Houghton (II)

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

ALANSON BIGELOW, first American Ambassador to Germany following the World Wa War, was born in Cambridge, Mass., Oct. 10, 10, 1863. He was graduated from Harvard in 1886 and afterward studied abroad at Göttingen, their hands, and an act was passed by the , and Paris Berlin . He entered the manufacturing business at Corning, N. Y., in Hungarian National Assembly on Nov. 6, 1889. In politics he served as Republi- 1921, depriving the House of Hapsburg can presidential elector from New York of all future title to the throne. The and was chosen to represent the Thirty- right of electing a seventh New York District in Congress, 1919-1921. On Jan. 18, 1922, he was nominated by President Harding to be American Ambassador to Germany, and his nomination was promptly confirmed by the Senate. HUNGARY. A People's Republic with Count Karolyi as provisional president was formally proclaimed in November, 1918, following the forced abdication of King Charles. In March, 1919, the radical Bela Kun gained control of affairs and established a soviet régime, but on August 1 he was forced to resign owing to terrible internal conditions as well as to external pressure. Other governments followed in rapid succession, ending with the establishment by the National Assembly of the regency of ex- Admiral Horthy of the Austro-Hungarian navy, the National Assembly declaring itself to be the sole representative of Hungarian sovereignty. Hungary (1920) was declared to be a constitutional monarchy in form of government, but the choice of a king was postponed to a more favorable date. Parties were divided between the claims of the so-called Legitimists, or supporters of ex-King Charles, and the Free Electionists, who declared the throne vacant. On March 26, 1921, Charles appeared suddenly in Budapest from his exile in Switzerland and endeavered to gain restoration to the throne. He was received by the regent Horthy, but the National Assembly adopted resolutions demanding his expulsion from the country and he finally retired again to Switzerland, only to renew his first attempt in the following October in the course of troubles between Hungary and Austria over the transfer to the latter country of the Burgenland district in western Hungary. On October 22 he appeared in the district by airplane and an army of 12,000 men was immediately placed under his command. He advanced toward Budapest, and his coming was hailed by large bodies of the people who had suffered persecution under the repressive "White" régime of Admiral Horthy. But the neighboring states mobilized for war, England, France, and Italy signified their disapproval, and Horthy himself gathered forces and deпo feated Charles's army, the ex-King being subsequently captured while in flight toward Switzerland with the ex-Empress Zita. The powers had already demanded his formal deposition and delivery into king was declared to have reverted to the nation, but the choice was left to a later date. Charles himself was delivered to British naval authorities and carried to the island of Madeira on the west coast of Africa, which ace of permahad been selected as his place nent exile. On Dec. 12, 1921, the Hungarian Assembly ratified the separate peace treaty with the United States, and State Count Szechenyi was appointed Hungarian minister.