HUNGARY.

This is the largest division of the dominions under the government of the imperial house of Austria. It is formed into three separate parts, politically distinguished as the kingdom of Hungary, the principality of Siebenbürgen, and the military districts of Carlstadt, Warasdin, and the Bannat. ’ Although the other parts will be noticed in their alphabetical order in this work, this general head will comprehend such circumstances as may be applicable to the whole, because its chief purpose is to describe what, in the Austrian administration, is denominated the kingdom of Hungary.

The names of the circles, their extent, their population, and the capitals of each circle, are as follow:
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which has its peculiar dialect, and are distinguished by the districts they occupy thus: the Magyars of the Danube, the Magyars of the Theissa, and the Paloczin Magyars. Another of the greater races of the people is the Śclavonian, who inhabit chiefly the mountainous districts within the kingdom, both in the north and the south. They are of a darker complexion than the Magyars, but are well formed, and the females are distinguished by their forms, and graceful figures and movements. This race is distinguished by different names, and they differ much in their several dialects. The Slowaks are the oldest settlers in the hilly district, and amongst them are some originally from Bohemia, some few from Poland, many from Red Russia (called Russniaks), and others in the south from Illyria, sometimes called Serbians. In these are comprehended the greater number of the Croatians, many of the Bulgarians, and, near the sea coast, about Fiume, the Liburini. As these have various dialects, some approaching nearer to the Latin than others, but all in some degree connected with that language, the intercourse between the tribes is maintained by a species, much adulterated, of the tongue of ancient Rome. The Germans in Hungary are a numerous body; and the two descriptions of them are distinguished by the natives as Saxons and Suabians. The first settled in the country some centuries ago, and came as colonists from Saxony and the banks of the Rhine. The second colonists have obtained settlements at various but more recent times. The whole number of this race is estimated at about 700,000. They inhabit a tolerably good and extensive breadth of land along the frontiers of the provinces of Austria and Steyermark, from the Danube to the Raab, and have, in the interior of the land, several cities and towns, as well as numerous small places in the southern and western divisions of Hungary. They mostly retain their original language, which, however, is much corrupted by the adoption of words and phrases from the several tribes with which they are in contact. The smaller settlers in FIungary are the Wallachians, the New Greeks or Macedonians, a colony of French in the county of Torontal, another of Italians on the sea-coasts, and numerous Turkish individuals in all the commercial towns and cities. About 140,000 Jews are established in Hungary, who, with some scattered Armenians in most of the towns, form the retail traders.

The inhabitants are divided into nobles, citizens, and peasants. The first class, though differing in titles and rank, have all equal privileges; the principal distinction between them is, that, in the assembly of the states, or diet, the magnates have personally a seat and vote; whilst the other nobles vote by their representatives. The higher clergy are considered as nobles, and enjoy similar privileges. The nobility can alone possess free lands, or those enjoying the jus dominicale, and they are exempt from taxes, tithes, and the quartering of soldiers; but, on the other hand, they are bound to perform personal military service, when the pressure of circumstances compels the diet to decree the levy en masse, or, as it is called, the insurrection.

The citizens or burghers are the inhabitants of those cities which own no superior lord but the monarch. These have privileges similar to the nobility, by which they are exempted from the payment of taxes and tithes, and from the quarterings of the military; and their deputies have seats in the diet. They are governed by their own magistrates, and manage their own local funds. They cannot, however, hold estates out of their cities, nor institute a suit against the nobles in their individual names, but only in that of the corporation to which they belong. The peasants generally are slaves, but with a more or less mitigated degree of servitude; and some few, under the denomination of German, or other colonists, are free. The lot of the common peasants has, however, been of late years much improved. They are more protected against the power of their lords, by being allowed to acquire property, and by being permitted to leave their estates to their heirs, and to become, if they can do so, burghers of the royal cities. Their condition is, however, still a severe one, as they bear almost all the burdens of the state, and are incapable of commencing suits in the courts against either the nobility or burghers.

Although all the Christian sects enjoy equal civil rights and similar legal establishments, the Roman Catholics are the most numerous body. They consist of two classes, one adopting the Latin ritual, the other adhering to that of the Greek church, and called United Greeks. According to a survey made in 1825, the former amounted to 5,233,952 individuals, and the latter to 624,259. The hierarchy for these 5,858,211 persons consists of three archbishops, in the cities of Gran, Kolocsa, and Erlau; of seventeen bishops, viz. in Agram, Bosnie with Sirmien, Esanad, Fünfkirchen, Grosswardein, Kaschau, Neusol, Neitra, Raab, Roseneau, Steinamanger, Stuhlweisenburg, Szathmar, Veszprim, Waizen, and Zeug with Zips; and, besides these, there are the following dignitiĉs, viz. 307 canonries, 160 abbeys, eighty-nine archdeaconries, and 307 vice-archdeaconries. This sect has 3723 parochial churches and numerous chapels, which are served by 6345 priests. Next in number to the Roman Catholic is the orthodox Greek or non-united church, comprising 1,452,516 persons. This church has for its rulers an archbishop at Carlovitz, and seven bishops at the cities of Baes, Temeswar, Carlstadt, Packracz, Arad, Ofen, and Werschetz. They have sixty presbyteries, twenty-five large convents, 1643 churches, 2122 pastors, and 2781 lay ecclesiastics, who form a kind of monks. The Protestant Reformed church, on the Geneva model, consists almost wholly of Magyars, and amounts to 1,251,226 persons. They are under four superintendencies, established in the cities of Pesth, Papa, Miskolcz, and Debreczin; and under these there are thirty-four synods, 1359 churches, and 1407 pastors. The Lutheran church consists of 667,945 members, and is governed by four superintendents or bishops, residing in the cities of Presburg, Neusol, Odenburg, and Teissholz; under these are thirty-five consistories, with 487 parish churches, many chapels, and 518 ministers. Besides these there are a few assemblies of Armenians, and a few Mahommedans. The Jews have 342 synagogues, and a rabbi to each. Though the population has vastly increased since 1825, it is not supposed that the proportional numbers of the several religious parties has been materially altered. Each of these sects has its separate schools, colleges, and universities; and education is more diffused than in many of the other parts of Europe. In most of the sees schools for Catholics are supported by the prelates; and besides, there are royal academies at Agram, Grosswardein, Kaschau, Presburg, and Raab; and at Pesth there is one of the oldest and richest universities in Europe. In the schools of the higher class, including the university, the number of students is stated at 20,318. The schools for primary instruction in the villages are but slightly encouraged, nor do the peasantry discover much inclination for instruction; but in the cities and large towns there are 103 schools for the use of the Catholics. The Protestants of the reformed class, as well as the Lutherans, have schools for primary instruction in each of their parishes. The former have burgher schools in the cities, and seven gymnasiums, and three colleges at Debrecziií, Saros-Patak, and Papa, with 4180 students. The Lutherans have nine gymnasiums and good colleges at Eperies, Presburg, Odenburg, and Kesmark, in which there are 2660 students. The non [7:11:725]united Greeks have till recently much neglected the education of the adherents of their church; but of late years some attempts at improvement have been made. They have established some schools, the best of which are at St Andrew, Alt-Ofen, and Miskolcz. As aids to the higher branches of science, may be noticed the astronomical observatories at Ofen and at Elau, the chemical and mineralogical institutes at Schemnitz, the military academy at Pesth, and the society founded in 1832 in that city, under the title of the Imperial Academy of Sciences.

The northern and western sides of Hungary are remarkably mountainous. The Carpathian Mountains form a semicircle extending from the south-east portion of the kingdom till it meets the Danube on the western frontier. In the circle they describe, many projecting ranges extend themselves into the level land. On the western side the Carinthian Mountains cover a considerable portion of the kingdom. The highest points of the Carpathian Mountains are, the Lomnitzer Spitze, 8545 feet above the level of the sea; the great Kry wan, 8218; the Caesmark, 8194; and the Uniacke, 7597. The loftiest parts of the Carinthian Mountains, though within the Austrian dominions, form no portion of the kingdom of Hungary, nor do any part of the Noric or Rhaetian Alps. The greatest extent of level land in Hungary is found to the eastward of the river Theissa, forming a rich plain of more than 20,000 square miles. Another level, called the Three-Cornered Plain, is found to the eastward of the Danube, beginning near Presburg, the base of which line extends 150 miles in length. The soil is as various as the elevation of the land; on the mountains it is dry and sterile; on the terraces that surround them, of moderate fertility, and of most luxuriant richness on the plains, but mixed with considerable tracts nearly barren, where, for many miles, neither tree, stone, bush, nor living creature, are to be seen, with sand-hills, varying their position with the violent storms that frequently occur.

Hungary, however, is a country highly productive, yielding the largest proportion of the necessaries of life of any part of the ancient Austrian dominions, and furnishing, from its surplus, large quantities of corn, tobacco, fruit, wine, and cattle, to the neighbouring states. According to the account of Grellman, the extent of land is 39,329,000 jochs, the joch being equal to an English acre and two fifths. Of this land only 23,905,126 jochs are in cultivation; the remainder is composed of sandy deserts, lakes, morasses, and barren mountains. The productive lands are thus divided: 4,897,218 arable, 638,767 gardens, 911,176 vineyards, 2,129,225 meadows, 5,536,000 pastures, 850,000 ponds, and 8,940,740 woods. The northern part of Hungary scarcely produces sufficient corn for its own consumption; but the south is the granary, not only for the northern part of the kingdom, but, after deficient harvests, for a great portion both of Germany and Italy. The corn consists of wheat, rye, barley, oats, peas, and, in the most southern parts, of rice and maize. Next to the cultivation of corn, the growth of wine is the most considerable object of attention, and managed with the greatest care. The wines of Tokay have long been celebrated throughout Europe, and are of the first class of sweet wines; but the wines of Odenburg, of Rust, and of Ofen, are very highly valued, though but little known beyond the boundaries of the Austrian empire. The whole of the annual produce of wine is estimated by Blumenbach at 4,500,000 hogsheads, and valued at nearly ten millions sterling. Notwithstanding the proportion of woodland, the eastern part of the kingdom is much distressed from the want of fuel; but the west furnishes much wood, both for firing and building, and considerable quantities of gall-nuts, turpentine, pitch, tar, and pot and pearl ashes, for the supply of the surrounding countries.

The other productions of agriculture which furnish commerce, are hemp, flax, and tobacco. This last article has been long and successfully cultivated; and that produced in the provinces of Tolna, of Fünfkirchen, and in the peninsula of Murakoz, is highly prized for its peculiarly aromatic flavour. The forests are of great extent, covering nearly 15,000,000 English acres. They furnish abundant fuel for home consumption; and some timber, with much charcoal, is exported. Vast quantities of gall-nut«; are collected in the woods; and the bark, especially of the oak, is an article of considerable traffic with Turkey, and with other countries.

The breeding of cattle is an important branch of the 1 rural economy of Hungary. The horses, though small, are active and hardy; but, in spite of the measures pursued by the government to improve the races, they are still much inferior to those of most parts of the empire, They are generally set to work at too early a period, and their food is usually scanty and bad. They have, however, been somewhat improved of late years by the institution of studs in different parts, whence stallions are gratuitously supplied. The whole number of horses does not exceed 480,000 of all kinds. The horned cattle are a race much valued in every part of the empire, though they receive but little attention. The extensive steppes between Debreczin, Temeswar, Neusatz, and Pesth, are the native homes of these beasts. Their number is 886,900 oxen, and 1,508,100 cows. These, by their sale to the surrounding countries, produce annually nearly L.500,000 sterling. The numbers of the sheep are stated to be upwards of 8,000,000. There are prodigious flocks on the plains between the Danube and the Theissa, and on the elevated grounds of that district. The wool is coarse, and the owners estimate the cheese, milk, and flesh, more than the fleeces. In Western Hungary, on the other hand, the large flocks having been much improved of late years by crosses with the Merino breeds, and with the sheep of Padua, yield fine wool, which, to the value of L.500,000, is exported. Swine are reared in abundance; and though, when cured, they form the principal animal food of the inhabitants, there are yearly from 200,000 to 250,000 of these animals exported. The feathered tribes furnish a part of the annual wealth of the country. The greater part of the goose feathers, in which the Jews of Prague trade, come from Hungary; and the capital of the Austrian dominions is supplied from thence with that commodity. The rearing of silk-worms has been of late much attended to in some of the southern parts of Hungary, especially in the Bannat. The mulberry trees are very flourishing, and great progress is expected in future, but the undertaking is yet in its infancy.

The southern part of Hungary is a country enriched by minerals of various kinds. About two thirds of the mines belong to the crown, and are worked on account of the government, under an expensive system of administration, and with a profusion of royal officers. These are formed into four divisions, the principal seats of which are at Chemnitz, Schmolnitz, Nagybanja, and Oravicza, and employ, in the various operations, about 45,000 workmen. The labourers occupied in these mining operations are generally emigrants from Moldavia and Wallachia. We have no statistical accounts of the actual produce of the mines; but that of gold, silver, and iron has of late years increased. The first two of these metals have advanced, in the last fifteen years, from the value of L.220,000 to nearly L.400,000, and the increase in iron has been in nearly the same proportion, ι

The manufactures of Hungary are yet in an infant state. The kingdom has been long accustomed to supply raw materials to the surrounding countries, and to draw from them their manufactured goods. The inhabitants are not [7:11:726]disposed to labour in confined houses; and, till within the last twenty years, their principal occupation, exclusively of agriculture, was confined to making very coarse cloths, and various kinds of woodware, for furniture, musical instruments, and toys. The spinning of flax is a domestic manufactory, carried on by the females of almost every peasant’s family. The annual quantity produced is estimated at sixteen million of ells, or about ten million yards, the far greater part of which is consumed within the kingdom. The principal bleaching works are at Roseneau, where about 300,000 ells are annually whitened, all of the finer kind. There is much woollen cloth made in small manufactories scattered over the kingdom, but it is of a coarse quality, and adapted only for the use of the peasantry. Within the last thirty years more extensive factories have been established in Gacs, Illawa, Kaschau, Mun-katsch, Lipersdorf, Mosztenie, and Presburg. These have been mostly founded by Germans, and the greater part of the operative people are of that nation. At these places the use of various kinds of machinery has been introduced, and the cloth made in them, from the wool of a mixed breed of sheep, partly of the Merino and partly of the Paduan races, is of fine quality and well finished. There are forty paper-mills in Hungary, which produce printing and writing paper, all of a very wretched quality, except some from the mill belonging to the university, which is tolerably good. Silks and ribbons are made at Pesth, Grosswardein, and Presburg, but to a very small extent. The leather of Hungary is much valued throughout the whole Austrian territories, but the quantity of curried leather, prepared mostly at Presburg, is not equal to the consumption; and the hides of their cattle are sent to Germany, from which they return in a state fit for use. The tanneries are numerous in Presburg, Fünfkirchen, Ratko, Zips, and Debreczin. The iron produced by the native mines is manufactured into the various articles which the wants of the inhabitants require, at Zips, Abouigvar, Sarosch, Zemplin, Vorschod, and through the whole county of Gomorer. The best steel is made in Dios-gyvor, and the vicinity of Neusol; and the swords and other weapons manufactured in the different hardware districts are esteemed as of excellent quality, though of clumsy and grotesque forms. Glass is made (but scarcely any but green) in twenty-five glass-houses in different parts of the kingdom. The sugar refiners supply the domestic consumption. Snuff and tobacco are made almost exclusively from the plants raised on their own soil. The soap of Hungary, which is very good, is principally made from natron in Debreczin, where there are seventy-eight manufactories of that article. Linseed-oil, oil of turpentine, corn spirits, cordials, especially Rosoglio, and a medicine for wounds, known through Germany by the name of the Hungarian Balsam, refined saltpetre, and pearl ashes, are the productions of the other manufactories.

Hungary is surrounded on every side by the other Austrian dominions. The states of that country are proud of their independence as a separate kingdom, and tenacious of their privileges, especially of their exemption from the taxes imposed by the cabinet of Vienna. As the emperor’s government has no wish to embroil itself with the states by attempting internal taxation, it extracts a revenue by surrounding Hungary with custom-houses, where tolls are collected on every commodity that enters into the kingdom, or passes from it into the hereditary states. The toll thus collected is one-thirtieth part of the commodity, or three and a third per cent, on the value of it. The very high rate of carriage, arising from the bad state of the roads, is, however, a greater impediment to the exchange of commodities than even this tax at the frontiers. The principal trade of Hungary beyond the immediate boundaries is with Poland and Silesia, which countries draw from thence their wine, and with the north of Italy, to which its surplus corn is transported. The port of Fiume is connected with Hungary by the only good roads the kingdom possesses, and may be considered as its haven for exportation and importation, and as alone bringing it into contact with distant countries. The central point of internal trade is Pesth, where, at four great fairs, the concourse of buyers and sellers is so great, that the prices settled by them, if they do not absolutely govern, in a great degree regulate, those of the other parts of the kingdom. From the central city the commerce diverges in four great branches: lsr, Towards the German Austrian dominions by Raab, Presburg, Komorn, and Odenburg, at each of which places considerable business is transacted; 2d, towards Gallicia, through Kaschau, Eperies, and Leutschau; 3d, to Siebenbürgen, Moldavia, and Wallachia, through Debreczin, Ezegedin, and Temeswar; and, ⅛th, to the Turkish dominions beyond the Danube, through Neusatz and Semlin. At all these places considerable annual fairs or markets are held, which are resorted to by vast numbers of merchants, not only from Germany and Poland, but by the Turks, Armenians, Greeks, and even Tartars. Besides the marts at these cities, there are in Hungary sixteen hundred other places where annual fairs are held. The means of internal transit furnished by the rivers are a great assistance to commerce. The Danube is navigable for craft of two hundred tons burden, the Theissa for those of one hundred; and the other rivers, the Save, the Drave, the Waag, the Gran, the Unna, and the Kulpa, are all navigable for smaller vessels of various dimensions. The recent introduction of steam navigation has been extended to Hungary, and promises great advantages to the future commerce with the Black Sea. Some impediments on the Danube have already been removed, and measures are in progress for removing the remainder; but already several steam-vessels have completed their voyage from Pesth to Constantinople. The chief commodities exported from Hungary are the raw products of the soil. The greatest in amount are live cattle; the next in value to these are, corn, tobacco, wine, hides, and wool. The chief imports are, colonial ware, linen, cotton, and woollen articles for clothing, and some few foreign luxuries. The value of the exports is said to exceed that of the imports to the amount of L.750,000 annually.

The government of Hungary is a limited monarchy, at present hereditary in the house of Hapsburg; but, in case of the failure of all the branches of that family, the king, or rather dynasty, becomes elective by the assembled states or diet. The laws by which the constitution was founded, and by which it is maintained, are the Golden Bull of their king Andreas II., dated in 1222, the magna charta of the nobles, whose privileges are principally regarded; and these have been confirmed by the peace of Vienna in 1606, and of Lintz in 1647. By these two treaties also the free exercise of their religion is secured to the Protestant sectaries. All these interests were further confirmed by the diet of Presburg in 1687, and by the inauguration diploma of Leopold II. in 1790. These various charters and acts of the states have merely secured to the privileged orders their ancient rights, but have left the peasantry, or, in other words, the great mass of the population, in the same state of subjection as before their promulgation.

The whole executive power is vested in the monarch. He is the source of all titles and offices, and nominates to the higher ecclesiastical dignities, and to the benches of justice. He makes war and peace, can call together and dissolve the diet, and draw forth the whole military population. He receives the incomes of all vacant ecclesiastical benefices, and is heir to the property of such noble [7:11:727]families as become extinct. The direction of the universities and colleges belongs to the king, but to the higher offices in them he can only appoint those who are of noble birth. The appeals to Rome upon the affairs of the Catholic church can only be made through him, and the royal authority has been constantly exercised to contract the number and to limit the causes of such applications. The king must be of the Catholic religion, and, at his inauguration, must swear to maintain the privileges and rights of the states. Notwithstanding this oath, by various circumstances, many arising out of the late long wars, the power and influence of the crown have been recently very much extended. Within six months after succeeding to the throne, the king must call together the states, and in their presence, in the open air, swear to maintain the privileges of the states, to leave the crown of St Stephen within the kingdom, and to allow the states to elect a king, upon failure of issue both male and female of the Emperor Charles VI. Joseph I. and Leopold I. During a minority, the palatine is guardian of the king and kingdom; but the monarch is capable of assuming the exercise of power when he has completed his fourteenth year.

The states of Hungary (status et ordines) consist of, Is/, the prelates, to which class belong the archbishops, bishops, abbots, and priors of the Greek and Catholic churches; 2d , the temporal barons and magnates, the high bailiffs of the provinces, and the counts and independent noble proprietors of estates; 3d , the nobility or knights, who do not attend personally, but choose two deputies for each county (komitat) or province; and, ⅛th, the deputies from the royal cities. These members are said to be the representatives of Hungary, whilst the mass of the inhabitants, described in their law as misera plebs contribuens, have no connection Avith public affairs, except by paying taxes and furnishing recruits, from both Avhich services the nobles and clergy are exempt. The purposes for which the states assemble are, the coronation of the king, the election of a palatine, the admission to or exclusion of nobles and cities from their rank, the granting subsidies and imposing taxes, and the framing netv laws, or rather giving the assent of the assembly to such laws as the king may enact. By the constitution, the states should be convened every five years, or whenever any pressing circumstances require their assembling. Of these circumstances the king must judge, as the states are only convened by his summons. They meet in two chambers, or, as they are denominated, tables. The magnates’ table is composed of the royal barons, the high hereditary officers of the kingdom, and the prelates, counts, and free landlords. The other chamber, called the states’ table, consists of the deputies of the komitats, or the supleans of the nobles, the representatives of the royal free cities, and the persons appointed by such magnates as do not attend, who are called ablegati absentium. Though the states meet but in two chambers, yet they vote in four distinct bodies, and the absolute majority of those present determine each question in that body. If the king and three of these bodies determine any point, it becomes a law; and the fourth body has no suspending power. The king appears personally, or by his commissioner, and claims his prerogatives, and the states demand a confirmation of their rights. At the diet in 1792 there were present thirty bishops and other ecclesiastics, 178 counts, 131 hereditary officers and barons, sixteen law officers, thirty deputies of chapters, ninety-eight representatives of komitats, 115 supleans of absent magnates, and eighty-two deputies of cities. The sitting of the diet depends on the king, who has usually dismissed them as speedily as possible, out of regard to the general Avelfare of the people. During the meeting of the diet, all the courts of justice are shut up, and the deputies of the free cities and of the homitats are maintained at the time of the session at the expense of the people who send them, whilst the hereditary officers are kept by the crown. From these regulations, it is not to be wondered at that no anxiety for the meeting of the diet is manifested by any part of the kingdom. The king is well aware that no considerable sum beyond what is necessary •for the expenses of the local government will often be granted by the diet; and when it is granted, as the whole is squeezed from the hard earnings of the peasants, it is collected with difficulty, and produces great oppression. As each komitat has its own provincial diet, in which its affairs are discussed and regulated, and to which ∙ appeals from the courts of justice of the nobles (herren stuhls) can be made, there is less occasion for the assembling of the general diet; and though, by the constitution, that body should meet every five years, yet, by a general acquiescence, its periodical convocation has been of late dispensed with. Whenever the diet is convoked, the summons of the monarch states the purposes for which they are to meet, in the orders to these subordinate diets; and no other proposition is or can be produced at the assembly. The local diets thus have an opportunity of discussing the propositions that are to be made to die general assembly, of determining what part to take, and of instructing their deputies in Avhat manner to vote. No project of a new laAv originates Avith any of the states; and the sittings, though they were formerly very stormy, have of late been rather in compliance with ancient forms, and for purposes of display, than for any objects of great utility.

The principal officer of the kingdom is the palatine, who is the representative of the king, president of the diet, and of the supreme court of justice, dispenser of pardons, and mediator between the monarch and the states; his office continues only one year, but he may be re-appointed. Next to him is the judge of the supreme court, Avho is the president of the other two, and fills the office of palatine in the absence of that chief. The ban of the Croats follows next in rank, but has no official duties, unless at the coronation, when he carries the golden ball. The hereditary treasurer (tavernicus) has a seat in the supreme council, and is captain of the noble Hungarian body guards, who perform the palace duty.

The administration is conducted by the emperor, through the means of the Hungarian court of chancery in Vienna, which is constituted of twenty-four state councillors, viz. three ecclesiastics, eleven magnates, and ten of knightly rank, all nominated by the monarch. This college exercises the superintendence over churches, schools, and charitable establishments, administers the funds of the universities and convents, and regulates the agriculture, the trade, and the feudal claims. This body has no original jurisdiction in matters of finance or of justice, but may be appealed to by the provincial diets or the local courts of law.

The primary courts of law are under the control of the nobles, who appoint the judges and direct the procedure. The oppression in such courts towards those not noble has long been excessive, and, though somewhat mitigated since the reign of Maria Theresa, bears still the deep impression of the worst periods of the feudal government. The whole system of law seems’calculated only to secure and perpetuate to the nobility the enormous power they possess. The nobles are exempt from all taxes and imposts of every kind; the only duty they owe to the state is that of personal service in war. If a person not noble assaults one who is so, the legal punishment is death, which is, however, now usually commuted into the forfeiture of all his property, with the privilege of reclaiming it whenever he shall have the means of paying for it a stipulated portion of the value. If a peasant is injured by [7:11:728]a noble to whose estate he is attached, he can have no redress, since he can only sue for it in the name and through the medium of the very person against whom he seeks it. The court in which his complaint is to be heard, not only consists of persons who are generally the dependents of the presumed offender, but moreover they can only be assembled at his summons. If a peasant is injured by any other noble, he cannot seek redress in his own person, but only through the intervention of him on whose estate he lives; and such is the contempt in which the peasantry are held, that even this privilege must very often be nugatory. The law of entail is another injurious privilege of the nobility, common, indeed, to all the feudal countries, which puts it out of their power to alienate the estates to the detriment of the successors. The effect of this is, that the possessions of the nobles are of enormous extent, embracing often whole komitats ; and they are held upon tenures which convert them into the nature of principalities. The kingdom indeed partakes more of the nature of a great military confederation of subordinate chiefs, under one hereditary leader, than of any other known form of government. As all the descendants of noble families are themselves noble, whilst property remains almost unalienable, the poverty into which individuals belonging to distant branches of these families fall is in proportion to their number. In Hungary it is estimated that one person in twenty is of noble birth, all possessing the obnoxious privileges here noticed; many of them, though free from all taxes, sunk to a state of most abject poverty, and some of them filling the offices of peasants or servants. The inhabitants of the free cities are supposed to be about equal in numbers to the nobility; and the remainder of the people, according to these estimates, amounting to eighteen out of every twenty, can have no protection from the laws, nor any resource when injured or oppressed by their superiors. “The noble,” says Dr Bright, “pays no tribute, and goes freely through the country, subject to neither tolls nor duties; but the peasant is subject to pay tribute; and although there may be some nominal restrictions to the services due from him to the government, it can safely be said that there is no limit in point of fact to the services which he is compelled to perform. Whatever public work is to be executed, not only when a road is to be prepared, but when new roads are to be made, or bridges built, the county meeting gives the order, and the peasant dares not refuse to execute it. All soldiers passing through the country are quartered exclusively upon the peasantry. They must provide them, without recompense, with bread, and furnish their horses with corn; and, whenever called upon, by an order termed a forespan order, they must provide the person bringing it with horses and means of conveyance. Such an order is always employed by the officers of government; and whoever can in any way plead public business as the cause of his journey, takes care to provide himself with it. In all levies of soldiers, the whole falls upon the peasant, and the choice is left to the arbitrary discretion of the lord and his servants.”

From the same intelligent traveller we learn, what, indeed, the observations of all ages have taught, that whilst the nobles are hospitable, high spirited, well informed, and zealous to promote such institutions and projects as they think calculated to benefit their country, the peasantry are not only poor, but idle, dissolute, and dishonest. Perhaps in no other country of Europe is highway robbery so frequent; and, as a remarkable trait in the character both of the noble and the peasant, we are told that to every nobleman’s house a prison is attached, in which are to be constantly found from ten to twenty miserable wretches, pinioned in a way which would not be tolerated in England towards the worst felons. The dungeons in which they are immured are far more dismal and wretched than any prison in London can exhibit. The extreme viciousness of the Hungarian peasantry seems to have extinguished all feeling in the breasts of the bisher nobles for their degraded state; and, instead of the wise policy which, by meliorating their condition, would improve their morals, they are left to endure those punishments which a different state of society would be likely to render unnecessary.

The military force and the financial affairs of this kingdom are so mixed up with those of the general administration, of the extensive expenditure of which they form a part, that it would be both difficult and tiresome to enter into the representation of them; and, besides, they vary so much from political events at different periods, that what would be correct at one time, would be defective at others.

Though Hungary has a national language, yet it is not generally spoken, nor supposed to be understood, by more than one third of the inhabitants. The only written language, until within a very late period, was the Latin, in which all their laws and public proceedings were promulgated; and it is still the most common medium of communication. It was not till the reign of Maria Theresa that any experiments were made to improve and polish the national language. When she formed her Hungarian guards, a number of young men of noble families were drawn to Vienna, where they had means of knowing the estimation in which the cultivation of' learning was held in the more civilized parts of Europe, and were taught to feel the inferiority of their native country, in not possessing a national language and national literature. This stimulated them to exertions to remove the stigma, and gave birth to most of those writings of which the Hungarians boast. The cultivation of the vernacular tongue was further promoted by the attempt of the Emperor Joseph to introduce the German tongue into their public transactions; this roused the patriotic spirit of the Hungarians, and the effect of that spirit became visible in the extension and improvement of the native language. Since that period the study of this language has produced some good poets, who have generally dedicated their powers to the praises of their country, and to recording the merits of its most distinguished natives. As the subjects of their poetry are very little known beyond the limits of the country, we must trust to the reports of those who feel the most interest in the subjects of which it principally treats, and who, for that reason, may not be the most unbiassed critics.

The principal cities, and their population in 1834, were as follows :—

Pesth, with Buda or Ofen 95,000

Debreczin 46,000

Presburg 36,000

Theresienstadt 34,000

Szegedem 34,000

Misklaz 28,500

Nyir-Egybaza 20,000

Stuhlweisenburg 20,000

Komorn 18,500

Schemnitz 17,500

Raab 17,500

Grosswardein 17,000

Mako .' 17,000

Gyongyos 15,500

Boszormeny 15,000

Szathmar 14,500

Gyula 14,500

Fileghyaza 14,500

Kaschau 14,000

Odenburg 13,500 [7:11:729]Esongrad 13,000

Temeswar 12,500

Gran 12,000

Szolnok 12,000

Pecs 11,500

Nagy-Karoly 11,500

Agram 11,500

Eszeck 11,500

V eszpr ím 10,500

The early history of this important kingdom is highly interesting, both as marking the tribes from Asia who established and finally spread themselves over the whole of Europe, and as illustrating the origin of that feudal system which ultimately produced the present state of civilization.

The inhabitants of this country are not to be confounded with those tribes called the Hunns, whom we are accustomed to consider as their progenitors, on account of the similarity of the names; a similarity which does not exist in their native language, but which has been given to them by foreigners.

The Hunns were, according to De Guignes’s history of that people, a powerful but uneducated nation of Tartary, against whose incursions the great wall of China was constructed, about 209 years before the Christian era. In the time of Augustus they inhabited the shores of the Caspian Sea, from whence, being pressed westward by other tribes, they became the scourge of Europe, and gradually attained great power, which was at length wielded by Attila. But after his death in the year 453, the nation fell to ruin, though some of them were long to be found on the north of the Danube, and some on the shores of the Palus Maeotis, or Sea of Azoph, till at length their name totally disappeared.

The present people of Hungary, or, in their own language, the Magyars, made their first appearance in Europe in the year 894 of our era, having advanced from the southern shores of the Black Sea, under a leader named Almus. By himself and his son Arpad, the Bulgarians, the Slawen, the VVallachians, the Germans, Croatians, and Dalmatians, who were settled there, were either subdued, driven out, or extirpated, by the year 900. The land was at first divided amongst the heads of the several families; but in a short time the power was conceded to the chief, who assumed the title of duke, and the right of granting land to reward any deed of warlike merit.

The Magyars were no sooner in possession of the rich country, than their interference was requested by their rival neighbours for aid against each other; a request which, by such warriors, excited by their recent conquests, was not received with hesitation or delay. They soon extended their pow er in every direction by collecting a large and active body of cavalry, which was not to be resisted by any forces that could be collected to oppose them. They soon spread themselves, and in a few years were feelingly known to the north in Hamburg and Bremen, to the west in France, to the south in Otranto, and to the east at Constantinople. In the year 933 they first came, under their duke Zwenlibold, in contact with the Emperor of Germany, Henry I., whom they defeated in a great battle near Merseburg, on the river Saal, in Saxony. They penetrated into Franconia, but there, at Drommling on the Ohr, they met a severe repulse. In a subsequent incursion into Bavaria, after some early successes, they experienced a sanguinary defeat on the river Lech, from the German king Otho L, in the year 955. The continued attacks of the more civilized people of the west drove them in the course of a few years wholly out of Germany. As they became settled in their country, they gradually adopted more tranquil habits. They had learned something of the simplest arts of agriculture in the countries which they had invaded; and the numerous prisoners whom they had brought with them were made to cultivate the land, and to practise the simplest mechanic arts. This progress continued under one of their dukes, Taksony, who used his power to convince his followers that there were other ways of extending their authority than by warlike expeditions. Under Geysa or Geesa, the great-grandson of Arpad, who married Carolta, a Christian princess, an important event took place. He was celebrated for his hospitality, and invited foreigners to settle in his country; and, amongst others, he, at the instigation of his wife, called in some of the priests. By gradual steps their religion was also introduced; and in the year 973 Geysa and some thousands of his chief people embraced the Christian faith, and were admitted into the bosom of the church by a public baptism.

By the aid of the Bishop Pellegrin of Passau, and of the Bishop of Prague, Adelbert, he strove to overcome the reluctance felt by the greater part of his people to adopt the new religion. This task was left to his son and successor Stophen, who for his success in conversion, and for his extirpation of heathenism, was canonized after his death; and in his lifetime was presented by Pope Silvester II. with a crown, the remains of which are still preserved, a patriarchal crucifix, and the title of apostolic king. The throne of Hungary was thus founded in the year 1000, and was surrounded by an aristocracy and an hierarchy calculated to support it. The king endowed ten rich bishoprics, and divided his dominion into seventy-two countships (gespanschafts'), over each of which was placed a chief, with full civil and military authority, in the exercise of which he was alone accountable to the monarch himself.

These nobles and prelates were formed into a senate, and, in conjunction with them, the king framed a constitution, which has in its groundwork existed to the present time. In the year 1002, the chief of Siebenbürgen, named Gyula, remained in heathenism, and had contracted alliances with the yet unconverted subjects of Stephen. He was attacked and subdued, and his dominions added to the kingdom of Hungary. Stephen married a sister of the Emperor of Germany, Henry II.; and being thus connected, was universally acknowledged as a king, and the succession declared to be hereditary in his descendants. But he died leaving no issue, and for several years the kingdom was in a state of anarchy, some parts of it acknowledging one sovereign, and others a different one, and contending with greater violence, because during the contests the remains of heathenism still continued, and its adherents formed a powerful party. They were, however, suppressed by one of the race of their ancient kings, Ladislaus, who, in 1077, united in himself the supreme power, and added to its strength by conquering and enclosing within his dominions the provinces of Croatia and Sclavonia. In this course he was followed by his son Solaman, who increased his dominion in 1095 by the subjugation of Dalmatia and Bosnia. A daughter of this King Ladislaus, named Sophia, married a prince of the house of Hapsburg, Dukes of Austria; and it is through this lady that the present occupiers of the imperial throne trace their pedigree up to Arpad, one of the earliest founders of the kingdom of Hungary. Both these kings were of great benefit to the country, by the wise laws they introduced, and the internal regulations which they established. Under them and their successors colonists were introduced both from Flanders and from Alsace, and many Germans from various circles. These were mostly established in Siebenbürgen; but everywhere they communicated better practices in cultivation, and in the various arts of civilized life. Belas II. one of their kings, who had been educated at the court of Byzantium, induced the Hungarians, who had been accustomed to pass the greater part of their time under tents, to build perrna-nent[7:11:730] houses, and to erect towns and cities, which were endowed with privileges; and, in imitation of what he had seen in the Greek capital, he established a court, with great offices of state, to give dignity and power to his throne.

In the year 1186, this Belas married Margaretta, daughter of Henry king of France, the widow of the son of Henry II. king of England. She brought with her to the Hungarian court some degree of French elegance, and induced several of the younger nobles to repair to Paris for their improvement in learning and in military exercises.

Under his successor Andreas II. the power of the great nobles was exercised to compel that weak prince to extend and strengthen their influence, and they extorted from him a treaty in their favour in 1223, which has been denominated the Golden Bull.

Belas IV. was anxious to make some alterations, and before he could adopt and prepare them, was interrupted by incursions from the Mongul tribes, who for a time spread devastation over a great part of the country. They were, however, ultimately repulsed, and the king restored to his authority. He then drew to Hungary a vast number of German colonists, which improved the state of civilization; and he founded several cities, fortified them, and conferred extensive privileges upon the burghers, who thus became in process of time a counterbalance to the power of the nobles. In 1241 his son Stephen was crowned as co-rege∏t with the father. This gave rise to contests between the two sovereigns, by which the royal power suffered severely. Andreas IV. succeeded to the throne, and dying in 1301, the male line of the Arpad race became extinct. The female line gave the crown to the family of Anjou, under whose princes Hungary attained its highest pitch of prosperity and power. Louis, the first of the new dynasty, was the son of Robert, originally the Norman, who ruled in Sicily, and had married the Princess Elizabeth of Poland. Under this prince the thrones of Hungary and Poland were united, he having obtained the first in 1342, and the second on the death of his uncle in 1370, and became the greatest power in Europe, extending from the Adriatic to the Baltic Seas. The several public institutions were improved, the better cultivation of the soil was promoted, the administration of justice established, and cases which had before been decided by wager of battle determined by judges. This prince also endeavoured to introduce learning, and with that view established a university at Ofen, and a free school in Fünfkirchen. He relieved commerce from many burdensome imposts, and, according to the policy of the age, sought to preserve his subjects from heavy usury, by banishing all the Jews from his dominions.

Louis died without male issue, and his two daughters, Hedwig and Maria, divided his dominions. The former ascended the throne of Poland, and the latter that of Hungary. Maria married Siegmund, the son of the Emperor Charles IV. who, with his wife, was crowned in 1387.

Siegmund’s reign was distinguished by his contests with the nobles, who held him a prisoner at one period, during which Red Russia was seized upon by the Poles, a portion of Dalmatia by the Venetian republic, and some parts of the eastern frontier by the Turks, who since their appearance began to annoy Hungary, which thus became the bulwark of Europe against the infidels. In this reign also commenced the religious wars of the Hussites. Siegmund left only a daughter, Elizabeth, who married the Archduke Albert of Austria; the latter died in 1436, leaving her pregnant with a son, Ladislaus, who bore the surname of Posthumus. He was declared king, and the government conducted by John de Hunoyed, who, under the title of stadtholder, saved Belgrade, and indeed Hungary, from the Turks. On attaining his majority in 1456, Ladislaus was dissatisfied with his great benefactor, and most unjustly persecuted his family. The eldest of the Hunyades was put to death, and the youngest, named Mathias, distinguished by the surname of Corvinus, was imprisoned. Ladislaus died in 1457, without issue, when Mathias seized on the vacant throne, and was confirmed in it by an assembly of the states collected at Pesth, in spite of the strong pretensions of the Emperor Frederick III.

Under the new reign great vigour was displayed. Mathias, though an elected king, knew how to emancipate himself from the dominion of those who had chosen him, as well as to oppose with success all external enemies. He recovered the provinces which had been lost by his predecessors, and by hostilities gained others. He drove the Turks out of Bosnia. In a war with George, king of Bohemia, he seized Moravia, Silesia, and Lausatia, and deprived the emperor himself of some of his provinces, especially of the land below the Ens. His active spirit enlivened commerce, improved agriculture, and formed excellent institutions for judicial and fiscal administration. To all his other watchful precautions he added that of maintaining a constant regularly-armed force.

This flourishing state of Hungary vanished speedily after the death of Mathias, when, in 1490, Wladislaus of Bohemia, the grandson of Albert and Elizabeth, was raised by the states to the throne. He had from the first powerful parties to contend with amongst the nobles, and at length a kind of servile war to engage in. The peasants rose in every part at the instigation of some amongst the nobles, and the insurrection was not quelled till 1512, and then only with the loss of the lives of 40,000 of these miserable people, and the condemnation of others to the condition of slaves.

During this reign Count John Zapolya raised a powerful faction in the assembly of the states, by proposing a law in 1505, to revive an ancient enactment, that in case of the death of a king without issue, the states should elect to the throne none but a native of Hungary. This attempt was frustrated by a treaty entered into with the emperor, and after the death of the king his son Ludwig succeeded him; but in an unhappy battle with the Turks at Mohacz in 1526, Ludwig fell, and Zapolya was declared by his party the successor to the throne. A larger party of the states, however, declared in favour of Ferdinand, who had married Anna, the daughter of Wladislaus. A civil war ensued, which drove Zapolya from the station he had assumed, and, as a denounced traitor, he fled to the Turks, by whose assistance he was enabled to make a predatory incursion, which was repressed after some time; and though Ferdinand, now become emperor, was fairly established, Zapolya was restored to his estates and his dignities, and the peasants who had lost their privileges by the insurrection of 1512 were re-instated in the rights they had before possessed. The want of success in the attempts of Zapolya has been attributed to his avowed persecution of heretics, by which the Protestants, who had become numerous, were induced to strengthen the party of the house of Austria, who, after being safely placed on the throne, were far from acting in conformity with the views of those who maintained that they had turned the scale in favour of that family.

At length, at an assembly of the states held in 1547, the hereditary right of the house of Austria to the throne of Hungary was solemnly established; and from that period the history of Hungary is included in that of the imperial house which long gave a succession of emperors to Germany, and has at length assumed the title of Emperors of Austria.
[7:11:731]

Hungary- Water, a distilled water prepared from the tops of flowers of rosemary, and so denominated from a queen of Hungary, for whose use it was first made.