We are bound to say that the Rumanian situation, even
when it was supposed to be at its worst, never gave us any serious uneasiness, and we are utterly at a loss to know why it should have caused so much alarm among serious students of war— except that our pessimists seem to consider that they must give their anxious forebodings a run every now and then. We can only suppose that our progress on the Somme had made pessimism difficult in regard to the Western front, and therefore the opportunity could not be neglected for a good howl over Rumania and the awful things that were about to happen there—ruined homes, ravished fields, and the Hun returning in triumph with his pockets full of wheat and his tanks full of petroL The picture was a positive godsend to our men of paint and putty. Why will not people remember that it is quite as easy for fears to be liars as for hopes to be dupes ? If the ague is going to attack you, you will have to shiver willy-nilly ; but wby shiver voluntarily at the thought that you may be forced to shiver later ?
