Contacts between the Romanians from Bessarabia and those from the [619792]

Contacts between the Romanians from Bessarabia and those from the
Principality of Moldova during the Period of Russian Government
(1828­1834)
«Contacts between the Romanians from Bessarabia and those from the Principality of
Moldova during the Period of Russian Government (1828­1834)»
by Dionisie Liboni
Source:
Romanian Journal of Modern History (Romanian Journal of Modern History), issue: 1­2 / 2014, pages:
41­52, on  www.ceeol.com .

The Romanian Journa l of Modern History
Vol. V, No. 1 -2, June–December 2014, pp. 41 -52Dionisie LIBONI
CONTACTS BETWEEN THE ROMANIANS
FROM BESSARABIA AND THOSE F ROMTHE
PRINCIPALITY OF MOLDOVA
DURING THE PERIOD OF RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT
(1828-1834)
The present articletries toelucidate the eventful and documentary facts of the
manifestatio n of the relations between Bessarabian Romanians andthose from the
Principality of Moldova from anintegrative perspective .Denying the possibility of
absolutely generalcircumscription within certain typologies , the study highlights
theindividuality of the established aims and thepeopleinvolved. The degree of
opening the border on the river Prut , during1828-1834, produced a debate within
the historiography oftheRepublic of Moldova, the research beingreceptive to
provided evidence withinsupporting bothhypotheses. However, analyzing the
available documentary material ,thisinterstice is characterized by a reduction of the
frequency of trips and commonbusiness, a policyinitiatedby theimperialcentrein
orderto protect its strategic interests atthe political andmilitary level. The obvious
measures of securing the bo rder have produced as a result the bureaucratization of
the procedure, a stricter control of people with these goals, the introduction of
tougher sanctions against thebreach of the sanitary-customs cordon regime. At the
same time the investigation continues byreporting the maintenance of contacts
betweensomeboyar families with the purpose of themanagement ofreal estate and
ofland properties and the decrease inthe number of thos e withfamiliar(private
ceremonies presence )orcommercial purposemanifested at peasants.
Keywords:border, cordon, boyars,sanctions ,press,estates.
The possibility of themovement of peopleandideasbetween the
twosides of the riverPrut, separat ed bycustoms cordon and by theborder
regiments chain installed after the signing of the Treaty of Bucharest (1812)
represents a recentstudydirection of Romanian modern history .The
proposed demarche will try to elucidate certain aspects fromthefactual
MA Student, “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University in Iași, e-mail: [anonimizat] .Access via CEEOL NL Germany

Contacts between the Romanians
42chronology of these contacts in a restrictive periodfrom this point of view.
In an era appreciated byRussian historiography astheculmination of
autocracy1,the government of Nicholas I will represent the least
documented interstice ,being registered the fewest casesof relations of any
kindofthe two components of thePrincipality of Moldova until the
annexation. The contrast is even more striking when compared withthe
previous decade of the installation on the throne ofthe Tsar orwhat will
comeafter the Crimean War .The intensity and frequency of contacts
between Romanians will be more decisive, although their nature and
motivation will be totally different. Of course , mostoftheexisting studies
tryto focus on a more daring treatment of the relations between the
individuals and the groups fromPrincipality of Moldova and Bessarabia
exactlyinthe first decade after 1812thatculminates with the real exodusof
the population from the right side of the river Prutafter the defeat of the
“Filiki Eteria”uprising from1821orthose under the sign of the first
manifestations of modern national consciousness oftheRomanian ethnic
elitesundertheTsaristdomination2.
Identifying the global importance of these relationships is difficult to
realize.Wemust note thatexcessive generalization ortotalmapping in an
identitary , socialand political context of modern type wouldentail the loss
ofrealopticsof these positioning. The discoveries of similarities, although
possible when talking about the cla ssification of contacts or performance of
the typology of individuals, represent only a formal abstraction of the
content. Before a major research, we must take into account the particular
nature, most of the times, of the visits of Romanians from both sid es of the
riverPrut and strict control by the Russian authorities of the people
involved. Of course, the high rank of the peoplewho were making the trips
1A. Presniakov, Rossiiskie samoderj țî, Moskva, 1990, p. 268,apudL.Vâskocikov,
Nikolai I,Moskva, 2003, p. 246.
2The most representative study dedicated to the history of contacts between the
Principality of Moldova and Bessarabia is represented by chapter III of Contactele între
românii de pe ambele maluri ale Prutului în perioada țaristăfrom the work of Dinu Poștarencu,
Destinul românilor basarabeni sub dominație țaristă , Chișinău, 2012, pp. 247 -333. Among the
publications regarding the Romanian presscirculation in Be ssarabia we can remark those
ofMaria Danilov, Presa și cenzura în Basarabia. Documentar (secolul al XIX -lea–începutul
secolului la XX -lea),Chișinău, 2012, andBiblioteca boierului Constantin Tufescu. Reconstituiri
(prima jumătate a secolului al XIX -lea), in“Tyragetia ”, Volume VI (XXI), N o. 2, 2012 ,pp. 193-
202.Also, we discover certain methodological considerations regarding the possibilities of
interaction between the Romanians separated by the bord er atIulianFruntașu, O istorie
etnopolitică a Basarabiei .1812-2002, Chișinău, 2002.

Dionisie LIBONI
43and the severity of the problems mentioned for the motivation of the travel
favoured such a demarche .Therefore ,such actions usuallyhadan individual ,
preliminary and inconsistent character . Also, we have to remark that we
cannot highlight a “ collective ”, a common identification of Romanian
identity in this period or defensive measures of cultural expr essionunder
foreign domination3.Another aspect of the problem is represented by
understanding the legal and practical mechanisms of existence and
development of the control on border. In order to address this issue there
aretwo relevant historiographica l hypotheses. The first theory, a minor
one, developed in recent historiography by Iulian Fruntașu is focused on
the logic alfact that in the context of expansionary projects in Balkans and
of the period of activity of the Russian administration in Moldova , the
border was open. As a reference source for this conclusion served the work
of the historian from interwar period, Ion Nistor, author who claimed that
in the first decades after the annexation, the traffic on Prut was quite
accessible.4The second, su pported by most of the current researchers from
theRepublic of Moldova, finds that the border was almost hermetically
closed because of the cordons on Prut and Danube, on the one hand and
the one on Dniester (suppressed by imperial decree on 26September 1830)5,
on the other hand .
A peculiarity of t hefourthdecade of the 19thcenturyis represented
bythede factocontrol of the entire territory of the former Moldova by
Russian administration during the period 1828 -1834. For Russia,
monitoring these regi ons represented a reason for the implementation of
the reforming project and of the civilization experiments from theimperial
point of view6.Favourable circumstances allowed Pavel Kiseleff, the
plenipotentiary chairman of theDivans of Moldova and Wallac hia, to
monitor the situation even on the right bank of the riverPrut, exercising
control over the publications “Albina Românească” and “Curierul
3Andrei Cu șco,The attitude of the local Romanian Population of Bessarabia Towards the
Russian Autho rities and the problem of the “Reactive identity” , inAUDJ, Istorie, Issue 19, Vol. I,
2002, p. 69 .
4Ion Nistor, IstoriaBasarabiei ,Chișinau, 1991, p .259.
5SeealsoIulian Fruntașu, op.cit., pp. 33-34,and Valentin Tomuleț, Considerații
privind regimul vamal al Basarabiei în perioada 1812 -1830,in“Tyragetia ”, Vol.VI-VII, 1998,
p.210; Maria Dani lov,Presa și cenzura în Basarabia , pp. 64-65.
6Gabriel Leanca , Orientalisme, construction territoriale et histoire urbane: l’exemple de
l’occupation m ilitaire russe des principautés de Moldavie et de Valachie (1828 -1836), in“Cahiers
de laMéditerrannée ”,Tome 86 ,No.2, June 2013, p. 180.

Contacts between the Romanians
44Românesc”7.The physical and metaphysical circulation was limited even
by the imperial legal package. In thisrespect, we must emphasize the
impactoftwo normative acts ofreference : the censure statute approved by
the Governing Senate in 1826 and the Ministry of Finance memorandum on
increase of border guard forces in Novorossia and Bessarabia, promulgated
bytheRussian Tsar in 1835. Despite effective and comprehensive
prohibitions, the contacts had continuity, including the movement of the
instruments of culture8.A major impetus for maintaining the relationships
between peoplefrom both sides of Prut was the regulating of land
ownership status found in the custody of the Romanians from the
principality in Bessarabia and vice versa. We know from primary sources
the fact that the stipulation contained in the seventh article of the Treaty of
Bucharest (1812), whe reby the owners from Moldova are given a period of
18 months to sell their estates in Bessarabia, was extended bythe
application term several times. According to data submitted by Bessarabian
researcher DinuPoștarencu, in 1835 at least 70 boyars and 13 ecclesiastical
institutions from Moldova and Wallachia still held estates on the left side of
Prut9.As a consequence ,the management of these properties requires the
personal presence of the boyars or their re presentatives in cases claiming
such a condition10.The commercial activity of trading land properties has
not been stopped after 1812 and we know such cases even during the
Russian occupation of Moldova. Thus, through an announcement placed on
the pages o ftwo editions of the magazine “ Albina Românească”, the
readers were informed that Aga Scarlat Donici was selling an estate in the
Hotin County “on the Border to Bucovin a, given in possession for 240 silver
rubles a year ”.The transaction must have been done at an auction, the
winner pay ing the amount in Dutch ducats or silver rubles. It was
mentioned that the contract would have been concluded for a period of
four years11.
With the expiry of the regulations regarding the preferential rules of
sales and acquisitions of estates in Bessarab ia, the owners from Moldova
will face major obstacles in regional judicial instances. The owners will
address theregional Prosecutor and State Chancellor withpetitions
7Onisifor Ghibu, De la Basarabia rusească la Basarabia românească ,Bucharest, 1997,
p.XXXIV.
8Dumitru Micu, Scurtă istorie a literaturii române , Vol.I, Bucharest , 1994, p. 168.
9See the full list in Dinu Po ștarencu, op.cit., pp. 249-251.
10Ibidem, p. 252.
11“Albina românească ”, IV,No. 1,5 January 1832, p. 4; No. 2, 7 January 1832, p.8.

Dionisie LIBONI
45contesting the decisions of the Civil Court from Chi șinău. The court forces
the inhabitants of Moldova to pay customs fees for the procedure of
extraction of capital from the Russian Empire12.After an activeinter-
ministerial correspondence regarding the complaints, thecases will be
resolved in favour of the owners fromprincipality . With the imperial
decree from 8April1847 there were reconfirmed the privileges granted to
monasteries and private owners by which they could freely use their
properties and was cancel led the payment of fees and excises13.
Thearchive funds of administrative courts from Moldova and
Bessarabia keep a large number of files which reveal the fact of existence of
some common business or of solving of some problems that were involving
the implication on the territory of both countrie s. A part of these complaints
were representing consequences of the dr amatic events of 1821, when many
oftheacquirements were lost because of Turkish intervention.
An inhabitant of t he region of Bessarabia, from Bă lți, asked Policarp,
son of Petru Donts ov, to take action to recover the ho use, goods and
counters from Iaș i.Inheriting it from his parents , the owner was doing
business on account ofthepassport until the events of 1821. The petitioner
estimated the cost o f losses up to the amount of 14, 867lei. The inhabitant of
BălțiCity also considered the submitting of a complaint to the Russian
consul in IașiCity14.From an address dated7 July1830, of the Spiritual
Dicastery from Chișinău city to the one of Iașicity, it is related the case of
an inhabitant of the capital of Moldova, Ioan Stolnic. The inhabitant of Iași
city, with his family, has taken refuge in Bessarabia “duringthetroubled
conjuncture that was in Moldova in 1821”15.Although he decided to go
home, the wife Eufrosinia, the daughter M aria Hamamjiesi , under the
pretext of paying some debts remained in Chișinău .His attempts ,
including sending 400leito hiswife had no result. Finally, Stolnic asked
12TheState Chancellor ’sinvestigation was initiated on the solving of the file of
the tutor of Ch urch“Adormirea Maicii Domnului” (“Assumption of theVirgin Mary ”) in
Bârlad and the owner of an estate in Hotin district, Tanas Hadji Kalciun, whichconfirms
the completion of a sale of some parts of the estate of the village Forostna to t he wife of
TutorCounsellor ,Zapesoșnaia. The regional prosecutor addressed to higher courts in
order to clarify the sale of properties from Russia which belong to foreigners ( Zapiski
Bessarabskogo Oblastnogo Statisticekogo Komiteta,TomeIII,Prilojenia , Kișinev, 1868, p .16).
13Ibidem, p. 17.
14ANI,Paul Gore Fund, Package I, File No. 9/1824.
15Ibidem, FileNo. 32/1830.

Contacts between the Romanians
46the Dicastery to approve his application for divorce, fact denied by the
courts in IașiandChișinău16.
Between peopleonbothsides of the border there were disputes,
mainly regarding financial disagreements. Through a circular of Russian
Administration in Mold ova it was intended to forward the resolution of the
case of a Bessarabian inhabit ant–Ioan Danabasoglo to Russian Consulate
inIași. The individual was in a dispute state with the Greek Iakov Dumitriu
because of a repeated postponing of a debt of 2500 lei17.There have been
cases of presence of people with high ranks from theDanubian
Principalities in Bessarabia. Thus, on 15 January 1832,“has arrived in our
Capital, ( Iași–our note) the HolyFather: Kir Grigore, Bishop of Wallachia ,
who, coming from Bessarabia, returns home ”18.
Inthis news was mentioned aboutthe return of Grigorie D ascălul,
Metropolitan of Wallachia, foundfrom1829in exile. Such events
maintained thememory of the ritual unitybetween theRomanian
Principalities and Bessarabia, under the conditions of alertexclusions of the
useof the Romanian language in thereligious services in the Russian
region.
Remains notably the fact that in other spheres such as medicine
collaboration and even experience exchange existed. Arelevant episode
which fully reveals this interaction is represented by the physician Aleksei
Tesa. He realized several successful eyesurgery in Bessarabia .Being
specialized in treatment of cataract ,TesawasinvitedinIașito perform
interventions on people selected by thehealthCommittee .InSeptember
1834,the doctor was allowed to exercise his profession in Moldova too , the
patients couldaddress, in order to obtain the method of treatment, toan
apothecary inIași19.
In1833-1835,there was a strong social outlaw movement in
Bessarabia .The most famous groupwasled byTudorTobultoc (Olteanu)20.
16Ibidem.
17Idem, Russian governme nt of Moldova Fund, Package 83,Op. I-92,FileNo.
883/1831.
18“Albina Românească ”,IV,No. 5,17January 1832, p.17.
19“Albina Românească”,VI,No.83, 27September 1834 , p.321.
20Tudor Olteanu (nicknamed Tobultoc) was born in 1805 in the village Hincăuți,
Hotin County. The outlawwas born in a family of peasants fromin Bucovina. His battle
method consisted of coordinating groups led by close people: Ustin Litto, Irimia Josan, Ion
Popa, Ion Țurcanu etc. In case of substantial actions, the number of the detachment could
reach up to 150 -200people. He was famous for his tenacity and courage, managing to
escape from captivity several times. He was killed on 3April 1835, after the execution of 50

Dionisie LIBONI
47Hisraidswerehardlystopped byRussian military units andthe incidents
were recorded in several Bessarabian counties andnot only.Froma piece of
newswe find out the fact
“thatforawhileBessarabia was troubled by bands of thieves
who,passing by on both sides of theriverPrut,sowfearamong
inhabitants ”21.
Byanofficial letter ,the civil governor of Bessarabia ,PavelFyodorov ,
informed theconsular agentin Galati ,Arghelop thattheoutlaw,inventing
means, waspassingfreely over the Danube , opening a boothatIsaccea in
Dobrogea22.
The prevention of unrecorded border crossings represented a
constant preoccupatio n of the authorities who will gradually try to increase
the penalties for this type of offenc e.Inthe first years after the annexation,
these cases werepunished ,most of the times, with preventive arrest and
the imposition of the interdiction to leavethe quarantine23.Over time, the
sanctions will be tightened. On the occasion of military preparations
previous to the presentation of the declaration of war in 1828, the Russian
administration was concerned by the signals of these cases that could
disrupt th e realization of Russian plans regarding the Ottoman Empire. In a
report addressed to the emperor that was dated 11 October 1827, Count
Pavel Pahlen, interim general governor of Novoro ssia24, reported the
episode of two Jew’ s secret crossing over the r iverPrut.The official
concluded that only the introduction of death penalty, serving as an
example for othervillains, couldstopcommitting some crimes related to
theobservance of the quarantine regime. The resolution written by
Nicholas I on thisactwasclarifying andexpressive :
shots by the executioner (Dumitru Moldovanu, Haiducul Tobultoc, Chișinau, 1989, pp. 15 -16;
Anton Moraru ,Ohranka Rusiei țariste , in“Literatura și Arta ”, Chișinău,No. 26,22 March
2012, p.3).
21“Albina Românească ”,VII,No.16, 24 February 1835, p.65.
22Dumitru Moldovanu, op.cit., p. 130.
23Dinu Poștarencu, op.cit., p. 256.
24Pavel Pahlen is found in the function of general governor of Novorossia and
Plenipotentiary resident of Bessara biawith the aim to compensate the lack of Vorontsov
who was ,at that moment , in St. Petersburg (A. Nakko, Ocerk grajdanskogo ustroistva
Bessarabskoi oblasti s 1812 -1828 g., in“Zapiski Imperatorskogo Obșestva Istorii i Dre vnostei”,
TomeXXII, Odessa, 1900, p. 220).

Contacts between the Romanians
48“Pass the guilty ones byonethousand people 12 times .Thank
God, herethere was nodeath penalty and Iwill notintroduce it”25.
In thedetriment of considerable effortmade by the imperial
authorities in order to diminish thefrequency of unauthorized crossings
overPrut,there was a need to strengthen thesecurity. After the end of the
Russo-Turkish war, itwill beapproved a legislative act that will increase
the number of staffof thecustoms guardsin NewRussia(Novorossia)and
Bessarabia and its turn into aborderservice.Byits titleand content, the
statement of Ministry of Finance from 29 March 1835, will perform a
displacement of emphasis as regards the border protection system
objectives. By that time, the Russian state watched rather the realization of
protectionist trade policy through which was attempted to limit the import
of products competing for its domestic market and the fight against
smuggling. However, through the occurred changes, the authorities in St.
Petersburg will favo ur the general control of goods and people, causing a
more political shade, and therefore a more restrictive one fo r the access of
that entire meant “intruder ”. The authorities have initiated measures of
determination and installation o f some new control posts. A considerable
role in the adoption of these measures played the count Mi khail Vorontsov,
General Governor of Novoro ssiaand Bessarabia. Expressing his
disagreement with the opinions expressed by the heads of customs cordon,
Vorontsov takes steps in order to modify the existing situation. As a basis
for approving the new measures were the established earlier decisions to
amend the Statutes of the Azov Sea and moving the border control from the
Danube from Chilia arm to St. George26.Through a resolution addressed to
the Ministry of Finance in February 1834, Vorontsov proposed a significant
increase of military personnel on border, measures through which the
expenses for its maintenance would have reached annually 840. 000 rubles.
Eventhe officials of the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Internal were
25This famous statement of Nicholas I may be a mark of hypocrisy. It isabout
punishment , called beating in“stroi”(group).Beingborrowed from the military,this
physical “correction” consisted in a successive thrashof thesanctioned personwitharod-
Spießruten between two columns of people. Most of the times, the accused died from
bleeding and infections (Imperatorî Alexander I iNikolaiI.1812-1855,in“Russkiiarhiv”,
TomeXL, 12,XIV,December 1883 , p.660).
26PolnoesobraniezakonovRossiiskoi imperii ,SecondCollection , TomeX,First section,
1835,SaintPetersburg, 1836, p. 284.

Dionisie LIBONI
49reluctant to these measures. Thus, to the project were added the following
objections: the decrease of financial claims, the consolidation of the service
when existing epidemics, the d ecreased of staff in certain segments,
particularly in the customs district Ismail. After the Tsar’ sapproval, the
security services wereextended with 30 officers and 2379lower-rank
officials, andtheexpenses for its maintenance increased by 591.800 rub les27.
The memorandum recorded also the motivation of general governor,
highly opportune in order to understand the optics of Russian governors .It
states that the number of border guards had to be enoughin order to secure
thecrossings over the Danube andPrut, because therecoulddockships,
and inthe case of thesecond water, it waspossible the maintenance of
connections between the villagers fromscattered villages along the river,
taking into account itslower depth .Also, the source concluded the f act that
strengthening the border was necessary not only for extirpation of plague
and smuggling, but also to annihilate the unfriendly attempts, bringing the
example of the rebellion from Lithuanian provinces in 183128.
The most eloquent testimonies ofambientinterferences of the two
tornareasare those of the activityof some cultural personalities, whowith
their destiny had been attached to thetwospaces.From this point of view,
thefault line between the two areas is less obvious than the political,
economic and social ones. Talking about cases,few innumber, but coherent
and the discussion of whichmightgravitate aroundthebuiltconceptual
assembly .It is not less important to mention that the identification of the
examples was focused on the criteria of the manifestation of development ,
durability ,clarityofexposed message. Avaluable testimony about the
condition of theRomanian culturein Bessarabia is left to us by IonNistor,
who mentions the contribution of Constantin Stamati, AlecuLeonard,
VasileCațâche, Constantin Tufescu inmaintaining it inBessarabia29.The
caseofthe first researcher of genealogies of noble families from Bessarabia30,
Constantin Tufescu, maybe relevant to the studyfrom the reason of the
existence ofevidences which demonstra te thatthisofficialwould have had
contacts withthe environment ofboyarsfromIași.He alsohosted,several
times,his brother -in-law,Dumitrache Bran, animportant governor of
27Ibidem, p. 285.
28Ibidem, pp. 285-286.
29Ion Nistor, op.cit., p. 259.
30Gheorghe Bezviconi, Contribuții la istoria boierimii basarabene , in“Dintrecutul
nostru”,No. 17-20, February –May 1935, p. 6, apudMaria Danilov, Biblioteca boierului
Constantin Tufescu , p. 193.

Contacts between the Romanians
50Divanof Moldova31.Likeformanyaristocratic families in Moldova, the
moment 1812 represented adecisive turn for the generation Tufescu,
rewriting theirbiography .Born in IașiCounty on9November 1793,he
received an inheritance from his mother ,Paraschiva Iurascu,the estate
fromVulpești(Iașicounty,resident inBălți).Thus, unlikehis elder brother ,
Grigorie, he was to passon the left side of the Prut .Because he had not
reached the officiallegalage(25 years) ,Iurașcuhas entrusted the
administration of the estate to the twodesignated tutors:the cupbearer
TomaStamati(brother of the writer Constantin Stamati)andthe lord
steward Manolachi Andriașunder the following conditions :
“Not to sell the estate andnot tolease itmore than for three years
(…)andhelp him asif he were theirownson”32.
In 1814, beingonly 20 years old , hereceives thecollegedegreeof
lower register (according to Tableofranksof the Russian Empire -official
classXIV)33.After a decade of continuous professional activity , the official
beginsasuccessful legalcareer.By an act from January 31, 1825, Tufescu is
elected by the nobility of the region in the position of member of the Court
in Hotin. After a pause of three years from the moment of completion of
exercising the mandate, in 1831, he is elected to a similar function, but thi s
time in Iașicounty. Over four years, we attest him in the function of
College Advisor34.
In thepersonal archive ofTufescu familywere kept ,among other
valuable papersfor research , several passports: fourissued by the civil
governor of Bessarabia and twobythe“Administrative Council ofthe
Principality of Moldova ”.Thoseissued by the Russian Empire had an
utility aim : the access to travelsinMoldova , alongwith his wife ,“Catinca”
Ecaterina , bornBranand a few servants, andthose from the principality–
forCatincaTufescu andGypsy slaves who were travelling tothe estate in
IașiCounty.Not less important is the mandate addressed by the major
Theodore Cazimir to Tufescu by which he delegates him the power to
achieve the division of estates of Ruxandra Cazimir (Voinescu) in
31Maria Danilov, Biblioteca boierului Constantin Tufescu ,loc.cit.
32Ștefan Ciobanu, Arhiva unei familii boierești din Basarabia din prima jumătate a
veacului al XIX -lea,in“Universul ”,Bucharest,No. 97, 10April 1933, p. 1.
33A. Mankov (coord.), Rossiiskoe zakoodatelstvo X -XX vv.: v 9 tomah , Tome 4,
Moscow, 1986,pp. 60-61.
34Ștefan Ciobanu, op.cit., p. 1.

Dionisie LIBONI
51Bessarabia between the major and his brothers –chamberlain ( postelnic)
Răducanu and collector of duties on spirits Costachi. The author concluded
the fact that through the attestation of mainta ining of individual relat ions
between elite representatives on both sides of the border:
“Tufăscu family, likeCazimir andlike most boyar families then,
maintained close ties with Moldova ”35.
JudgeC.Tufescu wasthe owner of animpressive personal library
consisting of 239volumes.Realizing theirinventory ,it was found that “the
vastmajorities are Romanian” andthepossession of thoseelaborated in
Russian language hadautilitarian purpose .The titles suggest their legal
character, representing laws and regulations. Moreover, the researcher
noted,in asurprising modethat“until the end of his life he had written in
theRomanian language ”36.
Ingeneral, the movement of the press and of foreign literature was
regulated andsubject to strict control bycensorship institution sfrom the
moment of crossing the border anduntil the moment it reached the
destination :simplereader.The status of censorship in1826defined the
procedure of verification of books and newspapers in Romanian language
whicharrived in Bessarabia. The in stitutional system of censorship in the
Russian Empire was complex , with a well-defined hierarchy .Locally, the
function was exercised by Section III ofpolice under the Civil Governor’ s
Chancellery inChișinău .Its activity wassupervised by the Committee of
censorship ofGeneral Governor's Chancellery ofNovoros siain Odessa .
Ultimately, the most dangerous casesforadministration arrived at
Committee ofcensorship in St. Petersburg37.On22November 1828, the
Minister of PublicEducation presented to Foreign Censorship Committee
the new measures for tightening the control of publications in several
countries , including the Ottoman Empire (Principality of Moldova being a
part of it )38.Inofficial documen tsconfirming the delivery of some
publications overcustoms cordonlimits were indicated onlysummary
35Ibidem.
36Ibidem, p. 2.
37Sbornik postanovlenii po țenzure s 1720 po 1862 g. , SaintPetersburg, 1862, p. 131.
38Ibidem, pp. 211-212.

Contacts between the Romanians
52information withthe title: “packets with newspapers inforeigndialect”,
although there were exceptions39.
In the spirit of disclosure of these micro -coordinates of the relations
positioning between the peoples on both sides of the border on the Prut, it
is obvious the duplicity of their character. On the one hand, these ensured
the persistence of some traditio nal connections until 1812 and limited after
that date. The familiar, interpersonal relationships gave way to others,
more pragmatic and legislated from the legal point of view, of economic
nature.On the other hand , therelations from the period of military
occupation of Moldova showed the sporadic , isolated character ,
determined by the obstacles imposed by the Russian government .The
sphere of their actionexceeded , however, the limits ofahumanfieldof
activity, knowing the diversity. The specificity of these contacts reveals to
usnot only the peculiarities of protectionist customs policy ,in a general
sense,of theRussian state,but also the ofwhole bureaucratic assembly of
the Emperor Nicholas I.
39Such a case is to be found in a report of an official of the Counting Room of
regional Post office to Governor PavelFedorov, from28February 1836,by which was
mentioned aboutwithholding in Sculeni cust omsof“8 kgof newspapers in French and
Moldovan dialect”(MariaDanilov, Presa și cenzura în Basarabia , p.66).