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
We hope that the Peace Congress, and the economists, and the
free-traders, are all equally delighted with this notable exhibition
of their hero. If they are so, we certainly have no further commentary
to offer. To secure peace, Mr Cobden openly defies and challenges
Russia; to further economy, he does his best to inflame the passions of
the people, and to get up a cry for war; to vindicate free trade, he
proposes henceforward to coerce Lombard Street. Is there, in all the
history of imposture, an instance comparable to this? Possibly there
may be; but, if so, we are certain it was better veiled.
The evil luck of Mr Cobden still clung to him. Within a very short time
after this memorable meeting was held, the Hungarian armies surrendered
at discretion, and the insurrection was thoroughly quenched. Not two,
not even one complete campaign, were necessary to put an end to an
ill-advised struggle, in which the hearts of the Hungarian people were
never sincerely enlisted; and good men hoped that the sword might now
be sheathed in the eastern territories of Europe. That portion of
the press which had sympathised with the insurgents, and hailed with
frantic delight the suicidal resolution of the Hungarian chiefs to
separate themselves for ever from the house of Austria, was terribly
mortified at a result so speedy and unexpected; and did its best to
keep up the excitement at home, by multiplying special instances of
cruelty and barbarity said to have been wrought by the victors on the
persons of their vanquished foemen. That many such instances really
occurred we do not for a moment doubt. When the passions of men have
been inflamed by civil war, and whetted by a desire for vengeance,
it is always difficult for the authorities to preserve a proper
restraint. This is the case even among civilised nations; and when
we reflect that a large portion of the troops on either side engaged
in the Hungarian war, cannot with any justice be termed civilised,
it is no wonder if deeds of wanton atrocity should occur. Indeed,
late events may lead us to question how far civilisation, on such
occasions, can ever operate as a check. Who could have believed that
last year, in Frankfort, a young and gallant nobleman, whose sole
offence was, the free expressions of his opinions in a parliament
convened by universal suffrage, should have been put to death at
noonday by lingering torments, and his groans of agony echoed back by
the laughter of his brutal assassins? The names of Felix Lichnowsky
and Von Auerswaldt will surely long be remembered to the infamy of
that city which was the birthplace of Goethe, and boasted of itself
as the refined capital of the Rhenish provinces. A veil of mystery
still hangs over the circumstances connected with the assassination
of Count Latour; and though we are unwilling to give currency to a
rumour, which would entail infamy on the memory of one who has since
passed to his account, the victim of an unbridled ambition, strong
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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