Bethlen v. Maniu

"I am hostile to a Habsburg restoration in Hungary!" abruptly announced Prime Minister Juliu Maniu of Rumania last week. Meanwhile the Prime Minister of Hungary, brusque Count Stephen Bethlen de Bethlen was packing up for a visit to London, but found time to dictate a retort published by the Budapest Pesti Hirlap in which he said: ''All talk about a personal union of Hungary with Rumania under the crown of King Carol II is nonsense--utter nonsense!''

Plainly the two statesmen were on each other's nerves. The Count's visit to England is reputedly to convince James Ramsay MacDonald that the legitimate heir to the throne of Hungary, famed Archduke Otto ("Little Otto") of Habsburg must and should be restored when he reaches his majority next Nov. 20.

Rumanian Prime Minister Maniu as the stanch ally of France, which is violently opposed to any Habsburg restoration, buttressed his original announcement with these ominous words:

"Although Rumania is anxious to maintain the most cordial relations with Hungary, any attempt to place Otto on the throne would be considered a breach of treaties and international agreements to which Rumania is a party."

In his rebuttal Count Bethlen flatly declared that Hungary does not interpret her pledges to the Council of Ambassadors in 1921 as the French do, namely as barring the restoration of a Habsburg. "This momentous question," he declared, "must be decided not on a personal basis but from the viewpoint of our domestic political situation and after negotiations with the powers."

"Count Bethlen," said the London Times, which loves to keep a secret until it is cooked and ready for the British public's breakfast, "wishes to knit closer the traditional bond of friendship between Hungary and Britain and nobody has a better right to speak for his country."

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