Page:Wallachia and Moldavia - Correspondence of D. Bratiano whit Lord Dudley C. Stuart, M.P. on the Danubian Principalities.djvu/14

 TO MR. D. BRATIANO.

Petersham, Saturday, March 26, 1853.

,—I have had the honor to receive the letter you have addressed to me, on the subject of the present condition and future prospects of the Danubian Principalities. There can be no doubt of the important part which these countries, and those adjacent to them, must take, before long, in the affairs of Europe.

Will they suffer themselves to be made instruments to swell the power of despots, or will they range themselves on the side of those who wish to see all peoples in the enjoyment of the nationality which belongs to them, and of rational liberty? Much will depend on the line of conduct which the inhabitants of the Principalities may pursue. I am happy to see confirmed by your letter, the impression that they are well aware how little of good they can expect from Russia, and that they are therefore not likely to become dupes to the artifices of that insidious power. 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. 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; and if you required anything besides your own experience, to acquaint you with the nature of Russian protection, you might learn it from the fate of Cracow.