It was not until 1854 that the state of siege inaugurated in 1849 was abolished, and only in 1856 that an amnesty was proclaimed. In 1857 the emperor visited Hungary, and during his stay, he decreed the restoration of their confiscated estates to the late political offenders. From this time the emperor and the government of Vienna seemed anxious, by means of concessions to the national aims, to cause the Hungarians to forget the bitterness and strife of 1848 and 1849. In 1858 agricultural colonists were given special inducements to settle in specified districts, and were allowed certain exemptions from taxation.
In 1859 a most important concession was made by the imperial government to the spirit of nationality. By a ministerial order the language used in the higher schools was for the future to be regulated according to the circumstances of nationality, the predominance of German being thereby abolished. In the same year was issued what was known as the Protestant patent, which granted to the communes the free administration of their own educational and religious matters.
WOMAN’S HEAD-DRESS.
In 1860 the supreme court of judicature, known as the curia regia, and the county assemblies were reinstated, and the Magyar was recognized as the official language. Later in the year the district called the Banate of Temesvár was re-annexed to Hungary. In 1861 the old constitution was restored to Hungary, including Transylvania, Croatia, and Slavonia, and the Hungarian Diet reassembled in the old capital, Buda, afterwards removing across the river to Pesth. Within a few months, however, an address was presented at Vienna demanding the fullest autonomy for Hungary. To this the emperor declared himself unable to accede, and the Diet was dissolved. Stringent measures were again put into force by the imperial government, and military aid was invoked to enforce the collection of the taxes.
In 1865 the Diet was opened by the emperor in person, and the imperial assent was given to the principle of self-government for Hungary. The provisions of the Pragmatic Sanction (of 1722) were proposed as the basis for the settlement of the questions still at issue. The Diet also demanded, however, an acknowledgment of the continuity of the constitutional rights of 1848. Before an imperial decision had been reached on this point, the war of 1866 broke out between Austria and Prussia (allied with Italy), and the Diet was prorogued. The Hungarian troops formed an important contingent in the Austrian army which faced the Prussians in Bohemia, and the general in command, Marshal Benedek, was himself by birth a Hungarian. Hungarians also fought in the army of the south, which, under the leadership of the Archduke Albrecht, made a brief but brilliant campaign against the Italians. In Bohemia the Austrians met with a decisive defeat at Sadowa (in July, 1866), and although in Italy Archduke Albrecht gained the important battle of Custozza, and Admiral Tegetthoff a naval victory near Lissa (in the Adriatic), the general results of the summer’s campaign were adverse to Austria, and brought about material changes in its relations to Germany and in its own imperial organization.
By the peace of Prague (August, 1866) the German confederation was dissolved, and Austria’s long preëminence among the states of Germany came to an end, the leadership in German affairs being transferred to Prussia. The centre of gravity of the Austrian empire (which was thus, as it were, pushed out of Germany) was thrown southward and eastward, and the most important result for Hungary was the constituting of the present dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary, finally sanctioned in February, 1867.
CARTS.
Under this arrangement the constitutional, legal, and administrative autonomy of 1848 was secured to Hungary, while the full control of the army rested with the emperor-king. The representative committee of the Diet, which conducted and completed the new constitutional arrangements, was headed by Deák, and the presidency of the first ministry was given to Count Andrássy.