The mountain sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1844-1853, 1851-03-13
EBENsBURG, THURSDAY. MARCH 10, 1851

place. The whole nation was, as it were,
converted in day. A single generation
saw the HungarIans transformed from
Pagans into Christians. With this great
change, came more peaceful habits. The
Magyars no longer warred on Western
Europe with religious fanaticism as before,
but rather sought to be on terms of amity
with them and TO initiate the arts of peace.
Gradually returning, therefore, within the
boundaries of their central kingdom, they
confined themselves 10 the great plains of
Hungary and TO the contlgous territories.
Their princes began TO intermarry with
the princes of Western Europe; the peo-
pie assumed more or less of the habits of
civilization, and Hungary became, by the
sanction of a neighboring potentate, an
acknowledged christian kingdom.
Thus had passed the first period OF the
Magyar race. thai of It's fiery, impetuous
and colossal youth. About A. ID. 1000
it entered on the second term of its exist
erce. A robust, yet tempered manhood
was its destiny for five hundred years
succeeding. During this epoch i, was the
great buIwark of Europe against Saracen
and Turkish invasion. Occasionally, in
deed, the Hungarians warred on their
Christian brethern; and more than once
they allied themselves for period, and in
self defence, 10 the Ottoman hordes; but,
in the main, they were true TO The cause OF
Christian Europe, and the chief instru-
ments in repeiling the assaults of Moslem
fanaticism. Like a mighty break water,
thrown forward TO meet the first fury of
the tempest, they wilhstood, for centuries,
the war of the advancing surges and The
dash OF the angry tide. Their gallantry
IN the field was only equalled by their
sturdy independence at home Inheriling
from their ancestors a sort of rude consti-
tutlonal monarchy, under which the people
elected all the minor officers of the State,
they maintained these privileges when
absolutism reigned every here else on tho
continent, anu when England alone shared
with Hungary the benefits of real liberty.
From the fatal edict, by which the diet
invited the house of Hapsburg TO occupy
the vacant throne, dates the decline of the
once mighty Magyars. Since that period,
their territories have been narrowed almost
constantly. The aim of the Austrian
monarchs had been to destroy the national
feelings, and strip The people of their an
cestral rights; and this base scheme has
been persisted in, regardless of the heroic
sacrifices made by the Hungarians, on
frequent occasions, 10 save the Empire
In a measure, the treacherous plot has
succeeded. The DeIilah that the Magvars
took IN has shorn them secretly of their
strength, and has, in onr own day, deliv-
cred them over TO the haired of the auto
crat, the true Phllistine of Europe. Their
national independence has sunk into a
mere shadow since the last fatal war
kossuIh and few other sanguine patriots
may still hope for the resuscitation of this
gallant people; but we fear their doom,
like that of The noble Poles, is sealed, and
that the time OF their extinction approach
es. Their old age is at hand, if not
already come. In century or two, at
the utmost, they will probably be lost sight
of, in surrounding population. Such is
the fate of nations