The Czechoslovak Review/Volume 4/Number 2/Magyars and the Czechoslovak Republic

by Karel Kadlec

Magyars and the Czechoslovak Republic

By PROF. KAREL KADLEC, PH. D.

The Magyars, like the Germans, are fanatical enemies of the Czechoslovak nation. That is not our fault, but it is due to the Magyars themselves. There is nothing in history to indicate that between the Czechoslovaks and the Magyars friendship or even sympathy had been the rule, but neither are there evidences of chronic hatred. Only in the last fifty years have the relations of the two nations been marked with downright hostility.

Almost eleven hundred years ago, in the center of Europe to the east of German territories, there was growing up in Moravia a political organization of West Slav tribes who later formed the Bohemian-Moravian state. Among these tribes were the Slovaks, both those living in Moravia and those settled under the Carpathians. The Great Moravian realm of the Mojmir dynasty enjoyed favorable conditions of development and would have grown into a powerful state, if it had not been for the invasion of migratory Magyar hordes which at the end of the ninth century penetrated into the plains between the Danube and the Tisza, captured Pannonia and about the year 906 destroyed the Great Moravian empire.

The Pannonian plains seem to have been destined by nature for the stamping ground of various Asiatic hordes. History speaks of several Turanian races holding sway over what later became Hungary. First came the Huns, then the Avars and finally the Magyars. All of these races were extremely backward culturally and maintained their rule over subjugated European peoples through violence and a better military organization. But force and military discipline did not save the Asiatic hordes from defeat. Huns and Avars were destroyed, and the Magyars who for half a century sent out robber expeditions from Pannonia into the neighboring lands as far as France, suffered signal defeat in 955.

Their bellicoseness was greatly moderated by this slaughter. At the end of the 10th century Christianity began to take roots among them, and their first Christian king, St. Stephen, may be considered the real founder of the Hungarian state.

The country received the name of Hungary after the people who established here a new state, for Magyars were called by their neighbors Huns. Their own name for their nation is derived from the name of the principal of the seven tribes into which they were divided.

By accepting Christianity and the fruits of European culture Magyars saved their nation from extinction. Their number was not great; according to tradition recorded in their chronicles the Magyar nation was composed of eight tribes of which seven were properly Magyar and one was Chazar or Kuman. These tribes again were divided into 108 families or clans, so that their total number could have hardly exceeded 200,000 souls. About one-fourth or one-fifth of it made up the army. In view of the constant robber expeditions which the Magyars carried on during the first fifty years it may be safely stated that during the first century of their settlement in Hungary the number of Magyars did not increase, but rather diminished. Thus it is not strange that St. Stephen in establishing a Christian state had to lean on all the nations of Hungary, and primarily upon those who communicated culture to his barbarian kinsmen.

Among these men were Germans both those settled in Hungary and to the West, and of the Slavs especially Slovaks, Slovenians and Croatians; this is proved by the Magyar scholar Jan Melich from Magyar Christian terminology. Further proofs are found in Magyar political and legal institutions taken over from Germans and Slavs, as is evident both from their substance and their names. The higher cultural level of the Slavs furnishes the explanation, why a full third of Magyar vocabulary is derived from Slav roots; many Magyar local names and especially names of Hungarian castles indicate that the Slavs had well-developed political institutions before the Magyar invasion. Magyars found a complete system of Slav castles or forts which they took over without materially changing the names. Thus in Slovakia we find Nitra, Hlohovec, Bečkob, Trenčín, Novohrad (Nograd), Všehrad, etc., in other parts of the country several Zemljens, that is to say forts with earthen walls, Černý hrad or in Magyar Csongrad (Black Castle), two Bělehrads (White Castles), Kněža or in Magyar Kanis, Brana or Baranyavar etc.

The conversion of the entire Magyar nation to Christianity took about ten generations, from 900 to 1200. During that time the former wanderers became accustomed somewhat to the European way of living. The same feudal system which was the foundation of political life in Western Europe was planted in Hungary. The population came to be divided into those with privileges and those without them. In both camps were represented members of all Hungarian nationalities, Magyars and Slavs equally. After the adoption of Christianity by the Arpad dynasty access to the court became available not merely to Magyar Christian magnates, but to other chiefs, especially Slovaks.

It is probable that the non-Magyar population was more numerous than Magyar, and the language of the conquering race did not enjoy any privileges over the other tongues, if for no other reason, because it had not yet developed sufficiently to be used as a literary medium. It was enough of an advantage to the Magyars that they did not lose themselves in the mosaic of Hungarian nationalities, as did their kinsmen the Bulgars who laid the foundations for a Slav state in Moesia and Thrace.

Various were the causes, why the Magyar element did not disappear among races numerically stronger. On the one hand Magyar nobility increased its numbers by accessions of renegates of other nations, especially ennobled men of Wallachian and Roumanian nationality. Another contribution to the maintenance of Magyar individuality was furnished by the Kumans, a related Turko-Tatar tribe which at various times migrated into Hungary and in course of time fused with them, both the common people and the Kuman chieftains. Other immigrant races, like Pečeněhs (Bisseni), nearly related to the Magyars, Tartars who remained in the land after the Tartar invasions, and Turks who remained after the overthrow of Turkish rule, also were assimilated to their Magyar kinsmen. Turkish domination which lasted for a century and a half in Central Hungary contributed also to the preservation of the Magyar element, for the Turks made no attempt to deprive their subjects of their nationality, as did the Germans, and thus their rule did not hurt the Magyars from the national point of view.

In the peculiar mixture of Hungarian nationalities the Slovaks made a good showing. They belonged to the nationalities that were settled in Hungary before the advent of the Magyars; this may be said also of the Slovenians. Both nations were named by the Magyars Totok, a word still preserved today in Tot, Magyar designation of Slovak; the old Magyar name for Slavonia was Totorszag. According to Vambery the word tot is derived from Turkish and signifies a resident stranger. Thus Magyar etymology itself proves that Slovaks were settled in Hungary before the coming of the Magyars. This disposes of Magyar chauvinistic claim that Slovaks in Upper Hungary became almost extinct during the Arpad dynasty and that Slovakia was colonized anew by Czech imigrants during the Hussite period.

We do not mean to say that there was no immigration of Czechs into Hungary. To the contrary, historical sources show clearly that the indigenous Slovak population received constant accessions from the Bohemian lands. There is nothing surprising in that. Even in eastern Hungary and Transylvania so many Slavs were living that newcomers, from whatever Slav country they hailed, felt themselves at home in the new environment. Slav colonists are mentioned for instance in Koloman’s First Decree (chäp. 80), and in the so-called Regestum of Varad dating from early 15th century men are mentioned with Slav names, and the ordeal of glowing iron is called there iudicium praudae, pravda being a Slav word meaning truth. Fojer’s Codex Dillom. IV. 1, pp. 58 to 60, quotes documents showing that during the reign of Stephen III. Czech colonists came to Hungary and received the territory of Obon. Many Czech immigrants came to Hungary in the first half of the 15th century during the Hussite wars, and when Jan Jiskra of Brandýs defended with a Czech army in Northern Hungary the claims of queen Elisabeth, widow of Albert of Hapsburg and daughter of Zikmund of Luxemburg, and of her infant son Ladislav the Posthumous to the Hungarian crown. After Jiskra surrendered to king Mathias, his captains and his men remained in the country and settled principally in the Malohont and Bylog districts of the Gemer county, and in Zvolensk and Lučenec in the Novohrad county.

Closer relations between the Bohemian and Hungarian populations took place particularly at times, when the two states, or at least parts of them, had common rulers, as under Sigismund of Luxemburg, Albrecht of Hapsburg and his son Ladislav, Mathias Korvin, Vladislav and Louis Jagielo, and finally under the Hapsburgs. During Ferdinands’ reign and under his successors the Austrian-Bohemian-Hungarian monarchy held for a century and a half only that part of Hungary consisting of the Slovak counties and a strip along the Austrian border, so that the Hapsburgs really ruled in Hungary only Slovaks and a mixture of Germans and Jugoslavs in the west of Hungary. The Slovaks in those days used the Czech language as their literary medium. In consequence of these political, language and neighbor relations the nobility of Upper Hungary maintained friendly relations with the nobility of not merely Bohemia and Moravia, but also of Poland.

Czech peasants also migrated into Hungary. There is a decree of emperor Leopold I. dated June 6 1699, in which reference is made to wholesale emigration of Moravian and Silesian peasants to Hungary, after the Turks had been expelled, in the hope that they would thereby free themselves of serfdom. The emperor forbade this migration. But early in the 18th century Moravian and Silesian peasants were still moving in large numbers into Hungary. Naturally peasants within Hungary were even more affected by this migrating fever. After the expulsion of the Turks peasants of many Slovak villages moved south into districts populated by Magyars, and many Slovak colonies in central and lower Hungary were then founded. The first and greatest of these settlements in the Hungarian Alfold (steppe) was Čaba (Bekes-Csaba) which was founded in 1715 and before the middle of the 18th century gave rise to several new Slovak colonies. In 1820 it had a population of 20,000, in 1840 over 25,000 and was made a market town.

In the second half of the 18th century there were established first Slovak colonies in what later became known as the Military Frontier and the Banat of Temešvar; many other races, especially Germans, settled here also. In Southern Hungary there were established not only Slovak, but even Czech colonies. They date from the second decade of the 19th century.

Extensive colonization was needed by Hungary, because the population was very scarce. At the end of the 17th century, when the Turks held only the Banat and Srěm, all Hungary had only about two million people, of whom Magyars numbered hardly more than half a million. Thus they had about 25% of the population, and this small percentage in itself made it impossible for them to dominate the rest. The administration of the state was in the hands of Austrian bureacracy. Only after the final expulsion of the Turks during the reign of Charles VI. were the supreme Hungarian offices reorganized, namely the Hungarian court chancery, Hungarian exchequer, governing council, court of the seven lords, and the royal court of justice. But throughout the 18th century Latin was the official language af all the Hungarian nationalities, and the Magyar language still lacked literary polish. It was first cultivated in the 15th century as a result of impulse communicated by the Hussite movement, and the Reformation in the 16th century also contributed to the development of the Magyar tongue. But after the flourishing period in the 17th century Magyar literature fell into decay in the 18th. Only in Transylvania which during the sway of national princes in the 16th and 17th centuries became a Magyar state did the Magyar language receive special acknowledgment; since 1665 it was the language of many provincial diets. The first Transylvanian codifications of laws, prepared for the three political nations of Transylvania, namely Magyars, Saxons and Szekels, called Approbatae Constitutiones (1655) and Compilatae Constitutiones (1669), were also written in Magyar. But after the Hapsburg dynasty secured Transylvania at the end of the 17th century, it began to favor Latin against Magyar and again introduced into judicial proceedings the use of Latin. In the 18th century Latin was the usual literary tongue of Hungary.

A new epoch in the cultivation of the Magyar tongue begins in the reign of Maria Theresa. But in spite of promising start made by the modern Magyar literature the general public remained cold toward Magyar nationalism. Only after Josef II. commanded the authorities in Hungary to use German in place of Latin, did the national consciousness of the Magyar nobility awaken. Since 1791 we find repeated decisions of the estates in behalf of the Magyar tongue. The privileges of Latin are gradually curtailed and Magyar is introduced into the whole administration of the state, judiciary and legislation, until in the fourth decade of the 19th century it becomes the exclusive official and parliamentary language, at the expense of the other tongues customary in the country. Magyar chauvinism not satisfied with this forced Magyar language upon the Croatians, a nation which had a separate political position based on treaties.

 

In the fourth decade of the last century we can no longer recognize in the Magyars the descendants of those freedom-loving Hungarian revolutionaries of the 17th century who with much bravery and self-sacrifice grasped the sword to win political and religious liberty for all Hungarian nationalities. The Magyar became suddenly a conceited jingo and oppressor; he alone is born to rule, others and Slovaks especially, may count themselves lucky to be swallowed by the chivalrous Magyar nation. “Tot nem Ember—Slovak is not a man”, this was a favorite expression of Magyar chivalry. Count Szechenyi, called by his people the “greatest Magyar”, had this to say in an address to the Hungarian Academy: “I hardly know a single Magyar, even though his hair be gray and his face bear wrinkles of much experience, who will not turn into a lunatic or at least lose all sense of justice and honor, as soon as there is any question of our language and nationality. Then even our shyest man loses his temper, wise man is blind, and the squarest man forgets the eternal commandment: Do no do unto others what you do not want others to do unto you.”

 

Szechenvi’s admonition was in vain. The Magyars lost all balance and by their violent methods of Magyarization made enemies of all the Hungarian nationalities. Although Magyarization made great progress, it was too slow for the rabid patriots who wanted to make everybody Magyar in the course of a few years. They raged against the dynasty, when it occasionally cooled their hot heads and protected to some slight extent the non-Magyar peoples.

In 1848 Magyar terror reached its climax. A weak-minded king and his court gave way before the insatiable ambition of the Magyars. April 11, 1848, new fundamental laws received royal sanction. Hungary won complete independence and the monarchy was divided into two parts. The new constitution insulted all non-Magyar nations, especially the Croatians whose country was declared to be a mere Hungarian province. The result was a desperate fight of the nationalities against the Magyars, and then Magyar revolution against Vienna. Too late, in 1849, Ludvik Kossuth was willing to pass a law which would guarantee to all Hungarian nationalities free development. The revolution was over with Gorgei’s capitulation on August 13, 1849. In the whole monarchy there opened another era of absolutism and Germanization, pressing down on all nations with the exception of the Germans. The Magyars got over their spell of megalomania. Kossuth in exile planned in 1859 a confederation of three Danubian states, Hungary, Serbia and Moldavia-Wallachia (Roumania), thus indicating that he held radically changed views on the question of nationalities. He wanted a reconciliation with the Serbians and the Roumanians, and in Hungary all citizens were to enjoy equal rights and liberties. Military units recruited from Serbians and Roumanians of Hungary were to use their own language in army command. In negotiating with the Serbian Prince Michael Obrenovich Kossuth declared that the Magyars were ready to make all the concessions to the nationalities which would not break up the unity of the country and its political entity. The Magyars could be very liberal, when they found themselves in unfavorable political conditions. But as soon as they came once more into power, they forgot liberty and fraternity and became the worst oppressors of their fellow-citizens of other nationalities. Their talk of equality was never sincere, even when they were in the greatest difficulties.

Absolutist regime of the fifties brought the Hapsburg monarchy almost to ruin. After the defeats in Italy in 1859 Vienna sought a new political orientation. By the diploma od October 20, 1860 the emperor surrendered his absolute power and admitted representatives of the citizens to participation in affairs of state. The various lands were to have provincial diets and the entire monarchy a common parliament or imperial council. Magyars and Croatians declared themselves opposed to a common legislature, and their diets were dissolved. After a brief period of absolute government negotiations were commenced again both with the Magyars and the Croatians. The defeat of Austria in the Prussian war of 1866 hastened the conclusion of the deal with the Magyars; the emperor consented to the restoration of the constitution of 1848, with some changes in the interest of the entire monarchy. Beust, a foreigner, at that time the chief adviser of Francis Joseph, solved the long lasting constitutional quarrel of the Magyars with their king in a superficial and easy-going manner.

The emperor-king and the Vienna circles that ruled the monarchy looked upon the Magyars, with justification from their point of view, as a stiff-necked, bothersome nation which by its constant and immoderate demands endangered the international standing of the empire as a Great Power; perhaps it would be as well to get rid of this annoyance, even at high cost. It was plain, in any case, that this abnormally conceited nation could not be Germanized and would not consent to centralization. So Beust, a superficial politician, offered the advice to divide the monarchy into two parts, both with equal rights. One part would be ruled by Germans, the other by Magyars; in other words Germans who had held the exclusive privilege to rule up to then agreed to let out the Magyars from under their sway and admit them to partnership in ruling the empire. Each of the two nations should be allowed a free hand in its territory as against other nations living there. Thus Germans secured the right to hold down the non-German races in Cis-Leithania (country this side of the River Leitha or the Austrian half of the Dual Monarchy), while Magyars had now the same right as against non-Magyars in Trans-Leithania. This cheap plan of a politician was readily accepted by Francis Joseph and in 1867 the old Hapsburg monarchy was transformed into Austria-Hungary. Wrong and oppression was doubled.

Beust and Francis Joseph committed a grave injury to all the nations of the polyethnic monarchy. Only two domineering nations were to enjoy free political, economic and cultural development, whereas all the other nations were reduced to subordinate, inferior, serf races. But the greatest crime consisted in turning over Hungarian nationalities to the mercies of the Magyars, a nation backward in culture, undistinguished in any field, small in numbers, abnormally conceited and aggressive. Even though the German yoke lay heavy on the nations of Austria, it was light compared with the Magyar yoke borne by the nations of Hungary.

At once Magyars threw away the mask of liberalism and turned into persecutors. As a subterfuge they issued in 1868 the so-called law of nationalities or rather language law, in which non-Magyar nationalities received certain very limited guarantees. But even this law was never enforced, but rather grossly violated from the very first days of dualism. Remorseless Magyarization and persecution of nationalities was introduced finally in fall of 1875 with the appointment of Koloman Tisza to the chair of premier.

Since that time the existence of the language law was completely ignored. The Hungarian state was claimed to be in danger, as long as Magyars do not form therein an overwhelming majority, and until the other nationalities are not completely assimilated, whether voluntarily or by use of force. Therefore all kinds of means were used to increase the Magyar element and weaken non-Magyar nationalities. The upbuilding of the Magyar national state was the care of the cabinet and the entire Hungarian bureacracy, the church, deputies, newspapers, societies, schools, kindergartens, professional classes and especially the Jews. The most efficient work was naturally done by the state administration. Non-Magyar languages were driven, against the clear wording of the laws, from courts and public offices, from state institutions like the posts, telegraphs and railways, from schools and even churches.

The Magyar government went so far as to close down the secondary schools maintained by Slovak churches. As early_as 1862 Catholic gymnasium in Báňská Bystřice was transformed into Slovak-Magyar. In 1874–75 the government closed Protestant gymnasium in Velká Řevuč, Catholic gymnasium in the convent of Zniov and Protestant gymnasium in Turč. Sv. Martin. The school of Báňská Bystřice was now completely Magyarized. Similar procedure was applied to elementary schools, and particularly since the enactment of Apponyi’s law of 1907 the last non-Magyar elementary schools were endangered, nay doomed.

What language can characterize properly Magyar robbery of the funds collected by the Slovak Cultural Society? And what about the closed doors of the Budapest parliament against all non-Magyar deputies? As late as 1875 there were 24 deputies for nationalities elected. It was a ridiculously disproportionate number, for the House had 413 members (not including representatives for Croatia), and the Magyars were a minority in the country. But even a slight representation was not pleasing to the Magyars. In 1887 the elections were conducted under such pressure from the officials that only Magyar candidates were elected, and Slovaks and Roumanians decided on passive resistance, maintaining it till the elecsive resistance, maintaining it till the elections of 1896. In 1901 four Slovaks were elected, in 1905 only two, in 1906 seven; in proportion to their numbers they should have had about fifty. In 1910 the nationalities suffered a serious reverse; Slovaks lost three deputies, Serbians all and Roumanians ten.

History knows no other nation to oppress so barbarously citizens using a different tongue. The Magyars in their megalomania proclaimed as their mission the spreading of Magyar culture among the barbarous nationalities of central and southern Europe. The world asks in vain what the culture is, since it contains nothing original, but only elements borrowed from the more advanced European nations. But the Magyar was convinced that his nation is a nation of refinement and chivalry, chosen by God to play a great part in history; therefore a non-Magyar may count himself fortunate, if he is permitted to become a Magyar. This apotheosis of everything Magyar, this selfworship deprived the Magyars of all perception of truth and reality. From childhood on they were taught that Magyars are superior to non-Magyars, that they are born to rule and non-Magyars to serve. History of their pople was interpreted to them in a false light. And thus brought up the young man was sent out into the Magyar world which was filled with lies, injustice and oppression.

Magyar scholars take special pride in pointing to a thousand years of the Hungarian constitution or at least of the Hungarian state. To be a good Magyar you must believe it. And yet it is a historical lie, for even after their defeat in 955 the Magyars did not abandon their migratory life, and only since the reign of St. Stephen the beginnings of a settled life may be traced, due to severe measures of compulsion by the king. Where is the thousand year old constitution and state? But that never bothers a true Magyar; he has a different mentality than other Europeans, and it is useless to debate with him even the most elementary political questions. Although they have been nominally Christian for so many centuries, they have not got rid of their old paganism. They are still the same pagan nomads who in spite of their small number held in severe slavery the native population of their conquered territory. Like the Huns and Avars of old they are settled in the centre of Hungary and hold by terror, or rather did before the monarchy was broken up, the nations living around them. Nay, they even dreamed of “Nagymagyarorszag” (Greater Hungary) which would govern Balkan countries also. This was the plan of Paul Hoytszy and this was the policy pursued by the Magyars in the Balkans which shares responsibility with the Germans for the world war.

Magyar megalomania fed on results it achieved. At the beginning of the 19th century Magyars formed 30 per cent of the population, less than a third. This proportion was not changed until the introduction of dualism. Even in 1869, when the population of Hungary with Translvania was found to be 13,700,000, the number of Magyars was estimated at 4,000,000. Magyar census of that day did not ascertain nationality, because the ministry was well aware of the fact that the figures would not correspond with Magyar claims. But in 1900 Magyars numbered 8,600,000 or 45 per cent of the population. Even if this number is artificially boosted, there is no doubt that Magyarizing efforts have succeeded in increasing the Magyar total. That is specially true of the last census of 1910, according to which there were found in Hungary 9,944,627 Magyars or 54 per cent of the total.

No doubt this number is exaggerated, but nevertheless it must be admitted that Magyars did form at least 40 per cent of the population in 1910. How did it happen that the percentage increased in the course of single generation from 25-30 per cent to more than 40? Magyarization by violence is the answer. The pressure was exerted on all the non-Magyar nationalities, but particularly on Slovaks, our own brothers. And that is the reason, why Magyars had to be our enemies.

Slovak nation was fought by the Magyar government in a double manner: by forcible denationalization and economic oppression. Hungarian state economy and social policies were so miserable that no other contry could equal Hungary in the number of emigrants to America. Between 1902 and 1911 emigration from Hungary to North America amounted to 1,462,214, of which about half a million, or a third, came back. In 1912 the loss of population caused by emigration amounted to 104,000. Figures are not available as to the percentage of Slovaks among emigrants, but it is known to be very high. By this systematic war on the Slovak element in Hungary their numbers were kept down. The census of 1910 counted only 1,946,357 of them.

But the Czech nation has another reason, why it must look on the Magyars as enemies. Th brutal Magyar egoism set the Hapsburg monarchy since 1867 on a down grade direction. Dualism was first of all directed against the state right demands of the Czechs. In the reorganization of the monarchy Czechs had equal rights with the Magyars, and the reorganization should not have been carried out for the exclusive benefit of the Magyars, but to secure equal rights to all nations; federalism should have been introduced instead of dualism. And when the division of the monarchy into two parts became a fact, there should have been equal duties, as well as equal rights. But through the complaisance of the Viennese negotiators it was agreed to make the burdens of the Hungarian half much easier than those of Austria. That applied not only to the so-called quota, by which the common expenses of the monarchy were divided, but especially to the division of the common public debt.

But we would have become reconciled even with dualism, if we could have secured within its frame a separate political position, as the Croatians secured in Hungary in 1868. In 1871 the so-called fundamental articles were actually agreed upon and the emperor was going to proclaim them. But various foreign elements, and especially the Magyars, protested so strenuously that Francis Joseph broke his word to the Czech nation. One can say that in 1871 the Magyars destroyed the Czech state for the second time, as they had done more than nine hundred years ago.

Being faithful imitators of the Germans the Magyars were not satisfied with playing a big role in the internal politics. They, fully as much as the Germans, are responssible for the outbreak of the world war and the awful tragedy caused by it.

It was meant to be a war against the Slavs, as Bethmann-Hollweg openly admitted and as his Magyar co-worker Stephen Tisza boasted. The brutal cynicism of Germans and Magyars, as practised by the general staff of the Central Powers, made it quite clear from the very beginning of the war, what would happen to the Slavs, should the Entente be defeated. For more than four years Europe was flooded by the blood of millions of victims of German and Magyar lust of domination; lives of two generation were freely spent and accumulated wealth of centuries was wasted. But the bold attack on humanity itself failed; Germans and Magyars with their Bulgarian and Turkish helpers are reaping their reward. Defeat is to them the more painful, the more certain they were of victory. Magyar megalomania is over, but the former ruling clique cannot realize that the sacred Hungarian crown with its fetish of the integrity of the country belongs definitely to the past. Here is the explanation of Magyar hatred against the Czechoslovak Republic, against Roumania and Jugoslavia and against the entire Entente, hence also Magyar bolshevism.

The Magyar nation restricted to territory inhabited by Magyar population will have to consider carefully, how to maintain its existence. The old ways are impassable, and even the Magyars will have to conform to the new European environment and give up their violence and conceit. If they will repent, awaken from their self-intoxication and try to be worthy of membership in civilized European society, they will have a future. But they must give up for good all ambitions of dominating other nations.

If they reform, they will find in us good neighbors who will not recall ancient wrongs.