HUNTER’S TRAVELS IN HUNGARY. 
| 
er, robbery, and a few other crimes: 
nd lastly, they cannot be arrested till 
"trial and conviction! . 
_ A sort of feudal return to govern- 
t is made for these immunities.— 
When their country is invaded, the 
nobles are bound, at the requisition of 
their sovereign, to take the field, accom: 
panied, according to the extent. of their 
estates, by a certain number of comba- 
tants, who are maintained at their ex- 
pence any where within the bounds. of 
Hangar, Mr. Hunter says, that dur- 
ing the Turkish wars this was a severe 
and expensive duty ; but since the ex- 
Rt the Ottomans, and the mode 
10w universally adopted of maintaining 
mding armies, it has been. attended 
pay e burg are not.so much ex- 
d t ypression of the nobles ; 
| to the oppression of the nobles as 
asants are, who are bred on.their 
th. Rarely any inconvenience. 
Ss 
¢ e patio of shor cu: ane 
ever, as.itis, has been much ame- 
ioral Baas, the last half century. 
in the year 1764, the empress Maria 
‘h esa published an urlarium, abolish- 
ng many ancient usages, and defining 
ights duties of master and pea- 
but still they continued .under the 
a ‘aa eriptio. In the year 1781, Joseph 
. suppressed the villanage of the pea- 
sants in Bohemia and Moravia, and ex- 
tended it to Hungary in 1785. 
_ The peasants are divided into diffe- 
rent classes, according to the quantity of 
hey occupy on their master’s estate. 
sant of the first class is the occu- 
what is called an entire farm, 
consist of twenty-four acres, be- 
es an additional acre which is allowed 
his house, gardens and barns. The 
al mode of paying rent for this 
is by personal labour, and by giv- 
ap to the landlord a certain portion 
e produce. He is bound, for ex- 
nple, to work fifty-two days in the 
ar, with a cart and two horses, from 
rise to sunset; in addition to which 
ust deliver to his master a ninth 
of the fruits of the earth, and of his 
stock, From this tax his garden is 
' ite pass their lives in their ser- 
Le hare 
fis property devolves to the land- 
Phe annual contribution in Hun- 
cluding the Banat and Croatia, 
00: the residue ‘is levied on the 
2° 
If the peasant dies without an’ 
77 
Hungary is at this time peopled 
by Hunggrians, Slavonians, Germans, 
Wallachians, Rusniacks, Ulyrians, Ar- 
menians, Grecks, Jews and Egyptians. 
It is a very remarkable circumstance, 
mentioned by Mr. Hunter, that though 
inhabitants of the same country, and go- 
verned nearly by the same laws, these 
people seldom intermix, but. in general 
preserve their own peculiar habits, insti- 
tutions, and pursuits, in their original 
purity. 
Among the hundred plans of reforma- 
tion, most of them dictated by a sense 
of justice.and humanity, though many 
of them wild and. visionary in the ex- 
treme ; among the plans of reformation 
conceived by the disappointed Joseph IT. 
it was a favourite one to amalgamate, 
as.it were, all the subjects of his here. 
ditary dominions: he proposed to govern 
them by .one uniform system of laws; 
and in one of his mandates required that 
at the expiration of three years, all, pub- 
lic business should be transacted in the 
German language! Perhaps nothing 
is nore difficult.than the introduction of 
an uniformity of language among dif- 
ferent people: William the Conqueror 
endeavoured to circulate the Norman 
French among his English subjects, and 
a little of the jargon yet tingles in some 
of our ancient records; but if William 
was unsuccessful, what chance could 
Joseph have to teach uniformity of 
tongue to the discordant progeny of 
Ham, Slavonians, Greeks, Jews, Turks, 
and Wallachians? The consequence of 
so. violent an attack upon the most an- 
cient and deep-rooted prejudices of the 
people was such, as ought to: have been 
anticipated: the whole kingdom was 
thrown into a ferment, and rebellion 
was frequently on the point of breaking 
out. Poor Joseph! on his death bed he 
was obliged to cancel, with his own 
hand, the acts of his whole government, 
except that for the suppression of the 
Seba adscription: § 5. nk s3--b5 
. On the accession of Leopold II. to 
the throne, many ‘excellent articles were 
agreed on by the. diet; the liberty of the 
peasants is .conirmed. and: enlarged : 
Hungary enjoys the most complete to- 
leration in) matters ‘of religion': public 
offices:and seats in: the legislative council 
“of réligion which’ ‘he ‘disapproves; so 
~ that, with’ all ‘its’ cdmplicated system of 
