In the course of the last century, a variety of Greek princes succeeded to each other in the government of the principalities. One alone, Constantine Marrocordato, appointed in 1735 to Wallachia, devoted himself with zeal to the welfare of the country. Some wise institutions, to which we shall have occasion to advert in the sequel, attest the liberality of his views, and a generosity of character which is not to be traced in any of his successors. But he was twice recalled, because he refused to comply with demands of the Ottoman government, which appeared to him incompatible with duties he owed to the Wallachians. The other princes, less scrupulous, and more careful of their own interests, marked their administration by the most violent acts of extortion, and an invariable system of spoliation. Few of them died of natural death, and the Turkish scymetar was, perhaps, frequently employed with justice among them. In a political point of view, the short reigns of most of these princes offer nothing of sufficient importance or interest to deserve a place in history. CHAPTER II. INAUGURATION OF THE HOSPODARS—PRESENT FORM OF GOVERNMENT—LOCAL LAWS—TRIBUNALS OF JUSTICE—MEMBERS OF THE DIVAN AND OTHER PUBLIC FUNCTIONARIES—DISTRICTS—CAÏMACAM OF CRAYOVA—ISPRAVNIKS. The princes of Wallachia and Moldavia, since the choice of them falls on the Greeks, receive their investiture at the Porte, with the pomp and ceremonies usually observed on creating _Pashahs_ and _Veziers_. The _Kukka_, or military crest, is put on their heads by the _Muzhur Aga_, and the robe of honour is put on them by the Vezier himself. They are honoured with the standards and military music, and make their oaths of allegiance in the presence of the Sultan, to whom they are introduced with the ceremonies usual at a public audience. From the seraglio, they go in solemn and ostentatious procession to the patriarchal church, where prayers and ceremonies are performed similar to those which were formerly observed at the inauguration of the Greek Emperors. They are accompanied to their principalities by the Turkish officers appointed to install them. They make their public entry into the capital of their new sovereignty with a great display of magnificence, attended by the metropolitan and dignified ecclesiastics, the members of the divan, and the chief Boyars. They assume, from the ceremonies which are practised, the title of “God’s Anointed.”[18]