The Sun.
London, England, 1860-05-17 00:00:00

HUNG,IRT.

A letter from Pesth, dated May 10th, says :
It is now generally known that the seven Hunga-
rians recently appointed by the Emperor members
for the newly-organised Council of State, have re-
fused to accept their nomination--a result which
took no one by surprise here, but which caused
great disappointment at Vienna. So little had
people there, in official quarters, been prepared for
a negative in the present instance that it was
thought gratuitous to ensure the previous consent
of the nominees. One of my friends chanced to be
present when Baron Eotv6s with a lively expres-
sion of dismay and amazement, learnt his appoint-
ment from the official Vienna Gazette., Austrian
statesmen, however long they may be misusing the
resources of our country, will never get a clear
insight into the wants, or a just appreciation of the
rights of its inhabitants. Though it was obvious
to every Hungarian that the Imperial behests of
the 19th of April had fallen short of even the most
moderate of our demands, the wiseacres in power
did not or would not know it. General Benedek,
too, seems to have come clOwn to us with views
very different from those which he has been taught
during the few days of his stay here. The haughty
and all but threatening tone of his first proclama-
tion strangely contrasts with the meekness of his
demeanour since he has heard many an unadorned
word of truth, and has met with a reception akin
to rebuke. The day after his arrival he called on
Baron Pronay, who bluntly told him that the Pro-
testants meant to abide by their chartered rights,
as they have done until now. On the 30th
of April he attended the requiem for Count
Szechenyi, and returning from the church, if he
noticed ,the cheers then resounding in the streets
of Pesth, he must have had some difficulty in
making out a single exclamation for Benedek
or his " Kaiser," whilst thousands and thou-
sands shouted the names of Kossuth and
Sz6chenyi. When, on the 4th instant, the
general visited the colleges of the university, and
addressing several of the students asked their
name, birthplace. &c., one of them, a native of
Szigetvar, replied, "I am born on the spot where
the immortal Zrinyi died for his country." Not
much of a compliment to the face of a man whet but
half a score years ago had fought, not for, but
against, his country. However, the Feldzeng•
meister is said to have taken the inuendo rather
graciously; he seems to have made up his mind to
conquer popularity with us by softer arms than
those he wielded in the Carpathians in 1849: It was
not surprising, therefore, to see him extend his
courteous attentions to some of our ladies known
for their patriotic spirit, though it was startling
that the Chevalier von Benedek paid a visit also to
the Countess Louis Batthyanyi. How could he
expect the widow of the martyr of the 6th of Octo-
ber to receive the companion in arms of Hayuau ?
The countess of course pleaded not at home.
Among the several conversations the general had
with persons thought to participate in some way or
other in popular favour, I must mention that which
he had with Francis Deak—a conversation instruc-
tive, certainly, for Imperial experimentalists, if
such men could be brought to attach due weight to
the voice of practised wisdom. The late Minister
of Justice in the ministry of Louis Batthyanyi spoke
out with his wonted. frankness, and expounded
his reasons with that logical acuteness so eminently
his own. The upshot of what he said is, that there
is no hope of Hnngary ever becoming reconciled to
the rule of the House of Austria unless the Empe-
ror should submit to be crowned as King of Hun-
gary, and to taking the oath of allegiance to the
reformed constitution of 1848.

With these tidings the General left for Vienna
on the 6th inst., where also Count George Appony.i
and Baron Joseph Eotvos appeared on the 7th to
declare that they and their five colleagues could not
accept the appointment in the Reichsrath "under
present circumstances." They are insisting upon
the same declarations which Deak has made to
Benedek ; they have already had several conferences
with Count Rechberg and an audience with the
Emperor, but no result has as yet transpired. Nor
will there be any result, you may depend upon it ;
for it must .be borne in mind that the zest of the
reform our constitution underwent in 1848 is the
personal union in the strictest sense ; that is, the
total separation of the civil as well as the financial
and military administration of the kingdom of
Hungary from that of the other provinces of the
empire under one and the same monarch. Look at
Francis Joseph and his advisers, and then consider
whether there is a reasonable chance that he will
swear and keep to such a constitution. And let
us suppose that he, or his brother Maximilian, or
any other member of the family who might super-
sede him on the throne, honestly wished to do it,
could they do it ? Would that huge centralised
state machinery, rotten to the core, bear such dis-
junction and reconstruction without •breaking to
pieces ? It will not, it cannot.
An Englishmam who lately was introduced into
one of our confidential circles, where the opinion was
expressed that the Cabinet of Vienna could not
solve the present difficulty, even if it would, asked
"Why, then, does Baron Itf.otvos and his friends try
the-experiment ?" The answer was, " Eotvos and
the others are well-meaning patriots; they take the
trouble to go to Vienna to get what they themselves
hardly believe can be got there, but they had better
let matters alone." If the press were not com-
pletely gagged, if every free manifestation of opinion
were not eagerly watched by spies and checked by
policemen and gendapmes, it would soon become
manifest that the view of the great majority of the
nation was expressed in that simple reply given to
the inquiring Englishman. Yet sometimes in spite
of police and gendarmes, the genuine popular feel-
ing will find its expression in some opcasional cut-
burst. So it happened on the day of the Requiem for
Szeehenyi in this city. After the funeral mass was
over, a multitude of at least 10,000 people crowded
before the hotel where the two sons of the deceased

resided,.and mingled the names of Szechenyi and
Kossuth in thundering cheers. There is some
meaning in the vox populi coupling these two names
on that *occasion. It seemed as if the inhabitants
of the metropolis of Hungary, coming from their
prayers for the dead Szechenyi, wished to remind
his surviving sons that Kossuth is still alive, the
man who never despaired when all despaired. The
people of Pesth had just shown, by an act of reli-
gion, hoW sacred they held the memory of Sze-
chenyi„ but remembering Koi4suth at that same mo-
ment, expressed that they did not share in the
idiosyncracy of •the " greateSt Hungarian," which
--made him often despairingly exclaim, " Woe to us !
the marriage between Hungary and Austria is in-
dissoluble." The name of the man who once has
shaken the whole fabric of Austrian despotism to
its very foundations,rasounding again in the streets
of Pesth, is o, protest against -the thought that the
destinies of-Hungary. are indissolubly guided by
the waning star of Austria. • And this feeling will
fitaitreeho in raillittia:of hearts- all over the coun-
try. That people have • never forgotten him who