A committee of twenty-eight was appointed to draw up this constitution, conspicuous among whom was M. Pronkoul, one of the most eminent boyars of the country. He had the chief hand in framing the constitution, and he promoted the adoption of its most liberal articles, with a very laudable spirit and much cleverness, no doubt, but with by no means a just discernment of the state of things. As soon as the commission had completed its task, Alexander visited Bessarabia, in 1818, and was welcomed with the most cordial gladness, and the most sumptuous rejoicings. He received from the province a national present of 5000 horses, and was quite amazed at the prosperity and the inexhaustible resources of his new conquest. It was naturally desired to take the opportunity of his presence for the ratification of the new constitution; but that was not to be had so readily, since it brought in question the principle of the political unity of the empire. It was rightly represented to Alexander that it would be imprudent and impolitic to give a final and decisive sanction to a system, the real value and fitness of which could only be made known by time. The emperor yielded to these considerations, and merely ordered that the constitution should be put in force, without prejudice to the future.
The fundamental principles of this constitution were as liberal as possible; too liberal, indeed, to have had the slightest chance of enduring. Bessarabia retained all its nationality; the governor and the vice-governor alone could be Russians, all the other functionaries were to be Moldavians; the province continued to enjoy all commercial immunities, and the finances, too, were under the immediate inspection and control of the natives. To any man of common sense and foresight, the maintenance of such a constitution was a chimera. Was it to be imagined that Russia would allow the subsistence of a conquered province on its extreme frontiers, in contact with Turkey, governing itself by its own laws, and possessing an administration diametrically opposed to that which controls the other governments of the empire?
The Moldavian boyars nevertheless considered the promulgation of the constitution as a victory, and thought in their infatuation they might defy all the chances of the future. But events soon undeceived them, and the mismanagement of their own institutions provoked the first blow against their privileges. In accordance with old customs the government continued to sell the taxes by auction, and they were generally farmed by the great landowners of the province. This vicious system of finance, which had been practised under the Oriental regimen of the hospodars, could not fail to have fatal consequences under the new system of things. As we have already said, Bessarabia had retained her commercial freedom in its full extent after her union with Russia. It rapidly degenerated into an abuse, through the improvident prodigality of the Moldavians, and the extravagant ideas of civilisation and progress that fermented in all their brains; luxury increased beyond measure among the nobles, and Kichinev, the capital, became famous through all the country for its sumptuous festivities, and the wealth of its ware-rooms. The consequence was that the receipts of the treasury proceeded in the inverse ratio of the progress of luxury; and the farmers, whose expenses swallowed up more than the revenue, were last unable to pay the sums they had contracted for. The imperial government was of course indulgent during the first years, and had not recourse to any severe measures. This conduct encouraged the defaulters, and the disorder of the finances at last reached such a pass as called indispensably for the strenuous intervention of the imperial government. The commercial franchises of the province were suppressed therefore in 1822, the prohibitive system of the imperial customs was introduced, and the payment of all arrears was rigorously exacted. This last measure of course gave occasion to endless suits and executions, and so the ruin of the principal families was accomplished at the same time as the destruction of all their political influence, and the government had then only to fix the day when its principles of political unity should have complete force in its new conquest.
The constitution thus impaired, subsisted, however, until the death of Alexander; but on the accession of Nicholas it was completely suppressed; Bessarabia was deprived of all its privileges, and even of its language, and was assimilated in all points of administration to the other provinces of the empire; with the exception, however, that the government, in order to ensure the ulterior success of its measures, took from the inhabitants the right of electing their captain ispravniks, or officers of rural police.[85]