The southern press., 1851-11-15

as have briefly stated, under very arduous cir
cumstances, and as the Legislative power was II
the hands Of the mobiles, these reforms went or
but by slow degrees In the long parliament
as may call it, which sat from 1882 to 1886
the lower house-that is, the house of the mem
bers elected by the county meetings-it was
proposed that every peasant do not know
what to call them a voice-"Serfs" that
every peasant should have right to make hun
self free of his seignorial and feudal burdens, by
paying off the capital to which the amount Of
these burdens came. Cheers Do you under
stand me? Loud cheers. We wished, then
that this should not be dependent on. the will OF
the landlord to accord it to him, but that an est
mate should be made of what was the worth OF
those duties and burdens, and that if the peasant
should pay the capital, estimated at the rate OF
five or eight per cent, he should be Free [Cheers.
This was opposed by the house Of lords, and
then, by the influence of the government, it was
reduced to this-that, when the landlord should
give his consent to it, every peasant, as also
every corporation of peasantry together, should
have the right to be free. This proposition,
have stated, was agreed to by the common con-
sent Of the house of lords and house of CON-
mons, but II was rejected by the government
That is, the Austrians rejected that reform.
That was the issue of the reform question in
1886. mention it as fact. And here must
explain-whatever your opinion may be as to
pledges know not--that the members of the
house of commons were not entirely plenipo-
Tertiary but received their instructions from the
county meetings which were sitting four or six,
or even ten times a year, and which controlled
their representatives and instructed them how to
vote. The intrigues Of the government, there
fore, were chiefly directed to the county meetings,
in order to carry bad instructions and then we
perceived for the first time, the very dangerous
direction OF the movement Of the government
with respect to these institutions, to endeavor to
influence, to ruin, to weaken, to corrupt our pub
lie meetings and municipalities. Hear, hear
Still, with respect to our legislature, there
was, fortunately, some independence left in these
public meetings, for though our supreme court,
who is something like your lord lieutenant Of
counties, was named by the King, yet being a
member of the house of lords, and being present
in parliament, he could not continually influence
the meeting when the instructions were framed,
and therefore, government had no one present,
fit, by his influence and station to carry out its
views, and its means of corruption were few.
They, therefore, adopted the new rule, which
was leaving nominaly the lord lieutenant to
appoint besides an administrator in his place,
who had orders to be present at every meeting,
10 control every step they took, and never to
leave his country; and everything being in the
hands Of the lord lieutenant, such as gifts of
offices, SO to make the votes of county meetings
a mere nonsense, or to make them rather tool
of The government. Therefore, we opposed it
with all our possible strength; but we opposed
it, not in any privilegiary view, but because we
wished for the independence of the municipal
institutions, in order to carry out reforms in this
direction--not to make the condition of Hun
gary such that there should be no close
privileges for a few, but TO erect temple of
liberty there for all the people, cloud cheers.)
But the more we developed our progress in a
view to reforms, the more the government in
.ists on the progress to demoralize the people.
That was our condition when the diet met in
November or October, l847, Just before the
French revolution. You see, then, that we in
Hungary were not planning revolution. Loud
cheers Hungary was not the soul of secret
conspiracy; but we, in public meeting, strug-
glcd, fairly and openly, for the rights of the
people. Loud cheers. myself had the hon.
or to be elected member Of parliament in ls47
deputy for the chief department. in fact, by its
geographical position, the metropolitan country
of Pesth, where the Austrian government did
Everything possible to oppose by election; bu,
the good sense of the people laughter ant
cheers carried it out to triumphant success
When we came 10 the diet, the first question
proposed, according to the instructions Of my
constituents, was, that the municipal institutions
Of the country should be upheld in their natura
purity, and that the system Of administrator,
should be put aside, and that if this motion wa,
not carried, no taxes should be voted On thi,
motion, the house Of commons and the house
of lords did not agree for two months, because
twas necessary both should agree to carry a
bill before il could be laid before the King; bu
there is no limit to the number Of communica
lions which passed between the two houses, sc
that they might 90 on TO the number Of 100 Of
300 till the question is settled or abandoned
This measure did not meet the appreciation O
the house OF lords, because II was composed fol
the most part Of functionariss named by th,
government, or Of those who aspired TO be the
nominees of government Still, we were happy
to have the most important part Of the lords o
Hungary with us, at the head OF whom was the
unfortunate, the worthy Of better fate, Loui,
Batthyany. [cheers. These supported thu
house Of commons. Still the commission anc
governmdnt went on TO corrupt the meetings
and seeing that We should get worst in the end
and that the government were carrying on,
aver tne otneT w NtoleuSe huu Hhuu, PrOpOset
in the house OF commons that we should NEE
he continual encroaohments Of the government
by having resource 10 the chief source Of them
We saw that on the head Of the King o.
Hungary, who is Emperor Of Austria, two crowni
are laid; the one was constitutional crown
the other an absolute crown. These two oppo
site directions never could agree, they never could
be united; which Of them was TO prevail, histor,
will show but rs We felt that the Austrian
crown was the source of NIL encroachments or
the rights Of Hungary, and that so long as tn,
two were united there would be no solidarity fol
the fate Of nations in the future--so long a,
he house Of Hapsburg does not restore theil
rights to the people Of Hungary-so long vii
you see rebellion ready TO break out agains,
Austria; and Hungary, having freedom, il wa,
her duty elder brother, 10 seek 10 restore free
dom TO those other countries Of which the house
Of Austria had deprived them. Seeing this,
proposed that il was our duty, as the elder
brother Of Austria, to 90 10 the king, and ask him
10 restore the constitutional liberties Of the other
portions Of his dominions and SO By this mean.
TO put away the enchninment placed on the con.