Western Literary Magazine.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF HUNGARY.

Original.

BY THE EDITOR.

(See Engraving.)

THE Hungarian nation, like most of the European tribes, can be readily traced to their pastoral homes in Asia. That immense tract of land, lying between the Oxus and Jaxartes, and the frontier of China and the desert of Gobi, known as old Tauran, was the home of the Hungarians in their nomadic state.

Harrassed by neighboring nations who were inimical, and hurried on by that migratory instinct that has sent forth the swarming population of old lands to conquer and occupy new ones, they united themselves under a governmental contract that constituted them a nation, and set forth to find for themselves that land of promise of which their oracles had long prophesied.

At this time, they were divided into seven tribes, and each tribe was sub-divided into a number of families. When they had resolved to wander forth in quest of new homes, the seven chiefs met, and concluded the first great treaty that truly gave to them a nationality, and laid the foundation of the Hungarian Constitution. This treaty consisted of the following articles:

"1. That they should elect Almos and his generation after him, to be their duke; that he should guide them and lead them in war.

2. That the common booty of the field should be fairly divided amongst them.

3. That the chiefs who, of their own free will, had elected Almos, should not, nor should their descendants after them, be excluded from the councils of the duke.

4. That those who break their allegiance to the duke, or who foster dissensions between him and the chiefs, shall find no room on the face of the earth, and that their blood shall be shed, like the blood which runs from the arms of the contracting parties.

5. If the duke were to break the contract, then he shall be deposed, and cursed, and banished."

In confirmation of this, the seven princes, Almos, Elod, Kund, Und, Tas, Huba, and Tuhutum, ripped the skin of the arm, mixed the blood with wine, and sacrificed it as a libation to the gods. This was towards the close of the ninth century.

On entering Hungary, Almos resigned to his son Arpad. Under him, the relation of sovereignty was more fully recognized and defined, and we find distinct traces of an orderly Government, and a free Constitu

tion.

All were free and equal, save that the chiefs constituted a high aristocracy. The serfs, afterwards found among them, were either captives taken in their predatory excursions, or the original proprietors of the land, who refused to make a voluntary surrender to the conquerors; while those who submitted without resistance, were received as allies and friends.

At an early period, Christianity was introduced among the Hungarians, and that in a manner worthy of note. The people of Western Europe began to tremble before this warlike nation, and to pray in their litany, "Oh Lord! preserve us from the Hungarians." Henry of Germany bribed them into an armistice of nine years, and during this period he built strong holds and fortified cities, that he might be able to resist them with overpowering force. But the more peaceful king of Byzantium pursued a far different course. As a pledge of the good faith of the Hungarians, he demanded several of their nobles as hostages. These he carefully instructed in the principles of Christianity, because he knew that if its precepts were once fairly imbibed, they would no longer remain a savage, marauding nation. Here is a mighty principle.

The greatest conquests that men can achieve, are those of mind over mind. Hence, those vocations that we often regard as most humble, are the ones that gradually work revolutions in national character.When the Choctaw chief was asked why there existed such a strong tendency among his people to return to a savage state, he replied: “We saw our error when it was too late to repair it. But we now know that if we had educated our women instead of our young men, our children would not grow up savages."

It is true that it required two generations, before the Hungarians became a Christian nation. Sarolta, the daughter of Gyula, one of the converts made at Constantinople, became the wife of Prince Geiza, the grandson of Arpad. Through her influence, Christianity received a strong impulse, and her son Stephen, denominated The Saint, endeavored to establish it on a basis as firm as his own throne. He regarded it as the twin-sister of freedom, and for three years was a zealous preacher of the faith to the chiefs of the people whom he invited to his court.

Though adopting the Catholic form of faith, he yielded no authority to the See of Rome, but such as he saw fit to surrender voluntarily; though the influence of the bishops and foreign courtiers modified to a considerable extent the power of the Hungarian chiefs.

The three leading monarchs, during the first period of Hungarian history, were Stephen the Saint, Ladislas the Cavalier, and Coloman the Legislator. Each contributed to the elevation of the nation according to his own peculiar talents, and the government was perhaps as liberal as any one of which the civilized world could boast.

At the commencement of the fourteenth century, the royal line of Arpad became extinct, and under the reign of princes elected from other nations, the people became closely assimilated to their neighbors. The peculiar characteristics of Europe, during the middle ages, were transported to Hungary by her foreign rulers, and feudalism gradually usurped the grandeur of her free institutions. Her nobles went forth to war, with their banners, followed by their numerous retainers, who became their liege vassals, as they were those of the sovereign. This condition of things led to jealousy and strife between parties whose interests had hitherto harmonized, and at the close of the second period in

1526, the court party was at strife with the middle classes, and a fierce war was waged on the south by the zealous contenders for the faith of the Prophet.

With the commencement of the third period, we find the Austrian throne struggling to grasp the reins of power and sway the destinies of Hungary. Intrigue and oppression became the order of rule. Between the Turks on one hand, and the Germans and Austrians on the other, Hungary seemed threatened with dismemberment. With a weak prince on her own throne, and surrounded by such formidable enemies, she must have ceased to be an independent nation but for the bravery of her' citizens, and their love of constitutional liberty.

Following this period of weakness, we find upon the throne, Stephen Bathory, the hero and statesman of his time. Here we find a new element introduced into the national character The doctrines of Luther had, notwithstanding prohibitory edicts, already made a deep impression upon the Hungarian mind, till more than two-thirds of the people are said to have cast off their allegiance to the See of Rome. They had learned to think and act for themselves in matters pertaining to their own consciences; and this ever lays a deep foundation for civil liberty.

During the period of unquiet that followed the accession of Rudolph to the throne that had been graced by Ferdinand and Maximilian, we find all their contests involving the principle of religious liberty. The policy towards Hungary was thus expressed by one of the ministers who stood near the throne of the Hapsburgs: "Faciam Hungarians primus mendicam, dein Germanum, postea Catholicam." To beggar Hungary and bring it under the power of the Germanic confederacy, and then to force her obedience to the dicta of Catholicism, was, for a long series of years, the policy expressed both by word and deed. But we still find the Hungarians claiming constitutional rights, and nursing their love of religious freedom, even at the cost of life; and when Leopold, who had ruled as Emperor for forty-eight years, swaying a limited sceptre over Hungary as well as Austria, died in 1705, it was said that he had failed in the one great object of his life, for the constitution of Hungary survived him.

Under his son and successor, Joseph, however, a new policy was