all the circumstances into account.”  “Are you prepared to affirm,” queried the Rumanian Minister, “that you can estimate the time with sufficient precision to warrant our risking the existence of our country on your forecast?” “The danger will have completely disappeared,” insisted the French Premier, “by January, 1921.”  “I am truly glad to have this assurance,” answered M. Bratiano, “for I doubt not that you are quite certain of what you advance, else you would not stake the fate of your eastern allies on its correctness.  But as we who have not been told the grounds on which you base this calculation are asked to manifest our faith in it by incurring the heaviest conceivable risks, would it be too much to suggest that the Great Powers should show their confidence in their own forecast by guaranteeing that if by the insurgence of unexpected events they proved to be mistaken and Rumania were attacked, they would give us prompt and adequate military assistance?” To this appeal there was no affirmative response; whereupon M. Bratiano concluded:  “The limitation of armaments is highly desirable.  No people is more eager for it than ours.  But it has one limitation which must, I venture to think, be respected.  So long as you have a restive or dubious neighbor, whose military forces are subjected neither to limitation nor control, you cannot divest yourself of your own means of self-defense.  That is our view of the matter.”

Months later the same difficulty cropped up anew, this time in a concrete form, and was dealt with by the Supreme Council in its characteristic manner.  Toward the end of August Rumania’s doings in Hungary and her alleged designs on the Banat alarmed and angered the delegates, whose authority was being flouted with impunity; and by way of summarily terminating the scandal and preventing unpleasant surprises M. Clemenceau proposed that all further consignments of arms to Rumania should cease.  Thereupon Italy’s chief representative, Signor Tittoni, offered an amendment.  He deprecated, he said, any measure leveled specially against Rumania, all the more that there existed already an enactment of the old Council of Four limiting the armaments of all the lesser states.  The Military Council of Versailles, having been charged with the study of this matter, had reached the conclusion that the Great Powers should not supply any of the governments with war material.  Signor Tittoni was of the opinion, therefore, that those conclusions should now be enforced.

The Council thereupon agreed with the Italian delegate, and passed a resolution to supply none of the lesser countries with war material.  And a few minutes later it passed another resolution authorizing Germany to cede part of her munitions and war material to Czechoslovakia and some more to General Yudenitch![141]