HUNGARY’S CAPITAL.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 218, 2 June 1915, Page 2

HUNGARY’S CAPITAL.

BUDA PEST IN WAR TIME. HOW THE MAGYARS FEEL AND ACT. The contrast between Vienna and Budapest is impressive. If Vienna is apathetic, unconcerned, the Hungarian capital is aliy e with activity and interest. One must visit Budapest in order to get a-clear conception of how popular a war can he. No one there will greet you with the words, “We did not want th 6 war. . , We 1 did not begin th e war,” which I invariably heard in other cities. On the contrary, they are eager to have you know that this is their war, and that they began the conflict.

That the conflagration spread over all Europe and has become the greatest war the world has ever known seems to fill every Magyar heart with pride. This exuberance seems'to the visitor like a breath of mountain air after the dull atmosphere of Vienna. For the Magyars are proving themselves to be the one strong element in the whole Hapsburg realm. Hungary, it will be remembered, is practically ah independent country, joined for protective and diplomatic purposes by a mutual agreement with the Austrian empire, under a joint sovereign. Vienna is nominally the capital and the seat of the ministry for foreign affairs, but every official of importance in that office is a Magyar, including the Minister himself, who takes orders from the head of the government in Budapest, so that Budapest is now the real capital of the dual monarchy.

Crude, ruthless, domineering, the Magyars, who are in a minority in their own country, not forming even one half of the total population of 20,000,000 people, are displaying iu the present crisis all the resource, all the strength that they have been storing up for this great event For to them it is the opportunity they have long looked forward to, of realising their dreams of Magyar dominion, not merely over hte polygot populations which inhabit this geographically compact Carpathians to the Adriatic, but also over all the Hapsburg countries, and, above all, over Vienna itself. For the Magyar has no patcnce or tolerance for the. Austrians, or for the vacilliating Austrian methods, iln his conversation Austrian rarely if ever is mentioned.

The war, as seen through Magyar eyes, is a clear cut issue. They have one enemy, and only one. No complex problems seem to divert their attention from, concentrating their full energy on fighting this, enemy—Russia, Russcphobia is no vagCG hypothesis to the Magyars; it is a-reality difficult for the foreigner to grasp. Russia is to the Magyars th e foster mother of “Pan Slavism” not merely in Serbia, but ■■lso within the boundaries of Hungary itself.

It is the Magyar’s firm belief that he existence cl the country is being ■ti.fienninccl by the 1 Ido o’ “Pan-Slav sm,” and as-the propaganda had been carried on actively in Serbia, the crushing of that country became the immediate concern of Budapest. That the assassination of the Archduke Fer-

dinand gave hte Magyars the opportunity they wer e looking for is one of t : h e grimmest incongruities in hsitory. I found in Budapest a feeling of the greatest relief that the Archduke who had been the one obstacle in the way of Magyar domination in the final monarchy, had been removed from the scene. The rumour that the Magyar leaders were able to convince the Germans that in the dual monarchy they alone were vigorous enough to he of efficient service, seems well founded. I was told by a person who was in a position to know that th e decision of the Germans to prosecute viogrously the campaign on the eastern front was in a large measure influenced by intimations from Budapest that an advance of the Russians across the Carpathians wold mean the disruption of the dual monarchy, and what is more, of the Austro-Hungaro-Gcrman alliance.

Of the . war against England or France only a faint echo reaches Budapest. There iB no feeling of enmity against England; on the contrary, the Magyars profess to feel, even at this time, a peculiar bond between themselves and the English,, As one man expressed it, “Our friends the English, who are now our enemies.” The Magyars pride themselves on their country life, which they like to believe i is closely modelled on the English,and t'heir love of horses. Which they feel is another “trait d’uhion.”

The life of the city apparently continues in its usual way. The streets, and places of amusement are well filled, though the absence of officers is in striking contrast with Vienna. The Hungarian! 'troop's* piqrticuilarly the “Honved” (national defence) regiments have acquitted themselves, theoretically, and the,famous Nadasdy Hussars, I have been told, “have covered themselves with ; glory.” There is unquestionably a certain uneasiness in the Hungarian capital with regard to Rumania, When I was in the city reports of Rumanian intervention cn the side of Russia- waver being widely ehv.ilate.£,

ised the gravity of such an eventualiity. Yet I found full confidence among all classes that the government would be aple to handle the situation. A few days later German troops began to pass through Budapest, German officers filled the cafes and hotel corridors. The Magyars breathed more easily. Their confidence in the government had not been misplaced. The Rumanian crisis passed over. —London “Times” correspondent.