„Ezen nemes, boldogtalan Nemzetnek sorsa és helyheztetése borzasztó!” Kisfaludy Sándor 1831-es beszéde a lengyelek ügyében
“The Fate and Situation of This Noble, Unhappy Nation is Terrible!” The 1831 Speech of Sándor Kisfaludy in the Polish Affair

Summary/Abstract: Sándor Kisfaludy, a well-to-do nobleman and popular writer of his age, held in the early summer of 1831 at the assembly of Zala county a fiery speech dedicated to the anti-Russian Polish revolt that had erupted at the end of the previous year, and about the importance of which he had no doubts. Similarly to other counties, Zala addressed a latin petition to the ruler, and in 1832 instructed its representatives at the diet to act in order to provide help for the Polish nation. Kisfaludy’s speech has survived in two versions, one shorter, and another longer. It was the shorter that was presumably held before the assembly, while the longer was not only more radical in its argumentation, but also outlined an plan of action that proposed the use of military means alongside the diplomatic measures. Based on the textual variations, the analysis of Kisfaludy’s constitutionalist political thinking has revealed that for the political and social elite of the county nobility, alongside the primary value of manifesting their solidarity with the Poles, the November revolt also offerred an occasion for more general reflections on the current state of Hungary’s constitutional position and the international political situation.

• Details
• Contents