The Sun.
London, England, 1849-07-13 00:00:00

THE SUN,

i showing, already had short Parliaments in practice,
but not in theory, and thus, as Mr. D'EyNcousti
truthfully observed, we have had all the evils an,'
none of the good of the system. We have had the
if evils there be in the frequent re-formation (•
not reformation) of the H .use, but we have not ha.
the more than equivalent advantages of brief Parlia-
ments, because that brevity of duration was a mat: e+
of chance, and moreover was not anticipated at th.
time of the election. Hence, in the first place, that
too prevalent but most reprehensible system of
bribery and corruption which characterise-
the election of Members of the House of Common.,,
has been in no wise diminished by the fact, that a
Parliament has only lasted for two or three years.
because that fact was not expected, and a seven years'
price had been paid. In the second place, the chief'
advantage of a short Parliament—namely, theponstant
sense of responsibility which his brief tenure of
power imposes upon each individual Member, is lost
when that tenure is theoretically of long duration.
With seven years in prospect, he can afford to turn:
a deaf ear to the once " sweet voices " of his consti
tuents. No matter if the pages of HANSARD fitlsif
the promises of the hustings, the day of reckoning v
far off, and the representative may misrepresent wal
impunity. Those Legislators who truly redeem
the promises of their canvas, who worthily acquit
themselves of the trust reposed in them, can (it might
reasonably be supposed) have not the slightest objec-
tion to give a frequent account of their stewardship.
How, then, shall we account for the largeness of the
number of those who on Wednesday declared in favour
of the Septennial Act ? We should be unwilling.
indeed, to account for that majority by the inference
which so naturally suggests itself ; nevertheless, we
are somewhat disappointed to find in the list of the
anti• Reformers many names whose past associations
render that position most anomalous.

In the current number of the Edinburgh Review,
just published, appears a clever historical narrative_
of the rights of the Magyars, rights which be-
longing to that great race during many pre•
ceding centuries, have been acknowledged b)
the (1% nasty of Hapsburg during the last three
hundred years, namely, ever since that memor-
able battle of Mohacs which annihilated the
Royal line of-Jagcllon. So far from being a mere
province of Austria, Hungary has been recognised
as an independent Sovereignty from the date
of 1526, when, although the Crowns became:
blent together, the realms still continued
separate. This independence, indeed, was not only
an imprescriptable right enjoyed by miny successive,
generation., but it was expre,sly. confirmed by the
voices of numerous monarchs, and by the writtet
declaration of various public documents. Speaking
of the Hungarians, the Reviewer remarks vets
felicitously, that "the pedigrees of their immunitie.
during the long space of three centuries (1526-1848)
continued unimpaired." By the coronation oath
solemnly pronounced at Presburg by fourteen Ger-
man successors to the Crown of St. Stephen, it was
proclaimed that Hungary enjoyed a dis
tinct and independent nationality. That oath

had been formally renewed in 1687, on the occasion
of the "elective" crown being " Entailed" on the
descendants of RUDOLPH. Its stipulation was for-
mally avowed, in 1723, by the .words of the Prag-
matic Sanction. In 1790, when a comprehensive
compact was concluded between the Magyars and
LEOPOLD, it was explicitly recognised by the teat,
article of the treaty, that this right of independen:
nationality could never be assailed without a direct
violation of the constitutional privileges of the
people. Beyond which, as a kind of supplementary
confirmation of all those formal and reiterated
a'surances that the laws and liberties of

Hungary were in no degree subservient to those
et joy ed by the Austrians, it was guaranteed on the
11th of April, 1848, by the ex-Emperor FEE
DINAND, in his character of King of flutioata,
that the people of that country should pos.
sess an independent Ministry responsible to the
Dirt alone, and that the Palatine should hence-
forth retain the title, the pomp, and the authority of
a Viceroy.
So much for the immemorial rights of the Hun-
garians. So much for those rights which have been
asserted generation after generation after the uniou
of the imperial crown of RUDOLPH with the ropi
diadem of Sr. Stephen. So much for those "con
cessions," as they are styled by the cimarille w
Vienna, but as the Edinburgh Reviewer declares then
to be more correctly designated "the statutes (olc
and new) of that kingdotn." So much for th ise rights
which have been sworn to by fiurteen Encerur
Kings, and which are now assailed by fire and sword,
by pillage and incendiarism, by the cannon and the
gibbet, by cruelty and despotism. Those rights ex-
press themselves in the one fact, the constitutio: al
independence of Hungsry, and upon this point thus
speaks the Edinburgh Review—" There can be no
clearer fact in the history of Europe than the consti-
tutional independence qf Hungary ." Further on the
same distingui,hed org,n observes that the present
&aims of the Hungarians " neither rest upon
d subttul tradition:, nor are buried in obscure and
obsolete docutnenrs—Hungarian iwtitutions are not
merely title-deeds, as old as the connexion of
Hungary and Austria; but both in their spirit and
their letter they have been solemnly recognised and
renewed at every election or • accession to the
throne." And yet it is because the Magyars, under
Kossunt, are defending their ancient institujons
that they are stigmatiz,d as rebels by my Lord JOHN
Russem.; and it is because their Liberator i,
endeavouring to compass the glorious aims,
of patriotism by all heroic achievement,.,
that he is slandered by every anonymeu=
bully paid to do the dirty work of reaction. While
the English Government and the Conservative press
are either by flagrant diatribes or by ambiguous corn
mentaries, striving to cast odium upon the Hunga-
rians, it behoves the English people to pronounce
themselves in the boldest language as a race which
sympathises with those illustrious soldiers of liberty
This many of our countrymen have already done.
Let others emulate their enthusiasm for freedom and
justice, by aiding the cause of Hungary, through the
medium of the Testimenial.