difficult to remain neutral in
this world war. Roumania was not only perfectly independent, but was
amply provided for through her rich granaries. Apart from the fact
that Roumania alone was to blame for allowing things to go so far that
Russia was enabled finally to send her an ultimatum and so force her
into war, it must be admitted that Roumania was far less likely to be
influenced by the Entente than Italy. But neither would the Russian
ultimatum have taken effect if Roumania had not consciously and
willingly placed herself in a position in regard to military and
political matters that gave her into Russia's power. Bratianu said to
me in one of our last interviews: "Russia is exactly like a blackcock
dancing before the hens." In admitting the truth of this appropriate
comparison, it must be added that the female of the simile, longing to
be embraced, directly provoked violence.

For two years Bratianu had stirred up public opinion against us in his
own country. Had he not done so, and had he not finally bared his
Russian frontier of all troops, the Russian ultimatum would have had
no effect.

In Roumania the Avarescu Ministry was in power. On February 24
Kuehlmann and I had our first interview alone with Avarescu at the
castle of Prince Stirbey, at Buftia. At this interview, which was very
short, the sole topic was the Dobrudsha question. The frontier
rectifications, as they stood on the Austro-Hungarian programme, were
barely alluded to, and the economic questions, which later played a
rather important part, were only hinted at. Avarescu's standpoint was
that the cession of the Dobrudsha was an impossibility, and the
interview ended with a _non possumus_ from the Roumanian general,
which was equivalent to breaking off negotiations. As regards the
Dobrudsha question, our position was one of constraint. The so-called
"old" Dobrudsha, the portion that Roumania in 1913 had wrested from
Bulgaria, had been promised to the Bulgarians by a treaty in the time
of the Emperor Francis Joseph as a reward for their co-operation, and
the area that lies between that frontier and the Constanza-Carnavoda
railway line was vehemently demanded by the Bulgarians. They went much
further in their aspirations: they demanded the whole of the
Dobrudsha, including the mouth of the Danube, and the great and
numerous disputes that occurred later in this connection show how
insistently and obstinately the Bulgarians held to their demands. At