The Daily News. SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 1918. ROUMANIA'S PEACE TREATY.

Taranaki Daily News, 9 March 1918, Page 4

The Daily News. SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 1918. ROUMANIA'S PEACE TREATY.

The news that Roumania has effected! a peace treaty with the Central Powers will not have occasioned surprise, for events had been moving in that direction for some time past. Roumania was in a cleft stick. Faced by the enemy, which for nearly twelve months she had valiantly held at bay, she had on the flank the marauding Russians, and behind the Ukraine*, who had been bought by the enemy. She could only fight on till the last, but her fate was sealed. Roumania, it can truly be said, was sold by Russia, who brought her into the war at a time when, all the Allies agree, was most inopportune, and then promptly deserted her. It is said that this move originated in Berlin, the idea being to lure Roumania on to her destruction in order that the Central Powers could seize her rich supplies of wheat and agricultural land together with the supplies of oil, which Roumania, whilst a neutral, was not' anxious to sell to them, giving preference to Russia, on whom she was dependent for military ed by the Allies. Roumania—may be, influenced by the same evil direction—chosea plan of campaign—rushing into Transylvania and leaving the Dobrudja practically exposed—that exactly suited the enemy, who was able to lure the Roumanians far on and then crush the various attackihg forces in detail, at the same time breaking through the. Dobrudja and threatening the capital, which eventually had to be abandoned, together with the greater part of W allachia. Roumanian history since August 27, 1010, has been one continuous tragedy, with nothing to redeem it, except, perhaps* the brief dash into Transylvania, and the splendid defence maintained by her forces all through the past fighting season. One cannot, therefore, blame tho unfortunate country from saving what she could of her territory and concluding a treaty on the best terms available to her. She at least has her national entity preserved to her, which, situated as sho was, may not have been the case if she had elected to fight it out. The odds were too great, and national extinction must have followed, unless the Allies were able to force a speedy decision on the Western front—which is hardly probable. All the same, it must be gall and wormwood for a proud and independent nation like the Roumanians to give in to their inveterate foes. Had they consulted their own feelings we know what they would have preferred to do, but forsaken by their whilom friends, most of their country in the hands of ruthless invaders, with bands of Russian marauders over-running their own place, with the impossibility of securing military supplies, what else could they do ? The Allies will be more inclined to pity than to blame them for agreeing to a peace with the enemies of mankind. The terms imposed are German terms, whieh is to say they are all in favor of the Central Powers, and against

tho interests of Roumania. Were the treaty to stand, the. Roumanians will be the slaves of their predatory enemies for all time. Fortunately there is every chance of the treaty being revised when the Allies defeat the. Central Powers on the Western front. That is where the issue of the whole war and the terms of the Russian as well as the Roumanian treaty will be settled. These temporary, one-sided treaties, of course, are only what could have been anticipated. The terms are magnanimous, one can feel convinced, compared to what they would be were—banish the thought!—the British to fail in the concluding stages of the struggle. They afford an object lesson to the peace-at-any-pricers, the shirkers and the cowards in our midst. A German peace means bondage fqr the civilised world, and slavery, in its most severe form, for tho British. Happily, there is little fear of an enemy triumph in the West, providing always the Britisli as a whole put their backs into the fray and prove true to themselves and their country.