nd to enlist sympathy for Serbia's
final struggle for independence. Much to her annoyance she
found that it was necessary to ask through the Turkish
Embassy for an audience with Queen Victoria. However, the
Ambassador was a very affable person, who completely
mollified the Princess. It was to her that Palmerston made
one of his famous puns. Her dress caught in a door and he
stepped forward with the words: "Princesse, la Porte est sur
votre chemin pour vous empecher d'avancer."]

[Footnote 47: As a matter of fact he was walking with a girl
called Catharine, also a relative, a lame girl more
remarkable for wit and wisdom than for physical beauty. She
and Michael are celebrated in one of Serbia's most famous
songs. There has been a great deal of speculation as to his
assassins, some maintaining that they were Austrian agents,
others holding that it was the work of the rival
Karageorgevi[vc] dynasty. A certain Radovanovi[vc] who
settled down in Karlovci--he was there at any rate till
1895--was most probably an Austrian instrument in this
affair; he in his turn making use of Austrian police for the
actual deed. He was wont to say that he knew who were the
murderers; but since he was looked upon as a mere tool, his
fellow-Serbs of Karlovci did not molest him. Yet he never
frequented a Serbian cafe. He was a travelled, pretty
well-educated man; with the Austrian officials he was on very
friendly terms, and the source of his money was never
discovered.]

[Footnote 48: _The Turks, the Greeks and the Slavons: Travels
in the Slavonic Provinces of Turkey-in-Europe._ London, 1867.
The second edition of this book appeared with a preface by
Gladstone.]

[Footnote 49: Cf. his _Histoire diplomatique de l'Europe_.]

[Footnote 50: The promulgation was a surprise to him; it was
also a defeat, as he had aimed at a direct understanding
between Greeks and Bulgars and not at a solution which left
the Porte as arbitrator between these two Christian races.
However, he would not acknowledge that he had been beaten.
"He thought it more intelligent to recognize the _fait
accompli_ and not to let his dissatisfaction be visible,"
says Prince George Troubetzkoi, the distinguished diplomat
who explored the archives of the Russian Embassy at
Constantinople. In reply to his telegram an