RUMANIA'S FATE.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 14074, 18 August 1916, Page 7

RUMANIA'S FATE.

IF GERMANS TRIUMPH

M. TAKE JONESCU'S VIEWS,

The New. York .-Wopjd. has received the following, interesting ljjj^rview with M\" Take ,the fanious Rumanian statesman,^, ;by its special correspondent m Ruoharesli :-?-. . ti „ . . „...'.'. f Up to -the. ipresent King nor ( the , Gdvernment has .uttered . a definite wprd. regarding their attitude towards this, world; wide war. All that they declare is that they are ' 'neutral." Not a word more. "Our, nation is. Wave," said M. Jonescii, "tha.t the fate of. Rumania will be decided, no patter whether. she takes an aqtive, part m this war. or not. The nation knows perfectly well that her supreme interests lie m the victory of the Entente Powers. » ROMANIA SjiEKS UNITY. "Rumania,: like any other race, wants to be*; united; that is, her aim is. to liberate. the millions -of Rumanians who are subjected to - Hungarian tyranny. Can this be achieved without the final defeat of Austria-Hungary? Even then, her national aspirations are not realised unless she takes part m the war and wins her rights by the shedding of her own blood. . •': .'.-.' , . •■ ■ . ' "Our people are also aware that if the Central Powers should be victorious, which, m my opinion, is absolutely impossible, the Rumanians .m Hungary would .be more oppressed In the future even ,than. they have been m; the past. In that case they would renounoe their allegiance » to the nationhood of Rumanian and N be lost to Rumania. Moreover, we .would be left to the -tender mercies of the ■ Hungarians and Bulgarians, who would fall on us and crush first our economic, life and then our political independence. "In a word, a German Victory would mean the permanent humiliation of Rumania. Our people m general are democratic and want to live under free institutions'; 1 but fif Germany should win, that would mean the ■ triumph of reaction and the destruction of. political freedom throughout Eiu'opc, and more especially m Sputh-eaatent Europei "Tho nation wished to 'see Rumania taking the ' sido of the Entente Powers long ago; there were meetings, agitations, and demonstrations against the Government. At present, however^ a great calm exists. This is because everybody had made up his mind, and the people are awaiting the very "first 'opportunity of entering the war. . ■' CANNOT SIDE WITH GERMANY. "Th» Government constantly aver that they are 'neutral'— nothing more. But they know perfectly Avell that nobody —absolutely nobody — will be able to bring Rumania on the side pf the Teutonic Powers. , "Sooner or later, therefore, the Government will have to yield to the national will and take their stand alongside of' England, France, Italy, Russia, and the others. And if Rumania is provided , with munitions as amply as Russia is provided by the Allies, she could stand, a long war./* "As regards the King, he is a constitutional monarch, and, therefore, he has neither the right n6i; the desire to impose his will upon tlte people m order to follow a personal, policy. His Majeßty has s.tot'ed' . most emphatically thit he .is just as good a % Rumanian as any of Jtts, notwithstanding his German origin, , and we have no. reason w,hatever' ; to doubt his Royal word of honor, . ..'.'.. J'The people; have^ been, much amused at a remark thai;, I made recently.. I said, 'I , would rather.; be, a waiter m Chicaßp" than be the head of the Government here if tfiq Germans a,iid Austrinns were to become our masters.' Germaii predominance would mean voluntary exile to Anierica,, .. i , ( ; „.,, : , "Thift exile, however, would not .be for long,, because, . Germans' victory, woiild me^ii' ai w{ir-,,wiih tl^e United States within a. . period of seyen yejars. "GERMANS WILL NEVER .^tN." > :••. "H*ppilyi however," Buch a; calamity as the, victory p| the. Germans -will ii^ycr happen., Trhe German.B will never wJLq-r---it, is &A impossibility;. Unfortunately we shall haveiio . l'egister the loss .of many, more-miilions of' lives, ;: a ; . terrible amount •of destruction) more -crimeh like those, of Belgium, Serbia, -andi the still jworse i; one : of . AArmeniaa —^a ,-nighir mare without precedent m the whole of history —^but mankind m- the twentieth century will • never submit .to be the slaves of the German jjmperor and his military clique., , . • "I have a great faith m the, final triumph of moral' ideas.. .jN ever m bjstory have such undertakings as those of the Germans m the present war been successful., If I have striven and am still striving to bring the army of my country on the . side . of the Entente Powers, it is not because I imagine that they cannot Bucceed without us.^ By no means, but because I feel. that it is the duty of all civilised nations to take a share m this conflict, whether materially interested or not."