won. supplies of men, and the modification of the laws,
the 1. And first, as to the merits of the'reply. The Emperor, supreme power has belonged to and been exercised by the it will be remembered, never absolutely denied the existence independent Hungarian Diet. of Hungary in past days as a separate constitutional kingdom. 2. Hungary, therefore, publishes her final resolve. His own position rests too solely on an historic basis for him will adhere to the Pragmatic Sanction, and that alone. to attempt to expunge the past. He only argued that the "solemnly protests" against any act of the Reichsra al- right to separate existence, always inconvenient, had been tended to be operative in Hungary, "maintains u dusty clouds of difficulty around the question of economical tacitly given up, that during centuries Hungary had been administration. They entertained no prejudices about any- governed as part of the Austrian Empire, and that to reas- thing, but found unanswerable objections and risks in Bert a right so long dormant was revolutionary and absurd. every change. What wonder that the mass of the Liberals There is no -doubt force in that line of argument if only it are divided, that many of them, in their disgust at the evil, were but true. The incessant recurrence of a precedent and the helplessness of the party that used to push en does constitute a law, even in politics, and the tacit consent a reform, hope, by rallying round Mr. Gladstone, to foree of a population must sometimes be held equivalent to their economy at the wrong end by sapping the resources of ex- formal acknowledgment of right. Nobody would affirm that travagance ? Here again the vulgar Liberalism is right in its the sovereignty of the Queen in Wales existed in spite of the deep conviction that thrift is the essence of national power people, though the principality is the only province of the and honour, but it meets only with languid sympathy in three kingdoms which never by formal act accepted the principle, and frank confessions of the insuperable difficulty British line. Nor would a sound civilian deny that the volun- of the task, from the cultivated exponents of its opinions. tary acceptance of popular parliamentary laws by the people Once more, in foreign questions, like the American and the of the Channel Islands, if continued for a series of years, Hungarian, the fundamental sympathy of the true Liberal would render them liable to obey laws emanating from the with the cause of freedom, in whatever connexion or disguise, same authority which they did not happen to like. If Hun- gets little countenance from the cultivated thinkers of the gary for centuries had really submitted to be considered as party. The disgust for the vulgar mid boastful concomitants part of Austria, her legal right to autonomy would be most of American democracy so entirely envelops and eclipses in gravely diminished. The Emperor declares that she has so their sight the alternative of liberty or slavery at the bottom submitted, that in foreign affairs an absolute unity has been of the struggle, that the new which the Liberal party in established and sanctioned by common consent, that the Hun- England is bound to take of it has as yet had no public ex- garian Ministry has been consulted as part of the general pression at all. Instead of this, the literary_Liberals pour forth Ministry of the Empire, and that Hungarian soldiers have caustic comments on the gross vulgarities and irritable arro- bled by the side of Austrian comrades. The illustration is gance towards England shown in the Northern politics. We powerful because the facts are patent to all men, but the reply are quite aware of these offensive peculiarities, but we assert is none the less prompt and 'unanswerable. What may have that they should count little indeed, to a true Liberal, beside happened before the Pragmatic Sanction, M. Deak does not the great principle at issue in the conflict. Not thus, how- attempt to discuss. Whatever may have been the previous ever, thinks the critical and inanimate Liberalism of the position of the two monarchies, the King in that document, literary classes, which is angered at nothing but ignorance, in order to secure the succession in the female line, solemnly vulgarity, and bigotry, while it has half lost its impatience and of his own free will guaranteed the separate and integral of immoral abuses, and its glowing sympathy with human .existence of the Hungarian kingdom. The evidence adduced freedom. The tone of its leaders would be that of the by the Emperor, therefore, is valid only since that date, and grave, sad words of the despondent poet, were it only half as from that time, says M. Deak, there has been no unity save profoundly conscious of the bitterness of its own emptiness ; in foreign affairs. " The method, the condition, and the forms " The great events with which old story rings prescribed by law, by which the prince becomes King of Seem vain and hollow ; I find nothing great, Hungary, is one thing ; the steps by which he ascends the Nothine'' is left that I can venerate ; throne of the inherited lands are another. He governs us So thata doubt almost within me springs according to one system, the inherited lands according to Of Providence; such emptiness at length another. His sovereign rights here are legally not the same Seems at the heart of all things." in all their parts, as there. Even the personal union of the of nationality, " or devoid of political moderation, would do well to ponder that sentence. The Emperor himself 11HE HUNGARIAN PETITION OF RIGHTS. could not have stated his prerogative in terms more abso- if BEAK'S reply to the imperial rescript deserved the lute than these Hungarian Whigs employ. M. von Schiller- ItIL• shout of applause with which the Hungarian nobles ling could scarcely demand a concession more utterly sub- announced their unanimous consent to its terms. It might versive of the idea that the Hungarians are contending only have been drawn by Somers and corrected by William the for nationality. Everything their king requires to elevate his Third, so full is it of constitutional knowledge and poli- position in Europe is freely conceded, and Hungary may tical pride. Issued at a moment when an armed struggle point to her history in proof that the right to decide on with the throne seemed almost inevitable, and when Hun- foreign relations is no complimentary phrase, but one which • gary stood accused at the bar of Europe of a needless has been supported time and again by a lavish expenditure and irritating obstinacy, it was necessary that the final of blood and treasure. As to the presence of Hungarians in address of the Diet to its King should be at once a the general Ministry, M. Deak reminds his sovereign that reply and a manifesto, a reply in order • to justify before this Ministry discusses foreign affairs, and it was to aid in Europe the attitude assumed by the nation, and a manifesto that discussion, and in that only, that the Hungarians de- in order to assure the German counsellors of the King that mended admission, facts proved by the law, which admits national claims are not just subjects for barter and higgling. only "those Hungarians who shall wish to be employed in Both ends have been attained, and we do not hesitate to say foreign affairs." As to the army, it has bled, certainly, by that if the address could once be brought home to the minds the side of the Austrians ; but it has been recruited in a of the English people, if they could be induced to realize different manner, organized in separate regiments, and kept . how absolutely the position of the Hungarian Constitu- up by levies only voted after a separate statement before the tionalists in 1861, is that of the British Constitutionalists in Diet of the foreign affairs which require them. In every- 1688, the cause of Hungary would in this country be finally thing, indeed, save diplomacy, in the raising of taxes, the the right of the nation to vote its supplies and regulate its taxes and military levies in its own Diet," refuses to send deputies to the Austrian Reichsrath, proclaims the present adminis- tration " unconstitutional, and liable to punishment," de- clares that the Emperor has " broken off the thread of ne- gotiations," and finally accepts all the suffering her firm reso- lution may involve. There is not a word of menace, still less of insult, in the whole paper, but neither is there a shade of concession. The Diet, with "respectful sincerity," prefers to retain its privileges, "lays at the feet of his Imperial Royal Majesty" proof that he is a despot, and maintains, " with profoundest respect," its right to preserve untouched the free constitution of a thousand years. The political wisdom of this manifesto may be questioned by those who forget the character of the contending parties. They may argue that Hungary, even supposing her rights unimpeach- able, would have done better to offer terms, to make some concession, to define precisely the extent to which she con- ceives diplomatic action binding on her Parliament and people. The Diet, it may be argued, has obviously no wish to effect a final separation from Austria, and that design being out of the discussion, many varieties of compromise seem to be still possible. This view might be sound, were the Diet dealing with an equal power, or with one they could venture to trust. The English Parliament in 1642 would have done well, but for the character of Charles, to abstain from depriving him of military command. But the Hun- garians, like the English Parliament, have been too often betrayed. Their only safe ground is the narrowest one, the strictly legal rights which cannot be violated except by open force, and which, when so violated, remain de jure unim- paired. They dare not surrender a right, however insignifi- cant, because each surrender becomes a precedent for a further demand. Ship-money was only important because, if conceded, the King would have next demanded revenue sufficient to keep up an army. It is only when all rights have been conceded, when the constitution has been acknowledged, and a guarantee secured by the restoration of the Hungarian army, that the Diet can safely begin to discuss the terms of a defensive alliance with its Austrian rival. As in England, the grievance must be removed before the supply is voted. The members hold the constitution in trust for the people, and can no more surrender one privilege on a mere promise than they can give up the whole. Like the English dissenters under James the Second, they cannot even accept a just reform (such as the equality of the Roumans would be), lest in so doing they make a breach in the constitution upon which all their rights depend. The new constitution may be good enough, but, says M. Beak, some twenty times over, "the Reichsrath was created by absolute sovereign power," aid may, he implies, some day be put to death by its author.
The Hungarians, in short, willing to be Tories, are com- pelled in their own despite to be Whigs, and uphold every privilege which brings the prerogative under the control of law. That in spite of their terrible provocations they should still be willing to keep within constitutional limits, that the men who suffered as some of the members suffered in '48 should still exalt the royal prerogative over all foreign affairs, is an instance of political moderation almost without a parallel. The German professors call the Magyars un- civilized, but in all that makes up the pride of freemen, in moderation, and capacity, and calm resolve, the Diet of Pesth is as superior to the Parliament of Frankfort as is.the British Parliament to the National Assembly. Even Von Vincke, the chief of the Prussian Liberals, is but a fresh-water pilot by the side of the Magyar Beak.
It is a strange illustration of the political ignorance so often observed in England, that the Hungarian cause still meets only with partial sympathy. The very men who mourn over the sufferings of the Poles—a race incapable of political management—and who were ready to arm to deliver the Greeks—a race enslaved for two thousand years—strive to pooh-pooh a struggle conducted on English principles for English ends, and with English moderation. The-very peers who defended, most anxiously, the right of the populace of Paris to upset the dynasty of 1830, and proclaim aloud that the constitution of Poland has been violated, accuse the Hungarians who do not rise, and who ask only the constitu- tion their sovereigns have sworn to maintain, of a "mania for nationality." Lord Palmerston, who defended the Milanese for claiming freedom, hopes the Hungarians will agree to an " amicable" submission, and Mr. Roebuck, who denounces Louis Napoleon for suppressing constitutional freedom in France, praises Francis Joseph, who includes an a similar suppression the death of a nationality. The mischief, we firmly believe, proceeds solely from ignorance, but it justifies much of the continental sarcasm that Englishmen all love freedom " because it pays."
Previous page
