r influence in the affairs of the
monarchy should the Archduke succeed in realizing his dream of a Triple
Kingdom composed of Austria, Hungary and the Southern Slavs.

Strange indeed are the changes which have been brought about by the
greatest conflict. Ferdinand, descendant of a long line of princes,
kings and emperors, has passed round that dark corner whence no man
returns, but his ambitious dreams of a triple kingdom which would
include the Southern Slavs have survived him, though in a somewhat
modified form. But he who sits on the throne of the new kingdom, and who
rules to-day over a great portion of the former dominions of the
Hapsburgs, instead of being a scion of the Imperial House of Austria, is
the great-grandson of a Serbian blacksmith.

Owing to the ill-health and advanced age of King Peter of Serbia, his
second son, Alexander, is Prince-Regent of the Kingdom of the Serbs,
Croats and Slovenes. Prince Alexander, a slender, dark-complexioned man
with characteristically Slav features, was educated in Vienna and is
said to be an excellent soldier. He is extremely democratic, simple in
manner, a student, a hard worker, and devoted to the best interests of
his people. Though he is an accomplished horseman, a daring, even
reckless motorist, and an excellent shot, he is probably the loneliest
man in his kingdom, for he has no close associates of his own age, being
surrounded by elderly and serious-minded advisers; his aged father is in
a sanitarium, his scapegrace elder brother lives in Paris, and his
sister, a Russian grand duchess, makes her home on the Riviera. Though
old beyond his years and visibly burdened by the responsibilities of his
difficult position, he possesses a peculiarly winning manner and is
immensely popular with his soldiers, whose hardships he shared
throughout the war. Though he enjoys no great measure of popularity
among his new Croat and Slovene subjects, who might be expected to
regard any Serb ruler with a certain degree of jealousy and suspicion,
he has unquestionably won their profound respect. It is a difficult and
trying position which this young man occupies, and it is not made any
easier for him, I imagine, by the knowledge that, should he make a false
step, should he arouse the enmity of certain of the powerful factions
which surround him, the fate of his predecessor and namesake, King
Alexander, might quite conceivably befall him.

I have been asked if, in my opinion, the people