On this page

• Text (2)

  Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    Untitled Article

• Transcript

  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    Untitled Article

    at the doors of Russia , contiguous to the domain of . Mohammedanism , and forming part of that " immoral amalgam" called the Austrian Empire . When two empires had thrown their forces upon the young republic of Hungary , which by its achievements had deserved well of Europe , the true importance of the conflict was recognized . Perhaps , however , it was not until the West had been startled by the cannon of Sinope that Englishmen acknowledged , without reserve , that the Hungarians had given them in 1849 their besib opportunity of curbing and coercing Russia . Their historical services were then remembered . It was remembered how , during five centuries , they , the Horatii of nations , held the bridge between the East and West , against barbarism and the Koran , how they kept the Turk out of the centre of Germany , how , exhausted by long efforts , they succumbed at Mohacs , and yielded to cqnqifest in the form of political : protection . Nor was it forgotten that , ¦ while Hungary in 1848 laid prostrate the imperial sovereignty of Austria , Great Britain might have engaged , without fear , the entire forces of the Russian Empire , and set a seal upon the liberties of Europe . Such ah occasion is rare in history . There was no adventure to begin ; there was only a victory to complete . Though by a fatal act of mercy Louis Ivossuth had spared the Austrian dynasty when he might have destroyed it—though he had yeilded to the superannuated emperor as his ancestors had yielded ° o Maria Theresa—though he had for one hour been a Mirabeau , when he should have been a Cromwell , there was yet time , had" the armies of tlie Czar Nicholas been prohibited from entering Hungary , to accomplish the nreat work , _ and to establish a basis o f political liberty in the east of Europe . That is the real guarantee which must constitute the security of the future . A free state is wanted—the parallel , not of Belgium , but of England—upon

    In 1848 , the patriotic writers of Hungary endeavoured to persuade the nations of the West that the abolition by Austria of their ancient laws was an example set to the violation of all compacts and treaties whatever . At Posovy , at Buda-Pesth , at Debreezen , and at Szeged , successive Diets had ratified the constitution of Hungary ; successive emperors had sworn to it ; yet a great party in England—the party which ultimately prevailed—declared the Hungarians to be in illegal revolt ^ and rejoiced in the success of the imperial arms . There was an attempt to describe the war of independence as a movement of two or three hundred thousand privileged nobles against the single ruler , of whose supremacy they were jealous , and whose protection of popular rights was the principal source of their displeasure . The commentary upon this misrepresentation was convincing enough . Not Magyars only , but other races were kindled by the oratory of Kossutli and the prowess of Klapka , Guyon , and Bern . In spite of malicious proclamations , which urged the Servian , the Rouman , and the Croat , the Transylvanian Saxon and the Wallach against the Magyar , the Magyar published his invitation to fraternity , and throughout the Hungarian territory a manifesto was circulated , declaring the Servians and Wallachs the brothers oi the Magyar . , ^ . „ •¦ . •¦; . ' ¦ ' . _ . . ¦ ' ¦ ¦ ' . . ' - . ¦ ¦ - ¦ ¦ \ /¦ . ¦'• ¦ - . , - . - - . ^ . ¦

    M . Charles Louis Chassin , basing upon a cursory retrospect an appeal to tlie rational opinion of the West , develops , in a series of lucid summaries , three propositions , which he submits to the student of history : First , that the Hungarians are , nationally and by tradition , addicted to religions liberty ; secondly , that the genius of their political institutions has always been essen- tially liberal ; thirdly , that they have never shrunk from any necessary sacri- fice in order to advance the common cause of civil and religious freedom in Europe . Their long struggle against the temporal preponderance of Catho- ' licism , their , opposition to the theocratical pretensions of Home , the inde- pendence preserved m all ages by the Hungarian Church , the sympathy l ire < i in the P ° P J the labours of Luther and Calvin , the Constitution of bt . ^ litienne , the desperate conflict carried on against the succession of Austrian despots , the perpetual assertion of a separate and self-governed nationality , suffice as proofs in support of these ideas , even if the Turkish wars had been unrecorded . M . Chassin does well to pass from the general to the personal , and present a biography of Jean de Hunyud as a sequel to his broad retrospects of Hungarian history . With the history most Western readers may now be supposed familiar ; but the biography will be new in interest to many . By the majority of chroniclers Ilunyad has been ne" . Lected . His name has been associated , dimly , with the annals of Varna and Belgrade , but as the representative of a brilliant epoch , a Christian chief of the fifteenth century , the embodiment of a grand national spirit , it has been left for M . Chassin to delineate him , which he docs , in an essay somewhat melodramatic in tone , yet critical , and based apparently on authentic records . J To his Hungarian contemporaries Jean de Ilunyad seemed scarcely less than a prophet . Simple almost to austerity in his manner of livin ^ he vet assumed personally the splendours of a sovereign , and rode at the head of his army , in a magnificent costume , embroidered and edged with fur with diamond clasps to h . s mantle , decorations of gold and silv er on his horse ' s harness , and upon his own brow something which was not fur from bcin « the likeness of a kingly crown . " Yet he was in demeanour invariably modest , liberal , unbending ; he despised no one , abstained from hatred of his enemies , and infused something of nobility even into the fanaticism of his age . M . Ghnssm ' s volume would be worth reading if only because it conveys an impression of the life and character of this remarkable man '

    Untitled Article

    1004 THE LEADER . [ No . 343 , Saturday ,

    Untitled Article

    THE GREAT WEST . Tha States and Territories of the Great West . By Jacob Ferris . Triibncr . ™ Jl ° A ° S * . riticize the manners of Kansas and tho other far Si ? % ? ' . America , m comparison with the manners of Middlesex settled ^ v P ' lr ( llle ! * ists nowhere in the British dominions . The no regular \ Zl t T ^ i , who fight , , md bum villu-es , and tolerate fc ^ nt from th ? v ^ Baslu-Bazouks of the Transatlantic race , as dif-S'S £ nW J h f AT imunltlcs along the eastern sea-board , as the It m £ st& rem £ r ° ? \ fric £ V are fVom the Arabs of Egypt or Morocco . WeTwere S unc ^ tivnt ^ " ? >' ears a S ° > tho territ orfcB of tho Groat the 1 mits ev ^ n onh 7 l , n ?\ ccntrnl solitudes of Australia . Beyond tae limits even of tho boldest Wdorer ' s adventure there extended an

    apparently . measureless region of lakes , rivers , and forests , the paradise of the wild hunter , the alsatia of the escaped criminal , the land of promise for American emigrants , speculators , and poets . At the close of the revolution a few explorers penetrated the outskirts of this wilderness , notched the trees , broke up the ground , planted corn , and built their homesteads on the slopes of the great valleys . Gradually a system of intercourse was established between the eastern states , and this unbounded surface of water wood , and pasture . -Roadways and waggon-tracks struck off from the main lines of ¦ communication in New York , ISew England , Virginia , and Pennsylvania ^ No jealousies stunted the hospitality of the first settlers . They were anxious to encourage immigration . They welcomed with sincere rejoicings the team that had struggled through the sands between the Delaware and the Hudson , that had toiled over the . Pennsylvania ^ ranges -that had panted up the valley of the Mohawk , bearing a new famil y ib ' the : West in . the old-fashioned Jersey waggon , broad-wheeled , ribbed , barred riveted , and glaring with red paint . As time went on , and otlier facilities of conveyance were adopted , the West was largely peopled by the periodical overflow of the states along the Atlantic borders

    The Great West is the uncultivated part of America . From the Rocky Mountains eastwards extends a sloping .-highland , five hundred miles in breadth , to the banks of the Mississippi . It is covered with great forests , it is intersected with great rivers , it contains vast undulating prairies , and swarms with savage tribes , but here have been established the States of Iowa , Missouri , Arkansas , and the settlements of Minesota , Nebraska , and Kansas , the youngest member of the Union . These are mere dots on . the immense surface of wood and grass-land ; but below them , and linked with the original states , are Illinois , Indiana , and Ohio . The West contains a multitude of running waters—three distinct river sj-stems rising within it and pouring towards all points of the compass . In the remote interior , sixty longitudinal degrees distant from Washington , a sandy plain about six miles in width alone divides the head of the St . Lawrence from the channel of the Mississippi . And in the centre of Minesota there are two streams flowing within three miles of each other through an . open prairie , the one running southwards to the Gulf of Mexico , the other northwards to Hudson ' s Bay . In his categorical descx-iptipii of the several states and settlements already formed from this mass of territory , Mr . Ferris commences with Ohio , the Buckeye state , incorporated with the Union in 1803 . Ohio produces a tenth of the whole grain crops of the United States , rears a tenth of the horses , clips a fifth of the wool , and ranks next to New York in the number of its milch cows and other cattle . Indiana one year , and Michigan two years , younger , have progressed with similar rapidity . Illinois , Wisconsin , and Iowa are rising to great power in the councils of the Union ; but it is . to '' Minesota , ¦ the Superior country , and Kansas , that the rearlo . i- ' e principal f . .-attention will be directed . The first of these territories is she hundred miles in lensth , and four hundred and sixty miles wide ; it is divided into

    * * ^ 1 1 1 > » | » ' ! ! twenty counties , with a capital city named St . Paul . Around ; the American shores of Lake Superior lies a territory sufficient to drain oflyfor centuries , the emigration of Europe : fertile , rich in minerals , abounding in 11 atural facilities for intercommunication , salubrious , and in aspect exceedingly varied and beautiful . Though not yet created into a separate territory , it has every prospect of being elevated to that rank , and of being shortly afterwards admitted as a state . Of Kansas , Mr . Ferris ' s book contains a very satisfactory description . That young territory , the hotbed of civil passions , the debatable ground of the great parties that now menace the unity of America , luis an area of a hundred and fifteen thousand square miles , with a depth of good soil averaging four feet . In addition to the factions that have here been planted , the aborig inal race still haunts the interior of Kansas : — The aboriginal Indians , with the exception of the Pawnees , are still in possession of tlie central and western districts of Kansas . The Pawnees , once the most powerful of tho prairie tribes , bave been reduced by war and disease to utter insignificance as to numbers , -wealth , and valour- Twenty-five years ago , the small-pox swept away one-half their numbers ; and , since that time , otlier tribes , once held in subjection , becoming relatively stronger , have been wiping out the remembrance of traditional wrongs . The Pawnees were located , for a time , north of the Nebraska Kiver , and west of the Missouri—the feeble remnant of a nation that , fifty years ago , spread terror from the sources of the Missouri to the mountains of Mexico ; but becoming disheartened under the attacks of the Bluckfeet and Sioux , the Pawnees have again migrated south , near the Ottoes and Oniahns , and exist in a most wretched conflitiftn .

    The Arnpahoes roam over tho western part of Kansas . They profess to be friendly to the whites ; but the safer policy is to give them a wide berth . The Cheyennes are in alliance with the Arapahoes , professing friendship , but treacherous to a proverb-These tribes have control of the Grand Prairie j nnd they are said to hold there what in Europe would be called " the balance of power . " These tribes are known to be very numerous—for it is quite common to stumble upon three or four thousand of them , collected in a singlo huiiting-caini ? . The climate of Kansas resembles that of Virginia , though less sultry . There is a breeze from the mountains even in the warmest days . Vegetation is early and abundant . The slaveholders and the abolitionists are well aware , indeed , that whatever party predominates in Kansas will command , in the future , the resources of a wealthy and powerful , community . 3 ir . Ferris says : — There can be no doubt that Kansas , with its fertile soil , and genial climate , nnd the strong political motives juat now operating to encourage settlement , will speedily u * j up witli inhabitants coming from all parts of the Union . None need be disnppuinlea in their expectations . The stnto of the controversy respecting the existence ot slavery in the territory is well known . Those who would prefer a home where politic are undisturbed by any strong element of ngitntion had better go into tho moie northern territory . Kansas and Nebraska were annexed to the United States l > y virtue of a treaty with France concluded in Pnris in 1803 . Uliey formed a pnrt of that vast tract of country known as the Louisiana Purchase ; and when then * inhabitants , in 1818 , petitioned Congress for admission into the Union , that struggle commenced of which we are witnessing the latest development . Headers who consult Mr . Ferris ' s volume will find its historical sum """' less satisfactory than its geographical descriptions .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 18, 1856, page 1004, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2163/page/20/