nd the deterring effect of the fate of Serbia and Belgium,
the King continued, "Notwithstanding the savagery with which the enemy
is attacking us and the cruelty with which our defenseless women and
children are being massacred, this government will endeavor to prevent
bitterness from dominating its actions in the way of reprisals on
prisoners or defenseless noncombatants; and to this end orders have been
issued to our troops that, regardless of previous provocation, those who
fall into our hands shall be treated with kindness; for it is not the
common soldiers or the innocent people who must be held responsible for
the policy adopted by the enemy governments."

The interview ended with the King's assurance that Rumanians would not
falter in their allegiance to England the just, to France, their brother
in Latin blood, and to Russia, their immediate neighbor.

"With confidence in the justice of our cause, with faith in our allies,
and with the knowledge that our people are capable of every fortitude,
heroism, sacrifice, which may be demanded of them, we look forward
soberly and seriously to the problems that confront us, but with the
certainty that our sacrifices will not be in vain, and that ultimate
victory must and will be the inevitable outcome. In the achievement of
this result the people of Rumania, from the throne to the lowliest
peasant, are willing to pay the price."

[Sidenote: Rumanians realized their danger.]

When it is realized that these conversations took place in September and
the first days of October, it must be clear, I think, that neither the
King nor the Queen had ever felt that Rumania entered the war in
absolute security, but that they always realized the danger of their
situation and moved only because their faith in the Allies was such as
to lead them to believe that they had at least a fair chance to
cooperate with them without the certainty of destruction.

To emphasize further the fact that both realized this danger even before
the war started, I would mention one occasion some weeks later, when the
fear of the German invasion of Rumania was becoming a tangible one.
During a conversation with the King and the Queen together, in regard to
this menace, the Queen turned impulsively to the King and said, "This is
exactly what we have feared. We, at least, never imagined that Rumania
was going to have an easy victory, and we have always felt the danger of
our coming into the war."

The King