HUNGARY 59 kindled by the activity of Francis Kazinczy and others, had prepared the nation for a struggle for constitutionalism and liberal re- forms, which Metternich, both under Francis and his imbecile son Ferdinand V. (I. as empe- ror of Austria, 1835-'48), was unable effectively to resist. The Hungarian constitution had du- ring the last few centuries undergone numerous modifications, without having at any period of its existence lost its vitality. As it was now, it was at the same time a charter of freedom, which shielded the people at large, and espe- cially the non-Catholics, against bureaucratic sway, and secured to the nobility the greatest degree of personal liberty and immunity en- joyed by any class in Europe, and on the other hand an instrument of oppression in the hands of the nobility against all plebeian inhabitants of the country, especially the peasantry, which was degraded by numerous feudal burdens. The nobles were free from every tax and per- sonal service, except in case of a hostile attack on the country itself, when they were obliged to rise in a body at their own expense ; they enjoyed all the privileges of the right of habeas corpus, governed the counties by their regular assemblies ("congregations"), elected magis- trates, and exercised the right of legislation by their deputies to the lower house of the diet. The higher nobility, or magnates, together with the chief dignitaries of the crown and the church, formed the upper house of the diet un- der the presidency of the palatine. The repre- sentation of the free royal towns was almost nominal. The diet was now regularly con- voked by the monarch at Presburg, at intervals not exceeding three years. Its duration was unlimited. The chief royal organs of general administration were the Hungarian aulic chan- cery at Vienna, and the royal council at Buda, whose decisions, however, very often met with opposition or delay in the county assemblies. This vis inertia of the latter was the principal check on all despotic or unconstitutional at- tempts of the Vienna ministry, while their pub- licity and jealously guarded freedom of debate were the chief elements of progress and politi- cal enlightenment. Gradually to abolish the im- munity of the nobles and the feudal burdens of the peasantry, to endow the great bulk of the people with political rights, and at the same time to fortify the old bulwarks of the consti- tution, now became the task of the patriots ; and the great movement offered the rare spec- tacle of an aristocracy contending for the abo- lition of privileges and the equality of the peo- ple. Paul Nagy and Count Stephen Szdchenyi were the champions of nationality at the diet of 1825, which inaugurated a long period of mod- erate but gradual reforms, the most important of which were carried through at the diets of 1832-'6, 1839-'40, and 1843-'4. The rights of the non-noble citizens, peasantry, and Jews, the equality of the Christian confessions, the official use of the Hungarian language, and the freedom of speech were extended, the majority of the educated lower nobility and a minority of the higher ardently contending against old abuses and aristocratic immunities, against bureaucratic despotism and religious intoler- ance. Among the leaders of the " liberal op- position " under Ferdinand were the members of the upper house Count Louis Batthyanyi and Baron Eotvos ; the deputies Deak, Beothy, Klauzal, Raday, Balogh, and Kubinyi ; the Transylvanian agitator Baron "Wesselenyi, and the publicist Kossuth. The cabinet of Vienna chose the last five as its victims, prosecuting them for treason, and imprisoning Wesselenyi and Kossuth for years. The old palatine Jo- seph, the uncle of the emperor, and the con- servatives under the lead of Szechenyi and oth- ers, in vain strove to check the agitation. It reached its culminating point when Kossuth, after a lively struggle, was elected as represen- tative of Pesth to the diet of 1847. A conflict with the government seemed imminent, when the general shock which followed the French revolution of February overthrew the rule of Metternich (March 13, 1848). Kossuth was greeted as liberator by the people of Vienna, and together with L. Batthyanyi intrusted with the formation of an independent Hungarian ministry by Ferdinand. Pesth had its revolu- tionary journee on March 15. Batthyanyi was president of the new ministry, Kossuth minis- ter of finance. Having enacted the abolition of feudality, a new election law, and various other radical changes in the constitution, the last diet of Presburg dissolved, the new na- tional assembly being appointed to meet in July at Pesth. The cabinet of Vienna com- menced its intrigues against the new order of things on the very day when it sanctioned it. Jellachich and others were sent openly or se- cretly to organize insurrections among the south- ern Slavic tribes and the Wallachs and Saxons in Transylvania, the diet of which proclaimed its reunion with Hungary. Every new mea- sure met with opposition or delay through the Vienna government or its tools. Negotiations had no result. The whole south of the coun- try was soon in a flame. Croatia and Slavo- nia proclaimed their independence of Hungary, and Ban Jellachich occupied the Littorale, and threatened to cross the Drave. Against all these contingencies the only resource of the government was its own zeal and the enthusi- asm of the people. Volunteer troops (honveds, defenders of the land) were raised in the coun- ties, contributions toward a national treasury were collected, and the militia was organ- ized. The diet assembled in July and voted extensive levies and ample means for defence, but Ferdinand refused to sanction its resolu- tions. The Austrian troops which were still sent against the insurgents were led by trai- tors. A serious attempt under Meszaros against the Rascians in Bacs (August) failed ; the new troops were slowly gathering. Jellachich finally crossed the Drave, and the Vienna gov- ernment, having reconquered Lombardy, threw
