360 



HUNGARY. 



Statistics. 



Classifica- 

 tion ef the 

 inhabitants. 



Govern- 

 ment. 



Preroga- 

 tives of the 

 king. 



wealth in Europe, as the frontier of Christendom, the 

 theatre of European valour and Turkish ferocity, and 

 for a long time the cherished homes of the gypsies, the 

 El-Dorado of the Germans, especially of the laborious 

 Saxons, and numerous Suabians.'' 



The inhabitants of Hungary may be classed under 

 three heads, viz. the nobility, the citizens, and the pea- 

 sants. The nobility are very numerous, and are calcu- 

 lated at 325,894 individuals, making nearly one for 

 every twenty-one inhabitants and a half. These consist 

 of the barons of the kingdom, or officers of state, and the 

 order of Mtignats (liberi baronex). Of the latter there 

 were, according to the Political Almanack of 1 805, 95 

 families of counts, 79 of barons, and 297 of noble stran- 

 gers, who had obtained letters of naturalization since 

 the commencement of the Austrian sovereignty. There 

 are only three families whose heads enjoy the title of 

 prince: Esterhazy, Bathyany, and Grassalkovics. The 

 first is supposed to be the richest subject in Europe. 

 Among the nobility, also, are included all gentlemen 

 who possess landed property, as the individual doing 

 so is ipso facto ennobled. The title of citizen or burgh- 

 er belongs only to the Inhabitants of the royal free ci- 

 ties, who have particular privileges ; and their num- 

 ber, including the inhabitants of the six free cities of 

 Croatia and Sclavonia, amounts to nearly 366,000. 

 The peasants are the inhabitants of the country, who 

 belong neither to the noblesse, the clergy, nor the mi- 

 litary, but who live entirely by husbandry, the culti- 

 vation of the vine, or the rearing of cattle. Of these 

 they reckon 509,825. With them may also be classed 

 788,993 other individuals, whom they call haiisler, who 

 have no lands to cultivate, but who live by their own 

 labour. 



The government of Hungary is a limited monarchy, 

 where the king enjoys great authority and influence ; 

 but where the nobility also have extensive rights and 

 numerous privileges. The order of succession is esta- 

 blished in the descendants of either sex of the House 

 of Hapsburg, who at their coronation must take an 

 oath in the presence of the diet, to preserve and main- 

 tain inviolate the liberties, privileges, rights, laws, and 

 usages of the kingdom at present existing, or which 

 may hereafter be decreed during their reign ; never to 

 carry the Hungarian diadem out of the kingdom, but 

 to entrust to two lay guardians elected by the diet for 

 the purpose ; to unite to the crown of Hungary all 

 the countries which it formerly possessed should they 

 be reconquered ; to restore to the estates of the realm 

 the right of electing a king after the extinction of the 

 line of the descendants of Charles VI., Joseph I., and 

 Leopold I. ; and that each of their successors shall be 

 bound to sanction this conservative act at the diet of his 

 coronation within six months after his accession. 



The prerogatives of the monarch consist in his exerci- 

 sing the executive power in its full extent ; but the le- 

 gislativepowerhe holds only in conjunctionwiththe diet, 

 whose decrees alone have the force of laws ; the nomina- 

 tion to all bishoprics and abbeys, and ecclesiastical digni- 

 ties, as also to all civil and military appointments, (the 

 Palatine, and the two keepers of the crown excepted, 

 who are chosen by the diet from a list of candidates 

 presented by the king) ; the power of creating nobles, 

 of making peace and war, and of calling out the perso- 

 nal levy ; the right to the revenues of all vacant be- 

 nefices, as also to the properties of all deceased nobles 

 who have died without heirs, or who have been con- 

 victed of treason or rebellion ; the immediate superin- 

 tendance and direction of all establishments of publk 



instruction, whether religious or temporal, whether Ca- Statistics. 



tholic or Protestant ; and the right of convoking the / *" 



diet, of pointing out the matters that are to be there 

 discussed, and of proroguing or dismissing it. 



The privileges of the nobility, by an act of the diet in Privileges 

 1741, were formed into a fundamental law of the king- J"-r "" 

 dom, and consist in the right of assisting at the deliber- 

 ations of the legal assemblies of the county, wherein 

 they dwell or possess property, whatever be the sub- 

 ject under consideration ; the inviolability of their per- 

 sons from arrest, unless in the cases of felony, high-way 

 robbery, and some other crimes ; the sole right of pos- 

 sessing lands with the seignorial power over their vas- 

 sals ; and the exemption from all contributions and 

 imposts. 



The royal free cities enjoy the same rights as the no- Koyal pr. 

 bles without exception, and are subject to the same ^eges. 

 laws and usages. They are considered as domains of 

 the crown, which can neither be alienated nor mort- 

 gaged. They constitute the fourth order of the diet, 

 and are represented by two members each ; and the ci- 

 tizens elect their own burgomasters, judges, and magis- 

 trates. Besides the royal free cities, there are others 

 which possess particular privileges ; the most consider- 

 able of which are the sixteen cities of Zips, which 

 were mortgaged to Poland by. King Sigismund, but re- 

 stored to Hungary in 1772. Their jurisdiction, civil 

 and military, is independent of the county ; and they 

 enjoy the right of appeal from their own tribunals to 

 the supreme courts of the kingdom. Their population 

 is 45,000. The six cities of Heidukes, in the county of 

 Saboltsch, which possess nearly the same privileges, 

 and send two deputies to the diet. They contain about 

 27,500 inhabitants ; and the districts of Jazyg, of Great 

 and Little Cumania, which form a population of 

 112,723 souls. They are under the immediate juris- 

 diction of the palatine, and form, like the royal free ci- 

 ties, a domain of the crown. They pay neither duty 

 nor tithe, and send two representatives to the diet. All 

 these, however, are subject, like the other cities, to the 

 general contributions. 



The peasants, since 1791> by an act of the diet, are Peasants, 

 no longer attached to the soil, but are at liberty to 

 leave their habitations at the proper term, and seek an- 

 other lord. Formerly it was not permitted for plebeians 

 to plead in law against a noble ; but the free cities 

 pleaded for their individual burghers, and one noble 

 defended the rights of his vassals against another. By 

 the diet of 1 802, however, it was decreed, that, for the 

 future, citizens and peasants should be permitted, in 

 certain cases, to prosecute for themselves. Plebeians, 

 also, as such, may fill the highest situations in the 

 church ; and it is not unfrequent, that, on account of 

 their learning and good conduct, they obtain letters of 

 nobility. When once ennobled, the career of honours 

 is open to them, and they may then aspire to the first 

 offices of the kingdom. 



The principal officers of state are the palatine, who, Officers of 

 besides other duties, presides at the assembly of the ttate * 

 diet, is viceroy in the absence of the king, and general- 

 issimo of the Hungarian troops ; the grand judge of 

 the kingdom ; the bann of Croatia, Dalmatia, and 

 Sclavonia ; and the grand treasurer. 



The Diet of the states is composed of four orders, Hiet of die 

 viz. the prelates ; the lay-barons and the magnats; the state - 

 representatives of the counties, each county sending 

 two members ; and the representatives of free cities. 

 They are invited to the diet, in the name of the king, 

 by letters of convocation dispatched by the chancery ; 



