be and Save. Following
close upon this came the extraordinary success of the Russians in
Bukowina and in the Carpathians, which placed Hungary in immediate
danger of being invaded. The cause of the Allies began to look
promising and the machinery of Balkan diplomacy began slowly to
revolve.

Meanwhile the principal efforts of the Entente statesmen had been
directed toward effecting a reconciliation between Bulgaria and
the other Balkan States which, she maintained, had robbed her of
Macedonia. Indeed, it may well be said that the Treaty of Bucharest,
whereby the Macedonian Bulgars were largely handed over to Serbia,
and Greece was, and continued to be, the main stumbling block in
the path of the Allies to bring Bulgaria around to a union with
Serbia and Greece and Rumania, for Rumania had also picked Bulgaria's
pockets while she was down, by taking a strip of territory at the
mouth of the Danube. In this she had not even had the excuse of
reclaiming her own people, for here were none but pure Bulgarians.

In January, 1915, Rumania began to show signs of shaping a definite
policy that might later lead her to taking sides. Her King, Carol,
a Hohenzollern by blood, had died shortly after the war and his
nephew, Ferdinand, ascended the throne on October 11, 1914. Possibly
he may have had something to do with the change. At any rate, though
Rumania had previously accepted financial assistance from Austria, in
January she received a loan of several millions from Great Britain,
most of which was spent on the army, then partly mobilized.

At the same time negotiations of a tentative nature were opened
by the Foreign Office with Russia offering to throw the Rumanian
troops into the conflict on the side of the Allies for a certain
consideration. This consideration was that she receive Bukowina,
part of the province of Banat, and certain sections of Bessarabia
populated by Rumanians, The Allies considered these demands
extortionate, and the negotiations were protracted. When the Austrians
and Germans, later in the spring, succeeded in driving the Russians
out of the Carpathians, Rumania hastily dropped these negotiations
and seated herself more firmly on top of the fence. And so, under
the guidance of Bratiano, her prime minister, she has continued
throughout the whole year, listening to proposals, first from one
side, then from the other, but always carefully maintaining her
neutral position.

Bulgaria had, at about the sam