THE TRAGEDY OF ROMANIA

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16895, 6 July 1918, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE TRAGEDY OF ROMANIA

CUT OFF FROM THE SEA.

GERMAN EXACTIONS. A relentless and tragic fatality line pursued Roumania from the first fortnight of her entering into tho war, writes Mmo. Take Jonesco in the London Observer. At tho beginning, when the armies advancing victoriously in Transylvania and counting on the stipulated offensive at Salonica to (occupy her Danubian neighbour, were hurriedly recalled to stem the Bulgarian advance, facilitated by General San-ail's failure to undertake tho awaited offensive and by the inability of the small Russian contingent to render effectual aid. Again, when the divided army, outnumbered by von Jlackensen's immensely superior forces, was forced back into the plains and the Russian reinforcement arrived too late and in insufficient numbers to avert the fall of the capital and the retreat into Moldavia. Finally, when the reorganised Roumanian Army, successfully holding the line of the Seifth, and inflicting enormous losses on the German divisions, were compelled by events on the Russian front to stop the victorious offensive, rendered futile, even dangerous, by the defection of Russian arms in Bukovina and Galicia. The subsequent Bolshevik declaration of war completed the impenetrable ring of j Roumanian enemies, and closed the only available outlet for her armies seeking a I passage of retreat. I The fortunes of war have, therefore. j empowered the foes of this martyred I nation to impose terms of peace- of tho I most oppressive and tyrannical nature. The serious crisis through which tho allied armies aro passing has inevitably comnletelv absorbed miblic attention, and

| LumuitWlV uu&uiuuu puuuu anvil"""", "■"• tho details of tho treaty forced bv the Austro-Germans on Roumania, although some very sympathetic and generous appreciations have appeared in the press, have not received the attention they would have obtained at any other moment. Yet tho terns of that treaty not only reduco our unhappy country to a condition of vassalage, but contains clauses directly affecting Entente interests. The Lost Frontier

The territorial exactions, picturesquely described by Count Czerin as rectifications of frontier, deprive Roirmania of about 250,000 square kilometres, or, approximately, a fifth of the country. Taking into consideration the total land surface, these annexations represont what for France would mean the loss of soventeen departments or for Germany the sacrifice of Bavaria, Wurtemburg, and even also part of the Grand)' Duchy of Baden. But more important even than the actual extent of the districts wrested from her is the nature of the lands claimed, which constituted Roumania'a natural protection against a powerful and aggressive neighbour. Those rocky passes, more efficacious than any artificial fortresses, are now declared strategically necessary as a safeguard for the Austro-Hungariatn Empire of 60 milions against the attacks of the seven and a-half millions of Roumania's inhabitants, and the infinitely smaller nation loses every strong position available for resistance to so formidable and unscrupulous a foe. In future the entire country is strangled; the mountain barrier forming a protective frontier now bristles with the enemy's cannon, and is transformed into a perpetual menace. The Fate of Oonstanza. Forced to relinquish the Dobrudja, Roumania is cut off from the sea, and the fine Eorfe of Constanza, whose construction cost er so many millions, and which in 1913 exported 909,000 tons of petroleum (88 per cent, of the total exportation) becomes a Bulgaro-German possession, destined, with Odessa and Batoum, to complete the task of turning - the Black sea into a German lake. Incidentally, it may bo remarked that the Dobrudja, governed by the Roumanian Prince Mircea, when conquered by the Turks in 1413, was never a Bulgarian province nor at any lime inhabited by more than a small proiwrtion of Bulgarians. In 1877 it was reconquered from Turkey by the Russian and Roumanian armies; it then contained a mixed population of Turks, Tartars, Roumanians, and Bulgarians. That war, where Roumanians arms were victorious, resulted for her in the loss of Bessarabia, claimed by her Russian ally. She was offered in exchange the Dobrudja from Tama to Rustchuk, but, her statesmen hesitating to accept this bargain, was finally accorded by the Berlin Congress only the smaller Dobrudja with the unfavourable frontier, modified in 1913.

The Petroleum Fields, The economic exactions imposed on Roumania are terribly disastrous to the development of her industry and to her means of transport. The treaty simulates for a monopoly of all the petrolferous land and exploitation of the country, with the sole right to the commerce and transport of Roumanian petroleum. Therefore, not possessing any coal mines, Roumania will have to depend on German complacence for the combustibles necessary to her railroads, her fleet, and motorengines of every description. . Not only Roumania, but neutral and Entente interests, are here attacked, as they will be debarred from the profits of the numerous enterprises where foreign capital is engaged. The production of petroleum in Roumania had attained the yearly total of 1,885,225 tons of petrole brut. Before the war German interests represented 26 per cent, of the production, while that of the allies amounted to 42 per cent., of which 18 per cent, was American, 16 per cent. French, and 6 per cent. English, the rest being divided between Belgium and Italy, while amongst the neutrals the Dutch companies represented 30 per cent. Germany has now laid hands on the last European petroleum fields which had escaped her grasp. Roumania's magnificent cereals, accord, ing to the exactions of the victors, will be at the disposal of the Central Powers, the prices and everything connected with their sale remaining subject to any conditions they may think fit to inflict, while Roumania, whose annual budget is estimated at half a milliard of francs, it is reported, will also be made responsible for all the requisitions made by the enemy in the country, amounting to two milliards of francs. In addition to the*o outrageous demands, the Germans now declare their intention of continuing the military occupation of the country for several years in order to enforce the fulfilment of their terms.