Fraternity-Testvériség, 1960 (38. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1960-05-01 / 5. szám
FRATERNITY 3 LÁSZLÓ L. ESZENYI: “THE GREATEST OF HUNGARIANS” Last April 8, it was a hundred years ago that Count Stephen Széchényi, called the “greatest of Hungarians” by no lesser a man than Louis Kossuth, took his own life. The noblest of Hungarian noblemen broke down under the ruthless persecution of the Vienna Court and in a desperate moment shot himself through the head. Stephen Széchényi was born in 1791 into a wealthy magnate family. Fostering of Magyar culture was a family tradition with the Széchényis. His father, Ferenc, founded the Hungarian National Museum in 1802 by donating his valuable art collection and huge private library to the public. His early education did not differ from that of the young aristocrats. At the age of 17 he joined the army and as Captain of the Debrecen Hussar Regiment he distinguished himself in the battle of Leipzig in 1813 where Napoleon suffered his first major defeat. Later, he became an officer of the Queen’s Bodyguard in Vienna. The sensitive young man could not find full satisfaction in the military service and his religious soul objected to the superficial and reckless life of the court. After six years spent in the military service, he widely traveled in the European and Mid-Asian countries; he then returned with excellent ideas to raise the standard of his beloved Magyar people and used his many sided talent and vast fortune to improve his “poor little homeland”. Széchényi first attracted public interest at the Diet in Pozsony in 1825 where he offered a full year’s income of his estates — sixty thousand silver forints —■ for the foundation of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. His generous act marked the down of the Reformed Period during which he made heroic efforts to introduce political reforms, economic changes and cultural institutions he found well functioning in England and in other Western countries. His most cherished and greatest single achievement was the suspension bridge (Lánchíd) between Buda and Pest, a masterpiece of civil engineering built by Adam Clark. It was the first blow at the tax immunity of the nobles. According to the resolution of the 1835 Diet, tolls had to be paid by everyone using the bridge. He organized a private enterprise to build the “Tunnel” under the Castle Hill, right at the Buda bridgehead of the Lánchíd. There is hardly such territory of the economic or political life of Hungary where Széchényi did not show interest and did not leave his immortal imprint. He inspired the idea of uniting Buda and Pest into a splendid capital city and making it attractive to lure back wealthy Hungarian noblemen from Vienna. He founded the National Casino in Budapest and other clubs on the English pattern which became meeting places of the leading Hungarian people. He was one of the founders of the National Theater.
