The late King Peter of Servia was a tragic figure. He was a Kara-Georgevitch, a family whose feud with the Obrenovitches constituted a large part of the turbid history of Servia (the germ of the present kingdom of Jugo-Slavia) during the 19th century. The original Black George founded the dynasty in 1803 but was murdered in 1817. His son Alexander was recognized as Prince by Turkey (from whose suzerainty Servia was not freed until the Treaty of Berlin in 1878) but was driven into exile in 1858 by the Obrenovitches, his son Peter, the late King, being then 14 years old. In 1903 came the lurid story of the murder of King Alexander of Servia (an Obrenovitch) and his Queen Drago, and King Peter, then living in Switzerland, was' brought back to the throne, but it was some years before his succession was recognized by the European Powers. In the late war when Servia, after having most gallantly and successfully withstood the armies of Austria, was finally overrun by Mackensen and his German phalanx, King Peter took refuge in one of the Mediterranean islands, if we remember rightly, where he lived a sad and penurious existence. It is. to be hoped that. his son will have a happier life than the late King and that Servia will enjoy a prosperity worthy of her heroic conduct and great sufferings during the war.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.