SERVIA, AUSTRIA, TURKEY, AND RUSSIA. 1 57 



precipitated; and it also declared the determination of the nation 

 for the full realisation of the liberal programme adopted by the 

 Skuptschina in 1858, and that no Ministry would be acceptable to 

 the representatives of the people, or worthy of the confidence of the 

 Prince, that refused to sanction the reforms guaranteed by the Royal 

 Proclamation. 



The Government of Ristics, that had so long and arbitrarily 

 resisted the national will, and whose policy had greatly imperilled 

 the triumph of liberal ideas, and the national independence itself, 

 was happily overthrown ; and with the accession of a reformed 

 Administration, composed of the ablest and most enlightened men 

 of the National party, there was hope for Reform, Progress, and 

 Liberty, 



The first step in the direction of political reform taken by the 

 new Ministry, was to secure the abolition of the illegal Constitution 

 of 1838, which had been forced on Servia by Turkey, for it was a 

 Constitution that destroyed its national autonomy. 



The Constitution of 1838 had been rejected by the Skuptschina 

 in 1858, and therefore as soon as the new National Assembly had 

 assembled in 1869, for a second time, and by a unanimous vote it 

 was swept away, and replaced by a new Constitution, by which the 

 power of the State was vested in three Departments, the Legislative, 

 the Executive, and the Judicial ; and its basis was that the Legisla- 

 tive power belonged to the Skuptschina and the Prince ; which 

 practically declared that Servia should be a limited Constitutional 

 Monarchy, a Government of the Ruler and by the Parliament com- 

 bined. 



The National Assemblies were divided into Minor and Superior ; 

 the Minor composed of two-thirds of the representatives chosen by 

 the people, and one-third of the Deputies, chosen by the Prince. 



The Superior Assembly was composed only of the Deputies, 

 elected by the people, and their number was four times as large as 

 the Minor Assembly. 



The Prince was recognised as the First Estate of the Realm, with 

 an hereditary succession. On the death of the reigning Prince the 

 succession to the Throne to pass only to the male heirs, and, in the 

 event of no male heirs, to the male offspring of Prince Milosh, but 

 *ith this condition, that the Skuptschina should decide as to the 

 most suitable of the aspirants to ascend the Throne. 



To the Prince belonged the power of convoking and dissolving 

 the National Assembly, and the right of veto on its legislation, with 



