OF THE DIFFERENT NATIONS IN THE AUSTRIAN DOMINIONS--THE
JEWS--THE GERMANS--THE SLAVONIANS, INCLUDING THE BOHEMIANS--THE
SLOWACKS--THE WENDES AND THE RASCIANS OR ILLYRIANS--THE MAGYARES
OR HUNGARIANS--THE WALACHIANS--THE ZIGANIS OR GIPSIES--THE
ARMENIANS--THE GREEKS, &c.
The population of the Austrian dominions is composed of different
races, each having particular manners and even a peculiar language.
All these nations are far from being actuated by the same spirit, or
feeling the same attachment for the state to which they belong. This
is one of the great causes of the political weakness of Austria; a
weakness which has been sensibly manifested in all the wars of
invasion. United within a longer or a shorter period under the
authority of one and the same prince, they do not form one compact
whole. Thus the different inhabitants of the Austrian states have
neither the same interests nor the same feelings. The Hungarians, the
Bohemians and the Tyrolese, people extremely jealous of their
independence, do not consider themselves as being of the same nation
as the Austrians, whom most of them in fact deem beneath them, because
in general they possess greater vivacity and a more strongly marked
character. There is no spirit of unity among them, though all are
subject to the same sceptre.
The principal nations distributed over the spacious dominions of
Austria are the Germans, the Slavonians, and the Magyares or
Hungarians properly so called. We also meet with Walachians, Ziganis
or gypsies, Greeks, and a few Armenians, French and Walloons; but
these form no important part of the population. There is another race,
which, though of foreign extraction, is widely spread over these
provinces as throughout every country in Europe, and that is the Jews.
These people, who form a distinct nation amidst all other nations,
swarm in the various provinces of the Austrian monarchy, with the
exception of Styria, Carinthia and upper Austria. Bohemia, Moravia,
Hungary and Galicia contain great numbers of them. Thus it is
calculated that there are 170,000 of them in Galicia, 130,000 in
Hungary, 50,000 in Bohemia, and 30,000 in Moravia. They are likewise
very numerous in Transylvania.
It is very generally supposed in other countries that the greatest
part of the population of Austria consists of Germans: but this is by
no means the case. Austria, properly so called, is the only province
that is entirely peopled by Germans; all the others are more or less
inhabited by Slavonians, and the other races mentioned above. The
Germans are also diffused over Styria and Carinthia. In Bohemia, there
is but one circle, that of Ellbogen, which is entirely peopled by
them. Of Moravia they occupy only the part situated on the confines of
Austria and Silesia, as well as the districts to the south of the
circles of Znaim and Brunn. Still less numerous in Hungary, they are
scarcely met with excepting in certain villages in the counties of
Zips, Wieselburg, Œdenburg, Scharosch and Eisenburg. In
Transylvania there are more of them: but their number there is
inferior to that of the natives. In Galicia, if we except several of
the principal towns, we find no Germans but in a few villages whither
they have been sent by the government to introduce improvements into
the system of agriculture. Thus most of the wealthy citizens of Cracow
are Germans, of Saxon or Silesian extraction.
The most numerous of all the races spread over the territories subject
to Austria is the Slavonian, now but little known by this generic
name, on account of the immense extent of country which it inhabits.
Interesting for more than one reason, the Slavonians are worthy alike
of the meditation of the philosopher and the researches of the
historian, as well on account of the vast space they occupy, as the
uniformity of manners which they have preserved in all ages,
notwithstanding the vicissitudes experienced by the governments to
which they were subject. The numerous traces left by their language in
various idioms in which we should never expect to meet with words of
Slavonic origin, render the study of it of great importance.
The Slavonian race is divided into an infinite number of branches,
some of which are found exclusively in Russia and Poland, and others
in the Austrian dominions. To the latter belong the Tshechs, or
Bohemians, the Slowacks, the Poles, the Wendes, the Rascians, and the
Croats.
The Bohemian language, spoken in Bohemia and Moravia, is but a dialect
of the Slavonian; but surrounded by German provinces, their
inhabitants have adopted an alphabet which differs very little from
that used in Germany. The Bohemian dialect is remarkable for its
richness, the softness of its pronunciation, and the facility with
which it adapts itself to the inflexions of song. It is daily
undergoing a change, however, from its mixture with the German; and
hence many words of the primitive Bohemian idiom are no longer
understood by the common people. The Bohemians are accounted one of
the most civilized of all the Slavonian races in the Austrian empire.
The Moravians also are distinguished for their mild and gentle manners
and their extraordinary industry.
The Slowacks, the relics of the Moravian monarchy, which comprehended
Moravia and the north-western part of Hungary, are nearly confined to
those two countries. There are nevertheless some of them in Bohemia.
To those people particularly applies the observation of Schwartner,
who remarks, that of all the inhabitants of Hungary the Slowacks
multiply fastest. Wherever they settle, the Germans and Magyares
gradually disappear. Thus in the 14th century the mountainous part of
the county of Gömör was entirely inhabited by Germans, whereas at
present the population consists exclusively of Slowacks.
The Wendes, who are found in Carinthia, Carniola and Lower Styria, as
far as the frontiers of Hungary, belong also to the Slavonians. But
among all the Slavonian tribes, the Croatians have retained most of
their primitive manners and character. Originally of Bosnian
extraction, they are spread not only in Croatia, but also in Hungary.
At once soldiers and husbandmen, their religion and customs closely
resemble those of their neighbours the Transylvanians and Slavonians.
They form excellent light troops, and are fond of serving in the corps
of Hulans.
The Rascians or Illyrians, the last branch of the Slavonians, appear
to be descended from the ancient Scythians. The name of Srbi which
they give to themselves, seems to indicate that they formerly
inhabited Dacia, the modern Servia. They principally inhabit
Transylvania and Hungary. There are many of them also in the county of
Warasdin, as well as in Croatia, where they form nearly a third of the
population.
The language of the Slavonians is soft, sonorous and pleasing to the
ear. Though spoken by people who have not made any great progress in
the arts and sciences, it has nevertheless been brought to a high
degree of perfection. It has even assumed all the characters of a
modern language, and may claim a distinguished rank among those of the
most civilized nations. The turns of which it is susceptible, and the
inversions which it has in common with the Greek and German, render it
equally expressive and energetic. Copious and harmonious, it may vie
with the Italian in melody and softness, especially when it is sung.
This language is more widely extended than any other language of
Europe. It is spoken throughout all Transylvania, Galicia, Hungary,
Moravia, Bohemia, and generally in all the provinces of Austria. It is
also very common in Lusatia, Silesia, Poland, Lithuania, Prussia,
Russia, Moscovy, and even in Sweden. It is met with along the whole
coast of the Adriatic, in Croatia, Slavonia, Bosnia, Dalmatia,
Bulgaria and Turkey in Europe. It should however be observed, that
though all the inhabitants of these different countries speak the same
language, yet their various dialects differ not only in the
pronunciation and signification of many words; but also in a great
number of radical words which are not to be found in the neighbouring
dialects. The difference of these dialects is not governed, as might
be supposed, by the intercourse between nation and nation, since the
signification of words used by contiguous tribes frequently differs in
the most striking manner. Hence neighbouring nations do not perhaps
understand one another; whereas those which are wide asunder have no
difficulty to comprehend each other’s meaning. Thus the Russian and
Cossack dialects vary but little from those spoken by the Bosnians and
the inhabitants of Ragusa, whose language differs so widely from that
of their neighbours, the Dalmatians, and the people of Carniola. In
like manner, the Russian idiom differs much from that of the Poles,
though the Russians are neighbours to that nation as the Bosnians are
to the Dalmatians.
Next to the Slavonians and Germans, the Magyares or Hungarians are the
race most widely spread in the Austrian monarchy. They probably derive
their origin from Asia; and this conjecture seems to be strengthened
by the traces of Asiatic manners which they still retain.
Unenlightened and disliking the arts and commerce, they indulge that
indolence and apathy in which the people of Asia place their
happiness. In this respect then the character of the Magyares differs
widely from that of the Germans and Slavonians, who engage with ardour
in all sorts of speculations as well as retail trades. Hungary,
therefore, which they inhabit, would be a very poor country did not
the fertility of the soil confer on them an affluence which they
never would derive from their own exertions.
The Magyares are spread as far as the coasts of the Adriatic: a small
tribe of them, known by the appellation of Szythes, is found near
Fiume living peaceably among the Illyrians. The great mass of the
nation, however, exists in Hungary, where the number of the Magyares
is estimated at about three millions and a half.
The Walachians appear to be with the Slavonians the most ancient
inhabitants of the country watered by the Danube. In number, though
very much inferior to the latter, they equal the Magyares; at least in
the countries situated eastward of the Theiss. Naturally vain, these
people pretend to be descendants of the Roman colonists, who settled
from time to time in ancient Germany. They accordingly style
themselves _Rumani_, to indicate this noble origin. It is, however,
more probable that they proceed from a mixture of the ancient Dacians,
Romans and Slavonians. Their language in fact is composed of terms
more or less altered, which manifestly belonged to those different
nations. But a circumstance which shows that the groundwork of their
language is not derived from the Latin is, that their declensions and
conjugations have no resemblance to those of the latter: neither do
the terminations of the majority of their words correspond with those
generally observed in the Latin.
Without arts, and almost without religion and civilization, the
Walachian peasants know no other wants and pleasures but those of a
roving life. They are in general suspicious, vindictive and disposed
to hate other nations; hence the Hungarians and Transylvanians treat
them exactly like slaves. The Walachians, like the Slavonians multiply
fast; and it is perhaps on this account that they are deemed dangerous
by the Hungarians among whom they live.
The Ziganis or Ziguener, a roving or rather vagabond race, are very
numerous in the Bukowina, Hungary, Galicia, and Transylvania. In the
latter province they amount to more than sixty thousand; and out of
seventy thousand inhabitants who composed the population of the
Bukowina, when it was ceded to Austria in 1778, more than 10,000 were
Ziganis. Of the origin of these people, whose manners, habits and way
of life, perfectly correspond with those of the gipsies, nothing is
known with certainty; but the arguments of Grellman seem to render it
probable, that they are the descendants of the Hindoos expelled from
India at the time of Tamerlane’s invasion in 1408 and 1409. Of the
period of their arrival in Hungary we are not informed, but they were
known in that country so early as 1417, about which time probably they
began to introduce themselves into Transylvania. The Ziganis in
general manifest more attachment to the Hungarians than to any other
nation, either because the manners of the latter approach nearest to
their own, or because they afford them more protection.
The Armenians in the Austrian dominions are descended from those who,
towards the conclusion of the seventeenth century, removed from Asia
and settled in Transylvania, where there are now upwards of eleven
hundred families. Most of them dwell in the towns of Armienstadt and
Ebesfalva, the first of which was named after them. In the sequel
others of this nation fixed their abode in Hungary, where there is not
found any considerable community of of them excepting at Neusatz, in
the country of Bartsch. In Galicia also they are so numerous as to
have an archbishop at Lemberg, the capital of that province.
The same causes which have transferred Armenians into Austria have
also brought thither Greeks, Macedonians and Albanians. The people of
these different nations indeed are not numerous, there being scarcely
six hundred families of them in Transylvania, in which province most
of them reside. Naturally industrious, these foreigners have proved
very useful to Austria, and the city of Cronstadt is indebted to them
for the establishment of several important manufactures.
It is in Moravia alone that we find a few of those Walloon families,
who serve to remind the spectator of the glorious period when the
crowns of Austria and Spain were united on the same head.