The New York herald., 1922-04-23
ONLY HUNGARIANS
FAVOR HAPSBURGS
Austrian Succession States
Hear of Charles's Death
With Relief.
CLAIMS OF TWO PARTIES
Legitimists for Old Dynasty:
Opponents Favor Election
Of New King.
CLAIMS OF TWO PARTIES

Special Correspondence Of TIE New YoEI
HERALD.
\ VIENNA, April 4.--Never has mon
arch been forgotten so quickly by the
majority of his subjects as has the late
ex-Emperor Charles. When the message
of his departure reached Vienna. his for
mer residence, 1t did not rouse stronger
echo in the hearts Of the population than
the closing chapter of any other sad
story. In Prague the news was received
with great relief and very likely also in
the capitals of the other national States,
+, for Charles was a symbol of a past
which none of them wants to see re-
vived for anything in the world.
Only Budapest made an exception.
There Charles was the crowned King of
Hungary. the bearer of the crown of st.
| Stephen. the symbol for thousand
years Of historical greatness and a hope
for the future. The Hungarian Govern
| ment is q royal government in spite of
| all that has happened. 1t has been be-
reaved OF its lawful head. lawful not
withstanding the dethronement law Of
| November, 1921, which no Hungarian
| monarchist ever considered as conscien-
| tiously binding.
| Hungary mourns at the bier of its
| King. and 1t did not and will not hesl-
| tate a moment to give this mourning a
strong and dignified expression, at least
| outwardly. Ii one looks behind the cur
| tain the situation changes somewhat.
| AS most people know, Hungary is polti-
| cally divided into two parties. the legiti-
mists and the propagators of a free cleo
! tion Of the future King. The former are
| loyal to the Hapsburg family, both on
| principle and for sentimental reasons.
The latter claim that after all that hap
pened the nation has regained the right
Of the free choice of a new King,
| May Exclude Hapsburgs.
| This new King may be a member Of
the Hapsburg family, If 1t should be pos
sible to persuade the big Powers and
| the Little Entente to withdraw the
| law OF November, 1921, whereby every
1 Hapsburg is forever excluded from the
I succession to the Hungarian throne: but
/ 1t need not necessarily be a Hapsburg.
As matter of fact, there exist several
possible candidates. among them the
King of Rumania, a Bulgarian Prince
and some others. Archduchess Isabella
leaves no stone unturned to make propa-
| ganda for her son Albrecht, who lives In
/ Hungary and has the support Of large
section of the population.
The present Government of Count
Bethlen. which frustrated Charles's las.
"putsch" and is responsible for the adop-
| tion of the dethronement law by the Ma
| tonal Assembly, is for a free election
| of the future King. 1t has introduced a
more conservative franchise with public
voting in the rural districts, professedly
| for the sake of having a better control
| over the turbulent and revolutionary
elements; in reality because public vot-
| ing in the rural districts means sure
victory for the Government party, which
needs a stronger majority than 1t has at
| present. The new measure Is really
| directed against the legitimists and not
| against the radicals, who do not count
in the open country. This explains why
the former opposed 1t with all their
| vigor to the very last moment.
Charles is dead. and it is pretty cer-
tain that the legitimists will have to
bury with him their best hopes. 1t is
true their leader, Count Apponyi. stated
that Otto. Charles's eldest son. will now
! be raised on their shield, but Otto has
never been crowned and he has not at
| tained majority. He Is mere boy.
With this new symbol the legitimists will,
| enter the fight half heartedly and lose II
from the very beginning.
Decision Postponed.
The Bethlen Government postponed
| the decision as to who should be King
| of Hungary for an indefinite period on
| the ground that the general conditions
of the country are not yet sufficiently
consolidated for solving this extremely
difficult and dangerous problem. But this
| postponement was an armistice. which
was so far kept by neither of the two
| parties. Every little political move III
| Hungary was somehow connected with
| the so-called king question: which lay
/ he Iat - a., n at,,ty
happening during the last months. In
the thoroughly monarchistic nation the
| free eectionist Government was natu-
| rally much hampered and lost much or
| its authority by the contention of the
! legitimists that 1t had abandoned and
was constantly betraying the still exist
| ing lawful King. This argument viii ne
longer hold good for the future. 1t be-
longs to the past.
More likely than not the decision over
the person of Hungary's future King viii
be accelerated By the death OF Charles.
| AS soon as the general elections. which
are intended for May. are over the
new Parliament will occupy itself with
| this task.
| III the papers are correctly informed,
| Charles left WILL which is partly polti-
cal and partly economic. AS to the po-
litical portion there are not even guesses.
1 Nobody pretends to know anything about
| IT, The financial clause will deal with
what little has been left of his private
| fortune. This Is not much Since his
abdication Charles was the poorest mon
arch in the whole world. There are two
estates in Hungary belonging TO him.
but they will probably be declared as
| Crown estates. and 1t is not certain
whether Charles could freely dispose Of
| them or their proceeds. In Austria he
| owned the country mansion Wartholz
and the castle Feistriz, the latter a COM
mon property OF the late Emperor and
| his wife.
Above that he left to his family
$500, 900 crowns In cash. stocks amount
| Ing to 1900. 900 crowns and five life in
surance policies of 100000 crowns
each. altogether worth about $500.
Besides. there is some furniture. which
Is valued at double that amount.
| Charles left seven children. with
one TO be born In May. namely. the Arch
dukes Franz Josef Otto, Robert. Felix.
Karl Ludwig and Rudolf and the Prin.
cesses Adelhed and Charlotte.
i