I was met by a liaison3 officer whose wife is an American, resident in New York, and was taken in a car of the American Relief to the palace which sits above the Danube on the heights of Buda. The old magnificence of palace etiquette4 is still kept up. We mounted the marble stairs, encountering guards, with clanking swords, at every turn. The excursion seemed more like fiction than reality—more like a page out of The Prisoner of Zenda through which one walked as a living character. At the top of the staircase we were challenged by halbardiers, in medieval uniforms not dissimilar from those of the Swiss Guards. In an ante-room we were requested to remove our coats and to prepare for the interview. After a wait of not more than five minutes, we were summoned. Passing along a hall filled with priceless cloisonn?, we came to a doorway5 outside which a soldier, caparisoned as though to take part in Grand Opera, was standing6. Behind the door a seaman7, as bluff8 and cheery as any British Admiral was seated at a desk. His breast was a rainbow flash of decorations. He rose with his hand outstretched as we entered; his whole attitude one of ease and friendliness9.
His first act was to beckon10 us to a group of chairs and to offer us cigarettes. This was the man on whom at no far distant date the peace of Europe may depend. Admiral Horthy is a cleanshaven, square-faced man, with resolute11 eyes and the nose of a hawk12. The kind of man who inspires trust and whom men cannot fail to like immensely.
My first question was how he accounted for Hungary's present forlorn condition. His answer was forthright—the Peace Treaty. The old Hungary was an economic entity13, complete in itself. It had coal-mines, wheatfields, factories, and was a seagoing nation. Today it has no outlet14 to the sea, no mines and no money with which to buy the coal to operate its factories. It is like a body in which the arteries15 have been cut so that the blood cannot circulate. Even its wheatfields have been handed over in part as a bribe16 to other nations. This would not matter so much if the wheat-lands were under cultivation17. But they are not. The wheat-lands apportioned18 to Roumania were divided among peasants who had not the capital to work them. They were compelled by their Government to accept them under the threat that, if they refused, they would be conscripted into the army. As a consequence, when the world is crying for food, large areas of Hungarian tillage in Roumanians hands are lying idle. They are like the engines and rolling-stock taken in reparation from the enemy, which may be seen in Roumania, Belgium and France rusting19 on the rails. The old Hungary consisted of a conglomeration20 of races mutually inter-dependent. Labour travelled from point to point at recognised seasons along recognised routes. At the harvest Roumanian peasants had for centuries come to Hungary to lend a hand. They tried to do the same this year, but were turned back at the frontier by their own soldiery with a loss of three hundred lives.
"What is the remedy?" I asked.
The Admiral leant forward, gazing at me keenly. "Patience," he said. "In the world, constituted as it is today, injustice21 cannot triumph. Least of all economic injustice. My job at the moment is to sit on the lid and prevent men who do not know that it will hurt, from ramming22 their heads against a wall." He made a soothing23 gesture with his hands, "Keep quiet and wait, I say."
"But while they wait your people are starving," I suggested.
"Yes." He shuddered24 as though in some spiritual way he had known the agony of starvation. "Yes, they are starving; but it will not be for ever. After the war there was a great lethargy. The nations who had won only thought of themselves. Now they are beginning to think on broader lines—this drive to save our children that you are having in America is proof of that. Next you will begin to enquire25 into causes and then you will revise the hurried misinformation of the Peace Conference. If you don't, there is always Bolshevism."
"Bolshevism!" I exclaimed. "Do you mean that Hungary would go Bolshevist again?"
"Never," his face clenched26 like the fingers of a hand. "But if the spring drive of the Russians succeeds, Poland will be overwhelmed. If that happens, many States of Central Europe will go Bolshevist; Hungary will be the only State you will be able to trust. Poor Hungary, whom you have shorn of her possessions, she will be your bridge-head against the tide of anarchy27. We shall get our chance to prove then that we are your friends."
"But is there no other way of righting Hungary's wrongs save through violence?" I asked.
"Yes." He spoke28 seriously. "Through justice. We are a proud people. We don't want charity. We want an opportunity to work. But our hands are——" He broke off and pressed his hands together as if they were manacled. "How can we work without coal? Our factories are closed. Our people are starving. It is not safe to let people starve too long."
I went away from my interview with Hungary's strong man with those words ringing in my ears, "It is not safe to let people starve too long". On returning to the American Relief Station I heard an uproar29 of piercing wailing30. There was a crowd about the door where the candidates for relief enter. My liaison officer, by virtue31 of his uniform, elbowed a way for me to the front. On the cold stone floor a man in a cassock was kneeling. He held a crucifix. In a secret, murmuring flow of words he was praying. Before him lay a human wax-work, who was newly dead; he had collapsed33 when help was within handstretch. He was a young man, certainly less than thirty, bleached34 with under-nourishment. He was neatly35 clad in clothes which were thread-bare; he might have been a shop-keeper or a clerk. The priest continued to pray—the wailing dwindled36 into the distance down the corridor as a woman was led away. At last a door closed behind her and there was nothing but the silence of the crowd and the murmur32 of the praying. I glanced at the peering faces, and I knew that it was true, what the strong man of Hungary had said. It is not safe to let a nation starve too long.
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1
lasting
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| adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持 | |
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2
patriot
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| n.爱国者，爱国主义者 | |
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3
liaison
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| n.联系，（未婚男女间的）暖昧关系，私通 | |
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etiquette
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| n.礼仪，礼节；规矩 | |
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doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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6
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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7
seaman
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| n.海员，水手，水兵 | |
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8
bluff
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| v.虚张声势，用假象骗人；n.虚张声势，欺骗 | |
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9
friendliness
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| n.友谊，亲切，亲密 | |
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10
beckon
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| v.(以点头或打手势)向...示意，召唤 | |
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11
resolute
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| adj.坚决的，果敢的 | |
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12
hawk
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| n.鹰，骗子；鹰派成员 | |
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13
entity
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| n.实体，独立存在体，实际存在物 | |
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14
outlet
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| n.出口/路；销路；批发商店；通风口；发泄 | |
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15
arteries
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| n.动脉( artery的名词复数 )；干线，要道 | |
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16
bribe
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| n.贿赂；v.向…行贿，买通 | |
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17
cultivation
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| n.耕作，培养，栽培（法），养成 | |
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18
apportioned
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| vt.分摊，分配（apportion的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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19
rusting
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| n.生锈v.（使）生锈( rust的现在分词 ) | |
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20
conglomeration
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| n.团块，聚集，混合物 | |
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21
injustice
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| n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利 | |
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22
ramming
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| n.打结炉底v.夯实（土等）( ram的现在分词 )；猛撞；猛压；反复灌输 | |
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23
soothing
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| adj.慰藉的；使人宽心的；镇静的 | |
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24
shuddered
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| v.战栗( shudder的过去式和过去分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
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25
enquire
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| v.打听，询问；调查，查问 | |
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clenched
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| v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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27
anarchy
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| n.无政府状态；社会秩序混乱，无秩序 | |
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28
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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29
uproar
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| n.骚动，喧嚣，鼎沸 | |
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30
wailing
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| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的现在分词 )；沱 | |
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31
virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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32
murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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33
collapsed
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| adj.倒塌的 | |
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34
bleached
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| 漂白的，晒白的，颜色变浅的 | |
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35
neatly
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| adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地 | |
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36
dwindled
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| v.逐渐变少或变小( dwindle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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