Review of Reviews, IjlIfoG. 



Character Sketches. 



467 



Belgrade. Now, however, there is a hope of better 

 things. With the advent of the descendant of the 

 " liberator of Servia " the country has obtained a 

 national policy, and King Peter, calling upon the 

 store of patriotic sentiment of his people, has made 

 of Servia a really constitutional and progressive State. 

 There are those who declare that the constitution 

 is too liberal, too advanced for the Balkan penin- 

 sula, in that it contains many points more liberal 

 than that of our own country. The elections in 

 Servia are conducted fairly and without the man\ 

 drawbacks which have tended to render the electoral 

 rights of other countries a farce and make-believe. 



The passing of the Obrenovitch dynasty brought 

 to the throne a monarch who w as deeply steeped in 

 the principles of constitutionalism. It is of interest 

 to note that while in exile the present King of 

 Servia translated into Servian John Stuart Mill's 

 book on Liberty. During his forty-five years' exile 

 King Peter resided in France and in Switzerland 

 for many vears, and became iml)ued with a broad- 

 minded liberalism firmly planted on the founda- 

 tions of a glorious Servian ancestry and the tradi- 

 tions of his grandfather, the " liberator of Servia." 

 His long residence beyond tlv Servian frontiers 

 has enabled him to obtain a clear-sighted judgment 

 upon Servian matters which more than counter- 

 balances the drawback of a lack of intimate know- 

 ledge of men and matters in Servia. Such can only 

 come from a life-long experience and contiguity, 

 and it may well be true that the country needs 

 rather a larger policy than would be possible from 

 one who was too immersed in internal details. Be 

 that as it may, Servia gained in King Peter a 

 highly educated, well read, and broad-minded 

 sovereign, who was able to infuse into her govern- 

 ment many of the most beneficial elements of 

 Western constitution*! systems. The sudden transi- 

 tion from the restfu'. life in Geneva to the turmoil 

 and intrigue of Belgrade must have been sufficiently 

 appalling, but King Peter threw himself with 

 vigour into his self-appointed task, and he has 

 shown no sign of flinching during the three years 

 of his reign which have already elapsed. From 

 despair Servia has reached the high road of promise 

 and hope, and under the new dynasty the country 

 has been able to secure much which had previousl\ 

 been denied it. King Peter has inaugurated a 

 liberation no less potent and far-reaching than 

 that of his ancestor when he led the Servians 

 against the Turkish oppressors, and although he 

 has not had to fight with sword and musket, hf 

 has had to engage in an arduous struggle against 

 the omnipresent foreign influences and the bitter- 

 ness of those who see that their grip on Servia is 

 <iiminishing. The wholesale savagery of the Aus- 

 trian politician or the Jewish financier, accustomed 

 to batten on the Servian nation, may be more mis- 

 chievous than the individual crue'tv of the Turkish 



Born 1844. 



King Peter I- of Servia- 



Called to the Throne. June, 1903. 



irregular in war time. But the only hope for 

 Servia lay in braving these dangers, and in strik- 

 ing for political inde[)endence. Under Karageorge 



