The Russian agents who had been advising the Radicals were
bitterly disappointed, and according to a statement made on the following day in Parliament, bribed peasant Members heavily. The impression made, however, was too deep ; it was increased by a speech from the Foreign Minister, M. Mijatovich, who is a trusted Liberal; and on Wednesday at 3 p.m., the Assembly voted the Constitution by 494 to 75. On the fol- lowing day, the King signed it in presence of the Deputies, and after a speech of twenty minutes, which was stopped fifteen times by thunders of applause, dissolved the Con- stituent Assembly. The crisis ends, therefore, in his favour. The truth is, he knows his people through and through, and once face to face with them, cannot be beaten. The Servians gain much by their new Constitution, for it secures them perfect individual liberty and the right of governing them- selves whenever they like to exercise it ; but the King loses little. He does not want to arrest anybody, or to act without *.inisters, if he may retain the ultimate power of direction ; and the people, as the whole crisis shows, are willing to leave him that. When a Sovereign, in fact, can defy a unanimous Parliament, and then be rapturously cheered by its Members, he must be left to rule.
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