The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-12-26

mania to return most of the Dobrudja ,ts Bulgaria, if finally they would jointl. guarantee to Bulgaria the Thracian terri tories won from Turkey in the first wal and lost in the second, promise the pos session to the Enos-Midia frontier and Adrianople, Bulgaria would gain more than she could ever hope to acquire through German patronage.
 Noel Buxton. the most noted of Britisi4 Bulgarophiles, was selected as the Britisf representative in the following negotia tions. How dangerous d representative he was may be gathered from the fac that both he and his brother were shot but not killed by Turkish assassin while in Bulgaria. Details of the negotiations are mainly lacking, but the Evening Su9] has been informed through private ad1 vices that Bulgaria insisted that for al the promises made she should have Brit i ish guarantees, entirely refusing to ac1 cept any Russian assurance.
 Apparently this British guarantee has been given and the Bulgarian pledge to| neutrality. announced both in London and Scfia, represents the most eonsiderable| triumph of allied diplomacy since ItalyI affirmed her neutrality. If it is followed by declarations of war by Greece and Roumania 1t will be one more step in| what seems to be the inevitable march, of events toward German defeat.
 For Roumania the war holds out instantI profit. Pennsylvania, just across the| mountains from her own territory, holds| 1,5oo.ooo Roumanians in a population of 2,500,000 In Bukovina, also contiguous, Il there are at least 500, 900 Roumanians in al population of nearly 1000. 900. Russia, now| holding Bukovina, has steadily offered it| as reward for Roumanian enlistment.| Thus territory of 25,oOO square miles, half| as large as New York state, with $500 Oo0| people, would fall to Roumania, who could| easily afford to return to Bulgaria herl Dobrudja districts. Such an increase would | make Roumania a state with more than| 100000 inhabitants, mainly Roumanians, and an area of more than 75,o00 square miles.
 Greece, for her part, would be assur d of her possession of the Aegean Islands, still claimed by Turkey. She would cen tainly be permitted to hold northern Epirls, surrendered after the Balkan wars bSSduSe ol OppOSlI1OD, reOccupleQ now with ltalys consent, since Italy has established herself in Valona bay But above all else she would be permanently freed from the menace of Austro- German ambitions which have always planned o descend the Vardar valley and make Sa- lcnica the Austro-German gateway to the near east.
 Roumanian military strength is justly respected by all European experts I'm the second Balkan war 1t did no real fighting, but it demonstrated efficiency and leadership in it's rapid occupation of northern Bulgaria. The Hohenzollern King Charles has always cared for his army and its fighting qualities were dem- onstrated at Plevna when it saved the Russians. Not less than 50O,0O0 trained troops could take the field promptly.
 Greek armies proved their worth at Yemidje-Vardar and KillSis in the two Balkan wars. Trained by French officers they wholly atoned for the fnglorious de-, feats of the previous war with Turkey and King Constantine showed himself a commander of very great ability Greece could be depended upon to put 250,O00 vet erans, trained to battle and used to vic tory, into the field to support their old Servian allies of 1913.
 Austria herself has confessed the failure of her Servian campaign and drawn off the mass of her troops to save her Hun garian frontiers. If to 250,000 victorious Serbs there are now joined 750,O0O Greeks and Roumanians it is unmistakable tn the whole Austrian campaign cast of the Carpathians will have to be abandoned. ;, and Austrian armies, recalled to defend Budapest and Vienna from the south, will leave Germany to face Russia on the east and France, England and Belgium on the west single handed.
 Moreover, 1t is doubtful whether Italy, if allied victory were thus assured, and her share in Austrian spoil in danger if she stood aside, could be longer held back It is plain, then, that today s news from London, if 1t correctly fore casts Bulgarian neutrality, and Greek and Roumanian enlistment, is the most inter- esting that has come since the report of German defeat at the Marne