BEOTHY, ODON (1796-18J4)

This article appears in Volume V03, Page 758 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

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BEOTHY, ODON (1796-18J4) , Hungarian deputy and orator, was born at Grosswardein, his father being a retired officer and deputy lord-lieutenant of the county of Bihar. At the age of sixteen he served in the war against

Napoleon

NAPOLEON

, and was present at the great battle of

Leipzig

LEIPZIG

. Like so many others of his compatriots, he picked up Liberal ideas abroad. He was sent to parliament by his county in 1826 and again in 183o, but did not become generally known till the session of 1832-1836, when along with Deak he, as a liberal Catholic, defended the

Protestant

PROTESTANT

point of view in " the mixed marriages question." He was also an energetic advocate of freedom of speech. After parliament rose he carried his principles to their logical conclusion by marrying a

Protestant

PROTESTANT

lady and, being denied a blessing on the occasion by an indignant bishop, publicly declared that he could very well dispense with such blessings. In 1841 he was elected deputy lord-lieutenant of his county to counteract the influence of the
lord-lieutenant, Lajos Tisza, and powerfully promoted the popular cause by his eloquence and agitation. After 1843 the conservatives succeeded in excluding him both from parliament and from his official position in the county; but during the famous " March Days " (1848) he regained all his authority, becoming at the same time a

commander

COMMANDER

of militia, a deputy and lord-lieutenant. At the first session of the Upper

House

HOUSE
HOUSE (O. Eng. hiss, a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Dut. huis, Ger. Haus; in
Gothic
- GOTHIC
it is only found in gudhiss, a temple; it may be ultimately connected with the root of " hide," conceal)

(5th of July 1848), he moved that it should be radically reformed, and during the war of Independence he energetically served the Hungarian government as a civil

commissioner

COMMISSIONER

and lord justice. Towards the end of the war he reappeared as a deputy at the Szeged diet, and on the flight of the government took

refuge

REFUGE

first with Richard Cobden in London and subsequently in

Jersey

JERSEY
JERSEY, EARLS OF

, where he made the acquaintance of

Victor

Hugo. Thence he went to Hamburg, to meet his wife, and died there on the 7th of December 1854. Beothy was a man of extraordinary ability and character, and an excellent debater. He also exercised as much influence socially over his contemporaries as politically, owing to his unfailing tact and pleasant wit.
See Antal Cscngery, Hungarian Orators and Statesmen (Hung., Budapest, 1851). (R. N. B.)

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