Originally there were two cities, Buda on the south bank and Pesth on the north bank, but they were united under one municipal government some years ago, the names of the old towns being preserved in the new. The foothills of the Alps extend to the very bank of the Danube and furnish magnificent sites for villas, forts, public buildings and the royal palace, while on the opposite bank there is a broad plain, which affords ample room for the rapidly extending limits of the commercial and manufacturing sections of the city. Several bridges connect Buda and Pesth so that the river, while a great thoroughfare, no longer divides the business and the official sections. The streets of Budapest are wide, well paved, clean and lined with buildings quite uniform in height, one of the avenues rivaling the Champs-Elysees in Paris and Unter den Linden in Berlin; the parks are large and near the city; the business blocks are imposing and the public buildings models in design and construction. The parliament building, only recently completed, is one of the handsomest in the world.
The Hungarian people are distinct in language and history from all their neighbors. In fact, the Hungarians differ in many respects from all the other people of Europe, the inhabitants of Finland being their nearest kinspeople. Their early history is unknown, but they came from western Asia where the Mongolians, the Turks and the Finn-Ugrians struggled for mastery about the beginning of the Christian era. They were first known as Huns and claim Attila as one of their race. They have more often, however, used the word Magyars to describe their people, that name being a popular one at present. Their occupation of the present territory dates from about the ninth century, since which time they have figured prominently in the history of Europe. About the beginning of the eleventh century Hungary, under the leadership of King Stephen (later known as St. Stephen) became a Christian nation, and since that time she has been conspicuous in all the religious wars of Europe. In the fifteenth century she furnished the leader of the Christian army in the person of John Hunyadi, one of the greatest military geniuses of that period. His prominence in war brought his son Matthias to the throne of Hungary, a king who, when warned of a plot against his life, exclaimed: "Let no king, ruling justly and lawfully, fear the poison and assassin's dagger of his subjects."
BUDAPEST
As early as the thirteenth century, Hungary began to inaugurate political reforms, and in 1222 her nobility ended a struggle of a hundred years by securing a concession which is regarded by her people as equal in importance to England's Magna Charta of 1215. It was in the form of a royal letter, issued by Andrew II. and called the Golden Bull, owing to the fact that the seal attached to it by a silk string rests in a box of gold. This document contained certain promises to the nobles and admitted the binding force of certain restrictions upon the king. The Golden Bull was the beginning of constitutional government in Hungary, and while it has not always been strictly observed by her rulers, it has served as a basis for subsequent negotiations. For several centuries they elected their kings.
During the nearly seven hundred years which have elapsed since 1222 Hungary has had a checkered career. Rival aspirants for the throne have fought over the succession and been aided in their ambition by neighboring nations; kings and nobles have fought over their respective authority; the nobility and the peasants have fought over their rights; different branches of the Christian Church have been at war with each other, for Hungary has been the eastern outpost of Protestantism as well as a champion of Christianity; and more recently Hungary has been fighting for her political independence. Hers has been a long drawn-out struggle in which her people, time and again, have almost been exterminated, but she emerges from it all a strong, vigorous and militant nation. She is now a part of the Austro-Hungarian empire, and her people form the largest homogeneous group in the empire: When we consider the numerous wars between Austria and Hungary, the difference in race, history and language, and the dissimilarity in political training, it is not strange that there should be lack of harmony between the empire as a whole and its largest single member.
When Hungary turned to Austria for help against the Turks and came under the Hapsburg line, she insisted upon a recognition of her national rights and secured a promise that her people should have control of their own affairs. While this alliance did not save her from the Mohammedans, it united her destiny to that of Austria, but she has never surrendered her independence. The crown of Hungary has always been distinct from that of Austria, and the emperor of Austro-Hungary must visit Budapest and receive with the crown of St. Stephen the title of king of Hungary. Joseph II., son of the beloved Maria Theresa, was the first king to refuse to receive the crown and swear fidelity to the Hungarian constitution, and the Hungarians would never call him their "crowned king" until, on his deathbed, he retracted his arbitrary measures and permitted the restoration of the constitution.