Roumania; yesterday and to-day

Front matter

\ at!

1 u

ROUMANIA

Chapter I

The beauty of the Carpathian ranges — A pastoral scene — Wallachia, the great granary of Eastern Europe — Belgium of the East — Vivid contrasts — Gipsies — An outcast race — The music of the land — Harvest-time — The " guardians of the babes " — Papes or priests — A Bishop must divorce — Peasant homes — Early weddings — Abduction — The marriage chest — Beautiful clothes — Fine needlewomen — The close of the day — An evening scene — The prayer — National type — Striking and interesting — Devotion to the land — Agrarian system — Leprosy of Turkish rule — Unscrupulous Jews — Religious observances — Fasting two hundred days in the year — Village festivities — Pagan customs .....

Chapter II

The gay capital — A city of pleasure — Luxurious palaces — The Royal abodes — Cotroceni — Sinaia — The King's collection of

xi xii ROUMANIA : YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY

Old Masters— Intellectual development — Byzantine influence — Riches and treasure from the convents and monasteries — Old crosses at Cotroceni Palace — Modern intellectual growth — Entertaining in the social world — A Latin race — French and English, the two influences most desired — The Aristocracy — Conversational activity — National traits of character- Roumanian women of the upper classes — Their vivacity and grace — Well appreciated freedom on marriage — Influence of the Queen — The peasant woman— The soul of Roumania — Roumanian intellectual culture — Some of her poets and men of letters 23

Chapter III The Birth And Development Of A Nation

A Roumanian proverb — Early history — Sixteen centuries of bloodshed — A Latin country but a Balkan Power — Origin of the race — Dacian period — Decebalus — The reflections of Herodotus and Ovid on the people — Trajan's conquest — Becomes a Roman province — Wise rule — Progress and size of the country — Abandonment by the Romans — Successive waves of conquering barbarians — Founding of the Principalities by Radou Negrou and Dragosch — Evolution by war — Some of the great rulers of the past — Princes Mircea — Stefan — Michael the Brave — Vassalage under Turkey — Greek influence — Bassarab and Vasile — Rude justice — Terrible penalties — Sherban Cantacuzene's reign — Phanariot regime — A land sweating blood — Seventy Hospodars in one hundred and five years — Vicious and luxurious life of these rulers — Their consorts' jealousy and extravagance — Divorce — A few good ones— Looking to Russia for help, but vainly — Hope from the French Revolution — Treaty of Paris — Union of the Principalities — Grant of a Constitution — First National Prince — Couza — Noteworthy reforms — Irregular private life — Abdication — Offer of throne to Count of Flanders — Acceptance by Prince Carol of Hohenzollern — Deplorable condition of the country — Good progress — Marriage of Prince Carol to Princess Elizabeth of Wied — Carmen Sylva — Her beauty, character and literary attainments — Story of the Cathedral of Curtea de Arges — Death of the Princess Marie — Prince Ferdinand's marriage to Princess Marie of Edinburgh — Great progress of the country — The Army — Russo- Turkish War — Loss of Bessarabia — Agrarian problem — Industrial and commercial riches — Roumanian finances — The Senate and Chamber of Deputies — M. Bratiano — M. Tak6 Jonesco — Roumania proclaimed a Kingdom — King Carol's political miscalculation ....... 46

CONTENTS xiii

Chapter IV Page

arly travellers in Roumania — William Harebone — The picturesque beauty of the country — Line of the Danube — Aspect of the country — Sinaia — Campulung — The Dobrudja — No man's land — Queer peoples — Sunken waters — Curious amphibious life in the Delta — The floods — Bond between Roumanian and the soil — Paganism — Spirits of the air, earth and water — Psychology of the Roumanian — Four influences which have affected him — Dacian strain — Slav blood — Greek — And its four grades — Hellenic— Byzantine — Phanariot — Grecoteiul — Phanariot as active agent for the French culture — Women of this period — France as a model — Wallachs — Gypsies — Jews of Kazan breed — Attitude of the peasantry to Jews .......... 75

Chapter V

The Near Eastern question — A whirlpool of contending forces — First seeds of Prussian influence in Roumania — Lack of confidence in Russia— King Carol's policy — German penetration of finance and industry — Germany's bid for Drang nach Osten policy— -Roumania 's attitude in the Balkan War — Ferdinand of Bulgaria — The jackal of the Teuton and the Turk — Wooing of the Turk by the Kaiser — A poisonous diet — German policy — Austrian intrigues in the Balkans — A fossil i in the modern world — " No Austrian nation " — The Balkans as Austrian Federal States — The Emperor's Secret Service ' Agent — Some disclosures — The award of Salonica a bitter pill I, for the Teutonic Powers — A Diplomatic success — John Bull's | apathy — Serbia the guardian of the gate — Our debt to Roumania — Roumania's position, politically and geographically — Transylvania — Roumanian Irridenta — The great question — To be, or not to be — Exiled brothers — Oppression 1 — Take Jonesco and Cogalniceanus' words of hope and faith I — Attitude to Roumania's exiled peoples — National aims . 108

j CHAPTER VI

A momentous time — King Carol's secret treaty — Sidelights into secret history of the period — Count Czernin's famous Austrian Red Book — The ultimatum to Serbia — Austria and Roumania's neutrality — Crown Council at Sinaia, August, 191 4 — Opposition of the Roumanian Government to the King's policy — The King's chagrin — Appeal to the Army — Czernin and Baron Burian — King Carol's unhappiness — Decision for xiv ROUMANIA : YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY neutrality — Unpreparedness for war — German propaganda and intrigue in Roumania — The Press — Marghiloman — Take Jonesco — Filipesco — Baron von dem Bussche, German Minister at Bucharest — Distinguished Teutonic Diplomats — Nursing the country — Death of King Carol — King Ferdinand's succession — Bratiano, the sphinx of the East — Negotiations with Petrograd — Offer from the Central Powers — Necessary caution — Bulgaria's equivocal attitude — Her " pedlar " King — Fall of Belgrade — Excitement in Bucharest, demonstration for intervention — Promise of support from the Entente demanded — Events moving rapidly — The German Minister's dramatic interviews with the King — The Crown Council at Cotroceni Palace— Memorable scene — War declared — King appeals to the nation and Army— The Rubicon crossed . 129

Chapter VII

Departure of the soldiers for the front — Offerings of flowers — Loyal devotion — Among the wounded — Enthusiasm and hope —A dying wish — For those beyond the shadows . . .149

Chapter VIII

Sinaia on the outbreak of war — Excitement in the gay world there — Hurried departure — Feverish conversion of villas into Red Cross hospitals — The first brilliant successes in the Carpathians of the Roumanian Army — The plan of campaign — A difficult decision — Bulgarian treachery of character — Roumania's armies well over the ranges and into Transylvania — A deadly counter-stroke — Bulgaria attacks — Murder of General Jostoff — Mackensen's advance in the Dobrudja — Fall of Turtukai — Silistria — Roumanian front of one thousand miles too great a strain on her small army — Size of army — None of the promised Russian assistance arrives — Machinations and holding of supplies by the Petrograd Stuermer Government — Roumania's splendid fight against overwhelming odds — Death of Prince Henry of Bavaria — Fall of the Cernavoda Bridge — Port of Constanza — Retreat from the Carpathians — Desperate fighting in the Passes — Bavarian rout — Fall of Craiova, " the millionaire town " — Enemy advancing on the capital on three sides — Heroic devotion of

CONTENTS xv the Orsova group — Detachment under General Anastasiu, and their surrender — Wanton Bulgarian savagery at Giurgevo — General Averescu in supreme command — Arrival of two divisions of Russian troops — Battle of the Arg6s — General Socescu's treachery — Line pierced — Road to the capital open 159

Chapter IX

The great oil fields — Falkenhayn's hungry sweep towards them — A terrible decision — British mission of advice under Col. Sir John Norton Griffiths, k.c.b., d.s.o., m.p. — Evacuation of the valleys and factories — Destruction of the factories and wells — A dangerous work — -A panorama of horror — Cost of financial destruction — Money invested — A black pall over the land — Working against time — The Boche's welcome . . .176

Chapter X

Anxiety in the capital — Terrified peasantry — Preparations for departure — German intrigues — Deletion of inefficient officers in the army — Daily Zeppelin visits — Isolation and great difficulties in sending help — Sweden's German Queen — Part played by Boy Scouts — Letter from a hospital nurse — French and British " birds " from Salonica to the rescue — Scarcity of food — Martial law — Bucharest not a fortress — Arrival of French military mission — Treachery from Petrograd — Pro- German Premier Stuermer — Austrian Red Book disclosures — A diabolical plot — General Iliesco's statement — The betrayal — Queen Marie's work — A noble example — German slanders — Illness of Prince Mircea — Touching scenes with the dying child — Constant raids over the Palace — The Queen's despair — Death of the Prince — Murder of the Painter Romani by bombs — Faith in the Allies — Roumania at bay — The arsenal blown up — Evacuation of the city — A terrible winter — Roads blocked with fugitives — The country's crucifixion . 184

Chapter XI

A QUEEN AND HER PEOPLE BY H.M. QUEEN MARIE

Queen Marie's anguish over her people's sufferings — The death of her child — Every woman's sacrifice — The Queen's birthday — Visits to the hospitals — The passing of the little Prince — All Souls' Day — Burial of the child — The soul of suffering — Good-bye to Bucharest — The Queen's message to her people — Pictures of the past — Scenes at Cotroceni — A last visit to the xvi ROUMANIA : YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY little grave — A sacrifice — Surely a return some day — The laden trains of soldiers — Bidding them farewell — Their devotion — Stoic endurance of the wounded — A dying message of patriotism and love — Consolation — The arrival of spring — Eternal hope in the trenches — Plague and suffering in the villages — Faith and hope prevail ..... 208

Chapter XII

The retreat — J assy — Stupendous difficulties of the roads — Lack of everything — Plague, pestilence and famine — No supplies, soap or fuel — Fine work of Royal Family — Cholera — Winter in the Carpathians — Three hundred roubles for a bottle of scent — Great cold — General Averescu — Reorganization of the Army — General Presan — Changes in command — Colonel Buchan's tribute — Admiration — Battles of Targul Jui — Torzburg — Rothen Turm — The splendid Roumanian soldier 219

Chapter XIII

The Great Adventure over — Success of the " Pincers " offensive — Russian help too late — Fall of Tulcea and Braila— The Roumanian Army's stand on the Sereth Line — Holding the enemy — Spirit of the troops — Reorganization of the exhausted Army — French and British help — General Averescu — The French military mission and its work — Grave risks to Roumania from the anarchy in Russia — Demonstration by Transylvanian exiles on joining up with the national colours — Paris and the presentation of Stephen the Great's banner — Brilliant summer offensive by the reorganized Roumanian Army — Superb fighting powers of the young officers and troops — Torture and tyranny in the conquered Roumanian territory — Bulgar Hymn of Hate — Huge enemy levies — Relentless savagery of the enemy . . . . .230

Chapter XIV And After ?

Collapse of Russia — Lenin and the negotiations — Kerensky's loyalty — General Tcherbatscheff and the Russian troops — Anarchy and chaos — Roumanian discipline and their allegiance to the cause — A second betrayal — Vows of the Allies- Roumanians' splendid tenacity — Insolent summons from the Central Powers — Faced by overwhelming odds — Stranded and alone Roumania is forced to accept peace terms — Her inextinguishable spirit — Dauntless and trusting in her Allies to the end .......... 257

ILLUSTRATIONS

Roumania at Bay ....... Frontispiece

Music and Rest at Sundown .... Facing page 8

Filling the Water Jars . . . . . g

Golden Hours Spent in Beautiful Old Convent Cloisters ......

Curious Wayside Crosses of Painted Wood . Very Old and Magnificent Carved Stone Cross The " Stina," or Shepherd Boy's Dug-out A Dear Old Grannie Spinning Peaceful Lives in Old Monasteries Shepherd Boy in Winter Coat Wild and Beautiful Scenery of the Buzeu Valley A Roumanian Church .....

A Peasant's Cottage .....

Shepherd Boy in Summer Pastures A Proud Moment ......

Noon : Draught Oxen in Market Place Peace Babies — but all Boys ....

Infantry Marching in the Carpathians. The King and Queen Decorating Soldiers . H.M. King Ferdinand .....

H.M. Queen Marie in Hospital Dress . Soldier with Violin at Head of his Company Priests outside an Old Monastery Cross on a Lonely Wind-swept Height . Characteristic Roumanian Peasant Transport b xvii xviii ROUMANIA : YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY

The Rest Camp ...... Facing page 173 ■

Last Rites of the Church to Spies . . „ 194 Bullock Transport of Cannon ... 195 The Queen and Prince Mircea . . . 212 The King Reviewing Troops . . . . 213

The King Bestowing Decorations ... ,, 226

In the Trenches — Winter Bound . . . ,, 227 Funeral of an Officer in the Mountains . 242 Digging Mountain Trenches .... 243

The Queen in one of the Hospitals at J assy 2 58

Blessing the Fallen . . . . . 259

BY HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN OF ROUMANIA

IN these days of adversity when my country is passing through the greatest crisis of its history, it is an immense satisfaction to me to encourage any effort tendered for its aid ; it is therefore a real pleasure to me to write a few words for Mrs. Will. Gordon's book.

Distances are so great and communication so difficult, that very few details of our troubles and trials reach other countries. We are completely isolated from all our Allies, except Russia, and have had to stand unheard of hardships because relief could only be offered us from one side, and that side needed all its resources for itself.

The winter that lies behind us is as one of the most fearful nightmares man ever dreamed. There is no suffering that my people have not been called upon to endure, no fear, no sorrow, no pain — every misery, both moral and physical, had to be borne at once.

And I, their Queen, suffered with them, struggled with them, wept with them, shared and understood their every grief.

I too had to leave a home I loved, I too had to flee before the invading foe, had to forsake the new-made grave of the little one who was torn from me whilst the enemy was flooding my land on every side.

xix xx ROUMANIA : YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY

All have I known of mortal anguish, of days when hope became less and less, till the last shred had to be surrendered— my child and my country both at once.

The remembrance I keep of those days is of a suffering so great that it almost blinded me ; I was as one wandering in fearful darkness wondering how much anguish one single heart can bear ; black waves seemed to be rushing in upon me threatening to drown me, yet I was quite calm and continued living and working as though my heart had not been torn from my breast.

Strong ties of sympathy had always bound me to my people, but since the extraordinary misfortunes we have undergone together, our mutual affection has turned into deep and comprehensive love.

The grief that God sent me whilst so many were mourning rendered me strangely dear to their hearts ; I had suddenly come quite close to them — they felt in me a comprehension of their own woes that had not been mine before.

An immense tide of sympathy flowed from their souls to mine, giving me strength to bear bravely every sacrifice, and not to give way to selfish despair. Tragedy had come upon us, recrimination would but weaken us, complaint lessen our courage — nothing was left to us but dumbly to bear our Fate.

Winter came and with it retreat ; hunger came and sickness and death in every form.

One town after another had to be surrendered, ever smaller became our country, a cruel exodus encumbered the remaining provinces ; our riches, our pride, our hopes had been torn from us, and like a troop of emigrants xxi we had to try and find place for our weary bodies and for our sorrowful hearts.

Each thing we thought we could count upon crumbled before the inflow of an enemy ten times too strong for us, who knew all about war whilst we were ignorant and had everything to learn. Nowhere were we safe ; all the help that had been promised us was not forthcoming, we had nowhere to turn to in our agony, and the deadliest of winters was closing in upon us before we knew if we could remain there where we had pitched our tents !

Amidst this constant fear of further invasion we had to gather our courage and our wits so as to improvise hospitals, house refugees, feed and clothe our retreating troops, all this with the feeling that next day perhaps our efforts would be in vain, that the work so painfully accomplished would fall into the enemy's hand !

All our stores, our hoarded treasures, our food, corn and oil had been torn from us by the rapid advance of the foe ; all that remained to us of our once blooming country were but a few provinces, the poorest, those upon which in the days of abundance we had counted least.

That was but the material side of our distress, and to that must be added every anguish, every grief of departure and separation, the leaving of loved homes, the haunting pictures of devastation, fire and ruin, of abandoned graves and of dying heroes who could not be saved.

With a fresh wound in my own heart I stood amidst the turmoil. I myself empty-handed — I myself a refugee ! What had been mine lay behind the line of fire — also the lonely little grave lay there, belonged now to the enemy, and with it all the torturing remembrance of my child's xxii ROUMANIA : YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY illness and death. He was my youngest, my baby, and just the most helpless had I to forsake !

But there was no time to cry over a personal grief, in the hour of disaster so much depends upon the leaders not losing their heads.

To piece together that which is broken is no easy task ; if your house falls down around you, at first your only wish is to sit on its ruins and weep. It is then that those whose love and courage are greatest must come forward and help. Those too grievously smitten cannot immediately lift up their heads, and very gentle must be the hand that endeavours to lead them back from darkness to light.

For a while I thought that the effort would be beyond my strength, such was the hopeless discouragement that had taken possession of every heart. No good news came to gladden our spirits, only tidings of defeat, disaster and distress, and winter lay over everything like a pall of despair.

Then little by little hands were stretched out to help. French and English doctors offered their assistance and with them many nurses and sisters whose devotion has no name.

Little by little we began building up what had fallen ; at first only those whom adversity cannot crush showed the way, then others joined in — till imperceptibly a great new effort was born, and with that effort, new courage and new hope.

It were too long to relate all the weary work of this past winter, a whole volume of want and suffering, of devotion and charity would not suffice. So many single xxiii incidents rise before me, so many faces, so many efforts, and alas ! so many death-beds that I hesitate which to describe.

This is but a preface, yet there is so much to say ! It is a preface to a book about my country which the author has seen in days of prosperity, days that with God's help we hope to see again ; but if to-day I speak of tears and sufferings, it is because, alas, they are uppermost in our minds.

There is too much to tell, too many pictures haunt me, pictures of what was, what is, and of what we hope one day will be.

I look back and see visions of my country as for twentythree years I have known it, peaceful, blooming, full of abundance, its vast plain an ocean of waving corn amongst which diligent peasants move to and fro gathering in the harvest, the land's dearest pride. I see its humble villages hidden amongst fruit trees, I see the autumn splendour of its forests, I see the grand solitude of its mountain summits, I see its noble convents, corners of hidden beauty, treasures of ancient art, I hear the sound of the shepherd's horn, the sweet complaint of his ditties. I see long roads with clouds of dust rising from them, many carts in a file, I see gaily clad peasants flocking to market. I see naked plains and long stretches of sand by the sea.

I also see our broad proud Danube rolling its many waters past quaint little villages and boroughs inhabited by motley crowds of different nationalities, past towns of which the rising industries are a promise of future wealth. I see our port of Const anza with its bustle, its noise and its hopes.

xxiv ROUMANIA : YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY

Then on the 27th August, 1916, the call to arms- War !

I see the ardent faces of my young soldiers going off gaily to battle — I see the trains leaving, the flowers that decorate the cannons, horses and men — I hear the tramping of passing regiments, shouts of enthusiasm, words of exultation.

I see the first wounded in the hospitals of Bucharest, white beds, many faces all turned towards me, eager hands helping ; I inspect everything, go everywhere. I have my own hospital in our palace, I too am full of hope.

For a while, a very short while, the news received from our armies is good, awakes wild enthusiasm, awakes dreams of glory in many a breast. Then the first ill tidings, a shadow on the expectant faces — a shadow over the town in spite of the blue sky above !

After that there are still days of hope and confidence, days when the first illusions seem to take form once more, but through it all I have the strange presentiment, that my country will have to drink to the dregs the bitterest of cups.

Airships and Zeppelins become a haunting dread by night and by day ; our country being narrow, the ground is good for such cruel sport. Death is poured down from the skies into the streets, women and children are slaughtered without number, and as though in defiance of the laws of God, the days they choose for their deathraids are the days when heaven is bluest and the sun shines most brightly.

Having been designed by the enemy as principal culprit, it is the house out of town where I live with my

XXV children that they single out for special punishment, and on a glorious autumn morning they throw seventy-two bombs upon dwelling and garden where it is known that my little ones are usually to be found. But on that day, God did not wish another crime to be added to their lists !

Ever darker are the clouds gathering around our heads, with anxiety we look for the help that was promised us ; Sarrail's advance in the south ? The Russians' offensive in Galicia ? Russian reinforcements in the Dobrugea ? But we wait in vain ; no good tidings from any side, and the Germans have not yet straft enough !

Surely this proud little country who had defied her, must learn its lesson and be laid low in the dust. And as in the time of the great flood, our small struggling country is threatened from all sides at once. Our frontiers are endless, without reinforcements our own resources are too small, we begin to realize the inevitable results if help does not come soon enough.

But my cup is not yet full — amidst all the turmoil and growing anxiety, my youngest child sickens and all our efforts cannot save his life. During three mortal weeks we struggle to keep him, but Death rules supreme over the world. It is not to be. On All Souls' Day, my last born, my little Mircea, passes away — and the voice of the cannon sounds closer every day.

After that, for a while all becomes dark. I grope about as one who has lost her way. Only one thing remains to me, the intense desire to alleviate suffering around me, to go there where despair is greatest, to drown my own grief in the grief of others, to move in places where my own tears can be shed without shame.

xxvi ROUMANIA : YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY

So I begin wandering about in all parts of the country that have remained to us. On all sides I hear the dreaded voice of the cannon calling out its message of death and destruction.

I penetrate as far as they will allow me to go, I hunt up those freshly brought in from battle, as in a ghastly dream, I move from bed to bed.

Every form of suffering do I see ; the last look of nameless dying do I carry away in my heart, and all the while I have the absolute certainty that my country is becoming smaller and smaller — I am in a hurry, I want to go everywhere — everywhere before it is too late. But in a sort of frenzy of grief I know, that all my love, all my devotion cannot hold back the advancing feet of Fate.

Then comes flight ! The cruel hour of parting from our capital, of parting from our home, our hospitals, from the little grave so freshly dug — flight !

For weeks we live in the train, not sure how far we must go to be safe ; but one only thought moves me ; put the living out of danger, then return once more, only once more to the grave of the dead !

But it is not to be — even that consolation is denied me — Bucharest falls, I can no more return to my dead.

Dearly would I like to relate about all those who helped me in my arduous task, but so complex, so many-sided was that task, my efforts had to extend over so large a field, that too many faces rise before me, when I want gratefully to acknowledge those who have worked with me hand in hand.

xxvii

The English Red Cross sent me aid and material in every form — the wife of our English Minister displayed an indefatigable energy I cannot too highly praise, she is one of those whom adversity cannot crush.

At first we had dreamed of running a big English hospital at Bucharest, founded upon the Miners' generous gift — the hospital was to have borne the name of the dearly beloved child I had just lost. All was decided, the house had been offered us by the officers of the capital — it would have been a beautiful hospital, run under perfect conditions — but like many others, that dream had to be given up. Bucharest fell, and with its fall and the fall of many other important towns our difficulties grew a thousandfold, and all the more intensely grateful am I to those who did not lose courage under such adverse circumstances, but endured every hardship, overcame every difficulty so as not to forsake my soldiers, who more than ever needed succour and aid.

I have had heroic English doctors helping me, with patient brave nurses, overcoming every obstacle, enduring cold and hunger with those they were nursing so as not to forsake their post. It is a long story of devotion and abnegation, which cannot be told in a day.

Towards the end of winter a bad epidemic of typhus broke out, rendering the doctors' task most dangerous. Many of our Roumanian doctors died, faithful to the end— their duties redoubled, for many flee contagion, it is not given to everyone to face such a crisis without giving way.

I lost a great friend — a friend of recent date, but whom I had learnt to admire because of his wonderful work.