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riages are the best in Europe-light, open, one-horse phaetons, as daintily got up as though they were private property: the ladies and gentlemen are flying about in them, jolting over the rough pavement at a rapid pace all day and night. The drivers of these are for the most part Russians, belonging to that peculiar sect in the Greek Church which enjoins mutilation. As there is a law in Russia prohibiting the practice, they flock across the frontier, and for some reason or other almost invariably become cab-drivers. There is something particularly loathsome and unhealthy-looking in their appearance.

The city contains between fifty and sixty thousand inhabitants, composed of Jews, gypsies, Armenians, Germans, Sclaves, Roumains, Poles, and other foreigners. The best proof of the mongrel nature of the population is to be found on the signboards, where German, Italian, Moldavian, French, and sometimes Russian or Turkish, appear indiscriminately. The fact of being only ten miles from Russia on the one hand, and of having been for many years in the occupation of the Turks on the other, gives the city a half-Russian, halfTurkish aspect, which makes it unlike any other-Turkish suburbs of hovels, and Russian silent streets and grand houses, Turkish baths and Russian churches, with the corruption and intrigue of both countries concentrated. There are some public gardens in the outskirts of the town, where the band plays two or three times a-week, and where one is quite sure to see congregated all the beauty and fashion of the Moldavian capital; and there is a theatre, which was closed at the period of my visit, but we made up for it by dancing every night instead. The houses are large palatial residences, usually standing in courtyards, and elaborately furnished. In fact, in so far as servants, equipages, and the externals of domestic life are concerned, everything is scrupulously French. Everybody talks French perfectly, and a large

proportion of society English, so that nothing can be pleasanter than to be drawn for a brief period into its vortex.

There are picnics to be undertaken to charming country-houses among others, to one upon the banks of the Pruth-to which we all go in a cortège of light carriages and four, and dash across the steppe through clouds of dust; but our fair companions in their light gauzy dresses and gay parasols are as indifferent to it as our wild gypsy postboys. Here we find a handsome chateau, magnificently furnished, and commanding an extensive view of the plains of Bessarabia; the Pruth winds at the base of the steep hill, clothed to the water's edge with wood, through which are cut romantic paths, doubly delightful in this country, where wood is scarce. From here we can see with a glass the soldiers of the Russian garrison; and if General Kotzebue does intend to cross the Pruth, it will be at this point that the operation is likely to be effected. Even then there was a very general impression that an invasion of the province by Russia was imminent, and rumours were constantly flying about of reinforcements of troops arriving in Bessarabia. Polish insurrection and the Circassian war, however, gave full employment to the armies of the Czar. Now everything is changed-the subjugation and deportation of the warlike race which is migrating under such distressing circumstances to Turkey, will release from Caucasian service an army of 120,000 men, who will be available for any stroke of policy which may be undertaken by Russia in this direction; while the Polish insurrection is so utterly extinguished for the time at least, that the state of that country need not embarrass any aggressive movement. That before the expiration of this year another army of

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occupation will be quartered in Moldavia, is a very fair subject for prophecy; but whether that army will be Russian or Austrian is not so easy to determine. The Moldavi

ans are rich in their experiences of armies of occupation, and it is amusing to hear them indulging in invidious comparisons between them. I found one universal opinion. First, of course, all armies of occupation are hateful and detestable, tyrannise over society, rob the poor, and otherwise misconduct themselves. If an army of angels could occupy the country, they would be disliked and complained of; but the order in which the three nations who have been severally represented in this military form in the Principalities are disliked, is as follows: First, the Austrians-officers and men both cordially hated, but officers especially so. Second, the Turks-Preferred to the Austrians, but very naturally disliked upon religious and social grounds. And, thirdly, the Russians - the least abused of the three, thanks especially to a certain General Kotzebue, who governed Moldavia with judgment and honesty. So that the crossing of the Pruth by the Russians would be preferred to the crossing of the Dniester by the Austrians. It is rumoured that Austria and Russia have come to an arrangement with reference to these Principalities, and that Austria is to annex Moldavia, and Russia Wallachia; but it is impossible to say in an atmosphere of intrigue which the inner wheel of all is, or who is betraying whom. It used to be supposed that France and Russia thoroughly understood each other in their policy here; but Prince Couza's coup d'état has given considerable dissatisfaction to the latter However, the slopes of Stinka are not the place to talk politics. The men could not if they wished, and the women are not inclined to be bored with so dry a subject. So we play games and dance until far on into the night, and then, with the brightest of full moons lighting up our way, gallop back again across the steppe to Jassy.

Among other social pastimes of the gay capital, the races are not to

VOL. XCVI.-NO. DLXXXV.

be forgotten. The race-course is within a mile of the town, situated in a valley, altogether the most picturesque spot in the neighbourhood. A motley crowd gathers here to see Russian horses compete with English and every variety of crossbreeds. In this respect the horses and the people who are collected to look at them are pretty much on a par. Some of the Moldavian ladies went on horseback; and as the weather was bright, the scene was gay in spite of the dust. As usual, there were two or three English jockeys, and Moldavian and Russian jockeys in remarkable half-Cossacklooking costumes, who flogged their horses without intermission from the starting to the winning post, and seemed to think the only use of the reins was to shake them near the horse's ears. The chief defect in the scenery round Jassy is the absence of wood and water, otherwise the country is prettily broken; and where money has been spent upon planting and otherwise beautifying it, there are some charming spots. The most celebrated of these is a country-house called Sokola, the property of one of the late hospodars; but the glory of Jassy has departed since the seat of government has been moved to Bucharest-in other words, since the union of the two provinces. In order to hear a Moldavian really eloquent, this is the subject to get him on; it is the only piece of politics in which he is thoroughly interested, because it touches his pocket. It also gives him an opportunity for indulging in vituperation, which is his strong point. It is only by abusing the Wallachians, collectively and individually, that he can in any way console himself for the injury he feels they have done him. In this respect the Moldavian is very like the Neapolitan; and it is not unnatural, considering the origin of both, that there should be a strong family resemblance. To hear him abusing Wallachia, is like listening to a Neapolitan abusing Piedmont. All

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the misfortunes of the country are traced to the unhappy union which has given the sister province the opportunity of benefiting at the expense of Moldavia. The advanced Moldavians who, from "a unitednationality" point of view, were in favour of the union before they tried it, are now either afraid to adhere to their old views, or have changed their minds. A few still say the experiment has not been fairly tried, and lay all the blame on Prince Couza, who, by the way, being a Moldavian himself, is hated, for that reason among others, in Wallachia. It is only due to the Wallachians to state that they return the animosity of the northern province with interest. When women engage in the discussion and come to be personal, the Wallachians call the Moldavians the descendants of Jews, and the Moldavians retort upon the others by calling them a nation of gypsies. It is indeed the fact that some of the noblest families in Wallachia are descended from this race, of which they are more ashamed than our own Carews; while the Jewish element, not visible in Wallachia, is most prominently developed in Moldavia. It may safely be predicted that when Couza dies, but possibly before, there will be a separation of the provinces. The Moldavians are perfectly determined that the union shall not continue; their real ardent aspiration is for a foreign prince to rule over them. They have tried a long series of their own boyards, and have found one more incompetent than the other. According to their own admission, they must look abroad for the virtues and the talents which none of their countrymen possess, but which they fondly hope may be found among the scions of some royal house; nor will they believe that the throne of Moldavia, such as it is, would be a position which an English country gentleman, with a tolerable rent-roll, would decline, to say nothing of a Prince of the Blood. Some years ago the Duc de

Morny was actually offered this very throne, but even he was not to be tempted from the Bourse and the Bois de Boulogne. In fact, he replied that he would rather be a "concierge dans le Rue de Bac qu'un roi en To any young adventurer of an ambitious and filibustering turn of mind, and possessing a certain talent for intrigue, Moldavia opens a most attractive field. The first step would be an influential matrimonial alliance; as the women are generally heiresses, wealth might be combined with beauty; then a short social career of popularity; then the ascendency of the strong will and contriving brain over the fops and imbeciles around him; then a conspiracy; then a popular rising, and a divorce of Wallachia, followed, if it suited him, by the divorce of his own partner, who, being entitled by the laws of her Church to three successive husbands during her lifetime, would probably be delighted at the prospect of a change. The only difficult part of the programme would be to get the Moldavians to take heart of grace, and rebel. They are dying to do it now, but Couza's wretched little army, though it was held in check by 250 Poles, is enough to overawe them. Meantime it is a notable instance of union not making strength; and the probable result of all these dissensions among themselves will be the annexation of both provinces to one or other or both of the two great neighbouring Powers, who are only waiting to swallow them up. It will be better for the countries themselves that this should be their fate. However bad may be the government of Russia or Austria, however inconvenient such an acquisition of territory may be in the "European equilibrium" point of view, there can be no doubt that it is the only chance which exists of developing the material resources of these fertile countries, and im their institutions bility. At dare

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a government composed of rogues, from the Prince on the throne to the lowest clerk. The Moldavians themselves, moreover, are absolutely useless. The whole industry of the country is in the hands of other races, who develop its resources in spite of the native population. If the Jewish community, for instance, were suddenly to disappear, there would be utter collapse. The whole financial interests of the country are in their hands. In Jassy, as in every little country town, the population is dependent upon Israelites for its most trivial necessaries; they perform every function for society, except those which they leave to the gypsies. These latter confine themselves almost exclusively to four walks in life; they are invariably either musicians, postilions, cooks, or blacksmiths. Until within the last eight years, they were on a footing of serfdom almost identical with that of the American negro, but they may now become emancipated on payment of ten ducats a-head.

The remaining foreigners, of whom there is a great variety a great variety sprinkled all over the country, do whatever these two predominating races leave undone ; so that, in the end, the Moldavians contribute absolutely nothing towards the commercial, social, or political wellbeing of the community. Excepting the peasants, they are of no sort of use; they simply cumber the ground, and keep better men off it. Such good ground as it is too! It follows that there is no Moldavian middle class. A Moldavian is either a boyard, an employé, or a peasant; never, by any chance, anything else. The peasants have a certain amount of land allotted to each, in return for which they give a proportion of service to the proprietor. In Wallachia they may transfer themselves to other estates upon giving a year's notice; but in Moldavia they are fixed to the soil. In Wallachia the landlords are nearly all absentee; in Moldavia they live on their properties, which is so far in their favour. Even if the

Moldavians were capable of governing themselves, it would be difficult to devise a form of government suitable to their institutions. As there is no primogeniture, and the title of Boyard is not hereditary, the class possesses all the drawbacks of an aristocracy without any of the advantages. It gives no stability to society, while it furnishes the frivolous element. There is no sympathy between the proprietor and his peasant, and no middle-class connecting-link. The consequence is, that Prince Couza has been able to perpetrate a coup d'état, and take a popular vote with perfect safety, the secret of his tactics having been to enlist the peasantry against the proprietors, by allowing them to hold their lands at a money instead of a service tenure. It will be more convenient, however, to consider the policy of Prince Couza in connection with Wallachia, though the effects of the centralisation of the government meet one at every turn in Moldavia. The change incidental to passing from being an independent country into a province must always be disagreeable; but still the evils might have been mitigated, had Prince Couza, by any one act of administration, shown any consideration for his own province- had he, for instance, encouraged the extension of the Lemberg and Czernowitz Railroad, or even promoted the construction of good carriage-roads in the province. At present there are scarcely fifty miles of metalled road in all Moldavia, and they existed before the union. In fact, the result of this measure, from which so much was anticipated, has been simply that the plunder which two rulers formerly divided between them is now appropriated by one man, whose power of mischief is on twice the scale it used to be. There is no end to the capabilities of Moldavia, if capital and enterprise, supported by good government, were only forthcoming. The mineral resources of the Carpathians are totally undeveloped, but that they exist on a very large scale is not in doubt.

The soil is prolific and fertile, and capable of producing corn, in proportion to its area, beyond any other in Europe. The nature of the country lends itself expressly to the construction of railroads : there are no engineering difficulties, labour is abundant; and as forming a highway for the corn produce of Galicia, and an immense back country to the Black Sea, there can be no doubt whatever that it would pay. At a very little expense the two large rivers which flow through Moldavia to the Danube might be made navigable; and there is no reason why steamers should not bring Moldavian produce down the Sereth and the Pruth from the innermost recesses of the country. How easy, by a very small expenditure of tact and honesty, to compensate to the Moldavians for all they have lost by the union! One would imagine that no more agreeable or grateful task could be found, than to have the power of producing such vast and certain results. Not only would it consolidate the throne of the ruler, but it would give him a personal satisfaction which he will never derive from the consciousness that he is stealing the public funds; and yet the nature of the chief ruler is so degraded, that he can derive no higher gratification from the exercise of that power which he has proved absolute, than when using it for purposes of pillage.

It must be admitted that he has bad material to work with; his own ministers and employés being as unscrupulous and dishonest as himself, he would have to import virtue from foreign countries to enable him to carry out his plans, if he had any, for the welfare of the country. It is probable that the political immorality existing in these Principalities is to be traced to a great extent to the peculiar social conditions which exist in them. By the rule of the national Greek Church, divorces may be obtained three times during a lifetime, both parties consenting; and in the event of one of the marriages having been contracted between people within

the forbidden degrees of consanguinity, a fourth is permittedsomething on the principle of starring a life at pool in billiards. In the whole society of Jassy there was only one woman who had not been divorced, but she had only been married a few weeks. It naturally follows in a limited society that the divorced couples are perpetually meeting each other; and as they do not, in the first instance, part on the ground of incompatibility of temper or any domestic difference, but generally simply from love of change-or, in other words, change of love-they remain perfectly good friends afterwards; and a woman introduces you first to her present husband as mon mari, and then to her late husband as mon ex-mari; so that it is quite possible to find yourself dancing in a set of lancers with seven people, every one of whom has been married at some time in his or her life with each of the others. In this respect the system seemed productive of sociability and good-fellowship rather than otherwise; and a great deal of the pleasure of society in these parts arises from the intimate footing upon which the members are with each other; for it is evident that, if all the papas and mammas have been husbands and wives, all the children are, more or less, brothers and sisters. There are certain inconveniences attending this great confusion of relationships; but one advantage to the stranger is, that he finds himself in a large family instead of in a stiff society, where some time must elapse before he feels himself at home.

The Moldavians themselves are accustomed to defend the system on the score of morality. They maintain that the great facilities which exist for divorces lessen the temptations to infidelity; but this is a theory which can scarcely be said to be borne out by the results. Where the marriage tie is so easily dissolved, even while it exists it is apt to lose much of its sacred character; and however much may theoretically be urged in favour of

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