PERIPLUL DUNĂREAN AL UNUI CORESPONDENT AMERICAN DE RĂZBOI. DE LA PORȚILE DE FIER, LA SULINA, ÎN PRIMĂVARA ANULUI 1877
THE DANUBE JOURNEY OF AN AMERICAN WAR CORRESPONDENT. FROM THE IRON GATES TO SULINA IN THE SPRING OF 1877 YEAR

Summary/Abstract: The Eastern Question and the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 refocused attention of the public and political opinion, not only from Europe, but from the United States of America on one of the most convulsive area of the world, the Balkans, justly named either “the powder keg” of Europe, or “a laboratory of history”. During the war, Romania and its capital housed a lot of observers, special envois, publicists or press correspondents, representing the most important newspapers of the epoch, many of them from America. Their presence in region was not accidentally. It is considered that for the first time during modern wars those journalists had got a special permission to go to the front, either to the Head-quarters of the Army, or even to the outposts. For some of them the adventure was not the first one, they being repeated the Crimean experience (1853–1856). It must be said the increasing American interest in the Balkan region, including Romania, was demonstrated not only at the level of political leaders or circles, but also by publicists, through the appearance, during those years, in Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, New York, Rockland a.s.o. of a certain “histories”, papers or publications dedicated to the conflict in SouthEastern Europe, to the combatants and the peoples affected, with many subjects, chapters, notes and paragraphs dealing with Romanian matters.From the very beginning, they found at the North-Danubian land not only a hospitable and more safety housing, but numerous topics for their journalistic investigations (from cultural, historical, economic, social, politic or national point of view), materialized in large narratives, journals, or letters sent to the editorial offices of which they belonged to. Nevertheless, the RussoTurkish War of 1877–1878 has been considered the last favourable stage in the development of such a kind of journalism, when the presence (even controlled) of the press correspondent at the front, either in outposts, in head-quarters of the Armies, at the Governmental meetings or even to the negotiations table, assured a real historical value to their notes, cable dispatches or special correspondences from that area.The present work, being founded on the most illustrative and comprehensible writings (narratives, notes or correspondences) sent by an American war correspondents from Romania to “The New York Times” newspaper during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878, reconstitutes a distinct episode of the longer “Eastern Question” history, which marked – among other political changes in the Balkans – Romania’s entrance on the European stage, a prestigious and respected state, and a element of order and moderation in the volatile Balkan World. There are described all of his impressions gathered during a long journey, which begun at the Iron Gates, the place where the Danube River gets Romanian territory, and finished to Sulina port, where the river flows into Black Sea. Very interesting news and information are offered to the newspaper readers about the Turkish fortifications on the right bank of the River, both from Serbian and Bulgarian side, starting with Ada-Kaleh Isle, and continuing with Widdin, Rachova, Nikopoli, Sistov, Rustchuk, Turtukai, Silistria, and from Dobrudja: Tchernavoda, Hirșova, Matchin and Sulina. The proclamation of the independence of the Romania national state, strengthened by the actions of its soldiers in the Balkans, who were praised by American press correspondents in the area of the front for their conduct, marked, according to the words of American vice-consul in Bucharest, the admission of Romania into “the great family of nations and its direct and permanent contact with the life, enterprising spirit, and hard work of the West”

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