The Cabinet was 

 completed on Jan. 31 by the appointment of M. 

 Mijatovich as Minister of Finance and Prof. 

 Nesich as Minister of Public Instruction. Dis- 

 turbances occurred in Belgrade, where on Feb. 

 22 there were 50 members of the Radical party 

 arrested. On March 18 was published a decree 

 of the episcopal synod annulling the decree of 

 divorce between the ex-King Milan and Queen 

 Natalie that had been pronounced by the former 

 Metropolitan Theodosius. 



The Premier, who had been for several years 

 minister at the Austrian court, was in favor of a 

 conciliatory policy toward the Radicals, while 

 Nicolaievich wished to use coercive measures. 

 Through their differences the Cabinet was broken 

 up, and a new one was constituted on April 3 as 

 follows: Premier and Minister of the Interior, 

 M. Nicolaievich ; Minister of Foreign Affairs, S. 

 Losanich ; Minister of Public Instruction, Prof. 

 Georgievich ; Minister of Finance, V. J. Petro- 

 vich ; Minister of Commerce and Agriculture, 

 M. Jovanovich ; Minister of Justice, M. Andono- 

 vich ; Minister of Public Works, M. Sdravcovich ; 

 Minister of War, Gen. Pavlovich. 



In May the police pretended to discover an 

 extensive conspiracy for the overthrow of the 

 Obrenovich dynasty and the restoration of the 

 Karageorgevich family. Pashich, who had re- 

 signed his post as minister to Russia, but still 

 lived in St. Petersburg, was supposed to be the 

 chief conspirator. On May 21 King Alexander 

 addressed a proclamation to the Servian people 

 suspending the Constitution of Jan. 3, 1889, and 

 re-establishing that of July 11, 1869. Under 

 the restored Constitution the franchise is more 

 restricted and voting is open, instead of by se- 

 cret ballot ; the Government appoints one third 

 of the members of the Skupshtina ; newspapers 

 must have a license from the Government, which 

 can be revoked at will, and any impression of a 



newspaper can be suppressed by the police: 

 furthermore, all male descendants of King Milan 

 are qualified to ascend the throne, whereas 

 under the Constitution of 1889 the right of suc- 

 cession was confined to the offspring of his mar- 

 riage with Queen Natalie. In many respects the 

 Constitution of 1809 gives the Crown a large 

 amount of arbitrary power. The right to hold 

 public assemblies and to organize secret societies 

 and many of the privileges of local administra- 

 tion were abrogated by the proclamation. The 

 King issued a ukase at once restoring the old 

 laws relating to the press, to communal adminis- 

 tration, to elections, and all other laws enacted 

 under the Constitution of 1869. He appointed 

 a new Council of State, of which Nicola Chris- 

 tich was made President, and established a court 

 of cassation and a court of accounts. The min- 

 istry of Nikolaievich, having tendered its resig- 

 nation, was requested by the King to remain. 

 To prevent resistance to the new coup d'etat 

 vigorous measures were taken against the Rad- 

 icals, whose leaders were arrested. Officers of 

 the army having affiliations with that party 

 were placed on the retired list, and orders were 

 issued for the disarming of the peasantry. No 

 Radical paper and only 2 papers of other opin- 

 ions received licenses. When the prohibition of 

 Radical opinions was somewhat relaxed later the 

 Radicals nevertheless kept very silent or pro- 

 tested their loyalty and pacific disposition, while 

 the Liberals began to attack the Government. 

 The King and his advisers let it be understood 

 by the people that a new Constitution would in 

 time be prepared. At the close of October Nico- 

 laievich was forced out of the Cabinet by the 

 King and his father, and the ministry was re- 

 constructed as follows : Premier and Minister of 

 the Interior, Nicola Christich ; Ministe" of For- 

 eign Affairs, Milan Bogitchevich ; Minister of 

 War, Gen. M. Pavlovich; Minister of Finance, 

 V. J. Petrovich ; Minister of Public Works, S. 

 Sdravcovich ; Minister of Public Instruction 

 and Worship, L. Klerich : Minister of Justice, 

 M. K. Georgievich ; Minister of Agriculture and 

 Commerce, S. Losanich. 



SORGHUM (also known as Chinese sugar 

 cane),acereal indigenous to China,India,and some 

 parts of South Africa, and cultivated to a con- 

 siderable extent in the United States. In. 1853 

 sorghum seed was brought here from the Geo- 

 graphical Society of Paris, which had received 

 earlier samples from the French consul at Shang- 

 hai. In 1857 16 varieties of the seed were 

 brought to England from Natal, Soiith Africa, 

 bearing the name of imphee. Sorghum is the 

 main cereal in Turkestan, because no other could 

 be successfully grown on account of the droughts. 

 In China, more particularly in the northern part, 

 sorghum is grown in the same manner that In- 

 dian corn is grown in the United States and for 

 nearly the same purposes. About 100 varieties 

 of the plant are cultivated, and in the foreign 

 countries above named it is used more particu- 

 larly for the seed. The conditions of climate 

 and the details of cultivation so closely resemble 

 those required for the production of maize, that 

 the cultivation of the two plants is very similar 

 and is confined to a colder belt than the one re- 

 quired for the production of ordinary sugar cane. 

 One hundred and twenty- two analyses of 35 



