Levéltári Közlemények, 39. (1968)

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

134 Karsai Elek who are playing a leading part are less well known, and where consequently the difficulty of weighing evidence is greater. The Minister for Foreign Affairs who had gone to Vienna for the Easter holidays, and who had been instructed on the 28th March to proceed to Szombathely, is a convinced Royalist, having spent practically all his life in Vienna in the old Austro-Hungarian service. Although he is now resigning his post and is taking advantage of his new liberty to give utterance to his ideas with great freedom, he quite understood the general situation and used every argument to induce Charles to leave voluntarily. This was a most important point, for to have used force would quite certainly have led to general internal troubles, for even many of those who are by no means partisans of Charles would be horrified at the use of violence to one who had worn St. Stephen's Crown. His Excellency succeeded at last, he told me, in inducing Colonel Lehár to add his arguments to his own, and it was only then that the ех-KÍng understood at last that he must resign himself to his departure. Count Apponyi, also an inveterate and confirmed Legitimist, told me that this was most fortunate and most important, for there was not an officer in Hungary, he assured me, who would raise his hand to turn away the crowned sovereign. It is necessary to observe that, in securing the departure of the King from Hungary, Count Teleki had to make allowance on the one hand for this extreme of feeling, and on the other for the violent desires of those who would have been glad to expel him by force. It was in seeking to steer a middle course that the Prime Minister had to negotiate with Charles, and was ready, as he told me himself, to agree to anything so long as he could get him out (see my telegram No. 91. fourth paragraph). This fact will probably account for the publication through Count Teleki of a proclamation by the ex-King which will be enclosed in a subsequent despatch, and which will probably expose the Prime Minister to serious Parliamentary attacks. But in any case it seems impossible not to applaud the conclusion of arrangements, which enabled a fallen monarch to leave his country in safety and with dignity. It is not long since I had occasion to comment on a report by a military officer resident, I believe, many years in Vienna, who termed the present Hungarian Government reactionary, and I adhere to my repudiation of the accuracy of this description. A reactionary régime would have acted very differently during the recent episode. The majority of the present Cabinet as of the present Parliament are „democratic", that is, they are, in the great majority of cases, people of undistinguished, however respectable, birth and of moderate fortunes. The magnates are scantily represented and certainly are unable to make their weight predominant, and though I guard myself against underestimating it, I am not sure whether I have laid sufficient emphasis on my firm conviction that whilst the whole country diseres a king. 80 to 85 per cent of the population are opposed to a return of King Charles, and almost an equally large majority to the accession of any member of the Hapsburg family. The influence of an aristocrat like Count Apponyi is due to his experience, his learning and his long public career rather than to his wealth or his birth, and he joins hands with a man like Dr. Gratz, who enjoys neither of the two latter advantages, but is by education, instinct and training a bureaucrat of the old Empire. The real strength of the country, however, lies to-day in the small landholder and peasant class, who form the immense majority of the nation and who every day are becoming more articulate and more conscious of their power. If peace and order is to be maintained in South-Easterrt Europe, the Treaty of Trianon must be ratified and observed, including article 73, which provides under appropriate conditions for the inalienable independence of Hungary. Attacked and unaided it is probably incapable to-day of fulfilling this article, but so long as its behaviour is as correct as it has been during the last six months, and especially during the recent crisis, it would seem deserving of aid, nor would it be to the advantage of the world at large that its high level of civilisation, the highest which exists towards the East — should be lost. At present the danger in -which this country stands is great, and its position pitiable. In conclusion I desire to mention to your Lordship the extremely pleasant and intimate relations which I have always enjoyed with all my colleagues here, but which have been perhaps accentuated during the past ten days. There has been the most complete accord between myself and my French and Italian colleagues, and the representatives of the „Little Entente" have invariably informed and consulted me as doyen before taking any action, and have accepted in good part my recommendations in the sense of moderation and deliberateness. I have, &c. T. B. Hohler, High Commissioner. Három és fél oldalas nyomtatvány. — PRO FO 371. Hungary (21) 1921 — f. 180 — 7409. — A jelentést 1921. április 11-én iktatták a Foreign Office-ban.