Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1924-12-21

told that you had the army firmly
in hand. In this, of course. you
were loyalty supported by me, and
you had the power and the time to
do So"
Horthy: "Yes. 1 have the army
firmly in hand, but ] am of the opin-
ion that your majesty should not
take over the. government now, and
don't intend to turn it over.
shall, therefore, command the army,
which is bound to me by oath, not to
obey your majestry. 1t will surely
keep its oath to me, and if neces-
sary there will even be bloodshed.
There is, therefore, not even half
per cent of likelihood that your males
tvs cause will triumph"
l: How can you think that SOL
diers will keep their oath to you, If
you yourself break yours? Much
rather do j believe that my officers
and my men will certainly remem-
Der the oath they first swore to
their king, and will observe the oath
sworn to you only in so far as you
yourself, Horthy, wanted 1t to be
interpreted: you saw in this oath
a pledge given to the admiral of the
Emperor and King"
Horthy: II shall simply have all
men who fail to keep their oath shot
as perjurers and deserters"
Here / thought to myself: he is
pronouncing his own well-dcserved
sentence.
x 4 =
ONLY by the most perfect self-con-
~ troll did L manage to ignore these
infamies. ! remained silent out Of
love for Hungary, in the steadily
deepening conviction that the direc-
| ton of affairs must be taken out of
the hands of this man. / witnessed
a faithless, obstinate resistance that
yields to no argument, because it
does not want to yield. All nobler
feelings seemed to have died out with
him
I heard and felt. from the words
and the behavior of Horthy, what he
was now considering, and therefore
said, frankly:
You are sticking to your point of
view and l to mine-What are you
going to do about it?-Wiu you have
me taken prisoner"
Horthy was taken aback. He then
cast down his eyes, thoughtfully and
shamefacedly. For a few moments
there was complete silence. Then
Horthy blushed. He laughed forced
slowly, hesitatingly:
IN No. shall not take
your majesty prisoner
I: Then yield"
Now Horthy began all over again
with his old arguments: 1T will
mean the ruination of the country.
The little entente will come. There
will be internal disturbances-Why
didn't your majesty wait ten years
more? 1 would meanwhile have con-
tinued with the cleaning process"
AS the time was wearing on. /
said: II stick to my opinion. I'll
give you five minutes time to think
it over"
But after five minutes things stood
exactly as before. / fought down all
| feelings of anger. Possibly I might
yet strike a nobler chord in the soul
of my admiral. I tried to do so by
| pointing out to him what great con-
fdence 1 had at all times reposed in
him.
HORTHY continued, saying that
1.-The people now had confidence in
no one but himself. since he had
not yielded to the storm, but had
| braved it. Folks were saying out in
| the country that nobody could any
! longer have confidence in the King,
since he had fed in the face of
| danger,
! l.: "Horthy, And you permit such
| an Infamous falsehood 10 be said
| about your King? You yourself are
my witness. You yourself were pres
ent at Schroenbrunn and saw every
| thing, You tell the people whether
[ fed from danger or mott
| Horthy: Not in Austria"
| 1: And Hungary wasn't here
when the revolution broke out; 1 had
| been urgently called to Vienna, where
| things looked even more dangerous.
But l went much farther in the case
| of Hungary than l did in the case of
AUSTRIA: to my beloved nation 1 in
! trusted the safety, yes, the life of my
| little children
| I then explained to Horthy once
more that 1 did not consider the
| danger threatening from the little
entente to be serious, though at the
same time / could give no guarantees
! if Horthy did not yield at once. l de-
! clared that 1 had the promises of
| leading men and told him in greater
detail about them, though without
mentioning any names. Then l again
requested him to give up the re-
gency. Horthy did not quite believe
in the promises, saying that too many
| had already been made! He refused
| to bulge. Suddenly he said he would
| like to know the name of the leading
| Frenchman.
! 1 replied: II can't tell it; the name
is absolutely confidential"
Horthy regretted this: ut would
have been the only possibility for me
to yield the power. for if the name
is really weighty one then
of course, the whole aspect of things
is changed"
1 grew hopeful again that Horthy
might, after all, consider the coun-
| try:
IF you promise to yield and to
| observe silence. ! can tell you, the
vice regent, the name"
| Horthy: Yes"
And so 1 mentioned the name.
| (Briand.)
| Editors Note: KarTs own memo
| randa do not name ex-Premier BRAND
The name was added by the Emper-
or's secretary on what is said to be
| the verbal authority of Karl himself)
Horthy, joyfully: Yes, but why
didn't your majesty say this right
away? That. of course. is something
entirely different"
1: Then you will yield now?'
Horthy: "Of course, l shall yield
but now-momentariy- is impos-
sible. 1 haven't the whole apparatus
s. = II