Austria is at the bottom of the whole of the Servian difficulties. As long as things went badly in Servia—as under the régime of the late King Alexander—they allowed matters to go on without interference, and watched eagerly for the downfall of the kingdom. Unfortunate events occurred, as is well known, but to the great dismay of Servia’s arch-enemy, the country has become contented and is greatly prospering under the rule of King Peter. For this reason, therefore, because a prosperous era has set in, Austria has once again sought to stir discord and to create troubles and difficulties. At the moment of writing the secret police have a long list of over one hundred Austrian political agents living in Belgrade alone! How Austria seeks to compromise Servia in the eyes of Europe, and the scandalous methods by which she is seeking to attain that end, is well illustrated by a telegram which was supposed to emanate from Odessa, but which I have indisputable evidence came from the same source as all the others—an unscrupulous correspondent in Vienna in the secret pay of the Austrian Government. [Illustration: MR. ALEX. TUCKER, Servian Consul-General in London. ] [Illustration: MR. BEETHOM WHITEHEAD, British Minister at Belgrade. ] The amazing telegram in question appeared in the London newspapers on January 2 this year, and was as follows:— “The local agency of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which for the last twenty years has been specially retained in Odessa as a convenient medium of secret intelligence respecting the Balkan States, is in possession of indisputable proofs of the existence, notwithstanding all recent and official denials from Belgrade, of a widely ramified and elaborately matured plot for the execution of a sudden _coup d’état_ and the expulsion of the Karageorgevitch dynasty from Servia. Leading members, civil and military, of both the chief political parties are stated to have joined the conspiracy. “According to this information, the intended first result of the _coup d’état_, if it be not marred, will be the establishment of a provisional regency in the administrative hands of six or eight Ministers. The regents would then take time to prepare a comprehensive explanatory statement of the situation for presentation to the Great Powers, which they would also consult as to the choice of an alien prince for the royal throne of Servia. They will urge upon the friendly consideration of the Powers the fact that the two peasant dynasties of Obrenovitch and Karageorgevitch have been fairly tried and justly found impossible and incompatible with the economical welfare and progressive culture necessary to the worthy attainment of Servia’s proper political destiny.” In reply to this, the Servian Government nailed the lies upon Austria by the following official statement, issued on January 3 from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at Belgrade:—