THE GOVERNOR-PRESIDENT OF HUNGARY. (From the Spectator.)

New Zealander, Volume 5, Issue 383, 15 December 1849, Page 6

THE GOVERNOR-PRESIDENT OF HUNGARY. (From the Spectator.)

The most celebrated n-ime among the leaders of the Hungarian war of independence is that of Kossuth. Educated as a lawyer he was well calculated to head a movement whose object was the maintenance of legal and constitution^ rights. Peisecuted as a journalist for hii defence of some young men accused of his?h treason, illegally ai rested, and condemned to a long imprisonment, he became a martyr, pointed out by the Austrian government itself as a leader of the coming revolution. The D.et of 1839 in'ei ceded so energetically on his behalf, that the Imperial Ministry thought it prudent to release him, under the pretext of a geaqral amnesty to all politic tl offenders. After an imprisonment of some yenrs, he reappeared a» the promp'er of many plan* for the material improvement of his country, such as the projected railway to conuect the Danube with. the port of Fnime on the Adriatic, thus seeking to release and gire a vent to its pent up forces. In 1847 he was elected deputy to the Diet, and became leader of the opposition ; in April, 1848, he was appointed Minister of Finance; when the war with Jelltchich broke out, he was elected President of ihe Committee of Defence ; since April 14th, he has been Governor* President of the kingdom (not the republic of Hungary, as his enemies assert), and thui invested with an ancient title of its most glorious era. His influence over his countrymen is irameasureeble. In spite of defeats, and the occupation of the capital by the enemy, he was enabled in the fare of an over powering force, to collect an army of 200 000 men, whom he had inspired with enthusiasm by his eloquence, and supplied by his indefatigable activity with all the material of war. By taking advantage ot undeveloped resources, by the establishment of magazines and manufactories, by carefully organizing the forces of the country, lie was enabled to maintain these supplies. Although himself ignorant of war, bis genius enabled him to select from the crowd those general!, many of them a» yet untried, who^e battles were a series of triumphs. Perhaps there does not exist in Europe another statesman feo profoundly acquainted witli the wants and prejudices of his countrymen, or whose ambition so entirely represents their cause With millions at his diipocal, he lives simply, and improvident of the future, well knowing that his victorious country would never allow his family to want. As foi himself, he knows his days ire numbered, for he is consumptive, and he redoubles his activity in order to concentrate the more into the shorter time. But the great seciet of his influence— that which, more than his inexhaustible eloquence, his organising intellect, or his genius as a statesman, makes him as the chief and central point of the movement— -is his unshaken faith in the ultimate triumph aud brilliant future of his fatherland. Ibis is the electric spark which, emanating from him, pervades and unites the nation as one man.

The extent of Hungary, including Transylvania, is about 125,000 iquare miles; that of Great Britain «nd 3 Irelai'd ii 122,000, and that of Prussia about 16 000. The population of Hungary, according to the belt authority, is nearly fourteen millions ; that of England (in 1841) was nearly fifteen milliom. * * * The population of the kingdom, like that of the empire, is composed of various racei, amongst which there are differences of language, religion, customs, and «enHments. Of the 14,010,000 of people who inhabit Hungary, not more than 5,000,000 arc Magyars, about 1,262,000 are Germans, 2,311,000 Wallacka, and of the remaining 5,400,0 0, nine-tenthi or more are Sclave. The Jews of Buda have demanded that their property shall be valued, in order to prove that the contribution imposed on them by General Hayaau will absorb all they have. They hive announced iheir intention of proceeding to the United States. At Festh and Buda provisions are extraordinarily dear ; a pound of coffee costs 3fl. to 4fl. (7Jf. to lOf.) ; a pound of sugar from 4fl. to 5f1. ; a potatoe 18c. to 20. The cholera also continues.