The New York herald., 1922-01-01
Hungarian Prince
Defends Charles

| OO J. Z VI = OIl0I lOO
MY MEMOIRS. BY Prince Ludwig
Windischgraetz Translated by Con-
stance Vesey. Houghton Mifflin Com
pany.
the fortunes of Central Europe
u in the newspapers of recent
date, more particularly the spectacular
attempt of the ex-Emperor of Hun
gary to regain his throne by flying
from Switzerland to Hungary in an
airplane. will do we'll to read MY
Memoirs" written by the man who
was Hungarian Food Minister during
the late war and who during the lat
ter part of the time was the close
personal friend and adviser of EN-
peror Karl, or Charles.
Dedicated ito those who will recon-
struct Hungary and Austria" the
Princes book opens with a foreword
describing his forced sojourn in Swift
zerland after having gone there as the
head of section in the Hungarian
Foreign Office. When the Hungarian
revolution took place he was reduced
to the status of private individual.
Failing in his attempt to secure the
ear of the people whose cause he had
championed, he decided to write and
publish his memoirs, supplemented by
memoranda made In his diary during
the war, and let Hungary and all the
world know the truth. Descended
from several generations of soldiers.
he has the fearlessness of the soldier.
AS you read his story you feel that
he is telling the truth.
AS Food Minister, Windischgraetz
came into close relations with Charles
He declares that the King was merely
a pawn in the game. Count Andrassy
is the only member of the court that
won this authors approval The Count
was Minister of Foreign Relations and
father-in-law of Karolyi, Prime Min
lister of Hungary
His arraignment of the Hungarian
supreme command and his bitter sar-
casm over the thousands of wasted
ives and money recklessly spent on
supposedly needed fortifications and
war works are not unlike comments
that we have read on our own Gov
ernment during the war! But there
is more than sarcasm in it; there is
grief and chagrin. Prince Windisch-
graetz seems to have at heart the good
of the Hungarian people.
Referring to Charles, the author
-
realizes his position and bears his fate
with dignity. No one can blame him
for not believing that his expulsion ex-
pressed unbiased public opinion. or
Tor feeling that his views had been
He is surely Justified
m assuming that his real wishes were
not represented to his peoples in the
right light. 1 told HIM the plain. un-
vanished truth now, as l had always
done during my term of office Neither
the dynasty nor the person of the
can play any decisive part,
III themselves alone. in the lives of the
nations at time of such absolute
debacle. Win Hungary, will Austria
exist? That is the sole problem to-
DAY. Austria Hungary could exist be-
cause this confederacy was never at
any time an empty formality; on the
contrary, 1t was a necessity, il was an
organic coalescence.
1T is idle to prophesy or to indulge
Ia speculation with regard to the form
of State; useless and harmful to try
and exercise. any influence or force
from without. 1t is foolish to carry
On monarchist propaganda outside the
all propaganda must be In
the heart and mind, consequently.
within the frontiers.
IF the leading classes, who are rezZ
sponsible for stria-Hungary's DO
itical and military downfall, had been
N the trenches. the struggle would
have been decided against us in a few
weeks :" That they (the COM
mon soldiers) were not mastered by
their opponents within a very few
weeks proves the existence of la
tent energy in the people which alone
counts in the work of reconstruction.
Healthy evolution must bring those
elements into power. in the countries
Of the former Danube monarchy, to
which we owe what was actually
achieved during the years of war. :.
The revolution has falle- TO the
ground. has been p somersault: the
,ataclysm overthrew throne Indeed.
out 1t has not chanpad the inmost
character of those who brought il
about. This change in essential"