000 lei, ($50,000,000,) or nearly as much as half of the
entire budget of Rumania. But this wealth is not used for the benefit
of the country which produces it. There are neither schools nor
highways nor hospitals in Bessarabia. Ignorance and misery are the
sole companions of that population, every national sentiment of which
is smothered under the sway of Russian absolutism.

We in Rumania are ignorant of all these facts because our education is
such as to make us ignore such vital issues. But only because we do
not know ought we forsake Bessarabia?... Or is it that the national
ideal of Rumania is to live at the mercy of Russia, by abandoning old
Moldavia?

FOR A BALKAN UNION.

_From Le Journal des Balkans of the Liberal T. Jonescu, of March 13,
1915._

It is of the utmost importance that the Balkan States get
together--quite apart from the present circumstances--for their own
vital benefit. No matter what the outcome of the present war will be,
the duty of the Balkan States is to act in unison, for mutual support
and for the preservation of their future.

Under whatever form constituted, the alliance of the Balkan States is
essential to the existence of the countries of Southeastern Europe.

To begin with, a Balkan congress must be called together, which should
deal principally with the question of organizing a common network of
communication, both on rail and water, strictly Balkan in character,
which would contribute to a specific political purpose, and at the
same time assure to the Balkan countries the monopoly of East Indian
trade.

IN CASE OF WAR.

_From the Government organ, Independance Roumaine, of May 18, 1915._

It is most essential that, should neutral countries decide to enter
the European war, their first duty should be that of asking beforehand
explicit and definite guarantees from the powers that solicit their
assistance. Without such guarantees not one of the Balkan States would
be willing to enter the war, because there is not a statesman who in
like circumstances would plunge his country into an action which, on
the face of it, is only an adventurous enterprise.

Portsmouth Bells

[From Punch.]

A lazy sea came washing in
Right through the Harbor mouth,
Where gray and silent, half asleep,
The lords of all the oceans keep,
West, East, and North and South.
The Summer sun spun cloth of gold
Upon the twinkling sea,
And little