The Hungarian people never adopted that theory. They ever claimed a full
share in the _executive_ as well as in the legislative and judicial
power. Out of this idea of government rose the municipal system of
Hungary. In respect to Hungarian aristocracy, you must not consider it
in the same light as the aristocracy of England. The word
_nobleman_ in Hungary originally was equivalent to _soldier_.
Every man who defended his country was a nobleman, and every man who had
a vote was called to defend his country. I believe the duty of
defending a man's country, and also political right, should be common.

After our people had conquered a home, the leaders took the lion's
share, of course. But it should be considered that those who had the
largest share of the property, were compelled to furnish soldiers
according to the extent of their possessions. Therefore such men gave a
part of their land to people to cultivate, and desired aid of them
whenever the necessity for war came. So all who defended their country
were considered noblemen. Hungary was divided into fifty-two counties,
but not counties like yours--some of them were so populous as to be
comparable to your States, containing perhaps half a million or more of
people, and those who became the aristocracy in some of these counties
amounted to 35,000. In every county was a fortress, and whenever defence
became necessary, the rich men went into these fortresses under their
own banner, and the others went under the King's colours, and were
commanded by the sheriff of the county, who might be here Governor--at
least who was the chief of the Executive. Certain of the cities were
raised to constitutional rights. A smaller city, if surrounded by
fortifications, or if an important post, was represented in the Diet,
whilst larger places, if not posts of importance for national defence,
were represented only by the County Delegates. Every place that had the
elements of defence had political rights. So it came to pass that the
aristocracy were not a few men, but half a million. I had contended to
beat down this barrier of aristocracy. Before the Revolution, in
municipal governments only the nobility had a share--they only were the
men who could vote: but the change was easy. The frame of
self-government was ready. We had only to say, _the people_ instead
of _the nobility_ had the right to vote; and so, in one day, we
buried aristocracy, never to rise again. Each county elected its