LABBY ON SERVIA

Evening Post, Volume LXXXV, Issue 33, 8 February 1913, Page 13

LABBY ON SERVIA

BELGRADE AND ITS PEOPLE. Twenty-seven years after date tho terms are recalled in which Henry Labouchere wrote about the Servians, the people who have just acquitted themselves so well in the field. It was on the eve of their discomfiture by Bulgaria when that roi faineant Milan was on the throne. Moreover, Labouchere seemed to have had some unpleasant financial experiences in the country. " The Servians of Belgrade (he wrote) are us disreputable a gang of thieves as any, that exist upon, the face of the globe. The Servian peasants are hardworking, quiet, decent people. Belgrade is peopled by scamps, who make use of these peasants for their own end, and have but one object— to steal. They now want to steal their neighbours' land; usually they are engaged in stealing the property of any confiding foreigner whom they can inveigle into their den. The courts of justice in the country are a mere mockery. Any decision can be obtained for money. Those, too, who have had dealings on a_ large scale with the Government have discovered that they must bribe Kihg, Ministers, and Deputies. The Servians lmve all the vices of savages and of civilised beings, without any of the redeeming virtues of either. If Belgrade, like Sodom, were to be destroyed Unless ten honest men could be found in it, its fate would not be doubtful."

An ex-prbfessor is to rule America, and it is now stated by tho New York Sun that his predecessor is to accept a professorshfp, taking a chair of Law at Yale University, which has been vacant since 1900. Mr. Taft will thus have a unique opportunity of applauding or explaining the enactments and proposals of his own regime.