Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 66, No 409, November 1849Various
History
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 66, No 409, November 1849
Various
England -- Periodicals; Scotland -- Periodicals
Such being our sentiments, it is with considerable pain that we feel
ourselves called upon to notice as strong an instance of charlatanism
and presumption as was ever exhibited in this country. Fortunately,
on this occasion, the offender has gone so far that no one can be
blind to his delinquencies; for, if there be any truth in the abstract
principles of the Peace Association, their last disciple has disowned
them; if the doctrines of free trade were intended to have universal
application, Richard Cobden, in the face of the universe, has entered
his protest against them. It signifies very little to us, and less to
the powers against whom he has thundered his anathemas, what Mr Cobden
thinks proper either to profess or repudiate; still, as he has been
pleased to attempt the performance of the part of Guy Fawkes, we judge
it necessary to conduct him from the coal-cellar, and to throw the
light of the lantern upon his visage, and that of his accomplices. And,
first, a word or two as to the occasion of his last appearance.
The recent Hungarian rising is by no means to be classed in the same
category with the wretched Italian insurrections. Much as it is to
be deplored that any misunderstanding should have arisen between
the Austrian cabinet and the Hungarian Diet, so serious as to have
occasioned a war; we look upon the latter body as uninfluenced by
those wild democratic notions which have been and are still prevalent
in the west of Europe. Whatever may have been the case with Kossuth,
and some of his more ambitious confederates, the mass of the Hungarian
people had no wish whatever to rise in rebellion against their king.
Their quarrel was that of a minor state to which certain privileges
had been guaranteed; against the presumed infringement of which, by
their more powerful neighbour, they first protested, and finally
had recourse to arms. Their avowed object, throughout the earlier
part of the struggle, was not to overturn, but to maintain, certain
existing institutions: and it is remarkable that, from the day on
which Kossuth threw off the mask, and renounced allegiance to his
sovereign, the Hungarians lost confidence in their leader, and their
former energy decayed. We need not now discuss the abstract justice
of the Hungarian claims; but whatever may be thought of these, we
must, in common fairness to Austria, consider her peculiar position
at the time when they were sought to be enforced. Concessions which,
during a season of tranquillity, might have been gracefully made, were
rendered almost impossible when demanded with threats, in the midst
of insurrection and revolt. It was but too obvious that the leaders
of the Hungarian movement, forgetful of their fealty to the chief of
that great empire of which their country formed a part, were bent upon
increasing instead of lessening the difficulties with which Austria was
everywhere surrounded, and eager to avail themselves of distractions
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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