Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1876-07-15
Letter from Harper's Ferry.

have been a good deal bothered by peo-
pie asking for information about the
Principalities at war, or threatening
war, with Turkey, and lave conclu-
ded to give your readers the main
points at issue, as far as ] understand
them, in hopes that may be hatle re-
lieved from the intolerable "bore' OF
answering the same questions twenty
times a day, until some other novelty
excites attention.
The territory generally called "The
Danubian Principali,ies," is composed
of Servia, Moldavia and Wallachia, all
bordering on the Danube These prov
inces shared the fate of their neighbors,
when, in the middle of the 18th Centu-
ry, the Greek Empire succumbed to the
Turks and when the Crescent replaced
the Cross on the towers OF st. Sophia.
The Servians are of purely Sclavonic
origin, but the Moldavians and Wal
lachians are very mixed race, having
in their veins the blood of the ancient
Romans and Of almost every horde OF
barbarians that invaded the Roman En-
pire for centuries before its final over
throw. Their language, even at the
present day, is almost ineligible to any
good Latin scholar, proving unmistak-
ably their claims to relationship with
the mistress of the world, and there APP
pears to he little doubt that their terri
tory is nearly identical with the ancient
Dacia that gave so much trouble to the
Roman Emperors.
The Servians being of Sclavonic orr
gin, and they, as well as the Moldavi-
ans and Wallachians, being almost uni
versally attached to the Greek Church,
the influence of the neighboriny Empire
of Russia which is Sclavonic in race
and Greek in religion, has been exer-
cised 10 obtain for them many immuni-
ties not enjoyed by less fortunate sub-
iects of the Turk, and, indeed, for many
years they have been substantially in
dependent although contesslng what is
called suberainty by paying certain
amount into the Turkish treasury and
engaging to furnish certain contin.
gent of men to the Turkish army in
time of war. Other provinces of Tur-
key-in Europe however, do not fare SO
we'll. Herzegovina, for instance, is ter
riblv oppressed ard in il has been elci-
ted the little spark that may be famed
into a worldwide confagration. At the
close of the Crimean war in 1855, Mol
davia and Wallachia were taken under
the protection of the Christian Powers,
who dreaded the influence of Russia in
these provinces but who had grace
enough not to hand them over to the
tender mercies Of the Turk. In 1861
thew were united into one State under
the name OF Roumania, having for its
capital Bucharest. Belgrade, so often
mentioned in the war dispatches, is the
capital of Servia l must not omit
mention of the spunky little State of
Montenegro, with territory far less
than that of many an American county,
whose christian inhabitants from their
mountain Businesses bid defiance to the
Turk and ask no boot of any one. From
this outline may be seen the present
state of affairs. Herzegovina has been
! goaded into rebellion. Her kindred 10
the other provinces make common cause
with her. Russia, besides the ties of
race and religion which bind her to
many Of the Turkish subjects, has de-
signs on the rich territory, once owned
by the coreligionists, and she covets
the command of the narrow straits that
connect the Mediterranean with the
Black Sea, on one of which is situated
Constantinople, once the capital of the
Greek Empire, but for more than four
hundred years in possession of the
Turk. One would suppose that no
christian people would object to the
Punishment of the brutal Turk to his
native Asia, and it might be thought
that Russia with her vast resources
could easily accomplish the feat. The
other European Powers, however, fear
that the success of Russia in this great
object of her desires, would give her too
much influence and destroy the balance
of power, the preservation of which has
caused so many wars in the old world.
Actuated by this motive, England,
France and Sardinia coalesced with the
Turk in the Crimean war, and Heaven
alone knows what may happen now,
with so many immense standing armies
spelling for fight, and with so many
diverse interests and passions impatient
ly waiting for chance to be gratified.
Now, in advance Of any more ques-
tons, l refer my prosecutors to your
next issue, for all | know about the
matter, or at least for all / could tell in
any reasonable time, remembering
when say this, that many consider my
time and patience inexhaustible, as if |
were not an old man and had no Irish
blood in my veins. Seventeen of the
last years of my life have been wasted
in telling visitors to Harper's Ferry
about the Brown Raid, and l have no
notion of spending my few remaining
! days in the hard and thankless labor OF
explaining to every blockhead meet,
the complicated relations OF Turkey to
her Danubian suberains.