5 JANUARY 1907, Page 10

For some time past sensational reports have been current in

the Press as to the situation in Servia. A telegram from the Times correspondent in Vienna in Friday's issue is of assist- ance in enabling us to view these rumours in their true per- spective. According to this well-informed authority, a violent campaign has been carried on by certain Viennese journals against Servia and the Karageorgevitch family, culminating in a series of announcements representing the situation in Servia to be hopelessly distracted, and the country to be on the eve of important changes. The Times correspondent points out that it has long been impossible to distinguish truth from falsehood in Servia, the only incontestable fact being that the condition of the country is far from settled or satisfactory. He utters, however, a much-needed word of caution in regard to the alarmist rumours freely circulated for obvious reasons in Vienna, which have hitherto proved to be false, and con- tinues:—" It is, moreover, highly desirable that the wild talk about the ` selection ' of an English Prince for a Throne not vacant should be made to cease. Whatever cliques or coteries inside or outside Servia may imagine themselves to have an interest in propagating pernicious nonsense of this kind would do well to remember that British Princes are not in the habit of being candidates for shaky Thrones from which a pre- decessor may have been summarily or even bloodily removed."