Harper's New Monthly Magazine Vol. IV, No. 19, Dec 1851

by Various

We have further news of interest from Buenos Ayres. Our intelligence of last month left Oribe, with a large force, on the 30th of July, in daily expectation of having a battle with the Brazilian troops under Urquiza and Garzon—each contending for dominion over Uruguay. The contest seems to have been ended without a fight. As Oribe advanced against the allied troops, he lost his men by desertion in great numbers, and by the end of August six thousand of his cavalry had joined the standard of Urquiza, whose strength was rapidly increased. Finding the force against him to be such as to forbid all hope of a successful battle, Oribe seems to have abandoned all hope. He had made up his mind to evacuate the Oriental territory, and for that purpose had requested the French admiral to convey him, with the Argentine troops, to Buenos Ayres. This request had been refused: and this refusal led to new desertions from Oribe's force. Rosas was still in the field, but would be compelled to surrender.

MEXICO.

We have intelligence from Mexico to the 15th of October. The political condition of the country was one of great embarrassment and peril. Dangers seem to threaten the country from every quarter. On the southern border is the danger growing out of the grant to the United States of right of way across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. If the railroad is built there, it is feared that the energy and business enterprise which the Americans will infuse into that section of the country, will gradually Americanize it, and thus lead inevitably to its separation from Mexico. On the other hand, if the grant is revoked, there is great danger of war with the United States, which could end only in renewed loss of territory. Upon the northwest again, there is a prospect of invasion from California. Thousands of the adventurous inhabitants of that State are settling in the western section of Mexico and preparing the way for its separation from the central government.

A still more serious danger menaces them from the Northern departments, in which, as was mentioned in our last Number, a revolution has broken out which promises to be entirely successful. Later advices confirm this prospect. After taking Reynosa, Gen. Caravajal, the leader of the revolution, marched to Matamoras, which he reached on the 20th of October, and forthwith attacked the place, which had been prepared for an obstinate defense, under Gen. Avalos. Several engagements between the opposing forces had taken place, and the besieged army is said to have lost two hundred men. The inhabitants of Matamoras had been forced to leave, part of the town had been twice on fire, and a great amount of property was destroyed. But the city still held out.

The general government had addressed a note, through the Minister of War, under date of September 25, to the Governors of the Northern States, expressing confidence in their fidelity and urging them to spare no effort to crush the revolt. The Governors had replied to the requisitions upon them for troops, that their departments were not injured by the revolution and that they would not aid its suppression. This fact shows that the movement has decided strength among the Mexicans themselves.

The Legislature of the State of Vera Cruz has passed a resolution requesting Congress to charter a railroad from Vera Cruz to Acapulco, by way of Mexico. A good deal of hostility is evinced to a reported design of the Pope to send a nuncio to the capital.—The British Minister has demanded from Mexico a judicial decree in favor of British creditors, and has menaced the government with a blockade of their ports as the alternative.—There had been a military revolt of part of the troops in Yucatan, which had been suppressed, and six of the soldiers shot.

GREAT BRITAIN.

The arrival of Kossuth and the closing of the Great Exhibition, are the two events by which the month in England has been distinguished. The great Hungarian received a very cordial welcome. He came to Gibraltar from Constantinople by the United States steam frigate Mississippi, which had been sent out by the American government to convey him to the United States. On reaching Marseilles he proposed to go through France to England, for the purpose of leaving his children there; and then to meet the Mississippi again at Gibraltar. The French government refused him permission to pass through France. The receipt of this refusal excited a good deal of feeling among the people of Marseilles, who gathered in immense numbers to testify their regard for the illustrious exile, and their regret at the action of their government. In reply to their manifestations, Kossuth addressed them a letter of thanks, which was published in Le Peuple at Marseilles. In this he merely alluded to the action of the government and assured them that he did not hold the French people responsible for it. He then proceeded in the frigate to Gibraltar, where, after staying two or three days, and receiving the utmost civilities of the British officers there, he embarked on board the British steamer Madrid, in which he reached Southampton on the 23d of October. A large concourse of people met him on the wharf and escorted him, with great enthusiasm and hearty cheering, to the residence of the mayor. In answer to the loud cheers with which he was greeted, he came out upon the balcony and briefly addressed the crowd, warmly thanking them for their welcome and expressing the profoundest gratitude to England for the aid she had given to his deliverance from prison.—The same day an address from the people of Southampton was presented to him in the Town Hall, to which he replied at some length. He spoke of the feeling with which he had always studied the character and institutions of England, and said that it was her municipal institutions which had preserved to Hungary some spirit of public life and constitutional liberty, against the hostile acts of Austria. The doctrine of centralization had been fatal to France and other European nations. It was the foe of liberty—the sure agent of absolute power. He attributed much of England's freedom to her municipal institutions. For himself, he regarded these demonstrations of respect as paid to the political principles he represented, rather than his person. He believed that England would not allow Russia to control the destinies of Europe—that her people would not assist the ambition of a few families, but the moral welfare and dignity of humanity. He hoped to see some of those powerful associations of English people, by which so much is done for political rights, directing their attention, and extending their powerful aid to Hungary. For himself life was of no value, except as he could make use of it for the liberty of his own country and the benefit of humanity. He took the expression of respect by which he had been met, as an encouragement to go on in that way which he had taken for the aim of his life, and which he hoped the blessings of the Almighty, and the sympathy of the people of England and of generous hearts all over the world, might help to carry to a happy issue. It was a much greater merit to acknowledge a principle in adversity than to pay a tribute to its success. He thanked them for their sympathy and assured them of the profound admiration he had always entertained for the free institutions of England.

On the 24th, Kossuth went to the country house of the mayor, and on the 25th attended a déjeûner at Winchester, where he made a long speech, being mainly an historical outline of the Hungarian revolution. He explained the original character of Hungary, as a constitutional monarchy, and its position between Russia, Austria, and Turkey. Its constitution was aristocratic, but its aristocracy was not rich, nor was it opposed to the constitutional rights of the people. Hungary had a parliament and county municipal institutions, and to the latter he attributed the preservation of the people's rights. All the orders of the government to any municipal magistrate, must be forwarded through county meetings, where they were discussed, and sometimes withheld. They thus formed a strong barrier against the encroachments of the government; and no county needed such a barrier more, for during more than three centuries, the House of Hapsburg had not at its head a man who was a friend to political freedom. The House of Hapsburg ruled Hungary, but only according to treaties—one of the conditions of which was, that they were to rule the people of Hungary only through Hungarian institutions, and according to its own laws. Austria had succeeded in absorbing all the other provinces connected with her—but her attempts upon Hungary had proved unsuccessful. Her constant efforts to subdue Hungary had convinced her rulers that to the nobles alone her defense ought not to be intrusted, but that all the people should have an equal interest in their constitutional rights. This was the direction of public opinion in Hungary in 1825. The first effort of the patriotic party, therefore, was to emancipate the people—to relieve the peasantry from their obligation to give 104 days out of every year to their landlords, one-ninth of their produce to their seigneur, and one-tenth to the bishop. This was only effected by slow degrees. In the long parliament, from 1832 to 1836, a measure was carried giving the peasant the right to purchase exemption from the duties with the consent of his landlord. This, however, was vetoed by the Regent. The government then set itself to work to corrupt the county constituencies, by which members of the Commons were chosen. They appointed officers to be present at every meeting, and to control every act. This system the liberal party resisted, because they wished the county meetings to be free. And this struggle went on until 1847, just before the breaking out of the French Revolution. The revolution in Vienna followed that event, and this threw all power into the hands of Kossuth and his party. He at once proposed to emancipate the peasantry, and to indemnify the landlords from the land. The measure was carried at once, through both Houses; and Kossuth and his friends then went on, to give to every inhabitant a right to vote, and to establish representative institutions, including a responsible ministry. The Emperor gave his sanction to all these laws. Yet very soon after a rebellion was incited by Austria among the Serbs, who resisted the new Hungarian government, and declared their independence. The Palatine, representing the King, called for an army to put down the rebellion, and Jellachich, who was its leader, was proclaimed a traitor. But soon successes in Italy enabled the Emperor to act more openly, and he recognized Jellachich as his friend, and commissioned him to march with an army against Hungary. He did so, but was driven back. The Emperor then appointed him governor; but the Hungarians would not receive him. Then came an open war with Austria, in which the Hungarians were successful. Reliable information was then received that Russia was about to join Austria in the war, and that Hungary had nowhere to look for aid. It was then proposed that, if Hungary was forced to contend against two mighty nations, the reward of success should be its independence. What followed, all know. He declared his belief that, but for the treason of Görgey, the Hungarians could have defeated the united armies of their foes. But the House of Hapsburg, as a dynasty, exists no more. It merely vegetates at the whim of the mighty Czar, to whom it has become the obedient servant. But if England would only say that Russia should not thus set her foot on the neck of Hungary, all might yet be well. Hungary would have knowledge, patriotism, loyalty, and courage enough to dispose of its own domestic matters, as it is the sovereign right of every nation to do. This was the cause for which he asked the generous sympathy of the English people; and he thanked them cordially for the attention they had given to his remarks.

On the same occasion Mr. Cobden spoke in favor of the intervention of England to prevent Russia from crushing Hungary, and obtaining control of Europe, and Mr. J. R. Croskey, the American Consul at Southampton, expressed the opinion that the time would come, if it had not already come, when the United States would be forced into taking more than an interest in European politics.