Rumania was now comparatively, but not entirely, free from fears of serious foreign complications. Austria and Relations with Russia and Austria-Hungary. Russia alike resented the decision to fortify Bucharest and the Sereth line, adopted by the Rumanian government in 1882. Relations with Russia had remained strained ever since the war. The delimitation of the Dobrudja frontier was still unsettled, and owing to Russian opposition was not finally disposed of till 1884. Expenses incurred during the war led to much controversy, especially when the Russian government claimed the return of £120,000 advanced to enable the Rumanians to mobilize, and considered by them as a free gift. A compromise was made, both parties withdrawing their claims, in April 1882.
Relations with Austria-Hungary were also on a very unpleasant footing. There were two principal subjects of discord—the navigation of the Danube (q.v.) and the “national question,” i.e. the status of the Vlach communities outside Rumania, and especially in Transylvania and Macedonia (see Vlachs and Macedonia). The Danube question became acute in 1881, 1883 and 1899; the national question is a more permanent source of trouble, affecting Austria-Hungary, Greece, Turkey and Bulgaria. King Charles, who naturally favoured the ally of Germany, and Bratianu, who regarded Russian policy with suspicion, endeavoured to promote a better understanding with Austria-Hungary. But there was a strong anti-German party in the country, especially among the old boiars and the peasantry. Community of creed, ancient traditional influence, the entire absence of Russian merchants, and the consequent avoidance of many small commercial rivalries, contributed to bring about a sort of passive preference for Russia, while the bitter disputes that had occurred with Germany on the question of railway finance had left a very hostile feeling.
In March 1883 the government decided to introduce various important changes into the constitution. Three electoral colleges Revision of the Constitution, 1883-84. were formed instead of four; a considerable addition was made to the numbers of the senate and chamber; trial by jury was established for press offences, except those committed against the royal family and the sovereigns of foreign states; these were to be tried by the ordinary tribunals without jury. A bill was passed endowing the crown with state lands, giving an annual rent of £24,000 in addition to the civil list fixed in 1866 at £49,000; another measure granted free passes on the railways and an allowance of £1 daily during the sitting of parliament to all senators and deputies. The revision of the constitution had estranged the two heads of the Liberal party, I. C. Bratianu, who was mainly responsible for the new measures, and C. A. Rosetti, who unsuccessfully advocated reforms of a far more democratic character. These two had been united by a most intimate friendship. One had never acted without the other. Rosetti was said to be the soul whilst Bratianu was the voice of the same personality. Henceforward Bratianu had sole control of the Liberal government. The revising chambers having fulfilled their special mandate, were dissolved in September 1884, and a new parliament assembled in November, the government, as usual, obtaining a large majority in both houses.
Since 1876 Bratianu had exercised an almost dictatorial
power, and anything like a powerful parliamentary opposition
Coalition of parties against I. C. Bratianu, 1883-88.
had ceased to exist. But he had been too long in
power; the numerous state departments were
exclusively filled with his nominees; and some pecuniary
scandals, in which the minister of war and other
high officials were implicated, helped to augument his
fast-growing unpopularity. New parties were formed in
opposition, and the National Liberal and Liberal-Conservative
parties combined to attack him. The first of these
maintained that the government should be essentially Rumanian,
and, while maintaining friendly relations with foreign Powers,
should in no wise allow them to interfere with interal affairs.
They also advocated reduction of expenditure and the
independence
of the magistracy. The Liberal-Conservatives held
generally the same views, but had as their ideal of foreign
policy a guaranteed neutrality. Another party which now
attracted considerable attention was that of the Junimists,
or Young Conservatives. The name was taken from the
Junimea, a literary society formed in Jassy in 1874 by P.
Carp, T. Rosetti, and Maiorescu, and transformed into a political
association in 1881. Their programme for home affairs
involved the amelioration of the position of the peasantry and
artisan classes, whose progress they considered had been
overlooked, the irremovability of the magistracy, and a revision
of the communal law in the sense of decentralization. In
financial matters they advocated the introduction of a gold
standard and the removal of the agio on gold, also the
introduction of foreign capital to develop industries in the country;
and as regards foreign policy, they were strong advocates of
intimate and friendly relations with Austria-Hungary.
Elections for a new chamber took place in February 1888, and the
whole of the leaders of the opposition were elected, including
Dimitrie Bratianu, the premier's brother, and Lascar Catargiu.
I. C. Bratianu definitely retired on the 4th of April, after having
held the premiership for twelve eventful years. Had he
continued much longer in office it is probable that there would
have been a revolutionary movement against the dynasty.
During the previous parliament a Conservative manifesto,
signed by Catargiu, D. Bratianu and other leaders of the
opposition, openly threatened that if the ministers were not
removed before the general election, the responsibility would
be thrown, “not on those who served the crown, but on him
who bore it”; and the name of Prince George Bibescu had
been openly mentioned as a possible successor.
In the new chamber elected in October 1888 only five members of Bratianu's party retained their seats. The most prominent The Conservative-Junimist coalition, 1888-95. statesman in the new Conservative-Junimist administration was P. Carp, who in the spring of 1889 succeeded in passing a bill which authorized the distribution of state lands among the peasantry. Despite this admirable measure, he was unable to retain office, and three changes of ministry followed. The Conservative-Junimist parliament nevertheless restored tranquillity to the country. On the 22nd of May 1891, the 25th anniversary of the king's accession was celebrated with great enthusiasm. Meanwhile the gold standard had been introduced (1889), and the financial situation was regarded as satisfactory. In December 1891 a stable cabinet was at last formed by Lascar Catargiu. The new ministry during their four years' tenure of office passed several useful measures through parliament. The state credit was improved by the conversion of the public debt; the sale of the state lands to the peasantry was actively continued; a law was passed making irremovable the judges of the court of appeal and the presidents of tribunals, and other important judicial reforms were carried out; a mining law was passed with the object of introducing foreign capital; and the commercial marine was developed by the formation of a state ocean service of passsenger and cargo steamers. Great reforms, which had been unsuccessfully attempted by former governments, were made in the service of public instruction and in the organization of the clergy. In 1893 and 1894 commercial and extradition treaties and a trade-mark convention were made with Great Britain, Austria-Hungary and Germany. Meanwhile the Liberal opposition was being reorganized. On the death of I. C. Bratianu, in 1891, his brother Dimitrie was proclaimed chief of the united Liberal party, but he also died in June 1892, and the veteran statesman Dimitrie Sturdza was recognized as the head of the Liberals. In 1894 he started a very violent agitation in favour of the Rumanians in Hungary. Another popular opposition cry was “Rumania for the Rumanians.” The new mining law, among other concessions, gave foreigners the right to lease lands for long periods for the working of petroleum, and this was denounced by the opposition as being hostile to national interests, and also as being against the spirit of the constitution,
