yiENT ■J::-v.;-'j Csor6a, ■ TvlORAV ^7^^ AJt' pcfiCJ'vca \(,'5-vfi^ * Vesz-prorv ^> KaPoSyojr-*^ Sz£^2jirclii: T^e^^: ^ :\-^^^v^ Sybngyas ^ ^jdsz APqtri ^Soroksoj' ;J5> S Karcszop- ^^/XECSKEMET^.. ^^^^^^^^ KislfuyutL. \J "BekesCsdBa =-=- rr r I ;rfOJlDM£ZO j?z£j-J j%: '^x. " /.SLAVOisiiAi---.-:-:: ..^ • • -•• •■■-'■■'Eszpk Zer CROATIA.-; QuIPof ." fiume-' ' rfios'NiAl ,.^ J Temesvoj KjAinda. i»| \ BOS-NI-A S-^v' Extension-.^owifj^f Fium&^ A.7V1AP OF HUNGART ■■Mis "^^^^^sS^'lililS^V-'viy^^ ^ 100 EtTgl: Miles ^ ^ X^^^^^^M^y-y'^-:-- •::■■■■ ■••.-•• •■ ■ ■' ' ^'^^>l- W -^l^ /"^ . .•••;-:. --.- .■■■■■■ '^?/x5c li-. DEBRECZEN x^^-^^ ^ ^^^ "'■-ic*''Vf.7/.-.; . JFo^araS K/vtinse6ey fi i.Ikhertemflan' '^^ Vashapu '^Tia-nuSevetmio ' • ■ • ' BuJOVJtEJTTiJSi P HUNGARY AND THE HUNGARIANS THE PALACE OF THE KING— FROM PEST HUNGARY AND THE HUNGARIANS W. B. FORSTER BOVILL WITH SIXTEEN ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR BY WILLIAM PASCOE AND TWELVE OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS NEW YORK: THE McCLURE COMPANY LONDON : METHUEN & CO. 1908 T: ft TO MY FRIEND ZSOMBOR DE SZASZ WITHOUT WHOSE AID AND COUNSEL MUCH OF THIS COULD NEVER HAVE BEEN WRITTEN PREFACE HE task of writing something about "Hungary and the Hungarians" has been a very pleasant one. For years past I have felt that the Hungarian point of view ought to be presented to English readers in a picturesque form, and with this aim I send my impressions and opinions into the great critical world, conscious of many defects, but convinced that both English and Magyar alike will not charge me with being afraid to express myself. The unbounded hospitality of the Magyars, and their almost over-accentuated desire to appear to advantage before Englishmen, has not blinded me to their defects, and, as far as I have been able to distinguish such, I have unsparingly criticised them. Everything has been done to enable me to see the country and the people as they really are, to travel at will the length and breadth of the land, and to have intercourse with representatives of every social and political grade. For much of this I am deeply indebted to Count viii HUNGARY AND THE HUNGARIANS Albert Affonyi, the present Minister of Education and Religion, and M. Francis Kossuth, the Minister of Commerce. Both have been most kind, considerate, and helpful. Throughout the book one will find many apparent mistakes in spelling, but most of these have been left in to preserve the euphony of the sentence, and also that visitors who may chance to bring the volume to Hungary with them may find the expressions in their native form, just as Hungfarians would use them. This I have particularly tried to accomplish in relation to names of places and persons. Furthermore, by way of explanation, the volume is not only about " Hungary and the Hungarians," but some idea, I hope, may be gleaned of the many nationalities inhabiting Hungary. Many things doubtless are missing, but I have attempted to outline those features that naturally come up for consideration during travel, and to explain and answer some of the questions a visitor is likely to ask. My thanks are also due to the directors of the Magyar Kiralyi Folyam es Tengerhajozasi Reszvenytdrsasay and the Erste K. K. priv. Donau-Dampfschiffahrts-Gesellschaft for their continued kindnesses in allowing me to explore the far reaches of the Danube. To Mr. Eugene PREFACE ix Golonya, Konyves Kalman Magyar Miikiado Reszv. Tdrs, and V. Hornyanszky for the right to produce several of the illustrations. There is also a large crowd of people who have ministered to my needs, many of their names have amid the general rush and v/orry of publication escaped me, but the memory of the deed remains, and it is to these I desire to express my deepest gratitude. W. B. F. B. Budapest CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE PREFACE . . . . . . . vii INTRODUCTION . . . . . .XV I. THE GLOWING PAST ..... I II. MODERN HUNGARY . . . . .24 III. THE CARPATHIANS AND ITS PEOPLES . . 40 IV. WHERE THE MAGYAR REIGNS . . . .56- V. ON THE GREAT PLAIN . . . . •75 VI. BUDAPEST AND ART . . . . • 9^ VII. BUDAPEST AS IT IS . . . . . I09 VIII, LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE . . . .12$ IX. POLITICS AND POLITICIANS .... I46 X. TRANSYLVANIA AND THE TRANSYLVANIANS . . 166 XI. SZ^KLERS, SAXONS, AND ROUMANIANS . . 185 XII. THE GIPSIES AND THEIR MUSIC . . . 204 XIII. CROATIA AND THE CROATIANS . . . 222 XIV. CUSTOMS, COSTUMES, AND CHARACTER . . 239 XV. MUSIC AND SONG IN HUNGARY . . -255 XVI. HUNGARY'S POLITICAL RELATION TO AUSTRIA . 27 1 XVII. THE DANUBE ...... 280 XVIII. AGRICULTURE AND COMMERCE . . .297 XIX. FROM BEATEN TRACKS . . . . • 3^5 XX. THE FUTURE OF HUNGARY . . • -335 INDEX ....... 349 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR THE PALACE OF THE KING— FROM PEST . . Frontispiece LAKE CSORBA IN THE CARPATHIANS . • Facing p. 44 SLOVAK PEASANT OF THE tXtRA, NORTHERN HUNGARY . . . . • j> 54 EVENING IN BUDA . . • • • jj 9° THE CORSO, BUDAPEST. (OUTSIDE THE HUNGARIA HOTEL) . . . . • • » no FARM-FOLK RETURNING FROM MORNING MARKET, KOLOZSVAR, TRANSYLVANIA . . . „ 166 ' TRANSYLVANIAN PEASANTS, KOLOZSvXr , . „ 1 82 NIGHT IN A GIPSY CAMP , . . . „ 2o8 ' STREET SCENE IN POZSONY LEADING TO THE OLD CASTLE ....... 212 MARKET-FOLK, NEAR zAgRAB, CROATIA . . „ 236 NIGHT ON THE DANUBE, LOOKING TOWARDS BUDA „ ^^0 ' MARIA THERESA'S CASTLE, POZSONY . . „ 280 ON THE DANUBE NEAR VISEGRAD . . . „ 288 A FARMHOUSE NEAR PECS, TRANS-DANUBIAN HUN- GARY ,.....„ 302 BEHIND THE TOWN OF PECS , . . „ 326 TYPE OF SOUTHERN HUNGARIAN . . . „ 334 xiv HUNGARY AND THE HUNGARIANS IN MONOTONE MAP FROM A DRAWING BY B. C. BOULTER . BUDAPEST ...... From a Photograph by R. Lechner, Vienna. THEBEN ...... From a Photograph by The Photochrome Co. HUNGARIAN GIPSIES ON HORSEBACK From the Painting by Carl Steffeck By permission of the Berhn Photographic Co. ) A CASTLE ON THE DANUBE . . . . From a Photograph by The Photochrome Co. THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT, BUDAPEST . From a Photograph by R. Lechner, Vienna. A TRANSYLVANIAN MARKET PLACE — NAGY-VARAD From a Photograph by The Photochrome Co. NAGY-SZEBEN ..... From a Photograph by The Photochrome Co, THE MARKET PLACE, zAgRAB From a Photograph by The Photochrome Co. ORSOVA ..... From a Photograph by The Photochrome Co. THE AGRICULTURAL MUSEUM, BUDAPEST . From a Photograph by R. Lechner, Vienna. A TOWN ON THE DANUBE From a Photograph by The Photochrome Co. FIUME ...... From a Photograph by The Photochrome Co. Front cover Facing p. i ' 76 130 146 172 ■ 192 228 282 298 312 330 INTRODUCTION ' ' The use of travelling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are." Dr. Johnson TO start out for a long holiday in a country and then to settle down there is sufficient proof of the enchanting qualities of scene and character resident therein. To see the initial sights as one of an organised crowd is one thing, and to revisit and re- see them alone, amid the blessed silence of one's own irresistible self, is quite another thing. No country demands individual attention more than Hungary, and perhaps no country has suffered the lack of individual attention more than Hungary. Leaving as I did, or at least thought I did, Teuton influences behind me at Oderberg, I entered the picturesque land of the Three Mountains and the Four Rivers from the Carpathian side, and beheld im- mediately something of its unique glory, whilst I caught at once the subtle, lurking spirit of the mosaiced nationalities packed away there amongst the simple hill folk. Without imagination and bereft of that peculiar capacity of rapid acclimatisation, only a very meagre idea of the Magyar character can be obtained. There is a psychological moment for xvi HUNGARY AND THE HUNGARIANS entering a country, which if neglected leaves one cold and cheerless, reducing man's supremest efforts to soulless clay. In Hungary everything demands atmosphere and temperament. There is so much to be accounted for, to be forgiven, and to be overlooked. It sounds an obvious truism applicable to all nations, but the possibility of error usurping the place of truth, when truth and good feeling is intended, is, alas ! so often the result of a rigorous application of Western ideas to the actions of a race just emerging from the influence of the Orient. Hungary is no emporium of the so-called Western blessings, economics, or progress. Neither is it devoid of the capacity for such ; and though preserving its own peculiar national features or character, it nevertheless does not scorn to borrow where borrowing contributes to value. It is a land of surprises. In its politics, its com- merce, and its social life the element of contradiction and surprise looms largely. Let this be counted for righteousness and all will be well, but leave no margin for imagination, and bitter disappointment will ruin the best intentions of the most kindly disposed visitor. It is old yet remarkably juvenile, primitive and yet in many ways up to date. The clashing contrasts of the land are confounding. As soon as you enter the country you are told that " the Hungarian never forgets " ; this is perfectly true, but it sometimes takes him a lifetime to remember. It would be better to say, " The Hungarian never hurries." There is an artistic lethargy in his nature which sometimes irritates INTRODUCTION xvii the Westerner. A kind of sublime inertia encompasses him which allows him to put off till to-morrow what could have been very well done to-day. O Pro- crastination, thou thief of opportunity ! I soon found out that the Oriental conception of time was prevalent, that what was meant was " more or less." Hungary is practically unknown. Few indeed could state her geographical boundaries, or give their countrymen a correct idea of the Magyars, their language, literature, and customs. In the realm of misconceptions Hungary is a great sufferer. The French writers describe the Magyars as ces peuples slaves. Many English readers retain the idea that the Magyars, as a Viennese correspondent once called them, " the paprika-fed Magyars',^ are still savages, dangerous to meet and impossible to under- stand. Hungary being slightly beyond the touring area, this conception lives. Neither will geographical books help one very much. Take, for instance, those geographical readers in use in the schools of the Hungarian nationalities — on home ground, so to speak. Here you find the Saxon and Roumanian completely out of harmony with the idea of the unity of the Hungarian State. In most of the Saxon schools Austria and Hungary are huddled together and surrounded by the same geographical boundary line. If you consult a Roumanian geography, you will find Transylvania separated from Hungary, and Roumanian names given to the counties, towns, villages, and rivers. In one Roumanian book I found Debreczen called the xviii HUNGARY AND THE HUNGARIANS capital of the so-called Kriscana. Could anything be more absurd ? In another Roumanian book appears the following astounding assertion : " In the middle of Europe lies Austria- Hungary, the capital of which is Vienna." It is difficult to estimate the evil done by such misstatements as these. In his SUidies on Homer Mr. Gladstone says : " When long established falsehoods have had habitual and undisturbed posses- sion of the public mind, they form an atmosphere which we inhale long before consciousness begins. Hence the spurious colours with which we have thus been surreptitiously imbued long survive the power, or even the act, of recurrence to the original standards." What is known best in England is founded, I fear, on " long established falsehoods," and the public mind dislikes being disturbed. In Servian books one is taught that " every land in which Servians live is a Servian land," consequently Bacs county, belonging to Hungary, where many^ Servians reside, is Servian land. In German readers Hungary is designated as " East Austria," and Buda- pest described as consisting of two parts, " one of which, Buda, is the town of Austrian or German officers and soldiers." French books speak of Croatia and Transylvania as distinct and separate States, Dutch books treat Hungary as if it were an inseparable part of Austria, and in Spain one reads that "the Austrian Empire is divided into seventeen provinces ; one of these is Hungary, and another Transylvania, each of them having its own capital." In some of the INTRODUCTION xix Swiss books it is the " Empire Austria- Hungary " that is described, with an " Imperial Ministry " and various provinces governed by " Imperial Governors." Russia for the most part is correct, though some districts of Northern Hungary are labelled " Red Russia." In the spring of last year one of the most eminent Hungarian publicists arrived at Malta, and was of course asked to state his place of residence ; on replying that he came from Budapest, he was at once entered as an " Austrian " subject. Despite re- peated remonstrances, he remained an Austrian subject. Often letters from distinguished writers in England have reached me addressed " Budapesth, Austria." Why not " Budapest, Hungary " ? To this very day the wrappers of one of the leading London dailies arrive addressed " Budapest, Austria," to which the coffeehouse- boy invariably murmurs, " S zenitelenseg ! " which is to be interpreted " Impudence ! " Even Mr. Gladstone in his famous Wirral speech spoke of " Austria's emancipation of Hungary." Surely the great Liberal statesman overlooked the fact that Austria did not create Hungary as it now exists, but Hungary practically created constitutional Austria. This torrent of com- plaints met me soon after my arrival, and though it failed to seriously arrest the attention of my English companions, I must confess that it led to a resolve on my part to probe if possible the underlying causes of Magyar discontent, and to find out how far they themselves had been responsible for it. It remains embedded in the mind of the Hungarian that the XX HUNGARY AND THE HUNGARIANS world is against him in his great national and indi- vidual struggle. " You only know us," said a very distinguished Hungarian traveller to me one day, " through the medium of the German language, and even then you know not the best about us. Our great rulers and literary forces you in England do not even know the names of, and you imagine that gipsies, Kossuth, music, wine, and Jokai are all we have produced." How very true ! But why is Hungary misunderstood ? I must confess that in some cases misunderstanding is wilful. There are also racial, geographical, and political reasons. Misinterpretation and misunderstanding have, I fear, now degenerated into mere political barter and loss. Hungary at least understands the truth of the statement that indefinite definitions are long-lived because they possess political value. But one of the chief reasons adducible is the individualistic and often conservative ideas of the Hungarians. There is now no one great national aim upon which the entire nation is united and to which it works. The ubiquitous Jew, with that instinctive virtue of his, has captured the commerce of Hungary. Politically he is a wobbler, party considerations having little weight where the question of dividends enter. In 1848 a definite and distinct aim existed, ambition has since then largely become individual. Politicians sincere and insincere have their own little hobbies. The difficulty, however, commences when they imagine that Hungary is the INTRODUCTION xxi world and that outside are only resident those who in the scale of importance do not count. There is a tendency to exaggerate the place they occupy amongst the nations on the part of most Hungarians, and conse- quently a depreciation of the forces of resistance which must necessarily be encountered in the march towards the ideal. Hence the Anglo-Saxon may often find in that almost strident accent of infallibility which in- variably preludes some great national crisis in politics, an obstacle to understanding rather than an adjunct. The temptation to live amongst the many heroes of the past, to gloat over the Golden Age of Matthias, to revel in the doughty deeds of Rakoczy li., and to sing the captivating Kurucz songs, is but one part of life, and that not an over important one. " Hungary has not been, it is to coined When such is the motto of the nation, then the parochialism prevalent to-day will vanish, and the firm establishment of Hungary amongst the nations will really commence. The Hungarians are the most bewildering, fascinating, and hospitable race in Europe I have ever met, but to know what they are going to do next is to assume the office of the seer. . . • . Let us sit upon the ground And tell sad stories of the death of kings : How some have been deposed ; some slain in war ; Some haunted by the ghosts they have deposed ; Some poison'd by their wives ; some sleeping kill'd. HUNGARY AND THE CHAPTER I THE GLOWING PAST "The time has come, the Walrus said, To talk of many things : Of shoes — and ships — and sealing wax — Of cabbages— and kings." — Lewis Carroll THE Magyar enjoys retrospect. The songs of to-day are unsung ; the books of to-day remain unread ; the men of to-day, save in the arena of poHtics, are unknown. My dear old Hungarian host away in the Carpathians, how he delighted in sitting on the balcony those wonderful autumn evenings and speaking of the dead heroes of his land ! At that moment the past had no fascination for me. I was a mere lounger in the land. Even the present — that out of which the future would be made — only concerned me but little. It is true there were vague questionings, and a desire to see the natural beauties of the land, but the seriousness of study had not fallen upon me then. Notwithstanding this absence of seriousness, I felt peculiarly amenable to impressions. The scent 2 HUNGARY AND THE HUNGARIANS of those stately pines, the wild untaught song of the Tot servant as she gave liberty to her emotions and allowed the historic episode she perchance had dreamt of to find suitable expressive notes, the awful silence of the Carpathians and the unique charm of my environment, all these lifted me at this moment of my sojourn in Hungary high above the bickerings of the time-serving politicians residing in Budapest. It was atmosphere I was looking for, and it was atmosphere that I found. But, as my host reminded me on one occasion, when I had displayed some signs of distress during a long harangue on the virtues of the Matthias period, the present was made out of the past, and I must learn all about it. Now I realise the many lost opportunities, the many notes I might have taken, and the many stones I ought to have remembered. He was a genuine Hungarian this host of mine. Retrospect was his virtue — and vice. In him memory became an organised agency against inexactitudes. His first words as I recall them now were these : — " Banish from your mind everything that you have ever heard about my country, its history and its politics, and let me give you my view. Make as many notes as you will, and in a year's time, when perhaps you can speak our language, talk with others, and then winnow the wheat from the chaff." But there was little chaff to be winnowed, though it was hard sometimes to part with pet theories and ideas encrusted with ignorance and believed to be truth. My dear old friend could teach history as I had never been taught it before. I could almost hear the thin, insistent tones of the prophets of the past, men whom few regarded it as worth their while to THE GLOWING PAST 3 listen to. Sometimes a group of men would concern us, and so close did we get to them that one almost caught the warmth of their breath. One afternoon a single historic figure stepped down from the High Tatra unattended, with none of the mustiness of the tomb about him, stepped down to retell the story of courage and sacrifice. Man in his varied r61es of bene- factor and destroyer was portrayed, until one realised fully what G. M. Trevelyan calls the " Poetry of Time." Whence came this strange company of warriors ? Opinion even now is very divided upon this question. Some say the Magyars are the descendants of the Scythians who before 884 were satisfied with the quietude of the borders of the Caspian Sea. Others assert that they are a Finnish-Ugrian tribe who formerly inhabited Central Asia, and who, of a fighting, roving nature, entered Hungary by the pass of Vereczke, in the north-east of the Carpathians, more than a thousand years ago. Even the late Count Eugene Zichy, though he undertook an expedition of discovery to Central Asia, was unable to adequately satisfy the critics as to the origin of his race. There is a hypo- thetical uncertainty about the birth and parentage of these Constitutional Magyars. But whatever obscurity concerning their origin may exist even to-day, one thing history has made exceedingly plain, viz., that by the end of the eleventh century Hungary had so developed both materially and morally that it was able to take a commanding position amongst the independent States of Europe. Professor Vambery, as the result of much research, has satisfied himself as to the Turkish nationality of Arpad and his companions; whilst the historian Ranke declared that the Magyars overrunning 4 HUNGARY AND THE HUNGARIANS Hungary at the close of the ninth century were really Turks. The story of the " coming of Arpad " is not without its elements of romance. How real it was all made to me by so many! I could almost see this mass of humanity being swept as it were against its will from the basin of the Lower Irtis and Ural rivers Westward ; ever subjected to the privations, to the calamities consequent upon nomadic pursuits ; and at last overtaken and stricken by the birth-pain of a new ambition, the ache of aspiration and conquest. A halt was called somewhere between the Pruth, Sereth, and the Dniester. Here the wanderers rested a while, whilst the chiefs of the seven tribes not only united under one Prince, but gave evidence of a recognition of the value of federation. Arpad, long regarded as a compendium of wisdom, was elected Prince, and this son of Almos was raised on a shield whilst the seven chiefs of the tribes allowed themselves to be robbed of some blood, which was placed in a common vessel, thus sanctioning by the Eastern blood- covenant the election and federation. Thus was it that Hungary's first constitutional Prince was elected. The founding of a kingdom, however, was left to one Vajk, a successor of Arpads, who, embracing Christi- anity, at once sought to Christianise his followers. On his conversion Vajk took the name of Stephen, and was rewarded by being created a saint by Pope Sylvester il. Thus came the title of " Apostolic King." If Hungary has sometimes forgotten to erect monuments to her illustrious sons, her noble line of kings have not been neglected, and St. Stephen is an unforgettable name. It is difficult to appreciate fully the material out of which he built up so strong a THE GLOWING PAST 5 kingdom. There was that nomadic, roving instinct which dethrones development and retards progress, whilst the warlike tendencies of the followers of Arpad were not conducive to a cultivation of the " arts of peace." But, as my old friend of the hills told me, the rough edge had been taken off these traits, and the Christianising influence of St. Stephen himself did the rest. It was an important epoch in history, because not merely the spirit, but in many cases the form of St. Stephen's ecclesiastical administration remains the same in Hungary even to-day. Order and prosperity thus rose from the ashes of chaos and failure. Christianity was, however, soon called upon to defend its title, for an outburst of pagan feeling followed the death of St. Stephen ; but though priests were severely persecuted and churches razed to the ground, the success of the disturbing elements was only of a temporary nature. Ladislaus the Saint, who succeeded Bela I., is re- garded in literature as the " beau ideal of Hungarian heroism and courtesy." His reign was rendered interesting by his attempted organisation of Croatia and the founding of the bishopric of Zagrab. This work was excellently supplemented by Konyves Kalman (Koloman the Studious), who conquered what was known as mediaeval Croatia, and carried the sub- jected territory to the seacoast, and thus brought many Dalmatian cities under subjection. It will be useful to remember — for the Croatian Question is eternally present in every epoch — that from this period Croatia has been an integral part of Hungary. The King, however, had his little foibles, for after massacring a host of crusading emigrants in 1096, he successfully stopped all prosecutions for witchcraft, 6 HUNGARY AND THE HUNGARIANS straining his kingly prerogative and knowledge by declaring the non-existence of witches. Meanwhile, unconsciously to all, a new epoch in history was dawning. The dark period through which the nation had passed, the main product of which had been the development of administrative organisation, was ending, and the birth-joy of a new hope encompassed the Magyars. Endre II., Hke his English prototype John, was a weak king. Ambition aftd avarice brought both to the feet of the nation. Singularly enough, both held strong religious tendencies and an overweening ambition to figure prominently in the religious world, for Rome at this period was dominated by that master craftsman Innocent III. The Pope wanted more help in the Crusades, and the price of Innocent's support to Endre in his contest with the people was a promise to aid Catholicism in the East. Endre by craft and subterfuge collected men and money, and even suc- ceeded in having himself crowned King of Jerusalem, but in the meantime he lost his grip of the country, and returning found it now beyond his grasp. In 1222 (exact date unknown) he found himself with a few hired fighting men behind him confronted by all the best elements of national life, headed by the heir to the throne. Thus the weakling, bowing to necessity and cowed by desertions, called the Diet together and granted the Bulla Aurea. This was not the end but the beginning of national struggle. It is worth noting that this Hungarian Magna Carta has only been sub- jected to two changes. Firstly, Louis the Great in 1 3 5 I omitted Article v., which deprived the nobility of their right of making a will in defence of male heirs; whilst the second change came in 1687, when Article XXXI. was deleted, an article which sanctioned THE GLOWING PAST 7 the ultima ratio of armed resistance " and gave such a revolutionary character to the Charter." Ever since, the Bulla Aurea has formed an integral part of the Coronation oath. There comes an end even to weak- ness. Bela IV. sought to rule in 1244. Much trouble had been nursed up for him by the Mongols, who commenced to overrun the land again. In vain did he beseech his neighbours help him disperse them. Even the Austrian Duke Frederic of Badenberg, with whom he was supposed to be on friendly relations, not only refused to aid him, but robbed the Queen of her jewels when she fled to him for safety, and finally occupied a part of Hungary. Those were the good old land-grabbing days. Bela IV., however, was not devoid of qualities, and, roused by the ingratitude of his neighbours, sought to utilise his own skill and power in restoring his kingdom. Such a task demanded infinite patience and a stout heart. In many respects he succeeded, but at a great personal cost. It was during the reign of Bela IV. that human flesh was sold for food, probably during the famine caused by the devastating plague of locusts which followed on the heels of one of the Mongol invasions. One of the practical ideas of Bela IV. was to introduce German colonists to make up the deficiency caused by the massacres of the Mongols. It must also be remembered that Hungary paid its first blood-tax to the House of Habsburg at this period, supporting as they did Emperor Rudolf against the Bohemians. With the decease of Endre III. in 1301 the male ruling line of the House of Arpad became extinct. Hungary now became a factor in international politics. Monarch vied with monarch for Hungary, and after many vicissitudes the Neapolitan family of Anjou was 8 HUNGARY AND THE HUNGARIANS introduced in the person of Charles Robert of Anjou (1308—42). To no small degree he proved an excellent ruler ; bringing as he did the nation into contact with Italian culture, he thus placed it on a level with Western civilisation. His son Louis, who succeeded him in 1342, possessed many of the qualities of a great ruler : "The more you took from him the greater he appeared." One of his first acts was to march on Naples, capture the city, and punish the murderers of his brother. To permanently hold the city be- came an impossibility. His influence on the nobles was beneficent. Recognising that military service de- pended upon them, he strove to improve their material condition. One tax, not perhaps very popular at first, the tax of a ninth which vassals must contri- bute of their total fruit and wine crops to the lord of the manor, was finally willingly paid by all. In all his enterprises he was gallantly supported by the nobles. They helped him to humble Venice and recapture Dalmatia. It was during the reign of Louis the Great that the Eastern Question began to disturb European chancellories. Another of his achievements was to subjugate Bulgaria, and make Widdin the direct property of Hungary. It may be said that from this juncture Hungary became the sentinel of Western civilisation against the Turk. Louis reigned forty years, and the nation enjoyed exceptional prosperity. Sad to relate, his death marks the period of national decline. Zsigmond of Luxembourg suc- ceeded him, and was considered by some to be a man of great force, seeing that he was also Emperor of Germany and Rome. His first encounter with the THE GLOWING PAST 9 Turks in the spring of 1396 at Buda revealed the cowardly, craven heart of the man, for his 30,000 troops were for the most part routed owing to his temerity in action. Neither was he able to suppress the Bohemian ravages in Northern Hungary. Fortunately for the nation, a man of rich qualities rose to influence and power in the person of John Hunyadi. Truly was he called a pillar of the House of Jagello. Chiefly owing to Hunyadi's genius, the Sultan Murad begged for a peace of ten years, which both Parliament and King accepted. For no apparent cause, Ladislaus broke his oath, and when the Pope attacked the Porte, Cardinal Julian was sent to urge the King to a new war. On November 10, 1444, the Hungarians were deserted by their Italian allies at Varna, Ladislaus was killed in battle, and the Hungarians defeated. Hunyadi, however, escaped, and his fiery genius averted a total national disaster. Bent upon revenge, he enrolled an army at his own expense, and, aided by the eloquence of a monk named John Capistran, marched on Belgrade, and there annihilated the besieging Turks. Pestilence overtook this brave man in 1456, and he died, leaving two sons behind, the elder of which the King ordered to be executed, whilst the younger son — Matthias — he carried with him prisoner to Prague. The death of the King broke the bonds that bound the young Matthias Hunyadi, and, returning to his native land, he was placed upon the vacant throne. The reign of Matthias Corvinus covered thirty-two years. It was a period of unrest and accomplishment. War followed war, success inspired success. He captured Vienna, but, before doing so, routed the Turks at Kenyermezo, and defeated Podiebrad of Bohemia. The instinct of lo HUNGARY AND THE HUNGARIANS generalship burned fiercely within him, and he created the celebrated " Black Band " of infantry. Organisa- tion in him became almost a craze, but that it worked well for the nation is seen in the fact that he suc- ceeded in making himself independent of the narrow, selfish aristocracy of the day. His ambition was to base his empire upon the lower nobility, and thus raise a new aristocracy. Such was his influence and gifts, that it was called " the Golden Age." He loved his people, was a great legislator, a munificent patron of the arts, and a great judge. Even to-day one occasionally comes into contact with the motto, " Matthias is dead : there is no more justice." It seemed on the decease of Matthias that the nobility, weary of an energetic king, desired a respite. Ladislaus of Bohemia, who now assumed kingship, was a mere shadow of his predecessor. Absolutely indifferent to the dignity of the crown and the vital interests of the nation, his main achievement was that of always purchasing peace under shameful conditions. Naturally under such a ruler the country went to ruin. The imposition of heavy burdens upon the vassals led to a peasants' revolt, and ended in Zapolyai of Szepes, a great landowner, heading a movement which at the death of the King made him Regent. Domestic disorders and Turkish troubles were the characteristics of the reign of Lajos II. Solymon the Great took advantage of the inertia of Lajos II., and on August 29, 1526, came the calamity of Mohacs. The Hungarians were overwhelmed, and Lajos killed in the act of retreating ; consequently the Turkish leader took Buda without opposition. After devastating the land, Solymon left in October. Following the departure of the Turks, Hungary was honoured by having two THE GLOWING PAST ii kings. The Parliament of Sz6kesfehervar crowned John Zapolyai King ; whilst during the closing days of 1526, Ferdinand, brother of Charles v., was chosen King. It has rightly been described as a period of political fluctuation. In the summer of 1527, Ferdinand was crowned at Buda, driving all opponents of such an act to Poland. The position, however, was a difficult one to hold, for John Zapolyai returned, and, aided by Solyman, his claim was regarded as most secure. French politics also at this epoch did something to undermine the power of the Habsburgs, and thus Solyman was encouraged to contemplate a second march on Vienna. His efforts, however, were frustrated by Nicholas Jurisics. In nine years Buda again suffered from Turkish occupation. Internal development under such conditions of national life was practically impossible. Kingly caprice repeatedly sacrificed the national well-being to a personal whim. A kindly Providence, however, gave Hungary from time to time a noble array of commoners, literary statesmen, and warriors. Pen and sword were often allies. Just as another such man was needed, Nicholas Zrinyi appeared. What a crowd of stories my old friend of the hills told me of Zrinyi, But of Zrinyi, more in another chapter. Towards the end of the sixteenth century the two great controversies were the prerogative of the nobility, and the religious question. This latter was natural for Mohacs, and the Turkish hegemony considerably weakened the ancient organisation of the Catholic Church, whilst the spirit of the Reformation stirred the burgesses of the towns, creating an unrest which bore no good. Protestantism even at this time was not a force to be lightly pushed aside. Melancholy 12 HUNGARY AND THE HUNGARIANS King Rudolf wilfully tampered with the laws, and introduced a clause empowering him to arrest wealthy magnates on the most ridiculous of charges, and by such means secure their property. By force he deprived the Protestants of their cathedral at Kassa. Order under such conditions became an impossibility. The occasion demanded a new force or figure, and Bocskay, that stout defender of Protestantism, made his entrance. Owing to the intervention of Bocskay, the Protestants received complete religious freedom and unconditional permission to practise their faith without interference. Protestantism fought valiantly for its existence, and Bocskay with Bethlen Gabor did much to stave off the extermination movement. Transylvania had now reached the height of its glory, and Bethlen Gabor was the greatest of its princes. He was contemporaneous with Cromwell, was a staunch Calvinist, a successful general, a man of the most determined resolution and untiring energy. Many of his habits have been styled Puritan, and he would have presented a fine figure in fustian. He composed Psalms which were sung in the churches, and rumour hath it that he had read his Bible through twenty times. His two constant aims were the banishment of the Jesuits from Transylvania, and the securing of the rights of the Protestants. The part that he played in the Thirty Years' War gave an European importance to Transylvania. It was impossible to heal the divisions of Christendom by force, and Transylvania knew it perhaps better than many larger States in Europe. Bethlen Gabor was followed by George Rak6czy, who was a man of peace, but who willingly took up arms in the Protestant interest, and allied himself with the Swedes. Gloomy days THE GLOWING PAST 13 were in store for Protestantism, for Leopold I. declared his object to be to " impoverish, enslave, and re- catholicise Hungary." His treatment of the Protestants was disgraceful, and led to a plot to break with the House of Habsburg ; the ringleaders of the conspiracy, however, were discovered, and for years the hangman was busy. The Viennese Court in revenge tried to utilise the occasion, and attempted to destroy the constitution of Transylvania. Constitutions, like monarchs, are not often killed by hard names. At Pozsony Protestant persecution was so rigorously conducted by the Viennese Court, that the fate of the victims awakened European sympathy. The principle of " forcible conversion " failed, and Holland sent out Admiral de Ruyter to free those sent as galley slaves. Thokoly and the Kurucz (fugitives) almost captured Vienna, for he was supported by the Sultan, and this Protestant uprising was one of the most successful of the period. Leopold, seeking the aid of Sobieski of Poland and others, then fell upon the Turks and overwhelmed them, and from this point their influence begins to wane in Hungary. One of the remarkable features of Hungarian history is the rallying capacity of the nation. A stupid blunder, scarcity of troops, it mattered but little the cause of the defeat, what was of real moment was the assurance that the nation would soon be " up and at 'em " again. Even history, it is said, has its dull moments, but Hungarian history is surprisingly scant in this direction. The nation settled down in 1687 to the idea of legalised succession in the male line of the House of Habsburg. Many since have called it a mental lapse. Perhaps the people were again tired out and desired peace at any 14 HUNGARY AND THE HUNGARIANS price. Or, better still, were contemplating an uprising which in a short time would undo the wrongs of past days. Less than twenty years elapsed ere the great outbreak of the common people stirred the very foundations of the House of Habsburg, and struck with despair the hearts of its supporters. Who has not heard of Rakoczy II. ? His history was as exciting as it was possible. Born the first son of his father, who died in a dungeon, he was carried from Transylvania to Austria to be educated under the influence of the Jesuit priests of Prague. His father, who had been a co-conspirator with Wessel^nyi, had his estates confiscated, but these were returned to his son on his marriage. The freedom of the young Prince was only short-lived, for Leopold I., afraid that Rakoczy would ferment the hostile spirits of the Hungarians, ordered him back to Austria, from whence he escaped to Poland. Here one day he was surprised in his solitude by receiving a deputation of North Hungarian peasantry, who pleaded with him to place himself at the head of the peasants of his Fatherland against the yoke of the Austrian. He did so, but not before securing the support of France and Poland. Issuing a national manifesto, the whole nation drew to his side. All the enemies of Austria supported the rising, and Rakoczy was chosen to command the combined forces. Success in dainty gown came out to meet him, and he was crowned Prince of Transylvania. On May 31, 1707, Leopold was forced to proclaim the independence of Hungary. It was a war of liberty, and thus far the common people had won. In all such successes one may find the germs of disaster and defeat. The moderates left his side to treat with Austria, an action which led to the Peace of THE GLOWING PAST 15 Szatmdr (171 1), with which Rakoczy was dissatisfied; consequently he withdrew to a foreign land. First Paris sheltered him, and finally Turkey, where he was ministered to by some kind-hearted priests until the end came. The element of tragedy is seen in the fact that he died and was buried in an alien land, though his ashes now rest at Kassa. This practically closes the era of civil wars. It may be that Rakoczy and his movement came a trifle too late, and this accounts for his apparent lack of success. It is not to be doubted that at this juncture the nation was exhausted. The reign of Charles III. was short but striking. Firstly, there was the organisation of a standing Hungarian army, to be fed by recruiting agencies ; secondly, Parliament expressed its willingness that succession should be entailed in the female line of the Habsburgs ; whilst finally, what is known as the Pragmatic Sanction, the first constitution-like alliance between the patrimony of the Habsburgs and the kingdom of Hungary, received parliamentary con- sent. The weakness of the Pragmatic Sanction is that a principle only is expressed, and not the manner of its relationship, consequently violent constitutional conflicts ensued. The gift of Charles III. to Hungarian rule was Maria Theresa, who was nobly defended by the nation against her neighbours. Several educational changes were introduced. The University was trans- planted from Nagyszombat to Buda. A law faculty and schools was founded, middle schools formed, and she — the Queen — applied the entire wealth of the suppressed Jesuit order to the cause of education, regulated agrarian matters for the benefit of vassals, and commenced a system of better water-supply and 1 6 HUNGARY AND THE HUNGARIANS road-making. Joseph, her son, possessed the kingly- grace of tactlessness, but to some degree furthered the reforms of his mother. His gift was autocratic rule, and he refused to be crowned. With a waywardness that brought its own revenge, he made German the official language. His tactlessness robbed his reign of usefulness, and towards its close he revoked most of the measures which contained the germ of national well-being. During the two years' reign of Leopold II. the unity between crown and nation was restored. It has often been asked, How far did the spirit of the French Revolution penetrate into Hungary ? The answer is written with the iron of suffering upon the pages of history of the reign of Francis I. Whenever it appeared and whoever championed it, it was suppressed with cruel vigour by the Government. Nearly all the literary world was thrown into prison, but the whole country became imbued with French ideas. When Napoleon called in 1809 to Hungary to recover her political independence and select a new king, the idea fell flat. Leopold during the Napoleonic wars simply played at constitutionalism, but when the dangers consequent upon the activity of " the incomparable Corsican " were passed, he revealed himself in his true character, suspending the Diet, and levying taxes and troops at will. One of the most fascinating epochs now dawns. National consciousness awakened, intellectual and material needs were easily recognised. The spirit of reform was in the air. Neither was the country bereft of the essential man. In looking over the achievements of Count Stephen Szechenyi, one is reminded of the truth of Emerson's saying, " An institution is the lengthened shadow of one man." In Budapest to-day the " lengthened shadow " THE GLOWING PAST 17 of this man is seen everywhere. He was an untiring apostle of reform. In the Parliament of 1825 Szechenyi was one of the most prominent figures, and he won the heart of the nation by devoting a year's income — some 60,000 florins — to the establishment of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Reform and practicality went hand in hand with him. He regulated the Danube and the Tisza, founded the Danube Steam- boat Navigation Society, built the chain bridge over the Danube, and instituted the Agricultural Society, together with a host of other things. Metternich was the great opponent of reform. Szechenyi, Deak, and Kossuth, with a crowd of others, captured the feeling ot the nation, and the Viennese Court knew it, but failed to appreciate the growing body of new opinion it represented. Kossuth the eloquent and literary was soon driven into the ranks of the irreconcilables. The aims of Szechenyi and Kossuth were fundamentally alike, but the former kept in view peace with Vienna, whilst the latter, rightly as it proved, regarded Vienna as the sworn foe of all Hungarian progress and reform. In the Diets of 1839 and 1843 some progress was made, particularly regarding the official use of the Hungarian language, the admittance of commoners to public offices, and the granting of equal rights to all Christian denominations. It was impossible, however, to stave off 1848. There was something international about 1848. Nationally it remains considerably more than a name, a date, a mere historic episode. It is an inspiration even to this day. The cry from Hungary was " Reform." The answer Vienna gave was, " No Reform." Responsible ministers such as Batthyany, Deak, and Kossuth foresaw Austria's refusal to grant measures — not an open opposition, it is true, but a secret 2 1 8 HUNGARY AND THE HUNGARIANS movement. Students of history are well aware what happened, that agitators were thrown amongst the Croatians, the Serbs, and the Roumanians in Hungary. Vienna fanned the flames of local discontent. Terrible massacres ensued. Whilst the Croatians, Serbs, and Roumanians sought the aid of arms, the Germans, Slovaks, and Ruthenians loyally supported the national cause. Parliament unanimously voted the necessary military and financial means for suppressing the insurrection. In the September of the year the Viennese Court threw off its mask and recalled the Palatine Archduke Stephen, and appointed Count Lamberg as his successor. Parliament repudiated these acts, and Count Lamberg was murdered by the enraged Hungarians directly he appeared at Budapest. The Ministry resigning, a council of national defence was formed, with Kossuth as President. In a remarkably short time a very capable army was marshalled and sent out to meet Jellachich, who was marching on Budapest at the head of the Croatians. Thoroughly beaten, he fled, after an armistice, to Vienna. A short time after this came the news of the abdication of Ferdinand and the institution of Francis Joseph I. Success and failure, victory and defeat were the characteristics of the closing days of 1848. Bem subdued the nationalities for Hungary, but a great part of Hungary was captured by the Austrians. It is interesting to note the words of Palmerston concerning this conflict : — " I firmly believe that in this war between Austria and Hungary there is enlisted on the side of Hungary the hearts and souls of the whole people of that country. I believe that the other races distinct from the Magyars have forgotten the former feuds that THE GLOWING PAST 19 existed between them and the Magyar population, and that the greater portion of the people have engaged in what they consider a great national contest. It is true that Hungary for centuries past has been a State which, though united with Austria by the link of the Crown, has nevertheless been separated and distinct from Austria by its own com- plete constitution. That constitution has many defects, but some were remedied not long ago, and it is not the only ancient constitution on the Continent which was susceptible of improvement. ... I take the question which is now to be fought out on the plains of Hungary to be this : — whether Hungary shall con- tinue to maintain its separate nationality as a distinct kingdom, and with a constitution of its own ; or whether it is to be incorporated more or less in the aggregate constitution that is to be given to the Austrian Empire. ... It is impossible to disguise from ourselves that, if the war is to be fought out, Austria must thereby be weakened, because if the Hungarians should be successful, and their success should end in the entire separation of Austria from Hungary, it will be impossible not to see that this would be such a dismemberment of the Austrian Empire as will prevent Austria from continuing to occupy the great position she has hitherto held amongst European Powers ; if, on the other hand, the war being fought out to the uttermost, Hungary should be completely crushed by superior forces, Austria in that battle will have crushed her own right arm. Every field that is laid waste is an Austrian resource destroyed ; every man that perishes on the field among the Hungarian ranks is an Austrian soldier deducted from the defensive forces of the Empire." 20 HUNGARY AND THE HUNGARIANS There is truth in every line of this, but there were no hearing ears. Prince Windischgratz besieged Buda, and the Government fled to Debreczen, where a strong national army was organised under the generalship of Gorgei, Klapka, Damjanich, and the Pole Bern. These drove nearly all the Austrian troops out of the land. In vain did Hentzi besiege Pest, whilst Buda was recaptured by the Hungarians. On April 14, 1849, Parliament dethroned the Habsburg dynasty. Such was the chaos in the land. Unfortunately, so much was left to chance that no final form of govern- ment was determined upon. Kossuth was elected Governor President, but too much was left to his initiative, whilst in the ways of war he was not well versed. Trouble then loomed from their own ranks, for Gorgei refused to listen to the advice of Kossuth upon a point upon which the latter was perfectly right. This cost the nation much. From this point the flag of victory began to droop. Gorgei, instead of advancing on Vienna, decided to retake Buda en route, thereby giving the Austrians time to join forces with their Russian allies. This naturally led to many heated disputes between Gorgei and Kossuth, until finally the latter resigned, the General then enjoying complete command. His first act was an abuse of his newly gained power, for he unconditionally surrendered himself to the Russian troops. It was a despicable act — an act of unpardonable treachery, as was afterwards proved. He tricked thirteen other generals into following his example, whilst many of the real leaders fled to Turkey. Gorgei himself was sent to Klagenfurt, where he enjoyed a small pension. Vilagos was a dark day for Hungary. Then followed scenes of indescribable cruelty, of exceptional and THE GLOWING PAST 21 unnecessary violence, of bestial revenge. Nothing was heard for months in Hungary but the groans of suffering men and women. Every prison was filled. Trial was dispensed with, and a coarseness and brutality equal to that of the French Revolution reigned supreme. Wholesale hanging was the order of the day. The gallant old Honveds were enrolled in the Austrian army. Hungary was incorporated in Austria. German again became the language, and all national endeavour was stifled. How my blood boiled as I listened to stories, highly coloured doubt- less, but by eye-witnesses, of the terrible havoc made by hangman Haynau ! Professor Vambery also described his witnessing the Evangelical clergyman Paul Rarga carrying his own gallows up the Szamar- hegy at Pozsony, and how that his five little children were forced to the scene to witness the execution of their father. It was a blood drama. Licence took the place of liberty, and blood was the only negotiable currency. On the Hungarian calendar stands a day underlined with red. It is October 6, 1849. No one is allowed to forget it, it is " Arad Day." Every year on this date Budapest clothes itself in black. It is the nation's mourning day. Never have I heard a nation sing as the Hungarians sang the first " Arad Day " procession I witnessed. But what is " Arad Day " ? It is simply the day upon which the thirteen generals were killed at Arad by order of an illegally constituted Court-martial called together by Haynau the butcher. These betrayed souls died nobly, as men and Hungarians only can. On the same day was shed in Pest the blood of one of the noblest martyrs in the cause of freedom, Count Lajos Batthyany. In 2 2 HUNGARY AND THE HUNGARIANS vain did he protest against the Court called together to judge him. Strangely enough, the Court-martial acquitted him, but a second one condemned him to die on the scaffold. The first Hungarian Minister President revolted against such a death, and the Countess Karolyi smuggled a stiletto into the prison, with which Batthyany so wounded his throat that it became impossible to hang him. He was accordingly shot. Even women did not escape the cruelty of Haynau, " the Hyena of Brescia." No woman can forgive Haynau for ordering Mrs. Maderspach to be dragged to the market-place of Ruszkabdnya, there undressed by the soldiers, and beaten within an inch of her life. Her husband, when he learned of the episode, could not survive the dishonouring of his wife, and committed suicide. Hungary and the Hungarians will ever remain grateful to the employees of Messrs. Barclay & Perkins' Brewery in London for the thrashing they gave Haynau when he visited them. Many, however, were simply cudgelled to death. There was the case of the old coffee-house keeper Liedermann, who was thrashed by order of General Schlick. When revoked for his brutality, the General said " he did not mean it," but did not suppose " that sixty blows would kill a sixty-years-old man." But one case must not be omitted : it was that of a Honv^d lieutenant named Lamborg, who was badly wounded and imprisoned. When Haynau was in Arad it so happened that the lieutenant met him one day on his way to the pharmacy. Unable by reason of his bandages to doff his hat, this Austrian Marat immedi- ately sent for a bench, placed the lieutenant upon it, and had him so thrashed that all his wounds opened, and amid indescribable sufferings he died in front of THE GLOWING PAST 23 a huge crowd who were cowed by the brutality of the man. From this story of " '48 " one name is missing, and I have wilfully left it for the closing lines of the chapter — it is the name of the great Hungarian poet Alexander Petofi. Some even to-day are able to recall the picture of a handsome, patriotic, but impetuous ■poet reciting to a vast crowd his " Talpra Magyar" on March 15, 1848 : — " Magyars, up ! your country calls you ; Break the chain which now enthralls you ; Freemen be, or slaves for ever. Choose ye, Magyars, now or never. For by the Magyars' God above We truly swear. We truly swear the tyrant's yoke No more to bear." After this, the crowd marched to a printing-office, drove out the representatives of the Censor, took possession of the machines, and printed the poem, which was circulated all over Hungary. The spirit of the song awakened all, and it is impossible to overestimate its contributory force. The poet then joined the Honveds, was made captain and attached to General Bem, and met a brave soldier's death at Segesvar at the hand of a Cossack. The old order now giveth place to the new. CHAPTER II MODERN HUNGARY " I called the New World into existence to redress the balance of the Old." — Canning ODERN Hungary practically begins with the emergence of the nation from the torpor consequent upon the cruelties which followed Vilagos. For ten years a kind of passive resistance was practised which in a quiet way frustrated all schemes for the centralisation and Germanisation of Hungary. The first sign of repentance or recognition of value was shown at the close of the war with Italy which ended so disastrously. In i860 it was impossible to collect the taxes. The Hungarians are adept at passive resistance. Everybody was seized with an inability to pay their taxes. Neither was it any good seizing goods and submitting them to public auction, for the Austrian official could never find a purchaser. I was told of a case where the tax amounted only to a florin, and a cow was offered to a large crowd for that amount, but no one would buy. It is in incidents such as these that the quality of national patriotism is exhibited. The futility of continuing the struggle against stubbornly patriotic people at last dawned upon the mind of the Viennese statesmen, and the Diet was convoked in 1861, where Deak expounded his famous MODERN HUNGARY 25 principle of " Jogfolytonossag," the continuity of the law of the land, or full restitution of the constitution of 1848. Was it wise to ask as much just then? That is a question which one has asked oneself a hundred times, but to ask less was but to meet with the same result. The necessity of considering the claims of Hungary had not yet entered into the circle of political conception around which the Austrian mind wobbled. There were those doubtless who foresaw the attainment of every demand, but the majority only said " hands off" what we have acquired. During the Prussian War the Hungarians again saved Austria from utter annihilation, and thus forged another claim to consideration. Reconciliation did not come, however, until 1867, and it was largely the achievement of Deak. The famous Compromise, or " Augsleich," was simply an endeavour to give a precise turn to the duty of mutual defence undertaken under the Pragmatic Sanction by the creation of an administration in which the countries bore an equal part of the control of foreign affairs and the united services. The coronation of Francis Joseph at Buda in June 1867 was another binding but highly conciliatory act. Then followed an era of comparative peace if not of contentment. Civilising influences were not long making themselves felt. For at least ten years no gigantic constitutional issue could disturb the nation, for the question of the revision of the " Compromise " was admitted only after such a lapse of years. The nation was driven to introspection, and naturally strove to express its new conception of liberty in a multitude of forms. Hungary had to be re-formed, re-shapen, and re-made. The task was a huge one, and the labourers were few. 2 6 HUNGARY AND THE HUNGARIANS Many imagined that the " Compromise " did every- thing, secured everything ; consequently little was submitted to criticism or challenged. It is true that there existed a section of the political thinkers who continually advocated separation from Austria, but it was rarely made a supreme cry. There was no real hostility at this moment to the Emperor-King. Meanwhile the nation steadily utilised or absorbed the examples provided by Western civilisation, and Modern Hungary sprang into being. In politics new men began to loom, men of talent, not to say genius. The situation even now was beset with thorns. Germanisa- tion was dreaded, whilst there was a desire to preserve the most friendly relations with the Ottoman Empire, because of their kindness in receiving the exiles of 1848. The question of military expenditure in 1878 was an important one, and Kalman Tisza, who succeeded Kalman Szell, had no little difficulty in quieting the public mind on this point. Gradually the nation underwent change. Reform after reform was rushed through Parliament during the fifteen years' regime of the elder Tisza. The House of Magnates was re- modelled, the Hungarian language became popular, whilst the period of election of deputies to the House of Parliament was extended from three to five years. Once the harmony of reform was threatened by the Anti-Jewish riots, but the good sense of the nation stepped in and averted disaster. The Hungarian in politics is a strange bundle of contradictions. He is a speedy absorbent, but there is little far-awayness in his politics. He stands out in marked contrast to the English statesman, it may be because conditions are so different ; but even acounting for his environment, an MODERN HUNGARY 27 ample margin of contrast exists. In surveying Modern Hungary it is impossible to overlook the traces of hurry. There was so much to be done directly the nation threw off its lethargy. Men began to realise that a mere constitution was not sufficient, they must have a country. Pride of race asserted itself. A new order of men had to be found, for new ideals had touched the national conscience. Budapest had to be made habitable, and not only habitable, but beautiful. No sooner was the idea hinted than the waste places of Pest blossomed as the rose. Structure after structure reared its head proudly — but quickly. Uniformity was not regarded as an essential, variety was courted, but everything ugly tabooed. The great demand was that it must be done quickly. To-day, when you ask Hungarians why this and this is not done, they at once remark, " You must remember that forty years ago we had nothing. Look at our great buildings and monuments, they are modern." If one would awaken old memories, or catch the spirit of the past, then you must wander amongst the narrow streets of Buda, so redolent of Turkish occupation. Here modernity is immediately dethroned. But it is only an excursion, not a sojourning-place for the student of men and affairs. In the history of Modern Hungary one does not hear the clash of arms, the groans of the dying, or the victor's song, but rather the pounding of metal into shape, the blasting and disgorging of mineral wealth, and the hum of the artisan. The National Exhibition held in Budapest in 1885 did much to awaken the attention of the public mind to the economic and commercial possibilities of the country. Then the Hungarian began to travel. Disraeli said : " Travel is the great source of true wisdom, but to 2 8 HUNGARY AND THE HUNGARIANS travel with profit you must have such a thing as previous knowledge." It will be seen how much " previous knowledge " the Hungarian possessed. From every journey some new idea was forthcoming. England and Italy enjoy quite a good proportion of the ideas which were regarded as practicable. But if so much time was devoted to the building of a new capital, politics were not relegated to an obscure corner; on the contrary, the passion for politics increased with vehemence. Political parties sprang up in a night, just like a Hungarian newspaper. Political migration was common, A change of Premier was an opportunity for a change of party. The long reign of the elder Tisza broken, others sought to emulate his staying power, but failed. Each succeeding Premier made some contribution to Modern Hungary. Wekerle, who succeeded Szapary, earned a reputation for his clerical reforms, and brought upon himself the everlasting hatred of the Roumanians. Banffy put the finishing touches to two of Wekerle's unfinished measures, as well as renewed the Ausgleich. In 1896 the Millennial Exhibition at Budapest again attested the development of the nation. Several points are worthy of special notice, primarily the great increase in the urban population. In 1881 the population of Budapest stood at 360,000, increasing in 1891 to 505,000, whilst in 1901 the figures were 732,000. These figures rose in 1906 to about 900,000. It is in Budapest alone that the rapid growth of the popu- lation is demonstrated. Szeged, it is true, added 29,000 to its numbers during this period. But Zagrab, the chief town of Croatia, jumped from 29,000 to 61,000. Whilst, however, the towns increased at MODERN HUNGARY 29 the rate of about a thousand a year, many of the villages suffered from depopulation, for more than a million of their inhabitants found their way to America during this period. No country can afford to lose so many of its rural population. In a policy of haste many great economic factors were overlooked. To let these human assets steadily drift from your side is one thing, but to woo them back again after they have once tasted the sweets of a higher civilisation is quite another thing. Hungary has always needed workers. This is felt all the more keenly by reason of the absence of a genuine Hungarian middle class. I shall never forget the surprise with which a remark of mine was greeted concerning the participation of the English nobility in the world of commerce. That a peer should condescend to associate with business was something beyOnd their apprehension. In Hungary money means power, more so than in most places. The Jewish element saw it, and the towns realise what it means to-day. They were prepared to work hard and to live hard, but they focussed their nimble wits upon getting rich, and they accomplished their object. The Hungarian magnate despised the Jews, one and all, and seemed to lose sight of the fact that there are Jews and Jews. He never even learned the art of business from them, though it was practised before him every day. But the politician soon found out that the Jews had captured the commercial-economic machinery of the land, and that however much he might despise the men and means employed to secure such, the power of directing money and trade was largely in their hands. Awakening, perhaps not too late, one finds the Hungarian aristocracy promoting industries to-day. There is, for instance, the " Counts' 30 HUNGARY AND THE HUNGARIANS Brewery Company," dominated by the Andrdssys and their friends. The Jews, on the other hand, have acquired some of the worst traits of the hereditary nobility. In the making of Modern Hungary the Jew has been a great contributor, for he did the work which aristocratic breeding would not then allow. But the Jewish business element is not to be likened unto the middle classes of England. Having obtained a good grip of the commercial possibilities of Hungary as manipulated by its centres, attention was then turned to politics, and soon the Jews swarmed into the Orszdghdz. Nothing could stay the development of this large section of the Budapest population. Politically, however, it is a variable and negotiable quantity. " Each for himself" was again the motto. With senti- ment against them, and in opposition to Magyar feeling, they have wrought wonders — for themselves. To ignore them is now an impossibility. They have moved with the times, often against their inclination, but they saw the necessity of moving. In less than fifty years wonders have been wrought on the Pest side of the Danube. Fifty years ago there were no waterworks in Pest. In most of the houses of that period was found an old-fashioned pump, picturesquely set in an old-fashioned courtyard. From this common pump the water had to be carried in quaintly shaped tubs to each dweller in the house. The task of carrying the water in these tubs on the back was performed by women as a rule. Water thus secured had to be treated as a rarity. In one of the squares — Calvin t^r — stands a rather pretty fountain : here in the old days — not beyond recall — could be seen a group of merry-tongued Rebeccas, sent thither by their mistresses for water. Artists ever saw a new MODERN HUNGARY 31 canvas here. Even the water from the Danube was hawked round the town by discreditable looking vendors, who were usually followed by a horde of ragamuffins striving to earn a few copper coins by carrying the water to your rooms. But to-day every- thing is up to date. Means of communication were also very primitive in those days. It is almost impossible to describe the ambiguous looking vehicles of forty years ago. They were really waggons, and only in that sense public conveyances, but waggons constructed so as to carry sixteen persons of normal build, fourteen within and two without on the box. If a storm came on, a framework of iron rods was speedily requisitioned — and each driver was supposed to carry such — over which was flung an awning of oil- cloth, for the most part porous. The badly made roads and the clumsiness of the vehicle often led to the dislodgement of these rods, which would somewhat heavily remind the occupants of the vehicle they chanced to fall upon that watchfulness was a necessity. But this was not the only ill travellers were subjected to. For instance, it was a trifle annoying to have the entire awning suddenly removed by a gust of wind during a downpour of rain. It was a work of art sometimes to enter these hearse-like coaches, for one and all were often called upon to creep under the flaps of the tarpaulin. Another difficulty often experienced was that of stopping the conveyance, for so great was the clatter created by the vehicle and horses as they lumbered over the cobbled streets, that the driver never, or rarely, heard the request of the passenger. A friendly prod with a walking-stick, however, usually succeeded in arresting his attention, but not until you had passed the spot you desired to alight at. 32 HUNGARY AND THE HUNGARIANS To walk instead of ride, particularly in the bad weather, was also beset with difficulties ; for the paths were not raised, and drivers did not hesitate for a moment to use the cleanest place to drive ; consequently, passengers continually ran the risk of being crushed against the wall, or being forced into a shop entrance, from which they rarely escaped without opening their purse. To-day one of the finest narrow-gauge electric tramway systems in the world interlaces Budapest at every point, and travelling is not only rapid but inexpensive. It must not be forgotten that Budapest boasts of having the first tube-railway, and though travelling is not so luxurious underground^ as in London, it is a most serviceable system, seeing that it touches just those streets outside the radius of the street tramways. One, however, must express a note of regret that the weird-looking omnibuses which continue to convey people from Buda to the Varosliget (Town Park) are not done away with. The introduction of the zone-tariff in 1889 must also be regarded as an important factor in the making of Modern Hungary. Communication was thus made possible to all, and the spirit of progress passed to and fro on wheels. The tendency nowadays is to overestimate the influence of Parliament, and to undervalue those forces which appear to hover somewhere between municipal or private enterprise and State intervention. In 1875 only 3985 miles of railways were to be found in Hungary, whilst in 1900 some 10,624 represented the railway system of Hungary, upon which some 64,4 1 2,000 passengers were carried that year. Shipping is also making tremendous progress, and Fiume appears likely to develop into a first-rate port. Fifty years ago the shipping trade at Fiume amounted to only a MODERN HUNGARY 33 few thousand pounds, but now its figures have joined the ranks of the millions. It is obviously clear to all who have seriously attempted to study the Hungarian people, that in fifty years something in the nature of a miracle has been performed. Attention has been devoted to this and that national necessity, to the improvement of this and that institution, but the great institution of the State — man — has in some degree been neglected. Man the economic factor, the industrial pivot, man the worker and universal provider, has been left somewhat to himself. The larger European unrest left him for years untouched, and he remained content in his lot as a producer. No idealism stirred his blood, though the flame of nationalism burned within him as a religion, and somewhat obscured the picture of the future which the worker in other lands had caught a glimpse of No inspiring teacher or prophet came forward with an evangel. Thus contentedly the worker plodded, prevented from thinking of the future by the dtn and perhaps even the fascination of modern political disturbances. Tocqueville was right when he said, " Nations are like men : they are still prouder of what flatters their passions than of what serves their interests." Now, in 1908, the worker has awakened, and a still more modern Hungary must be created if he is to be kept within the confines of his native land. During the past ten years parliamentary deadlocks have been frequent. The commercial activity of Hungary undoubtedly tended to provoke periodic outbursts of anti-Magyar feeling in Austria, whilst both the nationalities and the Socialists contributed to the friction in Hungary itself Government under Count Istvan Tisza was not an unmixed boon. The 3 34 HUNGARY AND THE HUNGARIANS so-called Liberal Party was Liberal only in name, and the country felt the absence of a clean, honest, progressive party. Political progress such as is under- stood in England was not desired. The attempt of Tisza the younger to tamper with the laws of procedure led to some disgraceful scenes, and finally to the undoing of the great party that he led. The advent of the long-awaited Progressive Party (Haladopart) was the opportunity for a renewal of national disturbances which earned for Hungary a peculiar European notoriety. Not only were the entire Fejervary ministry socially boycotted, but Parliament refused to provide the usual quota of recruits for the army, whilst everybody declined to pay taxes. Passive resistance with a vengeance was then instituted, and the most exciting scenes were enacted. Political interest was not exclusively fixed upon Budapest, for passive resistance spread rapidly into all the counties. This movement was dis- tinctly retarding, though the blame was cast upon the aged monarch for his unconstitutionalism. National progress and development was checked by the advent of the Progressive Party. Hungary, as before, was the prime sufferer. Europe could or would not understand that the fundamental forces that grapple behind the veil of diplomatic detail " are lost sight of and attention is engrossed by the incidentals of the moment." Hungary has invariably suffered in the polemic arena, for they that are for her are less than those against. Political paralysis left its due impress upon trade and commerce, and suspended progress. Austria again found the Magyars unyielding. Absolutism followed on the heels of a refusal of the majority to recognise the scratch Ministry of MODERN HUNGARY 35 the King. Life in Budapest became unpleasant. Tlie rigidity of the police methods was annoying. It aimed at stamping out Kossuthism, and ended by stamping it in. A fierce censorship of the Press ensued, and finally it was forbidden to sell newspapers in the streets. Meanwhile M. Kristoffy, the Minister of the Interior, had allied himself with the Socialist element of the Budapest populace, and these were marshalled in his interests against Apponyi, Andrassy, and Kossuth, whilst before he was compelled to vacate office he started the " universal suffrage " hare. Truly these were stirring times. A judicial blindness appeared to fall upon those in high places. Any attempt to limit the freedom of the Press or speech invariably produces a grave danger. The Press is usually one of the great safety valves of national life. Irresponsible editors one may always find, and unscrupulous journalists usually drift in their direction. But to close the whole of the safety valves because of the leakages of the majority is to court explosion. Hungary was agitated — in fact, it was more than agitated, it was aroused. Never shall I forget those days — the demonstrations and counter-demonstrations ; the hasty closing of shops, and the appearance of the police ; the arrests and imprisonments ; the crowded " Kavehaz " ; the gall and bitterness, the vehemence. Politics rose in those days to an inflaming passion. Then came the " Tulip League," and the boycott of everything Austrian. How the nation applauded those Magyar ladies who gave their jewellery to the fund for the indemnification of those officials who refused to obey the orders of the Fejervary Government ! The Executive Committee of the Coalition Parties was then dissolved — but not 36 HUNGARY AND THE HUNGARIANS dispersed. The Hungarian Parliament was cleared by soldiery, and the doors of the Chamber sealed and guarded. This was the closing insult to Hungarian constitutionalism, to the wishes of the majority in Hungary. One felt directly this was resorted to that the psychological moment had arrived. What would the nation do now ? was the question all Europe asked. Of course there were the usual pour-pa7ders and the time-honoured conferences, but few were prepared for the news of an armistice between King and people. It was one of the most astonishing transformations in the recent history of European politics, the granting of power to those who had practically been placed under Tsarism, and the relinquishing of the Russian methods put in force in Budapest by the Hungarian Trepoff Rudnay. There was something so sudden and unexpected about it that it seemed incredible, until one beheld the ministers being whirled round the town by a happy and excited populace. Never before have I seen such enthusiasm. The look on Count Apponyi's face as he approached me in the afternoon was not one to be forgotten. It was radiant with his newly won success. " The best of all is," he said, " we have given up nothing, we have surrendered no item of our programme, and made no sacrifice of principle. But you must remember it is only a Government of transition." But how was all this attained ? What or who had wrought the change ? The House of Habsburg, it is said, is successful in everything except debate and war. It certainly looked like it. But why had the Emperor softened so ? What were the terms of the armistice which seemed like heralding a new epoch to Modern Hungary? The Coalition groups were MODERN HUNGARY 37 prepared to accept the responsibility of government providing the following claims were not disregarded. In the first place, the military question — i.e. the " commandosprache " — was to be held in abeyance until a Bill furnishing a large measure of electoral reform became active. The reason for this was that perchance Austrian opinion, and doubtless even the King himself, considered that as the last elections were not fought on this issue the verdict of the people had never been secured, consequently he — the King — was justified in rejecting all such claims as had been advanced by the Magyars. Such a measure of electoral reform would take quite two years to prepare, during which period the attention of Parliament would be devoted to social legislation. Meanwhile the new Government only recognised such debts as were in- curred in the displacement of non-effective armaments for effective armaments. No more recruits were to be granted. On the other hand, the Government insisted upon the commercial and fiscal individuality of Hungary ; freedom of trade between Austria and Hungary. Currency reform was also another demand, the abolishing of all paper money and the introduction of the metallic system crowning the whole with a real Hungarian Bank, thus securing more independence. To one and all of these pro- posals the veteran King assented, and the result was the return of Wekerle as Premier of the celebrated " Coalition of Talent." The cup of national joy now o'erflowed. The elections for the first time unrestricted gave the Independent Party a huge majority. The new Parliament met without an opposition, and the length of its life was shortened by this very fact. The Liberal Party, once so formidable, had died in a 38 HUNGARY AND THE HUNGARIANS single night, and its deserted leader sought the solitude of the Alfold for recompense, and English political biography for refreshment. Never before, perhaps, in the whole history of European politics has a party so influential disappeared so abruptly. There was something almost cowardly in the manner it left the arena of politics. Such, however, are the fluctuations of Hungarian politics. The nation now having obtained their desire, power having been vested in the formerly despised, a kind of passivity fell like a mantle upon all. Much was expected. Alas ! in politics the expected never happens. There's a no more jaded, disappointed set of men than the members of an over-powerful parliamentary majority, and it is difficult to find a more disappointed country than one legislated for by such a majority. Balance in statesmanship is one of the most desirable achieve- ments. Political lopsidedness invariably produces political libertinism. At the moment I pen these lines the country is again awakening from one of its periodic naps, and the cry is for Reform. What can result from such a demand must necessarily be left to the chapter on " Prospective Hungary." Alongside the strenuous political movements of the twentieth century in Hungary one may easily dis- tinguish the growth of the commercial and industrially economic idea. To make Budapest a modern city is one thing, but to modernise Hungary is quite another thing. Visitors to Budapest must not imagine for a moment that by coming to Budapest and exploring its environs that they have seen Hungary and the Hungarians. Not so. What you have seen is a cosmopolitan city with an English flavour about it. Yea, you have seen even more than that ; you MODERN HUNGARY 39 have touched, so to speak, the keyboard of Hungarian activity, intellectual, commercial, and political. But Hungary and the Hungarians you have not seen. These live beyond beaten tourist tracks, in the region of the hills, and on the great plain ; here resides the flower of Hungarian chivalry, the strength of the nation. Let us now take a peep at them. CHAPTER III THE CARPATHIANS AND ITS PEOPLES "I would not give up the mists that spirituaUze our mountains for all the blue skies of Italy," — Wordsworth IF you want to see Hungary and the Hungarians, begin where I did, away in the Carpathians. Come over from Berlin to Oderberg, thence to Tatra Lomnitz, where the very best hotel in Hungary may be found. How well I remember my first sight of those dim grey heights known as the High Tatra ! Here one instantly feels the atmosphere of reflection, and the quiet culminating strength of rest. What a day it was ! " Isten Hozott ! " (God has brought you here !), that most beautiful of Hungarian greetings, fell upon my ear with a fine sense of music, though with but a dim perception of meaning. My host smiled delicately at my embarrassment, and repeated the greeting, " Isten Hozott ! " then almost reverently escorted me to my room. The room was expressively adequate, but it was the window that fascinated me — ■ fascinated me not so much by what it was as by what it disclosed. Leaning upon my elbows, like the Jewish lover who grandly sang through his casement, " Until the day break and the shadows flee away," I caught in a moment the infectious Magyar spirit. A peasant moved slowly with some oxen over a disturbed parcel THE CARPATHIANS AND ITS PEOPLES 41 of ground, and even here one was able to distin- guish the undying temperament born of untraceable ancestry. How long I stayed at that window listening to the wild, untaught crying and laughing of the Hungarian gipsy music I know not, but I was summoned to earth by the first and last article of the Magyar creed — hospitality. With quaking limbs I descended, to find a young Hungarian student who spoke English, and at once fear passed into joy. I was informed that a real Hungarian dinner had been prepared for me. Again fear arose, for I am a pagan mortal, and dislike variety — in food. Again my fears were dismissed, when I found that the national dishes were plainly prepared. Even in the cooking one may discover some national traits. If you want real national dishes, you must go to Szeged. What a revelation that first dinner in Hungary was to me ! — the curious and then unpronounceable names, not to say the ingenious treatment of meats and vegetables. We had " gulyas," a sort of meat stew well seasoned with " paprika," and " toltottkaposzta," a mixture of meat, rice, and spices, minced and rolled up in a cabbage leaf, quite a tasty dish. But what I most enjoyed, perhaps because it caused me the pleasantest recollections, was a weird something bearing the name of " csorge-fank," a species of baked fritters with which was served some preserve. What I remember least of all was the wine. Suffice that it was golden-hued and plentiful. It was the early autumn, and after dinner we all went out into the night. What marvellous nights the Tatra region provides ! The feeling was so uncommon, so un- expected. It was something more than mere mountains and plains. What a cynic the man was 42 HUNGARY AND THE HUNGARIANS who said that anticipation was the forerunner ot disappointment ! The stillness of the place enthralled me ; I became awe-stricken, and my cigarette fell from my hand, as if ashamed to be alight. This is just how one feels at night amongst the Carpathians. Even the trees had caught a fine idea of the Magyar spirit, for I seemed to hear them croon out snatches of some never to-be-forgotten national song. Here is something, at least, which is unconquerable, something beyond all parliaments and all kings ; it is the heritage of nationality, the birthright of the Magyar nation. Few of the people so far North are pure Magyar — they are German, Slovak, and Ruthenian, but my host was a " tiszta Magyar " ; but there, under the gaunt shadow of the mountains, he distinctly evidenced his race. The Magyar is superstitious. It was the Tree-Spirit which disturbed him, for he beheld the lighted fires on the marshes and shuddered. Mine eyes were closed that I could not see. They told me a few days after that they still worshipped the sun in this lonely region, and that even good Catholics will cross themselves when a shadow passes athwart the sunshine. In the morning I searched in vain for some trace of glacial formation on the Magas Tatra. It was not a disappointment, for the compensations of my environ- ment were too many to admit of that. It is like, yet unlike some parts of the Tyrol, and when snowbound in the winter equal to the best. But that subtle something you instantly perceive at Tatra Lomnitz is wanting both in Bavaria and Switzerland. Language undoubtedly has something to do with this. Both Magyar and Slovak seem to blend more harmoniously with the wild scenery than guttural German. The sense of inactivity, the absence of strenuousness, and THE CARPATHIANS AND ITS PEOPLES 43 the presence of a patriotic acquiescence were all adjuncts to the elusive compound I describe as the Magyar spirit. Psychic forces unleashed abound here. There is no feeling of township, no hustling pedestrianism, no violating sound save that of the village smithy. Tatra Lomnltz, therefore, is not for those who cannot endure being without the noisy emblems of modern civihsation. You may hunt, walk, climb, fish, drive, more than these are not promised. But I have written too hastily : there is a race meeting, in summer, tennis courts, and soon will be a golf ground, whilst winter brings its full meed of outdoor sports. It is the beauty and grandeur of the situation which appeals and which endures. Driving back from Lake Csorba, which lies 1387 metres above the sea-level, one may often catch a glimpse of some furry animal capable of quickening the pulse of the hunter. Within a few miles of Tatra Lomnitz a fine chamois shot across our path one night, disturbed doubtless by some adventurous, intrepid wanderer, whilst those who penetrate the thicket may find bears, boars, foxes, polecats, and stags. Nature is lavish with her gifts here. The drive from Tatra Lomnitz to Csorba along the Clotilde road is one of the finest in Hungary. When I took this drive for the first time, I could not help feeling, as I looked down at the huge unpeopled plain below, with an occasional village huddled together as if for protection and warmth, what a terrible place it might prove for moving armies of men, what a battlefield it would make. On the other side, the mountains grim and sometimes forbidding act as a protector. Superstition may exist, but certainly not fear. I was surprised to find the roads so good, for I 44 HUNGARY AND THE HUNGARIANS had been told that in 1848 only 276 geographical miles of made-up roads existed in the whole country. To-day, both for driving and motoring, the main road, particularly the road from Debreczen to Roumania, is during the dry season as good as any of the best motoring roads in France. In Hungary, people rather than places are of more interest. The virtues of the Carpathian region are inexhaustible from a Nature point of view, it is true, but the value of these is enhanced by man in his mystifying moods and costumes. It is the home of the Slovak. To-day it seems as if this portion of the Hungarian irreconcilables were to be immortalised by the misguided but powerful pen of Bjornson. With no genuine grievance against t^e Hungarians, this dour, hardy race are continually being stirred into animosity to-day by wayward priests against Magyar rule. You see in their cold clear eyes the spirit of revolt, and when you get to know them you hear the rumblings of a growing discontent. These descendants of the Moravians stand out in remarkable contrast with the picturesque district in which they live. The imprint of poverty lies heavily upon them. The memory of one of these sorrowing souls I shall ever carry with me. He stood at the end of the bridge which leads from the more pretentious Kassa-Oderberg line to the circuitous cog-wheel railway connecting Csorba with Csorba-t6. With an almost reverential bow he wished me " dobra jutra," his female companion joining him in the salutation. In appearance he resembled one on priestly errand bent. His hat was a picture, and he himself a perfect study in black and white. All the slowness of his race seemed to envelop him. Beside him, upon which a tiny child rested, were two parcels, one a box of strange THE CARPATHIANS AND ITS PEOPLES 45 and ambiguous workmanship, the other a long canvas bag such as soldiers carry. These formed a fitting base to such a column of human feeling. For some moments I stood and watched this group, for I felt something of the pathos of departure. Then a mountain mist like a huge mantle gradually covered all, and a slow sweep of the arm over the entire country indicated the sense of farewell. Rising higher and higher into the mountain region, I heard the low wail of the emigrant as he sang that last terrible song of departure. No one seemed disturbed save myself. But the song of the peasant returned, and with the song came another glimpse and a lasting one of the wanderer, Slovak songs are full of tears. The Slovaks have little or no independent history, have striven for no renown, but are as an American writer described them, " the stepchildren of fortune." Let me give you just a glimpse of a Slovak village. One of its distinguishing features is a brook, which invariably runs as a dividing line through its irregular and uneven street. At first sight it would seem that the population was composed of geese and women, for I scarcely remember ever passing through a village where I did not find a group of women knee-deep in the brook, pounding clothes out of shape, but into some degree of cleanliness. If you need a more complete picture, bring in some willows, and a waggoner contentedly watching his horse drink from the brook prior to driving through the shallow stream, with a horde of children, none too clean, gazing at all from a rickety foot-bridge. Such is a Slovak village. Outside most of these villages in the Carpathian region one may find a gipsy settlement, with all the essential accompaniments of dirt and 46 HUNGARY AND THE HUNGARIANS beggary. In life the element of contrast counts for a great deal. Contrast, for instance, the hovels of these Romany wanderers outside the village with the long, low houses ranged so evenly by the Slovaks. Peep inside, and you will find the walls hung with gay- flowered pottery, relics many of them of an old home art-industry now obsolete. What piles of white square pillows ; and what a feather bed ! No fewer than six- teen geese have been sacrificed to supply that bed. In one corner stands a sewing-machine, never idle in the winter ; whilst many houses boast of a loom. Characteristic ornaments are rare, but one struck me as unique. Hanging over the table I observed an object of decoration and interest, formed of a blown egg-shell, to which was added a tail and wings of coloured pleated paper. This is supposed to represent a dove, and symbolises the Holy Ghost. There is also a picturesqueness about the garb of the men which reminds one of comic opera. But behind all the eccentricities of apparel, the archaic broad-brimmed black felt hat and enormous leathern belts of the men, and the marvellously embroidered garments of the women, one may easily discover the impress of a hardy race. The Slovak is by nature slow, wanting in initiative, inclined towards passivity, and constantly expecting either the gods or Parliament to do what is obviously the supreme duty of man. He is both sentimental and superstitious. The memory of another face that I saw at Csorba is always with me. The man belonged to that type which boasts of a long straight nose and lantern jaw, with bluish-grey eyes, and Slav light hair, never kept in order, but allowed to curl up menacingly above the collar ; physically capable of the greatest THE CARPATHIANS AND ITS PEOPLES 47 exertion, with features powerful without being unduly heavy, and a grace of movement perfectly consonant with unlimited strength. The women are equally hardy, and seem impervious to all the extremes of heat and cold. For instance, in summer you may find the men wearing, without the slightest sign of discomfort, heavy sheepskin cloaks, whilst during the winter months they are able to work in the woods with just an ordinary cotton vest on. I met scores of men who only sleep on an average four hours a night for weeks at a time. Wandering down into Trencsen, a royal free borough with just over 7000 inhabitants, one day, on my way I heard some of the finest singing it was possible for man to listen to. The hot sun drove me to a shady knoll, where I rested a while. Drawing from my pocket a volume of Hazlitt's Essays, I was soon so engrossed that I became oblivious of both time and place. Suddenly the whole air rang with the richest of melodies, and the book fell from my hands, so amazed was I. Whence cometh this song? Rising for a moment that I might discover the position of the singers, I was surprised to find such rich harmony emerging from a group of Slovak peasant harvesters, who, whilst continuing their labours, sang some of their wonderful folk-songs. All the fields rang with music that summer morning. Trencsen and its environs is interesting. It was practically my introduction to ancient Hungary. There's a " Lovers' Well," dug in the rock some 95 fathoms deep, with a story attached to it. The legend has it that a young Turk of high rank approached the commander of the ancient keep which overlooks the town, and offered a large ransom for his loved one, who was in captivity. Stephen 48 HUNGARY AND THE HUNGARIANS Zdpolyai, however, set the young Turk the task of digging a well through the solid rock, and this was to be the price of his loved one's release. For seven weary years he laboured before his work was finished, but on its completion Zapolyai handed the industrious Turk his love. This is why it is called the " Lovers' Well." Quite near, only seven kilometres distant, is Trencsen-Teplitz, famous for its warm medicinal springs. For centuries the nobility of Northern Hungary have found relief from bodily ailments here. Tradition rears its head proudly all round Trencs6n. There are the ruins of the old castle at Bellus, over- looking the Lednicz valley. It is said that a powerful lion once devastated and terrorised this peaceful valley ; so terrible was its power that a bribe of a huge portion of territory was offered to its slayer. In due season the good brave knight was found, and his family have lived in comfort ever since. Romance vies with romance along the road from Kotteso to Hricso. To get to this latter place one must needs pass through Rovne, which is, I think, the longest village in Hungary. Hricso was once a notorious robbers' nest, and in the rarely visited subterranean dungeons one may still find chains, instruments of torture, and other emblems of the dark ages. Few visit this part of Hungary, and in some of the places they never remembered seeing an Englishman before. It is a tramping country, and most of the sights of interest have, so to speak, to be dug out. It is impossible for the man with only a week's holiday to travel inland ; he must keep to the main routes, and be content with cosmopolitanism. In most of the villages I tramped through, especially those with a distinct Slovak flavour about them, a dark THE CARPATHIANS AND ITS PEOPLES 49 cloud hangs over. Just a piece of the cloud was present when my dear old Slovak friend wished me good-morning at Csorba. Sometimes whole villages are ruined by intemperance, sometimes by the poverty of the soil, sometimes by political discontent. Away in the North I found more intemperance than else- where. All the influences that appear to count for anything seem to favour intemperance. Yet these three devastating influences — drink, sterility, and politics — strong as they are in one direction, are unable to rob the Slovak of his passion for race and patriotism for a cause. Slow peoples such as these, when once set moving, are most difficult to restrain. Despite all that has been done by the Ministry of Agriculture, and Dr. Daranyi in particular, on all sides one may still hear Vayonsky's pathetic song of the wandering Slovak — " Our native village does not give bread to her children." Civilisation does not crowd the Slovaks, but the meagreness of it is de- populating Slovakland. What a lot the world owes to woman for keeping alive the spirit of patriotism ! This is peculiarly true of the Slovak mother, for she is the patriotic dynamic force of her race. She remains behind in the old country whilst the man tests the capacity of the new land. Tenaciously she holds on to the old but tiresome life. A friend took me to see a Slovak mother who twice had returned the passage-money her husband sent, preferring the drudgery and lack of recognition of the village to the civilising harmonies of towns in another hemisphere. One day I was attracted by a pathetic little picture on the platform of one of the wayside stations in the Carpathian district. It was a mother with her baby and her bundles. Vainly had the husband in America 4 50 HUNGARY AND THE HUNGARIANS pleaded for his wife to come out to him ; but she loved the tiny village, and distrusted those whom she could not converse with. Finding every other scheme fail, the husband then cut off supplies, and the poor woman was forced into facing the long and difficult journey alone. The scene at that country station is indescribable. Everybody was in tears. Even the railway officials could not withstand the atmosphere of sorrow departure invariably creates. I, too, a mere idle spectator, plead guilty to a choking sensation of the throat. At last the train is ready to depart, and the poor broken mother stood at the doorway of the carriage. The priest, unmindful of punctuality, rushed again to the woman, and with tear-stained hands blessed her, then delivered an invocation to patriotism. The train slowly steamed out into what was, to most of those present, the Great Beyond. Another soldier had left, another producer departed. More than 600,000 Slovaks have found their way to America. The Hungarians are now awakening to the need of retaining these units of national life, and steps are being taken to prevent the wholesale emigration of the last ten years. Remedial legislation is promised, special agricultural interest has commenced, and the ladies of Hungary have undertaken a campaign for the promotion of a real social life in those districts where drinking is abnormal. It would be a sin to remove from those quaint villages of the Carpathian slopes the picturesque figures of the Slovaks. There is a spirit, a pride of race, and a patriotism of equal measure to that of the Magyars, and they are to be captured and utilised by that generous recognition of right which predominant peoples invariably display to those committed to their charge. A new song THE CARPATHIANS AND ITS PEOPLES 51 must be learned : it is the song of the returned Slovak, he who brings the fruits of sojourn and experience to his fearless and desolate land and people. Trencsen is an excellent centre for the student of history, and it was luck, not knowledge, that led me to it. Striking out with a young friend whose linguistic capacity was then almost restricted to Hungarian, we were simply deluged with happy experiences. Once when frightfully tired, and soaked to the skin by one of those uncomfortable mountain showers, we found ourselves stranded in a mere hamlet, where scarcely a soul spoke Hungarian. It was night, and the small town we had hoped to make was of too great a distance for our tired limbs. For an hour we cast about for a shelter for the night, but, unable to meet anyone who understood German or Plungarian, we decided to seek shelter from the rain and sleep there. On our voyage of discovery my friend, who had religious scruples, thought of the priest. The kitchen, or outhouse, of the priest's abode was certainly preferable to the vermin-haunted farm- yard, so we wakened up the occupants of the next house we chanced to discover, and asked the location of the priest. Retracing our steps — for man invariably when beset with difficulties wanders away from the right track — we in less than half an hour had made the acquaintance of the priest, who, on hearing that I was English, immediately arranged for our comfort. He was a queer - looking, kindly soul, with every appearance of being well nurtured, and apologetic withal. To us weary pedestrians the cottage was a palace, and the hasty cold spread a banquet. Conversation was difficult, and a score times the merry little man apologised for being unable to 52 HUNGARY AND THE HUNGARIANS converse with us save in Latin. In the morning he allowed us to depart with such a sad look that we both felt uncomfortable for hours. Since this first experience I have never hesitated to appeal to a priest, whatever his religion, for either a bed or a meal. Victor Hugo wisely immortalised these quiet souls in whom is found the milk of human kindness. The use- fulness of Latin was thus evidenced for the first time. Taking the road which led away from the High Tatra, we struck the beautiful valley of the Yiig. Every step we now took resounded with some old-time story of chivalry, and ever and anon we saw where those predatory Bohemian knights held their orgies. Legend heaped on legend. At Csejte I was told the story of Elizabeth Bathory, consort of Francis Nadasdy, and sister to the King of Poland, in 1610. In the subterranean chambers of the castle here, it is said, Elizabeth, having been persuaded by an old witch that the secret of perennial youth was only to be achieved by bathing in human blood, struck her maid and killed her, then washed in her victim's blood, eventually caused to be killed no fewer than three hundred young girls in order to satisfy her superstition. The result was that she discovered the secret of perpetual imprisonment, for she was incarcerated there for life. A little farther on I caught a glimpse of Brunocz Castle, where the Jesuit Bohus composed " Hej Rakoczy-Bercsenyi," a famous military song of the Rak6czy period. Then, after looking at the fortress which Leopold I. constructed in 1665 as a protection against the Turks at Lip6tvdr, I longed for mountain air and quietude, so rode back to Tatra Lomnitz. The Tdtra always restores me. To stand and look up at Gerlachfalva, the highest THE CARPATHIANS AND ITS PEOPLES 53 peak of the Carpathian range, 2663 metres high, is to feel something of the majesty of nature in its rugged calm. From the top of Lomnitz peak one may on a clear day see as far as Cracow. Climbing is easy, guides good and plentiful, and the air pure and transparent. Spring in the Tdtra is neither hot nor cold, the summer distinctly warm, whilst autumn and winter offer exceptional attractions. Before saying good-bye to my dear friends of the Carpathians, I was introduced to two delightful excursion haunts, and there encountered experiences of no common order. One was an ice cavern, the other a raft ride. Both were of the novelty order, and I, ever curious to see all, succumbed to the invitation. It was a grand day, and the drive from Poprad is one of the grandest in Hungary — ^just one of those drives which make a man silent. It seemed almost a desecration to talk save in a whisper. If I remember right, we passed through the wonderful Valley of Flowers and the uncom- promising looking village of Grenicz. Another picture vividly fixed upon my memory was the enormous number of scantily clad gipsy children who at every turn of the road rushed out for small coins. Halting to rest the horses just before we reached Dobsina, I tried to collect a group of these sun-tanned dis- reputables in order to photograph them, and one little urchin, a perfect combination of dirt, rags, and mischief, I particularly wanted as a centrepiece, but the rage of the mother was so terrible and lasting that I was forced to abandon the idea. Thinking some evil would befall the tribe if the white man photographed them, she ran im.mediately and informed the entire army of mothers, who came and snatched away with fierce gesticulations my group, much to 54 HUNGARY AND THE HUNGARIANS the annoyance of the unthinking children. Curiosity in these parts does not often supersede custom. Amid the beauty of the Dobsina ice cavern I forgot my failure of the morning. You have to take a somewhat circuitous walk before you arrive at the entrance, and once there you are soon in the immense hall. The cave itself has an area of 8874 square metres. When the lights were turned on it resembled Aladdin's Fairy Hall, and one felt a child again in wonderment and surprise. There is an extraordinary variety of ice hangings and fantastic configurations. The following day I was promised a raft ride on the Dunajecz, and the possibility of an exciting experience thrilled me. Leaving Szepes-Bela in a carriage for Szepes-Ofalu, we practically passed through the Magura Mountains, then made for the Red-Cloister, after spending the night at Szepes-Ofalu. Curiously enough, the Duna- jecz flows from south to north. At Red-Cloister men awaited us with rafts formed of hollowed-out trees such as the district provides, in which were arranged seats of a most comfortable order. With a few pre- liminaries, we were off. My Polish friend at the bow was ably seconded by the Slovak in the stern, and between them they succeeded in giving us some exciting moments. How we rushed along, until it seemed as if our frail barque had tired of control and was now determined to court disaster and in- dependence of movement. Yet every time we looked like getting a good wetting our phlegmatic steersman deftly turned the primitive coracle into safer waters. The swiftness of movement almost made one giddy, yet accidents are unknown here, so expert are the rafters. Any lover of speed, of rapid movement, must try this experiment. SLOVAK PEASANT OF THE 1 \IK\ XORTHERN HUNGARY THE CARPATHIANS AND ITS PEOPLES 55 It is obvious that, regarding natural beauty, Hungary in the Carpathian area is surpassed by many countries, but in no country can one find the historic, poetic, patriotic sense of peoples so peculiarly blending with Nature's gifts, and so redolent of an elusive something which I must ever call the Magyar spirit. One cannot wander amongst the charms of the High Tatra and touch even in an inadequate form the life of the people in that region without being deeply impressed by the irresistible yearning for freedom — a yearning fostered in silent meditation, woven into the tissue of a thousand dreams, abounding in song, surcharged with tears, supported by literature and history, yet practical in its impracticability, and as pervasive as nationality. No one is forgotten. In Hungary names and dates live in the memory even of the inadequately educated. Bound by ties unseen, linked by chains hammered in sorrow, the Magyar nation lives and moves — slowly, it may be — toward that day, the day of the minor nations. With heartfelt regrets I left the Tatra for the men of the plains, and the larger centres of national activity. CHAPTER IV WHERE THE MAGYAR REIGNS "The shades of night have fa,llen o'er the low plains." — Poushkin THE traveller from Berlin to Budapest cannot avoid Kassa. It was night when I entered Kassa, and political demonstrations rendered an otherwise uncom- monly quiet town unusually turbulent. There was little to be seen at such an hour, but I realised the " stone age " was not over, and sought the comparative peace of a barber's shop. Hungarian barbers are good, and in the country places inexpensive. Both are a consolation to the man with a strenuous beard and a meagre purse. This, of course, is true of England — in a few places. In Hungary you must first learn the quarterings of the knight of the lather ere you meet him. Outside the shop stands not the variegated pole which was the envy of my youth in England, but two golden coloured discs, like abandoned plates hanging in mid air, as if to tempt the accuracy of the schoolboy and the agility of the midnight youth. In a foreign town the barber is usually the first man I seek acquaintance with, and, as a rule, he is better informed than the evening papers and just as reliable. In Kassa the Hungarians are the dominant race, and you are not long before you realise this. There is a comparatively busy air about the place, for the railway activities which centre there bring into 56 WHERE THE MAGYAR REIGNS 57 the place the spirit of progress from the outer world. Kassa owes much to this factor. In a Western sense it is, however, only in its infancy, though in a few years it will be found in long clothes. After leaving the comfortable hotels in the Tatra, it is rather dis- agreeable to put up at the inns the town provides, lacking as they are in all those little conveniences which an Englishman calls necessary. It is not luxury that one demands, but English necessity. Too often we expect too much, and always forget that it is we who are the foreigners. Hungarians love heat, closed windows, smoke-filled rooms. We English love air, exercise, open windows, plenty of water and large towels. Many a time I've been nearly roasted in a railway carriage when travelling with Hungarians, who feared a draught even in summer. It is true that the night air is very deceptive in Hungary, and several times I have paid the penalty of my indiscretion ; but to be smothered with bed-clothes in summer, or not allowed to open the window when travelling, is indeed a custom difficult to reconcile oneself to. Never ask for tea in Hungary, save where you know they have been taught how to make it. To put a little cheap tea into a cold teapot, then pour over it some water which has never reached boiling point, is the conception of tea-making many have arrived at. At Kassa, mine was so weak it could hardly get out of the spout. I am sure, however, all these things which the insular, prejudiced English dote upon will soon be found in Kassa, so keen are its inhabitants and so complete its progress. Until I visited Kassa it had never interested me. Budapest, Debreczen, and Tran- sylvania were something more than mere names on a map to me, they were historical centres I longed to 1% 5 8 HUNGARY AND THE HUNGARIANS explore, they were influences reaching out into Western civilisation ; but Kassa was a new spot for research, an unknown quantity. The growth and development of the town is not without its history. History is often silent or scant regarding its past, but it is clear that Kassa was known as far back as Geza I. In the fourteenth century the city sprang into some measure of importance as a " frontier-town," and became a royal free city. And a century later, owing to a continued increase of privileges and the expansion of its strongholds, it assumed the leadership of all Northern royal free cities, and became at the same time the capital of Hungary. Around it raged a series of con- flicts prior to the battle of Mohacs, which added to its renown and stimulated its growth. Sympathy, ever a variable quantity, at one time flowed out generously to the Habsburgs, and Kassa became one of the most reliable towns. An attack upon the Church, by Belgiojoso and Stephan Bocskay, won them over to the Magyar cause. It was the turning-point in its history, and ever since Kassa has been identified with the successes and failures of the Magyars. Bocskay directed his big campaign from Kassa, and, after concluding peace with Vienna, he returned and died at Kassa. Bethlen Gabor also played a great part in the history of the city. But after the death of George Rak6czy I., Kassa passed into the exclusive possession of the Hungarian kings, and the influence of the Transylvanian princes vanished. Both Thokoly and Francis Rakoczy II. and those who followed them attempted to woo and win the Kassans, but failed. Then following the Peace of Szatmar came a fading away of the military glory of the town, which was not revived until the fateful Revolution of 1848. WHERE THE MAGYAR REIGNS 59 Despite continued struggles, the city boasts of the finest Gothic cathedral and the oldest playhouse in Hungary. The former pleased me immensely. It was so encouraging to see something Gothic, after gazing for weeks at ruined castles and Slovak cottages. The play that Gothic always gives to the imaginative faculties, the spirit of ages it bears, and its variety, came as a panacea, so that life again became bearable. Inside the Cathedral I felt nearer home. The architect was one named Villard d'Honnecourt, a Frenchman. It was ever the aim of the great Matthias to secure the best available men for his work, and undoubtedly the Cathedral is magnificent. One never feels alone there. It is not so large and so pillared and aisled that man loses his identity therein. In a land where magnificent churches are scarce it stands out royally, though its merits alone justify the position it occupies. There is a superb piece of filigree work by Stephen Crom, standing 66 feet high and forming a canopied tabernacle. This was probably executed in 1472. The altar pictures, forty-eight in number, are Early German, and said to be by Wohlgemut. One must also take notice of the fifteenth-century frescoes in the walls of the SS. Stephen and John chapels. There is nothing really great about them, but in a country which by reason of its continually being kept in the battlefield, and thus unable to cultivate or store any of the arts and emblems of peace, it is interesting to fully note what really may be found. Both the choir and stair- case date from King Matthias. Apart from the Cathedral, Kassa has few monuments of general interest to show — churches galore, Franciscan, Dominican, Reformed, all evidences of the life that was, as well as of the life to come. 6o HUNGARY AND THE HUNGARIANS The Kassa of to-day rears its head ambitiously. It is social, political, cultural, and commercial. Possi- bilities simply swarm in upon one. When I first visited Kassa, only a few — a very few — spoke English. Now, thanks to the energy of Madame Horthy, many are able to converse, to say nothing of reading and writing in English. For some time I found it difficult to account for such a keen economic sense so far North, and though attributing much to the railway, it must not be forgotten that during the one hundred and fifty years of Turkish occupation the development of economic life and civilisation was practically nothing, and the spirit of industry was only kept alive by taking refuge in the towns of Upper Hungary. This is also true of art. Little is left of the monuments of the fifteenth and sixteenth century in their original state, and the little that is left may be found in the North. Apart from the institutions common to all towns, one has gained more than local notoriety. In Kassa — that is, within easy distance of the centre of the town — is one of those industrial institutions for young criminals which, by reason of its success, has made Hungary famous. It may safely be said that the police, magistrates, judges, and prison authorities, having passed beyond the theory of mere vengeance as a legitimate social function, even yet scarcely realise the emptiness and absurdity of administering the criminal law on a theory of retribution or punishment, and the weakness and futility of that plausible last refuge — deterrence. Hungary in this respect has its own standards, and therefore its unique institutions. The Hungarian State regards itself as responsible for all " abandoned " infants and children, and the term is applied liberally, so that no child is called upon to WHERE THE MAGYAR REIGNS 6i suffer for the misdoings of its parents. There is no idea of " stamping out " crime, but what is assailed is the tendency. In Kassa the spaciousness of the place makes its appeal to the juvenile consciousness. There is an entire absence of anything resembling a house of detention. It is the sanatorium idea. They are ill, and must wait and be cured. Residents in the colony are not called prisoners, but boarders, and they are grouped in families. In the boys' home each head of a family has twenty-four foster-children to father, and he has constantly to exercise the duties of a parent toward them, teaching them to be forbearing, kind, and courteous to each other. The success of the experiment is unpre- cedented. In the thirteen State infant institutions in 1903 there were 16,660 children distributed into 466 colonies, where children of tender age are cared for and trained. We have nothing in England comparable with this system, and have much to learn from it. Two things in the family life struck me as in- valuable — the daily use of the tooth-brush and the neat folding of clothes every night. The children are all classified according to behaviour and age, and the distinguishing marks of the different clans or families is to be found in a pretty badge, or by the colour of the dress. Religious instruction is regular and simple. Everything is done to render the life of the child not penal, but pleasant. They have their games, bands, and swimming school, and may even visit their parents occasionally. The educational scheme is a laudable one, for the main idea is the rearing of good citizens, by creating pleasure in work, and teaching some remunerative employment. In the workshops the most up-to-date machinery and methods are employed. The boys at Kassa are allowed to earn 62 HUNGARY AND THE HUNGARIANS wages, thus stimulating diligence and engendering thrift. There are moments, I was told, when a strange waywardness will come over a boy, and when the position renders it impossible for him to be allowed to continue violating the rules of the family. For such as these, and the cases are remarkably infrequent, a scale of reprimands has been arranged. In the official book for 1905 I found the following system and scale of reprimands : — {a) Private admonition. {b) Reprimand in the presence of the family to which the offender belongs. {c) Meals to be taken apart from others, and no amusements allowed. {d) Loss of distinctions which may have been gained, and of special favours, such as the right to receive visits, write letters, and to walk outside the bounds. {e) Meals of a less varied character than usual, to be taken at a separate table. {/) Banishment from the family, and enrolment in one of lower class. {g) Complete isolation from the other inmates. (/^) Expulsion from the establishment, and con- signment to prison. This is surely an object lesson for advocates of corporal punishment. No patient is sent for a specific or fixed term, the virility of the disease and the success of the treatment only to be the determining features of their stay, with this limitation, that none can be detained after arriving at their twentieth year. In one of the suburbs of Budapest a similar institution exists for girls, and it is equally successful. In the Museum, which is supposed to be of WHERE THE MAGYAR REIGNS 63 exceptional interest, little of surpassing value was found, many of the 30,000 curiosities being of too local a nature to admit of description. Perhaps the most valuable collection is that of ancient coins. Schools abound, and official residences proclaim its dignity and importance as a city. I found fewer Jews and more Slovaks than I expected. What a study in cobbles the roads are ! — and driving after a time becomes painful. Often I sat and wondered how those strange-looking vehicles drawn by such lean horses stood the unevenness of the Kassa streets. Harness even now is often a collection of assorted string and leather. Primitive carts, primitive drivers, and primitive horses, what rich objects for the painter ! It is obviously not a writer's land, but an artist's. How amazing also that such a collection of colours should be found upon one person without fighting ! Some prominent person in Hungary must be found to promote a society for the preservation of national costumes. How much Hungary would lose if clad in regulation black and white ! Away in the North, surrounded by much that even yet must be styled primitive, one longed for art, for literature, but one felt remarkably close to the distant past. Though the grand and majestically expressive Magyar tongue was heard, I felt that I had not yet reached the real Magyar impregnated atmosphere — that I, like them, must push on to the heart of things and there abide a while. This much must be said for the railway accommodation, that it is cheap and good. The day that I selected to visit Tokay for the first time was one of the hottest the August of that year had provided. Travelling was unbearable even with an English crowd near one. To talk almost scorched 64 HUNGARY AND THE HUNGARIANS one's tongue. I remember one such day in Egypt. It is a little off the beaten track from Kassa to Debreczen, but it was the obvious thing to do to have a peep at the vineyards of Tokay. I remember even now the sensation of being called at a monkish hour : even then everything and everybody seemed to have been awake hours — ^just one of those days one is called upon to eat two breakfasts. There were several Hungarians on the train who spoke English, and the tales they told of the wine we were going to drink simply added to the thirst which commenced soon after eight in the morning, and which continued until Debreczen was reached at midnight. Then, it was too hot to doubt or even question their opinion ; now, on deliberate reflection, it would be unfair. Tokay as a town is nothing, but Tokay as a wine is every- thing. I recall everything — the crowd at the station, the flag-bedecked streets, the banquet, the speeches, the wine — and the white dust. I can even remember an unpremeditated hiccough. Twice that day I thanked the forces of war that resulted in Rakoczy II. concentrating his influence on the Hegyalja district. Much, I learnt that day, was due to this illustrious Prince of Transylvania for making renowned the golden juice of Tokay. It became then and has remained the " wine of kings and king of wines." This is no national conceit, but a unanimous foreign opinion. At the Council of Trent, Pope Pius IV. was presented with a small barrel of the Talya vintage by the Bishop of Zagrab, George Draskovich, as the most costly gift he could give. His Holiness on tasting it exclaimed, with unaccustomed generosity of speech, " Summum Pontificem talia vina decent," or, " Such wines are fit for the hisrhest Pontiff." WHERE THE MAGYAR REIGNS 65 Tokay as a wine-growing area is a very small one. The output is scant and imitations are many. One may almost stand on a hill and see the entire Tokay wine district. A tiny mountain range, a few assiduous, patient workers, and here you have the producing spot of that famous wine which the poet affirms is " gold become liquid." They say that the district was probably first planted by Italians, who brought over slips during the time of Louis the Great. Dryness is the chief characteristic of the climate in this district. The summer is very warm, and the winter cold, with hurricane winds. In the spring it is cool in the beginning, and dry, passing in May without any transition period into warmth. The beginning of autumn is damp, but as the month proceeds the days become dry, fine, and long. Spring frosts, I was told, injure only those vineyards which lie on the plain, whilst the best vineyards are to be found at a height of 150—190 metres above the level of the Adriatic. Naturally I had many opportunities of tasting the best that Tokay could produce, therefore can testify that there's nothing on earth to equal it. Its quali- ties as a medicine are only now being recognised, though Max Wirth wrote as far back as 1885 that " Tokay Ausbruch has throughout Europe won the name of the King of Wines, and is held to be the Crown of Wines for convalescents and those decrepit with age." Tokay, however, has to be approached at the right angle to be appreciated. A good appetite is not sufficient. You must be one who does not take wine just for your stomach's sake, but able to approach it artistically. There is a right and a wrong feeling with which to approach wine. He who heeds not the bouquet and is blind to the rich colour will 5 66 HUNGARY AND THE HUNGARIANS never have the imagination stimulated, and on such a person Tokay is wasted. A legend tells of a monastery containing a cave in which the noblest growth of Tokay was stored. The custodian was never permitted to approach the cave save in the most courtly garb, bearing in his hand a silver candlestick. Such was its effect upon an aged friend of mine, a timorous soul in his bravest moment, that after tasting some of this delectable nectar he felt constrained to deliver in an alien tongue a powerful oration on the value of a revolution. But its medicinal qualities are as numerous and more efficacious than those unsuspecting article advertisements that so often lead us astray in the English newspapers. In the Tokay wine district something of the generosity of the wine has entered into the character of the people, and everything seems to blend harmoniously. A rich owner of vineyards entertained me at tea, and the sensation of witnessing two stout-limbed servants bear upon their shoulders a tray laden with the choicest of grapes, rich and lustrous, for our dessert, led me to determine upon a neglect of everything save Tokay grapes. Alas ! evening shadows drove me away, and to undergo a most painful experience. A slow, tired train, crowded with jaded travellers, the evening air stifling, whilst as if to crown events fitly the whole lighting system gave out, and the long journey to Debreczen was undertaken in the dark. Only an hour late. Everybody irritable and impatient. No Tokay. But it was Debreczen, the " City of the Magyars," the Protestant Rome. Curiously enough, both the first and the last occasion upon which I visited Debreczen I arrived after mid- night. I never advise anybody now to attempt to go from Kassa to Debreczen vid Tokay in a day. Once, WHERE THE MAGYAR REIGNS 67 however, you are in Debreczen, and drive down the wide street to the hotel, you feel something of what poets have sung — a peculiar sense of abidingness, of largeness, of expanse, and of rest. From over the great plain, immense and fertile, this feeling steals. Here again mere monuments cease to attract you. Long, dwarfed - looking streets ; the usual large square ; an abundance of coffee-houses ; good shops, and you have the whole town. In Flungary one soon grows accustomed to the dead level of the houses, the almost German regularity and uniformity of the towns. Life is never to be found within the walls of such as these, but in the one principal thoroughfare, along which passes the restless activity of a pleasure-loving race. Debreczen with its 75,000 inhabitants strikes quite a different note to Kassa. When, however, I think of what we in England are able to do with so many thousands of people, and what a town we make of it, I sit and wonder at Magyar content. Whilst there is so much missing apparently, so many possibilities not utilised, there is a collectivity about the place which we don't possess in England. They are Hungarians. The concerns of the great, outside, troublous world do not concern these hardy agri- culturalists : it is only the Alfold and Hungary for them, and it sufficeth. Debreczen's part in the Revolution of 1848 was a noble one. But I love Debreczen because of its Petofi associations — Petofi, the greatest literary genius Flungary ever had. The poet always seemed to have been suffering there. Listen as he sings : — " Oh, Debreczen ! When I recall thee ! Much I suffered within thy walls ; 6S HUNGARY AND THE HUNGARIANS Yet notwithstanding, It is a pleasure For me to recall thee. — Papist I am not, Yet I did fast and fasted long. 'Tis good that a man's teeth are bone, 'Tis a wise ordinance of heaven." Age makes few calls upon one here ; one is near to moving events and men. In the very centre of the square stands the Protestant church, which every Magyar points out to the visitor as the spot where Louis Kossuth proclaimed from the pulpit on April 14, 1849, the separation of Hungary from Austria and the deposition of the Habsburg House. Every time they recall the event even the eyes of the young flash strangely, as if remembering past wrongs. Quite near to the church another Hungarian poet is im- mortalised — in bronze. In the eighteenth century, Debreczen was the largest town in Hungary, and in this village - town stood a commodious but ugly building which to the passer-by appeared to be a barracks. Alas ! how deceptive appearances are, for the inmates wore long black togas, and it was none other than the famous College of the land. Here, amid so much external gloom, was educated one of the most extraordinary poets of his age, Michael Csokonai. He was the finest lyrist of his time. A restless wanderer, Csokonai for many years delighted the heart and quickened the pulse. Nothing disturbed his sense of nationality, though his poems show how keenly aware he was of the " ruling ideas and tendencies of his time." Rousseau's conception of solitude stirred him to his noblest poetic efforts. Professor Beothy says of Csokonai : — " He sang his unhappy love in lyric songs, which, WHERE THE MAGYAR REIGNS 69 with their tender sweetness, and the noble inwardness of their outbursts of sorrow, together with the fluent ease of their verse, made them our best amorous poetry up to the time of Vorosmarty and Petofi." Behind the church one may find Csokonai Place, and there remember that the poet died at thirty-two. In Dr. Riedl's Hungarian Literature what was known as the " Arcadian Controversy " is dealt with, and it is interesting as occurring after Csokonai's death. Kazinczy suggested as an epitaph to be engraved on the poet's tombstone the words : " I, too, have been in Arcadia." The poet's fellow-townsmen, the worthy, matter-of-fact burgesses of Debreczen, did not know what it meant. They looked up the name " Arcadia " in Barthelemy's popular Le Jeune Anacharsis, and there discovered the following statement : " In Arcadia there were excellent fields for the rearing of domestic animals, especially asses" Naturally they felt dis- mayed. What a theme this controversy would have provided Csokonai with ! Debreczen had another son, who in the French wars achieved distinction as a soldier, and later as a man of letters. In all the writings of Michael Fazekas it is easy to distinguish the influence of French literature gained in the wars. On one occasion he was in a position to increase his worldly store by pillage, but, entering the French chateau, he found his way immediately to the library, selected a volume, and read for some time, eventually leaving bootyless, after replacing the book on the shelf Of such stuff was Fazekas made. A monu- ment to the gallant Honveds who fell at the battle of Debi'eczen on August 2, 1849, recalls and re- minds. A dying lion on a pedestal of rock is a fit- ting symbol of the courage these home-bred soldiers 70 HUNGARY AND THE HUNGARIANS possessed. Here in the busy mart you may behold the flower of the Magyar peasantry. It is the Magyar race you see, which is not to be confounded with the Hungarian nation. The one is united and unanimous : action and deeds is its motto. The other, ethnically speaking, is yet in process of formation. With an unusual degree of fitness, the Magyars, the very kernel of the nation, are welded together in the centre of the land, a compact body. The natural conditions surrounding Debreczen made its appeal to those earlier settlers, for it corresponded to their mode of life, and the expansiveness and freedom, to say nothing of the scope provided by the Alfold, seemed in keeping with their past. It must have been a sparsely populated area when the followers of Arpad first sojourned here. From such a centre radiates the strength and patriotism of the Magyar race. Pressed in on the north by Slovaks and Ruthenians, on the south and south-west by Croatians and Servians, on the south-east by the Wallachs, the Magyars have been, so to speak, solidified by ethnological conditions, as well as by their own passionate love of race. It is agricultural Hungary here, and Debreczen is its centre. But it was something more than fertility of soil that made Hungary agricultural. About the close of the seventeenth century Turkish power ended, and Hungary came under the rule of the House of Habsburg. This change did not bring any special economic improvement. In Hungary the King could only impose taxes with the consent of Parlia- ment. The nobility were relieved of the duty of tax- paying, and Parliament desired to protect the tax- paying capacity of the people in the interests of the landowners. In Austria the prerogative of ruler WHERE THE MAGYAR REIGNS 71 was extended, and he was able to impose taxes without consulting Parliament. Therefore, as the needs of the State grew apace, and perpetual warfare depleted its coffers, the ruler and his retinue sought the economic development of the " hereditary countries," and simply regarded Hungary as a mere granary and colony of Austria, thus reducing it to selling its surplus to Vienna, and purchasing its necessaries there. The King of Hungary being Emperor of Austria, one and the same indivisible person, naturally assented to such tactics. Parliamentary protests failed, and Hungary simply lost the little industry which had survived Turkish occupation, and settled down to its future as an agricultural country. Personally 1 doubt whether any power on earth could at that juncture have made it industrial. Something in the composi- tion of the Magyar always leads me to associate him with agriculture. By temper he is a farmer — and a politician. Listen to a group of these top-booted, serious-faced Magyars discuss a political problem, and the intelligence they bring into the debate is astounding. These over-patient souls, whose vision seems as boundless as the plain upon which they work, have an education that mystifies one ; it is not of the schools, scholarly, but of men and matters. Of the great, blustering, Western world they know little, but they " can do more things and have learnt a greater variety of names to express the same thing by." Give us a description of a Magyar? This was sent from a London paper, and I was expected to answer on a view-coloured postcard. But what is he like? I can only answer, What is a man like? The Magyar is no savage, no tawny gipsy, no dis- solute reveller. Hungary is not a howling wilderness, 72 HUNGARY AND THE HUNGARIANS and to it one need not come armed. The Magyar is of medium stature, with a skull just above the middle size. His head is short, and his face broad and inclined towards being oval, guided by a short nose and small eyes and ears. As a rule, the Magyar mouth is finely cut and the chin oval. Strong and luxurious hair, and vigorous moustache, often well pointed, with a broad open forehead, and a chest denoting great physical endurance and strength. This will give some idea of the Magyar. Look at his broad palms and the short thumb ! Watch him move ! Never but elegantly, activity and strength harmonising grandly. But he rarely moves when he is able to sit, or walks when a ride is possible. In a measure he does lack energy, and this denotes little perseverance. He is easily discouraged. The Magyar character is a strange compound of habitual passivity and melancholy, and great susceptibility to excitement. His step is slow, countenance pensive, address dignified and imposing — all qualities which may suddenly change and give place to an excited precipitation. The magnetism of his character results from the fact that he is a bundle of extremes. Never have I seen either an individual or a nation more wonderful in success. You see the character of the Magyar emerging from every bar of Hungarian music. Patriotism in him is a fetish. To explain or describe him adequately is impossible. My dear old friend of the hills, how reposefully serious he was, and yet what pride of race he would suddenly flare up with ! In the " tiszta Magyar " there is nothing mean nor deceitful. His hospitality amounts to a disease almost. But these noble souls of the plain, these peasant farmers, they are a perfect compendium of WHERE THE MAGYAR REIGNS 73 self-respect. It is true the Magyar is hot-tempered, and when he roars it is in no uncertain tones. Funda- mentally he is serious, and to weep is to capture joy. There is also a measure of conservatism about him. He dislikes change, and is averse to new conceptions, ideas, and methods. Though this is so, he will always give you a hearing. Naturally he is a partisan : men with such a compound nature cannot avoid it. One is always encountering Irish traits in the race. In judgment he is invariably right, and his apprehension quick. Capable of a huge amount of labour, he seems like the man who, though longing for work, was no sooner confronted with it than a peculiar inability to perform it seized him. " Any time except the present " is the motto of many in Hungary. Con- versation or pleasure first, business afterwards, is also carried to excess, save by the Jews, They reverse it. To avoid loving such a race is an impossibility. Generosity of nature, tenacity of friendship, combined with an enormous capacity for enjoyment, is a trinity of virtues which must make for happiness. But the race is changing. The movement towards industrial experiments progresses. In the nobility one may even see the dawning of a desire for commerce. The influence of the Turk becomes less every year. Whatever may happen in the crowded cities, it seems an impossibility to change the character or tempera- ment of Hungary's phalanx of strength which is focussed upon the great plain. Debreczen is not only a Magyar stronghold, but the great Protestant headquarters. Here the language is spoken in its greatest purity. Nobly rearing its head is the Protestant College, the centre of interest in Egyhaz ter. A marvellous library of 100,000 74 HUNGARY AND THE HUNGARIANS volumes is stored here, whilst some 2000 students still pursue their studies in law and theology. Mingling with the crowds of students one may see the inquiring sons of the plain and the heroes of Hortobagy. Let us visit the home of the latter. CHAPTER V ON THE GREAT PLAIN " Down there on the ocean expanse of the lowlands I am at home, that is my world ; my soul is like an eagle freed from prison, when I behold the limitless expanse of level country." — Petofi THE poet was right. How well he expressed in a single sentence all that I put into the last chapter ! Petofi sang as a Magyar feels. The puszta was his rightful home, for there beats the great heart of the race. When first I visited Hortobagy it was but to stand amazed. Just imagine the impression created by a consciousness of being on a vast plain 300 square miles in area, the characteristics of which are immensity and the cattle from a thousand hills. Its very treelessness strikes a silent note of appeal. You yearn for a something you are accus- tomed to, then when it is not forthcoming settle down cheerfully to the absences of the grassy plain, its quaint huts like oases, and those picturesque acacia groves. Lovers of magnificent sunrises must go to Hortobagy whilst the Fata Morgana, which may frequently be seen on the puszta in July and August, adds again to its attractions. Amid such surroundings the people change only slowly, but they do change. In a measure the romantic element is disappearing from Hungarian life. On the puszta the poetic state is 75 76 HUNGARY AND THE HUNGARIANS keenly preserved. This prairie-like area is used principally for cattle grazing and horsebreeding. Yet it is not altogether beyond the sounds of ap- proaching civilisation. The lowing of the patient oxen, the howl and bark of the shepherds' dogs, the tinkling of the cattle bell, and the sharp crack of the Csikos whip, all emblems of the pastoral life, often blend with the shrill whistle of the train. It is surprising, however, how much of the old-time spirit and life lurks on the plain. Many tales I was told of the Betydr-virtus (brigand spirit), for the puszta still has its szegeny-legenyek^ poor fellows whose manner of livelihood is not always explainable. Here again superstition is rife. My last visit to Hortobagy was on a 40 horse-power Mercedes. It was the afternoon of the first day's ride from Budapest, and, looking at the mileage table that I held in my hand, then at the sky, it resolved itself into a race with the light ; for Debreczen was the halting-place for the night. Unhampered by speed regulations, we exceeded 68 miles an hour ; yet without any warning, and with no real conception of what had happened, we found ourselves landed high and dry right in the centre of the great plain. Never shall I forget the weird feeling which fell like a heavy mantle over all. Four hungry, tired souls stranded, and within 40 kilometres of Debreczen. On the puszta^ and helpless. Not a soul was to be seen, not a sound heard, and only a perfect network of tracks to completely baffle a stranger. To attempt to move farther without advice would have been madness. Lighting our head-lamps, we discovered that we were not so very far from the habitation of man. Alas ! how deceptive distances are here ! Leaving the car, I trudged over a field or so to what V) u w h M J e^ >. < o u > g a