HUNGARIAN.I can hardly tell you, but his valour soon made him famous; King Albert made him Ban of Szorenyi.He became eventually waivode of Transylvania, and governor of Hungary.
His first grand action was the defeat of Bashaw Isack; and though himself surprised and routed at St.Imre, he speedily regained his prestige by defeating the Turks, with enormous slaughter, killing their leader, Mezerbeg; and subsequently, at the battle of the Iron Gates, he destroyed ninety thousand Turks, sent by Amurath to avenge the late disgrace.It was then that the Greeks called him Achilles.
MYSELF.He was not always successful.
HUNGARIAN.Who could be always successful against the early Turk? He was defeated in the battle in which King Vladislaus lost his life, but his victories outnumbered his defeats three-fold.His grandest victory - perhaps the grandest ever achieved by man - was over the terrible Mahomed the Second;who, after the taking of Constantinople in 1453, said, "One God in Heaven - one king on earth;" and marched to besiege Belgrade at the head of one hundred, and fifty thousand men;swearing by the beard of the prophet, "That he would sup within it ere two months were elapsed." He brought with him dogs, to eat the bodies of the Christians whom he should take or slay; so says Florentius; hear what he also says: The Turk sat down before the town towards the end of June, 1454, covering the Dunau and Szava with ships: and on the 4th of July he began to cannonade Belgrade with cannons twenty-five feet long, whose roar could be heard at Szeged, a distance of twenty-four leagues, at which place Hunyadi had assembled his forces.Hunyadi had been able to raise only fifteen thousand of well-armed and disciplined men, though he had with him vast bands of people, who called themselves Soldiers of the Cross, but who consisted of inexperienced lads from school, peasants, and hermits, armed with swords, slings, and clubs.
Hunyadi, undismayed by the great disparity between his forces and those of the Turk, advanced to relieve Belgrade, and encamped at Szalankemen with his army.There he saw at once, that his first step must be to attack the flotilla; he therefore privately informed Szilagy, his wife's brother, who at that time defended Belgrade, that it was his intention to attack the ships of the Turks on the 14th day of July in front, and requested his co-operation in the rear.On the 14th came on the commencement of the great battle of Belgrade, between Hunyadi and the Turk.Many days it lasted.
MYSELF.Describe it.
HUNGARIAN.I cannot.One has described it well - Florentius of Buda.I can only repeat a few of his words: - "On the appointed day, Hunyadi, with two hundred vessels, attacked the Turkish flotilla in front, whilst Szilagy, with forty vessels, filled with the men of Belgrade, assailed it in the rear; striving for the same object, they sunk many of the Turkish vessels, captured seventy-four, burnt many, and utterly annihilated the whole fleet.After this victory, Hunyadi, with his army, entered Belgrade, to the great joy of the Magyars.But though the force of Mahomed upon the water was destroyed, that upon the land remained entire; and with this, during six days and nights, he attacked the city without intermission, destroying its walls in many parts.
His last and most desperate assault was made on the 21st day of July.Twice did the Turks gain possession of the outer town, and twice was it retaken with indescribable slaughter.
The next day the combat raged without ceasing till mid-day, when the Turks were again beaten out of the town, and pursued by the Magyars to their camp.There the combat was renewed, both sides displaying the greatest obstinacy, until Mahomed received a great wound over his left eye.The Turks then, turning their faces, fled, leaving behind them three hundred cannon in the hands of the Christians, and more than twenty-four thousand slain on the field of battle."MYSELF.After that battle, I suppose Hunyadi enjoyed his triumphs in peace?
HUNGARIAN.In the deepest, for he shortly died.His great soul quitted his body, which was exhausted by almost superhuman exertions, on the 11th of August, 1456.Shortly before he died, according to Florentius, a comet appeared, sent, as it would seem, to announce his coming end.The whole Christian world mourned his loss.The Pope ordered the cardinals to perform a funeral ceremony at Rome in his honour.His great enemy himself grieved for him, and pronounced his finest eulogium.When Mahomed the Second heard of his death, he struck his head for some time against the ground without speaking.Suddenly he broke silence with these words, "Notwithstanding he was my enemy, yet do Ibewail his loss; since the sun has shone in heaven, no Prince had ever yet such a man."MYSELF.What was the name of his Prince?
HUNGARIAN.Laszlo the Fifth; who, though under infinite obligations to Hunyadi, was anything but grateful to him; for he once consented to a plan which was laid to assassinate him, contrived by his mortal enemy Ulrik, Count of Cilejia;and after Hunyadi's death, caused his eldest son, Hunyadi Laszlo, to be executed on a false accusation, and imprisoned his younger son, Matyas, who, on the death of Laszlo, was elected by the Magyars to be their king, on the 24th of January, 1458.
MYSELF.Was this Matyas a good king?
HUNGARIAN.Was Matyas Corvinus a good king? O young man of Horncastle! he was the best and greatest that ever Hungary possessed, and, after his father, the most renowned warrior, - some of our best laws were framed by him.It was he who organized the Hussar force, and it was he who took Vienna.
Why does your Government always send fools to represent it at Vienna?
MYSELF.I really cannot say; but with respect to the Hussar force, is it of Hungarian origin?
