229. Mes sage of the diet to the new National Assembly at Frankfort (May 18, 1848) Nevertheless, we admire the firmness of those who have voted to the contrary, desirous of leaving it in the power of the Italian Constituent Assembly to establish the form of government for our State. They have at least fulfilled a great function, that of causing a question of such vital importance to be discussed seriously and quietly. It is impossible to describe the general applause and the enthusiasm with which the word, full of hope, has been received by the public. Long may we be grateful in deed and in word to the redeeming Assembly, have a firm hope in the future, and trust that this resolution has been taken at a proper time, and that it will be hereafter unchangeable. With the intention of giving to-morrow a fuller account of the important acts that have taken place to-day, we conclude, as we began, with the cry of "Long live the Roman Republic !" While Lombardy and Venetia were trying vainly, with the help of the king of Sardinia, to free themselves from the yoke of Austria, the Germans were busy drawing up a new constitution, which they trusted would at last make a nation out of the various German States so loosely united by the union of 1815. On the occasion of the opening of the National Assembly at Frankfort, the diet of the old Confederation sent to the new Assembly the following graceful, if rather forced, message of congratulation. The force of extraordinary events, the ardent desire which has loudly manifested itself throughout our whole fatherland, together with the summons on the part of the several German governments which these have called forth, have combined to bring into being in this momentous hour an Assembly such as has never before been seen in all our history. Our old political life has been stirred to its very depths, and, greeted by the acclamations and confidence of the entire German people, the German parliament, new and grand, emerges into life. The German governments and their common organ, the diet, united with the German people in a common love for our great fatherland, and gladly yielding to the spirit of the time, extend a hand of welcome to the representatives of the nation and wish them happiness and prosperity. Section 61. Failure of the Revolution in Bohemia and After a few months' triumph the revolutionary government in Vienna was overthrown by the bombardment and capture of the city, October, 1848, by Windischgrätz, the emperor's general, who had just suppressed the Bohemian revolution. The city had decided to surrender, when it was encouraged to a last futile resistance by the arrival of an army from Hungary ready to forward the revolution. An Englishman, an eyewitness, stationed outside the city, published the following narrative in the English newspapers. (October 31, The beautiful street leading to the Prater [a park] had 230. Vienna been the scene of the hardest fighting of all, as it had been retaken by the emperor's fortified by a succession of barricades, built up to the firsttroops under floor windows in a half-moon shape, with regular embrasures Windischand planted with cannon. This was strewn with the dead grätz bodies of men and horses; but they, and the pools of blood 1848) all about, did not strike us so much as the horrid smell of roast flesh arising from the half-burned bodies of rebels killed in the houses fired by Congreve rockets, which we saw used by the troops with terrible effect. Half of the houses in this beautiful suburb are thus burned down, while the other half are riddled with shot and shell. On every side we may see weeping wives, sisters, and daughters, picking, literally piecemeal out of the ruins the half onsumed bodies of their the capitulation was shamefully violated when early the next morning the approach of the Hungarians to raise the siege was signaled from the tower of the cathedral. Then came the real crisis. . . . We were fired upon continually from the ramparts; and I for the first time literally tasted blood, which was dashed over my face and clothes, when a round shot carried off the head of an artilleryman by my side. ... All this time the roar of cannon, the whizzing of rockets, and the roll of musketry in our rear told us that the Hungarian army had joined battle; while in our front, from all the ramparts, tops of houses, and churches, the rebels were firing signal guns and waving flags to cheer them on. It was a beautiful, clear, sunshiny autumn day; and all felt that there were trembling in the balance not only the fate of the grand old Austrian empire (an Seigen und an Ehren reich), — the monarchy of Charles V and Maria Theresa, and so long the bulwark of Christendom against the Turk, but with it the peace and safety of Europe. At length the firing behind us gradually slackened and then died away; and towards sunset the victorious imperialists marched back from the field of battle, having utterly routed the Hungarians and driven three thousand of them into the Danube, which will roll their bodies down to Pesth, a fearful tiding of their defeat. You may fancy what cheers arose from the imperialists and what yells of despair from the rebels, whose offers of a conditional surrender were now scornfully rejected. Louis Kossuth, leader in the struggle for constitutional government in Hungary and later in the war for independence, issued in 1850, from his place of exile in Turkey, a long address to the people of the United States, giving his version of the recent conflict. During the revolution the Secretary of State at Washington had instructed an agent of the United States to proceed to Hungary, and, if he found that country able to maintain the independence which had been declared to assure the new te that the United States desired to be the "very st to congratulate her and welcome her entrance into e family of nations." Before the American representve could reach Hungary, however, the revolt had been ppressed by Austria, but for a long time the United ates manifested a sympathetic interest in Hungarian fairs and heartily welcomed Kossuth on the occasion I a visit which he afterwards made to the United States 1851. ADDRESS OF KOSSUTH TO THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES BRUSA, March 27, 1850 address to Two years ago, I, by God's providence, who would be only 231. Kosan humble citizen, held in my hands the destiny of the reign- suth's ing House of Austria. Had I been ambitious, or had I believed the people of that this treacherous family were so basely wicked as they the United afterward proved themselves to be, the tottering pillars of their States throne would have fallen at my command, and buried the condensed) crowned traitors beneath their ruins, or I would have scattered them like dust before a tempest, homeless exiles, bearing nothing but the remembrance of their perfidy. (slightly were However, I did not take advantage of these favorable cir- Hungary's cumstances, though the entire freedom of my dear native land first requests was the only wish of my heart. My requests were of that moderate moderate nature which, in the condition of Hungary and Europe, seemed best fitted for my countrymen. I asked of the king not the complete independence of my beloved countrynot even any new rights or privileges - but simply these three things: 1. That the inalienable rights, sanctioned by a thousand years and by the constitution of my fatherland, should be guaranteed by a national and responsible administration. 2. That every inhabitant of my country, without regarding language or religion should be free and cauel before the low Independence 3. That all the people of the Austrian empire that acknowledged the same person as emperor whom we Hungarians recognized as king, and the same laws of succession, should have restored to them their ancient constitutional rights, of which they had been unjustly despoiled, modified to suit their wants and the spirit of the age. The first demand was not for any new grant or concession, and constitu- but simply a fresh guarantee. In the arrangement made with tional government ancient our ancestors, when, by their free will, they elevated the House Hungarian of Hapsburg to the throne, a condition was made that the king rights should preserve the independence and constitution of the country. This independence and this constitution were the very vitality of our national being. During three centuries twelve kings of the House of Hapsburg had sworn in the presence of the eternal God, before ascending the throne, that they would preserve our independence and the constitution; and their lives are but a history of perpetual and accursed perjury. Yet such conduct did not weaken our fidelity. No nation ever manifested more faithfulness to their rulers; and though we poor Hungarians made endless sacrifices, often at the expense of our national welfare; though these kings, in times of peace, drew their support from us, and in times of war or danger relied upon the unconquerable strength of our army;1 though we have ever trusted in their words, they deceived us a thousand times and made our condition worse. Hungary wished consti- The second demand was still less for any political right. We asked for nothing more than a reform in the internal administration of the State, a simple act of justice which the aristocracy owed the people; and in this how much the king would have gained! The strength of his throne would have been increased tenfold by thus winning the affections of his faithful people. The third demand was prompted by humanity and fraternal feeling. It was the proper and holy mission of our nation as the oldest member of the empire, and possessing a constitutional form of government, to raise its voice in behalf of those 1 Maria Theresa's appeal to Hungary will be remembered. The De velopment of Modern Europe. Vol. I. d. 65. |