Part 38

"The peace of Carlowitz, which disposed of the Hungarian territory without the will or knowledge of the Hungarian States, in utter contempt of repeatedly confirmed laws, was in itself a deep source of new discontent,—which was considerably increased by the general policy continually pursued by the Court of Vienna. Even after the coronation of Joseph I., a prince who; if left to himself, might have perhaps followed a less provoking line of conduct, Leopold, the real master of Hungary, did not relinquish his design of entirely demolishing its institutions. … The high clergy were ready to second any measure of the government, provided they were allowed full scope in their persecutions of the Protestants. … Scarcely had three years passed since the peace of Carlowitz was signed, when Leopold, just embarking in the war of the Spanish succession, saw the Hungarians suddenly rise up as one man in arms. … The head and soul of this new struggle in Hungary was Francis Rakoczy II., the son of Helen Zriny, by her first husband, after the death of whom she became the wife of Tököli." Rakoczy entered the country from Poland, with a few hundred men, in 1703, and issued a proclamation which brought large numbers to his support. The Austrian forces had been mostly drawn away, by the war of the Spanish succession, into Italy and to the Rhine, and during the first year of the insurrection the Hungarian patriot became master of the greater part of the country. Then there occurred a suspension of hostilities, while the English government made a fruitless effort at mediation. On the reopening of warfare, the Austrians were better prepared and more encouraged by the circumstances of the larger contest in which they were engaged; while the Hungarians were correspondingly discouraged. They had promises of help from France, and France failed them; they had expectations from Russia, but nothing came of them. "The fortune of war decidedly turned in favour of the imperialists, in consequence of which numerous families, to escape their fury, left their abodes to seek shelter in the national camp; a circumstance which, besides clogging the military movements, contributed to discourage the army and spread general consternation." In 1710 Rakoczy went to Poland, where he was long absent, soliciting help which he did not get. "Before his departure, the chief command of the troops was entrusted to Karoly, who, tired of Rakoczy's prolonged and useless absence in Poland, assembled the nobles at Szathmar, and concluded, in 1711, a peace known as the Treaty of Szathmar. By this treaty the emperor engaged to redress all grievances, civil and religious, promising, besides, amnesty to all the adherents of Rakoczy, as well as the restitution of many properties illegally confiscated. Rakoczy protested from Poland against the peace concluded by Karoly; but of what effect could be the censure and remonstrance of a leader who, in the most critical emergency, had left the scene of action in quest of foreign assistance, which, he might have foreseen, would never be accorded. … After the peace of Szathmar, Hungarian history assumes a quite different character." Revolts are at an end for more than a century, and "Hungary, without producing a single man of note, lay in a state of deep lethargy." In 1714, the Emperor Charles VI. (who, as King of Hungary, was Charles III.) began a new war against the Porte, with Prince Eugene again commanding in Hungary. "The sultan Achmet III., anticipating the design of the imperial general [to concentrate his troops on the Danube], marched his army across the Save, and, as will be seen, to his own destruction. {1683} After a small success gained by Palfy, Eugene routed the Turks at Petervardein [August 13, 1716], and captured besides nearly all their artillery. Profiting by the general consternation of the Turks, Eugene sent Palfy and the Prince of Wurtemberg to lay siege to the fortress of Temesvar, which commands the whole Banat, and which was surrendered by the Turks after a heavy siege. By these repeated disasters the Mussulmans lost all confidence in the success of their arms; and in the year 1717 they opened the gates of Belgrade to the imperial army. The present campaign paved the way for the peace of Passarowitz, a little town in Servia,—a peace concluded between the Porte and the Emperor in 1718. In virtue of the provisions of this treaty, the Porte abandoned the Banat, the fortress of Belgrade, and a part of Bosnia, on the hither side of the Unna, promising besides the free navigation of the Danube to the people of the Austrian empire."

_E. Szabad, Hungary, Past and Present, part 2, chapter 5-6._

ALSO in: _L. Felbermann, Hungary and its People, chapter 4._

See, also, TURKS: A. D. 1714-1718.

HUNGARY: A. D. 1739: Belgrade restored to the Turks.

See RUSSIA: A. D. 1725-1739.

HUNGARY: A. D. 1740. The question of the Austrian Succession. The Pragmatic Sanction.

See AUSTRIA: A. D. 1718-1738; and 1740.

HUNGARY: A. D. 1740-1741. Beginning of the War of the Austrian Succession: Faithlessness of Frederick the Great. His seizure of Silesia.

See AUSTRIA: A. D. 1740-1741.

HUNGARY: A. D. 1741. The War of the Austrian Succession: Maria Theresa's appeal and the Magyar response.

See AUSTRIA: A. D. 1741 (JUNE-SEPTEMBER).

HUNGARY: A. D. 1780-1790. Irritations of the reign of Joseph II. Illiberality of the Hungarian nobles.

"The reign of Joseph II. is described by the historians of Hungary and Bohemia as a disastrous time for the two countries. Directly he ascended the throne he began to carry out a series of measures which deeply irritated the Magyars. With his philosophical ideas, the crown of Hungary was to him nothing more than a Gothic bauble, and the privileges of the nation only the miserable remains of an age of barbarism; the political opinions of the Hungarians were as distasteful to him as their customs, and he amused himself with ridiculing the long beards and the soft boots of the great nobles. He never would be crowned. He annoyed the bishops by his laws against convents, while his tyrannical tolerance never succeeded in contenting the Protestants. … On the 7th of April, 1784, he ordered that the holy crown should be brought to him in Vienna and placed in the imperial treasury. To confiscate this symbol of Hungarian independence was, in the eyes of the Magyars, an attempt at the suppression of the nation itself, and the affront was deeply resented. Up to this time the official language of the kingdom had been Latin, a neutral tongue among the many languages in use in the various parts of Hungary. Joseph believed he was proving his liberal principles in substituting German, and that language took the place of Latin. … Joseph II. soon learned that it is not wise to attack the dearest prejudices of a nation. The edict which introduced a foreign language was the signal for the new birth of Magyar. … At the time of the death of Joseph II. Hungary was in a state of violent disturbance. The 'comitat' of Pesth proclaimed that the rule of the Hapsburgs was at an end, and others threatened to do the same unless the national liberties were restored by the new sovereign. All united in demanding the convocation of the diet in order that the long-suppressed wishes of the people might be heard. The revolutionary wind which had passed over France had been felt even by the Magyars, but there was this great difference in its effect upon France and Hungary—in France, ideas of equality had guided the revolution; in Hungary, the great nobles and the squirearchy who formed the only political element claimed, under the name of liberties, privileges which were for the most part absolutely opposed to the ideas of the Revolution of 1789. … Among the late reforms only one had found favour in the eyes of the Magyars, and that was toleration towards Protestants, and the reason of this was to be found in the fact that the small landowners of Hungary were themselves to a large extent Protestant; yet a democratic party was gradually coming into existence which appealed to the masses. … When France declared war against Francis II. the Magyar nobles showed themselves quite ready to support their sovereign; they asked for nothing better than to fight the revolutionary democrats of Paris. Francis was crowned very soon after his accession, and was able to obtain both men and money from the diet; but before long, the reactionary measures carried by Thugut his minister, lost him all the popularity which had greeted him at the beginning of his reign. The censorship of the press, the employment of spies, and the persecution of the Protestants—a persecution, however, in which the Hungarian Catholics themselves took an active part—all helped to create discontent."

_L. Leger, History of Austro-Hungary, chapters 23 and 28._

HUNGARY: A. D. 1787-1791. War with the Turks. Treaty of Sistova.

See TURKS: A. D. 1776-1792.

HUNGARY: A. D. 1815-1844. The wakening of the national spirit. Patriotic labors of Szechenyi and Kossuth.

"The battle of Waterloo, in 1815, put an end to the terrible struggle by which every country in Europe had for twenty years been agitated. The sovereigns of the continent now breathed freely … and their first act was to enter into a league against their deliverers, to revoke all their concessions, and break all their promises. … The most audacious of all those who joined in framing the Holy Alliance was the emperor of Austria. The Hungarians reminded him, in 1815, of his repeated promises to redress their grievances, while they were voting him men and money to defend his capital against the assaults of Napoleon. He could not deny the promises, but he emphatically declined to fulfil them. They asked him to convoke the diet, but he … determined to dispense with it for the future. … At last the popular ferment reached such a pitch, that the government found it absolutely necessary to yield the point in dispute. In 1825, Francis I. convoked the diet, and from that moment the old struggle, which the wars with France had suspended, was renewed. … The session was … rendered for ever memorable by an incident, in itself of trifling importance, but of vast significance when viewed in connexion with subsequent events. {1684} It was in it that Count Stephen Szechenyi made his first speech in the Magyar language. The life of this extraordinary man is more remarkable as an instance of what may be achieved by well-directed energy, labouring in obedience to the dictates of patriotism, than for any brilliant triumphs of eloquence or diplomacy. … He was no great orator; so that his influence over the Magyars—an influence such as no private individual has ever acquired over a people, except, perhaps, Kossuth and O'Connell—must be looked upon rather as the triumph of practical good sense and good intentions than of rhetorical appeals to prejudices or passion. … The first object to which his attention was directed was the restoration of the Magyar language, which, under the Germanizing efforts of Austria, had fallen into almost total disuse amongst the higher classes. He knew how intimately the use of the national language is connected with the feeling of nationality. … But the Magyar was now totally neglected by the Magyar gentlemen. Latin was the language of the diet, and of all legal and official documents, and German and French were alone used in good society. Szechenyi, as the first step in his scheme of reformation, set about rescuing it from the degradation and disuse into which it had fallen; and as the best of all ways to induce others to do a thing is to do it oneself first, he rose in the diet of 1825, and, contrary to previous usage, made a speech in Magyar. His colleagues were surprised; the magnates were shocked; the nation was electrified. … The diet sat for two years, and during the whole of that period Szechenyi continued his use of the native language, in which he strenuously opposed the designs of the court, and was soon considered the leader of the opposition or liberal party, which speedily grew up around him. His efforts were so successful, that before the close of the session, Francis was compelled to acknowledge the illegality of his previous acts, formally to recognize the independence of the country, and promise to convoke the diet at least once in every three years. … He [Szechenyi] soon had the satisfaction of seeing the Hungarian language growing to general use, but he was still vexed to see the total want of unity, co-operation, and communion which prevailed amongst the nobles, owing to the want of a newspaper press, or of any place of re-union where political subjects could be discussed amongst men of the same party with freedom and confidence. This he remedied by the establishment of the casino, at Pesth, upon the plan of the London clubs. He next turned his attention to the establishment of steam navigation on the Danube. … He … rigged out a boat, sailed down the Danube right to the Black Sea, explored it thoroughly, found it navigable in every part, went over to England, studied the principles of the steam-engine as applied to navigation, brought back English engineers, formed a company, and at last confounded the multitude of sceptics, who scoffed at his efforts, by the sight of a steam-boat on the river in full work. This feat was accomplished in October, 1830. … In the interval which followed the dissolution of the diet, Szechenyi still followed up his plan of reform with unwearied diligence, and owing to his exertions, a party was now formed which sought not merely the strict observance of the existing laws, but the reform of them, the abolition of the unjust privileges of the nobles, the emancipation of the peasantry, the establishment of a system of education, the equal distribution of the taxes, the equality of all religious sects, the improvement of the commercial code and of internal communication, and though last, not least, the freedom of the press. These projects were all strenuously debated, but on this occasion without any practical result. The next meeting was for a long time delayed, upon one pretext or another. At last it was convened in 1832, and proved in many respects one of the most important that had ever assembled. … The man who in future struggles was destined to play so prominent a part, during the whole of these … proceedings, was merely an intent and diligent looker-on. … He was a gentleman of noble origin, of course, but his whole fortune lay in his talents, which at that period were devoted to journalism—a profession which the Hungarians had not yet learned to estimate at its full value. He was still but thirty years of age, and within the diet he was known as a promising young man, although, amongst the world without, his name—the name of Louis Kossuth, which has since become a household word in two hemispheres—had never yet been heard. … Whether from the jealousy of the government or the apathy of the Magyars, no printed reports of the parliamentary proceedings had ever yet been published. … To supply this defect, Kossuth resolved to devote the time, which would otherwise have been wasted in idle listening, to carefully reporting everything that took place, and circulated it all over the country on a small printed sheet. The importance of the proceedings which then occupied the attention of the diet caused it to be read with extraordinary eagerness, and Kossuth rendered it still more attractive by amplifying, and often even embellishing, the speeches. The cabinet, however, soon took the alarm, and although the censorship was unknown to the Hungarian law, prohibited the printing and publication of the reports. This was a heavy blow, but Kossuth was not baffled. He instantly gathered round him a great number of young men to act as secretaries, who wrote out a great number of copies of the journal, which were then circulated in manuscript throughout Hungary. The government was completely foiled, and new ardour was infused into the liberal party. When the session was at an end he resolved to follow up his plan by reporting the meetings of the county assemblies, which were then the scenes of fiery debates. … The government stopped his journal in the post-office. He then established a staff of messengers and carriers, who circulated it from village to village. The enthusiasm of the people was fast rising to a flame. A crisis was imminent. It was resolved to arrest Kossuth. … He was seized, and shut up in the Neuhaus, a prison built at Pesth by Joseph II. He was, however, not brought to trial till 1839, and was then sentenced to four years' imprisonment. The charge brought against him was, that he had circulated false and inaccurate reports; but the real ground of offence was, as everyone knew, that he had circulated any reports at all. … Kossuth, after his liberation from prison, had taken up his abode for a short period at a watering place called Parad, for the purpose of recruiting his shattered health, and for a time wholly abstained from taking any part in public affairs. {1685} On the first of January, 1841, however, a printer in Pesth, named Landerer, obtained permission to publish a journal entitled 'Pesthi Hirlap,' or the Pesth Gazette. He offered the editorship to Kossuth, who accepted it, but only on condition that he should be perfectly untrammelled in the expression of his opinions. … Kossuth … soon raised the circulation of his paper to 10,000 copies—an immense number in a country where the newspaper press had hitherto hardly had a footing. He made vigorous onslaughts upon the privileges of the noblesse, and pleaded the cause of the middle and lower classes unanswerably. … In 1844, owing to a change of ministry which threw the liberals out of office, he lost the editorship of the Gazette; but he had kindled a flame which now blazed fiercely enough of itself."

_E. L. Godkin, History of Hungary, chapter 21._

HUNGARY: A. D. 1847-1849. The struggle for National Independence and its failure.

"A strong spirit of nationality had been growing up for many years, greatly fostered by Louis Kossuth, a newspaper editor. The old Magyar language, which had been treated as barbarous, was cultivated. Books and papers were printed in the tongue, all with the spirit of independence as a country and a race apart from that of the Austrians. In November, 1847, Ferdinand V. had opened the Diet in person, and proposed reforms in the Constitution were put before him. Count Batthyani, Prince Esterhazy, Kossuth, and others, drew up a scheme which was laid before the Emperor in the April of 1848, amid the crash of revolutions, and was assented to by him. But the other tribes within the kingdom of Hungary, the Rascians and Croats, began to make separate demands, and to show themselves stronger than the Magyars and Germans scattered among them. It was strongly suspected that they were encouraged by the Austrian powers in order to break down the new Hungarian constitution. The Hungarian council applied to have their national troops recalled from Lombardy, where, under Radetzky, they were preserving the Emperor's power; but this could not be granted, and only a few foreign regiments, whom they distrusted, were sent them. Disturbances broke out, and at the same time the Wallachians in Transylvania rose, and committed ravages on the property of Hungarians. The confusion was great, for these insurgents called the constitutional government of Hungary rebels, and professed to be upholding the rights of the Emperor, and, on the other hand, the Hungarian government viewed them as rebels. … Meantime a high-spirited Croatian officer, Baron Jellachich, had been appointed Ban of Croatia, and collected forces from among his wild countrymen to put down the Hungarian rule. … Jellachich advanced upon Pesth, and thus showed the Government there that in Ferdinand's eyes they were the rebels. Batthyani resigned, and Kossuth set himself to raise the people. Jellachich was defeated, and entered the Austrian states, appearing to menace Vienna. The effect of this was a tremendous insurrection of the Viennese, who seized Latour, the minister at war, savagely murdered him, and hung his body, stripped naked, to a lamp-post. The Viennese, under the command of the Polish General Bern, now prepared for a siege, while Windischgrätz and Jellachich collected a large army of Austrians and Croatians, besieged the city, stormed it on the 30th of October, and made an entrance, when all the ringleaders of the rebellion were treated with great severity. Jellachich then prepared to lead his Croats into Hungary, which was a very different matter, since the constitutional government there had been formed under the sanction and encouragement of Ferdinand. Kossuth and the rest of the ministry therefore thought themselves justified in naming a committee of public safety, and voting the raising of an army of 200,000 men. Ferdinand V., now an old man, felt himself no longer capable of coping with all the discordant forces of the empire; a family council was held at Olmütz, whither the Court had retired, and it was decided that he should abdicate, and that his next brother, Francis Charles, should waive his right in favour of his son, Francis Joseph, a promising and amiable young man of twenty, who, it was hoped, would conciliate matters. On December 2d, 1848, the change was made, and the new Emperor put forth a proclamation, promising constitutional government, liberty of the press, and all that could conduce to true freedom, but called on all faithful subjects to repress the rebellions that were raging in the provinces. Both in Lombardy and in Hungary this was taken as defiance; indeed, the Magyars considered that neither the abdication of Ferdinand, nor the accession of Francis Joseph to their throne, was valid without the consent of the Diet. Prince Windischgrätz was sent to reduce them with a considerable army, while Kossuth showed remarkable ability in getting together supplies for the Hungarian force, which was commanded by Generals Bem and Görgei. The difficulties of passing the mountains in the winter told much against the Austrians, though a corps of Russians was sent to their assistance. Five considerable battles were fought in the early spring of 1849, and in April Windischgrätz was fairly driven across the Danube out of the country."

_C. M. Yonge, Landmarks of Recent History, chapter 3, part 5._