102 EMPLOYMENT OF THE PLEBISCITE [40O 



regions were at the time occupied by some of the Powers 

 concerned and that the settlement of their future adherence 

 to one or the other of the Powers was considered an im- 

 portant item in their peace program.^® The task of finding 

 a solution acceptable to the Great Powers and to the prin- 

 cipalities themselves was aggravated by the fact that even 

 the leading men in the Moldavia and the V^alachia were not 

 in unison in matters affecting the future of their countries. 

 " Some — the greatest number — desire to maintain the suzer- 

 ainty of Turkey as a safeguard aginst Russia, other, the 

 more resolute, demand complete independence. Some wish 

 to place themselves under the government of a foreign 

 prince, hoping thus to eliminate internal rivalry and to give 

 greater prestige to the dynasty, an idea which on the other 

 hand, was repugnant to others or at least seemed to them 

 to be unessential."-" This lack of unanimity at home was, 

 of course, known at Vienna and was used to good advan- 

 tage by the opposing parties until finally the only solution 

 promising a way out of the dilemma was the attempt made 

 by one of the French plenipotentiaries, M. de Bourquenay, 

 to force the issue of the unification of the territories to the 

 fore, the only point on which the Roumanian patriots were 

 known to agree. De Bourquenay submitted a protocol of 

 his government on this point on which, however, no action 

 was taken at the time.-^ The solution of the question was 

 deferred to the final peace conference to be held in the 

 following year at Paris. 



At a preliminary conference of Commissioners in Con- 

 stantinople, Austria submitted a program of government 

 of the principalities. With the support of Turkey the Aus- 

 trian plan found acceptance in a protocol signed by the 

 parties to the preliminary Conference on February ii." 

 The provisions of this plan caused a storm of objections in 



^° J. G. Mano, L'Union des principautes roumaines, Paris. 1900, pp. 

 52-58; N. Jorga, Gcschiclitc dcs rumaiiischcn Volkes, Gotha, 1905, 

 vol. ii. pp. 303-304. 



2" Mano, p. 55. 



21 Ibid., pp. 58-61. 



22 Jorga, p. 304; Mano, pp. 79-81. 



