ABSTRACT
THE Cretan insurrection was not the only event which drew public attention to the east of Europe in 1866. The Roulnanians did not long remain content v;ith the native officer whom they had elected Prince of the united Principalities in 1859. Couza had succeeded in gaining the recognition of the Porte and the Powers; but he found it impossible to pacify the politicians of his own country. The Rounlanian Assembly was the battle-ground of three parties-the Conservatives or "Whites," the Radicals or "Reds," and the Moderate Liberals, whose views coincided with those of the Prince. 1'he country, a large proportion of whose inhabitants were peasants unable to read or \vrite and totally ignorant of political questions, was unsuited for parliamentary government, which in practice degenerated into the "managenlent" of elections by the party in power and the manufacture of disturbances by the party in opposition. Couza had been little more than a year on the throne when the "Reds" roused the people of Cralova and Ploeshti against the coalition government; in 1862 the land bill of the Conservative statesman, Barbe Catargi, based on the liberty alike of property and of labour, excited the violent opposition of the "Reds." The latter, conscious that they were in a minority in the Assembly, announced their intention of convening a mass-meeting on June 23, the anniversary of the revolution of 1848, in close proximity to the
3 house of parliament. The government replied that it would prohibit the meeting; but the Premier, driving back from the Assembly, was shot by an assassin-a foreigner, it was said, hired by his enemies. 'rhe murderer has never been brought to justice; for when Constantine Rose.tti and John Bratianu, the "Red" leaders, were haled before the police court, the former threatened the Prince that he would denounce the real culprit, unless the proceedings were stopped. Couza was never proved to have instigated the crime; but, in any case, he gave orders to hush up the enquiry. This interference with the course of justice failed, however, to remove the hostility of the "Reds." They accused the Prince of being a Russian agent, and thus discredited him in the eyes of the :French, because he ordered the disarmament of Polish volunteers crossing his territory on their way to aid their insurgent fellow-countrymen during the Polish rising of 1863. In the same year a "monstrous coalition" of "Whites" and" Reds" was formed against the Prince's favourite-minister, Kogalniceanu, and addressed a memorial to the Powers, praying for Couza's removal. The story is told that the Prince considered the memorial of so little importance as to subscribe towards the travelling expenses of the politician who was to be the bearer of it. But events proved that he had under-estimated the gravity of the campaig~ against him, not only in Paris, but also at home. His bold policy of reforms, while benefiting the peasantry, only exasperated the politicians.
