800.51 W 89 Hungary/13
The Hungarian Minister (Széchényi) to the Secretary of State
Aide Mémoire
My Government has authorized me to enter into negotiations with the end in view to bring about a debt funding agreement between the United States and Hungary, following substantially the lines of the one concluded between the United States and Finland.2
The conclusion of such debt funding agreement with the United States would necessitate, of course, the negotiating of corresponding agreements on the part of Hungary with other governments holding relief bonds.
While my Government stresses the desirability of proceeding with the drafting of the proposed American-Hungarian agreement with the utmost dispatch, it emphasizes the fact that any debt funding agreement with the United States would prove truly valuable for Hungary only in such case as with the conclusion of the agreement in question the United States Government were willing to return its relief bonds, waiving thereby the legal priority assured to same at present.
The Hungarian Government feels all the more confident that the United States will be willing to adopt such a course, since the Reparation Commission at its meeting held on February 21, 1924, has explicitly recognized the priority of payments on relief bonds as against reparations.
Concerning reparations to be paid by Hungary, my Government begs to point out that all payments en charge du traite de paix [Page 328] would depend on the discretion of the Commissioner General, inasmuch as such payments are to be made only and in so far as the Commissioner General would deem it compatible with Hungary’s capacity to pay and as not endangering the stability of Hungary’s budget and finances.
The Hungarian Government trusts therefore that the American Government will see its way clear to yield the present legal priority of its relief bonds in favor of the proposed international loan to Hungary, as the actual priority of payments on relief bonds over reparations is already assured.
- For text of the agreement with Finland, see Combined Annual Reports of the World War Foreign Debt Commission, etc. (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1927), p. 120.↩