Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

all over the world, is too far off to inspire much sympathy in the masses. The influence of Russia is especially strong in Moldavia, where she has carefully fostered those strong separatist tendencies which will doubtless yet give a great deal of trouble to the present government. The following description, by an acute and intelligent traveller, of an incident which he himself witnessed on the banks of the Pruth, aptly illustrates the means adopted by Russia to make herself popular among the Moldavians :—

"While we were exploring the banks of the river, five boatmen stole some fowls from a farm, and made off with their booty. The cries of the farmer brought down the Russian detachment, which arrested the delinquents. They were Moldavians, and the theft had been committed on Russian territory. A discussion now took place between the officer commanding and the Rouman Commissioner. The latter insisted on the culprits being put under arrest and flogged; but the Russian officer only made them give up the fowls, inflicted upon them a slight penalty, and then liberated them in the midst of the applause of the people on the right bank. Was this indulgence the effect of calculation, or merely a piece of generosity? It was very politic in any case, and Russian influence has thereby gained some partisans. This is the system adopted all along the frontier; the Russian authorities proceed with less severity than the Moldavian."

It must not be inferred, however, from the above remarks, that there is anything like unity of feeling in favour of Russia or of any other Power, or indeed of any policy at all, in the Principalities. In spite of the boastful and somewhat profane title of "one and indivisible" which has been given her in the constitution lately passed by the Chamber at Bucharest, Roumania is to this day what she has been during the last two centuries, the diplomatic cockpit of Europe-her people being too frivolous and indifferent to make their own policy, and letting any strong Power that happens for the moment to have the upper hand make it for them. It is hardly necessary to remark that this alone is fatal to the theory of a Rouman nationality, the doctrine of nationalities having no raison d'être where there does not exist a strong and united national will. For all practical purposes, one might as well talk of an Ojibeway or a Dahomey nationality as of a Rouman nationality. There is plenty of political intrigue always going on, no doubt, both at Bucharest and Jassy; but the only politicians in the country, with a few rare exceptions, are unscrupulous adventurers and foreign agents. The nation itself neither knows nor wishes to know anything about politics, and does as it is told by the faction which happens to be in power. This extraordinary state of things, and the opportunities which it offers for the constant re-opening of the Eastern question by means of foreign intrigue, will be better understood from a brief description of the classes into which the inhabitants of the two Principalities are divided.

(1) G. Le Cler, "La Moldo-Valachie." Paris, 1866.

The population of Roumania is about 4,000,000, 2,500,000 in Wallachia, and the rest in Moldavia. Of this population 50,000 are nobles (nearly all of them belonging to the mushroom nobility founded by the Fanariote princes), 100,000 clergy, and 3,130,000 peasants. There is also a small middle class at Bucharest; at Jassy it can hardly be said to exist, trade, commerce, and the professions being almost entirely in the hands of Jews. The peasants, both by their numbers and the comparative purity of their race, constitute the backbone of the country; but they are sunk in ignorance and superstition, and the effects of the miserable state of semi-destitution in which they have been kept for the last two centuries are painfully evident in their sullen, subdued looks, and worn-out frames. So backward indeed is education, even for the higher classes, that it is by no means unusual for a stranger who has taken up his residence in the country, and wishes to learn its language, to send for a Rouman grammar to Paris, being unable to obtain such an article at Bucharest or Jassy. As for the clergy, there are doubtless many educated men among them, but as a rule they are corrupt and servile in the higher ranks, and extremely ignorant in the lower. No priest can aspire to be a bishop unless he has a large sum of money at his disposal for "presents," and the cost of the election of an archbishop is considerably greater than that of the most expensive seat in the British Legislature. M. Le Cler relates a case where a monk who began by serving as cook in a monastery, rapidly ascended all the steps of the ecclesiastical ladder, and ultimately reached the archiepiscopate, but not without paying 80,000 ducats (nearly £40,000) for his last elevation. The power of the clergy before the secularisation of the monasteries in 1863 was very great, as they had three-fifths of the landed property of the country in their hands, and were moreover backed by Turkey, who claimed to exercise a sort of protectorate over them on the ground that their head, the Patriarch of Constantinople, is also under her protection. All this, however, is now changed; the immense revenues of the "dedicated convents," which under the old system were sent to Constantinople, have been appropriated by the State, and the clergy are now in the receipt of government pay, and hence to a certain extent subject to government influence.

It might perhaps be thought that the brilliant capitals of Moldavia and Wallachia, with their large population, their elegant. iety, and their wealthy nobility, would naturally become centres of political action, which would gradually extend the study and practice of politics all over the country. Unhappily, the society of both of these towns is rotten to the core. The "city of pleasure," which,

(1) Bucharest, from bucur, pleasure. A French traveller having asked a lady of
Bucharest, known for her bon-mots, how people employed their time there, replied —
"On y fait l'amour ou bien on en parle".
'-a remark as truthful as it is laconic.

8

seen from the bare hills which border the Dimbovitza, looks with its green masses of foliage like an oasis in the midst of the parched and boundless plains of Wallachia, but sinks, on a closer view, to a dreary wilderness of mean houses and filthy courts, is a faithful counterpart of the character of the people. The educated Rouman has a fascinating manner, a highly polished exterior, speaks pure Parisian, is remarkably quick of intelligence,—abounds, in fact, with the showy qualities that make a man delightful in society; but behind this brilliant outer crust there is an utter vacuity of thought, feeling, and principle. The character of the modern Moldavians and Wallachians is, indeed, in the strongest possible contrast to that of their Roman ancestors. Nor is this surprising when it is considered how great and various a number of races have been grafted on the ancient stock. There are perhaps few territories in Europe that have been overrun by so many different nations within the same period of time as Roumania. Each of these has more or less left its impress on the Rouman race-the Slavonian, the Russian (an essentially different type from that of the purer Slavonian races), the Greek, the Turk, and even the Tartar. The Jews, too, and the gipsies-the former of whom (who are very numerous in both Principalities) constitute the only middle class in Moldavia, and the latter chiefly abound in Wallachia—although they have not perhaps mixed so much with the Roumans as other races, have beyond a doubt contributed largely to the formation of the national character. Everywhere nearly all the tradesmen, merchants, and bankers are Jews; and it is a curious. fact, which strikingly illustrates both their monopoly of all branches of commerce and finance, and the crass ignorance of even the town population of the Principalities, that whenever a drought or a bad harvest causes a rise in prices, the sure consequence is an insurrection of the people of Bucharest and Jassy against the Jewish inhabitants, whom they religiously believe to be connected in some inexplicable way with the dearness of provisions.1

The extreme dissoluteness of manners, which far surpasses anything of the kind even in London or Paris, will go far to explain the laxity of principle and total want of earnestness in the Rouman character. Divorce is so common and easy in the Principalities that the intercourse between the sexes is but little short of promiscuous. By the Rouman law every one is allowed to be divorced three times in his or her lifetime, and the clergy never make the slightest objection to divorce any couple that may be tired of each other, on payment of an

(1) The author of the very interesting and graphic "Letters from the Principalities," which appeared in Blackwood in the latter half of the year 1864, says he once visited a Moldavian town of 8,000 inhabitants, where the principal official in the place could not tell him what o'clock it was because it happened to be a Jews' holiday, and the only people who knew the time were the Jews.

appropriate fee. This ceremony has, indeed, so thoroughly become the custom of the country, that people who apply for a divorce do not even take the trouble to discover any legitimate ground for their claim. M. Le Cler tells a highly characteristic story of a young lady of two-and-twenty who, young as she was, came to her priest to be married for the third time. The priest, while performing the ceremony, thought it necessary to observe to the fickle bride that this was her last chance. "I beg your pardon," the lady coolly replied, "my first marriage doesn't count, for I married my cousin." Another traveller1 gives an amusing illustration of the prevalence of divorce in the Principalities, by describing a quadrille in which each of the dancers had been married at some time in his or her life with cach of the others. Still more demoralising is the practice of gambling, which at Bucharest is carried to an almost incredible extent. It is said that one lucky gambler made so much money in this way that he is now a millionaire, with a magnificent palace, over the door of which a pack of cards is sculptured in commemoration of the source of his wealth. It is hardly necessary to add that with an educated class entirely given up to exhausting pleasures, and a peasantry steeped in ignorance and superstition, anything like a national political feeling must be an impossibility.

The Roumans have, however, had their fair share of constitutions, revolutions, and party struggles. The position of their country naturally marked it out for the intrigues of political adventurers, but in all these scenes the Rouman people were merely puppets, the adventurers in question pulling the strings. It has been remarked that the Roumans are diplomatists at fourteen; it would be more correct to say that at that age they become intriguers. There is too much political indifferentism about them, and too little political maturity, to entitle them to the appellation of diplomatists. Never was there a country with such splendid opportunities so totally neglected as Roumania. Her soil is unsurpassed for its richness, and yet it is almost uncultivated; she has magnificent forests, the greater part of which are still in a virgin state; a level country without railways, and valuable salt and other mines without workmen. She has for many years had all the institutions of a civilised state; but her sovereigns have been adventurers, her deputies tools of foreign intrigue, her judges scandalously venal. There is in theory perfect freedom of election; every peasant that pays 48 piastres in taxes, and every townsman who pays (according to the size of his town) from 80 to 110 piastres, has a right to vote; but this right is practically inoperative, for before each election a member of the government goes the rounds of the electoral districts, and, by the aid of bribes or threats, makes matters go any way he likes, unless, (1) "Letters from the Principalities." Blackwood for July, 1864.

indeed, he is out-bribed by a leader of the opposition. As for the army, it is insubordinate, cowardly, and given up to pleasure; and is not of the slightest use for the defence of the country against foreign attack. The only portion of it which is at all efficient are the regiments of granitzari, or frontier guards, who are at least physically qualified for the work of soldiers, although they are sadly wanting in the military qualities of subordination and discipline. With these qualifications for political organisation, it is no wonder that Roumania finds it so difficult to get a ruler, and that the Duc de Morny refused the throne with the pithy sentence: "Je préférerais être concierge dans la rue de Bac que roi en Moldavie."

The public documents which have been issued from time to time by the various Governments of the Principalities furnish some specimens of official literature which are perfectly unique in their grotesque extravagance, and are especially valuable as affording an indication of the sort of style which pleases the political tastes of the Rouman people. Quite recently, just before the election of the present Hospodar, an address was issued to the Roumans by M. D. Bratiano, President of the Municipality of Bucharest, which was printed in the Rouman papers at the time, but has not apparently found its way into either the German, French, or English press. It is so characteristic, and so utterly opposed to all our notions of what such a document should be, that it deserves to be quoted, both as a political curiosity and as a specimen of Rouman statesmanship:

"ROUMANS!

In scarcely two months you have lived through a period of two centuries. Born but a short time ago to a life of freedom, you have become the teachers of the civilised world. Old Europe has laboured for more than a century in vain to discover the amount of liberty which nations have a right to obtain, and you have now shown her that only entire liberty can secure order, strength, and productiveness in a nation. Your glorious revolution has obtained for us the admiration of the world. Europe, amazed at your wise patriotism, has suspended her labours, expecting everything from Roumania, the Messiah of suffering humanity. Roumans! all Europe has boundless faith in your deeds; and will you not have the same faith at the moment when you have to pronounce your last word? Do you not feel the divinity within you? The members of the Provisional Government, and the Ministers elected by you, call upon you on this great day. If you doubt the sincerity of their voice, listen to that which is in the depth of your souls. A Rouman sovereign cannot be elected by a few, but must be elected by all; for the voice of the nation, and of the whole nation only, is the voice of God. You have been given six days to finish the edifice of your nationality, of your great brotherhood; you have finished it in six hours. And you, citizens of Bucharest, show yourselves to be what you are- the leaders of the nation which leads all other nations. You, who have opened the way to heaven by your faith, do not allow the sun to go down before you have

(1) The reader will recollect the famous Rouman campaign in Moldavia in 1863, when 250 Poles held at bay the greatest part of a division of the Rouman army, and it was found necessary to bring up the whole of the disposable force of the country to capture them.

« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »