Paris Peace Conf. 184.011102/378
Mr. Albert Halstead to the Secretary of State99
Subject: Further remarks on the situation in West Hungary.
Sir: I have the honor to refer to my despatch No. 66 of August 28th, entitled “The West Hungarian Situation.”1 In that despatch I forwarded copies of two letters received from Count Sigray which were calculated to create the impression that everything is peaceful in the four West Hungarian counties and that any discontent in those parts of West Hungary that are assigned by the Treaty of Peace to Austria is due to agitation from across the border.
I have had a talk today with Minister Ippen, the acting chief of the Foreign Office, who solemnly assures me that there has been no agitation for which Austria is either directly or indirectly responsible. He says that they are without official information as to conditions in West Hungary but are informed that influences from Budapest are being used to make the people believe that their union to German-Austria will be contrary to their best interests. He informs me that the troops in West Hungary are men from Transylvania and have no sympathetic feelings for the Germans of West Hungary. He has furnished me with the original of a proclamation that has been posted throughout the part of West Hungary that is assigned to Austria. A translation is attached hereto.2
In contrasting the statements made by Minister Ippen with those of Count Sigray it should be remembered that Count Sigray is not in the part of West Hungary that has been assigned to German-Austria and that he is a Hungarian and an aristocrat, looking at the situation from a purely Hungarian viewpoint. His letters admit the arrest of agitators and that people have been warned to be orderly. Though the agitators were released the very fact of their arrest must be repressing in its influence.
Minister Ippen says that if a plebiscite were held in West Hungary today with the Hungarian troops from Transylvania still there, by reason of the menace of their presence that section of the country would certainly vote against a union with Austria.
I have [etc.]