English
horses were brought over to improve the breed in Hungary, and English
agricultural machinery still turns out treasure-trove from our fields.
But beyond all this, what we saw and admired in England's history was
her constitutional struggles for liberty; the efforts made by freedom
within the pale of the law; her capacity, in short, for self-reform. You
see how it is, my dear sir, that everything English is so popular with
us in Hungary."
I bowed my acknowledgments, and begged my friend to proceed with his
narrative of events.
"Well, to go back to our own history," he continued, in a tone which had
in it a shade of melancholy, "you see from 1823 to the eve of 1848 the
Diet had been tinkering at reform in a half-hearted sort of way, but the
Paris revolution let loose the whirlwind, and events were precipitated.
I need not tell you there was a standing quarrel between us and the
reactionary rulers in Vienna. It was the deceitful policy of Austria to
bring about a temporary show of agreement between us. The Archduke
Stephen was appointed Viceroy, assisted by a council composed entirely
of Hungarians. Now mark this turning-point in our history. The first Act
of this Diet, presided over by Count Batthyanyi, was to abolish at one
sweep the class privileges of the nobility. Roundly speaking, eight
millions of serfs received their freedom by that Act! Nor was this all,
the important part remains to be told--and I do not think foreigners
always realise it--the Act further enforced that the session-lands held
by the peasants became henceforth _their freehold property_.
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