r ^ ^ 



i'hoLo by Frederick ]\ioore 



FRUIT Sj:IvI.^RS at a STRE:e:T corner : BUCHARi:ST 



Great quantities of fruit are grown in Rumania. Apples, pears, medlars, cherries, peaches, 

 apricots, and melons are very plentiful, but the greatest attention is bestowed upon the 

 damson, from which a mild spirit, called tsuica, is distilled. 



quite as many times were the Rumani- 

 ans — and other Balkan races — saved 

 from Russian domination by the inter- 

 ference of other European powers, some- 

 times by recourse to arms. 



HOW RUSSIAN DOMINATION IN THE) 

 BAI^KANS WAS PRKVKNTKD 



In the wars of the czars against the 

 sultans, England — whose policy has al- 

 ways been to oppose the extension of 

 power of the dominating nation of the 

 Continent — took the part of Austria- 

 Hungary. Austria-Hungary could not 

 allow, with safety, the extension of Rus- 

 sian power to her east and south ; and 

 England, rightly jealous of her command 

 of the seas, was no more willing that the 

 great Slav State should extend from the 

 Baltic to the ^gean Sea than she would 

 be today to let the Germanic combination 

 of powers similarly cross the Continent. 



It was at first the plan of England, 

 under the leadership of Disraeli, to make 

 buffers of the Balkan States between 



Russia and Constantinople ; and now, ap- 

 parently, it is her desire, as the result of 

 the triple entente — the menace of Russia 

 having given place to that of Austria- 

 Hungary supported by Germany — that 

 the buffers shall serve to block any Ger- 

 manic extension to the east. 



In defiance of the will of the Sultan 

 and the powers, Moldavia and Wallachia 

 united in the year 1859 ^^^ chose the 

 name of Rumania for their new state. 

 There were fears in Europe — as there 

 were fears in the case of Bulgaria later — 

 that Rumania would become a vassal of 

 Russia and an outpost for her in her 

 march toward the Bosporus and the Dar- 

 danelles. But the defiance of Rumania 

 was permitted to pass imopposed. 



WHAT CAME OE DEIFYING THE POWERS 



In 1866 a foreign prince was elected, 

 native princes having proven failures, 

 for one reason, because there were al- 

 ways too many rival pretenders. The 

 choice fell upon Prince Charles of Ho- 



1066 



