Papers and Documents relating to the Foreign Relations of Hungary, Volume 2, 1921 (Budapest, 1946)
Documents
678 1921 No. 571. 3671/pol. The Representative of the Hungarian Government in Paris, Mr. Praznovszky, to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Count Bánffy. In accordance with code telegram No. 223, 1 I intervened with Mr. Peretti ; he showed a touchingly sincere interest in finding a solution which was as far as possible in our favour. We looked through the pertinent paragraphs of the Peace Treaty together and eventually after much consideration, agreed upon the following: I shall at once submit a note to the Conference of Ambassadors in which I shall ask for postponement of the cession of the territory. Nothing whatever can be done without this, for somebody must propose it, so that the Allied Powers may be able to form an opinion. The proposition must be based upon the resumption of negotiations with Austria, so that a démenti from Austria should be out of the question. I shall furthermore refer to Article 71 of the Treaty, which declares that a commission for the transfer of Western Hungary will be formed on the fifteenth day after the entry into force of the treaty. But the date refers to the formation of the commission and not to the transfer, or at least the text may be interpreted in this sense. Mr. Peretti is going to give Mr. Cambon suitable instructions for the discussion of the note. He was sceptical as to the result and I therefore tried to use the facts imparted in your code telegram No. 199,® pointing out that if two Great Powers decided in favour of the postponement of the transfer, we should have won our case. Mr. Peretti advised me repeatedly that we should start negotiations as soon as possible, sincerely and in a spirit of good will; if we agreed, we had every hope that the agreement would be approved by the Allied Powers. I would ask for telegraphic instructions for the presentation of the note and for information as to the beginning or actual state of the negotiations. 3 [translation} Code telegram No. 295. PARIS, July 9, 1 92 1. 1 Supra, Doc. No. 559. Cf. also supra Doc. No. 563. 2 Supra, Doc. No. 503. 3 Cf. infra, Doc. No. 574.
