LATIN SUPERSEDED BY HUNGARIAN.

35

with advancing knowledge, are rising to a degree of importance from which they have hitherto been necessarily excluded.

One change contemplated, which, when effected, will increase their influence, is connected with the language of debate, hitherto conducted in Latin. Some time since, the liberals in the lower house began to hold their discussions in the vernacular tongue of the peasantry: at first, the king and his party steadily opposed the innovation; but the feeling of the country was against them; and of late, Hungarian has been introduced, even in the upper chamber. Its partisans in that house, however, are in a very small minority, the example of count Szechenyi, the first innovator, having as yet been followed by only one peer, count Wesseleni, who has lately involved himself in a dispute with government and lost his seat.* As he found fault with

* The count is still in difficulties, as appears from the following paragraph in the Morning Chronicle of August 15th, 1837:-"HUNGARY.-Pest, August 1.- Baron Nicolaus Wesseleni, the same nobleman whose revolutionizing speeches in the legislative assembly of Transylvania caused the dissolution of those chambers some years ago by the emperor Francis, has since that time sojourned much in this country, in which he possesses some large estates. But his spirit has not learned moderation by experience. In the comitate of Izatmar, in which he resides, he held at the administrative

36

COUNT WESSELENI.

some measures of the ministry, they issued an order for his arrest and pursued him into Transylvania. He returned to Presburg and claimed the privilege of a magnate, to secure him against this infringement of his liberty. Several of the counties of Hungary espoused his cause; among others, Pest, whose inhabitants ordered their delegate to support him. In the mean time, he resigned his seat in the upper house and was returned as a deputy in the lower, where he has headed, and still heads, the democratic party. The government carried on proceedings against him, in which they were supported by the member from Pest, who proved faithless to the order of his constituents. His conduct consequently became the subject of discussion at a public meeting convened for that purpose, and as Hungarian electors have power to dismiss their representative for advocating opinions contrary to their own, it was expected that he would be thus dealt with. One great objection advanced, and urged with some propriety, against the adoption of Hungarian as the medium of debate, is, that the end

congregations speeches of so violent a nature, that the royal table has now condemned him to five years' imprisonment in a fortress; but this sentence must first be confirmed by the septemviral table before its execution can take place."

POWER OF THE SEIGNEURS.

37

proposed would not thereby be attained; for various languages are spoken in different parts of Hungary; the Sclavonian, Illyrian, and Croatian have their respective districts; and no single dialect is current throughout the whole kingdom: not more than a third, perhaps, of the natives, and by no means all of the deputies, are acquainted with Hungarian; whereas Latin is a tongue universally understood by the educated, and therefore by all who are connected with the legislative assembly.

The seigneurs have great power over their vassals; and since they have virtually, if not legally, the nomination of the magistrates, who are taken out of their own body, this power knows little restraint but that imposed by their own judgment or caprice. In cases of mal-treatment, the peasant has nominally four appeals: First, to the magistrate of the county; Secondly, to the Sedes judiciaria, consisting of a president, called vice-comes, with four assessors, a sheriff, called Judex nobilium, a doctor of laws who acts as legal adviser, and another member, forming the complement of eight; Thirdly, to a higher court, called Tabula regia, consisting of a president and nobles, varying in number from nine to twenty-one; Fourthly, to a court at Pest, called from its original con

38

FEUDAL SYSTEM.

stitution Septemviral, but now including seventeen members. This series of courts of appeal would seem to offer to the vassals a hope of redress against their seigneurs in case of oppression; but when the time and expense required are taken into consideration, in addition to the fact that the majority, if not all, of the judges are themselves nobles, and therefore likely to side with their own body, it will be evident that the probability of justice being administered with equity is but slender.

It is a remarkable feature in the history of this country, and one which indicates a generous tone of feeling on the part of the aristocracy, that, under a conviction of their enjoying a power too unlimited for the present enlightened state of Europe, they are themselves desirous, and have lately proposed to their sovereign, that a modification of their prerogatives should take place through the intervention of laws: but it appears that such a radical alteration of the present system, as must result from any attempt to modify it, would materially affect the revenue. If elevated in physical circumstances, the people would gradually rise in knowledge,-knowledge of their strength and of their rights,-and in this condition they would not long consent to be drained,

TAXES ON PEASANTRY.

39

as now, of all the profits of labor. Thus, the interests of the financial department are intimately connected with a maintenance of the rigor of the feudal system, which prevails here to a greater extent than in any country of Europe.

The whole of the revenue yielded by the land is collected from the peasants, as are all tolls and taxes, from which a noble is entirely exempt. Before the time of Marie Thérèse no limit was assigned to the demand made on a serf; but she fixed it at what he now pays. It is called urbarium, and consists of fifty-two days' labor with his own cart and oxen, a florin, a pair of fowls, ten eggs, and two English pounds of butter annually, with a ninth part of his raw produce. In addition to this, each village gives a calf and two lambs to the seigneur; and a tythe of the soil is rendered to the church. No peasant can purchase or possess land. He enjoys no political rights, and, in all but the name, he is a slave. The aristocracy command, the peasantry obey; these provide everything, those enjoy without care or toil. Is a bridge to be constructed? an order is issued for the serfs to build it without remuneration. Are the roads to be repaired? the serfs' labor is demanded. Are troops passing through the