Page:Diplomacy and the War (Andrassy 1921).djvu/295

 only abdicate with the consent of the nation. The Government of Budapest petitioned thereupon to be relieved of their oath. So far the game was lost. Since the mob had given their support to Karolyi the power of the State lay in the dust, and as there was not a single statesman or a single party in Budapest which considered it possible to protect law and order, and since the army failed, the King was unable to do anything whatever. A few days earlier I had seen the only salvation in armed interference; to-day the preservation of a new and royal government, or even the attempt to do so, would only be useless bloodshed. For this reason His Majesty could do nothing for the moment but to avoid all interference with the business of government. This decision, however, did not involve abdication, nor did it involve his approval of what had happened and what was about to happen, but it only meant that the King was not in a position to create a Government that could give guarantees of preserving law and order. It meant, furthermore, that he did not interfere with the progress of affairs, and that he did not wish to accept the responsibility of shedding unnecessary blood until there was hope once more that he could insist upon his rights and fulfil his duties.

Rulers have often been dethroned in many different ways, but never in the way in which this fall occurred at Schönbrunn. I was a witness to a new historical drama, and I am ashamed that this novelty was born upon Hungarian soil. I had always been convinced