Introduction. 27 



sesses it without services or obligation, and the lord can only 

 resume it by granting a suitable indemnification. 



Tii us, the Hungarian peasant, in some measure, enjoys the 

 fruits of his labour. He may dispose of eight-ninths of the 

 product of his crops, and he becomes proprietor of moveable 

 goods, flocks, and herds, &c. which pass to his children. In 

 addition to which, if from accident his crops should be lost, 

 or his cattle destroyed, the lord must furnish him with suste- 

 nance, and even pay his debts and discharge other engage- 

 ments, which he may have contracted with the seignior's 

 approbation. 



The peasant who has no lands to cultivate, suffers no dis- 

 paragement OD that account. If he dwells in a cottage, the 

 seignior erects it, and supplies materials for its repairs ; the 

 service due is eighteen days' labour in a year. If he has a 

 portion of land besides, he contributes the ninth part, either 

 in stock or money, and his service of days' labour is only due 

 when the ground is, at least, one-eighth of what would consti*- 

 tute a complete farm. 



On the whole, the condition'of the peasant is not inferior to 

 that of many farmers in France.* The impossibility of ac- 

 quiring land'is matter of regret, but the peasant, with some 

 formalities, may become a proprietor in the territory of the 

 free cities. 



The seignior is responsible for all that passes on his domain ; 

 complaints against the peasants are lodged with him, and he 

 may be sued in the county court, or in the supreme court, for 

 redress. He maintains a sort of police, and some have the 

 right of criminal justice, but nothing is done in an arbitrary 



* In the south west parts, the farmer has no landed property, but owes ser- 

 vices to the proprietor, from whom he receives annual wages, the rate being 

 invariable, in abundance or scarcity. The fanner receives 200 francs in money, 

 13 hectolitres (about 1300 English quarts, more or less) of wheat, 16 hectolitres 

 of maize, and 13 of rye; 2 barrels of wine from the press, 1 hectolitre of salt, 20 

 pounds weight of oil for.eating, 20 do. of oil for burning, 6 cart loads of fire wood, 

 and 1 tenement for his family. The whole, taken at a medium, may be valued 

 at from 8 to 900 francs. These disbursements are indispensable on the part of 

 the proprietor. 



These advantages are on the side of the farmer, who seems hereby assured of 

 the means^of subsistence, but he has no chances of better fortune derivable from 

 his industry, and is merely a tenant at will. Here the Hungarian peasant has an 

 advantage, for the lord cannot dismiss him from the ground he occupies, except 

 for bad management or conduct. An Hungarian farm, comprising an extent 

 conformable to the nrbarinm, may be valued at from 15 to 1700 francs. The 

 fifty-four days' labour, and the product of the ninth part, cannot equalize this 

 sum, and in those parts of France where labour is dearest, would not rise to 

 above 500 francs. The clear ninth produce at the highest, would only be from 

 2 to 500 francs ; there would, consequently, be a benefit of from 6 to 700 francs, 

 to be added to the eighj-nintha remaining of clear produce, that will belong to 

 the pea*ant. 



