On this page
-
Text (3)
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
tion by Kossutli and liis party—looked to mo of necessity as its saviour , at that time also when , with a simultaneous disregard of every humane consideration , a List vain attempt for salvation could be dared . " A third question will be : whether I did or did not attempt , when in Presbuag , to obtain for myself the dictatorship ; and what were my reasons ? Did I not distinctly hear an inward call to seize , even with despotic power , upon the march of my country ' s destiny ; had I not even at that time a firm conviction of the necessity of a dictatorship ; had I not been able to foresee that Kossutli would be just as unsuccessful a dictator as he had been a successful agitator ? " In the face of all these truths , unless I were to deny their existence , it would be incomparably more difficult for me to answer this question in a mysterious than
in a clear and distinct manner . " Have I ever aspired to the dictatorship ? " No . " Why did I never make any effort to obtain it ? " Because the dictatorship in my hands would have been an impossibility—nay , a sheer absurdity . " Why would the dictatorship in my hands have been an impossibility , a sheer absurdity ? " Because I spent the whole of my early youth , tip to the month of April , 1 S 48 . —precisely the season best adapted for acquiring information—beyond the frontiers of my native land , almost apart from any connexion with it , and nearly ignorant of my country ' s customs , usages , and laws , and above all , wholly deficient in even a superficial and general acquaintance with the civil administration ; ignorant to such a degree , that in strictly political matters , for instance , I was obliged to believe , generally on the mere word of the Committee of Defence , that their measures were judicious , and favourable to the idea that directed all my efforts .
" Because being still unknown to the country , and not possessing the confidence of the nation , I could , under the most favourable circumstances , only have usurped the name without the real power of a dictator , and because , even when , somewhat later , a part of the nation began to put confidence in me , my power as dictator—considering the difference between my political views and those of Kossuth , who still continued to be the most popular man in Hungary—would have been by so much the more precarious , the less I was able to replace his civil administration by a more suitable one , and to render his agitation against me abortive by more effective counteraction . " These are the reasons why the idea of obtaining for myself the dictatorship was a sheer absurdity . I never thought of it so long as the events of the war and their results left even the narrowest field for the exercise of the civil government . "
Thk " nothing less than national enthusiast , " so ignorant of his country ' s laws and customs , and who , moreover , entered into the war with the foregone conclusion that his country would be beaten , he presumed to judge the conduct of her old friends and servants , of men who knew her laws by rote , and whose struggles and suffering * in early youth and in the prime of manhood , had been endured within the frontiers of their native land . In the very letter of the 11 th . of November in which he ventilated the idea of the dictatorship , and artfully suggested himself , he demanded , entire power over all promotions in his army and over all its movements— -that is . he asked to be allowed to organize the army as he pleased , and dispose of it as he pleased , lie found the Committee of Defence not exactly willing to concur in his schemes , so he took " refuge in sarcasm , " his
" constant and faithful ally when driven almost to desperation . " The sarcasm was levelled afc the Diet , the civi ] power in every shape , and the unfortunate volunteers , many of whom had , lie tells us , neither clothing nor arms ; yet who , nevertheless , are exposed to sarcastic comments on their desire " , in this condition , to avoid grapeshot ! No doubt Kossutli relied too much on national enthusiasm ; and , like all men of ardent convictions , believed that ; others were as ardently convinced as himself . But this is a pardonable error , for it . does not , interfere with the formation of a good army . Gorgei , however , despised national enthusiasm , and trusted to discipline ; alone , lie crushed , by his taunts and his insolence , all fire out , of jii . s patriotic troops ; and scorned the national guards and volunteers too much even to impart ; that discipline they stood in need of .
From the : 50 th of October to the beginning of " February , lilt . lt ! but disaster attended the fortunes of Hungary . . Fiirly in November the Committee of . Defence had directed CeiieralCorgei to defend the frontier and to harass the enemy by guerilla , warfare . Gorgei , on Hit ! other hand , proposed to withdraw the army from the frontier , and the Diet ; from I ' eHth . Neither plan c : ni be said to have been adopted , ( uirgei , alleging the weakness and cowardice of bis army , wii . il . etl until Windiseh Cratz crossed I ho frontier , and retreat on the part , of the Hungarians became inevitable . They fell back accordingly in nil directions , and with great , losses ; Gorgei retreat ing upon Kaab , and thence towards < ) len , whither he arrived i : i . January , lttli ) . Meanwhile IVrezel had HiiUered a defeat ; IVsth being no longer tenable , the 1 ) iet had decamped to I ) ebreczin ; and although Gorgei had recommended this . step u month previously ,
2 ind although ht ! admits that IVslli was untenable , yet ,, taking " refuge in sarcasm , " he roundly ascribes the retreat of kossuHi and the Diet i , o la fx-ur voitr /<< /)<««¦ Disgusted by the motives \\ liieli led to this retreat- ot l , h
incompetence of Arthur Gorgei . tin the 41 . 11 olMnnuary , the army of the Upper Danube saved itself by crossing that river , aiKrnbandonin ' g the capitals of the country . On the 01 , 11 of January , Gorgei inarched his army into Wai / . en ; and hero , in Hie course of his " slay , he performed a . most important , act . lie formally and contumaciously sel himself up an n . third competitor for Hungary . KoshuUi wub the ' champion of the uulion ; WiudiBoh ( Jiriitz fought for the
Emperor of Austria ; but Arthur Gorgei , under pretence of espousing the cause of the King of Hungary , espoused his own . Here at Waizen . he began that great movement to form a military party who should , in . rallying round the constitution of 1848 , rally round his own fortunes . In his Memoir he elaborately describes how the troops , the old troops had lost faith in Kossutli , on account of his anti-dynastic tendencies , and his flight from Pesth ; how they had taken arms to defend the monarchical constitution , and found themselves hurried into what looked like an attack on the monarchy . He depreciates , by employing the vilest metaphors , the acts of the Committee of Defence , and the efforts of those who had roused the troops and the country to resistance . He represents these troops that is , as it afterwards appears , certain officers—as deserting , others as wavering ; and then it comes out that " only their confidence in me could secure the latter . " This confidence he affects to think was shaken by the publication of a false proclamation in his name , and of a private letter to
Kossuth—" resembling the official rhodomontades of Messrs . Kossuth , Perczel , and others . " So he took advantage of these circumstances , he tells us , to state his views , in a proclamation to the " Royal Hungarian corps d ' armee of the Upper Danube . " And what did he proclaim ? He proclaimed the utter inefficiency of the Committee of Defence , in a series of wily confessions of error on his own part for not having opposed them ; he imputed to them the " furtherance of personal private interests , " in not permitting the array to immolate itself before Ofen ; and , by implication , he disavowed their authority— -that is , the authority of the men from whom lie derived his command . And having arraigned the Committee , and declared them incompetent , if not worse , he proposed a declaration to the army , to the effect tliat . the army will fight for the constitution of IS 48 ; oppose all who attempt by " republican intrigues" to overthrow the monarchy ; take orders only from , the Minister of War ; and declare that it would accept no convention with the enemy which
did not guarantee the integrity of the constitution . Unfortunately this document escaped the proper notice it called forarrest and punishment of the author . Gorgei had planted his personal standard , and henceforward carried it high enough ; only striking it to the . Russians at Vill . agos ! But for a man like this to censure others for insubordination , either in the field or in the camp , and thus naively to confess it , is at once the height of impudence and of self-deception . Still how it passed without notice , is a mystery not yet cleared up . The retreat of the army to the left bank of the Danube , which was rendered necessary by the defeat of Perczel at Moor , began a career of misfortunes . At the same time it afforded Gorgei an opportunity of
displaying what military talent he possessed , in shaping the course of his army so as to afford the greatest amount of employment for the enemy and the greatest relief to that part of the country still in the hands of the national party . Gorgei thought the matter over , but he could devise no plan of operations . He had with him a chief of his general staff—whose name he does not mention—and it was fortunate for him he had This able officer devised a plan for retreating into the mountain towns of Schemnitz , Kremnitz , and Neusohl , in order that the hostile main army might be diverted from the Theiss . It was a happy idea , and admirably carried out . Gorgei grew famous for this retreat ; and Wn rornnrnhor that it made a irreat noise at the time in the newspapers .
Little did we know that the idea was not Gorgei ' s , but that of a soldier whose name lie does not even deign to mention . We shall not follow him m this retreat . It was a very gallant performance ; and , so far as bravery on the scene of any encounter goes , gallantly wrought out by trorgei . Altogether , although he does disparage his troops continually , because they would not stand in untenable positions nor face a heavy nro , without ammunition , it is perhaps that part , of Gorgei ' s career which we can Iook on with the least , displeasure ! . It was full of dangers , disasters , and , Jet General Gorgei say what he will , of manly endurance on the part oi his troops . Early ' in . January , 1849 , the army quitted the mountains , and made for the upper Theiss , to eiVect , a junction with a corps unOa Klapka , on the defensive against ; Schlick . On its way , Guyon alone , with the men stigmatized by Gorgei as cowards and runaways , can ai Hit ! Ikanyisko pass-Gorgei " reflecting" at a distance , ' on flic past . And in liiia fatal attitude we leave him to the reader ' s contemplation .
Untitled Article
BOOKS ON OUIt TAHIiN . Life , and Correspondence of John Foster . Kdiled W . K . lf . ylar . j l , AM- ^« Notice of Mr . Foster as a Preacher and Companion , by John blieppuia . ^ ^^ Holm ' s Standard Library . " ' rj ] 1 ( Inland ' s / A / i > of Foster \» a popular Look in religious circles , especially ll "J ""^ iionconfoni . islH , and Mr . Holm lms done wisely , in ineludin- it '" «»« ™ ' , Library . We need only » pe . eify that this edition in to b « in two volume . - contains a portrait . chap man . Chapman ' s Libraryfor the People . ' | , q » Thk two last , issues of this series are , Miss Sed-ewick's p leasant little " Art .- «• •> Historical , Mv . lvhrs of the . Old Painters , and Charles IlenueH ' s beauulul t . n- ¦ on Christian Theism .
Untitled Article
// . /« : an . li uup thni l'H , / ri , na , / ,: H . y James AiifjimliiH SI .. Jl > llll j ^ ^» - , ovv | 1 ) ( j ,.,.,.,, , un . l 0 < J Uisto ' trn iff In I ' rutiiiini / ion . I ' ar A . < lo Uuniarl inc . Kidi ' unl lt < 'i ' ll ( 1 > A Man H'i / hoitt a Nmiic . ' I Volrt . (!| ihiiiiiuii n ' " . Olit ' . Ji ' oiut . i anil AV «> Uoiiils . ' \\ <) . U "'" rim Yoiniii It '(/<¦'« ( liiiile . Ity Henry Duvi . 'H , I \ 1 . D . ,, ( j . J Jolw h 7 rm in /» ' «/ ' llin / tli and J ' riiiriplni of t ' 'ein «/ r Ili / i jimif . 11 y K . . 1 " »>» Jvl - " - J ()| ) I 1 ( : | ,, i ] . miiii Vh- /) , ii / . A llimlmi l . itfftirij Journal . Vol . I . . ( j | . ; . Ityl " h'trmr ' n / ari / I > niiviml Ni-IioiiIk . _ . . 10 . Lin "' )' 'I'he finit ' t { , ; mrl « of Um Haririi / far I ' rmnofi ,,, / Warkuii , Mm h ''""'"' . ' ¦''(¦'''" " . , „! ,, „ I'huithou ; or , . / , «„; ,. Thoiu , hUfW Loot , ! Thinkvr * . Uy tl . o Ucv . ( IwiiIcm lv ' " ^"' ... Ai ll . ti . <>¦"' ' . ' , ' < : | . r |»> i »» '"" J J , ' Tin- Sunday I'irlurn-Hook-. ( 'Iihihiiiih i "' '" Chri « tin « K Itoak-H . Uy OliarlcH DiehfiiH . / ilillim . MA A . *' ' " <" '" . ' . ' , 7 'lir If / arfi / rn , HrrucH , an , / Hards of the Ncoltith Vovcnaut . Hy <» . < Ji MIHiiii , - " ,,, „„ . ) , Oi l " " I ' inir / i ' H i ' lH-krt- l \ wk for IWi ; i . " |) avi « l H' ^ " ' . ' ( , ' , „„/ , ¦ Alnuinarhfar \» W , \ . Hinmliin »¦ " M !" ,, | ' A Hi / Hti'tn- of Modrrn ( Jroi / mflii / . . Hi """'' "'" "" , iii i , r ' /• ' I // rial / Iranian or Trui / eilim \ i \ . Iiivoiiim . I ' iiikI' " "
„„ , ,,,,, . , n'rifim / M of Dtmi / lati Jcrrolil ' funrh ' n l . rttirn to / " « Han . A « l < l' 7 "" ,, |) ( Jrimm ' H llotmrli ' old Htariru The 'I'hrrti Itro / hrvH , $ ¦<; . C 1 iiij > iii »» "" 1 Jj (> ' / 'ho Dotlit ' . li ' amtli / Ahroail . lly ( ihiulcH I- 'w < m \ WliitUk « r lkU The Letter and Spirit of / Scripture . Hy Wuv . TU «» nut » Wilwoii .
Untitled Article
1144 THE LEADER , [ Satujuuy , . ...... _ ....,.,
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 27, 1852, page 1144, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1962/page/20/
-