Papers and Documents relating to the Foreign Relations of Hungary, Volume 1, 1919–1920 (Budapest, 1939)

Appendix III. Parliamentary debates

953 2. Excerpts from the Minutes of the National Assembly, 39th Meeting, May 10, 1920. Records of the National Assembly, vol. 2, pp. 403 ff. The Speaker : The Minister for Foreign Affairs wishes to speak. (Hear! Hear!) Count Paul Teleki, Minister for Foreign Affairs: At this historically important moment, one which will have a decisive influence on the future of our nation, the moment when the revised peace treaty comes into our hands, I think the House expects the Foreign Minister to address this assembly and to make known to its members and to the nation what it is necessary for them to know regarding the treaty. (Hear! Hear!) Now that I am about to speak I feel the gravity of this moment for I speak at a time whose seriousness is scarcely paralleled in our history. There have been perhaps three landmarks in our history, at more or less regular intervals, which indicate the great upheavals through which our nation has passed, and yet survived because for over a thousand years its vital forces have sustained it and enabled it to maintain itself intact. These landmarks are: the conquest of the fatherland in the ninth century; the Tartar invasion in the thirteenth century; the tragedy of 1526

1 — and the present crisis. As we have survived the previous catastrophes, we shall survive this one also. (General approval.) As our nation prospered after those, it will prosper after this as well. (Approval.) From this viewpoint do I judge the present moment and I wish to consider from that angle the facts I propose to discuss. (Cheers.) Public opinion and the press was dismayed and unequivocally condemned in strong terms the peace conditions presented to us. I don't think it would be possible to find anywhere in the world a person, if in him there remained or was rekindled but a vestige of humanity or impartiality, who could consider too harsh the criticism or too great the indignation which this nation necessarily felt when it was confronted with these conditions. Public opinion even in foreign countries condemned this treaty and the whole conception upon which all these peace treaties were drawn up and of which the Hungarian treaty is an integral, though regrettably only a small, part. To day many who participated in the work of the peace conference admit without reservation the errors committed by the conference 1 Decisive battle near Mohács against the Turks followed by a 150 years' occupation. •»