The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, JUNE 13, 1903. ASSASSINATION IN SERVIA.

Gisborne Times, Volume IX, Issue 915, 13 June 1903, Page 2

The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, JUNE 13, 1903. ASSASSINATION IN SERVIA.

The .shocking news that comes from Servia is a forcibly reminder of the remarkably fine distinction between classes of murder. The assassins in Servia were successful in (heir plot, so probably cold-blcoded murders of the kind described will come to 1 he regarded as something in the nature of patriotism. It is considered to he murder to kill a few people, but when the number is large the killing is generally adjudged to be part of trie glories of war. The Servian conspirators did not murder a great, many people, but. lhey achieved the object of their conspiracy. Possibly, we should not view the people in such a country as we might regard our own kith and kin. The arbitrary power possessed by the rulers prevents the redressing of grievances in such a manner as would he the case in a free country. Hyde Park demonstrations would, m Survia, lead to summary punishment for anyone taking a prominent part. The great question of the hour in regard lo the Servian revolution is as to the effect it is likely lo have on the Balkan situation. The probability is that the internal trouble will not in any way disturb existing relations in the Balkans, or intensify the grave state of tilings that already exists there. Only last mouth a writer of repute stated : “ The Servians have advanced beyond the old and simple life of throat-cutting and revolution and are building up a line land, rich with agriculture and mines. Austria Hungary is pushing her feelers of railroads through m all directions. Juimeiise tunnels burrow under the mountains. All the Hungarian railroads lead towards the Balkans.’'

Belgrade, the scene of the. assassination, is a oily with one of the most romantic records of history. It lias a beautiful site on the: Danube. Almost everywhere in Belgrade (states a traveller) there are monuments and memorials, to the martyrs of the Turkish wars, murdered statesmen. and assassinated patriots. We are told that nearly every pavingstone is pregnant with a story that, reaches almost from the time the first smiie was laid to the beginning ol the present general ion. The last 'lurkish garrison did not move out ol Belgrade until ISfiT, and until then the entire eastern portion of the town was populated by Turks. The lurk’s hand is st.ill to be seen every-

r.-iiort.'— in minaret.-, and other archi lecture. ia < o'; uriie-s and in luamiers Near Niseii i-> a square lower, know

«!•» the Tschclekula, meaning •• skull tower.ln ] sum, the Turks advanced towards isisell. 'Tin* Servian \\ olwode, Stefan Sind,ielit.sell. entrenched iiiin-eii with three thousand Si rvians in the village* ni K amend/.a '1 in-;, v.'l:s 0'.,.: u:.e. When the -Ja-jiis-arie.-, ru-iied nmona liiem. Sinti- . e 1 11c:i tiled the powder mas;a/.;ne, and blew ins own men and tin- Turks it,to pieces. The Turkish army ra-

vened like a band oi wolu-s, and Killed ail Servian., who were b-ft alive, by any chance. Alter they had killed and Ininied till there was not.himc left to kill and burn, they chopped the iieads on the dead Servian patnois. Then they bewail the election oi a areal square tower. After il bad risen to some height, they began to alternate the rows of stones with rows of Servian beads. Altogether they set fifty-six rows of seventeen beads each in alternate rows of sloncs. This memorial of the Tamerlanes of the nineteenth century was left, untouched, wall the skulls grinning out upon the land, until J.S7(S, wiien the Servians took them oui reverently and buried them (with the exception of one that still looks out. from the east side of the tower). Karther on, neat the Bulgarian boundary, is another strategic place. it is the fortress of Bela I-alenka, and Moltke pronounced it. one oi the important, points of the Balkans. ft was lhe old Roman city of Rcmesiana. It is guarded still by an ancient castle fort, built in JIjIJIJ by the Grand Vizier Mustaphu Pasha. lie built it by the expedient of tearing down Servian (hurdles, and using their stones for it. lie. also took the stones from ancient. Roman ruins. This town is close to l’iost, on the Bulgarian boundary, and has a true Balkan history. It has been occupied at various times by Turks, Bulgarians, Servians, Russians, and Austrians. Almost every time it was taken only after much fighting. To go from .Servia to Bulgaria means a leap into diherenl manners, different customs, and different architecture. The re-

volution, as it is already called, in Servia, is one of those sudden happenings that, can hardly he considered a great surprise in a land where there has been so much strife. The assassinations are to be deplored in Ihese days ; but it. is not. the only example we have had during the past, month or so of enormities that can with impunity he perpetrated in these days. The recent massacre of Jews was one of Lite most horrible iSeries oi crimes recorded for many, years past.