We believe that inducements have been held out to butchers, in some of our great towns, to adopt the same practice: but we are sorry to add that we are still surpassed in mercy towards brute creatures by the inhabitants of Fez and Morocco.

At Bude, the author suspends his journal through Ch. IV. and V.`for above 100 pages. The capital, the principal scene of political transactions, reminds him of the constitution of the country. The subjects treated in these two chapters are the national dislike of the Hungarians to the Austrians-the Constitution-State of the Nobles, Citizens, and Peasants-the Urbarium-State of the Clergy-Innovations of Joseph 1I.-Ancient · Order restored-Transactions of the Diet of 1790-State of the Protestants-Population and Inhabitants-Revenue-Commerce and Military Force.

The basis of the Hungarian constitution is stated in the following terms:

The two greatest privileges of a people, those of legislation and taxation, are still in their hands; and the Sovereign has only a veto in the legislation. The choice of the Palatine, a kind of viceroy, from four candidates presented by the Sovereign, and the reception of strangers as denizens, are privileges likewise belonging to the people. But the King has the unquestioned right of deciding on war and peace; he has a veto in the legislation; the gift of the great offices in the church and state, those of the Palatine, and keepers of the crown, excepted: it is he who creates nobility; and coining, and pardoning criminals, are his prerogatives.'

But what is the nation?-Who constitutes the people?-To whom do these valuable rights belong? In this country, as in others where society is in its childhood, the nation, alas! is only the great aristocratic body of nobles and clergy; and the productive part of the community, the citizens and peasants, have few or no rights, and no interference in public affairs; yet must submissively bear all the burthens of the state.

As the peasants were, till 1785, under the gleba adscriptio, or in the state of villanage, they could never be considered as forming a part of the nation; and the deputies of the free towns being con sidered almost as intruders, it was, and still is, the aristocratic body which checks the power of the Crown; and it is this body that, according to the spirit of the Hungarian constitution, the Sovereign should consult with upon all important state affairs, by calling them together in a Diet.

This Assembly is composed of magnates, archbishops and bishops, lord lieutenants of the counties, abbots, prelates, deputies of the chapters, deputies from the counties, and deputies from the royal free towns.

The magnates were originally only the great officers of the Crown, as the Palatine, the supreme judge, the lord marshal, the great cup-bearer, the steward of the household, the master of the horse, &e. but now the princes, counts, and barons are considered

as

as such. Those who pretend to be acquainted with the true spirit of the constitution, regard the reception of the princes, counts, and barons, amongst the magnates, as an innovation. The eldest sons of this great nobility, with the two archbishops, diocesan and titular bishops, with the lord lieutenants of the counties, and keepers of the crown, constitute the first table, or upper house; and the lower house, or second table, is composed of the abbots and prelates, the deputies of the chapters, from each at least two; two or three deputies from each of the two-and-fifty counties in which this kingdom is divided, and a de puty from each of the royal free towns. If the free towns send more than one deputy, they have only one vote; it is so likewise with the deputies of the chapters; and if the members of the upper house cannot attend in person, their deputies sit in the lower house.'

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The nobility, which is composed of titled and untitled, the former of which may be considered as the real nobility, and the latter only as gentlemen, have the exclusive privilege of enjoying all the posts of honour, and of filling all the public offices, and are the exclusive owners of the soil, except what lies within the precincts of the free towns; and a burgher or a peasant may as well think of sessing the throne, as of possessing one inch of land, without being first ennobled. Their persons likewise are privileged, except in a few cases, as high treason, murder, &c. They cannot be arrested, till they have been legally tried and convicted. And the simplest kind of knight service is the only duty they owe the state. When suinmoned by their sovereign, they must defend their country. Their taking the field is called an insurrectio, and the high clergy are not exempt. This service, from the frequent wars in which Hungary was engaged, and principally against the Turks, was formerly a pretty severe obligation, for they served as a kind of barrier to the rest of Europe against this ferocious people. As long as the war continued within the limits of their country, they were obliged to maintain themselves; but when the war was carried on abroad, they were maintained by the sovereign. The number of combatants each brought into the field was proportioned to his estate. The archbishop of Gran and the bishop of Erlau brought each two stands of colours, and under each stand a thousand men; the archbishop of Collotza and several bishops a thousand each. In the fatal battle of Mohatch seven bishops were left on the field.'

The Hungarians, it seems, adhere pertinaciously to the principle of allowing the sovereign no supplies but through the legislature. Violations of this great security to freedom have actually been punished with just severity. Two noblemen, as Dr. T. has been informed, have been lately degraded, and declared infamous, for making som kind of subscription for the Emperor, their sovereign, towards carrying on the present

war.

After these statements, we meet with a translation of the Urbarium, and an act promulgated by Maria Theresa, in order to fix bounds to the rapacity of the landlord, by determining the dues of the peasant:

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By this ordinance the reciprocal rights of the peasants and their Landlords are determined, and it appears, that the Hungarian peasant pays to his lord, for twenty-five acres of arable land (each acre containing about twelve hundred square fathoms), and twelve days mowing of meadow land, a ninth of the produce of the soil, of the lambs, kids and bees, and about one hundred and eleven days labour, two shillings for rent, and three shillings for fowls, butter, &c.

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This I conceive to be no hard contract for the peasant. I have been informed by several great landed proprietors, that they did not. receive upon an average, taking all their dues together, more than equal to a gulden, or about two shillings English, for an acre. The hardship lies chiefly in the nature of the contract: this is a reciprocal hardship, as inconvenient for the landlord as for the peasant. chiefly arises from receiving labour for payment; yet this kind of payment is always used in similar cases, in the first stages of improvement. This compels the landlord to keep a great part of his lands in his own hands, to employ the labour of his peasants, however he may dislike rural economy. The law must entrust him, as I have lately said, with great authority over his peasants. He requires a great many stewards, bailiffs, and overseers to assist him, and to these he must delegate a part of this authority over them. From hence arise complaints from them, on the hardship of their fate, and of the severity of their masters; and from these no less complaints of the perverse, obstinate, idle, and discontented disposition of their peasants; who by not being interested in the labour they perform for their lords, first are slothful in the performance of this, and then through custom become slothful in their own: and thus a bad state of husbandry pervades the lands. A great landed proprietor in Bohemia assured me, that he found it much his interest, to accept of sixpence from his peasants who were obliged to work for him, instead of a day's labour; and give ninepence to others over whom he had no other authority than dismissing them from his service.'

Of the innovations attempted by Joseph II. we have also in this chapter a very distinct account. They are said to have been dictated by the best intentions; and the assertion is confirmed by internal evidence. The Emperor was however obliged to abolish all his regulations, except the suppression of villenage.

On the perusal of this part of the narrative, it will be difficult not to be attracted by the unfavourable political position of Hungary. In heterogeneous empires, the countries remote from the seat of government have commonly suffered most from oppression but the Hungarians enjoy privileges which that portion of their fellow subjects, among whom the common sovereign resides, do not claim. Hence the habitual state of the national mind will be a jealous fear of encroachment, strengthening that aversion from improvement which is so common among mankind. On the other hand, situations may easily arise, in which a burst of loyalty may reduce them to the level

of their neighbours' servitude for ever. Without doubt, had success crowned the imperial arms in the late contest with France, the head of the house of Austria would have found little difficulty in gradually training, or all at once breaking, this high-spirited people to the yoke.

Under the article Protestants, we are informed that

By a resolution of Theresa,. in 1749, it was ordered, that those who should leave the catholic persuasion, should be imprisoned for two years; and if within this time they should not return to the church, they should be sent to hard labour !!! But let it be known, for the honour of Hungary, that in the Diet of 1791, when the rights of the protestants were confirmed, exclusive of the clergy there were only eighty-four members who voted against them; though two hundred and ninety-one for them; of whom one hundred and eighty-one were Magnates, and the greatest part of them catholics. How great an honour is this spirit of toleration to the Hungarian nation!

This anecdote almost tempts us to believe that our corporation and test acts would have stood some chance of being repealed, if they could have been brought before an Hungarian assembly.) In p. 180, we have an extract from the funeral sermon of Father Coppi, on Count Rada, a Protestant, containing ardent wishes for his happiness in another world: but the censor, an exjesuit, ordered the passage to be altered or omitted, alleging that it was scandalous to utter such wishes in behalf of a Protestant who had shewn no signs of penitence.

Dr. T. offers some computations of the number of inhabitants in Hungary; whence it appears that they do not fall far short of 7 or 8 millions. The population is composed of several originally distinct tribes. These different people do not live promiscuously together, but separate; and in one district the traveller only meets with Hungarians, and in another district only with Sclavonians; it is likewise so with the Germans and Wallachians, as may be seen in the map that accompanies this work.'

According to the best estimates, the Hungarian revenue is about one-fifth of the whole Austrian revenue, while its popu lation is nearly one-third.

< Commerce and manufactures give now pre-eminence to nations; and a fertile soil and mines of gold, without national industry, with difficulty bear the burthens of a state. Commercial industry is here very low, and the patriots lay this to the charge of the court of Vienna: and it is true that the court of Vienna, not being able to draw the same resources in men and money, the two great requisites of war, which now constitute the greatest part of the expences of governments, from this part of its dominions as from its other less privileged, is little inclined to favour its commerce; par

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ticularly in articles which come in competition with those of its other provinces.

This is no doubt a principal cause of the public inactivity; but the Austrian government ought not to bear all the blame. Would it not be unreasonable to expect to find agriculture, manufactures, and commerce in a flourishing state, in a country so backward in its political institutions? But the Hungarians will not advert to this, nor reflect that national industry is the associate only of a particular stage of society, to which they are not yet advanced, which they may hasten or retard, by laying aside, or rigidly adhering to, institutions calculated only for infant societies.

But in Hungary how is the productive part of the nation considered? Where is the stimulus to activity? The cast of the peasants is but just emancipated from bondage, and still remains quite deprived of the right of possessing landed property; and the cast of the citi zens is not much better.

The ruling principle of the court of Vienna, it is true, is to consider this country as its magazine of raw materials; and as a consumer of its manufactures. Against this principle great complaints are justly made; but as it has no manafactures but of the coarsest kind, which are for home consumption, it is only felt as an evil preventing the rise of manufactures.

But the clogs that are put on the exportation of its natural produce, in which the riches of the kingdom and the revenues of its opulent land-holders consist, is an evil continually galling individuals. Wherever I went I was led into cellars full of wine, and into granaries full of corn, and I was shewn pastures full of cattle. If I felicitated the owners upon their rich stores, and of articles never out of fashion, I heard one common complaint-the want of a market, the want of buyers.

Some of its natural productions are rivals to the natural produce of other parts of the Austrian dominions, as its wines. The export ation therefore of this article is checked by imposts and customhouse formalities and expences.

The local situation of Hungary is unfavourable: it is chiefly surrounded with countries which stand in no need of its produce. It has fine rivers, but these run in a different direction from the course of its commerce, the Austrian provinces, which are the markets for four-fifths of its exportation; whilst they run toward Turkey. And land carriage is rendered very expensive by the badness of the roads, and territorial tolls; a thing severely felt upon raw produce.

An Hungarian writer says, that good wine which is bought for six shillings, has an additional expence upon it of eight shillings when it reaches the port of Trieste; and that corn which is bought for two shillings, an expence of six; tobacco that costs twelve shillings a hundred weight, likewise an addition of six.

The annual exports are above sixteen millions of guldens, or 1,600,000l. pounds sterling; and its imports eleven millions, or 1,100,000l. sterling; which gives a balance in favour of Hungary of half a million sterling."

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