friends at Paris and London wielded sufficient influence to turn the issue in their favor. They had the success of Constantine and of the Portuguese reactionary coup in mind, and thought that, as in those cases, the Allies would not interfere with an accomplished fact in Hungary. The more sanguine even hoped that the opposition to Hapsburg restoration was, as far as the Little Entente was concerned, sincere and thoroughgoing only in Czechoslovakia, and that in both Rumania and Jugoslavia the monarchistic element would tacitly sanction the return of legitimate monarchy. These hopes were openly expressed in press interviews by the Karlist leaders; they were, however, doomed to great disappointment. A few hours after the news of Charles's landing at Oedenburg had spread, mobilization was ordered in Czechoslovakia and Jugoslavia, and at Bucharest assurances were given that the Rumanian Government would stand by the anti-Hapsburg covenant with the other two succession States. On Oct. 24, two days after Charles's attempt, the Council of Ambassadors sent an ultimatum to Budapest, demanding Charles's deposition and delivery to the Entente representatives. When this ultimatum arrived, however, the fate of Charles was already settled by the quick and determined action of Horthy. After the first flurry of surprise the Regent, although he could not be sure even of the support of his own Cabinet members, rallied some loyal troops, recruited mostly from the region between the Danube and Theiss," and marched to meet Charles. An engagement was fought at Budaors, a few miles southwest of Budapest. Simultaneously with Horthy's attack the Karlist troops were attacked from the rear by the troops of Pronay and Hejjas, which had been hurried from Burgenland. Charles's defeat was complete, and the ex-King, after having ordered his troops to surrender so as to avoid further bloodshed, was himself taken prisoner with Queen Zita, while in flight toward Komorn. All the Karlist leaders at Raab-Andrassy, Rakovzky, Major Ostenburg, Count Sigray, Beniczky and Gratz-were arrested, and so were their sympathizers at Budapest, headed by Prince Louis Windischgrätz. The captured leaders were taken to Budapest and jailed under allied supervision. Charles and Zita were first taken to the Esterhazy Castle near Tata-Tovaros, where the ex-King's half-hearted attempt at suicide was thwarted by his wife. Later they were transferred to the old Benedictine Abbey of Tihany, on Platten Lake, where Charles consistently refused repeated requests of the Government for his abdication. For several days his fate hung in the balance, as the Allies had resolved to exile him to a place sufficiently isolated to make a third return to Hungary impossible. Finally the Council of Ambassadors selected the Island of Madeira, off the west coast of Africa. On Nov. 3 Charles and Zita were put on board a British monitor on the Danube at Baia, taken down to the Danube delta, and there transferred to the British cruiser Cardiff, which immediately proceeded with the ex-royal couple toward their distant destination. A bill depriving the House of Hapsburg of its hereditary rights to the Hungarian throne was passed by the Hungarian National Assembly. The wording of the bill was protested by the Council of Ambassadors, as it was obvious that the statute left a loophole open for the election by popular vote of a member of the Hapsburg dynasty. On Nov. 8 the Hungarian Government issued a declaration, subject to ratification by the Assembly, correcting the ambiguity of the statute by an interpretation which bars the election of a Hapsburg King. After the flight of Charles from Switzerland it developed that he had left behind debts running into several million francs. His property at Hertenstein was attached by the creditors. Not even the airplane which took him to Hun gary was paid for. T SETBACK FOR GREECE IN THE NEAR EAST HE situation in the Near East and the respective relations between Mustapha Kemal, on the one hand, and France, Italy and Great Britain, on the other, has been clarified by the successful termination of the peace negotiations with Angora conducted by France. The head of the French mission, Henry Franklin-Bouillon, has returned to Paris with the treaty, which was signed on Oct. 21 at Angora and ratified a few days later by the Angora Grand Parliament. It follows the lines of the treaty negotiated on March 9 at London, except in two clauses, the inclusion of which has caused the new treaty to be severely censured by Lord Curzon. These clauses-Articles VIII. and X.embody concessions which Lord Curzon declares France had no right to make, as they dispose of mandated territory. Article VIII. fixes a boundary line between Turkey and French Syria running from the Bay of Alexandretta, near Bayas, to the railway station of Meidan; thence southeast, leaving the region of Marsova in Syria and Killis in Turkey; thence to the railway at Tchebin Bey to Nisibin; thence northeast to Jezireh on the Tigris. Article X. record P ed the consent of the Angora Government to the concession of the Bagdad Railway between Bozabti and Nisibin and the branch lines in the province of Adana to the French group. The conclusion of this treaty, which gives France important advantages, including the possibility of withdrawing her troops from Cilicia, has left Greece isolated. After obtaining a vote of confidence, the Greek Premier, M. Gounaris, departed on a visit to the Western Chancelleries on Oct. 15 to stave off the expected signing of the Franco-Turkish Treaty. He left Paris empty-handed on the very day the treaty was signed. In London he persuaded Lord Curzon to remonstrate with France. Lord Granville, the British Minister at Athens, meanwhile took steps to negotiate with Angora in behalf of Greece in case the Greeks should ultimately be able to comply with Mustapha Kemal's demands. [The article on Near Eastern affairs in last month's CURRENT HISTORY Contained an extract from a letter of Ali Fuad, Turkish Ambassador at Moscow, to the Soviet Government, explaining certain incidents in connection with the Kemalists. Due credit for the translation used -that of The New York Nation-was inadvertently omitted.-Editor]. FRANCE AND MUSTAPHA KEMAL REMIER BRIAND was strongly endorsed by Parliament at the sessions of Oct. 27 and 28, the vote in the Senate being 301 to 9; in the Chamber the majority was 106. This implied a ratification of the acceptance of the offer by a German labor syndicate to rebuild-with German material and German labor-eleven ruined villages on the Somme, as well as an endorsement of M. Briand's general policy toward Germany. Thus the Premier was able to depart for the Washington conference with the solid backing of Parliament. The French treaty with Mustapha Kemal was given out after the Premier's departure. By its terms France withdraws from Cilicia, the boundary is drawn between French Syria and Turkey, and France receives various economic advantages, notably a concession for the operation of the Bagdad Railway from the Mediterranean to the Tigris River, and a ninety-nine TH year lease on the iron, chrome and silver mines of the valley of Harchite (Northern Anatolia), near the shores of the Black Sea. Politically, this treaty is beneficial to France, is displeasing to Great Britan. and especially to the Greeks, who are still trying to dispose of the troublesome Mustapha by force of arms. It means that France has recognized the Government of Mustapha Kemal as the ruling Government of Turkey, rather than the Government at Constantinople, recognized by Great Britain. The agreement was negotiated for the French by Henry Franklin-Bouillon, an agent of somewhat vague status, who conferred at Angora with Youssouf Kemal Bey, Foreign Minister for Mustapha Kemal; it was ratified by the Angora Parliament before M. Franklin-Bouillon brought it to Paris. Formal approval of this important pact was one of the last official acts of Premier Briand before he sailed for America. ALBANIA'S FRONTIER ESTABLISHED HE status of Albania underwent a great change on Nov. 5. Her territorial entity was established by the Council of Ambassadors and her political entity centred at Tirana was recognized by the Supreme Council. The first decision set the frontiers about as they were arranged by the London Ambassadorial Conference in 1913, when the great powers were bent on making the country a Moslem State governed by Prince William of Wied, and rendered nought the stipulations in the Treaty of London of April, 1915, as well as the Wilson-Lloyd GeorgeClemenceau compromise favoring Greece and the Nitti-Lloyd George-Clemenceau compromise favoring Serbia of four years later. As a result of the decision of the Council of Ambassadors, Great Britain, France and Italy have invoked Articles XI. and XVI. of the Covenant in a note sent to the Council of the League of Nations to ascertain what measures the Council intends to take in order to have the findings of the Council of Ambassadors respected by Greece in the south and by Jugoslavia in the north. The general line of the frontier laid down by the Council of Ambassadors on Nov. 5 rectifies the line of 1913 as follows: The district of Ligne is given to Albania; the Dibra-Striga road is given to Jugoslavia; also the territorial angle which secures Jugoslavia a better position in Prizren and Podgaritza; Scutari is to go to Albania, but Jugoslavia is to have the use of its port of Dulcina on the Adriatic. On Nov. 9 the foregoing was put in the form of a protocol and communicated to the Governments of Jugoslavia, Greece and Albania and to the secretariat of the League. This protocol automatically put into execution the following resolution of the Council of the League of Nations, adopted at the recent Geneva conference: The Council approves of the appointment of a commission of three impartial persons to proceed to Albania and to report fully on the execution of the decision of the principal allied and associated powers as soon as it is given, and on any disturbances which may occur on or near the frontier of Albania. The commission shall have power to appoint impartial observers to enable it to discharge its functions. The Council in its anxiety to see peace preserved, and feeling assured that the decision of the principal allied and associated powers [as represented by the Council of Ambassadors] will be taken without delay, considers that the commission should arrive in Albania by Nov. 1, 1921, but that it should take no action until the decision of the principal allied and associated powers is given." On Nov. 9 the British Prime Minister, acting for the Supreme Council, invited the Council of the League of Nations to assemble at Paris on Nov. 18 for the purpose of considering the attitude of Jugoslavia toward Albania. This is the first time the aid of the Council of the League of Nations has formally been invoked by the Supreme Council to take action against a member of the League invaded by another. The long and bitter boundary dispute between Jugoslavia and Albania was finally settled by the Council of the League of Nations at Paris on Nov. 18. Representatives of the two nations were summoned before the Council, the Jugoslavs having previously been notified in a peremptory manner that the troops that had invaded Albanian territory must be withdrawn inmediately. The representations of the two nations were made before the Council at a public session, a new departure for this body. The Serbian Representative, Nata Bockovitch, denied the charge of invasion, justifying his country's course as best he could. Midsat Frasheri, the Albanian delegate, then presented his side of the case with equal eloquence. In the end both representatives agreed to accept the boundary recently decided upon by the Council of Ambassadors, promising to live in peace and respect the obligation thus assumed. A protocol to that effect was to have been signed on Nov. 19, but when it was presented for signature the Jugoslav delegation injected certain rescrvations, saying they would withdraw their troops from the territory allotted to Albania but refused to recognize as permanent the line fixed by the Ambassadors. The Jugoslav delegation announced that they would continue to urge reconsideration of the boundary line: TH STATE TRIALS IN BULGARIA HE High Court called to judge the members of the Radoslavoff Cabinet and General Gekoff, the former charged with having conspired with the dethroned Czar Ferdinand to cause the nation to enter the great war on the side of the Central Empires, and the latter with having illegally executed the decrees of the said conspiracy, convened at Sofia on Oct. 11. This is the third time in the history of modern Bulgaria that the High Court has been assembled. The first time was in 1903 and the second in 1914. Although almost the entire press urged the members of the court to act "with justice and, having acted with justice, to execute the verdict with firmness," some conservative papers point out the difficulty of governing under a monarch like Ferdinand in the early years of the war, with the people still bitter over the great surrender in the Treaty of Bucharest in 1913. As a public diversion from the trial, it was the intention also to bring to justice the men who were charged with having profited by the acts of the Radoslavoff Ministry-and a special article to this effect had been incorporated in the law. condemning those responsible for plunging the country into the late war. This special clause (Article IV.) provided for the arrest of war profiteers and the sequestration of their property. As an attempt to execute this article, judging from the arrests already made under t, would have seriously disturbed both the political and the industrial life of the country, the Interallied Reparation Commission at Sofia advised that it be repealed; this was done on Sept. 2. The cable dispatch which announced the assassination of M. Dimitroff, Minister of War, together with his chauffeur and two companions, on Oct 22, while motoring near Köstendil, where he was born in 1877, gave no cause for the tragedy. M. Dimitroff's manner of executing the Treaty of Neuilly and his unfriendly attitude toward the agents of Soviet Russia, however, are known to have arrayed two forces against him-the adherents of the dethroned Ferdinand, who have attempted to have Bulgaria resume her alliance with Turkey against Greece, and the Bulgarian communists, many of whom have been jailed for their activities. Alexander Dimitroff was Minister of the Interior when the Peasant Premier Stambolisky formed the Ministry in October, 1919, which was to sign the Treaty of Neuilly. Although of known pro-Entente sentiments, he had been in office since 1917. He assumed the portfolio of war last Summer. During the absence of Premier Stambolisky on his round of visits to the Western chancelleries last Winter, M. Dimitroff assumed the portfolio of Foreign Affairs, and fulfilled his duties in a manner which gave the Entente nothing to complain of. As Minister of War he has co-operated with General de Fourton, head of the Interallied Military Mission, in the matter of disarmament. THE NEW KING OF JUGOSLAVIA K NG ALEXANDER, whose acceptance of the Crown of Jugoslavia had been in doubt for two months, left Paris for Belgrade on Oct. 29 and took the oath to support the new Constitution of the monarchy of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes at the capital on Nov. 5. When his father, the aged King Peter, died. Alexander, then Prince Regent, was ill in Paris. On Aug. 17 he proclaimed his acceptance of the crown, but still lingered in the City of Light, and then in a villa he had taken at Versailles. It has now become known that he underwent an operation in July at a private hospital, when a piece of bomb was extracted which had been in his body since the attempt to assassinate him last year. Subsequent to the operation the patient required the utmost quiet. There was another reason, however, for his prolonged stay in Paris. It was his desire to bring to a happy conclusion his courtship of Princess Sophie, second daughter of Prince Emmanuel, Duc de Vendôme et d'Alençon, a member of the Bourbon-Orléans family. The differences of religion and the Princess's disinclination to reside in Belgrade are said to have been the reasons for the unsuccessful termination of King Alexander's suit. RUMANIA AND SOVIET RUSSIA i:1 LTHOUGH the Soviet Government at Moscow has finally agreed to the claim principle of Rumania to Bessarabia, the Government at Bucharest is having more difficulty in persuading the Soviet to return the gold and treasure which during the retreat Moldavia of the Rumanian Army was sent for safe keeping to Moscow, then under the Czar. in At the beginning of the negotiations, whicn have been going on at Warsaw and which reached a conclusion on Oct. 20, it was estab lished that the Rumanian gold no longer existel. The Soviet Government had used nearly all of it. It appears that the Soviet delegation sought to set aside this issue in favor of their Bessarabian claim. But the Rumanian delegation, headel by M. Filality, still insisted on the return of the gold or its equivalent. There the matter stands, with the Soviet delegation ready to open the question of Bessarabia, should the Rumanian delegation prove too pressing for the expropriated gold. S' ANOTHER REVOLUTION IN PORTUGAL Elucidation of the confused events that led up to the murder of ex-Premier Granjo and other friends of Paes-Personnel of latest Cabinet, headed by Pinto [PERIOD ENDED Nov. 10, 1921] INCE the proclamation of the republic on Oct. 5, 1910, there have been no fewer than seven revolutions, or attempted revolutions, in Portugal. Two of these have been Monarchical -for the restoration of the deposed King Manuel II. now living in England-the rest have been due to one faction of the Republican Party attempting to oust its rivals, so that it might enjoy the benefits of office. Both the elections of last July and the successive Governments of Querioz and Granjo had been the outcome of a military movement of the preceding May, which had brought pressure to bear upon President Almeida for a more conservative administration with proclivities favoring Royalist prisoners and unfavorable toward the victims of Major Sidonio Paes's revolution of December, 1917. These victims, a year later, became the murderers of Paes, and the results of his revolution drove ex-President Dr. Bernardino Machado and ex-Premier Dr. Alfonso Costa into exile. Since last Spring the victims of the Paes revolution who were still at liberty had determined on military action in order to restore the onefaction Government as it had existed prior to the revolution of December, 1917. What probably sealed the fate of the late Premier, Senhor Antonio Granjo, was his unrelenting attitude toward political murderers. The promoters of the Lisbon revolution of Oct. 19, Colonel Manuel Maria Coelho, Major Cortez dos Santos, Captain Rosa Mateus, Lieut. Commanders Procopio de Freitas and Serrao Machado, had, they declared, hoped to achieve their ends by peaceful means. But they allowed the Carbonarios to arm themselves at the naval arsenal. These Carbonario, or professional revolutionary elements, had long cherished the idea of punishing all the partisans of the Moderate President, Sidonio Paes, who had not already been accounted for, as well as other Conservative Republicans. The revolution of Oct. 19 gave them their sinister opportunity. At 7 o'clock A. M. a shot was fired as a signal by a company of the Republican Guard, and it was immediately answered from the warships in the Tagus, Sao Gabriel and Vasco da Gama. Thereupon Colonel Coelho took up strategic positions, particularly at Edward VII. Park, with some 8,000 cavalry and a score of machine guns, while Machado and de Freitas took command at the arsenal. At 9:30 a deputation of the revolutionary junta, consisting of Colonel Nobre da Viega, Machado, Dr. Jacinto Simões, and Senhor Affonso de Macedo, waited upon President Almeida and demanded the dismissal of the Granjo Government and the dissolution of the July Parliament. The President asked for time to consider, and the delegation withdrew. A few moments later he received a message from had sought Senhor Granjo, who asylum with a loyal detachment of the Republican Guard at Carmo. Granjo's letter stated that he had not enough faithful troops to resist the revolutionists, and that he left the decision in the President's hands. President Almeida replied in a note which approved Granjo's action and at the same time relieved him of the responsibility of office. At 12:30 P. M. a second revolutionary delegation visited the President. It included, in addition to the first delegation, Lieut. Commander de Freitas, Captain Montez, and Colonel Rego Chaves. This time the proposal of the junta was accepted, and a Cabinet was announced, headed by Colonel Coelho. The first act of the new Government was to issue a proclamation, on the morning of Oct. 20, repudiating the events of the previous night. After receiving the reply to his letter Senhor Granjo motored from Carmo to his home and thence to the home of Senhor Cunha Leal, the Financial Minister of the fallen Government. There he was arrested and taken with the other prisoners to the naval arsenal. Then took place the lynchings by the Carbonarios. Senhor Granjo, Captain Freitas da Silva, and Captain SO The new Government was kept busy cleaning its hands of the charges of being responsible for the assassinations, but public opinion was aroused that on Nov. 4 Colonel Manuel Maria Coelho thought it best to withdraw in favor of Senhor Pinto, who then assumed the Premiership and portfolio of the Interior, and reconstructed the Cabinet as follows: Minister of Justice, Vasco Vasconcellos. T MEXICO'S EXTERNAL DEBT HOMAS W. LAMONT returned to New York on Oct. 26 from Mexico City without having concluded any definite arrangement regarding the payment of principal or interest on Mexico's external debt, which was the chief object of his mission as representative of the International Committee of Bankers, representing the associated holders of Mexican bonds. According to published interviews, Secretary de la Huerta had proposed adjusting the Mexican external debt by buying in the Government's obligations at the market price and replacing them, if necessary, by a new loan. Mr. Lamont and his associates had objected to diverting funds pledged to paying defaulted interest to such a buying in at depreciated quotations. The net result of the ensuing debate was that the negotiations failed, and that both sides were disappointed. The Lamont negotiations had an indirect bearing on the question of recognition, as no new foreign loan could be floated prior to recognition by the United States, on whose action Great Britain and France are waiting. Mr. Lamont went to Washington on Nov. 2 and conferred at length with Secretary Hughes on Mexican conditions. During the negotiations, General Calles, head of President Obregon's Cabinet, from a sanitarium at Rochester, Minn., made a spirited defense of the Vera Cruz law of compulsory profit-sharing with labor. He denied that this law would result in injury to capital, charged that the industrials and landowners had maintained virtually a system of slavery in Mexico, and declared that the Government was seeking the liberation of the working classes. The labor bonus, he said, was only 10 per cent. of gross profits. Thus, a business capitalized at 100,000 pesos and earning 20,000 pesos yearly would, after payment of 16,000 pesos for interest and amortization of capital, have to pay the employes 10 per cent. of the remaining 4,000 pesos, or a total of only 400 pesos for the year. Secretary de la Huerta, replying on Oct. 22 to a bitter editorial attack in the columns of El Universal, came out with a list of the Government's actual achievements, among which were the following: Repatriation of thousands of Mexicans at a cost of millions of pesos; the expenditure of 8,000,000 pesos to aid destitute towns and villages; reduction of the army by 40,000 men; establishment of cordial relations with twenty-six countries; acquisition of fifteen vessels for the merchant marine; better educational facilities; normalization of the bank situation, and the stabilizing of monetary affairs. The return of all confiscated property had been brought about or arrangements made to settle with owners, except in a few isolated affairs still pending. The Mormon Church had accepted $94,177 for its claims. Spanish claims were being adjusted with the Spanish Government. Government expenditures for 1922 presented to Congress on Nov. 1 showed a reduction of 30,500,000 pesos for the War and Navy Departments. There is an increase of 10,000,000 pesos for education. Gold and silver coinage is continued. |