208 THE HUNS OF ATTILA. 



power of a mighty genius, for aid in tlie cause of his down- 

 trodden country. Doubtless it was inexpedient for us to adopt 

 the measures he advocated. Yet for his unfaltering honesty I 

 respect the man ; for his giant intellect I honor him ; for his 

 devoted patriotism I revere him. He failed ; but steadfast in 

 his purpose, he now awaits on the borders of Europe the awaken- 

 ing of the oppressed. While to those in whom his hopes have 

 been disappointed, he sends the significant message that his days 

 of declaiming are ended, that the only speech he has yet to 

 make is, " Up, soldiers, and follow me." 



These national events and the presence of its great chieftain 

 and champion among us, have given to whatever relates to Hun- 

 gary an especial interest. Even the legendary stories of the 

 early founders of this nation, comprising the long and eventful 

 wanderings of the hordes of the Huns and the achievements of 

 Attila their first known king, sufficiently interesting in them- 

 selves, will impress us the more vividly that now the voice of 

 him who was wont to glory in such rude ancestry has scarce yet 

 lost its echo on our shores, and the memory is yet fresh of the 

 desperate strife for independence of those who claim to be 

 descended from those barbarians, and "ambitiously insert the 

 name of Attila among their native kings." 



Of the doubts of some historians respecting this martial gene- 

 alogy, we need not stop here to consider. It is sufficient to know 

 that even in the time of Attila* the Huns had given their 

 name to Hungary ; and when, four centuries later, Arpad with 

 another body of Huns came down from northern Europe he was 

 joined by the descendants of the Huns of Attila, and these were 

 the undoubted ancestors of the Magyars who constitute the chief 

 part of the population of Hungary. 



If one should seek by the dim light of ancient history and 

 tradition the spot from which diverged the first migrations of the 

 tribes of human kind, he would always be led by undeviating 

 lines to the lofty table lands of Central Asia. Thither are 

 merged and lost the earliest traces of the swarming tribes that 

 in ancient times successively peopled or overspread the eastern 



*Attila fought the great battle of Chalons in A. D. 451. 



