Hereditas Antikvárium

17. árverés – Miscellanea ex libris Borda Lajos

The addressee was Horváth Mihály, Minister of Religion and Education in the Szemere government, who, after the defeat of the War of Independence, was condemned to death in absentia. After a short stay in Leipzig, he moved to Brussels, where he met Jósika. He later lived in several Western European cities, finally settling in Geneva in 1859. In this witty, humorous letter, Jósika repeatedly mentions "Frici," none other than his brother-in-law, Baron Frigyes Podmaniczky, "the bridegroom of Budapest," who regularly informed him of events back home. He describes the celebration of the tricentenary of the Patak College, where "two Italian marchesi Pallavicini (as Frigyes writes) became so magyarized that their sons do not speak a word of German," and where Prince Bretzenheim’s wife (sister of Felix Schwarzenberg) and her retinue wore Hungarian national costume. He notes preparations for the upcoming August 20 festivities, reporting that he heard 2000 "Jász-Kun" would parade on horseback, which, he adds with irony, must be a headache for the authorities. He also comments on political developments, mentioning Count György Apponyi and Prime Minister Rechberg, and gives an account of Slovak unrest in Csetnek, Gömör county, where troops had to be deployed. This was not a nationality issue, but a conflict within the local Lutheran church, roads to the separatists gathering in Csetnek were blocked. At the end, he refers to the activities of Andrei Șaguna, Romanian bishop of Transylvania, and Josip Rajačić, Serbian patriarch.
4 written pages. Dated Brussels, July 10, 1861.
Poss.: With the collection stamp of Lajos Ernst.