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ROtJMANIA. 



ROUTLEDGE, GEORGE. 



tion was put down in a few weeks, and the 

 peasantry were appeased by promises. The 

 plan of distributing crown lands among them 

 was taken into consideration. When no effect- 

 ive practical measures were taken to relieve 

 the distress, new outbreaks occurred sporadi- 

 cally during the summer and autumn. An at- 

 tempt on the life of the King, although with- 

 out serious political significance, was a sequel 

 of the peasant uprising. In the evening of 

 May 7 a former police-officer named Preda 

 Fontanaro fired two shots at the palace, one 

 of which entered the window next to the room 

 where the King was. The perpetrator of the 

 murderous attempt, a dissipated man, was 

 clothed in the dress of the peasantry, and, 

 when questioned as to his motive, said that he 

 desired to avenge the many peasants who had 

 been shot by the military during the disturb- 

 ances. The total area of Roumania is about 

 30,000,000 acres, of which 5,000,000 acres are 

 forest. The emancipated serfs received some- 

 thing over 3,250,000 acres, and the free com- 

 munes, which always existed in the mountain- 

 ous part of the country, possess an equal 

 amount. The remaining 18,500,000 acres are 

 divided between the state, which has confis- 

 cated the extensive possessions of the monas- 

 teries, charitable corporations, and the landed 

 nobility. Some of the boyars own 25,000 

 acres. Yet as a rule the large estates range 

 from 1,250 to 4,000 acres, and the small ones 

 from 125 to 625 acres. 



General Election. The ministry, refusing the 

 demand of the Radicals for speedy elections on 

 the ground of the excited state of the country, 

 did not dissolve the Chamber and order new 

 elections till September 20. The old Conserv- 

 ative or Boyar party profited by the delay and 

 put forth its whole strength, while attempts to 

 reunite the party of Demeter Bratiano with 

 the Liberals who had adhered to his brother 

 came to naught. The Old Conservatives were 

 victorious in the elections, returning a clear 

 majority that was able to dictate the policy of 

 the Junimist ministry, or to overturn it at any 

 time. The ministry was reconstituted on No- 

 vember 24, after the election of Lascar Catargio 

 to the presidency of the Chamber. Rosetti re- 

 mained Minister President, but without a port- 

 folio, while the Conservative Prince Stirbey, 

 son of a former hospodar of Wallachia, suc- 

 ceeded him as Minister of the Interior, giving 

 up the portfolio of Public Works to Marghilo- 

 man, who gave place in the Ministry of Jus- 

 tice to a new member of the Cabinet, Vernesca, 

 the possessor of great wealth, and one of the 

 leaders of the Conservative party. Gen. Ba- 

 rossi, who owned no party ties, was succeeded 

 in the Ministry of War by a Conservative, Gen. 

 Mano. The portfolio of Agriculture, Com- 

 merce, and Domains, which was held ad interim 

 by Carp, was intrusted to Alexander Lahovary, 

 one of the bitterest of the assailants of Brati- 

 ano's Cabinet and the leader of a movement 

 to protest against the crown domains, which 



were declared to be a robbery of state prop- 

 erty. With others of his family, he has taken 

 the lead in the pro-Russian and anti-dynastic 

 opposition within the Conservative party. The 

 results of the general election were the return 

 of 51 Conservatives, 39 Junimists, 31 Inde- 

 pendent Liberals, 5 partisans of Joan Bratiano, 

 4 Socialists, and 42 Ministerialists. Ex-Premier 

 Bratiano lost his seat. The success of the 

 Boyar party compelled the Government to 

 abandon its project of dividing a part of the 

 public domains among the landless peasantry 

 in lots of from four to eight acres. The Con- 

 servatives, under threats of a dissolution, agreed 

 to allow the ministry to proceed with its bills 

 fur establishing a national bank and a gold 

 currency, and making the higher judiciary irre- 

 movable except for cause, and promised not to 

 oppose the foreign policy of the Cabinet. The 

 compromise ministry, nevertheless, could not 

 stand, and on December 31 the Parliament was 

 dissolved, and new elections were appointed 

 for Feb. 4, 1889. 



ROIJTLEDGE, GEORGE, an English publisher, 

 born in Brampton, Cumberland, Sept. 23, 1812 ; 

 died in London, Dec. 13, 1888. He served as an 

 apprentice to Charles Thurnam, in Carlisle, in 



GEORGE ROUTLEDGE. 



1827-'33, and then entered the employ of Bald- 

 win and Cradock, at a salary of 60 a year. 

 At first his special duty was to collect books from 

 other publishers for the country booksellers for 

 whom that house was agent, and later he was 

 given charge of the bindery. In September, 

 1836, he began business on his own account in 

 Ryder's Court, Leicester Square, as a retail 

 bookseller and purchaser of books at sales, sup- 

 plying new books as they were ordered. His 

 first book, "The Beauties of Gilsland Spa" 

 (1836), proved a failure, as it depended upon 

 local sale entirely. In November, 1837, he was 

 given charge of the documents in the Tithe- 

 Office, where he remained for four years, be- 



