The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER TUESDAY, AUGUST 29, 1916. RUMANIA.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 26, 29 August 1916, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER TUESDAY, AUGUST 29, 1916. RUMANIA.

One of the most disappointing features of tlio war 'up to this time is the attitude of Rumania. The number of occasions on which we have boon led to believe that at last the moment had arrived and Rumania would take her proper place with the Allies against her hereditary enemies Austria and Turkey, is so great that the present reported taking of tho fateful step must he re-

ceived without too much enthusiasm. Various excuses are made for Rumania’s long delay. Possibly the most reliable writer on Balkan poli- ' tics,- Dr. Dillon, is recently reported to have said that the time was op- ■ portune for Rumania’s intervention,? but he is under no illusion as to the state of feeling there. It may be recalled that even after the breakdown of the attempt to reconstitute the old Balkan League, there were persistent reports that the Rumanians would take tho field on the side of the Al- ' lies, and when Italy joined tho Entente Group there were very confident predictions that Rumania would, follow her example. But Rumania’s then ruler, King Carol, a Hohnzollern by birth prevented anything of the sort, and on his death, though M. . Bratiano, the Premier, seemed inclined to join the pro-Ally movement, he suddenly withdrew and gathered round him a group of noninterventionists. According to Dr. Dillon, John Bratiano is powerful enough to bo described as the dictator of Rumania. “The son of an eminent and deservedly respected statesman,” says Dr. Dillon, “this politician entered public life encircled by the halo of his father’s prestige. Gifted with considerable powers, he owes more to birth than to hard work and self-discipline. The leadership ol the most ' influential parliamentary party fell to him at an ago when other politicians are painfully struggling with the preliminary difficulties in tho way of success, and John Bratiano became the ruler of Rumania without an effort. He is penetrated with an overmastering sense of his own personal responsibility. Finality in matters of momentous decision appears painful to him, and the standard of success which would fairly he applied to the policy of the ordinary statesman seems too lax for the man whose shoulders are pressed down with the weight of the kingdom as it is and the kingdom yet to come. | Hence his anxiety to drive a brilliant f bargain with the Allies and to leave no hold for hostile criticism atl home.” Regarding Al. Take Jonesen, who has unceasingly urged Ru-j mania that her only course is to at once join hands with the Allies, Dr Dillon speaks admiringly, and dubs bim lb - only statesman in Rumania. ’He goes on to say: “Unluckily, be

has long bean out of office, and Ids

party is condemned to the Cassandra role, of uttering true prophecies which find no credence among those who wield the power of putting them to good account.” It is believed that at the beginning of last year the Allies advanced at least five millions to Rumania as a guarantee of their readiness to assist her financially. Even in April notes were being exchanged between Bucharest and Petrograd, and Dr. Dillon asserts that an understanding was readied that Rumania should at least remain neutral, but that she might have the territories she sought if she occupied them effectively by armed force before the conclusion of the war. This was obviously a one-sided arrangement, but it was not a formal treaty between Rumania and the Allies, and was in fact, nothing more than a tentative understanding between Russia and Rumania, entered into by the Russians, no doubt, in hope of establishing a basis for future negotiations. The Lyttelton Times military writer, discussing the situation, considers that it is not possible to carry the history of negotiations further than this point because subsequent developments are quite obscure. It has been asserted that .the Allies are supplying Rumania with munitions, and Germany not long ago asserted that an agreement existed under wliich Rumania must intervene on the side of the Allies when called upon. It is well not to place reliance on any information from a German source for most of the stories which emanate from that quarter are put in circulation to serve some German purpose and have proved too often more efforts of imagination.