I leave to these men themselves to choose whether they are to appear as _criminal slanderers or as fools_.
"If you had a Government desirous of concluding a peace different from that desired by the majority of the population, if you had a Government seeking to prolong the war for purposes of conquest, one might understand a conflict between the Government and the country.
_But since the Government desires precisely the same as the majority of the people--that is to say, the speedy settlement of an honourable peace without annexationist aims--then it is madness to attack that Government from behind, to interfere with its freedom of action and hamper its movements._ Those who do so are fighting, not against the Government, they are fighting blindly against the people they pretend to serve and against themselves.
"As for yourselves, gentlemen, it is not only your right, but your duty, to choose between the following alternatives: either you trust me to proceed with the peace negotiations, and in that case you must help me, or you do not trust me, and in that case you must depose me.
I am confident that I have the support of the majority of the Hungarian delegation.

The Hungarian Committee has given me a vote of confidence.

If there is any doubt as to the same here, then the matter is clear enough.

The question of a vote of confidence must be brought up and put to the vote; if I then have the majority against me I shall at once take the consequences.

No one of those who are anxious to secure my removal will be more pleased than myself; indeed far less so.