Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 12.djvu/388

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374 HUNGARY [LANGUAGE. and direction of the army were assigned to the emperor-king. A responsible ministry, including Barons "Wenoklieim and Eb tvos, Count Miko, Melchior Lonyay, and others, was formed on the 20th February 1867, under the presidency of Count Andrassy. On the 8th of the following June the emperor and empress were crowned king and queen of Hungary at Budapest, and a complete pardon was proclaimed to all political offenders both at home and abroad. The reconciliation of the Magyars with the Hapsburg dynasty being thus complete, both parties sought to throw a veil over the past by mutual concessions. Transylvania was incorporated with Hungary Proper, and a joint commercial contract was entered upon between Hungary and Austria. In like manner foreign affairs and joint finance were assigned to "common ministries." On the 8th of August 1868 the Hunga: !an house of representatives accepted the dual Government military scheme, by which the standing army remained under the direction of the imperial ministry of war. The Homed (home defence) army obtained its own special organization and com mander-in -chief. The long-existing misunderstanding be tween Hungary and Croatia was at length settled by the agreement concluded in September, which placed the relations of Croatia to the Hungarian crown on a more equable footing than hitherto. After the passing of various other measures of reform, including the emancipation of the Jews, a compulsory education act, and a special act (November 29) for the consolidation of all nationalities under the crown of St Stephen, the session of the Hungarian diet was closed on the 10th December 1868. In the elections for the next session ( 1 869-72) the Deak party, which had taken the lead in the previous diet, were returned by a large majority, and in the new diet, opened April 23, 1869, the policy of concilia tion still prevailed. The ministry from time to time underwent certain modifications, owing to the death of Baron Eb tvos, the minister of education (February 1871), the appointment of Count Lonyay (May 1870) to the imperial ministry of finance, and his subsequent nomination to the presidency of the Hungarian council in the place 0f Count Andrassy, who in November 1871 succeeded Beust as foreign minister of Austria-Hungary. Meanwhile the finances of Hungary were becoming rapidly embarrassed owing to the repeated contraction since 1867 of enormous loans for state railways and costly public works. The elections of 1872 were, however, again favourable to the Deak faction. At the end of November Lonyay retired from the presidency of the ministry, and on the 1st December was succeeded by Szlavy, who in March 1873 obtained the consent of the diet to some additional taxes. In August the Military Frontier districts were placed under civil jurisdiction, the eastern portion or the Servian- Banat frontier being incorporated with Hungary Proper. The new cabinet was not more fortunate than that which had preceded it in a solution of the financial question, and in March 1874 made room for a coalition ministry under Bitto, with Ghyczy as finance minister. Upon its resignation in February 1875, in consequence of the refusal of the house to grant further taxation, a strong liberal combination was formed by Tisza from members of the left and of the former Deak party. The new ministry, under the presidency of Wenckheim (3d Maivh), was supported by an overwhelming majority in the elections for the new session (1875-78). On the 16th October Tisza, minister of the interior, was nominated president, and the financial difficulty was met by an advance in the income tax, and a fresh loan. The death of Deak on the 29th January 1876 cast a gloom over the whole country. For some time previously he had withdrawn from the field of politics, where less moderate but more distinctly Magyarizing tendencies now prevailed. By its resolutions of the 24th and 27th March 1876 the diet deprived "of their former privileges the so-called " Saxon " sees and districts in Transylvania. From these new counties were formed on the system adopted for the rest of Hungary, and were placed under the general administra tion. The number of royal free towns in Hungary was, moreover, much reduced, especially in the Transylvanian circle. The insur rectionary state of the Slavic provinces of Turkey excited the apprehensions of the Magyars with regard to the Slav races of southern Hungary, and aroused a strong feeling of sympathy for the Porte. This was still further increased by the attitude of Russia, and the cordiality towards the Magyars evinced by the sultan Abdul Hamid II., who in 1877 presented the university of Budapest with a portion of the remains of the library of Matthias Corvinus. During the course of the war between Turkey and Russia the Magyars were with difficulty restrained from open mani festations in favour of the former and against the latter power. Nevertheless, after the conclusion of peace, Hungary had, in con formity with the requirements of Art. XXV. of the Berlin Treaty (July 1878), to furnish her quota of troops for the occupation of Bosnia and the Herzegovina, a task effected only with a considerable loss of men, and an additional burden on the state finances. The diet having been closed by the king on the 30th June, the new elections were held at the time the struggle for the occupation of Bosnia was progressing. The popular excitement in Hungary Proper was very great, both on account of the losses suffered by the Hungarian troops and the destruction by a violent thunderstorm of the town of Miskolcz. On the 3d October Szell, minister of finance, resigned office ; other ministers also tendered their resig nations, but were induced to retain their posts for a time. In the elections the majority of votes had fallen to the Liberal or Govern ment party. On the 20th October the Hungarian parliament was opened, and at the beginning of December the reconstruction of the ministry was completed, the only new members being, for finance Count Szapary, and for commerce Baron Kemeny. On the 14th a sum of 20,000,000 florins was granted for the occupation expenses of the following year. Early in the spring of 1879 the attention of all parties was for a time distracted from political matters by the disastrous inundation of Szeged. At the beginning of May the friendly relations of the non-Magyar nationalities of Hungary, and more particularly of the Roumanians of Transylvania, towards the Magyars seemed to be endangered by the passing of the amended education bill ordering the state language to be taught in all the non-Magyar primary schools. The new law, as affecting many nationalities, is likely to have an important bearing on the future of Hungary. The urgent necessity for more extended river embankments and a better system of dykes and dredging in the water-coursed levels of the midland Trans-Tisian counties became more than ever apparent in De cember, when inundations of the triple Kerb s and the Maros submerged man} 7 villages, farms, and pasturages, devastated large portions of Nagyvarad (Grosswardein), Arad, and other low-lying communes, and rendered thousands of persons homeless. In March 1880 a loan of 40,000,000 florins was raised for the purposes of regulating the Theiss and the Maros, and of rebuilding and securing the town of Szeged. Bibliography. Besides the great historical works in the native language, by Szaluy, Jtfszay, Szilrfgyi, Count Telrki, and Michael Horva th, noticed under LITERATURE below, and the useful summary by Gideon Laddnyi. Magyaroritdy Tortenelme (Debrec/en, 18G7), we mention for those who are unacquainted with Hungarian Engel, Geschichte des vjigriscfien Reichs (Vienna, 1813-14, 5 vols.); Fessler, Geschichte der Ungarn und Hirer I.andsassen (3d ed., Leipsic, 18G7-G8, 5 vols.); Mailfjth, Geschichte der Magyaren (2d ed., Ratisbon, 1852-63, 5 vols.); the G .-rmnn edition of Szalay, by Wb gerer (Pest, 1870-75, 3 vols.); llorva th, Kurzgefasfte Gescfiichte Unyarns (Pest, 1863, 2 vols.). and Fiinfund- ziranzig Jahre ints der Gescliichte I ngams, 1823-48 (Leipsic, 18G7, 2 vols.), bth translated from the Hungarian ; and Hogge, Oesterreich ran Vilagos bis zur Geyemcart (Leipsic, 1872-73. 3 vols.). To these may be added- E. Szabad, Hungary Pant and Present (Edinburgh, 1854) ; E. L.Gpdkin. History of Hungary and the Magyars (London, 1853) ; Sayous, ffistoire Ge nt rale des Honyroit (Paris, 1S7G, 2 vols.). and ffistoire dis ffongrois et de leur Utterature poHtiqu de 1790 or 1815 (Paris, 1872). For the revolutionary period see Genl. Gorgei, My Life and Acts in Hungary (Londun, 1852, 2 vols.), and Genl Klapka, Memoirs (London, 1850, 2 vols.), both translated fiom the German; and iSzi incre, Hungary from 1848 to 1800 (London. I860). See also A. J Patterson, Tlie Magyars, their Country and Institutions (London, 1869, 2 vols.), and the anonymous Francis Deak, a Memoir (London, 1880). III. LANGUAGE. The Magyar or native Hungarian language is of Asiatic origin, belonging to the northern or Ural-Altaic (Finnic-Tataric) di vision of the Turanian Family, and forming along with the Ugro- Ostiakian and Yogul dialects the Ugric branch of that family. The affinity existing between the Magyar and the Finnic languages, first noticed by John Amos Comenius (Komensky) in the middle of the 17th century, 1 and later by Olav Budbeck 2 , Leibnitz 3 , Strahlenberg, 4 Eccard, Sajnovics 5 , and others, has been proved "grammatically" by Samuel Gyarmathi, in his work entitled Affiniias linguce IJun- garicce cum linyuis Finnicce originis grammatics dcmonstrata (Gottingen, 1799). The Uralian travels of Anthony Eeguly (1843- 45), and the philological labours of Paul Hunfalvy and Joseph Budenz, may be said to have established it as an almost incontro vertible fact. The chief points of resemblance to Turco-Tataric and Mongolia dialects have been specially treated by Arminius Vambery (1870) and Gabriel Balint (1877), the well-known recent travellers in Central Asia. Kb rosi-Csoma for many years zealously but unsuccessfully sought after traces of the origin of the nation and the language in Tibet. His grammar and dictionary of Tibe tan, published by the Asiatic Society in 1834, have, however, earned for him a lasting name. The theory of Paul Beregszaszi that the Magyar is related to many of the so-called "Oriental" languages 6 has now few supporters. Although for nearly a thousand years established in Europe and subjected to Aryan influences, the Magyar language has yet retained its essential Turanian features, and the etymology and syntax still preserve these as their chief characteristics. The grammatical forms are expressed, as in Turkish, by means of affixes modulated according to the high or low vowel power of the root or chief syllables of the word with which they are connected, the former being represented 1 Sec Hunfalvy s Die ungarische Sprachwissenschaft," Literarische Berichte aus Ungarn, Budapest, 1877, pp. 80-87. 2 Specimen ufus lingua? Gothicce in eruendis atque iUustrand/s obscurissimis quibusdam Sacra 1 Scripturrz locis addita analogia lingua; Gothicce cum Sinica, necnon Finnicce cum i nyarica, Upsala, 1717. 3 Hunfalvy, p .81. 4 Id., pp. 82-86. 5 Demonstratio Liioma Uvgarorum et Lapponum idem esse, Copenhagen unct Tyrnau. 177n. " 6 Ueher die AehnUchlM der hlingarlichm Sprache mil den Aforgcntandischen,

Leipsic, 1796.