What a day for the poor mother of the boy
King ! What a day for Servia, and especially what
a day for the boy King himself! Is it possible that
such a day has not exercised a deep impression on
the mind and heart of the young boy, filling it with
contempt, bitterness, and hatred? All the action
of the Regents, their Government, their National
Assembly, and the police, was fundamentally wrong,
and indeed immoral. How can it be expected that
such action should favourably influence the moral
education of the boy King ?

In my opinion, he was at that time decidedly
more sinned against than sinning.
CHAPTER V



HOW THE SILENT SASHA BECAME *' ALEXANDER

THE great"



In the preceding chapter I mentioned those dramatic
and tragic events, the resolution of the National
Assembly forbidding the parents of King Alexander
to sojourn in Servia, and the terrible expulsion of
Queen Nathalie from Belgrade, which demoralised
the Obrenovich Party and weakened the position
of the dynasty in Servia. I allowed readers them-
selves to conjecture the pernicious influence those
sad events must have exercised on the character
of the young boy King Alexander.
