Brătianu, Dumitru C.

“ So long as the political system now predominant in Europe shall last, the Turkish empire will have as great a right to exist, and more elements of vitality than the other two empires, her neighbours. It has a wide and magnificent territory of riches and beauty; it has one of the best geographical positions; it has excellent national frontiers; it has a population intelligent, laborious, and full of youth; and a government which, contrary to those of Russia and Austria, appears only to ask for full liberty of action to enter seriously on the path of reform. ”

“ And what is to be most regretted in all this is, that the great reputation she here enjoys is naturally reflected on the nations of the East, who say in their simplicity : “ We have had to deal with the Russians in their wars with Turkey, and we have found them neither stronger nor more wily than ourselves; and in time of peace, we do not see that they have any advantage over us—we do not even notice their existence. Yet, it must be otherwise; since great countries, enlightened and powerful as France and England are, call them our masters, and proclaim, with terror, their all-mightiness ! ”

“ Without doubt, my lord, the destiny of the peoples depends much, I might say solely, on their wisdom and their energy; and since we are speaking here of the Danubian Principalities, I esteem myself happy in being able, once more, to assure you that their inhabitants, far from letting themselves be caught by the perfidious advances of Russia, repel with horror whatever comes to them in the name of the Czar, and that they are firmly determined to resist his audacious enterprises, if need be, by force of arms. ”

“ And yet, in France and England, many have allowed themselves to be caught by it. Such is the habit they have contracted in these countries of accepting, without examination, all that is said on the score of Russia ! Russia holds in her hands the destinies of the world ; it is she who everywhere agitates the nations; it is she who directs all the governments of Europe; she is mistress of the East; she has her hand everywhere. She is capable of undertaking anything; she can do anything—nothing can resist her ! ”

“ None have criticised the acts of the Turkish government more unsparingly than I myself have done, every time that I have had to interest the people and cabinets of Europe in the question of the Danubian Principalities; and I have done so the more severely, since my criticisms, however painful they might be to the Porte, concerned the future welfare of Turkey, much more than that of the Roumanian people. For peoples do not perish; whereas nothing is so fragile as empires composed of heterogeneous elements. ”

“ A high Turkish dignitary, to whom I observed that the Roumanian patriots were the natural friends, the real friends of the Turks, and how wrong the Porte was, in sacrificing them to the vengeance of the Czar, its eternal and implacable enemy, answered me with a touching naïvete: “ We are not careful to busy ourselves about our friends, for we know they will undertake nothing against us; but we must endeavour, by every means, to please our enemies, to prevent them from annoying us.” ”

“ England, they tell me, is the only great European power capable of understanding the cry of liberty and right amongst other peoples, for she is the only great power in Europe that rests upon right and liberty ”

“ Neither can the Anglo-French diplomacy excuse its long hesitation, and the feeble and stolen encouragement which, at last, it seemed to dare to give the Porte, by alleging a fear that too open manifestations in favour of Turkey might have on Russia the effect of a challenge, or a provocation. But it must well know that Russia is not so thin-skinned; that the susceptibility of Russia never goes so far as to make her play the fool; and that the wisdom which she ever obeys tells her that she may dare everything with those who dare nothing ”

“ Public- opinion is, after all, not wholly without weight in the world ; and if it cannot always check the ambition and schemes of princes and cabinets, it yet often stimulates governments to the discharge of their duty in opposing and preventing them. How much less would public opinion be outraged by any attempt on the part of Russia to occupy or get possession of the Principalities, if it were the prevailing idea that the inhabitants were dissatisfied with the Turkish government, and therefore not averse to such a change ! ”

“ To settle the question of the Principalities is to settle the question of the East; for it is well known that it is mostly on their account that Russia mixes itself with the affairs of Turkey, and finds means to make a quarrel with her, and that it is not by sea, but always through their territory that her armies march towards the conquest of Constantinople. ”

“ In 1848 the Porte began by sanctioning the constitution which the inhabitants had established, and was only driven by Russian influence to interfere with it. In many parts of the Turkish empire the inhabitants enjoy a great degree of self-government; but there is not one country under the sway of the Czar, which is allowed to preserve any national institutions. The most solemn treatises contracted with all the powers of Europe, in favour of the constitution and nationality of Poland, have not deterred the autocrat from reducing that country to the condition of a Russian province ”

“ It is even to be hoped that the scandalous and perilous struggles of which, of late, Constantinople has been the scene, will be a great lesson for all the world. Turkey will understand that she ought never to traffic with her honour and her right, and the great Western powers will also understand that to continue in the Eastern question the policy of expedients and adjournments, which they have hitherto adopted, would be to play the game of children, who in shutting their eyes, think they escape the danger which threatens them ”

“ If she may be compared to an instrument of war, it is rather to a rocket than a bomb. She only proceeds by ricochet. Her march is only the more sure for being tortuous and because it cannot be followed. She advances without seeming to take a single forward step; she never marches right ahead, but always sideling. ”

“ When on the contrary he wishes to obtain some concession in the Principalities, he proclaims Turkey their sovereign and absolute mistress, who may dispose of them as she pleases; and Turkey, partly from vanity, but more from lack of faith in her own strength, easily lets herself be persuaded that she really is not only their suzeraine, but their veritable sovereign, and seems not to perceive that the sovereignty with which the Czar invests her tends only to her own destruction. ”

“ The fear of invasion, which has taken hold of every mind in the Principalities, appears to be not without foundation; in fact, a Russian army, more numerous than that of 1848, consisting of three corps, and bringing with it formidable munitions of war, is daily advancing its posts towards the frontiers of Moldavia ; while the concentration of Austrian troops on the Turkish frontiers, is sufficient to justify the belief that war is imminent ”

“ The Porte once terrified, humiliated, demoralised, Russia has opened her mouth Prince Menschikoff has already arrived at Constantinople, as the alter ego of the Emperor Nicholas, with an imperial suite, consisting of generals, admirals, and aides-de-camp of the Czar. Nevertheless, Russia, not to give the lie to all the precedents of her policy, and, perhaps, give herself a terrible blow, will not declare war against Turkey; will not say to the Turks that they must retire to Asia and give place to her ”

“ Another crying abuse, with, which the ambassadors and consuls resident in Turkey may be reproached, and which should be made to disappear at once, is the right they arrogate of granting a sort of half-naturalization to the Rayahs or Christians of the Ottoman empire. These men, supported as they are by foreign power, under whose protection they have placed themselves, have almost always the advantage over their adversaries, in the disputes they have with the Rayas remaining faithful to the Turkish government. ”

“ Turkey then disappearing, the Principalities will remain what they are. Their condition will be in no way changed, unless it be that they will find themselves, in fact and in right, freed from their actual obligation to pay tribute, and that very probably by putting themselves under the united protection of the great powers, they will thereby replace with a protection much more efficacious, the Turkish protection which they lose. ”

“ Let her be placed in a position to look to herself, without provoking herself against Russia at every step, and then when she has her free will she will also have the weight of responsibility for her acts; then we may, and ought to require of her, that she shall faithfully fulfil all her engagements toward the nations tributary to her, and that she shall, without any distinction of religion or nationality, allow all her subjects to enjoy the benefits of a liberal and enlightened administration. ”

“ The cabinets of London and Paris certainly will not say that time failed them, that they were surprised by the promptitude and temerities of Russia. On the contrary, Russia, to do justice to her, warned them by the noise of her armaments several months before; nor has she taken a single step without previously making sure of their intentions. Her ambassador waited patiently at Odessa, until he could have no doubt that at Constantinople he would have only to deal with the Sultan and his ministers ”

“ I am persuaded that now, as always, your friends in the Government, as well as all your colleagues of the House of Commons, -will be glad to hear your voice, for they know that you never speak but upon questions of the highest importance to the interests and dignity of humanity. ”

“ But wherefore this war? For surely the motives they allege are not worthy of being seriously considered.
Must our poor Europe be condemned to become another South America of endless wars, continual revolutions, and counter revolutions ? and that, too, in this age of enlightenment and industry, when strength apparently should appertain to right, and conquest have become for ever the exclusive property of thought; when the numerous and wonderful applications of science to the arts and to industry ”

“ It might be said that the cruelties which have tortured the peoples for four long years having failed in driving them to take up arms anew, the princes have lost patience, and would arm themselves against each other. ”

“ It is, indeed, perfectly evident that they are much more likely to obtain the enjoyment and further extension of that autonomy to which they are so much attached, under the suzerainty of the Sultan, than if placed under the rule of the Czar. ”

“ They confidently count upon its aid; the more so, since they remember, with gratitude, that in difficult circumstances England has never failed to come to their assistance, and that her intervention has always been crowned with success. ”

“ At the same time she induces Austria to make similar demonstrations on the Turkish frontiers, and has permitted, or rather enjoined, her to send to Constantinople the insolent ultimatum which is so well known, and which the Porte has not dared to reject. ”

“ Scarcely are the popular risings suppressed, thanks to the incompetency and treason of some of their chiefs, and to the lying promises made to the insurgents, before the princes themselves begin to. agitate in their turn. A fatality presses upon them. ”