CHAPTER XXXIII

CONCLUSION

Roumania’s object in the war--Hungary’s attempt to Magyarise Transylvania--Sympathy of the Motherland--“Awake, Roumania!”--The new boundaries of Roumania--Room for her people--“The Little Entente”--Safeguarding the peace of Europe.

Everyone, I should think, would be fully aware by now of the aims which decided Roumania to intervene in the late war. To regain Transylvania and see it incorporated in Roumania has always been the ardent desire of every Roumanian, young and old. In olden times the province formed part of the Roman province of Dacia under the Emperor Trajan. In the eleventh century the Hungarians made themselves masters of the land, which was then administered as a Hungarian province. In still later years Transylvania was for a time a free country; but in 1868 it was once more given into the power of Hungary by Franz Joseph, the late Emperor of Austria. From that time the Magyarisation of the principality was steadily carried on, in spite of the bitter discontent of the Roumanian element, which was by far the most numerous.

The Hungarian Government, it is true, faithfully promised to respect the language, religion, and nationality of the Roumanians in the country, but that promise was not kept. Hungarian alone was recognised as the official language, and laws were passed within the past few years aiming at the Magyarisation of Roumanian schools. Efforts were even made to suborn the Roumanian clergy so that they might help to this end.

The administration of the province passed altogether into the hands of the Hungarians. The authorities controlled the elections so effectively that the Roumanian element had no adequate representation in the Hungarian Parliament. Considering that there were between three and four million Roumanians in the country, justice demanded that they should have adequate representation, but it was never conceded to them. The Roumanians naturally did not take this treatment as a matter of course. They protested most energetically both at public meetings and through the press. How often have their public men been obliged to flee the country and take refuge in Roumania for fear of the consequences of their over-free speech!

When I was in Bucarest I made the acquaintance of a professor from Transylvania who had been obliged to leave everything and depart, as he had been too free in his criticisms of Hungarians and their methods. According to their law, a certain number of years had to pass (five, I think) before he would be permitted to re-enter the country.

About thirty years ago there was formed a Roumanian National party, whose aims were to preserve the Roumanian language, Church, and schools, and also to restore autonomy to Transylvania under the suzerainty of the Hungarian kingdom. The petition of this party was refused, and the leaders of the movement were severely punished. After that the feeling became much more acute, every fresh act of aggression on the part of the Hungarians calling forth demonstrations of sympathy for their countrymen from the inhabitants of Roumania. How often have I been awakened on such occasions by the crowd parading the streets singing “Destaaptate-Romane!” (“Awake, Roumania!”), the national song of the Roumanians in Transylvania, which was forbidden to be sung there under severe penalties! When staying in Kronstadt I often used to begin to sing this song unthinkingly, and what a chorus of “hushes” used to stifle my efforts!

I began to write this book whilst the war was still raging and my friends in Roumania were undergoing terrific trials. I have no intention of dealing here with the sad times which now belong to the past. I prefer to think of the hopeful future of the country in which so much of my life was spent.

It is reassuring to know that in the new maps of Europe, rendered necessary by the decisions of the Treaty of Versailles, the boundaries of Roumania enclose as far as appears to be possible the whole of the Roumanian people, with as few alien elements as possible included.

There remain without the boundaries, in the Tinok Valley, the Western Banat, and in Macedonia, some five millions of the Roumanian people who will be included in Jugo-Slavia; and, east of the Dneister, another five hundred thousand will be included in Russia.

Many alien elements will remain in Roumania. The Jews, who, like the poor, are always with us, will continue to be represented by a million of their race. A great colony of Hungarians still occupies a territory in East Transylvania; whilst a German population which settled in Transylvania, Banat, Bukovina, and Bessarabia at various periods from the thirteenth to the nineteenth centuries numbers about eight hundred thousand.

There will still be found some Bulgarians, Turks, and Tartars in the south of Bessarabia and the Dobrudja; Serbs, Poles, and Ukranians where Roumania adjoins Jugo-Slavia, Czecho-Slovakia, Poland, and the Ukraine; and a considerable number of Russian refugees belonging to a strange religious sect called “Shoptchi,” who fled from their own country to avoid persecution.

Of Roumania’s present seventeen million population it may be said that some fourteen millions are pure Roumanians. Outside the country’s boundaries Roumanians number over one million.

When we compare these figures with those which referred to pre-war Roumania we will find that the country has cause to rejoice.

In 1916 Roumania had only eight million inhabitants, seven and a half millions of whom were nationals, constituting only half the race. The remaining half were citizens of alien countries.

If the ideals of the enlightened Foreign Minister, M. Take Jonescu (who has always been such a sincere friend of Britain), are realised, a most important step will have been taken in the direction of safeguarding the peace of Europe. One may hope, indeed, that the clouds which lowered so persistently over the Balkans will disappear for ever.

Czecho-Slovakia and Jugo-Slavia, M. Jonescu has pointed out, have already entered into a defensive alliance; and he hopes that not only Roumania, but Greece and Poland also, may join it, and that the three defeated countries, Bulgaria, Austria, and Hungary, may ultimately become members.

The maintenance of the different treaties entered into since the war will of course be the great purpose of what M. Jonescu has described as “The Little Entente”; but underlying this endeavour will be a sincere desire to establish such personal relations as will facilitate the settlement of various differences which are bound to arise from time to time.

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Transcriber’s Notes

‣ Italics represented by _underscores_.

‣ Small caps converted to ALL CAPS.

‣ Obvious typographic errors silently corrected.

‣ Variations in hyphenation, spelling, and accents kept as in the original.

‣ Footnotes renumbered consecutively and moved to the end of their respective chapters.