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other night, and Admiral von Hintze was instructed by the Foreign Office of Berlin to take the necessary steps for the Kaiser's departure to Holland. Count Schulenburg therefore attributes the Kaiser's journey to Holland to the pressure brought to bear upon him by Hindenburg and General Groener, and thinks the Kaiser's letter to the Crown Prince, in which he speaks of the collapse of the army, confirms this.

Field Marshal von Hindenburg took exception to this version of the events in question and issued the following note in the Berliner Allgemeine Zeitung on April 7:

The statement made in this memorandum is one-sided, tinged with prejudice, and by no means correct objectively. It contains very material errors and inac

curacies in reference to the views and expressions of the personalities concerned, and it shows that the General was not sufficiently informed as to the actual situation.

Neither I nor the First General Quartermaster have any intention of entering into a newspaper polemic, which would be highly undesirable at present. The happenings of the Fall of 1918 are written down officially in the report of the Supreme Army Command. All the personalities in any way involved have drawn up original reports, so as to prevent the building up of legends later.

VON HINDENBURG.

Some German publicists assert that Count Schulenburg's memorandum was intended for only a small circle loyal to the former Kaiser, and that it inadvertently fell into the hands of the newspapers.

The First of March in Alsace

Shortly before March 1, 1919, the Nouveau Journal of Strasbourg published an appeal to the French Government from the pen of Paul Bourson, which read as follows:

Let us make of the first of March a school holiday for our children in Alsace and Lorraine. Only six months ago Germany was making use of these unhappy little ones to spread throughout the terrorized provinces the news of imaginary German victories. How many times during the war were the teachers, men and women, compelled to assemble the children and to say to them, on the mere foundation of the German communiqués, "The glorious armies of the Emperor have just won a new and illustrious victory. To celebrate this great victory there will be no class held today"?

All this, it is true, is now past, and yet we are still under the impression of the recent nightmare. Let us make our children forget it. It would be fitting, M. le haut Commissaire, that the commemoration of the Protest of Bordeaux should be A single word celebrated in our schools. from you, and our children will receive that day an admirable lesson in history.

The suggestion was received favorably.

M. Maringer, the High Commissioner of the French Republic, decreed that on March 1 the teachers in the schools of Alsace and Lorraine should read the Protest of Bordeaux to the children, and that the afternoon of that day should be declared a holiday. The houses in Strasbourg were decorated with the Tricolor. The Protest was read in the schools and the liberation of Alsace and Lorraine attributed to the French poilus; the children cried "Long live France!" and sang the "Marseillaise." In the afternoon a large number of university students marched to the Cemetery SainteHélène, and laid wreaths on the tomb of Küss, the last French Mayor of Strasbourg, who had not survived the cession of the town to the Germans in 1871. M. Coulet, rector of the university, made an address. Other addresses were made, one notably by Léon Bourgeois, the French statesman. The Alsatians will celebrate the first of March as a holiday every year. The day is officially designated the Day of Fidelity.

Hungary Menaced on Three Sides

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Soviet Government at Budapest Hemmed In by
Rumanian and Slavic Armies-Effects of Invasion

[PERIOD ENDED MAY 15, 1919]

HE advance of the Rumanians on Hungary, and the success of their encircling movement in conjunction with the Jugoslavs and Czechoslovaks, determined the trend of events in Budapest and in Hungary generally throughout the month. The resistance of the Hungarian Soviet troops sent to the front was feeble and ineffectual; by April 26 the Rumanian Army had advanced nearly 100 miles from its starting point, and had covered nearly half the distance to Budapest; toward the end of the period covered in this article the encircling forces had drawn a comparatively close line around the capital, thus eliminating one of the greatest dangers of the situation, the threatened junction of the Russian and Hungarian Bolsheviki.

The immediate effect of the success of the advancing forces was a visible demoralization of morale in the Hungarian Soviet Army; a large number of the trained Szekler troops in Transylvania actually joined the Rumanians in their offensive movement on Budapest. The Soviet Government, to maintain its waning influence, resorted to extensive arrest of intellectual and so-called bourgeois elements; the workmen were mobilized and rallied to defend the proletariat Government against the “aggression of western capitalism." Beaten and hopeless, at last Bela Kun offered an armistice and then defiantly refused to fulfill its conditions, and the "red orgy " of May Day in Budapest, according to Bela Kun himself, symbolized the desperate resolve of the Hungarian Bolshevist régime to "go out in a blaze of glory."

Even before the Rumanian advance, the situation in Budapest, according to Mr. Ashmead-Bartlett and other correspondents, was one of terrorism and

increasing anarchy. One writer described the situation as follows:

The Soviet Government is feeling the ground giving way beneath it and is resorting to terror of the worst type to maintain its authority. Arrests of members of the old régime are being carried out on a wholesale scale and in a manner which bodes ill for those arrested.

The mood of official Hungary after the departure of General Smuts and his mission on April 5 was one of scarcely concealed exultation. The sending of General Smuts by the Peace Conference was interpreted as a sign of Soviet strength, and the Bolshevistic tendency of the Garbai-Bela Kun Government became more clearly revealed. Much vainglorious talk was indulged in of the growing power of the Bolshevist idea throughout the world. This mood lasted until the leaders learned with consternation that a Rumanian army was advancing on Hungary through Transylvania.

THE RUMANIAN ADVANCE

A statement issued by the Rumanian Bureau at Berne, reported from Geneva on April 24, declared that after a visit of General Franchet d'Esperey to Bucharest, Rumanian troops had been ordered again to take the offensive against Hungary, which had been suspended during the stay of General Smuts at Budapest. This order, it was stated, had aroused great enthusiasm, and a number of Saxon officers and troops from Transylvania had joined the Rumanian Army. Before April 20 the Hungarian Army had been put to rout at Szatmar Nemethy.

These events aroused consternation in Budapest. The Soviet Government made many new arrests, and members of the middle class were fleeing to escape this new terrorism; some of the intended victims. committed suicide.

The Red Army showed demoralization. Wherever there was a difference of opinion, the Soldiers' Council ignored the Soviet. There were only about 7,000 reliable troops in the capital, who still maintained good discipline.

LABOR ARMY FORMED

Life and activity were injected into this atmosphere of repression and gloom by the announcement that the Central Committee of Soldiers, Workmen, and Peasants had passed a resolution to the effect that half of the workmen in the factories should be armed to defend the authority of the proletarian Government against the invaders, who, this announcement stated, had been " incited by the Western bourgeoisie against the Hungarian Soviet Republic." The resolutions were received enthusiastically by the populace, and large processions paraded through the city.

The Commissary of Education instructed the clergy to declare from pulpits during the next three Sundays that the Soviet Government guaranteed full religious freedom to all; that there would be no interference with the clergy or churches or other religious buildings, and that the Soviet would not change the present order of marriage and family life nor communize women.

A proclamation to the munition workers said that every factory must now work only for the front; there must be no holidays and no rest so long as "international profiteers are strangling the proletariat revolution."

All reserve officers and soldiers were ordered to join the Red Army immediately, only the wounded and invalids being exempted. All private telephone service in Budapest was pletely suspended, and all cafés were closed at 10 o'clock in the morning until further notice.

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These decisions were taken at a meeting held at the People's Opera House. Sigmund Kunff, Commissary of Education, in a speech declared that the Paris Peace Conference had been shaken owing to the tremendously superior forces with which the attack was being carried out. Kunff declared: "The proletariat must ruthlessly use all means at its disposal."

The origin of the warlike preparations in Budapest was explained by The 'Daily Mail's Vienna correspondent to be consternation caused in the Hungarian Cabinet by the reported agreement between the Rumanians and the Szeklers, a minor race living in the Transylvanian Alps. The Szeklers are related to the Magyars and include about 30,000 armsbearing men. The Szeklers, said the correspondent, had taken a hostile attitude against the Communists, to whom, it seems, their opposition was coming to a head in the countryside, particularly in Debreczin.

CONDITIONS IN BUDAPEST

Dispatches of April 22 reported the stopping of all trains coming into Budapest and the adoption of a plan of general conscription, surcharging the atmosphere with uneasiness, as the conscription decree was regarded as certain to pave the way for great disorders. The earlier action of the Soviet Government in arresting members of the clergy had united the Catholics, Lutherans, and Calvinists in strong opposition. Only with the most clever manoeuvring had the labor unions been reconciled with the Soviet Government, for they fared better with the Socialists than with the Communists, and they were again growing restive.

A dispatch from Budapest dated April 22 said that Bela Kun, in his speech before the Soldiers' and Workmen's Council, admitted that the Rumanian offensive was temporarily successful.

Another dispatch from Budapest of the same date read:

The Socialist newspaper offices have been locked up by the Bolsheviki, who are attempting to overcome the modern Socialist opposition. The streets are alive with conscripts, who are being shipped off to the front in an attempt to withstand the encroachments of the Czechs and Rumanians. The Red Guard Army, on paper, is 30,000 strong, but in reality it aggregates about 10,000.

Nowhere in Hungary are the peasants accepting Communism. On the other hand, they are fighting the food requisitioning by the Red Guard.

Reports reaching Vienna on April 23 stated that a concentric advance toward Budapest had been begun by the Czecho

slovaks on the north, the Jugoslavs on the south, and the Rumanians on the east. The badly armed and undisciplined Hungarian troops were unable to offer any strong resistance. The following day came the news that the Rumanian troops had continued their advance on the entire line between the Theiss and Maros Rivers, and were before Debreczen, 120 miles east of Budapest; they had then occupied Kis-Jeno, on the Maros River, and Mate-Szalka, northeast of Debreczen. South of Debreczen they were advancing on NagySzalonta. On April 25 it was reported that part of the Hungarian Soviet army facing the Rumanians southeast of Budapest had surrendered and the rest were in flight. Northeast of Budapest the Czechoslovaks were within twenty miles of the capital.

The Rumanians, it was said, were acting solely with the object of stemming the tide of Bolshevism. No permanent occupation of territory was contemplated without the sanction of the Peace Conference. The spirit of the Rumanian Army was high, and the arrival of food, equipment, and stores was having a stimulating effect. The fact that the Communists were unable to prevent the Allies from occupying the districts taken by their advance was weakening the influence of Bela Kun and causing violent hatred of the Allies, to whom the Rumanian and other attacks were ascribed.

Extraordinary efforts were being made to send reinforcements to the front. Mobilized labor regiments were marching in the streets of Budapest. Eight regiments marched past the leaders, Garbai and Bela Kun, who addressed the troops. There were scenes of great enthusiasm as the workmen, armed with rifles but without uniforms, marched behind the red banner.

It was said that Bela Kun was acting in co-operation with Lenin, the Russian Premier, in the propagation of Bolshevist ideals by means of commandeered funds through Western Europe. Former members of the Parliament, among them the editor of the Pester Lloyd, Josef Vszi; the editor of the Pester Hirlap, Legradi; former Premier Count Ester

hazy, and the poet, Franz Herozey, had been arrested shortly before. Hundreds of intellectuals were similarly being arrested. One of the People's Commissaries intimated that they were to be held as hostages, and would "pay with their blood for every step the Rumanians take within the frontiers of Hungary."

Hungarian Communist forces, it was officially reported at the end of April, had withdrawn east of Karczag before superior Rumanian numbers, and the Rumanians were continuing their advance down the river valleys leading to Budapest upon the east; the French had occupied Hodomezo-Vasarhely, while the Czechs were attacking Czap with strong forces. The Hungarians had retired from Chara.

SOVIET OFFERS ARMISTICE

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On May 1 it was stated from Budapest that the Communist Government had offered the Rumanian and Jugoslav Governments concessions and requested an immediate cessation of hostilities. In his notes sent to the Rumanian, Czechoslovak and Jugoslav Governments, Bela Kun said that his Government recognizes unreservedly the territorial claims which you put forward." The Foreign Minister then demanded the immediate cessation of hostilities, non-interference with Hungarian internal affairs, and the reaching of economic agreements. May 8 it appeared that in reply to this request for an armistice, the Rumanian Government had demanded the disarmament of the forces fighting against Rumania and her allies, the surrender of war material, and the return of prisoners and hostages, without reciprocity. It was added that, until these terms were complied with, Rumania would occupy the right bank of the Theiss River to a depth of twelve miles. This offer the Hungarian Government had refused.

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Budapest meantime remained quiet, but there was a feeling of panic lest the Communists would engage in a massacre of the bourgeoisie before the advancing allies reached the city; entire families were fleeing; the last train for Austria had left shortly before May 2, crowded to the utmost with men, women, and children standing in all the cars, reach

ing Kamorm in the evening. Immediately after the departure of the train, the Czechs crossed the Danube and cut off the possibility of any further trains leaving. On the following day it was reported that the Rumanians were advancing along the whole Hungarian front, and had captured 2,000 prisoners, including many Austrian and German soldiers; 150 carloads of war material had also been taken. A Hungarian, Colonel Kratoowill, was said to be commanding the forces fighting against the Hungarian Soviet army. Everywhere the Rumanians and allied forces were being welcomed as liberators.

It was stated on May 3 that the commanders of the Rumanian, Czech, and Serbian troops had decided not to occupy Budapest, but to confine their operations merely to an encirclement of the Hungarian capital. The closeness of this enveloping movement was made evident on May 8, when the Czechs, after a bitter and fluctuating struggle, gained a footing forty miles north of Budapest in the district of Neograd.

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lease of life, had not accepted this invitation, but it was assumed in Paris that the Bela Kun régime would gladly take advantage of this means of establishing. relations with the outside world, and the results of the Vienna-Budapest mission were confidently awaited.

MAY DAY IN BUDAPEST

May Day in Budapest to those who had remained in the city was an orgy of red. Thousands of red troops marched to red music through red-bannered streets. The sidewalks were crowded with men, women, and girls flaunting red ribbons. Street cars were red, automobiles were red, railway stations and lamp-posts were red. In squares and on street corners were huge red wooden stands on which were emblazoned the statement, "This is the day of freedom and world brotherhood." There also were numerous immense plaster casts of Lenin and Karl Marx, some of them twenty feet high.

The red celebration continued all day and all night, and red electric lights added to the crimson hue after darkness fell. There were fiery speeches in different parts of the city by Bela Kun and other leaders of the Soviets. The total cost of this effort to make a red-letter day for Hungarian Communism was 12,000,000 marks, taken from the banks of the country.

Bela Kun declared that the people could at least remember forever what had been tried, and he said privately that no matter if Communism failed it could be said that it went out in a blaze of glory.

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