546 INTERNATIONAL LAW 



assist his Majesty in those acts through which he simultaneously 

 exercises both his executive prerogatives, imperial and royal. 



And let me emphasize again that the whole machinery of common 

 affairs and common ministries must act in constant agreement with 

 the Hungarian ministry, under the constant control (direct and 

 indirect) of the Hungarian parliament (and Austrian, of course, too), 

 that it can be blown up every moment by a short law enacted by the 

 Hungarian legislature; and let me ask again, where can you find 

 in those institutions, dependent on the public powers of Hungary in 

 every moment of their action, in every second of their existence, 

 even the shadow of an imperial establishment superior to Hungary, 

 controlling her to any extent? Truly, that phantom of an " Aus- 

 trian Empire," taken in the sense in which it should include Hungary, 

 reminds me of the old German proverb about a knife without a 

 blade, the handle of which was missing. 



IV 



Should I have succeeded in making all this as clear to you, gentle- 

 men, as it seems evident to me, you will quite naturally ask me how 

 truths so evident came to be obscured and contrary impressions to 

 be almost generally prevalent throughout the world, and you may 

 further inquire about the bearing of such a connection between 

 Hungary and Austria, as between two sovereign nations, on the 

 international situation of either of them separately or of both taken 

 jointly. Of these two questions I shall try to answer the second one 

 first. 



That Hungary taken separately has a legal personality in inter- 

 national law stands above doubt; it simply follows from her being 

 an independent kingdom, " not subject to any other kingdom or 

 nation," as the above-quoted law of 1791 puts it. But since she is 

 bound to Austria by a covenant of mutual defense, and since the 

 law of 1867 has declared common affairs " those foreign affairs which 

 affect the interests of both countries," meaning those which bear 

 direct relation to national defense, Hungary (as well as Austria) has for 

 the time being disabled herself by her own law from acting separately 

 in international matters of that kind; she has, with respect to these 

 matters, for the time being, renounced the separate use of her per- 

 sonality in international law, and must, in all cases of such nature, 

 act jointly with Austria. 1 The permanent potentiality of that joint 



1 This is how the matter stands in the terms of the Law XII, 1867. But even 

 should that law be abolished or .altered and the whole machinery of common 

 affairs and common ministries l>e superseded, the obligation to mutual defense 

 founded on the Pragmatic Sanction, which is a bilateral compact, would none 

 the less subsist so long as the present dynasty lasts, and the foreign affairs of 

 both countries would have to be conducted with constant regard to that obliga- 

 tion. How this could be insured under such altered circumstances is a question 



