ABSTRACT
THE three years imnlediately following the Berlin Congress were occupied with the delimitation of the new frontiers and the establishment of the new order of things, which in the cases of Rounlania, Bosnia, Montenegro, and Greece proved to be more difficult than had been expected. The Roumanian authorities took possession of the Dobrudja in Novenlber 1878, but nearly two years elapsed before the boundary between this trans-I)anubian province and Bulgaria was fixed. Article 2 of the Berlin treaty had laid down that this boundary was to be drawn" to the east of Silistria," and a struggle no\v ensued between the Russian delegate and his colleagues on the European C01111nission with regard to this line. While he strove to remove the Roumanian frontier as far away as possible fronl the celebrated fortress, they desired to fix it so close to the walls as to leave the town slaughter-house in Roumanian territory! While this point was being argued, the Roumanian governnlent occupied the Arab Tabia redoubt, rendered famous by the exploits of our countrymen in the siege of 1854; and this act so greatly irritated Russia that she insisted upon the evacuation of the position by her late alliesa second hU111iliation which naturally wounded the pride of a young and valiant nation. At last, in June 188o, the frontier ,vas definitely drawn, so as to give the celebrated redoubt to the Roumanians, who also evaded the obligation of building their bridge so close to Silistria as to be at the mercy of its
4°0 Bulgarian garrison. Thus the Bulgaro-Rounlanian frontier was unsatisfactory to both parties: it gave to Bulgaria the strong fortress which dominated the Dobrudja, it gave to Rournania valuable appurtenances of that place. Further difficulties arose out of the regulations for the Danube between the Iron Gates and Galatz. Austria-Hungary, although not a riverain state in this portion of the Danube, succeeded in obtaining the presidency of, and a casting vote on, a mixed commission of those states instituted for its regulation. Against this interference of the Dual Monarchy in the Servian, Bulgarian, and Roumanian reaches of the river, Roumania protested. It was not till 1883 that the treaty of London, signed by the signatory Powers of the treaty of Berlin, finally decided this question. The authority of the European commission, prolonged to 1904 and thereafter automatically renewable for periods of three years, was extended as high as BraHa, but removed from the Kilia arm of the river, which was partly Russian and partly Roumanian; while from BraHa to the Iron Gates simultaneous jurisdiction was exer· cised by a mixed commission, composed of five delegates, selected from Austria-Hungary, the three riverain states, and the European commission, under the chairmanship of the Austrian delegate and with its seat at Giurgevo. The three riverain states were excluded from this conference; Great Britain alone had pleaded for the admission of Roumania to its discussions.
