Levéltári Közlemények, 88. (2017)

Műhely - Deák Ágnes: Vonzások és taszítások - Dessewffy Emil konziliáriusi szerepben, 1859-1860

ÁGNES D

EÁK

ATTRACTIONS AND REPULSIONS – EMIL DESSEWFFY AS A CONSULTANT, 1859–1860 It has been known for a long time that Count Emil Dessewffy, in the summer of 1859, developed a program for the reform of the system of neo-absolutism, to create a limited constitutional, federal-type imperial state structure. The manuscript of his correspondence with his friends reveals his motives in detail as well as changes in his views, so it is possible to analyze the sharp differences between Dessewffy’s ideas and the concept of the October Diploma, published in 1860. Dessewffy, as a prescient politician and thinker, was disillusioned with office positions, furthermore he had to see that the Diploma contained only initial steps with regard to both the constitutional principle and the move to federalism, and although he hoped it could be further developed, the attempt to the agreement between the ruler and the Hungarian political elite ended with failure in the late summer of 1861, which was his personal failure as well.These letters, however, represent the political and private portraits of this significant personality of the Hungarian Conservative Party.

Vonzások és taszítások – Dessewffy Emil konziliáriusi szerepben, 1859–1860 259