It may seem remarkable, that the History of the Crimes of the House of
Austria should be closed just with the stirring up a war, which
concentrates and epitomizes all the crimes of five hundred years,
against a virtue, which, for eight hundred years, had been one long
struggle for the development of the noblest constitution of the Eastern
Continent, a Constitution thirteen times all but overthrown by despots,
and thirteen times reinstated by the patriotic energy of its liberty and
law-loving people.
But the object of this compilation is especially to show, that the
Austrian house has been acting, in the war of Hungary, wholly according
to its nature; for that its whole conduct from Rodolph downwards, with
reference not merely to Hungary, but to every nation and province of a
nation, with which it has come into contact, demonstrates, that it is an
enemy to all international law which deserves the name of _Public
Right_; and imperatively calls upon all constitutional nations, in
self-defence, or, at least in defence of the principle which is their
strength, to withdraw from it their support and countenance.
It would be unjust to give less than a volume to the history of this
war; a war unrivalled since the days, when Athens and Sparta, at the
gate of Europe, stemmed the millions of Asia, that were threatening to
overwhelm the only spot on Earth, where Freedom was self-conscious and
intelligent.
Indeed, the historian cannot fail to see a certain parallel between this
crisis of the world’s history, and that culminating point of antiquity,
the world-renowned, time-honoured Persian war. For more than two
thousand years had Syria, Babylon, Media, Nineveh, Egypt, Ethiopia and
Persia been developing every resource of the gardens of the world, from
the banks of the Nile to the Indus; and they had formed a commercial
web[36] of power and wealth, which stretched from China (the ancient
Serica) in the East, to the Gulf of Guinea, along the North of Africa to
Spain, and thence coastwise to Britain on the West, and concentrated in
their great capitals the material resources of the Earth, as may be
discerned, with the eyes of the present day, upon the monuments that yet
remain to astonish us by their colossal proportions, and their
historical memorials, and by the gem cylinders, whose date seems as
endless as their influence was deep.[37] At the end of the sixth century
before Christ, those vast regions had been centralized by the military
genius of Cyrus, and the administrative skill more than the military
genius of Darius Hystaspes, so that all their productions, and their
inhabitants, with all their time and labour, physical strength and
genius, were at his personal command.[38]
At the same period, on the borders of this mighty empire, was a small
state, not so large in area as the State of Rhode Island, in which dwelt
a people, rich only in ideas, but ideas that had cherished the instinct
of liberty into a divine inspiration; for it had lifted them into the
conception and faith, that intelligences finer than could be discerned
with the gross material organs, and purer than could be brought into
circumscription by the material forces with which men make war, were
allied to them, and had received into their august companionship
Hercules and Theseus, their heroes of labour and patriotism, and would
not suffer Greeks to admit as equals, but empowered them to despise as
barbarians, all who bore the form of men but had debased themselves from
the stature of manliness, by slaving for another man, although he did
command the material resources of the Universe.
The Persian power had not spared in its rapacity a few little commercial
colonies which shared the blood and culture of Athens; but indirectly,
through its victory over Crœsus, who was Grecian by culture if not by
race, had made them also tributary, and included them in its centralised
empire. A word from these colonies to Athens, intimating that it was
neither pious nor Hellenic to allow a barbarian to lord it over a
kindred people, with identical gods,—was enough to rouse up that little
state, which had just developed the old free constitution of Theseus
into Solon’s republic, by the expulsion of the Pisistratidae,—and it
rose, on the principle of a fraternity, and attacked “the Great King;”
provoking his vengeance and risking in self-respect, the worst he could
do.
And when he did do his worst, and poured upon the devoted little state
his hundreds of thousands, did it flinch? No! but strong in their gods,
strong by the shade of Theseus,[39] whom, with the creative enthusiasm
of a faith deeper than sense, and which raised the spiritual vision
above the material, they saw visibly marshalling their bands, their ten
thousand met and vanquished the hundred and ten thousand Persians in the
one great battle of Marathon. And again, after ten years of rest from
that defeat, when Darius’s son led up his million (not a man less,[40])
was it not able to raise the sister states to intervene, on the mere
principle that spiritual was not to be submitted to material forces? And
were not three hundred allies found who could deliberately choose to die
on the nation’s threshold as the barbarian was about to cross it, for
the mere purpose of showing him the difference between the owners of a
Penates-guarded homestead, and the bond-servants of a despot under whom
no homestead was sacred? And even when their little country was
desolated, and their city burned, the temples of their gods not spared,
and although no miraculous interposition had saved these consecrated
places, did their faith and confidence falter? Did they not rather rally
on the sea, still confiding in the oracles of their god, which echoed
the sentiment of their own hearts, that themselves, without a foot of
land on the earth, were Athens? And thus inspired, did they not vanquish
a fleet three times as great as their own, a fleet in which were the
mariners of Phœnicia? And when, after a winter’s rest, the selected
three hundred thousand bravest of that invading million came down for
another attack, led by the greatest captain of his nation, did not all
the worshippers of the Grecian Olympus (where was embodied to their
imaginations every distinctively human attribute, and the moral harmony
of the Universe itself, as Phœbus Apollo) rally, presenting indeed
numerically but one third the force, but, by that which was within,
outmeasuring a thousand times the Persian three hundred thousand? And
almost at the first blow did they not destroy it, so that scarce one was
left to go home and tell the tale? Were they satisfied with even this?
Did not another twenty years of unwavering action on the same principle,
by land and sea, end with a complete victory, in which the son of the
victor of Marathon, having ended the war ten years before, by the battle
of the Eurymedon, dictated to the great king a peace, whose articles
bore that no Persian should come within thirty miles of the Grecian
seas, and that the colonies of the Greeks on the Asiatic coast should be
free and self-governed?
So was it of old, with a nation whose gods were no greater or more
beautiful than their own best thoughts, but just as great and just as
beautiful as those best thoughts believed in and allowed to carry them
whither they would,—which is the secret of the whole wonderful history.
More than two thousand years have passed by, and we behold the material
wealth and power of Europe combined against a nation, which bears to the
Holy Alliance the same relation that Greece bore to Darius Hystaspes.
Hungary combines in this modern time the cause of both Ionia and Athens,
and Nicholas of Russia leads the conservative nations against her, like
Darius of old. Single-handed, has she already done battle on a hundred
Marathons. There is nothing more wonderful in human history than Hungary
in 1849 retreating into the heart of her own dominion, while the armies
of Russia and Austria, with the Serbs and Croats which the latter power
had infuriated to join them, form the cordon round Hungary, contracting
it every day, and crowding the nation nearer to each other, like a troop
of hunters who are driving in to the death of their game. The Hungarians
stand back to back, facing the foe all round, determined to shed their
last blood rather than yield their right to national independence. But
this is not all. In that devoted phalanx, which, unlike the phalanx of
old, is a circle bristling round its whole circumference and threatening
death to the hundred thousands who menace it, is an angel of life. He
bears a silver trumpet, through which he speaks, and the ringing music
turns the statues of men into statues of the soul. They are no longer
vulgar flesh and blood; they are transfigured with the spirit of liberty
and law. At the word of command, they start into action. The iron circle
breaks: North, South, East, West, shoot forth thousands to their
work.[41] They break the contracting cordon that was pressing them in,
though it were deep by tens of thousands of the paid soldiers of
despotism, and they return on their steps; and they sweep from their
native land the invaders, till hardly a foot of an enemy is left to
profane the holy ground:
Aye call it holy ground!
The spot whereon they trod—
They keep unstained what there they found—
Freedom to worship God.
A second time in the world’s history have spirit and matter met on the
battle-field, at fearful apparent odds,—and spirit triumphed!
Sparta was not at Marathon. She was wisely at home, performing the holy
rites that had been handed down through noble generations, and
consecrating laws which guarded liberty. But she came up, when Marathon
was won, to rejoice in the victory, and to pledge her future
coöperation. Nobly was the pledge redeemed at Thermopylæ and at Platæa.
But where was Hungary’s Sparta, even when the vanquished enemy rallied
in still greater numbers and again stormed in upon her? Did not the
Earth contain an older republic, “the model republic,” that might send a
new Leonidas with some devoted “three hundred” out of whose bosoms
should go a fire that should pass with lightning quickness through the
golden linked chain of despotism which binds the Holy Alliance together,
and make it a rope of ashes? And if it were not enough to show the Czar
of Russia a new Thermopylæ, to rally to a new Salamis and a new Platæa?
-----
Footnote 1:
For the theory of the Catholic Church, whatever may be its practice,
is that all men are born into it. It asserts a right over every child
who sees the light where it is acknowledged: consequently he who bound
himself to serve the Church at that time bound himself to serve
humanity, at least within the precincts over which the Church extended
its authority. For three hundred years after this time the people of
Europe was considered to be _The Church_.
Footnote 2:
The legend of WILLIAM TELL gives the spirit of the whole.
Footnote 3:
Blanch, the first wife of Rodolph, died in April, 1305.
Footnote 4:
Pelzel, p. 731–742. Several native and Catholic writers endeavour to
extenuate the cruelty of Ferdinand, by declaring that he was with
difficulty induced to make these dreadful examples; and was overborne
by the representations of his ministers and the Jesuits. Admitting
this fact, it is no exculpation of his conduct to assert that he acted
unjustly by the advice of his ministers. But the preceding and
subsequent transactions, as well as the general character, the
relentless disposition, and the deep-rooted prejudices of Ferdinand,
furnish ample evidence that he wanted no external impulse to commit
acts of persecution and cruelty against the Protestants.
Footnote 5:
Schiller’s Thirty Years’ War.
Footnote 6:
Coxe, Chap. XXCIV.
Footnote 7:
Coleridge has well defined Christianity to be “the perfection of
Reason.”
Footnote 8:
The accounts given, by their own writers, of the ancient Magyars,
recall forcibly the description given by Sallust of the manners of the
Romans in the first years of the Republic.
Footnote 9:
Sancti Stephani Regis Decretum I. cap. IV.
Footnote 10:
Sanct. Stephan. Decret. I. cap. X.
Footnote 11:
Respublica et Status Regni Hungariæ.
Footnote 12:
See the representations of the grievances of the Hungarian nation made
by the diets of 1559 and 1563. See also the letter addressed by the
Bishop of Colócza to Joseph I., through Baron Scalvinioni, 1703.—The
manifesto of Prince Rakóczy, 1703.—Memoirs of Prince Rakóczy, by
himself, 1739.
Footnote 13:
See Fessler, _Die Geschichten der Ungern_.
Footnote 14:
A very valuable work, written by a Hungarian, in the French language,
published in 1739. The Hungarians commonly write in French, German, or
Latin, when they desire to give their works a European circulation. In
the eighteenth century, prior to the time of Maria Theresa, they used
French in preference to German.
Footnote 15:
“For,” says the Hungarian historian, Fessler, “the highest enthusiasm
is only strong in deeds, not rich in words.”
Footnote 16:
Fessler, _Die Geschichten der Ungern_, 10ter Bd., S. 658.
Footnote 17:
_Ibid._, 10ter Bd., S. 660.
Footnote 18:
See De Gerando, _De l’Esprit Public_, p. 174, for the account of the
elections in the county of Bars.
Footnote 19:
The diet of Hungary is composed of two chambers, or “tables,” as they
are there called.
At the first table sit the dignitaries of the church and the state,
and the titled nobility, or magnates. This table is presided over by
the Palatine.
The second table is composed of the deputies of the counties. Each
county sends two deputies. The royal cities, and certain chapters and
privileged districts, send also their deputies to the diet. These,
however, before the extension of representation in 1848, had but one
collective vote. Croatia sent three deputies to the diet, one of which
sat in the upper and two in the lower house. The chamber of magnates
did not form a part of the ancient constitution of Hungary. Before the
accession of the Archdukes of Austria, the diets were held in the open
air, and all the noble inhabitants of the country had a right to be
present at them, and take part in the deliberations. The foreign
government found its account in raising up a class whose interests
were separated from those of the main body of the nation. The “second
table,” or chamber of deputies, is still called, by distinction, “the
States.” The initiative belongs to the king and the second table of
the diet. The deputies are bound to vote according to the instruction
of their constituents, and can be recalled if they fail to satisfy
them.
Footnote 20:
Many proprietors had already made contracts of this kind with their
peasants, though the only security for their fulfilment was the good
faith of the parties.
Footnote 21:
It was of great importance to the government to prevent the
publication of the debates in the diet. Every art was put in practice
by the Austrian cabinet, to deceive the people in regard to the views
of the opposition party. Emissaries were employed to diffuse among the
peasantry an impression that the nobles were unfriendly to their
interests, and prevented the benefits which their ‘good father, the
emperor,’ wished to bestow on them. Nothing could tend more
effectually to disabuse them, than giving publicity to the proceedings
of the diet.
Footnote 22:
During the terrible inundation which took place on the breaking up of
the ice in the Danube, in 1838, it is said that Wesselényi saved the
lives of not less than two hundred persons. He remained on the river
for several days and nights, in an open boat, in continual danger from
the masses of ice which were floating down the river.
Footnote 23:
_La Transylvanie._
Footnote 24:
Every member of a magnate family, after he has attained the age of
twenty-four, has a right to a seat at the first table of the diet.—De
Gerando.
Footnote 25:
Bezerédy was one of the first to set this honorable example. The
following letter, addressed to him by the peasants of the village of
Bitske in the county of Fejér, dated April 5, 1845, will give an idea
of the character of the Hungarian peasantry, and the feeling which
subsists between them and the nobles. In this country, the great
majority of the inhabitants are of the Magyar race.
“The patriotic act by which, faithful to holy and eternal justice, you
have been the first to renounce the right of exemption from
taxation,—this act, truly worthy of a noble, has already, to the
honour of our aristocracy be it said, found many imitators. Those who
have followed your example have made the most worthy recognition of
your action. We also, who believe that, in taking part in our burdens,
you have not lowered yourself to our level, but have raised us to
yourselves, all regard it as a sacred duty to express to you our
ardent gratitude for this noble sacrifice, which opens a new era to
our country. May God grant, for the glory of the country and for our
happiness, that your life may be long, and that your spirit may
inspire the whole world.”
Footnote 26:
Very severe restrictions were imposed by Austria on Hungarian
commerce.
Footnote 27:
Kossuth, in March, 1845, soon after this arbitrary act of government
was carried into effect, addressed the county of Pest in a speech in
which he pointed out all the dangers to the country which were
involved in this measure, and all the evils which must result, and
which actually did afterwards result, from it. We have not room for
this speech. We give the opening and closing passages.
“Although the future of our country appears to me covered by a dark
veil, I cannot deny that the hope of a better destiny has sometimes
beamed before my eyes. One of these moments of illusion presented
itself when the government seemed ready to unite in our views, and to
walk with us on the path of progress which had been smoothed by our
efforts; when it seemed to offer us its assistance in repairing the
faults of our fathers, and raising the people from their sad
condition. We were then ready to banish the remembrance of three
centuries of sorrow, and to give ourselves to the labours which were
to replace this mournful but sacred struggle in which we had been
engaged for the defence of our rights and our liberties. Alas! the
illusion quickly vanished, and we found ourselves still alone on the
path of progress. One step more and the struggle recommenced. So be it
then; those who were ready to reconcile themselves with power will
again defend their rights as men and citizens....
“It has been said,—what has not been said to justify the
government?—that order rendered these illegal measures necessary.
Order! I do not know a word of which despotism has made a more
insolent abuse. It is in the name of order that Nicholas has effaced
Poland from the rank of nations, and that king Ernest has annihilated
the constitution of Hanover. It was in the name of order that Philip
II. made a cemetery of Belgium. This order, thanks be to God, Hungary
does not know, nor does she desire to know it. Hungary is governed
only by laws, and, if order requires a change in the government, the
nation must assemble and assent to the change. Any measure which is
arbitrarily imposed is not order, but illegality, despotism, that is
to say, disorder.”
Footnote 28:
It has been said, among other things, by those writers who support the
Austrian views, that the abolition of the disabilities of the
unprivileged class, decreed by the diet in 1848, was a measure of
policy intended to secure the coöperation of the people in a projected
revolution. This programme, published eight months before the
revolution in Paris, which gave occasion to that at Vienna, offers a
sufficient answer to this assertion.
Footnote 29:
Before the union of Transylvania with Hungary, there were some
important differences in the political constitutions of the two
countries. In Transylvania a distinction of races was recognized. In
the Transylvanian diet, the Magyars, the Szeklers, and the Saxons were
represented as distinct nationalities, by their respective deputies.
The Wallachian inhabitants of the country were not represented in the
diet as a distinct race; they were counted as Magyars. A Wallachian
noble might be elected to the diet, but he sat there as a Magyar.
Among the Szeklers, a race closely kindred to the Magyars, the
distinction between noble and non-noble has never been introduced.
They have preserved their ancient institutions in greater purity than
the Magyars. By the union of Transylvania with Hungary, all political
distinctions founded on difference of race were abolished: the same
system of representation was established in Transylvania as in
Hungary; all the inhabitants, without distinction of race, were
admitted in the right of suffrage, the possession of a very small
amount of yearly income being the only qualification required.
Footnote 30:
“We have state prisoners,” says Birányi, “who, victims of an arbitrary
act of power, have been pining for years in horrible dungeons. It
would have been shameful to have forgotten them in the list of the
national demands.”—_Pesti Forradalom_, Pest, 1848.
“An inconsiderate word, or a single passage in a perhaps prudently
written book, torn out of its connection, and invested with an
arbitrary meaning, was all that was needed to stamp a man as a
political criminal. This was the easiest means of putting out of the
way men of distinguished abilities, who might have been able to
further the welfare of their country.”—Berffi, _Ein Blatt
Volksgeschichte_. Pest, 1848.
Footnote 31: