828 



IIUiNGARY. 



art- entirely indifferent to them. When the Mairyar 

 is in liquor, he is melancholy, nay even careless ot Ins 

 life ; the Slowack pretends to be witty, the German 

 is talkative and very tiresome, the Wlachian isquarrel- 

 some, and ready to shed blood ; and the UuUienian 

 inutters inwardly, is reserved and prone to revenge. 

 When the Magyar or Slowack is going to cheat a 

 person he praises him ; the German offers him his 

 sen -ices, the Wlachian protests to be his friend ; the 

 Uutheniaii feigns to be stupid; the Servian is sub- 

 missive ; the Jew promises mountains of gold ; the 

 gipsy jokes. Whenever a quarrel arises, the German 

 MTeums and threatens, the Croat swears and curses, 

 the lluthenian spits at his adversary, and seizes him 

 by his hair ; the Slowack makes use of his fists, and 

 boxes his enemy ; the Magyar cudgels him till blood 

 begins to flow, the gipsy assails his face with his nails ; 

 the Wlachian strives to strike him dead, and the Jew 

 screams and takes to his heels. When the Magyar 

 swears he always takes God to witness, whilst the 

 Slowack calls upon the devil to take him. The 

 cursing Magyar, Wlachian, and Servian use an 

 immense variety of abusive names ; the Slowack 

 hurls a thousand thunderbolts at his opponent, and 

 the German ever calls the devil to his aid. The 

 Magyar preferably appropriates to himself, without 

 paying for it, (i. e. steals) cattle, especially horses, 

 then oxen, the Slowack eatables, the Slavonian iron 

 and leather utensils, the Wlachian money ; the latter 

 does not hesitate murdering a traveller for the sake 

 of a few shining buttons, which he takes for gold, 

 whilst the German without discrimination pilfers 

 whatever he can get. When the Slowack abstains from 

 stealing, he does it because he believes theft to be 

 criminal ; the Ruthenian from fear of punishment ; 

 the Magyar because he is not in the humour for it, 

 and the German for want of an opportunity. The 

 Magyar by preference enters into the light-horse 

 service, the Slowack also prefers serving in the 

 cavalry, whilst the Ruthenian is afraid of horses, and 

 you cannot terrify him more than by telling him that 

 he is to be a hussar; the Wlachian and German seem 

 to be born for serving in the artillery ; the Jew, 

 however, for the train-service, for he is very much 

 afraid of fire-arms. 



As for the rest, the Slowack is fond of performing 

 his labour with his feet, hands, and mouth ; the 

 Jew with his mouth and feet ; the Ruthenian, Wla- 

 chian, and Slavonian rarely use one or the other, 

 finding their greatest delight in the sweet far niente. 

 To the great national kitchen the Magyar contributes 

 bread, meat, and wine, the Ruthenian and Wlachian, 

 salt from the salt-pits of Marmorosh ; the Slavonian 

 bacon, for Slavonia furnishes the greater number of 

 fattened pigs ; the German, potatoes and vegetables ; 

 the Italian, rice ; the Slowack, milk, cheese, and but- 

 ter, table-linen and kitchen utensils, crockery- ware ; 

 the Jew supplies the Hungarians with money, and the 

 gipsy furnishes the national entertainment with music. 



The Hungarian has a natural inclination to agri- 

 culture and the breeding of cattle. Both are, how- 

 ever, still in their infancy, but the inexhaustible 

 fertility of nature supplies every deficiency of indus- 

 try and skill. It must not be forgotten, that Hungary 

 has comparatively but a small population, that the 

 Hungarian peasant has no property in the soil, and 

 that foreign commerce is checked. Many improve- 

 ments are made by individual proprietors, and Hun- 

 gary may justly boast of two institutions, founded by 

 private individuals, for the promotion of agriculture, 

 the Georgicon at Keszthely, and the agricultural 

 institute in Hungarian Altenburg. Mining is carried 

 on by Germans and Sclavonians. There is a mining 

 academy at Schemnitz, to which foreigners frequently 

 resort. The principal artisans are tanners, furriers, ( 



manufacturers of tsdtimn (cordovan boots), law- 

 makers, and barbers. There are few manufactures 

 that llourish in Hungary. Iron and copper, linen, 

 leather, alum, and saltpetre, are some of the articles 

 of industry. The potteries (the large establishmei; 

 at Debreczin produces annually 11,000,000 pij 

 heads), the cloth manufactories at Gatsch, and 

 sugar refineries at Fiume, deserve to be mentione 

 Trade is almost exclusively in the hands of the Gt 

 mans, Greeks, and Jews. Internal commerce is pr 

 moted by the Temesch and Francis canals (the former 

 seventy-five, the latter sixty and a half miles long) , 

 the fairs (which amount to 2000), and the complete 

 absence of tolls : the clearing of the navigable rivers, 

 and the building of regular roads, under the direction 

 of the superintendents of the highways, are carefully 

 attended to. The foreign commerce is limited to 

 the natural productions, and is besides checked by 

 the Austrian system of duties, together with the 

 tobacco and salt monopoly of the government. 



The Hungarian constitution is in force in Croatia, 

 Sclavonia, and the Littorale, but not in Transylvania 

 and the military frontiers, which are governed by their 

 own laws. The inhabitants are divided into nobles 

 and people. To the nobility belong the clergy, the 

 magnates (barons of the empire, the chiefs of coun- 

 ties, dukes, counts, &c.), those individuals, with 

 their descendants, to whom the king lias granted 

 patents of nobility, or on whom he has conferred 

 estates, the royal free cities and some privileged dis- 

 tricts, as bodies corporate. The nobility, styled, in 

 official Latin, the populus Hungaricus, are exempt 

 from taxes (except on their estates within the terri- 

 tories of a city, and also excepting the land tax, 

 which they pay as vassals of other nobles). They 

 pay no imposts (unless engaged in commerce) nor 

 tithes, and are not liable to have soldiers quartered 

 on them ; they cannot be imprisoned until after con- 

 viction of a crime, except in case of high treason, or 

 unless taken in the act. The violation of their per- 

 son or property (major potentia) is punished with the 

 loss of the property of the offending party. The 

 nobles only can hold landed estate, and they exercise 

 the regalia on them, and certain offices can be en- 

 joyed only by them. The estates belonging to the 

 nobles, according to the terms of grant, descend 

 either in the male line alone, or to the female line 

 also ; on the extinction of the family, they revert to 

 the crown, which, however, is bound to grant them 

 immediately to some deserving individual. In return 

 for their privileges, the nobility are liable to a sud- 

 den levy for military service, in case of emergency. 

 This is called insurrectio, and they must serve in 

 person, and at their own expense. The citizens of 

 the royal free cities, and the inhabitants of the privi- 

 leged districts, also enjoy many exemptions. The 

 whole burden therefore falls on the peasants, or the 

 misera plebs contribuens, as they are styled ; for, be- 

 sides contributions in money and in kind, and the 

 labour which they are bound to perform for the lord 

 of the manor, they also pay tithes of all their pro- 

 duce to the clergy, maintain the county magistracies 

 and the army, and labour on the public works with- 

 out pay. The bounty of nature, and the frugality of 

 the Hungarian peasant, can alone explain how, 

 under all these impositions, he can still maintain 

 himself, and, if favoured by circumstances, can some- 

 times even accumulate a little property. The peasant 

 is not attached to the soil, but the state provides that 

 the place of an emigrant shall be immediately filled, 

 in order that the amount of the contribution may not 

 be lessened. 



A second distinction consists in the difference of 

 religion. Though all sects are, in general, equal, 

 yet the exceptions expressly named, the indistinct- 



