too, the twenty thousand dollars! what should I do with such a sum? Buy a farm, or an elegant city mansion, or speculate in Erie Rail-road Stocks? My brain whirled, there was a perfect chaos in my poor head. What will Eliza Jane say? Shall I tell her, or keep dark until the news comes by mail? These last were troublesome questions. At the time of our marriage we had agreed that there should be no secrets between us. As I well knew she had kept her part of the compact inviolate to the letter, could I be so faithless as to keep from her this, the most terrible secret I ever had? Would she treat me so? I knew she would n't. Then, too, she had a perfect right to know it. She was my partner in weal and in wo, true as steel, faithful always. Strange as it may seem, however, I resolved to tell her nothing about it. I made up my mind deliberately. I will keep the secret. It will only be for a month, and then-the fact is, I felt like a villain, and stole up to bed, certainly rather to be pitied than envied. Shall I own my weakness, and reveal the sophistry by which I was beguiled? I must. I began this narrative with a determination to tell the whole truth, and I will. Before I reached home on that eventful night, that twenty-first of November, my inveterate disease (I can call my skepticism by no more appropriate name) broke out afresh. Have I not been humbugged, said I, after all? What evidence have I that the whole affair was not a trick, a mean, contemptible trick? And then-will the reader believe it ?-I asked myself, suppose Uncle Jerry should not be dead? Not dead? not dead? said I to myself, interrogatively, at least a hundred times, as I tossed upon my uneasy bed. "Who is not dead, dear?" asked Eliza Jane in a gentle voice. Confusion! I had been thinking aloud. I made no answer, and pretended to be asleep. She did not repeat the question. But, said I, mentally, how could there be any imposition in the case? Not one of the party knew that I had an Uncle Jerry. Smith knew it, to be sure, but then he was not present that evening. He had been detained at home by sickness. Might not he have told the medium all about it? Was it not, from beginning to end, a well-laid plot? Is it not easier to believe that Smith is a knave, and the medium herself a deceiver, than to believe that Jerry's ghost traveled all that distance in that short space of time, on that terribly stormy night? 66 But then, the twenty thousand dollars! Ay, said I to myself, twenty thousand! twenty thousand! twenty thousand dollars! Twenty thousand fiddlesticks!" muttered my precious wife, apparently in a state of half-consciousness, as she turned over uneasily upon her pillow. Thus the remaining hours of the night dragged slowly away, and before morning I had made up my mind to wait patiently for the expiration of the thirty days at which time I had been told I should come into the possession of Jerry's property. If Jerry really did go into the interior, that is, die, at six P. M., on the twentyfirst of November, if he did leave a will making me his only heir, and if I do see and handle the hard cash, why then, said I, I will believe; nay, I will give a percentage of the money to aid in the promotion of spiritualism, and I will come out frankly and publish my experience to the world. How cunningly cautious I was! A little incident that happened next morning, which at any other time would have been speedily forgotten, made a deep impression upon my mind. Angelica, my pet daughter, then about six years old, came into the room while I was shaving. "Pa," ," said she, after I had held down to her my lips and received her matin kiss, "Pa, when is Uncle Jerry coming back?" I felt stunned for a moment, and answered abruptly, without taking time to think, "Uncle Jerry, my child, will never—” "Will never what?" she asked quickly. "Will never forget," said I,—and I | blush to think that I could attempt to deceive the little cherub as her bright blue eye was fixed on mine,-" will never forget his pet Angelica." "I dreamed about him last night," said she. The child was a great dreamer, and at any other time the relation of one of her night-visions would have been of little consequence; but now I stopped, having cut my chin, as I remember, and, halfshaved, sat down and took the child upon my knee. "Tell me all about the dream," said I. "O," she replied, "it was nothing much! Only I dreamed he came up into the bed-room and kissed me just as he did last year when he came back from Canada." Merciful heaven! Could it be that after visiting me at the circle, Jerry had, in spirit, visited the child, and sealed the truth of his actual presence by a kiss upon her cheek? "What did he say?" I asked. "I don't remember that he said anything," was the reply. "Only I know he gave me a beautiful doll,,-a wax doll, with eyes that would open and shut, just like Mary Smith's. Won't you buy me such a one, pa יי? I put the child down and finished shaving. A stranger narrative awaited me at the breakfast-table. My wife had also had a dream. It was about Uncle Jerry. Of course it was. I knew that without asking. She dreamed that by some means she was transported to a wild region of country, apparently in some part of one of the southern states. There, rolling in wealth, with a large plantation and a hundred slaves, Jerry was living in great style, a bashaw kind of an old bachelor. Everything about him had the appearance of the most luxurious wealth. "Did he say anything ?" I asked, trying to conceal my agitation by scalding my lips with hot coffee. "That was the strangest part of it," replied my wife. "He said, 'Come and live with me. I have plenty. Bring the whole family;' and in my dream I thought we did remove there and take possession of his large estate, while Jerry acted as overseer to the plantation." "Pooh!" said I; "that was only a dream." 66 "To the best of my recollection," he replied, never. But why do you ask such a question?" I made no reply, when, to my unutter- · able horror, he added :— "By the way, I had a strange dream about your Uncle Jerry last night." "The deuce you had," said I, thrown off my guard for a moment. "Yes," he replied; "I dreamed he was here, and that he had come away from beyond the Mississippi by telegraph." “Of course it was,” she replied, "and | was-funny. Would you remember the name of the place if you heard it ?" a very foolish dream too." My mind was, I confess, in quite as confused a state now as it was on quitting the mysterious circle the night previous. I had a terrible secret in my bosom, and I knew not what to do with it. On my way to my place of business I determined to call on Smith. I found him in bed, weak and feverish, but the doctor had pronounced him out of danger. He was exceedingly glad to see me, chatted pleasantly, and adverted to the storm of the last night, by which, as he supposed, the members of the circle were prevented from assembling. I did not undeceive him, but, after a pause in the conversation, I asked : "I don't think I would," he replied. "Dreams are such strange and foolish things I seldom charge my memory with them." "Was it Wetumpka?" I asked, with an air of indifference. "Ay," said he, "that was it. A queer name; how came you to think of it?" "Did Jerry say anything about me?" I asked, evading his question. "Not a word. But now I remember he wanted to sell me a share in his invention. He said I should have it for-" [For the National Magazine.] THE DANUBIAN PRINCIPALITIES. GU human race. which, commencing at the Iron Gate, near the borders of Hungary, bend round in opposite directions toward the Black Sea. Most of this basin is occupied by the Moldau-Wallachian Principalities. With Bulgaria, which lies between the Danube and the Balkans, we are not at present concerned. At the north, the Carpathians, commencing near the borders of the Banat, sweep round so as to make an immense amphitheater. Rising to the height of six thousand feet, they form an almost uninterrupted chain to the westward until they are broken through by the Aluta. The latter, flowing from the lofty valley of Transylvania, breaks through the pass of the Red Tower, and in its course to the Danube divides Lesser from Greater Wallachia. Midway between the Aluta and the Pruth, the Carpathians deflect suddenly to the northward, and form the boundary between Moldavia and the land of the Seklers. Among the headwaters of the Bistritza some of their peaks, as Pion and Tschakleo, overreach the limits of the oak and pine, and extend up into the region of snow and ice and alpine plants. Several spurs from the Car UYOT, with an acuteness that places him in the first rank of philosophers, has pointed out those portions of the earth which, from their peculiar character and conformation, have had most influence upon the civilization and destiny of the It would be of the greatest interest, though perhaps less important, to designate those other portions, which, lying for long periods between barbarism and civilization, have from time to time exchanged the light of the one for the darkness of the other. National energy cannot always rise above the force of circumstances, and it is certain that there are portions of Europe which owe their present condition and their past history more to their peculiar position than to the character of their inhabitants or the quality of their terrain. Of such portions none are so important, none are so intensely interesting, as those which border the great rivers of Europe, the Rhine and the Danube. The former of these rivers, rising among the Alps and flowing many hundred miles to the sea through the no-pathians extend far down into Lesser blest portion of Europe, the German, in Wallachia, among which are numerous his admiration, calls the "father of rivers." lakes connected with the Danube, and Yet no traveler can wander among the among the fastnesses of which the Rowalled towns and cities which line its mouni have often taken shelter from their banks without seeing how vastly inferior foes. Greater Wallachia as well as Molthe Rhein-gau is to the central parts of davia is crossed by numerous rivers, as France and Germany in everything but the Argish and the Sereth; but for the natural advantages. Those battered walls most part they are composed of vast level and crumbling towers have a wild story tracts, which are connected with the of their own. History tells of scenes of steppes of Bessarabia, and are open to the violence and deeds of war that have occur- winds that sweep across the vast plains of red there ever since the Ubii and Sicambri Southern Russia. lived on opposite sides of the river; and Roman camps and colonies, planted among the rude nations of Germania, expanded into flourishing cities. The position of the Rhine Provinces, between belligerent powers, has counterbalanced all their natural advantages. At short intervals of peace their growth has been almost unparalleled. No part of Europe was so flourishing during the Hanseatic League: no part of Europe has suffered so much and so often from the incursions of French and German armies. Whoever will examine a map of the lower Danube will find that its delta is surrounded by an immense basin formed by the Carpathian and Balkan ranges, Bucharest has the same latitude as the capital of Maine; and Jassy, the chief city of Moldavia, is farther north than Quebec. The climate is far less mild than in the western portions of Europe equally distant from the equator. The mountains of Northern Moldavia retain their snowy caps during the summer, and during the months of winter the lower Danube is usually covered with ice. Moldavia is as large as Massachusetts and New-Hampshire together, and according to the best authorities contains more inhabitants than the State of Virginia. Wallachia is about twice the size of Maryland, and has a population equal to if not greater than Pennsylvania. Though among the most thinly-settled portions of Europe, the population of the two Principalities is estimated at four millions of people. Compared with European states, Moldavia is almost as large as the kingdom of Greece, and contains a greater population; while Wallachia is considerably larger than Holland and Belgium together. The Wallachians (from Vlak, the Sclavish word for herdsman) inhabit both the Principalities, and from their Latin origin call themselves Romouni. They are not confined to Moldavia and Wallachia, but extend into Transylvania, Hungary, and the Banat. Bulkowina and Bessarabia, which now belong to Austria and Russia, but which were formerly parts of the Principalities, have also a strong admixture of the same race. The Wallachian language contains almost as many Latin words as the Italian, and in point of age claims to be the eldest daughter of the Roman tongue. Besides having been greatly modified by the Sclaves, it also contains numerous Illyrian and Dacian words. The gipsies are more numerous in the Principalities than in any other part of Europe. They appear to have emigrated hither in the year 1400 under Timour, from the East, and at present number one hundred thousand souls. They speak a dialect of the ancient Sanscrit, and have the same remarkable fondness for music that characterizes the gipsies of Bohemia and the west of Europe. The Jews also number one hundred thousand souls. The are industrious, and are the traders and artisans of the Principalities. The Armenians are usually farmers and in good circumstances. Socially, the people are divided into Boyards and Peasants; the relation of the two classes to each other being but little removed from that of master and slave. The boyards are the only persons in the Principalities possessed of political rights, and number scarcely more than two thousand. The boyards themselves are divided into three classes, from the first of which alone the highest officers of state can be elected. They are usually independent, and live in the chief towns, as Jassy, Bucharest, and Krajova. The peasantry for the most part live in the most wretched poverty, and are little if any superior to the serfs of Russia. This is to be attributed to their want of intelli gence rather than to an oppressive system of government, since they obtain land from the boyards to cultivate at an almost nominal price; and the soil is so rich that the labor of three weeks, distributed through the summer months, will supply them with an abundance of Turkish corn, more than which they scarcely need. The gipsies are in reality the slaves of the boyards, having no rights whatever. Were they treated like human beings they might become useful citizens, as is the case with many in Austria and other parts of Europe. Another division may be made; namely, that of taxable persons and those who contribute nothing to the support of the state. To the latter belong the boyards, clergy, and privileged families, with their servants. The former class includes the peasants, citizens, and artisans. After these preliminary considerations we turn to the history of the Principalities, the meager annals of which are possessed of unusual interest. Of all the causes which tend most to develop national character, and give it strength and perpetuity, none seems so potent as the possession of a literature. Just as mind is the measure of a man, the real power of a nation, and especially its claim upon the regard of posterity, lie in its living intellect or collected thought. It forms a magical center around which all the other elements of power arrange themselves. The vital distinction between the Greek and barbarian ever was that the former could boast of a Pericles and Homer; and the pride of being a Roman citizen rested not so much upon the conquests of the Roman legions as the belonging to a nation of great orators and poets. But though the Romouni descended from a noble race they have no literature. The mere description of the battles that have taken place on the Moldau-Wallachian soil would fill more volumes than the literature of the Romouni possesses. Hence, that part of their history which is not found in the works of cotemporaneous writers must be sought in monkish legends, or the observations of occasional travelers. Another advantage arising from the possession of literature, especially that of an historical nature, is the strength it gives to national character and national institutions. In fact, the knowledge of our history is the first great essential for pre serving our rights. If we have no history, strangers are ever ready to deny our name and origin. Unless we can say, "This is the work of our fathers, and these rights are a sacred heritage," others will not fail to despise our vain assumptions, and attempt to deprive us of that of which we boast. If we can boast of none of the glory and strength which a historical literature confers, it will be well with us if we are not called upon to give up to others the soil upon which we dwell, and adopt any name that our enemies may see fit to impose upon us. All this, and even more, the Romouni have been called upon to do. Their origin has been denied them; their name has been changed; their rights trampled under foot; and all this not because they had within themselves none of the elements of strength, but for the reason that they could give no proof of their nationality, and had nothing upon which they could ground and defend their rights. The history of Moldavia and Wallachia may be divided into three periods. The first of these periods commences with the Dacia, the ancient possessors of the Principalities. It includes their conquest by the Romans, the peopling of the land with Roman colonies, and terminates with the founding of Moldavia and Wallachia, the former in 1350, the latter in 1290. The middle period, or the proper history of the Romouni, is by far the most interesting era. During a period of five centuries Moldavia and Wallachia were independent states. Dark and evil days, however, were in store for them. Since the conquest of the Romans, wave after wave of barbarism had rolled over them from the plains of Asia, each more destructive than the last, and flowing farther toward the west of Europe. There was one to come which no struggle on their part could withstand. In 1453 the Crescent was planted on the spire of St. Sophia, and nine years after the Cross was raised aloft at Moscow over the throne of Iran, who united the wild tribes of Russia into a single monarchy. For three hundred years the Romouni contended bravely against the Osmanlis, and at a time when the name of the latter was a terror throughout Europe, and the success of their arms caused even the Pope to tremble on his throne at the Vatican. The fall of the Principalities, however, was as certain as it was gradual. In 1592 Wallachia became tributary to Bogatzet I. Moldavia had already been reduced to the same state by Soliman in 1513. Their fall, however, can hardly be considered complete until 1716. At this last point commences the third period of the MoldauWallachian history. It extends down to the present time, when evil days have again fallen upon them. During this interval we shall see that all their elements of nationality and patriotism have been lost, and that the ancient institutions of the Romouni have been totally subverted. We shall see that while the French Revolution proved advantageous to other European states, Wallachia and Moldavia were so situated as to derive no benefit therefrom. More than all else, we shall see how Russian policy has been gaining ground, and how she is now striving to bring within her sea-embracing arms a people who both suspect her charity and despise her mediation. In the orbis terrarum of the ancients all that immense region which lies between the Don and the Danube was regarded as a part of Scythia, the rude tribes of which first became known after the campaign of Darius Hystapes. In the time of Philip of Macedon the Getæ, who had formerly occupied the present Bulgaria, crossed over to the left bank of the Danube and took possession of that part of Scythia which afterward became known as Dacia. Alexander, in pushing his conquest northward, met with a most obstinate resistance from the Dacian king, Sarmis. They were ultimately subdued, however, by the conqueror of the world; and after his death Dacia, together with Thrace, fell to the share of Lysimachus, one of his generals. To the latter the Daciæ were unwilling to submit, and in attempting to bring them under his authority Lysimachus himself was taken prisoner by Dromichontes, the successor of Sarmis. In the year 1545 several thousand pieces of gold coin were found near the boundary between Wallachia and Transylvania, bearing on one side the name of Lysimachus, and on the other that of an ancient Thracian city, where the pieces were probably coined. It was supposed that they were found in the camp of Lysimachus, or were part of the ransom given to restore him to his kingdom. How the Dacia and Getæ became united history does not inform us. |
