Chapter XI: Hungary and Democracy

The result of the War may justly be described as the victory of liberal ideas and the triumph of democracy. The autocratic empires have disappeared, and upon their ruins have been built up a series of States in which the Government is founded upon the will of the people. Hungary under her present regime is the only exception. In name a republic, she is in fact ruled by an oligarchy which controls her policy, both internal and external, in its own interests and without reference to the welfare of the mass of her people. The whole history of Hungary since the Compromise demonstrates the opposition exerted by the Magyars to modern democratic ideals and the intensity of their struggle for the maintenance of privilege. We see the Magyar ruling caste, represented by such men as Apponyi and Tisza, straining every effort to deprive not only the non-Magyar nationalities, but the lower classes of their own race, of every vestige of participation in the legislation of the country. Nor did their measures of repression stop at disenfranchisement. Popular education was made as difficult as possible, lest the downtrodden classes should find in it a means of equalling their masters. Every commune in Hungary had its local despot, the nominee of the greater despot at the head of the county, who was in turn the trusted deputy of the central Government. The life, public and private, of the individual was in the hands of these men; the possession of ideas contrary to the policy of the ruling class was so practically discouraged that the only alternatives before the Hungarian citizen were their abandonment or else emigration to a country where the political atmosphere was purified by the breezes of freedom.

Under these conditions it was natural that the Hungarian nation should become divided into two contrasting and antagonistic sections: the Great Magyars, the upper classes which formed the military caste, and the uneducated and politically unimportant lower classes, which formed the mass of the nation. The War brought a measure of enlightenment to these latter, as it brought enlightenment to so many hitherto unconsidered fractions of the world’s population. But, owing to the policy of their masters, they sought this enlightenment not from their own countrymen, but from the disciples of Marx, who whispered in their ears the delusive but enticing doctrines of Communism. The sense of patriotism was killed, and no clear ideas were born in them to replace it.

The long pressure of the War and the final realisation of defeat let loose upon Hungary this accumulated flood of supreme dissatisfaction. But those who were dissatisfied knew only that the ancient form of government was corrupt. Their lack of education in the past, and the influences to which they had recently been subjected, made it impossible for them to visualise the true principles of democracy. It was too late for Karolyi and his associates to build up on the ruins of the old Monarchy any enduring structure of popular government. The stream had been dammed up too long; the dam once broken, the raging torrent refused confinement in constitutional channels. Bolshevism, the sinister tutor of the Magyar populace, was already entrenched, largely by the influence and financial support of the Jews. Karolyi was hated by the Great Magyars for what they termed the surrender of the ideals of the Magyar State, and mistrusted by the people as a member of the ruling class. From the first his fall was inevitable. Hungarians have blamed the Entente for what followed, but outside agencies had little influence on the course of events. The scourge of Bolshevism which swept over Hungary was in reality the inevitable consequence of the traditional Magyar policy, as surely as the Reign of Terror in France was the inevitable consequence of the policy of the Monarchy. Hungary lay helpless at the feet of a gang of ruffians who maintained themselves by the simple expedient of affording a licence to the lowest classes of an exasperated populace for unrestrained robbery and violence.

Nor was it Hungary who saved herself from this orgy of destruction and bloodshed. The various attempts at counter-revolution were utterly unsuccessful until the world became alarmed at the prospect of the plague spreading. To Rumania was assigned the task of restoring order, and in her execution of it she displayed an ability and a restraint which will for ever redound to her credit. Bolshevism was extinguished, and Hungary was once more given a chance to take her place among the nations of Europe.

From the first it was made clear to her that modern Europe could not tolerate a reactionary Monarchy in its midst. The new democratic States had suffered too greatly at the hands of that Monarchy to render it possible for them to view its re-establishment without alarm. But there was nothing to prevent the Magyar nation from choosing for themselves an unrestricted middle course between the rock of absolutism and the abyss of Soviet misrule. It might have been imagined that her recent history would have taught Hungary wherein lay her political salvation.

But the suppression of Bolshevism had produced a swing of the pendulum as violent as that which had followed the collapse of the Monarchy. To those who had suffered under the blood rule of Bela Kun and Szamueli the old ruling class appeared as their only saviours. They thought only of the vengeance against their late oppressors, and their untrained minds did not foresee the effects of the reinstatement of the very class from whose yoke the War had released them. But the restored military clique perceived their opportunity and from the first took full advantage of it. On the pretext of extirpating the remains of Bolshevism, they secured their ascendancy by the removal of those who were likely to oppose them, and by the erection of national institutions which could be relied upon to support their policy. The world at large and even the Hungarian proletariat were deceived by their specious promises, and it was not until their unsuccessful attempts to restore the Monarchy revealed their true aims that either perceived their mistake.

Hungary to-day differs little from the Hungary of the years before the War. It is ruled by an oligarchy whose agents strive their hardest to disguise the fact. The old oppression of all democratic ideals continues, rendered more dangerous by the determination of the jealous rulers of the State to undermine their neighbours, in whose territories these ideals flourish. Hungary, while professing poverty and proclaiming her impossibility to exist within the limits imposed by the Treaties, expends her revenues in the maintenance of a military organisation with which at the propitious moment to attempt the invasion of the surrounding States. Despite the teachings of history, despite the convictions of the modern world that territories belong to the races which inhabit them, the Magyars still insist upon their ridiculous conception of a “unitary Magyar State,” and pretend a divine right to the lands over which St. Stephen ruled. The prosperity and wealth of the nation is sacrificed by them to the vision of the restoration of the former Hungary, while the political consolidation of the present Hungary remains uncared for. It is the fable of the dog and the bone over again.

The statement that under modern conditions no nation can continue to exist in splendid isolation has become the sheerest truism. Every nation is more or less dependent upon the goodwill of its neighbours, more especially those nations upon the continent of Europe which are surrounded by States with which a reciprocal intercourse is an essential to their existence. But on the other hand, apart altogether from any exhibition of definite hostility, no oligarchy can secure really sympathetic consideration by the popular mind of a democratic country. Hungary’s rulers complain of the coldness of their neighbours; of the antagonism displayed towards them by the Entente Powers. But they make no attempt to bring their country into line with the requirements of the present day; they seem unable to comprehend the very meaning of the principles by which democratic states are governed. A recent Magyar apologist compares the state of Croatia-Slavonia under Magyar rule with the state of any of the great British Dominions. He apparently believes that the height of democratic ideals was reached by the permission accorded to the Croatian deputies to deliver speeches in their own language in the Budapest Parliament.

Until Hungary abandons her present reactionary tendencies and adopts in their place the liberal ideas which from time to time have for an instant shown themselves within her borders,[55] only to be quenched by the energetic action of the Magyar oligarchs, she cannot hope for the sympathy of the world. Her actions must be regarded with mistrust; the utterances of her leaders must be judged only by their actions. Defiance and propaganda can be no substitute for a genuine intention to abandon the errors and the absolutism of the past, and to develop a true Hungary along the lines of modern progress.

Meanwhile, Hungary’s neighbours, eager to proceed to the restoration of normal conditions within their borders, and prepared to devote all their resources to that end, are compelled to spend a large proportion of their energies in watching Hungary and concerting measures of defence against her aggressions, moral and physical. They dare not expose an unguarded flank to the _Awakening Magyars_, whose declared object is the restoration of the former Hungary by force of arms, or to the “League for the Defence of Hungary’s Integrity,” which strives towards the same end by force of propaganda. Central Europe is conscious of the volcano in its midst, and longs only for the fires in the volcano to become extinct, so that it may become a firmly established democratic mountain. Nowhere is there any antagonism to Hungary as a State. One of the foremost leaders of thought in the new States has said: “There can be no doubt that the democratic ideas and principles of all these neighbour States are just one huge guarantee of peace and order, and of the definitive creation of friendly relations and a commonsense system of live and let live among the various nations. If the popular classes in Hungary grasped in this respect their political and national problem, they would quickly recognise in what manner this crisis should be solved. Ninety-five per cent. of their difficulties with their neighbours would diminish the moment these neighbours perceived a tendency towards democracy and republicanism, and could be without anxiety regarding the internal regime in Hungary.... History teaches us that we and the Magyars cannot live in permanent opposition and hostility to each other.”[56]

It remains then for the Hungarian nation to abandon its present policy of obstinacy and wilful blindness. However great her efforts may be, they will not enable her to reverse the flow of the river of modern tendencies. The old days of isolation of State from State are gone, never to return, and the establishment of a mediæval feudalism is no longer possible in modern Europe. Unless Hungary consents to look facts in the face, unless she abandons her propaganda and her armed bands and sets herself to develop the Magyar race as the nationalities she once described so contemptuously as “subject races” have already developed themselves, the future can hold nothing for her but ruin. The false policy of its rulers is rapidly driving the “thousand years old Magyar nation” towards collapse and ultimate extinction. At the field of Mohacs Hungary fell gloriously, her valour overcome only by overwhelming odds. But, unless the Magyars abandon their present “awakening” for one more in accordance with practical politics, the fall which threatens their country now will be the ignominious failure of a nation which refuses to grasp its own destiny.

FOOTNOTES:

[55] As, for instance, in 1848 and 1918.

[56] Dr. Beneš in the _Czechoslovak House of Deputies_, January 27, 1921.

INDEX

NOTE.--_An asterisk indicates that the reference will be found in the footnote to the page indicated._

Agram, _see_ Zagreb

Alison Phillips, Professor, 10

Andrassy, Count, 30, 84, 144

Anti-semitic persecutions, 187*

Apponyi, Count, 20, 26, 31, 35, 39, 45, 46, 82, 83, 86, 95, 117, 181,
193, 198

Ausgleich, 13, 15, 44, 46, 78, 198

Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, 5

“__Awakened Magyars,” 109, 186, 187, 187*, 192, 193, 203

_Az Est_, 144

_Az Ujsag_, 8

Banffy, Count, 26, 124, 125

Beksics, Gustave, 27

Beneš, Dr., 204*

Bethlen, Count, 125, 146

Beust, 49, 50

Bismarck, 29, 30

Björnson, 37, 62, 66, 85, 137

_Björnson et Apponyi_, 38*

Bohemia, Kingdom of, 117

Bokanyi, Deszo, 36

Bolshevism in Hungary, 99, 102, 106, 183, 199

Brittain, Sir Harry, 157*

_Budapesti Hirlap_, 17, 26, 27, 46, 145

_Budapesti Kozlony_, 107

Burgenland, 113

Calvinists, 19

_Chains_, 7, 8

Charles VI, 46

_Chicago Tribune_, 10

Children, transportation of, 79, 87

Cisar, Jaroslav, 115*

Classical Schools, Slovak, 75, 79, 80

_Commentator, The_, 166

Compromise, _see_ Ausgleich

_Courrier Européen_, 62

Croatia-Slavonia, 14, 41, 118, 119, 202

Croats, 14, 47

Csaky, Count, 40

Czechoslovak constitution, 118, 120, 140

Czechoslovak education, 118, 150, 151 _et seq._

Czechoslovak justice, 153

_Czechoslovak Republic, The_, 118,* 120*

Czechoslovakia, 101, 112, 117

Czechs, the, 13, 28

Czernin, Count, 25, 99

Daniel, Arnold, 104,* 106,* 107,* 108*

Democratic Club outrage, 191

_Détachements_, 186, 187

Dictatorship of the Proletariat, 102, 135

Dualism, 50

_Eastern Europe_, 115*, 157*, 179*

_East European Problems_, 164

Electoral Law, 17, 18

Elementary schools, 72, 80

Emigration, 36, 87, 185

_Encyclopædia Britannica_, 10, 18*, 42*, 44*

Entente, 30, 32

Eötvös, Baron, 20

Erno Baloghy, 15

Esterhazy, Count, 39

Expulsion of Slovaks from schools, 77

Fiume, 43

Francis Joseph, 49, 50

Friedrich Decree of 1919, 131, 139, 146

Friedrich, Stephen, 104, 131*

Frontiers, delimitation of, 113

Gambetta, 29

Garbai, Alexander, 101

Germans, the, 14, 28

Germany, policy of, 30, 31, 92

Geza II, King, 43

Gömbös, Julius, 180, 193

Gorgei, 29, 49

Grabovsky, Juraj, 144

Gratz, Gustave, 170, 170*, 174

Greek Orthodox Church, 18, 19, 45

Grünwald, Bela, 22, 36

Hegedüs, Dr., 95

Hejjas, Ivan, 188, 189, 195

_Highlands, The_, 22

Hlinka, Father, 66, 68, 69

Hock, John, 184

Horthy, Admiral, 10, 104, 107, 186, 189

Horthy regime, 105, 107, 125, 183

Hungarian agrarian policy, 95 _et seq._, 105, 106 _et seq._

Hungarian churches, 16, 18

Hungarian elections, 26, 59 _et seq._, 145, 181, 185, 191, 193, 195

Hungarian education, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 39, 72 _et seq._, 117,
130, 133, 143

Hungarian feudalism, 125, 126, 184, 185, 194

Hungarian franchise, 17, 23, 55, 56, 93, 190

Hungarian institutions, 16

Hungarian justice, 16, 64 _et seq._, 139, 140

Hungarian languages, 16, 21

Hungarian legislation, 52, 197*

_Hungarian Nation, The_, 164

Hungarian population, 5, 13, 17, 33, 34, 128

Hungarian propaganda, 100, 117, 155, 156, 160 _et seq._

Hungarian statistics, 34, 73, 130

Hungary--
area, 5
nationalities in, 33
partition of, 6

Hussite wars, 46

Illiteracy, 20, 21, 23, 137, 151

Infant Homes, 40

Irredentism, 116, 161, 170, 182, 202, 203

“Irredentist Banner,” 180, 181

Jaszi, Oscar, 70, 93, 101, 105, 135, 184

Jerzabek, Deputy, 98

Joseph II, 47

Juriga, Ferdis, 67, 94

Karolyi, Count, 99, 101, 102, 129, 184, 199

Kolozsvar, Diet of, 44

Königgrätz, battle of, 49

Kossuth, 31, 38, 48

Krisztics, Dr., 145*, 161, 168, 169

Kun, Bela, 102, 187, 201

Latin, use of, 47

Law of Nationalities, 15, 16, 50, 64, 75, 131, 139, 146, 163, 167

League for the Defence of Hungary’s Integrity (__M.O.V.E.), 109, 161
_et seq._, 169, 187, 203

League of Nations, 122, 123

Lederer, E., 38*, 84

_L’enseignement en Hongrie_, 41, 82

Little Entente, 122

Local Assemblies, 33 _et seq._, 132, 138

Local officials, 54 _et seq._, 78, 134, 141, 152, 155, 163, 167, 198

Lutherans, 9

Mailath, Count Joseph, 42

Mandl, Leopold, 170, 170*, 171

_Magyar Culture and the Nationalities_, 15

Magyar Foreign Society, 181

_Magyar Irredenta_, 182

Magyar minorities, 147 _et seq._

__Magyar National Union, 179

Magyar, use of, 52, 53, 81, 136

_Magyars et Pangermanistes_, 30*, 35*

Maria Theresa, 47

_März_, 66, 85

Masaryk, President, 118*

“Memorandum” of Rumanian Party, 60, 66

Metternich, 31

Mezossy’s agrarian measure, 96, 97

Military Dictatorship, 186, 189, 195, 196

Minister of Racial Minorities, 135, 142, 143

Nagy-Szeben, Diet of, 44

Names, Magyarisation of, 89, 90

National Assembly, 109, 186, 190, 194

_Nemzeti Akcio_, 27

_Nemzeti Ujszag_, 146

_Nepszava_, 188

_Neue Freie Presse_, 37

_New Europe, The_, 105

Newton, Lord, 7, 8, 9, 115

Niederle, Professor, 36

Nyitra, Lord Lieutenant of, 94

Oedenburg, Germans in, 145, 146

_Old Diplomacy and New_, 112*

Orgovany, massacres at, 186, 188

Osusky, Dr., 123, 124

_Outlaw’s Diary, An_, 110*

_Oxford Hungarian Review_, 145*

Oxford League for Hungarian Self-Determination, 180

Pan-Slavism, 29, 86, 144

Peace Treaties, 6, 7, 9, 112, 118, 123, 148, 153, 158, 161, 167, 182,
196

Pechany, 140, 141, 143, 144

People’s Republic, 101, 105, 106, 184, 185

_Pester Lloyd_, 8, 140

_Pesti Hirlap_, 95, 96, 97, 100, 142, 143

Petofi, 38

__Physical Force Formations, 187

Place-names, Magyarisation of, 54, 87, 88

Poland, 112

Press, freedom of, 190

Press prosecutions, 67, 68, 70

Price, Mr. Crawfurd, 179

Primary Education Act, 20

Private schools, subsidising of, 81, 83

Pronay, Baron, 189

_Quand Israel est Roi_, 28*, 103*, 188*

_Questions de l’Europe orientale_, 164

Racial Minorities, 9, 10

_Racial Problems in Hungary_, 8, 10, 16, 19, 36, 40, 57, 72, 89, 108

Recent prosecutions, 130

Rakovszky, Stephen, 144

Red Terror, 104

Reich, Arpad, 170, 174

Rez, Dr., 27

Roman Catholic Church, 19

Rumania, 174, 200

Rumanians, the, 13, 18, 34, 43, 44, 155 _et seq._

_Rural, Social and Political Hungary_, 42

Ruthenes, the, 14, 18

Ruthenia, 118, 119, 142

St. Stephen, 24, 54

_Saturday Evening Post_, 165

Saxons, the, 43, 47

Secondary schools, 72, 75

Serbs, the, 14, 18

Seton-Watson, Professor, 8, 10, 19, 122

_Slav Nation, The_, 36

Slavs, the, 34

_Slavs of the War Zone, The_, 119*

Slovak language, 75, 178

Slovakia, 19, 115

Slovaks, the, 13, 19, 28, 36, 38, 47, 57, 58, 128, 135, 140, 141,
142, 144

“Slovenska Matica,” 38

_Slovensky Vychod_, 101

Soviet Republic, 101, 104, 183

Szamueli, 102, 187, 201

Szechenyi, Count, 47, 48

Szeged, 103, 103*, 123

_Szegedi Naplo_, 95

Szekels, the, 14, 18, 43

Teleki, Count, 103

Tisza, Coloman, 18, 22, 30, 50

Tisza, Count Stephen, 26, 94, 195, 198

Transylvania, 10, 14, 18, 19, 43, 44, 45, 125, 155

Uniat Greek Church, 19

Union of Protective Leagues, 181

Union of University Students, 180, 181

Unitarians, 19

Universities, 74

Upper Hungarian League, 178

Villagos, Battle of, 29, 49

Vyx, Colonel, 106

Wekerle, Prime Minister, 82, 97

White Government, 103, 104, 109

White Terror, 104, 164, 186

Wilhelm II, 30

Yugo-Slavia, 112, 154

Zagreb, 42, 66

_Printed in Great Britain by_ UNWIN BROTHERS, LIMITED LONDON AND WOKING

* * * * *

Transcriber’s note

New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the public domain.

Minor punctuation errors have been changed without notice. Hyphenation and proper names were standardized. The word, ascendency was standardized to ascendancy.

Page number references in the index are as published in the original publication and have not been checked for accuracy in this eBook.

Spelling was retained as in the original except for the following changes:

Page 17: “eduational stipulations” “educational stipulations”
Page 17: “most curious pervertions” “most curious perversions”
Page 34: “excluding Crotia-Slavonia,” “excluding Croatia-Slavonia”
Page 49: “Prussians at Koniggratz in” “Prussians at Königgrätz in”
Page 65: “which judical procedure” “which judicial procedure”
Page 66: “the judical procedure” “the judicial procedure”
Page 102: “Budapest become the” “Budapest became the”
Page 116: “proof of thei capability” “proof of their capability”
Page 134: “chose the language they” “choose the language they”
Page 159: “dduce no trace” “adduce no trace”
Page 189: “_detachements_ is” “_détachements_ is”
Page 205: “Bekrics, Gustave, 27” “Beksics, Gustave, 27”
Page 206: “Königgratz, battle of, 49” “Königgrätz, battle of, 49”
Page 206: “L’enseignment en Hongrie” “L’enseignement en Hongrie”
Page 207: “Rakovsky, Stephen, 144” “Rakovsky, Stephen, 144”
Page 207: “Slovaks, the, 13, 19, 28, 36, 38, 47, 57, 58, 128, 138, 135”
“Slovaks, the, 13, 19, 28, 36, 38, 47, 57, 58, 128, 135”
Page 207: “Vilagos, Battle of, 29, 49” “Villagos, Battle of, 29, 49”

Footnote 43: “expresion “Reasonable”” “expression “Reasonable””