The Hungarians have never felt satisfied with the Austrian rule, and
have frequently revolted. The last rising was in 1848, under Louis
Kossuth. This rebellion was put down with the help of the Russians.
Last June a great patriotic celebration took place in Hungary, and this
possibly roused the national feeling so strongly in the hearts of the
Hungarians that it has made them a little more restless than usual.
This celebration was called the Banderium, and was to celebrate the
thousandth year of Hungary's existence as a kingdom.
The nobles of Hungary met together in Buda-Pesth, the capital city of
the country, and went in procession to the Houses of Parliament, and
swore allegiance to the battered golden crown which Pope Sylvester II.
had given to the first King of Hungary, one thousand years before.
It was said to have been a most wonderful and stirring sight to see
these nobles "dressed in the clothes their ancestors had worn, carrying
the banners under which their grandfathers had fought, weeping with
emotion around a battered golden crown," a relic of the days when their
fatherland was great and powerful.
The description given by Mr. Richard Harding Davis in _Scribner's
Magazine_ for March, and from which we quote the above statement, gives
a living picture of this grand festival.
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