Page:EB1911 - Volume 23.djvu/873

Rh a chamber of deputies, elected for four years. Senators must be forty years old and possess an income of 9400 leǐ (£376). They are chosen by two colleges of electors; one composed of citizens with an income of £80; the other, of citizens with incomes varying from £32 to £80. The heir-apparent, the two archbishops, the six bishops and the rectors of both universities, sit ex officio in the senate. For the chamber of deputies, all citizen taxpayers of full age may vote, being organized for the purpose into three colleges. All persons with an income of £50 vote in the first; all residents in an urban commune who pay taxes amounting to sixteen shillings yearly, with those who have been through the primary course of education, and all members of the liberal professions, retired officers and state pensioners, vote in the second. The third college is formed of the remaining taxpayers. Those who can read and write vote directly, the rest indirectly. Every fifty indirect electors choose a delegate, who votes along with the direct electors. The naturalization of Jews and Moslems is hedged about by many technical difficulties, and requires a separate vote of the legislature in every individual case. Deputies must be not less than twenty-five years of age. Both senators and deputies receive 20 leǐ for each day of actual attendance, and travel free on the railways. The king may temporarily veto any measure passed by parliament. Executive power is vested in a council under the presidency of a prime minister, and representing the ministers of foreign affairs; justice; the interior; religion and education; war; finance; agriculture, trade, industry and public domains; and public works. Entire liberty of speech, assembly and the press is guaranteed by the constitution, by which also the titles and privileges of the boiars or nobles were abolished.

For purposes of local government, Rumania is divided into 32 departments, each controlled by a prefect, and subdivided into sub-prefectures and communes. The sub-prefectures (plasiǐ) correspond with the French arrondissements. Prelects and subprefects are appointed by the state, but the chief civic officials are elected. Very heavy octroi duties provide the means of municipal administration.

Law and Justice.—Until the 17th century justice was administered according to custom and precedent, or, in ecclesiastical cases, by the rules of an ill-defined canon law. The first change was introduced by Matthew Bassaraba, prince of Walachia (1633-54), and by Basil the Wolf, prince of Moldavia (1634-53). Basil drew up a criminal code, on the principle of “an eye for an eye.” Thus, a man guilty of arson was burned alive. No idea of equality before the law as yet existed: nobles might only be beheaded or banished. Bassaraba, besides reforming the canon law, issued a similar criminal code, with a number of civil enactments, based on Roman law, and regulating testaments, guardianship, &c. The next great advance began with the Russian protectorate over Rumania (1828-56), when magistrates were made irremovable, and new tribunals created, including a petty court in each rural commune. But nothing was yet done to modify the relative positions of noble and serf. The growth of the present system dates from the union of Moldavia and Walachia in 1859. The main provisions of Rumanian law are drawn from the codes of western powers, especially the Code Napoleon. Besides the communal courts, there are quarter-sessional or circuit courts, where simple cases are decided. An appeal from these lies to the departmental courts, which sit in every capital of a department, and in which sessions are held, at stated times, for the trial by jury of serious offences. Any appeal from the departmental courts is brought before the appeal courts of Bucharest, Craiova, Galatz or Jassy; and thence, if necessary, to the supreme tribunal, or court of cassation (Curtea de Casatie), which sits in Bucharest.

Defence.—At the accession of Prince Charles, the Rumanian army consisted of raw levies, led by adventurers from any country, provided with no uniform, and, in many cases, armed only with pikes or sabres. Under Prince Charles universal and compulsory service was introduced. The present system, in which his reforms culminated, rests upon a law of 1891, modified in 1900 and 1908.

By this law the forces are divided into three sections. The first is composed of men between the ages of 21 and 30, enrolled in the field army and its reserves. Every citizen capable of bearing arms must serve from his 30th to his 36th year in the second section, or territorial militia, which musters in spring for shooting-practice and in the autumn for field manœuvres. In the militia are included soldiers who have served their time in the ranks, and recruits chosen by lot from the yearly contingent of conscripts but not immediately summoned for duty in the field army. Finally, every citizen between the ages of 36 and 46 belongs to the third section, called the Gloata (Landsturm), which can only be called upon for

home service in war. In time of peace the field army consists of four complete army corps, with headquarters at Craiova, Bucharest, Jassy and Galatz, besides an independent brigade in the Dobrudja, and a separate cavalry division with headquarters at Bucharest. Its peace strength in 1909-10 was 4415 officers, 89,227 non-commissioned officers and men, and 18,920 horses. The infantry was armed with the Mannlicher magazine rifle (model 1893), the cavalry with the Mannlicher carbine, the horse and field artillery with Krupp quick-firing guns. On a war footing the field army would contain 225,000 combatants. It was estimated that the militia should ultimately furnish an additional force of 100,000 men, but up to 1910 this branch of the service was not completely organized. The arrangements for mobilization are otherwise very complete, and the field army is maintained in a high state of efficiency. The war budget for 1909-10 was £2,271,300.

The fortifications designed in 1882 by the Belgian engineer, General Brialmont, and completed at a cost of more than £4,000,000, form the keystone of the national defences. They consist of the Sereth Line, an entrenchment extending over a front of 45 m. from Galatz to Focshani, and intended to cover an army of defence against invaders from the north-east, and of the outworks which make Bucharest the largest fortified camp in the world, except Paris. All these fortifications, including the additional works at Galatz and Focshani, are strongly armed with Krupp and Gruson guns.

The Rumanian navy is divided into two squadrons; one for the Danube, with headquarters at Galatz; one for the Black Sea, with headquarters at Constantza. In 1909-10 the fleet comprised one cruiser, seven gunboats, eight torpedo-boats, six coastguard vessels, a training-ship, a despatch-boat, a ship for the mining service and numerous vessels for naval police. The state possesses a floating dock and a marine arsenal at Galatz.

Religion.—The State Church of Rumania, which is governed by a Holy Synod, professes the Orthodox Oriental creed. Its independence was formally recognized by the oecumenical patriarch of Constantinople, in 1885. The Rumanian Church had claimed its independence from very ancient times, but under the Turkish suzerainty and Phanariote hospodars Greeks were generally elected as bishops, and the influence of the Greek patriarch at Constantinople came to be more and more felt. In 1864 it declared itself independent of all foreign prelates. In 1872 a law was passed by which the bishops were elected by the senate, the chamber of deputies, and the synod sitting as an assembly (the only other occasion on which provision is made for such an assembly is in the event of the throne becoming vacant without any apparent heir). It was subsequently decided to consecrate the holy oil in Rumania instead of procuring it from Russia or Constantinople; but the Greek patriarch protested. Secret negotiations were entered into which came to a successful issue. The patriarch feared on the one hand that the growing influence of the Russian Church would give a colour of Slavism to the whole church, and that a Russian might eventually be appointed oecumenical patriarch at Constantinople, while the Rumanians hoped by means of the independence of their church to deprive the Russians of all excuse for interfering in their internal affairs under the pretext of religion. The Rumanians, although obtaining complete independence, agreed to recognize the patriarch at Constantinople as the chief dignitary of the Orthodox Church.

The metropolitan archbishop of Bucharest, officially styled metropolitan primate of Rumania, presides over the Holy Synod; the other members being the metropolitan of Jassy (primate of Moldavia), the six bishops of Râmnicu Vâlcea, Roman, Hushi, Buzeu, Curtea de Argesh and the Lower Danube (Galatz); together with eight bishops in partibus, their coadjutors. Metropolitans and bishops are elected by the senate and deputies, sitting together. In Hungary there are a uniate metropolitan and three bishops belonging to the Rumanian church. The secular clergy marry before ordination; and only regular clergy (kalugari) are eligible for high preferment. Although many convents had been closed and utilized for secular purposes, there were in 1910 no less than 168, including nunneries. The older convents are usually built in places difficult of access and are strongly fortified; for in troublous times they served as refuges for the peasants or rallying-places for demoralized troops. The sequestration of the monastic estates, which in 1864 covered nearly one-third of Rumania, was due to flagrant abuses. Many estates were held by alien foundations, such as the convents of Mount Athos and Jerusalem; while the revenues of many more were spent abroad by the patriarch of Constantinople. Religious liberty is accorded to all churches, Jews, Moslems, Roman Catholics, Protestants, Armenians and Lipovans having their own places of worship.

Education.—Primary education is free and compulsory, “where schools are available,” for children between seven and eleven years of age. At the close of the 19th century, however, the accommodation was insufficient, the attendance limited in consequence, and the percentage of illiterates high; reaching 88.5% in some of the rural communes. Great improvements were effected between 1900 and 1907, the number of schools increasing from 3643 to 4463, and the pupils from 298,000 to 515,000. The state contributes to the maintenance of elementary schools, for the Vlachs in Macedonia, Bulgaria and Transylvania.