But King Peter did not come to Serbia as a pretender who has at last gained the crown he has coveted; he came as the champion of the Serb ideal of the past—whose last representative had been Michael Obrenović,—the ideal of national expansion, of a Serbian future. He recognized his difficulties but attacked them without flinching. For the Serb nation—impulsive, tempestuous and sensitive—it was a blessing to pass under the guidance of a calm, wisely deliberate king. He went his way step by step, firmly, and without illusions. Amid the tumult of acclamations that greeted him in Belgrade his was probably the only heart heavy with care. He knew only too well that the violent _coup d’état_ was not the solution but merely the beginning of the problem. This consciousness and his patriotic ideal have been the ruling motives of his reign from the very first. One of King Peter’s first tasks was the rehabilitation of Serbia in the eyes of Europe. Unjustly enough the entire responsibility for the loss of Serbia’s prestige was laid to his charge, and it was uphill work to alter the opinion of Europe, but he refrained from protestations and excuses. He realized that Serbia must be regenerated in such a fashion as to win back the full confidence of Europe. By the wisdom of his policy and with the help of able statesmen—principally Nikola Pašić—he steered Serbia’s foreign policy back into a healthy, normal channel, and within a few years the country once more took her position as a well-ordered European State—apart from the calumnies and enmity of Germany and Austria. In fact, this successful reconstruction was proof in the eyes of Europe that the dynastic change was a necessity for Serbia, and that in the solution of the Balkan problem she might certainly be trusted to take her part of the burden as a civilized State. She proved her mettle soon afterwards in the first Balkan War, for in this war the ideal of the King—which he shares with his people—scored its first great success, when the hard-pressed nation displayed a high degree of valour, statesmanship and true nobility. In his ten years’ reign King Peter has gone far to restore to Serbia her ancient glories. During his reign her politics have become more settled at home and abroad. Agriculture, trade and industry have improved and expanded. Literature and art have made miraculous strides, so that Serbia may fairly consider herself the equal of the Western nations; and the Serbian army has now demonstrated its excellent organization and great military value in three successive wars. King Peter, whose short reign became so stormy towards the end, may look back on the results of his labours with the same calm assurance with which he took up the sceptre. He has quickened the new soul of Serbia, and although he retired shortly before the outbreak of the present war, and entrusted the sceptre to his son, his spirit still lives in his people and army and—please God—will lead them both to victory. IV.