Nation-Building and Contested Identities - MEK

The Intellectual Horizons of Liberal Nationalism in Hungarynational community, because they were obliged to pay taxes. Horváthbelieved that slavery eradicated the spiritual development, and it was a seriousviolation of natural law that the neighboring states developed in science,industry and strength; whereas the Hungarians lagged behind.Horváth acknowledged that the treatment of this “illness” demandedsome sacrifices. However, the upper classes were not willing to resigntheir privileges and share them with the peasantry. Generally speaking,these writings championed the values of the liberal opposition, the“reformers,” and often corresponded with the program of Lajos Kossuth.In light of one of the fundamental liberal demands – i.e., that all shouldenjoy public benefits in the proportion he contributes to public burdens –he emphasized the paradoxical nature of the nobility’s situation in the 19 thcentury in his “Sketch of the history of the Hungarian army and defense.”The nobility was exempted from taxation on the basis of an ancient law inreturn for defending the country against the enemy. Horváth pointed outthat, by the 19 th century, only the privilege survived, the obligation hadlost its validity.In 1847, Horváth became a parish priest, later a prelate, and in June1848, in revolutionary Hungary, he was appointed a bishop (althoughnever received confirmation from the Pope). In that capacity, he advocateda more secular, more civil church and the introduction of democraticprinciples in the ecclesiastical administration. The revolutionary events of1848-1849 led him to a political career, and eventually he became Ministerof Religion and Education in the short-lived Szemere government in1849. After the suppression of the revolution, Horváth escaped the deathpenalty (his name was nailed on the gallows in his absence). He left thecountry at the last minute under adventurous circumstances and finallyended up in Paris. Later on, he moved to Brussels and, finally, to Geneva.In the meantime, he frequented the archives and libraries of the respectivecities. He prepared a collection of documents related to Hungary,based on the materials he found in Brussels. Two of his aforementionedsalient works were written in this period: Twenty-five years from the historyof Hungary (1864), and the History of the Hungarian war of independence in1848-1849 (1865). These were understood as the penultimate and ultimateparts of his History of Hungary.Since Horváth was not a practising cleric in those days, he saw noobstacle in marrying a well-to-do woman from Geneva. However, beinghomesick ever since his departure, Horváth wanted to return to Hungary.In 1866, after the defeat of Königgrätz, which considerably weakened theposition of the Habsburg dynasty, his clemency plea was accepted and he wasfinally granted amnesty. Upon his return, Horváth was elected vice-presidentof the Hungarian Historical Society and later became its president.33