Miklós Bánffy - They Were Found Wanting

Leading articles in the London newspapers were now obsessed with the rumours that Austria was about to annex Bosnia-Herzegovina. What nonsense! cried the Hungarians. Don’t those stupid English journalists know that Austria alone cannot make decisions that affect the Austro-Hungarian Empire. And if they don’t even know that, what do they think they are scribbling about? In any case no one would think of such a thing! Would you? No, of course not, any more than I would … or anyone else for that matter. Anyway we live in peaceful times, which is why the Austrian Aehrenthal and the Russian Izvolsky have just had such a happy meeting at Buchlau. You’ve read all about that, haven’t you? Most reassuring! Really, what are those hysterical English writers worrying about?

Anyone arriving in the House on the morning of September 22nd 1908 could make his own choice of which of these themes he himself wished to discuss. He could also decide, in that famous corridor, how he would do it — with gay unconcern or serious disapproval, loudly or quietly in a discreet alcove, it was as he pleased. Only one rule had to be obeyed, if he were to find a sympathetic band of listeners, and that was that he must remain strictly within the mood of the Corridor and to do this he would have to express one or other of the views we have just described.

This, it must be understood, was because though every Hungarian politician prided himself on the independence of his thinking, he was never quite so pleased when someone else seemed to be thinking independently too.

Towards noon the news spread rapidly that Andrassy had arrived and was busy explaining to leaders of his party the views of its president concerning the proposed reform of the voting laws. Suddenly nothing else mattered and every other subject was dropped while all who could hurried to where Andrassy was so as to hear what was going on. Even those who did not manage to get within listening distance were happy because everyone felt that the Corridor was being honoured by being the first to hear the leader’s hitherto secret thoughts. It was tantamount to showing the world that the Corridor itself was a political force to be reckoned with!

It was, of course, politically astute of Andrassy to make his views known in this way, casual though it might seem to an outsider. The mood of the Corridor was more easily influenced by a seemingly informal and confidential discussion between friends than it was by a formal speech in the House itself. And so now he stood, clearly at ease, facing not only his admirers but also those antagonists who had not ceased to criticize him in their newspaper articles — though not too overtly since until now no one had been sure what views they were criticizing. Now he was able to answer all objections or questions in words that were generally reassuring but which might not look so impressive if printed in the daily Record of Proceedings.

He could have chosen no better way of convincing his opponents, for when Andrassy spoke in this way one could almost feel the honesty and personal conviction behind his words.

Standing at the centre of a milling crowd, he gave the impression that his frail body was held straight only by force of will and the burning conviction that what he proposed was right; and that without such spiritual support it would have instantly crumbled. He might have been a living example of a painting by the Spanish school — El Greco or Zurbaran — an ascetic saint whose Christ-like hands with long and emaciated fingers held a thick Havana cigar rather than a crucifix. Sunk deep in his face, his eyes seemed unnaturally large as they shone with all the intensity of a fanatic.

Andrassy’s way of talking matched his appearance. His manner was the opposite of that of any demagogue. His listeners somehow felt that he was almost physically in labour, wrestling with his subject, and that a heavenly solution would be born at any minute. As he spoke he hesitated, almost stammered, as if he searched blindly for the right words, and this technique was so perfected that every really important phrase or proposal was always underlined by a word so brilliant, exact and appropriate, that his listeners were as carried away with the feeling that they, and they alone, had been a part of this troubled birth. The strange thing was that none of this was intentional. As it happened this manner had been forced upon him by the need, in two decades of parliamentary service, to master a physical handicap; and he had done it in such a way that anyone who did not know his story might have assumed that the manner had been subtly and astutely, but consciously, developed.

And so, on this September morning in the corridor, Andrassy made it publicly known that his policy as regards the reform of the suffrage was based firmly on the principle of the plural vote, which for him was a sine qua non . The bill was not yet ready as several important aspects remained to be worked out in detail. But, whatever else might be modified — even to the point of disappearing altogether — ‘plurality’ was the backbone of his proposals and he would stand or fall by it!

It was this that Andrassy now wanted to make clear. It was a warning to the Corridor, for no one could be in any doubt that if Andrassy went the Coalition went with him, and that this would automatically entail the demise of the Independence Party. It looked as if he had planned this announcement so as to put a stop to the growing campaign in the Press and the whisperings in the ranks of the 1848 men and the group which followed Hollo. And he was not mistaken. Hollo’s party backed down and, after a few last little splutters in one or two leading articles, so did the newspapers.

So, for the moment at least, there was peace again in the ranks of the Coalition.

Outside these ranks there was much skirmishing about and growling by those who followed Kristoffy and by the frankly socialist. People there were who knew in advance about Andrassy’s plans and who had only waited for him to declare himself. A few days before, the socialist newspaper Nepszava — the People’s Voice — had somehow obtained a copy of the Plurality Bill (probably purloined from the secret recesses of the Ministry of the Interior) and published it in full, paragraph by paragraph, down to the smallest detail. This had meant that it had been impossible for Andrassy to manoeuvre or bargain; and so he had in reality been forced into declaring himself publicly in an attempt to still the tempest of speculation and rumour that had been created. Rumour might have been stifled, but not unrest. Soon there were stormy demonstrations in the streets of the capital and shots were fired.

It was in this electric atmosphere that the news arrived in Budapest that what the London newspapers had predicted had come to pass.

The Crown announced the annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

It was October 3rd. Budapest had just had a number of royal visitors. A week earlier Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria had been in the Hungarian capital and only that evening the King of Spain had taken his leave after a three-day visit accompanied by his queen. The royal couple, after paying their respects to the Emperor Franz-Josef, had everywhere been fêted. Balls and receptions had been given in their honour and, exceptionally enough, even the Archduke Franz-Ferdinand had swallowed his dislike of Hungary and come to pass a few days at Budapest for the sake of his Spanish cousin; though he had somewhat ostentatiously slept in the royal train rather than at the palace. The capital was filled with visitors, many foreigners and a cohort of diplomats from Vienna, who had all come for the Spanish king’s visit. At the same time there was a large delegation of elderly Austrians who were attending some convention or other, and many young men with the entrée at court who came at this time because it was also the beginning of the racing season.