It pains him that Esterhazy cannot devote a single day to creating a useful institution in his country.
Daß auch Du[a] nicht einen Tag opfern konntest,[b] um endlich eine nützliche Anstallt in[1] deinem Vaterlande[2] zu begründen schmerzt mich sehr, und gewiß mehr als du glauben kannst. Wenn aber solche Leute, wie du bist nicht jede Gelegenheit ergreifen, um ihrem Lande irgend in einer Sache nützlich zu seyn, so muß man bey Gott, weinen, daß man ein Ungar geworden ist. ect.
[1] One word deleted by Széchenyi.
[2] Széchenyi’s underlining with straight line.
[a] According to Gyula Viszota, “He was Vince’s brother and a fellow captain of Széchenyi in the 5th Hussar Regiment”. (SzIN 2. 236.) However, Vince Károly Esterházy’s younger brother died in 1815. The memorial submitted to Francis I on 31 January 1822 contains two ‘Károly Esterházy’ signatures, one of them is supplemented with ‘the Younger’. The elder Count Károly Esterházy (1756–1828) was the father of Vince Esterházy, while the younger Count Károly Esterházy (1799–1856) was a friend of Széchenyi, the owner of Szered in Pozsony County, the county governor of Tolna (1837–1845) and later the county governor of Győr (1845–1848). The letter was probably addressed to the latter.
[b] He did not appear at the meeting on horse racing which was held on 14 January. SzIN 2. 234.
Recommended reference:
István Széchenyi to Károly Esterházy, Vienna, 18 January 1822. Edited and annotated by Szilvia Czinege. Published in Correspondence of István Széchenyi. Digital edition. Edited by Szilvia Czinege and Zoltán Fónagy. https://szechenyilevelezes.abtk.hu/ Abbreviation for further references: SzIL-Digit.