Piteous Monarch

His Majesty King Ferdinand, long invalid and often sick to the point of death, made a dramatic gesture on the station platform at Bucharest, as he entrained to pass a period of recuperation, last week, at his hunting castle at Scrobesti.

While the train waited, King Ferdinand took Premier General Alexander Averescu by the arm and publicly besought him to do everything which would make possible the formation of a "National Coalition Cabinet" strong enough to bulwark Rumania in the event of the sovereign's sudden death. Since the first thing which Premier Averescu would have to do to bring this about would be to resign, his swart face darkened, and some reporters claimed that he did not reply to the King's appeal.

A male nurse then took His Majesty's arm, helped him firmly into the royal private car.

Arrived at Scrobesti, King Ferdinand took action in a manner absolutely to stagger Bucharest. He ordered the Minister of the Royal Household to present himself suddenly at a Cabinet meeting and demand the resignation of Premier Averescu. The order was obeyed. General Averescu picked up a sheet of notepaper from the table before him, dipped pen in ink, wrote out and signed his resignation. His startled ministers did likewise. Then came the real bombshell. Bland, the royal emissary announced that His Majesty had called to the Premiership Prince Babu Stirbey.

The shocking force of this announcement can only be appreciated when it is remembered that 16 months ago the Opposition parties posted on billboards by night, huge leering posters of Prince Babu Stirbey bearing the caption "This is He!" An especially significant poster was pasted up directly across the street from the royal apartments of Queen Marie, with the caption: "How do you Wee Him?"

The explanation for these posters was furnished by the Opposition press, which declared: "The recent abdication of Crown Prince Carol. (TIME, Jan. 11, 1926) is now widely interpreted as a protest against Prince Babu Stirbey's having compromised his [Carol's] mother and made his father appear ridiculous. . . .It is understood that Prince Carol encountered Prince Babu Stirbey in the antechamber of Queen Marie's apartments and proceeded to box his ears."

At the time these charges were made, Prince Babu Stirbey quietly left Rumania until the incident blew over. Politically Prince Babu is hand in glove with onetime Premier Jon Bratiano whose powerful dynasty has an almost feudal hold on large areas of Rumanian peasant land, as well as upon the principal industrial banks.

Observers watched eagerly to see whether Premier Prince Babu Stirbey would be able to assemble the National Coalition Cabinet desired by King Ferdinand.