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.