¹ Mannheim, K., Essays on sociology and social psychology (ed. by P. Kecskeméti, London, 1959), pp. 74–164Google Scholar; Epstein, K., The genesis of German conservatism (Princeton, New Jersey, 1966), pp. 3–22Google Scholar; Arendt, H., On revolution (Harmondsworth, Middlesex, 1973), p. 283Google Scholar; Bibó, I., The paralysis of international institutions and the remedies: a study of self-determination, concord among the major powers, and political arbitration (Hassocks, Sussex, 1976), pp. 42–5.Google Scholar

² I. Bibó, ‘Az európai társadalom fejlódése’ Kézirat [The development of European society], (Typescript in the Hungarian Academy of Sciences Library, archives, MS 5113/5, written in Budapest, 1971–2), pp. 29, 31; Arendt, Revolution, pp. 21–140, 179–281. See also Furet, F., Interpreting the French revolution (Cambridge-Paris, 1981)Google Scholar, and ‘L'héritage jacobin’, Le Débat, XIII, 6 (1981), 27–65.Google Scholar

³ Quinton, A., The politics of imperfection: the religious and secular traditions of conservative thought in England from Hooker to Oakeshott (London and Boston, 1978), pp 16–23Google Scholar. See also: Clark, G. Kitson, The making of Victorian England (London, 1965)Google Scholar; Smith, P., Disraelian conservatism and social reform (London and Toronto, 1967)Google Scholar; Cowling, M., 1867: Disraeli, Gladstone and revolution; the passing of the second Reform Bill (Cambridge, 1967)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Himmelfarb, G., Victorian minds (London, 1968)Google Scholar; The nineteenth-century constitution 1815–1914: documents and commentary (ed. and intr. by Hanham, H. J.), (Cambridge, 1969)Google Scholar; Blake, R., The Conservative party from Peel to Churchill (London, 1970)Google Scholar; Gash, N., Aristocracy and people: Britain 1815–65 (London, 1979)Google Scholar; Smith, P., ‘Tories, Whigs’ in Il Mondo Contemporaneo (Rome, 1980), II, 1249–67, 1314–26.Google Scholar

⁴ Mannheim, Essays, pp. 116–19. Of the literature of the theory of liberalism, I profited greatly from: Ruggiero, G. De, The history of European liberalism (London, 1927)Google Scholar; Laski, H. J., The rise of European liberalism: an essay in interpretation (London, 1936)Google Scholar, and especially: Berlin, I., Four essays on liberty (Oxford, 1979)Google Scholar, and Against the current: essays in the history of ideas (Oxford, 1981).Google Scholar

⁵ This summary is based on: Zs. Trócsányi, Wesselényi Miklós (Budapest, 1965)Google Scholar; Barta, I., A fiatal Kossuth [The young Kossuth] (Budapest, 1966)Google Scholar; Gy. Szabad, , Kossuth politikai pályája ismert is ismeretlen megnyilatkozásai tükrében [Kossuth's political career in the light of his statements, well and less well known] (Budapest, 1977)Google Scholar, and Hungarian political trends between the revolution and the compromise 1849–67 (Budapest, 1977).Google Scholar

⁶ X.Y.Z. könyv gróf Dessewffy Auréltól [X, Y, Z, a book by Count A. Dessewffy] (Pest, 1841), PP. 51. 73. 75.

⁷ Based on: Count A. Dessewffy, ‘Nyilatkozat és igazolás’ [Statement and apology], also ‘Megyei hatóság és törvényhozási jogok fenyitö eljárás körében’ [County authority and legislative rights in the sphere of criminal proceedings], Világ [Light], 24, 27 Nov. 1841.

⁸ Count A. Dessewffy, ‘Megyék állása’ [The counties’ stand], Világ, 6 Nov. 1841.

⁹ L. Kossuth, ‘Birtok-aristocratia’ [Landed aristocracy], also ‘Példa külföldröl’ [An example from abroad], Pesti H?rlap [Pest Journal], I, 8 Dec. 1841. Kossuth's critique of Dessewffy's view can be taken as the refutation of the official conservative stand of the later 1840s. For a realistic evaluation of England's sociopolitical development, Kossuth maintained, we must keep in mind that her much-admired gradualism came after the political air had already been ‘cleared’ by revolution in the seventeenth century. For it, cf. Moore, B. Jr, Social origins of dictatorship and democracy: lord and peasant in the making of the modem world (Harmondsworth, Middlesex, 1979), pp. 3–39Google Scholar. For the social, political and cultural development of modern France, see: Zeldin, T., France 1848–1945 (5 vols. Oxford, 1979–81).Google Scholar

¹⁰ Some basic books and articles dealing with Hungarian political history between 1840 and 1843 written by János Varga: ‘A kormányszervek elökészületei az 1843. évi diétára’ [The preparations made by the government for the 1843 Diet], Századok [Centuries], CXIV, 5 (1980), 727–51; Deák Ferenc és az elsó magyar polgári büntetótórvénykönyu tervezete [Ferenc Deák and the draft for the first modern Hungarian code of law] (Zalaegerszeg, 1980);’ Megye és haladás a reformkor derekán, 1840–3’ [The counties and progress in the midway through the Reform Era, 1840–3], Somogy Megye Múltjából. Levéltári Évkönyvek [From Somogy county's past. Archival Year-Books], XI-XII, (1980–1), 177–243, 155–94; Helyét keresó Magyarország. Politikai eszmék és koncepciók az 1840-es évek elején [Hungary in search of an identity. Political principles and ideals at the beginning of the 1840s], (Budapest, 1982). On the Világ and A. Dessewffy's role, see: Kabinettsarchiv, Staatskonferenzakten a. 1841, Staatsarchiv, Wien, 259, 519; J. Havas to A. Mednyánszky, Pest, 20, 28 Nov., A. Mednyánszky to Archduke Palatine Joseph, Buda, 7 Dec, Archduke Palatine Joseph to A. Mednyánszky (memorandum), Buda, 9 Dec. 1841. The secret archives of Palatine Joseph, Praesidialia, Hungarian National Archives (MOL), Box 31240. For the debate between the Pesti H?rlap and the Világ see I. Z. Dénes, ‘A kiváltságorzés “hamis realista’ logikája’ [The ‘spuriously realistic’ logic of safeguarding privileges], Magyar Tudomány [Hungarian Scholarship], XXIII, 12 (1978), 894–909.

¹¹ The argument has been reconstructed on the basis of the following sources: Count E. Dessewffy, Parlagi eszmék, igénytelen nézetek, szerénytelen tervek a függo kérdések és az országgyulése körül [Uncouth ideas, simplistic views, immodest plans regarding the problematic questions and the Diet], (Pest, 1843), also: A magyar vám és kereskedési ügy és annak végeligaz?tási módja [Matters of Hungarian tariff and trade, and how they are to be settle], (Pest, 1847), also: Fizessünk! Mennyit becsüettel elb?runk, magunknak, magunkért [Let's pay ourselves as much as we honestly can, for our own sake], (Pest, 1847), Kabinettarchiv, Staatskonferenzakten s. 1844, St. A. 193, 212; Papers and letters dealing with the Budapesti H?radó, Dessewffy family archives, Acta Publica, Political letters of E. Dessewffy. MOL, P 90 5/l. For the political journalism of E. Dessewffy see I. Z. Dénes, ‘“Fontolva haladás’ és kiváltságõrzés’ [‘Progressive conservatism’ as a means of safeguarding privilege], Valóság [Reality], XXII, 12 (1979), 13–27, and ‘A “fontolva haladás’ illúziókelto érvei és elvei’ [The illusory arguments and principles of ‘progressive conservatism’], Magyar Filozófiai Szemle [Hungarian Philosophical Review], XXIV, 2 (1980), 168–94.

¹² A nagybirtokos arisztokrácia ellenforradalmi szerepe 1848–49-ben [The counter-revolutionary role of the great landowning aristocracy in 1848–9], (ed. by Andics, E.) (3 vols., Budapest, 1952–81), Andics, Arisztokrácia, I, 117–19, 131–41, 172–91, 218–49; Memorandum on Hungary's political situation (no author and date), C. Kübeck's draft, Vienna, 30 Jan., Gy. Apponyi's memorandum, Vienna, 15 Mar. 1845, Kabinettsarchiv, Staatskonferenzakten s. 1844–5, St. A., 634, 37, 160.Google Scholar

¹³ The proposals on the formation of the Conservative party: S. Lipthay to Gy. Apponyi, Pest, 16, 18, 19, 22 Oct., 2 Nov., 7 Dec. 1845, The Royal Hungarian Chancellery, Presidential papers, Irregestrata 1838–48, MOL, A 135; P. Somssich, ‘Igénytelen nézetek a Conservativ pártnak alakitása…eránt [Modest views on the formation of the Conservative party], A.Szécsen, untitled note, S. Lipthay, ‘Conservativ pártalkotási programm és programm-okadatolás’ [Founding programme of the Conservative party and arguments for the programme], Dessewffy archives, MOL, P 90 5/k; E. Dessewffy, ‘Conservativ párt-programm [Programme of the Conservative party], Pest, 14 Nov. 1846, National Széchényi Library, Archives, Analecta 11085; Andics, Arisztokrácia, I, 206–16; see also: The Royal Hungarian Chancellery, Informations-Protocolle der Ungarisch-Siebenbürgischen Sektion, MOL, A 105, xv, 1846, II, XL, 28 Nov. 1846, 782, 56–62.

¹⁴ Dessewffy archives, Count E. Dessewffy's lithographed accounts of the Conservative conferences, MOL, P 90 5/a.

¹⁵ L. Szalay, ‘Nyilt levél Considerant Viktorhoz, a Democratic pacifique foszerkesztojéhez’ [Open letter to Victor Considerant, editor of the Democratic Pacifiqu], Pesti H?rlap, 2 Feb. 1845, 72. The Conservatives’ views and activities were criticized by Kossuth in pseudonymous articles in the Magyar Szózatok [Hungarian addresses], and the Ellenor [Observer]: ‘A magyar conservativ párt és a nemzetiség’ [The Hungarian Conservative party and the nation], in Magyar Szózatok (Hamburg, 1847), ‘A magyar political pártok értelmezése’ [An interpretation of Hungary's political parties], in Ellenor. Szerkeszté a Pesti Ellenzéki Kör megbizásából Bajza [The editor charged by the Pest Opposition Circle to publish it: Bajza], in Germany, 1847.Google Scholar

¹⁶ Graf E. Dessewffy, ‘Offenes Sendschreiben an den “Lloyd”’. Der Lloyd, 3, 5, 6, 8, 12, 13, 14, 17 Feb. 1850.

¹⁷ The inspiration for this section came from: I. Bibó,’ Eltorzult magyar alkat, zsákutcás magyar történelem’ [Distorted Hungarian make-up, dead-end Hungarian history], Válasz [Answer], VIII, 4(1948), 289–319.

¹⁸ The section as a whole is based on research by György Szabad: Forradalom és kiegyezés válaszútján, 1860–61 [At the crossroads of revolution and compromise 1860–1], [Budapest, 1967), Szabad, Kossuth; Szabad, Political trends.Google Scholar

¹⁹ Redlich, J., Das Österreichische Stoats- und Reichsproblem, (2 vols., Leipzig, 1920–6)Google Scholar; Kann, R. A., The multinational empire: nationalism and national reform in the Habsburg Monarchy (2 vols., New York, 1950)Google Scholar; Walter, F., Die Österreichische Zentralverwaltung, III/1. Die Geschichte der Ministerien Kolowrat, Ficquelmont, Pillersdorf, Wessenberg-Doblhoff und Schwarzenberg (Vienna, 1964).Google Scholar

²⁰ Somssich, P., Das legitime Recht Ungarns und seines Königs (Vienna, 1850).Google Scholar

²¹ Zsedényi, E., Ungarns Gegenwart (Vienna, 1850)Google Scholar; Gy. Andrássy, , ‘The present position and the policy of Austria’, Eclectic Review, XXVIII, 11 (1850), 604–29Google Scholar; Graf Szécsen, A., Politische Fragen der Gegenwart (Vienna, 1851)Google Scholar; Zsedényi, E., Die Verantwortlichkeit des Ministeriums und Ungarns Zuständi (Vienna, 1851)Google Scholar; Anon, . Ungarns politische Charaktere (Mainz, 1854)Google Scholar; Zsedényi, E., Vertheidigungs-Rede (London-Edinburgh, 1860)Google Scholar; Ludassy, M., Drei Jahre Verfassungsstreit (Leipzig, 1864)Google Scholar; Dessewffy, Count E., A magyar Tudományos Akadémia és nemzetiségünk feladatai [The Hungarian Academy of Sciences and the tasks facing the nation] (Pest, 1866)Google Scholar; Berzeviczy, A., Az absolutisms kora Magyarországon, 1849–1865 [The Age of Absolutism in Hungary, 1849–65] (4 vols., Budapest, 1922–37).Google Scholar

²² Emléklapok vajai báró Vay Miklós életébol [Memoirs of the life of Baron Miklós Vay] (intr. by Lévay, J.) (Budapest, 1899)Google Scholar; Deák Ferencz beszédei: [The speeches of Ferenc Deák] [ed. by. Kónyi, M.) (6 vols., 2nd edn Budapest, 1903), II–IIIGoogle Scholar; Idosb Szogyény-Marich László országbiró emlékiratai [The memoirs of Lord Chief Justice László Szogyény-Marich, Sr.] (3 vols., Budapest, 1903–18), II; Szabad, Forradalom, Szabad, Political trends.Google Scholar

²³ Szabad, Forradalom; Szabad, Political trends. See also Menyhért Lóynay's diary, the entries for 13, 21 Feb., 22 June, 21 Oct. 1865, 28, 29, 30, 31 Dec. 1866, 28 Jan. 1867. Manó Kónyi's papers II, School of Slavonic and East European Studies, Library, University of London.

²⁴ The following will give some idea of the kind of offices in question: Count György Andrássy, Judex Guriae (1863); Count János Barkóczy, imperial councillor and lord steward; György Mailáth, chancellor (1865), Judex Curiae and president of the upper house (1867); Baron Pál Sennyey, president of the Consilium Locumtenentiale (1865), Judex Curiae and president of the upper house (1884); Pál Somssich, president of the lower house (1869); Count Antal Szécsen, imperial minister without portfolio (1860–1), imperial earl marshal (1885); László Szogyény, vice-president of the upper house (1875), its president, Magister Tavernicorum, Judex Curiae (1883); Baron Miklós Vay, chancellor (1860–1), lord keeper and president of the upper house (1888); Count Ferenc Zichy, lord-lieutenant (1861), ambassador to Constantinople (in the 1870s), Magister Tavernicorum (in the 1880s). For the details see Révai Nagy Lexikona. Az ismeretek enciklopédiája [The unabridged Révai lexicon: an encyclopaedia] (21 vols, Budapest, 1911–35), I, 600, II, 617, XIII, 289–90, XVI, 751, XVII, 28,427–8, 716, XIX, 100, 674. See also Andics, Arisztokrácia.Google Scholar

²⁵ Antal Szécsen's brother, Károly, had died in 1848 fighting against the Italian revolutionaries. In the same year Szécsen had married the daughter of Lieutenant-General Count Ferenc Lamberg, commander-in-chief of the imperial army in Hungary, and royal commissioner; in the autumn of 1849, he had gone to London to try to convince the British, outraged by the bloody reprisals Vienna had taken against Hungary, that the execution of Count Lajos Batthyány, Hungary's first responsible prime minister, had been justified. In later decades, Szécsen was the president of the Hungarian Historical Association, and a member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and of the Kisfaludy Society. In 1894 he withdrew from these bodies in protest against their sending official delegates to attend Lajos Kossuth's funeral. See L. Thallóczy, ‘Gróf Szécsen Antal’, Százdok, XXXV, 4, 5, 6 (1901), 289–309, 385–411, 481–506; Várkonyi, A. R., A pozitivista történetszemlélet a magyar történet?rában [Positivism in Hungarian historiography] (2 vols., Budapest, 1973). I, 211–12, 217–18, II, 57–8, 209–10, 240; Szabad, Political trends, p. 39.Google Scholar

²⁶ Csengeri, A., ‘Dessewffy Aurél’ in Magyar szónokok is státusférfiak [Hungarian orators and statesmen] (Pest, 1851)Google Scholar; Török, J., Magyar életkérdések, összhangzásban a közbirodalmi érdekekkel [Questions vital to Hungary, as these relate to the interests of the Empire as a whole] (Pest, 1852)Google Scholar, also: Publicistikai és nemzetgazdasági némely dolgozatai [Some essays in politics and economics] (Pest, 1858)Google Scholar, also Emlékirata s azon nemzeti petitiók, melyek az októberi diplomát megelozték [Memorandum, and the national petitions preceding the October Diploma] (Pest, 1864)Google Scholar; Koszorú gr. Dessewffy Aurél emlékére [A wreath in memory of Count Aurel Dessewffy] (Pest, 1857)Google Scholar; K. Vida, A növekedô új világhatalom. Szózat a földbirtok érdekében [New world power: an oration in defence of landed property] (Kolozsvár, 1860), also: Restauratio vagy revolutio? Oszinte szó a magyar nemzethez [Restoration of revolution? A candid word to the Hungarian nation] (Lipcse, 1861)Google Scholar; also: Ausztriával-e vagy a nélkül? Második szó a magyar nemzethez [With Austria or without her: a word more to the Hungarian nation] (Pest, 1862)Google Scholar; F. Pulszky, ‘Jellemrajzok II. Gróf Dessewffy Aurél és társai’ [Character sketches II. Count Aurél Dessewffy and his circle], Budapesti Szemle [Budapest Review], IV, 7 (1874), 41–56; Fiáth, Baron F., Életem és élményeim [My life and times] (2 vols., Budapest, 1878)Google Scholar; Zsedényi Ede emlékkoszorú [In memoriam Ede Zsedényi] by L. Klestinszky (Kassa, 1879); Szécsen, Count A., Mailáth György emlékezete [György Mailáth recalled] (Budapest, 1884)Google Scholar; Deák, Fs., Gróf Dessewffy Aurél (Pozsony, 1885)Google Scholar; Asbóth, J., ‘Dessewffy Aurél, ‘Széchenyi István’, A conservativok a forradalom után’ [The Conservatives after the revolution], ‘Báro Sennyey Pál’ in Jellemrajzok és tanulmányok korunk történetéhez [Character sketches and studies in contemporary history] (Budapest, 1892)Google Scholar; Éble, G., A cserneki és tarkeói Dessewffy család. Genealógiai tanulmány [The Dessewffy family of Csernek and Tarkeo: a genealogical study] (Budapest, 1903); M. Réz, ‘Gróf Dessewffy Aurél’, Budapesti Szemle, CXXIV, 346, 347 (1905), 177–88, 367–88; B. Szádeczky, Báró Jósika Samu erdélyi kancellár (1805–1860) [Baron Samu Jósika, Chancellor of Transylvania, 1805–60] (Kolozsvár, 1912); Count A. Apponyi, Emlékirataim. Otven év. Ifjúkorom-Huszonöt év az ellenzéken [Memoirs. Fifty years. My youth - Twenty-five years in opposition] (Budapest, 1926); also Élmények és emlékek [Experiences and recollections] (ed. by S. Jánoky Madocsány) (Budapest, no date [1933]); L. Véssey, A. Somssich, Somssich Pál élete és muködése [Pál Somssich, his life and work] (Budapest, 1944); Gy. Szekfu, ‘A tizenkilencedik és a huszadik század’ [The nineteenth and twentieth centuries] in B. Hóman-Gy. Szekfu, Magyar Történet [History of Hungary] (7 vols., Budapest, no date), VII, 153, 162–6, 428.Google Scholar

²⁷ The expression was used by István Bibó: ‘During these nearly 100 years, Hungary lived in a political and social framework wherein calling things by name was not only impossible but explicitly forbidden, where facts were interpreted and explained not in terms of simple chains of causes and effects, but in terms of assumptions and expectations quite independent of such chains, where pseudo-problems consumed fine energies, where people treated real problems by mumbling magic spells, and acted-and had to act-as if they didn't really exist, and where there was no objective standard of right and wrong for a moral standard, but instead only a certain system of fears and grievances. Every distortion to be found in Hungarian society during this period can, in some way, be traced to the falsehood of the basic political and social framework [i.e. the compromise].’ Bibó, ‘Alkat, történelem’, p. 309.