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Leader (1850-1860), 12th August 1854, Edition 2 of 2, Page 17

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      Hungary And Kossuth. Hungary And Us Revo...

      road of peaceful national prosperity and constitutional progress , and the nation will hai ? them with confidence as their leaders , and follow their traditional names with twice tlie enthusiasm with which they once followed their ancestors into the field of battle ; but , ' Kossutli added , addressing the aristocracy in tluir own persons , ' if there are men among you who think that tiie splendid name you have inherited from your ancestors is an inexhaustible capital , which confers on you the . right to spend your lives in inaction , or even to set up your personal privileges and your private interests in the way of right and justice , and of the national commonweal ; if such men are to be foundv who by their blind egotism clog the wheel of the world ' s advance , or of that rational progress which should guide the counsels of a wise government , hindering that which the general need and the instinct of the nation demands , then—now , the nation unaided by you , will fulfil its own destinyu-ilh you , by you , i you will ; without you , even against you , if it must be . ' "

      But though he attached undue value to the aristocratic element in the constitution—though he never wished to overthrow constitutional monarchy in Hungary , but only to reform and purify it—experience soon taught him to distrust Austrian faith and Austrian promises . The difference between his feelings and those of his more credulous colleagues , flushed and hopeful from the triumph of having obtained from the king a responsible Ministry , is well described : — " It -was with much difficulty tliut Batthyanyi persuaded Kossuth to form one of the Ministry ; he was not ambitious of office , and be knew that he differed on several points from Batthyanyi , and from those who composed the rest of his- Cabinet ; but the Pretnier

      considered his presence to be indispensable , and that no Cabinet could exist in Hungary from which he was excluded . Kossutli was not as credulous as many of his colleagues , of the fair promises they had received ; he was well aware that the Viennese Ministers would not regard with favourable eyes tlie efforts of the Liberal party to maintain order and independence ; and , therefore , while earnestly cherishing the hope of peace , he thought it expedient to be prepared to resist external ' aggression ; he could not believe that a few weeks would change the whole policy of Austria , and urged that immediate preparations should b < j made to put the country in a state of defence . Batthyanyi , on the contrary , could see no reason for distrust . With views narrowed by an aristocratic education , he could neve r comprehend the true character of the people who confided in Mm , and he feared democracy more than the tyranny of despots . "

      We might extract from this memoir many interesting illustrations of the incredible energy which is so distinguishing a characteristic'of ' this remarkable man . We all know—he told us—how and where he learnt our language ; how , in his dreary imprisonment in the fortress of Buda , worn in health and wearied in spirit by the two years' of solitary confinement he had endured before even books were allowed him , he mastered a foreign language - with such , completeness , that never , in the memory of living man , has it been wielded , even by a native orator , with greater power . Even when at Kutahia in 1850 , an exile and a fugitive , in circumstances calculated to crush the spirit and paralyse the energies of most men , we are told he devoted himself to acquiring the Turkish language , and to composing a grammar , now in use in the Turkish schools . We take but a one-sided view of his character if we omit to notice the gentleness and mercy which distinguished his public acts . Never was he known to err on the side of harshness or injustice towards even his bitterest enemies . Indeed , his tenderness of disposition and command of temper were proverbial among his countrymen . His biographer quotes a trifling anecdote on this subject , which we insert as characteristic : —¦

      " Wliile thus occupied with his Ministerial labours , Kossuth almost denied himself necessary rest ; but his placidity of temper and gentleness of disposition never forsook him in the relations of domestic life . An anecdote is told of him at this period , that one day having spent the whole of the previous night in writing , and having retired to snatch a short interval cf rest , he found on his return that the large pile of papers which had occupied him during so many hours had disappeared . On inquiry being made , an old servant of the family acknowledged that , supposing them to be rubbish , he had used them to light the lires . Kossuth bid the man not distress himself , as he could write them over again , and sat down with an unruffled temper to recommence his work /' The best testimonial to his character is found in the adoration with which he is still regarded in Hungary . Nine hundred out of every thousand boys born since 1648 , we are told , bear the name of " Lajos" ( Louis ) in memory of the exile .

      This is not the place to retrace the sad story of 1849—of " foreign force and native fraud "—of tho treachery of friends and the apathy of European Governments—which laid Hungary again under the yoke of that relentless despotism which is a bye-word even among despotisms . But we cannot refrain from extracting and from echoing one more passage from tliis book , believing , as we do , that a selfish policy in nations , as in individuals , will infallibly receive , sooner or Inter , a just retribution ; and that , according as the constitutional Governments of Kurope support the struggling nationalities cordially and loyally , ov desert them , from timid and temporising views of ( miscalled ) policy , will tho cause of constitutional liberty stand or fall ? " On the 1 st of August , Lord I ' almerstoa had written a despatch to Vienna , offering to inoUiutp , if Austria desired it . TUo Russians were then in tho vory centre of Hungary , the assistance of tho autocrat had onublori Austria to overthrown constitutional government

      , and destroy tho freedom of fifteen millions of human beings j and England , after refusing her services while thero wns yet time , offered to stay tho hand of tho destroyer when the dentil-struggle had nlrcudy commenced . "In 183 !) Pugot wroto thus : —* Tho intcrosts of Europe , of humanity , require that the ambition of Kussin should receive a check She is preparing tlia way for futnre conquest in tho south of Europe , nnd to theso conquests Wnllachia and Moldavia uro tho high rond . These countries hnva no force which could onublo them to resist her invading army fora single dny , nor is it possible that for centuries tlioy can luivo . . . Independent , therefore , those provinces cannot l > u ; tho ' question then is , to whom thoy ahull belong ? • - Hungary Is tho only power which could hold them with safety to herself and others , hoi , Hungary oiler tho iVmcipulitios n frank union , a fair share in the advantages of her constitution , rtiid an equality of rights mill privileges , mull have no doubt the Wnllucliiiuis would gladly join themselves to n country which could guarantee them a national existence , civil and religious freedom , and an identity of nmtorinY interests . Hungary , too , won d gladly accept a ulmro in tlio trade of tho Black Son , and might prolmbly bo induced io kivo

      up ner claims on ( iallicia lor such a compensation—and then , with constitutional lolaml miiMtntcd in her integrity on tho one side , and constitutional Hungary intervening on tliootlior , the loura of invasion from nb . solutu llussiu would le an idle bupjboiir , unworthy a " ^ vin " *" ' " iaf >' om no other combination can Kurope . ever bo safe : ' Whore m Hungary now ? Kuasiu wan invitoJ by Austri / i lo bioiik down tho second and Btrongost burner which impoilud lior conquest in Europe . England , France , and Prussia t " i ' r mi i i mont 1 otll ° P tO 00 O ' !» nK « o ( thoo / ., ir . One burrlor only remains ; what wonder i « „ . i i > lrtH ' eilC ( ;«» ' » t ;«> by tl » o conduct of the Powem at thin period , attempt to "" tro y t io Ihbi oustiuile betwoon him and th « mnl . ition or Inn nice , from tho time of the uiontiotor ; and on whom doon tho blame- rest , if Kurope . is again n weno of war nnd . loor sued r burol y tho noMahnoBa of nntioiiH , un of indivluunln , is short-aighted , and ft just I III H ? ! ! f , 19 UO 1 W || ° » ' «™ ' «™ ' to lutorpoNo their influence to snvo from d « Htruetion tho hv <» and llbort «»« of the only great nation in continental Kurone , whose nooplo ( anbonat aooiiBtltutionof eight conturiea . " l

      August 12, 1854.] T H E L E A D E R. 761

      August 12 , 1854 . ] T H E L E A D E R . 761

      More Poets. Poems. By James Macfarlan. R...

      MORE POETS . Poems . By James Macfarlan . Robert Hardwicke . Poetical Tentalives . By Lynn Erith . Saunders and Otley . Firmiliari i a Spasmodic Tragedy . By T . Percy Jones . Blackwood and Sons . Songs from , the Dramatists . Edited by Robert Bell . John W . Parker and Son . Five Dramas by an Englishman . Saunders and Otley . The Siege oj SUistria : a Poem . By William Thomas Thornton . Longmans . A Waterloo Commemoration for 1854 . By Michael T . Barry . Wm . S . Orr and Co . Seven modern muses were noticed in this journal not very many days since . The ever-flowing tide of publication brings us this week no less than six more , -whom we must despatch in a single article . In -writing these words , we are led to remark the peculiar tendency of the age to poetical—( well—ryihmical )—expression . Here are thirteen new volumes of poetry published in the space of a few weeks , of different degrees of merit , but none of them rising above mediocrity , while many , we must admit , fall far below it . Different as these books are , —different as men ' s minds , —there runs through all the present school of minor poets a certain resemblance . If we read the table of contents prefixed to any recent volume of poems , we cannot but be struck with the similarity of the subjects chosen . Poetry has its Vicars of Wakefield , its Cavaliers , its Deerstalkers , G-ipsies , and Italian peasants , as regularly as Painting . " Solitude , " " Memory , " " Night , " " ' Xhe Past , " " Nature , " " The Soul , " " Hope , " " Music , " " Evening , " & c , & c , greet us as certainly in these volumes , as do our old friends above-named , in Trafalgar-square . The poetic taste of the present day is characterised by a worship of nature , and by a careful and minute observation of the changes of the external world . Add to this an eager recognition of the analogies between the material and immaterial , and you have the stock in trade of many a modern poet , whose very facility of versification becomes a deadly snare to him , because out of these materials he finds it so easy to _ weave endless reveries . From this danger Alexander Smith does not entirely escape , though his true poetic talent , and the variety and fertility of his imagination , save him from becoming monotonous or common-place . But in inferior hands the danger is manifest ; the obvious analogies and natural illustrations are soon exhausted , arid the writer either repeats himself everlastingly , or becomes strained and exaggerated , deeming himself forcible . We have mentioned Alexander Smith ; because , in the poems of Mr . Macfarlan , now before us , the influence of that poet is strikingly apparent . The exuberances and mannerisms which the sincere admirers of" Alexander Smith regard as errors incidental to youth and inexperience , are precisely the characteristics most easily imitated . Mr . Macfarlan ' s imagery is as profuse ; but not , alas ! as varied . Rosebuds , stars , suns , dew-drops , teardrops , waves , motes , and beams , besprinkle the pages . Here and there we find a well-expressed thought , or a pretty image , but there is a sad lack of originality for the most part . To us there is neither nature nor novelty in the following conversation—or rather exchange of what Dickens calls " moral crackers" between two friends : — " ERNEST . " Hopes lie like flowers upon the path of man ; Ana when they wither , it is oft because His own unwary steps have crushed their bloom , " JULIAN . " The past is but tlie charnel house of Time , Wherein are buried all our hopes and joys ; While memories come back like sheeted ghosts To haunt us in the midnight of our thoughts . " ERNEST . " Be happy yet ! Build up a proud resolve Upon the ruins of thy shattered hopes . " Or in this : " KKNEST . " Man ' s thoughts would fain go round the universe , And set out bravely on tho mighty task ; But when they enter oh the confines dim Of dread infinity , they quickly fall Like frighted shot-stars to the breast of earth . " JULIAN . " We must retire ; the moon looks calmly in , As if to smile at our late sitting here . " cyril . 41 You do mistake her ; she is now at rest . Tho moon roveius her beauty to the night Without a blush upon her virgin cheek ; But when the earth too amorously looks np , She draws a cloud upon her naked form To screen her from tho gaze . " " [ Exeunt . Ernest , the hero of the poem just quoted , is one of those mysteriously miserable geniuses , tender and sensitive , though steeped in crime ( they would have you believe ) of the "blackest dye , who are especially fashionable with this class of writers . Mr . Macfarlan has considerable power of versifiqation ; we hope ho may " change his hand , " apply the pruning knife , and do bettor things . There is less fault to find with Poetical Tcntatioes ; but neither is there much to admire ; the versification is smooth , —sometimes rather slovenly , the subjects neither novel , nor originally treated . We subjoin a specimen : — - " TIH 5 RUSHING IUVER . u rivor I rushing river , That ilowcth on for ever , Under tho shadow of the tree that uroopoth down ; Swift ait thou , nnd full Of tho rolling beautiful , Choir of rook uml vmvo , us they each other crown . * ' Thy ppa \ is not yet won , But Htill thou glidcat on , To where its slioroa are King ; Towards that mighty oen , Which soon shall set t | iom froo , Thy trembling waves are sighing . " How rnpid is tho tide Of Mo , which thou doth glide Towtvrda tioiiui Uoundleaa ocohii t How iniiny « »<> ul lo-dny , In hurrying on i's « - uy , With ttlflluiitf und emotion I

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 12, 1854, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_12081854/page/17/