Levéltári Közlemények, 39. (1968)

Levéltári Közlemények, 39. (1968) 1. - FORRÁSKÖZLÉS - Karsai Elek: Brit diplomáciai iratok az 1921. évi húsvéti királypuccs történetéhez / 105–139. o.

по Karsai Elek The Governor replied that we were all aware, more or less, of these plots; they were very undefined and often nebulous, but there could be no question that unfortunately there were personalities in Hungary — and I was here surprised to hear him mention the name of M. Rakovszky, the President of the Chamber-who, for their own personal aims, were desirous of upsetting the present régime in Hungary and to plot for the return of the ex-Emperor Karl or some other Habsburg. As I knew he had never concealed the fact that, having sworn an oath of fidelity to the ex-Emperor, from which oath the Emperor Karl had refused to release him, he was in honour bound to regard himself as a Legitimist, but he had no hesitation in saying that he regarded the return of any Habsburg to the throne of Hungary „to-day and for a long time to come" as out of the question and as a disaster to his country. He intended to have the Treaty of Peace ratified and to keep law and order in the country to the best of his ability, and he requested me to assure your Lordship that he would not be privy to any Habsburg intrigues which contemplated any immediate return of that family to the Throne of Hungary of the disturbance of the peace of Europe. I took this opportunity of carefully stating the views held by His Majesty's Government with regard to the whole Habsburg question. His Highness assured me that he was quite aware of these views, and that for a year at least there could be no question of our intentions clashing on this subject, and at the end of that period the position could be reviewed afresh. I then went on to speak of the intrigues he must know were brewing among certain of the officer classes in the army, and it was even said they were spreading amongst the détachements of his own personal bodyguard. His Highness, with the very greatest emphasis, denied the latter statement; he was absolutely certain of these men who, with him as their leader, had brought about the counter-revolution, and he could trust them body and soul. I told him I was glad to hear this, but he should remember that there could be no question but that many of the leading Jewish barons and merchants were now in close touch with the Karlists, because they hoped that under another régime there would be less „moral" Jewish terror than there was to-day. His Highness replied that he had heard this was the case, though he would not allow that there was any Jewish terror of any sort or kind. Lie maintained that These efforts were concentrated on and had more effect on the reserve officers than on the officers of the regular army. He had only yesterday informed the Cabinet Council that now that the treaty was to be ratified a drastic reform of army retrenchment must be inaugurated, and not only in the army, but in all the Ministries; they could then pay those officers and bureaucrats who remained higher emoluments, and they would thus not be laid open to temptations either by interested high-class Jews or of „blackmailing" half-criminal Jews. He believed that the request of the Minister of War for some kind of conscript army was to be categorically refused, even if it had not already beeen done; but he trusted that the Entente Military" Missions, when they were in a position to study the matter first hand, would realise the absolute necessity for Hungary of having a small but trustworthy force to keep law and order, not only in Budapest, but also on all her frontiers. At this point his Highness began to inweigh against the actions of the S. H. S. authorities at Pécs. He has never failed to mention this question to me whenever I have met him in the past and it evidently lies near to his heart. I cannot think of a better way of pleasing his Highness and also of helping in the re-establish ment of the economic and commercial life in Hungary than by having this unfortunate situation immediately regularised by the Conference of Ambassadors in the same energetic manner as was done at Klagenfurt, within a few weeks of the ratification of the Treaty of Peace. I think it would encourage his Highness in feeling Hungary is no longer the bête noire of Europe, and would most certainly demonstrate to the general public in Hungary the immediate adventages obtained by the ratification of the treaty, as well as cutting the ground from the feet of the discontented reactionary classes, who are preaching and will continue to preach the non-necessity of ratification. "With a more moderate Government in Vienna there seems, no reason why the question of the western comitats should not be left to mutual arrangement betwen the Governments of Vienna and Budapest. The. feeling against yielding any more of their territory is very strong amongst all Hungarians, but /this antipathy is intensified by the belief that this cession of territory was. forced on Austria by the Czecho-Slovaks in order to make it a bone of contention between Austria and Hungary, and to weaken the hated Magyars. But with regard to this questions of the comitats I did not venture to speak to his Highness. / As usual, before taking my leave I brought up the importance of granting a very extensive