Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-12-19 00:00:00

OR EIGN INTELLIGENCE,

FRANCE.

PARIS, THLTESThir EVENING.
.:C\That particularly strikes those who have paid
Vention to the internal state of the Danubian
frinciealities is the material progress they have
shade during the last thirty years, in spite of a
il eties of calamities such as few countries have
beenc exposed to within the same period, and the
i tPneurreat development of their political condi-
°ll. The privilege of being governed by their
h
P:inces dates only from 1821, and to this
Leriod we may also refer the first formation
4 Rouman party with a view to complete
emancipation. The Principalities were at the
Itilo time, and in virtue of treaties between
E3sia and Turkey, relieved from the monopolies
blli
L'4l-ch the latter, by an eld and ranch-abused usage,
•Litintained, from the obligation of furnishing each
hats a certain quantity of echeat, se many head of
C4itle, so many cargoes of building timber, fur the
,11" Of Szemboul, the Imperial Serai, and the naval
'Penes. When the burdens wore removed, in-
rl4try and trade gave signs of life, and the
bilaProvement of the country would unquestionably
fie greater, had the persons at the head of the
overnment done what the people had a right to
upset from thorn. B,ld as the admiuistration was,
"Pste still less hurtful to the Principalities than
-74 t •r the Princes, or rather the farmers;-general
easuch, in truth, is the name history has pre-
„ryed for ticm) which the Fanar of Constanti-
"ol)le infested them with. The progress would of
course be more rapid, had these Provinces been
exnoeel to invasion and the lernethened pre -
ellee of foreign troops. From 1828 to 1857, a
4111)4ce of less than thirty years, Moldo-Wallachia
bas hewn occupied for thirteen years by either a
ptleuian, a Turkish, or an Austrian army—that is,
(lt thirteen years the Meldo-Wallachian peasant
1,
e.,e1(1. his crops of standing corn cut down as
forme for the horses of Cossacks or Croats, his
magazines and stores pillaged, his hut burnt to the
rQlttrl, hie cattle taken off to transport the baggage
c; the invaders, and himself houseless and starving.
fet hardly had 'the foreign troops recrossed the
ontier when the fields showed the vigour of their
fr
ecandi,:y, and were again waving with corn.
•Tp the constitution of territorial property may
Elr) be traced the slow advance of agricultural
elenee
.these countries The condition of the
veasant is such as to leave him without the slight-
est klpirie for einu!ation or anxiety for improve-
Neat. He never dreams of putting forth any
'pretensionsil ; with little exertion he obtains from
soil, not all that the soil can give, but the
eie .
• 'le that suffices for his subsistence, and as this
ltnh• •
to the merest necessaries, two-thirds of
140
0, available soil remain untouched, and none
the
other resources which nature has abun-
h Qdantly provided, suen as mines, forests, &c,, is
"rned to account. The absence of courage,
p9eriotisrn, and of the other manly virtues
ihista, which the Rouman peasant is more or less
4'411y chrrged, is attributable in a great measure,
not entirely, to his social condition. In truth
e has no country. The cabin in which he was
tbore', the spot of land on %ehiele ha and his vegetate,
aY be tore from him any day, and the produce of
8 field seized by the first military robber that
1 knees to march across the frontier. How can
each a wretch be expected to possess the spirit of
or even the instinctive courage to defend
'a misereble roof which he dares not call his
o
/ta ? What interest has the Moldo-Wallachian
rasent to be an industrious and provident
Ilb,eurer, a patriotic citizen, or a bravo soldier ?
with all these impediments to moral and
aortal prosperity, an improvement has taken placel
ea
ter to an extraordinary extent. The agriculture
entle has, I am assured, increased nearly three
0(1; the value of land fourfold; and the farming
land whose tenure has bean renewed during the
ere Bent yea: shows an increase of nearly 100 per
b4nt• On an average over the heldings of aix years
toal.lrf In the Bessarabian districts lately restored
f that
l'wia land rose all at once in consequence
ti rat annexation, nearly 400 percent. The price
d„ mind dessatim (about 18,000 square feet) advanced
This
the present year from 7 silver roubles to 30.
of fact has been acquired from a rich landholder
;' Moldavia, the greater part of whose property is
`rl Bessarabia, and whose own revenue was quad-
,
PLed on the termination of his old leases.

A. proportionate advance is observable in trade.
•4 Wallachia the average for the last two years in
Ports and exports gives 90,000,000 f. ; it was
the,
20,000,000 in 1837. 'At the latter period
e, vessels that entered and cleared out of Ibraila,
vtil. Wallachia, and Galatz in Moldavia, were 950,
1131,th a tonnage of 175,000 ; they were at the end of
r, 2,708, with a tonnage of 246,000.
th't appears that the country which carries on
zuost active commercial intercourse with thi
°4lO-Wallachian ports is England. It is in corn,
kdparticularly Indian corn, that the trade has
iteltlired an extension which would hardly be
%edited, but for theetatistical returns which prove
tie feet. This is, no doubt, one of the consequences
14 'he repeal of the corn laws. It is affirmed that
1111846 England imported from Galatz 50,000
a,.,4l'ters of Indian corn, and in 1852 not less than
5e),0.
ttTlte Principalities are essentially an agricultural
prgtitry. The fertility of the soil, and the difficulty
m:atablishing any other kind of industry of im-
th ance,. owing to the extreme backwardness of
tille,,Population forces them to turn all their attention
me' All their eff irts to the soil. Agriculture °cell-
taia4 about one-third of the whole population ; all
Manufacturing
branches of industry hardly one-tenth
oieLanufacturing is at a very low ebb in the Prin-
oalities, tied machinery almost unknown. Coarse
ov?l,len cloths and linen fabrics, rude earthenware,
'f',llerS, and some other articles are made ; but it
ta"ln England, Austria, end France, that the
tkr'Razines and shops are chiefly supplied. Salt and
‘,..tsorrti a considerable portion of native products.
tieYthing, then, has yet to be created in a mate-
-1P4411(1 political point of view in Moldo-Wal
tr,,4teVer b 3 the solution of the question to be soon
)4Zght before the Paris Congress, whether
te'iavia and Wallachia are to be united or remain
prarate—these have at last attracted the attention
the the Western Powers, and cannot be left by
eon in their present condition. There are in that
kti44trY many interests to preserve and to develope,
Vinvcllich for a long time will require constant
tcanee, if not intervention ; industry and
to bnaerce are to be encouraged, communications
tt A
opened, railroads constructed, the resources
ttle'Lle soil to be developed, and the finances and
or Whole of the public service to be thoroughly
qa,aized. As soon as the pending question is
tol.ad emigrants from varieus countries of the
k,q,,b'tinent will probably flock to the valleys of the
t'ol'er Danube, and not without reason, for a
rY more susceptible of improvement, a
krilation more docile, and elements of wealth
;e abundant can hardly be found any where.
Ilkp(*counts from Cherbourg state that the Russian
41*(livision, under the command of Commodore
tol'lNtetzoff consisting of a screw corvettes Vaya-
Aotre Itoyarin, and Navieb, with the steam trans-
%to Dydge, Plastun, and Strotk, have ;left for the
,¢C. This squadron. which carries 48 guns and
govelllen, has been at Cherbourg, since the sth of
,l'alber last.
!It.e'opos of this squadron, it may not be unin-
`l ti4ltiag to mention a few more particulars relative
!If the Russian navy, and especially as to the pay
e,? seamen. The fixed pay of a Russian sailor
k0,,-"renaely low. For an able seaman it is not
lititie than 245. a year. They are clothed by the
.4t i'ae and their rations while at sea belong to them.
k'ilea'aid that the ration of a Russian seaman was
depth on
by Peter the Great after a trial of a
NC' on his own appetite, and few modern
sea-
revaro able to consume more than half of the
itAlsions allowed them. The remainder produces
4110"; an average £1 month. Each Russian
4114 moreover, allowed a measure of brandy
4,0 h „,,klf st measure of wine daily. The pay of a
; te;i4"llrnissioned officer is not greater than that of
eeeiarl• Tke only advantage he has is that he
mtope'ea half a ration more, which is equivalent in
tTeetTat° £lh a month. They have the privilege of
the g t e place for their hammocks. Previous
44te war the Russian ships of the line were