rise from their seats and applaud wildly. The members of the Left shout across to the Right: 'Accomplices! Resign! Resign! Franc-counterfeiters!')

DEPUTY RUPPERT. 'Nadossy, too, boasted that he was defending the honor of the nation.'

Excitement increases. The Premier is unable to make himself heard on account of the din. The Race Protectors are conspicuous by their unwonted silence. When one of their number, Szirkay, shouts something, the Socialists yell back in chorus, "Tombola! Tombola!' alluding to his lottery concession from the Government. As soon as quiet is restored somewhat, the Prime Minister starts to explain how Jankovics, who was arrested in Holland while passing the counterfeit notes, came to receive his passport and his credentials as a diplomatic courier. He begins by saying that this point involves Hungary's foreign relations.

DEPUTY DROZDY. 'If it had n't been for the foreigners, Albrecht would have already been crowned King.'

DEPUTY HORVATH. "That is just why we must have a republic.'

COUNT BETHLEN. "Two divisions of the Foreign Ministry have charge of the courier service.'

DEPUTY HORVATH. "One of them is the franc-counterfeiting division!' (Laughter and applause from the Left) COUNT BETHLEN (shouting indignantly). "That won't do throwing mud at your own country!'

DEPUTY FARKAS (Socialist). "The Prime Minister has made his own mud puddle and mired himself in it.' (Great confusion. The President rings his bell violently to restore order.)

COUNT BETHLEN. "The Foreign Minister's personal staff selects the couriers. The Courier Division prepares the credentials. The technical work is done by a subordinate bureau.'

DEPUTY PEYER. 'And it ends by putting all the blame on the porter!'

COUNT BETHLEN. "There are two kinds of couriers.'

DEPUTY PEYER. 'Franc couriers and sokol [counterfeit Czech note] couriers!' These words provoke a storm of indignation from the Right. Members of the Government Party stand up and shout: 'Shame! Shame!'

DEPUTY PEYER (shouting and pounding his desk). 'I am not ashamed to tell the truth. Shame on yourselves!'

DEPUTY BESSENYEY (Government Party). 'Bethlen is laboring day and night for the good of the country.'

COUNT BETHLEN. 'For the sake of economy, the Foreign Ministry sometimes employs private travelers as couriers.'

DEPUTY FEHER. "They don't work for nothing, but for forty per cent [the commission the franc-counterfeiters are said to have put into their private purses].'

COUNT BETHLEN. "The charge has been made in the press, and has circulated among the people, that irregularities have occurred in the courier service. I immediately started a searching investigation of these charges, and can inform the House what I have learned. The Courier Division of the Foreign Office seals and dispatches, not only its own communications, but those of other Government departments.'

DEPUTY PICKLER. 'So the bundles of counterfeit franc notes were sealed at the request of "Gentleman" Nadossy!'

COUNT BETHLEN. "The couriers receive either ordinary passports or socalled courier credentials. Hitherto, in order to save expense, our representatives abroad have not been notified that couriers were coming. From now on they will be notified by telegraph. In the Jankovics case that man

presented himself to Nadossy on December 2 and asked for a courier's credentials. As Jankovics was a former colonel of the General Staff, and as his request was endorsed by a high official, his credentials were given him without hesitation, as a matter of official routine.'

DEPUTY PICKLER. 'Nadossy knew that the counterfeit bank notes were in this man's luggage.'

COUNT BETHLEN. 'On December 7, therefore, Jankovics was issued a courier's passport by the Passport Bureau, as his papers were found to be in order. Some things in his sealed parcels were addressed to our Amsterdam Legation, and some to our Stockholm Legation, since Jankovics informed us that he planned to visit both Holland and Sweden. The packages were sealed in the routine way. (Query from the floor: 'Why did n't they see what was in the packages?") Because it was not the duty of that Bureau to do so. Even if the head of that Bureau had noticed that the packages contained these counterfeit francs, he would have had no reason to interfere. The Hungarian authorities often make money remittances to foreign countries by courier.' DEPUTY PEYER. "That is ordinarily done by drafts.'

COUNT BETHLEN. 'It has also been charged that things have been covered up, that efforts have been made to whitewash the criminals, that the Government's statements have not been full and frank.'

DEPUTY NAGY. "That would not be so bad, but the Government's statements have been lies.' (Tremendous uproar)

COUNT BETHLEN (with great excitement). 'I demand that the member prove that libel.'

DEPUTY NAGY (rising from his seat). 'Let the Government's statements be read!'

DEPUTY EHN (Government Party). 'How much has Beneš paid you for this comedy?'

At this the members of the Left, beside themselves with rage, raisea furious uproar.

DEPUTY PEYER (jumping up and trembling with anger). You will be held accountable for that remark!'

The din that ensues lasts several minutes before the Speaker can make himself understood sufficiently to call Deputy Ehn to order.

COUNT BETHLEN. 'The question of our relations with the French police is very important from the standpoint of national sovereignty. In 1914, after the Serajevo assassination, we asked that our own police be permitted to collaborate with those of Serbia, and were refused. The present Cabinet welcomes all the assistance any foreign police can give us, so far as this is provided for by international agreements and by the Hungarian law. Such coöperation is quite possible without prejudice to our nation's sovereignty when crimes are being investigated by our own prosecuting attorneys. We intend fully to protect the interests of the injured party, namely the Bank of France, and as a special favor we have consented to accept foreign assistance in this case, but only in clearing up the facts. Foreign police agents will take part in the inquiry only in so far as it involves a crime committed against the subjects of their own country, so that they may know how many counterfeit notes of their bank were manufactured and put into circulation, and with what machinery and other instrumentalities the counterfeiting was done. We cannot permit anything beyond that without making concessions incompatible with our national sovereignty. (Applause) Although the Hungarian Government at once requested a

transcript of all the evidence in the possession of the Netherlands and the French authorities, it has not yet received that evidence. Your Premier ventures to express his surprise and regret that, in violation of the usual rules of international courtesy, the foreign press has been able to print reports of the investigation at The Hague, and that Matin has been able to publish Jankovics's diary, although the Hungarian Government has received no information regarding them. Coming to the political background of the crime, which must be probed to the very bottom, we find men of the most varied associations and antecedents connected with the affair rich men like Windische-Grätz, occupying the most brilliant position in society, and poverty-stricken, ruined refugees; Nadossy, occupying one of the highest offices in the country, and a Social Democrat workingman.'

At the last words the Social Democrat members jump up and pound their fists upon their desks. The din becomes deafening. The Democrats applaud sarcastically. Members shout: 'Shame! Shame! You are making a farce of the thing!'

DEPUTY ESTERGALYOS. 'Of course it will turn out in the end that the Social Democrats and the Jews were responsible for the whole forgery!'

DEPUTY HORVATH. "The army officers should of course be freed at once, because they were only obeying orders!'

COUNT BETHLEN. "Who obeyed orders? I demand that you report to the prosecuting attorney at once the names of the parties who gave those orders.'

DEPUTY HORVATH. 'We'll tell that to the Parliamentary Commission.'

COUNT BETHLEN. 'You would stab men in the back with your reckless denunciations. You'll be called to book for that.'

DEPUTY PEYER. "Then name your Social Democrat!'

COUNT BETHLEN. 'I spoke of a Social Democrat workingman involved in the affair, who is to-day an enrolled member of the Social Democrat Party. (Shouts from the Social Democrats: 'You are misinformed.') If you repudiate Spanring [a pressman who had retained Deputy Györki, a Social Democrat, to defend him], I cannot help that. A Social Democrat deputy has undertaken to defend him. Some of the men connected with this crime wanted to make money out of it; others had no material advantage in view.'

DEPUTY REINPRECHT. 'So much the worse. We do not need that kind of patriotism.'

DEPUTY FABIAN. "They got their forty-per-cent commission all right.'

COUNT BETHLEN. "There is no reason to suspect, so far as the evidence now shows, that anybody planned an insurrection. It has also been asserted that patriotic motives inspired this crime. Such patriotic motives won't count for a straw with us. (Count Bethlen raises his voice to its highest pitch as he makes this declaration.) We condemn every aspect of this crime. I can understand how a man can claim to be a patriot because he lays his watch-chain on the altar of his country out of love for her, but I declare it is no patriotism to lay upon that altar somebody else's watch-chain. (Applause from all parts of the House) I denounce the articles that have appeared in certain newspapers to exculpate the counterfeiters on the ground that they acted from patriotic motives.'

DEPUTY MALASICS (Social Democrat). 'You repudiate your own henchmen!' (Great indignation on the Right and Centre of the House. The President calls Deputy Malasics to order.)

COUNT BETHLEN. 'Unless we are ready to corrupt the morals of the nation, we must get rid of that pernicious brand of patriots. If anybody has patriotic reasons to regret what has happened, it is the present Cabinet, which has labored tirelessly for four years to restore our national prestige abroad.'

After a short pause the Prime Minister read extracts of false reports published in the foreign press - among others, those stating that Horthy and Count Bethlen had fallen out, that it was planned to place Archduke Albrecht on the throne, that ex-Kaiser Wilhelm, the Bavarian Fascisti, and the Rumanian Fascist leader, Professor Cusa, were involved in the affair. (Roars of laughter from all parts of the House) A dispatch in Matin stated that Horthy was implicated. (Great (Great indignation on the Right and among the Race Protectors)

DEPUTY FARKAS (Social Democrat). "That's true!' (Tremendous confusion. The speaker demands that Deputy Farkas state clearly to whom he refers.)

DEPUTY FARKAS: 'The whole Governmental system!' (Shouts from the Right: 'Liar!' 'Blatant coward!')

Premier Bethlen reads other dispatches announcing the alleged arrest of Bartha, the Chief of Cabinet, of Secretary Pronay, of Deputies Eckhart, Ulain, and others. The Social Democrats interrupt by shouting: "This is a farce.'

COUNT BETHLEN. 'It is not a farce. We are dealing with the honor of the nation. (Shouts from the Right: 'Why are n't such newspapers suppressed?") Suppression is no remedy. The only remedy is for gentlemen having any connection with these newspapers to use their influence to prevent such libels. As long as the gentlemen fail to do so, they themselves lie under

suspicion. (Stormy protests from the extreme Left) You are trying to evade the issue.'

DEPUTY PEIDL (Social Democrat). 'Shameless slanderer!'

This remark provokes a storm of indignation from the Right and Centre. Some of the members from the Right rush forward to attack Deputy Peidl. The Premier personally throws himself between the Parties. At another point in the House, Vass, the herculean Food Minister, interposes his huge bulk in front of a second group of charging deputies. The Vice-President of the Chamber, Zlitvray, rushes to the assistance of these gentlemen. Shouts of 'Unprincipled scoundrel!' 'Kick him out!' and the like are heard on every side. The riot lasts several minutes. The delegates in the Centre make especially violent efforts to get at Peidl, in order to punish him for his insult to the Premier. The Premier himself pushes back the delegates and tries to calm them. For a time it looks as if all these efforts will be in vain. The Social Democrats rise in their seats and await the charge of the Right. After calm has been somewhat restored, the Speaker asks Deputy Peidl whom he meant by his remark. DEPUTY PEIDL. "The Prime Minister.'

The storm now breaks forth more violently than ever. It takes all the physical efforts of a number of the calmer members of the Government Party to keep their furious fellow deputies from attacking the Socialists. The speaker calls Peidl to order, and the House, on the motion of Count Apponyi, refers his case to the Immunity Committee.

COUNT BETHLEN. 'Some newspapers are even trying to implicate Hungarians living in the lost territories. Our bitter political hatreds are largely responsible for these silly reports.

They originate partly among our international "friends," who are watch ing Hungary's recovery with jealous eyes. They are encouraged partly by our political émigrés, who thus seek to get back into public favor by perverse propaganda.

'If there was a conspiracy to counterfeit francs, there is also, I assert, a second conspiracy to besmirch the honor of the nation. (Long-continued applause) It is the duty of the Cabinet to punish this crime, and at the same time to protect the nation from the other conspiracy against its good name. The franc forgeries strike at the pockets of foreign citizens; the political Islander strikes at the honor of our nation. When we admit that foreign citizens must be protected in their material rights, we must likewise insist that our own country must be protected in her national rights. (Longcontinued applause) The policy of the present Cabinet is not counterrevolutionary, it is conservative - to conserve the interests of the nation. Miscarriages of justice have happened in the past, but they were not due to lack of honorable intentions on the part of the Ministry; they were the result of the hatreds and the fear of revolution that have become deepseated among the masses of our people. We are trying to banish that psy

chology. But it is impossible under existing conditions entirely to prevent such counter-revolutionary phenomena. The mother of counter-revolution is revolution, and we cannot extirpate one until we extirpate the other. Remove the threat of revolution, and you will simultaneously remove the threat of counter-revolution.

'Another reason why the Cabinet has not always succeeded in governing as well as it desired is the popular hatred of the Trianon Treaty. There is not only a system of domestic law, but also a system of international law. I admit that the international code, although it has statutory effect, is not founded upon moral justice. Nevertheless, we are bound to obey it. Is it surprising that a country forced under duress to sign the Trianon Treaty should have many citizens so rebelliously disposed toward that Treaty that they will do all in their power to wreck it?

'But the only result of such conspiracies is to pillory our country abroad as abroad as a hotbed of disorder and violence. Only one course lies before us to recognize existing international settlements, even though we believe them unjust, and to labor patiently to remove their injustice by winning respect and prestige for our country.'