The Sun.
London, England, 1849-03-01 00:00:00

41111
•

LONDON, THURSDAY, MARCH 1, 1849.

Between Russia and Turkey the independent pro-
vinces of Wallachia and Moldavia have long suffered
the horrors of invasion, of pillage, of massacre, and of
general subjugation. Without one of the Western
Powers to interpose in their behalf the unfortunate
population of those principalities have been subjected
in turns to the insolence or to the cruelty of the Porte
or of the Autocrat. They have latterly groaned
under the combined forces of both the great despotic
empires on their frontiers. They are at this moment
suffering grievously from the simultaneous barba-
rities of the Islamites, under FUAD EFFENDI, and
of the Russians under General DUHAAIEL. In
violation of all the sacred prerogatives of indepen-
dence, in opposition to all the prescriptive rights of
international jurisprudence, the soldiers of the Eat-
PBROR have advanced in one direction upon the
neutral territory of Moldavia, and the soldiers of the
SULTAN have advanced in another upon those of
Wallachia.

Subsequently we shall find it very far from diffi-
culty to prove the perfect neutrality of these abused
and unfortunate territories, their full and complete
right of autonomy, :their entire insulation from any
authority but that emanating from themselves, and
the absurdity of any claims which may be advanced
in reference to their government either by the Cabinet
of St. Petersburgh or by that of Constantinople. First,
let us narrate as concisely as possible the atrocities
by which they have, within the last few months, been
desolated, and the political degradation to which they
have—with such flagrant and monstrous injustice—
been reduced.

Ever since the Russian despotism sprang into
existence, the Autocrats have yearned to number the
Moldavians and Wallachians among their vassals.
They have allowed this territorial lust after
the Danubian principalities to be apparent
during upwards of a century. But the date of 1828
is the one with which commences the really ener-
getic efforts of Russia against the political and
national existence of Moldo-Wallachia. The arbi-
trary proceedings which were then adventured upon
by the Cabinet of St. Petersburgh against those pro-
vinces Were persisted in almost uninterruptedly
during a period of ten years, when, in 1838, they
were brought to a terrible climax by a succession of
the most grinding and tyrannical acts. Arrogating

to herself the title of Protector over the principa-
lities, Russia laboured boldly and arrogantly to effect
their total disorganization. She deposed Prince
Gime.. For what ? Because he had vigorously
suppressed the insurrectionary movement of the Bul-
garians in the Wallachian harbour of Braila, in op-
position to the wishes of Nicholas ! She suspended
the Legislative Assembly for three years. And why ?
Because, forsooth, it had objected to resign to a
company of Russian speculators a monopoly of the
mines of the principalities 1 She violated the electoral
laws. She bound the ecclesiastics of Wallachia
under atrocious penalties to obey the synod of
the Russian capital. She ordained by ukase that
the revenues of the monasteries of Wallachia
should henceforth be given to the recluses of the
Holy Sepulchre. She expunged the language of
Wallachia from the system of public education,
substituting in its place the idiom of France. And
as a crowning barbarity, she took advantage of the
opposition which was manifested in the course of last
summer against Prince STURZO, sending into Mold°.
Wallachia one General DUHAMEL in the capacity of
Russian Commissary. DUHAMEL was shortly after-
wards followed by the Turkish Commissary, TAALAT
EFFENDI. Under the iron rule of those two men
the principalities felt more painfully than
ever the horrors of foreign despotism. Their
laws, whether written or traditional, were
set at naught ; their correspondence was
opened ; their journals were denied the power of
publication ; passports from the interior were refused ;
the fright not only of public but even of private
meeting was abolished ; the whole country was
ground down remorselessly under the heel of
despotism.
Suffering from these calamities, abhorring the yoke
imposed upon them by the Autocrat, abandoned to
their evil destinies by Turkey, and incited to some
vigorous effort for their own emancipation, the
Wallachians—by virtue of a right which will after-
wards be shown to be theirs, the right of choosing
for themselves their own Constitution—on the 23d of
June, 1848, peaceably modified their fundamental laws
by a grand national manifestation. The event was,
in fact, a revolution ; but the revolution was bloodless.
Like the French in February, the Wallacbians in
June rose to accomplish their emancipation, and in
the very act of doing so evinced a magnanimity, a
gentleness, and a moderation worthy of the glorious
example of their prototypes. Scarcely had the reign-
ing Prince accepted tie new Constitution, when,
driven from his position by the remonstrances of the
Russian Consul, he was compelled to sign his abdica-
tion. The management of affairs was consequently
entrusted to a body of patriotic statesmen who consti-
tuted what is termed a Provisional Government. On
receiving intelligence of these extraordinary occur-
rences, the Porte at once dispatched a Turkish army
into the Danubian principalities, that army being pre-
ceded by SULEYMANPACEA as Minister Plenipotentiary.
Although denying the right of the Cabinet of Con-
stantinople to interfere in their domestic transac-
tions, the Wallachians hastened out to meet the
ambassador in a friendly spirit, and had before long
fraternized with the very troops which had been
dispatched against them from the Bosphorus.
Events soon proved that SULEYMAN Pache
was endowed in a remarkable manner with
those conciliative abilities which were espe-
cially requisite to smooth away the existing difficul-
ties. He speedily induced the revolutionized Wal-
lachians to replace the Provisional Government by a
Princely Lieutenancy, consisting at first of six and
afterwards of three members; he himself recognising
the legality of this new system of administration in
the name of the great potentate of whom he was
the officially-appointed representative. From these
facts it will be at once perceived that the proceedings
of the Wallachians were as strikingly marked by mo-
deration as the proceedings of the French had been
four months previously, and that they were both of
them disposed to repudiate equally the doctrines of
communistic, in opposition to those of moderate and
rational, democracy. As a sufficient testimony of the
reasonableness of the Wallachian revolution, it is only,
necessary, indeed, to refer to the fact that the Sub-
lime Porte, in the person of his plenipotentiary, for-
mally recognised their new Constitution, after having
suggested a few unimportant modifications.
Since these occurrences took place, the tide of ill-
fortune has again turned upon the Danubian princi-
palities. First came the famous manifesto of the
Emperor NICHOLAS relating to Moldo- Wallachia.
Then came the recalcitration of the SULTAN—the re-
cal of SULEYMAN PACHA—the violation of the fron-
tiers by the Russian troops under General LUDER—
the massacre and sack in the city of Bucharest by the
Turkish forces under PUAD EFFENDI—and the deso-
lation of the whole country by the tyrannous bar-
barity of the Russian Commissary (DUHAMEL) under
the mask of the pretended lieutenancy of CONSTANTINE
CANTAOUZENE.

Such have been—such are the calamities which
r have befallen, which are at this very time befalling
the noble-hearted and unoffending Wallachians. For
having presumed to aspire after the enjoyment of a
perfectly constitutional government they have been
trodden down—they are now being trodden down—
under the heels of the despotic Sovereign of all the
RUSSIAS. And, from the peculiarity of his position,
r the SULTAN is unfortunately compelled to do violence
to his own principles and inclinations by joining in
' these arbitrary acts of the Autocrat. It has been ex-
pressly acknowledged to the Wallachian deputies at
Constantinople, that the Divan would forthwith pro•
test against the entry of the Russians into the princi-
palities if it were only seconded by a single one of
the Great Powers of Europe. It will be well and
honourable for England if she assume to
herself the honourable privilege of rescu-
ing the Wallachians from their oppressors. For
the only crime of Wallachia has been her love for
constitutional freedom. That she possesses the right
of perfect independence, and that she has, conse-
quently, the incontestable right of self-government,
is easily demonstrated. Her independence is gua-
ranteed to her, and to her sister province Moldavia,
by the capitulations made by the Wallacbians with
BAJA ZIIT I. and MALUOMMED 11., aid those capitu-
lations continue up to the present day to form part of
the public law of Europe. Russia, it is true, claims
the right of acting as a Protector (I) or Arbitrator,
but Russia claims this upon invalid grounds, seeing
that the Wallachians have never once treated with
the Russians. On the contrary, in all their
treaties with the Turks, the Wallachians
have reserved to themselves the sacred right of auto-
nomy and an entire sovereignty. On the 23d of
June, 1848, they only availed themselves of these
rights to perfect their system of government with a
new constitution. For this they are now groaning
under the double and almost unendurable pressure of
Turkey and of Russia. England can relieve them ;
she can relieve them by extricating the Sublime Porte
from a false position. Let her do so in GOD'S name
Liberty and independence are as dear to the Walla-
chians as to ourselves. Let not the patriotic diplomatist
(D. BEATIANO), who is now in London on a special mis
sion from the Princely Lieutenancy, return to his un-
fortunate country only to witness its further degra-
dation. The countenance of a different policy is alone
required from England to enable Turkey to negotiate
a satisfactory settlement of affairs in the Danubian
principalities. It is for this that Wallachia now raises
to us her bleeding hands, and calls to England for as-
sistance. Shall she die like Poland ? We ask that of
the generosity of our Government.
Th

le lawcoofliud le shareneraacbyhas, forof public timesomeulie past,
at-
tracted ans
attention.
Numerous complaints have been
put forward, and
unhappily with but too much
foundation, of the
hardships that have taken place, the cruelties that
have been enacted, under the existing law. At the
present moment the law may be set in motion by a
mere stranger, unconnected with the alleged lunatic
by any ties of consanguinity or friendship, and
that stranger may cause him to be placed
in close confinement in a lunatic
asylum,
upon obtaining the separate certificates of two
medicaly practitioners that they have examined
the patient, and believe him to be insane. No
further examination takes place, no additional in-
vestigation is required. A man may be deprived of
his freedom and incarcerated for months, and if the
certificates are not defective in form, however erro-
neous they may be in fact, no remedy is afforded to
him. lie may, pcssibly, succeed in attracting the
attention of the Commissioners, or of the Justices,
during some of their eying visits, and if the