Roumania Past and Present
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The report was made, but it was found quite inappropriate to the desired
end, as it ignored the freedom of the navigation, the question of the
coasting trade, &c.; whilst, on the other hand, it proposed a 'mixed
commission, which was to be an executive committee, not at all
contemplated by the Treaty of Berlin, and which brought to light
pretensions of a new order.'
Those pretensions were an attempt on the part of one power, namely,
Austria, to dominate the whole course of the river. The Executive
Commission was to consist of four members, representing Austria, Servia,
Roumania, and Bulgaria, and the Austrian commissioner was to preside and
to have a casting vote. Servia has a very small interest in the river,
as her territory extends only a few miles below the Iron Gates, and it
is essential to her very existence to remain on friendly terms with her
powerful neighbour, so that 'it results that Austria, who is already
mistress of the upper Danube, would obtain further privileges and a
veritable supremacy over the remainder of its course.'
M. Catargi goes on to tell Earl Granville 'that if Austria succeeded in
securing her domination she would throw every obstacle in the way of the
importation of the products of the Western nations into the great basin
of the Danube in order to secure the monopoly of her own.'[27]
This is the present condition of the Danubian question, and we have
reason to believe that negotiations are proceeding which are intended to
pave the way for a settlement next year. From what we know of those who
represent British interests in the matter, we feel satisfied that those
interests will be carefully guarded; but this must not prevent us from
bearing in mind international principles and rights everywhere
recognised as equitable, and which we feel confident will not be lost
sight of in the negotiations. Roumania is the most deeply interested;
she has a perfect right to the executive control of the navigation of
the Danube in her own waters, subject to her engagements with the
Powers. The contention put forward more or less officially by Austria,
that if this right were conceded to Roumania the other riparian Powers
might claim the same privilege, is answered by the simple statement that
such right is theirs already, as much as it is the right of Austria to
control the navigation of the Danube at Pesth or Vienna, of Germany to
regulate that of the Rhine at Cologne, or Belgium at Rotterdam. So far
as England is concerned, it needed not the revelations of M. Catargi to
acquaint us with the fact that Austria will do as she has done, namely,
attempted to limit our trade in the basin of the Danube; and our
interests and those of Roumania are therefore identical.
But it is to be hoped that passing events in that part of Europe will
cure Austria of her aggressive tendencies, and that she will not assume
the same attitude towards the Powers as she did towards her weaker
neighbour. She will gain more by co-operating loyally with her to
improve the navigation of the lower Danube than by striving either
openly or secretly to secure a predominance which she could not
permanently maintain even if her present efforts were successful.
[Footnote 25: Chiefly Greek and Turkish.]
[Footnote 26: The correspondence, which extends from June 23 to
September 5, 1880, and is chiefly telegraphic, was published in the
supplement to the _Independance Roumaine_, Bucarest, December 6 [18],
1881.]
[Footnote 27: After this despatch follows one from M. Bratiano, the
Roumanian Secretary of State, finding fault with M. Calargi for his
unfriendly tone towards Austria, and here is his edifying reply on that
point. 'Let me satisfy you (_vous rassurer_) as to the consequences that
might arise from the handing in of this document. Written on paper
without any mark, deprived of every official or individual character,
bearing no signature, this historical _resume_ of the phases through
which the question has passed cannot compromise anyone.' This is one of
the men who make history, and to whom the lives and interests of the
million are confided!]
CHAPTER IV.
TOPOGRAPHICAL, ETC.
The chief cities of Roumania--The capital, Bucarest--Ignorance
concerning it--Conflicting accounts--Its true character--The 'sweet
waters of the Dambovitza'--Dimensions of Bucarest--External
aspect--The Chaussee, the ladies' mile of Bucarest--Streets, shops,
and houses--The Academy--Its collections--Coins--Dacian, Roman, and
other antiquities--Excellent physical laboratory--Professor
Bacologlu--The Coltza laboratory--Dr. Bernath--The Cismegiu
Garden--Shabby courts of justice--Other
buildings--Churches--Railway stations--Fine hospitals--Dr.
Davila--The Colentina Hospital--The 'police des moeurs' and the
morality of Bucarest--The 'Philanthropic' Hospital--The
'Coltza'--Its museums--Life in Bucarest--Hotels--The upper
classes--Places of amusement--Cost of land and houses for different
classes--Wages of artisans; of gipsies--Habits of the
working-classes--Cost of living, food, clothing, &c.--Native
costumes made by the peasantry--Their beauty and variety--The
poorest class--Mamaliga--The gipsies--Their origin and
history--Their slavery--Wilkinson's account of them in his
day--Their emancipation and present condition--Laoutari or
musicians--Their other occupations--Their religion--Fusion with the
native Roumanians--Striking contrast between gipsies and
natives--Lipovans--Roumanian love of bright colours--Pictorial
advertisements--Amusing signboards--Absence of intellectual
entertainments and occupations--Want of exchange and market
buildings--Great advances since 1857--Edgar Quinet's account of
Roumania in his day--'The Roumanian Company for erecting Public
Edifices'--Funerals--Octroi duties--Their onerous character--A few
words on the Jews--Bitter journalistic attacks upon them--Curtea
d'Ardges--Its beautiful cathedral--The exterior--Fine tracery and
ornaments--The interior--Legendary history--Negru Voda and
Manole--Poem of Manole--Entombs his wife alive in the
foundation--His fate--True history--Neagu Bassarab, its
founder--John Radul--Quaint and interesting tablets concerning its
history down to 1804--Subsequent history and present
condition--(Note: Brief history of Christianity in
Roumania--Atheism and indifference to religion).
I.
The chief cities or towns in Roumania are Bucarest, the capital, in the
district of Ilfovu; Jassy or Iasi, the old capital of Moldavia, in that
of the same name; Galatz or Galati, in Covurluiu; Curtea d'Ardges, in
the district of that name; Braila or Ibrail, Craiova, Botosani,
Ploiesti, and Pitesti. We have not named them exactly in the order of
their size, as it is our intention to give some details of the first
four only.
[Illustration: PLAN OF BUCAREST, WITH THE MAIN STREETS AND BUILDINGS.
(_Reduced from Plan by Professor Zamphirolu._)
1. Filaret Railway Station.
2. Tirgovistea Railway Station.
3. Metropolitan Cathedral.
4. Palace.
5. National Theatre.
6. Council of Ministers.
7. Academy.
8. British Embassy.
9. Post and Telegraph Offices.
10. Church, Radu Voda.
11. Ministry of Finance.
12. Summer Palace (Cotroceni).
13. Asyle Helene.
14. Coltza Hospital.
15. Colentina Hospital.
16. Bank of Roumania.]
Of the capital, Bucarest, the reader will here find a general plan, in
case he should at any time visit the city. To give any lengthened
account of it, however, would be a mistake; for such a description would
certainly be inaccurate a few years hence, as the city is undergoing
great change and improvement from day to day. Still it is the heart of
Roumania, the centre from which all progress emanates; and whilst we
shall refer to some of its more valuable institutions when we come to
deal with national and social questions of general importance, we
propose to dwell upon it for a brief space.
Some of the questions that are asked concerning Bucarest, even by
persons who believe themselves well-informed, are highly amusing. One
friend, who is really a well-read man, asked us shortly after our visit
whether it was not a great continuous 'Mabille,' and he looked very
incredulous when we told him that, although we had walked through and
through it, and had carefully looked at all the posters announcing
amusements in various places, we had no recollection of seeing a
dancing-garden amongst them, and that we believed none existed. Another
friend, a highly educated professional man, was not quite sure whether
Bucarest was north or south of the Danube; but it was a place, he knew,
where the chief occupation was gambling. There may be some little truth
in the latter statement, but gaming-tables are forbidden, and he need
not go so far from home as that to see the law evaded.
But it is no wonder that strangers are puzzled to form a correct
conception of Bucarest, and their perplexity is not likely to be
relieved if they read the descriptions that have been given of the city
and its inhabitants from time to time. Some writers have described it as
an assemblage of dilapidated houses standing in unpaved streets. Its
upper classes are represented as very polite depraved ladies and
gentlemen, including a large proportion of the former who have been
divorced three or four times, and are in the habit of entertaining
simultaneously all their _ci-devant_ husbands in the presence and with
the sanction of the 'man in possession.' The lower classes comprise
half-naked gipsies of both sexes, with a considerable sprinkling of
priests or 'popes,' eating bread and onions or mamaliga (the maize
pudding of the masses), or lounging on the doorsteps of the houses, or
sauntering along the unpaved streets in charge of a lean pig. According
to such writers the chief occupation of the Bucarester is getting
divorced or being buried in state. Then there is the romantic school of
authors who represent it as a city of palaces standing in their own
grounds, with numerous beautiful Byzantine churches, pleasure-gardens in
which plays are performed, or where the Laoutari or minstrels (gipsy
bands) play wild and stirring music all day long. There are charming
Roumanian belles, with flashing eyes and the sweetest of voices;
dark-eyed gipsies, chaste as Diana and as fleet of foot; grave boyards,
stately Turks (of whom, by the way, we never saw one whilst we were on
Roumanian ground, although there were plenty, very much married indeed,
on the Danube steamers); reverend abbots, with long black robes and
flowing white beards; and nuns in unique costumes of dark cloth, with
caps and hoods resembling a crusader's helmet. The truth, as usual, lies
between these two opposite extremes.
[Illustration: MONK AND NUN.]
Bucarest, or Bucuresci, 'the city of joy,' as it is called by the
Roumanians, is a large, irregular, straggling city of about 175,000
inhabitants, situated on a dirty little stream called the Dambovitza (as
already stated, a tributary of the Ardges), concerning which some very
famous verses have been written, proclaiming its waters to be so sweet
that any one who drinks of them never desires to leave Bucarest. What
its retentive properties may have been in former times we are not able
to say, but we can quite imagine any person who ventures to drink of
the water being incapable of leaving the city for ever afterwards.
However, the prosaic authorities are not greatly impressed by their
national poetry in this instance. The river is being 'canalised,' or
confined within stone embankments, and there is a plentiful supply of
_apa dulce_ from another source, which exercises no controlling
influence whatever upon the movements of the drinker. The greatest
length of the city as the crow flies is about 3-1/10 miles, and its
greatest breadth somewhat less, but many of the outlying parts resemble
country roads rather than streets. Viewed from a distance, or from the
hill upon which the metropolitan church stands, it has a most
picturesque appearance, consisting of a vast number of churches, chiefly
Byzantine, only a few of which are visible in our photograph, and many
good-sized buildings. But what gives a peculiar charm to the city is
that all these buildings appear to be placed in one vast garden, for
there is hardly a single one without some trees in its immediate
vicinity, and many of the larger houses really stand in gardens of
considerable extent. This, too, is the cause of the city covering so
large a space in proportion to the number of its inhabitants. It is
built with perplexing irregularity, as will be seen even from our
superficial plan, where only the main streets are given; but the
intermediate spaces are filled with narrow, crooked, and ill-paved
streets and lanes, their most disagreeable feature being that, in
consequence of the soft yielding nature of the subsoil, the pavement
gives way, and soon becomes inconveniently undulating. There are,
however, several broad well-paved streets,[28] the chief being the Podu
Mogosoi, as it is still called, although after the fall of Plevna it
received the more dignified appellation of the Strada Victoriei; it runs
through the centre of the city from an incipient boulevard--which
promises one of these days to metamorphose the whole place--to a park or
garden of considerable extent, where it is further continued through an
alley of trees known as the Chaussee. This is the favourite drive of
the Bucaresters, and at stated hours a rapid succession of vehicles
pours out from various parts of the city to see and to be seen. These
birjas, as the little open carriages (resembling a small _caleche_) are
called, contain the moat motley assemblage of sight-seers--ambassadors,
state officials, and well-to-do citizens of both sexes in European
dress; ladies of more humble rank in the national costume;[29] gipsies
and poor workmen and women, who, one might imagine, would be better on
foot, half-clad, and very considerably unwashed. In or about the Strada
Victoriei are many of the principal buildings--the national theatre, the
King's palace (a very modest structure at present undergoing
improvements), the Ministry of Finance, and some fine hotels. The shops,
which are mostly kept by Germans and French-men, are of a fair kind,
though not equal to those of Vienna, Paris, or indeed of many smaller
continental capitals.[30] The houses here, and everywhere in Bucarest,
are built of brick, plastered white, and often very tastefully decorated
externally with figures or foliage in terra cotta; but it is the
cracking and falling off of this external coating, which occurs more
readily in a place subject to great changes of temperature than in more
equable temperate climes, that imparts to Bucarest the dilapidated
appearance so often referred to by writers. This blemish is, however,
likely soon to disappear; for the rise of a wealthy middle and trading
class, and the general increase of prosperity, will lead to the
substitution of stone buildings for what can only be regarded as
temporary structures.
[Illustration: BUCAREST.
(FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY FRANZ DUSCHEK.)]
Besides the 'Victoriei,' there are several other very good streets, one
of which is the Lipscanii, which derives its name from the Leipzig
traders who formerly lived there, and it is still only a shop street.
There are some small squares with central gardens, but the finest
thoroughfare promises to be the Boulevard, which it is intended to carry
round the city by connecting it with the wider roads. On this boulevard
stands the Academy, a large classical building with a fine facade of
columns; and in a square opposite is the bronze equestrian statue of
Michael the Brave, engraved in the second part of this treatise.
[Footnote 28: The middle pavement is composed of a very hard kind of
brick called 'basalt,' which is very solid and durable.]
[Footnote 29: The national costume is worn by Indies of high position in
the country, and on state occasions, but not as ordinary citizens'
dress; see the Queen's portrait, Chap. XV.]
[Footnote 30: It may be mentioned for the reader's guidance that French
or German will serve him almost anywhere in Roumania.]
II.
The Academy is the centre of intellectual life in Bucarest. Temporarily
the Senate meets there, but it also harbours many other institutions.
First there is the National Library, with a collection of 30,000
volumes, most ably managed by M. Tocilesco, who is at the same time a
well-known author, and professor of ancient history at the University.
Through his acquaintance with the literature of most European nations,
his own historical and ethnological attainments, and his readiness to
put these as well as the treasures of the library at the disposal of
strangers, this gentleman cannot fail to raise his country in the
estimation of those who pay it a visit. He is also the curator of the
fine Archaeological Museum in the same building, which is very valuable
to historians. It contains a complete series of Roumanian coins
presented to the Academy by M. Stourdza; many Dacian, Roman, Greek,
Egyptian, and Syrian relics; along with a smaller collection from the
bronze, stone, and iron ages. Some of the Daco-Roman monuments and
sarcophagi, found near the Oltu, have a special historical interest, and
many of the more valuable objects, such as arms and ornaments of gold,
bear runic inscriptions. Coming down to a later period, there are
Albanian arms and costumes, mediaeval vestments and ornaments of the
clergy, a magnificent carved oak screen of the seventeenth century,
probably one of the finest in existence, and numerous other objects of
interest to the antiquary.[31]
The natural history collection is poor, although local types are well
represented; the gallery of paintings is small and good, the subjects
being chiefly historical, with the addition of portraits of Heliade and
other national heroes. The classes of the University meet here, but,
with one exception, the appliances for higher scientific education are
very inferior. That exception is the physical laboratory, which would
reflect credit upon any public institution. It is contained in three or
four large rooms, and comprises every modern physical appliance
carefully protected from injury. Most of the instruments, which are of
the first order, are made by Secretau of Paris, and a small engine and a
Siemens-Halske magneto-electric machine were in course of erection
during our visit. The selection of instruments and the order which
pervades the whole bear practical testimony to the accomplishments of
Professor M. Emanuel Bacologlu, of whose teaching power and wide-spread
knowledge we heard nothing but praise on every side. The chemical
laboratory is nothing more than a popular lecture hall, poor and
disorderly in its arrangements, and quite unworthy of a national
institution. On the other hand there is a small but perfect chemical
laboratory in the Coltza Hospital close by, where the lecturers, Dr.
Davila and his able assistant Dr. Bernath, give excellent instruction to
the young medical students of the city. This is, however, far too small
for its object, and we hope that the 'era of peace,' referred to in the
speech from the throne last year, will enable the State to give greater
efficiency to the instruction and appliances of the city. In any case,
there is one practicable means of attaining this end which wilt be
pointed out when we come to speak of the general education of the
people.
[Footnote 31: Engravings of most of the objects here referred to will be
found in M. Tocilesco's book, which, through his kindness, the writer
has been enabled to deposit in the British Museum Library.]
III.
Under the same roof the geographical and other learned societies meet.
But we have said enough of this building, and must now pass on to a few
more prominent edifices in the city. Besides the Chaussee and its
surroundings, there is another large park or pleasure-garden in the
centre of the city, called the Cismegiu, which contains ornamental
waters, flower-beds, and fine alleys of trees, and is a favourite resort
of the humbler classes. In the immediate vicinity of this garden stand
the Courts of Justice, and the greatest service we can render to the
people of Bucarest is to advise visitors to give them a wide berth, or
at least to content themselves with a look at the exterior. The interior
of some portions at least vies, in filth and disorder, with the meanest
of our police courts. The Government buildings are of a much higher
order, and that of the Ministerial Council is very spacious and well
furnished. None of the numerous churches of Bucarest are really fine,
excepting in their external appearance, which is often very picturesque.
They are all built of brick and plastered, many roofed with metal, and
the paintings in them are very inferior, however interesting some of
them may be historically. The finest is the cathedral, or metropolitan
church, which stands upon a commanding eminence not far from the
boulevard, and beside it are two poor buildings, in one of which the
metropolitan resides, whilst in the other the Chamber of Deputies meets.
The church is comparatively recent, having been erected in 1656 and
restored in 1859.
Bucarest has two railway stations, both situated at some distance from
the centre of the city. One is the terminus of the railway from
Giurgevo, situated on the Danube about two hours' ride distant; the
other of the lines to Verciorova, Pesth, and Vienna, westward; Predeal
and Kronstadt, Transylvania, to the north; and Galatz, Jassy, and Odessa
to the north-east and east. Passengers going to Constantinople travel by
rail to Giurgevo, where they cross the Danube to Rustchuk, and thence
proceed again by rail through Bulgaria to Varna, and on by steamer to
Constantinople; but a line is in progress from Bucarest which will take
them to the Black Sea through the Dobrudscha, namely, from Cernavoda to
Constanta (Kustendjie), thence to the capital of Turkey by steamer.
Returning once more to the consideration of the public buildings, we
have to refer to the hospitals, which are admirably managed by the
'Eforia Spitalelor,' the hospital board, as we should call it, and by
its Director-General, Dr. Davila, whose work one encounters continually
in Bucarest. There are seven hospitals or infirmaries, of which three
at least are well worth a visit. The Colentina hospital makes up 200
beds, 130 for women and 70 for men. The wards are roomy, well ventilated
and warmed, and the beds and bedding clean and comfortable. (The same
cannot, however, be said of certain other arrangements.) There are ten
women nurses, and we heard complaints of a want of volunteers there and
elsewhere, which detracts from the humanitarian character of the work.
To the hospital a dispensary is attached, where from January 1 to
September 8 last year, 10,791 persons had been relieved. A very
repulsive feature in this hospital is the ward containing forty or fifty
unfortunate women under the surveillance of the so-called 'Police des
Moeurs,' who are very solicitous about the health of a few of these
miserable creatures that live in a wretched lane in the city, whilst
they allow the traffic to be carried on in some places as openly as it
is in the Strand or Haymarket. Another hospital, which to the
uninitiated is far more attractive than the Colentina, is the
Philanthropic, a beautiful building of recent construction, containing
wide passages and very fine wards, and admirably fitted up with baths
and all modern conveniences. The third is situated close to the academy,
and is called the Coltza hospital. This was originally a monastery, at
the entrance of which a statue, already referred to, has been erected to
Michael Cantacuzene, the founder,[32] and it is said to have been
converted into a hospital in 1715.
This may be called the students' hospital, for here is not only the
little chemical laboratory of Dr. Bernath, but also dissecting rooms,
amphitheatre, and anatomical museum. Of the latter, indeed, there are
several, osteological, physiological, &c., and they reflect great credit
upon the gentlemen who have formed them under almost insuperable
difficulties. There are several other important buildings in or near
Bucarest. Two of these, the Agricultural College and the Asyle Helene in
the outskirts, will receive a special description hereafter; but in the
city itself there are, besides those already named, the National Bank,
some of the monasteries devoted to philanthropic purposes, and three or
four hotels, where travellers may live with great comfort and luxury at
an extravagant cost.[33]
[Footnote 32: See p. 202. A high tower attached to it is said to have
been built by the soldiers of Charles XII. of Sweden.]
[Footnote 33: The principal hotels are the 'Grand Hotel du Boulevard'
(on the boulevard), the Hotel 'Brofft,' 'Hugues,' 'Imperial,' 'Mano,'
&c. The cost of a room varies from six to ten francs per day, and of
board about the same. Wine is very dear, varying from three francs for
the native wines up to twenty francs for fine French descriptions. All
these matters are, however, undergoing change from year to year.]