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New Zealand Mail, Issue 889, 15 March 1889, Page 16

The qews from Siervia, is. distinctly disquieting. Rung Milan’s sudden collapse js unpleasantly suggestive. The most devoted fftsqopthita can hardly pretend to doubt that the abdication of King Milan and the substitution of a mere lad in the hands ft three Russian agents as Regents has been brought about by Muscovite intrigue. As for King Milan himself, what little is known ..about him is not particularly to his credit, and he may fairly be added to Mr Gilbert’s “ little list” of people who “never will bo missed.” But while personally “Where he goes or how he faros, Nobody knows and nobody oares,” his retirement from the cares of

sovereignty assumes a very serious aspect when it involves the virtual Russianising of Servia, to which Austria and Italy would be likely to offer much more than mere formal opposition. The position would not be materially improved were the charming ex-Queen Nathalie to be appointed Regent not an improbable contingency—for she is a Russian herself and has always been notoriously an agent of the Czar, Indeed, this was the main cause of the matrimonial trouble which culminated in her divorce by the simple but illegal process of her husband saying There ! Get out with you !” Austria and her allies can scarcely avoid interposing to check developments so strongly adverse to the interest of the Triple Alliance, unless indeed the present Ministerial crisis in Italy means a weakening of that alliance, and has been the signal for Russia’s action in Servia. The situation is unquestionably critical, and further news will be anxiously look for.