The Ensign. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1916. RUMANIA'S CHOICE.

Mataura Ensign, 12 February 1916, Page 4

The Ensign. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1916. RUMANIA'S CHOICE.

T)it( silence tliai has preva.lod for some unit' regarding tin- attituOo of Rumania lias recently been broken by toe announcement iliat she lias called ui the colors men ui the lilKi < lass (reaching the ago of '2O ilii- year) and mat she has massed a great p.<rt oi her jiiulnlisi'd troops (estimated at nine-u-nrlis <>f tin* whole) on the Unitarian and Hungarian frontiers, while she has t-lieeied iid sin-h concentration on her Iront.er adjacent to Russji. i'he majority ot Rumania's statesmen have all along been _pro-A.lv, and as tar hack as Dec-ember 1 the (ipverunient statinl mat it would allow Hussian troops to cross as soon as they were haTf a millionl in nuinber, th'.s boiuy; a clear indication that ail Rumania wanted was i lo be able to rest assured that when Allied troops <j.d begin to march through her land, thus directly implii eating her in the war. the forces shou d be strong enough to protect her as well as themselves. There have been other indications from Rumania tli.it have shown Us that, whatever she did, her choice would not be participation in a stride on the sale of the Central I'owers. Kumanii, just as the other llalkan countries, is out tor what she can get of the spoils when the war is over. .Naturally she wants to get her share with the lea»t trouble and expense, so that she will not come into the war until the crucial moment that suits In r best, when the road to victory will be easier for her. It .s hardly likely that she will stay out altogether, for alreadv she has had unofficially dangled before before her eyes Iter old territory in the north-east, which she so miieli de-ire--10 hold again. The advantages of Rumania joining the Kntente and the ollect of Russia's Danube Armv upon her were recently referred to by the London correspondent of the Petmgrad •Viedomosti.' He ask.s._ What will Rumania do? Is she coming in with us. and at what price r When ;i >irong Russian army is ready to march on Ru'garia the Rumanians will not help feeling that their chance of -\ lifetime has arrived, a chance to realise at lasi their great aspiration—thai of unting with their Austrian sufferuiv. under the Hapsburg yoke. There are :{.()00.(){R) of them in Transylvania. ;ind it is unthinkable that a nation with a -ironglv developed national instinct like Rumania should let such a chance slip. There is no way of realising the dream of a greater united Rumania otherwise than at Austria's expense. While bv inning Russia m a siieces-fiil war against Austria Rumania statu Is to earn ail Austrian province with a population of some !U)00.000. by joining the Aiistro-CJerinans against Russii, even wen- they suu-essful, the Rumanians would stand to gain only a small Rc-sarabian province which could not but prove a mixed blessing to them. It :s doubtful whether any considerable section of th<> Rumanian nai : on seriously em erf a ins a reacoui.sition of Ressarabia. while it is a positive fact that in Russia a cession of that province, as a whole i<t Rumania is considered altogether outside the snbe'-e oi' practical A.s to the .Moldavians (Russian subjects of Ripi'iini-Mi origin) themselves they would lie the first to rcsenl the change in the r thoroughly settled and comfortable alle-i-j mice. Of I he O.oOf) 000 : nbahii mU of Rrxsnrabin onl-v a bom '(.100.1)00 are Rurnoniiiii by mtrionilil v, so that even l on tlie ground cf nationality Ru-sia

would not be justified in handing over to tin? Rir.iiaii'ians 1.400,000 Russians (mniiiLy Lime Russians' nn<l .lews with :i good sprjukliuy i>i' A.riupniun-) 10 satisfy lin- desire in get back ihor 1,100,000 cousins. 11 u about fiOO v ears since thi' hessarabians were under :i Moldavian king and government. '''"' memories o| this period have almost (lied oni, even in popu'ar legends, but whit iii'i 1 siill alive in the memory of the people lire the dark centuries ol ■Nogia (Tartar) and Turkish rule —memories ol ; Ra-hi-Razouks. plunder, rapine, and murder, from winch the Russian-; finally delivered tlii'in in IHI2, after a whole century of < onUnual fighting, during which time Bessarabia changed hands no fewer than live times. To the credit of the Russian Government, it always treated the Moldavians (Runiaiii's) with the urea test tolerance. The Moldavian pea-ants of Ressarabia were allowed u> preserve their mother

tongue, their picturesipie national dress, their old customs, not to speak of their lands and village institutions. As a result, the present-day Moldavians although intensely nationalistic in their appearance and customs are thoroughly Russianised in « political sense. As to the middle and upper classes of Moldavians, t hoy have been from the very start welcomed with open arms by the Russian Government and society. It we add to this the mouth of the Danube forms a natural frontier between Russia and the Ralkans, both strategic and economic, and tha t the possession of at least one sleeve of it is noee.ssary to Ru.ssia hot hj a.s a. defence from any 'possible Austrian aggression and as a commercial waterway to RusIsi'i's -'little lirothers" in the Ralkans, we shall ieali-e why there can be no talk of ;i cession of' Ressarabia to Rumania, except, perhaps, the Khotm oiiezd ' I'd.strict), in the upper reaches of the Screth and l'ruth. with its predominant. Moldavian population, on the ce-sion of which. Russia may i ompromise anil which would still leave her in control of lh<> mouth of the Danube. The sober-minded Rumanians l"Hv realise this .and the bulk of the people look lo Transylvania as the only ground for expansion, :uid to Rus.si.a alone a« the on'lv ally who could help Rumania to fulfil' her'destiny._ The only ipiestmn a-'iiating Rumania is. WiM she lie sale in going after lha t great pri'/e, will Russia ami her allies give her an adequate hacking:'"