King Milan's journey to Vienna excites great interest. He has
been received with Royal honours, he has been twice closeted with the Emperor, and it is evident to those on the spot that he hesitates about something. It is believed that this something is abdication, which would be a direct mis- fortune for the Austrian Monarchy. With the Queen Consort, the Prime Minister, and two-thirds of the people all pro-Russian, the new Monarch would certainly be anti-Austrian, and in a period of stress, an anti-Austrian Belgrade means the loss of the control of the Danube, and a great Serbian agitation. Austria-Hungary would not bear that, and it is to avert a necessity for occupying Belgrade or coming to terms with Russia, that the Court of Vienna now remon- strates so strongly with King Milan. His decision is not yet known, and is believed to depend on two points,—a guarantee of his throne by Austria, and the consent of his Ministry to the exile, temporary or permanent, of Queen Natalie. She is the pivot of all Slav intrigue, and her political activity envenoms the deadly quarrel which has broken out between her and her husband.
