158 



BAIRD, ROBERT. 



signs. These doubts have been the greatest obstacle 

 to the efforts of our Government tending to the de- 

 liverance of the country. The removal of that obsta- 

 cle becomes an imperious necessity before the new 

 turn of European events a turn offering a prospect 

 full of promise to all the peoples who groan under a 

 foreign yoke. We must give a sign of life in order 

 that our natural allies may be convinced that against 

 the common enemy they may surely count upon the 

 arms of the Magyars. We must hold ourselves in 

 readiness, in order that the ties of the terrified Aus- 

 trian may not entangle our nation in the snare. We 

 must prepare to be in a state to seize energetically the 

 favorable opportunity. For these purposes the Gover- 

 nor, Louis Kossuth, abolishing every previous order, 

 and having judged it necessary to decree the forma- 

 tion of a new general committee, makes known, by the 

 present document, to the nation, that in consequence 

 of that order the General Committee of Independence 

 is constituted ; that it has for its end the realization of 

 the declaration of independence of 1849 ; and that, full 

 of resolution and ready for all sacrifices, it has taken 

 in hand the direction of affairs, according to the in- 

 structions received, or to be received, from the chosen 

 governor of our country. The committee expects, 

 From the patriotic sentiments of the nation, that the 

 orders emanating from it will be promptly executed, 

 that its instructions will be followed, and that its 

 measures will be speedily accomplished. At the same 

 time it calls upon the enemies, open and concealed, of 

 the flag of 1849, to abstain from any plot or intrigue 

 if they would not incur the penalty inflicted upon 

 traitors. At all events, the General Committee of In- 

 dependence declares that it will know how, and that it 

 is determined, to secure obedience to its orders, and 

 the accomplishment of the measures which it must 

 take. Long live the nation and good hope. Let every 

 honest patriot prepare himself for action. Our motto 

 is 1849 and victory. 

 Done at BUDE PESTH, the 2Uh Dec,, 1SC3. 



It was asserted that the National Committee 

 of Hungary would act on the same footing as 

 the secret Polish Government, that its mani- 

 festo had been placarded in all the towns of 

 Hungary and Transylvania, and that it had 

 produced a great sensation. 



In the diplomatic complications arising out 

 of the Polish difficulties, Austria took an active 

 part. In common with France and England, 

 she addressed several notes to Russia, urging 

 upon the latter Power the expediency of adopt- 

 ing measures calculated to restore peace, but 

 showed herself, however, averse to going to 

 war with Russia. (See POLAND.) She observed 

 a strict neutrality in the war between Russia 

 and Poland. Some Galician members in the 

 Austrian Council complained of the rigorous 

 measures adopted by the Government against 

 the sympathizers with the insurrection, but the 

 Council approved the steps which had been 

 taken in this respect. 



The Emperor of Austria, in August, proposed 

 to the Governments forming the German Con- 

 federacy, a highly important plan for the refor- 

 mation of the federal constitution of Germany. 

 A Congress of Princes, and representatives of 

 the four free cities assembled at Frankfort, on 

 August 17th, and by a considerable majority 

 adopted the Austrian plan ; but as Prussia was 

 not represented in this Congress, and did not 

 consent to the resolutions, no result was obtained 

 up to the end of the year 1863. (See GERMANY.) 



In the Schleswig-Holstein question which, 

 toward the end of the year, began to disturb 

 the peace of Europe, and in particular that of 

 Germany, Austria, in union with Prussia, was 

 in favor of recognizing King Christian IX. of 

 Denmark, as Duke of Schleswig and Holstein, 

 and to compel Denmark to repeal the constitu- 

 tion by which Schleswig was to be incorpo- 

 rated with Denmark Proper. This view was, 

 however, not shared by the Frankfort Diet, 

 nor by any considerable portion of the Ger- 

 man people, and the Austrian Government 

 soon foui^d itself in opposition to both. 



B 



BAIRD, ROBERT, D.D., an American Pres- 

 byterian clergyman and author, born in Fay- 

 ette county, Pa., October 6th, 1798, died at 

 Yonkers, N. Y., March 15th, 1863. He received 

 his collegiate education at Washington and 

 Jefferson Colleges Pa., graduating at the lat- 

 ter in 1818. After leaving college he taught 

 for a year at Bellefort, where he commenced, 

 also, his career as a newspaper writer, in the 

 village newspaper. In 1819 he entered the 

 Theological Seminary at Princeton, N. J., 

 and pursued the usual course of theological 

 study for three years, acting as tutor in the 

 New Jersey College during his last year in the 

 seminary. In 1822 he was licensed, and the 

 same year took charge of an academy in Prince- 

 ton, over which he presided for the next five 

 years with great success, preaching occasional- 

 ly in the neighboring pulpits. In 1827 he de- 

 termined to devote himself more exclusively to 

 professional labors, and proposed to the Amer- 

 ican Bible Society a plan for supplying every 



destitute family in New Jersey with a Bible, 

 which was adopted and carried into execution 

 through his exertions. He also accepted an 

 appointment as agent of the Missionary Society 

 of New Jersey, and labored for two years 

 among the feeble and destitute churches of his 

 denomination in that State. In 1829 he ac- 

 cepted an appointment as agent of the Amer- 

 ican Sunday-school Union. For nearly six 

 years he travelled extensively in its behalf, 

 throughout the United States, holding meet- 

 ings in most of the prominent cities and towns, 

 and enlisting the services of able speakers, 

 statesmen, and divines, to address the audi- 

 ences he had collected. By these labors he 

 raised the annual revenues of the Union from 

 $5,000 to $28,000. In 1835 he visited Europe, 

 and remaine4 there, with the exception of two 

 brief visits home, for eight years, devoting 

 himself to the promotion of Protestant Christi- 

 anity in Southern Europe, and subsequently to 

 the advocacy of the Temperance Reform in 



