POPULATION.—TRIBUTE AND TAXES.—OTHER BRANCHES OF REVENUE.—METROPOLITAN
DIGNITY.—MONASTERIES.
The exact number of population in the two principalities has never been
properly ascertained; but the nearest calculation approaches to one
million of souls in Wallachia, and five hundred thousand in Moldavia,
since the last peace of Bukorest.
This population is, in each principality, divided into three distinct
classes; the Boyars, or nobles, of the different orders; the tradesmen
of all descriptions; and the peasants, with others, who are liable to
the common taxes and contributions.
All the male peasants are, by their birth, subject to the capitation
tax, from the age of sixteen; with the exception of some few who compose
a privileged body called _Sokotelniki_, they are divided into
associations called _Loods_, each of which is composed of a certain
number of individuals, from five to ten, according to their respective
means, and pays a fixed sum of six hundred piasters every year to the
prince. According to the registers of the Wallachian Vestiary in 1818,
the total of the _loods_ in the seventeen districts, amounted to
eighteen thousand, which, at the rate of six hundred piasters, gave an
annual income of 10,800,000 piasters.[21] This amount of revenue is
considered as becoming the property of the reigning prince, and not as
due by the inhabitants to the Ottoman government, as some writers have
represented.
The treaties made by Mahomet II. and Suleÿman I. in leaving to Wallachia
and to Moldavia the power of choosing their own princes, bound these
alone to pay an annual tribute; the amount of it was at different
periods increased; but it is now fixed at two millions of piasters for
Wallachia, and one million for Moldavia. The Porte has indeed broken its
original engagements by assuming the exclusive right of giving to those
countries Greek princes instead of their own; but in doing so, the
Ottoman court did not degrade the character of sovereignty inherent in
the native Voïvodes; and if the present princes did not bear that
character, their decisions would not be, as they are, without appeal for
the natives.
The policy of the Porte, and the precarious position of the Greek
Hospodars, have, however, for a long time rendered the fixed amount of
the tribute due to the Porte merely nominal; and it is perfectly
understood that the latter, on receiving their appointments, engage to
satisfy any calls of the Turkish government, of money and other
necessaries.
Besides the _loods_, there are in Wallachia about one hundred thousand
individuals, and a proportionable number in Moldavia, who do not belong
to the class of peasants, but who pay taxes at an equal rate. These are
the tradesmen, Ottoman Jews, and other Rayahs.
The privileged class called _Sokotelniki_ is composed of fifteen
thousand individuals taken from among the peasantry, and who were, till
lately, perfectly exempted from every kind of contribution levied by
government; but within a few years the greater number of them have been
made liable to an annual capitation tax of twenty piasters each.
Their institution dates its origin from a remarkable reform made by
Constantine Mavrocordato, in 1736, when he had the government of both
principalities at the same time.
Until that period, most of the peasants were slaves of the Boyars:
Mavrocordato abolished the system, and no attempt was ever made since to
renew it. In order, however, to indemnify in some measure the Boyars for
the loss of their slaves, he regulated that each should be allowed to
exact from a limited number of his peasants an annual tribute, in any
shape whatever; and that this class of peasants, to whom he gave the
name of Sokotelniki, should be entirely exempted from the burthen of
public imposts.
Every Boyar of the first rank is now entitled to eighty Sokotelniki,
each of whom pays him the annual sum of eighty piasters; some few,
instead of receiving money, employ their Sokotelniki in the cultivation
of their lands, and thus derive a much greater advantage from them.
The privilege, however, is not hereditary either with the possessors, or
the private tributary. Every rank had a fixed number; and by the
inattention and neglect of many princes, as well as by the unceasing
increase of titles of nobility, the Sokotelniki became so numerous, that
in 1814 the government in Wallachia determined to allow no longer to
private individuals a considerable amount of revenue which could be
appropriated to its own use. A new law was therefore made, which formed
into government-loods all Sokotelniki who were not attached to the first
class of Boyars. The institution of this law was warmly supported by the
members of the divan, who, with their equals, had no loss to apprehend;
but it created great discontent in all the other classes affected by it,
and particularly with the Boyars of Crayova, who being more given to
agricultural occupations than the other land-proprietors derived great
advantage from the employment of their Sokotelniki; and they unanimously
determined to oppose the new regulation, as far as it related to
themselves; they threatened to complain to the Porte through the channel
of the Pashah of Widdin, who appeared willing to second their
representations with all his influence. The ferocious Haffiz-Alli[22]
had at that time the government of Widdin; and as he was the prince’s
personal enemy, he would have profited with eagerness of any opportunity
to do him injury. The prince therefore modified the law relating to
Sokotelniki, and those of the Bannat of Crayova were excluded from it.
The following year he succeeded in compelling them to submit to a tax of
twenty piasters each.
Another privileged class exists in both principalities, and is called
_Poslujniki_; its number, however, is far inferior, and it is composed
of some of the foreign peasants who come from Bulgaria, Servia, and
Transylvania, to settle in the principalities.
The Poslujniki are given to the Greek Boyars, and to foreign residents
of distinction; a custom which has become habitual since upwards of
fifty years. They pay no money to the persons to whom they are attached;
but it is their business to supply them with provisions of wood, barley,
hay, poultry, eggs, butter, and game, in consideration of which they are
exempted from government imposts, and receive some protection from their
chiefs when they experience any vexations from the Ispravniks, or their
subalterns.
Constantine Mavrocordato did not include the gypsies in the abolition of
slavery; we shall place our remarks on this curious people in a more
appropriate chapter.
At the last peace concluded at Bukorest between Russia and the Porte, it
was stipulated that, in consideration of the two principalities having
borne all the weight of the war, they should not, during the first two
years after the day of their restitution, pay any tribute. The agreement
was in the sequel merely observed with regard to the lood-system,
through which it had been always customary before the war to collect the
imposts; and, under a variety of other forms and denominations,
contributions were paid to the Ottoman authorities of an amount
proportionable to the present rates.
The most important regular revenues of the princes, after the _loods_,
are derived from, the following branches:—
PIASTERS.
In Wallachia, the salt mines, which annually give 600,000
The Vamma, or Customs, 380,000
The Port-Establishment 420,000
The Vinaritt, or tax upon wine; Oyaritt, or tax upon sheep; 1,330,000
Dismaritt, or tax upon swine and bees; and a tax upon
cattle feeding upon heaths and commons without licence
—————————
Total 2,730,000
—————————
In Moldavia their annual amount is 1,400,000 piasters.
The administration of these branches of government is always sold to
private speculators; and the above-specified sums have been paid by them
in advance the last six years. Some merchants, and others possessed of
considerable fortunes in the country, have acquired their riches by
these speculations.
In Wallachia it has become customary that most of the public officers
give a share of their profits to the prince, who, according to the
estimate of their amount, receives it in anticipation; the whole
together, with the value of the presents made to him on conferring
titles of nobility, secure to him a private income of about two millions
of piasters.
The metropolitan dignity, and all other sees, are in his gift. The
former is usually granted for life, or for the time of the giver’s
reign. Its revenues amount to four hundred thousand piasters. They are
derived from landed property bequeathed to the metropoly by deceased
boyars and others, and from an annual capitation tax of fifteen piasters
levied on the priests of the lower order, whose number amounts to
fifteen thousand. The claims of the prince on this important revenue are
not so openly avowed as on the civil offices; but they are understood
with the person who is raised to the situation, or is confirmed in it by
the successor.
The bishops of Argis, Rimnik, and Buzéo, are the next ecclesiastical
dignitaries in rank, and the only qualified candidates for the metropoly
among their numerous colleagues. They reside at Bukorest, and they form
the supreme council of the church under the presidency of the
archbishop. This council is the most corrupted tribunal of any in the
country, and its acts and decisions, which proceed from any motives than
those of moral tendency, would seem calculated for no other purpose than
the encouragement of profligacy, and other disorders in the society. The
will of the metropolitan, or that of the prince, is the only rule by
which its concerns are conducted.
The constitution of Moldavia does not permit the prince to interfere
with the affairs of the ecclesiastical council, nor with the financial
concerns of the metropoly. The archbishop is elected by the nobility,
and must be a native. The bishop of Romano, next in rank, is usually
chosen to that dignity. The same regulations ought to exist in
Wallachia, but a series of abuses have there rendered many evils
irremediable.
Both principalities abound with monasteries originally established by
different Voïvodes, and it was a long time customary with the
inhabitants to consider as great acts of piety bequests of lands,
houses, shops, or sums of money, made to them, insomuch that hardly any
rich man died without having allotted a portion of his property to such
a purpose.
These voluntary gifts had so accumulated, and the value of land has so
increased, that some of the monasteries are now the richest
establishments in the country. The greater number are in the gift of the
reigning princes, who let them out for a space of time to the highest
bidders. Others, being dedicated to the patriarchs of Constantinople and
Jerusalem, are disposed of by them; but although the princes cannot
appropriate to their own profit any part of their revenues, as they have
the right of imposing taxes on them upon certain occasions, they
frequently put them under contribution.
Besides the various important branches of revenue hitherto specified,
the reigning princes possess many other means of raising money. The two
principalities are an inexhaustible source of riches to them, and their
proverbial appellation of ‘Peru of the Greeks’ is verified by
experience.