consultation. Prime Minister Bratianu, who went to Paris as the head of
the Rumanian peace delegation, told me, his voice hoarse with
indignation, that the "Big Four," in settling Rumania's future
boundaries, had not only not consulted him but that he had not even been
informed of the terms decided upon. "They hand us a fountain pen and say
'Sign here,'" the Premier exclaimed, "and then they are surprised if we
refuse to affix our signatures to a document which vitally concerns our
national future but about which we have never been consulted."

We Americans, of all peoples, should realize that a small nation is as
jealous of its independence as a large one. As a matter of fact, Rumania
and her sister-states of Southeastern Europe, who still bear the scars
of Turkish oppression, are super-sensitive in this respect, the fact
that they have so often been the victims of intriguing neighbors making
them more than ordinarily suspicious and resentful toward any action
which tends to limit their mastery of their own households. Hence they
regard that clause of the Treaty of St. Germain providing for the
protection of ethnical minorities with an indignation which cannot
easily be appreciated by the Western nations. The boundaries of the new
and aggrandized states of Southeastern Europe will necessarily include
alien minorities--this cannot be avoided--and the Peace Conference held
that the welfare of such minorities must be the special concern of the
League of Nations. Take the case of Rumania, for example. In order to
unite her people she must annex some compact masses of aliens which, in
certain cases at least, have been deliberately planted within
ethnological frontiers for a specific purpose. The settlements of
Magyars in Transylvania, who, under Hungarian rule, were permitted to
exploit their Rumanian neighbors without let or hindrance, will not
willingly surrender the privileges they have so long enjoyed and submit
to a regime of strict justice and equality. On the other hand, Rumania
can scarcely be expected to agree to an arrangement which would not only
impair her sovereignty but would almost certainly encourage intrigue and
unrest among these alien minorities. How would the United States regard
a proposal to submit its administration of the Philippines to
international control? How would England like the League of Nations to
take a hand in the government of Ireland? That, briefly stated, is the
reason why both Rumania