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672 UN DEBAT : LES MENTALTTES COLLECTIYES 16

borę also the eeeds of tbe idea of tardiness of “Oriental” civilisations which was going to be in fashion with intellectuals at the end of the 19th century when renovation often justified the renegation of tradition.

The German Aufklarung with its “popular” character proved easier to be assimilated than other modalities of education in use in other coun-tries : the hooks of Wolff, who had offered the German middle-class the first encyclopaedia to fit their taste, were rapidly translated into Boma-nian. England’s example was often evoked whenever the róle of the press, the impact of technical achievements on social life or the advantage of a solid parliamentary system on an aristoeratic form came into dis-cussion. As a matter of fact, following Dositei Obradović’s advice, Dimitrie ^ichindeal asserted in his fahles that “the English think in a freer way and are the wisest people in the world”. The image of France wituessed an interesting evolution, following closely the process of radicalization of the Eomanian socio-political thought. On the whole, the attraction exerted by “enlightened” Europę offered a solid base to the (Łecision to implant in the Eomanian society similar institutions and activities; “so other nations did and now they shine on thiB earth, and so must we do” DiaconoYici-Loga wrote in Chemarea (The Appeal) of 1821.

The erolution óf the image of France sheds light on the very’evo-lution of socio-political ideas in Eomania. At the beginning, to the Euro-pean prestige of that great nation, the extraordinary echo of the revolution and Napoleonie wars were added, although the news regarding France found access into Eomania through the capitals of her enemies. Dionisie Eclesiarhul, for example, commented in his chronicie what he learned about the warB from the anti-French hooklets printed in Buda. But 8omp other news penetrated through the hulletins printed by the French consuls or the tales told by Transylvanian soldiers who had fought in Italy or AuBtria. While the traditional cultural milieus and mainly the clerics were suspicious of the progress of a morement often directed against oclesiastic privileges, some young boyars, like Grigore FilipeBCu or Ionic& T&utu, or intellectuals like Gheorghe Laz&r really sympathized with the French army’s Yictories. The middle-classes and the peasants cherished the image of a country which seemed to put an end to social ahuses and political corruption. Latet on, after Napoleon’s fali, the image of France continued to dominate the rural milieus where, as some songs show us, the defeated Napoleon seemed to remind the untimely death of Alexander the Great, as well as the urban milieus where the French modeli was considered the most advanced form of social-political life. It is what the study of images tellB us even after 1830 when the direction of ideas. changed again, now with Eomanticism in the ascendancy, so ending the singular tradition which had existed for the last fifty years of the 18th century and the first decade of the 19th, a period of important mental changes known in Eomanian history as the epoch of the Enligh-tenment.