4: October, 1919

<< 3: September, 1919 || 5: November, 1919 >>

October 1, 1919. At this morning's session, General Mombelli presiding, there was first read a letter from Minister Diamandi, asking that the Mission arrange for the prompt transfer of the Mackensen material to some point in Hungary where it could be divided up and the Roumanians receive their share. I suggested that we write Minister Diamandi that it was in the hands of the Entente, that its distribution was entirely under the jurisdiction of this Mission, and that this matter would be taken up in due course. I then suggested to my colleagues that what the Roumanians ought to have was a letter telling them that we would take up the question of such distribution when they returned the loot that they had already removed from Hungary.

According to a telegram received by General Gorton from the British Commission at Paris, Prime Minister Bratiano has given the Supreme Council representative a beautiful collection of characteristic Roumanian lies in regard to their seizures and requisitions. General Gorton received a telegram stating that Sir George Clerk⁽¹⁾ had been directed to come to Budapest and interview this Mission in order to determine whether it was Bratiano or the four Allied Generals who were lying.

We received two letters from one of my officers, Captain Shafroth, stating that there were certain articles in the Hungarian museums which had been taken, either from Bucharest, or from the portions of Transylvania which belonged to Roumania. He recommend that the books, etc., which had been identified as coming from Bucharest be returned, and that all other articles be held pending the action of the Commission. We received a telegram from the Hungarian town of Drégely, complaining that the Czecho-Slovaks had been posting patrols on all the roads leading to the town, and were allowing nobody to come in or go out, and stating with characteristic Middle-European hyperolism that anarchy and everything else horrible would result on short notice if the situation were not immediately remedied. The President of the Day was accordingly directed to inform the Czecho-Slovakian Minister of the situation and direct him to take the proper measures.

General Mombelli invited our attention to the fact hat one battalion of Hungarian troops was being formed and was occupying territory which, according to the treaty with Austria, had been given to the latter country. We therefore sent a letter to the Hungarian Authorities to evacuate immediately any portions of territory which had been granted to Austria by the Peace Conference.

Yesterday I received a note from the Countess Szirmay to the effect that the safeguard sent them by the Roumanian General Serbescu and vise'd by him, had been examined by a young Roumanian lieutenant, named Panescu, who said that such paper did not prevent requisitioning by his colonel. I therefore sent Colonel Yates to Roumanian headquarters, and they telephoned out to the colonel of the First Chasseurs directing him to investigate Lieutenant Panescu's conduct and to award the punishment that the case would seem to merit. The Roumanian Chief of Staff, Colonel Vasilescu, sent me two safeguards from the Roumanian headquarters, which I sent out to the Countess with additional information that if Lieutenant Panescu cared to do any more quibbling about technicalities I would myself pay him a visit which he would not enjoy.

Yesterday the Roumanians gave a tremendous dinner at the Hotel Hungaria, to the British officials, during which, I understand, there was much playing of "God Save the King" and much talking about Great Britain as the greatest power on earth and, in general, that the affair was effusively affectionate, and that much champagne flowed. Apparently the Roumanians are trying to cut loose from the French and the Italians.

Yesterday I received a press report to the effect that it was now known that either Clemenceau himself or the French officials had always notified the Roumanians immediately after the dispatch of an ultimatum that such ultimatum could be ignored and that the Supreme Council really did not mean it. All of which is simply in line with the idea General Gorton and I have always maintained in regard to this situation.

October 2, 1919. Yesterday afternoon Sir George Clerk, the delegate from the Supreme Council, sent to Roumania for the purpose of giving the Roumanian government the last and final ultimatum in regard to the occupation of Hungary, arrived. He spent an hour with the Inter-Allied Military Mission during which he showed himself to be decidedly pro-Roumanian.

He had arrived early during the day, had spent all the forenoon with Minister Diamandi, had been given a tremendous lunch by the Roumanians at noon, could give us only an hour in the afternoon, after which he went to the opera with Minister Diamandi, and was again entertained in the evening by the Roumanians.

His interview with the Mission was in most respects eminently satisfactory. He repeated in substance the same interview with Bratiano that I had had when in Bucharest; to which, however, he added that M. Bratiano insisted on having both banks of the Maros River practically up to Szeged⁽²⁾ for the purpose of the strategic control of the railroad line. In his reply to M. Bratiano, covering this one particular point, he seemed to show the only gleam of diplomatic intelligence, as he told the Roumanians that he was sure the Allies would not consent to giving any more territory to Roumania; that present boundaries had been investigated and decided upon by a committee of geographical and tactical experts.

He asked the Mission if we thought that after the Roumanian evacuation there could not be made some permanent adjustment between Hungary and Roumania for their future amicable relations. He was told that the unreasonable and ridiculous excesses to which the Roumanians had enforced their requisitions, and in particular their crude and unnecessarily harsh methods of carrying out their seizures, had so embittered the Hungarians that it was not believed they would ever be satisfied until they had retaliated in kind.

It was very comforting to note that the Mission was practically unanimous on all points, and where any slight differences existed as to personal opinion such differences were unimportant.

It was most apparent that Sir George, owing to his prolonged stay at Bucharest, had listened to the siren voice of the enchantress Queen, and had fallen under the spell of Roumanian environment. Her Majesty certainly seems to think that she can control any man whom she meets, and it must be admitted that she has considerable foundation for that opinion. I am inclined to think, however, that she realized that it took more than a signed photograph to cause me to wander from the straight and narrow path of military duty. It is also evident that Sir George has been influenced by Bratiano's sophistry, as he advances the same line of argument as does that distinguished Roumanian Prime Minister. I asked Sir George, at the session of the Mission, if the Roumanians had given him the same song that they had given me, to the effect that they had never seized any foodstuffs in Hungary beyond the actual needs of the Roumanian Army in that country, and he replied that they had. I told him then that any such statement was a lie, using the very word here quoted; that I had personally investigated one case where they had shipped away to Roumania 2,800 carloads, mainly foodstuffs from one group of warehouses in Budapest alone, that they were seizing and removing seed grain and the last head of cattle from many of the farms, especially east of the Theiss River, and that I could give him overwhelming proof of only too many concrete cases.

Early this morning, General Gorton came in to see me, very much disgusted. He said that Sir George Clerk would be here probably only until tomorrow; that he had been wined and dined constantly by the Roumanians; that he himself had asked him to dinner tonight and showed me a note he had received from Sir George regretting that he could not accept because of a previous engagement with some Roumanian. We decided then that we would either get Sir George in deeper, or get him out; so I wrote a formal invitation, inviting him to dine with me tonight, and he promptly accepted.

He promised to be with Colonel Loree from 11 to 1 o'clock, but did not show up until 12, and stayed only for about an hour. At this session, he told Colonel Loree that he had been informed that the Roumanians had shipped back foodstuff to Hungary and were feeding the Hungarians, and was told that nothing of the kind had ever happened. He attempted to justify the seizure of all of the rolling stock, along the same lines as that adopted by the Roumanians, stating that they were taking back only an equivalent of what had been taken from them during the German occupation. He advanced the same old rotten argument that the Roumanian Army in its victorious march upon an enemy's capital had done no more than was customary in time of war, entirely ignoring the fact that there would be no victorious Roumanian Army had not the Entente first smashed the Germanic Powers, and that even then the Roumanians would never have gotten into Hungary had they not unfortunately had the opportunity to sneak in at the time when Hungary and its army were disrupted temporarily by the overthrow of the Bolshevist government.

Yesterday I had invited the family of Count Szirmay to go to the opera and sit in my box, but they had to come so far from the country and were delayed so long en route by the Roumanians, that they did not arrive until the opera was practically finished, and could not, therefore, go to the Opera House at all. As a result, Colonel Loree and I rattled around in the Royal box all alone until the last fifteen minutes, during which we were joined by Colonel Yates. The party eventually arrived and we had them to dinner.

This morning a ceremony took place in my office, during which we decorated a member of the British Mission, Lieutenant Molesworth, with the emblem of the Ancient, Honorable and Puissant Order of the P. E. Club of America.

October 3, 1919. Last night we entertained at dinner Admiral Troubridge, General Gorton, Sir George Clerk, Mr. Rattigan, the British Chargé d'Affaires at Bucharest, and Admiral Troubridge's son, and Aide. Sir George Clerk looked a little bit shamefaced, but I think was rather glad to have gotten out of the embarrassment that would naturally have resulted from too much appearing in public with the Roumanians. He left early because Mr. Rattigan was obliged, he said, to catch an early train back to Bucharest. He asked if he could resume his conference with Colonel Loree at 9.30 this morning, and was told certainly. But up to 11.30 he had not shown up.

The Roumanians kept on with their lying statements, that all requisitions had ceased on September the sixteenth, but nevertheless they are continuing daily.

Last night I received a telegram from Mr. Polk, stating that he had just had an interview with the Roumanian delegate, M. Misu, and with the Roumanian Colonel Antonescu. The latter had been in Paris for a week conferring with the French, but had just been able to get over to the American Commission. Mr. Polk stated that Antonescu denied all stories of outrages and looting, and was particularly indignant over stories that they had taken hospital supplies. He also gave as the reason for failure to arm 10,000 police, the Fact that the Allies had charge of the Mackensen depôt of supplies and that the police should be armed from the same. Mr. Polk added that Roumania is apparently beginning to feel the pressure of the blockade of the Black Sea, because she could not get in the stores that she had purchased from the French and the Americans, and he added that this blockade would not be raised until the situation was improved. Mr. Polk suggested that a recommendation be sent the Supreme Council, to form a board representing the Inter-Allied Military Mission, with one Roumanian officer, for the purpose of investigating looting and seizures. I received another telegram from him earlier in the evening which was marked "double priority-urgent," wishing to know when Sir George Clerk would be back in Paris. I wired in reply to the latter that Sir George was due to arrive in Paris on Tuesday, and to the main telegram I sent the following answer:

Replying to your No.63, there is only too much proof of Roumanian looting. I myself saw them taking hospital supplies and reported it at the time. They did not loot children's hospitals, but did cut off the usual supply of milk which was equally bad. Concerning Mackensen supplies, please see my telegrams No. sixty-three, sixty-five, sixty-six, and sixty- eight. This depot contained no firearms whatever and only about two thousand carloads of munitions. Roumanian tactics in regard to reorganizing the Hungarian police and army have been constantly obstructive. They seem determined to force Hungary into a separate treaty and, if obliged to evacuate, to leave her ripe for anarchy and Bolshevism so that their return will be requested. Since August 16th there has been a committee of the Mission on claims and complaints of which Colonel Loree is chairman. The Roumanian commander was requested to send a liaison officer, who refused to assist in any investigations, and the Roumanian commander insisted that all claims of any importance should be sent to him for final decision. Under the circumstances, we have gone on investigating and accumulating evidence, which is in as good a shape as possible with facilities at our disposal. Sir George Clerk has been given many data.

In my opinion, the most crying need is to force the Roumanians to carry out the instructions of the Supreme Council as given to them by the Inter-Allied Military Mission. Unless they evacuate Hungary as rapidly as we may require, and in the meantime assist, instead of obstructing, our police and army organization, matters will go from bad to worse. If for the first time they keep a promise and begin the evacuation of Transdanubia tomorrow, the fourth, we shall have made our first step forward.

I also sent a code telegram giving my opinion of Sir George Clerk, which was as follows:

Sir George Clerk spent about an hour with the Mission Wednesday afternoon. He repeated in substance his interview with the Roumanian Prime Minister which was practically the same as my own as to grievances, etc., but being with a diplomat also included demands for more territory on both sides of he Maros River for strategic defense of railroad. He said the Roumanians told him that no food requisitions had been made except for actual use of troops in Hungary. I told him this was untrue and I could give him absolute proof. The Mission was practically unanimous on all points discussed. My personal opinion is that Clerk is under the spell of Roumanian environment and a cooing dove would make a better ultimatum bearer. The Queen thinks she can handle any man she meets and is usually right. Clerk arrived Wednesday morning and, except or an hour with the Mission, he spent the balance of the day conferring with, and being banqueted by, Roumanians. In the evening he went to the opera with Diamandi; declined an in

invitation tonight to dine with Gorton because of an engagement with a Roumanian. So I asked him and the entire British Mission, and he had to accept. He asked the Mission about the prospects for future amicable relations between Hungary and Roumania, and was told that it was not believed possible, as Roumanian requisition methods and excess had created permanent retaliation sentiment. The Roumanians are devoting themselves almost exclusively to the British. For three consecutive days they have been giving them banquets, but the Admiral and General accepted only one invitation.

October 4, 1919. Although Sir George Clerk had two appointments with Colonel Loree yesterday, one at 9.30 in the morning and the other at 5 o'clock in the afternoon, he showed up at neither. During the forenoon, he had one of our stenographers, and in the afternoon gave General Gorton a copy of his notes, among which the following appears:

Cases brought to the notice of the Roumanian authorities such as M. Diamandi, the High Commissioner, or General Mardarescu, Commander in Chief, are indeed dealt with at once by them and an order is immediately issued for investigation, reparation, and if necessary, punishment.

He then adds, further on:

The Roumanian government, and those responsible for the conduct of its affairs, do realize that Hungary, stripped bare of all necessaries of life, is entirely contrary to the interests of Roumania, and I believe them sincere in their intention to take only what they consider to be their lawful property, stolen from them, and to limit their requisitions to the quantities which they have laid down.

I do not doubt but that Minister Diamandi, General Mardarescu, and others of that ilk, told Sir George just what he set down, and that he believed them. Their statements, however, are untrue. To give a concrete instance: at one of the meetings of the Inter-Allied Military Mission, which was attended by both Minister Diamandi and General Mardarescu, I called their attention to the fact that the Roumanians were seizing and removing articles like Gobelin tapestries, delicate scientific instruments, animals from stock farms, machinery installed in series in large factories, and in general that they were seizing property that had never been taken from them, that was not needed by them at the time, nor were requisitions being made in a proper manner. General Mardarescu stated three times in reply that he had seized only what was necessary for troops in the field. Despite the fact that their attention on this occasion was called to definite cases, no action was taken by either of them in the way of investigation, reparation, or punishment. In particular, I read over the complete list of articles that had been removed rom the Hungarian Directory of Posts, Telegraphs and Telephones, and asked General Mardarescu if he, is a soldier, could tell me that most of the articles seized were needed by his troops in the field. As he could give no direct reply, he invariably circumlocuted md switched to other subjects in which art both he and Diamandi are past masters.

The Roumanians have been most careful to require publication in the Hungarian press of the various banquets, entertainments, etc., given by them to Sir George Clerk, with the evident intention, of course, of impressing the Hungarians with the fact that they stood in with the Supreme Council.

Yesterday afternoon, at General Gorton's suggestion, Sir George saw Prime Minister Friedrich, and I understand that the latter made a most strong presentation of his case, showing how the Roumanians had descend even to petty personal persecution in order to force him to accept their terms.

In my opinion, the Roumanians should be forced by all means to make immediate restitution to the Hungarians of such portion of the seized rolling stock as may be required by the Inter-Allied Military Mission. This would enable the Hungarians, upon Roumanian evacuation, to move their supplies, coal, etc., and would be a great step forward. In addition, it would restore some of the prestige lost by the four great Powers, if it could be shown that the Roumanians had finally been forced to do something. They should also be required to restore draft animals and cattle foodstuffs, certain kinds of machinery, and such other articles as might seem necessary, but the question of rolling stock should be at once insisted upon and forced.

Last night we had a box party in the Royal box at the opera, entertaining Count Szirmay's family, and afterwards we had them at dinner.

October 5, 1919. This morning reports were received from Colonel Horowitz, U.S. A., and from Major Foster of the British Army, to the effect that the first stage of the evacuation of western Hungary by the Roumanians had been successfully carried through without friction or difficulty worth noting.

Last night Colonel Loree and I attended a dinner as the guests of Mr. Butler of the British Mission, the other guests being Admiral Troubridge, General Gorton, Sir George Clerk, and Sir William Goode. The latter is the representative of the Supreme Council on the Inter-Allied Food Commission. All of us, during the course of the evening, hammered away at Sir George Clerk, and apparently changed his opinions in regard to his friends, the Roumanians.

Today being Sunday, there was, of course, no meeting, but this afforded opportunity for catching up with back work in the office.

October 6, 1919. Last night, just after we had risen from one of the excellent meals with which Captain Gore is nourishing us, Colonel Horowitz reported and stated that the Roumanians were at the National Museum with a whole flock of trucks, and proposed to take away many of the works of art.

At a meeting of the Military Mission on October 1, 1919, it was decided that although the Roumanians did claim many articles in the National Museum as belonging to them on account of their present owner-ship of Transylvania, they should have none of these articles until passed upon by our committee, of which Captain Shafroth, U. S. A., is chairman. On the same date the Roumanian Commander in Chief was notified of our decision.

Accompanied by Colonel Loree and one American soldier, I followed Colonel Horowitz back to the Museum, which we found under a strong Roumanian guard. One man tried to stop us, but it did not do him much good, and we went into the building and eventually routed out the Director. It appears that about 6 o'clock in the afternoon, General Serbescu, accompanied by an entourage of officers and civilians, showed up at the Museum convoying fourteen trucks and a detachment of soldiers. He stated that he was authorized by General Mardarescu and High Commissioner Diamandi to take over the objects from Transylvania, and demanded the keys. The Director informed him that the Inter-Allied Military Mission had taken over the Museum and he would not give up the keys. General Serbescu then told him that they would return in the morning and that, if the keys were not produced, they would take the objects by force.

I, therefore, had the Director deliver the key to the storeroom to me and left a paper worded as follows:

To whom it may concern - As the Inter-Allied Mission is in charge of all the objects in

the Hungarian National Museum at Budapest, the key has been taken charge of by the President of the Day, General Bandholtz, the American representative.

This was followed by my signature. I then had Colonel Loree place seals on each of the doors, on which was written:

This door sealed by Order Inter Allied Military Mission.

H. H. Bandholtz, Pres. of the day.

5 October 1919.

As the Roumanians and all Europeans are fond of rubber-stamp display, and as we had nothing else, we used an American mail-censor stamp, with which we marked each of the seals.

At this morning's session of the Mission, General Mombelli was unfortunately away, having gone to Vienna to meet his wife, but I related to my colleagues my experience of last night and asked whether or not the Mission approved the same, knowing in advance that General Gorton was with me. As there was some little delay before a reply was made, I said that in case the Mission did not care to do so, I personally would take all the responsibility and state that what I had done was done as American representative. At this, General Graziani very gallantly and promptly spoke up and said:

"No, I am with my colleague," and that settled it.

I then telegraphed the American Commission in Paris a statement of what had occurred, and wound up with the sentence: "In the meantime the seals are on the doors, and we await developments."

We had another letter today from the Serbian representative, complaining of his treatment by his allies, the Roumanians, and he was told that he should lay his complaint directly before the Roumanians and if they did not act upon it, then he should bring it to us and we would try to force the issue.

Complaints were also received of abuses of Hungarian prisoners by the Roumanians, so it was decided to have our Army Organization Committee investigate and report on such abuses.

A letter was received from the Hungarian Ministry, stating that they had applied to the Roumanians for authority to reopen the mails, to which they had received the reply from General Mardarescu that he had no objection, provided the Hungarians would pay for forty Roumanian censors. This was so ridiculous that it was decided to send a copy of the letter to the Supreme Council.

As the Roumanians are deluging us with statements that they have stopped all requisitions, we are bringing to their attention the more important reported cases, asking them to stop immediately and to make restitution. This morning we had a concrete case of about three million kronen worth of Tokay wine.

Just before adjournment, a letter was received from the Roumanians dated the fourth, in which they acknowledged receipt of the Mission's letter of the first, relative to the objects from Transylvania in the National Museum, and stating that these objects would be seized and that the signers, Mardarescu and Diamandi, would take the responsibility for this action. As it happens, they will now have to take the responsibility for breaking the Mission's seals before they get the objects.

In a burst of generosity, the Roumanians said that they would give one thousand rifles to the police immediately, and then they sent over a colonel to state that there were twelve to fourteen different kinds of makes in the one thousand rifles, that practically none of them were serviceable, and that it would be necessary to return them to Szeged and get others. Of course this will continue indefinitely, and we shall wind up, as usual with the Roumanians, by getting nothing.

Concerning the objects in the Museum, a letter has also been received from the Archbishop of Esztergom and Prince Primus of Hungary stating that these objects were by will placed in his charge on the condition that they form an integral part of a Christian Museum at Esztergom or at Budapest, and protesting against any-one whomsoever interfering with the right of the Roman Catholic Church in this collection.

October 7, 1919. Colonel Yates returned from Bucharest yesterday afternoon, and Lieutenant Hamilton arrived from Paris late at night, and this morning Lieutenant-Colonel Moore reported for duty with me. He had formerly been in charge of the Courier Service at Paris, so he is well acquainted with the system of railroads through this section of the country, and is a West Pointer of the class of 1903. He came on the same train with Colonel Causey of the Food Commission, who is in Budapest for the day.

Having been invited by General Mosoiu, the Roumanian Commander in Budapest, with all of my staff, to lunch with him at the Hotel Hungaria at noon, seven of us went over and had an American-Roumanian love feast. At the entrance to the Hotel, they had an honor guard drawn up with a band which sounded off with what was supposed to be the "Star Spangled Banner." After we had entered the large dining room, the band came and repeated what was again supposed to be the "Star Spangled Banner," but which was different from the first offense. When we finally left, they sounded off again with the third variety, and also with the Roumanian national anthem.

We opened up the ball with a hot drink, two glasses of which will lay out a full-grown man for about a week. Needless to say, none of us took very much. We then sat down to the usual banquet procedure, which was marked more by sumptuousness than by delicacy. As guest of honor, I sat facing General Mosoiu, who beamed upon me throughout the whole meal with his three-hundred-and-ten-pound smile. As previously stated, however, he is a pretty good old fellow and far above the ordinary Roumanian general, of which there were six specimens present. Colonel Loree sat next to General Serbescu, who, poor devil, is the Director in Chief of Roumanian requisitions, seizures, and thefts. He is really not a bad fellow himself, but has to be fourteen kinds of skunk in the execution of his office. He told Colonel Loree that I had put him between the devil and the deep sea. His orders were to seize the articles in the Museum; that he could not seize them without breaking my seals, and he did not dare to break the seals; so all he could see was disaster approaching in large quantities.

General Mosoiu toasted "Les Etats-Unis," which was responded to with raucous Roumanian shouts. In return, I gave them "The Allies and a lasting friendship," thereby avoiding a direct allusion to any greater Roumania.

On our return from the hotel, when we were crossing the Danube Bridge, we saw a crowd congregated, and proceeded to investigate. It seemed that a Hungarian policeman had tapped a Roumanian soldier in a crowded street car, to warn him that he was in danger. The Roumanian did not understand and promptly pulled a revolver on the policeman, who then reached for his bayonet to defend himself. Seeing this, a Roumanian censor, dressed in civilian clothes, had called up some Roumanian soldiers who promptly responded, and Hell was about to pop. I took the name of the Hungarian policeman, and sent the Roumanian and the Roumanian soldier who had caused the difficulty, in charge of Colonel Loree and Lieutenant Hamilton, to Roumanian Headquarters, where they were turned over, and the situation was explained by Colonel Loree.

October 8, 1919. Last night we had Lieutenant- Colonel Causey, Lieutenant-Colonel Moore, and Captain Smythe to dinner. Afterwards Colonel Causey returned to Vienna by special train.

At this morning's session, General Graziani presided, and we had no matters of great moment to take up.

Lieutenant-Colonel Berthon, of the Army Organization Committee, reported that some Hungarian officers, during the evacuation of Transdanubia had indulged in considerable talk which was hardly proper under the circumstances, so we decided to communicate with the Hungarian War Department to that effect.

Reports of continuation of Roumanian pillaging between the Danube and the Theiss Rivers were received, and it seems that this pillaging is increasing in intensity, rather than diminishing.

There was received a very peculiar and interesting letter from General Mardarescu, stating that the Roumanians, when entering Budapest, had found several monitors and Vedette boats in the river here; that this matter had been brought to the attention of Admiral Troubridge, who had replied that these boats were the property of the Allies and were awaiting their disposition. The Roumanians, therefore, begged the Inter-Allied Military Mission to intercede in their behalf and see that there were turned over to them, without further delay, two monitors and two Vedette boats. As the matter was one which should be handled entirely by the Danube River Commission and not by our Mission, it was decided to notify the Roumanians accordingly and to transmit their paper to Admiral Troubridge. Just to get a rise out of General Graziani, I suggested that we write to the Roumanians acknowledging receipt of their communication, stating that up to date they had not complied with any of the requests made by this Mission to cease requisitions or anything else, that when they returned to Hungary the property which they had taken and which we had requested, we could consider the matter. In the meantime the boats were in the Danube and as easily accessible to seizure as was all the other property they had taken, the only difference being, of course, that the boats were under British guard. Poor General Graziani nearly had a fit of apoplexy when I suggested this. He gave a most audible sigh of relief when I added that probably it might be inadvisable to send such a communication as yet.

Just as we were leaving for lunch, we got word that the Roumanians were down at one of the banks and proposed to seize some funds which, they claimed, had belonged to the Bolshevist government. We accordingly hotfooted over there, but found nobody. Later in the afternoon, we got word that the Roumanians had been to the bank and had taken the funds away, and then we discovered that we had been directed to the wrong bank. Accordingly Colonel Loree and Major Foster of the British Service chased down and hoped that they would be in time to intercept the Roumanian retreat, but they had made a get-away with funds amounting to two million kronen white money, which is four hundred thousand kronen blue money or, reduced to United States currency, sixty thousand dollars. General Gorton and I also went over and found that all the Roumanian high officials were off on a hunting expedition. We therefore sent Colonel Loree and Major Foster over to Roumanian G. H. Q., where they spent the afternoon and left that bunch in fear and trembling.

To show the change of heart on the part of the Roumanians, they volunteered this afternoon to give us at once 10,000 rifles for the police, which proves that they lied in the beginning in saying that the rifles had to be imported from Roumania. The whole thing seems to be turning on the placing of the seals on the Museum, which seals, by the way, are still intact.

October 9, 1919. Yesterday afternoon I received an inquiry from the American Commission as to the whereabouts of General Jadwin⁽³⁾, and after I had dictated a telegram saying that he had not been seen or even heard from, word came to me that he had just arrived bringing me two cards, so I spent the evening with him, at his home in the Hotel Ritz, going over common experiences.

As indicated in the journal of a previous day, the Roumanians seem to be determined to get revenue from every possible source, including the liberation of Bolshevist prisoners. Last night, some time after midnight, a Hungarian liaison officer brought word that a large number of Roumanian soldiers were at the main prison demanding the release of a Bolshevist prisoner. My secretary, Mr. Fenselau, accompanied by field clerk St. Jacques, was sent over to the prison and found the facts to be as stated. In fact, the Roumanians were about leaving with their prisoner. My men insisted on bringing the matter up directly to the Roumanian high officials, because the officer in charge of the detachment said that they were acting under verbal orders from Colonel Vasilescu. As Colonel Vasilescu is about the squarest Roumanian in the whole service, this looked very fishy, and the fishiness was demonstrated later on when at 2.30 o'clock in the morning neither Colonel Vasilescu nor his wife could be found in the hotel. Our two men hung on to the proposition like a pup to a root, and eventually got word that General Panaitescu, he Chief of Staff, had authorized the return of the prisoner to the jail. I am sending word to Roumanian Headquarters, by Colonel Loree, that if there is any more of this I will personally put an American guard on the prison and allow no Roumanians to enter.

October 10, 1919. Last night I had General Jadwin to dinner at our quarters and invited General Gorton over to meet him.

This morning at 7.45, we all started in automobiles for Vienna. Jadwin and I rode in a limousine and Captain Gore with Jadwin's extra chauffeurs, etc., in a touring car.

When we struck the Hungarian guard station at Gyôr, they did not know whether or not to let us through. They wanted me to go back and see an officer. I told them to bring the officer to see me. Finally after some telephoning, they let us through. At the succeeding Hungarian posts we had no trouble. Subsequently upon arriving in Vienna, I telegraphed Colonel Loree about our difficulty, knowing that he would take it up immediately with the Hungarian War Office so that there would be no delay on our return trip.

When we arrived at Bruck, we ran across the first Austrian guard whom we could not well understand, and as a result they put a soldier on our running board and took us up to some office where they again wanted us to go up and see an officer, and I again refused. We did let one of the chauffeurs go up and he eventually came back with his passport viséd, which they said would be sufficient.

The other car had not caught up with us at Bruck, nor did it again join us because the timing chain was out of gear, and it had to remain there until we afterwards sent the limousine back from Vienna to tow it in. General Jadwin and I arrived at the Hotel Bristol in Vienna at about 3 o'clock, where I stayed as the guest of Lieutenant-Colonel Causey, who is on duty with the American Relief Association.

The American consul, Mr. Halstead, called upon me shortly after arrival, and in the evening we dined at the Bristol as Colonel Causey's guests, but we did not try to go out.

October 11, 1919. Colonel Raymond Sheldon, for whom I had applied, arrived at Vienna last night, and reported to me this morning. Jadwin and I did a little shopping in the morning, got some French money, changed it into Austrian kronen, and then separated. I spent the rest of the day prowling around Vienna alone.

The Austrian currency has been steadily depreciating, until now it takes ten kronen to make one franc, French money, and it takes about nine francs, French money, to make one dollar of American money. That makes ninety kronen to the dollar. During the day, I received in change some two-heller pieces, which made each piece worth less than one-fortieth of a cent, as it takes one hundred heller to make a krone.

I gave a luncheon party at the Bristol to General Jadwin, Colonel Sheldon, Colonel C. B. Smith, Lieutenant-Colonel Causey, and Captain Gore. Owing to he depreciated currency, a very fine lunch for six cost less than the charge in Paris for an ordinary lunch for one. Colonel Sheldon stated that he was paying thirty-two kronen a day for a fine room with bath. This reduced to United States currency, would be about thirty-five cents.

In the evening we were all guests of Lieutenant-Colonel Causey at dinner at some restaurant near one of the palaces.

October 12, 1919. I left Vienna this morning about 3.30, the delay being caused by the impossibility of getting gasoline early on Sunday morning. Colonel Sheldon, Captain Gore and I went in the limousine. and on the touring car we loaded all our purchases and supplies, and Colonel Sheldon's baggage.

When we arrived at Bruck, we were again held up by the Austrian outpost. A soldier got on the running board, took us up to the same building, and wanted me to go up and see the officer. I sent word that if he wanted to see me, he could come down. He then sent word that it would not be necessary for me to come up, but only to send my papers. I again told him that if he wanted my papers, he could come down and, as he was rather slow in coming and I understood he objected to the same, we pulled out, made them raise their gates, and proceeded on our way without further difficulty, as the Hungarians did not attempt to stop us.

We arrived at the house in Budapest about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, had lunch, and I put in the rest of the afternoon working at my office in catching up with back work.

In the evening, I went to dinner at General Gorton's, the other guest being the Roumanian General Mosoiu.

October 13, 1919. At this morning's session of the Mission, at which I presided, there was very much doing.

We started in by having a letter from the British Food Commissioner, Mr. Domaille, complaining that the Roumanians had reduced the food reserve in Budapest to one-third of what it was in September; and another letter from the Hungarian Minister, to the effect that the Roumanian Commander in Budapest would not allow the Food Commissioner to supply the suburbs, containing an estimated population of over 600,000..

There was a complaint from the Hungarian government stating that the Czecho-Slovaks were occupying territory on this side of the Danube opposite the town of Pozsony. As there were no data on hand to determine whether or not this territory belonged to the Czecho-Slovaks, a letter was sent to the Supreme Council asking for a decision.

A complaint was received from the Hungarians that the Roumanians, in the evacuation of Transdanubia, had liberated many Bolshevist prisoners. As this is particularly in line with what they have been doing in the city of Budapest, a letter was sent to the Roumanian Commander in Chief calling his attention to the impropriety of any such conduct and advising him to discontinue it in the future.

A red-hot letter was received from Captain Brunier, the Swiss representative of the International Red Cross, containing conclusions which are embodied in the telegram to the Supreme Council, copied further down. It as decided to send Colonel Sheldon, U. S. A., who had been my second assistant in charge of our prisoners of war in France, accompanied by an Italian doctor, with Captain Brinier to investigate all of the Roumanian prisoner-of-war camps.

A long letter was received from the Hungarian Minister of War, explaining that the conditions in Hungary were so entirely different from those in Austria that the Austrian treaty should not form a basis for a future Hungarian treaty, especially as regards a Hungarian army.

Several other complaints were received and matters worked up to such a climax that I stated to the Mission that, in my opinion, the time had arrived when we should lay the case plainly before the Supreme Council and asked that they either force the Roumanians to evacuate immediately, making much restitution of seized property, or that they relieve the Inter-Allied Military Mission. With very little discussion, it was decided to draw up and send such a telegram, which I did, rid which reads as follows:

Cold weather is setting in and a day's delay now more serious than would have been a week's delay two months ago. Inter-Allied Military Mission therefore desires to present the Supreme Council following statements of fact concerning conduct of Roumanians with request for prompt action. They have so thoroughly cleaned out country of rolling stock that there is not enough for transportation of local food and fuel requirements. Their administration has reduced food reserve in Budapest to one-third of what it was in September. According to report of Hungarian Food Minister, they have by unnecessary and cruel restrictions prevented food from going out of Budapest to neighboring suburbs, population of which estimated to be six hundred thousand. It is reported that during evacuation of Transdanubia, they released Bolshevists who had been detained, and in the city of Budapest they have repeatedly, by force and without, written orders taking Bolshevist prisoners out of jails. At Szolnok, where a Committee of this Mission was obtaining information of Roumanian exportation, they have arrested several of the Hungarian railway men who were aiding in our efforts. They have prevented university students from a continuation of their courses. On September 26 their Commander in Chief sent a letter to Mission stating that to cover needs of feeding Hungary, the zone between Danube and Theiss Rivers had been placed at disposition of Hungarian government; that no requisitions would take place in that zone except those necessary for actual feeding of troops; that especially for city of Budapest above zone would be extended to east of Theiss to boundary line fixed by said commander, despite which on October fifth the Roumanian Colonel Rujinschi seized thirty aeroplane motors at Budapest which can hardly be classified as food. On October tenth in Budapest from the firm of Schmitt and Társai they seized and removed machinery which put two thousand laborers out of work. A large number of similar cases with proof are on hand. In reply to letter from Mission that it was desired that objects in National Museum be not disturbed until acted upon by committee, they sent reply that they intended to take those objects and that the signers of letters, Mardarescu and Diamandi, assumed responsibility for such action, this being in effect an insult to nations represented on Inter-Allied Military Mission. That they did not take these objects was due to fact that doors were sealed and signed by the President of the Day at the time and they were afraid to go to extreme of breaking seals. Between five and six o'clock this morning they attempted to arrest Prime Minister Friedrich and did arrest two government officials, as result of which President of the Day in person delivered to General Mardarescu a memorandum from Mission, copy of which was telegraphed Supreme Council this date. They kept their Commander in Chief, General Mardarescu, and High Commissioner Diamandi absent in Bucharest a week, during which no representative was present with whom business could be transacted. Although they in August acknowledged the Inter-Allied Military Mission as representing their superior, they have with comparatively negligible exceptions carried out none of the instructions of this Mission and have always insisted on acting as though Roumania were equal or superior to nations represented on Mission. They have sent misleading reports to Paris placing themselves in attitude of saviors of Hungary and have censored the press in Hungary to such an tent that Hungarians could not refute any false statements. On the nineteenth of September their General Mardarescu wrote to the Mission that he had taken all necessary measures to make treatment of prisoners satisfactory, stating that especially from sanitary viewpoint according to report of his surgeon general conditions were very good. On October eleventh, Mission received communication from International Red Cross representative stating that his investigation at Arad resulted in discovery of conditions so opposed to conventions covering treatment of prisoners of war that he felt this Mission should take some action. His conclusions, which are as follows, concur with all reports concerning same except Roumanian reports:

"I find that these prisoners were not captured on the field of battle but many days after the cessation of hostilities; that the lodgings of the prisoners are unsanitary; that the army which captured them takes no care of them whatever, furnishes them neither food, clothing, medicine, covering, nor anything; that from the date of their captivity, the prisoners have had no funds and that the majority cannot purchase anything for even insufficient nourishment; that doctors are treated contrary to Article IX of Geneva Convention of 1906; that all these men are exposed to serious diseases if they are not promptly aided; that the order given to the Red Cross at Arad to take care of the prisoners' needs is entirely illegal and cannot be based upon any law or international convention."

Doctor Munro of the British Food Commission and the Swiss Captain Brinier of the International Red Cross have just returned from visiting the following towns: Hatvan, Gyöngyös, Miskolcz, Sátoralja-Ujhely, Nyiregyháza, Debreczen, Szolnok, Nagyvárad, Békés-Gyula, Arad, Temesvár, Szeged, all in permanent portion of Hungary, but now occupied by Roumanians, and have submitted signed statement from which following is extracted:

"In all towns occupied by Roumanians we found an oppression so great as to make life unbearable. Murder is common, youths and women flogged, imprisoned without trial, arrested without reason, theft of personal property under name of requisition. Condition of affairs prevails difficult for Western European to realize who has not seen and heard the evidence. People are forced to take oath of allegiance to Roumanian King; if they refuse they are persecuted. Experienced Hungarian Directors of Hospitals have been replaced by inexperienced Roumanian doctors. Roumanian military authorities demand petition for every passport, request for coal or food. Petition must be written in Roumanian language, Roumanian lawyer must be employed, and he charges enormous fees. Station master of Brad and the station master of Kétegyháza have been most fearfully flogged. Last Good Friday Roumanians advanced suddenly to Boros-Sebes and two hundred fifty Hungarian soldiers were taken prisoners. These were killed in most barbarous manner; stripped naked and stabbed with bayonets in way to prolong life as long as possible. Roumanians have established custom-house in every village. Delivery permits can only be obtained by payment of ridiculously large sums. Commerce is impossible. People will soon starve. Deliberately and for no military and political reason apparent the hospitals are not allowed transports for coal and wood which they have already paid for. Very life of hospital hangs on coal. Hospitals will have to close down entirely unless relieved immediately. Results will be disastrous. There will be outbreaks of all sorts of contagious epidemic diseases, such as typhus, typhoid, etc."

An American officer and an Italian doctor, if Roumanians permit, will accompany the International Red Cross representative on a thorough investigation of prisoner-of-war camps. In general Roumanian conduct has been such that this Mission has been almost wholly unable to carry out its instructions and there is apparently no prospect of immediate improvement. It is the unanimous opinion of the Mission that unless the Roumanians immediately evacuate Hungary and make at least partial restitution in particular of rolling stock, machinery and much other property seized, there will result in a very short time extreme suffering from lack of food and fuel and a recrudescence of Bolshevism. This Mission is therefore of the unanimous opinion that either the Roumanians should be forced to evacuate Hungary at once and make restitution as above outlined or that this Mission should be relieved.

After acting upon this, Colonel Loree sent me word that the Roumanians had tried to arrest Prime Minister Friedrich⁽⁴⁾ and had arrested at least two Hungarian officials. This action on their part rather got under the skin of all of us and we decided to notify them that in our opinion such action could not be tolerated, and I offered to deliver personally to the Roumanian Commander in Chief a memorandum on the subject. To make sure that there would be no misunderstanding on his part, General Graziani wrote this out in his beautiful French, which afforded me much satisfaction to sign, chase down to Roumanian headquarters, and deliver in person to General Mardarescu. I told him we had received information that he had tried that morning to arrest the Prime Minister of the Hungarian government and that I had the honor to hand him the wishes of the Mission in regard to the conduct of the Roumanians toward the Hungarian government. He turned as pale as he could under his hide, and, as his Chief of Staff was with him, they discussed the matter for a few minutes in machine-gun Roumanian. His Excellency then told me that it was all a horrible mistake, and that they had never intended it. I told him that I was delighted to hear it, but nevertheless I would leave the memorandum. Then I departed. Thereupon I telegraphed in English the text of the memorandum, to the Supreme Council, which was as follows:

The Mission considers it indispensable that the conduct of affairs by the Hungarian cabinet be not interrupted for a single moment. Therefore in the name of the Supreme Council the Mission demands that the Roumanian authorities leave the members of the Hungarian government entirely alone in the conduct of the affairs of their departments until the Supreme Council has made known its decision.

Drawing up the telegram to the Supreme Council and chasing around after Roumanians took up practically all of my time, and we did not sit down to dinner until nine o'clock, having as our only guest a young Hungarian liaison officer, Lieutenant Széchy, who is attached to the American Mission.

October 14, 1919. As all day yesterday was taken up with cleaning up accumulation of business, and as result of chasing around with the telegram to the Supreme Council, my whole forenoon was taken up dictating and receiving callers, and the afternoon was similarly occupied. In the evening Colonel Loree and I went as guests at the British "B Mess," which is run by the junior officers. It was certainly a relief to sit down to a dinner where you could talk in your own lingo.

October 15, 1919. At this morning's session, General Gorton presided, and there was first read a letter from General Mardarescu complaining that British and American officers had been guilty of gross discourtesy toward Roumanian soldiers and had called them pigs. It frequently happens that people do not like to be called by their most appropriate title. In any event our friend, Mardarescu, made a Hell of a howl and demanded all sorts of things. It turned out before we got through that the shoe was on the other foot, and that his pigs had been holding up our officers unnecessarily. His attention was called to this, and he was advised to instruct his soldiers to act more as such and less like animals.

I then turned over to the President of the Day a letter which had been delivered at my office yesterday by the Hungarian Minister of War. Enclosed in this letter was another one from the Roumanian Chief of Staff in which he admitted that three Roumanian patrols had gone across the neutral zone into Hungarian territory and had been beaten up or otherwise injured. It was demanded by the Roumanian Chief of Staff that the Hungarian Minister of War deliver to the Roumanian Chief of Staff one million two hundred and fifty thousand kronen before noon today, and in the event of failure to do so the food supply of the city of Budapest would be cut off. A letter was written and sent to the Roumanian Commander in Chief, calling his attention to the fact that according to the admission of his own Chief of Staff the Roumanian soldiers were entirely out of bounds, that in case of any difficulties between patrols the matter should be referred to the Army Organization Committee of this Mission, which had a Roumanian member, and that the recommendation of this Committee should be received before any action was taken. It was added that it was not believed that he could be serious in his threat to stop the food supply of two million people on account of the conduct of individuals many miles away.

I then informed the Mission that according to Paragraph 3 (b) of our instructions from the Supreme Council, which empower us to define the lines which occupying troops were to hold, we should notify the Roumanians that it was now time for them to evacuate the city of Budapest. With but little discussion, this was approved and I later drafted the following letter:

In compliance with the requirements contained in Paragraph 3 (b) of the instructions from the Supreme Council, the Inter-Allied Military Mission has directed me to inform Your Excellency that it is desired that the Royal Roumanian Forces proceed with the evacuation of Hungary and without delay withdraw from the city of Budapest to a line at least fifty kilometers distant.

Your Excellency will recall that at one of the sessions of this Mission which your Excellency attended it was decided that an infantry division and a cavalry division at thirty kilometers distance would be sufficient for moral effect upon the city, could there be any incipient recrudescence of Bolshevism or any other disturbance.

The Inter-Allied Military Mission requests of Your Excellency prompt information as to the date upon which the quested withdrawal will take place.

We received a protest from the Roumanians against ur proceeding to organize an additional Hungarian division near Szeged, and it was decided to reply to them that this was a matter entirely within the jurisdiction of the Mission. Another letter was received from he Roumanians to the effect that they had heard that Admiral Horthy's army was far in excess of what was authorized and already numbered twenty-five thousand men. They demanded that we check this up at once and that they have a liaison officer at Hungarian headquarters and at each division. We decided that this likewise vas a matter entirely within our jurisdiction, and that he Army Organization Committee, which had a Roumanian member, was fully capable of handling all such matters.

During the day I received a telegram for delivery to General Gorton, informing him that Sir George Clerk had been designated as Envoy of the Supreme Council at Budapest, and with full powers. Just what this means was beyond us; so I telegraphed the American Mission what was meant by "full powers"-did it mean that Sir George Clerk was to relieve the Military Mission, that the Military Mission was to function under him, or that he was to represent the Supreme Council to act upon matters which we could bring to his attention?

In the afternoon Lieutenant-General Sir Tom Bridges called upon me and we had quite a satisfactory chat.

In regard to the attempted arrest of Prime Minister Friedrich, I have ascertained that the whole affair was undoubtedly a fluke. The Crown Prince of Roumania, whose regiment is but a short distance out of Budapest, and who is about of the same moral fiber as most Crown Princes, was in Budapest on the night of the twelfth, as the guest of General Mosoiu, who commands in the city.

During the table talk, he stated, that when he became King of Hungary he proposed to turn loose the Communists and other political prisoners and that he would do it now but for the fact that that scoundrel, Friedrich, was Prime Minister. It is understood by some that this was taken by Mosoiu as a suggestion to have Friedrich arrested. Other reports are that the Crown Prince himself ordered the arrest. In any event the attempt failed, and I am rather satisfied that Mardarescu's surprise was genuine. It is an example, however, how matters are running in Hungary during Roumanian occupation.

October 16, 1919. It was remarkable that there were today no reports of Roumanian excesses.

I had luncheon at the Hotel Ritz as the guest of General Bridges of the British Army. With him was also British General Greenly, who is the Attaché to Roumania.

During the conversation, General Bridges repeated me the remarks that he made when he was my guest, the effect that General Weygand, Marshal Foch's chief of Staff, had told him that in the Argonne offensive the American army was badly split up, that were from a hundred thousand to a hundred and fifty thousand stragglers who could not find their organizations; that hardly any supplies were brought up, and in general almost a state of demoralization existed.

I told General Bridges that in view of the fact that was Provost Marshal General at the time and in charge the straggling proposition I could tell him definitely and positively that General Weygand's statement was incorrect. I have written General Pershing informing him of these remarks of General Weygand's.

Of late I have been doing a great deal of adopting, and have several families under my wing. In one case have six young countesses by the name of Szirmay, ranging from twenty-four years for the eldest on down, with about two years' intervals. My staff officers rather like this arrangement.

Last night, considerably to my disgust, I was obliged attend the Grand Opera as General Gorton's guest. He was giving a big party with dinner afterwards in the Országos Casino. Nobody knew what the opera was cause it had a Hungarian name, and the words were Hungarian. It was something about a Jewess, who weighed about two hundred and twenty-five pounds, in love with a little tenor who was six inches shorter and weighed about one twenty-five. During the performance a giant of a cardinal wound up, having the Jewess thrown into a caldron of burning oil where she made a big splash and a red glow. The dinner was not bad, and I finally got home before eleven o'clock. Owing to the attitude of the Roumanians about hours, the opera begins at six o'clock and ends at nine, and each performance consists of a long drawn-out tragedy, with occasional rays of sunshine in the way of a ballet.

October 17, 1919. At this morning's session, General Graziani presided and we had another report of the invasion of Hungarian territory by Roumanian patrols. Judging from a secret service agent's report of the incidents which occurred at the dinner given to the Crown Prince on the night of the twelfth, the Roumanians intend to put over many of this kind of incursions in order to stir up the Hungarians to something more than passive resistance, so that fines can be imposed on the rest of the country.

A most peculiar letter was received from General Mardarescu, announcing that he proposed to return all the telephone instruments and other apparatus removed from the Hungarian Ministry of War, but he added that this would not take place until the Roumanians were about to evacuate.

A letter was received also from General Mardarescu, complaining that a British officer had gone to the town Gödöllô, forced his way into the château there, and had broken the Roumanian seals on some of the doors. An explanation was demanded. The reply was that Major Foster, a member of Colonel Loree's committee, had gone to the château in question; that there were no seals there whatever; that some doors had been unlocked by the Roumanians themselves, but no seals were broken; and that Major Foster expected an apology from the Roumanian officer that had falsely accused him.

We also received a letter from Colonel Yates, stating at the Roumanians had agreed to accept him as the superior of police and gendarmerie. Everything considered there seems to be a little progress.

October 18, 1919. Last night about 7 o'clock, a long telegram of about fifteen hundred words was received from the American Commission, with the request that I furnish copies to my colleagues. It contained the last ultimatum of the Supreme Council to the Roumanians. In my opinion if a duck should drop into the Mediterranean Sea, it would have about as much effect on the tide in the Gulf of Mexico as would any such ultimatum on our Roumanian friends. It was as sweet as sugar and honey could make it and of the same type as its numerous predecessors. After reading it over, I went with Captain Gore, about 11 o'clock at night, to General Mombelli's quarters, got him out of bed and translated it to him in my beautiful, fluent, forceful, and rotten French. He seemed to grasp the point, however, and we decided that we would call a meeting of the Mission for the morning.

We accordingly met at 9.30, turned loose all of our interpreters upon the telegram, and eventually absorbed its gentle contents. It started by reminding the Roumanians that there were points at issue between them and the Allies. The first was their demand for both banks of the Maros River, which was diplomatically refused. The second was the question of "Minorities," in which the Supreme Council firmly announced its intention to abide by its original decision, and then wound up by saying in effect that, however, if the Roumanians would only please accept the treaty as it was given them, they could immediately discuss the matter and make any changes for which the Roumanians could give good reasons. The third clause was the Hungarian question, which was subdivided into two parts; the first being the question of requisitions, to which the Supreme Council said it knew very well that the great and glorious Roumanian government never had any intention of seizing anything beyond railroad rolling stock and war material, but that nevertheless there was incontestable evidence that some unruly Roumanian subordinates had gone far in advance of the authorized requisitions and had seized much other property for which the Supreme Council was regretfully forced to hold the Roumanian government itself responsible. It was stated that a Reparations Committee or Commission would be appointed, with Roumanian representation, to go into this matter and adjust it. Then was added one of those little acts called "closing the barn door after the horse stolen"-it was suggested that a Commission be sent the Szolnok and Csongrád Bridges to keep track of exportations from Hungary into Roumania.

The second subdivision was the evacuation of Hungary, and the Supreme Council stated that it would be tickled to death to receive assurances from the Roumanian government that they intended promptly to evacuate Hungary.

There was also another point of the Hungarian question, namely, the constitution of a government. Some time ago our Mission had telegraphed to the Supreme Council recommending that either the Friedrich government be recognized or that specific instructions be given as to what kind of government would be recognized. The reply was another beautiful example of glittering generalities. It was repeated that it was not ought that the Friedrich government was a correct presentation of all Hungarian parties, and that Minister Friedrich should have a member in his cabinet from each party, and that in case he could not do so, the Entente could not make a treaty of peace with his cabinet. In view of the fact that there are at present eighteen different political parties in Hungary, it is apparent that long range theory does not always work.

Later in the morning, the American consul in Vienna, Mr. Halstead, called me up by telephone and gave me a translation from one of the Vienna papers, which was to the effect that the Supreme Council in Paris had received a telegram from the Inter-Allied Military Mission in Budapest in which it was declared that the Roumanians must be forced to leave Hungary; that the Supreme Council agreed with this; that instructions to such effect would immediately be sent forward, and that Sir George Clerk had left on the evening of the sixteenth from Paris for Budapest to hand over such instructions to the Roumanians.

During the session of the Mission, General Gorton stated that he had seen Minister Friedrich at lunch at Admiral Troubridge's, and that the Prime Minister was very much concerned for his personal safety. The General added then that he had seen me and I had agreed to send an American soldier over to stay at Minister Friedrich's house until matters quieted down.

This evening at about 7 o'clock, as I was about to leave the office to dress for dinner, several Hungarian functionaries, wild-eyed and disheveled, rushed into my office to say that the Roumanians, having heard that Sir George Clerk was coming, had decided to arrest Friedrich, and were on their way to make the arrest. I grabbed my riding crop; took the lot in tow, picked up my aide, Lieutenant Hamilton, and one military policeman, and went myself over to the government building, where I personally mounted guard, while Lieutenant Hamilton went and got a corporal and three men. These I posted and left with the idea of having British and American guards alternate in the future. The Roumanian company evidently had heard of this and they stopped in the barracks about three or four blocks away.

This evening Colonel Loree, Captain Gore and my-were invited to dinner by Admiral Troubridge to Sir Maurice de Bunsen⁽⁵⁾ and Lady de Bunsen.

October 19, 1919. This morning, on the way over to my office, I stopped to look over our guard at the government building, and then started for the Palace, and plumb into a Roumanian patrol of about eight. Of course, they understood no English and I no Roumanian, but they evidently understood the sign language of the riding crop and departed from the Palace precincts, escorted by Colonel Loree.

This noon I was obliged to attend a small luncheon party given by General Gorton to Lady Cunningham the Countess Orssich. It was a devil of a nuisance because our courier leaves tomorrow morning and I wanted to finish my memoranda for the American Commission. Anyway I quit early and got back and busy at work.

In the afternoon General Soós came in to see me, and that he understood that the Roumanians were going to evacuate the city of Buda tonight. I told him I though he was mistaken and that only the division which was being relieved by another division, would leave, but in case there was any general evacuation I would let him know, and warned him in any event to be prepared for contingencies.

This evening we entertained at dinner Mr. Haan, proprietor of the Hotel St. Regis of New York City, his wife and two daughters, one of whom is married to a Hungarian general. Mr. Haan, although now an American citizen, is of Hungarian birth and came with a letter of introduction from Assistant Secretary of State Polk, and also from Lieutenant Littwitz, who as enlisted man was so long my chauffeur with the Twenty-seventh Division. Mr. Haan is bringing over funds to relieve distress in Hungary, but does not wish to appear in the limelight.

October 20, 1919. The Mission met this morning as usual at 9.30, and it was my turn as President of the Day.

There was read the telegram from the Supreme Council to the effect that Sir George Clerk⁽⁶⁾

was coming here purely in a political capacity, that his coming had nothing whatever to do with the duties of the Military Mission, in whom the Supreme Council had the most beautiful and sublime confidence, all of which caused my Latin colleagues a sigh of satisfaction.

General Mombelli then read four letters which had been received from our slippery friend Mardarescu, and which in their order were about as follows:

The astute Roumanian stated that in imposing the fine upon the Hungarian government for the action of the Hungarian National Army towards Roumanian patrols, he was doing only what he considered right and was sure that the Mission would agree to the justice of his demands. A letter was sent him ignoring all of his arguments, but informing him that all matters affecting the conduct of Hungarian and Roumanian patrols, or larger bodies, must be investigated and settled by the Army Organization Committee, which had been appointed by this Mission and which had a Roumanian among its members.

The second letter was a sort of thanks for an apology which had not been given, and covered some unfounded accusations against Major Foster of the British Army.

The third letter was a request that the Roumanians be given free access to the Museums for the purpose of selecting documents and other articles that had been removed from Roumania during the German occupation. He was informed that his delegates could have access to the Museums only when accompanied by Captain Shafroth of the American Army, who was the committee designated for this purpose by the Mission.

The fourth letter was rather curt and to the point. His Roumanian Excellency acknowledged receipt of the Mission's instructions to beat it out of Budapest, and in polite but firm terms told the Mission to go to Hell.

What he said was that the Roumanian Command reserved to itself entire liberty of action in regard to operations, and that it was acting in strict accord with orders from Roumanian General Headquarters. A letter was sent to him in reply, to the effect that the Mission in its original letter had acted in strict accord with its instructions from the Supreme Council, which required it to determine the placements of the Roumanian troops necessary to maintain order on Hungarian soil; that the Mission had been previously recognized by both him and Minister Diamandi, and that the present action could be interpreted only as a decision on the part of the Roumanian General Headquarters to recognize no longer the Mission as representing the Supreme Council, which would be notified of this action. There was next read a long letter from the Hungarian authorities in regard to the territory which had been turned over to Austria by the Peace Conference⁽⁷⁾, and in regard to which they had as yet received no information. It was decided to forward this paper to the Supreme Council for its information.

Mr. Butler, of the British Food Commission, submitted a letter showing that the food conditions in Budapest were from day to day getting more rotten and, in order to give Sir George Clerk something to do on his arrival, it was decided to give him this letter to take up with the Roumanians.

I then read a statement to my colleagues telling them what I knew about Roumanian movements, and to the effect that two divisions and one regiment were already headed eastward in the direction of Szolnok, that most of the Roumanian troops west of the Danube were being transferred to the east bank, and that other changes were taking place in Budapest. It was decided to inform his Excellency Mardarescu that he had promised this Mission to keep it posted in regard to any evacuation movements, and that we considered that he should have notified us of all of the movements referred to.

I next informed the Mission that I had received a verbal message from Colonel Sheldon to the effect that he had been hampered in all his movements as far as possible by the Roumanians; that at Arad, which place he had reached only through the assistance of the French commander at Szeged, he found that a Roumanian general had hastened to the scene and tried to remedy, but unsuccessfully, the situation. The International Red Cross had been forced to give each man a blanket, the windows had been boarded up, and the Hungarian officers had been taken out and forced to bathe in the open in cold water, as a result of which there were two serious cases of sickness, with more in prospect. The Colonel's report went at some length into the way the Roumanians were handling the wives and relatives of officers, who came there in their behalf. The women would show up with a written release of an officer, and the Roumanians would take this paper and tell them to come the next day. They would report the next day and then be told that no such paper had even been received, but were informed that if they would sleep that night with some Roumanian, matters could be straightened out the next day. Some of the women had yielded and others had been violated. A letter was therefore written to General Mardarescu stating that in the opinion of the Mission, the situation at Arad, which had first been described by the Swiss Captain Brinier, was so serious as to require immediate action, and he was informed that the Mission desired him to enter into arrangements with the Hungarian government for liberating the officer prisoners of war at once.

October 21, 1919. Last night General Gorton and I were entertained by Colonel Yates and Lieutenant-Colonel Moore at their mess. The house was beastly cold and they had only one fire going, so that they were obliged to shove the dining-room table into their parlor and when he dinner was through, shove it out again. Everywhere have heard complaints of the cold, and unless something is done very soon to help out the coal supply, the situation will be serious. Colonel Loree has taken up he matter personally, and is pushing it in every way possible, but the Coal Commission makes the ridiculous argument that they cannot do anything unless a peace treaty is effected with Hungary. Of course the cold weather will hang off until that peace treaty is effected. The reasoning of some of our statesmen is about on par with that of a five-year-old child.

Sometime this morning we received a telephonic inquiry from the Roumanians as to whether or not there was a session this date, and they were told that there was not. I took up the question with General Gorton and insisted that in view of the snubs that both Mardarescu and Diamandi had given the Mission, we should decline to receive them, and he agreed with me. We propose at the next session to insist that the Roumanians submit all their business to this Mission in writing and that they be not received until the Mission has been acknowledged by them as representative of the Supreme Council. I shall also probably insist on not receiving Mardarescu and Diamandi until they have apologized to the Mission for the letter they sent in regard to the Museums.

In view of the fact that Colonel Vasilescu has always been gentlemanly and accommodating, Colonel Loree took the Colonel and Mrs. Vasilescu to the opera to-night and we had them at informal dinner afterwards.

October 22, 1919. Last night Colonel Loree and Captain Gore had Colonel and Mrs. Vasilescu to the opera. I was busy in the office until almost eight o'clock, when I joined them at the opera and we had dinner at our quarters about nine. I got Vasilescu into a corner and in due time he waxed confidential, and I learned that our report in regard to the arrest of Prime Minister Friedrich, which implicated the Crown Prince of Roumania, was correct⁽⁸⁾. Vasilescu has been previously referred to in my journal as being an exceptionally fine man, and he is. He has had a tremendous burden to bear on account of the inefficiency and woodenheadedness of Mardarescu. He told me confidentially that the Roumanians were preparing to leave by the end of he month, and that the trouble was that Mardarescu instead of selecting skilled subordinates and holding them responsible for results, required everything to be brought to him for approval and action.

Yesterday I had a call from Rev. Dr. Morehead⁽⁹⁾, representing the United Lutheran Church of America and other Protestant denominations, and I gave him much material concerning Roumanian abuse in Transylvania and elsewhere.

At this morning's session we were informed that the Roumanian Colonel, Dimistrescu, was waiting with a message from his government. I immediately brought up the point that I would decline to receive Mardarescu or Diamandi until they had withdrawn their letter of October 4, stating in effect that they proposed to dis-regard our instructions to them of October 1 in regard to the Museum property, and also they must in writing recognize this Mission as being the authorized representative of the Supreme Council before we could transact business with them. General Graziani said that this would practically amount to a rupture, and I told him rupture be damned; that I had been, he had been, and ill of us had been, snubbed time and time again by the Roumanians and I did not propose to allow my government to be subjected to any such additional humiliation. I said, however, that I was perfectly willing to find out what Dimistrescu had to say, but if it were a case of receiving Mardarescu and Diamandi, they would have to come to time before I would have anything to do with them. Dimistrescu was admitted, and he simply made a wooden-faced explanation of recent Roumanian movements to which I had called attention when President of the Day.

There was also received a letter from the Roumanians, explaining that the officer who went up to Friedrich had not the slightest intention of arresting Friedrich, or anything of the kind. It was such a miserable, rotten explanation that even old Graziani looked nauseated and condemned it in his spicy French.

We also decided to notify the Serbians that, in compliance with our instructions from the Supreme Council, we wanted them to beat it out of the Baranya district, and in particular out of the city of Pécs.

A letter was also received to the effect that the Roumanians were holding forty-three locomotives at Szolnok for shipment into Roumania, and it was decided to notify them to send these locomotives back to Hungary.

October 23, 1919. Yesterday afternoon at about 5.30 o'clock, Minister Diamandi asked to see me and produced some postage stamps surcharged by the Roumanians on Hungarian stamps for their occupation of Transylvania, and for which I paid him between three and four thousand kronen. I have not the slightest doubt but that the little rascal got them for nothing and was told to give them to me. However, it was far better to have paid him full face value than to have accepted any gifts.

I told him that I was entirely out of patience with he attitude of himself and Mardarescu, first in regard to the Museum communication, and in regard to the evacuation of Hungary. He was still riding his high horse and insisted that they had a right to seize anything at any time and at any place, that came from Transylvania because Transylvania belonged to them; furthermore that the Mission could not give any orders concerning the Roumanian Army, that it was an independent army and that they could not accept orders from anybody; it was never customary in such cases. I informed him that in an Allied combination there was always a Commander in Chief from whom the various allies received orders; that both the British and the American Armies received orders from Marshal Foch; that we as an Inter-Allied Military Mission were in effect the staff officers of the Supreme Council and as such were authorized to give orders in the name of the Supreme Council. He then reverted to his old sophistical argument that this present rumpus between Roumania nd Hungary was a private feud and their own little war in which no one else had any right to interfere. Invariably when they make the excuse that we are treating them harshly, they accuse us of treating them worse as Allies than we treat the Hungarians. Whenever they want to pull anything off, they always maintain it is a little separate affair that they are having. I told the little scoundrel that while I enjoyed talking to him-and I did, as it affords me much amusement -that such matters were purely and entirely personal; that while we may get along amicably and pleasantly in such relations, I would fight him to the limit in the execution of my orders, and apparently we could not come together.

Sir George Clerk, having arrived early this morning, General Gorton and I went over to see him by appointment at noon and found that he was coming purely in a political capacity. We gave him some fatherly advice, and I also gave him a copy of the memorandum I had sent to the American Commissioner on the subject of the political parties in Hungary. He also told me that there was no matter of any importance that would come up before next week. So I decided to start for Belgrade tonight, and accordingly wired the American Commission of my intention, adding that there had been no change in the Roumanian attitude.

October 24, 1919. Last night, accompanied by Colonel Loree, Field Clerk Fenselau, and orderlies Lester and Childstedt, and with Major Body of the Serbian army as liaison officer, I left Budapest on a special train for Belgrade. We arrived at Szeged between two and three o'clock in the morning and, as we could not find the French commander himself, the local French officer in charge refused to give us enough coal to continue to the next station, an hour's journey, where a Serbian locomotive was awaiting us. The result was that we waited at Szeged until the arrival of the Simplon Express which took us on to our Serbian connection, and we eventually arrived in Belgrade at three o'clock in the afternoon. Quarters had been arranged for Colonel Loree and myself at the Hotel Moskwa, and for the rest of the party at the Grand Hotel. The Serbian government placed a limousine at my disposal, and I called that afternoon upon the Chief of Staff. In the evening Colonel Loree and I were entertained informally at dinner by Mr. Dodge, the American Minister.

October 25, 1919. After spending the night in a room that both smelled and felt like a sepulcher and was located on the top story of the hotel, with no elevator running, we started to make our official calls and paid short visits to the Prime Minister, to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and to the War Minister, all of whom made the most favorable impressions as men of intelligence and experience.

At twelve-thirty, Minister Dodge gave a formal luncheon on in my honor, to which were invited the main Serbian functionaries and likewise the military attachés of the various legations.

In the afternoon, we took a drive out to the fortress and around through Belgrade, which is not a very prepossessing city. Before the War, it was understood to have had a population of about 90,000, which, when the Serbians re-occupied the city, had dwindled to about 40,000, and which now, owing to abnormal conditions, ad increased to 150,000, with about half as many houses as had originally existed. As a result, there is much congestion and generally high prices.

The Serbian dinar, the standard coin, was exchanging at the rate of 2 for one French franc, which made it worth in our money a little less than five cents, its former value being the same as the French franc.

In the evening, by appointment, I met Lieutenant-General Bridges of the British Army. We had dinner together at the Hotel Moskwa, and later my party and myself again boarded the train, leaving Belgrade at 11 P.M.

October 26, 1919. Our return journey was a trifle more successful than our outward-bound trip, owing to the fact that the Serbian locomotive carried us all the way through Szeged, where a Hungarian locomotive met us and brought us the rest of the way to Budapest, where we arrived about one o'clock, just in time for lunch; and, although Budapest is not particularly cheerful under the circumstances, yet it appeared very much like home after our absence in Belgrade.

This evening Colonel Loree, Captain Gore and I were entertained by the Roumanian General, Serbescu, at a most sumptuous banquet in his billet in the palace of the Baron Groedel. The food was well prepared and everything would have been delicious but for the fact that I had Diamandi on my left front and directly opposite to me General Serbescu, who did several marvelous sword-swallowing feats with his knife. On my left was little Mrs. Serbescu, who had a pair of diamond earrings as big as she was; and on my right was a very homely lady who flashed a diamond about the size of locomotive headlight, on her forefinger. Colonel Loree was sure that the Roumanians would try to poison us, it by carefully watching what they ate themselves, and imitating them, we escaped serious consequences.

October 27, 1919. The Mission met this morning, with General Mombelli presiding.

I related to them my experiences during my trip to Belgrade, informing them that the trip had no political significance, but that I did bring up with the Prime Minister the question of the evacuation by the Serbians the Baranya district, and in particular of the town Pécs.

A letter was received from the Hungarian officials, stating that the shortage of coal was getting acute, and that there was no hope for a solution of the problem until the Roumanians allowed them the transportation. It was, therefore, decided to inform the Roumanians of the present situation and that they would be responsible in case any suffering ensued.

The Museum authorities have sent me word that there were a few boxes in the Museum which really belonged to Transylvania and which they were willing turn over to Roumania. Captain Shafroth had come me with a request for the key to the Museum and for permission to break the seals in order to deliver the boxes in question. I brought this up before the Mission and recommended that, in view of the fact that the Roumanians had taken so many things to which they were not entitled, there need not be any hurry about these few boxes which might properly belong to them. I was sustained by the Mission and the Roumanians were informed that they would have to await the action of the Reparation Commission.

The Roumanians also asked the Mission to designate a delegate to receive the telephone and telegraph instruments which they proposed to return to the Hungarian Minister of War, and it was decided to have our Committee on Army Organization act in that capacity.

A little after ten, Sir George Clerk appeared before the Mission, in accord with our previous telegraphic advices from the Supreme Council, but he really had very little light to shed upon the general situation. We discussed with him the measures to be adopted in case of evacuation by the Roumanians, and it was agreed that we should proceed, to the limit of the means at our disposal, with the rapid organization of the Budapest police, and that the Hungarian Army should not be allowed in the city until the Roumanians had entirely evacuated, in order to avoid any encounters between individuals or small detachments. It was decided to request the Hungarian Minister of War to direct Admiral Horthy and General Soós to report to the Mission at the next meeting, on the twenty-ninth.

A letter was received from the Roumanian Commander in Chief, evidently written with the intention of stirring up friction among the members of the Military Mission. He said that the American Mission had interfered at the jails and had told the Roumanian officials that no prisoners were to be removed except by permission of the American Mission. As it was all a lie, it was decided to file the paper and drop it.

Upon arrival here yesterday, I found a Colonel Raymond Sheldon, who had been a Major of Scouts in the Philippines and whom I have known for a great many years. He recently reported here, had accepted our invitation to join our mess and was very glad to be quartered with us. He had just returned from an extensive trip covering all of the Roumanian prisoner-of-war camps and is now busy, with Doctor Munro and Captain Brunier, in writing up a comprehensive report. In the evening Colonel Sheldon went out to dine with the Italians, and Colonel Loree, Captain Gore and myself dined alone.

October 28, 1919. As we are apparently out of gasoline and the Roumanians are the only ones who possess any, was forced most reluctantly to go and see little Diamandi. I found him with a bad cold in the head and with a nose on him that looked like a paprika. He said at he would be very glad to give the necessary instructions and that he would telephone General Serbescu to give us what gasoline we needed. In order to drive home the matter, I later went down to General Serbescu's and he said that he would give us immediately 2,000 liters of gasoline and would supply us from day to day as we needed same.

During the day we were threatened with a visitation from a delegation of 10,000 women, but through Colonel Loree, aided and abetted by our Hungarian liaison officers, we managed to stave them off, and later I had word sent to the Hungarian government that I must decline any such delegation as they simply annoyed and embarrassed us, and we could have no transactions whatever with them. Then somebody did a dirty trick and suggested that the delegation go down and visit Sir George Clerk, which I understand they did. I afterwards saw a thousand or more, mostly women, girls, and children, lined up in front of the government building, where Prime Minister Friedrich was addressing them. Down at the foot of the hill we found a company of Roumanians with machine guns drawn up to defend themselves against these women and children.

I have been informed that there has just been issued from Roumanian Headquarters an order prohibiting Roumanian officers from continuing to use rouge and lip sticks. It will certainly be hard on the poor dears.

October 29, 1919. At the meeting of the Inter-Allied Military Mission today, I presided and there was considerable activity.

We first took up the question of executions in Hungary, in regard to which the Mission was on record as being in favor of General Holban's attitude, which would not tolerate executions until a permanent government had been organized. A memorandum had been received from Colonel Loree explaining that, as the pardoning power by the chief executive did not exist Hungary to the same extent as was usual in other countries, and as the judges were all hold-overs from the older régimes, the decision of the Mission was apparently based upon wrong premises. General Mombelli insisted that the chief executive still did have power, and that he would show the authority. It was decided, therefore, to leave this matter pending until the next meeting of the Mission.

At 10.30 General Schnetzer, the Hungarian Minister of War, accompanied by Admiral Horthy and General Soós, were introduced and I explained to them that they had been summoned so that we might lay before them the situation as we saw it and as it would be affected by a probable early Roumanian evacuation.

I told these gentlemen that Hungary was about to appear before a jury of all the nations; that she was to certain extent discredited on account of having allowed Bolshevism to exist within her borders for over three months; that in case any disorders should result after the Roumanian evacuation, and there should be a recrudescence of Bolshevism, her standing with the Allied Powers would be practically nil; on the other hand, if she conducted herself with the dignity of a civilized nation and permitted no serious disorders to ensue, she would raise herself highly in the estimation the Entente.

I explained to them that there would undoubtedly some young hot-heads of the Hungarian Army who would be crazy to shoot a Roumanian or hang a Jew, and that one or two such could bring discredit upon the whole country. It was also explained to them that on the part of the workmen of Budapest there existed much fear of the so-called "White Army," and that they should show that their army was not made up of a gang of "White Terrorists," but was a well-disciplined and organized National Hungarian Army. The Admiral said that he had his forces absolutely in hand and under control; that they were well disciplined and that he would guarantee that there would be no disturbances.

I explained to him that the general idea was that, when the Roumanians evacuated the city, the Budapest police take over the maintenance of law and order during a short transitionary period between the leaving of the Roumanians and the arrival of the Hungarians, and that the time when this should take place would of course be determined by the Inter-Allied liaison officers attached to both forces.

The Admiral complained that he had drawn up a proclamation for publication in the city of Budapest, which the Roumanians had censored in its entirety. He was told to submit any such proclamations to the Mission, which would insist that the Roumanians publish it. Our visitors then left.

At the beginning of the session, I delivered to each member a copy of the report of Colonel Sheldon's committee on inspection of Roumanian prison camps. As it was so voluminous and contained so many disgusting details, it was decided that each member should study his copy until tomorrow, and that in the meantime I should prepare a telegram to the Supreme Council embodying the more salient features of the report. In this telegram I should likewise explain that,

altnough this Mission on October 13 had requested that the Supreme Council either force the Roumanians to evacuate Hungary or relieve the Mission, and despite he fact that on October 19 the Supreme Council had telegraphed to the effect that Sir George Clerk would inform us that the Supreme Council would take all measures to force the Roumanians to comply with requests, there had been as yet no change in the Rounanian attitude, and that each succeeding day the difficulties of the Mission were increasing in geometrical progression. It was also decided to call the attention of the Supreme Council to the fact that the Roumaiians had been requested to release immediately all officer prisoners-of-war and interned civilians at Arad, and to arrange with the Hungarian government for the general delivery of prisoners; yet no reply had been received from the Roumanian commander.

October 30, 1919. This morning I drafted a telegram to the Supreme Council, took it personally in the afternoon to Generals Gorton, Mombelli and Graziani and had them all approve it. General Mombelli was a trifle afraid that we were repeating our ultimatum to the Supreme Council as given in the message of October 3 and, although he talked better French than I did, mine was the stronger flow and he eventually signed in order to close the argument. The telegram sent was as follows:

Armistice of August 2nd between Roumanian and Hungarian forces provided that Hungarian officers should supervise disarming of their own troops and would then be given freedom with retention of arms. Hungarian troops being disarmed, officers were required to report daily but about August 7th despite agreement many officers throughout Hungary were arrested and sent to Arad. Most all so-called prisoners of war were arrested after the armistice and then disarmed, instead of being captured during a gallant advance. During transfer from place of arrest to prisons many of both officers and men were beaten, maltreated and robbed by Roumanian officers and soldiers, and prisoners' female relatives were insulted when visiting prisoners.

Mission's committee sent to investigate prisoner of war camps visited Arad Citadel, Brassó Citadel, Bertalan Hospital, Camp Christian, Camp Rajnow, and Fogaras. Committee consisted of Colonel Raymond Sheldon, U. S. A., Doctor Hector Munro of the International Hospital Relief Association, Captain Georges Brunier of Swiss Army and delegate of International Red Cross, and First Lieut. Francesco Braccio of Italian Medical Corps. All reports of the committee were unanimous, were practically the same as quoted in telegram of October 13th, and in general resembled following extracts from report on interned civilians at Arad, Brassó, and Fogaras:

"At Arad about one hundred men and boys occupy casemates of fortress. No preparation whatsoever had been made for them. No beds or wooden boards to sleep on, floors were of concrete. No heating stoves, weather wet and bitterly cold. Many windows broken, food provided not by Roumanians but by local Hungarian Red Cross under orders from Roumanians. Very few of the men had overcoats, none had blankets, many were without boots and underclothes. Some had no jackets. It would be difficult to describe the abject misery of these men and youths. Many were blue with cold; half starved and worried about their private affairs. Some were quite young, one sixteen years; some upwards of sixty years of age. At Brassó in Citadel we found 121 civilian prisoners, mixed with military and in the same buildings. Latrines are thoroughly unsanitary and inadequate. Among civilian prisoners are six women, one evidently an educated woman who has written poetry. They were housed in a room ten feet by nineteen feet. Five slept on one bench and one in a bed. At Fogaras we found 72 civilian prisoners. They were housed with military, and their condition has already been described. Many of these prisoners had no boots, no underclothing, and one had no trousers. He wore a kilt made of carpet. All were inadequately clad for winter weather. They accused Roumanian soldiers and in some instances officers of stealing their clothes, boots and private property. We found four boys, two of thirteen and two fourteen years old. One old man of seventy- six. Many were suffering from incurable diseases."

Nevertheless we are still allies of a nation guilty of conduct described above, which continues to treat inhabitants of country between Danube and the Theiss as reported in telegram of October 13th, and which has repeatedly ignored or flatly turned down the requests of representatives of the Supreme Council. Roumamans claim many prisoners are Bolshevists, but prisoners deny charges. On October 20th Roumanian commander was asked to liberate immediately officer prisoners of war and civilians at Arad and to arrange with Hungarian government for liberation from other camps, and on October 22nd he was also requested to return from Szolnok to Budapest forty-three idle locomotives that were urgently needed for food distribution. No action taken on any of these requests; not even the courtesy of a reply.

Supreme Council's telegram of October 18th stated that Sir George Clerk would inform Mission that the Council had decided to take all the measures necessary to force the Roumanian government to follow line of conduct it was requested to adopt. There is as yet no noticeable change in Roumanian attitude and situation is becoming intolerable. If Roumanians are allowed to remain until a coalition government is formed, consequences, at the present rate of progress, will be more serious. Difficulties encountered in accomplishing our Mission are increasing rapidly. Under instructions of August 13th even though representing the Supreme Council this Mission can give no orders to Roumanians. In view of Mission's telegram of thirteenth instant stating that either the Roumanians should be forced to evacuate Hungary at once or that this Mission should be relieved it is realized that the Mission will not be held responsible for consequences that may result from Roumanian refusal to evacuate, but it is deemed necessary to present the facts to the Supreme Council.

Upon leaving General Mombelli's quarters, I met General Graziani at the door and we had a little talk about the general situation, and I was delighted to learn that our Latin colleagues were getting as thoroughly disgusted with the Roumanians as are General Gorton and myself.

Later in the afternoon, Captain Gore and I took tea with the family of Baron Groedel. They turned over to me a stamp collection which they wish delivered some time to their home in Vienna.

Upon arriving back at my quarters, I found that the Roumanians had been closing up the Telephone Central and raising Merry Hell in general. Colonel Sheldon of my Mission and Captain Aitken of the British Mission had gone over to investigate the proposition and got all sorts of rough treatment from a bunch of Roumanian rough-necks that were putting the proposition over. Colonel Sheldon went and saw Colonel Vasilescu. The Roumanians disclaimed all knowledge of the occurrence and stated likewise that it had not been done with the knowledge or consent of General Mosoiu. The matter is being investigated.

This evening General Gorton and myself dined with General Mombelli and his family, which consists of his wife and young-lady daughter of about twenty-two years of age, who speaks very good English. One of the guests was an Italian who spoke Spanish; so I was able to get along very well.

October 31, 1919. The Mission met at 9.30 this morning, with General Gorton presiding.

We first decided to take up the question of executions in Hungary, which had been laid on the table at the last meeting, and it was decided to inform the Hungarian government that our action in concurring with General Holban's decision in regard to the suspension of executions until the organization of a Hungarian government, applied entirely to the portion of Hungary under Roumanian military control, that the Inter-Allied Military Mission did not mix in the internal affairs, and that our previous letters should be so construed.

We then took up the discussion of the report of Colonel Sheldon's Committee on Prisoner-of-War Camps, and it was decided to send to the Roumanian Commander a letter telling him that the report of our Committee indicated that conditions in his prisoner-of-war camps were even worse than reported by Doctor Munro and Captain Brunier; that the conditions were disgraceful; and that, as it reflected upon all the Allies, we must insist that he immediately remedy the same; and he was directed to carry out the following:

Immediately to liberate by turning over to the Hungarian government, all civilians under eighteen and over sixty years of age, and also all invalid civilian and military persons.

To send immediately to the hospital all civilians whose condition required surgical attention.

To take measures so that the quarantine camps should be handled for the purpose of ascertaining the state of health of repatriated prisoners, and not for the purpose of detaining them fifteen days or longer.

That prisoners of war should receive the pay due them in the future and retroactively from the day on which they were apprehended.

To see that all camps be furnished suitable arrangements for washing and that the latrines be disinfected and put in condition so that they can be used.

To arrange so that food should be properly distributed in sufficient quantities.

To arrest and punish whatever persons, whether military or civil, who had caused the arrest of ladies and gentlemen who were the guests of our Committee in Arad; and finally

To arrange for the establishment of a courier service between Arad and Budapest, which service should be run in conjunction with the Hungarian Red Cross at Arad, which latter association must be treated according to the rules and customs of war.

Letters were received complaining that homeless illegitimate children in Transylvania were being deported by the Roumanians in such numbers as to overcrowd the Home in Budapest. Another report was received showing that the Roumanians were carrying out general religious persecutions⁽¹⁰⁾

. It was decided to inform them that it was difficult to believe how any nation that laid claims to being in a civilized class could handle children along the lines indicated; and in the second case it was decided to report to the Supreme Council as indication of the necessity for obliging the Roumanians to adopt the "Minorities" clause in the treaty.

1. See footnote 48 of diary, October 20, 1919.

2. Szeged, or Szegedin second town in Hungary, with a population of about 119,000.

3. General Edgar Jadwin of the Engineering Corps of the U.S. Army served as director of the light railways and roads for the A. E. F. in France, then as director of construction and forestry. In 1919 he was a member of the American Mission to Poland, and observer in the Ukraine. He died on March 2, 1931.

4. Compare Mr. Charles Upson clark's version of Bandholtz' being deceived by Friedrich in regard to the alleged attempt made by the Roumanians to kidnap him. Greater Roumania, New York, 1922, p.267. At the same time the statement concerning Mr. Clark in footnote No. 5 should be kept in mind.

5. English Ambassador at Vienna, 1913-14. He retired from the diplomatic service in 1919.

6. Sir George Russel Clerk was an English expert on Balkan affairs. In 1913-14 he had been Director of the Oriental Department of the English Foreign Office. "The French government having prudently refused to furnish an envoy" (according to E. J. Dillon's Inside Story of the Peace Conference, New York, 1920, p. 2~3), Clerk was sent to Budapest as a special diplomatic representative of the Supreme Council, to deliver the ultimatum to the Roumanians and to bring about the formation of a coalition cabinet in which all the responsible parties of Hungary should be represented (Oct. 15 to Dec. 2, 1919). From General Bandholtz' account, it would appear that he was at first decidedly prejudiced against the Hungarians and inclined to favor the Roumanians. Gradually he modified his viewpoint, undoubtedly strongly influenced by the statements of Generals Bandholtz and Gorton.

Lieutenant Colonel Repington writes in his diary, After the War (p.167): "I also gather that Sir George Clerk's intervention here was most happy when all was in disarray. Clerk told them they were not divided on any essential matters and that they should have a coalition government and get on at once. They seem to have followed the advice exactly, and it all worked out, though not fully, till the Socialists were put out and the present lot came in."

On the other hand Professor Jászi's opinion concerning Sir George Clerk Is quite different. He says: "Sir George Clerk, the plenipotentiary representative of the Supreme Council in Hungary, appeared at first to be working this direction [i.e., democracy], seeking a solution in which the socialist and progressive movement would have played the leading part. He was kept informed by Socialists, Democrats and Pacifists as to the steps which needed to be taken. I know that various memorials were submitted to him indicating the clear path of peaceful settlement on democratic lines.

The Entente, he was told, . . . should at once disarm the White officer's army, replacing it for the time by a reliable Entente force of 10,000 to 20,000 men, until the new Hungarian government had succeeded in organizing a reliable army from peasants and workmen" (p. 154). "Sir George Clerk, at first showed a good deal of sympathy with these plans, but not for long; he changed his attitude in a very few days. He had dined and hunted with the nobles until in the end he had completely assimilated the mentality of the Hungarian ancien régime. He was, moreover, he was so disgusted with Hungarian conditions that he wanted to get out of this Balkan chaos as soon as possible, and was only concerned to produce some sort of order, real or apparent. In the end he obtained the assent of the leaders of the armed bands, the chiefs of the coffee-house cliques, and the Socialists who had remained in the country, to a patched-up compromise" (vid., universal suffrage and a plebiscite on the form of the state, p. 155).

This viewpoint of Professor Jászi is criticized by R. W. Seton-Watson in sympathetic preface to the book of the former writer. He says: "while, however, it is easy to understand the bitterness with which Dr. Jászi writes of the Entente, it is necessary to enter a certain caveat against what he says of Sir George Clerk's mission to Budapest.... To blame him for not bringing about a settlement of the acute party discords from which Hungary was n suffering, is really not quite reasonable; and it should be remembered that it was he who compelled the government to uphold universal suffrage, as one of those achievements of the October Revolution which it would not justifiable to reverse. He thereby provided for the first time a basis for popular representation in Hungary," Seton-Watson speaks very highly of George Clerk in his magazine, The New Europe, Sept. 11, 1919, p. 210. He calls him a well-known Slavophil.

7. The so-called Ödenburg (Sopron) district. See footnote No. 23.

8. See diary October 15.

9. Dr. John A. Morehead, of the American National Lutheran Council, in charge of relief work for the Lutheran Church of Europe after the world war. In a conversation with the editor of this diary he spoke most highly of the work done by General Bandholtz in Hungary.

10. On the condition of religious minorities in Transylvania after the incorporation of that country into Roumania, see The Religious Minorities in Transylvania, compiled by Louis C. Cornish, in collaboration with the Anglo-American commission on the Rights of Religious Minorities in Roumania, Boston, 1925. The Commission consisted of representatives of the Presbyterian, Reformed, and Unitarian Churches of England and the United States, and investigated the status of the Reformed, Lutheran, and Unitarian congregations. It summarized its findings in the following words: "The impression gained . . . is that unless a solution can be found for the present problems, racial and linguistic, religious and economic, it will continue to be one of the saddest lands in Europe, and a menacing danger-spot for the peace of the world (p.22)." "The Commission submits that the reply of the Roumanian Government is evasive and inconclusive. (p.174)."

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