Paris Peace Conf. 184.01102/450
Professor Philip M. Brown to Professor A. C. Coolidge20
No. 37
Budapest, 2 May, 1919.
Subject: Protection of foreigners.
- 1.
- I enclose herewith translations of recent regulations issued by Bela Kun, Commissary for Foreign Affairs, concerning the protection of foreigners.21
- 2.
- It will be observed that the Revolutionary Government evidently desires to avoid all possible cause for complaint from foreigners residing here. Furthermore, in actual practice, I understand that with the exception of certain inevitable abuses on the part of subordinate officials, great care has been taken not to molest foreigners. They have been furnished with special placards to be placed on their houses and apartments, indicating that they are entitled to special consideration.
- 3.
- With respect to the special assurances furnished by Bela Kun to Mr. Balfour, published in the papers here on April 23d, concerning particularly the protection of foreign business enterprises,22 I would state that I have been given to understand that foreign establishments that were “socialized” at the beginning of this regime have not yet been restored to their original status. This may be due, not so much to an unwillingness on the part of the government to rectify their errors, as to a certain obvious difficulty in accomplishing the “unscrambling of the egg.” Industries once socialized and placed under control of the employees cannot readily be restored to their original organization.
- 4.
- As an instance of the solicitude of the government with regard to foreigners, an apology was made and reparation promised for an alleged attack on the captain of a Greek tugboat lying alongside the quay here in front of this hotel a few days ago. It afterwards appeared on a careful investigation that these charges were not substantiated, and that in all likelihood the Greek captain had grossly imposed on everybody. I am informed by Lieutenant-Commander Freeman, who had the matter particularly in charge, that he could find no cause for complaint, and that it was desirable to let the matter drop.
Sincerely yours,
Philip Brown