Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 21, ROT-Siam

R o U —R O U
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The revolutionary movement of 1848 extended from theRoumans
ot ! Iungary and Transylvania to their kinsmen of the Transalpine
regions. In Moldavia the agitation was mostly confined to the
boiars, and the hospodar Michael Sturdza succeeded in arresting
the ringleaders. In Walachia, however, the outbreak took a more
violent form. The people assembled at Bucharest, and demanded
a constitution. The prince Bibescu, after setting his signature to
the constitution submitted to him, fled to Transylvania, and a
provisional government was formed. The Turks, however, urged
thereto by Russian diplomacy, crossed the Danube, and a joint
Russo-Turkish dictatorship restored the “Organic Law.” By the
Balta-Limau convention of 1849 the two Governments agreed to the
appointment of Barbu Stirbeiu as prince of Walachia, and Gregoriu
Ghika for Moldavia. s
iq?oU ,entry of the Russian troops into the principalities in
m , . hospodars fled to Vienna, leaving the government in
listnan the hands of their ministers. During the Danubian campaign that
c:mpa- now ensued great suffering was inflicted on the inhabitants, but
l"o za \n . • the cabmet of Vienna induced the Russians to withdraw
Jb3-54. Austrian troops occupied the principalities, and the hospodars
returned to their posts. 1
liaty of _ By the treaty of Paris in 1856 the principalities with their exist-
Bris, mg privileges were placed under the collective guarantee of the
Ilfo. contracting powers, while remaining under the suzerainty of the
orte,—the 1 orte on its part engaging to respect the complete in¬
dependence of their internal administration. A strip of southern
Bessarabia was restored to Moldavia, so as to push back the Russian
frontier from the Danube mouth. The existing laws and statutes
of both principalities were to be revised by a European commission
sitting at Bucharest, and their work was to be assisted by a Divan
or national council which the Porte was to convoke ad hoc in each
of the two provinces, and in which all classes of Walachian and
Mpfdavian society were _to be represented. The European com¬
mission, m arriving at its conclusions, was to take into considera¬
tion the opinion expressed by the representative councils • the
Powers were to come to terms with the Porte as to the recommen¬
dations of the commission ; and the final result was to be embodied
m a hattishenf of the sultan, which was to lay down the definitive
organization of the two principalities. In 1857 the commission
TT „ arrived, and the representative councils of the two peoples were con-
TJfon of voked. On their meeting in September they at once proceeded to
(two vote with unanimity the union of the two principalities into a
single state under the name of Romania (Roumania), to be governed
by a foreign prince elected from ope of the reigning dynasties of
Europe and having a single representative assembly. The Powers
coTchided0 h ndtl th£ W°rk °f national union- ]>>y thc convention
b-y tlie European congress at Paris in 1858, it was
Atjmpt decided that the principalities should continue as heretofore to be
taf s- governed each by its own prince. Walachia and Moldavia were to
have separate assemblies, but a central commission was to be
th established at Foksham for the preparation of laws of common
assSmbboT 11CTh ^ fterwar4\to be submitted to the respective
acoor.dance .Wlth tbls convention the deputies of
Moldavia and Walachia met in separate assemblies at Bucharest and
'rnbY’pbUt tl\e Ch°1Ce °-f botnh fel1 unanimously on Prince Alexander
John Guza,, thus ensuring the personal union of the two nrincinali-
PariitnT117 1+?9)‘ ne'v conference was now summoned to
Pans to discuss the affairs of the principalities, and the election of
Pi nice Cuza finally ratified by the Powers and the Porte. The two
assemblies and the central commission were preserved till 1862
when a single assembly met at Bucharest and a single ministry was
F t l(Vtr/0Un1trleS- The central commission was at the
same time abolished, and a council of state charged with preparino-
!beS('WStltUtef f°Vi In Ma7 1864’ owing to difficulties between
andGa ST ^ .ff ®ral assembly, the latter was dissolved,
and a statute was submitted to universal suffrage giving greater
authority to the prince, and creating two chambers (of sfnators
and of deputies) The franchise was now extended to all citizens
a cumulative voting power being reserved, however, for property’
and the peasantry were emancipated from forced labour. 11 3 ’
18.65 a conflict broke out between the Government and the
people n Bucharest, and in February 1866 Prince Cuza, whose
Tbp0^ T68 ‘y re“dered him detestable, was forced to abdicate
W Aha/nbef c.h(?se as bis successor the count of Flanders
but on his declining the office proceeded to elect Prince Charles
of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, who was proclaimed hospodar or
Domnu of Roumania April 29, 1866. A new constitution was at
the same time introduced. Its provisions secure the universal
bvMurv f f'Paycng C!hzens> ministerial responsibility, trial
by J^y, freedom of meeting and petition, of speech ami of the
press (except as regards breaches of the criminal code), gratuitous
and compulsory primary education, and the right of afylum for
politica! exiles. Legislative power is shared between the prince
and _ chambers, but bills relating to the budget and army must
originate with the chamber of deputies. There are two chambers—
ai d tWWHrn ° cha.raber °f deputies. Both houses are elective,
and the election is carried out by means of electoral colleges classified
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according to property and professional qualifications. For the
house of deputies each constituency is divided in this way into four
colleges, each of which elects a member. The two highest of these
colleges also elect the senators, each senator being elected for a
b:r1?1 0L eiqbt years. The senate also includes ex officio certain
liigh officials and ecclesiastics, and members for the universities.
Ihe senate consists at present of 120 members, the chamber of
deputies of 178. The sovereign has a right of veto reserved to him
on all measures. The judicial system is based on the Code Napoleon
with some modifications.
On the outbreak of the Russo-Turkish war in 1877 Roumania Roumama
touncl herself once more between hammer and anvil. Yielding to in Russo
force majeure the Government of Prince Charles consented to the Turkish
passage of Russian troops across Roumanian territory, on the under- War
standing that the scene of hostilities was as far as possible to be
removed outside the limits of the principality. The Porte, how¬
ever, refusing to recognize that Roumania had acted under
constraint, proclaimed the Roumanians rebels, and the prince’s
Government accordingly resolved to offer active assistance to the
Russians. A Roumanian division of 32,000 men under General Rou-
Cernat, took part in the siege of Plevna, and the Roumanian manian
soldiers distinguished themselves in the opinion of the most com- feats at
petent judges alike for their heroism and endurance. The successful Plevna,
assault by the Roumanian troops on the “indomitable redoubt ” of
Grivitza formed in fact the turning point of the siege and of the war.
In the peace of St Stefano, however, Russia insisted on the retroces¬
sion of the strip of Bessarabia that had been restored to Moldavia
7 tbc tready of Paris, giving Roumania “ in exchange ” the islands
ol the Danubian delta, and the Dobrudja, which had been ceded by
the sultan. This territorial readjustment was ratified by the treaty Berlin
ol Berlin (1878). The high contracting powers at the same time treaty,
consented by Art. xliii. to recognize the independence of the prin¬
cipality subject to the provision (Art. xliv.) that all the inhabitants
should enjoy complete religious freedom, a clause inserted on
account of the Jewish persecutions that had previously taken place,
and that foreigners in the country should be treated on a footing
ql perfect equality. All Danubian fortresses were to be razed, and the
jurisdiction of the European commission to regulate the Danubian
navigation, on which Roumania now acquired the right of repre¬
sentation, was extended from the mouth to the Iron Gates. The
coping-stone to Roumanian independence was set by the proclama- Prince
tion on March 26, 1881, of Prince Charles as king of Roumania, Charles
and on May 22 of the same year his coronation took place with the crowned
uropean sanction. The crown placed on King Carol’s head was king
made trom the captured cannon of the Plevna redoubts.
norm nr/nif <lliestio,ls regarding the first appearance of the Roumans
*1 Planube,iU'e reserved for the article Ylachs, it iray be sufficient
T Tnnffrei«r*he r®acleLto t.he w°rks of Roesler, especially Romdnische Studien-,
”•' UI’£> Anfange der Romanen, and Roemer und Romdnen; Lad. Rid, Abstam-
histm-v^of" Jifma.ner}' ’ dp D- Xenopol, Les Roumains au Moyen Age. For the
wmv/ rp principalities down to the end of the last century J. C. Engel’s
moot t’ dN Walachei and Gesrhichte der Moldau, are still the
most tinstworthy authonties J. A. Vaillant, La Romainie: Histoire, Langue, &c.,
toiwhiu flLi t^nt <0i &c’’ may be censured for the later his-
mlnknus w // tl<ja hist°ry of the principalities has yet to be written. The
thins of the Ro, ’ howcAver< bemg rapidly amassed—thanks to the publica-
sphnwf.thr ftoumanian Academy and the documents collected by native
and Hasden k H?r.muz?ki> -°0c«jne«fe privitore la Istoria Romanitor,
nrese?t s?«tp ^“plca^on.1 ^orico-filologice, Ac. For a useful account of the
Poo!)e t ®tat? of ^ouinunia. see James Samuelson, Roumama Past and Present,
1882. For views of Walachia and Moldavia, as they existed from the 15th ceiiturv
onwards, reference has already been made to the works of Yerantius and Del
Clnaio, and Cantemir s Descriptio Moldavise. (A J E )
ROUMANIAN LITERATURE. See Ylachs.
ROUMELIA. The name of Roumili, “ the land of the
Romans, was applied from the 15th century dowmwards
to all that portion of the Balkan peninsula westwards
from the Black Sea which was subject to Turkey. More
precisely it was the country bounded N. by Bulgaria, W.
by Albania, and S. by the Morea, or in other words the
ancient provinces, including Constantinople and Salonica,
of Thrace, Thessaly, and Macedonia. The name was ulti-
mately applied more especially to an eyalet or province
composed of Central Albania and Western Macedonia,
having Monastir for its chief town and including Kesrie
(Castoria), Ocri (Ochrida), and Scodra (Scutari); and at
ength. it disappeared altogether in the administrative
alterations effected _ between 1870 and 1875. Eastern
Roumelia was constituted an autonomous province of the
Turkish empire by the Berlin treaty of 1878, to be
governed by a Christian governor-general appointed by the
sultan for a term of five years. In 1879, in obedience
to an international commission, it was divided into six
depaitments and twenty-eight cantons, the departments
being Philippopolis (187,095), Tatarbazarjik (117,063),