HOOKER, WILLIAM J. 



HUNGARY. 



429 



HOLLAND. (See NETHEELANDS). 

 HOLSTEIN. (See SOHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN.) 

 HOOKER, Sir WILLIAM JACKSON, F. R. S., an 

 eminent English botanist and Director of the 

 Royal Gardens, born in Norwich, England, 1Y85, 

 died at Kew, August 12, 1865. From his early 

 boyhood he devoted himself to botanical pur- 

 suits, and with so much success that he was 

 eventually appointed Regius Professor of Bot- 

 any in the University of Glasgow, where he 

 greatly endeared himself to the students, not 

 only by his ability as a lecturer, but by his 

 kind and genial disposition. With knapsack 

 upon his back and a collecting case at his side, 

 he practically taught his pupils the science he 

 so much loved. In 1809 he visited Iceland, 

 and gave subsequently an account of the bot- 

 any of that region in his "Tour in Iceland." 

 In 1832 he was removed to a wider sphere of 

 usefulness, being appointed Curator of Kew 

 Gardens, which he may almost be said to have 

 created. In 1835 he was knighted, and in 

 1845 received the degree of D. 0. L. from the 

 University of Oxford, on the nomination of the 

 Duke of Wellington, then the Chancellor. Be- 

 sides innumerable articles in magazines and re- 

 views, Sir William was the author of " The 

 British Flora," "Flora Borealis Americana," 

 "Icoues Filicum," "Genera Filicum," "Musci 

 Exotica," "Mnscologia Britannica," etc., and 



also the botanical portion of the work of Ad- 

 miral Beechey's account of his voyage of dis- 

 covery in the Arctic regions. Sir William 

 Hooker was a member of nearly all the learned 

 and scientific societies both upon the Continent 

 and in America. 



HUNGARY, a country of Europe, formerly 

 an independent kingdom, subsequently united 

 with Austria. Before 1849 Hungary embraced, 

 in a constitutional sense,besides Hungary Proper, 

 Croatia, Slavonia, and the Hungarian LitoraL 

 (coast land on the Adriatic), and in its widest 

 acceptation also Transylvania, the Military 

 Frontier, andDalmatia, with an aggregate* pop- 

 ulation of about 15,000,000. In 1849 all these 

 dependencies were detached. Some counties 

 of Hungary Proper were annexed to Transyl- 

 vania, others were set apart to form the new 

 crown land of the Servian Waywodeship and 

 Banat, and the remainder was to form an Aus- 

 trian crown land and province. In the most 

 limited sense the crown land would have con- 

 tained about 9,000,000 inhabitants. 



The recent history of Hungary cannot be 

 understood without an acquaintance with the 

 diversity of the races inhabiting the countries 

 belonging to the Hungarian crown. Accord- 

 ing to the last Austrian census of 1857, the 

 race statistics of these countries were as fol- 

 lows : 



It will be seen from this table that the Mag- 

 yars are the predominant race, but that the 

 combined non-Magyar nationalities have a large 

 majority over the Magyars. 



The year 1865 marks a turning-point in the 

 relation of Hungary to Austria. The unflinch- 

 ing resistance of the Hungarians to the Di- 

 ploma of October 20, 1860, ar.d the Patent of 

 February 26, 1861, by which the Government 

 of Austria endeavored to consolidate all the 

 crown lands into one empire, caused, at length, 

 the Government to yield, to abandon the 

 policy of centralization which had hitherto 

 been pursued, and to enter upon a policy of 

 federation, in accordance with the wishes of 

 the Hungarians and most of the non-German 

 crown lands. On September 20th, the Em- 

 peror published the celebrated Rescript, by 

 which the efficiency of the Patent of February 

 26, 1861, was suspended. (See the text of the 

 Rescript, under AUSTRIA.) Simultaneously with 

 the Rescript the following documents were 

 published for the more immediate use of the 

 countries appertaining to the Hungarian crown : 



Letter of Convocation. We, Francis Joseph I., 

 etc., etc., animated by the sincere desire for the 

 happiness of our subjects, by strengthening with the 

 royal unction the solemn coronation and promul- 



gation of our royal diploma the ties uniting us to our 

 dear kingdom of Hungary, we shall open anew the 

 field presented to us by the possibility of deliberating 

 with the estates and representatives of the country, 

 and by passing with them salutary laws upon the 

 affairs of our countries belonging to the crown of St. 

 Stephen, our glorious apostolical predecessor, upon 

 the just, equitable, and desirable solution of the 

 pending political questions, and upon the assimila- 

 tion of the constitutional rights of our dear kingdom 

 of Hungary with the existence and unavoidable exi- 

 gencies of the power of our empire. For this pur- 

 pose, and also to deliberate according to the desire 

 of our paternal heart, after the happy solution of the 

 above-mentioned questions, upon others concerning 

 the public welfare, the protection and promotion of 

 the material and intellectual interests of the country, 

 we convoke a general Diet in our royal free city of 

 Pesth for the 18th December of this present year, 

 and with God's help will open and direct it in person. 

 In consequence of which, etc. 



Rescript to the Royal Government of Ilnnriary. 

 We, Francis Joseph I., etc., animated by the ear- 

 nest desire of our paternal heart to bring about a 

 happy solution of the constitutional questions anil 

 others of high importance, bound up with the mate- 

 rial and moral welfare of our dear kingdom of Hun- 

 gary, and which equally apply to the vital conditions 

 of the entire monarchy and the interests of the coun- 

 try, we ha.ve convoked the Diet of Hungary for the 

 10th of December, 1865, in our royal free city of 

 Pesth, and have resolved to apply the electoral law- 

 approved by our sanction of January 7, 1861. In 

 virtue of our royal sovereign power, we allow tho 



