File No. 763.72111/3161
The Minister in Roumania, Servia, and Bulgaria ( Vopicka ) to the Secretary of State
No. 297]
[Received November 23.]
Sir: I have the honor to inform you that Roumania at the present time is still neutral and I expect she will so remain for some time to come.
About six weeks or two months ago, the German and Austrian Ministers at Bucharest made a demand on the Government of Roumania to permit the transport of ammunition through Roumania to Turkey, stating at the same time that if this permission were not granted they would attack Servia. The answer was that they had better attack Servia because the required permission would not be granted. As a matter of fact, small lots of ammunition have gone through Roumania without, it is said, the knowledge of the Government.
The Quadruple Entente expected when it was announced that Bulgaria was joining the Central powers that Roumania would at once go to war and help to defeat Bulgaria, as per the treaty of Bucharest [Page 69] between Roumania, Servia, and Greece, which provided that in case Bulgaria should attack either of them the other countries would come to the assistance of the country attacked. The Roumanian Government, however, discovered a good way out and stated that, as Servia had also been attacked by Germany and Austria, the Bucharest treaty was null and void. This was a great surprise for the Entente and all their sympathizers in Roumania. As a matter of fact, after the defeat of the Russians in the Carpathian Mountains, it seemed that the Government newspapers were siding more or less with the Germans. They were too neutral and everybody could see between the lines that they were more or less favoring the Germans. The friends of the Entente, however, commenced to work hard under the leadership of Mr. Filipescu, the former Minister of War, at present representing the Conservative Party, and Take Ionescu, leader of the Conservative-Democratic Party. Under their auspices a great meeting was called of the supporters of the new party formed by the fusion of the two parties mentioned above, called the Unionist Federation. This new party has been working very hard not only in Bucharest but throughout the country. The Government issued an order forbidding the people to hold meetings on the day fixed for the meeting mentioned above, viz., the 24th of October (Sunday). The meeting, however, was held and about ten to twenty thousand people met in the streets of Bucharest. No more than about five hundred were able to stand in front of the club building, from the balcony of which Mr. Filipescu and Take Ionescu as well as others made speeches. The troops took possession of the streets and made it impossible for any larger crowd to pass through. When I sent the telegram to the Department regarding this meeting, nobody could see what effect the meeting might have. The day following the meeting, the King granted an audience to Mr. Filipescu and Take Ionescu, at which, as I am informed, the King stated that he was in sympathy with the national aspirations of the meeting to obtain Transylvania from the Austro-Hungarians, where some four millions of Roumanians are living; that he is a constitutional King and therefore will abide by any decision agreed upon by the ministers.
I do not believe that Roumania will take any immediate action; if, however, she received a strong backing from either Germany or Russia, she might take a stand for one or the other country.
In my last telegram, I stated that at the present time the Roumanian Government was looking for a loan and that the question of this loan was very important. The Germans have been trying hard to arrange a loan, a larger one than the Government wants at present, of course for a consideration, which means the friendship of Roumania. I understand, however, from the Russian Minister here that this loan will be made by Great Britain and issued in London. If this should be done, I believe this will mean that the Quadruple Entente is beginning to realize the importance of Roumania and that they will be more diplomatic with her than in the past with Bulgaria. The German agents here are working hard.
I have [etc.]