an allies as a cogent motive for handing over Shantung to
Japan. For treaties must be respected. And the argument is sound. On the
other hand, they were bound by a similar treaty[337] to give Rumania the
whole Banat, the Rumanian districts of Hungary and the Bukovina as far
as the river Pruth. But at the Conference they repudiated this
engagement. In 1916 they stipulated that if Rumania entered the war they
would co-operate with ample military forces. They failed to redeem their
promise. And they further undertook that "Rumania shall have the same
rights as the Allies in the peace preliminaries and negotiations and
also in discussing the issues which shall be laid before the Peace
Conference for its decisions." Yet, as we saw, she was denied these
rights, and her delegates were not informed of the subjects under
discussion nor allowed to see the terms of peace, which were in the
hands of the enemies, and were only twice admitted to the presence of
the Supreme Council.

It has been observed in various countries and by the Allied and the
neutral press that between the German view about the sacredness of
treaties and that of the Supreme Council there is no substantial
difference.[338] Comments of this nature are all the more distressing
that they cannot be thrust aside as calumnious. Again it will not be
denied that Rumania rendered inestimable services to the Allies. She
sacrificed three hundred thousand of her sons to their cause. Her soil
was invaded and her property stolen or ruined. Yet she has been deprived
of part of her sovereignty by the Allies to whom she gave this help. The
Supreme Council, not content with her law conferring equal rights on
all her citizens, to whatever race or religion they may belong, ordered
her to submit to the direction of a foreign board in everything
concerning her minorities and demanded from her a promise of obedience
in advance to their future decrees respecting her policy in matters of
international trade and transit. These stipulations constitute a
noteworthy curtailment of her sovereignty.

That any set of public men should be carried by extrinsical motives thus
far away from justice, fair play, and good faith would be a misfortune
under any circumstances, but that at a conjuncture like the present it
should befall the men who set up as the moral guides of mankind and
wield the power to loosen the fabric of society is indeed a dire
disaster.

FOOTNOTES:

[333] In June, 1919.