After leaving Brod, the banks of the river become flat and uninteresting; that on the Bosnian side is to a certain extent covered with low brushwood.  After passing the Drina, which forms the boundary between Bosnia and Servia, it becomes still less interesting; the only objects of attraction being the numerous mills with which the river is studded.  On the morning of the 29th we moored off the wharf at Semlin, but just too late to enable me to cross over to Belgrade by the morning’s steamer.  During the day, which I was compelled to pass in the town, I received much attention from General Phillipovich, who commanded the garrison, to whom I tender my sincere thanks.  In the evening I crossed over to Belgrade (the white city), the capital of the principality of Servia.

SERVIA: 

ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, AND FINANCIAL CONDITION.

CHAPTER I.

The erroneous notions prevalent throughout Europe relative to the internal condition of Servia, are mainly traceable to two causes.  The first of these is the wilful misrepresentation of facts by governments to their subjects, while the other, and a far more universal one, is the indifference inherent in flourishing countries for such as are less successful, or which have not been brought into prominence by contemporaneous events.  We English are operated upon by the last of these influences.  We are contented to accept the meagre accounts which have as yet reached us, and which give a very one-sided impression, as is but natural, the whole of the materials having been collected at Belgrade.  I am not aware that anyone has during the past few years written upon the subject; and having been at some pains to obtain the means of forming a just estimate of the character and condition of the Servian people, I must fain confess to very different ideas concerning them to those which I had previously entertained, based upon the perusal of Ranke and Von Engel, or the lighter pages of Cyprien Robert and Paton.

The retrograde movement, but too apparent, gives cause for serious regret, not only to those who are politically interested in the well-being of the country, but to all who desire to see an advanced state of civilisation and a high moral standard amongst a people who pride themselves on the universality of Christianity within their limits.

The present population is about one million, and is said to be increasing at the rate of ten per cent., but so crudely compiled are the statistics, that doubts may be entertained of the accuracy of this statement.  Of this million of souls, 200,000 at the lowest estimate are foreigners; the greater portion being Austrian subjects, and the children of those Servians who on three separate occasions migrated to the northern banks of the Danube.  What has induced them to return to their ancestral shores, whether it be Austrian oppression, or an unlooked-for patriotism, it is hard to say; but whatever the motives, they have not proved of sufficient strength to awaken the dormant apathy inherited with their Slavish blood.  Save those who have settled at Belgrade, and who drive a most lucrative and usurious trade, they have sunk back contentedly to a level with the rest of their compatriots.