In this context we may note a very remarkable letter
sent from Buda-Pesth to the London correspondent of a Hungarian newspaper and published in Friday's Morning Post. It describes a journey undertaken by Count Tisza to Berlin with the object of urging the German General Staff to prevent the invasion of Hungary by keeping a sufficiently strong force on the frontiers. So great is the dread of invasion, and so strong the indignation against the German General Staff, that a section of the magnates are said to have declared that they will call upon the Hungarians to overthrow the present regime and march against Vienna if immediate help is not forth- coming. It is even rumoured that one of them, Count Veasonyi, has declared : " We are not here to defend Germany's frontiers, but our own first of all!" The letter draws the following general conclusion :—
" As a matter of fact, we do not believe here that things can go on very long in this way, for if the battle now being fought in Poland does not end in a great Austro-German victory there is no more hope. Every one sees now that Germany underestimated the Russian strength. The whole Austro-Hungarian Army— minus a small part fighting against Serbia—half of the great German Army, and the whole of Turkey's Army cannot stop them in their advance. This cannot mean anything but that our cause is lost."
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