than the Hungarian. It is a praiseworthy trait of the Oriental
character. You know that it was the Moorish race in Spain, who were the
founders of the chivalric era in Europe, so full of personal virtue, so
full of noble deeds, so devoted to the service of ladies, to heroism,
and to the protection of the oppressed. You are told that the ladies of
the East are degraded to less almost than a human condition, being
secluded from all social life, and pent up within the harem's walls. And
so it is. But you must not judge the East by the measure of European
civilization. They have their own civilization, quite different from
ours in views, inclinations, affections, and thoughts. We in Hungary
have gained from the West the advantages of civilization for our women,
but we have preserved for them the regard and reverence of our Oriental
character. Nay, more than that, we carried these views into our
institutions and into our laws. With us, the widow remains the head of
the family, as the father was. As long as she lives, she is the mistress
of the property of her deceased husband. The chivalrous spirit of the
nation supposes she will provide, with motherly care, for the wants of
her children; and she remains in possession so long as she bears her
deceased husband's name. Under the old constitution of Hungary (which we
reformed upon a democratic basis--it having been aristocratic) the widow
of a lord had the right to send her representative to the parliament,
and in the county elections of public functionaries widows had a right
to vote alike with the men. Perhaps this chivalric character of my
nation, so full of regard toward the fair sex, may somewhat commend my
mission to the ladies of America.

Our _second_ particular claim is, that the source of all the
misfortune which now weighs so heavily upon my bleeding fatherland, is
in two ladies--Catharine of Russia, and Sophia of Hapsburg, the
ambitious mother of this second Nero, Francis-Joseph. You know that one
hundred and fifty years ago, Charles the Twelfth of Sweden, the bravest
of the brave, foreseeing the growth of Russia, and fearing that it would
oppress and overwhelm civilization, ventured with a handful of men to
attack its rising power. After immortal deeds, and almost fabulous
victories, one loss made him a refugee upon Turkish soil, like myself.
But, happier than myself, he succeeded in persuading Turkey of the
necessity of checking Russia in her overweening ambition,