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Europe and America Criss-Crossing Perspectives, 1788-1848

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Jacques Portes

Deuxième partie. Europe Viewing America

II. 1. The American Experiment and Reform-Age Hungary, 1828-1848

József Gellén et Lajos Kossuth

Texte intégral

I. Reform and Its Background

  • 1 – István Gál, "Széchenyi and the USA" Hungarian Studies in English, V, 1971, p. 95-119.
  • 2 J. Kampe, Amerikának feltalálásáról. 0n the Discovery of America), I-III, Kolozsvár, 1973; William (...)

1The first half of the 19th century is marked by the tides of opposition of the progress-minded elements of the Hungarian nobility against Habsburg absolutism. Progressivism reached back to the Hungarian Jacobin conspiracy of 1794-95. Its leaders regarded the American democratic experiment as one of the significant examples to follow. Ignác Martinovics recommended the convention of Philadelphia and József Hajnóczy, (a solicitor in the service of Count Ferenc Széchenyi, Count István Széchenyi’s father, and a leading theoretician of the Hungarian Jacobin conspirators) worked out a draft for the transformation of the Monarchy into a federal republic.1 The late 18th and early 19th centuries saw the publication of the earliest writings about America either in translation from foreign authors or by Hungarian authors.2

2The economic slump in the wake of Waterloo as well as the suppression of any form of pluralism within the Monarchy kindled the torch or resistance among the Hungarian nobility who dispaired of the infringements upon their rights and privileges entrenched in the political bulwark of county autonomy, the only framework that retained elements of constitutionalism against absolitistic endeavours- Their opposition motivated by grievances was reinforced by progressive liberal-republican movements in several countries in Europe in the early 1820’s. The first reform Diet (bicameral Parliament representing the aristocracy and the middle nobility) was in session in 1828-27 where most of the urgent issues of the age were raised – such as the abolition of entailment, an obstacle to capitalistic land ownership and utilization; taxation of the nobility to share in public expenses; some voluntary form of manumission from serfdom; the use of the Hungarian language in administration, etc – but virtually all of them were left unchanged. Partly through Louis Kossuth’s activity, the radical liberal forces organized themselves into a more potent force and raised the issues of governmental and social reform. After a period of repression in the late 1930’s (Kossuth himself was sent to prison) a lively political and intellectual period set in in the early 1940’s- All important ideas of contemporary political and social thought were addressed by representatives of the political spectrum: Loyalist conservatives; neo-conservatives who were ready to compromise in order to preserve the faudal structure; the middle-of-the-roaders; the left-of-center centralists; the radical opposition factions led by Kossuth; and the left-wing intellectuals some of whom embarked on utopistic socialism.

3The course of events in Hungary and abroad led to the bloodless Pest Revolution of March 15, 1848, and the establishment of an autonomous Hungarian government still within the structure of the Hasbrug Monarchy.

4All this intellectual and political ferment did not evolve in isolation from intellectual and political tendencies in Europe and North-America. Although the French enlightenment and bourgeois revolutionary thoughts had a great impact on the reform generation of 1828-1848, they looked at England and America as successful examples of how to implement the political and social ideas of the age without working havoc in society. All the more so, because early 19th century Hungary was short of any politically significant bourgeoisie and independent intelligentsia that could initiate change. It became the task of that part of the middle nobility and tiny fraction of the aristocracy which realized that the future of Hungary as a nation depended upon reforms intended to open up possibilities for progress and industry, agriculture and in the antiquated social structure in which only noblemen had political rights. This peculiar situation gave a special dual character to the process. The majority of the middle nobility endeavoured to gain more independence for the nation, but rigidly clung to their feudal prerogatives. Only a minority of them, the reform opposition led first by Count István Széchenyi and then by Kossuth, realized that the two, i.e., national autonomy and social reforms, are actually inseparable. This circumstance explains why the issues of those times were approached from so many angles and the examples of the outside world were interpreted in so many ways .

5My objective in the present paper is to show through what channels the American experiment – "example" – reached the Hungarian intellectual and political life in the Reform Era and in what ways its elements were used in the political struggle.

Liberal Periodicals and America

  • 3 George Barany, "The Appeal and the Echo" in Béla K. Király and George Barany, eds., East-Central Eu (...)
  • 4 Ibid.
  • 5 Ibid.

6Contemporary free masonry, the Jacobins and all enlightened thinkers in late 18th century Hungary had a universal interest in America.3 During his campaign of 1809, Napoléon seems to have had a sense of the analogy between the enlightened Hungarians’ interest in America and the Americans’ lawful rebellion against British infringements on their rights, for he appealed to the Hungarians to rise up against the treacherous Habsburgs very much along the lines of the American Declaration of Independence.4 Although the ideology of the French Revolution had a more universal appeal, the enlightened Hungarians found it "safer to explore the constitutional possibilities of the apparently more peaceful and conservative American Revolution".5

7Although the appeal of the American experiment had been strong among the narrow circles of enlightened liberal circles in Hungary since the 1780’ and 1790’s, the broader educated public began to shape an image of America from the increasing number and popularity of periodical publications following the end of the Napoleonic wars.

  • 6 István Fenyö, Magyarság és emberi egyeetemesség. Budapest, Szépirodalmim, 1979, p. 9-62.

8The first periodical to project the United States’ political structure as a desirable governmental and social ideal was the Erdélyi Muzeum (Transylvanian Museum) launched in 1814.6 The later author of the first Hungarian travelogue on the United States, Sándor Bölöni Farkas was working as an editorial assistant on the journal’s staff when the young historian, Ferenc Szilágyi Jr. published an essay in 1824 on Benjamin Franklin. Although Franklin had been known in Hungary before, this was the first instance in which he was portrayed as an anti-feudal and anti-monarchic symbol. His progress from a simple printer to an outstanding statesman was an unthinkable career under Habsburg absolutism in the early 19th century. Besides George Washington, Benjamin Franklin became the best known American in the Reform Age inspiring the ethical concepts of the progressive Reform Generation, especially Count István Széchenyi, striving for modernization.

  • 7 Ibid., p. 63-167.

9The Tudományos Gyüjtemény (cca. Scholarly Magazine), started in 1817, picked up the liberalizing initiative especially between 1819 and 1832. This periodical carried on and strengthened the sense of yearning for some idealized bourgeois freedom as it was instituted in England and America. Travels abroad, also an imperative of romantic thought, were encouraged and the travellers’ reports carried by the Tudomáinyos Gyüjtemény. The journal gathered a group of experts in science and technology who intended to satisfy the hunger for such information and pictured America as a youthful country leading in technological development and heralded Fulton’s steam boat and the pace of railroad construction in America. In 1818, Tudományos Gyütemény carried an article Amerikai Kultura (American Culture) which compared the important role of the press in America in comparison with its backward state in the Habsburg Empire.7

  • 8 Quoted in ibid.; p. 172.
  • 9 "A szellemi és erkölcsi polgáriasodás állapotja az Éjszak-amerikai Egyesült 0rszágokban", 1834-

10The Tudommánytár (Storehouse of Scholarship), started in 1834, the first periodical published by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, became the "first Hungarian school of modern social and scientific thinking".8 9 Ferenc Toldy, the editor, had a personal interest in American institutions. The same year S. Bölöni Farkas published his travelogue on America, Toldy wrote two pioneering essays in this organ. One of them treated The Stage of Intellectual and Ethical

  • 10 "A büntetö rendszer az Egyesült Orzágokban", 1834.
  • 11 István Fenyő, op. cit., p. 173-174.

Modernization in the North-American United States and discussed the freedom of the press, popular education, religious tolerance and equal rights before the law, which he regarded as the greatest achievements in the previous fifty years. The other article, Punishment of Crime in the United States10 reflects the tendency through which the issue of jurisdiction, law enforcement and prison conditions became one of the most important elements of the reform generation’s political platform. The idea of man’s perfectibility, the corrective nature of the prison term and the return of the convict to civil society is drawn from the American example.11

11Atheneum and its crirical supplement Figyelmező (Sentinel) were the first organs to regularly devote space to the discussion of American topics. This interest is partly explained by the democratic orientation of the editors, József Bajza and Mihály Vörösmarty and partly by the fact that these organis were launched in 1837 in the wake of the success of Bölöni Farkas’s travelogue and the closing of the largely fruitless clashes at diet of 1832-36 and at a time when Tocqueville’s Democracy began to be echoed in Hungary. In fact, Tocqueville’s work was first reviewed in the Figyelmező in 1837 by Károly Nagy, and its translator, Gábor Fábián, a lawyer and social philosopher, contributed essays and summaries on several major American topics, based on Tocqueville.

  • 12 Cf. Janos Varga, Helyét Kerescő Magyarország; Politikai eszmék és Koncepciók az 1840-es évek elején(...)

12The late 1830’s and the early 1840‘s saw the spread of egalitarian principles among the liberal opposition. The American experiment seems to have played a remarkable role in the deepening division between the democratic left wing and the moderate faction of the liberal opposition to the absolutistic monarchy.12

  • 13 Atheneum, 1839, I, n° 51, p. 833-839. This issue was also taken up by Baron József Eötvös in the mi (...)
  • 14 Atheneum, 1839, I, n°s 8-9, p. 81-89.
  • 15 Atheneum. 1839, II, n°s 1-2, p. 6-10 and 17-20.
  • 16 "Kivándorlás Éjszakamerikába", Atheneum, 1839, II n° 42, p. 657-662.

13The Atheneum sided with egalitarianism and democracy. Gábor Fábián’s and others’ anti-aristocratic and egalitarian attitudes were expressed mostly in reference to America: no aristocracy of birth, the aristocracy has dissolved in the masses. Gábor Fábián’s article "Large and Small Nations"13 points out the advantages of the federal system of government and underscores the absence of extreme oppression, extreme poverty and revolutionary upheavals. In another article on the function of the jury in legal procedure, he (as did many of the liberal reformers in later years!) emphasizes its political and educational role arguing that it is a manifestation of the sovereignty of the people, it shapes national character and improves the individual’s judgement and educates him in exercising his rights.14 Lőrinc Tóth introduced the justices of the peace (also with reference to Tocqueville) and pointed out advantagese similar to those of the jury- Lőrinc Tóth, however, cautions the reader that justices of the peace selected from the masses of the people would be "premature" in Hungary, where jurisdiction was in the hands of the local nobility and the county assembly.15 Gábor Fábián also wrote about emigration to North America16, based on Chevalier’s travelogue. Fábián renders the attraction of America in vivid colours: high wages, high level of consumption, commercial and industrial inventiveness and opportunities. He describes the good physical and ethical condition of young female textile labourers in Lowell, Massachusetts, in detail, pointing out the wretched physical and moral status of their European counterparts. The authors in Atheneum often quote the equal status of women and their good education in the USA as another example of how democracy operates.

  • 17 Atheneum. 1837, II, n° 18, p. 273-280.

14In the Atheneum’s frame of mind, as practically in all the liberal press, technological achievements are among the keys to social and political advancement. America is a paramount example of technological pioneering especially in the field of communication; railroads and canals. With ample reference to Michel Chevalier, communication was expected to shorten geographical distances as well as those between social classes- Lőrinc Tóth, in his The Old World and the New17 offers a geographical, natural and demographic description of the USA and concludes by saying in defense of the simplicity and unsophistication of life in America that "it must honestly be confessed about the young brother of the Old World that even if we have more taste, sensibility and, if you please, more talent for the artistic and poetic, that is, aesthetic objects, than the Americans, they, right now at the dawn of their existence, understand far more clearly the science of the true and real.""

  • 18 Samuel Ludvigh gave a political discussion of America in a travelogue published in German: Licht- u (...)
  • 19 Atheneum. 1939, II, n° 17, p. 271-272.
  • 20 Atheneum, 1840, II, n° 45, p. 705-708; Tocqueville’s impact on political thought in Hungary has not (...)

15The Atheneum published correspondence from foreign lands and the most influential on-the-spot observer of Amrica was a Hungarian emigrant publisher, Samuel Ludvigh.18 He wrote in a letter to Károly Kiittel, that the republican form of government is the best, but it has its shadowy sides. There is no art in America, there is the disgusting institution of slavery and lynch law and the press is also the slave of public opinion.19 Here he echoes the idea of the tyranny of the majority introduced by Tocqueville and relayed later to the educated public in Hungary through an essay on the Tyranny of the Majority by Gábor Fábián.20

  • 21 istvan Feny6, op. cit., p. 280-281.
  • 22 Atheneum, 1840, II, n° 29, (454-458).
  • 23 Atheneum. 1841, II, n° 14; 1840, II, n° 48; 1840, I, n° 49.
  • 24 For example, Atheneum, 1839, II, n° 43, p. 680- 682 .

16Since the censors and informers in the service of Habsburg rule pointed out writings which intended to spread "liberalism and the democratic concept",21 the editors were often reduced to let facts speak for themselves and often carried news about technological achievements in the USA. For example, dry facts about railroad mileage, the layout of Washington D. C. and its political status in the federal system, short biographies of the fathers of the American Constitution and other statesmen. E.g., Alexander Hamilton was introduced by Count Dániel Vey22 and George Washington and Benjamin Franklin were treated both in prose and verse.23 The Atheneum often published translations from foreign authors on how America influenced modernization in their own countries.24

  • 25 Atheneum, 1840, II, n° 15.

17One interesting example of camouflaging officially unwelcome information about America can be found in the standard Miscellaneous section of Atheneum. The anonymous author of a few lines titled Beggars in America told the readers that during his 500-mile journey in America he had not seen a single beggar.25

Count István Széchenyi and Lajos Kossuth

  • 26 George Barany, Stephen Széchenyi and the Awakening of Hungarian Nationalism, 1791-1841, Princeton, (...)
  • 27 István Gál, op. cit.

18Count István Széchenyi (1791-1860) was the greatest pioneer of liberal reform in Hungary. Although his Anglo-mania is much better known,26 his interest in America is shown by his readings about America, his diaries (1815-1848) and the personal contacts he made on his many sojourns in Western Europe.27

  • 28 Cf. Andras Gergely, Széchenyi eszmerendszerének Kialakulása (The Formation of Széchenyi’s System of (...)
  • 29 ibid., p. 57-58.

19One of the most influential personalities who shaped Széchenyi’s thinking was Benjamin Franklin- Franklin’s practical ethical concepts can be traced in his writings, especially his most influential work, Hitel (Credit) published in 1830, a treatise on the necessity of change in economic and social life in Hungary.28 Széchenyi felt nostalgia for the Promised Land. In his moments of depression in 1824, even the idea of emigration to America passed through his mind.29

  • 30 George Barany, "The Interest of the United States in Central Europe: Appointment of the First Consu (...)

20He had plans to visit America together with the other initiator of reforms, Baron Miklós Wesselényi, as early as 1821. But the Viennese authorities denied passports to the two Hungarian reformers in accordance with a policy championed by Metternich which "considered Americans as dangerous ‘propagandists’ of the democratic desease and refused, whenever possible, to grant passports for America to citizens of the Austrian Empire."30

  • 31 George Barany, Stephen Széchenyi and..., p. 330- 331.

21Széchenyi strove for the establishment of institutional relationships with American organizations and individuals in order to facilitate the import of technological know-how and scientific cooperation. In 1833, Széchenyi was instrumental in establishing cultural exchange between the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences founded by him. He sent greetings "to the learned Societies of that Country when the divine residence of Sacred Liberty stands in hitherto unknown purity amidst the miracles of great nature."31

22Evidently under the impact of Bölöni Farkas’s Travels, which he praised on several occasions, Széchenyi elevates the USA into a model body politic in 1835.

  • 32 Istvan Széchenyi, Hunnia, 1835, quoted in; István Gál, op. cit., p. 115-116.

"It is only the USA who had the great luck – and at the same tie the good sense to make full use of that luck – to avail themselves – after the repeated attempts of others, which served as models and examples – immediately and calmly of freedom, without the slightest internal upheaval. This, as it seems, has not merly brought wide-spread and lasting success for the USA, but it is also most beneficient to the whole of mankind. And therefore, it also exerts the greatest influence on us Hungarians. We Hungarians, however, do not miss the opportunity of accepting the examples of such sober ways of action and of applying them to ourselves and our conditions- This does not depend on America, nor on the whole world, but exclusively on us. Our national activity can achieve a better or worse trend only in the direction and to the extent, in a major or minor form, to which we accept and use, whith more or less goodwill and wisdom, the experience the world has gained from freedom... In the USA, for example, all the things that interest us most and that are the target of our envy, are merely superstructures. Therefore, as far as we are concerned, the day has not come as yet, nor may we participate in it and nor will it ever dawn upon us until the foundation stone of toleration and natural law has been laid in our country. The sun of that day, however, has already risen over our heads and has almost reached its zenith, in which we must do what America most owes its present condition to, and that is nothing else than to understand and soberly apply the experience of other nations.32

  • 33 György Szabad, "Kossuth and the Political System of the United States of America" Etudes Historique (...)

23Széchenyi’s ’sober’ and ’tactful’ ways parted with the more democratically oriented radical liberals in the early 1840’s. This break in the ranks of the reform generation surfaced in the journalistic polemic in the pages of the Pesti Hirlap with Louis Kossuth, who was on the rise from a humble background to fame and authority as the leading figure of the radical liberals. L. Kossuth emerged as a significant political figure at the time of the 1832-1836 Diet by virtue of his handwritten Dietary Reports sent to the county assemblies. Unlike the few contemporary newspapers under the vigilance of censor, Kossuth’s reports faithfully reflected the Diet proceedings, but only exceptionally significant speechess were fully accounted. "Thus, everything that appears in the reports about the USA characterized not only the speakers of the Diet, but also Kossuth, who selectively included their arguments."33 The speeches of the liberal representatives extolled the Constitution, religious tolerance, America’s capability to weld together all strains of immigrant races, how private ownership of land helped civilize vast stretches of wilderness. They argued for the introduction of the jury and changes in the institutions of correction.

  • 34 Ibid.

24The example of the American Revolution remained a source of inspiration for Kossuth all through his political career. His initiatives for strengthening industry in Hungary were made with frequent reference to Franklin’s views about domestic industry and the readiness of Americans to make sacrifices for the sake of a successful boycott.34

25Kossuth regarded the American Revolution as lawful action quite comparable to the Hungarian reformists’ legal position.

26Historian Gyyörgy Szabad point out that

  • 35 Ibid.

"Kossuth saw a close connection between the liberal democratic system of government of the USA and its federal state structure based on local government. Kossuth, whose heritage included the tradition of resistance practised by the opposition nobility of a feudal-municial Hungary to the centralizing and absolutistic ambitions of the Habsburg power, became, not least of all through an indirect acquaintance with the American government system, the Hungarian protagonist of the harmonization of an evolving municipalism with a central, responsible parliamentary government ."35

  • 36 Ibid.

27Kossuth was, however, afraid of too much centralization, and gave preference to the English and American examples over the French centralization "which gives no guarantees of the rights of the nation" thinking of Louis Philip and correctly predicted a second 18 Brumaire on July 11, 1848.36 Kossuth was a realist and a good tactician; he relied on the municipalities (feudal counties) in opposition to Habsburgh absolutism in spite of the obstinate insistence of the middle nobility on feudal prerogatives.

  • 37 István Deák, Kossuth és a magyarok. Budapest, Gondolat, 1983, p. 277.

28The Debrecen Declaration of Independence of April 14, 1849, from Habsburg rule was fashioned on the American Declaration of Independence of 1776, although the former has never become a well-know document for it lacked a thorough and clear-cut theoretical basis. It was drawn up largely by Kossuth himself in the hectic days of the spring campaign of 1849. It remained rather a long list of grievances suffered by the Hungarians in the previous 300 years.37

The Centralists

  • 38 József Eötvös, Reform, Leipzig, Köhler, 1846.
  • 39 Ibid., p. 188-191.
  • 40 Ibid., p. 27.
  • 41 Ibid., p. 190.
  • 42 Cf. the polemy over centralization between Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton.
  • 43 József Eötvös, op. cit., p. 190.

29The centralists, who took over the main reformist organ Pesti Hirlap from Kossuth in 1844, positioned themselves between the conservative foes of liberalization and those who regarded the municipalities (counties) as the strongest bulwarks of opposition (e.g., Kossuth). The centralists did not build massive popular support, remaining largely in the field of theory. The members of this political faction were the best minds trained in political philosophy. Their objective was the establishment of a centralized responsible government on a constitutional basis. Perhaps the best summary of their political platform was a book titled Reform by Baron József Eötvös.38 Eötvös argues against those conservative views that oppose the emulation of foreign experiments (France, England, and America) by pointing out that no experimentation is also an experiment, in fact, a very risky one.39 He also takes issue with Kossuth and the radical liberals who often spoke about the general dangers of centralization quoting the French example (Louis Philip) and who tended to emphasize the decentralized municipal structure in England and America. He thought that such municipalism was already at hand in the form of the counties, the guarantors of the constitutional rights of the nobility.40 In reference to Tocqueville, Eötvös points out that there is a great measure of centralization in America41 and 1- centralization and municipalism should not be conceived as mutually exclusive opposites42 and 2- the noble counties in Hungary are not comparable to local governments in America, for the counties are not municipalities in the modern sense. He points out that "those who refer to England and America are not familiar with political life in these countries for there are no such "monster institutions" as the counties in Hungary.43

30Also, unlike in America, the administrative and juridical functions of the counties are not separated, thus there is no stability in jurisdiction and no guarantees of individual human rights. While Kossuth and his camp despaired of too much centralization lest it should facilitate absolutism and foreign domination and relied on the traditional local autonomy of the counties even if it involved the risk of their opposition to social change (e.g. emancipation of serfs), the centralists fought – mostly in the form of publicism – for administrative centralization in order to facilitate social change by reducing the political power of the counties, by creating an independent judicial system modeled on the American one and by the creation of a responsible central government. In Eötvös’s view, legislative representation was also virtually non-existent, because the platforms of the representatives could be altered by the county assemblies at will if they felt the bill on the floor of the Diet was an infringement on their privileges. The centralists’ idea of a "checks and balances" system of federalistic centralization, had however, little social or institutional basis is contemporary Hungary. That is why Kossuth’s federalistic principle of utilizing the existing municipal (county) system eventually carried the day and the centralists decided to give tacit support to the national cause championed by Kossuth in 1848-1849.

Conclusion

31In the 20-odd years preceding the March 15 Revolution in 1849, the informed, concerned and influential public in Hungary cultivated the American example in a rather pluralistic manner. America was a remote land of freedom, innovation, social reform, equality for not only the progressive reform generation of the politically active nobility and intelligentsia, but also the more innovative middle-of-the-roader and the politically uncommited but concerned literate middle-classes: the middle nobility, intelligentsia and the fledgling bourgeoisie. America was synonimous with social and technological advancement. Contemporary periodicals and newspapers, especially in the late 1830’s and 1840’s carried articles, glossaries and reviews on American topics which kindled and also reflected public interest in the American experiment. The topics reflected a wide range of interest from the exotic and extraordinary events and phenomena that could happen only in a remote land, to political actualities that could fit in well with the constellation of political forces and were exploited in journalistic or legislational polemics.

32A keen awareness in Reform Age Hungary of the achievements of the American experiment – besides the English, French, Belgian and other examples – played a catalytic role in the polarization of forces striving to transform traditional feudal and dependent Hungary into a modern, liberal bourgeois and, ultimately, independent state.

Notes de fin

1 – István Gál, "Széchenyi and the USA" Hungarian Studies in English, V, 1971, p. 95-119.

2 J. Kampe, Amerikának feltalálásáról. <0n the Discovery of America), I-III, Kolozsvár, 1973; William Robertson, Amerikai historiája, (History of America), Translated by Jáinos Tanárki, Buda, 1809,; Sigmond Horváth, Amerikának haszonnal mulattató esmértetése (A Useful and Entertaining Introduction to America), Györ, 1813; Isaac Weld, Utazásai Éjszaki Amerikának Státusaiban és felsö és alsó Canada tartományaiban (Travels in the States of North America and in the provinces of upper and lower Canada), ed., by János Kis, Buda, 1818.

3 George Barany, "The Appeal and the Echo" in Béla K. Király and George Barany, eds., East-Central European Perceptions of Early America, Brooklyn College, Studies on Society in Change, n° 5, Lisse: The Peter de Ridder Press, 1977, p. 107-139.

4 Ibid.

5 Ibid.

6 István Fenyö, Magyarság és emberi egyeetemesség. Budapest, Szépirodalmim, 1979, p. 9-62.

7 Ibid., p. 63-167.

8 Quoted in ibid.; p. 172.

9 "A szellemi és erkölcsi polgáriasodás állapotja az Éjszak-amerikai Egyesült 0rszágokban", 1834-

10 "A büntetö rendszer az Egyesült Orzágokban", 1834.

11 István Fenyő, op. cit., p. 173-174.

12 Cf. Janos Varga, Helyét Kerescő Magyarország; Politikai eszmék és Koncepciók az 1840-es évek elején (Hungary Looking for Her Place; Political Ideas and Concepts in the Early 1840’s), Budapest: Akadémiai, 1982.

13 Atheneum, 1839, I, n° 51, p. 833-839. This issue was also taken up by Baron József Eötvös in the mid-1840’s.

14 Atheneum, 1839, I, n°s 8-9, p. 81-89.

15 Atheneum. 1839, II, n°s 1-2, p. 6-10 and 17-20.

16 "Kivándorlás Éjszakamerikába", Atheneum, 1839, II n° 42, p. 657-662.

17 Atheneum. 1837, II, n° 18, p. 273-280.

18 Samuel Ludvigh gave a political discussion of America in a travelogue published in German: Licht- und Schattenbilder republikanischer Zustände; Skizzirt während seiner Reise in den Vereinigtenstaaten von Nord Amerika, 1846-1847, Leipzig, 1848.

19 Atheneum. 1939, II, n° 17, p. 271-272.

20 Atheneum, 1840, II, n° 45, p. 705-708; Tocqueville’s impact on political thought in Hungary has not been assessed yet in a comprehensive manner. Since his first translation in 1841-1843, only a selection of his chapters from his Democracy has been published in Hungary: Kálmán Kulcsár, ed., A demokrácia Amerikában. Budapest, Gondolat, 1983; also J. Gellén, Alexander Bölöni Farkas and Alexis de Tocqueville on America, "A Comparison if Two Attitudes" Hungarian Studies in English, X, 1976, p. 27-41; Bölöni Farkas’s utazás Észak Amerikában, Kolozsvár; Tilsch, 1834, is now available in two English translations: Journey in North America translated and edited by Theodore and Helen B. Schoenman, Philadelphia: The American Philosophical Society, 1977; and Journey in North America, 1831, translated and edited by Arpad Kadarkay, Santa Barbara, Ca.; ABC-Clio, 1978.

21 istvan Feny6, op. cit., p. 280-281.

22 Atheneum, 1840, II, n° 29, (454-458).

23 Atheneum. 1841, II, n° 14; 1840, II, n° 48; 1840, I, n° 49.

24 For example, Atheneum, 1839, II, n° 43, p. 680- 682 .

25 Atheneum, 1840, II, n° 15.

26 George Barany, Stephen Széchenyi and the Awakening of Hungarian Nationalism, 1791-1841, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1968.

27 István Gál, op. cit.

28 Cf. Andras Gergely, Széchenyi eszmerendszerének Kialakulása (The Formation of Széchenyi’s System of Ideas), Budapest, Akadémiai, 1972.

29 ibid., p. 57-58.

30 George Barany, "The Interest of the United States in Central Europe: Appointment of the First Consul to Hungary" Papers of the Michigan Academy of Science. Arts and Letters XLVII, 1962, p. 275.

31 George Barany, Stephen Széchenyi and..., p. 330- 331.

32 Istvan Széchenyi, Hunnia, 1835, quoted in; István Gál, op. cit., p. 115-116.

33 György Szabad, "Kossuth and the Political System of the United States of America" Etudes Historiques Hongroises I-II, Budapest, Akadémiai, 1975, p. 503-529.

34 Ibid.

35 Ibid.

36 Ibid.

37 István Deák, Kossuth és a magyarok. Budapest, Gondolat, 1983, p. 277.

38 József Eötvös, Reform, Leipzig, Köhler, 1846.

39 Ibid., p. 188-191.

40 Ibid., p. 27.

41 Ibid., p. 190.

42 Cf. the polemy over centralization between Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton.

43 József Eötvös, op. cit., p. 190.

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