: vantage of their influence in Italy, whilst other | however supported by the French, by Poland, nations repaired thither only towards the sixteenth century. Schools were opened in Hungary, which soon became so celebrated, that the youth of all the neighboring countries flocked to them for instruction, and the court of the glorious Matthias was thronged by poets and men of science. and by the Transylvanians; the latter under the government of their elective princes, during that period repelled the ascendancy of Austria; and these wars were so completely national, that to the present day the names of Botskai, Bethlon, Tököli, Rakotzi are "Familiar in their mouths as household words," for the Hungarians will never forget the heroes who so valiantly defended their beloved country. We are astounded at this progress in intellectual improvement, when we reflect on the continued struggles the Hungarians had to maintain against invading nations. But this progress was abruptly checked when Hungary submitted to foreign domination. Their genius for the arts, which thus developed itself despite their sanguinary wars with the Turks, has been altogether unnoticed by Austrian historians. Were we to credit them, the Hungarians knew nothing of civilization until they caine under the government of Austria. This is doubly falsifying the real facts. Germany certainly exercised a salutary influence over Hungary, when, under the sway of her national | Catholic. She had powerfully aided in the kings, millions of colonists from the German States spread throughout the Hungarian territories the spirit of Christianity, and at the same time a taste for agriculture and the arts; and it is strange that German writers should have forgotten this. But this salutary influence ceased the moment that the politics of the Emperors rendered everything that emanated from Germany suspicious in the eyes of the Hunga rians. The reverse at Mohacz which the Hungarians suffered in 1526, raised the Austrian dynasty to the throne. The exhausted nation considered that it was securing its welfare by entrusting its sceptre to Ferdinand, the king of the Romans, whose brother, Charles the V., had declared himself the enemy of the Ottomans, If, after that disastrous epoch, the German princes had governed that country with any semblance of justice or generosity, a country which had with so much confidence and loyalty submitted to their domination, they would have attached the whole Hungarian population by indissoluble bonds. But a short-sighted policy induced them to treat Hungary as a conquered country, and to violate the oaths they had taken to guaranty its independence. The Emperors roused to desperation the spirit of a generous nation, whose patriotic feelings had so frequently burst forth during the secular wars. ceived in their rightful hopes, and being threatened with still greater evils, the Hungarians sought a refuge in legitimate revolt. It was not until the year 1687 that the article in the Golden Bull, which authorized an armed resistance to a tyrannic sovereign, was annulled. The two centuries subsequent to the assumption of regal power by the Austrian princes, were productive of innumerable evils to this country, for it was devastated by both the Imperials and the Turks. The insurrection was De The virulence of Austrain oppression was productive of two consequences, immense in their importance, and which speak more elo quently and clearly than all the details transmitted to us by history these were, the progress of the Protestant religion, and the alliance of the Hungarians with the Turks. From its immediate contact with the infidels Hungary had, like Spain, become passionately extermination of the Hussites, while still governed by her own national kings. They who in the Holy Wars had borne upon their banners the image of the Virgin, would not, it might have been imagined, have been likely to become the soldiers of the Reformation. On its first appearance in Germany, the Hungarians proscribed it by rigorous laws; the Diet threatened the apostles of heresy with fire and stake. A few years subsequently the kingdom of Hungary fell from its high estate, and the very fact of the Emperors sustaining the cause of Catholicism, sufficed to render it unpopular. Hungary, from one extremity to the other, became almost universally Protestant. From a spirit of opposition, Protestantism became the religion of Hungary, though we may here observe, that the Confession of Augsburg, accepted by the Germans and Sclavonians, was rejected by the Hungarians, on account of its German origin. They adopted Calvinism, which came from France. It was a French Pope, Sylvester II., who in the tenth century converted them to Christianity. The bearing of this fact is demonstrated by the alliance which ensued between the Hungarians and the Turks. The middle ages had been for them but one continued struggle against Mohammedanism. It was in order to repel the Ottomans that, notwithstanding the fatal experience of former times, they had called the Austrian princes to ascend the throne of Hungary. Their bondage having become too oppressive, the Hungarians now invoked the assistance of the Sultans against the Christian kings who had trampled on their rights. After having read the history of the Holy Wars, after seeing the traces of ruin they have left in many parts of Hungary, we cannot refrain from asking, To what excess must this imperial tyranny have arrived, to have induced the Hungarians to open their ranks to their eternal and irreconcilable enemies. The perusal of the archives of the Diet, and those of the municipal bodies at this period, moves one even to tears. During nearly a whole century the Diet in their representations to the emperors respectfully state that the greatest evils they had to endure, were not occasioned by the Turkish government, or the Turkish troops, but by Christian rulers and Christian soldiers; that the municipal bodies paid to the Emperor in one single year a sum equal to that which they had paid during the course of fifty years to the Turks, when subjected to them. That religious feeling which was paramount to all others with the Hungarians, during the middle ages, was only effaced by national feeling when the Ottomans abstained from wars of proselytism, to undertake wars having a purely political object. The last of the Hungarian insurrections which, owing to the aid of Louis XIV., who was the most energetic of all the enemies of Austria, continued during eight years, was but newly pacified when Charles VI. ascended the throne, (1711.) This revolt, as has been the case with all those which preceded it, was appeased by negotiation. Austria had been vanquished, inasmuch as she renounced her illegitimate pretensions, and engaged to respect the national independence of Hungary. The humane policy of Charles VI., who cast from him all the trammels of Austrian misrule, acquired for him the complete submission of the kingdom. Therefore, in 1722, the Diet accept ed the Pragmatic sanction which assured to the female descendant of Charles the succession to the crown of Hungary. When the time arrived for this compact to be respected by the whole of Europe; when foreign courts combined to despoil Maria Theresa of this right, it was to Hungary that the queen flew for protection, and implored its succor. The affairs of the queen were altogether desperate; not a town remained to her in Austria in which she could trust herself to be delivered of the child she then bore; but Maria Theresa, a woman of superior mind, relied only on her own instinct. She silenced the aged counsellors, who were alarmed at her excitement, and appeared in the midst of the Diet. There, with the noble confidence of an elevated soul, addressing itself to people of a generous nature, she frankly avowed to the assembly that she was irreparably lost if Hungary did not espouse her cause. The heroic answer of the Hungarian nobles is well known; they with one voice swore to die for their King, Maria Theresa.* * Notwithstanding all Voltaire has said, Maria Theresa instead of making any concessions to the Hungarians took advantage of their enthu Montesquieu, in writing of these events, says, "The house of Austria had incessantly labored to oppress the Hungarian nobility. It knew not of what value it would one day prove. It endeavored to extract from them money which did not exist, and saw not the men who there existed. When so many princes divided her States among them, all the portions of the monarchy, lifeless and inert, fell, as it may be said, piecemeal. There was life only in that nobility, which, yielding to their feelings of indignation, forgot their wrongs to rush into the battlefield, thinking it their glory to perish and to pardon." Armies suddenly sprang up and issued from Hungary, astounding Europe by the singularity of their costume and their war-cries; they drove back the enemy's troops beyond the Rhine and the Alps. After seven years' incessant warfare, the peace of Aix la Chapelle (1748) secured to Maria Theresa the inheritance of Charles VI. All she had lost was Silesia. Maria Theresa never forgot the scene at Presbourg; she retained towards the Hungarians a lively feeling of gratitude, of which she gave continual proofs during the whole course of her reign. If her administration appears not so favorable towards Hungary as might have been anticipated, it is to her ministers that the blame should be adjudged. The good which Maria Theresa effected for that country proceeded from herself; any evil inflicted upon it must be attributed to another source. She had captivated the Hungarians by at once duly appreciating their generous feelings, and by unconditionally throwing herself upon them for support. She afterwards gave them the means of acquiring glory, and won their hearts by her admiration of their chivalric character. The seductions which she exercised over a people naturally enthusiastic rendered her capable of undertaking a work, which she, alone, could have accomplished. She persuaded the sons of those rough warriors who had so long borne arms against the Emperors, to visit her court at Vienna, and there loaded them with favors. The Empress knew them all, addressed each by name, married them to Austrian women, and stood godmother to their children. It is a curious study, when visiting the castles of Hungary, to examine the galleries of family portraits which they contain. From the earliest periods, the features are all oriental. The men have an heroic air, such as we can imagine natural to those daring cavaliers, who almost invariably terminated their career on the battle-field, combatting against the Turks. The women appear austere and sorrowful-feelings which their continual anxiety would necessarily produce. But from the time of Maria Theresa, all this at once is changed, even to the style of features and the expression of their tenances. It is easy to perceive that they have 14 siasm to obtain concessions from them. VOL. IV. NO. II. NEW SERIES. coun ners. been at the court of Vienna, and have there acquired more gentle and more refined manThe contrast is striking in the portrait of the magnate who first espoused an Austrian wife. The Hungarian occupies but a corner of the picture; he is standing in a dignified attitude, his left hand resting upon the hilt of his curved sabre; in his right he holds a ponderous mace. Immense spurs are attached to his yellow boots. He wears a long-laced dohlmann, and hussar pantaloons embroidered with gold. From his shoulders hangs a rich pelisse or a tiger's skin. His black moustache is pendant in the Turkish fashion, and his long hair falls in clustering ringlets round his neck. There is something semi-barbarous in the appearance of that man. His wife is in the centre of the picture, seated, and attired in a court dress. She evidently reigns paramount. Near her arm-chair are her children, who already some extracts regarding the late events in Hungary; but they are too conflicting to form any positive judgment upon them. When these noble patriots, now struggling for their dearest rights, defeat the armies sent to subjugate them, it is useless to look to the Vienna journals for any correct statement of the results; they have too great an interest in concealing them. We trust that the next arrival will bring us the Hungarian accounts. The Magyars seem determined to hold Raab at all cost. It is garrisoned by ten thousand men with forty cannon. Kossuth was for some days in Raab, which is the birthplace of his wife, and harangued the people. Field-marshal Haynau, intending to make up for the small defeats which the Austrians had suffered on the 6th, 7th, and 9th inst., marched on the 12th a strong corps to Vajka, and advanced on the 13th on the banks of the Dan have blue eyes and Austrian lips. The chilube, while General Schlick had been ordered dren are hers, and hers alone; they, like her, wear powder, resemble her, surround her and speak to her. Of course they are speaking German. From the preceding details results a striking lesson which the sovereigns of Austria ought never to have forgotten. Whenever they have attempted to oppress Hungary, to violently ravish from her her independence and her liberty, she has resisted, revolted, combatted, even during two whole centuries, without fearing to incur the greatest possible disasters. When the Emperors, inspired by a generous policy, agree to respect the laws which they have sworn to maintain, that valiant nation at once forgets her wrongs, casts from her all idea of resentment, and rushes forward in their defense. "Let them be your fathers and brothers, reduce none of them to servitude, do not call any of them your serfs; let them be your soldiers, not your slaves. If anger, pride, or envy should hurry you into excess, they will transfer your power to others." These words, which Saint Stephen, one of the first kings of Hungary, addressed to his son to describe the character of his subjects, are still strikingly appropriate, even after the lapse of nine hundred years; for the whole history of the Hungarians proves the indomitable energy of that people, and their constant and ardent love of liberty. Open, for example, their archives and read this paragraph, contained in a memorial addressed by the Diet to the Emperor at a moment when Austrian cannon were planted to mow them down. "Be assured, sire, that we will all perish, before our liberty shall perish!" The Last News from Hungary. to cross the Danube, to occupy Wieselburg and to subdue the city of Raab. General Schlick was preparing to obey these orders, but he found himself suddenly surrounded by a superior number of Hungarians, who attacked him with great violence, and took fourteen field-pieces, besides forcing him to recross the Danube, and to retire to the vicinity of Altenburg. Above five hundred men of General Schlick's corps, most of them natives of Gallicia, deserted to the Hungarians. Field-marshal Haynau, finding himself unsupported by Schlick's corps, regained his former position. Letters from Wieselburg of the 21st inst. state, that the Imperialists are at the distance of about twelve English miles from Raab, in the direction of Hochstrass, and they boastingly add, what cannot under the circumstances be true, that the Hungarians continue to retreat before the advancing columns of their enemies. Vienna papers of the 23d inst. contain an official statement of the defeat of the Imperialist brigades under Generals Rott and Theyssing, who, on the 20th inst., were attacked by the Hungarians, and thrown back upon Perad and A'Stelly, where their flight was stopped by the opportune arrival of a Russian brigade under General Paniutin. It was reported at Vienna that Jellachich had forced Peterwardein to capitulate. The real fact is that he has been forced to raise the siege of that place, and to evacuate Neusatz, where his troops were too much exposed to the fire from the fortress. He continued only in the occupation of one of the suburbs, which lies out of the range of gun-shot from Peterwardein. Jellachich would seem to have fallen into disfavor with the Emperor. The Wiener Zeitung publishes an Imperial decree, appointing Since the above was written, we have seen Baron Haynau to the post of commander-inpapers from Europe, from which we have made | chief of the Imperialist troops in the kingdom of Hungary and in the Grand Duchy of Tran- | yet reached Vienna, though it would appear sylvania. This decree, by which Baron Jellachich is superseded in the Hungarian crownlands, will prove rather unfavorable than otherwise to the Austrian cause. Haynau, whose savage disposition has obtained for him the title of the butcher of Brescia, has hanged an evangelical clergyman named Razga, whose eloquence as a preacher has long procured him overflowing congregations, for addressing seditious language to the people. The execution of Razga took place at four o'clock on the morning of June 18, in the castle. The excitement of the people may be conceived from the precautions adopted by the authorities. All the streets leading to the castle were strongly occupied by military; the cannon on the bastions were loaded, with lit matches at hand. No greater service could be done to the cause of the Magyars. Razga, although young, was the father of five children. He met his death with great firmness, delivering a speech in defense of his conduct, and ended with, "God bless the fatherland!" It is said that four Russian corps had entered Hungary by way of Ducla, Komuna, Grab, and Isby, amounting to one hundred and forty-four thousand men. It was stated at Vienna that part of this force had already advanced to Epericsh and Kashau, and that it was intended to push them forward upon Debretzin and Grasswardein. The Austrian papers also state that the Russians have at length entered Transylvania by the north and south. General Luders, with twenty-five thousand men, is reported to be at Cronstadt. that the result is the frustration of a most obstinate attempt of the Hungarians to cross the Waag. On the morning of the 20th instant, they had actually got possession of the right bank of the river, but were eventually obliged to return to their former positions. In the mean time, General Gorgey had come up with reinforcements, and the imperial leader, Wohlgemuth, with his fifteen thousand men, was reduced to the necessity of acting entirely on the defensive, until, upon the arrival of Russian reinforcements, a fierce battle ensued, which continued till night parted the combatants. "The fight recommenced on the afternoon of the following day, and lasted throughout all the evening, and the whole of the next day. The Hungarians fought with furious obstinacy, but they could not prevail against the united Imperialist forces; and after a three days' battle, General Georgey was compelled to lead his troops back upon Terkashd, Negyed, and Guta. He crossed the Waag at the two first-mentioned places, and finished by destroying the bridge at Negyed. At Guta, the fugitive Hungarians made head against their Imperialist foes, and being surrounded by swamps on each side, and close to the fortress of Komoru, it was found a matter of impossibility to dislodge them. "The losses of the Hungarians and Imperialists were almost equal, viz: about three thousand men killed on either side. It is generally believed that General Georgey, after his retreat across the Waag, fell back upon Komoru, and that his head-quarters are at Their northern column has entered by Pojana | present at Gonyo or Raab. The entry of the Stampi, and taken possession of Bistriz, where they have been joined by Colonel Urbau and his free corps of borderers. A third Russian division of twenty-five thousand men is quartered in the Szekler district. The son of Dembinski has been arrested at Cracow by order of the Imperial cabinet. He is to be a hostage, and Russia caused the step to be taken. Several arrests have taken place at Prague, where the temper of the populace still remains threatening. Their loyalty is not likely to be freshened by a new levy of recruits which has just been decreed for Bohemia. No less than ten thousand Cszechs are, in this instance, to be taken from their native country and employed against the Hungarians, with whom they sympathize. Experience has shown that these Imperialist levies are the most efficient means to recruit Hungarian regiments. - New York Herald. From the London "Times" of 30th June. "We have received our Vienna papers and letters to the 24th instant. The details of the last battles on the banks of the Waag had not Russians into Transylvania is confirmed by the Agramer Zeitung, in which it is stated that Funfkirchen was occupied by the Imperialists on the 18th instant, and that the inhabitants were treated with extreme severity. Our correspondent informs us that the misunderstanding between the Prussian and Austrian governments is daily on the increase. General Guyon, an Irishman of distinguished bravery, is made governor of the all-important fortress of Komoru." It will be seen by the above account, which bears the impress of being written by a friend to Austria, that the Magyars have made a noble stand, even when opposed to the combined Austrian and Russian armies. It acknowledges that the loss was about equal, and that the fugitive Hungarians had taken up a position from which they could not be driven. This certainly has not much the appearance of running away. CIRCASSIA. It would appear that the Russians will have occupation enough in the fighting way. Wherever there is a noble and enlightened people, jealous of their liberty and national independence, there are the Russians to be found endeavoring to put them down. She has subjugated Poland, but we trust that Circassia and Hungary will long withstand her. Advices from Trebizond confirm the taking of the Russian fortress Mami, on the Black Sea, by the Circassians. The garrison, consisting of four thousand men, were taken prisoners, with the exception of one thousand, who were put to death. The enemy also took five thousand muskets and one hundred and fifty cannon, destroyed the most important points of the fortress, and then encamped on a neighboring height, where a fresh encounter with the Russians was expected. FRANCE. Events of an important nature have occurred in France since our last number. Another insurrection had been plotted, and would have led to serious consequences, but for the energy displayed by the government. The Montagnard party, in the National Assembly, had proposed that the administration should be arraigned for its conduct in the Roman expedition, and a committee was appointed to examine into and report upon the question. The report was unfavorable to the views of the Montagnards, and the conclusions of the committee were adopted by a majority of 377 against 8, the Montagnard members having abstained from voting. The proposal for the accusation of the ministers was therefore negatived. On the following day, the 13th of June, the Montagnards convened a meeting of the inhabitants of Paris and the National Guard, unarmed, at the Fountain on the Boulevard Saint Martin, thence to proceed to the National Assembly in procession, in order to remind it of the respect due to the Constitution. About half-past one, the meeting, which had assembled at the Fountain, began its march, uttering loud shouts. At the head of the column were M. Etienne Arago, chief of battalion of the 3d legion, and Colonel Guinard, commandant of the legion of artillery of the National Guard, the greater portion of which followed their chief. Some demonstrations having been made unfavorable to the procession, several pistol shots were fired, and two or three persons wounded. The head of the column had almost reached the Church de la Madelaine, when General Changarnier with four battalions of infantry, and eight squadrons of cavalry, issued from the Rue de la Paix. After having, by means of four commissaries of police, summoned the persons in the procession to disperse, and this not being attended to, he ordered the troops to charge right and left along the boulevards. The insurrectionists were immediately put to the rout, flying in all directions. Etienne Arago in this melée was precipitated from the boulevard into the Rue basse du Rempart, some twenty feet, and was much injured. In the mean time, as the procession had advanced, barricades had been formed at intervals behind it, on the boulevards, and to prevent the fugitives from forming behind these barricades, the troops drove them from them, and took possession of them. M. Ledru Rollin, with several of the Montagnard members, had repaired to the building called the Conservatory of Arts and Trades. Colonel Guinard had ac accompanied him with some of his legion, and Messrs. Boichot and Rattier, the two sergeants who have been elected members of the National Assembly, were also of the party. A slight barricade had been thrown up to defend the approach to this place, but it was speedily taken possession of by the regular troops, and Ledru Rollin, Boichot, and Rattier escaped through the garden and a narrow alley, and have managed to avoid being taken. By one account it is asserted that Ledru Rollin had arrived in Geneva; by another that he had crossed the Belgian frontier, had taken the steamer at Ostend, and was gone to London. The papers of many persons concerned in the insurrection having been seized, it was found to have extensive ramifications, and that its real object was to overturn the present administration-declare them, as well as the President, without the pale of the law-to form a new government, of which Ledru Rollin was to be Dictator. There can be no doubt that the insurrection was intended to be general, as disturbances broke out at Lyons and several other places; but it was much more serious at Lyons than elsewhere. However, after two days' struggle, the troops defeated the insurgents, destroyed the barricades, and order was at length completely restored. In Paris upwards of three hundred persons were arrested as being participators in the conspiracy; Colonel Guinard and Colonel Forestier, chief of battalion of the 6th legion of the National Guard, being among the num ber. The only effect of this insane attempt has been to strengthen the hands of the government, and altogether to destroy the influence of the Montagnard party. Many of the Parisian papers teem with jests and witticisms against them; and as ridicule is the most dreaded weapon wherewith a party can be attacked in France, there is no chance of their again rallying. Paris has again been declared in a state of siege, after a long deliberation in the National Assembly. A commission was appointed to examine the "project of decree" relative to this measure; and General Cavaignac was appointed president of this commission; they were unanimous in their adoption of the deOn the return of the committee, Gen. cree. |