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

Appendix III. Parliamentary debates

962 patriotism. Yet we can regard this as a concession only if their autonomous status is realized through such elections as will assure the fulfilment of the real wish of the Ruthenian people and if no civil or military authorities preclude this autonomous body from freely expressing its will. (Approval) . .. Consequently we must assume that the Peace Conference, when it inserted this paragraph in the Accompanying Letter, not only announced and indicated this possibility but will provide for and guarantee to the Ruthenian people the free expression of their will. (Approval.) The third concession in the Accompanying Letter is the statement which, without specifying the exact time, intimates our admission into the League of Nations. However, this is conditioned on the loyal fulfillment by Hungary of the treaty obligations. Hungary, I believe, showed even during the war that, having made a decision, she is in the habit of remaining loyal. (Approval.) I see in this past conduct the greatest guarantee of our future. But I would be constrained to regard even this concession as illusory if it were not qualified by the admission that the fulfilment of the treaty obligations does not depend solely on the loyalty of the Hungarian Government but also in many respects on material and often on moral impossibilities. (Approval.) These are the observations I desired to make regarding the Accompanying Letter. Now allow me to touch briefly on the provisions of the treaty draft itself, in so far as we have had the opportunity of examining them since the night before last when we received the text. (Hear! Hear!) I shall take them up in the order in which they appear in the treaty. I have no comment to make on the first two sections. The first relates to the League of Nations, the other to boundaries, regarding which the Accompanying Letter contains explanations already mentioned. In reference to minority rights, there is a change in the treaty in that they have inserted the same provisions under the different countries, or, to be exact, under two — the Serbs and the Rumanians. These provisions.were missing from the original draft but were included in the Austrian treaty. These provisions are nothing more than the reaffirmation of certain agreements concluded between the Great Powers and these states for the protection of minority rights. We thought their insertion important because they are in the Austrian treaty and consequently we believe they should be in ours too; moreover, we see certain guarantees if they are emphasized in our treaty as well.