Paris Peace Conf. 184.011102/339½
Mr. Albert Halstead to the Secretary of State96
Subject: Comments on Hungary.
Sir: I have the honor to remind the Department that after the sending of General Bandholtz as member of the Allied Military Commission in Budapest I ceased to make recommendations in regard to Hungarian affairs. It seems, however, that the situation in Budapest is such as to make it desirable that I should supplement the reports that have come from General Bandholtz by referring to conditions and commenting upon them.
Up to late yesterday the Roumanians were continuing to remove material and supplies from Budapest despite their promise to comply with the instructions of the Peace Conference. The reports that reached me of conditions in the Budapest hospitals are heart rending. Wagon-load after wagon-load of food, as well as medicines, have been removed and the poor sufferers are not only deprived of food but even of the few medicinal necessities which have been left. The death rate of the children has advanced daily, and though it is pretended that orders to obey the Peace Conference have been issued the looting proceeds continuously. Day by day the bitterness is being engendered which is certain to destroy any possibility of future peace, for the Hungarian character is such that it will never forgive such injuries, especially when they are at the hands of a people for whom they have absolute contempt. I can only urge that the Roumanians be compelled to obey orders and to add that their failure to do so is another illustration of the fact that the Peace Conference has lost all moral force. It is further suggested that, while the Roumanians have reason to remember the atrocious treatment they received at the hands of the Germans and Hungarians, the looting of Roumania was during the war. The looting of Hungary is when the war has been ended and the effort is being made to establish a durable peace. The Roumanians still expect to be reimbursed for their losses during the war, but it is respectfully urged that they be penalized in double the amount of the material, food supplies and other things, including railway cars, telegraph instruments and lines which they have stolen from Hungary.
The continuance of Archduke Joseph as Regent makes any permanent settlement of the government of Hungary impossible. The Socialists and some of the other classes resent the return of the Hapsburg and will never consent to remain under his rule. A government [Page 630] without Socialists that is not truly representative cannot last. It serves to delay the restoration of order and the institution of a real, representative peoples government.
I have [etc.]
- Copy transmitted to the Commission by Mr. Halstead under covering letter No. 404, August 19; received August 21.↩