IN SERVIA.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 24, 29 January 1912, Page 7

IN SERVIA.

WILL HISTORY REPEAT ITSELF? BLACK HAND LEAGUE. KING PETER'S ABDICATION TALKED OF. tty Telegraph.— Preii Association.— Copyright. (Received January 29, 9 a.m.) BELGRADE, 28th January. The newspapers Tribuna and Novosti detail the activities of the officers of a league called "The Black Hand." According to the journals mentioned, the league demands the dismissal of tho Radicals or King Peter's abdication in favour of the Crown Prince.. It is alleged that the agitation arises from the political and material condition of the country. Many young officers connected with the 1003 movement are concerned in the plot^ Tho situation is similar to that preceding the 1903 coup d'etat. It is expected that the Crown Prince will now be. separated from the league. [On 6th April. 1903, there were political riots m Belgrade, following a Eeriod of unrest. During the street ghting eighteen persons were killed. On the following day occurred a coup d'etat: The Chamber was dissolved, laws annulled, and the Liberal Constitution of 1901 restored. Tragedy came quickly on this. There was, in June, a military coup d'etat and resolution raised by the Radicals in Belgrade, the result being the * assassination of King Alexander and Queen Draga, as well as the massacre of officers and others who remained faithful to their Royal master and mistress. Four days later Prince Peter was elected King. In 1909, tha Crown Prince George (born in 1887) surrendered his right of succession, and his brother Alexander (born in December, 1888) was nominated heir to the Throne. Prince George lias the reputation of bein^'a madcap prince, whose doings, especially before he renounced his right of succession, caused much scandal.]