time they had considerable forces in the other two republics. This was a patent pussy footing on their previously stated policy of maintaining the status quo.

Future investigation will prove whether the above contentions are with or without foundation, but it is my personal conviction that had the Armenians been non-Christians their treatment at the hands of the British would have been far different. In this connection the question of the Assyrian Christians in western Persia about the region of Lake Urmia comes to mind, and one asks oneself why something isn't being done to make this region safe, and why the something like 40,000 from this district who are now sweltering in refugee camps in southern Persia are not being repatriated. This is somewhat of a side question but taken in connection with the Caucasus situation it brings up the whole subject of British policy in this part of the world. Fortunately or unfortunately, it is impossible for the British to take up the question of the Caucasus apart by itself. Their world position is such that immediately they touch the question of the Caucasus, they touch also the question of India, Egypt, and Persia. This means touching Mohammedanism and I believe the explanation of recent political developments here must always begin with this consideration as a basis or starting point.

From various conversations with British officials in which there was much guarded phrasing and diplomatic cautiousness, I have gathered that they would be pleased to have America take the mandate for Armenia alone and leave the Azerbeidjan and Georgian questions to them. This solution would on the one hand free them from responsibility for the Armenians, and on the other hand give them control of the Batoum-Baku railroad leading from the Caspian to the Black Seas. Temporarily at least this arrangement would be deadly for the Government taking the mandate for Armenia, as it would cut off the oil fields of Baku, on which the whole railway and industrial systems depend, and it would also cut out Batoum, the Black Sea port for the Caucasus.

During the last few days persistent rumors are afloat that the British are returning to the Caucasus. If this is true I would venture to prophesy that it is for the purpose of putting into operation the above project. For some weeks I have been haunted by the fear that the British are about to begin a page of their political history which will not make good reading for their descendants. The subject of this page, if it is ever written, will be “A great Christian nation which was forced or thought it was forced, by considerations of world politics, to favor Mohammedan peoples at the expense of small Christian races."

Before the withdrawal of the British, those of us who were in charge of the various American enterprises in the Caucasus, began a frantic telegraphic propaganda in Paris and America urging that something be done to avoid what appeared to be a certain impending calamity. The attitude of the British was almost that of creating a stampede, and was either due to their real concern for the people or to some hidden motive. A number of times they had suggested directly or indirectly that the Americans might make representations urging that the British be held in the Caucasus.

The situation at that time was very dark especially for the Armenians. They were without ammunition and were being pressed hard by the Tartars at Bash Norashen and there was every reason to believe that Kars to the West would fall at any minute. The reports we sent out and the concern we expressed were not unfounded and if nothing had intervened most of the dire results which we predicted would have come to pass.

Personally I believe that the coming of Colonel Haskell as High Commissioner, and Director General of Relief saved the situation. He interpreted the authority given him by the Powers very liberally and in a short time was able to assume a commanding position with the three republics. He has been able to stop the fighting between the Tartars and the Armenians, temporarily at least, and has mapped out a neutral zone embracing disputed territory, over which he will place his own Governor. He stabilized the situation at Kars and has been able to arrange matters

with the Georgians so as to make much better agreements about railway transport, and with it all he has gained the friendship and good will of the three republics. His principal weapon has been the influence which his position as High Commissioner gives him with the Peace Conference. All three of the republics are anxious for recognition by the Powers and are willing to do much to stand well with them. The arrival of General Hargord and party helped to confirm Colonel Haskell's influence which is real even if it is on a rather shaky foundation.

The Caucasus today is quieter than when the British left, the early part of September, but one would be unwise to state that it is a stabilized condition. The republics are all on the tip toe of expectation of favors from the Peace Conference and are willing to be good, with the hope that their efforts in this direction will be rewarded. There is no likelihood that the Peace Conference will grant enough of the requests so as to make it worth while for the republics to continue in their present docile attitude, and sooner or later, the natural inference is that they will begin to be "bad" again. There must be an armed force here, not so much for use, as to be ready for use if necessary. One might state the situation in contradictory terms; the need for an army ceases with its arrival!

ROUMANIA VS. THE PEACE CONFERENCE

By M. M. Knight, Ph.D. Historian, American Red Cross Commission to Roumania

Why has Roumania calmly ignored the Peace Conference lately, except for occasional explanations or excuses which seem like studious afterthoughts? This is intended less as a defense of her point of view than as an exposition of it, together with a little of its near historical background.

About Easter of 1919, some English gunboats made a demonstration on the Danube below Budapest-a bluff, the French and Roumanian officers further down the river called it, since the ships retreated as soon as shot at. Whereupon, so the officers at Zimnicea told me, Budapest was bombarded from the air, resulting in a considerable number of civilian casualties. French, Roumanian, even English officers spoke of this affair contemptuously, as unproductive of any possible good and certain to give Bela Kun's government the impression that spitework was being employed because forces were not available for real military intervention.

At this time the allied expedition in Odessa was on its last legs. It had cut the city off from its hinterland, so that to supply the population, swollen by a large number of soldiers, required the shipping which might otherwise have carried relief to the starving peoples of the Balkans. Even then, adequate provisioning was impossible. The speculators' paradise was here. Shipments of such things as thread and shoes for Roumania were diverted to Odessasince cotton thread was worth only from $1 to $2 a spool in Roumania, and ordinary shoes only $40 or $50 per pair! Then came the Allied retreat from Odessa to the Dneister, the front the Roumanians had pleaded for from the start; but it was a demoralized army, almost without material and quite without morale, which arrived there. The Rou

manian troops in North Bessarabia had fighting spiritthey had not been in Odessa-but they lacked everything else. There was next to no ammunition for the guns, and not even oxen to move them. Sixty kilometers of the crazy railroad had been laid on the ground by Russian women during the war. Travel on it was like riding a tramp steamer in a heavy gale, and the roadside was lined with the skeletons of cars which had given it up and rolled off, to be immediately stripped of everything combustible by the freezing soldiers and peasants. In the center of this front were the French, also practically without ammunition. They were mostly veterans from the Salonica front, vindictively hated somebody for sending them to this desolate country, and had no intention of getting hurt in what they considered a ridiculous post-war adventure. The miserable railroads had almost no cars and an insufficient supply of wood for fuel, so it was hard enough to get food to the troops, not to mention adequate ammunition to sustain a serious attack. The roads were entirely out of the question-a sea of mud where not quite washed out.

An idea of the French morale may be gained from the fact that at Reni, where we had to wait all day for a train, the troops amused themselves by firing their military rifles at the crows in the tall trees back of the station. Creeping through the low country to the east of here, the rickety locomotive stopping every few miles for repairs or to take on wood, every duck came in for a volley from the train. Some of the marksmanship was really not bad but it did not endanger the Russian cause much.

Along the lower Dneister were the Greeks and Poles. The latter were disaffected because Roumania had allowed the fleeing Ukrainians to come in, disarmed them and shipped them to Galicia, where they were at war with the Poles, their allies in Bessarabia! The Greeks, who had shown some disposition to fight at Odessa, were behind the estuary of the river, where they were very unlikely to be attacked.

The Roumanians knew that the allied troops, which were requisitioning a large part of the transportation and other