Hungarian Oestbahn and the German
Südbahn Railway Companies appeared to
Szechenyi the virtual suppression of an
enterprise demanded by Hungarian
interests, and the simultaneous confiscation of
Hungarian resources for the exclusive
furtherance of a purely Germanic
undertaking. In the strength of this conviction
he addressed to Count Edmond Zichi, one
of the most eminent and capable of the
Hungarian directors, a letter which found
its way into the public journals, and was
immediately suppressed by the Austrian
police, but not before it had created a
considerable sensation. From this letter we
extract a few remarkable passages:

"Thou wast ever," says the writer to the
recipient of it, "punctilious on the point of
honour, more than punctilious, keenly
sensitive. No man doubts it, and I, myself,
have been so fortunate as to test the justice
of thy reputation in this respect. Dost
thou yet remember, friend, that evening at
Pesth, when we walked home together from
the Casino, and when, taking offence at a
remark which I let fall most innocently in
the course of our conversation, thou didst
challenge me there and then? Faith, had
I not already proved myself no novice in
the use of sword and pistol, it would have
been impossible for me to have refused the
encounter. But luckily I could, without
risking the imputation of personal cowardice,
make to thee my cordial excuses, and as
soon as we had shaken hands thereupon,
I conceived for thee a sincere affection—
an affection strengthened by my hearty
appreciation of thy sensitive self-respect.
Yet was there one thing which ever vexed
me beyond measure, and that was, to see
thee—let me say it frankly—as a man of
pleasure so ardent, as a patriot so languid.
Answer, friend, was not my judgment of
thee just? Ah, well, thirty years have
passed away since then. And now? . . .
I am a wreck, the semi-animate remnant of
a ruined life, whilst thou, on the contrary,
hast grown and greatened, from year to
year, in the domain of a manly and creative
activity. And with what joy (if, indeed,
the word 'joy' may be uttered without
rebuke by any man situated as I am), with
what inexpressible joy, dear friend, have I
learned that thou hast the gift and the will
to be happy, not merely with that miserable
simulacrum of happiness which is from
without, but with that genuine happiness
which is from within, and hath its source
in the conscience of an honest man. What
greater happiness, indeed, can any man
hope to find in this world than the happiness
of serving his country, and manfully
assisting the mighty march of man's
progress towards man's destined good? Yes,
it is indeed with joy that I have learned
how, unsubdued by the heavy yoke of
afflicting circumstances, thou art even now,
in the unrelinquished activity of a brave
man's life, happier, far happier, than in
the days of thy heedless youth. Happier—
and why? Because enjoyment was then,
and productive activity is now, the aim of
thy existence."

Could St. Paul himself more artfully, or
with more touching dignity of appeal, have
enlisted on behalf of the cause he pleaded
the self-esteem of those to whom he
addressed himself?

"He," the letter adds, "who knows how
to suffer and endure without flinching on
behalf of what he owes his country, he only
merits the patriot's thorny crown. The
man who holds his ground against all odds
(and in despite of insult, calumny,
misconception, and menace), that man remains
master of circumstances and lord of the
occasion, which, however long delayed,
never fails the expectation of those who
wait for it. But the man who quits the
ground of public duty has committed
political suicide; and not even the Voice
which raised Lazarus from the tomb can
restore life to the dead who die thus."

In 1858, Baron Bach, the Austrian
Minister of the Interior, demanded the
suppression of the fundamental statute in
the constitution of the Hungarian Academy
founded by Szechenyi in 1825;* which
statute declares that the permanent object
of that institution is the culture of the
Magyar language. This called forth a
published manifesto from Szechenyi.

"Tortured," he says, "by indescribable
mental suffering, a man buried alive, and
whose heart cannot beat without bleeding,
fully conscious of all the horrors of my
present desolate position, I now ask
myself, 'What is my duty to the Hungarian
Academy?'"

After pathetically justifying the protest
which it so fearlessly records, the letter
then continues, in words which, written in
1858, were positively prophetic: "My
conviction is that our glorious Emperor, Franz
Josef, will sooner or later discover that the
aim of his majesty's present ministers, viz.,
the forcible Germanisation of all the
constituent races of the empire, is simply a

* See chapter i. of this Memoir.