István Széchenyi, the casino movement, and Hungarian nationalism, 1827–1848

Abstract

The establishment of the Nemzeti Casino (National Casino) in Pest helped establish civil society in nineteenth-century Hungary. Count István Széchenyi, hoping to modernize Hungary on the English model, established the casino in 1827 as a public forum for the Hungarian nobility. By transcending caste divisions between nobles and bourgeois elites, Széchenyi's casino served as an unofficial parliament and stock exchange, and generally helped cultivate Hungarian patriotism. The Pest Casino inspired a nation-wide trend for casinos, which in turn formed a civil society in opposition to Habsburg absolutism. Yet when the casino movement spread to Hungary's minority nationalities, Jews, Slovaks, Romanians, and particularly Croats, the casino also contributed to national divisions in Hungary's ethnically diverse population that affected the course of the 1848 Revolution.

Keywords:

• Hungary
• Széchenyi
• casino
• Reform Era
• social network

Notes

1. Admittedly the classic text on popular sovereignty, Rousseau's 1762 Social Contract, avoids the term “nation” and speaks of “the people” instead. On nationalism as intellectual history, see Kohn (1944) and Kedourie (1985).

2. Széchenyi received the moniker during his own lifetime from revolutionary leader Lajos Kossuth; admiring Hungarians have been repeating it ever since. See Barany (1968, 372).

3. Johann Gottfried von Herder, Ideen zur Philosophie der Geschichte der Menschheit (Riga, Leipzig: Johann Friedrich Hartknoch, 1784–1791); cited from T. Churchhill's contemporary English translation, Outlines of a Philosophy of the History of Man (London: Luke Hansard, 1800), 476.

4. István Széchenyi, “Diary entry, June 20, 1829,” cited from Barany (1968, 179).

5. István Széchenyi, Világ, Vagyis Felvilágosító Töredékek Némi Hiba's Elöitélet Eligazítására (Pest: Füstkuti Landerer Nyomtató Intézetében, 1831), here and hereafter cited from the German translation, Licht, oder Aufhellende Bruchstücke zur Berichtung einiger Irrthümer und Vorurtheile (Pest: O. Wigand, 1832), i; see also Janos (1982, 51–55).

6. István Széchenyi, Hitel (Pest: Trattner-Károly, 1830); also published as Kreditwesen (Pest: Trattner-Károly, 1830); cited from the contemporary English translation in Paget (1839, 1:211).

7. Széchenyi, “Diary Entry, Dec. 13, 1815,” cited from Barany (1968, 74).

8. For an alternate English translation, see “Auguste de Girando,” Christian Examiner, no. 58 (January 1855), 15.

9. Annex. No. v, 3a, cited in Barany (1968, 143).

10. For Metternich's impressions of Széchenyi, see Metternich, Mémoires (Paris: Plon, 1880–1884), 7:59.

11. Széchenyi, cited from Quin (1836, 87–88).

12. The casino yearbook held at the ELTE Egyetemi Könyvtár (Budapest, Ferenciek tere 6) includes several handmade changes: the names of one count and eight commoners have been added by hand, the name of one baron has been crossed out. Our figures include these changes. See Széchenyi and Döbrentei (1829), list of subscribers.

13. Széchenyi and Döbrentei (1829), list of subscribers. We were unable to locate 1.3% of subscribers.

14. City names are a perennial problem of Central European historiography; all possible conventions give offense to somebody. In the text, we refer to cities by their Hungarian names mostly for consistency's sake, since we are primarily discussing Hungarian perspectives. In brackets, however, we provide as appropriate two alternate city names: first, the German name, second, the Croatian, Romanian, or Slovak name, as appropriate. The second name is used in the language preferred by the state that administers the city at the time of writing (early 2013). In the map, by contrast, we used only the current administrative names, which we thought most likely to appear in a current atlas.

15. For Hungary's road network at the beginning of the Reform Era, see János Lipszky, Tabula Generalis Regni Hungariæ Croatiæ et Slavoniæ, nec non Magni principatus Transylvaniae (Pest: 1810); available online at URL: accessed February 24, 2013. http://hagyatek.cholnoky.ro/terkepek/digitalizalt/1M%20%281598%29%20Lipszky.jpg.

16. “Feuilleton,” Der Ungar: Zeitschriftliches Organ für magyarische Interessen, für Kunst, Literatur, Theater und Mode, vol. 2 no. 33 (February 10, 1843), 148.

17. “Männichfaltigkeiten,” Didaskalia: Blätter für Geist, Gemïth, und Publizität (July 22, 1840), final unnumbered page.

18. The Polytechnic Journal, vol. 3 (1840), 152.

19. See “Improvement in the Art of Printing,” Monthly Magazine, vol. 1, no. 9 (October 1840), 290.

20. “Kliegel's Schnell Setz- und Sortier-Maschine,” Ost und West, no. 65 (Beilage, August 12, 1840), 310–311.

21. “Ungarn,” Vereinigter Ofen-Pesther Zeitung, no. 11 (February 7, 1841), 97.

22. “Pesth-Ofner Notizen,” Der Ungar, vol. 2, no. 44 (February 23, 1843), 192.

23. Vereinigte Ofner und Pesther Zeitung, no. 52 (June 29, 1843), 617.

24. On the Jewish casino at Lipótváros see 334–335; see also Barker (1933, 394).

25. Available in German as Von Transsylvanien bis Pennsylvanien (1980) and in English as Journey in North America (1977). See also Utazás nyugat-európában (1943).

26. “Casino-Kaffeehaus-Verpachtung,” Vereinigter Ofner – Pester Zeitung, no. 42, Intelligentzblatt (May 27, 1841), 483.

27. “Kleine Stadt- und Land Depeschen,” Pester Tageblatt, vol. 3, no. 58 (March 9, 1841), 234.

28. “A kaszinók hatása a magyar nemzeti és politikai élet fejlödésére,” in: Viszota (1927, 1:xxvii).

29. Klemens Metternich, “Letter to Benjamin Disraeli of 2 October 1848,” cited from Häusler (1995, 69).

30. On evolving Hungarian national concepts, see Varga (1993); on the tension between the natio Hungarica and the Magyar nemzet, see Csáky (1982a, 71–89, 1982b, 71–84).

31. Most scholarly treatments of Magyarization concentrate on the period immediately before the First World War; but see good treatments in Arató (1960) and Korbuly (1971, 153–161).

32. Romanian casino culture reached its full flower only after the 1848 Revolution; see Ursan (2007, 105–110) and Dabu (2011, 462–464). Thanks to Ana-Maria Gruia for these references.

33. Matica is Serbian for “queen bee”. Serbs in Pest founded the Matica srpska in 1826 as a center for literary and cultural activity. Other Slavs followed the Serbian example: the Matica Česká appeared in 1834, the Matica Ilirska in 1842, the Maćica Serbska (for Lusatian Sorbs) in 1845, the Halicsko-russka Matica in 1848, the Matica Moravská in 1849, a Slovak Matica Slovenská in 1863, and a Slovene Matica Slovenska in 1864. A Dalmatian Matica was proposed in 1849, but did not get off the ground until 1862. A Matica Slovanských Národov v Uhorsku [“Matica of the Slavic Nations in Hungary”] was proposed in the 1850s. See “Die Slavischen Matica-Vereine,” Slawisches Centralblatt (January 20–27, 1866), 17–18, 25–28.

34. “Kleine Stadt- und Land Depeschen,” Pester Tageblatt, vol. 3, no. 67 (March 19, 1841).