BUDAPEST IN WAR TIME.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXIX, Issue LXIX, 27 May 1915, Page 2

BUDAPEST IN WAR TIME.

.r ■^/1 > ) The contrast between "Vienna^ and Budapest is impressive. !lf Vienna is apathetic, unconcerned, the Hungarian capital is alive with activity and interest. One must visit > Budapest in order to get a. cle^r conception of, how popular war can be. No* one there will greet you with the wordß,- VWe did not want the 'war. . . "We did, not t«gm the war," which I invariably heard in other cities. On the cpntrary, they are eager to have you know thai this is their War, and that they began the conflict.!* Thai-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 es^berance seems to the \isifcor,,, like a breath of mountain air afcer the dull atmosphere of Vienna. For ihe Magyars are proving themselves to be the one strong element in the it hoi? Hapsburg realm. Hungary, it will be remembered, is practically an 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 fOT foreign affairs, but every official of im portance 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, tidt forming even^rie half of '^■■'±^--^jxUii<m;'j^.'-/^IB t Q!SO(0O: ; people,' are displaying in the present 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 the [ polyglot populations which inhabit this geographically compact; Hungary from the Carpathians to the Adriatic, but also over all the-.Hapsburg. countries, and, above'all, over Vienna itself. For the Magyar has no patience or tolerance for the Austrians, or for the vacillating Austrian methods. In his conversation Austria rarely if ever is mentioned. The war, as seen through Magyar eyes, is a clear cut issue. They have oue enemy, and only one. No complex Droblems seem to divert their attention from concentrating their full energy in fighting this enemy—Russia. Russophobia is no vague hypothesis to the Magyars; it is a reality difficult for the "foreigner to grasp. Russia" is to the Magyars the foster mother of "Pan-Slavism" *iot merely in Serbia, but also within the boundaries of Hungary itself. It is the Magyar's firm belief that the existence of the country is being undermined by the tide of "PanSlavism," 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 Francis Ferdinand gave the Magyars the opportunity they were looking for is bne of the grimmest incongruities in history. 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 fn the dual monarchy, had been removed from the scene. The rumor that the Magyar leaders were able to- convince the Germans that in the dual 'monarchy they alone were vigorous enough to be of efficient service, seems well-founded. I was told by a person who was in a position to know that the decision of the Germans to prosecute vigorously 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 would mean the disruption of the, dual monarchy, and, what is more, of the Austro-Hungaro-German alliance. i Of the war . against England or .France only a faint echo reaches Budapest. There is no feeling of enmity against England; on the contrary, the Magyars profess to feel, even at this cime, 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 is closely modelled on the English, and their love of horses, which they feel is an-

other "trait d'union."

The life of the city apparently continues in its usual way. The streets and places of amusement are well filled, chough the absence of officers is in striking contrast with Vienna. The Hungarian troops, particularly the •'Honved" (national defence) regiments, have acquitted themselves heroically, 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 Roumania. When I was in the city reports of Roumanian intervention on the side of Russia' were being widely circulated, and every Magyar realised the gravity of such an eventuality. Yet I found full confidence among all classes that the government would be able 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 Roumanian crisis passed over.— London Times correspondent.