О убиству кнеза Михаила Обреновића
On the Homicide of the Prince Mihailo Obrenović

Summary/Abstract: During the time of his service in the Principality of Serbia, Charles Bétant, Prince Mihailo's secretary for the French language, was frequently in correspondence with his father, Élie-Ami Bétant, former Kapodistrian secretary and afterwards professor in Geneva, and informed him on a regular basis of the every significant event concerning Serbia, or having occurred there. Being an educated and intelligent person, an intuitive observer having demonstrated tendency towards detail, Bétant revealed numerous and absorbing descriptions of the episodes to which he witnessed, as well as the analyse of the characters he encountered. His letters are considered even more precious since, being a foreigner, he was able to perceive the events lucidly, although some unhidden sympathies towards the Prince Mihailo Obrenović are observable in his writings. Bétan was profoundly disturbed by Prince Mihailo’s homicide, which occurred on the 29th of May 1868. He started writing a series of letters to his father immediately after that episode. Those letters, abundant with many detailed descriptions of that immense tragedy, trace the events having taken place in the Principality of Serbia almost from hour to hour, and provide a very impressive picture of the condition in which the country, at the edge of chaos, found itself, as well as the description of the atmosphere and the prevalent mood of its population. His letters are authentic and acutely conjure up the situation on the internal, as well as the external political scene in Serbia, due to the fact that Bétant maintained excellent relations with the members of the Court and diplomatic circles.

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