﻿HUNGARY. 



HlTKaART. 



MO 



wine and tobacco trade*. Waitxtn, on the left bank of the Danube, 

 21 miles from Buda-Peeth by the Preabura railway, ia an episoopal 

 dt; with 12,000 inhabitanta. It is dirided into three quarters— one 

 occupied by Roman Catholics, another by Protestants, and the third 

 bv Raitien, or members of the Greek Church. Waitaen is one of the 

 oldest towns in Hungary, and contains Roman and other antiquarian 

 remains. The chief modem building is the cathedral erected in 1777, 

 and rendered conspicuous at a distance by its lofty dome. Waprim, 

 or Veaprtm, also the seat of a bishopric, is about 27 miles W.N.W. 

 from Stuhlweiaaenbuis : population, 9000. The bishop's residence 

 occupies the summit of a steep eminence, once the site of one of the 

 most important fortresses in Hungaiy. A minaret, the only relic left 

 of the former Turkish poaaesson of the town, is now used as a 

 watch-tower against fire. Near the town is a round templar or 

 baptistenr ohimUi. Zombar, near the left bank of the Danube, and 

 on the Fransens or Baoser Canal, 30 miles N. by W. from Bacs : 

 population, with the suburbs, 21,000. It has some trade in com 

 and cattle, and manufactures silk goods. 



(7i>r<ni»ieii<, Jbc — The Constitution of Hungary, previous to the 

 insurrection of 1848, was called a limited monarchy, of which it had 

 indeed all the forms, but aristocracy was predominant The diet con- 

 sisting of the CathoUc prelates, the magistrates, the representatives of 

 the inferior noblee, and the representatives of the towns possessed 

 considerable power. These claues called theaisolves the nation, and 

 treated the peasantry as an inferior race, whose biuiueBs it was to pay 

 all the taxes (the nobles, about 350,000 in number, being exempt), 

 and to bear all kinds of burdens. Alter the supprestiion of the revo- 

 lutionary movements, the government was placed on nearly the same 

 footing as in other provinces of Austria. The vaiisalage of the 

 people and the feudal privileges of the nobles, which were abolished 

 aurmg the supremacy of the popular party, have not however been 

 re-established. 



There is perhaps no country of the same extent which conttdns such 

 a variety of nations as Hungary. The Magyars, or proper Hungarians, 

 are origmally an Asiatic people ; there are also Wallachians, Arme- 

 nians, Germans, Italians, Jews, Servians, and a medley of tribes 

 distinguished by names not easily accommodated to English ortho- 

 gmpby or Kngliith pronimdation ; Russniaks, Slovacs, Croats, Wen- 

 diaua, improperly called Vandals (these four and the Servians are of 

 Slavonian origin). The inhabitants, except the Jews, are all Christians. 

 The Roman CathoUc religion is predominant ; but Joseph IL estab- 

 lished complete toleration, and his successors went much farther, and 

 placed the other Christians ou an equal footing with the Roman 

 Catholics, so that all enjoy by law equal religious liberty, though not 

 perhaps with equal sectirity. The Roman Catholics, in 1846, and 

 consequently before the division of the kingdom, numbered 6,086,280. 

 The members of the Greek Church are divided into United (that is, 

 such as have joined the Roman Catholics, and are often blended with 

 them) and the Not-united : the former numbered about 605,300, 

 the latter 725,700. The Protestants were returned as — Lutherans 

 220,400, Calvinists 358,300, but there is little doubt that these 

 numbers are much imder-stated. Jews are returned as 265,620. The 

 Roman Catholic have three archbishops of Colocza, Erlau, and Gran, 

 and several bishops. The United Greeks have four bishops. The 

 Not-imited Greeks have an archbishop and bishops. The Protestants 

 have no bishops, but are governed by superintendents and synods. 



With respect to education Himgary is in a backward state, though 

 there are scbools in every parish. The public provision made for the 

 education of the people (including however the provinces since sepa- 

 rated from Hungary) was as follows in 1846 : — A university at Pestb, 

 8 schools of art) 21 lyceums, 28 grammar schools, 17 achuols of 

 philosophy, 95 gymnasia, 40 special, and 12 general schools — in all 222 

 upper schuols. There were popular schools in every parish or district, 

 but the total number is not given. The higher classes of Hungarians 

 are highly educated and polished men, and in general remarkably well 

 versed in foreign languages, 



Ilitlory. — The oldest known inhabitants of the country were the 

 Pauuonians. In the year 377 the Huns established a power here, 

 which was vastly increased under Attila, but was overthrown in 48u 

 by the Goths and Gepidts. These yielded in 626 to the Lombards ; 

 and when the latter removed to Italy, in 668, the Avari entered, who 

 extended their dominion to Bavaria, but were conquered and com- 

 pelled to embrace Christianity by Charlemagne. In the 9th century 

 the Magyars, originally a people ti'om central Axio, |>euetratud into 

 the country, and conquered it in ten years. Their chiefs divided the 

 country among them : Arpad, their leader, took half for his own share ; 

 the remainder was divided among the inferior chiefs and their fol- 

 lowers, and the ancient inhabitants became slaves, Arpad'a grandson 

 Oevsa embraced the Christian religion, and his son Stephen, the last 

 duke, aanimed in the year 1000 the title of king, and added Transyl- 

 vania to the kingdom. Ladialaus I. and Colomann subdued Slavonia 

 and Croatia, and, after many wars, Dalmatia ; Bela IL obtained Bosnia; 

 Emerich, Servia ; and Andrew IL and his son Colomann, Galicia. The 

 family of Arpad became extinct in the male line in 1301. In 1310 

 Charles, brother to Louis IX. of France, was crowned king of Hun- 

 gary, which he raised to aliigh degree of splendour. Charles having 

 married a sister of Casimir, king of Polanc^ Louis, one of his sons, 

 moeseded to that kingdom in 1870. This prince, who is called Louis 



the Great, reigned from 1342 to 1883, and his united kingdoms 

 extended from the Baltic to the Adriatia On his death Poland and 

 Hungaiy were again separated, and internal troubles broke out 

 Sigismund, who reigned from 1386 to 1437, lost almost all the annexed 

 dominions ; the Turks approached the frontiers, and took part in all 

 the intestine broils. ITnder Ladislaus V. and VI. these powerful 

 enemies wen sucoeaafnlly resisted by the brave John Bunyades, whose 

 son Matthias L was made king in 1458. He proved a veiy able and 

 fortunate monarch : he brought under his dominion Moldavia, Wal- 

 lachia, Moravia, Silesia, Lusatia, and great part of Austria, forming 

 an empire of 256,000 square miles in extent, about equal to the pres e nt 

 Austrian empire. After his death in 1490 the kingdom fell to pieces; 

 civil commotions and bad government made it an easy prey to the 

 Turks; and Louis II. lost his crovm and life in the £atal battle of 

 Mohacs, which so weakened the Hungarians that they were unable fur 

 160 years to free their country from the Mohammedans. Ferdinand I. 

 of Austria, who had married the sister of Louis, being raised to the 

 throne, the strength of Austria was indeed added to that of Hungary, 

 but he was obliged to leave Ofen and the finest part of Hungary in 

 the hands of the Turks, who were not expelled till 1686. This was 

 partly owing to the unpopularity of the house of Austria, whose 

 despotic habits and religious intolerance were most distasteful to the 

 Hungarian nobles. Hence arose continued disputes, and frequent 

 insurrections, in which the insurgents even went so far on soma 

 occasions as to call the Turks to their aid. This was done by the 

 celebrated leader Tekely, who with his allies had nearly got possession 

 of Vienna in 1683, which was chiefly indebted for its preservation to the 

 Poles under John Sobieskj. The treaty of Carlovitz, 1 699, delivered 

 Transylvania and Hungary from the Turkish yoke. The fatal civil 

 wars and insurrections ceased in 1711, and the house of Austria has 

 since remained in possession of the country. 



In 1848-49 however the Austrian sovereignty was seriously 

 imperilled. For some years a powerful national party had been 

 organised and an active opposition maintained in the diet, chiefly 

 under Count Szecheny, while patriotic feelings had been by every 

 possible means stimulated throughout the country. The Austrian 

 government had in vain endeavoured to repress the movement, and 

 the diet of 1847-48 opened with more of hope and energy than ever 

 on the part of the national party. Louis Kossuth, the avowed 

 leader of the more advanced liberals, had been returned as repre- 

 sentative for the county of Pesth. The Austrian government 

 appeared inclined to conciliate the Hungarians, and the emperor 



fained great popularity by opening the diet by a speech in the 

 logyar language. The proceedings of the diet were however soon 

 interrupted by news of the successful revolution in Paris, which 

 created intense excitement, and was speedily followed by a large 

 increase of the popular demands. The emperor yielded to moat of 

 the earlier popular requirements, A Hungarian ministry was formed, 

 and various liberal measures passed the diet and received the royal 

 assent These measures formed Hungary and Transylvania into one 

 kingdom, established an annual diet indissoluble by the king, very 

 largely extended the suffrage, created a national guard, abolished all 

 feudal privileges, and made numerous other concessions to the popular 

 wiU. But they contained in them tbe germ of future mischief. With 

 the intense feeling of nationality which always appears to render the 

 Magyar blind to everything but the dominance of the Hungarian 

 name and race, proposals had been made, which, if fully carried out, 

 would have rendered Croatia and Slavonia subordinate to Hungary, 

 and the use of the Magyar language necessary in all official 

 communications. The Croatians and Slavonians assembled and 

 deuounced the measures of the diet, and declared their determi- 

 nation not to obey the orders of tbe Hungarian ministry; at the 

 same time they demanded from the emperor that Croatia, 

 Dalmatia, and the Slavonian counties [Serbia] should be united 

 into a province, with a diet and ministry of its own. From 

 protests and votes, they soon passed to action ; an army was formed, 

 and under their Ban, Jellachich, proceeded to invade Hungary, 

 whose regiments were at this time in Italy. The Hungarian people 

 freely supplied money, volunteers offered themselves abundantly, the 

 government raised troops, and found excellent commanders in tbe 

 numerous Polish officers who proffered their services. The Emperor 

 of Austria issued a proclamation ordering tbe Croats to retire to 

 their own country ; but their leader had good reason to question the 

 sincerity of the command, and did not hesitate to disobey it. The 

 policy of the emperor was to play 00" the races against each other : 

 dreading the strength of both, he wished to weaken both. As soon 

 as he felt himself strong enough he threw off' the msak. A royal 

 commissioner, Count Lemberg, was sent with ordere to dissolve tbe 

 diet, and assume the direction of affairs. He was about to enter 

 Pesth for this purpose when the populace, excited almost to frenzy 

 by the speeches of their leaders, set upon him as he was crossing the 

 bridge between Buda and Pusth, dragged him from his carriage, and 

 assassinated him. From this time all hope of reoonciliation may be 

 said to have passed away. The Hungarian ministry resigned its 

 functions, and a Committee of Defence was established to carry ou 

 the government, with Kossuth as its president Their military pro- 

 ceedings met ou the whole with remarkable success. Ou the abdi- 

 cation of Ferdinand, the Hungarian diet passed a resolution refusing 



