HISTORY OF SERVIA, AND THE SERVIAN REVOLUTION, FROM ORIGINAL MSS. AND DOCUMENTS. TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN OF LEOPOLD RANKE, BY MRS. ALEXANDER KERR, AUTHORESS OF SONGS OF HOPE AND MEMORY," ETC. LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 1847. PREFACE. THE eminent position assigned to Professor Ranke among modern historians renders any tribute to his distinguished merits superfluous, and at the same time affords a sufficient guarantee for the authenticity of every production emanating from such high authority. No subject elucidated by the researches of Ranke can be otherwise than valuable; and the Revolution of Servia is one of greater interest and importance than may at first sight appear. The geographical position of Servia, between Turkey and Austria, and forming, with the neighbouring countries, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Wallachia, and Moldavia, a border-land between two great empires of opposite creeds, has made this country the seat of a protracted struggle between European civilization and Oriental despotism between the Christian and Mahomedan religions. In the midst of these conflicting forces, the |