archy. Austria quickly signed what regarded her; but Hungary resisted till 1921, and then expressed her ratification in terms which left no doubt as to the sentiments animating a large part of the nation. Nevertheless, Rumania now considered it right and safe to demobilize (April 1921).
The Bratianu Government had resigned in order to avoid signing a treaty which imposed on the kingdom a system of minority rights that they would have preferred to establish by their own legislation. As a matter of fact, by two successive measures full political rights had already been granted to the Jewish population, without distinction between old inhabitants and recent immigrants; so that this " question " had finally ceased to exist.
For the first time the elections were free, under supervision of the " Ministry of Generals " presided over by Arthur Vaitoianu. They resulted in a large .majority for the Peasant party (whose chief was the rural school-teacher Jean Mihalachi) and the National Democrats; the Liberals now formed but a fifth part of the total number of deputies; the National party of Transyl- vania, the Peasant party of Bessarabia, and the National party of the Union of Bukovinians were united in their representation; a certain number of Socialists made their appearance in this first Parliament of united Rumania. The majority parties coa- lesced as a " bloc parlementaire," and in Nov. 1919 formed a demo- cratic Government of advanced tendencies under presidency of the Transylvanian Alexander Vaida Voevod, who at once visited Paris and London and obtained the formal recognition of a Rumanian Bessarabia (this was confirmed by his successor at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Take Jonescu). Measures were elaborated for a definitive solution of the agrarian question (the Mihalachi scheme, leaving landowners only 100 hectares for each estate, but granting concessions to those who had farms and agricultural installations); for the reorganization of education and administration; and for remedying the short- age of housing accommodation (scheme of Dr. Lupu, Min- ister of the Interior). General Averescu, who in April 1917 had founded a " League of the People," demanding penalties against the abuses of the Liberals during the war, and who had developed this organization which contained many Conserv- atives and some " new men " into a party under his leadership, now came into power, thanks to the alarm aroused at Court and in society by the Bolshevist agitations. The Socialists had promised their support to the man of the moment; and soon after his advent to power (March 1920) General Averescu con- cluded a pact with Take Jonescu, though without admitting that statesman's " Democratic " party (entirely Conservative but for Marghiloman's " Progressists ") to a share in the admin- istration of the country.
There ensued a regime of relentless repression. The threat of a general strike provided an opportunity to try and to condemn by court-martial the leaders of the Communists, from whom the Social-Democrats had detached themselves under the leader- ship of the Bukovinian Grigorovici. During the elections oppo- nents were roughly treated. Few attempts were made to check the growing corruption of the towns. Important projects of law were hung up: that concerning the distribution of land was modified until it resembled the Mihalachi scheme in regard to the quota to be expropriated (and for the remainder, simple decrees at once put in force had, as in other cases, anticipated parliamentary decision). In March 1921 the Finance Minister, Nicolas Titulescu, having reduced to order the chaos of the Treasury Bonds, introduced a bill heavily taxing new fortunes and capital in general, while relieving the peasants and the small urban proprietors. It was hoped by this means to stabi- lize the national finances, and to restore the Rumanian exchange, which had fallen as low as 18 centimes in Paris. (N. J.)
LITERATURE. The revival of Rumanian literature dates back to about the middle of the igth century, when, owing chiefly to the awakened interest in Percy's Reliques, the poet Alexandri published his collection of Folk Poems. This, together with the Old Chronicles, edited by Kogalniceanu, constituted a living monument of the vernacular. Their importance as an inspiring and stimulating power to the new writers was fully appreciated by Titu Maiorescu, who became the leading critical spirit in Rumanian letters. Under Maiorescu's influence a group of national writers gathered round the newly founded periodical Convorbiri Literare. Among them were J. Creanga, who in the Recollections of Childhood and other tales embodied the spirit of the Moldavian peasantry; Caragiale, who, besides a realistic drama and two volumes of short stories and sketches of unsur- passed craftsmanship, showed in his comedies The Lost Letter and Stormy Night the grotesque effect resulting from a hasty introduction of Western manners into a society still stamped with an Oriental character; and above all the poet Eminescu. The last-named, who has been compared with Leopardi, was dominated by a note of profound, penetrating, overwhelming sadness, which affected all his successors, not excepting Al. Vlahutza, a poet with a strong individuality of his own. But there is another side to Eminescu, his broad conception of the Rumanian race. It was this that impressed writers of the later generation such as Prof. Jorga, who, in his History of Rumanian Literature, arrived at a clearer understanding of what a national literature may be. In his own weekly, Samanatorul, as well as in such other periodicals as Convorbiri Literare under the editor- ship of Prof. Mehedintzi, Luceafarul and Viata Romaneasca, was first published almost all the modern writing which reflects artistically the deeper characteristics of the Rumanian people. A corner of the humble life of Banat is described in Popovici- Banatzeanu's short story, Out in the World; the romantic Vlach population scattered throughout the mountainous parts of Mace- donia, Epirus and Thessaly is represented in Marcu Beza's vol- ume of short stories On the Roads and his novel A Life; Transyl- vania has produced the poets G. Cosbuc, Octavian Goga, and Stephen Josif. To the last-named, a Transylvanian of Vlach paternity, are due the best renderings into Rumanian of Shake- speare's Midsummer Night's Dream and Shelley's To a Skylark. Barbu Delavrancea has given to the theatre an historical trilogy. Victor Eftimiu's poetic excursion into fairyland, String ye pearls I is founded on a popular Rumanian folk tale. And among story- writers must be mentioned Bratescu-Voineshti, Duiliu Zam- firescu, and Michael Sadoveanu. A great loss to Rumanian literature was the untimely death of the poet Cerna, who in profundity ranked next to Eminescu. (M. B.*)
RUNCIMAN, WALTER (1870- ), British politician, was
born at South Shields Nov. 19 1870, the son of Sir Walter
Runciman, ist Bart., a Newcastle ship-owner. He was edu-
cated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and afterwards joined his father in his shipping business, being from 1896 to 1905 managing director of the Moor line of cargo steamers. In 1898 he
unsuccessfully contested Gravesend in the Liberal interest, but
was elected for Oldham in 1899, although he only held the seat
for a year. In 1902 he stood successfully for Dewsbury, and
retained this seat until 1916. In 1905 he entered Sir Henry
Campbell-Bannerman's Government as parliamentary secre-
tary to the Local Government Board. He became financial
secretary to the Treasury in 1907, president of the Board of
Education in 1908, and was president of the Board of Agricul-
ture from 1911 to 1914. From 1912 to 1914 he was also Com-
missioner of Woods and Forests, and from 1914 to 1916 presi-
dent of the Board of Trade. On the formation of Mr. Lloyd
George's Ministry in 1916 he retired from the Government.
RUPPRECHT, Crown Prince of Bavaria (1860- ), eldest
son of King Louis III., was born May 18 1869 at Munich. In 1899 he visited India and in 1902-3 undertook a journey round the world, of which he gave some account in his Reiseerinnerungen aus Ostasien (1905). In 1906 he was appointed to the command of the I. Bavarian Army Corps. At the outbreak of the World War he was commander of the Bavarian troops (the VI. German Army) and led them to victory in the great battles fought in Lorraine (Aug. 20-22 1914). In the following Oct. he was placed in command on the German front in Artois and southern Flanders, and, after having been 'advanced to the rank of field-marshal, was entrusted in the spring of 1917 with the chief command of the Northern Group of Armies on the
