Nyakas Miklós: A hajdúvárosok országgyűlési képviseleti jogának elnyerése 1790-1791 / Hajdúsági Közlemények 17. (Hajdúböszörmény, 1992)

Tartalom

- They had to protest agai nst recruitment because - as the instructions put it - the Heyducks as noblemen had only nobiliary obligations in this respect. - They had to call attention to the fact that some time before the Heyducks' rights had been restricted by being subordinated to district administrators. They had to obtain guarantee that it would not happen again. - They had to clarify what government office the Heyducks belonged to and they also had to express their views about land on the „Puszta". For purposes of greater emphasis the delegates of the Heyduck Region held a general assembly where they compiled a memorandum to the Estates which was then enclosed to the ordinary documents of the Diet. The instructions given to the delegates were designed for internal use and therefore their tone was rather harsh, but that of the memorandum was rather more diplomatic, though the original basic demands were not at all changed. This difference in tone, of course, is perfecüy understandable! All the merits of the Heyducks were enumerated in the memorandum, but the unfair treatment that they had received was also mentioned. As they put it, it was unfair because „our glorious ancestors lived in such cruel times when one war followed the other, so they incessantly had to rest their hands on the hilt of their swards..." Therefore there was nothing left for them but „to place our confidence in the honourable delegates and in the Estates of our country's Diet hoping that they can remedy our grievances". By way of argument the Heyducks' military merits and Bocskai's Charter were enumerated. They referred to the settlement-exchange between Kálló and Böszörmény, to all the fights in the 17th century and they did not forget to praise Emperor Leopold, but they cleverly avoided to directly mention their grievances. They also made a mention of „unselfish" material aid. They asked the county delegates to accept the Heyducks' delegates as real persons of the nobility. The two delegates wrote their first letters home with the date of 2nd June, 1790. The reported that they had had some difficulty in finding accomodation in Buda, near the baths called Rudas after giving some „good quality" bacon and a considerable sum of money. The Diet oficially opened on 10th June, 1790. The delegates - according to the instructions given to them - had the memorandum printed in Buda in 500 copies and they distributed them among the delegates. In these copies mention was made about the original privileges of the noble Heyduck towns and their „frequent blood sacrifices made for their King and the homeland." They were very surprised to experience that the only thing „the most honourable men of the Homeland knew about the noble Heyduck towns was that they were existing. The programme of the Heyduck towns, of course, containded a great deal of naivity, as the great majority of the nobility was against extending the rights of nobility, especially if they took taxation into consideration. Even the small number of reformist-noblemen was hesitating. As far as social reforms were concerned, Count János FEKETE, educated in the spirit of Enlightenment, was the most far-sighted as he wanted to extend the constitution over the peasants to by providing them the right of representation in the Diet. József VAY and others meant to liberate the peasants by means of slow reforms. József VAY in his (anonymus!) leaflet writes the following: „Perhaps it would not be wrong if the larger market towns from the Jazygian, Cumanian and Heyduck regions of Hungary could send their delegates to the Diet... But this is clearer in Jazygia and Cumania where about 100,000 people live and in the Heyduck towns where there are about 30,000 of them, and as they have no landowners, no one patronizes them in the Diet." This is plain speech, but diametrically opposed to what the Heyduck towns say as arguments. It is extraordinarily instructive to study how the Jazygians and Cumanians worded their arguments. Despite the fact that both sides (i.e. the Jazygians-Cumanians on the one hand and the Heyducks on the other) kept a jealous eye on each other's activity, the method chosen by them was understandably similar to that of the Heyducks. Why, what was written by the Jazygians-Cumanians? After analyzing the origin of their privileges they added what grave unlawfulness happened to them in spite of their having done their best with arms for the country's good. The annulment of their privileges was decided in their absence without asking 94