Evening star., 1934-10-03
LUPESCU FIGHTING
EASTERN LOCARN0
Favorite of Carol Carries
on Bitter War With
TituIesCu.
enecial Dispatch TO The Star.

NEW YORK. October IN. A. N.
A).-Statesmen Of Europe are en-
gagged in sweeping diplomatic contests.
France and Russia are trying to per-
feet the Eastern Locarno and so bind
together all the Baltic, Balkan and
Near Eastern countries against a pos
sible German advance. Britain is CIV
ing support to the plan.
Germany is doing all she can to
block 1t and to find associates, If not
friends. in the various countries con-
cerned. She has detached Poland
from the French Russian group. she
Is trying to detach Yugoslavia and she
is working on Hungary. Austria and
Rumania with the idea of finding
through them corridor to the east.
At this moment woman has thrust
herself on the diplomatic stage. taking
the center Of it for a time at least
She is Magda Lupescu, favorite of
King Carol of Rumania.
Coup Attributed to Her.
Because of a quarrel between Carol
and Nicolas Titulescu. the foreign
minister. another cabinet has fallen,
and Bucharest, knowing that Titulescu
and the Kings favorite are bitter
enemies, attributes the coup to fresh
exercise of her power at court.
In fact, the crisis largely centers
around her fate. For weeks powerful
influences within and without Ru-
mania have been trying to remove her
from the country in order to break her
influence on the King. Within Ru-
mania the Peasant party, now the
chief political element, has long been
demanding that Carol shall put the
court above reproach by dismisSing his
favorite. effecting a reconciliation
with Princess Helen, his divorced wife.
and restoring her to a position in
which she can direct the education
and training of Crown Prince Michael.
Dangerous revolutionary plots have
centered around Carols refusal to
heed such demands.
Dowager Queen Marie recently be-
came active in efforts to break Lu-
pescu's power. Credible reports from
London say that she had even en-
listed the aid of King George and
Queen Mary. and that Carol was told
he would be received again into
British royal favor at the marriage
Of Prince George and Princess Marina
Of Greece if he would exile Lupescu
and effect a reconciliation with Helen.
Key to Eastern Locarno.
Outside interests also became en-
gagged. Rumania is the key of the
proposed Eastern Locarno. With her
100000 inhabitants, she is the
largest state in the Little Entente
Rumania, Yugoslavia and Czecho-
slovakia). Also, she has command
ing strategic position her territory
being a wedge touching Bulgaria,
Yugoslavia. Hungary. Czechoslovakia.
Poland and Russia. Hence it is nee
essary that France have her aid if
that country is to keep its Eastern
combination intact.
Here is where the Lupescu-Titulescu
quarrel comes in. Titulescu is the
most powerful statesman in Rumania,
the one who makes and unmakes
cabinets by the simple process of re-
signing if he does not like one and
joining one he does like. He has
been the stable factor in all the up
heavalS that have come to his un-
happy country in the last three years.
and has been called the permanent
foreign minister"
But he has been stable because he
Since France is Rumania's greatest
creditor and the only possible source
of loans, Paris has been able in all
recent crises to enlist the aid of the
great financial interests of Bucharest
and to impose the condition that
Titulescu must remain in the foreign
Office.
Titulescu has always disapproved of
Carols friendship with Lupescu. not
only personally. but on grounds of
high policy He has found that
Greece resents the humiliation Of
Princess Helen. Other Balkan and
European monarchies disapprove the
loss of royal caste in this alliance. So
Titulescu openly declared war on
Lupescu last January, when he forced
Ile OlSIIllSSdI Ol SOlIle VI lIle SIIOilscSI
members of the Court Camarilla,"
which was supported in Office by her.
Secret Battle Is Waged.
Since then there has been a secret
battle between the favorite and the
minister. 1t came to head with the
crisis of Monday at Bucharest Titu-
lescu had tried to get Rumania to
help detach Poland from Germany.
France had thought this could be done
by giving Poland a free route to the
Black Sea through Rumanian terri
tory and by other concessions. But