Editing Transylvanian Memorandum

{{More citations needed|date=December 2009}}
[[Image:Memorandum-Transylvania.jpg|thumb|250px|The signers of the Memorandum <br> up row, from left to right: Dionisie Roman, Patriciu Barbu, Dr. [[Daniil Popovici-Barcianu]], [[Gherasim Domide]], Dr. Teodor Mihali, Dr. [[Aurel Suciu]], Mihaiu Veliciu, [[Rubin Patiția]] <br> down row, from left to right: [[Nicolae Cristea (priest)|Nicolae Cristea]], [[Iuliu Coroianu]], [[Gheorghe Pop de Băsești]], Dr. [[Ioan Rațiu]], Dr. [[Vasile Lucaciu]], [[Dimitrie Comșa]], [[Septimiu Albini]]]]
[[File:Manifestaţia studenţilor universitari, Bucureşti, 1892.jpg|thumb|200px|June 1892 protests in Bucharest supporting the Memorandum]]
[[File:2019 Ansamblul urban Centrul istoric al orașului 04.jpg|right |200px |2019 - Memorandum Monument in [[Cluj-Napoca]]]]

The '''''Transylvanian Memorandum''''' ({{langx|ro|Memorandumul Transilvaniei}}) was a [[petition]] sent in 1892 by the leaders of the [[Romanians]] of [[Transylvania]] to the [[Austria-Hungary|Austro-Hungarian]] Emperor-King [[Franz Joseph I of Austria|Franz Joseph]], asking for equal ethnic rights with the [[Magyars|Hungarians]], and demanding an end to persecutions and [[Magyarization]] attempts.

==Status==
After the [[Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867]] (''Ausgleich''), [[Principality of Transylvania (1711–1867)|Transylvania]] again became the integral part of Hungary. Initially Romanians (through their representatives, the [[Romanian National Party]]) took part in the political life, however, since 1869 after several disagreements they chose to enter into political passivity. They had several complaints; i.e. Romanians formed the majority of [[Transylvania]]'s population, but they were underrepresented in the Hungarian Parliament due to electoral abuses and the higher property qualification required by the electoral laws,{{efn|According to [[Robert Seton-Watson]]'s  ''Corruption and Reform in Hungary – A Study of Electoral Practice''; such as declaring bridges as unsafe, placing all the horses under verterinary supervision to force the supporters of the opposition to make long detours on bad sideroads, keeping the body of peasant voters waiting for several days in rainy or frosty weather in order to make them quit or switch their allegiance, closing the polls at the discretion of the authorities, or, ultimately, the sheer use of violence by the [[Royal Hungarian Honvéd|Army]] or the [[Hungarian Royal Gendarme Veterans' Association#The Roots of the MKCsBK: The Hungarian Royal Gendarmerie|Gendarmerie]]),<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/corruptionreform00setouoft|title=Corruption and Reform in Hungary – A Study of Electoral Practice|last=Seton-Watson|first=Robert William|author-link=Robert Seton-Watson|year=1911|pages=[https://archive.org/details/corruptionreform00setouoft/page/9 9]–10}}</ref> gerrymandering,<ref name="rwseton7">{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/corruptionreform00setouoft|title=Corruption and Reform in Hungary – A Study of Electoral Practice|last=Seton-Watson|first=Robert William|author-link=Robert Seton-Watson|year=1911|page=[https://archive.org/details/corruptionreform00setouoft/page/7 7]}}</ref> and the higher property qualification required in Transylvania by the electoral laws  (due to this different property qualification for Transylvania, an ethnic Romanian peasant had to own "at least six times as much land as his Magyar equal, before he can obtain a vote").<ref name="rwseton7"/>}}<ref name="jelavich">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hd-or3qtqrsC&pg=PA72|title=History of the Balkans|last=Jelavich|first=Barbara|author-link=Barbara Jelavich|publisher=Cambridge University Press|volume=2|page=72|isbn=0-521-27459-1|year=1983}}</ref> they were subjected to [[Magyarization]] and they resented that Transylvania had lost its autonomy, without consulting the Transylvanians.<ref name="memorandum">{{cite web|url=http://www.taraiancului.ro/data/fotografii/mai2014/lucrari/04_Memorandumul.docx|title=''Memorandumul românilor transilvăneni – 1892'' [The Memorandum of the Transylvanian Romanians]|author=Florentina Teacă|publisher=Țara Iancului|language=Romanian|access-date=18 December 2018}}</ref><ref name="oszk">{{cite web|url=http://mek.oszk.hu/03400/03407/html/422.html|title='The 'Memorandum' Movement|publisher=[[National Széchényi Library]]|access-date=18 November 2018}}</ref>
 
The ''Memorandum'' itself was written by the leaders of the [[Romanian National Party|Romanian National Party of Transylvania and Banat]] (PNR) – among others, {{ill|Ioan Rațiu|ro}}, [[Gheorghe Pop de Băsești]], [[Eugen Brote]], [[Aurel Popovici]], and [[Vasile Lucaciu]]. It asked for [[political rights]] to be awarded to Romanians, as well as initiating a debate on the [[Kingdom of Hungary]]'s policies of intolerance towards Romanians.

==Consequences==
Franz Joseph, without reading it, forwarded the memorandum to the Hungarian Prime Minister [[Gyula Szapáry]], who, also without reading it, forwarded it unopened to the [[Ispán]] of [[Torda-Aranyos County]] in order to be returned to the sender, Ioan Rațiu.<ref name="oszk"/>

Met with refusal, the PNR leaders did not give up and published the document in [[Sibiu|Nagyszeben]].<ref name="oszk"/> Making the memorandum public led to violence from the part of Hungarian demonstrators, who damaged Ioan Rațiu's home in [[Turda|Torda]], causing a tremendous outcry in Romania.<ref name="oszk"/> Consequently, the Hungarian government gave in to the pressure of Hungarian nationalists and launched proceedings against the PNR president, Raţiu, the vice president, Pop de Băsești, the secretaries Vasile Lucaciu and [[Septimiu Albini]], and other PNR leaders who acknowledged their involvement in drafting and publishing the petition.<ref name="oszk"/> On 7 May 1894 eighteen leaders of the PNR were put on trial in [[Cluj-Napoca|Kolozsvár]] for various charges, ranging from [[Breach of the peace|disturbing the peace]] to incitement through the press and [[high treason]].<ref name="digi">{{cite web|url=https://www.digi24.ro/special/campanii-digi24/coroana-de-otel/1892-miscarea-memorandista-din-transilvania-613413|title=''1892 – Mișcarea memorandistă din Transilvania'' (1892 – The Transylvanian Memorandum Movement)|publisher=[[Digi24]]|language=Romanian|date=16 November 2016|access-date=18 December 2018}}</ref>

After seventeen days, the trial came to an end and the jury found all but four defendants guilty.<ref name="oszk"/> The rest of fourteen defendants were found guilty for incitement through the press, and the judge handed in the verdicts: most of them sentenced to prison terms from two months to five years.<ref name="oszk"/> The PNR president Raţiu received a sentence of two years imprisonment and Lucaciu, regarded as the main instigator, received five years imprisonment.<ref name="oszk"/> Although in 1895 they were freed by royal amnesty, loyalty to the Crown decreased, with many leaders of the PNR turning towards the goal of [[union of Transylvania with Romania]].

However, activism for union ''per se'' was largely held off until after [[World War I]] and the [[Treaty of Trianon]], with Romania itself oscillating between alliances with the [[Central Powers]] and the [[Allies of World War I|Entente]], and with the parallel offer made by [[Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria]] (the [[heir apparent]]) to negotiate for a compromise (''see [[United States of Greater Austria]]'').

==See also==
* [[Supplex Libellus Valachorum]]
* [[Unio Trium Nationum]]

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==External links==
* {{Commons category-inline|Transylvanian Memorandum}}

[[Category:1892 in Europe]]
[[Category:History of Transylvania (1867–1918)]]
[[Category:Memoranda]]
[[Category:Racism]]
[[Category:Romanian human rights activists]]
[[Category:Petitions]]
[[Category:1892 documents]]