APPENDIX
In the autumn of 1912 a paragraph appeared in a London evening paper announcing that a street in Plumstead had been named after Professor Arminius Vambéry, the eminent Hungarian scholar, who, as is well known, was a personal friend of Queen Victoria and Edward VII, and I sent it to him. This little incident led to a correspondence between us, of which the following letters of the Professor, written in English, are a portion. After his death I sent copies to his son, Dr. Rustem Vambéry—who, like his father before him, is now a Professor at the University of Budapest—and received by return the authorization to publish them, which is embodied in the first letter of the series. In view of the eminence of Professor Vambéry as an authority on Eastern affairs, I gladly avail myself of his kind permission to do so.
Budapest, October 11, 1913.
Dear Mr. Whitman,—I thank you most heartily for the delicacy of feeling which prompted you to give me the opportunity of revising my father’s letters to you, which you are quite at liberty to publish.
I have read them carefully through, and see no reason to alter or omit anything. You know how proud my father was of his status as an independent man, who could freely express his views without let or hindrance. Why should I not continue to act for him in this spirit now that he has passed away?
It might perhaps interest you to know that your work on Austria[[34]] was the last book he read in his life. The afternoon before his death he asked me to read a few pages aloud, for his sufferings (oppression of the heart) were alleviated by the distraction.
He was a great admirer of your writings, a feeling which has been fully inherited by
Yours most sincerely,
Dr. R. VAMBÉRY
(Professor of Criminal Law at the University of Budapest).
[34]. “The Realm of the Habsburgs,” by Sidney Whitman. Wm. Heinemann, London, 1892.