Many of the patriots had accompanied Kossuth to Turkey, or found a
refuge in other foreign countries, and for ten years a great number
of distinguished Hungarians were compelled to taste the bitterness
of exile. Kossuth himself went subsequently to England, and visited
also the United States. In the latter country he was enthusiastically
received by the free and great American nation, who took delight in
his lofty eloquence. During the Crimean war, and the war of 1859 in
Italy, Kossuth and the Hungarian exiles were zealously laboring to
free their country by foreign aid from the thraldom of oppression. At
last, however, the Hungarian nation succeeded in reconquering, without
any aid from abroad, by her own exertions, her national and political
rights, and made her peace with the ruling dynasty. But the Hungarian
exiles had their full share in the work of reconciliation, for it was
owing to their exertions that the nations of Europe remembered that, in
spite of Világos, Hungary still existed, and that again, at home, the
people of Hungary were not permitted to lose their faith in a better
and brighter future. Kossuth, the Nestor of the struggle for liberty,
lives at present in retirement in Turin, and, although separated from
his people by diverging political theories, his countrymen will forever
cherish in him the great genius who gave liberty to millions of the
oppressed peasantry, and who indelibly inscribed on the pages of the
national legislation the immortal principles of liberty and equality of
rights.
It is proper, however, to present in their regular order the chief
events through which down-trodden Hungary of 1849 became from a
subordinate province again an independent kingdom, taking part as an
equal partner in the great realm of Austria-Hungary.
It was not until 1854 that the state of siege inaugurated in 1849
was abolished, and only in 1856 that an amnesty was proclaimed. In
1857 the emperor visited Hungary, and during his stay, he decreed
the restoration of their confiscated estates to the late political
offenders. From this time the emperor and the government of Vienna
seemed anxious, by means of concessions to the national aims, to cause
the Hungarians to forget the bitterness and strife of 1848 and 1849. In
1858 agricultural colonists were given special inducements to settle in
specified districts, and were allowed certain exemptions from taxation.
In 1859 a most important concession was made by the imperial government
to the spirit of nationality. By a ministerial order the language used
in the higher schools was for the future to be regulated according
to the circumstances of nationality, the predominance of German
being thereby abolished. In the same year was issued what was known
as the Protestant patent, which granted to the communes the free
administration of their own educational and religious matters.
[Illustration: WOMAN’S HEAD-DRESS.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account