The Fate of Western Hungary 1918-1921 - Corvinus Library ...

prerogatives, although they must have known that it would clearly lead to civil
war, foreign occupation and the destruction of the country. (…) Thanks to the
loyalty of the national forces and the sobriety of the Hungarian people, this
attempt, that would have sealed the fate of the country forever, failed.” 479 The
proclamation was also signed by Prime Minister Bethlen.
After the second unsuccessful ‘visit’ by the former king, a peculiar exchange
of telegrams took place between Governor Horthy and commander Prónay.
“The army of the Lajta-Banate delightedly greets Your Excellency that, through
personal valor and exemplary perseverance, You were able to deflect the longtime
danger threatening the Country. / (Signed) Prónay.” Horthy did not
personally respond to the commander’s telegram but replied through his aidede-camp,
Maj.Gen. László Magasházy (1879-1959). “His Excellency, the
Governor, ordered that I express the warmest heartfelt thanks to You and your
subordinates for the salutations sent to him. / Maj.Gen. Magasházy.” 480
The Foreign Minister, Miklós Bánffy, remarked thusly in his memoirs of the
second royal return attempt, “the mad adventure of king Charles,”: “He utterly
ruined our relationships with the successor states, foreign policy-wise, and cut
off any path to reconciliation. It was as a result of the royal coup d’état that the
Little Entente was created. They were on relatively good footing with each
other but no agreements bound them together and everybody had freedom of
action, as the Marienbad discussions proved. Now, instead of a Hungarian-
Austrian-Czechoslovak bloc, the Little Entente came to be, aimed exclusively
against us, under the leadership of Beneš. (…) Our immediate loss, however,
showed in Burgenland. The Venice Protocol, as I have said, orders that, until
the plebiscite and the finalizing of the borders, our gendarmes provide public
safety services, under [the direction of] Gen. Ferrario. [Col.] Lehár, however,
withdrew them and under false pretexts led them against Budapest [i.e., Horthy
and the Hungarian government-J.B.]. Here, they scattered. As a result, their
place has been taken by foreigners, mainly Italian carabinieri, 481 which raised
the assumption of the population that we have given them up. Although the
plebiscite held in Sopron and surrounding area turned out well, but the border
adjustment, which we accomplished in Venice based on the [Millerand]
accompanying letter, which would have significantly corrected the insane
border in our favor, was absent and only much later, when the Austrians took
possession of it, did it gain a final resolution in 1922, to our and the
population’s detriment.” 482
In the meantime, the Hungarian Parliament stripped not only Charles IV but
the House of Habsburg of their right to claim the Hungarian throne by passing
479 In: IV. Károly visszatérési kísérletei. I. füzet. 1921, p. 213.
480 Lajtabánság, 1921, November 3, p. 4.
481 Carabinieri: Italian military police arm. In this case, Italian units ordered by Gen.
Franco Ferrario as president of the Inter-Allied Military Mission in Sopron.
482 Bánffy, 1993, op. cit., pp. 108–109. (Bolding mine–J.B.)
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