The German and Magyar papers are full of rumours about
Servia. The Servian Minister, M. Ristich, has fallen, and it is asserted that the reason was a fierce intimation from Baron Haymerle that Austria did not intend to bear the Servian tariff any longer, and must be admitted at once to all the privileges of the most favoured nation. This demand was, it is stated, accompanied by a threat that if compliance were refused, Servian trade would be blockaded, or Servia, as a last resort, occupied by Austrian troops. The Servians are devoted to their tariff, which they think protects them, and, invincibly indisposed to yield to threats ; but behind the immediate question stands another. The Hapsburgs want to rule, by influence at any rate, the whole Valley of the Danube. They have obtained a para- mount influence in Roumania, where Russia is for the present detested, are acquiring great sway in Bulgaria, where the people, liking their own way, favour a counterpoise to Russia, and they desire to be very potent also in Belgrade. M. Ristich is their opponent, being either Russian or Serb, according to one's view of his character, and Baron Haymerle has taken his.oppor- tunity to overthrow him. The controversy is not quite so im- portant as it looks, as to invade Servia would be to precipitate a great war ; but it indicates the line which, as we have tried to explain elsewhere, the Austrian Government has apparently decided on taking.
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