This independent condition of Hungary is clearly defined in one of our
fundamental laws of 1791, in these words:--"Hungary is a free and
independent kingdom, having its own self-consistent existence and
constitution, and not subject[*] to any other nation or country in the
world." This therefore was our ancient right. _We were not dependent
on, nor a part of, the Austrian empire, as your country was dependent on
England._ It was clearly defined that we owed to Austria nothing but
good neighbourhood, and the only tie between us and Austria was, that we
elected to be our kings the same dynasty which were also the sovereigns
of Austria, and occupied the same line of hereditary succession as our
kings; but by accepting this; our forefathers, with the consent of the
King, again declared, that though Hungary accepts the dynasty as our
hereditary kings, all the other franchises, rights, and laws of the
nation shall remain in full power and intact; and our country shall not
be governed like the other dominions of that dynasty, but according to
our constitutionally established authorities. We could not belong to
"the Austrian Empire," for that empire did not then as yet exist, while
Hungary had already existed as a substantive kingdom for many centuries,
and for some two hundred and eighty years under the government of that
Hapsburgian dynasty. The Austrian Empire, as you know, was established
only in 1806, when the Rhenish confederacy of Napoleon struck the
deathblow of the German empire, of which Francis II. of Austria, was not
_hereditary_ but _elected_ Emperor. That Hungary had belonged
to the _German_ empire is a thing which no man in the world ever
imagined yet. It is only now that the Hapsburgian tyrant professes an
intention to melt Hungary into the German Confederation; but you know
this intention to be in so striking opposition to the European public
law, that England and France solemnly protested against it, so that it
is not carried out even to-day. The German Empire having died, its late