Men of the Time, eleventh edition/Ristich, John

​RISTICH, John, a Servian statesman, born at Kragujevatz in 1831, began his studies in Germany and continued them at Paris. Under the government of Prince Karageorgevitch he was appointed Secretary and afterwards head of a department in the office of the Minister of the Interior. Milosch Obrenovitch III. on his return in 1858, appointed M. Ristich secretary to a deputation which he sent to Constantinople; and at a later period the same Prince accredited him as the representative of Servia at the Sublime Porte. Scarcely had he been installed in this post, however, when the crisis commenced which culminated in the bombardment of Belgrade (1862). M. Ristich extricated himself with such ability from the difficulties which ensued, that five years later (1867) he succeeded in obtaining the evacuation of all the Servian fortresses occupied up to that time by the Turkish troops. This service gained for him the portfolio of Foreign Affairs, but he soon resigned it in consequence of his inability to agree with the Prince Michael on certain questions of ​detail. He was present as the representative of Prince Michael at the baptism of Prince Nicholas of Montenegro. While on his way back from Cettinge he learned the news that Prince Michael had been assassinated (July 10, 1868), and had been succeeded by his grand-nephew. Prince Milan. The young Prince was then pursuing his studies at Paris, and the provisional government which had been established sent M. Ristich to that capital to escort him to Servia. On the Prince's arrival at Belgrade the Grand National Skupschkina was convoked, and nominated a Council of Regency, composed of three members, to govern the country during the Prince's minority. M. Blasnavatz, M. Ristich and M. Gavrilovitch, formed this Council, which discharged its functions till 1872, when the Prince attained his majority. This Council then became a Ministry in which M. Ristich held the portfolio for Foreign Affairs, and on the decease of his colleague. Col. Blasnavatz, he became President of the Council. He afterwards withdrew from public life for two years until the insurrection occurred in Herzegovina, when he became Minister for Foreign Affairs. In May, 1876, he and his friends returned to office, which they had been obliged to resign eight months previously in consequence of the diplomatic pressure of the Cabinets of Vienna, Berlin, and St. Petersburg. He held the office of Foreign Minister during the disastrous war with Turkey (1877), in which the Servians were thoroughly defeated. In 1878 he was sent to the Congress of Berlin.