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    March-81, 1860.J The Leader and Saturday...

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    LAMENNAIS AND GIOBERTI. THE two most gif...

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    * Ilnngori/ From 13-13 To 1800. By Banvn...

    to restore and live under one of the most ancient constitutions in the world , and which ; up to the period of the iniquitous and disastrous intervention , of Russia , answered the purpose of training the people in habits of self-government and respect for established law . From one generation to another the Hungarians were called upon ta defend their constitutional rights ag-ainst the usurpations oi the House of Hiipsburg ; and there is much in their circumstances and conduct that reminds the English student of the constant cry of the Saxons when struggling against J > Tormah oppression , " Give us the laws of Edward the Confessor I" Hungarian sovereigns were sworn to obey the laws of the kingdom , arid they were also required to sign and seal a diploma of coronation binding them to observe a number . provisions strikingly similar to the best portions of our own

    constitution ; and the royal power was by law even more limited than with us , as the king could not declare war or make treaties without the consent of the Diet . These excellent laws , together with the warlike spirit of the people , would have ensured to Hungary the gradual development of liberty and industry , had it not unfortunatety happened that in accepting the rule of the Hapsburg-s she connected herself with the very worst race of rulers of whom history contains a record , and wlio were successfiil in their criminal attacks upon the constitutional rights of every other portion of their dominions . Professor Newman well observes that the Hapsburg- princes have been signal for the extraordinary number of political offences like those of the Bourbons

    and the Stuarts , and the high development of freedom they have crushed ; and he adds , " when a wicked policy is Hereditary in a court and sustains itself under better and worse princes alike , this is the greatest of all testimonies that the dynasty is incurably evil . " In 1526 , when-the great struggle of the Reformation was the most significant event in Europe , and when the successes of the Turks had created a very general alarm , Hungary and Bohemia elected Ferdinand I . as king of the two countries , a proceeding which rapidly led to the extinction of the liberty of the latter , and to a struggle on the part of the . former , which , with occasional intermissions , has continued ever since . If . Bohemia had been successful either a ; t this

    period or in the seventeenth century , when the Protestant cause * and with it all liopo of liberty , was crushed by a most sanguinary and ferocious persecution , it is probable . that the Austrian empire might have entered a new and happier stage of its existence , as the Hungarians would not have stood alone in their efforts to sustain- religious liberty and the principles of constitutional government ; but the might of despotism and the craft of the Jesuits prevailed , and the house of Austria gradually found , itself in possession of a ¦ vast empire , whose sovereigns had brokendown every barrier of legal right except in Hungary , which was too isolated from the rest of Europe to occupy much " . 'a ttention , except when some new provocation excited a fresh appeal to arms .

    After the Russian intervention had fully restored the powei * of the Austrian Court , the present Emperor had an admirable opportunity of reconstituting the empire , upon liberal principles , bniy . true to the . 'hereditary , policy of his . race , he made a , Concordat with the Pope , and devoted all his energies and resources to revive a worse than mediaeval despotism ; and make his dominion ., a perfect anachronism in an enlightened age . In Italy we have seen the commencement of a salutary reaction , and one in Hungary cannot be long , delayed . M . Szeinere points out that , in 1 S 59 , Austria , without Hungary , possessed 17 , 598 , 354 inhabitants , and a territory of 5 , 554 i square geographical leagues ; while Hungary , without Austria , contained 15 , 500 , 000 people , inhabiting 6 , 175 square . gcograpliical leagues . He also gives us a statistical account of the races

    inhabiting ' . Hungary ,, showing- the Hungarians to . number 6 , 150 , 000 , while the next must numerous race , the Wjilhiehs , amount only to 2 , 3 . 7 'l-, 472 . Considering the persecutions to , which Protestantism has been exposed for So many centuries , it is highly honourable to the Hungarians that the Protestants now number 8 , 375 , 000 ; while the Roman Catholics , with all the advantages of prolonged stale patronage , are little more than double the-number of the Protestants , and do not amuimt to half tlie entire population . What was called the " Tongue QuiutoJ" in Hungary will 1 ) 0 in the recollection of our readers , and also the blame thrown , by raa , ny upon the Mngyars , for causing the . adoption of tlieir own laiiffiingo in public proceeding's , when the use of Latin was given up , tJpon tliis question M , Memory tbrqws considerable light , by offering * an

    analysis of the periodicals « nd books published in Hungary in the year 1855 . From this it appears that out of eighty-ono periodicals , fil ' tyfour were printed in ll . u librarian ;• while out of G < 1 Q works published in volumes , 6 JQ wore Hungarian . Thus it is quite clear that tlie intellectual life of the country was intimately associated with the language of the numerically largest race . With reference to tlio asaistiinco Austriq , obtained during tho vevolutionury period from tho Sulavos , the Rounmns , iukI tho Germans of Hungary , M . Szoinoro observes , that , " out of 3 , < 100 , 000 Koumnns , there wore 1 , 500 , 000 ; out of 1 , 500 , 000 Germans , 1 / 250 , 000 , and out of 4 , 700 , 000 Sclaves , 3 , 000 , 000 who could not bo induced by anyvnoans of persuasion , nor oven by force , to ti \ l « o artns against usj" and

    tliore . ia good reason to hope that , in Hungary us in Italy , tho "bitter lessons of . experience h , i \ vo taught tho folly and wickedness of permitting loenl jealousiotf tp obstruct tho plum duty of uniting * for national objects against a common ( bo . We have recently explained the position of the Protcetant Churches in Hungary , nnd the collision with , them which tho Austrian Government lias so rashly provoked . M . Szomore doe 8 full justice to their / importance , nnd reminds us " that all their risings have invariably led to a treaty ( as in 10 OU , lOsi'i , 1045 , and 1711 ) , which always had tl » o twofold object of scouring nolilicul and religious liberty . Wo can well uiHlorataml tho nnxigty qf the

    Jesuit-led Court of Austria to break up the organisation of the Protestant churches , because they afford a daily practice in self-g- > rera « nierit to a very numerous and important section of the . connnunity . Each member -of the commune has a vote in Church affairs , and ihe communal constituency elects its own . minister , and school master . The district business is managed by representatives elected by the communes , and those of the diocese by representatives of the districts . A system like this leads so directly to constitutional liberty , that it can be no other than odious to a sovereign who rules in violation of laws and oaths , and is ready to perpetrate any crime rather than submit to the restraints which free institutions impose upon an arbitrary will . - .

    In entitling his work , which is in the form of let-tors to Mr . Cobden , Hungary from 1818 to 1860 , M . Sziimere has led us to expect the history of the remarkable -negotiation between the Emperor Napoleon and Louis Kossuth , and of the train of incidents connected with the . . Italian war ; but upon these he is silent . He himself appears to have taken no part in them , beyond inditing some wordy epistles to Lord Palmerston and Count Cavuur . We .-are surprised at this omission , because the formation of the Hungarian legions in Italy , and the conditional undertaking to assist Hungary if the Austrians prolonged the war , were among the most remarkable events of the campaign of 1859 , and afford good grounds for hoping that the Emperor will aid the Hungarian cause if a legitimate opportunity occurs in which he can do so , with due regard to the interests of France .

    M . Szemere contributes nothing new in his record of the ^ gTievanees of Hungary , with which the speeches and letters of Kossuth have familiarized the British -public ; bnt his remarks are valuable , as confirnratory evidence ; and the picture represents so much misery and oppression , that it is impossible to believe it can be maintained by any force which the . bankrupt finances o £ Austria will enable her to employ . As a question of humanity , every one must sympathize with the Hungarians , and wish them a prosperous issue out of this proloiigcd struggle ; . wjiile the obvious connection of their position with .. the . territorial arrangements of Europe , and with the condition of the Christian' races in the Danubian Principalities ; oblige the diplomatist and statesman to consider .-jil . ii . ir future destiny as bound up with some of the most important problems which civilization has to solve .

    March-81, 1860.J The Leader And Saturday...

    March-81 , 1860 . J The Leader and Saturday Analyst . 303

    Lamennais And Gioberti. The Two Most Gif...

    LAMENNAIS AND GIOBERTI . THE two most gifted and passionate souls the Church of Tiome can boast of in recent days are Lamennais and GiouEitTi . No human beings could be more sincere , and none could rysJi into more flagrant inconsistencies . What , however , is inconsistency ? It may either be the childish fickleness of the shallow , the mean calculation of the mercenary , the adroit yielding- to circumstances of the ambitious ; or it niay bethe necessary , earnest , logical development of a noble and opulent mind . The path of Lamennais and Giobeuti was pure and . grand from the beginning' to the end , There . was the hero , there was the martyr , there was the saint in both . What , therefore , was incon-: sistency in both but the spontaneous outpouring of energy and genius r . . ' Lamennais , however , alone succeeded in raising- himself from Catholicism to Catholicity ; Giobekti cursed and . shook his chains , and uttered the wild cry of freedom ; but still he was in bondage to the last . Better than all other men do Lamennais and Gioueuti typily that torture , that tragedy of our modern existence—the attempt to reconcile the present and the past . They , therefore , apart from their merit as writers , deserve our most serious study . , We in England settle everything- by compromise , that philosophy so dear to Macavlay , who was no jjhilosopher , and which is not a philosophy . The writhings , the wrestlings of such men as Gjoiiekti and JLamennais , Englishmen , therefore , do not understand . In a sort of rough way tho English like to bo frank and truthful , but they have no impulse except positive personal discoirtfort to march viner suvio b

    on ton di political , spciai , or religious . xw , a » wiujt- ^ , tho shoo pinches theni , they cat , drink , and are merry . The worlds improvement thoy consider to . bo no affair of theirs . Even in tnoir philanthropy there is no love ; thoy go into philanthropy as they go into money-making , simply as a mutter of business . They enter into commercial upeculations , promote drainage , convert the Hottentots , all on tho most mechanical principles . Now to iicrce , fusry souLhorn hearts , how chilling * must tins stolid utilitarianism be , fii-fl how eriiiiiuul must ifc appear ! lliey listen to no counsel but that of their tumultuous and clouuent toim

    blood . Not till their glowing * phnuttiny has spoken do tliy . y thoir theorios . ' And if around them are tho uioiaoiuuti njitt tUe monuments of holiest instit «> tions , and if thoy . Uronm that wliiit has been can again be , how little thoy iriiiBt bo arrested by ovuvon considerations of expediency 1 They cry with a loud voice to Oop to lift up his strong- right arm and bring tho church 0 * the middle ages back . , ., , , „ , , » t To tho loftiest natures miktorii'lism—the idolatry of hard , bursty m-itoriul interests—is tho grief of griefs , 4 ho crown of 'mbomiuatiQW ivnd iniquity . When pnogrcss means , as it ocrtiiinly nieuiiH m Ekiuliuid , tho opportunity afforded to rich men to grow richer , what can they wliosu bosouis burn with ploty anil pit / , and tlio ylor » ous vision of huinun rodomption , think of progress f Tlioy must ilirow Uicmselvcfl very far into tho future , or very far into the piwt , to oscane from tho thraldom and the nol ' ution of tl » o prc-Hcnt . II they

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), March 31, 1860, page 11, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_31031860/page/11/