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    ^ 1074 THE LEADER. _____^

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    Foetry And Politics On The Danube. Itoum...

    The WaUachians love their country , and , like all patriotic nations , express their love in songs . The Syrian does rot turn to hia Damascus , the Spaniard to his Seville , -with more devotion than the Wallachian to the river that flows fcy Bucharest . The national minstrels still sing among the Rouman valleys airs and ballads of an untraced age , some of which ^ from M . Aleksandri's collection , Mr . Stanley has translated- All these roving singers are gipsies ; with the language they employ philologists are not yet familiar . Of course , the Slavonian , origin attributed to the people has long been set aside by the ^ historical evidence connecting theni with the Legionaries of Tiajan and Aurelian ; and though many Slav words have been undoubtedly introduced , so also have Albanian words , with others of an unknown genealogy . The real Routnan tongue is Latin , the Latin of a province , indeed , yet still allied in genius and structure with the Latin of Cicero aud Koine . The deviations from the regular ancient language do not seem to have been accidental , the leading peculiarity consisting in the position of the article , which 19 placed at the end of the -word . " The Latinity of the Rouman is , how-• ever , " says Mir . Stanley , " sadly disguised under the Cyrillic alphabetin

    , which it has hitherto been habited . This alphabet was adopted about ajd . 1400 , _ after an attempt b y one of the Popes to unite the Koumans to the Catholic Church . The priests then burned the books in the Roman or European letters , and the Russians have opposed all the attempts made latterly to cast off the Slavonic alphabet , by which the Rouman language is enchained and bound to the Slavonic dialects . " But the tendency of * Koumans to return to their national alphabet is strong , and will probably be successful , in spite of the hostility alluded to by M . Prosper Meriniee , who -observes that the Russians offer the alphabet in the same spirit of kindness that actuates them when they offer their Cossacks and governors to a defenceless people . The great dictionary of the Rouman language , -wrath Latin , Hungarian , and German explanations , printed at Buda in 1825 , is in Roman type . It was the work of seven professors , whose labours extended 4 > ver a period of more than thirty years .

    Accordingly , Mr . Stanley also has printed his collection of Rouman ballads in poetry in the ordinary Roman or English character . With the exception of the ballads , Yvhicn refer at times to remnants of an antique mythology that once reigned along the borders of the Danube , the selections Are from the works of living men—Radulesco , Aleksandresco , Aleksandrini , Bolentineanti , Cretzianu , and others . The translations are in a literal form , and include historical and legendary pieces , love-songs , and fables . The square border of ornament is adapted from a rare Byzantine manuscript of the fifth century , the initial letter being taken from a Byzantine work of a somewhat later period . Another border with a circular top is now used , for the first time , in modern book decoration . We should mention that the volume is further illustrated by some gems of engraving from Canaletti , representing views in Venice—among others , the house supposed to have been inhabited by Titian .

    Among the translations , the first is the short story of Prince Radu ' s suit to a young maiden .: — - " Come and kiss me , sweet little girl , And I will gire thee a necklace and a robe . " " A necklace or a robe for a kiss Never at any time , my lord , never have I taken . " " Give me a kiss , proud maiden , Or I will bind th . ee to the tail of a flying steed . " " Amidst wild horses thoa may ' st bind me , Bat to thee , my lord , I will not give a kiss . " The horse is led forth ; it snorts , it strikes out , it bounds , " Dear little girl , give me one kiss . "

    " To this flying steed thou may ' st bind me , But to you , my lord , I -will not give a kiss . ' ^ Prince Radu thereupon assembles his Court And joyfully marries th . e proud maiden . ThU is very chastely suggested . In the Venetian Biondinetta ' s poem , descriptive of her love , she says : — One day beside the fonntain Titian said to me , softly : " There is no land in a condition To attempt tbry portrait , But I swear , by the superb sun , If thou wiahest it on the spot , I -will make tliee immortal , Attempting only thy shadow . " " Mocenigo the Handsome , " and the Doge , also address Biondinetta out she laughs them away , and answers Titian : —

    There ia no portrait more angelic Than that which shows itself to nto When I look into the fountains . " The Pandour ' s daughter is an example of the patriotic songs popular in JLtoumama : — * l " Rosy maiden , Wherefore does the tear-drop Glisten on thy cheek ? Ob , 1 that with loving lips I might for oace dry it up , Day and nigU would I sing of theo . " "O Brave ! my country

    la weighed down by a thousand woos ; For this do I sigh . If thou wouldat give mo a kiaa , Firat break through , her chains ; Savo my country from the stranger , " I will not lave to do "With a slave , who resigns himself ia penco To humiliations and vexations ; « _ thou wilt go and fight , Than raay ' st be my brother , » o * I an a daughter of herooa . "

    As a contribution to our knowledge of the neglected Rouman Wiin T and literature , this volume does honour to every one concerned in its * , duetion—to Mr . Stanley , in the first place , but to Mr . Austin also S ? n renders a real service to art aud scholarship by his polyglot and decora tive From a literary to a political friend of the Rouman race : this is 4 ilrt right moment at which to recommend to the English reader a r > eruS of M . Bataillard ' s concise but lucid summary . M . Bataillard is a nn of independent views , who has had rare opportunities of studyin g fh « politics of the great Danubian valley . He has travelled there resided there , associated with all classes of the population , familiarized himself with the national opinions , whether expressed in state documents or in peasants' songs , and has written clearly and simply a statement of the whoS matter now under discussion in tlm . W *» sf-.. Wo l-nnm 4 Vi «* .+ i « ~ ~ — : ¦

    M . Bataillard ' s explanations has been admitted , where it was most liielv to be questioned—in the Principalities themselves . It is , therefore , a welcome hook , at a time when Danubian politics contain a problem which * whether intelligible to the public mind or not , must shortly be solved . The Rouman race , which inhabits not Walluchia and Moldavia alone , but Bessarabia and the Bukovina—formerly Moldavian territories—with portions of the Banat and of Transylvania , arid is also scattered over various districts of European Turkey , is , as its name indicates , of Latin origin , kindred to the West by ties of blood and of history . It forms , as it were , a wed < re dividing the Northern and Southern branches of the Slavonian nation and

    this circumstance explains the hostility which llussia , while advancin g triumphantly in other directions , has invariably encountered in Moldavia and Wallachia . Five millions of Rouinans exist in these provinces , ready to form a barrier against the Slavonic forces incessantly preparing for the entire subjugation of Eastern Europe . Pox . this reason , Moldo-WnUachia has been for ages , the central point of Russian and Austrian strategy , military and diplomatic , in that part of the world . llussia and Turkey have laboured with equal assiduity , though with different aims , 16 enfeeble this singularly situated nation , which , after successive conflicts , iifteen centuries in duration , now claims , in . 1856 , at least a semi-independent existence .

    Events have demonstrated that which was well known to politicians before the late vyar commenced—that the ambition of ' Austria is not less dangerous to the Ottoman Empire than the ambition of Russia . The position oi Russia and Austria , indeed , is one of rivalry , and can only cease to be such when the one power Las attained a decisive and recognized preponderance over the other . Within the last year or two the Austrian press has been engaged in disseminating the most extravagant pretensions , on the part of the imperial government , with respect to the territorial line of the Danube . Not only newspapers , but pamphlets , and even large volumes , have set forth , formally , a scheme for Germanizing the Principalities , precisely as Bohemia has been Germanized . This new perspective , opened in the East , has flattered the German mind , and was one of the reasons for the sudden rise

    of Austrian influence in the Frankfort Confederation . It was . imposing idea—this suggestion , of a new Germanic marine to be established on the Black Sea , this annexation of Moldavia and "VVallachia to the llouiuan provinces already absorbed—Transylvania , the Banat , the Bukovina . It would be little consonant with the policy of Austria to create , by the union of the Principalities , a second Piedmont as her Eastern frontier , llussia acts in the East by three methods—by a propagand , which operates upon the Greek and Slavonian populations ; by a diplomatic strategy , which has its centre at Constantinople ; and by direct territorial pressure , designed first to neutralize , and then to destroy , the independence of the Principalities . The power of opposition possessed by Austria is worked solely in her own interest , against Russia in a spirit of jealousy , and against the Ottoman Empire and the Moldo-Wnllachiun provinces in . a spirit of faithlessness and

    rapacity . The fir 3 t solution proposed in behalf of Moldavia and Wallachia is that of union , and of complete independence . The question of right can scarcely be raised on the part of Turkey . The Moldo-Wallachian people agreed to admit the exercise of certain prerogatives by the Porte in exchange i ' ur protection . Por this they paid tribute ; for this they oflored allegiance ; and this they have not enjoyed . Fulfilling their share of the engagement , they have never obtained the guaranteed equivalent , but have beenunder the necessity of defending themselves , so that the capital article of the contract having been repeatedly broken , the contract itself is void , and the Porte has no legal claim to sovereignty in the Danubian Principalities . M . Uataillard cites an array of historical evidence in support of this conclusion ; but the < truth lies on the surface of Eastern European history , mid calls for no elaborate demonstration .

    But , setting aside the idea of a stricLly independent Moldo-TVallaeluan state , the second solution proposed is that of a political union oi' the- pro * vinces subject to a well-defined ' suzeminete of the Porte- —based on t lie three simple treaties which have regulated all the relations between that Government and the Principalities . The union thus indicated would be in perfect accordance with the spirit of the Organic law , assented to , a quarter of a century since , by Turkey not less than by Russia . It is , moreover , the ardent desire of . the Moldo-Wnllachians themselves ; it is their fixed historical idea ; the central point of every patriotic theory ; the inspiration of their national songs and oratory . They look to it as the means ana pledge of their regeneration , the only security against the corrupt inlluences ed

    implanted in their local constitutions during tlicFauariote rule , ami reviv in their worst intensity , under the Austrian occupation . For a long period , they hnve been compelled to maintain two princely courts , two cabinets ot salaried ministers , two legislative assemblies , two systems of postal service , two customs establishments , two offices of public account , two supreme courts of justice , and two universities . These duplicate organizations constitute a serious burden on a country in which industry has not boon sullero too rapidly to develop itself . Again , general reforms are scarcely possible in the one province , unless the assent of the other bo obtained , uud it I 3 a truth known to all practical observers , that if one government , by its conservative instinct , renders amelioration difficult , two governments a

    ^ 1074 The Leader. _____^

    ^ 1074 THE LEADER . _____^

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 8, 1856, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_08111856/page/18/