PAN-SERBISM.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 631, 7 October 1909, Page 7

PAN-SERBISM.

AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN PROSECUTIONS. : PENAL SERVITUDE. TRIAL IN THE CROATIAN CAPITAL. (By Telegraph-Press Association—Copyright.) (Rcc. October 6, 10.15 p.m.) Vienna, October 6. • Last January 52 persons, mostly priests and teachers, with i few tradesmen, were indicted 6t Agram, the. capital of Coatia, on & .charge 6f treason. It was alleged that they woro plotting for tho separation of Croatia, Slavonia, and Bosnia from tho Austro-Hungarian Empire, and their inclusion with Soma. Tho trial has now concludcd, with tho result that 22 have teen acquitted and 3l have been condemned to various terms of penal servitude ranging from five to twelve years. GREAT SERVIA MOVEMENT AND,THE ANNEXATIONS. With pan-Germanism (against which a Bavanan Princo has just issued a warning) in Austria and pan-Serbism in Hungary, tho Dual Monarohy _ has two dangerous centripetal forces to fcontend with.' After tho arrests in Agram of tho l>eoplo{ referred to in the cablegram, an interpellation took plaoe in the' Hungarian Parliament. The then Premier, Dr. Wekerle, protested against tho assertion that the case referred to was only tho result o£ political animus. The Premier then described in detail the, agitation carried on by the Southern Sl&vs m Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Croatia, and added:— "As every one knows, we were compelled to carry out the annexation, because we wanted to introduce a constitutional regime in Bosma, and before this conld bo done wo hid to create a definite basis. The 'Great Servia'' movement, which for a long time past had ■been attracting attention in those territories, hastened the annexation. We w<>re faced by such threatening symptoms that we were Compelled to .act. As quickly as possible, and had to proolaim the annexation sooner than had been' intended." The 'Great* Servia' agitators had spread the conviction among the country people that. Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Croatia rightly.belonged to Servia, and that they'would, very eoon be united to that country. The children were taught in the schools that the King of Sema was their rightful ruler, and thousands of copies of his portrait' were distributed among the ignorant peasants."