CORRESPONDENCE
A LETTER FROM BUDAPEST
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Now is the dead season in Budapest, and the Autumn of our discontent is not yet made glorious by the return Of " the quality " from their summer retreats. The steamers no longer take us up the Danube to Esterjorn to see the cathedral, or to Visegrad to climb up to the ruins of the castle and muse on the glories of the Anjou Kings or the sports and gaieties of Matthaeus Corvinus. Not even do the smaller craft carry us to swim, play tennis or drink sulphurous waters on the Margaret Island. Only the ferry boats still ply between Buda and Pest for the benefit chiefly of Government officials. True the golf course is there on the top of the Swab Higy (Swabian mountain), but where are the players ? A few members of the foreign Legations have the energy to motor up and take their pleasure in the most glorious air that man could wish for in these autumn days. They are however, few and far between.
Other amusements are plentiful and varied. Hamlet and other Shakespearian plays are being given at one theatre, Mr. John Galsworthy's Loyalties at another, while Miss Lilian occupies another stage. The cinemas are many and good here, too. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Lost World finds a place ; Little Dorrit is being advertised, so that England is certainly not neglected in the theatrical world. Faust is being played at the Opera, La Traviata, Lohengrin and most of the old favourites will follow.
It has not been all dullness otherwise. A Communistic conspiracy has been discovered and three alien Jew Communists are now undergoing examination, while many others have been arrested. The serious point appears to be the part taken in the plot by Bela Kun, the former dictator during the five months Bolshevik regime in Hungary. He is stated by the most important of the prisoners to have been in Vienna and taken counsel with the rest of them. This fact is denied by the Vienna police, who produce evidence from Moscow to the effect that Bela Kun has never left Russia. Generally it is believed here that he was certainly in Vienna.
Many lying reports have been spread by the Communists as to bad treatment by the police of the prisoners. Happily these have been disproved by the Times correspondent, who had a personal interview with the prisoners.
Not unconnected with Communists and their doings is the recent promulgation of new police regulations aimed at all aliens. This has caused great annoyance and called forth many protests. People do not understand why because the authorities have been unable to keep out objectionable characters they should make things unpleasant for innocent and respectable foreigners in their midst. Any person who desires now to reside in Hungary is called upon to fill up a form containing over fifty questions, many of which are ridiculous, others offensive and insulting. Moreover, passports of those returning from a visit to their homes have been stamped in a manner that disqualifies them from carrying on any employment in Hungary. As many of these foreigners are• teachers one can imagine the disquiet caused. It seems a pity that just as Hungary was obtaining the sympathy of Western nations, she should be guilty of such a tactless policy.
Comments are appearing in the newspapers on the recently- published memoirs of Lord Grey of Fallodon, generally .4 an unfavourable character. The German paper upon which most of us who do not know Hungarian depend for our news says that Lord Grey was under the influence of French and Russian diplomats, especially M. Cambon, the French -Ambassador, and so was jockeyed into war. He seems to be blamed also for allowing any kind of preparation for a war that he conceived possible. I was myself informed by a historical professor of no mean reputation that the War. was caused by Sir Edward Grey's lies
On November 3rd next will be celebrated the hundredth anniversary of the Hungarian Academy of Science, originally the Scientific Association founded by that great Hungarian, Count Stephen Szechenyi in 1825, when he was thirty-four years of age. At the same time he endowed the Society with a sum of 50,00e gold crowns, which was the amount of his income for one year. His example was followed by others of his peers and so the Society came into being. It was this Count Szechenyi who was responsible for the suspension bridge also called after his name—the earliest bridge' over the Danube. Another very important work of his is the road by the Danube far down between Belgrade and Lom in Bul- garia" where he remade and continued the famous road of Trajan. A still greater work is the " Iron Gates," which are actually the stone walls of a channel formed in the'bed of the river by blasting the rocks at the bottomthus enabling steamers to complete their course down to Giurgevo and finally to Constanza. His name is literally writ large on the left bank on the reek where the mighty river narrows and flows through a rocky gorge and can be read from the desk as you pass. His latter life was a tragedy. He believed in' the independence of Hungary, but was opposed to violent measures and so quarrelled with Kossuth. Finally, he lost his reason and died by his own hand. His statue stands high on a marble base in a garden between the Academy and the Szechenyi Bridge over the Danube towards which he looks, a national memorial-. As in the case of so many great men, his greatness was net properly appreciated by his countrymen till after his death.
In commerce and business optimism seems to be the order of the day, partly owing to the great strides mades in the reconstruction under the aegis of Commissioner-General Mr. Jeremiah Smith and partly owing to the expected inflow of money due to the wonderful harvest. Even the Bourse, which seemed to be moribund, begins to show signs of returning life, and faces are brighter.—I am, Sir, &c., YOUR HUNGARIAN CORRESPONDENT.
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