become the avowed owner of a rood of land. He may encumber the noble's estate so entirely, that the produce shall, in fact, become his own; or, should the produce be inadequate to cover the interest of the loans, he may even force the debtor to sell his lands, and himself take possession of the purchase-money. But he may not, in his own person, enter upon the occupation of these lands and retain them. Let him, indeed, renounce his religion, and this disability passes away. His reception of the sacrament of baptism puts him at once on a political level with other eidelmen; for it is curious enough that the descendants of Abraham, though utterly despised, are in Hungary treated as freemen." The peculiarities of land tenure, and of the practice of the Hungarian law as effecting it, are these: "It is a remarkable fact that, in Hungary, estates cannot, in strict propriety of speech, be sold at all. A man may burden his land with mortgages to any amount; and if he fail in paying the interest, or satisfying others of the creditor's claims, the creditor may enter upon possession. But neither in this case, nor in the event of a special bargain, is the original owner supposed to forfeit, either for himself or his heirs, the right of recovery. A stranger purchases, in fact, but a thirty years' occupancy, and no more; at the expiration of which, it is competent for the former proprietor, if he be alive-or, in the event of his death, for his nearest of kin-to commence proceedings of retriever. But it is much easier to begin a suit in Hungary, than to obtain a judgment. The courts, which consist of the magistracy of each county, afford the utmost imaginable facilities to delay. They hear every statement on both sides; they pause long and often, to weigh their relative plausibility; they send back the suitors again and again to amend their pleas; and when, at length, a decision is obtained, the party defeated may apply for a new trial, which is in no instance refused him. Finally, when all the quirks of the first tribunal are exhausted, an appeal lies elsewhere; till the case comes at last before the supreme court in Pesth, where years may elapse before it be called on. The consequence is, that he who has once disposed of his property, because he was unable otherwise to sustain his credit, may, unless some extraordinary change in his circumstances befall, relinquish all hope of ever recovering it. His right may be admitted everywhere-ay, even in the courts before which it is necessary to establish it; but the sort of proof required is so strange, and the process of deducing it so tedious and so expensive, that more than the value of the property at issue is sure to be expended in the prosecution of the claim. I was told of several suits which had been pending for five-and-twenty years, and nobody appeared to anticipate that decisions would be obtained for fiveand-twenty years longer." Free trade in land was a point for the Hungarian reformer as well as at home. These details may seem irrevalent to a statement of the merits of the great Hungarian question now at issue; but it will presently be seen that they are of great importance in estimating the magnitude of the changes, social as well as political, which the popular party in Hungary have instituted within the last two years. Since the time of Joseph II. a movement in favor of large social reform has grown and gathered strength. The first important point gained was under the administration of Count Szechenzi in 1835, who carried a measure in the Diet for the protection of the serfs from the capricious violence of the nobles. Under that statute magistrates were appointed for each komitat, before whom delinquents must be brought, and without whose sanction the punishment of the lash could not legally be inflicted. The Hungarian Tories grumbled much at the change; and direful were the predictions, by the protectionists of the country party, of ruin to Hungary from the abolition of the monopoly of corporal punishment. Mr. Gleig tells us, that in 1837 this was the constant burden of the comments of the eidelmen on Count Szechenzi's measure: -"Do you think this is possible? Do you suppose that the nobles can or will obey an edict in itself so preposterous? We do not obey it. We do punish in the face of the law, and some of our people know, while they submit, that we are acting illegally, Can this continue? Surely not. Depend upon it, that Hungary is on the eve of great changes, and what the consequences may be time only can determine." The changes came almost within the decade; and happily, too, a change came o'er the spirit of the best of the nobles. The Count Szechenzi's reform policy was principally directed to the development of the physical resources of the country, by the construction of public works, roads, bridges, and other aids to intercommunication. But an earnest, and in time a powerful popular party, sprang up, desirous of effecting radical improvements in the condition of the people. Their political position may seem anomalous. They were the conservative radicals of Hungary, defending the ancient rights and privileges of the constitution against the encroachments of Austria on the one hand, and advocating broad popular reforms on the other. The policy of the court party being imperial centralization, was revolutionary as opposed to the first point, and stationary to the other. Conspicuous in the ranks of the patriot party, and ever foremost in earnestness of purpose and liberality of opinion and policy, was Ludwig or Louis Kossuth, of Kossuthfalva, in Zemplin. He comes of a noble but decayed Magyar family, who gave much service to the Hungarian State; for during the wars of national conservatism, from 1527 to 1715, seventeen members of the family were declared by Austria guilty of high treason. Kossuth was born at Monok in 1801, and according to the custom of Hungarian gentlemen, was sent to study law; he adopted the bar as his profession, and became a learned and popular advocate. But his vocation was statesmanship; and about twenty years ago, he earnestly directed his attention to political studies. In 1832 he went to the Diet in the capacity of reporter, and edited its transactions in a manuscript journal; for at that time the Hungarian legislature adopted the favorite policy of an Irish member in our own, and excluded the press.* After the close of the Diet, Kossuth continued his journal, and published the transactions of the county meetings, which were very interesting in 1836, as the reactionary ministry of Count Palfy was then threatening a serious inroad on the constitution. The country was in a ferment, and many arrests were made on charges of high treason. On the 6th of May, 1837, Kossuth was arrested for refusing to obey a ministerial order forbidding the appearance of his manuscript journal, and for having declared that order illegal. His trial excited great public interest; and his personal defense was eloquent and masterly, but he was found guilty, and sentenced to imprisonment for ten years. This increased the ferment of the country; and after an earnest protestation by the Diet, Kossuth was released under the general amnesty of 1840, granted by Count Mailath, the successor of Palfy. In the following year he commenced the editorship of the Pesti Hirlap, the first liberal newspaper published in Hungary; and he became the centre for the liberal party, all the leaders of which rallied round him, with the exception of Szechenzi, whose policy, as we have seen, was to promote material reforms. Owing to some misunderstandings amongst the members of his party, Kossuth relinquished his connection with the journal in 1844, and for two years devoted himself to educational and other reforms-establishing, during that period, a * The debates were, however, afterwards officially published in the Hungarian "Hansard." VOL. XVIIL NO. L 2 gratuitous school for apprentices; an industrial union; lectures on natural philosophy, chemistry, and mathematics; and competition for the promotion of the industrial arts. In 1847, he was elected deputy for the komitat of Pesth, by a splendid majority; and in the Diet, his large powers of mind, fervid eloquence, skillful debating talent, and thorough knowledge of public affairs, at once raised him to the leadership of his party, which had now become the majority. It was then that the Diet devoted itself to the great work-to use the emphatic words of Count Tekeli-" TO HUNGARY." GIVE CITIZENS ΤΟ To accomplish that end, the Diet proclaimed civil and political equality, without distinction of language or religion, equal and proportionate participation in the public imposts by all Hungarians, and the complete abolition of all privileges. consider that they accomplished all their duties "The nobility," says Count Tekeli, “did not by merely doing away the privileges they enjoyed; they consented to deprive themselves of a portion of their property, to concede gratuitously to the peasants the land they had received from them as peasants. Thus, certainly, there were many families ruined and fortunes shattered; it was necessary to take advantage of the first but it was necessary to give citizens to Hungary day of liberty which shone upon their native land, and to assure to it a morrow. Thus they did not stop short after proclaiming liberty; they finally established its foundation, in granting property to those who heretofore were not qualified to possess land; they did not merely proclaim equality, they firmly established it, in promoting prosperity universally amongst all classes; and in giving to the cultivator of the soil the land of which, until then, he had only been the occupier, and to the possession of which he owes his present political rights." The suffrage law requires that the elector should have for qualification what is barely sufficient to live upon. Every one who is possessed of real or personal property to the amount of £30, exercises electoral rights. In the towns, these rights are extended to those who are in receipt of an annual sum of £10, to those who possess a college diploma, and to workmen having apprentices. The laws were first proposed in the second Table, or Chamber of Deputies, and voted unanimously; and at the request of the Archduke Stephen, the Palatine, cousin to the Emperor King, they were passed unanimously also by the Table of Magnates. On the 11th of April, 1848, the king came personally to the Diet, and solemnly confirmed the statutes in these words: "Having graciously listened to and graciously granted the prayers of our beloved and faithful dignitaries of the Church and of the State, magnates and nobles of Hungary and her dependencies, we ordain, that the before-mentioned laws be registered in these presents, word for word; and, as we consider these laws, and their entire contents, both collectively and separately, fitting and suitable, we give them our consent and approbation. In exercise of our royal will, we have accepted, adopted, approved, and sanctioned them, in assuring at the same time our faithful States, that we will respect the said laws, and will cause them to be respected by our faithful subjects. (Signed) (Countersigned) "FERDINAND, "BATHYANYI." But there were questions of national integrity, as well as of internal progress, which demanded reform. It was necessary to assure to Hungary a Parliamentary Government, and an independent ministry, emanating from and responsible to the National Assembly. In short, it was necessary to give force to pre-existing laws, to create a national government, and consecrate forever the ancient independence of the country; that is to say, establishing in practice that which always existed according to the laws. "Article III. of 1848," remarks Count Tekeli, “modified considerably the situation of Hungary in relation to Austria; so that the old imperial policy, tending to incorporate Hungary with the empire, received a decisive check, and that the tendency towards a central government, residing at Vienna, and making Hungary a dependency, became a dream not to be realized without the overthrow of two States and two constitutions, for the benefit of absolute power-a pretension which cannot be clothed with the slightest pretext of legality." Accordingly, amongst the laws to which. the solemn assent of the king was given, as already stated, it was provided that Hungary should have a national and independent government.* * Here is the text of the most important sections of Article III. of 1847-48, on the formation of the responsible Hungarian ministry: Section 1. The person of the king is sacred and inviolable. 2. In the absence of the king, the executive power, limited by the laws and by the constitution, is administered in the kingdom and its dependencies by the palatine-viceroy, with full powers, save the unity of the crown, and the main These proceedings were joyfully accepted by the Hungarian nation, and even in Croatia, which was more under Austrian influence than any other portion of the kingdom, Agram, the largest and most important komitat, declared its satisfaction and desire to continue united to Hungary. As a great "point" has been urged by oligarchical writers in reference to what they call Croat resistance to Magyar domination, it is important to look at the facts of the case. Croatia has. long had a national or general assembly for the regulation of her peculiar affairs. In the general Diet of Hungary she was, however, federally represented by three deputies. The executive government was advocated by a governor, under the tenance of its alliance with the monarchy; and unHighness, the Archduke Palatine Stephen, is equalder these circumstances, the person of his Royal ly inviolable. 3. His majesty, and in his absence the palatineviceroy, are to exercise the executive power, in accordance with the laws, through the organ of the independent Hungarian ministry; and their decrees, orders, and judgments, whatever they may be, shall not be valid until they have been countersigned by one of the ministers residing at Buda Pest. to the present time, under the jurisdiction of the 6. Whatever has been, or ought to have been, up Hungarian Chancery, the Council of Lieutenancy, the Aulic Chamber, (including the mines,) and all affairs civil, military, and ecclesiastic, as well as everything that concerns the finances and defense of the country, shall for the future be regulated and directed by the Hungarian ministry; and his majesty shall exercise the executive power exclusively through his ministry. absence of his majesty, by the palatine-viceroy; 11. The prime-minister shall be named, in the reserving to his majesty the power to ratify or annul the appointment. 12. The other ministers shall be presented for the approval of the king, by the prime-minister. 13. One of the ministers shall always reside near the person of the king; and charged to take part in those affairs which concern at the same time his own country and the hereditary States, he shall be the responsible representative of the kingdom. 14. In addition to the minister residing near the king's person, according to section 13-to watch over the interests hereinbefore mentioned, the ministry shall be composed of the following departments: A. The Home department. Public works, roads, canals, and navi- Agriculture, industry, and commerce. B. C. D. E. Public worship and instruction. F. Justice and grace. G. Defense of the country (war). 18. Each minister is responsible for the ordinance that he has countersigned. 19. To protect the public interests of the king Sclavonia and Croatia shared in these daydreams of the national ambition of a conquered race, we do not deny; but there was a long step to be accomplished in the task of uniting the many-tongued Sclaves of the Hungarian kingdom in that harmonious union of sentiment and feeling which could only be effected by constant intercommunication, and expressed in a common language. Between the Sclovac and Rusniak-Sclaves of Carpathia, and the disunited tribes of the south, there was no communication; and in language there were dialectic differences so marked, that each was and is to the other as a foreign tongue. Besides, as we shall presently show, the antagonism of Croatia, or rather of Jellachich's Croats, to the Hun old feudal title of the Ban. It differed materially from Hungary proper in respect to religious freedom; for Croatia would tolerate no public Protestant worship. There were some disturbances, a few years ago, on the subject of the language of official life. When the Magyar tongue was substituted in Hungary proper in 1830 for the Latin, in the legislature and courts of law, the Croatians demanded the use of the Sclavonian dialect of Croatia. That there was hostility of feeling between Croat and Magyar, was as undoubted as that antagonism is felt by the Celt to the Saxon within our own realm. It is, however, erroneous to suppose that the warlike attitude assumed by Croatia under Jellachich, last year, had any peculiar connection with the general Sclavonic move-garian government, was an isolated tempoment commenced by the Protestant pastor, Kollar, of Buda, in 1828, and which has been designated Panslavism.* The prime object of that movement was an intellectual communion between the scattered nations and tribes of the race, and to establish a literary reciprocity amongst all the Sclavonic nations. Later, it acquired a political complexion, in which boundless aspirations were breathed of Sclavonian empire. That proper. 29. The ministers are to obey the summons of each of the Chambers, and are obliged to give all the information asked of them. 32. The ministers may be impeached : C. For neglect in the execution of the laws, or 33. The impeachment of ministers can only be decreed by the absolute majority of the Chamber of Representatives. *For information on this subject, see the interest ing work of Count Valerian Krasinski-entitled Panslavism and Germanism." London: Newby, 1847. rary movement-the impulse of an hour, stirred up and excited by the Austrian court. In the wise policy of the Hungarian Diet, they extended to Croatia all the blessings of freedom and of equal laws, which they had given to Hungary in the widest sense of the term. Distinction of races was abolished; the Sclave was as free as the Magyar. But the Diet went beyond this. While the old feudal offices of the State were abolished in Hungary, the dignity and power of the Ban of Croatia were preserved. The influence of Croatia in the Diet was increased by giving eighteen instead of three representatives. Croatians were called to fill the State employments of Croatia. The use of the Sclavonian language of Croatia was guaranteed in the official business of the country; and Hungary undertook to examine all demands which the Croats might otherwise prefer. But Hungary, in her liberality, even went a step beyond justice, and ministered to the religious intolerance of her province, by maintaining the former supremacy and exclusive domination of the Roman Catholic Church. Away, then, with the flimsy mass of argumentative assertion, and the affectations of sympathy expressed by the oligarchical writers, that Jellachich and his barbarian Croats were fighting for the independence of an oppressed nation, against a small but dominant faction. The reader may remember that, about the time that the emperor-king expressed his assent to the unanimous voice of the nation, despotism seemed prostrate in Vienna. It soon breathed again, and reaction was animated by its respiration. But Austria was not daring enough openly and at once to put down the newly-developed and extended liberties of Hungary; between the assent of the king to the reforms of the Diet of 1847-48, and the convocation of a new Diet, according to the new suffrage, in the beginning of July, Austria magnanimously set herself to work to stir up a civil war in Hungary, and to excite Croat and Serb against Magyar, that the Imperial power might step in and overthrow the liberties of the Hungarian nation. Louis Gay, a Croat journalist, devoted to Austria, was sent down by the government to Agram, to create an agitation in favor of Austria, and against the Hungarian government; and so faithfully did he discharge his mission, that a military chief was speedily required to head the revolt. A leader was found in the person of Baron Joseph Jellachich, the representative of a family who had rendered considerable military service to the empire, and colonel of a Croat regiment, who was raised to the dignity of the Ban of Croatia, without the consent of the Hungarian ministry. The character of the Ban has been misrepresented by friend and foe; senseless lavish adulation on the one hand, and unmitigated vituperation on the other, have been poured forth in the journals on both sides. In truth, Jellachich possesses many personal qualities to endear him to friends. A poet, scholar, and wit; a bold chivalrous and generous officer, he was highly popular amongst soldiers; but on the other hand his devotion to Vienna was a soldier's-he has scanty notions of popular liberty, and he has proved himself by no means scrupulous in the exercise of the right of the sword. Up to this time he has neither displayed genius in strategy, nor in council. In medieval times the Ban might have been a gallant and adventurous knight for the troubadour's lay or for romance to praise; but he has not yet displayed the powers to found the Sclavonic Empire which floats in the teeming imaginations of his injudicious panegyrists. The appointment of Jellachich was Austria's first breach of faith with the Hungarian government. Anxious to avoid all conflict, at a time when internal peace and good will were of so much importance, the government did not protest against this nomination of the Ban, but invited him to put himself in communication with them, in order to fix a day for convoking the General Assembly of Croatia, in which he was to be officially in *Jellachich's songs are very popular in the Austrian service, especially his "Garrison's lied," or garrison song. A stalled. At the same time, they addressed the population of the military and civil districts of Croatia, to get them to make known their wishes through the medium of special delegates. The Ban elect replied to this friendly invitation by forbidding the Croat magistrates to hold any intercourse whatever with the Hungarian government, and by declaring martial law against those who should make any reference to the legal connection between Hungary and Croatia. The Hungarian ministry called upon the Ban to retract these orders; and the Palatine ordered an inquiry into his conduct. commissioner was accordingly sent down into Croatia, but his entrance was violently opposed by Jellachich, who boldly declared that he in no way recognized the authority of the Hungarian ministry. On his own authority, and in violence to the constitution, because the act was without the authority of the king, he convoked the General Assembly for the 5th of June. The CroatViennese agitators having declared, in the name of the Ban, that the King encouraged the Croat revolt, the Hungarian ministry called upon the sovereign for a formal contradiction of these reports. On the 29th of May, the king, in an autograph letter, for-. bad Jellachich to convoke an Assembly, and summoned him to Inspruck to confer with the Hungarian government. Jellachich, apparently, having a desire to play the despot on his own account, put the letter aside, and opened the General Assembly, consisting of his own nominees, under the title of the Croato-Sclavo-Dalmatian Diet.* daring outrage against the central authority of Hungary, produced a strong remonstrance on the part of the Hungarian ministry at the Imperial Court; and the King was forced, on the 10th of June, to issue an ordinance suspending Jellachich from all his functions, civil and military. That this was what, in vulgar parlance, is termed "a sham," is abundantly evident in the succeeding transaction. Jellachich's Assembly was at the same time declared illegal, and a royal commissioner was sent into the country for the purpose of convoking a new Assembly. Jellachich did not submit, but declared that, in consequence of the changes that had occurred in the government of Hungary, This *In the month of August, an influential party of the Croat provinces issued a manifesto against this pretended Assembly, and the policy of Jellachich. This important document will be found in the Appendix to Count Tekeli's statement. |