THE RACIAL QUESTION IN HUNGARY.* WE advise every one who
reads Mr. C. M. Knatchbull-
• Hugessen's book to read also that of "Scotus Viator" (Mr. R. W. Seton-Watson), which comes very opportunely as an undesigned answer to it. The question of supreme importance for Hungary is whether the Law of the Nationalities is' to be respected, or broken in almost every detail as it iA at present ; and this question, as Mr. Seton-Watson urges with much force, concerns not only Hungary, but all Europe, as the Balkan problem pivots on the ambitions of the Slavonic peoples. Mr. Knatchbull-Hugessen in his two • handsome volumes states the case for Magyarising the whole of Hungary as clearly as, we believe, it could be stated, It is just con- ceivable that the principles , which underlie the theory of turning Serbs, Croats, Ruthenes, and Slovaks into Magyars might be justified in practice, It all depends on the practice. The practice is the one fact on which thoughtful Englishmen wish to inform themselves now, and-we are bound to say that, in spite of the industry and usefulness of much of * (1) The Political Evolution of the Hungarian lfatien. By tho Hon. C. H. Knatolibull.Hugessen. 2 vols. London The Natitntat Relli0111 Office. [15s. riet.]—(2) /facial Problems in IlaInuary. By Scotus Viator. With Illustra- tions and a Map. London A. Constable itud Co. [Ns, net.]—(3) The Development of Hun forum Constitutional Liberty. By Count Julius Andra/my. Translated from the Hungarian by C. Arthur and Ilona Gillen:Jr. London Kogan Paul, Trench, and Co. [7s. lid. net :I
Mr. Knatchbull-Hugessen's history, it fails us after a certain point. When it cOmes to the modern application of a theory carefully, and we 'believe accurately, traced through the generations we are put off with generalisations, whereas " Scotus Viater's " book is extraordinarily, as the French say, clocumente. He gives us the very words in which the State trials of non-Magyar politicians have been conducted, and the articles and speeches for which they have been prosecuted, or in which they defended themselves. Our readers ate familiar with the moving and detailed narrative of the persecutions at Usernova as it was related in the Spectator by "Scotus Vigor," and that was only the most flagrant example of methods which have been, and are being, widely employed. This is how Mr. Knatchbull-Hugessen writes of this same subject :— " British publics opinion has, apparently, arrived at the con- clusion that the Magyars are consistently guilty of the employ- ment of methods of barbarism in their treatment of subordinate races. Trial by newspaper, condemnation without investigation, are such labour-saving processes that their employment is naturally popular, more especially when the means of forming a considered opinion are not easily accessible. The Magyars are themselves largely to blame for the fact that judgment has been allowed to be passed on them on the ex parte statements of sell- interested agitators and of humanitarian philosophers, and that they are left to console themselves with the conviction that 'the abuse of which they are made the-target is begotten of ignorance of actual facts, of past history, and of the vital considerations of national expediency. The problem presented 'by the persistenee of minor nationalities is not confined to Hungary, but affects a large part of Europe, from Ireland to Bessarabia, and the measure of the abuse lavished by the spectator of the process of absorption, which is going on as slowly and as surely now as in the past, is in inverse proportion to the magnitude of the absorbing nation. What Russia does, and has done with impunity, would have evoked the thunders of Exeter Hall if perpetrated by a weaker country. Wreschen passes almost unperceived, while a petty Slovik village earns European notoriety through the disturbances resulting from the dismissal of a disorderly priest." .
We do not suppose that Mr. Knatchbull-Hugessen thinks "Scotus 'Viator" to be a "self-intereEited agitator," so he must
clots him Under the' head of "humanitarian philosophers." Yet"thie " hurnantarian philosopher" tells us that he went to Hungary strongly prepossessed in favour of the 'conventional Magyar point of view, and that it was only reluctantly and slowly that he was compelled wholly to change his opinions. At Csernova an unpopular prelate was sent to consecrate a new church which the Slovak parishioners had built entirely out of their own savings. They desired that their own Slovak priest, Father Hlinka, who was awaiting trial on a political
charge, should be present at the ceremony, or at least should be tried and know his fate before the opening of the church which was the fruit of his efforts. But the consecration was forced on by the civil authorities, and there is no doubt that one of the excited villagers threw a stone which slightly injnred a gendarme. What was the sequel P The gendarmes 'fired on the crowd, without even attempting to quell the disorder by gentler means, and fifteen persons were killed or died of their wounds and about 'sixty wounded. Eighteen f the survivors were arrested on the charge of complicity in the " revolt," and a total of over thirty-six years' imprison- ment was imposed on these unhappy peasants I It is really necessary to ask whether such things are explained or con: doned by talking about a "disorderly priest." We fear that Mr. Knatelibull-Hugessen's phrase "the persistence of minor nationalities" is ominous. No State can prosper in the long run which refuses to placate a large part of its constituents, but endeavours to intimidate them into being a miserable imitation of soinething which they are not.
Palacky, the Czech historian, remarked that the establish: ment of the Magyars was the most fatal blow Slavdorn had 'reaeived during an existence of several thousand years. But Slavdom, in spite of the blow, is as much alive' as ever, and, indeed, at this moment shows more signs of vitality than for a long time past. The question cannot be repeated too often : Does the dominant Magyar caste seriously mean to Claim indefinitely the gentle name of Liberal while doing a crying injustice to Slavdom by violent absorption and thi denial of elementary rights P Mr. Knatchbull-Hugessen really diverts the reader's intention by praising the splendid efforts' of the 'Magyars towards securing their Constitution, and then tacitly, as it were, passing on the admiration he has exacted to the continued and modern exaltation of the Magyar idea. We are all Magyars up to a certain point. We all cherish in memory the fine struggle against absolutism of Sz6chenyi, and Kossuth, and Desk, and there may be some still living who heard Kossuth plead the cause of hie country in England in the English of Shakespeare and the Bible. Moriamur pro nostro rege was in those days the Just and patriotic motto of men conscious at once of their rights and their nationality. What we do desire to see is a sign that those who were once oppressed will not finally confess themselves oppressors. It is rather discouraging to the English student of European affairs to notice that such people as the Magyars of Hungary and the Poles of Galicia are unable to give to subordinate races the sympathy which they once craved and obtained for themselves.
Knatchbull-Hugessen laments the ignorance of English- men about Hungary, and points out repeatedly that it is an error to suppose that Hungary received her Constitution from the Golden Bull, or even from the Pragmatic Sanction or the Compromise of 1867. But, really, ignorance on such points matters little except to the pure historian. It does matter very much, and in a very practical and human way, that the ancient Constitution should be used by a particular ascendency to humiliate the non-Magyar population; and it is clear that the ordinary Englishman who knows little of history, but, studies his newspaper thoughtfully, will soon cease to share the annoyance of Magyars at the prejudice and intolerance with which Hungarian affairs are regarded in Vienna, and will turn his dislike on the Magyars themselves owing to the still greater prejudice and intolerance they manifest in their own country.
The bitterest enemy of the Magyar language, Joseph II., was the first to submit to the necessity of addressing his subjects in that tongue, and the Magyars should not forget the pregnant lesson of that irony. It cuts both ways. The noblest of Austrian Monarchs, Maria-Theresa, found that the Hungarians responded readily to a gentle and chivalrous treatment. They could be led, but not driven ; and that fact, too, has its lesson. The record of the executions of Magyar leaders in the early years of the present Emperor Francis Joseph will cause the reader to give all the sympathy to Hungary vis-a-vis with Austria which Mr.Knatchbull-Hugeesen solicits; but we repeat that this should not make us blindly continue the sympathy to the Magyars, who use their new strength as strength was once used against them,—not so bloodily, indeed, but with the same pitiless spirit. It may be said that Kossuth himself, Elie many other leading Magyars, Preached the idea of a Magyar ascendency over the other nationalities as the only feasible means of achieving a cohesive nationality. But in exile Kossuth counselled tolerance and Comprehensiveness, and Devik, of course, was always more moderate than Kossuth. The principle of Megyarisation is
expressed in the following passage perhaps as briefly as anywhere in Mr. Knatchbull-Hugessen's book :—
"There never has been any recognised citizenship in Hungary but Magyar citizenship. Though from time to time the Habs- burgs encouraged the separatistic tendencies of the Serb, the Croat, the Saxon, and the Slovik, the fact remains that from the time of St. Stephen to the present day there has been and is no territory in Hungary but the territory of the Sacred Crown, and no political rights save those conferred by membership of that Crown. Austria made a last attempt to produce a mongrel federalism in Hungary in 1861, and now itself suffers from the poison of particularism and nationalistic antagonism which the Habsburgs so long tried to infuse into Hungary for their own Purposes."
Mr. Knatchbull-Hugessen writes of the Slovaks, who are
the most oppressed people in Hungary, as though they could have no real right to equality with the Magyars because they are unlearned. "Not until 1850," he says, "was there a Slovak grammar." We can only say that none of his reasons 3ustifie5 the violation of Lord Acton's principle that a State which cannot satisfy different races condemns itself, and that if it labours to neutralise, absorb, or expel them it destroys its Own vitality. Are people who have no grammar, or a new *Ile, less sensible to subjection than others ? We might summarise Mr. Knatchbull-Hugessen's proposition by saying that it amounts to this: that a characteristically Slav federation in Austria-Hungary would be in strong sympathy With Russia, and would drive the Germans of Austria into the arms of Germany. And once Germany and Russia were face to face there must be a conflict, or a compromise which Would mean the partition of South-Eastern Europe, and which the rest of Europe could not prevent. Naturally we range ourselves on the side of Mr. Knatchbull-Hugeesen in desiring peace above all things, but we cannot believe that it will be preserved by the suppression of Slavonic sentiment, which has displayed itself so remarkably in the last few months. We believe just the reverse. The old Pan-Slavism no longer exists, but the newer and looser form of Slavonic affinity is fuller of possibilities.
We have said less of "Scotus Viator's" book than of the other, not by any means because we think it less important, but because, we have always taken, if not his view of the Hungarian race conflict, at any rate a view analogous to it. We do not necessarily accept everything that he says, because there is much exaggeration everywhere in Hungary, and, as be would admit himself, it is not always possible to determine the exact degree of truth. But we may say briefly that his detailed statements on behalf of the non- Magyar, and particularly on behalf of the Slovak, population are much the most notable record of Magyar injustice that has ever been published. The chapters on the arts and accomplishments of the Slovak peasants, together with the illustrations of them, will be a revelation to many of bia readers. They show tender feeling and high and delicate imagination. It will be interesting to see what the Magyars will say now that "Scotus Viator" has declared his identity. Their wild guesses at it are very amusing reading. Will they believe now in the reality of that characteristic British phenomenon, the intelligent man who travels merely to inform himself without serving any kind of selfish purpose whatever ?
We cannot do more than mention the third book before us, Count Julius Andrassy's Development of Hungarian Constitu- tional Libertv. It treats of the period from the entry of the Hungarians into what is now known as Hungary to the end of the reign of Matthias II. ; in other words, from 896 to 1619 A.D.
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