The Conservative Party (''Konzervatív Párt'') was one of the most influential political groups of the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

of the 1840s in

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

. The group was led by

Emil Dessewffy Count Emil Dessewffy de Csernek et Tarkeő (24 February 1814, Eperjes – 10 January 1866, Pozsony) was a Hungarian conservative politician, leader of the Conservative Party, who served as President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences The Hu ...

. In 1849 the party merged into the

Opposition Party Parliamentary opposition is a form of political opposition to a designated government, particularly in a Westminster-based parliamentary system. This article uses the term ''government'' as it is used in Parliamentary systems, i.e. meaning ''th ...

History

The Conservative Party was formed on 12 November 1846 by

Habsburg The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...

-loyal, "considering progressive" thinking young conservative aristocrats. It was the first political party by today's terms in the history of

. The party wanted to achieve Hungary's interests within the empire and seen the country's interest to preserve a strong Habsburg Realm. Unlike the liberal opposition they did not want to confront with Vienna. They wanted to comply the interests of Hungary with the interests of the whole empire. They kept in mind the interests of the aristocracy, but unlikely the "old conservatives" they did not want to maintain

feudalism Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structur ...

and the constitution of the orders, because they recognized its crisis. They supported a slow and partial extension of full citizen rights to the people. The leader of the "considering progressive" politicians was Aurél Dessewffy, but after his death his younger brother

took over the role. (At the time of the establishment of the party Aurél was already dead.) Emil tried to persuade Chancellor Metternich to understand that it is also in Vienna's interests to introduce new moderate reforms, to hold back the reform opposition in the

. They supported the administer system. During the

Revolution of 1848 The Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Springtime of the Peoples or the Springtime of Nations, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe starting in 1848. It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in Europea ...

the party moved closer to the

. The party's social organisation, the ''Közhasznú Gyülde'' (''Public Benefit Meeting'') united with the social organisation of the liberals. In Pál Esterházy they gave in the first Hungarian government the

Minister besides the King of Hungary The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary ( hu, Magyarország külügyminisztere) is a member of the Government of Hungary, Hungarian cabinet and the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The current foreign minister is Péter Szijjártó. ...

. In 1849 the party merged into the

Political program

* Unchanged maintenance of public law with Austria, based on the Sanctio Pragmatica (maintenance of the area council institutions) *

Customs union A customs union is generally defined as a type of trade bloc which is composed of a free trade area with a common external tariff.GATTArticle 24 s. 8 (a) Customs unions are established through trade pacts where the participant countries set up ...

with

Cisleithania Cisleithania, also ''Zisleithanien'' sl, Cislajtanija hu, Ciszlajtánia cs, Předlitavsko sk, Predlitavsko pl, Przedlitawia sh-Cyrl-Latn, Цислајтанија, Cislajtanija ro, Cisleithania uk, Цислейтанія, Tsysleitaniia it, Cislei ...

* Election of representatives to the

and to the local authorities, based on popular representation, with high

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

* Restricted freedom of press, religion and speech * Redesigning of the Hungarian cities according to modern needs * Centralized public administration (with slow, organized, from above directed reforms) * Burden sharing * Investments in the infrastructure * Peasant question, maintenance of voluntary perpetuation * Tolerance with the nationalities

Critics

The official opinions are contradictive about the Conservative Party. Although they were reformists and stood against Vienna's absolutistic pursuits, they were the number one opponents of the

. They are often referred to as the "ruling party" opposite of the Opposition Party. According to the latter liberal historiography they were Vienna's puppets, who proposed modest reforms, in favor of quietening the reformist mood. Others said that they wanted to achieve just the aims they stated in their party program, an aristoctatic-led society with a reformed structure. About the Conservative Party later sympathizer (like Gyula Szekfű, or today's Hungarian conservative press) says that they wanted the same as the reformopposition, but slower and they avoided the direct confrontation with Vienna like

István Széchenyi Count István Széchenyi de Sárvár-Felsővidék ( hu, sárvár-felsővidéki gróf Széchenyi István, ; archaically English: Stephen Széchenyi; 21 September 1791 – 8 April 1860) was a Hungarian politician, political theorist, and wri ...

. They were afraid of the centralization of the empire and the

germanization Germanisation, or Germanization, is the spread of the German language, people and culture. It was a central idea of German conservative thought in the 19th and the 20th centuries, when conservatism and ethnic nationalism went hand in hand. In ling ...

List of notable members of the Conservative Party

, leader of the party, president of the

Hungarian Academy of Sciences The Hungarian Academy of Sciences ( hu, Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, MTA) is the most important and prestigious learned society of Hungary. Its seat is at the bank of the Danube in Budapest, between Széchenyi rakpart and Akadémia utca. Its ma ...

* György Apponyi, Lord Chancellor of Hungary, Speaker of the House of Magnates * Pál Esterházy,

* György Andrássy

References

* Závodszky, Géza: Történelem III. Budapest, 2002. {{Hungarian political parties Defunct political parties in Hungary 1846 establishments in the Austrian Empire Political parties established in 1846 Political parties disestablished in 1849 1849 disestablishments