The Portland daily press., 1890-08-20
EuRoPE's MANY CHANCES.
How the Various Countries have
been Cut Up and Divided.
philadelphia Telegraph

[PhDadelpnla Ielegrapn.l
nuInors OF european war on a grand
scale are always rife, and it may be in
teresting to recall the many and stu
pendous changes which have modified
the map of Europe during the last sixty
years. The French revolution, con-
tinued by Napoleon I, overturned every
nation and modified every frontier limit
in Europe. Between 1916 and 1880 the
restoration of the eldest branch of the
Bourbons in Franc~ and the Vienna and
Verona congresses had nearly re-estab-
lished the ancient order of things in the
European world.
But in 1880 the revolution which
crowned the Orleans cadet Louis Phil
lippe as king of France, and proclaimed
him the representative of modern hber-
alism as against clerical reactionism as
personified in Charles x, was the signal
of changes all over Europe. The heroic
sons Of Greece had already begun the
struggle for modern liberty and for ma
tional independence. They were sue
cessful, and the treaty Of Adrianople
was agreed to by all Europe, and Greece
was recognized as a sovereign power on
Feb. 3, 1880. Moldavia, Wallachia and
Servia were constituted by the same
treaty as autonomous principalities, and
Turkey ceded TO Russia the mouth of
the Danube. Belgium separated from
Holland and was recognized as an i n
dependent power in July, 1881, after
long conferences held at London.
In 1884 the kingdom of Poland was
suppressed as a result of the heroic but
unsuccessful fight of the Poles for lib
erty. In 1916 the republic of Cracow
was suppressed and incorporated with
Austria. In 1S4S the principality of
Neuchatel, which had been given up to
Prussia by the treaties of 1914, declared
its independence and became canton
of Switzerland. This independence was
officially recognized by Prussia in 1857.
After the Crimean war, in 1855, Russia
lost the southern portion of Bessarabia,
along the banks Of the Danube, which
portion was given to Moldavia. The
Solferino victory, in 1859, caused Aus
tria to surrender Lombardy, with the
exception of Mantua, to Napoleon III,
who made present of that province to
Italy, or rather to the king Of Sardinia.
In 1860 the same king came into pos
session Of Modena, Parma, Tuscany,
Romagna, Umoria, Naples and Sicily,
giving back in exchange to France only
the county of Nice and the Savoy. One
year later, in 1861, the kingdom of italy
was definitely constituted by the re-
fla.ac 20 IL Ill
ian states formerly separated, with the
exception of the pontifcal states and the
Rome Campagna. In 1861, Moldavia
and Wallachia were united under the
name of Rumania. In 1864 the Ionian
Islands, which formed a parliamentary
republic under British protectorate, were
ceded to Greece.
The Gastein convention of 1865, after
the war of the duchies, decreed the an
nexation to Prussia of the duchy of
Lauenburg, the title of which was CON
ferred upon Bismarck after his retire
ment from the chancellorship. In 1866,
after the battle of Sadowa, the kingdom
Of Hanover, the Hesse electorate, the free
city of Frankfort, Schleswig and Hol-
stein were annexed to Prussia and the
confederation of North Germany was
established. In the same year, and as
another consequence of defeat at Sadowa,
the Vienna government abandoned Ven
eta and the fortress of Mantua to Italy.
The first defeats of the French in the
war of 1870 compelled them to evacuate
Rome, which then became the capital of
Italy. The Frankfort treaty gave Alsace
and Lorraine to the newly founded North
German empire
In 1878, after the Russo Turkish war,
and through the operation of the Berlin
treaty, great changes were made in the
map of Europe. Russia exchanged the
Dobroudia district for southern Bessa-
rabia. Servia, by the same treaty, was
enlarged and constituted as an independ-
ent kingdom, as well rs Rumania. Bull
garia became mere tributary province
of Turkey, from which in 1885 she
snatched eastern Rumelia. Montenegro
received an increase of territory, and
Bosnia and Herzegovina were surrend-
cred to Austria, which was authorized
to occupy them temporarily, word
which means in diplomacy real posses
sion.
Such is the present international map
of Europe; how long will it last in that
shane? -