The Danubian Provinces

THE DANUBIAN PROVINCES, The situation in both Moldavia and Walachia was altered by the peace of Kutchuk Kainarji (1774) which ended the Russo Turkish war. Russia restored the principalities which she had occupied, to the sultan (Moldavia, however, being reduced by the Bukovina, which Austria profited by the situation to annex). Several stipulations were made in favour of the Walachians and Moldavians. The tribute was reduced ; the agents of Walachia and Moldavia at Constantinople were to enjoy the rights of national representatives and the Russian minister at the Porte should on occasion watch over the interests of the principalities. The stipu lations of this treaty formed the basis of future liberties in both principalities; but for the time all reforms were postponed.

The treaty was hardly concluded when it was violated by the Porte, which seemed intent on restoring the old system of govern ment in its entirety but in 1783 the Russian representative ex tracted from the sultan a more precise definition of the liberties of the principalities and tribute due. By the peace of Jassy (1792) the Dniester was recognized as the Russian frontier and the privileges of the principalities confirmed. In defiance of treaties, however, the Porte continued to change the hospodars almost yearly. In 1802 Russia resolved to assert her treaty rights in favour of the oppressed inhabitants of the principalities, and obtained a decree from the Porte, by which every prince was to hold office for at least seven years, unless the Russian minister was satisfied that there were sufficient grounds for his deposition, while the Turkish troops in the principalities were paid off, the boyars entrusted with a measure of local self-government, and the Rus sian envoy at Constantinople charged with the task of watching over the Walachian and Moldavian liberties. The principalities thus came under a veiled but effective Russian protectorate.

The revolt of the Serbs in 1804 was secretly encouraged by the Walachian voivode Ypsilanti. In the subsequent Russo-Turkish wars, Russia occupied both principalities (1806-12), greatly to their detriment, as the exactions of the Russian army almost re duced the country to a desert. Russia aspired to incorporate the principalities in her own empire, but under the Peace of Bucharest (1812), the principalities were restored to the sultan under the former conditions, with the exception of Bessarabia, which was ceded to the tsar. The Prut thus became the Russian boundary.

In 1821 Alexander Ypsilanti, an aide de camp of the tsar, entered Moldavia at the head of the Hetaerists, or Greek revolu tionaries, and persuaded the hospodar Michael Sutzu to help him invade Ottoman territory. The Greeks had, however, misjudged popular feeling; a national movement in Walachia, led by Todor Vladimirescu (q.v.) turned, not against the Turks, but against the Phanariotes. Turkish troops, which invaded the country to crush Ypsilanti, were only finally withdrawn in 1824. The Rumanians, however, took advantage of the situation to secure a number of national reforms, including the promulgation of laws in Rumanian and the appointment of native princes, the first of whom were John Sturdza in Moldavia and Gregory Ghica in Walachia (1822-28).

Peace of Adrianople, 1829.

By the convention of Akkerman between the Russians and Turks in 1826 the privileges of the principalities were once more confirmed, and they were again ratified in 1829, under Russian guarantee, by the peace of Adrian ople, which left the principalities tributary to the sultan, but placed them wholly under Russian protection. An "Organic Law," drawn up by assemblies of bishops and boyars at Jassy and Bucha rest, regulated the internal constitution. This very reactionary law, which maintained and fraudulently extended the feudal pre tensions of the boyars to the detriment of the peasants, was rati fied by the Porte in 1834, Russia then withdrawing her troops. The new hospodars, however, Alexander Ghica (1834-42) and George Bibescu (1842-48) in Walachia and Michael Sturdza in Moldavia, were little more than creatures of Russia. In 1848, although the liberal and intelligent Sturdza was able to quell the popular agitation, which was partly national and partly social, Bibescu was forced to grant a constitution in Bucharest, and fled the country. The Turks, instigated by Russia, crossed the Danube and a joint Russo-Turkish dictatorship restored the Organic Law. Barbu Stirbeiii was appointed prince of Walachia, Gregory Ghica of Moldavia (Balta-Liman Convention, Crimean War and Treaty of Paris.—During the Crimean War the principalities were occupied by Russia and Austria suc cessively, and although they suffered severely, the Austrian occu pation brought them material benefits, and the exile into which many politicians were driven brought them into contact with a higher civilization.

By the Treaty of Paris (1856) the principalities with their exist ing privileges were placed under the collective guarantee of the contracting Powers, while remaining under the suzerainty of the Porte. A strip of southern Bessarabia was restored to Moldavia, withdrawing the Russian frontier from the Danube mouths. The existing laws and statutes of both principalities were revised by a European commission, sitting at Bucharest, assisted by a national council convoked by the Porte in each of the two provinces.

Union of the Principalities.

The commission arrived in March 1857, and the assemblies were convoked in September. They voted unanimously for territorial autonomy, union of the principalities under the name of Rumania, a foreign hereditary prince, neutrality of Rumanian territory, and a single representa tive legislative Assembly. The Convention of Paris (Aug. 19, 1858) accepted these decisions with modifications. Each princi pality was to continue to be governed by its own prince, and to maintain its separate legislative assembly. A central commission, sitting at Focsani, was to prepare laws of common interest for submission to the two assemblies. Thereupon the two assemblies, meeting at Bucharest and Jassy respectively, elected a single prince in the person of Alexander Cuza (q.v.). The de facto union of Rumania was thus accomplished.