CHAPTER IX THE IMMIGRANTS-Continued The reforming influence which the loud voice of Luther produced, was soon felt from one end of Europe to the other. The thunder which shook one old foundation to its base, cleared also the moral atmosphere in which men me breathed and lived. Even those lands over which it did not pass, but which heard the rolling only from afar, felt the purifying influence of the storm. The whole being of the inhabitants was refreshed, and derived from it invigoration. In Transylvania, men looked up and listened; they heard the reverberations borne over their mountains, and, at first in low murmur only, sweeping across the plains. The sounds grew stronger and lingered in the vales, and echoes arose which told that the motive power had not been lost in traversing so vast a space. Thus the Reformation, as might be expected, found ready acceptance among the Saxon population of Transylvania; for men who politically had so early emancipated themselves from unnecessary restriction, and were clear-sighted enough to comprehend the true relative position of subject and ruler, would hardly long submit to walk in leading-strings, even though held by the Church. Those, too, who are in the habit of accounting to themselves for appearances, and of endeavouring to comprehend what they see, will strive for clearness, not in one direction only, but in all. The Hungarians and Szeklers inclined to the doctrines of Zwingli and Calvin; many, also, followed those of Socinus. The various churches arose without bickerings or jealousy, and in three several parliaments it was ordained that every man was free to follow the creed he preferred, and that each of the four religions was to enjoy equal rights with the others. Thus the charge which elsewhere caused such commotion, occurred here without a struggle. Ferdinand (1542-1556) now attempted to secure his Rights, and again the land was disturbed by war. But Austria was slow to help those baffling for her supremacy; she was spendthrift of promises and assurance of gratitude, besides these she gave little. The Saxons, always waiting for the support which was to come, remained true, and invariably suffered accordingly. Their towns were besieged, fines levied on their communities; and it cannot fail to surprise him who reads their history, that they should have been able to answer the requirements which now a foe, now an ally, made upon them. At one time there is Queen Isabella "borrowing" 4000 florins; at another, Hermannstadt pays 52,000 florins taxes; or 15,000 ducats are sent by the Queen to the Grand Vizier as a bribe. Ali Pasha now demands 500,000 thalers as tribute, or Kemény or Bethlen or some other Hungarian chief levies ten or twenty thousand ducats as a punishment. Small towns like Schässburg, even, gave enormous sums. There was no end to the demands, and seemingly no end to Saxon resources. They furnished cannon, powder, wagons, arms, provender, bread, meat, and wine. In reading of the stores thus provided, of the money in gold and silver delivered within a few hours after the exaction was made, we are at a loss to comprehend how so much property was acquired. But it was there, and the others knew it.1 When Sigismund died, Stephen Báthori was elected ruler of Transylvania. But, as usual, another candidate arose; and, even though supported by Austria, the Hungarians and Szeklers went with him, in opposition to the rightful prince. It is quite incredible how, with them, greed for power was always active in promoting a contest for its possession, and, irrespective of the means, blinding them to all save the one dazzling prize. The presence of the Jesuits in the land threatened danger to Protestantism; and later, also in 1580, an attempt was made by the Hungarian nobles to deprive the Saxon clergy of the greater part of their tithes, and in which, but for the high sense of justice of Christopher Báthori, who succeeded his brother, they would have been I successful. "It is not allowable," he said, "to falsify2 the compacts which our pious ancestors have made; neither may any man be robbed of his income without a just cause." Later, however, when his treasury grew empty, the proceeds of the tithes were taken "as a loan;" moneys, however, were never returned, and what is worse, a tax thus temporarily imposed and voluntarily submitted to, grew into a usage, and became a burden and a source of persecution, weighing on the Saxons for several hundred years. Till now they had judged all cases by what they called the law of custom, according to the comprehension and understanding of the judge. But the necessity of a written code, definite in its meaning, became perceptible, and fitting men set about the work. When completed, it was carried to the King, at Cracow, who, by his seal and signature, acknowledged its validity, and made it the law of the whole Saxon land. The introduction was a great advantage, for to Saxon inhabitants and on Saxon soil it afforded protection and ensured justice. But a want was still unsupplied, which, moreover, there was little hope of satisfying. This was a strong executive in the land, -a power whose authority enforced acknowledgment and respect. But where was it to be found? The elected ruler, even if left in quiet possession of his throne, was weak when opposed to the united nobles of the realm, who, unused to submission, refused always to obey. Such was not the dependence of their false notions of what they called "independence." They deceived themselves; it was not dependence they so feared, but order. The Saxons suffered greatly by this state of things. They were exactly in the same position with regard to a supreme authority as the whole land now is with respect to a supreme court of law. The executive power, swayed by circumstance, could not act as it ought. The highest judicial authority, governed by various considerations, is not to be relied on. Now we all know there is nothing more fraught with evil than illusory appearance. But as the Hungarians and Szeklers, by their opposition, kept their ruler weak, instead of, by obedience to the law, making him and their country strong; in like manner, the Roumains of to-day have done their utmost to defeat the intentions of Government on the question of a High Court of Appeal, - preferring to keep it in the province instead of removing it to the capital of the empire, away from national prejudices and partiality.3 It is these continual jealousies and constant vaingloriousness, which have hindered and do still hinder the welfare of the country. The absence of a strong government was one reason why trade decayed. Before the discovery of a passage to India by the Cape, the Danube and the countries near it were the great thoroughfare for merchants trading to the East. But though this had now ceased, there were other fields for enterprise if anything had been done to afford the merchant necessary protection, In 1583, the whims of Sigismund Báthori again plunged the land in war. Towns and villages were burning in all directions. At last came the Imperial troops, and there was a respite for awhile. But the soldiery was as dangerous to friend as foe; they roved through the land, pillaging and wasting as they went, and their steps were everywhere marked by blood. Pestilence and hunger carried off thousands of the inhabitants; immense sums were paid now by this town, and now by that, to appease the wrath of a victorious leader. Carnage, robbery, and devastation reigned paramount. The land was literally reeking with blood and incendiarism; the cattle were gone, and men harnessed themselves to the plough to till the wasted land. Famine prices were everywhere, and the old chronicles relate that men ate the flesh of executed criminals to appease their hunger. And all this misery Sigismund Báthori had brought upon his country by his reckless ambition. As to Vienna, it might as well have been beyond the Atlantic for the help it gave. To the Imperial government Transylvania must have seemed a point that was unreachable, for they never knew what was doing there, and when aid was sent it always come too late. The notions at head-quarters respecting this dependency were apparently as confused as in the West many on the same subject are still. Allegiance was demanded, but nothing was done to ensure it, and the result was that Transylvania became definitely subject to Porte. In 1608, Gabriel Báthori was chosen prince, -"Transylvania's Pestilence," as the old chroniclers name him, the "Madman," as he was called by the Turks. He was a very Nero, regardless of law and of humanity, whose chief joy was to inspire fear and dread. From the Saxon citizens he literally pressed their last florin, either as a contribution to his treasury, or to avert some threatened chastisement. But at last this reign of terror was to end. Gabriel Bethlen went to Adrianople to complain, and the Sultan deposed the tyrant, and sent an army to place Bethlen in his stead. Skender Pasha marched through the Iron Gates; and Báthori, deserted now by the Hungarian nobility, on whom he had also placed his heel, fled to Gross Wardein. A short time after, he was assassinated in the street, just as he had given orders to murder the remaining inhabitants of Hermannstadt, and not even to spare a child. The difference between the late and the present ruler was indeed great. Bethlen's reign was blessing-laden. He fostered literature and science, he formed commercial treaties, and strove to introduce into his country the culture of the West. Skilful workmen were sent for from Italy; and from Germany he called learned men, to teach in his schools. More than twenty youths studied in one year at his expense at Heidelberg University, and in his will be bequeathed 47,000 thalers for the school which he had founded. He protected the liberties of the Saxons clergy, and assured them the full possession of their titles. He died, to the regret of all, and his brother, though unable to get into his place, still tried to obtain influence in the government, and sent to George Rákotzi I. an offer of his aid in acquiring the princely power. A bribe of 7000 florins given by Kemény, Rákotzi's friend, assured his election. The man was avaricious, and employed his power to gratify his love for money. He forced Hermannstadt to "lend" him 6000 florins; the year after, he took 4000 florins of the clergy, and the town was obliged to pay a heavy fine because it had demurred at receiving him within its walls, attended as he was by a body of armed retainers, though such an act was contrary to Saxon privilege. Degenerate rulers, bad government, constant strife seem to have had a baneful influence on all, Saxon communities not excepted. The Hermannstadt citizens were not what they had been, and in the magistracy aspects especially were evidences of decay. Instead of fighting their battles with the constancy of old, they sought to win them by fair words, and by satisfying Rákotzi's lust for gold. And they signed an agreement to pay him 10,000 florins in cash, to cede several of then possessions, to deliver to him one of the town-gates, with arms and stores belonging to it, as often as he might come, and, should need be, to give up even the whole of the town. Formerly, when no Turk or Tartar foe invaded country, and actual war was not going on at home, contention ceased, and the inhabitants lived together in peace; but later it was different. Jealousy of the Saxon grew from year to year, and constant was the endeavour to sap the foundations of the strong wall of rights which he had raised around him for a protection. Again, under Rákotzi's grandson, the attempt was made, and by changing the words of certain clauses in the Saxon charter and leaving out others, the Hungarian and Szekler party of the representative assembly, hoped to weaken their position; but the Saxons perceived the change and its drift, and insisted on the very words which were in their bond. They had also to fight for immunities, without which they would have been in the same dependent position as the Hungarian serf. The enormity of the attacks roused them however at last, and made them united and resolute. That these men should possess such vested rights and privileges is what the Hungarian nobles could and would not understand, and, save their own, would fain have abolished all prerogative. But now other battles were to be fought, and the land again was to mourn. Rákotzi longed for the Polish crown, and went to war against the Sultan's will. From Constantinople orders came that the prince should abdicate, and Franz Rhedei took his place. The Grand Vizier marched with 100,000 men to the frontier, the Tartar Khan, the Pasha of Silistria, the Vayvode of Moldavia and Wallachia, all poured with endless hordes into the Burzenland, and flaming villages announced their approach. The inhabitants were bound and sold; and four horseshoes purchased a young child. The prisoners who remained were either killed or dragged into slavery. In a few weeks 150,000 men had been sacrificed; 800 boys were sent to the Grand Vizier as a present. But Rákotzi would not cede his pretensions. "As sure as God lives," He exclaimed, "I will yield in nothing; and though the land be a desert, I will not cease my striving. If I cannot be prince, no other shall be so either; and though I sit but a month on the throne, I will still go on!" The province was now to pay the Porte 40,000 ducats yearly as tribute, and a penalty of 500,000 thalers as a punishment. Hermannstadt fell, and 1500 janissaries and 500 Turkish horse entered her gates, -that town which had once been a Christian stronghold against the power of the Infidel. Now Rákotzi reappeared, and besieged the wretched town in his turn. But it is almost impossible to paint all the horrors which weighed on Transylvania; whole towns became a heap of smouldering ashes. One pasha and now another marched through it, to be followed by the raging Rákotzi, who in his disappointed ambition showed no mercy. Name follows name in quick succession; new we hear of Apaffi, now of Teleki, and no one could foresee how or when all this woe would end. At last, however, the day of salvation came. The forces of the Sultan had been annihilated before Vienna, and Apaffi resumed negotiations with Austria, which he had begun some time before. In June, 1686, he signed a secret treaty, which placed Transylvania, under the protection of the Holy Roman Emperor and the King of Hungary. To the province was guaranteed the free election of its princes, and the promise given to free it as soon as possible from tribute to the Turks. Liberty of conscience was allowed; church and school property were to be respected, and the four creeds to have equal rights. And now the Imperial troops came into the land. A month afterwards Ofen was taken by assault, and thus the Infidel oppressor, who for so long had his foot upon Christian necks, was driven from Hungary by the German. <--117 --> There was now, at last, promise of peace. For a moment only civil broils threatened, when, at Apaffi's death, Tököly endeavoured to usurp the princely power and set aside Apaffi's son, who was rightful and acknowledged heir. He crossed the mountains with Turks, Wallacks, and Hungarians, and the Crescent was again in the ascendant, for in the first battle the Imperial troops gave way. But Ludwig of Baden came to the rescue, and the usurper was driven back into Wallachia. Transylvania's sons have at all times worked her worst woe by their ambition. As soon as peace was definitely restored, that treaty -the Leopoldian diploma- which assured safety to Transylvania, and liberties and rights, was drawn up and ratified. To that land it was what the Magna Charta was for England. It was liberal and just in the highest degree. Yet, as usual, the burdens of taxations fell heavily on the Saxon population; they were wealthy because their affairs were well ordered, yet at last even thrift and industry could not stand against such constant pressure. They had clung to Austria with unwavering fidelity, and wished for her supremacy, but there was no end to the imposts which were levied, now in one form, now in another. Besides this, other abuses were to be endured which the presence of the army occasioned, -presents to the officers, rations for their horses, and "equivalents" for lodgings, which they might have occupied, but did not. It was a heavy dispensation, and occasioned great affliction. In order to meet the demands made upon them, the Saxon communities were now forced to incur debts, and for the moneys lent usurious interest was demanded. The Hungarian nobles, exempt as they were from all taxation, were generally the lenders. The lawful interest, ten per cent, satisfied no one now, and all enactments to restrict usury were in vain. For the loan of 100 florins, Sigismund Nagy was paid yearly the work of twenty ploughs and sixty men. For 18,000 florins Bistritz gave Graf Banffi, besides ten per cent. interest, 150 mowers for six days, and thirty vine-dressers for the same time; one vineyard was besides also to be cultivated, 4000 sheaves of corn were to be reaped and bound up, fifty barrels of lime delivered for his use, and twenty-four horses and twelve grooms kept free from the Feast of St. Michael to the Feast of St. George. Heavy as these dues were, they might at an earlier period have been rendered easily; but now everywhere were untilled farms, or their buildings burnt down. In Schässburg district were 704 such estates lying fallow, and 324 which had been destroyed by fire. In Leschkirch, 636 lay waste. In Hermannstadt 1175 farms had been deserted and 84 given up to the flames. Such was the distress, that at the end of the seventeenth century freemen have been known to implore their creditors to take them and wife and child as serfs, in order to cancel a debt of 100 Hungarian florins. The land, already so fruitful, had been plentifully manured with blood, and, as soon as the husbandman had time to sow it again, yielded in abundance. Peace, durable peace, alone was wanting to restore the former joy and former prosperity. And this blessing a victory of Prince Eugene over the Turks ensured (September,1697). The battle of Zenta broke their power, and Transylvania ceased henceforward to be tributary to the Porte. It became again, by treaty, a part of the kingdom of Hungary, whose monarch now was Archduke of Austria and Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. In the Austrian Crown are many jewels, but there is none of greater worth than the pearl which thus was set in the venerable old diadem. For all parties in the land this fixed state of things, putting an end at once to strife about succession to power, was an incalculable boon, but to none more so than to the German inhabitants. What the vitality of this little band of men must have been, flung as they were like a waif on a foreign shore, the events we have here followed sufficiently show. It is only surprising they did not utterly perish. And as they tilled the ground, and made a waste fruitful, so on the very confines of civilized Europe they planted free institutions, and reared them till they grew strong. To them the people, among whom their lot was cast, owe more than they can repay; for it was they who introduced, and made known, and continued to maintain, those just notions of liberty the advantages of which all participate in to-day. Yet side by side with freedom they always upheld lawful authority, and bowed to its commands. The settlements of these immigrants were so many centres of civilization in a land where, as yet, there was none. For by that word I understand order, obedience, moral law. A friend related to me lately his visit to a Calmuck prince, residing on the banks of the Volga thirty years ago. On leaving the steamer, he was received in great state; the saddles of the horses were from England, the carriages and the harness too. All the furniture in his palace, the silk stuffs, etc., were from Paris. The dinner was served on silver plate, and the rarest wines of Europe were on the table. The splendour and hospitality were royal. But this was not civilization. In an English peasant's cottage was more real civilization than in the palace of that powerful chief. And this opinion will explain my appreciation of the several conditions which, here in Transylvania, the different people made their standard. The Hungarian and Saxon different in their conception of freedom and royalty. The former loved liberty, undoubtedly; but he attached to the word, and, I fear, does so still, a meaning different to what Englishman do. We, also of a Saxon stem, find freedom in self-imposed restriction, and in obedience to authority. So did the German immigrants. The nobility -for the others had no voice, and the nobles in reality were the nation -considered it to be simply unrestraint. At the Landtag, or great council of the nation, they did as they liked with the laws; and, as to the king, they supported him only as long as he did not interfere with them. If he attempted to control them, they accepted any aid, home or foreign, of Christian or Infidel, to dethrone him, and set up another, more tractable, in his place. They did not mind dependence, if it ensured their power. Now, on the other hand, submission and fidelity to their rulers are essential qualities of the German, and which he has often carried even to excess. As a natural consequence, the more ground the nobles gained against monarchy, the more inimical they grew to citizen-people who stood isolated but independent in their midst. The more they emancipated themselves from the trammels of the law, the less could they sympathize with men who strictly abided by it, and who looked upon its observance as a stronger defence than walls and watching towers. The Saxons saw the peril of their position, and fearing lest, by a closer union, this rampart should be pulled down, still opposed the settlement of Hungarians in their towns; the permission for which was more ardently coveted, the more plainly it was seen that there alone was safety in the hour of invasion and protection from barbarian tribes. They feared, too, the effect of foreign influence on the national mind and character. "For also in Saxon towns," to quote the words of historian to whom I am already much indebted, "the Hungarian nobleman insisted on enjoying the rights of birth. He would pay no taxes, would not share the burdens of the community; gave no tithes, whether of field or vineyard ; he refused to recognize the law of the land, nor would use the German language when before the town-council or magistrate."4 Whatever the Hungarians may be pleased to think on the subject, it is quite certain that the primal Saxon settlers in Transylvania did show themselves valiant. In all probability, it was not their nature to be so; they were not inherently what is called a warlike nation, like the Magyars, but the quality was engrafted on them by their position. Menaced and forced to fight for their homes and the soil on which they stood, they faced about to hunt the invader from their door. Many of them, moreover, were handicraftsmen; and the prentices in Germany in those days all bore arms, and were expected, as was the case in their new home, to defend the town wall in case of need. It was a matter of course, as it was a matter of necessity, for evenly man to fight. At any hour, the masters and their men might be called from the loom and the anvil to keep the town gates, or guard a tower. The constant presence of danger modified their original nature, and made warriors of them even, may be, against their will. That the present Saxon race in Transylvania no longer possesses this pugnacity is also certain. Times have changed, and they have relapsed into their normal disposition, with its predilection for the quiet of civic life and of civic occupation. A quality, inherent in the German, has also gradually cropped up and shown itself. For a long time it was kept down by the urgency of the situation, by danger covert and overt continually menacing; but these once removed, the national character again appeared. What I allude to is the proneness for bureaucratic service and system, and a subserviency to delegated rank and official authority. A German fits into a bureau, like the key into a Bramah lock; and this quality, though it lay for centuries in abeyance, was only kept down by circumstance, but not uprooted. With the other weakness it was the same.5 When the colonists first came into the land, they engaged exclusively in agriculture. Now the peasantry in any land is a class apart. Its peculiar occupation demands all its time, as it absorbs all its interest. The villager's world is his home, his hamlet, and his farm. Neither does his education fit him for official service; so that his thoughts never turn that way. All the energies of these men were directed therefore in one direction, till afterwards progress in various handicrafts led to trade, and a part became workers in metal, wool, etc., as well as husbandmen. Their burgomasters and alderman attended to the affair's of the community, the masters to the business of the guilds; for men were so busy that they were glad to be exonerated from such duties. Later, when wealth accumulated, and with it came greater show, pride also appeared, and there was a love and a longing for dignities and civic power. The plain citizen would fain be a patrician, and be greeted in the market-place, and sit apart on a raised seat, and the words "Sir" and "Your Worship" were most grateful to his ear. But this was not the same as the bureaucrativeness (to coin a word for the occasion) to which I allude. It was merely one time or another, appears in every republic alike6 -Rome, Venice, Switzerland. As yet there was no throne above them, surrounded by the splendour of majesty, that they could look up to with awe because of its firmness and grandeur, or which was, for them at least, "a fountain of honour." From the golden brightness of a crown no ray reached them; they had, in short, no opportunity of learning the effect of such reflected light. But when the time did come, the old instinct showed itself again. In Hermannstadt, a city of officials, this bureaucrativeness is more evident than anywhere else. In other Saxon towns it exists in a considerably less degree; but at the seat of government all is pervaded by an official atmosphere; to some so close, but to others most genial and refreshing. And as during an epidemic, those who are predisposed at once catch the illness and sink into the grave, so here, with an inherent susceptibility for the prevailing influence, men followed their bent, and, one after another, dropped into -a bureau. The physiognomy of Hermannstadt strikes the traveler the more on coming from the other towns, -Kronstadt or Bistritz for example, -but in a considerably higher degree, should he have passed thither direct from Klausenburg. This, the winter residence of the Hungarian nobility, has a different air altogether. The walk and look of the population -now entirely Hungarian -is freer, bolder, independent. It is true, that feeling of self-reliance, that sense of his own personality, which marks even the humblest Hungarian peasant, is distinctive of the nation, and should therefore not be contrasted with the bearing of a class among another people, who, under no circumstances, show the like. But just because the Hungarian is altogether so different from the German, will the impress which Hermannstadt bears be more apparent, and be brought out more if contrasted with Klausenburg. It is different even, as I said before, from the other Saxon towns. The free institutions which these men brought with them and which, under every circumstance, they maintained as Palladium, were, there can be no doubt, the foundations of their development. They prepared them for the great Church reform, and this once accomplished, a new impulse was given to education. And herein -in their schools- lay the strength of the Saxon population. That their youth should be well taught, was always one of their chief cares : it went hand in hand with the preservations of their free civic institutions. I have already spoken of the village pastor as men, often, of learning and research. Some are in constant correspondence with celebrated men in Germany and America, and in the recognition and warm encouragement of a Grimm or a Humboldt find their sufficient reward. Cut off, as they are, from the rest of the world, they still cling, with an attachment and a love that is touching, to the mother-country, and strive to keep up in the intellectual race, and not to be left behind. Nor in speaking of the various influences which worked together to make the Saxons what they were, must we forget an institution peculiar in itself and of great antiquity. This was the "Bruderschaft," or "Brotherhood," and which, as its aims and arrangements show, originated with the Church. Every youth, after confirmation, entered the society, and remained in it till he married. Self-chosen officers were appointed to watch over the "manners" -as we understood this word in olden time -of the members, to admonish those whose conduct was reprehensible, and, on appointed days, to settle disputes according to laws unanimously agreed upon. An institution of this sort, if consistently carried out, could not fail to exercise an important and beneficial influence on morals generally. But besides this it had another effect, also of essential service in the isolated position in which these immigrants were : they learned to unite for a common purpose, to subject the divers wills of many to an acknowledged principle, and they learned, moreover, the strength which such union gave. In Catholic Germany brotherhoods still exist, but their sphere of action now does not extend beyond attending in procession at certain church festivals. These are simply subscription clubs, without use or meaning. Perhaps the society most nearly allied to these Saxon brotherhoods, however unlike they may appear at first sight, was the "Burschenschaft" of the German students. This, too, kept strict watch over the "manners" of its members. It was what the olden chivalry was or pretended to be, but in a new form more adapted to the time, - its professed aim being to ennoble human nature and raise it by virtuous precept and practice. The organization of such society I shall dwell on more particularly in another place ; it was necessary, however, to allude to it here when speaking of the Saxons, being so intimately mixed up with their social life in all its bearings, and because it consequently had much to do in forming their manners and their character. In agriculture hardly any progress has been made. The Saxon peasant, with few exceptions here and there, tills his farm as he did seven hundred years ago. He has not profited by what experience has taught in that long time. He still leaves one part fallow while the other half is sown. In this alone is he wasteful. He does now with his fields just as his ancestor did when Barbarossa was emperor. And as the monarch still sits slumbering in the enchanted mountain, so have the Saxon peasant's, notions about agriculture stood-still ever since. It is possible that this arises from the conservative nature of the peasantry in every land,-from their inclination to go on as their fathers had done, and their inveterate dislike to innovation. But it may also be that the knowledge the world has gained never reached them, and so, while the others of his nation have kept pace with the rest, he has remained behind. There are some villages, however, where a change has begun, and the advantage of it is so evident, that the example will probably soon be followed by others. Trade is far less flourishing now than it was some centuries ago. The change of route in the new passage to the East was instrumental in this change, and also the development which has taken place in the other marts of Europe. The spirit of enterprise, formerly so strong, seems gone from the Saxon trader. It is true there is a scarcity of capital throughout the land, but we elsewhere see how energetic men with small means set to work, and, by dint of activity of mind and body, make a market for themselves, and ensure success by boldly saying it shall come. There are difficulties, no doubt, as there always are; but after what I have seen cannot but think that with greater energy, much -very much - more might be accomplished. Such is the story of the little body of immigrants from Flanders and the Rhine to the far-off unknown "land beyond the woods." Imperfect as the sketch is, it will afford some notion of their position. What their character was, we learn by what they achieved. We do not find any essential development in their political life, for they came into the land with institutions already so liberal, and with such enlightened views, that it was hardly possible to improve upon them. There is at this moment in Continental Europe no people, except the Swiss and the Belgians, enjoying such liberties and guaranteed rights as these Germans possessed when they settled in Transylvania. In six hundred years, the progress of the different monarchies leaves them still far behind the political condition in which those men lived. Their presence however, as was observed before, worked no effect on those around them. The difference between them in nature, moral culture, habits, and education, was too great for such a result. Seven centuries of neighbourhood have not brought them nearer together. Seven centuries more will not make them friends. The two races are radically unlike, with qualities wholly different, whether for good or evil. The political freedom of the foreigners was for the Hungarian nobleman a restraint; their order, thrift, industry, was to him a constant reproach, and their distrust of his promises could not but be taken ill. He felt himself aggrieved when they looked westward for support, -as they always and very naturally did, -instead of rallying round the standard raised by a Magyar. It was a source of bitter feeling in times long past, and it has occasioned still greater bitterness in the present day. I comprehend quite well the feelings of each party, and, from their respective points of view, find both quite natural. Deeply regrettable as it is, I do not see how it could be otherwise. 1In 1585, the imposts levied on the Saxon land amounted to 85,000 florins. If we take into consideration the prices of food at that time, the magnitude of the sum becomes apparent. Three quarts of the best wine cost three pfenning; 1.5lb. of meat, one pfenning; a kübel of wheat, ten pfenning. This money was worth between ten and twenty times more than now. If, therefore, "money be the sinews of war," the Saxons nation must have been a valuable ally. 2 "Verstümmeln." 3The Government proposition on this important question has at length passed, having narrowly escaped being sacrificed to opposing vanity and self-will. 4 'Geschichte der Siebenbürger Sachsen,' von Dr. Teutsch. 5This would seem an argument against the views put forth by Darwin in his 'Origin of Species,' and in favour of Professor Owen's reasoning, -asserting as he does that neither the forms nor instincts of any animal change into lasting new ones; but that should a temporary variation take place, induced by surrounding agents, the tendency of Nature always is to efface the temporary relapse, and return to the normal original type. 6Though under a king, the self-government of the settlers was, to all intents and purposes, republican. They chose their chief magistrate themselves, and all their civil officers; they appointed their own clergy, levied their own tithes and taxes, and made, and were only amenable to, their own laws. Chapters 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 Text Archive Home | Book Details | Table of Contents