AZ ORSZÁGOS SZÉCHÉNYI KÖNYVTÁR ÉVKÖNYVE 1974-1975. Budapest (1978)

III. Könyvtörténeti és művelődéstörténeti tanulmányok - Frank Tibor: Apponyi Rudolf londoni követsége (1856—1871) - The London Embassy of Rudolf Apponyi (1856-1871)

The London Embassy of Rudolf Apponyi (1856—1871) T. FRANK It was in the 1720s that the Habsburg Empire first sent a permanent representative to Britain. The British capital ranked among the more tranquil diplomatic posts

: throughout the hundred years that elapsed between the Congress of Vienna and World War I, the residence in Cavendish, later Belgrave Square changed hands on ten occasions altogether. Several Hungarian aristocrats entered the diplomatic service as early as the end of the 18th century. They were Catholics in the first place, holding their immense estates mostly in Western Hungary, and in more than one of these families diplomatic service was handed down from father to son. This tradition obtained, for instance, in the APPONYI family: Count Antal APPONYI (1782—1852) was the Paris Ambassador of the Habsburg Empire from 1826 to 1848 and he secured positions in the Embassy both for his son, Count Rudolf II (1812 — 1876) and his nephew Rudolf I (1802—1853). Count Rudolf II became a significant diplomat himself: he is instanced alike by Ernst von PLENER and Friedrich Ferdinand von BEUST as the paragon of the old-style Austrian diplomat. Father of Count Sándor APPONYI, one of the most notable contributors to the collections of the National Széchényi Library, Count Rudolf II's activities deserve here special attention. The Austrian Ambassador in London was very careful to maintain good relations with everybody of potential or real importance in British political life. He was aware that a good execution of his duties was feasible only if he linked the official connections with ties of friendship. Perhaps only with the exception of DISRAELI, the premiers and foreign secretaries of the 1860s were all on excellent terms with APPONYI. He could also make good use of his Catholic connections in the political arena, and tried for years on end to bring round the most influential representatives of the press as well. He was especially concerned about seeking and maintiaining connections with the Editor of the Times, and also with the ROTHSCHILDS of London and Paris. Count APPONYI surrounded himself with capable young diplomats; all of them aristocrats and nearly all of them expectant of serious assignments. In the years immediately before and after the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 the mainstay of the Embassy was Count Gustav KÁLNOKY (1832—1898), later to become AustroHungarian Minister for Foreign Affairs. Apart from him, the most brilliant career was made by one of the attaches, Ernst von PLENER (1841 — 1923). He published noteworthy essays on the English factory legislation and the building societies in several languages. Later, having abandoned the diplomatic career, he followed in the wake of his father, becoming himself an MP and afterwards Austro-Hungarian Minister of Finance. The circle of the personnel of the Embassy was-naturally of a smaller radius than that of Count APPONYI. The British were rather reluctant to admit aliens into their more or less self-contained circles. In eine intimität kommt man hier bei engl, familien wenig, man wird auf die grossen feste eingeladen u sieht sie ausserdem wenig, [sie] PLENER complained to his father. It was only at the commencement of London's organized social life, the season, that young diplomats could obtain access to some of the 'grand houses'. Apart from the salons, they haunted the London clubs as well and made hunting a regular form of social intercourse. Salons, soirees, balls, clubs and hunts all provided excellent opportunities for exchanging views and information. Thus, the staff of the Austrian Embassy in London found an abundance of venues and possibilities for the diffusion of their own political ideas and thus for exercising influence on the British political elite. APPONYI and his colleagues undoubtedly did a successful job. Still, their success can be attributed not merely to their individual aptitude and outstanding qualities. The tactical achievements of Austrian foreign policy in Great Britain, in spite of the antiquated nature of its methods, were rendered possible by the coincidence of the interests of the great powers, and, over and above that, by the transitory consonance of political interests and public thinking. It was not by chance that the London Embassy under Rudolf APPONYI 506