looking in vain for the arrival of the cannon from Agria. But alas! he was disappointed. Safi Sinán Pasha arrived in the camp empty handed. On being interrogated why he did not send the ten pieces of cannon as commanded, he returned for answer the senseless excuse, that no buffaloes could be had to transport them. It can easily be imagined what was the grief and affliction of the Moslem army, but it cannot be described. The whole of the provisions which they had been able to find in the vicinity of Grosswardein, was consumed, and the Tátárs were obliged to bring from a great distance from the camp what flour and grain they were able to find. A keil (measure) of barley was sold for from three to five pieces of gold.

"The Sirdár, it must be acknowledged, was the cause of the long delay of the Moslem army before Grosswardein, and of course, at least in some degree, of the evils to which they had been subjected. We have already observed how he refused to allow the Tátars to go on a predatory excursion through the country, saying, he hoped God would give him the victory in a day or two. He was miserably mistaken in his hopes, and accomplished nothing, at least nothing good, as we have seen.

"The weather now became so very cold, that the men could keep neither feet or hands warm. Perceiving, therefore, that Grosswardein was not. to be subdued by the means which he possessed, and as he had caused it to be reported about Pesth that he had raised the siege and had gone to Szolnok with the view of succouring Buda, the Sirdár began to retreat. In consequence, however, of the rivulets everywhere having swollen into rivers from the late rains, the Páshá of Temesvar, Ismael Pásha, was instructed to advance and erect bridges for the army; but he did not erect even one; the army had, therefore, in consequence of this neglect, to do the best they could. They crossed no fewer than twelve rivers, three of which, however, had bridges over them, of the above description,

by means of rafts, and underwent immense difficulty and danger at every one which they crossed. Numberless poor animals perished in these waters, and the troops suffered most severely from cold. The flour which they carried along with them was spoiled, and caused disease among the men, and they were therefore obliged to throw it away. Their three pieces of ordnance they succeeded in getting across these rivers, by means of strong ropes; and Khaja Murád Páshá, who was beglerbeg of Diarbeker; Mohammed Páshá, beglerbeg of Aleppo; and Safi Sinán Páshá, in order to encourage the troops, put their own necks into yokes, and helped to drag them onwards. The distance between Grosswardein and Gala was about three days' journey, but required twelve days on this occasion to accomplish it, during the whole of which time they suffered a thousand difficulties. Hundreds of men were left on the road, by reason of cold and hunger, or sunk into the mud.

"The army was met by Iskander Beg, who was afterwards created Pasha, and the Ketkhodá of Teryéki, Hasan Páshá, in the plains of Gula, who confirmed the intelligence they formerly had received that Wesprim had fallen into the hands of the enemy, and earnestly requested the Sirdár to send off, as soon as possible, what succours he was able to the aid of those places which had been enabled still to hold out. The Sirdár gave him fine promises and sent him away next morning.

"The army moved from Gula (Julia) to Szolnok. At both these places they were obliged to pay a piece of gold for a loaf of bread. They expected that at the latter place, where they halted a whole day, boats with provisions would have been waiting for them; but in this also they were grievously disappointed. When the troops saw that no boats with provisions had arrived by the river Theiss (Tibiscus), they were roused into rage, and commenced a tumult. Some of the janissaries rushed upon the Sirdár's tent, and pulled it down about his head;

each of them had taken a piece of wood in his hand with which they so be-laboured the poor commander-inchief that he lay half murdered. They broke his skull with their bludgeons and his arm with a stone, and afterwards commenced the work of spoliation in his kitchen. It is certain that if some of the other officers had not come to his assistance, they would have cut him to pieces. The tent of the treasurer, Etimekjí Zádeh, shared the same fate: it was not only thrown down but robbed, and he himself only escaped with his life, which was entirely owing to the intervention of some of their superiors. They now abandoned the idea of proceeding to Buda. Towards evening the Sirdár was seen stepping round the tents, and seemed as if afraid and ashamed to enter his own.

"In consequence of all these disastrous events and distressing circumstances, the strong fortress of Buda was committed to God, and the Moslem army marched towards Segedin. Here they fortunately fell in with a number of boats loaded with provisions on the Theiss, when a distribution of provisions immediately took place, which refreshed and recruited the much-weakened strength of the army, at least in some degree.

"The accounts of the burning and destroying of the city or suburbs of Buda, and all the events which befel its inhabitants, must be reserved to a future chapter. In the meantime, however, the unfortunate Sirdár, pressed down and grieved with the misfortunes which had befallen his orthodox army, became quite changed in his constitution. His soul was vexed within him: his body became poor and lean; and in his broken-down condition he retired to Belgrade. His Royal Highness the Khan of the Crimea went to Sonbúr, and his troops went into winter quarters in the Sanjak of Segedin. The beglerbeg of Romeili was sent with the provincials to the Sanjak of Pechevi. The janissaries and other troops, after having been paid their arrears, were also sent into winter quarters.

The money necessary for paying these arrears had been borrowed from the rich men and merchants of Belgrade.

"These arrangements were no sooner over than a heavy fall of snow fell, and a most intense cold commenced. Thus ended this unfortunate campaign.”

CHAPTER XXII.

RECENT HUNGARIAN HISTORY.

At length the peace of Westphalia enabled Austria to turn the whole of her strength against the Turks, and step by step from this period up to the year 1718 after the victories of Eugene, Austria conquered, not only all Hungary, but a considerable portion of Servia. Now-adays it is the fashion of the ultra-Magyar organs, so to concoct their historical accounts, that this grand fact is conveniently ignored, but whoever chooses to take the common-sense interpretation of history, must see that Hungary was relieved from the Turkish yoke, not by the poor disinherited king of Hungary, but by the house of Habsburg, with the resources of the German empire at its back. All accounts of the last two centuries leave room for the possibility of no other opinion, as they were not concocted with the prospective object of a revival of Magyar supremacy over the other races and the disruption of the military integrity of the Austrian empire. Lord Bacon's account of the state of Europe under the article "Emperor," mentions, that the revenues and subsidies of Hungary do not pass 100,000 florins, while the last emperor solemnly affirmed that the charge of Hungary amounted to one million and a half. The same with the copious contemporary Dutch accounts ("Guerres de la Hongrie. A la Hâye, 1686."), and all others down to the record of my own humble tour, in the course of which, looking

through portion of the military archives of the fortress of Temesvar, I stumbled upon a bird's eye view and plan of the siege of that Turkish fortress by Prince Eugene's army, in which it was clearly shown by an unvarnished contemporary scientific and artistical document, how very small a proportion the Magyar bear to the other imperialist troops.

I say all this, not to impugn the courage of the Magyars-not from antipathy to the Magyar race, whose social qualities are more attractive than those of the Germans, but, in the interests of historical truth, and as a protest against that cooking of the historical accounts of the relations of Austria to Hungary, which characterises the productions of those unreasonable sticklers for those unfair pretensions of the ultra-Magyar faction, which have plunged the reasonable part of the nation into this abyss of suffering. As I have said in another lucubration, "The root of the tree of liberty in Hungary is the re-conquest of that country from the Porte, by the armies, generals and resources of the house of Austria. In Dalmatia, there are parties who can show the title-deeds of their landed property in the Bosniac part of the Ottoman empire, regularly signed, sealed, and delivered. The only flaw in them is some centuries of alienation; the only implement desiderated, possession. What is the value of these titledeeds in the money market? Much the same as the value of the Hungarian constitution, when a Turkish pasha was sitting in Buda.” And as for material civilisation, it was quite impossible, where not even a shadow of security existed for life and property.

A complete alteration took place in the appearance of Hungary in the eighteenth century; the marshes were drained, roads and bridges were made-towns and fortifications reconstructed, in all those portions of the territory, directly under the Austrian rule, and the Banat became superior to the other parts of Hungary, in consequence of its having remained so long unconnected with the civil administration of Hungary and directly under