The Sun.
London, England, 1849-06-02 00:00:00

)4Ybntn 1l

LONDON, SATURDAY, JUNE 2, 1849.

Hungary has conquered its independence with so
many evidences of vigorous and heroic patriotism as
to have extorted expressions of admiration even from
the constitutional supporters of Austria. The bril-
liant campaigns or BEM and the sagacious adminis-
tration of KOSSUTH have tended more than anything
to force upon the consciousness of English Conserva-
tism a sense of the sanctity of the cause with which
the names of those remarkable men have become
identified. Partial as the Toryism of Great Britain
is to the policy which has hitherto been predominant
in the councils of the House of Hapsburg-Lorraine,
ready as the lovers of Toryism have for the most part
shown themselves to swear by the proceedings of the
Cabinet of Vienna, the justice with which the brave
Hungarians have been recently opposing the Imperial
dynasty, the Imperial Government, and the Imperial
armies, has elicited a spontaneous and cordial acknow-

ledgment from the first of the monthly organs of
English Conservatism. In the current number of
Blackwood the course pursued by the population of
Hungary under the instigation of the eloquent
journalist, LOUIS KOSSUTH, now the first President
of the Hungarian Republic, is commended with an
energy and a heartiness which do infinite honour
to this distinguished magazine. We have
latterly observed an indication on the part
of Blackwood to' condemn the counsels re-
cently adopted by the Ministerial advisers of the
Austrian EMPEROR, in regard to the political rights
and territorial integrity of Hungary. But in the
present masterly vindication of the Hungarians, our
expectations of the ultimate decision of iWaga in their
favour have been altogether surpassed. Infected no
doubt by the same genial sentiments which have
latterly been ripening the judgment of Blackwood, in
regard to the merits of the question at issue between
Austria and Hungary, Fraser has this month, in a
kindred temperament of candour, pronounced an
almost unexceptional panegyric upon the Pro-
visional Government, which, from the midst
of the inaccessible morasses surrounding De-
breczin, ruled over the ancient dominions of St.
STEPHEN. Both of these eminent periodicals, with a
natural predilection for the Imperialists, have never-
theless pronounced boldly and honestly their sympathy
for the conquerors of the Imperialists. Neither the
partialities or prejudices inherent in the political
doctrines of Blackwood have prevailed over its equally
inherent love of truth. An intense distaste for revo-
lutions has failed to warp the opinion of Mae,a in
reference to the Revolution of the Hungarians ; and
the same honourable subordination of taste to justice
has rendered itself conspicuous in the pages of Regina.
Let any impartial student of history take into
consideration the recent proceedings of the Austrians
and the Hungarians, and they must perforce be driven
to a similar conclusion with our contemporaries.
Through the whole of the intricate negotiations, the
stormy contentions, the proclamations, the skirmishes,
and the bombardments ; from that November morning
in 1848, when JELLACIIICH, crossing the Drave, first
polluted the sacred soil of Hungary with the foot-
steps of his Croatians, down to that evening in May,
1849, when, after the rout of the Ban's irregular
horsemen at Kanisha, and after the ignominous defeat
of one of the foremost of the lieutenants of \Vzsniscu•
GRATZ at Waitzen, the remnants of the Imperial
army, under the command of WELDEN, were driven in
panic and confusion beyond the frontiers of the illus-
trious land they bad been endeavouring to enslave ;
through the whole of these extraordinary occur-
rences, one fact beams forth with undiminished and
inextinguishable brightness, the fact that in their
separate attitudes, Austria has assumed the aggres-
sive and Hungary the defensive—the fact that
Austria has been striving to achieve an unjustifiable
conquest and Hungary has been struggling to defend
her inalienable liberties.

Since 1687, when the Crown of Hungary became
hereditary with the descendants of RODOLPHE, the
rights of the nation have been sedulously preserved
in independence, in spite of the repeated
efforts of the Austrian Government to ab-
sorb her territories into the Imperial do-
minion. Not only is this indisputable, but it is
equally indisputable that this tacitly acknowledged
independence was solemnly proclaimed by LEOPOLD
11. not less than sixty years after the signing of the
Pragmatic Sanction, namely, 1790, when it was
declared—" That Hungary is a free and independent
nation in her entire system of legislation and adrninis •
tration, and not subject to any other state or any other
people ; but that she should always have her separate
existence and constitution, and should consequently be
governed by kings crowned according to her national
laws and customs ' In direct defiance of these
venerable realities, these realities graven with an
iron pen on the adamantine tablets of history, the
Austrian Government has of late endeavoured, at first
by cajolery and intrigue, but at last by an armed in-
vasion, to subjugate Hungary, and to effect its annex-
ation to the other integral portions of the Imperial
territory. To prevent this Hungary has risen.
Nobles, peasants, artizans and merchants, have all
with one accord united for the salvation of their na-
tionality. That glorious cause received at the very
outset the benediction alike of the Protestant clergy-
men and of the Catholic ecclesiastics. The
details of the struggle are already known
to all Europe, and have fixed the admiration
of Christendom upon the heroic and patriotic
Hungarians. After a variety of vicissitudes, the
Provi-ional Government has proved triumphant over
the Councils of Vienna and St. Petersburgh. JEL•
LACHICH, the redoubtable Ban of Croatia, has been
shorn of all his vaunted glory as a military chieftain.
WINDISCHGHATZ, once regarded as the unconquerable
veteran who was to prove the buckler of the Aus-
trian dynasty, has been defeated so signally as to
have been deprived of his command with every token
of disgrace and degradation. WELDEN has proved
not one jot more successful. The old soldiers of Aus-
tria and of Russia have been successively and simulta-•
neously overcome by the new but valiant recruits of
the Hungarians. Pitched battles have been fought
and gained by the latter among the mountains of
Transylvania, and in the districts irrigated by the
Danube and its tributaries. Fortified places have
been stormed and taken, one part of the invaders
have been chased across the boundaries of Mulch).
Wallachia, and the other has been beaten back by
main force to the ga`ee of Vienna and of Presburg.
Hungary has freed her. elf from the presence of her
invaders, and has proclaimed herself a Republic
through the bravery of her noble children, guided by
the l'olish Generals, and incited by the voice of
liossiru—Kossuzu ! that illustrious patriot, "with
the halo of a martyr surrounding his sickly frame and
shining from his eyes, to which the slow fever of an
incurable consumption has imparted an unnatural bril-
liancy, feverish in thought and passionate in language,
combining in his character and addre: s an almost
womanish softness, with the sternesa of the prophet,
and the ravings of the maniac." At the
first sound of the trumpet of battle blown by
the lips of the invader, that extraordinary man
rose and spoke to the Parliament and to the populace
of Hungary. " Pale, haggard, ghastly, like a
spectre from the grave," he maddened the enthusiasm
of the people to frenzy with what has been called
his " demoniacal fascination." The inspired priestess
upon the tripod of Delphos could not have uttered
more thrilling words than KOSSUTH. "lam a
prophet," said he. " I shudder at myself. I see the
book of fate open before me. Vainly do I close
mine eyes. The light darts through my soul ! It is
lightning in utter darkness. I must even speak,
and let the spell of my words go forth.
Hear me, 0 Patriots ! I stand by the
everlasting laws of the eternal GOD, and I swear by
them that my prophecy shall be fulfilled. And my
prophecy is, that the freedom of Hungary will come
even from JELLACHICH'S invasion of our country."
That was the language of KOSSUTH on the breaking
out of the war of invasion; and the people responded
to the call ; and they arose; and the prediction has
worked out its fulfilment !
After this--after the spirit of Conservatism has
declared itself in favour of Hungary—we can enter-
tain no fear as to the ultimate confirmation of the
triumph of its inhabitants.

Our obituary notices, as we indicated yesterday,
have recently contained some remarkable names, and
among them there is one other that we cannot pass
by without a word of grateful commemoration. If
some great conqueror had ceased to exist the world
would resound with grief for his departure, if some
member of royalty passed away millions would put on
a robe of mourning; and, therefore, believing as we
do, intellectual greatness to be in nowise in-
ferior to the might of arms or the pride
of birth, and believing as we do, that genius
rightly exercised is the truest benefactor of mankind,
we cannot suffer, and we would be loth that the
community should suffer an intellectual benefactor to
go to the grave like any ordinary individual,
`• unwept, unhonoured, and unsung." That such
a public benefactor has passed away is now
well known, for recently the melancholy tid-
ings reached us that MARIA EDG EWORTH
was no more. The death of this venerable lady, her
peaceful death in the calm of her domestic retire-
ment, at an age when life no longer appears attrac-
tive, and when the friends of youth had preceded her
to the tomb, presents in itself nothing painful.
Nevertheless, the eternal departure of a friend is

always grievous, and favourite authors are as dear to
many as personal friends, for we are indebted to
them for pleasures and benefits which few of our
companions could afford us. So it is with
Miss EDGEWORTII and a multitude of readers.
To the present generation, indeed, she is
bound by the most endearing tie, she is
emphatically the friend of their youth and
childhood. The names of " Harry and Lucy," and
the story of " Rosamond and her purple Jar" (a
story now often acted over in this deceived and de-
ceiving world !) will call up in the minds of many of
us the pleasures of " auld lang syne," pleasures in
which our favourite authoress bore so large a part.
The favoured children of the present day cannot at
all appreciate the delight of their fathers and grand-
fathers half a century back in getting a story-book,
and a story-book, moreover, really adapted to their
understanding. In those days children's books were
few and far between, hut with Miss EDGEWORTH
commenced a new era in juvenile literature. In
juvenile literature have we said ? Miss EDGE -
WORTH'S magic influence extended to a far
wider circle. She it was who initiated the
fictitious literature of the present century.
Her pen fearlessly pourtraying nature in her natural
guise, gave the death-blow to the whole herd of
sickly sentimentalists known under the generic title of
the Minerva-press school. MARIA EDGEWORTH did
more.

" One touch of nature makes the whole world kin."
Her natural and playful touch awoke a kindred
and more glorious genius ; the writings of Miss
EDGEWORTH, her Irish sketches more especially,
suggested to WALTER. SCOTT the idea of his Scotch
novels. A sincere friendship united the sympathies
of these two benefactors of humanity. If the wizard
of the north reached a pinnacle of glory to which his
sister•author could never aspire, let it not be forgotten
that she was the first in the field, and for awhile stood
alone in that befure undreamt-of region—the glorious
region where the marvels of truth are interwoven
with the charms of fiction, and the attractions of both
are dedicated to the mental and moral elevation of
mankind. Remembering all this, we cannot suffer the
grave to close over MAMA EDGEWORTH without ex-
pressing our admiration of her genius, and our gratitude
for her national benefactions. The paths of fictitious
literature are now so densely crowded, and among the
crowd are so many really talented writers, that the
literary merits of Miss EDGEWORTH are now too much
forgotten, but be it not forgotten that some fifty years
back sbe was alone. Alone, unaided by example, un-
stimulated by companionship, she consecrated her
talents to the moral improvement of her contempora-
ries, young and old, and by so doing she proved
herself not only their benefactor, but the benefactor
of their remote posterity. Let us then cherish the
memory of MARIA EDGEWORTH. " A storied urn or
animated bust" would be inadequate to perpe-
tuate her merits. Genius, true genius, requires
no such memorial (precious though such a memorial
is as a work of national regard). As the Latin poet
boastfully but truthfully said, genius builds for her-
self a monument—

" Are perennius
Regalique situ pyramidum altius,"

and such a monument has the authoress of " Helen,"
the friend of Sir WALTER SCOT r, the beloved teacher of
childhood, and the novelist who has charmed, and the
moralist who has elevated the heart and understand-
ing of countless readers, erected to the memory of
MARIA EDG EWORT

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

Wehave received the Paris papers of yesterday.
The election of President of the Legislative As-
sembly took place yesterday afternoon, when M.
DUPIN, the Candidate of the Government, and of the
Club of the Rue de Poitiers, was elected by a consi-
derable majority. The following was the result of
the voting :

Nuniber of votes ...
Absolute majority .. .. .. 305
M. Dupin
M. Ledru Rollin
Lamorciere . ..
M. DUPIN was consequently proclaimed Presi-
dent.

This division, however, does not show us com-
pletely the real strength of parties. General LAmoui-
CIERE was only ftarted at the last moment by some
of the members of the Dufaure party, many of whom
were pledged to vote for Al. DuPIN ; and, therefore,
the 76 who polled for h:m cannot be taken as even an
approximation towards ascertaining the strength of the
moderate Republican party in the Chamber. Neither
can the 336 who voted for M. DUPIN be considered as
affording us any test by which to judge of the
Royalist majority. As we have before said, many
Moderate Republicans supported M. DIJPIN, on the
understanding that there was to be a transaction on
the subject of the formation of the Bureau, and
many others supported him for the same reason that
the Wh'gs, in the first English Reformed Parliament,
supported Sir CHARLES MANNERS SUTTON for the
Speakership. M. DUPIN has long been accustomed
to preside over large deliberative assemblies, and is,
perhaps, the best man who could have been chosen to
bring the Assembly into working order. On the
other hand the 182 members who voted for M. LEDRU
RoLLIN by no means give us the whole strength of
the Red Republican party in the Assembly ; the
Ministerial party were all well whipped up, telegra-
phic dispatches having been sent into every depart-
ment to summon every Ministerial supporter to the '
Chamber. Of the Red Republicans, however, many
have not yet arrived in Paris, and judging
from the voting of yesterday it would appear
that LEDRU ROLLIN can reckon upon at least
two hundred supporters in the Legislative As-
sembly, a much larger minority than that led
by Sir ROBERT PEEL in the. first English Reform
Parliament, a much larger minority than that which
owned Mr. COBDEN for a leader in the Parliament
which ultimately repealed the corn-laws. The Mi-
nisterial majority is, moreover, composed of such hete-
rogeneous materials that it carries within itself the
seeds of dissolution. On this subject the National
pithily remarks_

"Now what shall we say of this majority that has
invaded the Legislative?
such as our of this monstrous alliacce,
withcountry,
bannalsnever before witnessed, all of those
rejected alike
Lld, running trom the four quarters of
the political horizon, the
atit.udncfeeartseovferacioindpeamrtnieesd
by hisFory? Be,
these men, whose names at different epochs have signi
fled the most hostile doctrines. Legitimacy allies i:srlf
with Orleauisna, Bonapartism with
. the re-action of 1815,
scepticism with Jesuitism
It is the desertion of 20
flags, each of which has caused the blood
.of Franca to
flow; it is the denial of 20 existences, which had each
ry
in turn been imposed on the country; it .
imbecility with violence, of the false;
with thet he
empty,union of
nothingness with nothingness! Nor is this enough. o
laf
order that insult may be pushed to the utmost possible
extent, this party calls itself the party of honest men."
The Ministerial crisis still •
continues, and in conse-
quence of the obstinacy of the PRESIDENT of the
Republic is likely to continue. It would appear
as though the PRESIDENT could not do without a
favourite, and the star of M. DE FALLOUX is just
at present in the ascendant. The PRESIDENT insists
that the favourite shall form part of any Cabinet
that may be appointed, and the favourite (doing the
work which his Jesuit masters have placed him at
the Ely see expressly to do) refuses to remain in office
unless the armies of France arc employed in
stifling
the liberties of Republican Rome, and restoring the
POPE as the absolute temporal Sovereign of the
Roman States, with Priests as Ministers of State, and
the Inquisition to silence the refractory. MM.
DUPIN and DUFAURE have both declined to incur the
fearful responsibility which those must incur who
become colleagues of M. DE FALLoux, and even Mar-
shal BUGEAUD hesitates.
on the subject of the Roman intervention the
National says—
,. We shall be pardoned for entering into some details
relative to the affairs of Italy ; the only place where at
this moment France plays an active part. We have
reason to fear that there will be complete change in
the views of Lesseps—a change which appears likely
to lead to an immediate resume ion of hostilities—the
greatest misfortune and the greatest disgrace with which
we are no
w threatened. To morrow we hope may be
more explicit on the subject.
" It is now affirmed that the personal policy of the
President of the French Republic appears to tend to
complicate still further the state of things at Rome. And
we ;hall be tempted to believe this, if it is true, as re-
ported, that one of the conspirators of Bologna hEs re-
cently
set out for the French camp, with secret instrue-
tiona, intended, it is said, to modify the too liberal
tendencies of M. de Lesseps.
"In fine, and in the h)pothesis that M. de Fallotie
should form Fart of the Cabinet which has been in course
of formation for some days past, we have every reason
to believe and every right to affirm, that his presence in
power will imply an action on the part of France quite
opposed to the last wish expressed by the Constituent
Assembly relative to the Roman expedition, too long
diverted from its real object. The historian of Pius V.,
the brother of Morhignor Falloux, on bring requested
by a high functionary to retain office, made, as he him-
self says, his conditions and his reserves. What they are
we can easily guess—if we see M. de Falloux in the
Ministry we may know that France has undertaken such
engagements with regard to tho Roman question as to
bind her to aid in the restoration of the Pope as a tem-
poral Sovereign."
The Government have, it • said, received pressing