390 



HOWE, ELIAS. 



HUNGARY. 



receiving for 250 sterling the machine which 

 the brother had brought with him, and the 

 right to use as many as he needed in. his own 

 business of corset, umbrella, and valise making. 

 He offered 3 per week if Elias would come to 

 him and adapt the machine to corset making. 

 With this offer Amasa returned, and as the 

 250 only afforded a temporary relief, Elias con- 

 cluded to go to England and accept the offer 

 of Mr. Thomas, which he did, accompanied by 

 Amasa. Here he worked eight months, but 

 Thomas was exacting, and Elias left him at 

 the expiration of that time. In the mean time, 

 his sick wife and three children had joined him. 

 The story of his life, for several months after 

 his dismissal from the workshop of Thomas, is 

 most painful in its details, ending in absolute 

 penury and his return home, after an absence 

 of two years, with a half-crown in his pocket, 

 and his model and patent papers pawned to 

 furnish the means for his return. He landed 

 at New York, where he learned that his wife, 

 who had preceded him, was dying of consump- 

 tion at Cambridge. He had not money enough 

 to enable him to reach her. In a few days, 

 however, he succeeded, reaching her bedside 

 just before her death. Fate had not yet done 

 her worst. The ship in which he had em- 

 barked the few household goods he had gathered 

 together in England was lost at sea. This it 

 would appear was fortune's last blow. He soon 

 found himself in good employment, and better 

 still, in a short time he realized that his ma- 

 chine had become famous during his absence. 

 Ingenious mechanics, regardless of his patents, 

 had constructed fac similes. They were being 

 exhibited about the country as wonders, and 

 in some places had been actually introduced 

 in important manufactures. Howe now found 

 friends, and, after some delay, the necessary 

 funds to establish his rights. In 1850 he was 

 superintending in this city the construction of 

 machines to order. With the litigation which 

 accompanies the first steps of the inventor on 

 the road to fortune, our readers are familiar. 

 It is known that so protracted were these law 

 proceedings that it was not until 1854, four 

 years after his return from England, that Mr. 

 Howe established his prior claim to the inven- 

 tion. Then, sole proprietor of his patent, his 

 years of increasing revenue began, which 

 grew from $300, it is stated, to $200,000. 

 On the 10th of September, 1867, his patent ex- 

 pired, at which time it was calculated he had 

 realized about $2,000,000. With this princely 

 fortune he enjoyed fame enough to satisfy him, 

 had he worked for that alone, the last ac- 

 knowledgment of his genius being the gold 

 medal of the Paris Exposition, and the Cross 

 of the Legion of Honor in addition, as a com- 

 pliment to him as a manufacturer and inventor. 

 For several years past, he had been a practical 

 manufacturer of sewing-machines, and the ma- 

 chine bearing his name has now an excellent 

 reputation, especially for leather work. Dur- 

 ing the war Mr. Howe manifested a high de- 



gree of patriotism. When the country was in 

 need of soldiers he contributed money largely, 

 and at a public meeting in Bridgeport he en- 

 listed as a private soldier in the Seventeenth 

 regiment, Connecticut Volunteers. He went 

 to the field and performed his duties as an en- 

 listed man, till his health failed. More than 

 this, when the Government was pressed for 

 funds to pay its soldiers, he advanced the money 

 necessary to pay the regiment of which he was 

 a member. 



HUNGARY, a country of Europe, formerly 

 an independent kingdom, but now forming part 

 of Austria. The year 1867 constitutes a turn- 

 ing-point in its history. The Austrian Govern- 

 ment finally abandoned its efforts to coerce the 

 Hungarians into submission to the Austrian con- 

 stitution of 1849, by which the dependencies of 

 Hungary, namely, Croatia, Slavonia, the Hun- 

 garian Littoral, Transylvania, the military fron- 

 tier, and Dalmatia, were detached, and made 

 independent crown-lands, and it reconciled the 

 Magyars by agreeing to the reconstruction of 

 Hungary upon its old basis. As reconstructed, 

 Hungary consists of the following parts, each 

 of which was to be, according to the constitution 

 of 1849, a separate crown-land: 



A special ministry for Hungary and its de- 

 pendencies was appointed in February, which 

 was composed as follows: Minister President 

 and Minister of the Defence of the Country, 

 Count Julius Andrassy ; Minister d latere, 

 Count George Festeticz ; Minister of the Inte- 

 rior, Baron Bela de Wenkheim ; Minister of 

 Justice, Balthasar de Horvath; Minister of Fi- 

 nances, Melchior de L6nyay ; Minister of Public 

 Instruction and Worship, Baron Joseph de 

 Eotvos ; Minister of Agriculture, Industry, and 

 Commerce, Stephen de Gorove; Minister of 

 Public Works, Count Emeric Mik6. 



On the opening of the year, the Austrian 

 Government had not granted the demands of 

 Hungary, and the first act of the Hungarian 

 Diet was to adopt an address to the Emperor, 

 drawn up by M. Deak, in reference to the im- 

 perial patent upon the reorganization of the 

 army. The address expresses regret that abso- 

 lute measures on the part of the Government 

 continue to lessen the hopes of a compromise 

 between Austria and Hungary. It declares 

 that, by virtue of the laws of the country, the 

 royal diplomas, the pragmatic sanction, and un- 

 variable constitutional practice, the adoption of 

 measures relating to the army reorganization 

 belong to the Diet, and that Hungary can never 

 surrender that right, which is the vital con- 

 dition of all constitutional existence. The ad- 

 dress continues thus : 



* One geographical square mile equals 21.21 English square 

 miles. 



