The Sun.
London, England, 1858-10-14 00:00:00

THE DANUBIAN PRINCIPALITIES.

The following is a copy of a circular transmitted
by Count Walewski to the French Ministers
abroad, and which furnishes the meaning and pur-
port attached by the Imperial Government to the
Convention agreed on at the late Paris Confer-

ence :

" Paris, Aug. 29.
" Sir,—The Conference of Paris held its 19th and
last sitting yesterday, and the Plenipotentiaries
have proceeded to the signature of a convention
destined to regulate the organisation of the Princi-
palities of Moldavia and Wallachia.
"As the document will not be published till
after the exchange of the ratifications, I think it
my duty to indicate to -0-11 at once its general
spirit arid most essential dispositions.
" The Government of the Emperor, as you know,
declared itself in favour of the complete union of
the two Principalities under the government of a
foreign prince, who should be united to the Sultan
by.the link of suzerainty. Our convictions on that
point are unchanged. They have been strength-
ened, if possible, by the unanimous manifesta-
tion of the Moldo-Wallachian peoples, when called
on to express their wishes. However, obliged to
pay deference to the dissentient opinions of other
Powers, and especially to that of the Suzerain Court,
we were compelled to seek for means of conciliating
these divergencies as far as possible with the inte-
rests of the Principalities.
" I am pleased to think that our efforts have not
been without success. In fact, though the complete
union we desired is not sanctioned by the Conven-
tion of the 19th August, I may yet say that docu-
ment gives to the Principalities a denomination
which is a sort of homage paid to the principle of
union. It establishes, moreover, for both one and
the same constitution, and an identical legislation,
embracing all matters not having a special and
purely local character. It establishes a common
military organisation, a high court of justice, and,
above all, a permanent council, belonging to either
Principality, and having for its especial function to
watch over the maintenance of the oneness of the
legislation applicable to the two Principalities.
" These arrangements, which I but partly enter
into, constitute a real union in substance. There is
every reason, therefore, to believe that the Moldo-
Wallachian people will be satisfied with them, and
at the same time esteem them as a testmiony of our
solicitude in their favour.
" I should very
dchidarlacntoetr
add
df
at the
that
the imperfectly Convention
signalise the essential
rinaiof pies of thell97ntho f
the Augustbass
of our civil and public law, are reproduced therein
in their fundamentals. An
elective assembly voting
the laws and controlling the budget ; responsible
Ministers ; equality before the law and the taxes ;
enjoyment of political rights given to all Christian
creeds, and to be hereafter extended to all forms of
worship ; individual liberty guaranteed ; the aboli-
tion of class privileges, the abuse of which had
assumed a deplorable extension ; the principle of
irremovability introduced into the magistracy—
such are the principal constitutional arrangements
brought into force in the Principalities.
" The Government of the Empire, in exerting
their enactment, and in so giving to the Moldo-
Wallachian nation a political regime that may
appear more liberal than is suited to the
state of their civilisation and mannets, has not
yielded to the seduction of any absfract theory ;
but knowing that the country whose organisation
it was in question to provide for had been for cen-
turies handed over to administrative abuses and
disorders as numerous as they were inveterate, it
and,auth oinrittyhereaglTisnictee
of wasmen ne c es sa r
investedy to
for such a task, it did not appear possible to find, it
elsewhere than in a severe and efficacious control,
withseek tahre remedy,
moraled
the exercise of which should be placed in the hands
of an elective assembly.
" In addressing you the present despatch, I have
no other object than to enable you to rectify the
ei -oneous information or appreciations that may
Re
c eto pia knowledge.— ceive, Rze.,
" WALEITSB.I."--