sonal
friendship of the Emperor Francis Joseph and King Charles. But the spell
was broken by Austria's attitude during the Balkan War. The imperious force
of circumstances brought the interests of Roumania and Serbia into line;
for it was obvious that any blow aimed against Serbia's independent
existence must threaten Roumania also, just as any weakening of the
Serbo-Croat element in the Monarchy must react unfavourably on that of
the Roumanians and other nationalities of Hungary. The growth of national
feeling within the two neighbour races has proceeded for some time past on
parallel lines, and even before the war there were manifest signs that
the Roumanians of Hungary, whose economic and cultural progress since the
beginning of the century has been very rapid, were at length nearing the
end of their patience. The bomb outrage at Debreczen last February--an
event which is without parallel in Roumanian history--was the first
muttering of the gathering storm. Roumania occupies a position of extreme
delicacy. Her natural tendency would be to espouse the cause of the Allies,
since they obviously have more to offer her than their rivals. But the
somewhat equivocal attitude of her statesmen has been determined not merely
by an astute desire to win the spoils of war without making the necessary
sacrifice--a policy which is apt to overreach itself--but also by a very
pardonable anxiety as to the attitude of Bulgaria and Turkey. Roumania has
hitherto been the foremost upholder of the Treaty of Bucarest, and it is
only in the event of drastic territorial changes farther west that she is
likely to consent to its being torn up. She has made no secret of the fact
that she would not tolerate naked aggression against the Greeks, whether
from the Turkish or Bulgarian side. In view of the political record of King
Ferdinand of Bulgaria and his present Prime Minister, the Roumanians may
perhaps be excused for adopting an attitude of vigilant reserve; for their
statesmen suspect that Bulgaria is only waiting until the Roumanian army
has crossed the Carpathians in order to reoccupy the southern Dobrudja.
Certain it is that Roumania, while declining all temptations to join the
central powers, has also rejected the Russian invitation to occupy the
Bukovina, and has actually approached Hungary with a view to securing the
restoration of Transylvanian autonomy. The Magyars on their part have tried
to buy off Roumania by introducing the Roumanian