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    The WaUaehians love their country , and , like all patriotic nations , express their love in . songs . The Syrian does not turn to hia Damascus , the Spaniard to bis Seville , with more devotion than , the Wallackian . to the river that flows by Bucharest . The national minstrels still sing among .. the Jfcounian 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 , tie Slavonian origin attributed to the people las long been set aside by the historical evidence connecting them with the Legionaries of Trajan and Aurelian ; and though many Slav words have been undoubtedly introduced , so also have Albanian words , with others of an unknown genealogy . The real Rouman tongue is Latin , the Latin of a province , indeed , yet still allied in . genius and structure with the Latin of Cicero and Rome . 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 is placed at the end of the word . " The Latiuity of the Eouman is , however , " says Mr . Stanley , " sadly disguised under the Cyrillic alphabet , in -which it has hitherto been habited . This alphabet was adopted about > . » . 1400 , after an attempt by one of the Popes to unite the lioumans 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 « nchauxed and bound to the Slavonic dialects . " But the tendency of the Houmans to return to their national alphabet is strong , and will probably "be successful , in spite . of . the hostility alluded to by M , Prosper Merirnee , 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 Ianf * ua » e , with

    JLatin , Hungarian , and German explanations , printed at Buda in 1825 , is in Ionian type . It was the work of seven professors , whose labours extended «> yer a period of more than thirty years . Accordingly , Mr . Stanley also lias printed his collection of Rouruan ballads in poetry in ' the ordinary Roman or English character . With the exception of the ballads , which 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—Hadulesco , Alefcsaridresco , Aleksandrini , Bolentineanu , Cretzianu , and ' others .. ' The translations are in a literalforrn , and include historical and legendary pieces , love-songs , and fables . The Square border of ornament is adapted from a rare Byzantine manuscript of the . filth century , the initial letter being taken from a Byzantine work of a somewhat later period . Another border with a circular top is now usedj 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 teen inhabited by Titian .

    As a contribution , to our knowledge of the neglected Rouman lan-nia ^ and literature , this volume does honour to every one concerned in it ?** duction—to Mr . Stanley , in the first place , but to Mr . Austin also wl ? n renders a real service to art and scholarship by his polyglot and decor ative printing * . . - From a literary to a political friend of the Rouman race : this is f 1 , 0 right moment at which to recommend to the English reader a p CrnSai of M . Bataillard ' s concise but lucid summary . M . Bataillard is -i J of independent views , who has had rare opportunities of studyin * thn politics of the great Danubian . valley . He has travelled there raided there , associated . with all classes of the population , familiarized luuiself with the national opinions , whether expressed in state documents or in peasants' songs , and has written clearly and simply a statement of the whole matter nnw iimlf > r flisrMJssInn in f . lim IVnef . Wn l-im ,,, + i ^ * *! . „ -

    M . Bataillard ' s explanations has been admitted , where it was most likely to bo questioned—in the Principalities themselves . It is , therefore , a welcome book , 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 Wallachi a and Moldavia alone , but Bessarabia and the Bukovina—formerly Moldavian territories—with portions of the Banat and of Transylvania , and 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 ^ e dividing the Northern and Southern branches of the Slavonian nation , and this circumstance explains the hostility which Russia , while atWancinotriumphantly in other directions , has invariably encountered in Moldavi a 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 . For this reason , MoldO-Wallachia has been for ages the central point of Russian and Austrian stratecv , milL

    tary and diplomatic , in that part of the world . Russia and Turkey have laboured with equal assiduity , though with different aims , to enfeeble this singularly situated nation , which , " after successive confiicts , fift een centuri es 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 war commenced—that the ambition of Austria is not less dangerous to the Ottoman Euipire than the ambition of Russia . The position ot Russia and Austria , indeed , is one of rivalry ' ,- and can only cease to be such wlien the one power has 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 an imposing idea—this suggestion of a new Germanic marine to be established on the Black Sea , this annexation of Moldavia and Wallachia to the Rouman 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 . Russia 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 ia worked solely in her own interest , against Russia in a spirit of jealousy , and against the'Ottoman Empire and the Moldo-WallacLian provinces in a spirit of faithlessness and

    rapacity . The fir 3 t solution proposed in behalf of Moldavia and Wallaeliui is that o union , and of complete independence . The question of right can scarcely l ) e raised on the part of Turkey . The Moldo-Wallachian people agreed to admit the exercise of certain prerogatives by the Porte in exchange for protection . For this they paid tribute ; for this they offered allegiiince , and this they have not enjoyed . ; Fulfilling their share of the engagement , they have never obtained the guaranteed equivalent , but have been under 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 . Dutuillard cites an array of historical evidence in support of this conclusion ; but the truth lies on the surface of Eastern European history , and calls for no elaborate demonstration .

    But , setting aside the idea of a strictly independent Moldo-Wallaoluan state , the second solution proposed is that of a . political , union of the provinces subject to a ' well-defined snzcruinetc of the Porte— "based ' on the three simple treaties which have regulated all the relations between that CJovernrnent and the Principalities . The union thus indicated would be in perfect accordance with the spirit of the Organic law , assented to , a quart or . of a century since , by Turkey not less than by Russia . It is , moreover , the ardent desire of the Moldo-Wallachians 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 menus and pledge of their regeneration , the only security against the corrupt inlluences ed

    implanted in their local constitutions during tho Fnnariotc rule , and reviv in their worst intensity , under the Austrian occupation . For a long period , they have been compelled to maintain two princely courts , two cabinets of salaried ministers , two legislative assemblies , two systems of postal service , two customs establishments , two oiliccs of public account , two . sitpreiac courts of justice , and two universities . These duplicate organizations constitute a serious burden on n country in which industry has not been . suffered too rapidly to develop itself . Again , general reforms arc scarcely possible in the one province , unless tho assent of the other bo obtained , und it > a ft truth known to all practical observers , that if one government , by its conflervativo instinct , renders amelioration diificult , two governments arc

    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 give 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 thee to the tail of a flying steed . " ' Amidst wild horses thou may'st bind me , But to thee , my lord , 1 will not give a kiss . " The horse is led forth ; it snorts , it strikes out , it bounds , " Dear little girl , give m « one kiss . " " To this flying steed thou may ' st bind me , But to you , my lord , I will not give a kiss . " Prince Badu thereupon assembles his Court And joyfully marries the proud maiden . This is very chastely suggested . In the Venetian Biondinetta ' s poem , descriptive of her love , ehe says : — One day beside the fonntain Titian said to me , softly : u There iB no hand in a condition . To attempt thy portrait , But I swear , by the superb sun , If thou wishest it on the spot , I will make thee immortal , Attempting only thy shadow . " " Mocenigo the Handsome , " and the Doge , also address Biondinetta but she laughs them away , and answers Titian : —

    ' There is no portrait more angelic Than that -which shows itself to me When I look into the fountains . " The Pandour ' fl daughter is an example of the patriotic son&s popular in Rouuaama : — ¦ * l *< Rosy maiden , "Wherefore does the tear-drop Glisten on thy cheek ? Oh ! that -with loving lips I might foi once dry it up , Day and night would I sing of thee . " " O Brave ! my country Is weighed down by a thousand woo * j For this do I sigh . If thou wouldst give mo a Idas , First break through h , or chains ; Save my country from the stranger . " I will not have to do With a slave , who resigns himself ia peaco To humiliations and vexations ; « thou wilt go and fight , Tho u may ' at be my brother , * or Una daughter of heroes . "

    Untitled Article

    1074 . THE IiEADEB . [ JN o ^ G ^ Sattjrba ^

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 8, 1856, page 1074, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2166/page/18/