Royall Tyler to Mildred Barnes Bliss, May 29, 1929

Ministry of Finance,
Budapest.
21.V.29Tuesday.

I have just read in a rag of a 10 a.m. newspaper what purports to be official news that Mr. HooverHerbert Clark Hoover (1874–1964), the thirty-first president of the United States. has caused the Repn Experts to be informed that the U.S. agree to reduce by 10% their claim on Germany for armies of occupation.This was the result of the Young Plan, a program for settlement of German reparations debts after the First World War that was written in 1929 and formally adopted in 1930. It was presented by a committee of the Allied Reparations Committee and was headed by the American Owen D. Young (1874–1962). The Young Plan reduced further German payments from 269 billion to 112 billion gold marks. The plan was presented on June 7, 1929. This is such good news that I can’t resist writing to you at once, dearest Mildred, to shake you by the hand. The sum involved won’t break the US or make any one else, but as a gesture, the decision comes extraordinarily opportunely, and, I trust, removes all danger of the Repn Experts scattering without reaching a unanimous decision.

Another interesting piece of news—BethlenCount István Bethlen de Bethlen (1874–1946), a Hungarian aristocrat and statesman who served as prime minister of Hungary between 1921 and 1931. has publicly announced what I always believed was his real intention, namely that HorthyMiklós Horthy de Nagybánya (1868–1957), the regent of the kingdom of Hungary between 1920 and 1944. The reconstructed Hungarian parliament was formally opened on January 29, 1927, by Horthy, who stated that “the happy consolidation of the country permits the reëstablishment of the system of two chambers which corresponds to the national tradition.” Le Temps, February 5, 1927. See Malbone W. Graham, Jr., “The Elections to the New Hungarian Parliament,” The American Political Science Review 21, no. 2 (May 1927): 381–88. is to remain Governor of Hungary as long as he lives, so the King question will certainly not come up until then—and it isn’t certain that it will come up then. The Hungarian for this is Horthy Miklos élete végéig kormányzó, literally: ‘Horthy Nicholas life his end its to governor.’ Also, Bethlen announces that treaty revision isn’t actual—that the Govt. has no intention of raising it now or in a near future. This is a crack at Rothermere,Harold Sidney Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Rothermere (1868–1940), a British newspaper owner. He strongly supported revision of the Treaty of Trianon (the peace treaty of 1920 between the Allies and Hungary, seen as a successor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire) in favor of Hungary. On June 21, 1927, he published in his Daily Mail an editorial titled “Hungary’s Place in the Sun,” in which he supported a detailed plan to restore to Hungary large pieces of territory it lost at the end of the First World War. who has been roaring that the Treaty must be revised at once or —. All the more interesting because: (a) Rothermere is planning to visit Hungary this autumn, in person, and (b) The Hung. Govt. is preparing to settle its graver difficulties with Rumania thanks to the friendly offices of the Poles, who are good friends of both. ZaleskiAugust Zaleski (1883–1972), a Polish economist, politician and diplomat. He was minister of foreign affairs between 1926 and 1932. has arrived here today, and after his Budapest visit is going to Bucharest. It is expected that the Optants questionThe Optants question, the protracted dispute between Hungary and Romania over the expropriation of property from Hungarians in Transylvania who had opted to retain their Hungarian citizenship after the First World War. Beginning in 1923, the Hungarian government appealed to the League of Nations stating that the expropriation of the lands of Hungarian Optants in Transylvania “constitutes a flagrant violation of the Treaties.” See John O. Crane, The Little Entente (New York: Macmillan, 1931), 27–30. will be settled in a few weeks.

So one approaches the interesting position that while Rothermere is sicking on the Hungarians to demand immediate revision, and reviling the Rumanians, etc etc, the Hung. Govt. is quietly settling with its neighbors. Bethlen is a great man. I suppose Rothermere will now attack him.

I can’t get that porphyry headPresumably a reference to an object that Royall Tyler and Mildred Barnes Bliss saw together in Paris during the three days that Tyler was in the city, May 16–18, 1929. The sculpture is otherwise not identified in the correspondence. out of my eye. I spent all day Sunday in my bed in the train, and could see it quite plainly when I shut my eyes.

I’m so happy to think that we’ll meet again before you go to the other hemisphere. I shall be in Paris, D. V.,Either “Diis Volentibus,” “If the gods want,” or “Deus Volent,” “God willing.” before noon on June 5. Do try and keep some moments that day and next.

Love and blessings.
R. T.

I’m sending this to Paris. As l don’t know your London address.