(3 of 3)
2) Chief of Police Nadossy of Budapest. He too broke down, wept, confessed to having protected the counterfeiters from police molestation. Recovering his usual calm, he dictated his resignation to the many clubs to which he belonged: "I must sever my connections with my friends. I am lost."
3) Chief Counterfeiter Gerce. "It was the stupidity of Prince Windisch-Graetz which ruined us. . . . I made the paper we used myself, from German pulp; and the first 20,000 notes which I produced were not successful. . . . Prince Windisch-Graetz, however, insisted upon having them passed, and of course they were detected. . . . Later I raised our paper and technique to such a pitch of perfection that my last notes will continue to pass current in France indefinitely without detection. . . ."
4) Some 40 additional persons, many of high rank, were jailed or "unobtrusively guarded in their homes, to avoid scandal." One suspect, Deputy Franz Ulain, safe at Milan, foamed: "These counterfeiters are noble and venerable patriots. . . . I demand that Premier Count Bethlen be swept out of office for daring to arrest Hungarian heroes. . . . I demand that public admission be made of the fact that Hungary is still actually at war with France, and that the counterfeiting was a legitimate and laudable act of war. . . . The profits from the sale of the counterfeit money were being used solely to equip a Fascist army which would have set the Archduke Albrecht over the Hungarians, his would-be loyal subjects, in despite of France. . . ."
The Situation. Observers were inclined to dwell upon the fact that Hungary is officially the Kingdom of Hungaria, "a kingdom without a king." Admiral Nicholas Horthy de Nagybanya is "Regent" for a hypothetical monarch who remains to be chosen; and Horthy administers Hungary under the old Monarchial Constitution.
This status quo was established by the Hungarian Parliament, after Hungary had suffered as the "Republic" of which Count Karolyi was President (Nov. 1918 to March, 1919) and endured the "Soviet Government" of Bela Kun (March, 1919 to Aug., 1919).
There are so many equally powerful "royal" families in what is now Hungary that probably only the Hapsburgs, who have worn "the Holy Crown of Empire," possess sufficient prestige to reign over this country of mixed races. The Prince Otto of Hapsburg, son of the late abdicated Emperor Karl, grandson of famed Emperor Franz Josef, is the "legitimate heir." Were it not for the external pressure of the Allies, he would probably be welcomed as king by his father's subjects, who have made it clear at the polls that they desire to be governed by "a king." The Archduke Albrecht has been called "simply another Hapsburg, who it was hoped would prove more acceptable to the Allies than Otto."
Regent Horthy is supposed to be pro-Albrecht and Fascist, just as Premier Count Bethlen leans toward Otto and the strict Legitimists. Late last week Albrecht decided that the Fascist jig is up, and resigned as President of the Fascist League. It is almost unthinkable that the Allies will now let an Otto putsch succeed. Presumably the kingdom will continue kingless.