the common organism would only remain in force until the peace had determined the frontiers and decided which states and countries would remain together, because, without such decisions, the new order would have had no real foundation. It was also necessary to find a means by which the representative of the new State of Hungary as created by the manifesto should participate, together with the common Minister for Foreign Affairs, in all the peace negotiations and any other decisions which would have to be taken.
It did not seem as if such a solution would be impossible in Austria. In my opinion, the problem would have been more easy in our case because the common Minister for Foreign Affairs would have been an Hungarian. When my hopes began to wane that Karolyi and the Social Democrats would accept responsibility on such a basis, I tried to bring together a Government out of the remaining popular parties. This Government was not to be such as to constitute a challenge to the democratic elements, and it was to have a programme which should satisfy to the utmost limits the demands of the time, but which should, nevertheless, be determined to preserve law and order by force.
Before I accepted my nomination, I asked everyone concerned, all of whom gave me the satisfactory answer that a sufficient and reliable military force was at our disposal in Budapest, and that this force would receive the necessary orders to make use of their armed powers. At the critical moment, however, these expectations did
