Cited:

“On March 10, the strategically renowned Fort Dragelj fell into Austrian hands and was blown up; the insurgents appear to be offering no further serious resistance in the area. The support they had hoped for from Serbia failed to materialize; the Serbian government proved to be entirely well-disposed toward Austria. Prince Milan was soon to be rewarded for this: the Skupshtina elected him King on March 7, and the governments in Vienna and Berlin hastened to recognize the new royal title before Russia could do so.

Serbia did not wish to be left behind after Romania had become a kingdom; Austria and Germany have a keen interest in drawing the Danubian states more closely into their Western sphere of power. To move across and to render impossible a Russian vassalage that might take the place of the Turkish one. The only Russian vassal state on the Danube is currently Bulgaria, which is intended to keep the road to Constantinople open.

Prince Milan—who sought to gauge the mood of the imperial courts in Vienna and Berlin prior to his elevation in rank—and official Serbia along with him, are now gravitating primarily toward the Western governments. Yet there exists in Serbia an anti-Austrian faction and a powerful Pan-Slavic undercurrent; should the racial war predicted by Skobelev ever erupt, this force would be strong enough to sweep away even a reluctant monarch.

Diplomacy, however, is entitled to consider only the immediate situation and the factors currently in play; in this regard, Serbia has initially veered in a direction that moves it away from Russia. Nevertheless, the current ministry will likely survive the Cannae of its financial policy—the immense loss Serbia suffered during the collapse of the Union Générale.”

Source

Unsere Zeit. Jahrbuch zum Conversations-Lexikon. Volume 42. 1882.