5 JULY 1940, Page 5

The Plight of King Carol

The position of King Carol of Rumania is hard indeed. First he felt compelled to bend his policy to the Nazis by restoring the Iron Guard to favour, and next he has had to yield his northern territories to Russia. The cession of Bessarabia and Bukovina has immediately fired the Hungarians to press their claims on Transylvania, backed by threats of massed troops on the frontier, and the attitude of Bulgaria in regard to the Dobrudja is uncertain. The Fascist Iron Guards, released from prison, are running amok in the planned pastime of Jew-baiting, and there have been riots in Galatz, whence Communists were endeavouring to return to Soviet Bessarabia. Immediate developments are hard to foresee. The report that King Carol has appealed to Mussolini is denied, but he has certainly appealed to Hitler, and been told in reply that he can expect no help of any kind from Germany. It does not even appear that Hungary's designs on Transylvania will re- cz:ve any check from Berlin. That may encourage Russia in any further ambitions she may be entertaining. A National Government markedly pro-Axis in colour is apparently to be formed at Bucharest. It may have to cope with a revolution.