t54 SERVIA, AUSTRIA, TURKEY, AND RUSSIA. 



and from this and other causes, his popularity waned. In Decem- 

 ber, 1858, the Skuptschina, in General Assembly, determined to 

 restore the hereditary dynasty of Obrenovics, and compelled Kafa- 

 Georgevics to abdicate. Prince Milosh, the former ruler of Servia, 

 who abdicated in 1839, was summoned from his retirement at 

 Bucharest to occupy the Throne ; but he was old and infirm, and 

 he survived his recall litde more than a twelvemonth. At his death, 

 in i860, Prince Michel, his only surviving son, succeeded for a 

 second time, by virtue of the law of hereditary succession, as Prince 

 of Servia, under the title of " Obrenovics " the Third. 



FROM 1860 TO 1875. 

 Thus was the general emancipation of Servia obtained, confirmed 

 from time to time by the following diplomatic Conventions which' 

 recognised her national independence, and secured her full 

 political, civil, and religious freedom, liberty of legislation, com- 

 merce, and navigation : — 



1. The 8th Article of the Treaty of Bucharest, in 181 2. 



2. The sth Article of the Treaty of Akerman, in 1826. 



3. The 6th Article of the Treaty of Adrianople, in 1829. 



4. Five Hatti-Cheriffs, issued by the Sultan respectively in 1829, 



1830, 1833, 1838,, and 1853. 



5. The 17th, i8th, 28th, and 29th Articles of the Treaty of 



Paris, in 1856. 



The Government of Prince Michel was composed principally of 

 men whose domestic and foreign policy were alike hostile to the free 

 institutions of Servia and her freedom from foreign control, their 

 political antecedents being associated with constant oppression of the 

 people, and the disastrous influence exercised by the diplomacy 

 of the great European Powers. 



Whilst on the accession of the Prince to the Throne, he declared 

 by Proclamation hrs intention to safeguard and extend the constitu- 

 tional liberties, won by Servia, after great heroic struggles, his 

 Ministers, who wielded arbitrary power, reversed these solemn declara- 

 tions to the nation ; for they abolished the most valuable securities of 

 liberty, such as free municipal institutions, the sovereign powers of 

 the National Assembly, free elections, and free public instruction. 

 They proscribed the Press, prosecuted its proprietors and writers, 

 made judges dependent on the will of the Ministers, threatened 

 with death all who resisted their authority and decrees, and finally 



