Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-07-06
BY FRANK H. SIMONDS.

certain amount of credence throughout
Europe and have set in motion all
sorts of speculation. And. at the least,
they have silenced the rumor that the
Magyar and Latin states were to be
united under the rule of the Rumanian
prodigal
In all the many dramatic and pa
Ehetic chapters in the closing period of
the great conflict and the immediate
postwar days, none is sadder than
that Of the Emperor Charles, called to
the throne by the death of Francis
Joseph at the precise moment when
the ancient HapSburg monarchy was
beginning to crumble and the approach
of complete disaster was coming into
plain sight.
Charles was one of the best inten-
toned and weakest of men ever called
to shoulder an impossible burden at a
critical hour. He wanted to make
peace with the allies, and his German
partner made it impossible. He wanted
to save his own kingdom by some form
OF liberalization which would satisfy
the clamorous demands of the subject
races, and he was stopped by the in
Sransigeant nationalism of the Magyars
Road Clear for Otto.
When all collapsed and he disap-
peared into exile, there began that
series Of tragic wanderings which ended
in his death. Behind him he left
brave and determined wife, and in his
son Otto. a mere baby. the final hope
OF the Hsf@ onT& dynasty. For no one
would tSAr SrrsG,32 the claims of the
several arcnoiiea. lie last of whom
has now defAi ,.<.y resigned his claim
and left the r.2a Cisas for Otto.
But IL - AT ic0ny of fate that the
present heir o. the Hapsburg dynasty
should be at the moment the very
possible successor to the Hungarian
throne, because since the brutal re-
preston Of the great Hungarian revo-
luton in the far-off days of Kossuth,
Magyar resentment has endured. More
over: in Austria, the ancient domain
or the Hapsburgs, the chances of any
restoration are utterly remote.
Hungary, however, beyond any ques-
zion, desires a King. 1t has existed
under regency, nominally ruled by
Admiral Horthy and actually domi-
Hated by Count Bethlen, the prime min
4ster, ever since the evil days of Bella
Kun were ended by the White Reac-
ton. But no one has ever regarded
the regime as more than provisional
or discovered any widespread demand
for republican form of government.
A King to wear the ancient crown of
st. Stephen, leader to make possible
the restoration of the ancient frontiers.
these are the two aspirations of the
great mass of the Magyars living in the
muttlated fragment of a kingdom which
bered nearly $4,000, 900 of inhabitants
instead of 100000, as today, living on
territory hardly larger than that of
Portugal.
Restoration Not Easy.
A restoration in Hungary, however,
Is not the easy matter which it has
proved in Rumania, for the simple rea-
son that Hungary's three neighbors, all
OF which shared in the division of the
territories of the old Magyar monarchy
and are united in alliance to retain
their spoils, are openly opposed to the
coming Of King, who would be a
symbol of lost glory.
Czechoslovak1a, Rumania and Jugo-
elavia have no desire to see a Haps-
burg reigning at Budapest. Each holds
large Magyar minorities within its new
9rOntiers, each has every reason to
0fead the revival of Magyar aspirations,
which would be bound to accompany
VAe coming of Otto. Thus an attempt
ed restoration might easily prove a Sig
nal for new trouble in all the Danubian
region.
Nor is the immediate complication
arising from the opposition of neigh
bors the sole obstacle Behind the lit
Gle entente stands France and sympa-
thetic with the Magyar aspirations is
Italy. For MuSsolini the chief obiec-
tive during all of his still brief period
OF power has been the breaking down
OF the French control of European af-
fairs, which rests primarily upon the
system Of alliances binding Prague,
Bucharest, Belgrade and Warsaw to
Paris.
Goal Of Italians.
Now and again Italian efforts to de-
tach Rumania from the French group
nave seemed to have a measure of sue
cess, but in the end the Magyar mem
ace and the still greater peril growing
out OF Soviet claims upon Bessarabia
nave served to bring Rumania back
into close relations with the most DOW
erful military nation on the continent.
IL has been reported that the Carolian
restoration was more popular in Rome
than in Paris, but at least up to the
present moment there has been nothing
70 suggest any break with the estab-
usned policy OF the immediate past,
Willy nilly, Mussolini has been driven
70 base all his combinations upon Hum
gary. which is frankly resolved never to
accept the existing territorial conditions
created by tn etreaty of Trianon and
thus stands firmly against the whole
system of status quo In Europe, q per-
petual foe OF the nations of the little
entente which are allies of France.
The Hungarian situation is, however
one OF very great and patent dangers.
ANY open and overt act would certainly
bring down upon Budapest the armies
OF all three of the powers of the little
entente, each much more powerful than
the Magyar army. Nor can Hungary
hope for the financial support in and
out of the League of Nations which is
necessary to her existence If she openly
antagonizes France.
Avoids Actual Pledges.
Count Bethlen, the veteran Magyar
premier, has in the difficult situation
he has now occupied for nearly a dec
ade played a shrewd and cautious
game. He has met all the many Ital-
ian overtures with every sign of well
come. He has gone to Rome, he has
given his SANCTION to any number of
official courtesies. But he has at all
times avoided any actual commitment.
His purpose has seemed to be to
make clear to Paris and London that
the existing situation cannot endure
forever. If the victorious powers, which
still more or less control Europe, refuse
to permit revision of the treaties so
that restoration of the ancient great
ness of Hungary might be accom-
plished, the Magyar government will
be driven by the very force of national
sentiment to throw its lot in with the
nations which challenge the existing
order, particularly either with Italy, the
active protestant of the moment, or
Germany, which seems the eventual
opponent of all that was created at
Paris.
Enthusiastically Hungarian grievances
have won a sympathetic hearing in
London and the powerful Rothermeree