u by 1* 



GYPSY I^LOWE:r girls 



The gypsies are very numerous in Rumania, and, like most of their brethren the world 

 over, they are none too fond of work. Consequently they are seldom found in any of the 

 steady manual occupations, as they prefer to be flower-sellers, musicians, peddlers, or to 

 follow any employment which permits them to cling to their traditional vagabond existence. 



henzollern-Sigmaringen. The Confer- 

 ence of Paris declared Prince Charles' 

 election void ; but, acting boldly on the 

 instigation of Bismarck, this young man 

 of 27 went straight to Bucharest, where 

 he has since ruled with distinguished 

 wisdom, satisfying the very powers that 

 opposed him. 



It will be seen that defiance of the so- 

 called Concert of Europe, so strikingly 

 evident in the past 12 months, has pre- 

 cedents in Balkan history. 



Prince Charles had received a military 

 training in Germany, and he brought to 

 his adopted country German ideas of dis- 

 cipline and government. In a very few 

 years Rumania bore evidences of his 

 capable influence. Prince Charles ob- 

 tained from his suzerain, the Sultan — 

 ''blissfully unconscious of the use to 

 which they would be put" — -permission to 

 organize a militia of 30,000 men. 



By one of those several reform move- 



ments such as have been seen in Turkey 

 in more recent years, a constitution was 

 proclaimed in Constantinople in 1876, the 

 famous constitution of Midhat Pasha. 

 This constitution — the prototype of that 

 of 1908, which brought similar disasters 

 in its trail — proclaimed the indivisibility 

 and unity of the empire, including the 

 privileged provinces. Indignation at 

 Bucharest was intense, for under the 

 rule of Prince Charles the Rumanians 

 had come to consider the suzerainty of 

 the Sultan a matter of mere form. This 

 was a moment for them to achieve full 

 independence and here was excuse for 

 proclaiming it. 



Rumania's PART in tpik war of 1877 



To make the issue doubly sure, Ru- 

 mania signed a secret convention with 

 Russia in April, 1877, permitting the 

 armies of the Czar to cross their country 

 again in order to drive the Turks out of 



1069 



