ROMANIA'S ENTRY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16355, 9 October 1916, Page 4

ROMANIA'S ENTRY.

OVER A MILLION MEN.

KING AND GERMAN MINISTER.

FINAL DRAMATIC AUDIENCE-

News of Roumanian intervention spread quickly throughout the allied capitals on the morning of August 28.

Bucharest reports show that war was decided upon as soon as the mobilisation was completed and the troops had been concentrated along the Hungarian frontier.

The German, Austrian, Turkish, and Bulgarian Ministers sent the German .Minister to wait on 'he King, to make a last attempt. The Minister, who was received by the King at once, made .'.n appeal to His Majesty's nationality, to bis kinship to the Kaiser, and to the memory of the late King Carol. The King replied calmly. He declared that he was merely the first citizen cf Roumania, and that'he would do what the nation decided. The audience was a dramatic one, and lasted half an hour. The Queen also was present. Later the King held the Crown Council, to which he had invited all the former Ministers, Presidents of both Houses oi Parliament, and leaders of the Parliamentary groups, about 30 in all. His Majesty said that at the present moment ho was merely the leader of the Roumanian nation, that he would listen to all advice, and take action according to the wishes of the council.

Speeches were made by MM. Bratiano, Carp, Marghiloman, Filipesco, and Jonescu, and it was finally decided to declare war against Austria-Hungary. The council broke up at noon. On learning the result the people organised a great demonstration. There was tremendous enthusiasm.

Following this, the Entente Ministers were received by the King and by M. Bratiano. The Ministers of the enemy Powers left at once.

Army Ready for War.

A high authority on Roumanian affairs made the following statement to a representative of the Morning Post:—"Roumania is prepared for war. She has an army of 800,000 men trained and equipped and ready to go into the field to-day. Behind these wo have reserves numbering 300,000. This great army may surprise many people, as I notice that there is a general impression that half a million n-?n would represent the maximum strength of the forces that Roumania could put into the field, but it should be remembered that the country has been more or less prepared for war ever since 2913, and that for quito a long time past—l should not like to say how long— has been a steady course of preparation going on for exactly this eventuality. Incidentally I may mention that these numbers are not even new, for in February or March last it was semiofficially announced from Bucharest that the new classes of 1917-18 would place one million newly-equipped soldiers at the disposal of the Minister for War in April. With the lapse of four months the position is even better than that forecast might have led one to expect. , " „ Arm . will be under the command of the King himself, but he will have the support of a body of officers who will bring to their .task exceptional qualifications acquired wider exceptional circumstances, due to the unusually long period of careful preparation. There is General iliesco, who was formerly Secretary to the War Office, and General Averesccy, who has always been strongly pro-Entente. He was formerly Military Attache to the Roumanian Ministry in Berlin. He speaks Kussian perfectly, and is a man not only of international, but political, experience, for he was Minister for War. Be was Chief of the Staff in the Balkan War 0 1913 and is altogether a man in whom the Army has great confidence. Ho was n command of the First Army Corps in which post he has been succeeded'by General Popov.c. Then there is General Coanda, who is quite a young man and has been closely 1 watching f e military operations in France, He* was mZ ™J° ,n Vlenn ?' and has been lately Wftgr 1 cers in attendance

Preparing in the Spring. ( "\ ,M ". e ffid that, this army is well found and thoroughly equipped and I mean what I say. His'amy' is J hurriedly organised. Months ago- ndeed as far back as the early spring-it practically decided that Roumanl should prepare for this event, and that Preparation took such a form as should have left no doubt in the minds of those who washed the operations that Rouman a would be ready to 8° into the war on the With that purpose in view, work of With that purpose in view, the work of mobihsation and equipment has been going teadily forward. We have had money from England, guns from France, and transport from Russia, where we had agents employed months ago buying horses and war material.

There is no ground for any misgiving as to the wholeheartedness with which the King is going into the war. Long ago he told his ministers that although he was a Hohenzollern by blood and family ties he was first and last a Roumanian, and his whole future was bound up with that of his people. Not long ago he gave striking evidence of his determination to resist all outside influence when he was asked to receive Prince Albert of Mecklenburg as an emissary from the German Emperor and flatly refused to do so. He told the German Emperor in so many words that if he had any communications to make he could do so through the recognised diplomatic channels, when they would have the advantage of being passed in review by his Ministers."

A National Ministry. From another source a Morning Post representative gained the information that, although the process of bringing all the principal political leaders into line had been slow, it had been sure. Indeed, this authority thought it was more than probable that the King would succeed shortly in surrounding himself with a National Ministry, in which practically all parties would be represented by their leaders, among whom miglit be mentioned more particularly M. Bratiano, M. Jonescu, M. Filipesco. With a united people under the direction of a Government of all the talents, the conduct of the war should be on sounder and safer lines than might have been possible if the decision had been forced on a divided nation by one party. A tribute was paid in more than one quarter to the propagandist work which had been done by M. Tonescu and M. Filipesco at a time when they had the Ministry and the majority of the Legislature against them. In the early part of this year M. Jonescu expressed the opinion that Roumania made a mistake in not intervening when Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, but that opportunity having passed he and those associated with him set themselves the task of redressing that mistake by creating a larger army Mian would have been possible when Bulgaria entered the field, by laying up stores of arms and ammunition on a scalo commensurate with the developments of the war in this respect, and last, but by no means least, in safeguarding the new army in the matter of the commissariat with more certainty than would have been practicable a year ago. It was, said this authority, in a spirit of recognition of this work that when the session of Parliament closed in April last the Premier thanked not only his followers, but the Parliamentary Opposition for the attitude they had maintained in relation to the critical period through which the country was passing.