DANUBE, EUROPEAN COMMISSION OF THE. 



269 



The points where sea-going vessels can load 

 with grain from the lower valley of the Dan- 

 ube, are the river-ports of Galatz and Braila, 

 and the adjacent ports of Kustendje and Var- 

 na on the Black sea. All the grain which 

 finds an outlet by the mouth of the Danube is 

 grown in Roumania and Bulgaria. The wheat 

 of Hungary and the whole upper valley of the 

 river is exported by other channels of com- 

 merce. In times of scarcity in Hungary, there 

 is a small movement of grain up-stream be- 

 yond the Iron Gate, which rarely exceeds 350,- 

 000 tons per annum, but which may be aug- 

 mented by the improvement of the channel in 

 the difficult stretch where it passes through 

 the Carpathians. There is a limited traffic in 

 manufactured goods from Germany, Austria, 

 and Hungary, which are shipped down the 

 river in the vessels of the Austrian Danube 

 Steam Navigation Company, a privileged cor- 

 poration which monopolizes all the through 

 traffic between Vienna and Galatz, and much 

 of the local traffic on the upper course of the 

 river. The freight-charges by this route are, 

 however, so high that the construction of Rou- 

 manian railroads has taken away a great part 

 of the traffic with the left bank, and the intro- 

 duction of English and Swiss manufactures by 

 the Sulina mouth has diminished the portion 

 which went to Bulgaria. 



The whole tendency of modern progress is 

 to diminish the importance of the Danube as 

 a commercial highway. It is not used as an 

 outlet for Central-European commerce, which 

 finds its way by rail to the German ports on 

 the Baltic and the North seas, or to the Aus- 

 tro-Hungarian ports of Fiume and Trieste on 

 the Adriatic. Even to the countries traversed 

 by its lower and middle course it is only an 

 alternative route, which is losing importance as 

 railroads are extended. The Roumanian Gov- 

 ernment recently acquired the Kustendje- 

 Tchernevoda railroad, and intends to develop 

 Kustendje into its principal seaport. Grain 

 can be shipped across to and loaded in vessels 

 at Kustendje with great saving of time. A 

 bridge over the Danube at Tchernevoda will 

 connect this line with railways coming from 

 the north and west which are being construct- 

 ed. The completion /f the Turkish, Servian, 

 and Bulgarian net-work connecting with the 

 Austro-Hungarian, for which Austria finally 

 succeeded in 1883 in getting a project adopted 

 (see AUSTRIA-HUNGARY), will alter the commer- 

 cial conditions of all Southeastern Europe, and 

 deflect a large part of the Danubian trade. 



Projected Improvements of Navigation. The en- 

 trance of the Danube was rendered passable 

 to ocean-going vessels by the European Com- 

 mission on the plans of Sir Charles Hartley. 

 The Sulina branch was deepened and rectified, 

 and a large volume of water which formerly 

 found an outlet by the St. George's mouth was 

 deflected into this channel. The flow of water 

 at the upper bifurcation, at Ismail Chatal, was 

 also regulated, and a portion of the waters of 



the Kilia branch drawn into the navigable 

 channel. At the London Conference of 1883 

 a second commission was created, which was 

 charged with the task of improving the navi- 

 gation of the Danube from Braila, or Ibraila, 

 up to the Iron Gate. This long middle course 

 of the Danube differs very much from the 

 tranquil stream that traverses the plain below 

 Galatz and issues through the three branches 

 of the delta. It comprises over 450 miles of 

 shifting river-bed, about 300,000 acres in ex- 

 tent. The river is a rapid and turbulent 

 stream, which forms shoals and islands in a 

 few days or hours and constantly changes its 

 channel. It sweeps down immense quantities 

 of ice, moving it with sufficient force to crush 

 the sides of a ship. It is impassable for a 

 large part of the year on this account, and 

 navigation is sometimes dangerous for nine 

 months out of the twelve. It therefore lies 

 beyond the power of engineering skill to ren- 

 der the navigation of the middle Danube pass- 

 able to the class of vessels which ply up to the 

 river-ports below, or safe for any craft. 



Above the Iron Gate, within the Austro- 

 Hungarian dominions, the Danube is the same 

 rapid and ice-swept stream, though less un- 

 stable in its channel than below. The two 

 parts of the river are separated by the difficult 

 and dangerous rapids of the Iron Gate. The 

 removal of the rocky obstructions at that 

 point is a formidable task, but the improve- 

 ment in the facilities of the river-traffic will 

 repay the outlay. This work has been under- 

 taken by the Hungarian "Government. 



Danubian Questions. The Treaty of Paris, con- 

 cluded in 1856, constituted two commissions 

 the European Commission and the Riverain 

 Commission. To the European Commission 

 the control of the river was confided tempo- 

 rarily, and its powers were intended to last 

 but two years. The Riverain Commission was 

 created as a permanent institution, and was 

 expected to take over the functions of the 

 European Commission and to conduct the op- 

 erations for the improvement of the river and 

 regulate the navigation throughout its entire 

 course. As a matter of fact, the Riverain 

 Commission never exercised its powers, while 

 the European Commission was continued pro- 

 visionally, and after carrying out the improve- 

 ments at the Sulina mouth, and deepening that 

 channel to admit sea-going vessels, retained 

 jurisdiction over the navigation of the lower 

 reaches of the river below Galatz Until it was 

 formally recognized in the Treaty of Berlin, 

 and its" functions maintained and prolonged. 

 That treaty provided that Roumania should be 

 represented on the commission, and that the 

 powers of the commission should be exercised 

 as far as Galatz, in complete independence of 

 the territorial authorities. The same instru- 

 ment enacted that regulations in respect to 

 navigation, river police, and supervision above 

 Galatz as far as the Iron Gate should be framed 

 by the European Commission, with the assist- 



