I most warmly beg my brother King Aleksandar to excuse this little message, which I dare to submit to him through his faithful minister Vasić in the strictest of confidence.
The departure of Vujović’s cabinet, with which my government worked for full two years in the greatest of harmony and accord in the field of the general Serbian matter with success and the satisfaction of the King and my own, instills doubt in me as to which direction this new cabinet will take. Both the Serbian and foreign press ominously predict the arrival of a new direction of this ministry and the deviation from the Slavic to the non-Slavic side. God help us from that happening – there would be no greater misfortune for us Serbs than that!
I beg my young brother not to succumb to bad advice and perhaps any personal sensitivity and not to let go of the hand on which we all depend and which keeps us alive. Time heals everything; it cures great angers, let alone minor ones.
Don’t imagine a frost where there is a hearth of life-giving heat.
And at no time like now should we come to an agreement so as to give our people some small vent in its hopes and faith for a better future. Austria is shamefully withdrawing to the momentum and supremacy of Germany, while on this side it is attacking with all kinds of threats, intimidation and damages to the merchant traffic and interests. The Serbian press, in the monarchy as well as in Bosnia and Herzegovina is denied even that little freedom which the constitution and the laws allowed until now and its wails is systematically seized without shame and restraint. Serbs are already not allowed to speak in that monarchy. They stand there worse than ever before. They think they have been abandoned, especially since 1897 by Russia and have even lost hope in us, Serbia and Montenegro. Enraged, lost, they see Germans on Serbian land and how they want to get to Salonica through it. Both words and print of the monarchy and the movements and exercises of the army both on land and sea create the greatest trepidation in our people about its future. And the people almost started thinking that its sun has set.
As much as possible, I have worked and continue to work to give it better thoughts, not only to uplift it, but due to my belief that Austria is weak, that it only threatens and that it relies on its premier two allies first and only lastly on its third, Russia. Only as long as it was honest with them in their honest agreements.
Austria has cracked! Insane and weak is whoever fears it and it is a great evil if Montengro and Serbia leave their brothers alone to suffer and to fear an impotent apparition.
Austria will not go forth if we act as men. If we only shout to it in unison not only: “You shall not pass!” – but also: “Get out of our Bosnia and Herzegovina!” – it will immediately soften, but only if we shout it to her manly, in unison, of one soul and at the same time, so as to make her wonder, what this suddenly happened and where this came from the dead dreams of our element. But this should not be said in a Hebrew fashion, but as heroes in order to finally change everything, because there is no life like this.
Who should say this and in which occasion?
I will say it (if you prefer it so), just aid me in the tone and the act with all your might.
Or You say it, if You prefer so, and I promise You under oath that I will help you in both tone and act with all my might.
With regards to the occasion – it will present itself quickly in one of the stoppages that Austria causes often both over there and here, whether it be in merchant traffic, whether in any other contact; and the noblest would be to choose a cause due to an injury to a person or the matter of general Serbian matter.
Let whoever say what they will, I do not believe that Austria wants to and can reach Salonica – never unto eternity without us! Hungarians have no pretensions there and it is my belief as firm as that in God that it will not pass through us Serbs and a part of Bulgarians, to be enthroned in Macedonia, even if half of all Russians were in its army. It will be evil morning for it the moment it sets on this path. The Prussian holds on it and squeezes it, casting his gaze on its lands all the way towards Edirne. And what will they hit us with in that case, if we stand like men!
We deceive ourselves by overestimating the strength of Austria. It was somewhat stronger before, when the Piedmontese king waged war with it, and Italy was much more fragmented than we are now, because we can freely calculate, should we seriously aim for all the European population, while Carlo Alberto aimed for a part of Lombardy. Moreover, our strength lies in the mass of the common Serb people, whose self-awareness was preserved and continues to preserve the holy traditions of our golden age under the Nemanjić dynasty, while Italy was not imbued with national self-awareness but only its intelligentsia.
Austria is like an anti-hero, who lays his hands on someone weaker, and it suffocates and tortures them mercilessly and heartlessly, boasting and becoming arrogant with its strength and physical superiority against justice and the spirit of the times, which are on our side only if we choose to use them. We saw what the the naked force is against morals in the Italian struggle against Austria. Austria’s force in Italy was victorious everywhere, yet Austria still had to leave Italy.
Austria needs to be hit in its teeth with a wooden log; we need to look it in the eye and make it understand that we are ready for everything, and that our beloved Serbdom will be our grave before we become its slaves. So, if we boldly show our teeth, it will treat us much better and negotiate with us. But we need to act and not expect others to give you anything; and what we have, we have fought for a hundred times. Not a single sacrifice for our sacred cause will be in vain.
As for Bulgaria, this is what I think. It will never truly embrace a Slavic policy beyond its exclusive interests. It sees Russia, the liberator, as Saturn who devours its own children. It will always rely on our enemies, and its current flirtation with Russia is superficial, driven by securing Prince Ferdinand’s position on the throne.
Bulgaria constantly counts on England’s support to reach the Aegean Sea. When it ties itself to England and the West – just imagine its audacity and ingratitude towards Russia! The West will support it then and might even offer Constantinople as a gift of goodwill for the defiance it would show to Russia.
Although Russia shed so much blood for Bulgaria, which it did not for us Serbs, we are still dearer to it than Bulgarians. So even if Bulgaria does not opt for Western influence, as I mentioned earlier, when it reaches the sea, Russia would divide Macedonia nicely between us and the Bulgarians to the satisfaction of both. Then the Serbian and Bulgarian strengths would be equal, and we would coexist peacefully and watch over each other as brothers.
And even in the worst-case scenario, we Serbs would have nothing to fear from the Bulgarians from a military standpoint. I absolutely do not consider the events of 1885 significant; I don’t attribute anything beyond a random partial superiority of one numerically stronger and more prepared force over another.
We Serbs are stronger than Bulgarians! Thus, I believe we should not fear them or harbor ill will towards them, and let them boast and claim with words our Kom and our Niš – let them be. They and the Croats fear us, hence their fantasies about their Great Bulgaria and Great Croatia. We Serbs are the predominant population on the Balkan Peninsula and will remain so, unless discord separates us, which has always been more fatal than the strength of the enemy.
As long as we are within these borders, we should be inseparable in thought and in the fervent desire for our moral unity; and to avoid confusion, let us mark down if it seems necessary the spheres of influence in the specific areas around us.
If we expand, we should only consider our administrative regions, and the political aspect should be a joint, indivisible one from the sea to the Danube. Then we will be strong, powerful, and respected. If these thoughts are not among us, we become an easy target, and we will be nothing, nowhere.
The king has probably understood the naive and innocent aspirations of my young son Mirko. His bad acquaintanceship with some individuals from the former Serbian emigration led him astray from the natural path where his first steps were guided by me and he had never considered before; the king and my friends have influenced my child and filled his young and impressionable mind with wrong thoughts and misguided ambitions against the king, and thereby against me. Among others, in this almost known family, there was one person who, instead of guiding my Mirko towards good and happy things, inflamed ambitious plans started by Rajko Tajsić and his fatal company – may God kill them!
When I understood this weaving of his, and unfortunately, many already knew about it, I reproached him and sternly reprimanded his evil desires, which he now claims were solely focused on being proclaimed as the heir to the King, until God would grant a son as an heir to the King. Since he swore to me on the icon that he will never think about it again or allow anyone to mention it to him, I ordered him to write specifically to a person whom I had recently met and especially talked about, that he will never again concern himself with this matter or allow others to deal with it on his behalf regarding the question of Serbia’s throne and the decisions made by the ruling King Aleksandar.
So, from this day on, I am pleased that my young son has returned from his delusion and remains loyal and devoted to my dear godson and brother, King Alexander, as my older son, the heir to the throne, Danilo, and I have always been to him.
By honestly presenting this senseless youthful adventure to His Highness, King Aleksandar, as unwelcome as it is in my household, where personal ambitions have always been forsaken in favor of common interests – I did this to assure His Highness the King, if he heard voices saying, ‘The father stands behind his son!’ ‘Prince Nikola promotes his son’ – that no one can say this except malicious and wicked tongues, and whoever thought this has greatly erred from the truth. It would not only be malice but also political shortsightedness because wouldn’t Mirko’s preference over my older, and somewhat more capable son, and already by birth the heir apparent to me, be unnatural and detrimental to national unity and my household itself? Relying on Mirko’s promises and the impression my reprimand made on him, I can guarantee the king that this will not happen again. In any case, I take responsibility upon myself. I kindly ask the King, if he heard anything about these senseless ideas of Mirko, to graciously forgive and forget them.
Cetinje, 1902.
