New-York tribune., 1920-11-11

way I inquired about the Russian viii
lagos found on the ethnographical map
of Florinsky and Lehman; found no
trace of them" (Revue de Paris, No
vember, 1879
shall forego quoting Rumanian au-
thorities, and shall restrict myself to
Russian, in proving the Rumanian
character Of Bessarabia. In 1852 Major
A. Zastchuk, Of the Russian General
Staff, who made thorough study Of the
province, wrote that the Rumanians
Che calls them Moldavians) form over
three-fourths of the population In
1863 A. A. Tchuzhbinsky wrote in his
Sketches on the Dniester: "The popula-
ton Of Bessaraba, with the exception of
the northern corner, where there 1--we
Ruthenans, and of about 10000 Rus
slams spread all over the province, is
composed of Moldavians who do not
speak a word of Russian l.. . and upon
whom the Russian language is imposed
by the patriots of the Police Depart
ment with the knout and by the method
of breaking teeth" l could multiply
these testimonies dd infnitunt, but |
wind up by referring to that Of General
Kuropatkin, who emphasized that the
reunion of Bessarabia and Rumania was
natural development of history.
4 Representative Congress
g. "Rumania in Russia's
time of trouble marched in and occu-
MED Bessarabia. Thereafter
totally unfair election Of a quasi-rep-
resentative congress was held under
pressure,' quoth Mr.. LandAsld. This
is simply brazen .untruth. This con-
gress was called by the convention of
the (Russian) soldiers delegates on Oc-
tober 20, 1917. was elected in Novem-
ber and opened on the 2lst OF tie same
month, while Rumanian troops entered
Bessarabia on January 13, 1918. 1t
was not "quasi-repres be
cause it was elected on the basis Of
universal suffrage and comprised, ac-
cording to their proportion, not only
all natioNalisties, but also all social and
professional organizations Of the couT-
try Mr.. A. c. Schmidt himself, who,
with Nh Kroupensky, was the leader OF
the pro- Russian party, hailed the con-
gress as the supreme lawg living body
of Bcssarabia" 1t was this body that
called in the Rumanian troops for the
purpose Of restoring order ard sup
pressing the robber bands, remnants
of the old Russian army, rampant all
over the province.
The annexation TCfe
l. THE 'Sfatul Terri as the con-
gress was called was forced to vote
for the annexation. AS mat
ter of fact out of 162 members only
36 voted in favor, voted against and
the remainder refrained from voting"
says Mr I.andfield. Another brazen
untruth. The "Sfatul Teri" had not
1862 members, but 1873. In its session
Of March 27, 1918, 1875 members were
present, out Of whom Sc voted for the
union with Rumania, voted against
and SO refrained from voting Among
these So were the immigrant Russian
professors and some German and Bull
garian Deputies. All these delegates
later went to Bucharest to pledge their
loyalty
As to the future, Mr.. Landfeld may
rest assured that the Rumanian states
men will know in what direction the
interest of their country lies. But in
the discussion of facts that already
belong to history, even personal con-
sderations that prompt one to be more
czarst than the Czar do not justify
deviation from the truth
BASIL STOICA,
Commissioner Of the Rumanian Gov
ernment