AUTOCRAT OF HUNGARY

Press, Volume XLIX, Issue 14758, 30 August 1913, Page 4

AUTOCRAT OF HUNGARY

"CROMWELL" TISZA'S METHODS. A RUTHLESS DICTATOR. (ntOM A CORRESPONDENT.) BUDA PESTH, July 29. "Cromwell" Tiisza has again been appointed Hungary's Premier, and all adventurous Magyars are sharpening their tongues, their Snucklee, and their swords. With •'Cromwell" Tisza ruling, trouble, they know, is nigh. The one unruffled Magyar is Tisza himself. When fuming fellow-men rage and shoot-off guns and swear-words, Tisza 6 joy is endless. Combat delights him. He is never happier than when quarrelling, standing as target for lawmakers' ink-pots, pinking rivals with rapiers in the ribs, or hurling out of the Diet the nation's chosen chain-

pions. "Cromwell" (by birth Count Stephan) Tisza is the I>ict Speaker who crushed the unconquered obstructionists, who drove through in a session laws which experts said would need a decade, who silenced critics with guns beforo the I>iet House, who had the highest magnates, Arpad's proud preepenty, dragged from the ha-1 by their collars when not by their beards. He is the man who fought three- duels in a week, and won them all: the man who sat imperturbable and proposed U> continue business while- h braco ol bulkts, aimed at his heart, sti.l stuck in th« wood-work or his cit*k. In -Europe s> drab governance, wnere mere Marconi ticanda.s rank as sensations, Tisza is a laid, and now that dull Premier Lukacs is in retirement, and Tisza sits in tne seat of tiie migiity, Europe's eyes turn expectantly to iiuda Pesth. "Cromwell" 'lisza. is liity-two, and eldest son or Koloman 'J'kza, who maoi iiungary'ti tJlavs and Koumanians smart with iVlagyarisation laws. KoiOman sent his sun bt-jphan to study at Berlin and Heide.berg, and Stephan learnt everything, and seven '•.Moneur" dues whhv.ut getting scarred. H.s opponents got the tears. Tk>za is the bust swordsman Hungary has; and in fact, the best all-rounu man. Were he not in politics men would worship him. Ho is a maetcr ot arts; he is expert at bridge, at shooting, at riding; he is eoually clever at maKing high jumps and making hay. When livey Stejihan touched twentyfive, ho came ,to Buda Pesth at iJizakna's representative. He cnlied liimsclf momber of the Liberal Party, which meant that he was a Liberal, but a Magyar Nationalist, agrarian, and dualist who championtd the maintenance of the 18G7 "Autglcich/ , regulating Austrio-Hungarian affairs. People made remarks about young Tisza's war.iko mien. AVhcn other nobles wore the picturesque ma,?nat<> costume, good-looking Stephan turneci up as a Hussar. To prove h.'e harmlessncss, ho had to write books on agrarian policy, and the influence of the gold standard on the . price ol grain. Tisza earned praiso as a precise and concise speaker, and he earned fear by his brow-beat-ing scowl. Ho was rude to foes and he showed skill in making them obnoxious. Later ho had an eye operation which left him unable to see to right or left, but only straight ahead. To-day people say that is characteristic of "Cromwell" Tisza. He can only think, speaky and act ahead. And, in fact, Tisza derides all compromises, manoeuvres, and pacts. His way is to make up his rough, tough mind about a thing, and then to do what ho wants by argument, if possible, and if impossible, by violence, law-breaking, or fraud.

Naturally Tisza was born to succors, but his first raid into high policy failed. Ho began by demanding ruthless suppression of Diet obstruction, the only method which Hungary's* progressives and independence men apply when they want to air their grievances. That was •in 1898. The Opposition refused to pass the Budget of Baron Banffy. and Stephan, working with his father Koloman. pushed through tho "Lex Tisza." which was to break tho Opposition's back. Tisza's roputo as boss obstruction fighter, and stick-at-nothing man grew, and when Premier Koloman Szell resigned, Franz Josef invited Tisza to take his place. That was ten years ago. Tisza said yes, but failed. His ruthless ways frightened all moderates and weaklings, and politicians refused to serve in his Cabinet. In September, 1903, a second Cabinet-making try succeeded. Tisza's programme was: "Break obstruction." New laws must be made even if old laws were to be broken in making them. Tisza unlawfully suspended the Diet statutes, and drove through the "Lex Daniel" his second measure against obstruction. This Cromwellian act frightened supporters ; some seceded, and the whole Opposition united. When tho Diet reopened, Tisza had the "guard" in the sessions hall. The Opposition put the guard to flight and demolished Tisza's chair. "I shall dissolve," said Tisza. "You won't," said the Opposition. "The Constitution forbids you to dissolve before the Budget is passed." Tisza sent the Constitution to purgatory. He unlawfully dissolved, was defeated at tho elections, and disappeared from Buda Pesth.

For five years Tisza, now Hungary's most hated man, lived on his Geszter farms. His enemies blackened his character, and on one occasion he blackened their eyes. An occasional duel enlivened his days. In 1910 he returned as, member for Arad. From that day the name of Tisza was used by tho baffled Government to frighten the obstructionists. "We will bring in Tisza," was the threat; we will make Tisza Speaker." In May two years • ago Premier Khuen-Hedervary brought in a new Army Bill, which materially increased the annual Hungarian contingent. The Justh Independence party refused to let it pass. Unless national concessions were granted they" would stop the Bill by obstruction. KhuenHedervary again threatened to make Tisza Speaker, and said he would give' him power to suppress obstruction by force. Tho frightened Opposition agreed to terms arranged by Tisza's cousin, Count Julius Andrassy. If Tisza was not made Speaker, the Opposition would not obstruct. The compromise was to end, and both sides were to be free when the clock struck midnight on December 31st.

This made 1912 Tisza's year of destiny. In April Khuen-Hedervary admitted his helplessness to pass the Army Bill, and, being further plagued with a Franchise Bill, he resigned. Colourless Lukaes reigned in his stead, and masterful Tisza, though only a private member, took control. "Suppress obstruction," whispered Tisza. Lukacs obeyed by making Tisza Speaker. On his first day as Speaker, Buda-Pesth broke into riots; seren persons were killed and a hundred wounded. "Put down rioting," whispered Tifiza to Lukacs, and Lufincs held_ firm. Tisza vowed he would force through the Army Bill. He started by violating the statutes, and l>y having tho Bill read thrice on a "single day. This was tho cause, of a record Diet storm. Tisza suspended the opposition en masse; led them by force; locked them out by force, and prevented them re-entering by force. Unexampled rows ensuea. Hungary gasped while Tisza ordered Count Albert Apponyi, greatest Magyar orator, light of internationalism, scholar, and millionaire, to bo dragged out of the Diet like a schoolboy. "Cromwell" Tisza turned green with joy, and went on law-making without any opposition at all. On June 7th, 1912, "Cromwell" Tisza nearly paid for success with, his life. ■ Julius Kovacs, normally a peaceful and good-humonred Diet member, tried to ehoot him. Tisza, against- expectation, had admitted 130 members whom he had flung out the day before. Whoa they took their seata 150 police-

men appeared, and dragged about thirty of them out. With them was rLovacs. Kovacs got hold of a fiyerevolver, evaded the police jy entering the Press gallery, and from ;here came unobserved to the floor or tho House. After the usual din, iclped by an ex-Minister blowing blasts on a trumpet, Tisza rose, and made ironical remarks about his exclusion, of the Opposition. "The Opposition is still here," rang out a voice. It oanie from intruder Kovacs. and behind it out flew two bullets at Tisza. Tisza made cool remarks about tho"unhappy aiadman," and counselled the Diet to xo on working. Three duels followed. Tisza conquered. He conquered also in law-making by his usual means —lawbreaking. Ayain, in defiance of the statute, and with the whole Diet Opposition barred out, he forced through the Army Bill, the Budget Bill,.and a third repressive statute against obstructionists. Foes denounced Tisza as a bully and a liberticide. Friends acclaimed him as the one man,who in. two decades of Magyar political history bad got the Diet to work. And now Tisza is a second time Premier. When Premier Lukacs, his faithful servant, lost a libel suit and had to retire, Tisza took his place.When he first appeared in the Diet as head of the Cabinet the Opposition raised such a storm that the session' was broken off and the Parliament guard sent for. The Opposition met the guard with "Murderers!" A captain of the guard drew his sword and brought it j twice down on the head of Deputy j Hedervary. Tisza sat still, grim and contemptuous, and when he got silence, he announced that he would pass a law to deprive of their seats all mem- j bers who did not attend to their duties and to declare them ineligible for reelection.

To-day all opposition parties are making a league which, will have as its object Tisza's overthrow. They are backed by Progressives, Labour men. Socialists, Slavs, Germans, and Roumanians, in fact, by all, Hungary except the feudal Magyar oligarchy .and their serfs. It is this division which causes "Cromwell" Tisza to Dβ denounced as a mere class reactionary. The accusation is false. Tisza knows that if the opposition wins, not only progress, but Hungary as well, will disappear, for Hungary is the minority Magyar race, and the universal suffrage which the opiposition wants would submerge the Magyars under a wave of Slavs, Teutons, and Latins. Hungary would then be like Austria, a State without a dominant race; In championing reaction:' and fignting the Liberal franchise, Tisza is fighting for Hungary. Some even of his enemies admit his honesty here. Others believe that truculent aggressiveness is his only motive, and that "Cromwell Tisza will readily embrace any cause it only it gratifies his passion for conflict and mastery. '