The Hungarian Quarterly Winter 1940. [antikvár]

FOREWORD "The intelligent, cultivated, welheducated and commercial population of the cities from which light flows out into the country, and from which the peasants gain such civilization and culture as are obtainable, is given over to the backward population, the higher elements are sacrificed to the lower, and the whole country suffers by having those elements from which progress would proceed being subjected to an alien rule which is likely to leave them lower than they were under Hungarian rule." (Lord Bryce, speaking against the Treaty of Trianon in the House of Lords in 1921.) ^IMCE the autumn of this year, the northern half of Tram \ sylvania has become once more a part of the Kingdom of Hungary. We need not remind our readers of how this territory, forming about a third of the ancient realm of St. Stephen, was handed over to Bjxmania under the Treaty of Trianon, nor do we think, that many people will have failed to hear at least something of the protests which have been continually raisedfor the last twenty years, that Hungary did not and never could acquiesce in the loss of Transylvania, whose whole history, geographical position, economic system, culture and political conception made it indivisible from the mother (Country. There was no mental reservation in this attitude; for twenty years Hungary openly stated her case to the world and demanded a fresh verdict. We do not think, therefore that on the present occasion we need ask our readers' indulgence for offering them a special Transylvam ian number c^The Hungarian Quarterly. In recent times facts and arguments on the Transylvanian question have appeared in works ranging from articles and pamphlets to heavy volumes, both in Hungarian and in other languages, and it is not our intention to compete with these exhaustive studies. But we feel that readers of this periodical will be interested in certain aspects of the case, and thus about a score of writers, both American and Hungarian, the latter mainly Transylvanians, have in this number given their views, and emphasized from various standpoints thefirm contention 575 la