SERVIA, AUSTRIA, TURKEY, AND RUSSIA, 153 



invaded her from the west, and thereupon the Czar adopted a 

 master-stroke policy. He made peace with Turkey, and by a secret 

 Treaty, authorised her to reconquer Servia. Hounded on by Russia, 

 the troops of the SubUme Porte flooded Servia, and acted in that 

 "sublime" manner that usually characterises the troops of that 

 " sublime " Power, for they crushed during a period of ten years the 

 Uberties of the Servians, ten years darkened by scenes of fiendish 

 revenge and cruelty, too horrible to describe. 



All these atrocities, instead of breaking the spirit of the Servian 

 nation, aroused the people to a more determined effort to recover 

 the independence which they had previously and briefly enjoyed. 



In her hour of darkness Providence raised up a deliverer to Servia 

 in the person of Prince Milosh Obrenovics, one of the commanders 

 of Kara-Georges, and one of the most powerful of the Voyvodas, 

 who raised the standard of revolt in the village of Takova. The 

 whole country rose into a tumultuous insurrection, and after a pro- 

 tracted struggle the Servians won a series of brilliant victories, with 

 the result that the Turks were driven out of the Principality, and the 

 country once more freed from Turkish rule. 



This rapid success gave to the Commander-in-Chief, Prince 

 Milosh, a decisive authority, and in 1817 he was elected Ruler and 

 Hereditary Prince of Servia, confirmed by the Hatti-Cheriff of the 

 Sultan, and ratified by the Treaty of Ackerman, of 7th October, 

 1826. 



Milosh was unhappily a Despot, to whom, notwithstanding, his 

 countrymen look back with grateful recollection, for he first made 

 his country independent, and then saved her from dismemberment. 



In 1839, the unpopularity of Prince Milosh led to his abdication, 

 and he was succeeded by his eldest son, Milan, and on his death, 

 one month after his accession, his younger brother, Michel, became 

 Prince. 



In 1842 Michel became unpopular, for he was too much of a 

 patriot to satisfy Russia, and he was forced to follow the example 

 of his father, Milosh, and retire. Russia thereupon proposed that 

 Alexander Kara-Georgevics, the son of the popular hero and liberator 

 of Servia, should succeed him, and no opposition being made he 

 became Ruler. 



For a time the rule of Prince Kara-Georgevics was popular, and 

 the country made great advances in every direction, but the moment 

 he displayed a partiality, or was supposed to display a partiality, 

 for Austria, intrigue and insurrection displayed itself in Belgrade, 



