Roumania Past and Present
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[Illustration: THE CATHEDRAL OF CURTEA D'ARDGES.]
ROUMANIA
PAST AND PRESENT
BY
JAMES SAMUELSON
_Of the Middle Temple, Barrister-at-Law_
ILLUSTRATED WITH MAPS (BY E. WELLER), PORTRAITS, AUTOTYPE
AND OTHER FULL-PAGE PLATES, AND NUMEROUS PLANS
AND WOODCUTS (BY G. PEARSON), CHIEFLY FROM
PHOTOGRAPHS BY F. DUSCHEK, BUCAREST
_Post Tenebras Lux_
LONDON
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
1882
_All rights reserved_
PREFACE.
There is no country in Europe which at the present time possesses
greater interest for Englishmen than does the Kingdom of Roumania, and
there is none with whose present state and past history, nay, with whose
very geographical position, they are less familiar.
Only about nine years since Consul-General Green, the British
representative there, reported to his Government as follows: 'Ignorance
seems to extend even to the geographical position of Bucharest. It is
not surprising that letters directed to the Roumanian capital should
sometimes travel to India in search of Bokhara, but there can be no
excuse for the issue of a writ of summons by one of the superior law
courts of the British metropolis, directed to Bucharest in the Kingdom
of Egypt, as I have known to happen.' The reader may perhaps attribute
such mistakes as these to our insular ignorance of geography, or to the
fact that the proverbial blindness of justice prevented her from
consulting the map before issuing her process; but the fact remains,
that notwithstanding the occurrence of a great war subsequent to the
date above specified, which completely changed the map of Europe,
wherein Roumania took a very prominent part and England assisted at the
settlement, there are few intelligent readers in this country who could
say off-hand where precisely Roumania is situated.
And yet, as already remarked, the country possesses an absorbing
interest for us as a nation. Placed, to a large extent through English
instrumentality, as an independent kingdom, of daily increasing
influence, between Russia and Turkey, for whom she served for centuries
as a bone of contention, she is now a formidable barrier against the
aggressions of the stronger power upon her weaker neighbour, and it is
satisfactory to reflect that, so far, the blood and money of England
have not flowed in vain. Then, again, the question of the free
navigation of the great stream that serves as her southern boundary is
at present occupying the serious consideration of many leading European
statesmen, and the solution of the Danubian difficulty will materially
affect our trade with the whole of Eastern Europe; whilst the peaceable
creation of a peasant proprietary in Roumania about sixteen years since,
and the advantages which have accrued to her from this social and
political reform, present features of peculiar interest for those who
favour the establishment of a similar class of landholders in Ireland.
In treating of these two questions, I have laboured under the great
disadvantage of not being able to follow current events. It is
understood that the Danubian difficulty will be settled on the plan,
referred to in the text, suggested by Austria for her own advantage,
with certain modifications, having for their object the limitation of
her preponderance. My readers will be able to judge for themselves,
after reading the brief review of the question, and the references to
our own commercial relations with the countries bordering on the Danube
in the third and fifth chapters, whether such a settlement is likely to
be final. For myself I cannot believe that any solution will be
permanently satisfactory which interferes with the jurisdiction of
Roumania in her own waters.
As to the land question, it calls up some awkward reflections when its
history is contrasted with recent and passing events in Ireland. So long
as the conquerors in Roumania endeavoured to solve the problem, their
efforts were unavailing. At the Convention of Balta-Liman between
Russia and Turkey, where 'coercion' was coupled with 'remedial
measures,' an ineffectual attempt was made to ameliorate the wretched
condition of the peasantry on the old lines of feudalism; but it was not
until the country became autonomous and the legitimate representatives
of the people took the matter in hand, that an efficient remedy was
applied. Then, as the reader will find detailed in the following
pages,[1] more than four hundred thousand heads of families amongst the
peasantry came into peaceful possession of a large proportion of the
land on equitable terms; and whilst the industrious agriculturist is now
daily acquiring a more considerable interest in the soil, the landlords,
who were merely drawing a revenue from the labour expended upon it by
others, are gradually disappearing. That the prosperity and stability of
the country have increased through the change is shown in many ways, but
more especially by the enhanced value of Roumanian Government
securities, of which I have been able to append a short statement in
contrast with those of Russia and Turkey.[2]
What has occurred and is passing in Ireland the reader need not be told
here. Possibly the consideration of the Roumanian land question may have
given a bias to my views on the whole subject, and the excited state of
the public mind causes me to hesitate in the expression of an opinion
which may appear to be dogmatic. Still, looking at all the
circumstances--at the partial resemblance between the former condition
of Roumania and the present state of Ireland, at the past history of
Irish reforms (such as the abolition of the Irish Church), at the rising
land agitation on this side of the Channel, and at the recent
recommendation of the Canadian Parliament that autonomy should be
extended to Ireland--I have been able to arrive at no other conclusion
than that the measures at present before Parliament may bring temporary
relief to the peasantry, and temporary, nay let us hope permanent
pacification, but that the question will be reopened, coupled probably
with that of 'Home Rule,' and that at no distant period.
There are many other circumstances which warrant us in seeking to obtain
a better knowledge of Roumania, but these were the chief considerations
which induced me last year to visit the country and some of its leading
institutions, and to collect the materials which I now venture in the
following pages to lay before my readers.
No one knows so well as I do how imperfectly my task has been performed,
nor the difficulties with which it has been surrounded, and there are
one or two matters of which I should like to unburden myself to the
reader. He will probably enquire why I have put the cart before the
horse, giving a sketch of the present condition of the country before
treating of its past history. The answer is that it was not originally
my intention to deal with the latter at any length; but when I came to
read and study the works which have appeared on the subject in French
and German (of which a tolerably full list is appended to this
treatise), so many topics of interest presented themselves for the
historical student that I determined to publish a connected history of
the country, however imperfect it might be, from the earliest times down
to the present day. And in this I was further encouraged by the fact
that the attempt has not yet been made in English, excepting in a very
perfunctory manner in Consul Wilkinson's work, published by Longmans in
1820, which is now quite out of date. That such a review of Roumanian
history, condensed as it necessarily is, was sure to be considered very
dry by many readers, seemed to be certain; I therefore placed it after
the description of the country as it exists to-day, and for those
readers the perusal of the last chapter of that part of the work,
dealing with the notabilities of the day, will probably suffice. But I
believe that some matters relating to the Roman conquest of Dacia, the
character and movements of the barbarians (of which I have prepared and
appended a tabular statement), the subsequent history of the country,
its struggles for freedom, and the condition of the inhabitants at
various periods, will be new to the general student of history and
sociology, and if my share has been badly done, it need not prevent him
from prosecuting enquiries, for which he will find ample materials in
the works of the continental writers to whom I have referred. As regards
the controverted questions of the descent of the modern Roumanians and
the foundation of the Principalities, I would direct his attention more
especially to the recent publications of Roesler and Pic, the first an
Austrian and the second a Slav writer, where he will find those subjects
fully and warmly debated.
The only other matter on which I desire to give an explanation is my
reason for not entering more minutely into what is called 'the Eastern
Question,' nor attempting, as other authors have done, to predict the
future relations of Roumania in regard to it. An American humourist has
said, 'Never prophesy unless you know,' and many a writer on Roumania
must wish that he had refrained from dealing with probabilities, or from
prognosticating the coining events of history. The future of the East
depends upon a variety of divergent considerations: upon the relations
of the Government of Russia with its people; the course of events in the
newly acquired provinces of Austria, and the delicate relations between
Austria and Hungary; the future action of the Prince and people of
Bulgaria, the former of whom is at present under Russian influence; upon
the growing power and influence of Greece; and, lastly, upon the
possible, but not probable, regeneration of Turkey. And without speaking
for others, I should feel it presumptuous, under the circumstances, to
deal in prophecies.
As to the best policy for Great Britain, however, that is perfectly
clear, and may be summed up in a short sentence. It is to facilitate, by
pacific means, the solution of every difficulty and problem as it
arises, and wherever it is possible, through our influence, to support
and encourage constitutional government against autocracy and despotism.
This we can do with great advantage in our relations with Roumania, and
it will be a source of much gratification to me if the information which
I have here attempted to disseminate should have the slightest tendency
in that direction.
JAMES SAMUELSON.
CLAUGHTON, BIRKENHEAD:
_April 20, 1882._
[Footnote 1: Chapter vi. and Appendix IV.]
[Footnote 2: P. 270, _note_.]
CONTENTS.
PART I.
_ROUMANIA, TO-DAY._
CHAPTER PAGE
I. GEOGRAPHICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE 3
II. GEOGRAPHICAL--ARCHAEOLOGICAL 20
III. THE NAVIGATION OF THE DANUBE 30
IV. TOPOGRAPHICAL, ETC. 36
V. TOPOGRAPHICAL--COMMERCIAL 67
VI. AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL--THE PEASANT PROPRIETARY 74
VII. EDUCATIONAL--ETHNOGRAPHICAL 88
VIII. JUDICIAL AND PENAL 100
PART II.
_HISTORICAL._
IX. FROM THE GETAE (ABOUT 335 B.C.) TO THE CLOSE OF THE ROMAN
DOMINATION IN DACIA (ABOUT A.D. 274) 115
X. FROM THE EVACUATION OF DACIA BY AURELIAN (ABOUT 274
A.D.) TO THE END OF THE BARBARIAN RULE (ABOUT THE
CLOSE OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY) 138
XI. FROM THE FOUNDATION OF THE PRINCIPALITIES, BETWEEN
THE MIDDLE OF THE THIRTEENTH AND OF THE FOURTEENTH
CENTURIES, TO THE ACCESSION OF MICHAEL THE BRAVE,
A.D. 1593 161
XII. THE TIMES AND CAREER OF MICHAEL THE BRAVE 170
XIII. FROM THE DEATH OF MICHAEL THE BRAVE (A.D. 1601) TO
THE DEPOSITION OF PRINCE COUZA (A.D. 1866) 199
XIV. FROM THE DEPOSITION OF PRINCE COUZA (1866) TO THE
CORONATION OF KING CHARLES (1881) 233
XV. PRESENT ROUMANIAN LEADERS AND THEIR POLICY 258
APPENDICES.
APPENDIX
I. MOVEMENTS AND SETTLEMENTS OF NATIONALITIES AND
BARBARIAN TRIBES 272-3
II. THE 'CAPITULATIONS' 274
III. THE ROUMANIAN CONSTITUTION 275
IV. THE PEASANT PROPRIETARY OF ROUMANIA 277
V. LIST OF WORKS (WITH REFERENCES TO TEXT) 278
CLASSIFIED INDEX 281
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
_AUTOTYPE PLATES._
CATHEDRAL OF CURTEA D'ARDGES _Photograph by Duschek_ _Frontispiece_
VIEW OF BUCAREST " " _To face p. 40_
PORTRAIT OF QUEEN ELISABETH OF ROUMANIA IN _After Duschek_ " 258
THE NATIONAL COSTUME
_WOODCUTS IN TEXT._
[Engraved by G. PEARSON.]
PAGE
ROUMANIAN PEASANTS IN WORKING DRESS _Photograph by Duschek_ 7
PEASANTS AT A WELL " " " 8
SUBTERRANEAN DWELLINGS WITH PEASANTS " " " 10
ENTRANCE TO CARPATHIAN VILLAGE " " " 12
MEN AND WOMEN ROAD-MAKING " " " 13
TERMINAL PIER OF TRAJAN'S BRIDGE ON _Sketch by Author_ 21
ROUMANIAN SHORE
TERMINAL PIER OF TRAJAN'S BRIDGE ON SERVIAN SIDE " " " 24
PLAN OF BUCAREST _Reduced from Original by Prof. Zamphirolu_ 37
MONK AND NUN _After Duschek_ 39
FRUITSELLER OF BUCAREST " " 48
GIPSY FLOWER-SELLER " " 49
GIPSY MUSICIANS " " 52
ROUMANIAN GIRL " " 53
GIPSY WOMAN " " 53
TRACERY ON SHIELD ON THE EXTERIOR OF _Copied from Reissenberger_ 60
THE CATHEDRAL OF CURTEA D'ARDGES
THE SAME--ANOTHER PATTERN " " " 61
AT THE CABARET ON A HOLIDAY _After Duschek_ 73
ROUMANIAN PLOUGHSHARE _Sketch by Author_ 75
THE HORA, NATIONAL DANCE OF ROUMANIA _After Duschek_ 98
SECTION OF THE TELEGA PENAL SALT MINE _Reduced by Author from Plan 107
of M. d'Istrati, Engineer of
the Mine_
SALT MOUND IN FLOOR OF MINE _Sketch by Author_ 110
DACIAN WARRIOR (_initial letter_) _From Piranese's Etchings of 115
reliefs on Trojan's Column_
TRAJAN ADDRESSING HIS ARMY " " " 126
DACIANS SETTING FIRE TO THEIR CAPITAL " " " 129
DACIAN TROPHIES " " " 137
EQUESTRIAN STATUE OF MICHAEL THE BRAVE AT BUCAREST _After Duschek_ 177
STATUE OF MICHAEL CANTACUZENE IN THE COLTZA HOSPITAL " " 200
(_initial letter_)
DEFENCES OF PLEVNA 244
PRINCE (NOW KING) CHARLES _Photograph by Duschek 251
COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF, BEFORE PLEVNA taken on the spot_
PORTRAIT, WITH AUTOGRAPH, OF M.C.A. ROSETTI _After Duschek_ 264
PORTRAIT OF M. BRATIANO " " 265
_MAPS._
[Drawn and lithographed, with aid of Author's notes, by E. WELLER.]
GEOGRAPHICAL MAP OF ROUMANIA _To face p. 3_
HISTORICAL MAP OF ROUMANIA _After Kiepert, &c._ 115
_Errata._
Page 45, note, _for_ p. 202 _read_ initial letter, p. 200.
" 64, note 1, " 7209 " 7029.
" 162, line 19, " west " east.
" 165, " 22, " Bajazet II. " Bajazet I.
PART I.
ROUMANIA, TO-DAY.
We love
The king who loves the law, respects his bounds,
And reigns content within them; him we serve
Truly and with delight who leaves us free.
COWPER.
There virtue reigns as queen in royal throne,
And giveth laws alone.
The which the base affections do obey,
And yield their services unto her will.
SPENSER.
[Illustration: Physical Map of ROUMANIA]
CHAPTER I.
GEOGRAPHICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE.
Limits, dimensions, and population of Roumania--Comparison with
England--Configuration of the surface--Altitudes of
towns--Mountains--Appearance of the country--The region of the
plains--Plants and agricultural condition--The peasantry--Female
navvies--Costumes--Wells--Subterranean dwellings--Marsh
fever--Travelling, past and present--Zone of the hills--Plants,
flowers, fruits, and cereals--Cheap fruits--Improved
dwellings--Wages of labourers--Petroleum
wells--Rock-salt--Mines--The Carpathians--Character of the
scenery--Alpine trees and plants--Sinaia--The King's summer
residence--The monastery--Conveniences for visitors, baths,
&c.--Occupations of visitors--Beautiful scenery--The new
palace--The King and Queen--Geology of Roumania--Scanty
details--The chief deposits and their
localities--Minerals--Salt--Petroleum--Lignite--Ozokerit--
Haematite--Undeveloped mineral wealth.
I.
The kingdom of Roumania is situated between 22 deg. 29' and 29 deg. 42' east of
Greenwich, and between 43 deg. 37' and 48 deg. 13' north of the equator. Its
general boundaries are, on the _east_ and _south_, the Pruth and the
Danube, with the exception of the Dobrudscha south of the latter river,
at its embouchures, and on the _west_ and _north_ by the Carpathian
mountains, along whose heights the boundary line runs. The limit which
separates it from Bulgaria, on the south-east leaves the Danube just
east of Silistria, and runs irregularly in a south-easterly direction
until it reaches the Black Sea, about nine miles and a half south of
Mangalia. (North-east of this line runs the Roumanian Railway from
Cernavoda to Constanta or Kustendjie, and south-west of it the Bulgarian
line from Rustchuk to Varna.) The kingdom presents the form of an
irregular blunted crescent, and it is very difficult to speak of its
'length' and 'breadth;' but so far as we are able to estimate its
dimensions they are as follows:--A straight line drawn from Verciorova,
the boundary on the west at the 'Iron Gates' of the Danube, to the
Sulina mouth of the same river on the east, is about 358 miles; and
another from the boundary near Predeal in the Carpathians, on the line
of railway from Ploiesti to Kronstadt, Transylvania, to the southernmost
limit below Mangalia on the Black Sea, is about 188 miles.[3]
The approximate area of Roumania is 49,250 square miles, and when it is
added that the area of England and Wales is nearly 51,000 square miles,
the reader will be able to form an estimate of the extent of the
country.[4] But having made this comparison, let us carry it a step
further. According to the latest estimates of the population there are
about 5,376,000 inhabitants in Roumania against 25,968,286 (according to
last year's census) in England and Wales; in other words, with an area
equal to that of England, Roumania has about one-fifth of its
population, or about the same as Ireland.[5]
The general configuration of the surface of the country may be described
as an irregular inclined plane sloping down from the summits of the
Carpathians to the northern or left bank of the Danube, and it is
traversed by numerous watercourses taking their rise in the mountains
and falling into the great river, which render it well adapted for every
kind of agricultural industry. The character of the gradients will be
best understood by a reference to the map, with the aid of the following
few figures. The towns of Galatz and Braila or Ibrail, situated on the
Danube, are fifteen metres above the sea-level, a metre being, as the
reader doubtless knows, equal to 1.095, or as nearly as possible 1-1/10
yard. At Bucarest, the capital, which is thirty or forty miles inland,
the land rises to a height of seventy-seven metres;[6] still further
inland, where the elevation from the plain to the hill country becomes
perceptible, the town of Ploiesti is 141 metres above the sea, whilst
Tirgovistea and Iasi (Jassy), each receding further into the hills,
stand respectively at altitudes of 262 and 318 metres, the last-named
city (the former capital of Moldavia) reaching therefore a height of
over 1,000 feet above the sea-level. Or again, the plain which stretches
along the whole extent of the southern part of the country may be said
to occupy, roughly speaking, about a third; then comes a region of hills
rising to a height of about 1,500 feet; and beyond these the Carpathian
range, forming, as it were, a great rampart to the north and east,
reckons amongst its eight or nine hundred peaks many that rise to a
height of 6,000 to 9,000 feet above the sea-level. The highest of those
summits is either Pionul (in Moldavia) or Caraiman, near Sinaia
(Wallachia), the summer residence of the Court, which are nearly 9,000
feet high; the latter is easily accessible, even to ladies if they are
fair climbers, and affords a magnificent view of the surrounding
scenery.[7] The aspect of the country, as the traveller moves inland
from the Danube to the heights of the Carpathians, is very striking; and
as the writer travelled at one time or another along the greater part
of the river, both by land and water, and from the bank at Giurgevo to
the frontier in the mountains, a brief account of his impressions and
observations may be found more interesting than a mere dry geographical
description of the different zones.[8]
[Footnote 3: The mode in which we ascertained these measurements was by
comparing four, independently made. One was by Mr. Weller, the artist of
our maps; the second by the author, being the average of four or five
maps; the third by an English official friend in Roumania, who has all
the best maps at his disposal; and the fourth from Baedeker. Designating
these respectively as _a_, _b_, _c_, and _d_, we obtained the following
very approximate results:--
From Verciorova to the Sulina From Predeal to boundary S. of
mouth. Mangalia.
_a_ 355 miles _a_ 185 miles
_b_ 356 " _b_ 188 "
_c_ 358 " _c_ 189 "
_d_ 360 " _d_ 190 "
From Fife-Cookson's map, in his work _With the Armies of the Balkans_,
the measurements respectively are 355 and 186 miles.]
[Footnote 4: The area is obtained by a somewhat similar process to the
linear measurements, excepting that here we have been obliged to employ
figures from various works (notably that of M. Aurelian and the Reports
of Consul Vivian and of the Roumanian Geographical Society), and to take
into consideration the exchange of Bessarabia for the Dobrudscha, which
has not been done by Roumanian writers since that alteration was made.
The _Gotha Almanack_ of 1881 gives the area as 129,947 square kilos.]
[Footnote 5: There has been no census in Roumania since 1859-60, when
the population is said to have been 4,424,961; now it is set down as
above, and efforts have been made to analyse this estimate and to
classify the population according to nationalities and religion. It is,
however, quite impossible to do so with accuracy; indeed the census of
Galatz taken last year shows that the whole can hardly be regarded as
approximate. What we know is that _about_ 4,600,000 of the population
are Roumanians and of the Orthodox Greek faith; probably 400,000 are
Jews, 200,000 gipsies, and the rest Germans, Szeklers, Servians and
Bulgarians, Hungarians, Armenians, Russians, Greeks, Turks, French,
English, Swiss, &c.]
[Footnote 6: Prince Jon Ghika says 87 metres.]
[Footnote 7: According to various works and maps, the heights of the
mountain summits differ. In his work, _Terra Nostra_, edition of 1880,
M. Aurelian gives the height of Pionul as 2,720.1 metres, or about 8,934
English feet, and that of Caraiman as 2,650.2 metres, or 8,705 feet; but
some of the maps give measurements differing from these.]
[Footnote 8: Fuller details concerning the soil and agricultural
productions will be found in the chapter devoted to those subjects.]