THE DESTRUCTION OF SZEGEDIN. 7 



which is rooted in the earth. This district is in fact 

 the cradle of the true Magyar race, where, are still to 

 be found unchanged the language, customs, folk-lore, 

 and the traditions of this singular people, who, though 

 but a handful, have made their mark on history. 

 " The Magyar shall never perish out of the world " is 

 a saying amongst them. It is a striking fact that in 

 no part of Europe is there a stronger feeling evinced 

 for territorial possession than in Hungary. The Hun- 

 garian peasant holds to the land as a part and parcel 

 of himself. " Land is perpetual man," says the old 

 Irish law. A similar notion is latent in Hungarian 

 patriotism, especially in the case of the peasant ; for 

 he believes in the land with something of the old 

 pagan worship. It was owing to this intense feeling 

 for home, and for their own little plot of ground, that 

 brought about some of the most touching scenes in 

 the teriible catastrophe which I am about to describe. 

 J^or is this feeling for the soil merely sentimental ; as 

 a matter of fact, nearly a third of the land in the 

 kingdom of Hungary is in the possession of peasant- 

 holders. It is worthy of remark that the purchase of 

 land is much facilitated for small buyers by the 

 advanced state of the land-laws in Hungary. The 

 transfer of land is easy and inexpensive, and the 

 registration of titles to estates has completely obtained 

 in this country. 



In Prince Bismarck's recently published ' Letters,' 

 he describes travelling some twenty years ago from 



